{capture the moment}: 2

One of the most common requests that we receive is for stamp sets that feature masculine themes. This has always been tough because when designing sets, I always like to come up with a group of images that I would use myself in my everyday stamping. I am not usually one to make cards following standard cliches, such as sports or hunting. Nor are either of these types of sets versatile. Our new Out on a Limb set fits the bill perfectly though. Today I thought I would show you that by just changing the colors you use and concentrating on small details, you can end up with a masculine card without using a thematic stamp set.

I knew that I wanted to create a window card, using vellum to line the opening. So I picked the size window I wanted to use from Nestabilities collection (from the Small Standard Rectangle set). I die-cut the window off-center and ran the die & card back through my machine using the embossing sandwich. It created this simple, classy embossed edge around my window. I just LOVE the way this looks!

I traced the opening of the window onto vellum, so I would know what kind of area I had to work with. I stamped the branch with Burnt Umber Palette Ink, followed by the berry overlay done in Orangerie Palette Ink.

I decided to add some dimension & color to my berries by using my Sakura Glaze Pen (Sepia). I found that by just "dabbing" the pen tip twice on each berry, I was able to get a nice rounded droplet of the glaze that didn't go outside the boundaries of the berry. I actually made sure that the glaze didn't go all the way to the edge of each berry so that a small amount of the original orange ink would show.

Next, I knew that I wanted to add some photo corners to my opening. I decided to make my own from brown cardstock. For those of you that may not have done this before, you need two nesting square punches. I used 1/2" & 3/4" punches for my example. Start by punching the 1/2" square from brown cardstock.

Invert the 3/4" square punch over your 1/2" hole. Get it centered and punch!

You will end up with a small "frame". With two quick snips, you will have two photo corners!

I wanted to add some detail to the sentiment strip I created for this project. The sentiment reads "Amazing Grace", and it is stamped in the Burnt Umber Palette ink. You will see me using this particular brown ink often because it is my favorite. It is a nice dense chocolate brown. I love how crisply it stamps each and every time!

To add the detail to my strip, I held the strip up to a light source (like a window, light bulb or light box) and marked the back of the strip as to where either end of the sentiment fell.

Next I dug out my trusty ol' Scor-Pal and placed the strip (sentiment side down) onto the surface. I then scored two lines through the center of the strip, being sure to stop and start again on either end of the pencil marks.

When you put all of these elements together this is what you might come up with! A really simple, masculine card. When you know your recipient is a male, there are small things you can do to suit the card to him more appropriately.