SB Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1 Balloon
December 1, 2024
No Comments
4 fantastic masculine cards and step-by-step instructions on making each of them are right here in this article. It’s a long article.
Fantastic Masculine Card for Birthday
The techniques used for this card are simple stenciling, heat embossing, and “twists.” Altenew’s With a Twist online class challenges us to use methods different from what we might expect to use. Our card has two twists. We use the suggestion from the course to “cut it oddly.” We cut off the upper right corner of the front of our card. And then we also roll cardstock. As a result, the suit lapel appears to fold back over the suit. And, we use the same technique to add the shirt collar and the tie knot.
Stenciling
First, we’ll tape the cardstock to the stencil. And then, we’ll tape the combination to our worktop stencil side up.
Once we have everything ready, we blend the ink over the top of the stencil. Hint: We’re using darker ink than the cardstock so that the result will look like our paper has pinstripes on it. We want to brush with the direction of the stencil (up and down) to lessen the chances of the stencil moving.
Stenciling Hints:
- Tape down along one side so that you lift up the stencil and see if it’s the way you want it
- For delicate stencils, it helps to spray the back of the stencil with Pixie Spray. We do this because the small pieces of the stencil can move and ruin what we’re working on.
- Clean blending brushes that have ink on them from prior blending by rubbing them on a paper towel
- Make sure to place the second piece of cardstock on the stencil in the same location as was used for the first one. We do this because we want the stripes to line up between the suit coat front and the pocket
We will use the same stenciling techniques to color the cardstock that we’ll use for the tie and pocket square.
Cutting
From the yellow stenciled cardstock cut:
- Tie: 5 3/8″ long, 3/8″ from the top-right edge, and 5/8″ from the bottom-right edge.
- Tie Band: 4 1/8″ x 1/2″.
- Knot in the Tie: Cut a piece 7/8″ long, 3/4′ from the right edge on the top and 1/2″ from the right edge on the bottom right corner.
- Pocket Squares Hint; it is easier to wait to cut these until we’ve got our pocket attached and then we can eyeball the sizes we want.
From white cardstock:
We’ll cut a triangle that will become the collar. To do so, we’ll measure up 1 5/8″ up from the lower right corner of a piece of cardstock and make a light mark with a pencil. Then make another mark 4″ to the left from that same corner. Now we’ll cut between the two marks. As a result, we have our collar triangle. Hint: Erase the marks once the cut s done.
From the front piece of the card base:
Using a pencil, we’ll mark the front of the card base 2 1/4″ to the left from the upper right-hand corner and another one 4 3/4″ down from that same corner. Then we cut between the two marks.
Fantastic Masculine Cards Cardstock Bending
Next, we will bend the cardstock for the lapel, the tie knot, and the collar.
Watch the following video for instructions on how to bend cardstock:
Lapel – A lapel is the collar of a coat or jacket, and it folds back over itself at the front opening. To create the lapel for our card, we’ll begin marking where the cardstock will be bent. Using a pencil, we’ll draw at 2 1/4″ to the right from the upper left-hand corner and 4 3/4″ down from that same corner.
Next, we’ll bend the corner toward the front of the card panel from those marks.
Collar – Next, we’ll bend our collar along the longest edge of the collar. The easiest way is to hold the collar piece with the 1 1/2″ border on the left. And then bend the edge over the pencil.
Tie Knot – Lastly, we will use a tiny pencil or a dowel to bend the left edge of the tie knot.
Cardstock Bending Hints:
- Apply the water to the inside of the bend in the lapel to keep from disturbing our stenciling
- A Derwent Inktense Ink pencil is the perfect dimension for bending the lapel and the collar
- A small paintbrush handle works well for the knot
Shadowing
We’re going to add shadows on the tie and the pocket squares because we want dimension to them. We do this by using the darkest marker to draw a line along the outside edges. And then we draw another line right next to it with the light marker.
Assembly
Collar Assembly
We’ll begin the assembly by using a strong adhesive to attach the collar to the inside of the back page of our card base. Once the collar is on, now we’ll use an adhesive runner to add some adhesive to the back of the tie band. And then we’ll slide it in behind the collar and press it down. Use a tiny piece of StrongTape to attach the corner of the collar to the card. And then we’ll use a glue drop to attach the button.
Tie Assembly
Next, we’ll use some liquid glue on the back of the folded edge of the tie knot and stick it to the top of the tie. And when it’s attached we’ll glue down the other side of the knot even with the edge of the tie. Now we can just add some more liquid glue to attach the tie making sure that the right edges of the tie and the card base are aligned.
Card Front Assembly
Now we’ll attach the card panel to the front of the card base using our glue runner. Hint: we want to make sure that the lapel is facing the top and is folded in the same place as the cut in the card base. We’ll fasten down the lapel the same way we did for the collar.
We’ll heat emboss the sentiment with gold embossing powder on the second piece of cardstock that we partially stenciled with pin stripping. Once our sentiment is in place we’ll trim it to 3/4″ tall by 2 11/16″ long. We can add stitching to the right side of the pocked by hand drawing small little dashed lines using a pen. And then we use a detailer to poke holes in between the lines. We do this to make it look even more realistic.
Now we use double-sided tape on both sides and along the bottom of the pocket to attach it to the suit front. We want to make sure that the left edge of the pocket is aligned with the left side of the card.
The only thing left to do is to trim our pocket squares and then slip them inside of the pocket. And there you have it.
Supplies for Fantastic Masculine Cards for Birthdays
- Cardstock: Card base – Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Solar White; Card Panel – Taylored Expressions Blue Corn; Tie – Spellbinders Beeswax
- Stencil: Pinstripes – Altenew Ombre Stripes; Tie – Gina K Designs Harvest Flourish
- Ink: Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Desert Night, Ruby Red
- Adhesives: Pixie Spray; Gina K Designs Connect Glue; StrongTape; Scrapbook.com Double-sided Adhesive Tape
- Benders: Derwent Inktense
- Alcohol Markers: Copic T2 and T4
- Pen: Copic Multiliner 0.1
Fantastic Masculine Cards for Love
Our first card expresses love in a beautiful way.
The techniques and the inspiration for using them are as follows:
- Stenciling – Altenew’s Celebration Stencil Techniques Online Class
- Dimension – Altenew’s With a Twist Online Class – using craft foam to pop up the sentiment
- Masking – Altenew’s Masking Unleashed Online Class – to use only one part of a sentiment
- Color mood – Altenew’s In the Mood for Color Online Class- red for love
- Detailing – Altenew’s Beautiful Details Online Class – alcohol marker details to add dimension to the weave
Stenciling
We will use the same technique for stenciling that we used for the first card. But for this card, we will use Distress Oxide ink rather than dye ink.
Once we have everything ready we just blend the ink over the top of the stencil.
We want to make sure that the ink is dry before we begin the next step. Hint: I waited three days for the card in the photos because I am in a humid climate.
Beginning with the darker marker we’re going to flick the marker away from the intersection where the design crisscrosses. Then we’ll use the lighter marker, again flicking away from the darker marker. As a result, we create a lot of dimensions in that weave.
Now we’ll trim the card panel using a stitched rectangle die and set it aside.
Fantastic Masculine Cards Love Sentiments
Die-cut Sentiment
We’re also using a die to cut out our primary sentiment.
Hint: A circled sentiment die can be used if that is all you have. we just trim the sentiment at the point where it attaches to the circle.
We’ll cut the primary sentiment again out of craft foam. Leaving the negative foam in place we’ll add liquid glue to the back of the paper sentiment and attach it to the foam. Now we can remove the foam in the negative spaces. Hint: We do this because the foam will stretch out of shape if we don’t.
We’ll use an alcohol marker that matches the red cardstock to “paint” the sides of the foam sentiment. We do this so that the foam doesn’t stand out but rather blends in.
Stamped Sentiment
For the rest of the sentiment, we’ll lay everything out over our card base. We’ll center the card panel, then we’ll put a scrap of gray cardstock (smaller than the card panel) over the top of it.
Then we’ll place the “love” over the top and decide where it looks best. Now we’ll determine where we should add the last portion of the sentiment.
Because we are only using a portion of the stamp we have selected we lightly mark the scrap where we need to place the mask. Then we’ll remove the “love” sentiment and attach a piece of making paper to the left side of the mark we just made.
Using a color that coordinates with our “love” sentiment we’ll stamp the “you!” onto the scrap. Then we’ll remove the mask and tear it around the edges of the card scrap.
Assembly
Assembly is easy. We’ll use a glue runner to attach the card panel, double-sided foam tape for the stamped sentiment, and liquid glue for the one that was die-cut.
Supplies for Fantastic Masculine Cards for Love
- Cardstock: Taylored Expressions Blue Corn; Spellbinders Graphite; Taylored Expressions Mulled Wine; Gina K Designs Soft Stone
- Stamp: Altenew Painted Greetings
- Stencil: Altenew Woven Stencil
- Dies: Altenew Circled Love; Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangle
- Ink: Altenew Crisp Dye Inks – Grapevine; Distress Oxide Pumice Stone
- Alcohal Marker: Altenew Grapevine; Copic C3, C6
- Adhesives: Gina K Designs Adhesive Dot Runner; Barely Art
Fantastic Masculine Cards for Anniversaries
Oh, my stars, what a beautiful card!
Techniques used to build it are:
- Die-cutting
- Ink Blending
- Heat embossing
The original design for this card was to ink blend over a stencil created by using a cover die and the. However, the negative turned out so well we’ll choose to use it instead.
To make the card we use the cover die on white cardstock. Then we tape a different piece of cardstock to our work surface. Next, we tape our die-cut over the top of the cardstock.
Now we ink blend an ombre effect around the circle focal point, beginning with the lightest color. Hint: We could have ink blended the initial cardstock before we cut it out but doing this method gives us two card panels: one with the negative space and one with the positive.
Sentiments
To create the main sentiment we’ll use the die three times: once on gold mirror cardstock, once on black, and once on craft foam.
Now, we’ll use liquid glue to attach the black sentiment to the gold one shifted slightly because we want to create a shadow effect. Once that’s done we’ll use liquid glue again on the back of the black sentiment and then attach it to the foam die-cut sentiment and remove it from the negative foam pieces.
For the second part of the sentiment, we’ll stamp it onto a scrap of white cardstock with watermark ink. Hint: Don’t forget to brush the cardstock with anti-stick powder to keep the embossing powder from going anywhere but where we want it.
We’ll sprinkle the embossing powder over our stamped sentiment and give the cardstock a tap. As a result, any powder that isn’t stuck down will fall off. Now we’ll start our heat tool and run it for 15-20 seconds to make sure it’s good and hot. And then we’ll move the tool back and forth over the sentiment until the embossing powder is melted, and smooth.
Assembly
The Assembly of this card is a breeze. We’ll trim both the gold mirror cardstock and the blended die-cut to 4″ x 5 1/4″.
Next, we’ll apply the adhesive to the backside with a glue runner and then attach it to the gold mirror cardstock. Once this is done we’ll use the glue runner again to ad adhesive to the back of the mirror cardstock and then we’ll center it on the card base.
We’ll attach the die-cut sentiment over the focal point with liquid glue. Then we’ll trim the remaining sentiment and attach it below the die-cut one with foam tape.
Supplies for Fantastic Masculine Cards for Anniversaries
- Cardstock: Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Solar White: Tonic Studios Mirror Card Gold Pearl; Gina K Designs Black Onyx
- Stamp: Altenew Halftone Happy (no longer available)
- Ink: Altenew Crisp Dye Inks – Sea Breeze, Turquoise, Tidal Blue, Starlight, Midnight Violet , Deep Iris
- Die: Background – Altenew Radial Stars; Happy Sentiment – Altenew Happy Die
- Embossing Powder: Altenew Antique Gold Crisp
Fantastic Masculine Cards for Encouragement
This last card in this article is for the fishermen in our lives. It’s clean and simple and sure to bring a smile to our fisherman’s face.
The techniques we’re using are ink blending with ink and markers, stamping, and stenciling. Altenew’s Color Your Day online class provided inspiration for the card.
Stenciling and Ink Blending
Using the techniques mentioned above We’ll begin with stenciling tan ink onto a white piece of cardstock. Next, we’re going to blend four colors over the top of our stenciling. We’re doing this because we want the end result to appear as though it’s the side of a bass fish.
We start our ink blending with the tan ink which is the lightest color. Then we’ll add the lightest green making sure that we blend the two colors together. And we follow with the middle green and the darkest green.
Hint: To ensure that we have a good blend we’ll blend in reverse order so we’ll use the middle green to blend into the darkest green. Then we’ll blend the lightest green into the middle green. We’ll finish by blending the tan with the light green.
Hint: Initially our blending may appear blotchy light the card panel on the right side in the following photo. As the ink settles into the cardstock the colors will smooth out like the card panel on the left.
Fantastic Masculine Cards Encouragement Sentiments
Now we’ll just stamp our sentiment with multi-media ink onto white cardstock. Hint: We use multi-media ink to ensure that what is being stamped isn’t damaged by what we’ll color with.
Then we’ll add color with our markers in the same way we did when we were ink blending. We’ll begin by adding the darkest color on one end and then we’ll draw the color from it with the net lighter color.
We’ll use a nice crisp black pigment ink for the second portion of the sentiment. Hint: pigment ink takes a little longer to dry than dye ink does. When the sentiment is dry we’ll trim it to just larger than the sentiment.
Assembly
Trim the card panel to 3 3/4″ x 5″ and attach it centered on the card base with a glue runner. Next, we’ll glue on the “everything” sentiment with liquid glue. All that is left is to fasten the second part of the sentiment to the card. We’ll do so by adding a piece of foam tape to the back of the sentiment on either side of where it will sit over the “y”.
Fantastic Masculine Cards for Encouragement Supplies
- Cardstock: Card base – Kraft; Card panel – Neenah Classic Crest 80lb Solar White
- Stamp: Altenew Halftone Everything (no longer available)
- Stencil: Altenew Tiny Bubbles
- Ink: Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen, Sand Dunes; Pigment Ink – Altenew Obsidian
- Die: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1: Altenew Everything
- Alcohal Markers: Altenew Sand Dunes, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen
- Adhesives: Scrapbook.com Double-sided Adhesive Foam Sheet
Want More Ideas for Fantastic Masculine Cards?
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
ABOUT AUTHOR
Teri Duncan
Teri has over 30 years of experience as a cardmaker. Her work has appeared in Spellbinders Paper Arts’ blog as well as with some of their products and on Altenew’s blog. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, stained glass, and teaching. She and her husband live in Crystal River, Florida with their three dogs and a cat.
Get awesome card ideas, new releases, and the latest crafty sales in your inbox
1 thought on “How to make 4 Fantastic Masculine Cards”
These cards look fantastic, Teri! Thank you for taking time out and emailing the photos to me! You are a gem! I like the layouts and colours that you have used. Top job! Thank you for submitting your wonderful work to the AECP assignment gallery.
Comments are closed.