For the Guys - AECP Journey

Today I am back with a new card on my AECP journey and this time we are focusing on the guys!  We all know how hard it is to make cards for guys, bc let's face it...they just aren't as into all the flowers that you normally see.  But with that being said, there are still sooo many options when creating for the men.  During this course I learned lots of new ideas and techniques, some of which I'm most definitely going to give a try and I'm sure I will keep referring back to this course for future inspiration.  One of the classes was all about geometric shapes, so this is what I decided to concentrate on for this card.  Cubes are most definitely geometric and especially when they look 3-D!

 

From the moment I got this stencil, I was itching to use it and what better opportunity than to make a more masculine card.  So for this card I got out the Cube Builder stencil and got creative!  To start I cut a piece of Neenah classic crest solar white cardstock to 5.5" x 8.5" so it was big enough to fit the whole stencil on it and then after I would trim it down to proper size needed for my card front. I then adhered my stencil to the cardstock and started to blend Dark Night ink using my blending brushes. Once I was happy and had a nice full and even coverage, I placed the stencil for the lighter colour. For this I smooshed some Ocean Waves ink on my craft mat and mixed it with some Opaque Matte Texture Paste to give this some cool texture and interest, instead of just using inks alone.  I ended up adding a bit of the dark night to it because it was ending up just a bit too light for what I was hoping to achieve.  

Once it was fairly evenly applied and I was happy with it, I removed the stencil and set it aside to dry.  You have to make sure you clean off your stencil, applicator tools and work surface as soon as possible, as the texture paste dries quickly and it will be very hard to clean if left for too long.  For the sentiment I chose one from the Birthday Builder set from Altenew.  This stamp set is perfect for birthday sentiments.  There are so many different scripts to pick from, that you are sure to find one you like. I stamped this using the same dark night ink, so it would co-ordinate withe the other colours.  I then trimmed that down, cut it on a bit of an angle and adhered it with a bit of foam tape....to pop it up a bit.  Now I could have just left the card as is, but I wanted to add a bit more to it, so I added a few clear droplets to it for a bit of bling, but without the sparkle.

The texture on this is so hard to see in photos, but I've tried my best to show you.  I love the added dimension that the paste adds to it! It would have been amazing using only inks, but I think that texture paste just brings it up a notch!  This card could most definitely be for guys or girls and there are so many colour combinations to explore!  And seriously...how cool does this 3D card look!  I actually did a happy dance and got all giddy when I removed the stencil and saw how amazing it looked!  It's definitely the little things!

 

 

I hope you like my card for today...I know I sure do!  I learned that although it may a bit harder when creating for guys, the possibilities are endless.  Sometimes you just have to think outside the box and just have fun!  I hope you will take some time out for yourself and get creative, no matter what it may be.

Thank you for spending some time with me today and I'd love to hear what you think down in the comments!  Have yourself a fantastic and creative day 😊

Supplies used:

Altenew Cube Builder stencil

Altenew Birthday Builder stamp set

Altenew Cool Summer Nights mini ink cubes

Taylored Expressions blending brushes

Neenah Classic Crest 80LB Smooth Solar White cardstock

Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Matte

 Palette Knife

Pretty Pink Posh 6mm Clear Droplets

3M Scotch Double Sided Foam Tape