Masculine Cards from DSP odds and ends

After organizing my Designer Series Paper (DSP) yesterday, my goal today was to make some masculine birthday cards.  I found a couple on Pinterest that I wanted to try. 

Rustic Argyle

The argyle print is from a color collection several years ago (probably longer than I think) and the banner is from a package of 'sweater' prints.  The embossed background card stock is some that my sister, Jane, embossed for me several years ago (again probably longer than I think).  A great way to expand your designs.  I asked Jane if she had some of the embossing folders that I would like to try and for those she did, I told her which colors I wanted done with which folder.  For the most part, I did a color collection per folder - like Regals with this folder.  So she took a sheet of card stock in each color in the Regals collection and cut it into 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 pieces and embossed them for me.  When she came to visit next, she had a shoebox full of embossed pieces.  I replaced the card stock from my supply at that time.  I still have about 3/4 of embossed pieces to use up!

Angled DSP

The angled strips interested me on this card design.   I have lots of strips in different widths and this would be a way to use up some.  At first, I tried to find strips that were all from the same DSP package so they would coordinate, or at least use common colors.  I soon decided that would make it too complicated and I would wind up with more scraps that I started if I cut from larger pieces of DSP.  So I just started grabbing strips and playing with them.  I like the graph paper as the background on this one. 

More angles

I came up with so many combination of strips that I made 6 more cards based on that design.  Not sure which one I like the best but the upper left corner really catches my eye.  I'll have to remember this design.  It could be used for ay theme depending on DSP used or colors.  I want to try it with baby prints for a New Baby card, or maybe some strips of birthday prints for a birthday card.  So many possibilities!

Snow Day Fun - my style

We got hit with about 7 inches of snow Friday night so Saturday was a snow day.  I don't care to play in the snow - plus I have been battling a persistent cough so didn't feel I needed to be outside anyway.  Thankful I did not have to go anywhere and could just spend the day in my jammies and binge on McLeod's Daughters on Amazon Prime.  But I did get quite a bit accomplished.

Our beautiful backyard

I organized my DSP.  I took all the partial sheets and cut them into sets of a 6 x 6 inch square for an envelope liner plus a piece to use on a card.  For those that were not large enough for the 6 x 6 square I cut a 3 x 6 strip to use to cover the envelope flap.  So now I have a big stack of DSP all ready to make cards with coordinated envelopes.  I also divided them into three categories - Flowers/Feminine; Basic/Masculine; Colorful/Juvenile.  Doesn't mean I would not use a Colorful piece for something other than Juvenile or a Basic (polka dots for example) for something other than Feminine. It just gives me a place to start if I am looking for something to make a particular card.
I also sorted the 12 x 12 sheets (and numerous unopened packages) into similar categories.   I had a few extra categories for those - single color, specialty papers, holiday papers, etc. 

One of the many piles of DSP.

 After lunch, Bekah and I worked together to get the Christmas tree down and everything boxed up.  Tom planned to shovel the driveway when he got home from work, but a couple young men came by about 30 minutes before I expected Tom home and gave me a decent price to clear the snow, so I hired them.  They were just finishing when Tom got home and he agreed it was worth the price.  So he helped me finish up the Christmas stuff instead, carrying the larger boxes to storage in the basement or garage, cleaning up the needles, and getting furniture put back in place.  It was nice to get that done - but my snowman decorations and snow village will stay out through February.

After supper, I found some time to make some cards.  I took some of the kits I had left from my last card workshop and used them to fill up my birthday and anniversary stash. I figured it was appropriate to use a few snowman kits to make some birthday cards. So I guess you could say I made a couple snowmen without getting in the snow.

Snowman Card Kit

To change this kit from a Christmas card to a birthday card, I just trimmed of the sentiment and then adjusted the blue card stock to match. 

Snowman Birthday Card

I plan to write Warm birthday wishes inside the card.   But on one of the card I forgot to trim the sentiment so had to do a little modification. So I turned the card horizontal and added the DSP at the bottom.

Snowman Modification

I could not get the snowman image off the darker blue card stock so I punched the circle through both layers, then mounted on a scalloped circle.  I added a little ribbon and voila!  I kind of like this card, especially since there is limited space to write inside (just the top half ) so it will be fine to just write Warm Birthday Wishes and sign our names.  

Gryffindor Quilt Square

Before going to bed, I pulled out the Gryffindor quilt square. Haven't done any cross-stitching for about a month!  I didn't get a lot done but it was good to at least do that.  

Today I am headed back to the craft room to make a few masculine birthday cards.  Seems like I am always running out of those.