Class in the Post

 Had another class in the post this week from Jenny (Stamping Moments) - take a look if you want to see all of the projects she sent.  I'm sharing just one of the cards with you and I have added some of my own DSP so that it could be made into a larger card.  I'm sure you probably know that there is a new Stampin' Up catalogue around and the Pansy set is just one of the lovely new items which have appeared. As usual there are stamps and dies available as well as the designer papers to match and the pansies on this card were die cut from just one of the papers.

Background paper - from a Capsule Collection by Papermania from some time ago
Remaining elements - from the Class in the Post kit, Stampin' Up.

Sail Away

 Definitely not pleasant sailing weather today as it is very grey and raining steadily here but I do have another card to share which is probably more orientated towards the masculine. I started with a partial sheet of DSP with some text on it and cut a large piece for the background before deciding to use the remainder for the rest of the elements.  The background was stencilled randomly for a bit of extra interest and then I stamped the panel with the numbers, trimmed to size and inked the edges.  The sailing boat was stamped  and embossed onto another scrap and die cut using an  oval die, again inking the edges.  Finally stamped the sentiment on a really small scrap.  Two wavy strips were die cut from a scrap of black card to add a bit of contrast to the browns and creams.

Designer Paper - from a Prima Scrips pad which I've had for ages
Number Panel - Stamp from Phill Martin (magazine freebie)
Sentiment - Another freebie from a different Phill Martin magazine
Stencil - Creative Expressions from way back
Image - Sail Away stamp from Stampin' Up (long discontinued)
Wavy Borders - Border die set from Daisy Mae

Clean and Simple

 I've not given up on the idea of making masculine cards but yesterday I became side-tracked and came up with a fairly clean and simple floral card.  This one is a DL card and I've used a texture stamp to add three panels before over stamping with a floral silhouette in black.  A little stitched banner for the greeting and there we have it - a clean and simple result.

Textured Areas - stamp from free set with magazine (Phill Martin)
Flowers - stamp from the same set of freebies
Banner - from a Daisy Mae border set of dies, greeting stamp from Stampin' Up

Cards for Men

 I wonder why so many of us find it difficult to make cards for men, especially if they aren't particularly into football or drinking!!  I'm quite sure there are far more stamps, dies and the like out there for cards which are definitely feminine but luckily there are some items around which we can use for more general masculine styled cards (without a football or glass of beer in sight)..  I do realise that I make far fewer for men than for women but I am trying to balance things out a bit.  This is one such card which I made a while ago.  I started with a piece of design paper with light script on it and added some random stencilled circles.  The image was stamped and heat embossed onto another scrap of the text paper and layered with a darker rectangle.  Scrabbled through the scrap boxes and came up with a die cut cog and a piece of inky, dry embossed card with a sort of industrial/metallic finish.  Assembled everything and added a little banner sentiment.

Image - from a retired Stampin' Up set Feeling Sentimental
Cog - Sizzix die
Embossed strip - Cuttlebug embossing folder I think but not a recent purchase
Text Paper - Prima
Stencil - from All & Create