This week is going to be fun!

We have heard your outcries for more masculine design ideas and this is the week you are going to get them! We are hosting a full week of masculinity – from boyish charm to rough and tumble to clean cut and stylish. It is going to a week that is chock full of hunky cards and scrapbooking inspiration and I am hoping you will go away from this week with a plethora of new ideas to create for the special men and boys in your life. Lets get started!

Today I wanted to concentrate on Masculine prints and patterns. Lets get familiar with our stamps and patterned papers that can add wow to your page but remain masculine in look and feel. Patterns that work best on masculine designs include: dots, stripes, paisleys, leafy designs, harlequin and diamond patterns, stars and plaids. Adding these to a card made for a man add aesthetics to your project but steers clear of femininity.

Below is a card I made for today. Here I pulled together some of my favourite patterns to create a simple but very manly and mature design. I used a star pattern, dots, paisleys and a leafy design to execute a special card for my husband.

Card by Leslie Lightfoot

• Supplies:
  DesignBlock Reversed Leaf Pattern
  Sparkle Clear: S
  Clear Design: Robot
  Card Buttons Clear
  Card Buttons Summer
  Memories Ink Pad: Artprint Brown
  Memories Ink Pad: Baby Blue
  Assorted Clear Circles
• Other: twine, patterned paper, circle punches, embroidery floss.

Check out this amazing card by Shari Carroll. It is beautiful! I love how she created her own decorative patterned paper with her star and paisley pattern stamps. Men love earthy colors like the green, blue and brown she used here. Shari took inspiration from Jennifer’s dainty card here, I love seeing both a feminine and masculine take on the same sketch.

Card by Shari Carroll.

• Supplies:
  Small Paisley Designs
  Green Notecards
  Card Buttons Neutral
  Chalk Ink Queue Fall
• Other: patterned papers, corrugated pape, Distress Ink, sewing machine and thread

For those of you looking for cards with a more masculine flair to them, check out the links below for some of our Hero Arts stamps that will work wonderfully on your next projects:

…and many more!

Now for this week’s challenge: using at least one Hero Arts stamp, create something for that special male in your life! It can be a card, tag, project or layout. Please submit it to the Hero Arts Flickr Group Photo Pool by Sunday, October 12th at 11:59 PM PST. Tag your project with the code word “masculine”. Be creative and I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Don’t forget… if you use a stamp from the 2008 Winter Catalog, you can also submit it for the current “Win A Day” contest! Just add a second tag “winter2008″. Click on the link by the Santa Owl over there in the sidebar for full details.

Here are the prizes for this weeks contest:
• 1st place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog
• 2nd place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog
• 3rd place: $10 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog

Be sure to check back daily for more great information on creating masculine cards and crafts, as well as some great giveaways throughout the week!

Filed under: masculine

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Motivation Mondays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.