Today we are going to discuss masculine color palettes. When you think masculine, I am guessing that blue is the first color that comes to mind. Nothing says man or boy like the color blue. It instantly lends a masculine feel to the mood of your project.

Here is a layout I did for my husband to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. The navy, red, and yellow color scheme is very masculine and an easy color combination to put together.

Supplies:

• DesignBlock Reverse Leaf Pattern
• Circle Graphics
• Decorative Bamboo
• Happily Ever After
• Sparkle Gems Hearts
• Memories Ink Pad - White
• Memories Ink Pad - Cherry Red
• Colorbox Chalk Queue - Misty Meadow
• Medium Accent Pearl

Below, I’ve also linked several great cards and layouts at Hero Arts where blue takes center stage and the results are terrific masculine designs:

There are a lot of fantastic color schemes that say MANLY and not all of them need to include the traditional color of royal blue. Today I want to show you 3 different projects… all of which use masculine color combinations in terrific ways.

For my project today, I created a card that does not include the traditional color of royal blue – just to show you that it can be done and still look masculine in nature, I played with a soft blueish-green color along with browns and oranges. The specific colors I implemented are: cantelope, teal green, kraft and rust. These colors work together because they give the card contrast and visual impact while remaining earthy and gender neutral.

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Asian Elements
• Long Branch
• Sparkle Clear: Just Wanted
• DesignBlock Floating Leaf Pattern
• Memories Ink Pad: Artprint Brown
• Kraft notecards
• Fall Mixed Notecards
• Assorted Clear Circle
• Antique Round Standard Fastener
• Other: antique brown buttons, twine, patterned paper.

Next up we have two wonderful guest artists!

Sande Krieger is an accomplished artist in the scrapbooking industry. She designs digital kits and pages for Two Peas in a Bucket, works on the Scrapbooks Etc Creative Team and designs crafting products for 7 Gypsies. Sande has 3 sons ranging from 14-20 years of age… so she knows a lot about boys!

Here is what Sande had to say about her card, and crafting in general: “I made this card for my son’s 15th birthday. I wanted to use some orange (his favorite color right now) and other fall colors since his birthday is in October. My boys love it when I make stuff for them - they see me creating all the time for others and so it makes them feel special when I do something for them. My husband has kept every card I’ve ever made him! Isn’t that sweet? I don’t think you can go wrong using nature stamps on cards or layouts for boys.”

Supplies:

• Enjoy Your Birthday
• Scroll Tree
• Fall Mixed Notecards

Kelli Crowe is well known for her whimsical and experimental designs. Kelli has been featured in several magazine and idea book publications. Like Sande, she is also the mom of 3 boys. Her children are a younger set (age: 11, 10, and 6) and her layouts and cards reflect their fun personalities and boyish charm. Kelli says: “I get most of my color combination and paper piecing ideas from kids’ clothing catalogues. The You Rock Guitar card is based on a sweatshirt from the pages of Mini Boden. Also, using shades of gray and black when I stamp can really make most any stamp image look masculine. I just add a few staples, inked edges and string and then I have a great masculine look (says a girl wearing 2 shades of pink at the moment).”

Supplies for Play Hard GuitarCard:

• Smile Play Love
• Memories Black Inkpad
• Black gemstones
• Other: Ribbons, patterned paper, silver cardstock, needle, black thread, black stamp pad, journaling pen

Supplies for Play Hard Skateboard Card:

• It’s Your Day

• Smile Play Love
• Kraft notecard
• Brown Ink
• Other: Clear Resist pad, patterned paper, staples, water colors, journaling pen, scissors

Supplies for You are NUTS Card:

• It’s Your Day
• Other: String, ribbon, journaling pen, silver packing envelope

Now… just for fun I thought I would share some other color combinations that would work well on male cards and projects.

Also, a little splash of pink is more than okay when it is counter-balanced with masculine details… remember – real men aren’t afraid to wear pink… or at least that is what my husband says!

Now… who wants to enter a fun give away? We have this great, geometric stamp set along with Green notecards and a versatile ink queue to share with you!

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post (you have until Tuesday, October 7th/08 at 11:59pm PST) — tell me the name of your favorite member of the ‘male species’ and why they are special to you. I’ll announce our three random winners on Wednesday, October 8th.

UPDATED: Thanks for all that entered. We have a winner and the contest is now closed.

Good luck!

Filed under: masculine

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 5:03 am and is filed under Take Two Tuesdays. 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.