Cards for men are always challenging, especially for men in my family as I’ve made so many cards for them over the years it’s hard to come up with new ideas. I have to confess, this card for my hubby was born more out of wanting to play with unused supplies in my stash than being particularly relevant to him. Although he is very much a ‘Mr fix it’ so it is kind of appropriate. This is a rare venture into the realms of mixed media. If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll know that mixed media is not really my thing ( although I have tons of mixed media stuff in my stash) so I saw this an an opportunity to have a go. Now the real truth is, I had a good old play and then thought to myself, hmmm I need to make hubby’s birthday card, can I use some of the things I’ve made to make his card. Because many of the elements are quite dimensional I decided to make a box frame to stick onto the front of the card and make it look like a framed picture. I used one of the Spellbinders frame making dies.

One of my regular ladies always requests an extra special card for her mum’s birthday and usually wants lovely flowers. I Used the Tattered Lace Retail therapy Shop and florists die sets and the Retail therapy CDRom to create a cute pink and white flower shop. I enhanced the colours of the flowers with promarkers as the printed versions are quite dull dirty looking colours. I rarely make boxes for cads but this was an exception as it was so dimensional it was preferable to have a box to protect it.

I absolutely love the Spellbinders Flower dies especially the large die of the month January 2023 which I was lucky enough to pick up a preloved set on ebay. I’ve since managed to pick the Be Bold Blooms and Holiday blooms sets too which I think will work really well with these. I was playing with the dies using pictures from Pinterest as inspiration and decided to use the fruits of my labours to create two cards, one for my sister and one for my best friend.

My brother in law is a keen cyclist and so cycling has often featured on cards I’ve made him in the past. This year is no exception. I’ve made some ladies cards recently inspired by Jennifer McGuire using cut outs of the recipient’s name with floral elements showing behind the letters and thought I’d try a masculine twist on the same idea using various dies including; Card Making Magic Die Set Solid Alphabet Letter by Christina Griffiths various cogs and chain dies, Tattered lace sentiments 2014 dies, Card Making Magic relatives sentiment dies, Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder 664760 Typewriter by Tim Holtz. I’m really pleased with how this turned out and will definitely use this idea again in the future. To be effective, this works best with large sized letters which limits the amount you can fit on your card front. in this case my card base is A5 but for longer names I’ve folded the A4 card lengthways to allow more room.

A special friends special day deserves a special card to celebrate. The pop up box card is one of my most regularly requested cards. This one is themed around a favourite tipple enjoyed by the recipient. Glossy accents on the printed bottles and glasses adds that finishing touch.

A good friend of ours celebrated his 60th birthday recently. My Hubby asked me to make him a special card. It can be tricky with cards for men, I chose to include embellishments that reflected his job and his hobbies. I love this style of card, it looks great on the mantlepiece and is always well received. I used a number of different dies to create this including; Sue Wilson essentials dies set Tool box by Creative Expressions, Unbranded beer bottle and crate die set, Tattered Lace George’s wardrobe football kit dies, Quickutz 2″x2″ football dies, Joanna Sheen bowler die, Crealies Cardzz Large number dies, unbranded layered alphabet dies, Apple blossom drinks trolley bottle opener die, and finally Paper Boutique ‘Happy Birthday’ sentiment die. I highlighted some elements with glossy accents.

The beauty of having a handmade card is that it can be tailor made to suit unique individual occasions. In this case the recipient was celebrating his first birthday and his Christening on the same day. By adding personalisation, photographs and specific details, it becomes a unique keepsake of a very special day.

A special request from a friend for a Special Mum celebrating her 80th birthday. I love this style of card and it definitely steals centre stage on the mantlepiece. This huge Show Stopper double shutter 80th card (20cm x 80cm when fully opened out) was made using various dies including Sizzix layered rose die set, Sizzix Thinlits – Mixed Media #2 Die Set by Tim Holtz, Tattered Lace Hand Drawn alphabet dies, Carnation Crafts Not Just a Number Die Set, Bright Rosa sentiment dies from various sets, Tonic Studios Entangled Strip Die & Stamp Set – Missing you, Memory box heart flourish die and Hunkydory Moonstone sentiments dies.

Girlie themed Pop up 18th Birthday card Inspired by Sam Calcott. Mechanism made using a paper trimmer and score board rather than dies. Made to surprise super sliders collection shoes and handbags and make up die and stamp sets used for the pop up elements coloured with Tim Holtz distress oxide inks which were also used for the background. Bright Rosa Happy birthday sentiment dies used for the sentiment, Sizzix Originals Shadow box number dies and Crealies number dies and finally, unbranded shadow alphabet dies used for the personalisation. Follow this link for more views of this card.

It’s always hard when asked to make more than one card for the same recipient to be sent from various family members. Here are three I made for just such an occasion. I tried to make them different in respect of card design and also colour themes. They were an extra large rectangular pop up box card, a box easel card and a tuxedo card. For more views of these cards and details of the dies used just click on this link then click on the thumbnail picture you’re interested in.