Back to Manly Cards

If you are anything like me you know it is extremely difficult to come up with ideas for cards that are more on the masculine side.  I do pretty well and usually make a few at a time but find that I run out of those faster than anything else.  So the other day I needed a card to mail to my father in law for his birthday.  I did have one ready for him but realized that it really depleted my man stash.  Of course that means it is time to start making a few of these again.

I decided to turn to some of the punch art I have come to love for inspiration.  I went with a character straight out of Looney Toons and I really hope you can identify who it is.  I learned to make this guy from the former punch queen Ellen Kemper.  I say former only because she is no longer punching right now and is not sure if she will ever go back to it.  I was truly sad to hear this.  She has been a real inspiration to me.  Anyway let's get on to my card shall we?!

Please tell me you recognize him?  Well if not, I will reveal his identity in a few minutes.  But first we must start as always at the beginning.  The base card for this one is a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" card made from Crumb Cake card stock.  It is scored at 4 1/4". Second, I added a layer of Night of Navy card stock measuring 4 1/8" x 5 3/8".  Next I added a layer of Whisper White which was cut to be 4" x 5 1/4".  I ran it through the big shot using the stripes impression folder and then sponged a little Crumb Cake ink onto the raised stripes so the white was not so bright.  All the layers are attached to the base using runner adhesive.

 

I wanted to put something in the background of the card and a cactus just seemed perfect.   This is so easy to make.  All you need is your large oval punch.  I used Always Artichoke card stock and punched several ovals.  I ran the ovals through the big shot using the perfect polka dots impression folder and then layered them together using liquid glue.  I attached it to the card with the same liquid glue.  For a nice highlighting touch, I added Always Artichoke ink to the dots using my Stampin' Up! marker of that color.  It just helped you to be able to see them better. 

 

For the greeting, I searched and searched through my stamps and could not find one that I wanted to use.  So I decided to create my own.  I used the set of alphabet letter stamps I bought years ago and stamped the individual letters using Night of Navy ink onto Whisper White card stock.  I punched these out using the circle from the itty bitty punch pack.  I then took a scrap of Night of Navy card stock and punched out 1/2" circles.  I layered these together using liquid glue and then attached them to the card using glue dots.  

 

Finally we come to the main character, Yosemite Sam.  Did you guess right?  Of course you did.  As I said I learned to make him from Ellen Kemper.  I will try to make this as easy as possible for you to understand so that you can make him yourself if you choose.  The colors of card stock I used are Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Basic Black, So Saffron, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Brushed Silver,  Night of Navy and the retired Blushing Bride.

Now I am going to link you to Ellen's blog but I will also list the stamps below.  Click here to visit her blog or you can follow the list of punches to make your own:

 

Hat - 2.5 inch circle trimmed

Head - black 1 inch circle

Eyebrows - narrow Heart to Heart (retired punch)

Eye - plus sign from the itty bitty punch pack - trimmed

Moustache - part of Full Heart

Nose - word window re-trimmed to make shorter

Ears - small Heart to Heart (retire punch) cut in half

Body - Full Heart  - trimmed

Arms - Wide oval offset from a wide oval hole

Hands - 1/2 circle at ends of modern label

Legs - 1 3/8 circle near 1 inch circle hole

belt - large oval near a large oval hole - trimmed

buckle - scrap of card stock

kerchief - standard hole punch (1/4" circle), small Heart to Heart (retired punch) cut in half

boots are the smallest Heart to Heart (retired punch) - trimmed

 

I used Ellen's list but made sure to indicate anything different that I used such as for the arms as well as indicated if a punch is now retired.  To add even more to him, you could make guns for him to hold.  I did not feel that I needed them for my card.

Well that's it for this week.  I want to wish all the veterans out there a very happy Veteran's Day.  Since Monday is a holiday, I will not be posting but I will be back on Tuesday!!  I hope you will stop by to see me then.  Have a terrific weekend everyone!!!