Cards for Men with papermilldirect

Hello and welcome to another blog post, this week the Team have been working on Cards for Men.  I think it can be harder to create cards with a masculine feel as we can't automatically add the pretties in the ways that we are used to.  This week I have been playing with silhouettes, creating a strong image with lots of contrast and getting back to a simpler cleaner overall look that I think will work well for the men in our lives.

Before I show you my designs this week, I must tell you about the new improved website over at Papermilldirect, not only improved navigation and filters to help you find what you are looking for, but the popular pick & mix boxes can now contain the Essentials as well as the Colours ranges, so you can pop in your whites, ivories and colours, whatever you wish into one box, and if going for the Mega Box you can now get up to 10 different picks!!  If you're popping over for a sneaky look then don't forget to check out the Special Offers too, as a new one has just been added today, it's a 300gsm White card at just £14 for a Midi Size box.

Okay back to the cards,the first one 'Just Relax' is the feature of a step-by-step Tutorial which you can find published over on the Papermilldirect Inspire Blog today (Click HERE for link).  I have included lots of step-by-step photos and also the link to my Design Space file if you wish to cut this one on your Cricut Explore.

Materials Used:
Link to Tutorial: https://www.papermilldirect.co.uk/inspire/post/just-relax-tutorial-to-make-a-male-themed-card-using-the-cricut-explore
Plain White, Black, Sky Blue, Daffodil Yellow cards - Papermilldirect
White Seal Embossed (Special Offer) - Papermilldirect
Double Sided Tape, Cosmic Shimmer Glue, 3D Foam Pads
Versamark Inkpad (optional)
Oakhouse Studio Stamps (optional)
http://www.oakhousestudio.com/ourshop/prod_3672656-Sunshine-sentiment-and-texture-set.html
Cricut Explore
Link to my Design Space File:  https://uk.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/27213517

My 2nd Card  has also been designed in Design Space software and cut on the Cricut Explore. I quite like the look of silhouette’s to give a strong image and contrast, especially for Male themed Cards. This design could be used for all sorts of occasions, or just to say ‘Hello’. It features a man on the telephone and I thought it would be fun to add a speech bubble and the sentiment of ‘hello’. I have used black and white for contrast but also thought the Ivory linen would provide an interesting textured background and along with the Sky Blue Card, it also gives a slightly retro feel.

I created a 5 ¾ x 5 ¾ “square card blank by scoring & folding PMD A4 Plain White card. Matting a square of Ivory linen onto a slightly larger square of black cardstock and then adhering to the card front with double sided tape. The layered sentiment has been assembled using cosmic shimmer glue and attached directly to the card at the top right hand side. The layered silhouette has also been assembled using cosmic shimmer glue but attached to the card front using 3D foam pads to give extra height and interest to the design. I think these would make great notecards in sets with a variety of different colour cardstocks from the PMD Colours range to contrast with the black.

Materials List:
Plain White, Black, Sky Blue, and Ivory Linen card - Papermilldirect
Double Sided Tape, Cosmic Shimmer Glue, and 3D Foam Pads
Tools Used:
Cricut Explore & Design Space software
Free and Subscription images

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 

• Barbara 
• Lisa 
• Ruth 
• Sylvia 
• Sandie
• Craig 
• Papermilldirect Inspire Blog