Dannie's Designs

Masculine Cards

Alright ladies, are you ready to talk about men?  Not in a bad way.  I'm talking about masculine cards.  When I asked for ideas of what you'd like to see posted on my blog, lots of you requested tips on masculine cards.  I don't claim to be an expert on this subject at all, but I got some great input from several men who know I stamp and who have received hand stamped cards from me.  Their answers may surprise you.

Color
All of the men I talked to agreed that they prefer darker colors over pastel colors.  Of course I had to ask...what about using pink on a card?  They said it's okay to use pink on a card so long as it's not pastel pink.  Make it a darker shade of pink.  Stick with dark, rich tones and you should be fine. 

Theme
Most women tend to think of sports, hunting, outdoors, tools, and cars when it comes to men.  You need to remember that not all men are into those things.  All of the men agreed that if they're not into football, giving them a card with footballs on it isn't such a good idea.  Just because they're a guy doesn't mean they like sports. 

So what stamps should you use?  Try to use stamps that focus on something they like or something they do for a living.  Men tend to pride themselves on what they do for a living.  That's how they provide for their loved ones.  If you can, make a card using what he does for a living as a theme.  If he's a firefighter, a fire truck would be perfect. 

If you're not sure what he likes, you can make a generic card where the designer series paper or background stamp is the main design and the sentiment is the only stamped image.  Click here and here to see two different examples.

Accessories
All of the men like brads (I had to chuckle because ALL of them called them grommets) and other metal accents on cards. 

• Ribbon--it's fine to wrap ribbon around a card and tie it in a bow....just don't make it too frilly.
• Flowers--I asked the men if it was alright to use a flower stamp set or glue some flowers on a masculine card.  They all agreed that if the card is being given to them by their sweetheart, then a few flowers are just fine.
• Lace--I quote, "only put lace on a card if it's naughty!"  Click here to see an example.
• Sewing--they all said it was fine.
• Glitter--not so much.  Glitter tends to flake off and most men don't want to go around wearing glitter.  He'll never live it down.  Maybe you could get away with it if you use some glittery embossing powder so it's permanent and doesn't come off.  However, your best bet is to not use it.

You can click here to see all of the cards I've made and labeled as masculine.  As I said before, I'm not claiming to be an expert on this subject at all.  Keep in mind that the opinions I've shared came from a few men in my life.  This doesn't mean that the men in your life will feel the same way.

Now I need your help.  Ask the men in your life for their opinions about masculine cards.  What do they like?  What don't they like?  What type of stamp sets do they prefer to see?  What accessories are fine to use?  Then come back here and leave a comment telling us what they say.  There are many of us who struggle with this subject and so the more feedback we get the better.  I'm looking forward to hearing what they say.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Mini Milk Carton Holder Tutorial

Last week I showed you this project on my blog.

Are you ready for the pattern and tutorial?  First, click here to download the pattern.  If you're having trouble opening the pattern, RIGHT click on the link and  then click on "save file as."  Once you've saved the file to your computer, you should be able to open it up without any problems.

Step 1:  Cut and score your cardstock according to the directions on the pattern. 

Stamping Tip:  You'll notice that my pattern directs you to cut out little triangles.  You need to cut a straight line on the score line and then cut the triangle portion out of the little tab.  Cutting the triangles out helps the box go together a little better. 

Have you ever put together a 3-D item and had the little tab stick out over the top of the side of your box like this?

You can click on the photo for a larger picture.  Cutting out little triangles will help eliminate this problem.

Step 2: Add sticky strip to the bottom of the box as shown in the photo below.

Remove the sticky strip backing and fold it into a box.

Step 3: Fold the handle portion of the box as shown in the photo below.

Step 4: Add six pieces of sticky strip along the edges of the cardstock as shown in the photo below.  The pieces of sticky strip do NOT go across any score lines.  Do NOT make it one continuous piece of sticky strip down the left side of the handle.  It makes it so much easier to put together.

Step 5:  Remove the backing off the two longest pieces of sticky strip and adhere the handle together like this.

Step 6:  Using the small oval punch, punch out an oval from a scratch piece of paper.  Add adhesive to the back and adhere it to the cardstock where you'd like the handle to be.

Step 7:  Line up the punched out oval inside of the oval punch and punch the oval through the cardstock.

Step 8:  Remove the four pieces of stick strip off the bottom of the handle and adhere it inside the box bottom.

Step 9:  Embellish as desired and add two mini milk cartons.

If you make one of these mini milk carton holders, I'd love to see it.  Leave a comment on this post with a link to your creation so we can all take a peek.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamping Tip: Organizing 12 x 12 Cardstock

About three posts back on my blog I shared some photos of how I store my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  I asked if there was anything else you'd like to see and many of you asked how I stored my 12 x 12 cardstock.  I aim to please so I have some photos of my 12 x 12 storage.

I don't use anything fancy, just these little cube wire racks that you can find in lots of different stores.  There are more cubes to the left of this photo, but with the way my stamp room is set up I couldn't get a picture of all of it.

Here's a closer look at just one of the cubes.  You can see the blue and red circles that hold the wire cube together.  I didn't want to stack my cardstock too high so I added shelves in the middle of the cube.  This one has two shelves, but you can add as many as you like.  What did I make the shelves out of?  They're simply the wire grates that make up the cubes!  You can see it a little better in the photo below.

Remember, you can click on these photos to enlarge them to get a better view.  I used cable ties to hold the "shelves" in place (you can buy these in most store too).  The cable ties are the long white things you see sticking out in every direction.  If I weren't lazy I would go back and trim them off so it's not so messy looking, but I just don't feel like doing it.  How's that for honesty?

Each of these shelves is holding a lot of cardstock and it's rather heavy so I used three cable ties down the left and right side of the shelf (six total).  I didn't add any cable ties to the back side of the cubes.  The side ties hold it just fine.

I have other cubes that have four shelves in them and they hold my 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper.  Since these shelves don't hold as much and don't weigh as much, I only have two cable ties on each side (four total) holding the shelf up. 

That's it!  If you have any questions or need more clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.  Also, if you'd like me to share more tips on organizing your stamping supplies just let me know.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamping Tip: Organizing Cardstock

Thank you all for your sweet comments and emails on my last post.  I have the most incredible group of blog readers.  You guys truly brighten my day.

I told you I'd be back with some stamped projects, but I haven't been stamping.  Instead I've been organizing my stamp room.  I've been pulling all of the retired colors of cardstock, ribbon, stamp pads, etc. to make room for all of the new colors.  I know that many stampers are looking for tips and ideas on how to organize their supplies, so I thought I'd show you how I organize my cardstock.

First let me say that I got this idea from my upline Blythe.  I went to my local office supply store and bought one of these paper/cardstock organizers.

You can buy them in several different sizes.  Mine has three columns with 12 slots in each column.  Each of the new Stampin' Up! color groups has ten colors in them, so I've dedicated five slots to each color group.  In this photo the top five slots on the left are from the neutrals collection, the top five slots in the middle are from the subtles collection, and the top five slots on the right are from the brights collection.  The regals collection, in colors, and other cardstock are down below those.

As you can see in this close up photo, I store two colors  in each slot.  I pick two colors that look nothing alike and put them in the same slot.  That way I don't get them mixed up.  Do NOT put colors like Pink Pirouette and Pretty in Pink together.  They're so similar that you won't be able to tell them apart.

Yes, I have lots of cardstock!  That's just what works for me.  I usually have one opened pack of cardstock that I'm working on and another unopened pack.  I don't ever want to run out of cardstock.  I store my loose sheets of cardstock on top and the unopened pack on the bottom.  As soon as I open up a full pack of cardstock, I order another one. 

What do I do with my cardstock scraps?  I store them in the same slot with the full sheets of cardstock.  Look at the photo above (you can click on it to blow it up bigger) and you'll see the cello bags of scraps sitting on top of all of the cardstock.

These bags are the cello bags that Stampin' Up! demonstrators can order on a supply order.  I put a label on the bag with the names of the two colors of cardstock that are inside.  Any piece of cardstock that is smaller than a full sheet goes inside here.  Whenever I'm stamping a card, I always go to my scrap bag first and see if I have a scrap that I can use before I cut a full sheet.  I have saved dozens of pieces of cardstock by using my scraps first.  I also always use my scraps whenever I use my punches. 

Did you find that useful?  Do you have any questions?  Do you want tips on how to organize any other stamping supplies?  Then leave me a comment and I'll answer your questions and share more photos.  Thanks so much for stopping by!