Birthday Cards for Men

Many cardmakers find that making cards for men is more difficult than making "female" cards.  There are so many beautiful floral papers, lace trims and ribbons, fancy die cut shapes and other blingy things that appeal to women but don't really "work" for many men.

My husband has two brothers with January birthdays and the colors for their cards were inspired by the national-home-improvement-store-with-the-orange-logo gift cards that will be inside the cards (hint, hint...).  I  was feeling a bit lazy and a bit guilty about the number of Cricut cartridges I own that I haven't used so I went to the "Birthday Bash" cartridge to find a sentiment.

This is another one of the "cute" cartridges and it contains lots of whimsical animals celebrating birthdays.  I was just looking for a quick sentiment and settled on "Happy Happy Birthday" on page 41.

 I have taken to using the Cricut machines primarily for plug and play cutting of images - I rarely use any of the Cricut Design tools these days.  I have found that other software programs give me much more freedom to create what I want but if I just want to cut out something quickly, I can usually find a cut that will work in my (too large) collection of cartridges. 

This phrase was meant to be used on the flag so I had to think about the sizing.  I was making a regular A2 card so I used "fit to length" and set the dial for 4 1/4 inches.  I had to make it longer to compensate for the flag pole being part of the image on that key.  The machine calculated a size of 5 3/4 inches for the cut.

I cut two mat layers for the card.  The base layer is orange cardstock and the top layer is a lighter gray.  I recently bought this embossing folder with the hexagon pattern.  I thought it would be suitably "hardware-like" since the shapes reminded me of nuts and bolts.

Whenever you use an embossing folder, you "emboss" one side (raise up the pattern) and "deboss" the other (press the pattern down into the cardstock).  The look can be very different.  In this case the debossed side (on the left) looked more like hardware nuts to me so I chose to place that side up one the card.

One problem with the sentiment I chose was the lack of a shadow layer.  In the Silhouette software I can add a shadow or offset of any shape or group of shapes with a quick click.  Despite years of requests, this is not possible with the Cricut software.  If there is not a true shadow, you can cut the same image twice and glue the two cuts together slightly off center to give a "sun shadow" effect.

You can see the dark gray shadow layer on the orange word cuts here.  I wanted the card to be more rugged and grungy so I used some Pumice Stone Distress Ink to ink the sentiment edges and the embossed hexagon layer.

 Here is a closer view of the "shadow" layer and the inking.

I didn't want to pretty up the card with ribbon but I remembered that there was an interesting trim in my last Webster's Pages warehouse sale box (the one at the top of this card of trims).

I cut a short length of the trim to fit the card front and clipped one row to make a three row stripe.  This width fit in the hexagon pattern more neatly and odd numbers are always better, right?

I had saved the dot for the exclamation point but I decided to cut just one shiny "rivet" from the extra trim and use it to make a more noticeable dot.

I needed a pocket to hold the gift card inside so I cut a strip of the orange cardstock at 2 x 5 inches and punched one edge with a deep edge punch.

The punch I used is from the Martha Stewart line and it is called "Triple Chain."  I think it looks like a chain link fence.  I am not sure if this is in stores yet, I fell for the HSN sales pitch and bought it as part of a multi shipment plan (as if I needed any more punches...)!

I used Scor-Tape on the bottom and sides of the pocket to hold the card securely.  On the top edges of the punched area I used a glue pen to hold the corners flat.

I keep this cardboard credit card from a mailing on my craft island so it is handy to test sizing for any gift card holders I want to put inside my cards.

I inked up the edges of the pocket with the same Pumice Stone distress ink.

I don't usually make two of the same card but since the birthdays are less than a week apart and the same gift was going to be inside each card it seemed like a good plan to make duplicates.  One card has a little extra decoration inside to mark a "milestone" birthday.

I was motivated to try to use a Cricut cartridge that I hadn't tried before but, in hindsight, I think I might have preferred to make my own sentiment using a stencil font from my computer and cutting it with the Cameo to get a better match for the "look" of the national-home-improvement-store-with-the orange-logo...  yup, totally wishing I had done it that way now(!)

Do you find it difficult to make cards for men?  What are some of your tips and tricks for keeping the cards from getting too frilly?


Thank you all so much for the kind words and prayers for my Dad.  He has improved considerably and we are hoping for a full recovery.  Please be careful and try to avoid catching this flu.  There are a lot of people affected and the germs can last for more than a day on surfaces so be sure to wipe things down and use hand sanitizer!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.

Pumpkin Face Favor Bags

These bags were made using the Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations "In the Bag" die.  A few people asked about the size of the bag.  The finished size is 4 inches tall, 3 inches wide and about 3/4 inch thick (sides).

The dies is a "movers and shapers" base type of die so you could insert some of the small cuts in the tray to make openings in the bags.  I'll show some examples another time.

This is the flat cut produced by the die.  The die will work in the Cuttlebug but you will need the longer plates.  If you don't have them you can run it through and then shift the "B" cutting plates slightly to cover the last section and run the die through again.  The Sizzix regular cutting plates are the correct size to cover the entire die.

On of the things I like most about using this type of die is that it both cuts and scores the bag in one pass through the machine.  You can see all of the score lines in the photo above.

I added one of the leftover pumpkin face cuts from the candy or candle holder (see original post HERE) to the front of the bag.

The slightly ragged edge at the top of the bag is a nice detail.  I use Scor-Tape to hold these bags together.  You could use a fast drying liquid adhesive if you prefer.

When the bottom flaps of the bag are folded in, the tabs interlock and the bag should be secure.

This view down into the fully assembled bag shows the folds and interlocking tabs.  I like to reinforce the bottom if i am planning to add something heavy to the bags.

I saved the cardstock leftovers from the original cut.  The section on the right side will work to cut a strip to reinforce the bottom of the bag.

I cut the strip just under 3 inches wide and 1/2 inch tall.

I used two strips of 1/4 inch wide Scor-Tape.  I set it slightly in from the edges so I peeled off the protective backing on the first piece before adding the second strip. Then I simply stuck it to the bottom of the bag.

It helps to use the handles of your scissors or some other tool to push down from the inside of the bag and set the taped piece of cardstock.

Here is the reinforced bottom of the bag.  It is now quite sturdy and can hold lots of candy!

You can leave the bag plain or add a handle made of string, ribbon, twine, paper - whatever you like!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  For the rest of the month, everyone who leaves a comment on my blog will have a chance to win this Sizzix "Scrap Pink" set.  You can see more photos and details at THIS POST.  For more chances, you can leave a comment everyday for the rest of the month - but just one comment per day please.

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.

Pretty Little Favor Bag

I imagine my craft room might look a lot like some of yours (well, at least the more chaotic ones!).  I always seem to have extra bits and pieces from projects that I leave on my work area.  I try to organize them so I'll remember to use them.  Soon they are overflowing and you could do an archeological dig through the layers that accumulate on any horizontal surface to discover what I have been working on for the past few weeks (...or months).  I actually prefer having these things sitting around because I sometimes find interesting combinations that I my not have put together if everything was neatly tucked away.

When I was making the Hope card (see THIS POST if you missed it), I tried a few different versions of the size and layers for the word "Hope."  I couldn't let them go to waste, so I put the extras together and used one of them to decorate this tiny favor or gift bag.

I have lots of cartridges that will cut bags and I can easily design my own bags and boxes to cut with one of my electronic cutters but sometimes I do prefer to use a regular steel rule die - particularly if I need to make a large number of the same item.

I recently bought this Tim Holtz bag die from the Alterations line by Sizzix. 

The die makes a tiny shopping bag that is easy to assemble.  It looks very authentic when you use a piece of a larger paper bag and run it through a manual die cutting machine (or the Vagabond if you have one). 

I first saw this die at Absolutely Everything, when I took the classes with Tim Holtz last spring.  They had lots of sample bags made up and decorated.

The bags had a vintage look and were done in mostly browns and subdued colors.  Many of them were inked for grungy and distressed effects.

I decided to try making a totally "ungrungy" bag using a pretty pink cardstock from Martha Stewart and some ruffled ribbon from May Arts for the handle.  The "hope" sentiment that was the wrong size for my card would fit the bag perfectly.

To assemble the bag, you need to put adhesive on the long side flap.  I also added a bit of adhesive on the two short side bottom sections.

The bag is designed so the bottom flaps will interlock.  First you fold in the two side tabs...

...then you fold down the long "U" shaped section.  Scor-Tape is my favorite adhesive for holding bags and boxes together.

The last section folds and tucks under the "U" shaped piece and the points of the "U" shaped piece lock it into place.

Instead of stapling a string handle to the front and back of the bag, I add some Scor-Tape to the two narrow sides on the inside and then adhered the ribbon to the bag.

The Scor-Tape will hold the ribbon securely so long as nothing very heavy is added to the bag.

The two sided cardstock makes the bag look finished inside and out.

I glued my extra "Hope" cut to the front of the bag.  You could add some flowers or other embellishments to decorate the bag.

I simply placed a few pink pearls on the first letter and the final flourish to accent the word.

I think I am going to enjoy trying all sorts of different versions of this bag.  I'll tell you more about the pumpkin bag another day.

We had a very busy weekend so things are a little off schedule again - lots of irons in the fire these days!  I may be making another trip soon - somehow I think that craftroom is never going to get sorted out!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  For the rest of the month, everyone who leaves a comment on my blog will have a chance to win this Sizzix "Scrap Pink" set.  You can see more photos and details at THIS POST.  For more chances, you can leave a comment everyday for the rest of the month - but just one comment per day please.

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.