Hey, Miles! You're 40!

My best friend's husband is turning 40 (yes, she married a younger man!) and she's throwing him a big party this weekend. Guy cards can be difficult to pull off, I generally rely on patterned paper and a sentiment of some sort. Truth be told, do the guys really care that it's handmade? Probably not. But I know my friend does, after all she was the one who introduced me years ago to Stampin' Up!

Anyway, this new layout I found over on the PaperCrafts website a few weeks back has quickly become a new old standby. It has so many looks depending on how you put it together.

For this card I dug out the retired paper from SU! called Treehouse. I had 2 full sheets of this number pattern paper. I thought it would be a perfect paper for a guy 40th card. Even though it was designed to go with last years In Colors, I found that I really like the contrast of River Rock over any of the other colors I have in my stock. I added the reverse of one of the other patterns for the cranberry layer and stamped the fleur de lis from Carte Postale in Versamark. This adds a subtle stamped image to the card. I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Sepia, distressed the panel, and adhered it to the card with dimensionals. You can't go wrong with metal on a guy card! I used the big new metal eyelets and a picture hanger, hanger part removed, for a metal tab that looks very much like a folded word window punch. A snippet of ribbon and a couple of stitches near the bottom and this card is ready to go to a party!

In the picture you can see a small pocket on the inside of the card. We will be giving him a gift certificate to his favorite local sushi house, so the card will slip into that pocket. All I did was make the card 5" x 11", score it at 5" and 10", and adhere the little pocket with red line tape.
Finished card is 5" x 5."

So the next time you are guy card challenged, have a look at all the wonderful masculine papers that are out there and build your card around them. Instead of relying on the leaves, trees, and such images.

V.~

Supplies: SU! Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Ink: Versafine Sepia, Paper: River Rock, True Thyme, Treehouse patterned paper, Accessories: Large metallic eyelets, Picture hanger from Hardly Hardware, thyme stitched ribbon, Linen thread, Dimensionals