I think I'm in a pretty small camp of stampers who actually enjoy the challenge of making a masculine card. A simple background of punched squares, a bold sentiment and an accent of silver brads presents a crisp geometry, perfect for my husband this Father's Day! TIP: Want your ink to really grab on solid stamps? I use one of Stampin' Up!'s Sanding Blocks to gently "rough up" the solid area of the rubber. Clean off any residue and be ready experience a nice improvement when you stamp. The sentiment is adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals to Basic Gray card stock (one of my faves) and followed by Basic Black. Using a Stampin' Up! 1 1/4" Square Punch, I zipped out a modern mosaic in Basic Gray and Very Vanilla. TIP: My inspiration often comes from fashion catalogs. A Garnet Hill catalog arrived today and I was immediately inspired by the colors and floor pattern of one of the ads (photo below). Each square was adhered to a 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" card base in Basic Black. Three Silver Brads jazz up the corner. TIP: I like to keep embellishments to a minimum on masculine cards.
The cool block sentiment is from All Holidays, a versatile occasions stamp set. I inked it with Jet Black Stazon and stamped on Very Vanilla.
COMING UP: AUTUMN DAYS SNEAK PEEK
Here it is, 10 yrs after the original post and I’m just seeing this for the first time. It is so striking! I’m normally a bright color person, but I had to do this one and put it in my “masculine card” stash! Thanks, Mary!
I’m glad it still inspires creativity after a decade, Cathy. Thank you!
Well- just got done reading all about Mary Fish’s very special unique cool cards in the SU! news- WOW- I can’t believe how fast you bloomed- I knew you were awesome when we first met in blog land a couple of years ago- CONGRATS!
Yeah, I hate making guy cards, but yours turned out fab! LOVE this LO and color scheme!
Mary!!! This rocks! Great Manly card, who wouldn’t love it!
As always, awesome card, but this one is over the top! Love your inspiration, and photographed together with your card so well!
Hey, also wanted to give you a little shout out for your feature in the July SS–yeah for you!!
I love this card, Mary. The lines are so simple and elegant and I love the colors. Truly a Mary card! Simply beautiful.
Beautiful as always! I love it! The colors and blocks very nice touch and thanks for the sanding tip. I always have trouble with solid stamps.
Jeanette
Wow! This is an awesome card!
Gorgeous card! Love the vanilla – I would have only thought to use white!
Love it Mary, clean simple and just plain classy. and i can pull it off for father;s day!!
Graphically stunning – perfectly aligned! Love it.
Mary, i love this card! I have such a problem lining up with squares or with cut rectangles. I guess more practice. My dd went to UW Madison and got a BS in Fashion Apparel & Textile Design and then at Tech. Degree from the Fashion Institute in NY. She is working for a company called “Coach” they make handbags and lots of accessories. As you can tell i’m proud of her. You do the same thing she used to have to do for her portfolio. Find pics in magazines that inspired her for texture, color, pattern. You bring back a lot of memories of cutting pics out, lol I miss those days, but she’s happy and loving Manhattan. Thanks for sharing your ideas and your lovely artwork. Cheryl from 60 miles north of Green Bay, not Too far from you 🙂
Love the clean lines of this one! Great choice for fathers day!
You had me at “crisp Geometry”! You know the Math major in me is so pleased with designs like this! I really like this and I’m sure your hubby will too! Hope you all enjoy Father’s Day together!
very striking! I know what you mean about masculine cards. I naturally turn towards more muted colors anyway. The challenge for me are those fru-fru girly cards, lol!
~*SIMPLY STUNNING!*~
I Love, Love, Love this card Mary!
Thank you for providing the measurements & how-to deets.
Reminds me of Piet Mondrian’s art,without the colour. I’ll definitely be playing with this idea. 🙂
I enjoyed the article about you and your art in the July SS today. Glad you got the recognition. 🙂