Masculine Birthday Card Using Christmas Stamps

Some days I randomly reach into my stash of stamps and pull out a set without knowing which one I will get. Such was the case today with this set from Stampin’ Up! It's simply called Christmas Season. 

However, I didn’t really feel like making a Christmas card just yet. It’s still mid October and I want to enjoy the autumn before it quickly passes. Creating a masculine card came to my mind. I don’t have many masculine stamps, so I thought why not try to create a guy card with this set.

I chose a slimline card, and stamped the pine branches in the background. I only used one color ink, but stamped twice, so that some of the images are lighter and color. Next, I stamped the pinecones, and fussy cut them out. Then to add a little more interest, I chose to use the berries from this set. Since I didn’t want it to look Christmas-y at all, I chose to use a dark yellow for the berries rather than red. Lastly, I finished it off with a jute bow in the coordinating green.

I really love fussy cutting, especially if I have just a few
pieces to cut.

As for the sentiment, I originally had made one by embossing a light color embossing powder on a dark green background. I did not like that look because the embossing powder was too shiny. It seemed to take away from the overall rustic look of this card. So I went with the same ink and paper that I used for the background. Sometimes less, or ordinary, is best!

Even though the embossing powder was off-white, it still 
seemed too bright for this project.

Even if you don’t have this set at home, you can still think about some of the other Christmas rubber stamp sets that you may have. Pinecones are absolutely perfect for guy cards. Even berries, when done in a darker color can add a lot.

Here’s my complete supply list:

• Stampin’ Up! Christmas Season Stamp Set
• SU! Crumb Cake Card Stock
• Memento Toffee Crunch Ink
• SU! Baked Brown Sugar Ink
• SU! Shaded Spruce Ink
• SU! Soft Suede Ink
• SU! Delightful Dijob Ink
• Misc. Jute Twine
• Tim Holtz Sentiment

I feel like I was able to get a little extra mileage from this stamp set by making this card. Plus, I have a guy card that I can now send. It seems I never have enough of those!

And it you do have this set, I found it difficult to line up the berries with the coordinating branch, but here's a tip that I just discovered: stamp the berries first, then the branches are easier to see.

Doing this seemed backwards to me, but it really made 
a difference.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful day!