My brother Pete has a birthday this month. He is the youngest of the four of us (I’m the oldest, then three boys) and lives in California. When I sat down today to make his card I thought about what to focus it around. It’s spring, that’s always an option but tricky for a guy. It is being mailed to California so it has to be standard size and thickness so as to not be in danger of being destroyed on the way to him. Then I realized that Pete is an avid woodworker, taking classes in his spare time and now able to design and create beautiful pieces of furniture. I also just happened to have received the Hardwood background stamp this week. I started with that and a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and this is what I came up with. 
This is the sketch that inspired me
About my card
1.Don’t be afraid to stamp on printed paper. While the base is Smoky Slate, which can certainly be a manly color, I also used accents of Basic Grey. But the texture comes from the the hardwood stamp in the background and the use of the neutral color collection DSP paper stack.
2. Don’t be afraid to use pastels for men. Because of his wood working hobby, I wanted to use a tree as the focal point. And,it is spring after all so I used lighter shades to highlight the tree. Had his birthday been in the fall I would have used totally different colors. I also added the candy dots in the same colors to give more depth and interest.
3. Don’t be afraid to add ribbon for men. Even though the sketch calls for a band or ribbon at the bottom, I wasn’t at first going to add that. Then I took a trip to my ribbon drawer and realized I had a nice piece of retired 1 1/4″ Basic Grey Ribbon that I purchased through a Brian King Ribbon Share. That addition of the ribbon at the bottom, I think, made all the difference. That wide, dark grey ribbon added masculine look needed to offset the pastels above.
Thank you all for stopping by today. If you would like to purchase any of the products I used in my project today, just click on any of the pictures below to be taken directly to my on line Stampin Up store.
Lynn
What I used
I just love it. It is so versatile
Would have never thought of doing something like this…really like it.
It looks very nice. I’m sure your bother will love it.
What a great idea! I love the candy dots in the tree, and I’ve just started going out of my box and stamping on dsp. Give it a whole new look! Great card! Happy birthday to your brother and I’m sure he will love the card! 🙂
Thanks Bobbi. It took me a while to realize that I could stamp on DSP and it wasn’t just for background anymore. Same stuff in new ways. What could be better.
L.
Love the added colors! Pretty card!
What a beautiful card!! Beautiful colors and i love the dots!! Thank you for joining us at FMS!!
Oh my gosh, Lynn. This just couldn’t be any better. It is such a perfect masculine card! I love how you stamped on the DSP and sponged the colors on. The ribbon, the woodgrain, it’s all just perfect! Thanks for sharing with us at Freshly Made Sketches!
I love how your card turned out. The dsp idea is cool and your shading is wonderful. The colors are just perfect together, great crafting!
Saw your card on the FMS challenge and had to come tell you I love it! When I first saw it on FMS… it looked like you were looking through a screen door! So I had to click and find out how you did it.. now I see it’s DSP but the effect still great! hugs.
This is gorgeous! Love how you stamped on the printed paper. Thank you for the idea! I love the hardwood in these colors too. And adding the candy dots in the trees was brilliant!
This is amazing. You deserve the win!