Cards For Guys

I love using stamps with flower designs and butterflies.  For a more masculine look I decided to create a card a little outside of my comfort zone.  Geometric shapes aren't something I do very often.  For a card with a more masculine feel, I decided to die cut some circles from some printed paper I had from a 6 x 6 card pad from Basic Grey called Shine On.  I also pulled out some stickers from American Crafts.  For the birthday word I used my Create a Critter cartridge from Cricut.

Using My Craft Tools

Where did 2012 go?  I cannot believe we are already nearly 2 weeks into the New Year.  I got married on December 21, 2012 and traveled to North Carolina for the wedding.  Needless to say, December was one heck of a busy month.  Now I am starting 2013 as a married woman just recuperating from the nasty crud of illness that has hit most of the United States.  If you are like me, you see a new craft tool at your local craft store or maybe a stamping/scrapbooking convention.  You purchase this must have goodie and it sits and sits and sits in your craft room.  I've got a lot of tools I bought and some I've forgotten "what do you do with this thing"?  I had purchased a Martha Stewart punch around the page in 2011.  I used one punch a lot as a border punch, but I hadn't used the set.

                                                      DOUBLE LOOPS SET

I found out that you can only use certain size pieces of paper with these punches, using 1 1/4 inch increments.  I used a 3.25 x 5 inch piece of paper for my card.  I experimented on some scrap
paper to get the hang of the punches.  I punched the corners first, and then used the guide on the
large punch to complete punching around the page.  I really love the romantic look of this punch on a Valentine's card I created.   I think I will try a 5.5 x 5.5 square card next, using a 5 x 5 piece of paper to punch.  I'm hoping to continue opening my must have goodies and actually using them for 2013!!