Alcohol Ink Birthday

I've mentioned before how I struggle making masculine cards. Oh, I know the general rules for masculine design--I just can't seem follow them. I'm forever drawn back to the more feminine side of things.

Here's another attempt I recently made at masculine design. I figured if I started with black card stock I'd have a leg up. Yeah, well.... maybe not so much. 

The card features a strip of glossy white card stock I dripped alcohol ink on and allowed to spread. I then added a bit of metallic gold to highlight it here and there, cut it into strips and adhered one to the black card base.  I decided to score a stripe along each edge to make the strip appear more "settled' on the card, then  decided to add a few more for balance.  But the stripes didn't show up very well. Hmmm, what to do?  I decided that since the colored portion had a bit of gold to highlight it, I'd add a bit of gold to the stripes, too. So, I dug out my Brilliance Gold ink pad and swiped it across the card. It added just the right amount of highlight, and a bit of roughness to the card that seemed appropriate for a guy.

Since I was on a gold kick, I dug out a scrap of glossy gold card stock, and die cut it using PaperTrey's Photo Finish label die.  Then I stamped it with the birthday sentiment, using VersaMark, and embossed it in black to make it really pop on the label.  I thought about adding brads to the label, but decided just to leave it alone.



So, there you have it, my most recent attempt a masculine card. I still don't know if this could be classified "manly", but at least it doesn't have any ribbon or flowers on it!

Would love to hear how you approach masculine cards. Leave me a comment and let me know. Links are appreciated, too!  Talk to you later.