Ok, so you’ve found that perfect masculine paper. It’s probably grays, or browns, green definitely for the outdoors man, or maybe is it a bold shade of blue or a navy or you went with the basic black. Regardless, you now have to either place a decorative image on it or a belly band to hold it closed.
I was challenged to make a masculine belly band (you know who you are dear viewer) and I have accepted. I do apologize for the delay but I suppose genius does not always happen over night. Ok maybe not genius but how about some good ideas that are maybe not so common? And I wanted to wait until my pre-order arrived so I could give you a sneak peek at a couple new products coming out in May.
Group No. 1
Supplies for the Card Base
- Pebbled Path Card Stock
- Les Shoppes
To create the base mirror fold card you can find the directions in the “Bring Back the Mirror Fold” blog post here: https://stampinology.co.uk/easily-create-stunning-mirror-fold-birthday-cards/
Supplies for the Knot Band
- Strip of Pebbled Path Card Stock 1.5cm (5/8″) to 2.5cm (1″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″)long
- Small scrap Pebbled Path Card Stock 1.5cm (5/8″) to 2.5cm (1″) wide by approximately 7.5cm (3″)
- 4 strands of Pebbled Path Twine, approximately 29cm (11-1/2″) long
- Beach Day – Happy Birthday Greeting
- Tuxedo Black Memento Stampin Pad
- Stampin Seal Adhesive
Fold your band around the card, leave about 2.5cm (1″) overlap and trim. Do not glue closed yet, just press the sides to form a light crease.
Hold two stands of twine together for each ‘side’. Follow the diagram in the picture to tie your knot. In the video I demonstrated the cheater’s way to tie this knot. (Thank you to 101Knots.com for the use of the diagram. This is a fantastic site to learn to tie any knot from classic sailors knots to fancy neck ties. If you’ve time, head over there and give them some love https://www.101knots.com/)
If you used the wider strip and wish to stamp a greeting, as in the example, do it now before putting the band together.
Glue your band together.
Using the Stampin Seal, run a line along the front of the band in the position you want to place the knot. If using the narrower band just run it down the middle.
Carefully place down your knot and arrange the twine ends side by side in a row. Turn the band over and place face down. Run another strip of adhesive as you did on the front. Continue to place the twine side by side until you reach the seam where the band is glued together. Trim your ends.
Optionally cover the rough ends with the smaller strip of card stock, trimming it so that it overlaps on the back. Secure with the Stampin Seal.
This band was inspired by photo of a boat tied up to a small peer. The pole support of the peer was prominent in the foreground along with the mooring knot. I hope you use my contribution here and go Google ‘knots’ or ‘macramé’ to find an whole host of amazing knots to use with light weight twine or string.
Supplies for Moroccan Inspired Band
- Strip of Pebbled Path Card Stock, 2.5cm (1″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) long
- Strip of Les Shoppes Designer Series Paper, 2cm (3/4″) by approximately 23.5cm (9-1/4)
- Industrial Trinkets
This design is fairly easy to put together. Layer the patterned paper over the solid, fold around the card, cut off the excess and glue together. Place the embellishments.
I believe what makes it masculine is the neutral Moroccan tile patterned paper tipped over the edge by the metal embellishments. I tried using my regular resin embellishments and it just did not give it the same vibe. I think shinny is good but sparkle is probably right out. Metal brads or eyelets would also work.
Supplies for the Awesome Airplane
- Strip of Pebbled Path Card Stock, 2.5cm (1″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) long
- Large Scrap Basic White Card Stock
- Stazon Jet Black Stamp Pad
- Adventurous Sky Stamp Set
- Adventurous Sky Die Set
- Real Red Water Color Pencil
- Cherry Cobbler Water Color Pencil
- Basic Gray Water Color Pencil
- Blue Water Color Pencil
- Basic Black Water Color Pencil
- Water Painters
- Or other coloring medium
- Stampin Dimensionals
- Mini Cut & Emboss Machine
Stamp your image, color it, die cut it and raise it up on dimensionals when placing onto the band.
I love air planes, I guess I get it from my Dad who was in the American Airforce and loved planes as well. Even now I have an antique print of old airplanes hanging in my living room. However I have noticed that my tastes are a bit unusual because it is normally the male of our species that appreciates the flying machines.
This stamp and die set is one of the reasons this blog post and video has been delayed. I put this set, Seaside Wishes and Unbound Love set (featured below) on my pre-order from the new Annual Catalogue. I knew they would be perfect for this post. Look for them to show up again in up coming posts to see what else you can do with these lovely sets.
Also look for my up coming series on What To Do With Those Water Color Pencils. I will talk you through how to color and then ‘paint’ the airplane used here.
Group No. 2
Supplies for the Card Base
- Early Espresso Card Stock
- Earthen Elegance Designer Series Paper
To create the base mirror fold card you can find the directions in the “Bring Back the Mirror Fold” blog post here: https://stampinology.co.uk/easily-create-stunning-mirror-fold-birthday-cards/
Supplies for “Leather” Strap
- Strip of Early Espresso Card Stock, 2.5cm (1″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″)long
- Small Scrap of Gold Foil Sheet
- Stylish Shapes Dies, smallest circle
- Tuxedo Black Stazon Ink Pad
- Old bit of sponge
- Stampin Spritzer
Using the Stampin Spritzer wet your card stock, get it really wet. Crumple it up. The more you crumple it the more lines and the softer it will become. Allow to dry. Depending on the ambient temperature it can take anywhere from two hours to over night to completely dry.
When the strip dries to the point of just damp crumple it again and lay it out flat to continue drying. Rough the edges up a little bit using your finger nail or the edge of a scissor blade.
Cut the circle from the Gold Foil paper. Using something a little bit sharp scratch across the surface.
Drag your sponge across the Stazon pad and them across the circle in one direction only. Set aside and allow to dry.
When dry press the circle into the palm of your hand and rub the back of the circle pressing down. If you have scouring tool or bone folder using this will make the process faster. Doing this will crate a light dome shape in the paper. I reinforced the dome by gluing several tiny circles left over from a 6mm (1/4″) hole punch. But this ‘filling’ does not have to be round you can tear up tiny bits of paper as well.
Glue your fake snap onto one edge of your fake leather band and wrap the band around the card. Leave about 2.5cm (1″) overlap and trim of the excess, and glue the band closed. If you have some of those fun magnetic card closures or the tiny Velcro closures they would be a fun addition to this design to place under the fake snap as a closure.
Years ago I used this ‘leather’ technique in making a scrap book page. You can cut your dried ‘leather’ into almost any shape and you can emboss it. Give this technique a try, it works well with the Early Espresso and the Pecan Pie card stock. I think it would also work well with the more copper colored papers like Cajun Craze or Copper Clay although I have not tried it yet.
The Office Band
- Strip of Crumb Cake Card Stock, 5cm (2″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) long
- Small scrap of Real Red Card Stock
- Stylish Shapes Dies, smallest circle
- 1 piece Linen Thread, approximately 30cm (12″) long
- Round & Square Brads
Fold the card stock around the card and draw a light line on the overlap. I recommend the overlap seam be in the center of the card. If desired round the corners of one end.
Make a small hole with a piercing tool approximately 1.5cm (1″) from the one end and centered on the strip approximately 1.5cm (1″) from each side. On the other end measure from the mark away from the end and center another small hole.
Cut four small circles from the red card stock glue two together so you have 2 reinforced circles. Punch a small hole in the center of each circle.
Thread one of the small black brads through the center of one of the circles then thread the brad through the small hole in the long side (with the mark) of the band. Open the brad securing the circle to the front. The circle should be a little loose.
For the second circle push the brad through the red circle and tie the linen thread onto the brad before pushing it through the band.
Fold the band closed and loosely loop the thread in a figure eight under one red circle and then under the second one.
Most of my working years were spent working in large offices. This idea comes from the ubiquitous inter-office envelope used to send paperwork to other workers on different floors.
For me it is a familiar closure for reusable envelopes but I have seen it used in closures for boxes and storage pouches as well. It is really neither feminine nor masculine but it is wonderfully tactile which seems to intrigue men and teens. It can be made from any colors but the ones I used are the colors used in the inter-office envelopes. If you don’t happen to have any brads, eyelets these work well to secure the circles. If you do not have any mini brads you can use regular size brads but make the circles a little larger for at least 5mm to 6mm (1/4″) of red paper to show around the brad.
Sally Sells Sea Shells
- Strip of Crumb Cake Card Stock, 5cm (2″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) wide by approximately 24cm (9-1/2″) long
- Large scrap of Crumb Cake Card Stock
- Small scrap of Vanilla Card Stock
- Seaside Wishes Stamp Set
- Seaside Wished Hybrid Embossing Folder
- Pecan Pie Stampin Pad
- Blending Brushes
- Linen Thread
- Cut & Emboss Machine
This last band is also very easy and relies on the amazing hybrid embossing folder. Using the embossing folder together with the die, cut out and emboss your sand dollars from the crumb cake paper. This will require at least a quarter of a sheet. Set aside the smaller sand dollar to use on another project.
Color the sand dollars using a blending brush and Pecan Pie ink.
For the greeting stamp your sentiment onto a scrap of vanilla card stock and cut it out with the sand dollar die only (you don’t need the embossing folder). Distress the edges with the Pecan Pie ink.
Fold the band around the card and glue closed. Glue the large sand dollar to the belly band and raise the middle size up on dimensionals. Glue the greeting on top of the middle size sand dollar, you will probably need a dimensional on one side of the greeting to keep it raised up.
I added a bit of linen thread and scraps of twine to give the impression of netting or dried seaweed.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and I hope I have given you some ideas for your next masculine card! If you make any of these ideas please post a picture below or on social media and tag me @loriothen
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