Not sure where to start when it comes to making masculine-looking cards? Angela’s here to help with tips to help you achieve a winning combination of color, focal elements, fonts and metallics.
Hi friends! With Mother’s Day behind us, Father’s Day is just around the corner. Are you ready? I don’t know about you, but designing cards for the men in my life never comes quite as naturally to me as my usual cardmaking style. What can I say – your girl loves pink! Thankfully, the birthday and Father’s Day cards I’ve made in recent years have taught me a few things about how to make achieving a masculine look less of a challenge.
Today’s projects aren’t necessarily just for Father’s Day – you could easily use them for birthdays or other celebrations too. I’ve repeated the 2 designs in 2 different color palettes so you can see just how powerful color can be. On that note…
Color Palette
While bright colors can bring up feelings of excitement and energy, those with lower saturation levels are your best friends when making masculine cards. Personally, I find that many of the inks in Catherine Pooler’s Spa Ink Collection are ideal for this. For my projects today, I picked two palettes – one featuring cooler, muted colors, and the other with some yellows and neutrals that warm the feel up a bit:
Combo 1 (Warmer): Catherine Pooler Sauna, Pinkfresh Studio Warm Buff and Espresso, Concord & 9th Oceanside and Peacock
Combo 2 (Cooler): Catherine Pooler Cove Blue, Daydream, Hot Tub and Juniper Mist, and Pinkfresh Studio Rocky Slope
Focal Elements: Botanicals, Geometric and Abstract Shapes
Making floral cards comes fairly easy to me, but you can instantly make a card feel more masculine by swapping delicate flowers for other botanical elements such as leaves and branches. Still seeing too much white space on your card? That’s where the geometric and abstract shapes come in! On today’s projects I’ve incorporated a geometric cube design with a simple arch, and an abstract solid square with botanical elements stamped on top. If your stash is lacking in some of these supplies, my tried-and-trues (which stretch far beyond masculine cards!) are:
- Essentials by Ellen Organic Elements Stamp Set
- Essentials by Ellen Abstract Nature Stamp Set
- Essentials by Ellen Abstract Paint Strokes Stamp Set
Simple Sans Serif Fonts
There’s a time and a place for curly, scripty fonts, but for masculine cards, a simple sans serif helps to keep the look clean and simple. Here I’ve used the HB2U stamp set (a previous Essentials by Ellen gift with purchase) on the stamped cards, and I created some sentiment strips using the all-caps All About You Stamp Set.
Metallics
I tend to skip embellishments like pearls and sequins on my masculine cards, but there’s no reason why you can’t add foil to introduce some shine! Here I’ve used the Pinkfresh Studio Geo Blocks hot foil plate with matte silver foil for the cooler color palette, and shiny polished brass foil for the warmer one.
So there you have it! 2 designs made in 2 different color palettes for a total of 4 masculine cards to add to you stash. I hope I’ve got you thinking about the ways in which you can combine color, focal elements (like botanicals and shapes), metallics and fonts to achieve different aesthetics in your card making. If reading this post turns to crafting and you decide to share what you’ve made on Instagram, be sure to tag me, @mycraftyperspective, as well as @ellenhutsonllc. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll see you back here soon. – Angela
1 Comment
I love these colors and layouts!