A Nod to Nudie - Boys will be Boys at UnstampaBelles

 The UnstampaBelles September challenge is Boys will be Boys, with the twist of sharing your opinion on what makes a good male card/gift. Remember: no stamps!

I've been asked many times for my thoughts on making cards for men, and my first answer is always: Depends on the man. But my main suggestions are: Texture, Interactivity, and Humor. You can never go wrong with a CAS card with a pop-up inside. Those pointers aside, I was inspired by some very manly music & the costumes that go along with it. I also broke two rules a good friend has for male cards: No glitter or roses!

The other evening my husband & I had fun listening to some ol' Country music (mostly Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris) and ended up marveling at the suit/costume designs by Nudie & Bobbie Cohen of Nudie's Rodeo Tailor (Be sure to check out Nudie's Official Facebook page). My husband challenged me to make a card inspired by these incredible costumes. I had fun with it!

The card design is based on Mel Stampz's Jacket Card. I used two store-brought handmade papers: a beautiful embossed white paper for the shirt, and a black paper with a silver rose design. I embossed the lapels with black powder, and added the red details with red glitter glue. I altered an embroidered rose to make a twig-n-berries design for the lapel, as a pun on Nudie's classic design.

The charm is from Korthobby, a fabulous shop based in Norway that sponsors the Sketchy Colors challenge blog. Recently I won a beautiful bag of metal charms from them, which included this one, which apparently translates in English to "real men" from the Norwegian Ekte mannfolk (I checked this with a friend living in Norway, but if you have a different translation please leave a comment). Can't you imagine this charm being worn by a 1970s s[w]inger!

Here's a song & some suits that inspired this card:




Inspiration/Challenges:
Art Impressions Stamps Challenge #167: Southern Style
Natalie and Amy's Challenge #36: Use a Charm
Ruby's Rainbow #11: It's A Man's World

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teamies and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles!


Thank you for visiting,