This card was sent to my Uncle who shares my birthday on Sept 26th. This was made in minutes, I was in a huge hurry, but I still love how it turned out! The base is Soft Suede, and I used Naturals White CS for the Top Note Die. The corners are the Curly Label punch lined up in the Photo Corner punch, although in hindsight, you can't see the centers, and it would have saved a ton of time to just cut the Curly Labels in half. Oh well, you live and learn, right? The treeline is from Lovely As a Tree, and the background is brayered in 3 colors (Bordering Blue, Crushed Curry, and Old Olive) with sponging over it in places, and the sunset is sponged in Crushed Curry and a tiny bit of Really Rust. I used a Gel Pen for the corners and edge of the Top Note, and stamped the sentiment from Heard From The Heart in Soft Suede. Finished this off with some Soft Suede Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon, and called it done.
The card front was so heavy, I had to add more weight than usual inside the card just so it would stand up straight!!! 
I just realized that I had forgotten to upload this card. This is what I made my husband for Valentine's Day this year. I saw a very similiar card on SCS a while back and loved it, so I wanted to do something like it. The set is Boatloads of Love. The DSP is Fall Flowers, CS is Really Rust, Old Olive and Baja Breeze. The image is stamped on watercolor paper, and colored with watercolor crayons, reinkers and Aquapainters. I used some natural hemp twine, and a piece of Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware. I like it, and was pleased with it. Since making this I saw a tip someone posted about heat embossing images before watercoloring, and am doing that now, it does work much better for staying in the lines with the brush. Still overall, I like this one, so did he!
This is one of my favorite techniques for a 'man' card, Faux Leather. It's very easy, and looks great. You just cover a piece of neutral cardstock with small pieces of masking tape, then press dark colored stamp pads directly over the tape. Do this with several different colors, wiping the extra away as you go. Once you have the color you like, pour Clear Embossing Powder over the tape (the EP sticks to the texture of the tape, no VersaMark needed), and heat set the powder. Then just decorate your card front, and you have a fantastic card for the men in your life. Also, you could do a pink and black card for a teenager, with hot pink leather! I used Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa, and Very Vanilla on this card, the middle image is on dimensionals, and SU Vintage Brads in each corner. Hope you all like it!
This is one of my recent favorites. Sometimes I tend to lose sight of how nice a simple, clean card can look. This one is Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, and Very Vanilla. I used a corner rounder on the top left and bottom right of all layers of this card. (You can't tell on the CC layer as much as I scanned this and the black is in the corner.) The Mellow Moss piece in the center is popped up on dimensionals, and IRL has a lot of depth. The technique for the middle is spotlighting. You stamp the same image on two pieces of paper. One is for your card, the other you punch out a circle (1 1/4) and color the image in. Place that circle on a dark circle (1 3/8) and place on main image where it lines up. I finished by tying some Mellow Moss Ribbon around the middle, and adding some Antique Brass HPH on the ribbon. Stamp set is Embrace Life. Hope you like it!
