Masculine Holiday Card and Recipe Card

Hello!  Life got busy all of a sudden, and I haven't had any time to do any crafting for a couple of weeks.  I've been printing out the sketches for MojoMonday and CardPatterns, but haven't had time to do any more than glance longingly their way as I rush by to get something else done!  Well, hopefully things will settle down soon.  There's a holiday at the end of the week- hooray for three day weekends!  Also, I'm hoping (fingers and toes crossed) that work will slow down enough that I can take Thanksgiving week off.  Hopefully I can catch up then!

I did squeeze in a couple of quick projects this past weekend.  I had signed up for a couple of swaps in the PBS Swappers group, but forgot when they were due.  I checked this weekend, and oh my, I am right up against the deadline for both!  The first is for a masculine holiday card, due to the hostess by the 10th, and the other is a favorite recipe card, due to be in the mail to the hostess by the 10th.  Either way, the 10th is Thursday, so given that time is short during the work week, I had to get busy this past weekend.  Here is what I did:

The first card is for the masculine holiday card, obviously.  I was really stumped for this one...I always have difficulty coming up with a design that is specifically for men!  I picked up this striped paper a couple of weeks ago at JoAnn's, and thought that paired with the black, it made for a decent pallete for a masculine card.  I cut the red paper out with a deckled rectangle Spellbinder Nestabilities die, and also the sentiment boxes.  I used a pair of rough-edged scissors to cut the edges of the striped paper for a similar look.  I had a tough time with what to do for embellishments, and finally settled on these two ornament stamps, which I did in gold and silver.  Once finished, I still wasn't sure, so I solicited the opinion of my 15 year old son.  He liked it, so I guess it's ok!

The recipe card holds a recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin bread.  The original recipe came from Cooking Light, however, I modified it, and used my modified version on the card.  It is double-sided, with the ingredient list on one side (shown above) and the instructions on the other.  The card base is brown kraft paper, followed by a pumpkin orange layer, and then the recipe printed on white.  For embellishments, I punched leaves out using two different MS punches in off-white, and sponged ink on to give them fall colors.  I used the same stamp pad that I used for the fall card, so it is a similar look.  It's simple, but autumny, for one of my favorite autumn recipes!

My next project will be a birthday card for my mom, whose birthday is the 16th.  Hopefully I can get to that one this weekend.  My hubby's birthday is the 18th, so maybe I'll try to squeeze one  in for him too...although technically he already got his gift- a trip to Colorado to see an Oregon Ducks game a few weeks ago.  Plus, he sees my cards all the time anyway!