Knot tying for papercrafters

I'm really trying to stretch myself on the masculine card side. I rarely give cards to men, but many of Dustin's images lend themselves well little boys and perhaps even the little boys that are hidden away in my favorite men. Yesterday's fabulous release was loaded with great boy images, including a Cow Monkey.

Today is my daughter's best buddy and cousin's birthday. She's three and today he is four. They are at that wonderful age that lets them run loose, squeal like little lunatics and generally act like monkeys. On his own, he tends to be a fairly quiet little boy who loves TV, Pixar's Cars and Wall-E in particular, and has an OCD tendency to want things in a very specific order. When my daughter is around, however, the pair turn into raving loons. Cute raving loons, but still, you get the picture. Yes, my daughter is the instigator. One day, in the not to distant future, that little girl is going to lead three little boys (her brother and her cousins) into a great deal of trouble. But for today, well, it's Logan's day. This cute little monkey card is just for him.

Like a good aunt & uncle, we bought him a toy that make an insane amount of noise and has a bazillion little parts and cars. It almost makes up for the Laugh and Learn lawn mower they got our boy-o for his birthday last month. Almost.

It's difficult for me to embellish guy cards. I really want to cover them in flowers, ribbons and cute little bows. So when I sit down to embellish boy cards...I have a hard time resisting the call of the floral bling. About a year ago, I did a mini book on my guys. I bought a big card of various colors of hemp. I use it quite a bit to tie up the buttons I put on my cards and scrapbook projects. I just like the finished look of something through the holes of my buttons. It didn't occur to me until yesterday that it would also serve as a great embellishment for my guy cards.

I was inspired by Paula's pelican card from two weeks ago, adding just a couple of simple knots to my little Monkey. Even then, I couldn't resist adding a button. I think if I'm going to try this again, I'll see if I can dig out my husband's information from his rope tying classes. Part of Fire Rescue is knowing the right knot for the right job. I never knew it also applied to card making!

I'm back to working my way through my Die Cuts with a View Citrus pad with this card. You can't see in the picture, but that red background has gliter in the white areas. Glitter isn't very masculine, but I figured the bold red made up for it at least a little. Cardstock is American Crafts, Gina K. Pure Luxury for the images, Nesties, Hemp and Creative Cafe buttons.

Check out Dustin's design team on the right for other great cards and ideas on this release!