"The Man" Card Tutorial

First, I shall warn you. This is a step-by-step, make the body of your dreams card tutorial. :) Not overly difficult. You just have to jump in and do it. Such fun!! :)

As always, this card is my very own idea and creation. Please do not take it and claim it as yours for publication or contest submissions. Please DO make it and send it to your bffs, crazy Aunt Joyce, whatever. :)

So let's get started!

I start with a 4 1/4" by 11" piece of Creamy Caramel card stock, scored and folded in half.

You want to take a pencil and draw an outline of a well built and manly silhouette. (If you need a "model" try looking up "abs" under photobucket..whew! That's some tough homework, boy I'll tell ya!) Now cut that out and (you can't see it so great in this next picture, but) lightly outline the chest, six pack, belly button and hips so you know where you are going to want shading the most.

Take your creamy caramel ink pad and a dauber and add ink to the side of the card first. My approach is once I ink up my dauber, I pounce a little off on my paper so I don't get such harsh lines of ink. Better less working towards more, than more wishing for less.

You can quote me on that.Now that you've inked the sides, you'll want to start in towards the center...oh man! You see how I inked my dauber too much and made that big'ole circle in the center of his chest? Well, I'll fix that in the next couple steps and you can too, if you mess up along the way!

I do the creamy caramel definition first:

And then I come in with white craft (with it's own dauber- the little sponge tip on my finger) and add highlight.At this point, I pounce my creamy caramel dauber a lot on my scrap paper until no ink is on it. Once it is free of ink, I use to to go over the harsh lines and blend everything together.I'll add more definition on the sides with more creamy caramel (man, I wish I could do that to myself!)...more definition with caramel. *snicker*Once you've got it where you want it, *lightly* use your pencil to outline the muscles and chest.And use you white gel pen to define the nipples...why does it feel wrong to say that for crying out loud!I try to pick pattern paper for his shorts that aren't real feminine. Something I could see a guy wearing, ya know? So I've chosen this pattern here, and have cut it out to 4 1/4" by 1 1/2"...you can do more or less. But, erm, less that 1 1/4" is seriously going over the line, people. While I've got the pattern paper out, I also cut out a rectangle for his pocket and a strip for his zipper cover.Adhere all the patter paper on. I use a sanding block and sand down some of the paper to add some roughness to the shorts...I dunno what that says about me, but I think it looks better on this guy. LOL

I also take that creamy caramel dauber and "dirty up" the sanded edges...b/c I like it to look like this guy can get dirty. Not that kinda dirty. Seriously. I've chosen to put ribbon around his waist as the band of his shorts. I use double stitched ribbon b/c when you pull both stitching thusely... it will crinkle up and look a lot like an elastic waste band. Adhere said ribbon and take out your paper piercing tool. This part is optional. I will poke two holes right above his "zipper cover" and thread linen thread through that and tie it. I just think it finishes it off nicely. Last step? Give him your stamp of approval. Here, I chose "happiness"...in the past I've written "Some Beach, Somewhere.." with my white gel pen. You pick!

And there you have him! (Once you are done, consider making yourself a little silhouette template of the card so you won't have to do that step next time!)

Card Recipe (Stampin' Up! everything):

Cream Carmel card stock, blue bayou designer series paper, blue bayou double stitched ribbon, Warm Words stamp set, creamy caramel classic ink, Whisper White craft ink, white gel pen.

I do hope you give it a try, and as always, if you do, leave me a link so I can see what you did and how low you chose to make that waste band. ;) Like I said...my friends may never read me again.