Top 10 Winners Blog Hop - Masculine

Hi and welcome to this very special blog hop for the Top Ten Winners in Kylie Bertucci's May International Highlights. I am Lou Kitzelman and I live on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. The theme for this hop is the same as the highlights - Masculine. You can see my top 10 card here. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. Somehow I was voted 2nd! Thank you.

For this hop I decided to continue the theme of  my last card and branch out into shirts - not just pockets. I made this card last week (still cracks me up every time I look at it) and thought the fold would be perfect for this hop. Masculine cards can be a bit hard to make sometimes and can end up a bit drab and dull so I wanted to make a few fun cards that could be used for any boy, teenager or man. The design possibilities are endless but a girl only has so many hours in the day!

So armed with the Pieces & Patterns stamp set and coordinating Pick a Pattern Designer Series Paper with is what I came up with.

I had so much fun making these. The stamp set and DSP have such a great range of design elements. The DSP made a perfect loud statement tie. And these dots were the perfect stamp to form a pattern for a shirt. I coloured in random dots with Stampin' Write Markers to coordinate with the tie. I love how all Stampin' Up! DSP has the colours used written on the pack. It makes it so easy to grab your ink pads, cardstock and markers.

I just made a template for the tie. I hacked away at it until I was happy with it. One tip is to fold in half and trim to make sure it is symmetrical. I was able to make it narrower than my flamingo tie - no big bottoms to fit on this time!

The inside is really simple but I love how it turned out. A sentiment, a strip of DSP and a few dots is all you need.

So cool you don't need a pocket protector!

I used the pencil stamp to create a band across the pocket and added some dots with a marker. The pencils were fussy cut and coloured with markers.

And what about some cute bear buttons? I added a coat of glue from the Fine Tip Glue Pen to give the buttons a shine. Some small holes and baker's twine and I was good to go. They are really cute in real life but were difficult to capture in photos. Apologies.

And I popped the bear buttons up with some of the new mini dimensionals - my latest obsession. You can see the difference in size compared to the regular dimensionals. Love them!

I have many lovely and thoughtful followers who not only read my blog but take the time to leave comments. Every time you leave a comment you brighten my day. I can't thank you enough for sharing my stamping journey with me - and all my crazy ramblings! I was asked to make a video of how to make the shirt when I made my flamingo shirt. I am not at all experienced in this but had a go. It is very basic so go easy on me. This one is for you Gloria and Joanella.

The basics:

• Cut a piece of cardstock in half lengthways. (I have used A4 but it works with any size cardstock.)
• Fold in half.
• At the fold end cut a slit 3 cm (1 1/4") in and down from the top and edge on each side.
• Fold those tabs in on an angle to form the collar. 
• Secure collar with glue dots.

Next up is the super talented Sara Levin. Make sure you check out everyone on the hop. We are from all around the world - you are in for real creative treat today!

Lou



Product List

Pieces & Patterns Clear-Mount Stamp Set [143843] $33.00	Pick A Pattern Designer Series Paper [144163] $19.25	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock [121695] $14.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $15.75	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976] $11.50	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931] $12.25	2016-2018 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [141393] $26.00
Many Marvelous Markers [131264] $190.00	1/16" Circle Handheld Punch [134363] $16.00	Twine Baker's Whisper White [124262] $5.25	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $6.00	Glue Dots [103683] $8.00