Authentique Mister Pocket Card: Authentique Father’s Day Group Post

Hello, Friends!  How do you feel about making masculine cards?  I had such a good time creating this Authentique Mister Pocket Card for the Authentique Design Team Father’s Day Group Post!  Although I love all my frilly, shabby chic creations, sometimes it’s really fun to change gears and make a great guy card!

If you haven’t had a chance to play with Authentique Mister yet, here’s a look at what you’ve been missing!  So many wonderful masculine prints, rich colors and fabulous vintage images make this a stand out masculine collection.  Since Father’s Day is right around the corner, I thought I would make a fun pocket style card.  Here’s how this one came together.

Authentique Mister Pocket Card: Building the Base

• First, cut (2) 5″ x 11″ panels from Steel Grey Cardstock.  Then,  score a 1/2″ flap on the end of each panel.  Adhere these flaps together to form a side fold card with a 1/2″ spine on the left.  You will need to trim the ends of the card to measure 7″ x 5″.
• Next, cut a 6 7/8″ x 4 7/8″ panel from Spectrum Old Glory Cardstock.
• Now cut a 6 3/4″ x 4 3/4″ panel of Mister Eleven.  Distress the edges and stitch it to the Old Glory layer.
• Then cut a 3 1/2″ square of Mister Seven.  Stitch it onto a slightly larger panel of Steel Grey Cardstock.  Adhere this on the left hand side of the card near the spine.

Authentique Mister Pocket Card: What’s in Your Pocket

This cloth pocket was unearthed while cleaning up the Closet of Shame.  Lucky find, as it is the perfect embellishment for this masculine card.  I decorated the front with a small piece of Mister Seven.  Next I matted the sticker on some scrap card, wrapped it with burlap string, added a key and tucked it inside the front pocket.  This is a great place to add a gift card!

Authentique Mister Pocket Card: A Peek Inside

Don’t you just love these patterned papers?

I tucked a coffee treat, a chocolate and a little magnet into the pocket on the right.  The magnet is stitched to denim that I salvaged from a pair of jeans.

The sentiments in this collection are so good.  And there’s room to write a personal note here, too.

Memories of My Dad

I know I’ve shared a lot of memories about my mom with y’all.  But I also had a fabulous Daddy.  My dad was a man of real integrity.  Like most father’s of his era, he was a man of few words.  But when he spoke, you wanted to hear what he had to say.  Like my mom, he had a creative mind and an incredible work ethic.  He could build anything, fix anything, and his ingenuity was astonishing.

Mom and Dad bought the house I grew up in just 10 days before I was born.  To say it was a fixer upper is being romantic.  It needed some serious love.  But it had good bones, as they say, and together, my mom and dad made it into a warm and welcoming home.    I have photos of the house from when I was a baby, and it amazes me to see that there was no lawn.  Just grey clay…not a sprig of grass anywhere to be seen.   But as a kid, I remember playing on lush green lawns..  How did that transformation take place?

Well, there was rarely ever any spare money in our blue collar household.  But there was a wealth of love, can-do spirit and elbow grease to make up for that lack.  When Dad wanted a lawn but could not afford both the grass seed and a tiller rental to break up the soil, he came up with a brilliant solution.

He went to the dump.  And there he found an old open coil mattress spring.  Just the thing!  He rigged up a harness for that old thing, hitched himself up to it,  told my older brothers to hop on top to weight it down and proceeded to break up that hard clay.  Not a word of complaint.  The job got done, my brothers had a jolly adventure, and I grew up with beautiful green lawns to play on.  What a guy!

Another Day, Another Dollar

I adored my dad, and shadowed him every where he went.  It was probably not always convenient for him to have me “help” him with his projects, but he always made me feel welcome. His nickname for me was “Sweetheart.”   He taught me how to walk like a lady, how to behave in public, and how to shop for a good piece of meat.  Dad was a marvelous dancer, and he taught me how to waltz.  He loved a good joke, treated everyone with dignity, and taught me to do the same.  My father modeled what a real man should be, and I am eternally grateful for his example.

Dad was an optimist.  He made meager wages as a bookkeeper/office manager at the local granite quarry.  Yet he wore a sports coat, starched shirt, shined shoes and tie to work every day.  He had pride…the good kind of pride.  Each morning, as he kissed my mother good-bye, he would put his favorite hat on his head and say with a twinkle in his blue eyes, “Well, here I go.  Another day.   Another dollar.  A million days…a million dollars.”

Sadly, Dad did not live to reach those million days.  He died very suddenly of a massive heart attack when I was just 13 years old.  My world came crashing down in a few short minutes.  Those were dark days for me and my family, but our father’s influence and example was deeply planted in our hearts and minds.  Slowly but surely, we picked ourselves up and took on the challenge of living life without him.  He molded my heart in the few short years in which he was my dad.  And, to no surprise, I married a man who is remarkably similar to him

I know not everyone was so richly blessed with such a great father.  But if you are one of those lucky ones, be sure to spend a little time with your dad…or remembering him this Father’s Day.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

SUPPLY LIST

Authentique Paper

• Mister 12×12 Collection Kit
• Spectrum Cardstock: Old Glory

Other Products:

• Steel Grey Cardstock
• Pocket (I have no idea where it came from!)
• Pocket watch charm
• Vintage Key from my stash
• Burlap String
• 3/8″ wine gingham ribbon
• Vintage Buttons from my Stash
• Magnets
• Denim Scraps