Graphic 45 Good Ol’ Sport Batter Up Baseball Card

Hello, G45’ers! I have a true confession to make: I love the World Series! When our kids were small, we lived in Atlanta during the Braves heyday. Night after night we huddled in front of the TV to watch them win league championships and finally, the BIG game! Our youngest was a toddler at the time, yet he knew the name of every player on the team and would call them out as they came on the screen. He grew up to be an ardent fan of the game! Every year for his birthday, I make him a baseball themed card. Naturally, I turned to Graphic 45’s Good Ol’ Sport paper collection to make this fun Batter Up Baseball card.

A Little Card Making Coach Talk

Lots and lots of layers were matted on black and/or red cardstock. I don’t do this just to make extra work for myself. When I work with multiple patterned papers, I find that matting keeps those patterns from becoming muddled. The eye can see each separate layer and really enjoy the patterns instead of being confused by them.

Think you can’t put a bow on a masculine card? Not so! Choose a textured ribbon like this starry grosgrain and burlap combo to keep things masculine.

Let’s talk about composition. Everyone loves to use embellishments on a card. Especially me! But be sure to put those embellishments to work in such a way that they draw the eye to your focal image. By clustering stickers and embellishments in a group around this fairly small focal image, I was able to make it stand out and draw you into the scene.

Make color work for you. Red is a dominant color. The red baseball cap, the red lettering in the focal image, the red cap in the sticker and even the red stitching on the baseballs all catch your eye, drawing it into the heart of the card design.

Put Your Scraps in the Line Up!

Don’t forget to use your scraps! This little piece of border scrap adds a lot of punch to this card. In fact, most of the card panels on the front of this card came from my scrap envelope.

Use stickers to make quick and easy borders inside your card.

These score cards are a great spot to mount a small photo. And how thoughtful was it of Ghiradelli to wrap their chocolates in a red wrapper that perfectly matches my card design?

My husband and I will write personal notes to our son on these postcards and then tuck them back into the large base pocket. This turns a card into a keepsake. There’s nothing like a hand written note.

I hope I’ve shared some tips with this Batter Up Baseball card that you’ll be able to incorporate into your own card making ventures! May every project you create become a home run!

Thanks for joining me here today!

Cheerio,

kathy

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Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge: Masculine Pocket Card with Graphic 45 Good Old Sport

Hello, Friends! How can it already be June? But here we are, the first Friday in June and that means it’s time for a fabby new challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon. Bonnie has dared us to create a masculine card with ribbon or trim. So I dug into my Graphic 45 Good Old Sport and Typography papers to put together this masculine pocket card.

These clean simple lines and bold colors are perfect for this challenge. I created a belly band on my striped background paper by layering antique gold netting with some of the border stickers from the collection.

Next, I fussy cut images from the 12 x 12 Good Old Sport papers and used foam dimensionals to place them on top of a journal card from the Typography collection.

This chipboard piece fit right in between my golfer and rugby player, which is a great way to lead the eye from one image to the next. I topped the tag with a bit of Red Canvas Color Band Ribbon and some Natural Burlap String for a pop of color and added texture. I also used the burlap string to attach my sentiment charm to that sparkly red clothespin.

The party really gets started once you open this masculine pocket card because it has not ONE but TWO great pockets on the inside! (Go big or go home, right?) The pocket on the left contains a tag that I made with the 8×8 papers, a sticker and some little banner pieces. The pocket on the right contains postcards from the 12×12 collection. I love the little baseball/ribbon embellie that I hung from a red paper clip. ( I scrap lifted this idea from my BOLB Ginny Nemchak. She’s a clever girl, that one!)

I left this masculine pocket card sort of sentiment neutral. It could be used for Father’s Day, graduation, birthdays, a congrats card or even a card to cheer on a fella who is going through a rough patch. There’s plenty of room to write a personal sentiment or mount photos on the postcards. The tag can be used as a bookmark or decoration in a work cubicle or desk space. And, there’s plenty of room to tuck a gift card or small treat into either pocket of this masculine pocket card.

Now it’s your turn! Start out by visiting the Really Reasonable Ribbon BLOG so you can get all inspired by the other designer projects there. Then work up your own masculine project using ribbon or trim and link it up. You’ll find all the details on the RRR Blog. I’ll be popping by to take a peek at your fabby projects soon. I can’t wait to see what you make!

Thanks for stopping by!