A Man Bag for a Man Card

I'm delayed in posting this as I didn't want my Father inlaw (FIL) seeing it before he got it -- it could happen...him looking at my blog someday...maybe.  LOL.  Anyway, I'm visiting in Ohio this week and wanted to hand-deliver his Father's Day card/gift ... so it's a a couple weeks late, but you could use this type of card anytime you need a masculine gift. 

The original concept for the card is not my own--I saw a photo of one similar in Papercrafts Magazine (May/June 2011 edition, pg 17 by Kim K.) -- great for inspiring ideas and for getting your creativity flowin'.  For my card design, I used Coredinations cardstock (CS) to make the base of the card and srunched it up and sanded to bring out the lighter touches of brown; then I brush matte Mod Podge over it to give it a leathery look.  For the pockets I used Spice Worldwin CS, which I first embossed with Tim Holtz Gadget Gears Texture Trades, before inking with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I used large eyelets to secure the pockets to the card, and smaller eyelets for the belt design. 

 With my Cricut Father's Day cartridge, I cut the #1 Foam Finger (for the tag), the Father's Day sentiment for the inside of the card, and the tool box for the gift card holder.  I repurposed some mirrored paper that came in some packaging, and added it to the tool box card for the hammer & duct tape.  Finished it off with some Tim Holtz Ruler Ribbon. 

I didn't want to fold the belt to make it fit into an envelope, so I made my own "man bag" to act as the envelope/bag. Super easy--I just folded 12x12 CS in half, then on either side of the center fold I left 1/4" space and added another score line. The center score line became a valley fold and the two parallel lines became mountain folds--this created a gusset for the card so it wasn't too tight to fit the card inside. I secured it together with large eyelets and stamped a variety of Tim Holtz stamps on the front & back. The front also hold a journaling ticket with a stamped quote. I used Chipped Saphirre & Walnut Stain DI for my stamped images. For the handle, I just cut out a rectangle and freehand cut it into a handle shape securing it to the bag with large eyelets. I would recommend securing the handle to the bag before adding the eyelets to the bag section--it will be a lot easier to get your eyelet setter, or cropadile tool to work in a less confined space. I learned that the hard way. =)

The Sears gift card tucked neatly into two photo corners
on the inside of the toolbox card.

I hope your inspired to have a wonderfully creative day!  Lisa