Men like cards, too!

Happy Susan B. Anthony Day!  

…That was my attempt to bring some festivity to the day after Valentine's Day.  I feel like I missed out on the Valentine's Day crafts and desserts this week, so I hit the interwebs to figure out what holiday I could, in fact, celebrate on February 15th!  But, I am sorry Susan, I think I need to post my Valentine anyway!

It is always difficult coming up with "manly" crafts to share with the men in your life.  Things like Valentines, anniversary cards or wedding stationary is especially more effeminate than most men would enjoy.  So, this year I think I came up with the perfect balance of lovey-doviness and macho-manliness with this simplistic and distressed Valentine.

I kept the colors muted, and as much as I wanted to spice it up with ribbon or lace, I resisted the urge to apply any sort of embellishment.  The only texture was the two tones of ink I applied to the edges to age it in my two favorite colors: Antique Linen (a specific shade in Tim Holtz's Distress Ink), and a shade of medium grey.

As for the design, it was simple.  I penciled out a heart, then penciled our names in cursive along the lines of the heart.  Then, I traced the lines I wanted to keep in a black Pigma Micron pen (a MUST HAVE item!) and erased the pencil lines that were left over.  

It was a quick project, no more than 15 minutes in total, but his reaction was worth hours of work.  He thought I had special ordered it from a print shop!  I think it was the quality of that Micron pen that threw him off in thinking it wasn't hand made, but I was grateful that my efforts were appreciated.

And what is the lipstick for?  A secret kiss inside of the card, of course!