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I always look in Masculine in the Galleries by theme part of the Gallery here at SCS. Most of my masculine birthday cards use pattern paper in blues, green, browns, black, red and a large happy birthday stamp.
Trees and leaves work well.
So do boats or ships...or animals (even funny ones)...or birds (the realistic kind).
How about cars? Or old cars/trucks? Or trains or planes?
Farm? Scenery?
Banners? Food?
Cards that are graphic and/or have a sentiment focus.
Tim Holtz stamps are really good for guys.
A few other ideas:
The person's favorite food (Pizza, coffee, cake, breakfast)
Funny saying (thinking Riley and Co., for example)
Thoughtful quotes
Activity (reading, sports, couch potato)
Puns
Any non-feminine, abstract pattern: diamonds, circles, squares (I've used brushstroke stamps to create a background for a masculine card)
Architecture, bridges, scenery
Tim Holtz seems to have a lot of masculine or gender-neutral images.
You could also check out Viva Las Vegas and 100 Proof Press.
You can also browse Brian King's blog. He tends to design cards that are more masculine: http://stampwithbrian.com/
__________________ Elizabeth in Hoboken, proud parent of a feisty and mischievous parrot who likes to chew craft supplies
Most of the men I make cards for don't have the sort of hobbies or interests that are perhaps stereotypical for masculine themes so I feel your pain!
You could have a look to see if any of your favourite bloggers use labels that might help you. For example, I use "male birthday", "masculine" and "father's day" tags on my blog - each of those shows in the list of topics down the side of my blog and clicking on any of them will show you just cards with that tag.
I agree that nature images are a fantastic fall-back for "non specific" masculine cards.
I found that concentrating on the sentiment - like a large die-cut "thanks" or "congratulations" works.
I can't find the photo (other than on another site), but for a thank you card for a colleague of my husband's, I used a large, die-cut thanks on top of a rectangle on top of a square on top of the A-2 card. Geometric shapes - not narrow borders of color. I popped on three enamel dots at the bottom, like ... and put three more inside.
Colors were charcoal gray base, vanilla rectangle, dark kind of teal square, and pale blue/almost white "thanks."
When my brain fails, multiples work. Another card had three rows of crabs with the sentiment on top, playing off of the Maryland is for Crabs motto. Crabs were die cut from old Gelli plate prints to bring color variety into it.
So if someone liked golf, rows of golf balls could work, or rows of books if he was a reader, or cupcakes or candles if it was his birthday, etc.
Just came across this masculine card by Brenda today. Love how she did the background stamping using an acrylic block and you could switch up the boat with other masculine images, stars, or even a large sentiment.
Funny/punny works for me. Your Next Stamp has lots of pun stamps. So does Whimsie Doodles if you like digital. They both have blogs. Check them out! Whimsie has lots of male characters too.
I also have a category on my blog (fairycardmaker.com) with a category tag for "cards for guys".
I love making masculine cards as I'm drawn to neutrals and naturals. One design I've made that is simple but popular is to punch shapes in masculine colors or use strips of varying sizes onto a base. I then use my square lattice ef to emboss the piece. The shapes or strips end up looking like they're inlaid. Here is a link to my gallery sorted for most favorited cards as several of this type of card show up there.
I love making masculine cards as I'm drawn to neutrals and naturals. One design I've made that is simple but popular is to punch shapes in masculine colors or use strips of varying sizes onto a base. I then use my square lattice ef to emboss the piece. The shapes or strips end up looking like they're inlaid. Here is a link to my gallery sorted for most favorited cards as several of this type of card show up there.
Finding ideas for cards for men
