For my husband's Valentine's Day card, I wanted something masculine but still romantic, so I avoided hearts and lace and stuck with basic ribbon and brads. I "roughed up" the pretty paper with some distressing, so hopefully this is manly enough for my big bear of a husband (who's really more "teddy bear" than "growly bear", but don't tell him I shared that secret!).
I started with a natural white card stock base. Then I used two-sided paper from Authentique: one side I stamped on for the card front, and the other side is the dotted panel, which I heavily distressed to darken the dots and mute the red a bit. For the larger piece, I used a script stamp and Walnut Stain Distress Ink. To get the softer effect, I stamped off first on a piece of scrap paper, then stamped on my card piece. I used a Nestabilities die to cut my scalloped piece. I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa on another piece of natural white, then added more distressing with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I attached the sentiment piece to the scalloped piece and added the brads. I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon around the dotted piece, then adhered the scalloped piece over the ribbon using foam dimensionals.