My Nephew is turning 25 (how did that happen!) As he is a young male executive, I wanted a slightly trendy/classy masculine birthday card to send to him. With the help of a few card challenges, I came up with a black and gold theme that I think will fit the bill. The “New” item that I used was the sentiment “Happy Birthday to You”, it’s been in my stash but this is the first time I played with it.
I’m entering this card in the following challenges: The Paper Players & Shopping our Stash: Use something new, Addicted to CAS: Emboss, and Cardz for Guyz: Black and Gold
On Wednesday several of us share the state of our desks with one another. This is my desk after this project, and a few others that I recently made and didn’t clean up after.
A quick organizing tip: clean to one song ~ that’s it! Just start when the music starts and stop when the music stops. That simple. Like the adult version of the Barney clean up idea adapted to your adult craft space. It may not get the job completely done, but it’ll be a start and sometimes that’s all you need to get motivated. You may just end up cleaning to two or three songs, but just commit to one at a time. Here is my work surfaces after two songs, the things I left out are a WIP.
Creativeseconds 
Your embossing is so clean on this one! I think you hit it perfectly!
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Lovely embossed card! I really must get one of those little bags of stuff that keeps the powder only on the ink. My embossing always looks Galaxy (full of little stars and dots) even when I don’t want it to be LOL! Your simple but striking card is perfect for a guy. Love it.
Happy WOYWW 2021!
Mary Anne (1)
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What a gorgeous and elegant card! LOVE IT!!! Your desk looks better than mine! Have a great day, hugs, Valerie
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Super card for a guy, thanks for sharing might give that a go myself.
Happy New Year BJ#24
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Perfect card for the type Karen, great job! Like the idea of clean up to a song, that would sure be a great help, and a nice way to finish a session! So the box of cards fronts is interesting…are they pre cut mounts then, or actually just one size of pre folded card? And by the way…don’t they look fab all in lovely colour order like that!
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Just card stock cut to 4.25 x 5.5 since I do a lot of individual cards I end up having half of an 8 1/2 x 11 leftover so I started a box to keep them in! It’s really convenient for checking colors for backgrounds too
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what a great card!! clean and simple and elegant. perfect. Helen #2
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I love that sophisticated gold and black colour scheme Karen and it’s perfect for a young man! Love your clearing up tip! I’m going back to have a look at more of your posts as I’ve not been around lately but let me just wish you and your family all the very best for the coming year. Vicky x
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Hi Karen, that card is certainly one for me to copy – I always struggle with male cards, and that is so sophisticated – thanks for sharing. I love the idea of cleaning up to one song, I may just give that a go next time I am due to tidy my craft space. Have a lovely week, Heather xx #14
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Karen, your minimalist black and gold male card is a stunner! It’s really cool, and should go down a treat with the Young Executive! As for the cleaning up tip, that’s a great idea. For someone who runs out of energy very rapidly, sometimes the task of tidying up seems overwhelming and it doesn’t get done at all, and it just gets compounded with more mess. Your tip means that you can break it down into manageable chunks. Brilliant.
Thank you for your visit and for all your kind words!! So appreciated. So nice to meet another Vitamix blendaholic!! Unless they’ve changed the design, the blades are meant to be dull. 2 reasons for this – 1) If they start out sharp, they get blunt and don’t work so well. 2) They don’t actually “slice” the food but pulverise it at high speed so they don’t need to be sharp. Over time they shouldn’t change, I wouldn’t have thought, but I do know that you can buy spare parts, including just the blade assembly. I am absolutely loving my new Vitamix and it’s been in use daily and will continue to be – I do a lot that needs a high speed blender. I can’t believe how much better it is than my old blender – it’s a real Rolls Royce of blenders! I said to my hubby yesterday “It’s the king of blenders! It’s even got a crown!” – the lovely clear clip-on lid! Vitamixes are guaranteed for 10 years so yours should still be fine. Nobody these days gives a 10 year guarantee – it shows what confidence they have in their machines, doesn’t it. Everything is such superb quality – heavy, and thick plastic parts, metal bearings etc. Definitely built to last, and you can feel the quality which makes it a real pleasure to use. It is fabulous.
A very happy new year and blessings to you too, Karen.
Happy WOYWW,
Shoshi x #18
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The card looks perfect to me, I always have problems with male cards. Love the tip for getting the clearing up done, it made me smile lots. Take care and have a happy woyww, Angela x19x
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Love the card Karen. The use of ‘black’ space is so effective. Great tio regarding tidying too. Happy New Year, stay safe and Happy WOYWW. Sarah #3
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Love the gold embossing – that always works so well on dark backgrounds – instant touch of magic! Happy New Year and thanks for visiting! zsuzsa #26
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Embossing on black was perfect for our challenge over at Cardz 4 Guyz!! A perfect take on our “black & gold/silver” challenge. We are so glad you played along with us!!
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That is a very up and coming executive card! Really! Great design. Have a great week Angela #13
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LOL, my desk always seems to be in a state of chaos! Try as I might, I can never get it 100% clean! Anyway, your card is perfect for a young guy, and I love that it is simple but really packs a (gold-embossed) punch! Thanks so much for sharing this with us at the Players and playing with my “new” challenge this week!
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What an elegant male card Karen – so effective! Love the cleaning tip too – I think my office would need an album to do it justice lol! Thanks for joining us over at The Paper Players this week and sharing your creation!
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Happy New year,
Love that card, the embossing really pops out, great colours as well,
Take care and stay safe,
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Hi Karen! I love the card, simple masculine, elegant! Great idea to clean to a song, my DD made me a playlist she called “Mom’s Happy Songs”, always energizes me! I wish I had a portable heater, it would probably make a big difference. Maybe I will go online and look for one…Your desk looks nice and busy today! Thanks for your earlier visit, have a great week! Lindart #35
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What a fab card and love your tip about cleaning to a song. I’m going to have to try it! Happy week. Dorlene #33
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WOW! This is so fun! I love the gold embossing on black!!!!! What a great card for the New Year! Your desk looks clean compared to mine! Isn’t it amazing the mess we can make while creating! So happy you joined us at The Paper Players this week!
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That is an absolutely fantastic male card – it looks so trendy and smart. Sorry I’m late. Wishing you a happy belated WOYWW. Take care and stay safe. With love & God Bless, Caro xxx (#10)
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Great birthday card. LOVE gold on black.
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That certainly is a card for the Executive! Very masculine and very classy.
Thanks for the tip of clearing to music – I tend to go at it like an idiot and wear myself out and then stop for days.
Hugs, Neet xx
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Nice CAS card, Karen! I’m sure your nephew will be very pleased to receive it. BTW, I wouldn’t DARE share photos of my desk at this moment! Thank you for participating with us @ ATCAS. Hugs, Fran
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This is a very classy AWESOME masculine card! I bet he loves it – Thanks for joining in at ATCAS
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HI Karen! Thanks for the visit this week. Great to meet you. That is the perfect card! Looks elegant and masculine. Also, thanks for the cleaning tip. I know on the days I turn on the tunes I accomplish so much more cleaning. Cretive Blessings! Kelly #29
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