May Our Love Bloom - for the man in your life

'May our love bloom' by design team member, Neil Burley

Hello all! The challenge of making a card for the man in your life seems to be a tricky one, made worse when Valentine's Day is around the corner. I wanted a simple, clean card design with enough sentiment to get the message across without being too slushy - a perfect men's card :)

Here's how I did it:

You'll need the following:
Wow! Is It A Bird? - Clear Stamp Set
Wow! Red Glitz Embossing Glitter (WS13)
Wow! Primary Ebony (WH00)
Wow! Embossing Pen
Clear embossing ink pad

Firstly, stamp the image with clear embossing ink onto white card stock and emboss with the Red Glitz Embossing Glitter.

Next, add the second layer to outline the trunk and branches. There are two options here, tracing with an embossing pen or making a mask:

OPTION 1:
Using a clear embossing pen such as the Wow! Embossing Pen, trace over the areas you want to add the second layer to - in this case, I traced over the trunk and branches.

Cover with the Ebony powder, tap off the excess and heat set.

OPTION 2:
To make your own mask, stamp the image onto clean card stock using any coloured ink.

Using a sharp knife, cut out the area you want to add the second layer to.

Cut just on the outside of the lines - the hole needs to be slightly bigger to allow for the card thickness.

Place the mask over your glittery layer and line up the hole with the trunk and branches. Apply your embossing ink through the mask.

Remove the mask. Apply Ebony embossing powder, tap off the excess and heat set. You'll notice some of the glitter layer glinting through the black layer - it ties it all together very nicely :)

If you're making lots of cards, then cut the mask from a sheet of acetate - it'll last longer.

Second layers of powder can catch on the rough surface of the embossing glitter, so you may need to tap off the excess harder, or use a fine brush to remove any stubborn bits.

Cut out the tree and mount on your card. I couldn't find a suitable stamp for the sentiment, so I used a word processor to create (I used 'Vivaldi' font) and print it out to the right size and then used a light box (in fact I used a nearby window) to trace the letters onto the card using the Wow! Embossing Pen. Emboss the sentiment using Ebony. Now all you have to do is find a man to give it to ;)

Here's some other colour ways, all with Ebony as the second layer: