Enough said.
But what about cards for men? People often seem to get stuck when it comes to mancards.
I find they are often the easiest to make, and can be very simple.
An easy recipe is: topic, sentiment, colour, texture, masculine materials, strong shapes.
This one was for our teacher son. It is essentially very simple - patterned paper background, free download picture, a piece of chalkboard card and a watercolour pencil to write the message on the blackboard. So, the topic related to him, the sentiment was a math joke, no feminine colours there, texture in the blackboard card, and the shapes overlap to hold the design together. Because of the background paper no separate sentiment was needed. The birthday message was on the insert.
This one was for our other son who works in IT. He is a much 'louder' personality as well which is reflected in the colour choice. Texture is visual with 3d-ish looking background patterned paper and definition is via the stamped shirt and tie being lifted with deep foam pads. I always find a bit of metal, like the square brads, give a manly feel.
The sentiment is heat embossed in silver which gives a bit of tactile interest. I find people almost always run their fingers over heat embossing.
So, in this one it is the punchy colours and shapes that give it a strong masculine feel.
Men also like things they can play with. So a paper origami wallet that acts as a card, but can actually used, is perfect. In fact the website that I got this off says people can use it for a travel wallet.
This is great if you want to include a gift card or money as well. This wallet was used to give a Christmas bonus.
Try push-and-pull cards, easels, or pop out ones.
Making his dreams come true in the card is a good thing. So if he is a fisherman, give him a big fish to hold...
... or a big truck or a shiny red motorbike to dream on.
In this card, the waves are the negative spaces of a button diecut, and the star fish are cut out of coffee card.
These two are quite plain and simple.
Most times, men like a laugh. While it's poking a bit of fun, they will see the funny side, and when it relates to them they will remember it.
Texture is added by running it through the embossing machine with a zigzag folder.
Keep an eye out for funny sayings and often someone you know will come out with a classic line. Just find something that will go with the line and you have a mancard!
Normally I wouldn't put ribbon on a mancard, but this one looks like road markings so it worked. Brads or eyelets to embellish.
Metallic card diecut into tools, metal brads, a cut up tape measure, kraft card with a wood-embossed pattern. The base card of this one is actually deep teal, which goes great with kraft. Handy DIY men are fascinated by the tiny tools. You can buy metal charms shaped like shed tools or gardening tools.
Materials are often the key. Try using suede, woodgrain paper or veneer, wooden buttons, leather (real or paper), twine, cord, twill tape etc. I use metal of any kind, so that could be metallic card, brads, eyelets, strips, drink can metals (which go well through your embossing machine by the way), flattened bottle tops, etc. Heat embossing, especially with gloss and metallics. Paper patterns to try are dots, plaids, checks, stripes, zigzags, clocks, cogs, etc. Tear, scrunch, and fold paper. This is how to get texture as well. For this card I used a miniature pack of real playing cards that they use on planes.
Colours can be anything really (although I would avoid purple and pink), and often neutrals (cream, grey, black/white navy) with pops of colour work well. I lurk in paint shops and get their sample cards which often include room combinations of colour which can be quite surprising and challenging (used for the wallet).
Look in men's clothing shop windows, hardware shops etc and you will get inspiration. Also remember things like road works (colours - dayglo yellow or orange, hard plastic), building sites (metal scaffolding, signs), and car showrooms (leather and shiny buttons). I love making mancards... and most men are just happy that you made them one....