October Birthday for Nephew-in-Law #1

I have two nephew-in-laws with birthdays in October....soooooooooooo many birthdays in October, AND many of them are masculine birthdays as well!  Why is it that it seems so much more difficult to create cards for men?  Since I generally create cards according to the interests and hobbies of the recipient, this makes it doubly difficult when the relative lives in another state, and I do not really know what their day-to-day interests are.

With this dilemma in mind, I chose a card that I purchased as a kit from a cardmaking event I was unable to attend, which was hosted by the dynamic duo, Dara Peterson and Luci Kirschbaum.  I believe this particular card's original designer was Luci.  Because my card was to be for a man, I re-modeled the card a bit while making it.  

The pre-dominate color in the original card was hot pink or Melon Mambo, which was very nice if for a woman, but as my finished card was to be for a man, I decided to pick up on other balloon colors in the designer patterned paper with a more masculine tone.  I added a black cardbase, and then a layer of Crushed Curry.  I switched out the Melon Mambo for Lost Lagoon, a greenish blue, to use as the circle mat under the sentiment and on the star embellishment.  I also added a piece of this color in a bordered pattern under the light tan, or Crumb Cake, patterned panel.  I am very pleased with the little bordered edge, as well as the color change and added color layers, as they bring out all the masculine shades in the balloon patterned paper, which was exactly my goal.

My final step was to complete the inside of my card with a verse and design created to compliment the card front.  As I didn't have a printer available to me in my travels, I had to hand-print my birthday verse.

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Lost Lagoon.  Pattern--It's My Party dsp (2016 Occasions).  Stamps--Sky Is The Limit (2016 SAB).  Ink--Memento Tuxedo Black.  Basic Gray Edge-distressing.  Punches--Circles-2" and 1-3/4".  Dies--Star Framelit.  Enamel Dots--It's My Party (2016 Occasions).  (Thank you Luci Kirshbaum for original design).