Masculine cards & ribbon trick

I am in need of masculine cards again!!  It seems that this year I cannot keep any masculine cards in my card stash so I decided yesterday to make a bunch of them.
I started with paper that was wrapped around an internet purchase that arrived from Hong Kong!!  Wonderful green paper!!
I scrunched it, rubbed it with a green ink pad, stamped some brown leaves and script in turquoise!  Ironed it a little to flatten it and cut it into 4" x 5.25" pieces for my cards!! I dug out a variety of masculine images from my image stash, some coordinating card fronts, my containers of cardstock scraps, my bucket of extra greetings and some vintage seam binding!!
I picked a card, layered on my new decorative paper and started adding elements - an image, a greeting and some ribbon layering as I went along. By the end of the day ( I did have a few interruptions and did eat)  I had created 9 cards!!

In the photo on the right I have tried a technique that I first saw here on Charmaine's blog.  You create the look of a bow by inserting folded ribbon in a loop that has been inserted into a hole.  Very cool idea!!  Because I was making masculine cards I decided to just put lengths of ribbon through the loop instead of folded ones.  I love the look!!  Really easy and worked really well with the soft bodied seam binding.  I punched a 3/16" hole in my greeting, slipped a loop from the long seam binding through it from the back and inserted the two lengths through it and pulled it taut.  You have to be careful not to pull too hard to keep the loop on top.

A very enjoyable day of creating!!  I am happy to have been so productive and that I have a good supply of masculine cards in my card stash!!
It is surely the fastest any piece of paper has been reused in my house!!  I usually need to "sit" with supplies before I use them. On the other hand, quite often, paper gets put away and doesn't see the light of day again for a few months or years!!
So challenge yourself to dig up something you have been saving and create something today!!

Therese