This article appears in
. Visit our
online store to order a copy of this issue.
Do you find it challenging to create masculine pages? I do. As a matter of fact, I’d say I’m “manly” challenged. It can be difficult to step away from my own favorite colors and products to balance loving and sensitive with rugged, energetic and edgy. Faced with this challenge, the 2006 Masters show us 10 out-of-the-toolbox ideas to add a masculine feel to a layout. Although the following page themes are diverse, these layouts all have something powerful in common—they all reflect the style, personality and tastes that the men in our lives can appreciate.
Use wooden accents
Think wood and power tools—it doesn’t get more masculine than that! Valerie Salmon embellished this playful page about her son and his uncle with painted wooden accents and metal screw snaps. Valerie also pieced together a herringbone border of coordinating patterned papers to add visual weight to the left side of the layout.
supplies: Patterned paper (BasicGrey) • Wooden accents (Chatterbox, Lara’s Crafts) • Flourish rub-ons, letter stickers (BasicGrey) • Chipboard letters (Li’l Davis) • Metal snaps, letter rub-ons (Making Memories) • Highlight font (Autumn Leaves)
Pick block-style fonts
The use of block-style typography adds a manly feel to this colorful quilt-like page created by Lisa VanderVeen. Lisa created black text blocks with contrasting orange text in text-editing software to highlight each sentiment. She integrated each journaling block into the overall grid design and then finished the edges with zigzag stitching.
supplies: Patterned paper (BasicGrey) • Chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp) • Velvet letter stickers (Making Memories)
