You may have seen some cute men's vest or jacket cards as you peruse the web for masculine cards. I've seen a whole bunch of them too. And each time I save the pin thinking I'll make one later. Well, I finally made my own, and boy, did I have fun! (pun intended)
Every bit of this card is made by cutting, folding, embossing or folding paper. I started with a regular A2 size side folding white card. To make the shirt collar portion, I just cut two slightly angled cuts into the top left and right edge of the card. I eyeballed it, imagining that the tapered edge would become the shoulders of the shirt. Then I folded the cut edges in toward the center of the card and glued them down to create the collar.
The entire card is made with paper, glue and scissors.
To create the sweater vest, I used patterned paper and ran it through my big shot with a cable knit embossing folder. Then I cut the V out with my scissors and glued it on top of the shirt. That little button was an embellishment I found in my "drawer of orphaned embellishments" so I'm sorry that I don't know where I got it or what it's called. But since I completed this card, I was at Hobby Lobby and found some adorable brads that look just like tiny buttons. Next time I make this kind of card, I'm using one of those. The bow tie is cut from the same patterned paper as the vest and pocket square. I know there are lots of punches and dies that make great bows, but I didn't have one, so I drew this out on the reverse side of the patterned paper and then put it together with some little glue dots.
Then it was time to make the jacket lapels. I was wishing for a die set that would cut this out for me, but since I couldn't find one, (Hey, I think I'll make one! Stay tuned for that release) I drew what looked like a jacket lapel to me and then cut it out of navy blue cardstock with my scissors. I folded it in half and drew the other lapel with the first one as my template and cut it out with my scissors as well. Then I folded them back and glued them down. I was pretty happy that they actually looked like jacket lapels. I used a very sharp white Prismacolor pencil to add the faux stitching to the lapels and pockets. I used two circles punched out of the navy card stock to make buttons and added the holes and stitching with the white pencil. In the future, I'll probably use those cute little button brads, but for now, this works. That pocket is just a scrap of the navy cardstock cut into a tiny rectangle.
Once I was done with the entire card front, I realized that cutting the card for the collar left the area above the shoulders open. It really looked just fine, but I like the contrast between the white collar and the navy jacket, so I added a navy piece to the inside of the card.
I really want to make this card with a wild Hawaiian print. In that case, I obviously won't need a bow tie or a jacket, but I could still use the collar technique and paste pattered paper on the collar pieces. At any rate, it was fun to put this little card together. I'd love to see your versions of this card, too. Thanks for checking this out. Now, go make something with your own two hands and then give it to someone else!