Why are cards for boys so difficult?!

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. He'll not want to be made a fuss of so I'll keep this post understated (!) but the principle of my musings today is that creating cards for boys can be really hard. We hope that they appreciate the time and effort we have put into making them a token for the big day but are never sure if they do... and  I am constantly searching for relatively simple ideas that a boy of any age would like but which also means I feel I have put lots of effort in too!  

This is my latest attempt at this kind of win win utopia! Firstly I cut two tags from blue cardstock and used my tag die and my  trusty Vagabond (oh! how this has changed my life and reduced the size of my biceps now I no longer use my Cuttlebug!)  I inked a Retro Circles Texture Fade from Tim Holtz with Broken China Distress Ink - just stamp the pad directly onto the Texture Fade, depending which side of the folder you use will change the effect when it's finished so it's worth a play with scrap paper! Then I fed it through my Vagabond with one of the tags and crossed my fingers that I'd inked the right side! 

The effect is that the ink is pushed to the back of the pattern and the raised sections remain uninked (you can also stamp images onto Texture Fades like I did here). I then did a bit of distressing (added spots of ink etc with a mini mister) and covered it all with a fine spray of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. I then cut out two mini rosettes and turn one round to reveal a lighter side before putting them together and adhering to the tag. I inked a grungeboard alphabet  soup letter in Broken China and covered it with clear embossing powder. I used the larger of the two rosette centres and put the two on the rosette. The last thing to do was to glue the second tag on the back after we'd written it (it's very hard to write on card that's been through a Texture Fade!) I added some lovely sari ribbon and then popped it on the present... Hope he likes it! If you have any ideas for boys cards I'd be really keen to know them! 

Gabrielle x