Challenge #209 over at The Male Room is all about vehicles or transport, and it turned out to be the perfect excuse to make a birthday card for my golfing friend. Rather than going down the usual car or motorbike route, I decided on a golf cart instead – fun, a little different, and ideal for someone who loves spending time on the course.
Step 1: Creating the Base
I started with an A5 white base card, made from an A4 sheet scored and folded in half. To bring in some colour and pattern, I adhered a piece of green tartan DSP towards the left-hand side of the card front.
Step 2: Adding the Background Circle
Using the large wavy double stitch circle die by Craft Addiction UK, I die cut a large circle from white cardstock and adhered it towards the lower third of the card. This acts almost like a little scene-setting backdrop for the focal image.
To ground the golf cart, I added a strip of green cardstock from my scrap box across the bottom of the circle. It instantly gave the look of grass and helped anchor the rest of the design.
Step 3: Building the Scene
For the focal point, I used golf cart dies to create the cart in yellow, black, and silver cardstock. The yellow really stands out against the greens and whites, making it the star of the card.
To create a little background detail, I die cut two trees in Garden Green cardstock using one of my Christmas die sets – I love getting more use out of my dies! One tree was trimmed slightly shorter, then layered over the other for extra depth. These were adhered to the left-hand side of the circle die cut, with the golf cart layered in front.
Step 4: Stamping the Sentiment and Bunting
I used the Cotton Tail Party Time stamp set by Louise Dunne to stamp both a strip of bunting and the birthday sentiment onto white cardstock using black ink.
The bunting was coloured to coordinate with the rest of the card in shades of yellow and green, then carefully fussy cut by hand. For the sentiment, I die cut it using a Tim Holtz die before adhering both elements to the card.
Why This Card Works
The mix of tartan paper, greenery, and the bright yellow golf cart gives this card a fun, outdoorsy feel that is perfect for a golf lover. The scene is simple but full of personality, and the bunting adds just the right amount of birthday celebration. The overall design keeps a masculine feel with the tartan paper, simple layout, and bold golf cart focal point, making it ideal for a male birthday card.
This design could easily be adapted for other hobbies too – perhaps a camper van for a traveller, a tractor for a gardener, or even a bicycle for someone who loves cycling. Sometimes challenge themes are exactly what you need to spark a creative idea!
I’m sharing my card at The Male Room challenge #209.
Lily-by-Gilly 