My husband celebrated his birthday recently, and I like to create his cards with a bit of humor.

Last year’s:

He’s a big fan of Apple. My trusty Slice Elite helped me with the cake and its stand. The candle was created with a punch, and I drew the logo by hand in bright-blue glaze pen.

This year, I took a different approach to the “neat toys” theme. I went back in time (the patterned paper did, anyway) and made this card that says, “It must be your birthday … because you’re getting cool stuff!”

Sometimes I struggle with creating cards for guys. It’s hard to put down the bling and glitter, and let’s face it, most paper-crafting products are geared toward women. Case in point: Are any of my arrow brads just black? No; they’re all in pinks and browns and covered in glitter. I colored one with black permanent marker and covered it with Glossy Accents for this card.

So when I find something like October Afternoon’s “Black Hole” paper, I know it will make the creative process easier.

Here’s how to make it:

Make a card from a 5-by-10-inch piece of light-blue textured cardstock. Select a portion of cardstock that features vintage-inspired toys (I used the “moon shoes” part of “Black Hole” from the Rocket Age collection by October Afternoon), and cut it out. Adhere it to a 3 1/4-by-4 3/4-inch piece of red textured cardstock, and adhere that to the right side of the card front, centered vertically and close to the card’s edges.

Select metal letters that are about 1/2 an inch high and spell “WOW”  and distress them using StazOn in jet black.

Adhere a 2-inch yellow decorative-edge circle to a 2-inch black decorative-edge circle (I used my Making Memories Slice elite, “Vintage Findings” design card and yellow and black cardstock).

Adhere the metal letters, centered vertically, to the yellow circle. Start close to the left and keep the letters close together, leaving room for an exclamation point.

Stamp an exclamation point (mine’s from the Stamper Kit by The Curiosity Shoppe at Target) in black ink (I used StazOn in jet black).

Adhere this piece to the card’s front, about 3/4 of an inch from the top, close to the left edge and with “WOW!” angled slightly upward. Attach a black arrow brad below the “WOW!” piece, 1 1/4 inches from the card’s left edge, pointing to the right. Attach a large, blue brad featuring a star (such as from the On the Edge collection by Teresa Collins) between the patterned-paper piece and the right edge of the card, so that it juts out.

Using a computer program, type “IT MUST BE YOUR BIRTHDAY …” and “… BECAUSE YOU’RE GETTING COOL STUFF!” each on two lines and in red text (I used the MV Boli font in 18 pt in bold), with the first phrase no larger than 2 3/4 inches by 1 inch and the second no larger than 3 1/8 inches by 1 inch. Print the phrases on texture-patterned, light-blue cardstock (mine’s “Blue Boutique” in cotton candy blue from the Serendipity collection by Sassafras Lass), and trim them close to the text. Using star-patterned paper (I used the reverse side of the “Black Hole” cardstock), adhere the first phrase to a 3-by-1 1/4-inch piece and the second phrase to a 3 3/8-by 1 1/4-inch piece.

Attach a small brad that features a white star on a black background (also by Teresa Collins) to the upper-left corner of the “YOUR BIRTHDAY” piece. Using dimensional adhesive, adhere the “BIRTHDAY” piece to the lower-left corner of the card’s front, close to the card’s edges. Adhere the “COOL STUFF” piece to the inside of the card.