Hello ScrapbookPal friends! I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but it sure is getting chilly here in Northern Virginia! When I saw this set of adorable character mugs from Honey Bee Stamps, I could almost taste the homemade hot chocolate that my mother would have ready for us after sledding! Back then, I’d have to share with my sister and friends. Today, I decided to pick my one favorite design and make a (paper) cup of hot cocoa just for myself! Honey Bee – Cling Stamps – Sweet Season Mugs is a fabulous stamp set that includes four fun mugs (Santa, reindeer, snowman and gingerbread man) and several sentiments. I love that Honey Bee uses real red rubber to make their stamps, ensuring that they will last for years to come. In my experience, they are a much better investment than the clear photopolymer cling sets. All of that stamps have coordinating dies in the Honey Bee – Honey Cuts – Sweet Season Mugs set. On a whim, I decided to splurge and get the Honey Bee Stamps – Pearl Stickers – Merry Moments because I was drawn to the colors. I ended up using the pearls to select my colors for this card (had to add the orange nose!)
For my snowman mug, I didn’t want to just leave him white… I thought that might be too much white with the white marshmallows on top. I am not ashamed to say that my Copic Marker skills are still in the beginner category – okay for some small details, but probably not the best to show off on the focal point of my card. After I used my Copic Sketch Markers (YR04, YR16, R35, YG11, E35, E37) to color in the details of the mug, I hemmed and hawed about messing up the rest of the mug by trying to blend Copics. I had an idea to mask off all the parts that I had just colored, and use a blending brush and a lighthanded application of Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass. It looks a little darker in the photo, but it really is a nice light shade of blue in person.
I also added a bit of clear glitter to the marshmallows – because – it’s the holidays! More glitter always! Now that my focal point was finished, I went on to the background of my card. I had also purchased the Honey Bee Stamps – 3D Embossing Folder – Frosted Filigree. This folder is soooo pretty and detailed. It’s a nice 5×7 size folder, but I wanted to stick to a smaller, A2 sized card. I realized that if I turned the folder sideways, I could get a 5 1/4 inch by 4 inch piece for the background with just a tiny 1/8 inch frame of the base card color. Still thinking glitter and sparkles, I reached for my Ranger Tim Holtz Mica Spray Stain swatches. When I purchased mine several years ago, they came in seasonal sets of 3 different sprays. Now, ScrapbookPal sells them individually! And, at the typing of this post, they are ON SALE! I again went to the Honey Bee Stamps – Pearl Stickers – Merry Moments for color inspiration, and chose the Distress Mica Spray Stains in Frosty Mint, Wonderland, and Juniper Berry I highly suggest making swatches of all of your sprays, especially the mica ones that look different when they are settled out on your shelf than they do after you shake them up and spray them. I never used to use my Mica sprays until I swatched them!
I used a piece of watercolor paper, spritzed it lightly with water on both sides, and ran it through the embossing folder first. Then I used the mica sprays, randomly spritzing 2 squirts of each of the lighter colors, and 3 squirts of the darker Juniper Berry color. To get the colors to blend, I spritzed lightly with water again. Then I just walked away! I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was when I returned and it was mostly dry! I couldn’t have planned it any better if I tried! The raised swirly bits and snowflakes seemed to hold a darker concentration of the color, and really stood out beautifully. I had thought that I would have to add some ink on top for definition, but honestly didn’t want to do anything more and end up messing it up! I finished drying it completely with my heat tool, but you could also just wait and let it air dry.
The greetings (I love the tiny little “sweet” stamp!) were stamped in VersaMark embossing ink and dusted with white embossing powder before being heat set. I wanted to give the greetings a landing space on the card. I tried a few things, and then decided a snowflake die would be great. I couldn’t find one that was the right size in my stash, but I did find this poinsettia cutout from Sizzix – Tim Holtz – Thinlits Dies – Vault Seasonal Sketch. I used a glittery paper to diecut my “snowflake” wannabe.
Thank you for visiting my blog. I know through first had experience that the thought of going through the holidays without a special loved one can be overwhelming. I try to find joy in little things like cardmaking, time with friends and family, and random acts of kindness. Please ask for help if you need it. Have a blessed season, however you choose to celebrate. My supplies are listed below, and available at ScrapbookPal.com!
As I was contemplating my design, I decided I wanted the pasta shapes on the Spellbinders Al Dente folder to be more of a pasta color, and the background to be darker. To achieve this effect, I planned on inking the flat side of the embossing folder… the side where the shapes are depressed into the folder. This would place the ink on the background, and keep the pasta shapes the color of the paper. At first I tried this using cream colored cardstock, and inking with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Antique Linen. As I thought through the design, I decided I would rather have my little ravioli pasta friends be a pasta color, and have the entire background appearing to be tinged with marinara. Not to worry, I’ll use that first “practice” piece of cardstock for something else. On to the next idea… let’s get some variations in the marinara sauce. Starting with a piece of white cardstock, I used a large blending brush to apply Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tattered Rose and Fired Brick. Then I inked the embossing folder with Aged Mahogany, and ran it through my die cut machine.
Next up was to create my main characters, filled with ricotta of course. Paper ricotta. I cut the ravioli shapes using the Spellbinders Pasta Friends dies. I cut two layers of the smaller “face” part, as I wanted that part to appear thicker. I used a blush Copic Marker, number R20, to color a small scrap piece of cardstock for the cheeks and mouth, and layered that inside my “pasta”. I inked my raviolis with the Distress Oxide Antique Linen, and used a touch of Distress Tea Dye ink to add depth the the edges.
I used my favorite black cardstock from Ranger/Tim Holtz for the arms, legs, and bow tie of my ravioli. I colored another bow with Aged Mahogany, and then used Ranger Ink Glossy Accents to make it shine. I used more of the dies to cut out leaves, the olive, and the chef hat from white paper. The leaves and olive were colored with the green Distress Inks listed below. The Spellbinders Mini Blending Brush Set is fantastic for inking small dies lkike the leaves and the olive, and you get three different sized brushes in the set, at a great price. I used a piece of scrap silver paper for the fork.
To add a little more interest to the card, I went back to that first piece of cream colored cardstock that I had embossed in the beginning but decided not to use. Some of the Italian words in the sentiment set were small enough to fit on the embossed ravioli pasta shapes. I stamped them onto the spare background that I made, and then fussy cut them out to add to the card. The raviolis and sentiment strip were attached to the card front using Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares Variety Pack and Scrapbook Adhesives Thin Foam Squares Variety Pack. I used Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue to add the arms, legs, hat, and other details. I created a thin black frame with black cardstock, and used Fired Brick ink to color the larger, red frame.
Thank you for reading my blog post. I hope you like this card and are inspired enough to step away from your Christmas Card Production Line and create a fun card to send to your favorite Italian! All of the supplies are listed below, and available at ScrapbookPal.com!
Hello creative friends! I am participating in another event from Altenew, called the Bloom & Grow Educator Instagram Reel Hop. The hop starts on Instagram from @altenewllc, so be sure to begin there and follow along! This blog post describes the steps I used to create my card. There’s a quick 2 minute reel over on my Instagram account !
The creative challenge was to use Altenew Foil Plates or Press Plates with a Spring theme, or Spring colors. It’s kind of like a writing prompt for crafters! I often enjoy making cards when I am given a direction to get me started, especially if I’m feeling unmotivated.
I purchased the Spellbinders BetterPress System for myself for Christmas this year, and the Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate was the first press plate I purchased. I wanted something that would really highlight the beautiful, crisp image transfer that this system offers. I knew I wanted a floral, so Altenew was my first choice. They do florals the best in my opinion! I had the idea to mirror the pattern, filling most of the card with the deisgn. This led me to choose a larger, 5×7 format for my design. It took me some trial and error to get the pattern to repeat exactly how I wanted it. I used a piece of paper to cover up the part of the pressplate that I didn’t want to transfer, and tried to stop rolling it through my Sizzix BigShot diecut machine in the right spot, at the halfway point. I anticipated using some kind of a band in the middle, possibly a sentiment strip, to cover up where the two images would meet, so it didn’t need to be perfect.
Using the ink that came with the system.I used tape first as a mask, then found a piece of papter worked better.A little bit of the plate impression, but we’ll fix that!Here’s when I decided to layer another flower on top. But it’s better than I expected!
That was the hard part, and the most work for this card. Next, you just need to choose a medium to color your flowers and leaves, and you’re almost done!
I love how the Altenew inks coordinate so easily with each other. I chose the Blushberry Bliss Fresh Dye Ink Mini Cube set for the flowers, using the lightest 3 colors on the larger flowers, and the darker three on the smaller flowers.
I am by no stretch of the word an “artist”. I can’t draw a straight line, or a circle. I have no sense of shadows or depth. Unless I’m tryin gto copy someone else’s work, I just try to get some obvious shadows and then add more color wherever. The above photos show the greens from the Jade Dreams set, starting with Misty Sage and then adding in Mossy Meadow and Green Opal here and there. I really like how there colors coordinated with the Blushberry Bliss set!
After finishing the “background”, and not spending any time on the larger flowers that would be covered, I printed two more designs with the BetterPress System on watercolor cardstock. After coloring, I decided to just layer the two larger flowers, as those were the only ones that I really needed to cover up on the background, due to the extra impressions from mirroring the design.
Being around Valentine’s Day, I decided to make this card for my husband who very recently passed after a long illness, hence the “hey love” sentiment (created with Mossy Meadow ink, diecut with Versatile Greetings Die Set). I decided the sentiment was too large to squeeze in to the center of the card, as I orginally planned, so I placed near the bottom, and added a simple vellum band in the center of the card to cammoflage the place where the designs came together. A few Altenew Antique Gold sequins, and we’re done! This card panel was trimmed to 4.75″ x 6.75″ and layered onto a 5″x7″ card with foam tape.
I like this card design because you can replicate it with very few supplies, and things you already have on hand most likely: 1. A larger floral stamp, press plate, or foil plate, 2. Inks or markers to color, and 3. Any sentiment and embellishments you choose. The challenge is in the mirroring, and what to do to make the image cohesive in the middle!
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! When your heart is full, there is more to give to others!
Hello creative friends! It’s been a while since I’ve had the energy and motivation to be creative. I happened to see this Inspiration Challenge, and it was just what I needed to let myself reengage with the hobby that I love. Here is the link to this challenge on the Altenew Blog if you’d like to participate as well! And I hope you do!
First of all… come on! Who could resist a plate of delicious macarons and cappucino? Add in that beautiful teal blue plate, and you have a fantastic and interesting color palette, sure to catch your eye! The inspiration for this card came from the challenge, as well as the first floral Press Plate that I purchased for my new Spellbinders BetterPress System – the Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate. Please let me apologize for the lighting in the photos… it’s winter, and I just can’t catch a good time with the sun out! Everything thing looks a little dark no matter how much artificial light I try!
I wanted to use something different to ink the press plate. I didn’t think black would be the best for this design. I used a Lisa Horton Crafts Metallic Pigment Ink Cloud 9 ink pad in Solid Gold. I’m sure the Enchanted Gold or Antique Gold Pigment ink pads from Altenew would work just as well if you have them.
I placed the Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate on my BetterPress base, and inked it up with the gold pigment ink. Then I taped a piece of watercolor paper to the clear top plate, and ran it through my die cut machine. I left the watercolor panel taped in place while I colored the flowers and leaves.
I used Dew Drops and then Teal Cove to watercolor the flowers. The method I used was to press the mini ink cube onto my craft mat to squeeze out some ink, pick up the ink with a waterbrush, and then paint the flowers. The center of the flowers were colored with Peachy Glow. For the leaves, I used Grass Green and Firefly. After I finished coloring the flowers and leaves, I reinked the press plate, still in place in my BetterPress base, placed the cover plate on top (with the watercolor paper still taped in place) and ran it through my die cut machine again. This restamped the gold ink, making the outline crisp and clean again after the watercoloring.
Next I fussy cut the image. I noticed the flowers and leaves made an oval shape, so I cut an oval out of white to carry that theme, and give me a place to put the sentiments. I colored a piece of white cardstock with the Teal Cove ink to use for the Fancy Hugs Die, and chose a subsentiment from the Bad Days Happen Stamp set. To add some background texture and movement, I used the Dotted Waves Debossing Cover Die with a piece of colored cardstock, and layered than on a piece of cream textured cardstock from my stash. The light blue pearl embellishments were added for more dimension.
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! When your heart is full, there is more to give to others!
Altenew products used: Altenew Blossoming Bouquet Press Plate Altenew Dotted Waves Debossing Cover Die Altenew Bad Days Happen Stamp set (sentiment) Altenew Fancy Hugs Die Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Dew Drops, Teal Cove, Peachy Glow, Firefly, Grass Field
Also used: Lisa Horton Crafts Metallic Pigment Ink Cloud 9 Solid Gold
Hello creative friends! I am so excited to share that I recently completed the 5 required courses and projects for the Altenew Academy Educator’s Level 3 program, and qualified to host a virtual (or in-person) 2 hour workshop! Completing the necessary courses up through Level 3 definitely took a bit longer than I had planned (more on that later), but I also learned so much more than I expected. Plus, my actual cardmaking skills improved. More on that later too.
First, I’d like to share about my workshop. Hopefully, I’ll inspire someone else to step outside of their comfort zone, and share part of themselves with other lovely people who enjoy the same things. For anyone who knows me, or someone like me, it’s no surprise I was stressed and anxious leading up to my class. A touch of adrenaline helps me focus and pay attention to details, and think things through. So that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I had to develop a new temporary mantra called “It’s going to be fun!”.
I started to prepare for the workshop by creating an idea for a card. Let’s start with the inspiration for these cards… a vintage doily that I believe Great Aunt Ruby (1887-1986) would have made. That was my Grandmother’s father’s sister. I guess doilies are out of fashion, and not my style anymore, but I do treasure this keepsake that reminds me of my Grandmother, and visits with Aunt Ruby. I used three of the colors to select my inks. I chose to use the Altenew Crisp Dye Ink mini cube sets in Summer Afternoon (yellow and tans), Sugarplums (purples), and Tropical Forest (greens). I also like the way the pansies on the doily are made to ruffle, so I wanted to do something a little similar on my cards. I chose to do some paper sculpting with an optional paper sculpting kit. Optional, because fingers work just as well!
I know with our crazy economy, it’s not all about just using the newest products, but I really HAD to have the Gardenia Layering Die Set! The flowers were so lovely, I could almost smell them! So I thought – ok, I’m gonna splurge… maybe one of the themes to my workshop could be stretching your supplies, using the same supply in different ways, using a product in a potentially new way. And I didn’t want my attendees to feel like they had to buy a lot of product to come to my workshop. Along with that, I purposefully only used white paper, and inks to color it. I said that any Altenew layering die set would work, and any stencils.
I was worried about planning too much, or too little, for the 2 hour time slot. I ended up creating two cards to make, and then had a demonstration at the end, just in case I had extra time, and also to make it more fun – something unexpected! I finished the demo background into a card with leftover bits from my workshop.
I had 7 lovely ladies sign up for my workshop, plus Erum, our fearless leader! Unfortunately I missed a communication, and one lady did not get the Zoom link. I felt awful. This was a learning experience for me. From now on everyone gets my cell phone number! I hope she forgives me!
To begin with, we started the card with the texture paste background so that it could dry. If you are using paste in your own workshop, or anything that needs drying time, remember to do it first. This was create by pouncing 3 or 4 different color minicubes on top of the stencil in strips (top to bottom in this photo). Inks were added from darkest ink to lightest ink on top of the Leaf Drops stencil. Then we taped a piece of cardstock underneath the stencil and applied Altenew Texture Paste (using a palette knife) on top of the stencil in the same direction as your strips of ink, in one pass.
The texture paste picks up the ink that’s lying on top of the stencil, and drags it, coloring the paste in some spots but also letting the white show, in a variegated fashion.
While that was drying (mine never did!) we went on to the other card. This card is pretty straightforward, and anyone could probably copy the look pretty easily. What I would like to point out is that for the flower, we colored a piece of watercolor paper ON BOTH SIDES with the same color. We used this to cut out one of the flowers from our Gardenia Layering Die Set (or whichever set they were using). To color the paper, we ink smooshed onto a craft mat, added water, and dragged the paper through it to cover. Nothing fancy, just coloring paper with ink. We used a different “technique” to color the paper we would cut the leaves out of… we just randomly applied a few colors of green to a piece of white cardstock with a blending brush, and then die cut the leaves. More green can be added after diecutting, but it’s meant to be another quick and easy way to color paper, leaving some white and lighter sections for variation. Both the flower petals and the leaves were shaped using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Shaping Kit. I demonstrated that the same paper shaping effect can be created just by using your fingers to shape the petals.
I explained a few things I tried with the backrground that didn’t work out so well, and then how I blended Warm Sunshine ink through the Elegant Swirls Stencil. Using the same ink, I stamped tiny text from the Dynamic Duo: Dainty Roses Stamp Set multiple times over the stenciled background. Since the stencil was swirly, I followed that theme by curving my sentiments before stamping. This card was finished with a few Altenew Antique Gold sequins, and another sentiment from the same set, embossed in gold onto white cardstock.
An hour had passed, and it was time to move to the second card with the embossing paste. Mine still wasn’t dry! I live in Virginia, and in the summers, the humidity is usually as high as the temperature. 90 degrees? 90% humidity! Anticipating this, I had made another background with embossing paste the day before, that was dry. See that cute scalloped cut on the edge, behind the hugs sentiment? That was from a random rectangular die. I just used one side of it to cut the line where I wanted it. The rest of the card was very much the same to put together, except the leaves. For the leaves, I used a dark green Distress Oxide Ink on a piece of vellum, then layed another piece of vellum on top, making a vellum sandwich if you will. This keeps the ink from smearing around until it dries, which in Virginia, can take precisely forever and a day. I placed the leaf die cuts on top of the vellum, then cut them out as a sandwich. That keeps your cutting machine and dies clean too. Plus it gives more dimension when you add it to your card like that.
That didn’t take very long, so then I had extra time to talk about glitter. Glitter! How many of us have glitter? All of us! How many of us love to use it? or worse, get a card make with glitter?! So here’s my trick to use up some of it!
The holidays are coming. Time for lots of sparkle! All you need to do is get a container of transparent texture paste. Unfortunately Altenew doesn’t make one, but you can use it with all of their stencils of course. I took a little ultra fine glitter and mixed it into a glob of Ranger Transparent Matte Texture Paste, and spread a couple swipes through the Altenew Feathery Stencil. I then added a touch of Grape Agate ink to some more clear paste, and applied that to fill in more of the stencil. Look how gorgeous!
I was surpised at the color of the Grape Agate when it dried. I’m sure it was because it was so diluted by the paste. But in person it really is a gorgeous taupey color that highlights the glitter and blends with the flower. This extra card turned out to be my favorite of all!
Class Projects
Created By Ann T.Created by Ann T.
I love the coloring that Ann added on her card to her flower! Absolutely gorgeous! I new would have thought to use purple to lowlight the edges of the leaves. I don’t remember the name of the stencil she used, but I heard it was discountinued. I’m definitely going to look for it! It looks like she used a top fold card, and also cut away the front of the card, leaving the flower to overlap. Nice detail! For her second card, she kept with the straight theme of her stencil instead of curving the smaller text that she repeated.
Created by Helen B.Created by Helen B.
These two cards were created by Helen. She used the Altenew Flowing Drops Stencil, and the Craft-A-Flower Southern Magnolia Die Set. The geometric stencil gives me the feeling of a slate walkway! I love her choice of using blues for the flowers. These are beautiful birthday cards. I could also see using this color combination for a Thinking of You card… very peaceful and calm. She did a great job following along with my design!
Created by Leslie H.Created by Leslie H.Created by Leslie H.
Leslie knocked these out of the park! She went to town with her ink smooshing on the hugs card and got a lovely, layered texture on her flower petals. How did she do that with the Hugs Die? So Shiney! I guess I will have to join her Level 3 workshop (coming soon!) and find out! She also shared that she did some stamp surgery to get her sentiments to bend on the second card. Now there’s some “fearless” confidence! Special shoutout to Leslie, as she rallied the troops and helped let others know about my workshop!
Created by Pamela K.Created by Pamela K.Created by Pamela K.
Pam gets the award for the bravest crafter of my workshop. A fellow Rochesterian, she now lives in Florida and lost power due to Hurricane Debby. Nevertheless, she rejoined on her phone and finished the workshop! Her photos are a little dark, due to no power at the time! Bravo Pam! I love how she chose to use the same elements, but differently. Imagine putting the cards I designed and the cards she designed in a set together? Just a few changes like cutting down the embossed panel differently, and positioning things differently… totally fresh and different looks, in the same style! I think I’m CASEing hers for sure! Next time… seek shelter first, craft second!
Created by Saskia L.Created by Saskia L.
Take a look at these beauties, made by my new friend Saskia from the Netherlands! That Craft-A-Flower Open PeonyDie Set has been on my wishlist far too long… Hurry up Christmas!The coral pink flower is absoultely stunning. And I love the bigger flower with this card design than the one I used.I wish I could remember what colors she said she used. She used the Flowing Drops Stencil as well as an alternative to my Elegant Swirls, and it definitely gives a nice feeling of movement. Great job Saskia! Don’t you all think she should become an Educator too?
Created by Alysia J.Created by Alysia J.
Can you believe we had to convince Alysia (from Alaska!) that we all loved her stripy texture paste background? That’s exactly how I pictured it in my mind! Except I didn’t try it with a striped stencil like she did. I like how she was able to get the darker to lighter colors, and the orientation that she used. I really like the choice of the “Thinking of you” sentiments, all in different fonts! The bright pink flower makes a super cheerful card, and I really like the greens she picked – I’m thinking It’s the beautiful Frosted Foliage (with Silver Sage – my favorite) Fresh Dye ink minicube set.
My Reflections
I was rather anxious and nervous about my workshop. Would anyone be interested enough in my cards to show up? Would I be able to teach them something spectacular? Impart some unbelievable cardmaking wisdom upon them? Would I panic and not be able to speak? As I said earlier, “this is supposed to be fun” quieted most of the silly thoughts.
First of all, everyone I have met in this hobby/industry/whatever is always SO NICE and kind, and happy. I do this because it is a creative outlet, and I can use what I produce to put a smile on someone’s face, let someone know I see them and they matter, or send a virtual hug. If you are preparing to host a similar workshop, create content for YouTube, or post a card to a Facebook group or Instagram, know that Our Community is loving, supportive, and caring! Put aside your doubts!
Next I’d like you all to know that this took far longer than I imagined. At the time I started with the Level 1 classes, I thought surely I could be done in a few months. Then life got lifey. Since I was accepted into the program in October of 2022, I began working full time again from home, my son got married, and my husband was diagnosed with a rare syndrome which caused his bone marrow to stop producing adequately, on the way to failing. We are preparing for his bone marrow transplant as I write this, and we cannot wait for him to be healthy again. So lots of life events got in the way, but I kept chugging along, course after course, enjoying the process, enjoying the learning, and improving my skills.
My reflections on the class? The biggest one is my thanks and gratitude for the lovely ladies/new friends who not only signed up, but showed up, and gave of their time to help support me. Wow! Y’all Rock! And Erum – who reviewed and commented on every single card I made, as well as those of many others who are participating in this program. She gave extra, and is extra appreciated! Thank you Erum! Thanks and gratitude are also due to Altenew for their one-of-a-kind, exceptionally fantastic and diverse Academy of courses available to everyone!
I was also so excited to see everyone’s photos show up in my inbox. It was like opening a gift – seeing what each person did with my initial design! WHen I made my cards, there was only one way in my mind. Seeing the small changes, which often resulted in a “better” design in my mind, was a great learning experience for me.
My “if I have time” idea with the glitter turned out to be the favorite card that I created, and it was just one of those “what if I tried…” kinda things. So I am definitely going to make time to do more of that – just sitting down the next time one of those ideas pops in my head, or I get inspired by the patterns of the Olympic gymnast’s outfits! Talk about colors and sparkles!
Yes, I had a plan, and I had things to share and steps to follow, but it really turned into just a very nice 2 hours of chatting, sharing, getting to know one another, and doing what we love, together. After all folks, we were not designed to be solitary beings. We’re pack animals. We thrive with connection, and there is not a better group of people to connect to in the world, in my opinion!
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! When your heart is full, there is more to give to others!
Hello creative friends! Today I’m sharing a card that I made while participating in Altenew Academy’s Creative Coloring with Erum – Advanced Techniques online course, instructed by Erum Tasneem. I took this class as part of my Altenew Academy Level 3 certification.
The inspiration for this card was actually twofold – a combination of the stamp set (Statement Flowers), and the set of mini ink cubes (Fresh Dye Red Sunset, including Blush, Rouge, Crimson, and Velvet). I love this stamp because it certainly does make a statement! I like the view from the top of one flower, paired with the side view of the other. Instant dimension already! Even though there are only two flowers, the “rule of threes” is covered with the three groups of leaves. The stamp is a nicely composed focal point already, and takes up most of the space on a standard A2 card. There isn’t much to do except add a sentiment to make a lovely card. I also love this coordinated set of ink pads… from pink, to coral, to red, all complimenting each other. For the first flower, I mainly used the two lighter shades, which resulted in a more coral flower. On the second flower, I used the two darker shades, and that flower came out more pink-red. I think they give a nice sense of calm to this card.
In this class, Erum demonstrates a watercolor technique using a stencil that is a large flower with lots of open areas in the petals to color. I did not have a similar stencil, so I used this large Statement Flower stamp. I used Canson XL watercolor cardstock, stamped in VersaMark ink, and used gold embossing powder. I followed Erum’s watercoloring technique of covering the petal in a light shade, and then building up color, drying between layers. I also used her stippling effect in a few areas to build up more shading.
I thought this would be a fairly easy image to fussy cut, and I don’t think there are dies available for this set anyways. It turns out fussy cutting is not easy for me at all, no matter how simple it might seem in the beginning, so please don’t judge! Hopefully the recipient won’t either!
It actually took me quite some time to finish this card. I went back and forth about adding another color in the background, or more green, or maybe blue… I usually grab my scrap box, and just play around until something jumps out at me. This image was so calm and peaceful to me, as well as being on the elegant side, so I ended up choosing black and gold. Another idea was using a textured white background (with an embossing folder, or possibly a cover die), but I tend to make a lot of white cards. The gold swirly bits are a circle die that I cut in half and positioned more into an oval shape, to fill in more of the background.
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! When your heart is full, there is more to give to others!
Altenew products used: Altenew Statement Flowers Stamp Set Altenew Sentiment Strips 3 Stamp Set Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Cubes – Summer Afternoon, Green Fields Altenew Fresh Dye Ink Cubes – Red Sunset
Also used: Pinkfresh Studio Stand Alone Die Cuts – Spiral Circle, Diagonal Stitched Rectangles
Hello creative friends! Today I’m sharing a card that I made while participating in Altenew Academy’s Stunningly Simply Watercolor Techniques online course, instructed by Lydia Evans. I took this class as part of my Altenew Academy Level 3 certification. I’ll have to say that this course was one of my favorites so far. I felt like I learned more techniques that I wasn’t familiar with, and they all seemed to be at about my level of skill, which is to let the water/ink do all the work! I’m more of a crafter than an artist for sure, but after creating this card in particular, I sure feel like I created art rather than crafted a card. This might need to get framed and stay in my craft room, er… I mean, “studio”.
The inspiration for the focal point came straight from one of the lessons in the class. Lydia used a flower from a different set (Beautiful Day), and demonstrated the technique using Distress Picked Raspberry Ink and Distress Chipped Sapphire Ink. The two colors blended into a beautiful purple. I chose two of my favorite Distress colors, Saltwater Taffy and Seedless Preserves. I also used a different but simlar flower from the Golden Days Layering Stamp Set. I finished my card very differently than hers.
I don’t want to give away all of the secrets – you should really take the class yourself! Basically this is a no-line watercoloring technique, done on watercolor paper. I used Canson XL watercolor paper. After selecting an outline stamp with plenty of open areas to work in, you stamp in your lighter color ink. I dried it at this point with my Ranger heat tool. I “smooshed” some ink out of each ink pad onto a craft mat. Then I used a small paint brush and clean water to cover one petal with water, filling in the area I wanted to add color to. I picked up some Saltwater Taffy ink on my brush, and touched it to the water, letting the ink “drop” into the water. Before that dried, I picked up some Seedless Preserves ink with another small brush, and touched it just to the area of the petal that is closest to the center of the flower – where I thought there would be shading. That’s it! I let it air dry, which didn’t take too long. You have to do one petal at a time, and you can’t move on to an adjoining petal until the first one is completely dry. You can however work on another petal in a different area of the flower. After all of the petals were done, I stamped over the center of the flower with Distress Villainous Potion and Black Soot, using the flower center stamps in the Golden Days Set.
I found that it was better not to try to go back and touch up something you don’t quite like. You kinda get what you get. You’ll get the hang of it… maybe you need a little more ink, maybe less. But once all of the petals are done, you’ll just see your beautiful flower, and you won’t notice each petal.
I added leaves in a similar way, after making a mask for the flower to get a layered effect. To pick the color for the leaves, I used a color wheel. The Saltwater Taffy and Seedless Preserves are basically Split Complementary colors, so Forest Moss was on the other end of the triangle. I just used one color for the leaves, layering the ink in places to get darker areas. I made leaf masks so I could add some background. I used the Altenew Linear Stencil and a blending brush to add a bit of Tattered Rose Distress Ink and then spattered some bright gold mica spray on top. The “love” sentiment is from the Altenew Versatile Greetings Die Set. The sub-sentiment is from a metallic Tim Holtz Idea-ology sentiment sticker pack.
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! When your heart is full, there is more to give to others!
Altenew products used: Altenew Golden Days Layering Stamp Set Altenew Linear Stencil Set Altenew Versatile Greetings Die Set
Also used: Ranger Distress Ink – Saltwater Taffy, Seedless Preserves, Villainous Potion, Tattered Rose, Forest Moss, Black Soot
Hello creative friends! Today I’m sharing two cards that I made after participating in Altenew Academy’s Stencils Unleashed: Advanced Stencil Techniques online course, instructed by Nicole Watt. I took this class as part of my Altenew Academy Level 3 certification. Nicole is a fabulous instructor, and I sure do miss her weekly online live demonstrations! She did a fantastic job on this course – lots of extra information for each technique. I love her style, and enjoy how we can see her creating in real time, thinking outloud through her creative process, making real mistakes, and adding all sorts of tips and tricks along the way.
The inspiration for this card came from one of her cards. She started with a simple background, colored by blending ink through a geometric stencil. She then added a “silhouette” scene over the top, using black ink through several stencil masks. The focal poiint of the card was a vase with several floral elements, all dodne in black ink as a silhouette. She also did another card with a similar technique, but used a solid image colored with gold embossing powder, instead of black, to make a gold silhouette. Am I not explaining it clearly? You’ll just have to take the class to find out! You won’t regret it!
I used the Altenew Blooming Flower Bed Builder Stencil Set for this card. I wanted to have a few colorful flowers in a sea of black, silhouetted flowers. I colored a few of the flowers with a small sponge blending tool, using masking tape to cover up the pieces of the stencil that I would later color black. I played around a couple times before I decided on how much I wanted to color, and how much I wanted to remain black. After I got a few of the flowers colored, I colored in the rest of the flowers and leaves with black ink. That was a good start, but I wanted some texture. This year, Ranger and Tim Holtz came out with a black texture paste. You could also color your own white paste with some black reinker. It looks like a mess, and it is, but it cleans up with water, and added a little something extra. I only used the paste over some of the black flowers. Sometimes you need to get messy to make a “clean and simple” card!
To finish up the first card, I used a bit of Glossy Accents over a blue flower to highlight and focus on that flower. I stamped a sentiment from the Altenew Bad Days Happen Stamp Set. I felt like I wanted that one blue flower to really stand out, so I added some black die cut leaves (from a different brand) behind the sentiment, and a few black sequins.
After I finished that card, I had another thought to stamp and emboss the sentiment directly on the background. Starting with a frresh piece of cardstock, I stamped the sentiment then embossed in gold embossing powder. Then I used the same process as with the first card, just avoiding the sentiment area. I did add a few more black elements aroundd the stencil to make it fit into the design a little more. For this card, I used some antique gold Altenew sequins, and mounted the card front on a piece of gold cardstock. Both cards are A2 sized.
I went back and forth over which one of these cards I liked better, that I would use for this post. Seriously, I changed my mind 5 or 6 times, so I just decided to share them both. Honestly, the gold one felt too simple, but I know how long it took me to make! Which one do you like better?
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart! Wen your heart is full, there is more to give to others!
Altenew products used: Altenew Blooming Flower Bed Builder Stencil Set Altenew Bad Days Happen Stamp Set Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Warm Sunshine, Coral Bliss Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Dew Drops
Also used: Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits – Garden Greens Ranger Distress Texture Paste – Black Opaque Ranger Distress Oxide Ink – Black Soot
Hello creative friends! Today I’m sharing a card that I made after participating in Altenew Academy’s One Stamp Six Ways online course, instructed by Justine Hovey. I took this class as part of my Altenew Academy Level 3 certification. The idea of this course is to find different ways to imagine the same stamp (or die, focal point, etc) into six different, unique card designs. Justine demonstrated six different ideas using the same stamp, Vintage Garden from Altenew. It is a beautiful set! The main stamp is two different flowers and a couple leaves. I found a stamp set in my stash that was similar, the Paint-A-Flower: Camellia Waterhouse set.
The inspiration for this card came from one of Justine’s card designs, where she stamped white ink onto black paper, and black ink onto white paper, cut the paper in half, and pieced the design together. I liked the clean and simple look of her card, however I felt that I would want to color the flowers. I also thought it would be neat to cut the design with a curved line, more like a yin-yang design. I wanted to use some kind of medium that would be opaque on the black paper so the color would show on both the white and the black sides of the card. I decided to use Distress Mica Sprays, so I chose to start with black and white watercolor paper.
I had a harder time with the black watercolor paper than I expected. First off, whether I used VersaMark Ink with White Embossing powder, or used White Pigment Ink with Clear Embossing Powder, it seemed like the paper sucked up the ink too fast, and I couldn’t get a good layer of the embossing powder to stick. This definitely became a learning experience! You might notice the white outlines on the black paper are kind of splotchy. The Perfectionist in me spent a good hour trying many differnet combinations to get the best coverage. I’m still only marginally happy with this one. What worked the best for me in the end was to stamp with White Pigment Ink, and quickly add Clear Embossing Powder, and heat set. I used a stamp positioning tool so that I could do this TWICE, on top of each other. Then, I cleaned off my stamp, applied some anti-static powder to the black paper, stamped the image with VersaMark Ink, and then added White Embossing Powder. Phew! Maybe in hindsight I should have tried regular black cardstock so the embossing might turn out better, and then see if I could use the mica sprays to color in the flowers, without getting the paper too wet.
The white watercolor paper was easier for some reason – I stamped several times in VersaFine Onyx Black Ink, and then applied clear embossing powder and heat set it. I was happy with the result.
I used a die that was designed to cut rolling hills to cut each of the flower clusters in half with the same curved line. I made a little contraption to hold the die in place to cut both the white paper and then the black paper in the same exact place, so that they would fit together perfectly.
Starting with the white watercolor paper side, I colored the flower using the red Yuletide Distress Mica Spray and a paint brush. I spritzed some of the spray onto my craft sheet, and painted it on in a very rudimentary way, just layering it to get a darker shade in some areas. I was hoping it would look more similar when I painted on the black watercolor paper side, but the Mica Spray wasn’t opaque enough. I tried painting on some white pigment ink underneath the Mica Spray, but it didn’t seem to make very much of a difference. Maybe Distress white paint would have helped? I’ll try that next time. I painted the other flower using Hocus Pocus (purple) and Frozen Fog (very light purple-silver) Mica Sprays. For the leaves, I used Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide Spray on both the white and the black sides. After seeing how different the leaves looked, I decided I liked the little bit of the red overlap much better. There is a touch of purple flower on the white side. I probably should have planned it better so there would be more of both flowers on each side. Next time!
I used a small “you & me” sentiment, stamped directly onto the white side. I was looking for a “You Complete Me” sentiment, but I don’t have one. I thought that would be cute, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up.
Before I added the sequins, I thought the black watercolor paper wasn’t as black as I wanted it to be. It might have been residue from the anti-static powder. I used a bit of Black Soot Spray Stain with a small paint brush to go over the black paper. I think it darkened it up just a touch, and emphasized the contrast.
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart!
Altenew products used: Altenew Painit-A-Flower: Camellia Waterhouse Outline Stamp Set
Also used: Ranger Distress Mica Sprays – Yuletide, Hocus Pocus, Frozen Fog Ranger Distress Spray Stain – Black Soot Ranger Distress Oxide Spray – Mowed Lawn
Hello creative friends! Today I’m sharing a card that I made after participating in Altenew Academy’s Elements of Floral Composition online course, instructed by Jaycee Gaspar. I took this class as part of my Altenew Academy Level 3 certification. This was an excellent course, and I learned a lot about the different aspects of composition in art. Jaycee is an excellent instructor, and I highly recommend following him on social media and taking some of his classes.
The inspiration for this card came from the beautiful coordinating set of stamps, dies and stencil that I treated myself to from Altenew before the holidays – Linear Life Poinsettias. I loved the modern design of the stamps. I thought the stencil, with it’s offset design, would surely stretch my comfort zone! Although I started with the Poinsettia set for this card, I had no idea what I was going to do as a design until I participated in this class with Jaycee.
I just love how this class is divided into lessons with each one focusing on a different element of composition: Color, Value, Line, Shape, Form, Texture, and Space. The real inspiration for this card came from Jaycee. I used his 60-30-10 Color “rule”, striving for about 60% gold, 30% red, and 10% green. To add color Value, I used two coordinating red shades of ink (Vineyard Berry and Pink Pearl from the Tea Party mini ink cube set), and then softly blended a gradient of ink through the stencil to get more Value differentiation. I used a triangle Shape to arrange my flowers, and I also used the grid of thirds that he explained, for both the flower placement and the sentiment placement. I used dimensional foam tape to add Form, and the String Panel Cover die to add a layer of Texture to the background. Texture was also added with clear embossing powder for the outline of the flowers and leaves.
I started by stamping the poinsettias in Vineyard Berry ink on 80 lb white cardstock, applying clear embossing powder, and then melting the powder with a heat gun. The ink didn’t stay wet as long as I wanted it to (it’s winter and the air in the house is very dry), so the embossing powder didn’t stick as much as I wanted it to. It still gave the look I wanted, so I decided it would be fine. I stamped the leaf outline in Eucalyptus, and embossed in clear powder as well. I then used the stencil to apply color to the flowers and leaves, using Pink Pearl and Silver Sage. These are lighter colors in the same mini ink cube sets. I used a small blending brush, and tried to get more ink at the center of the flowers as a component of Value.
After my flowers and leaves were colored, I cut them out using the coordinating dies. This is when I started playing around with the placement, using my “rule of thirds” grid, and keeping a triangle shape. I then thought about adding the sentiment. The color gold would compliment the red and green nicely, so I stamped a sentiment from the set with VersaMark ink, and embossed in gold embossing powder.
I considered adding texture with texture paste through a stencil, but this seemed like a “cleaner” card to me, and I wasn’t feeling texture paste was the way to go. Looking through my supplies, I found the String Panel Cover Die. If I cut this out of white and used it for the background, I felt it would add a subtle, modern, clean element of texture. After cutting it out, I saw that there were several triangle shapes within the strings. That gave me the idea to focus on one of the triangles by filling in part of the cover die with gold cardstock. It’s very easy to do this, just by die cutting another piece in gold, and inlaying the pieces you want.
Originally I was thinking of my three colors being 60% red, 30% green, and 10% gold. I planned to use gold for the sentiment and some embellishments, like thread and sequins. After I pieced in the gold cardstock rectangle, I convinced myself I still had about the right proportions of color if I used gold as the predominant color, followed by red and then green. To carry the gold into the flowers and create a more balanced look to the card, I used an embossing pen to color in the flower centers, then applied and heat set gold embossing powder.
You can see that this gold paper has a brushed finish to it, adding another touch of texture. To add the element of form, I used two different thicknesses of dimensional foam squares for the flowers and sentiment, and liquid glue to attach the leaves to the card front.
Thank you for stopping by my blog – I appreciate you! Give yourself permission to take care of yourself today and spend time doing what fills your heart!
Altenew products used: Altenew Linear Life: Poinsettias Outline Stamp Set Altenew Linear Life: Poinsettias Die Set Altenew Linear Life: Poinsettias Simple Coloring Stencil Altenew String Panel Cover Die Altenew Crisp Dye Ink mini cube set – Tea Party (Vineyard Berry and Pink Pearl) Altenew Fresh Dye Ink mini cube set – Frosted Foliage (Eucalyptus and Silver Sage)
Vicki Fedor 