Build-A-Flower Snapdragons - Boutique Cards, 2 Ways

Hey there!  I’m back with another project for my Altenew Educator Certification Program requirements. 

This time, the course is Clean and Simple Boutique Cards with Jennifer Rzaza. 

I was inspired to create a couple of cards with a stamp set I love but have only used once or twice: the Build-a-Flower Snapdragons by Altenew. This was one of my first-ever layering stamp sets, and like many new stampers, I had found it difficult to align the layers just right. I have a lot more confidence after taking All About Layering and having a lot more experience under my belt, so I thought I would give it another try. 

Plus, snapdragons are one of my favourite flowers!

I gave myself the additional challenge of using the set twice and with colours I wouldn’t normally choose. 

This first card has a bit of a masculine vibe, I think  my dad is a nature-lover, so this would be a great card for him. I started by stamping the yellow base layer of the flower in Altenew Fresh Lemon and then stamped over that with Distress Oxide Ink in Spiced Marmalade  

The green stem is stamped in Evergreen. I also did some offset stamping with the sentiment, starting with Fresh Lemon for the highlight, then shifting my card base in my Misti and stamping again in Evergreen. 

I finished this off with some sketchy Distress Marker outlining for a hand-drawn feel. To give it that subtle-but-formal boutique touch, I used my scoring board to add a debossed (scored line) border frame to the whole card front. 

For my second card, I used just the sketchy outline layer of one of the flowers in the set. Can you believe I’d never done the “make your own pattern”technique before? I don’t know how I missed it! 

I suppose that, being primarily a colourist, I have always tended toward bigger blooms with lots of space to colour. Yet again, Altenew is pushing my creative boundaries and I’m really enjoying it. 

I finished this off with some loose watercolouring and a bold sentiment strip embossed in white and in Altenew’s Platinum Crisp Embossing Powder. 

This was another inspiring class! I’m glad I finally tried out pattern making and also worked with some colours that are out-of-the-norm for me. 

What about you? Are there any techniques that are pretty common, but that you’ve never tried before?

-Teri