Let It Shine! - A shimmery, shiny floral birthday card

This birthday card for my dear friend Adrienne was the perfect project for the Let It Shine class with Carissa Wiley.

I tried to get some shine in using as many variations as I could.  I started out by heat embossing some flowers and leaves from Altenew's Flower Garden stamp set on some watercolour paper using Altenew Platinum Crisp Embossing Powder.  I then added Nuvo Shimmer Powders in Catherine Wheel, Green Parade, and Solar Flare to the dry images.

I then misted the panel with water and used a small water-brush to break up any clumps of powder that didn't disperse.  

I just love the way this allows different colours to pool in every segment of the images!

I then fussy-cut out all of the pieces and arranged them in a sort of "triangle" fashion, creating one triangle with the flowers and another with the leaves.  I used some low-tack tape to keep this arrangement together, flipped over the whole stack of arranged images, and used the fine tip of my adhesive to sneak in some adhesive between each of the layers.  Once that was dry, I removed the tape and adhered it all down onto my card panel.

That panel, by the way, is another little nod to the idea of 'shine'!  That's the Kaleidoscope Texture Fades 3D Embossing Folder from Tim Holtz, and the repeated circular images with sharp angles remind me of crystals or diamonds.  The shadows they create help to enliven the highlighted facets.  It's not real shine, but I feel like it adds a similar sort of effect without making this over-the-top glitzy.

I then added a few sequins, again in a triangle.  These are Pure Sheen Sequins in Pink Tutu by Nuvo.  

Check out that shimmer! 

My sentiment is from a pre-printed toner sheet by Simon Says Stamp.  Adrienne is one of my favourite sassy friends, so I knew I needed a sassy sentiment for her!  I used my laminator to foil the sentiment, and then embossed "Happy Birthday" with that same Platinum Embossing Powder on the inside.

I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  Carissa's explanation of using varying triangles and how to place embellishments led to a card that I'm really happy with!  This is one of the elements of cardmaking that has been challenging for me, so I was excited to get some insight into the design theory behind cards that look cohesive.

Thanks for stopping by!

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

Bam! Final Project for Altenew Academy’s All About Layering 2

Altenew Academy’s All About Layering 2  with Nicole Picadura inspired me to kick my layers up a notch. 

(Side note: whatever happened to Emeril Lagasse?)

This is one of the classes required for my Altenew Educator Certification Program, and it was a lot of fun!  I experimented with layering my flowers ‘out of order’, meaning that I didn’t add the layers in the same order each time. I really like the variation this provides, as it gives the impression that these are multiple different flowers even when there are repeated stamps. 

Rotating the diecut flowers also helped to create that visual variation. 

This is one of the first projects I have done where I layered very different shades of ink, and I love the bold look it gives! I’ve mainly been a colourist in the past so it’s fun to venture into new territory. 

I even layered up the sentiment stamping to help give some depth, and then added white highlights for additional dimension. 

Some dimensional gems and embellishments, and this card was complete! 

Bam!

(Seriously - whatever happened to that guy?!)

PS: Thanks for another great class, Nicole Picadura!

"You Inspire Me" card using Label Love and Build-a-Flower Gardenia

Hi there, and welcome to my brand-new blog!

I'm so excited to be posting my first project for the Altenew Educator Certification Program!  

I chose to start with All About Layering 1, a ten-part (free!) class taught by Nicole Picadura.  Nicole's tutorials are easy to follow and she has some great suggestions for lining up tricky layered stamps.  As I practiced her techniques, I discovered that focusing on a couple of 'nooks and crannies' in the stamp, as Kathy Racoosin might call them, helped me to line up the layers.  These are the inner angles of the V-shapes in the stamp, and they were different for each layer, so I was careful to frequently refer to the colour guide on the back of the stamp set.  

My project for this class features the Build-a-Flower Gardenia and Label Love stamp sets from Altenew.  (PS: Those aren't affiliate links.  I just shared them for your convenience).

Here are the steps I took to create this card:

First, I stamped the flower outline twice, rotating the stamp so it wouldn't look repetitive and overhanging the edge of the panel.  I also stamped the outline on a separate piece of cardstock for the focal flower.

Next, I added the layers of aqua and teal.  I was very careful to study each layer stamp because I wanted to make sure I lined up those layers perfectly.

Since this class focuses on fundamental skills, I decided I should stamp by hand.  With an acrylic block.  Without my MISTI.  So, the next thing I learned is that my hands shake when I'm concentrating.

Thus, the next step was to start again. 😂

It took a couple of tries, but I'm glad I decided to complete the card without my stamp-positioning tool.  It forced me to study the stamp in more detail than I might have otherwise.  Sometimes I find that a back-to-basics approach like this helps me to get out of my 'autopilot' habits, allowing me to learn more in the process.

Once I had the four layers stamped, I started on the leaves.  Here, I didn't have the right green, so I experimented with various teals until I found a shade that would combine with the underlying muted lime ink to create the right shade of green.  In the process, I found that stamping the veins first allowed me to line things up more effectively since there was no outer line to follow.

After die-cutting the flower, I cut apart the leaves and arranged them in a visual triangle, then adhered the layers to the stamped panel, adding a couple of layers of scrap cardstock under the stamped images for a bit of dimension.  I then splattered on some metallic watercolour paint before stamping the sentiment and popping it up for added dimension.  I used the same lime-and-teal combo to match the shade of green on the leaves.

I then adhered some fun-foam to the panel before adding it to the front of a heavy white card base.  The finishing touch was adding some gems from Studio Katia's Mermaid mix.

And that's it! I learned so much from this course and process, and I'm pleased with how this card turned out...though next time, I'll probably use my MISTI. 😂

Happy crafting!

💕Teri