Celebrations: Stencil Techniques

Hello my crafty friends!

Today I’m sharing a card I did for the Celebration: Stencil Techniques class for Altenew’s Educator Certification Program.  My inspiration for this card was Altenew’s Classy Stripes Stencil.  I love this stencil!  You can easily change the feel of a card or a scrapbook page with this one stencil. Vertical bars, depending on the colour and saturation, can have a wide range of mood effect from light and fun to dark and dramatic and anything in between.  Using this stencil, I was able to create an adorable country themed encouragement card.  

I started this card by cutting my cardstock a little larger than the 6 x 5 7/8” stencil.   I did this so I could have something to anchor the stencil to.   I use a light (temporary) adhesive spray to cover one side of the stencil.  I followed the directions on the spray adhesive container for setting time.  I use adhesive spray instead of tape to decrease the possibility of the stencil lifting when I’m inking.  WARNING: Read the directions for use and use spray adhesives in WELL VENTILATED areas.

  

After I am done inking, I place the stencil in light soapy water to clean it.  I placed the stencil on to my #65 white card stock piece (tacky side to cardstock). I used Altenew’s Maple Yellow mini ink cube and a blending tool and started at one end of the cardstock with very light pressure applying a light covering of ink.  As I progressed toward the middle, I used heavier pressure to lay down more colour.  Moving away from the middle of the card (toward the opposite end), I used very light pressure again creating the gradient look.  I rotated the stencil 90 degrees and repeated the same process.   I cut the inked cardstock down so that the most concentrated area of ink was the focal point of the background.  For the flowers I used Altenew’s Daisy Stamp Set.  This is one of the mini layering stamp sets.  There are 3 layers for both the main image and the leaf.   I stamped the Daisies using the Warm Gray Mini Cube Set.  From the Warm Gray set, I omitted the Lava Rock to keep the Daisies light.  and I used the Green Valley Mini Cube Set to stamp the leaves. I left out the Firefly mini cube.  There is no die for the (mini) Daisy stamp set, so I cut them out using my Brother Scan N Cut.  You can also cut them the images out manually.  The sentiment is from the Bamboo Rose Stamp Set.  I used my Misti Stamp Tool and the Evening Gray ink cube to stamp the sentiment several times.  After I arranged the Daisies and leaves, I trimmed the sentiment and adhered them all down with small pieces of double-sided tape.   I added some Fun Foam to the back of the finished card front and mounted that on to an A2 sized side fold card base. 

For more information on Altenew products, classes, and inspiration click HERE. 

Altenew Products: 

Classy Stripes Stencil 

Daisy Stamp Set 

Warm Gray Mini Cube Set 

Green Valley Mini Cube Set 

Pocket Full of Sunshine Mini Cube Set 

Bamboo Rose Stamp Set 

Joyce

Let It Shine

Hey there! So glad you are back.  I hope you and your family are well.                                          

I have completed another Altenew Academy class.  The title for this class was Let It Shine!  And although I’m not a blingy shiny type of girl, I really enjoyed making this card.  I got to pull out some products and tools I haven’t used in a while, like toner card stock and my Heidi Swapp Minc Machine.  My inspiration for this card was Altenew’s Birthday Greetings Stamp and Die Bundle.  I wanted to do some shiny balloons…and so I did!  One of the things I learned in this class was the possibilities of what I could use to make something shiny.  Normally, the first thing we think of is loose glitter and embossing when we want some shine.  Loose glitter and I do not get a long well at all, so I try to avoid using it as much as possible; it has to be a customer driven request…lol.  This class made me think of other products that have some shine to them.  The level of shine just depends on how much shine you are trying to achieve. 

For this class submission I did a birthday card.  My card started with a small piece of self-made toner cardstock (you can purchase toner cardstock, toner pens, etc). I have a laser printer, so I made my own.   I used the die from the Birthday Greetings bundle and die cut 5 balloons from the toner cardstock.  I cut a couple more than I needed just in case.  I used some rainbow coloured foil sheets and my Minc Machine to cover all 5 of the balloons.  I anchored some metallic gold floss to the back of the foiled balloons then added a small piece of foam tape for dimension.  I centered and overlapped the balloons on to a 4 x 5 ¼ inch white card front.  I stamped one of the Happy Birthday sentiments on to a scrap piece of white cardstock with black ink, trimmed it down a bit, added some foam tape to the back and used the sentiment to hold down the balloon strings.  I took a 3 ¾ x 5 inch piece of Fun Foam attached it to the back of the card front and mounted the card front on to an A2 sized tent fold card base.  The white on white keeps the card sharp and professional looking without dulling down the fun of the card.  This card would be good for any age.   This is my favorite card so far!  This is a simple card to make even if you don’t have a foiling machine.  Altenew’s Birthday Greetings was the perfect stamp and die bundle for it.    Click HERE to start Crafting Your Life! 

Altenew Products:

Birthday Greetings Stamp & Die Bundle 

In this photo you can see the rainbow colouring of the balloons, the dimension on the balloons, the sentiment, and the card front. 

See you next time…Joyce

For The Guys

A Big Texas Hello!

Today’s card is out of this world!  I don’t know about you but most often my cards are more on the feminine side.  The For The Guys class over at Altenew.com gave us good ideas and inspiration for making masculine cards.   I did a card like the one demonstrated for the class.   What I learned was I don’t have to be so careful and calculated with inked back grounds all the time and still come out with amazing end results.

This card starts off with an A2 piece of white card stock as the card front.  I liked the inked results so much, I used the entire panel, so the final card size is a little larger than a A2.  I used a couple different shades of blue dye inks and some black ink to create my background.  I started by using the lightest blue ink all over my card front.  I added the darker blue ink starting at the edge and about halfway in toward the center blending the two as I went along.  I did this in random places on the card front.  I did not blend the entire card front.  I wanted the blues to blend in some places and keep their individual colour in random spots.  I added the black in around the edges of the card a little heavy and very lightly moved toward the center just covering the blues.  I used my spray bottle to add some water droplets on to the inked background.  Then I took a piece of folded paper towel and pressed down on my background.  This created the faded-out droplet appearance on the card front.  Next, I took a drop of white acrylic paint and a couple drops of water and mixed them together to make a thinned out white liquid.  I used my Tim Holtz splatter brush to splatter the thinned liquid all over the background.  I’m not sure if you can see it but some of the spots have tails which look like comets or shooting stars.  I let the background dry completely.

On some white cardstock, I used first generation stamping with Altenew’s Mini Moon Stamp Set and their crisp dye ink cubes Citrus Burst and Silver Stone to create my moon.  I die cut the moon using the Mini Moon matching die.   Before I attached the moon to the card front, I heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set on the card front with Versa Mark and white fine detail embossing powder.   I did a little extra on this card by carrying the theme over to the inside bottom of the card.   

For more information on Altenew products, inspiration, and classes click HERE. 

Altenew Products:

Mini Moon Stamp and Die Bundle 

Pocket Full of Sunshine Mini Cube Set 

Rock Collection Mini Cube Set 

Joyce

Easy Ink Blending

Hi There! Glad you’re back.   

The card I am sharing today is for the Altenew Easy Ink Blending Techniques class.  This is one of my favorites because I love, love, love blending.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Copic Markers, Distress Inks, Clear Color Brush Markers, Gansi Tambi water colours, Prisma Color Pencils, or Altenew Crisp Dye Inks, I just love blending and shading colours.   My inspiration for this card was the tropics and Altenew’s Bamboo Rose Stamp Set.  This is a great outline stamp set.  It has so many supporting images like leaves, branches, stems, and butterflies, this is in addition to the 6-7 different rose sizes! You can make a bouquet of roses, stamp them individually, make a trellis of roses, your imagination is the limit!  It also has five greeting/sentiments in a fun font.  I would say, this is another must have; especially, if you love to colour.  From stamping the images on a plain white background with some coloured ink or embossing powder to colouring the images with Crayola Crayons you will love this stamp set! 

To make this card I started with a piece of Canson Aquarelle #90 water colour card that was a larger than I knew my card front would be.  I do this because sometimes you get the colours just right and of course you’ll never be able to duplicate that background again...well, there is a way, but we won’t go into that here.   I wanted this card to have a tropical feel, so I chose bold bright colours like pinkish reds, corals, yellows, lime green, and oranges.  I started with the lightest colour first.  I added the lightest colour in random areas on the card stock and progressed to the darkest colours.  I was careful not to overlap the colours too much otherwise you end up with a bunch of earth tones (grays, brown, mud).  After I was satisfied with my ink blended background, I cut it down into a 4 x 5 ¼ card front.  I stamped several sizes of the Bamboo Roses onto my card front using my Versa Mark ink pad and embossed them with white fine detail embossing powder.   In the Easy Ink Blending Techniques class we also learned about quick and easy water colouring.  I used that technique on some of the roses and the leaves; it added a bit of dimension to the images.  I die cut the word hello 3 times, glued them together and attached them to the card front.  I added a layer of Fun Foam to the back of the card front and attached that to the front of an A2 sized tent fold white card base…and card was born!  For more Altenew inspiration, products, and information on classes click HERE.

Altenew Products:

Bamboo Rose 

Thanks for stopping by, see you next time...Joyce

Clean & Simple Boutique Card

Howdy Everyone,

Today I am sharing a card I did for my Clean & Simple Boutique Card Class over at Altenew Academy.  My inspiration was floating roses.  I wanted to keep the imagery and the colours light.  I started with a 3 ¼ x 3 ¼” white card front.  I randomly stamped the roses and the rose leaves using Altenew’s mini stamp-Carved Rose.  The Carved Rose stamp set is a single layer solid image stamp.  The stamp set comes with the rose and rose leaf, a sentiment with accompanying phrases to complete the sentiment.   I used Frosty Pink from the Red Cosmos Mini Cube set and Minty Mint from the Green Meadows Mini Cube set.  After I stamped the roses and leaves, I used a Copic Multiliner pen to outline the leaves.  I only outlined the leaves.  In outlining the leaves, it not only helped the leaves to stand out, it created separation of the images and it lifted both the roses and leaves from the white background.  To give more separation of the white background I mounted the card front onto some black cardstock and then mounted the entire card front on to a 4 ¼ x 4 ¼ side folding white card base.  I stamped a sentiment from Altenew’s Label Love Stamp Set with their Jet Black ink from the Green Fields Mini Cube set on some white cardstock, trimmed all around the sentiment and inked the edges with the same black ink to hide the white core of the card stock.  In this lesson I learned a couple of things.  One was using the Copic multiliner to give flat images a lift  and the second was how make a clean and simple card into a boutique type card. For more information on the products I used to make this card  see the links below or visit Altenew.com HERE and Craft Your Life like me!

Altenew Products:

Carved Rose Stamp Set 

Red Cosmos Mini Cube Set 

Green Meadows Mini Cube Set 

Green Fields Mini Cube Set 

Label Love Stamp Set 

Chat soon,

Joyce