You're cool, I'm not Lion

The Clean and Simple Boutique card class in the AECP program has been one of my favorites so far. This class showed so many amazing techniques of how to make a simple card special! My inspiration this week was creating a pattern background with stamps and embossing them. For this card I used the Altenew Geometric Menagerie stamp set. This set is so fun and versatile, and I felt the patterns and shapes would make an interesting background. I started by stamping the lion stamp in Versamark ink. I placed the first stamp center and then lined up the front paws to his tail in a diagonal pattern. This first section I sprinkled on hot pink embossing powder and heat set. 

Once this was cooled, I used a clear embossing powder bag, so the next embossing powder would only stick to the Versamark ink. I add the next set of lions and used a reflective metallic embossing powder by Lindy's. Having both reflective and opaque embossing powder gives the card some fun movement, texture and detail to this beautiful stamp. 

I then cut down my embossed panel to create a small border and added a matching hot pink paper. I stamped You're cool (and I'm not lion) to a 1" piece of vellum, wrapped and attached to the back of the panel. To complete this card, I added two stripes of hot pink paper to line the vellum, this helped tie the vellum to the card. 

I felt this needed a matching envelope, so I created one using my We R Memory Keepers envelope board with the same hot pink paper. This made for a perfectly matched card and envelope set!

                                                                                                

Whimsical Flowers with soft stenciled background

 

The Altenew Whimsical Flowers stamps are one of my favorites! These little cuties are the perfect topper for the AECP Celebration Stencil technique class. I really wanted these flowers to pop, so I decided to stencil over a dark background. I used a Hero Arts stencil over a dark purple paper and Distress ink in the color Picket Fence. This created a soft patterned background for my flowers to be the focal point. I stamped the Whimsical Flowers in Altenew's Crisp dye ink in Red Sunset, Lavender Fields and Green Valley inks. I used the matching die set to cut out my flowers and arranged them in a cluster. 

I didn't want my flower to float on my card so I added washi tape to the bottom of the card and a strip of glitter gold cardstock for a pop of sparkle. 

I finished off my card with a Hello stamped and heat embossed in fine white embossing powder. I think this technique is a great way to use stencils that are a bit "busy" and creating a soft background with them. I really loved how this card turned out! Stay well- Janet 

My Crafting Journey Begins

I'm so happy to announce my participation in the Altenew AECP program! I discovered the program listening to the Craft your Life Podcast. The same day I discovered the podcast, I submitted the paperwork to be considered for the AECP program. And today I'm excited to share my first project!

I decided to start with the All About Layering 3 class. I have a small but nice collection of Altenew products so I was excited to start with the basics. 

For this project I am using Altenew Vinatge Roses and the Build-a-flower Ranunculus set. 

I stamped these layered images using Altenew Crisp dye inks in Red Sunset, Lavender Fields and Green Valley. I knew I wanted to cluster these beautiful flowers, so I picked soft colors I felt worked well together. I embossed the background using a basket weave embossing folder and carefully made my arrangement of flowers. I finished off the card with the word Lovely that I had embossed with a metallic heat emboss powder and added some tiny gems for a pop of sparkle. 

I decided to use the Vintage Roses stamps for this very first project because it was the reason, I fell in love with Altenew products. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to become a better card maker, student and hopefully a teacher of everything I love about paper crafting.  Thank you for visiting today! Stay well - Janet