Octopi

Hello, crafty world. Today I made my very own slimline card! Originally I was in a coloring mood but decided I couldn't let the images go to waste. Crafty Friends, today I share with you a slimline card filled with fun-loving octopi madness!!

To achieve the following look, please follow the steps below:

1. Use any coloring medium you are comfortable with and color your stamped images.

2. Once your images are colored, use either the coordinating dies or you can fussy cut the images.

3. The dimensions of today's card are 8 x 9-inch (base), 3 5/8 x 8 5/8-inch (layering), and 3 1/2 x 8 1/2-inch (image)

4. Using your Distress Ink, begin blending your background. 

5. Once your background is nice and dry, use an anti-static powder tool to remove any static from the card stock.

6. Stamp your image with any clear sticky ink and add your clear embossing powder.

7. Preheat your heat gun until it is nice and hot. This will allow the powder to emboss quicker and prevent your card stock from warping.

8. Once your tool is hot, it is ready to emboss the powder.

9. To create the seafloor, you can use either a specific die as I did or fussy cut in a wavy pattern. Once it is cut, use foam tape to create a gap between the floor and the main panel. By doing so, you create added dimension to your card. 

10. Start adhering your colored images to the panel 

11. After your images have adhered to your liking, add all your panels to the base of the card. At this point, you can finish your card with a sentiment or jewels for added sparkle.

The products used in today's card are as follows:

Lawn Fawn - Mermaid For you, Christmas Fishes, Octopi My Heart, Duh-Nuh, and Ocean Shell-Fie stamp sets. Ocean Waves and Stitched Hillside Border Die sets

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils - 72pack. Unfortunately, I did not write down the specific colors I used, however, I can say I almost used all 72 pencils, haha

Copic Sketch Markers- W2, W3, W5 ,W7,C1, C3, C5, C7, G14, G19, G29, E51, E31, and E 43

Distress Oxide Inks- Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Pine Needles, Blueprint Sketch, Vintage Photo, Brushed Cordury, and Walnut Stain

I hope you enjoyed today's card and I can't wait to see all your crafty creations, bye.

 

Happy Birthday

Hello, crafty friends. Today I am sharing a birthday card using the Tonic Studios Shoot For The Moon Stamp Set. Unfortunately, this stamp set is out of stock, however, you can achieve the same look by using similar images from other wonderful stamp companies.

To achieve the following look, please follow the steps below:

1. Use an anti-stack powder tool to remove any static from the card stock. This will also prevent the embossing powder from sticking to the areas that are not being embossed. 

2. Stamp your image with any clear sticky ink and add your black embossing powder. 

 3. Preheat your heat gun until it is nice and hot. This will allow the powder to emboss quicker and prevent your card stock from warping. 

4. Once your heat tool is hot, it is ready to emboss the powder. *

If you do not have black embossing powder, you can still achieve the same look by stamping with black pigment ink and use clear embossing powder instead. Dye Ink will not work and will dry almost instantly while Pigment Ink will stay wet longer.*

5. Using your Distress Ink, begin blending your background. After inking your background and it is dry, use a dry cloth and remove the ink from the embossed image. This technique is also known as the emboss resist technique. *Add a masking sheet on all areas you do not wish to ink*

6. After the background is dry, stamp your background image.

7. Assemble your card and add any embellishments for added sparkle.

 

The products used in today's card are as follows:

Tonic Studios- Stamp Club, Shoot For The Moon stamp set

Distress Oxide Ink- Blueprint Sketch, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, and an Ink Blender using the new Domed Foam

Wow- Super Fine Ebony Embossing Powder

Gina K Designs- Moonlit Fog Die Ink, Master Layouts 1,  and Masking Magic

Altenew- Gold Washi Tape

Pretty Pink Posh- Spring Green Jewels

I hope you enjoyed today's card, happy crafting!

 

Beautiful Butterflies

Hello, crafty friends. I finally finished my butterfly card. Today's card was inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Butterflies stamp set and coordinating die set. 

The products used in today's card are as follows:

Simon Stays Stamp - Beautiful Butterflies Stamp Set and Coordinating Die Set, Butterfly Trails Stencil

My Favorite Things - Small Brick Wall Stencil

Gina K Designs - Moonlit Fog, Sandy Beach, Soft Stone, and Faded Brick Die Ink, Obsidian Amalgam ink, Master Layouts 1

Prismacolor Premire Colored Pencils - (blue) PC931, PC901, and PC905 (green) PC909, PC910, PC913, and PC915 (body) PC941 (orange) PC925, PC918, and PC916

Spectrum Noir - Clear Glitter Pen

I hope you enjoyed today's card. Happy crafting!

 

Each day is a new start

Hello and welcome to my blog. Today I wanted to showcase a card featuring the Altenew Build-A-Flower Primrose Layering Stamp Set, along with the Gina K. Designs Master Layouts 1 Die Set, and a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Clear Stamps Beautiful Butterflies.

Steps used in the process of creating this card are as follows:

1. Cut out all your panels from the Master 1 Layouts die set

2. Use an anti-static powder tool to prep your surface for heat embossing

3. Use a clear and sticky ink to stamp all your images

4. Pour heat embossing powder over the stamped images and apply heat with a heat tool to melt the embossing powder

5. Select dye ink colors to ink blend your background (ink resist technique) Once the panel is completely inked, use a soft cloth or paper towel to wipe the ink off the embossed images

6. Flick metallic watercolor to your background for added shimmer

7. Stamp and layer your sentiment onto your card

8. Apply jewels for added sparkle

I hope you enjoyed today's card. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Altenew-Final Challenge

 

Hello and Welcome,

I am on my final challenge for the Level 1 Altenew Educator Certification Program.

For this challenge I was to create one set of Masculine and one set of Feminine cards. For these I had to use at least three techniques I learned from AECP level 1 courses. Both sets must be cohesive and I was to use a recycled item as part of the challenge. The AECP techniques I used are as follows:

1. All about ink Blending

2. Easy Die Cut Techniques

3. Let it Shine

4. Stencil Techniques

For my first set of cards, I used the following items:

Stackable circle die set (any)

Altenew - Gold foil card stock

Distress Oxide inks

Altenew - Hello die set

Altenew - Monsteria 3D die set

To begin my card I selected the size from my stackable circle die set to cut the center of my card stock. Once the center is cut,  I use the same size circle and one size larger to make the center frame. I cut my frame using the Altenew gold foil card stock. As a reminder, when cutting the center of the card, make sure to open the card so you do not accidentally cut the back of the card; unless that is the look you are going for.

Once my frame was adhered, I used the one size larger circle die to cut the center background. After my background was cut, I used my Distress Oxide inks  (Speckled Egg, Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon, Spun sugar, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry) to create an ombre of colors.

 Masculine card - I used the Altenew monsteria 3D die set, layered the leaves, and adhered them to the background. Using the Altenew hello die, I cut three hellos from white card stock and one from the Altenew gold foil card stock. I adhered all the Hello die cuts together and glued them on top of the leaves for added dimension.

 

Feminine card - I followed the same process leaving out the center leaves and added jewels for added sparkle.

For my second set of cards, I used the following items:

Altenew - Hello die set

Altenew - Gold foil card stock

Altenew - Dotted Blooms stamp set with coordinating dies

Altenew - Stone wall stencil

Altenew - Metallic water Color

Stackable rectangle die set (any)

Distress Oxide inks

My first process when creating both cards was to cut all my layering pieces out using any stackable rectangle die set you have. 

Masculine card - I made sure to cut one of the layering pieces out of the Altenew gold card stock. Once the layers were cut, I used my Altenew stone wall stencil and embossed the stencil into the card stock. To achieve the embossed look, I used my die-cutting machine and followed the manufacture recommendations for embossing. Once the paper was embossed, I used Distress Oxide inks to create another ombre background. Be careful not to blend too hard since the paper has been embossed. After I was done with ink blending, I used the Altenew metallic watercolors to flick gold splatters across the ink blending. I cut three Hellos out of white card stock and one out of the Altenew gold card stock and adhered them together for added dimension.

Feminine card - Using the coordinating die set from the Altenew dotted blooms stamp set, I cut one of my layering rectangle pieces. I stamped the flower onto the cutout. I used the same pink colors of Distress ink to create one of my panels while matching the colors of the flower petals. I embossed the die cut background using the Altenew stone wall stencil. To achieve the embossed look, I used my die cutting machine and followed the manufacture recommendations for embossing. After embossing, I inlayed the flower into the cutout.  I cut three Hellos out of white card stock and one out of the Altenew gold card stock and adhered them together for added dimension. Once I adhered to all the panels, I added some jewels for added sparkle.

For my third set of cards, I used the following items:

Altenew - Thank You die set

Altenew - Gold washi tape

Altenew - Stone wall stencil

Altenew - Gold foil card stock

Altenew - Mariposa die set

Distress Oxide ink

Stackable rectangle die set (any)

Glitter paper

For both sets of cards, I used the Altenew thank you die set. I cut three thank yous out of white card stock and one out of the Altenew gold card stock and adhered them together for added dimension. I also used Distress Oxide ink to create a thank you shadow by adhering the colored thank you offset. 

Masculine card - I used the Altenew gold foil for my card base. Using the same rectangle die set, I cut my layering pieces out of white card stock. Using the same Distress ink colors, I created my blue panel.  I embossed the die cut background using the Altenew stone wall stencil. To achieve the embossed look, I used my die-cutting machine and followed the manufacture recommendations for embossing. To finish the card, I added the thank you die cuts for added dimension.

Feminine card - I cut a 1.5" strip of card stock and used my Distress ink to create the pink panel. Using the Altenew gold washi tape to separate the colored panel from the white base of the card. I cut two butterflies out of white card stock and one out of pink glitter paper. I adhered to the center of the butterflies making sure not the adhere the wings to give the effect of them getting ready to fly off the card and it helps give the card more dimension. To finish the card by adding the thank you die cuts to the center of the card.

For my fourth and final set, I used the following items:

Altenew - Monsteria 3D die set

Altenew - Metallic watercolor set

Altenew - Build-A-Flower Balloon Flower stamp set with coordinating die

Altenew - Antique gold embossing powder

Altenew - Gold foil card stock

Altenew Gold washi tape

Copic markers

Distress Oxide ink

Masculine card - I used the Altenew gold foil card stock for my card base. Using the same stackable rectangle die set, I cut my layering pieces out of white card stock. For the focal point of my card, I used the Altenew monsteria 3D die set. Once I cut all the leaves and pot out of white card stock, I decided to use my Copic markers for added color. I matched my markers to the Distress ink I was using and finished by using the Altenew metallic watercolors for added shimmer. Using the same watercolors, I splattered the color onto a smaller white layering panel and stamped the hello sentiment from the Altenew Build-A-Flower Balloon Flower stamp set.

Feminine card - I started by cutting a 2" panel out of white card stock. Once the panel was cut, I used the same Distress Oxide ink colors to create a pink panel. After the ink dried, I used an anti-static powder tool to remove all static from the panel before heat embossing. Using a dotted stencil and clear sticky ink, I heat embossed the dots using the Altenew antique embossing power. To finish the panel, I used the Altenew gold washi tape. To create the focal point of the card I decided to use the same Balloon Flower stamp set from Altenew along with the sentiment from the stamp set.

For the final piece of the challenge, I created a window box set for both my masculine and feminine cards out of recycled thin cardboard that was wrapped in white cardstock and created an acetate window out of the Altenew packaging. I adhered the acetate to the box using a tape runner. The box measures 7 1/2 X 6 1/2 and all four sides scored at 1".

Since the box was wrapped in white card stock, it gave me the ability to use the same Distress ink colors to make sure everything stays in a cohesive manner. To separate the colors, I decided to use the same Altenew gold washi tape.

For the white panel, I wanted to give the recipient an opportunity to see through the box to get a glimpse at the cards awaiting them.

I hope you enjoyed the journey with me as I had fun sharing my creations with you. I hope this will inspire you to join the Altenew Academy and as always, I can't wait to see what you create.

Altenew-All About Layering 2

 

Hello. Today's card is all about stamp layering inspired by the Altenew Academy, All About Layering 2 class.

I used the Altenew Build-A-Flower Balloon Flower stamp set with its coordinating dies. I first stamped my image using dye inks for each of the layering pieces. Once the images were stamped, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out. I arranged the images to my liking and used low tack tape to hold the images together. 

Before working on my background, I stamped my sentiment on the bottom right corner of the card. 

For the background, I used the Altenew metallic watercolor pallet to create shimmery splatters. Once the watercolor was finished drying, I adhered the flowers and leaves to the center of the card and removed the low tack tape that was temporarily holding the images together.

I hope you enjoyed today's clean and simple card, bye.

Altenew- Irresistible Ink Techniques

Hello. Today's card was inspired by the Altenew Irresistible Ink Technique class. 

Today's clean and simple card was created using the Ink Smooshing Technique. To achieve this technique all you need is a few dye inks, water, water brush, heat tool and a craft mat or a glass media mat. 

Apply your ink to your media mat along with a few water drops. Using a water brush, lightly mix the ink into the water. Once the colors are mixed to your liking, take your card stock and lay it directly into the mixed media. Let it sit for a few seconds before picking up the card stock. Keep applying the media until the panel is completely covered. Between ink layers,  make sure to dry the panel with your heat tool to keep the paper from becoming overly saturated.

After the panel was completely dried, I die cut the center image from the Altenew Monstera 3D Die Set. I die cut the images a few times and layered them together for added dimension. 

After I adhered the imaged to the center panel, I cut a few strands of blue twine and added them to the corners of the card. 

I finished the card using some Pretty Pink Posh jewels for added sparkle.

 

Altenew-Easy Die Cutting Techniques

Hello and welcome!  Today's card is inspired by the Altenew Academy class, Easy Die Cutting Techniques. 

Today is all about the quick and simple inlay die cutting technique. To achieve this technique, all you need is a stamp and the coordinating die. I decided to use the Altenew Dotted Blooms stamp set and  coordinating die. 

I started my card by stamping my image and once the image has been stamped and colored, I used the die to cut it out. Using the same die I cut the center of my card stock along with the layering panels. Make sure the card is in the open position before running it through your die cut machine. If you do not open your card, the image will cut through the front and back of the card.  

I used a dotted embossing folder to add texture to the card. Using the Altenew Hello die, I cut two words and slightly offset them for a shadow effect. 

To finish the card, I added a few jewels for some added sparkle.

 

Altenew: Celebration Stencil Techniques

Hello. Today's inspiration comes from the Altenew Academy Class, Celebrate Stencil Techniques.

Using the Altenew Stonewall stencil, I applied a layer of Ranger Texture Paste. Once the paste was finished drying, I applied Altenew metallic watercolor to give the stones a more rustic look.

Keeping the card clean and simple, I used the Altenew Thank You die set and inlayed the sentiment into the stonewall panel.

To finish the card I added some clear sequins for added sparkle.

 

Altenew: Seasonal Scene Building

Hello and welcome! Today I am sharing a card inspired by the Altenew Academy class: Seasonal Scene Building. 

I wanted my scene to convey the feeling of being outside and looking through a window.

I started out with a brick stencil and grey dye ink for the background. Once my  ink blending was finished, I placed the window die in the center of  the card and ran it through a die cut machine. I also cut another window out of woodgrain cardstock. 

Since most homes have a potted plant in the window, I decided the Altenew Monsteria 3D die set was the perfect choice. 

Using the Altenew Mariopsa die set, I cut two butterflies from glitter green card stock and adhered them to the outside of the window. 

I finished the card by adding a sentiment from the Altenew Dotted Blooms stamp set and adhered the sentiment using foam tape for added dimension.