WWC280 – Kath\’s Challenge: Anything Goes with a Masculine Twist

July 15, 2020 Karen Brown8 Comments

Hello and welcome. We are making \”masculine\” cards this week at The Watercooler Wednesday and this is my design team card. I was in need of some masculine get well cards and came up with this idea.

I started by stamp block inking, but I used a minimal amount of water to get this speckled look. I made a similar background (same ink color but more water here). I trimmed the panel down and then inked the edges with the same ink as the background to give the panel a bit more definition. I added a sentiment and then stamped, Copic colored and die cut the plant and snail and attached with foam tape. I like how the card turned out.

Supplies Used:

Altenew Garden Grow

Papertrey Get Well Soon Sentiemnt

acrylic block to stamp the background

Altenew Sand Dunes Crisp Die Ink for background and edges

Copic Markers

Neenah cardstock

Foam tape

I am playing along at:

Cut It Up \”Create Your Own Background Paper\”

Cardz4Guyz: No Patterned Paper

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy Level 1 Final Project

July 1, 2020 Karen Brown5 Comments

I\’ve been working my way through Level 1 at The Altenew Academy and just completed my Final Project which was to create a set of \”feminine\” and \”masculine\” gifts sets. I have to say I learned so much and had loads of ideas but I would like to show you the cards I created for my final project. I incorporated lessons I learned in:

Let It Shine where we discovered how to add just the right amount of sparkle and shine to a card. I used metallic heat embossing and metallic watercolors on my feminine cards.
Easy Die Cutting where we learned to use die-cutting to up the \”Wow\” factor. I used die-cuts on each of my cards as I think they add loads of impact and felt this unified both card sets.
Easy Ink Blending – I used several ink blending techniques on my masculine card set. My two favorites were the soft blue background on the Healing Wishes card and the die-cut spotlight circles on the Get Well Soon card.

For my \”feminine\” cards I wanted subtle metallic touches combined with watercoloring. I kept the set cohesive by using cream card stock/watercolor paper, floral images, a pink and green watercolor palette and navy die-cut sentiments.

For this first card, I created a metallic watercolor background which is so pretty in person. I then stamped, heat embossed and watercolored the floral images. After the flowers dried I added a pearlescent white gold watercolor wash over the top which gave the flowers a beautiful sheen. I die cut the images and attached with foam tape. The next photo shows the first three card in process.

Here are the cards that round out the gift set. On each card I used big bold die-cut occasion sentiments cut from navy cardstock.

I really like this feminine spray and think the navy die-cut sentiments are beautiful and anchor the look of this set.

The painted Lotus die-cut is so pretty in person.

I did want to share this process photo as well.

The Feminine Set

For my \”masculine\” cards I chose to use an overall blue theme with ink blending techniques and Altenew\’s Garden Grow as the unifying elements. For my first card, I ink blended a background and used peek-a-boo die cut windows to spotlight my images. During quarantine, I\’ve been sending so many encouragement cards that I wanted to include one in this set.

I made a companion card using the die-cut circles from the card above. I ink blended the spotlight circle, added die-cut images and anchored with a strip of masculine brown paper.

The next two cards have a soft ink blended background to draw the eye to the die cut.

I thought a birthday and recovery card would round out the gift set.

Here is an in-progress photo. The die cut elements were attached to each card with foam tape.

PRO TIP: I blended one background on Neenah (Birthday) and the second on Bristol (Healing Wishes) to see which provided a smoother look. The Neenah panel (below left panel that is now the Birthday Card) is whiter but the Bristol (right panel that is now the Healing Wishes card) is far easier to blend on and resulted in a smoother background. In the future, I will remember to blend my backgrounds on Bristol cardstock.

And here is the masculine set.

We were challenged to use a recycled element in each set. For the feminine set I recycled a small Kraft gift bag and for the masculine set I re-used an elegant chocolate brown box. I heat embossed some tags to top each set.

Altenew Products Used:

Altenew Weekend Doodles stamp and die bundle

Altenew Best Mom stamp and die bundle

Altenew Inked Lotus stamp and die bundle

Altenew Garden Grow stamp and die bundle

Altenew Mini Branch stamp

Altenew Jet Black Crisp Die Ink

I am so glad you stopped by. I\’d love to hear what you think about these card sets. Thanks!

Karen

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WWC278 – Michelle\’s Challenge: Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist

July 1, 2020 Karen Brown9 Comments

Do you ever have a leftover scrap that you just love? That is how this card came to be….I made a pretty background (link to card here) and had a bit left so that was the starting point for this creation. I thought it was a pretty feminine card so I selected it to be my design team card for this week\’s Watercooler Wednesday \”Feminine\” Challenge.

I added a bold floral focal point, heat embossed a sentiment, created a layered look with foam tape and added a couple of embellishments from my scrapbooking days.

Supplies Used:

Altenew Watercolor Stripes Stencil

Altenew Smile More stamp and die bundle

Spellbinder\’s Sentiment

Distress Inks (Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron)

Zig Markers: Emerald, Green Shadow, Pale Yellow, Yellow, Bright Yellow

Initial Embellishments

Make My Monday \”Use Stencils\” Challenge My background is watercoloring with distress ink over a stencil.

Festive Friday FF0062 I picked CAS design, birthday theme and floral theme.

Cut It Up Summer Colors Challenge

Sweet Stampin\’ Create Your Own Background

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy: Easy Die Cutting

June 10, 2020 Karen Brown1 Comment

Hello and Welcome! I just finished the Altenew Academy class titled Easy Die Cutting. Yana Smakula was the instructor and she shared six wonderful lessons. I chose to write this blog post about lesson #5: Inlaid Die Cutting, which I found very inspirational. I just purchased this large beautiful scripty thank you die (Altenew\’s Simply Thank You) and thought it would work great with the inlaid die cutting technique. I learned to save all the pieces from both panels so you can can create two cards from the positive and negative die cutting. Don\’t you just love two-for-one projects! 🙂

$Inlaid Diecutting technique combined with Ink Blending featuring Altenew\'s Simply Thank You die.$

My Process:

I started by ink blending a bright colorful gradient on Bristol cardstock. I didn\’t want it to smear so I let it dry overnight. The next day I die cut the \”thank you\” from the inked panel. I also die cut the same sentiment from a white panel. Then I just swapped the sentiments and glued the white die-cut into the opening on the inked panel and glued the inked sentiment onto the white panel. I was careful to save all the die cut pieces so I could piece everything back together. Voila…two cards! Yana also loves embellishments so I felt encouraged to add buttercream jewels to the white background.

These cheerful cards will come in so handy on my next thank you notes.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy – Irresistable Inking

June 7, 2020 Karen Brown2 Comments

Hello and welcome! I\’ve been working my way through Altenew Academy\’s Irresistible Inking class and I wanted to share this card. Sara Naumann is the instructor and she provided loads of inking details, tips and techniques to make cards more interesting. I used three of these techniques on my card. After watching all the videos, I was inspired to make a vintage look masculine card.

My Process:

I started by using the stamp block inking technique we learned in Class #3. I took a square acrylic block, inked it with Altenew Sand Dunes ink, spritzed with water and then stamped on a Bristol cardstock panel. Sand Dunes was a great ink to use because it looks vintage but it is light enough to color over. I was going for a rustic, uneven masculine effect.
I popped out to have a latte and once the panel was dry, I stamped the planter on the inked square and then colored with Zig markers.
I trimmed the panel down and then inked around the edges (lesson #4) of the square with the same Sand Dunes ink. This is very subtle but the inking frames the vignette and gives a little more definition to the card.
I also block stamped the Sand Dunes on a scrap of Bristol cardstock so the sentiment strip would coordinate with the square panel. I inked the edges of the sentiment strip and then heat embossed the sentiment.
I made a top folding A2 card out of Bristol cardstock and then used a small paint brush to make Sand Dunes splatters over the card base.
I adhered the square panel and sentiment to the card base with foam tape.

Supplies:

Altenew Garden Grow stamp set

Altenew Sand Dunes ink (background, edges and paint splatters)

Square Acrylic Block

#2 paint brush

Small Spray Mister

Bristol cardstock

Zig Markers (Deep Red, Wine Red, Pale Rose, Oatmeal, Dark Oatmeal, Olive, Mid Green, May Green and blender)

Versamark Ink (planter and sentiment)

clear embossing powder.

Foam Tape

I am also playing along with:

Sweet Stampin Masculine/Father\’s Day Challenge

With all the social distancing, I have been staying home a lot more than usual and these Altenew Academy classes have been the perfect activity for me to grow my card making skills.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy – Seasonal Scene Building

June 5, 2020 Karen Brown7 Comments

Hello and welcome. I just finished Nichol Spohr\’s Altenew class on scene building and wanted to share this card. I love \”scene cards\” so this class was very fun for me. My card concept was \”coffee in the garden\”. I was especially inspired by Nicole\’s lessons #1 and #4 on creating scenes and die-cut scenes.

My Process:

Once I came up with my coffee in the garden theme, I started by working on my background. I wanted to use a stencil technique that I learned in Laurel Beard\’s Stencil Techniques class. I had never worked with embossing/texture paste and I found I really liked it. I knew I wanted a subtle plank like background so I made three….a neutral tan, soft blue and light yellow. I tinted the paste with dye ink and used a palette knife to work it through my stencil. I left the finish a bit rough and rustic and then put the panels aside to dry. I really like the texture and look of the background.

Next I stamped, Copic colored and die cut my images. By this time my backgrounds were dry so I laid the die-cuts on each and decided I liked the neutral tan the best. I adhered the images with foam tape and popped on a card base.

Supplies Used:

Altenew Garden Grow stamp and die bundle

Altenew Tea Time stamp and die bundle

Altenew Watercolor Stripes Background stencil

Altenew Sand Dunes Crisp die ink (to tint the paste)

Texture paste and pallet knife

Copic markers

Foam tape

I am also joining:

As You Like It Scene Challenge I enjoy a latte in my garden every afternoon and depicted this scene on my card.

Time Out Proust Quote Challenge This is a wonderful quote that speaks to me. I focused on the gardening aspect of the quote for my card.

Update:

I was so pleased to learn that my card was selected as a top three at Time Out Challenges.

I think this is a fun scene card that would work for a man or woman. Thank your for stopping by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy: Celebration Stencil Techniques

June 4, 2020 Karen Brown4 Comments

Hello and welcome. I just finished a wonderful Altenew Academy course and I am excited to share my card with you. Laurel Beard taught us stencil techniques and I loved them all! This is my favorite card from the class. I also used my favorite Altenew stamp and die bundle called Weekend Doodles.

My inspiration came from lesson 3: Stamping with Stencils and I chose to watercolor over my stencil.

My Process:

I taped my stencil to a 6 x 6 piece of watercolor paper. Next, I wet my watercolor paper well with a brush. I then \”pounced\” three colors of distress ink onto the wet watercolor paper.
I haven\’t used my Zig markers in months but they were exactly what I wanted for this project because of their bright vibrant colors. I heat embossed my floral image, colored with Zigs and then die cut.
I die cut a white panel for the sentiment and to provide some contrast with the bold stripes and then heat embossed the sentiment. I glued the white panel to the background and then used foam tape to adhere the flowers.

Supplies:

Altenew Watercolor Stripes Stencil

Altenew Weekend Doodles stamp and die bundle

Distress Inks: Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron

Zig Markers: Emerald, Green Shadow, Pale Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Yellow and Bright Yellow.

Watercolor Paper

Neenah Cardstock

Versafine Onyx Black ink and Clear Embossing Powder

Liquid Glue

Foam Tape

I am also playing along with:

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #458

Lil Red Wagon Create Your Own Background Paper Challenge

Seize The Birthday All About Summer Challenge

I was so pleased to see this card chosen as a Top 3 at Tuesday Thowdown!

I am so pleased you stopped by and I would love to hear what you think about this card.

Karen

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WWC274 – Dawn\’s Challenge: Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist

June 3, 2020 Karen Brown7 Comments

Hello and welcome! We are making \”feminine\” cards this week at The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Website and Dawn is our hostess.

I\’ve been admiring \”grid\” cards online and decided I wanted to make a watercolor botanical version.

My Process:

I decided to make an oversized A6 card since there is so much going on with the layout. I started by sketching six 1 1/4\” by 1 1/2\” rectangles on a watercolor panel. I added clean water into the first rectangle and then dropped in sap green and turquoise and let them blend for this wet on wet technique. I repeated this process for each rectangle, varying the color combinations as I went. The images were heat embossed for a vibrant silhouette. I backed the panel with craft foam and popped on an A6 card base made from watercolor cardstock.

I really like the framed silhouette look.

Supplies:

Altenew Garden Grow stamp set

\”Hi\” sentiment from Altenew Pinstripes background die

Watercolor Paper

Watercolors: sap green, turquoise, blue, olive, yellow and orange

Versafine Ink

Embossing Powder

Heat Gun

Brushes

I am also playing along with:

The Inspired Challenge: All the Details I was inspired by the grid layout and floral/botanical paper flowers.

Addicted to Stamps: Make Your Mark Challenge I made my mark with Watercolors.

Time Out \”Free\” Challenge I took \”time out\” to create this garden card. My husband and I have afternoon lattes in the garden every afternoon and that is where we enjoy spending our \”free\” time.

Hand Stamped Sentiments: #340 Challenge I was inspired by the squares.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy – Let It Shine

May 31, 2020 Karen Brown3 Comments

I finished Altenew Academy\’s Let It Shine Class and wanted to share this card on my blog. As the name suggests, our teacher Clarissa Wiley, taught us to embellish our cards with a bit of shine. I am happy with the way this card turned out….but boy did I put in a lot of work. I had a different layout created in my mind, but when I laid out the design there was too much metallic gold. I kept diecutting flags, banners and sentiments strips. Originally there was a lot more metallic gold cardstock but I decided for me, less is more…a little gold goes a long way! I will save the other elements I created for future cards and it will be nice to have them all ready to go.

My inspiration was to use metallic cardstock (lesson #5), gold embossing (lesson #2) and faux watercoloring over ink blending that I learned in Altenew Academy\’s Easy Ink Blending Class. Another example of this fun technique is here.

My Process:

I started by heat embossing this beautiful daisy in gold and then I lightly inkblended a pale yellow over the bloom. Next I gently sprayed the flower with water and then used a #8 brush and distress inks to paint on some darker yellow highlights using wet on wet watercoloring. I dried with a heat gun and then added random orange highlights using wet on dry watercoloring. I repeated the same technique with the leaves. I assembled the card using liquid glue and foam adhessive to raise up the flower bloom.

Supplies:

Altenew Smile More stamps and dies

Distress Inks

Watercolor Paper

Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Blending Brush

#8 Paint Brush

Gold Embossing Powder and Versafine Ink

Metallic Gold Cardstock

Scrap of green cardstock for sentiment

Liquid Glue

Foam Adhesive Tape

A2 cream colored card

As I said above, I tried a lot of layouts and decided in this instance, CAS was best for me.

I am also playing along at:

The Sisterhood of Crafters Favorite Technique Challenge. I recently learned how to faux watercolor and I am having so much fun with this new to me technique!

Global Design Project – Floral Challenge I am happy to add my flower to the GDP challenge.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy – Cards For the Guys

May 28, 2020 Karen Brown3 Comments

Hello and welcome. Today, my blog post is about making masculine cards and I\’ve chosen to do a color blocking background. Fun, bright and eye-catching.

Altenew Academy Cards for the Guys using Color Blocking with Altenew Mega Alphabet T die and Large Thanks Sentiment die.

I started by cutting four 2×2 squares from brightly colored card stock. My inspiration came from Jennifer Rzasa and her class on Pop Art Color Blocking. Once the squares were cut, I taped them together, trimmed the edges for a nice even line and then backed with craft foam for dimension.

Next, I die cut the \”T\” from bright blue card stock and the \”thanks\” from lavender cardstock. I die-cut each three times and then carefully glued them together for nice dimension. I initially was going to back them with foam but didn\’t like the white shadow which I thought distracted from all the bright bold colors.

I made a 4 1/4\” x 4 1/4\” card base and then attached the color blocked panel. I weighted it for a few minutes with an acrylic block

Supplies Used:

Altenew Mega Alphabet T die

Altenew Large Thanks sentiment die

6 shades of brightly colored card stock

tape

liquid glue

craft foam

white cardstock for base.

I am also playing along with: Try It On Tuesday \”Cut It Out!\” Challenge This card is all about cutting as every element was either cut with a paper trimmer or die cut.

I really like how the card turned out and think I will do some more color blocking in the near future.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen