A blog about cardmaking and papercrafting.
Masculine cards can be tricky, but I think using bold gel press prints with a mega sentiment works well for the men in our lives.
I sorted through my gel press prints looking for colorful pages that would work well together. I then tore them into strips and pieces and added some doodling with gel pens and Posca pens.
Products Used:
I am so glad you popped by!
Karen
Hello! I recently spent a most enjoyable afternoon making acrylic gel press prints and then I turned four panels into cards. For my first card, I used Altenew’s Bubble Wrap Stencil to add varation to my background. I die cut my background using The Greetery’s Crimped Frame die, and then die cut blooms using WPlus9 Doodle Buds stamp and die bundle. I drew in stems with paint pens and assembled my card with foam squares.
For my second card, I put 7 dots of acrylic paint on my gel press and brayered one direction horizontally so the ink would gently blend but would also maintain the bands of color. I brayered the excess ink onto a second page. I added a die cut bloom, stem and Hello sentiment.
The background on Card #3 used Altenew’s Leaves and Berries stencil. My bottom layer was orange, yellow and green. Next, I placed the stencil on the wet paint and blotted most of the orange that showed through onto a piece of copy paper. I let the paint dry a minute and then gently brayered on light blue acrylic paint, removed the stencil and pulled the print. I think the background is so beautiful for a floral card. The sentiment is from Altenew’s Birthday Greetings.
The background on card #4 started with yellow and green paint on layer 1. I placed Simons Says Stamp’s Ring Cluster Stencil on the wet paint and then blotted most of the paint that showed through the stencil with a sheet of copy paper. I then brayered on light blue paint, removed the stencil and pulled the print. It was bright and fun and reminded me of the ocean so I went with an aquatic theme. The cute little puffer fish (Hero Arts I am Puffer For You) were stamped and fussy cut and a Hello sentiment was stamped on the background.,
Supplies:
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
Last week, I taught a workshop on creating Easy Mixed Media cards. The participants had never done Gel Press printing before so I guided them through the printing process.
And then we turned the prints into cards.
Supplies used:
Altenew Bird of the Woods Stamp Set, Die Set and Bundle
Altenew Rounded Rectangles Die Set
I just love bright happy colors and I think they pair so well with Spring cards. Today I am sharing two Dogwood themed cards from Spellbinders new collection called Susan’s Garden Favorites.
My Process:
I changed the position of the branch on the second card and also let the background peek around the edges of the frame.
The shimmer is so much prettier in person. I think when I post to Instagram I will do a little reel so you can see the sparkle better.
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
Who is ready for spring? I’ve been working on some bright sunny birthday cards featuring Spellbinders Susan’s Garden Favorites Collection. Today I chose the beautiful Sunflower and Ladybug die set for my two cards.
My Process:
I think the result is a bright happy card!
I love these sunflowers so I made a second card with a few modifications:
I am so pleased you stopped by! I always love to read your comments, so if you have a moment, let me know what you think.
Karen
Hello! I have a mixed media card I created using Spellbinders Adoring Fleurette Card Builder dies from the Classically Becca Collection.
| I started by sorting through my gel press prints. I really liked the blue print for my background and thought pink and green would look great as accent colors. The lattice die is so beautiful and I wanted to show it off so I went for a high contrast look. I like that the lattice die is the focal point of the card. |
My Process:
Thanks so much for visiting!
Karen
Valentine’s Day is coming up so I thought it was time to get busy and start creating. I love making gel press prints and thought this year it would be fun to make a batch of collage style valentines. Each one is embellished with die cut hearts.
My process was the same for each card:
The card above has more neutrals which I thought would be perfect for my husband.
I like the two stencils I used on the gel press prints for the card above.
These collage style valentines were SO fun to make! And, since they have a messy casual look, mistakes actually add to the appeal.
I’ve linked to some of the products I used below:
Uni Posca PC-5M White Colour Paint Marker Pens 2.5mm Medium Bullet Tip Nib Writes On Any Surface Metal Wood Plastic Fabric Glass Stone (Pack of 1) Gel Press Gel Printing Plate 5″x7″ 10810 UHU Stic – 0.29 oz / 8.2g Clear Glue Stick – Pack of 3 Derwent Inktense Pencils 24/Pkg, Colors may vary Liquitex 104004 BASICS Gesso Surface Prep Medium Tube, 8.45-oz Sakura 38369 10-Piece Blister Card Glaze 3-Dimensional Glossy Ink Pen Set, Assorted Color Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Frayed Burlap Barvotti Silicone Color Shaper Brush (Mottler) – a Flat Sharp-Edged Flexible Tool to Apply, Move and Remove Acrylic Paints and Water Based Medium with Precision – A Studio Essential 1 Inch Wide Bachmore Drawing Pad 9X12”(98lb/160g) 100 Sheets Mixed Media, Watercolor, Acrylic Art Pad for Sketching, Ink Sketchbook, Coloring in Multi-Media Top Spiral Notebook, Micro-Perforated, Heavy Weighted Acrylic Paint Set, Caliart 52 Vivid Colors (22 ml/0.74 oz) Craft Paints Supplies for Artists Kids Students Beginners, Canvas Ceramic Wood Fabric Rock Painting Supplies, Rich Pigments Non Toxic Paints Tombow 62191 MONO Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88 Ounce, 1-Pack. Multi-Purpose Glue with Dual Tip Dispenser for Precise to Full Coverage ApplicationThanks so much for stopping by!
Karen
Happy New Year! I recently received a lovely package from Paper Artsy and had a fun day in my studio. I created two cards with slightly different takes. Both cards have gel press print backgrounds made with Paper Artsy’s Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic paint. This was my first time using Chalk Acrylics and I think the end result is beautiful. I used Hey Pesto green, Butternut orange and white for both backgrounds.
For the cards, I stamped and heat embossed the Paper Artsy tree on watercolor paper and colored them with watercolor markers. I then fussy cut the images. The sentiment is Ranger Letter It: Greetings.
For this first card, I also stamped the tree with a script background stamp to enhance the whimsical feel. The card background was stamped with the tree and then my fussy cut panel was added with foam squares for a nice dimensional feel.
For this second card I went for layers. I stamped the tree directly onto the gel print, then added the fussy cut tree on top using foam squares. I also stamped and watercolored a third panel and then fussy cut four aqua segments. These four pieces were adhered on top, so that in some places, the tree has three layers of dimension. I hope you can see that from the photo above.
I had some gel press prints leftover and decided to make a quick collage card. I tore off three pieces of paper (you can see the same green top right and orange bottom edge) and glued it to my panel (3.5″ x 4.75″) with UHU Gel glue stick. This glue stick works amazingly well, I didn’t need to use any liquid medium. I added some gesso, lots of stamping, paint splatters, dots-dashes-coloring (with Inktense pencils). On the top left corner I applied gesso, then did a bit of loose messy watercoloring plus the sentiment.
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
Hello and welcome! You likely arrived from Juhi’s blog….don’t you just love her collection?
I am so excited to be participating in Altenew’s 2021 A Year in Review Blog Hop! I really enjoyed looking back through my projects and selecting some of my favorite creations. This first card was my most popular Altenew creation on Instagram and I still have it setting on a bookshelf in my studio. I love how bright, happy and cheerful the card is. I used The Tall Tales stamp and die set and you can read my original blog post HERE.
This mixed media card was by far my most popular blog post of 2021! I created my own color palette with gel press prints and die cut my blooms using Altenew’s Cosmos Craft-A-Flower. If I had to pick one favorite 2021 product it would be this Cosmos kit. You can read my original post HERE. I have another favorite card below that also uses this Cosmos kit.
I love the Mega Alphabet Collection and I have several letters that I use frequently. This is a card I made for my friend Kathy. I used the ink smooshing technique and I really like how this project turned out. The Garden Trellis Cover Die is so versatile and I love the pop of white it provides on this card. You can read my original post HERE.
I discovered the joy of gel press printing this year and I love how this project turned out. The Peruvian Lily Layering Dies create a big showy bloom that is absolutely beautiful! Altenew’s Essential Sentiment Strips Dies are also a favorite of mine. You can read my original blog post HERE.
Weekend Doodles may be my all time favorite Altenew stamp set! On this card, I combined the Weekend Doodles with Altenew Artist Markers (I used Water Garden Set G on this card) and Cross Stitch Cover Die for a crisp clean look. You can read my original post HERE.
As I said above, Altenew’s Cosmos Craft-A-Flower Layering Die Set is my favorite 2021 crafting product. On this card I watercolored panels for my die-cutting. This was my second most popular 2021 blog post and you can read it HERE.
I adore the The Doodle Blooms Stamp and Die Set! The stamps are whimsical and just make me happy. I again made gel press prints for all the elements of this card. You can read my original post HERE for all the details on how I created this project. I’d like to add that my favorite embellishment is Enamel Dots. I find they really add beautiful detail to projects and I always like to have a variety of colors on hand.
Altenew’s Hibiscus Garden is the first layering die set that I ever bought and it is still a favorite! The potted hibiscus plants around my pool were the inspiration for this mixed media card created from gel press prints. You can read more about this project and a companion card HERE.
I really like the simplicity of this card made with The Modern Squares Embossing Folder, white pigment ink and The Fancy Celebrate die. You can read the original post HERE.
Sometimes a mini stamp can have a big impact on a card and I think this Bee Kind stamp and die set is adorable and at a great price point. I added a simple watercolor background combined with a Garden Trellis die cut and three enamel dots. My Bee Kind blog post with additional companion card can be found HERE.
Prizes:
Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 5 lucky winners and a $15 gift certificate to 4 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog HERE or share Altenew projects with #AltenewBest2021 on social media by 01/06/2022 for a chance to win. 9 winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 01/08/2022.
Additional Chance to Win:
WINNER: Marisela Delgado YOU are the winner of a $10 Altenew gift certificate! Please email winner@altenew.com by 01/18/2022 with the subject line Altenew 2021 Year In Review Blog Hop Winner from Karen Brown’s Blog.
I also have a $10 Gift Certificate to GIVEAWAY to the Altenew Online Store. I will choose a random winner from the commentors on this post and announce it here at my blog on 1/08/2022.
BLOG HOP:
Karen Brown You Are Here! 🙂
Next stop is Kari and her beautiful florals!
You made it to the end! I don’t have one favorite card but these are what I consider my “Best of 2021”. I’d love to hear which is your favorite card in the comments section. If you like what you see, consider following me on Instagram: @karens_mini and my blog (see the subscription bar at the top right corner of this post). Thank you for stopping by!
Wishing you health and happiness in 2022.
Karen
Flowers + Die-Cutting….one of my favorite combos! Susan Tierney-Cockburn created the most delicious collections of holiday dies and I had so much fun playing with them!
I used three of her new kits on my cards:
Amaryllis are always a favorite of mine, so I was excited to create a project. For my card, I made all my own papers using a gel press. I made six monoprints for my die-cuts: dark blue, medium blue, light blue (background), green and yellow-green (stamins) and tan.
Once the panels were completed, my card came together very quickly! The buds were very easy to shape for a lovely 3D effect. Both of my cards are 5 x 7″.
Susan’s collection is for the holidays, but I think the flowers are so versatile! I made the Amaryllis into a lovely birthday card by heat embossing my sentiment on the basket.
I have a Chistmas Cactus that is 25 years old so I really wanted to create a paper twin using Susan’s kit.! I have no idea how old cacti can live my mine is still hanging in there.
I again made my own gel press prints for this Christmas card. I made a blue panel for the background + two green prints, a pink coral and used the other other half of the tan monoprint for my basket. I added some pink glimmer lacquer to some of the tips for my buds.
I love both of these cards and can’t decide which is my favorite! Thanks for popping in to take a look at my post.
Karen
Kenny's Cards 