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My Formula for Masculine Cards

By KariV on June 17, 2020 in Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I have a secret to share with you: it’s my formula for making masculine cards. This is also a part of my FINAL for Level 2 of the Altenew Educator’s Certification Program (AECP).

The Final Challenge was to create 4 Masculine Cards using 3 components of the techniques I learned in Levels 1 & 2 of the AECP. The components I chose were:

Stencil Techniques
Impressive Heat Embossing
Let It Shine

I also pulled together 3 masculine themes (metallic, nature, & geometric) and 3 colors to create all of my cards. I get a lot of questions on how I create Masculine cards, so today in my video I’m sharing my SECRET FORMULA for making Masculine cards (it’s not a secret anymore)! Watch the video below to find out the formula I use, or watch it in HD on YouTube:

For my first card, I used some stencil techniques: inking with Distress Oxide on dark cardstock & offset stenciling. I used the Halftone stencil to ink on some of the new Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink, then let it dry. Once it was dry, I offset the stencil just a bit to add some Versamark sticky ink and added some Distress Embossing Glaze & heat set that. The embossing glaze is translucent so you can see through to the inking, but it gives a shiny element to the background. (So neat!)

I also created a temporary “holder” to emboss that die cut sentiment three times. This holder was so helpful so I didn’t burn my fingers or get any tweezer marks in my silver embossing!

The sentiment adds a metallic look for the “Let It Shine” inspiration on this card! I love a metallic element on a handmade card. I stamped the subsentiment with the same Speckled Egg Distress Oxide and popped it up with foam tape.

For my second card I die cut a cover die and adhered it to a white card panel…then I filled in a few of the spots with colored cardstock to get that geometric look!

Layered Monstera Leaves give this card a 3D look

I die cut some monstera leaves in steel gray and silver metallic (for that shine)! Then I popped them up with foam squares. To match with the silver theme, the sentiment is heat embossed in silver. This card turned out to be my husband’s favorite card of them all!

For the third card I’m bringing in some selective stenciling! First I stenciled the entire background in Speckled Egg Distress Oxide, then I added a darker blue to just a portion of the stencil. To the very smallest portion, I added some Glacier Paste in Quicksilver for some shine (it dries to look like foil)!

For the leaves, I heat embossed it TWICE. Once with a silver embossing powder, then I stamped the dots in Versamark and embossed with a gold embossing powder. This is a neat technique, as the embossing powders kind of melt into each other. I think this is a great look!

Stencil techniques, Embossing techniques, and Let It Shine Techniques are glorious together!

For my fourth card, I created a geometric background using the Cube Builder Stencil. I spaced the cubes apart just a little and gave them more of a “chevron” appearance, using colors I chose for the theme, but adding in a bit of Antique Linen. It turned out a little more yellow than I expected, but that just added a sunny, happy look.

Flowers and leaves in gray, black, and metallic

I die cut some leaves and one hibiscus using black, gray, and metallic papers. This adds a more masculine feeling. (Don’t you want to take a trip to Hawaii now?) I stamped the sentiment on a strip that I inked with Antique Linen Oxide to match.

Now, if the flower is a little over the top for you (my husband does like flowers, but it’s not for every man!), I made a variation of this card omitting the hibiscus flower.

It’s the same stencil background, using only black and gray inks. Then I added a metallic paper focal point with a black frame to the middle. The monstera leaf is popped up with foam squares to give even more dimension.

So there you have 5 masculine cards, using 3 Techniques, 3 Themes, and 3 Colors (mostly)! It’s a fun challenge to take, and I hope you enjoyed the process with me.

I’m often asked what supplies I use to make my cards and projects, so I’ve put together a list using affiliate links when possible. If you make a purchase with these links I may receive a small commission. These help me to keep up with blog costs and continue bringing you fun projects. Thank you so much for your support!

I completely enjoyed my experience with the Altenew Educator’s Certification Program! I highly recommend it to you if you are interested in learning a lot of techniques, getting better at cardmaking, and teaching techniques to others.

Thanks for stopping by & I’ll see you again soon!

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Altered Project

By KariV on June 17, 2020 in Uncategorized

Hello! Today I am sharing something a little different than I normally share, but a project I’ve been thinking about putting together for a really long time. This is a part of my FINAL for Level 2 of Altenew Educator Certification Program.

The challenge for this portion was to create an Altered Item/Upcycled Project. I have been wanting to create a show piece for my craft studio display, so I gathered together some old items, and some items I’ve been collecting from packaging: some corregated cardboard, paper shred, shipping paper, and an old dark shadow box frame.

I took the packing paper and taped it over the glass to protect the glass from getting any paint on it. Then I spray painted multiple layers of white paint on the frame.

While that was drying I stamped multiple layered Snapdragon stamps from this Altenew stamp set.

I also took the corregated cardboard and used some Altenew spray and Distress Oxide sprays to get a greenish-blue interesting background with plenty of texture! Corregated cardboard makes for an unexpected backdrop. I found some old paper shred in various shades of green and then my project really started to come together!

To make various layers of snapdragons, I used small strips of the corregated cardboard stacked up onto each other and attached it to some of the flowers with foam tape. This gave me so many layering options and I didn’t have to use or waste layers upon layers of my foam tape.

Since the colors of my craft room and blog are yellow and turquoise, I decided that I would use only the yellow snapdragons on this project. Besides, yellow is one of my favorite colors!

Snapdragons remind me of my grandmothers (both are deceased now), and so I wanted a sentiment on this showpiece that would also remind me of them. I played around with different ideas like: CREATE, JOY, LOVE, and HAPPY, but none of them seemed just right.

THEN I got the inspiration I needed and settled on the right word: SMILE! I die cut the word twice using my favorite Large Alpha Die set; once in white and once in gold glitter paper. When I die cut the glitter paper, I only die cut 1/2 of each letter so I could stack it onto the white letters.

I put the whole thing together, adhering the snapdragons in multiple layers. I attached the sentiment directly to the cardboard backing, and added in some of the green paper shred. It’s a little reminiscent of potting moss!

Here is the altered project sitting on my desk…

I think it looks like a big barrel of snapdragons. I can almost pinch them now to make them “talk” to me, just like my Grandma used to do!

I hung it on the wall in my craft studio (with a little help from my hubby)…this is just the right place…

I had to take a picture at an angle so as not to get a glare off the glass front! I hope you can tell there is so much dimension to this piece…with all the textures and layers. The gold glitter dipped sentiment is now my favorite!

I hope you enjoyed this project today! I had a lot of fun making it, even though it took so much longer to make than I expected. I took about a week to get it all done as the drying time between layers was a factor.

A BONUS: I have plenty of colorful snapdragons to add to cards now! Since I originally thought I might use a rainbow of flowers, I stamped a bunch of options at the same time.

A beautiful sight, a desk full of flowers!

You can bet I’ll be making a bunch of cards soon with these! Thanks for stopping by today.

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Geometric Bear Card

By KariV on June 12, 2020 in Paper Crafting

Hello again! Today I’m up on the Hedgehog Hollow blog with a masculine geometric bear card. This is perfect for Father’s Day that’s coming up soon!

Head on over to the HH blog to check out all the details. I also have a quick video that you can watch below or in HD on YouTube:

Thanks for stopping by today!

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Chipboard Pieces

By KariV on June 4, 2020 in Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I have 3 ways to use chipboard pieces on your cards! I just fell in love with the laser-cut chipboard that came in the June 2020 Kit. So today, I have multiple cards to share using 3 chipboard techniques.

I have all the details in the video below, watch it here or in HD on YouTube:

I had so much fun and made all these cards in one morning. I used all the chipboard pieces up! Watch the video for all the tips!

Hope you enjoyed these projects today! See you soon with more card making inspiration.

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If I Could Bottle Thank Yous

By KariV on May 27, 2020 in Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I’m participating in the Paper Smooches Thank you challenge. I decided to use a die that I have never used before: the small jar die. I paired it with a favorite thanks die, and that’s how this card was born!

The background was a stencil that I inked up and I added the “my heart is full” as a sentiment strip. Can you tell that the jar lid is silver mirror cardstock? It always turns out a little funny in pictures.