Hello! Today I have a Clean and Simple card with a bold black and white flower. I was inspired by Laurie Willison’s Altenew class this week, (called Quick and Simple cards) as a part of my Level 3 certification.
That bold flower from this stamp set is one of my favorites! For this card, I first stamped the Block Print stamp in the background with a blue ink.
Then I heat embossed 3 sentiments from this stamp set in white on black cardstock. I was really inspired by Laurie’s first class where she showed a trick for making lots of sentiments with your Misti…so I gave that a try and stamped multiple sentiments with one pass.
I cut out small sentiment strips using my paper cutter and adhered them across the front of the card panel. Then I popped up the bold flower with foam tape.
The card panel is adhered to the card base with fun foam for a bit of dimension. This card was a complete joy to make and that background design really pops when it’s the only color on the card.
I was so inspired by this class and highly recommend it! Thanks for stopping by today.
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.
dark frame, cardboard and packing paper
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.
Hello! Today I’m up on the Scrapping For Less blog sharing some cards made with the Prancing Pegasus stamp set and beautiful Fairy’s Garden paper pad.
For my first card, I inked up the background with some Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberry and Dried Marigold. Then I splattered on some white pearl watercolor to give it more of a magical feel.
I stamped some of the stars from the same stamp set on the background using the same colors of Distress Oxide inks. They are a little difficult to see in the photos, but it adds a subtle detail.
I colored up the Pegasus with Copic markers and added some sparkly stickles to the wing. I die cut some clouds from my stash and added WOW! Sparkle glitter to the smaller ones. This is some WOW! glitter I got to preview at Creativation and oh…I love it!
That frame is from the diagonal paper in the paper pack and it adds just the right touch! I stamped the sentiment on strips of teal paper and popped it up with foam tape. This is for sure a “magical” birthday card that is fit for a princess!
For my second card I knew I wanted that Pegasus to be running on top of a rainbow. So I glittered up a rainbow and added it to a pink polka dot background from the Fairy’s Garden paper.
I colored the Pegasus’ mane, tail, and wing in the same rainbow colors with Copic markers. Those butterflies and leaves are cut from the paper pad as well! I was so excited to see those butterflies in there and they were so perfect for this rainbow card!
I added some clouds to the card and stamped the sentiment “For My Princess” with pink ink.
I added the Pegasus with foam tape to give it more dimension. I also folded up the butterfly wings just a little to so they look like they are flying!
I hope you enjoyed these projects today! I really loved making them. I’ll see you real soon with some more inspiration.
Hello! Today I have some very exciting news!! I’ve been accepted into the Altenew Educator Certification Program. I’m so excited about this and today I have my first card to share from my first certification class.
I was inspired by Yana in the Easy Die Cutting Techniques class. She had so many wonderful tips and ideas, but there was one that absolutely jumped out at me. This is a technique I had never done before: die cut the image and offset the image from the die cut card base.
Peony Spray set
I loved the idea of offsetting the image to show a peek at something below. And of course I had to use a little sparkle with glitter paper! I used a blush glitter paper to match a color in my flower.
Look at that glitter paper…it’s like a promise of something good!
To create this card, I first heat embossed the peony image with glitter gold embossing powder. Then, I colored up my Peony with Prismacolor pencils in these colors: Mulberry (PC995), Process Red (PC 994), Blush Pink (PC918), Light Peach (PC927). For the leaves I used: Grass Green (PC909), Apple Green (PC912), and Chartreuse (PC 989).
I die cut the image with the matching die. I also colored up two extra leaves. I set those images aside and splattered the panel with a dark brown watercolor paint. Then I stamped the sentiment “Every flower must grow through dirt” in Rich Cocoa ink. Love that sentiment!
I attached the stamped panel piece with liquid glue to the blush pink glitter paper. The glitter paper is cut to an A2 sized card: 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and the stamped panel is just smaller at 4″ x 5 1/4″.
The top flower is popped up with 3M foam tape
To attach the flower, I used 3M foam tape. (The extra leaves are glued directly to the card panel beneath that popped up flower.)
To finish it all off, I added some Sparkling Clear 4mm sequins. I hope you enjoyed this project today!
I’m often asked what products I’ve used, so I’ve included them below using affiliate links when possible at no extra cost to you. When you purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission. These help me to keep up with my blog and bring you more projects! Thanks for your support.
Hello! Today I was inspired by some designer paper that looks like watercolor! It came in the June 2019 Hedgehog Hollow Kit, and I couldn’t wait to create a scene complete with jellyfish.
I have a process video below, or watch it in HD on YouTube:
I think the waves that also came in the kit (as well as the underwater images) are fantastic. I heat embossed the waves with white embossing powder, then fussy cut the top to reveal the stenciled sun rays.
All the images were colored with Copics, and fussy cut to create this underwater scene. The Hello sentiment is from my stash, and is currently a favorite of mine!
A rainbow hello!
For the sand, I used some embossing powder called “Dirty Sand” that I found at Creativation last year. It’s from Emerald Creek and I love it….it really looks like sand! I know that some other companies have since come out with a sand embossing powder, but this was the first one I had ever seen.
I’m often asked what products I’ve used on my cards, so I’ve linked them below, using affiliate links when possible. I couldn’t find the sand embossing powder that I used, so I’ve linked a couple others that I found. When you purchase using one of these links, I may receive a small commission. These help me keep up with blog costs and continue to bring you fun projects. I thank you very much!
Hi I'm Kari. I'm a creator, a card maker, and a day maker! I am Lucky in love to a supportive husband, blessed to raise 3 kids (all moved away now!), and happy to be watched over by 2 dogs.
I originally started this blog to remind me to be happy amid adversity, and I hope it inspires you, too!
