AECP | Sunshine in my pocket

Tag Archives | AECP

You Are Loved

By KariV on February 13, 2020 in Holidays, Paper Crafting, Valentines

Hello! I have some cards to share in different colors today. I recently took the Altenew Course called “In The Mood For Color” and it was so interesting. She talked about the different feelings we get from color and how it changes the whole feeling of a card.

So today, I made two of the same card in different colors. First, I chose red/pink for Valentines Day! This color evokes love, passion and energy.

The Second color I chose was blue/green. Blue evokes tranquility and green is soothing & natural feeling. These are some of my favorites and I couldn’t resist pairing them together.

To start, I inked up the backgrounds with Distress Oxides and other hybrid inks. Then I stamped on the Leaves with a similar color. I added the dots with glitter embossing powder for more of a subtle sparkle for these cards.

I cut the sentiment with mirror cardstock as well as some hearts. The sentiment is also backed with a black shadow.

Can you tell the different feelings you get from each card? The pink card definitely has more energy, while the blue/green is more calming.

Below you can see more of the shiny mirror cardstock on the sentiment:

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 hope you enjoyed a look at my different color cards and hearing about the feelings color gives to a card! Thanks for stopping by!

Comments { 1 }

First Holiday card of the Season!

By KariV on September 4, 2019 in Christmas, Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I am sharing my first Christmas card of the season. Also, I have a confession to make. I don’t usually make Christmas cards to mail out. I know, I know…I’m a card maker that doesn’t make my own Christmas cards! Shocking. But I found that it stresses me out too much to make multiples during the busy time of year, so I just don’t.

But today I made a festive poinsettia card that turned out so fun! I was inspired by the Irresistible Inking Techniques class at Altenew Academy and I just had to try it!

Polka dots in the background make me happy!

This is an inking technique I HAVE tried before, but this time I got so much better results. The trick is to ink up your acrylic block, spritz it with water using a light mist spray bottle, then stamp it onto your background.

I tried this a number of times using a variety of paper to see what different results I would get. I tested out the number of times to spray the ink before stamping. I tried different colors and time to leave the acrylic block on the paper. And this is my FAVORITE one of the bunch.

To get this cool spotted look, I used 3 different colors of Altenew ink on my block: Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart, and Purple Wine at the bottom. (This gave me a sort of Ombre look when I stamped it.) I spritzed it with TWO spritzes of water from a light mist spray bottle. (one was not enough, three was too much for my paper). Then I stamped it down onto Neenah Solar White 80# cover cardstock. This surprised me that I preferred the Neenah for this technique over a watercolor cardstock!

I stamped the poinsettia stamp using Versafine Onyx black ink, then I added just a touch of colored pencil. Just enough to give some color, but still see the spots. It reminds me of a speckled poinsettia….I love those!

To finish off the card, I cut it down a bit to add a strip of gold glitter cardstock on the edge. Then I added the JOY die cut out of the glitter card.

I have a list of the supplies I used below, with affiliate links when possible. When you click using these links I may receive a small commission. This helps me keep up with blog costs and continue bringing you fun projects. Thank you so much!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I also added some Mercury Glass Stickles to the center of the poinsettia to give more glittery shine to the card. When it catches the light just right, it looks so pretty.

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments { 1 }

Cards for Guys

By KariV on August 26, 2019 in Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I have a surprise for you. I am making masculine cards! Yes, I know it’s a rarity around here, but I took an inspiring class by Jennifer Rzasa with Altenew and I just had some fun ideas!

I used to have only two rules in making cards for guys: NO PINK, NO GLITTER. Lol. Although, I do admit that I’ve made cards with pink on it for guys and they seemed to like it ok! 🙂

Today I used a combination of geometric elements and galaxy elements, as inspired by Jennifer!

For both cards I used the Altenew Cube builder stencil and Altenew ink cubes as the geometric element. And then for the galaxy element I used a galaxy panel created with Altenew inks, distress inks, Perfect Pearls in mint, and Gansai Tambi watercolors in white for the splatters. I also colored the balloon to look like a galaxy for the fox card.

I show you the complete process in the video below, or watch it on YouTube:

Don’t you love a fox sitting atop a stack of cubes!? He has his very own galaxy balloon to match.

I created this galaxy balloon with colored pencils, smoothed out with gamsol, and added some white gel pen stars and highlights. This fox is a favorite of mine.

Did I mention that yesterday was my Dad’s birthday? That is who this card was for! It is probably the first card I made without a bear on it for him (bears are his favorite)!

For this second card, I created the galaxy background using a variety of inks and watercolors. I was looking for a little more teal in the galaxy to match the cubes, but next time I know to add more teal!

I popped up these letters with fun foam to give it more dimension. I also offset the letters just a touch to get that shadow look.

I love how these cards turned out for my AECP projects. I hope you enjoyed them, too. I’m often asked what supplies I’ve used so I have a list below, using affiliate links when possible. When you purchase using these links I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps me keep up with blog costs and continue to bring you fun projects. Thank you very much!

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments { 1 }

Enjoy the Simple Things

By KariV on August 24, 2019 in Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I’m sharing a card that was inspired by the AECP class “Seasonal Scene Building.” This was a fun class and I especially loved building a scene using masking.

I have had this Versatile Vases stamp set for quite some time and this gave me the push I needed to create a card with 3 vases.

I first created a soft ink blended ombre background using the mountain mist ink from Altenew. Then I stamped the large round vase using a mini misti and Memento Rich Cocoa ink. After I cut a mask for that vase, I attached the mask before stamping the two smaller vases that appear like they are behind that round vase.

Then I stamped the stems of the flowers with the same mountain mist ink. I did not stamp the entire stem, as it would have been too long, so I only inked up a portion of each stem.

I stamped the Poppies with the Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart, and Purple Skies ink. This poppy stamp set was a collaboration with Ellen Hutson and it is beautiful!! The centers are stamped with Rich Cocoa ink. Then I die cut the poppies with the coordinating dies and added them to the card with 3M foam tape.

I added some Stardust Stickles glitter to the center of each flower. Then I stamped the sentiment with the Rich cocoa ink.

I’m often asked what products I used, so I have a list of supplies below using affiliate links when possible. If you purchase with these links, I may receive a small commission. This helps me keep up with blog costs and continue to bring you fun projects. Thank you very much!

Hope you enjoyed this “Simple Things” card. Enjoy the simple things.

Comments { 1 }

Ice Cream at Midnight

By KariV on August 19, 2019 in Paper Crafting

Hello! Do you ever name your cards…or give them a title? Today, I have named my card “Ice Cream at Midnight!” I think you’ll see why:

This is an unusual card for me, I rarely use a dark background. But I was inspired by Nicole Picadura in her class at Altenew called All About Layering 2. She suggested using embossing powder as one of the layers. Of course, I was all over that idea! First, I stamped the flowers with a couple colors of Distress Oxide inks (vanilla, strawberry, and mint colors). Then I used SILVER embossing powder for the outline layer of these flowers.

Then, as I was arranging these flowers on my regular white cardstock, the silver embossing powder got kind of lost! So, I broke out my Altenew 6×6 papers and found the perfect dark cardstock to go with these flowers. It even has pastel squares to match.

Mint, Vanilla, and Strawberry ice cream at midnight! Lol. I love these colors of flowers…they do look like scoops of ice cream, don’t you think?

I popped some of these florals up with differing levels of foam tape for dimension and added a watercolored frame for more color. I used the sentiment from Meadow Flower (The Best Ever) to complete this card.

I’m often asked what supplies I used on a project, so I have a list below using affiliate links, when possible. If you purchase using these links I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps me to keep up with blog costs and continue bringing you fun projects. Thank you so much!