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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 }

Back to School Good Luck

By KariV on August 5, 2019 in Back to School, Paper Crafting

Hello! It’s Back to School week for our kiddos here and I have some quick cards to share. When I put together cards for kids, I try to remember that they are kids and really don’t care how much time or effort that goes into making a card. So that means, something quick but still cute!

Enter some stamp and die elements that are cute AND will fill the entire card.

I stamped every single image from this Waffle Flower set and colored them in quickly with my Copic markers.

Then, I die cut the large alphabet dies to spell “Good Luck” from cream colored 110# cardstock. To add some punch, I added some ink with finger daubers on the lower part of the letters.

I used patterned paper for the card panel to add some extra texture, and adhered the letters on with liquid glue. Then I popped up the images with foam tape.

A fun card and easy to put together. I’m pretty sure my nephews and granddaughters will love them! But I think they will love the “smarties” candies that I’m giving them to go along with the card. Lol.

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. This helps me to keep up with blog costs and continue to bring you fun projects. Thank you so much!

I hope you enjoyed these back to school cards today! If you have kids/grandkids going back to school, I wish them Good Luck!

Comments { 0 }

Stenciling on a Stencil?

By KariV on July 30, 2019 in Paper Crafting

Hello there! Today I’m inspired by Laurel Beard’s Stenciling Techniques class over at Altenew classes. She has the best ideas in this class, some I’ve never tried before!

She also had a suggestion to do a stencil overlay on a watercolor background. Well, it got me thinking. What if I did a stencil overlay over ANOTHER stencil? That sounds fun!

So I got out two of my favorite stencils from Altenew and first I added the Ombre Stripes Stencil to my background using Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. Then I added the Graffiti Scribble stencil right over the top and inked on some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. Guess what?!? It worked!

The sentiment is from another of my favorite Altenew sets! Such a great sentiment for a card. (This one is going to a crafty friend).

I added some Hibiscus flowers that I die cut from watercolored panels. I used Gansai Tambi watercolors to get a very vibrant look. When I watercolored up my panels…I did them in a sort of Ombre fashion, with a darker pink at the top and a lighter pink at the bottom. Then I die cut my hibiscus so that the top layers would be the lightest. I did the same with the orange flowers (see below). I think these flowers look so pretty out of watercolored paper.

You can see a little texture from the watercolor paper

I found that for this technique, I like using a stencil brush…it’s so easy to spread on the color without affecting the stencil. I just lightly brush back and forth from one side to the other (starting and ending OFF the sides of the paper) until I get the shade I want. In this case, I blended the Picked Raspberry over the Spiced Marmalade and it gave me a darker orange color. Pretty neat.

I glued down the flower and Monstera leaf with liquid glue, and popped up the top hibiscus flower with foam tape.

I also created a card just using the Ombre Stripes Stencil alone, to give you a perspective of what the layering does to the card.

One stencil used on the left, two stencils used on the right

I think it adds quite a bit when you layer the stencils! I made the card on the left first for my sister’s birthday card and then I tried the two stencils for the card on the right. Can you guess that the design and color scheme was inspired by the July Altenew challenge?

Lol. I love entering these challenges and I have a lot of fun with them. For this card, I added some Nuvo Jewel drops to complete the look. [I didn’t think the double stenciled card needed the extra drops since it already had so much interest!]

You can see some of the watercolor splatters on the middle of this hibiscus

I’m often asked what supplies I’ve used to create my cards, so I’ve compiled a list for you using affiliate links, when possible. If you purchase product with these links I may receive a small commission. I appreciate this so much, as this helps me to keep up my blog and continue to bring you fun projects! Thank you very much.

I hope you enjoyed these projects today. I am really loving these florals and stencils so much right now. See you next time!

Comments { 4 }

How to get a Watercolor Look on Cards

By KariV on July 28, 2019 in Paper Crafting

Hello! I’m excited today to share with you some watercolor looking cards. Now, I did not actually watercolor these, however I did do a technique where I inked up the stamp then misted it with water to get this dreamy look!

I was inspired by Nicole in her All About Layering 1 course, she liked to use colorful, inked florals with a black sentiment. I love that look, so I thought I’d give it a try with a variety of sentiments!

For this one I used a gold glitter frame to make it pop.

I decided to make a whole bunch of cards using different colors of florals. Since I had the stamps all set up in my MISTI, why not?

To make it easy on myself, I usually set up the layers in my original MISTI so I have room enough to put two stamps on at a time. Then I stamp in assembly- line style, changing up the colors as I want. That’s how I made a whole bunch of these floral panels at the same sitting.

For the next cards, I went with a bold sentiment….just for fun! I really love how they turned out, and I’m always in need of thank you cards.

I just turned these onto the side/horizontal layout to fit that big thanks word on the card panel. For large sentiments like this I am sure to use my MISTI (or stamp positioner) just in case I need to stamp it twice to get that dark, crisp black sentiment. Love it! You can see I experimented with a lot of green inks on these…still need to find my perfect green combo.

This color combo was inspired by the current July Altenew Challenge!

The inking may not be perfect, but that is some of the joy of watercolor stamping (using a spritz of water)! Keep in mind that if you use Distress Oxides for this, they dry with a more chalky look (as one of those purple colors above…also on the yellow and dark blue flower in the very first picture).

Thanks for stopping by! I’m often asked what products I used, so I have a list for you below, using affiliate links when possible. When you purchase product using these links I may receive a small commission. These really help in keeping up with blog costs and allow me to bring more fun projects like this one! Thanks so much!