WWC298 - Kath's Challenge: Anything Masculine Goes

 

Hello, hello and welcome!  In my family "puppy" cards are always a hit and I created this one for Watercooler Wednesday's Challenge.  Kath is our hostess this week and we would love for you to play along.

This week we are creating masculine cards and I used MFT's Lucky Dog stamp and die bundle along with Honey Bee Stamps Square Window Trio. 

I die cut the three window frames,  Copic colored and die cut the pups and hand inked the background panel for a bright bold look.  

I am also playing along at:

Love to Craft Challenge  Anything Goes

Inkspirational "Frame It" I framed each of my cute pups.

Always Fun Challenges Anything Goes

UPDATE:  I was so pleased to see this card was a top pick at The Inkspirational "Frame It" Challenge!

I am so happy you stopped by today!

Karen

WWC289 - Heidi's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

Hello, hello...so glad you stopped  by!  This week is all about masculine cards at Watercooler Wednesday and Heidi is our hostess.

I created a silhouette card with a darling die-cut puppy and cake toting bear.  My background is a second generation wash using three colors of distress ink:  Twisted citron, cracked pistachio and lucky clover.  I made a background for a different card and still had ink left over, so I sopped it up on a Bristol panel.  I thought the greens did a good job of simulating the forest.

Supplies Used:

Spellbinder's Lets All Party die

Memory Box Grand Forest Archway

SSS Birthday Word Mix 1 sentiment

We would love to see your card in our gallery this week!

Karen

Altenew Academy Level 2 Final Project

Hello, hello....so pleased you stopped by! I finished Altenew Academy's Level 2 Classes and wanted to share my final project.  I was challenged to make four masculine cards for four different occasions. I had loads of ideas and had a lot of fun creating.  To make my cards masculine, I used my husband's favorite colors....aqua, blue and green.   Mark probably wears an aqua or blue Columbia fishing shirt five days out of seven...he calls it his uniform!    I also used lots of die-cuts because Mark loves those on cards.   The unifying elements are handcrafted backgrounds and embossed sentiments on navy cardstock.   I've learned so much over the past three months but I decided to spotlight three favorite classes:

• Beyond Basic Backgrounds - We learned to make beautiful backgrounds to enhance our cards.
• Celebration Stencil Techniques - We learned to expand our stenciling repertoire. 
• Masking Unleashed - We learned various masking techniques that up the "wow" factor of our cards.

Encouragement Card:

This first card is my husband's favorite of the group. Mark's beverages of choice are coffee and hot tea....he makes a pot of each every day and  the color yellow is very encouraging and optimistic (In The Mood For Color). My idea was to make inlaid circle die cuts that coordinated with a hand crafted background.  We worked on inlaid die-cutting in Beyond Basic Backgrounds and stencil overlays in Celebration Stencil Techniques.  

• I started by taping my Altenew Watercolor Stripes stencil to a watercolor paper panel.  I then wet the paper with clean water and then dabbed and pounced three colors of distress ink onto the paper.  I LOVE this technique and think it makes a very fun background.  
• Next, I took a second watercolor panel and used the wet on wet technique to dab the same three colors of distress ink on the panel.  After the paper dried, I die cut three 1 1/2" circles.
• I die-cut a white watercolor paper overlay for the inlaid technique.
• I stamped, Copic colored and die cut three coffee/tea elements from Altenew's Tea Time stamp and die bundle.
• I heat embossed an encouraging sentiment on navy cardstock.
• I assembled the card using liquid glue and foam squares (for the cups and sentiment).

PRO TIP:  Don't over-wet the watercolor paper.  If you do, the ink will flow under the stencil and you will lose the white lines.  You do want it watery enough that you achieve a casual watercolor look.

Birthday Card:

This card was inspired by the class on Color Blocking and the negative masking we learned in Masking Unleashed.  I think the bold colors are both festive and masculine.

• I started by negative masking three 1 1/4" squares.  I then used ink blending brushes to liberally apply ink to the squares.
• I stamped and die cut three images from Altenew's Garden Grow stamp and die bundle.  I wanted the colors to be the star so I left the images uncolored.  I think this makes for a very eye-catching look.
• I heat embossed a birthday sentiment on blue card stock and then assembled my card.

PRO TIP:  For a sharp edge, be sure your mask is evenly and securely adhered to the card panel.

Love/Thinking of You Card:

I love ink blending and negative masking so I again drew upon the lessons learned in Masking Unleashed.

• I masked off a large negative mask around my card panel.  I blended in a medium blue and then applied a vivid blue around the edges.  So pretty and fun to do!
• I stamped, Copic colored and die cut two images from Altenew's Garden Grow stamp and die bundle.  This is one of the first stamp sets I purchased and it is still a favorite!
• I heat embossed my sentiment, assembled my card and attached to a top folding A2 card base.

PRO TIP:  I think using two shades of blue added depth to my one layer card background.  

Anniversary Card:

I knew I wanted to use the wreath from Altenew's Weekend Doodles and I thought it would be beautiful colored in green.  This was the starting point for my card.  After I had stamped, Copic colored and die cut the wreath I thought about backgrounds.  I finally decided to go with another bold color coordinated stenciled background.

• I Copic colored the wreath with 3 different shades of yellow-green and green.  
• I started by taping my Altenew Watercolor Stripes stencil to a watercolor paper panel.  I then wet the paper with clean water and then dabbed and pounced four colors of distress ink onto the paper.  I told you above that I love this technique!  
• I die-cut and assembled the card on a top-folding A2 base.    

Here is a photo of all the cards.  To see what I did with the muslin bag, please keep reading.

Upcycled Item:

Finally, we were asked to upcycle or alter an item. I ordered some muslin favor bags for my daughter's wedding and have quite a few left so I thought this would be the basis for my upcycle project.  I thought they would be cute "envelops" for cards given in person or fun little gift pouches. A lot of the techniques we learned at Altenew Academy can be applied to non-card projects and I would like to share the processes I used to  decorate my muslin bags:

·        Stamping on fabric

·        Coloring on fabric

·        Ink blending on fabric

·        Felt die-cuts adhered to fabric

·        Stamp layering on fabric

I started by personalizing a little bag for each of the cards that I created above. 

For the first two cards, I ironed the bag, secured it in my Misti and stamped just once.  That is all it needed and I was afraid the fabric might shift if I stamped it a second time.  I then did some easy coloring with my Tombow markers.  The fabric colors well but you can’t do much complicated shading.

 

For the Encouragement Card, I masked three squares and then ink blended white pigment ink inside the squares. I let the ink dry and then I stamped (with black Pigment ink) 3 coffee mugs.  I finished by drawing a black border around each square with a permanent marker.  Simple but graphic looking.

For the Color Block Card, I again masked three squares and then ink blended with the same (distress) inks I used on the cards.  It is interesting that the colors change a bit on fabric, but the result is a bright fun pouch.

PRO TIP:  I inserted a piece of paper inside the bag to prevent the ink and glue from bleeding through to the backside. 

While I was at it, I wanted to do some felt die-cutting.  For my first card I die cut five balloons from felt and glued blue thread to the back.  For the second card I die-cut a Mega Alphabet B and added a sprig of die-cut greenery.

PRO TIP:  To keep the felt from stretching and tearing while die cutting, I first glued a piece of regular paper to the back of the felt.  I let it dry overnight and did my die-cutting the next day.  This makes a huge difference in the quality of the die-cut!

My final idea was to do a bit of stamp layering on fabric.  I used pigment ink, dried with my heat tool and then moved on to the next color.  This card is definitely feminine but I wanted to try the technique on muslin and all my layering stamps are flowers. 

Featured Altenew Products:

Altenew Watercolor Stripes stencil

Altenew Tea Time stamp and die bundle

Altenew Garden Grow stamp and die bundle

Altenew Weekend Doodles stamp and die set

Altenew Bride to Be stamp and die bundle

Altenew Mega Alphabet B die

Altenew Card Base Envelop set

I really enjoyed putting this project together!

Karen

Altenew Academy Level 1 Final Project

I've been working my way through Level 1 at The Altenew Academy and just completed my Final Project which was to create a set of "feminine" and "masculine" gifts sets.  I have to say I learned so much and had loads of ideas but I would like to show you the cards I created for my final project.  I incorporated lessons I learned in:

•  Let It Shine where we discovered how to add just the right amount of sparkle and shine to a card.  I used metallic heat embossing and  metallic watercolors on my feminine cards.
•   Easy Die Cutting where we learned to use die-cutting to up the "Wow" factor.  I used die-cuts on each of my cards as I think they add loads of impact and felt this unified both card sets.
•  Easy Ink Blending - I used several ink blending techniques on my masculine card set. My two favorites were the soft blue background on the Healing Wishes card and the die-cut spotlight circles on the Get Well Soon card.  

For my "feminine" cards I wanted subtle metallic touches combined with watercoloring. I kept the set cohesive by using cream card stock/watercolor paper, floral images, a pink and green watercolor palette and navy die-cut sentiments.

For this first card, I created a metallic watercolor background which is so pretty in person.  I then stamped, heat embossed and watercolored the floral images.  After the flowers dried I added a pearlescent  white gold watercolor wash over the top which gave the flowers a beautiful sheen.  I die cut the images and attached with foam tape. The next photo shows the first three card in process.

Here are the cards that round out the gift set.  On each card I used big bold die-cut occasion sentiments cut from navy cardstock. 

                     

I really like this feminine spray and think the navy die-cut sentiments are  beautiful and anchor the look of this set.

The painted Lotus die-cut is so pretty in person.

I did want to share this process photo as well.

The Feminine Set

For my "masculine" cards I chose to use an overall blue theme with ink blending techniques and Altenew's Garden Grow as the unifying elements.  For my first card, I ink blended a background and used peek-a-boo die cut  windows to spotlight my images.  During quarantine, I've been sending so many encouragement cards that I wanted to include one in this set. 

I made a companion card using the die-cut circles from the card above.  I ink blended the spotlight circle, added die-cut images and anchored with a strip of masculine brown paper.

The next two cards have a soft ink blended background to draw the eye to the die cut.

I thought a birthday and recovery card would round out the gift set.

Here is an in-progress photo.  The die cut elements were attached to each card with foam tape.

PRO TIP:  I blended one background on Neenah (Birthday) and the second on Bristol (Healing Wishes) to see which provided a smoother look.  The Neenah panel (below left panel that is now the Birthday Card) is whiter but the Bristol (right panel that is now the Healing Wishes card) is far easier to blend on and resulted in a smoother background.  In the future, I will remember to blend my backgrounds on Bristol cardstock.

And here is the masculine set.

We were challenged to use a recycled element in each set.  For the feminine set I recycled a small Kraft gift bag and for the masculine set I re-used an elegant chocolate brown box.  I heat embossed some tags to top each set.  

Altenew Products Used:

Altenew Weekend Doodles stamp and die bundle

Altenew Best Mom stamp and die bundle

Altenew Inked Lotus stamp and die bundle

Altenew Garden Grow stamp and die bundle

Altenew Mini Branch stamp

Altenew Jet Black Crisp Die Ink

I am so glad you stopped by.  I'd love to hear what you think about these card sets.  Thanks!

Karen

WWC272 - Helen's Challenge: Anything Goes with a Masculine Twist

Hello and welcome!  This week we are making masculine cards at The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and Helen is our hostess.  My son-in-law has a May birthday so this card is for Josh.  Josh is a big dog lover and the dog in the middle is his sweet dog Asuna. 

I started by ink blending a blue background panel which I then put aside to dry.  On a white panel I die cut three windows for my pups and then fussy cut the curved edge.  Next, I stamped, Copic colored and die cut my pups.  Assembly was easy and I used foam tape to attach the white panel to the background and then popped the dogs on.

I saved the die cut circles and used them to make this Encouragement Card.

Supplies:

Mama Elephant Playful Pups stamps and dies

Catherine Pooler "Its a Boy" & "Blue Suede Shoes" ink

Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Brushes

SSS Stitched Circles

Neenah card stock

Copic markers

Black gel pen accents

I am playing along in:
The Paper Players CAS Men in Mind Challenge (#491)

The Paper Girls #200 "All About the Boys" Challenge

Paper Minutes Dog or Cat Challenge #641

I was very pleased to see this card designated "A Cut Above" by The Paper Players!

Thank you for stopping by!

Karen 

 

Altenew Academy All About Layering 1

I've been cardmaking for a little over three years and thought it might be time to see what I could learn at The Altenew Academy Teacher Certification Program.    I applied and was pleased to see that I was invited to join their 17th class.  The first class is "All About Layering 1".  I have actually never used layering stamps so this was a great way for me to start.  I purchased their "Bride to Be" stamp and die bundle and started creating.  Since I have never done layer stamping before I thought the best way for me to learn was to just stamp lots of images.

The background, stems and tan flowers were all stamped using Altenew's Coffee Break ink cubes.  For the sentiment, I hand inked a  scrap of paper with navy ink and die cut it twice because I wanted the sentiment to coordinate with the blue flowers.  

I normally stamp with a Misti, but the instructor used an acryllic block so I did also.  I think it was good practice to stamp free hand.  

I practiced on scratch paper to see which colors I liked and wound up with a simple tan and blue palette.  

I am also playing along:

Just Add Ink "Thinking of You" (#505) During these uncertain times, I've found myself making more hello/thinking of you/encouragement cards.  This card is for a friend who is living alone, which is so hard during the quarantine.  

A Place To Start: Create a Custom Background I handstamped my background for this card.  

I was so pleased to see that this card was selected as "The Winner" at Just Add Ink.

I was honored that this card was selected as a "Rising Star" at A Place to Start.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen

Humorous Get Well Card

I needed to restock my Get Well cards and I think humor can be fun as long as the condition is not too serious.

This dog and the bird always make me smile and I thought it would be cute to have the bird, big eyes and all, hang upside down.  The background is hand inked.

Supplies:

Fetch (the dog) by Photoplay

SSS Stacking Animals

Papertrey Sentiment

Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass and Twisted Citron)

S XPress It Paper

Copic Markers

I am entering this card in:

Tuesday Throwdown "Furry Friends" Challenge

Make My Monday "For A Guy" Challenge

Addicted to Stamps Make Your Mark

Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen