Hello. Today I am sharing four cards and a gift box I made for the Altenew Educator Certification Programme level 2 challenge.
The specifications for this challenge were to make four masculine cards, one for each category- Birthday, Anniversary, Thinking Of You and Encouragement. Alongside this make an upcycled project. The focus should be on three components covered in the Altenew Academy classes.
I chose the following three components; let it shine – adding shine and sparkle to all my projects. For the guys – focusing on making sure the card are suitable for the males in our lives and In the mood for color – focusing on the mood created by using certain colours.
First up is my Anniversary card. I focused on the colour blue to create a sense of calm and tranquility which I felt worked perfectly with the sentiment. Giving the card a masculine feel while also using floral images.
To start the card I first worked on my background panel. I used a stitched border die to cut a panel out of white cardstock I selected three shades of brown Distress Oxide inks and using a blending brush worked from the lightest colour in the centre blending to the darkest around the edges, adding layers to darken the colour until I was happy with how it looked. To add some texture I splattered some water from the edge of a paintbrush over the ink and soaked it up with a paper towel and set the panel aside to dry.
Next I worked on the floral images. I stamped three of the flowers and some leaves from the Altenew Poppy Garden stamp set on to Neenah solar white classic crest 80lb white card, using Memento Tuxedo black ink. I then coloured them with my Copic markers and die cut them using the coordinating dies.
Now my background panel was dry it was time to add some shine. I took my Altenew metallic watercolours. I added a little water to each of the pans of gold and silver colours then took a small paintbrush and splattered the colours randomly over the background. This adds a lovely shine which is really hard to see in the photos.
Once this was dry I took my sentiment which is from the Altenew Heartfelt Sentiments stamp set and stamped it at the bottom of the panel with an embossing pad. I then took white Ranger embossing powder, sprinkled it over and heat set with my heat gun.
Now to put the card together. I used a tape runner to adhere the background panel to a 6×6 inch with card base. I then arranged and adhered the flowers and leaves using a liquid glue to allow a little time to move them around to the perfect position. This completes my Anniversary card.
My second card is a thinking of you card. I used yellow of the focus of the card for optimism, cheer and energy
I used an image from the Altenew Get Well Soon stamp set. I stamped the image on Neenah 80lb Cardstock and used my Copics to colour it in. I then fussy cut the image out and set it aside.
Next I worked on the background. I took a card panel the same size as my A6 sized card blank and used Distress Oxide inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Ground Espresso and used a blending brush to apply the ink. I love how smooth Distress Oxide inks blend. If you are struggling to blend well I recommend using a good amount of ink on a bright coloured background like this. Once the background ink was dry I adhered the focal image with a tape runner. I then stamped the sentiments using Altenew Obsidian black ink. Thinking of you is from the Heartfelt Sentiments set.
To add some shine to this card I took a strip of gold mirror card and cut a thin strip which I adhered to the bottom of the card using liquid glue. I then added some sequins from Neat and Tangled. I adhered the card panel on to my card blank to complete the card.
For my encouragement card I focused on using green as my main colour representing soothing, growth and natural thoughts. Perfect tfor this occasion.
I took one of the leaf stamps from the Altenew Wallpaper Art stamp set. I took a piece of A6 sized white card and rubbed my anti static powder bag over the top. This will stop embossing powder sticking where I don’t want it. I used my Misti stamping tool here to help me do some repeat stamping.
Using Altenew Forest Glade ink I stamped the leaves on the top left of my card panel. I stamped this twice to get good coverage as this is a solid image. I then wiped off any excess green ink and took my Wow embossing pad. I randomly pressed it on to various parts of the stamp but not covering the whole image. I then stamped this back in the same position over the leaves. I sprinkled Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder over the top then used a heat gun to melt the powder.
This is the result. A lovely gold shimmer on the leaves. I repeated the above steps, each time rotating the card to stamp the leaves coming from each corner.
Once I had the background complete I added a sentiment banner to the centre of the card panel. I took a piece of brown card and cut it down to a strip the perfect size to fit my sentiment. I chose ‘you are capable of amazing things’ from the Altenew Focus On You stamp set. I used Altenew Enchanted Gold Pigment ink to stamp the sentiment. Once it was dry I adhered the strip to the card with liquid adhesive. I love the look of the gold embossing on the leaves.
Next is my Birthday card. Although mainly white has a small splash of rainbow perfect for a Birthday card to bring feelings of all the colours together.
I love the controller image which is from the Altenew Best Dad stamp set. I decided to do some repeat stamping and heat emboss to add the shine. I took an A6 side stitched rectangle die and die cut a panel to work on. I love the look of a stitched border. I treated my card panel with my anti static powder bag then using an embossing pad stamped an image on to the card. Because this is clear I find it easier to stamp one image, then sprinkle with embossing powder which makes it easier to see the placement for the next image. Once I had three images stamped and covered in powder I used my heat gun to melt the powder before moving on. I find this makes it less likely to knock any of the powder off while I am stamping but also allows my to clearly see the pattern I am creating.
Once my background was complete I took my Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils and added colour to the buttons on the controller. Although this is a simple step it really adds to the look of the card. As I was happy with the look of the card I decided to keep it one layer and simply stamp the sentiment in black ink before adhering the panel to my card base to complete the card. The card inside reads Happy Birthday
The final part of the challenge was my upcycled project I chose to make a masculine gift box. Perfect for a piece of jewellery, a watch or other small gift. I found the box that my smart watch came in some time ago. I thought this would be the perfect base for my gift box.
To start the project I looked through my patterned papers and found some light blue paperr with a small pattern on. This would be perfect as it adds colour but does not distract from the images I planned to use.
I covered the box with the paper by glueing the top of the box to the centre of the sheet of paper. I then drew lines of where I planned to cut the paper to create flaps. I then cut and folded each flap before adhering it to the inside of the box. I did this for the upper and lower pieces of the box. If you are new to doing this there are some great videos on youtube on how to cover a box.
Once the lower portion of the box is covered in paper this part was complete. Next I worked on decorating the top portion. I used Distress Oxide inks to make a blue background, blending Salty Ocean and broken China. I then cut this panel in to two three portions. One for the top of the box and two for the front and back sides.
I stamped Happy Fathers Day on the two smaller pieces and once dry adhered them to the front and back sides with a tape runner. This sentiment is from the Altenew Best Dad stamp set. You could add any sentiment for any type of occasion.
Next I took some images from the Altenew Garden Grow stamp set and stamped them on to the remaining panel. I used my Polychromos to add some colour to the images. To add some shine I used a stardust glitter pen on the leaves. I then adhered the panel to the top of my box.
This completes my challenge. I hope you like my projects and are inspired to give some of them a try.
Take Care for now.
Katrina
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