Hello and welcome to my blog! I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I’m really excited to share the latest cards I made for the Altenew Educator Certification Program. This course was called Clean and Simple Boutique Cards, and was taught by Jennifer Rzasa.
Now, I love the look of white space. From cards to layouts, a good white space design is mesmerizing. But, I’ll be honest, being able to create such a design does not come naturally to me. I love dimension, color and bling. So, I was a little nervous about this particular course.
After watching the lessons several times and absorbing the ideas that our teacher, Jennifer Rzasa, was teaching, inspiration hit. Since I loved the idea of a clean background, I decided to create a card with a gold-embossed image and layer that image on vellum over white cardstock. The result was a set of gorgeous, elegant cards perfect for a special someone. Let’s take a look.
Card 1
For my cards, I chose to use a stamp/die set from Altenew, Dainty Bouquet. This set is actually a layering stamp set, but I chose to use the most solid image of the stamp. I decided to emboss my image on 80lb Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock. First, I brushed my image with my Cottontail Embossing Powder Tool from Rabbit Hole Designs. Treating the cardstock first prevents the embossing power from sticking to areas other than where you want it to. Using my MISTI Stamp Tool, I stamped the image in VersaMark Ink, then covered it with Altenew’s Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder. I used my heat tool to melt the embossing powder and die cut the image with the coordinating dies. I cut an additional three images from lightweight white cardstock to layer under my stamped image. This will give my focal point some dimension.
For my sentiment, I used a sentiment set from The Ton. The Easy Expressions: Thanks stamp set is a grouped layering set that coordinates with the Easy Expressions Thanks Dies set. Basically, there are two huge stamps which are layered one over the other to create a ton (pun intended) of thank you expressions. Then, the die set cuts all the sentiments out at once. It’s a brilliant design! You can use the two stamps together, or separately. I have three of their sets: thank you, birthday and sympathy and use them all the time. I embossed the sentiments using the same Antique Gold embossing powder, then die cut them all out. I die cut an additional three sets for layering purposes.
Now to assemble! I adhered the flower to the left side of the vellum panel using liquid glue, and the sentiment to the bottom right for balance. Then, I applied liquid glue to the back of the panel where the image and sentiment were glued, and then centered the vellum panel to a 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ side folding cardstock base. I finished off the card with some Metallic Gold Pearls from PinkFresh Studio.
I was so happy with the result, I created two more cards using the second image from the Dainty Bouquet Stamp Set.
Card 2
For my second card, I stamped and embossed the image onto vellum itself! Same process as embossing on cardstock, but you need to keep your heat gun moving so that the embossing powder doesn’t bubble! After cutting it out with the coordinating die, I cut out an additional image from lightweight cardstock. I adhered the embossed vellum image onto the die cut flower, making sure to put the glue behind the embossed parts of the flower so it wouldn’t show through. I adhered the flower to the center of a 3-3/4″ x 5″ vellum panel, and adhered that to the center of a 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ top folding cardstock base. I used one of the many sentiments I created from The Ton, Easy Expressions Thanks set, added a few gold pearls, and card two was complete! Look how cool that embossed flower looks on vellum!
Card 3 – BONUS CARD
While I was experimenting, I had stamped and embossed lots of floral images and decided to make one more card. I had several of the smaller flowers, and struck on the idea of using them both to create a mirror image.
Well, I guess it isn’t exactly a mirror image, but it looks pretty cool. I trimmed off the leaves on the left side of the flower, then placed one flower under the other. You can see the stems meeting in the middle if you look closely at the center of the card. I decided to use a larger sentiment to cover up the trimming. This sentiment comes from Spellbinders Be Bold Glimmer Sentiments. This is a Hot Foil Plate and Die Set and is one of my favorites. I foiled it in Aura Foil from Spellbinders, used the coordinating dies to cut it out and cut out four additional sentiments to create a stack. Look how much dimension the stack gives!! I’m a huge fan of stacking; it gives such fabulous depth and will hold up in the mail much better than foam tape.
And, there you have it! A set of clean and simple boutique cards, perfect for a gift, or to send out to very special people. I hope you enjoyed the cards and you are inspired to create your own set. Happy crafting!!
Erum Tasneem says
Truly beautiful cards, Deborrah!!
WOW!
Thank you for sharing your work and submitting them to the AECP assignment gallery.