Hello and welcome back! After taking my time attending and creating cards from the 10 Level 2 training classes, I'm back to submit my Level 2 Final challenge projects.
For this final challenge, I needed to:
- Select and use 3 components from any of the Level 1 & 2 classes. I chose the following:
- Impressive Heat Embossing
- Easy Ink Blending Techniques
- Scene Building
- I also chose to create all four cards using various Altenew's Cover Dies to tie them together.
- Create 4 masculine cards (themed: birthday, Love/Thinking of You, Anniversary, and Encouragement)
- Create one altered item/upcycled project (see the very end of this post)
- Create the cards and upcycled project with a 4 week time period.
Making the 4 cards was definitely less intensive than creating 10 cards (for the Level 1 challenge) but it seemed to really take the same amount of time, if not more. I tried to use several techniques within each card while creating them and I think that's why it took more time. Either way, I loved making these 4 cards and upcycled project. I hope you enjoy seeing the process and the final cards.
Supplies Used:
In addition to the supplies shown below, I also used several different stamp ink colors (Altenew dye inks as well as Distress Oxide inks); clear, white, white sparkle and gold embossing powders; VersaMark clear embossing ink; Versafine Onyx Pigment Ink; Neenah White 80lb cardstock; and various shades of alcohol inks. All specifics are detailed below.
I Am Here for the Hugs (card #1)
I used the Simple Shapes cover die. I knew that I wanted to create a color blended background with a white outline pattern while building a scene with a potted plant, large sentiment, and a gold banner.
First, I took a full sheet of double sided masking paper, cut to A2 size to match a piece of white cardstock. Using washi tape, I stuck the cover die plate on top of the masking paper.
- Tip: Tape the cover die to the paper so that it can be run through the die cutting machine several times to ensure every bit of intricate detail is cut out cleanly. Rotate the die and paper and run it through the die-cutting machine 3 times.
Next, I prepared the color background. I used a piece of Tim Holtz Distress White Heavystock cut to A2 size.
- Tip: this cardstock is perfect for any ink blending as the surface is extra smooth and can take the use of oxide inks and water (for distressing).
Using Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink, I ink-blended the top and bottom portion of the cardstock. And then used Mowed Lawn DO ink to fill in the middle portion. Once I was satisfied with the ink blending and shading, I spritzed water onto the surface and patted it dry.- Tip: this technique of spraying or spritzing water onto distress oxide ink creates a watery effect.
After I was satisfied with the amount of "water droplets" on the ink blended surface, I peeled off the backing on the cover die plate cutout and stuck it to the prepared colored cardstock. - Tip: the distress oxide ink was still a little "wet". To ensure that the embossing powder did not stick to where I didn't want it, I brushed the surface with cornstarch. I then peeled off the remaining masking paper to uncover the sticky portion of the cover die design and then spooned white embossing powder over it.
Using one of the flower pots from the Indoor Garden Stamp Set, I stamped and then added embossing powder to decorate the pot. I then stamped a couple of the branches in Fresh Leaf and Just Green dye ink and then spooned clear embossing powder over it. - Tip: use clear embossing powder over a color dye ink and a heat tool to make the image pop.
Next I fussy cut the potted plant.
- Tip: cutting a word out three times and using a glue tube to adhere them all together will add extra height and make the sentiment pop off your card.
On the top layer of the cut out word, I inked the entire surface with VersaMark embossing ink. Then I dipped it into white sparkle embossing powder and heated it up with a heating tool. I positioned the "I Am Here For You" sentiment in a curvy line on my acrylic block and then stamped it onto a piece of gold cardstock. Using Versamark and white embossing powder, I heated it up to make the white words pop out and then cut a banner out to stick on the card front with pop up foam tape. To finish off the card, I added three white flat dots. - Tip: these flat white dots can be colored with an alcohol marker. They dry quickly and are easy to match colors to your artwork because there's such a variety of alcohol marker colors.
You Are In My Thoughts and Prayers (card #2)
I used the Layered Plaid Cover Die B for this card. I wanted to create an Asian screen called a Shoji for the main potted plant to be seen through and created layers by adding another potted plant and the banner sentiment on top.
To start, I did some ink blending with Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Inks. Afterwards, I spritzed it with water to create some interest as I did in card #1.
- Tip: use a heat gun to dry the water droplets quicker, especially when using a non-watercolor paper. Using the heat gun, I was able to spray this piece of cardstock multiple times without saturating the paper too much while creating the watercolor look I wanted.
Next I put it on top of the cutting mat of my die cutting machine and then taped down the cover die on top of it with washi tape. I ran it through my machine multiple times to ensure I cut through the paper due to this intricate die. After pushing all the tiny squares out of the paper, I positioned it over a folded A2 card and then placed the clear acrylic plants stamps where I wanted them. Picking the stamp images up with the cover of my Misti, I removed the prepared colored piece and then stamped the plant directly on the card front.
After stamping, I placed the prepared colored piece over the plant and figured out which part of it to cut out to expose the plants.
I proceeded to stamp and fussy cut the potted plant. - Tip: In order to raise the prepared colored piece off of the card front, I used this super skinny double-sided foam tape from Scrapbook.com
Next I took a piece of silver cardstock and using VersaFine Onyx Pigment ink, I stamped the sentiment and spooned clear embossing powder over it. Cured it with a heat gun and then cut the end of it off to create a flag banner. I adhered the plant image and the sentiment to the front of the card using foam squares.
You Giraffe Me Crazy (card #3)
For this card, I wanted to created another ink blended background but also used a technique from the Impressive Heat Embossing class to make a stained glass look (more details below). And instead of using the ink blended background directly, I used another Cover Die (Layered Snowflake Stars Cover Die B) to make a creative background for the giraffe image.
To start, I used Crackling Campfire, Squeeze Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide Inks. This time, I ink blended the colors diagonally. To create the shiny look below, I patted the Versamark Clear Embossing stamp pad directly to the ink blended surface. I did this multiple times to ensure the entire surface was covered and inked up. Next, I poured clear embossing powder over the entire surface, flicked off the excess and then used my heat gun to melt the embossing powder creating a shiny look.
- Tip: I bought several of these plastic containers from Amazon (not promoting them, just providing a helpful place to buy them). They are perfect for holding all of my embossing powders. The rectangle shape of them is perfect for holding the card over and catching the excess powder. No more fussing with coffee filters! (Any crafter will know what I'm talking about here...lol!)
Next step (and not shown) was to use the cover die to cut a piece of white cardstock and then cut it down in size to about half the card front. After that, I used washi tape to adhere the cover die to the ink blended/embossed piece and then taped that down onto my cutting mat. I passed it through my die-cutting machine several times to ensure it cut all the little triangles out.
I used Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink to cover up some of the white die cut piece which I wanted to use as the stained glass frame. After I used a glue stick to adhere the white die cut piece directly onto an A2 sized card front.
Because I ran the ink blended/embossed piece through my die-cutting machine a few times, the cover die actually ended up "holding" all the triangle pieces in the die until I was ready to use them. I then used my trusty glue tube to place dots inside all the open triangle areas wherever I wanted to add color.
Next I masked off the top portion of the card to add some shading with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink underneath where I wanted to stamp the sentiment and giraffe stamped image.
- Tip: some of the glue that I used to adhere the tiny triangles with didn't get covered up with the Distress Oxide ink. To hide this, I used a skinny piece of silver ribbon to cover it up. Don't be afraid to make mistakes on your cards because there's always a way to cover it up. 😉
I stamped the sentiment directly to the card front. Then I stamped the giraffe image on a scrap piece of white cardstock and die cut it out. I popped it off the card with double sided foam tape. Then, using a few excess colored triangles, I glued them around the sentiment to tie the bottom of the card to the top. - Tip: sometimes instead of using any type of gem or sequins, it's nice to use any decorated leftover pieces that were initially used on the card as embellishments.
You are Amazing, Congrats (card #4)
This card, and my favorite of the bunch, was alot of fun to create. I don't use my alcohol inks often enough!
- Tip: Use Ranger Yupo Paper which is especially suited for alcohol inks and other mixed media techniques. Do not use white cardstock as the alcohol ink will soak directly into the paper and not flow across the surface. Also, when using alcohol inks, make sure to protect your workspace. I used scratch pieces of paper on top of my glass tabletop surface. Alcohol inks are also strong smelling, so ensure you use them with proper ventilation.
Supplies used for creating this card background include: Citrus, Mojito and Pistachio alcohol ink colors, Ranger Alcohol Blending Solution and a handheld mini ink blower (to move or blow the ink around).
I started by cutting the Yupo Paper to fit an A2 card. Then I placed one or two drops of each alcohol ink color randomly on the surface and quickly moved it around using the ink blower. To help the colors spread even more, I added a couple drops of Alcohol blending solution to the surface, and again, blew it around the surface of the card. I did these steps several times to cover the entire surface.
Next I used the Mid-Century Cover Die to cut a piece of white cardstock. I also used the Congratulations word die to cut the word out three times using white cardstock. Once I glued the three layers of the word together, I inked up the top layer with Versamark clear embossing ink and then covered it with gold embossing powder.
I wanted to create a retro and modern look so I used the large leaf image from the Leaf Canopy stamp set. I stamped it with Limeade crisp dye ink, fussy cut it out and then used Peeled Paint Distress Oxide ink with a blending brush to make the edges darker. Next to prepare the cover die cut out, I cut pieces of the skinny double sided foam tape and applied it to the edges.
After placing the stamped image in the corner of the card, I adhered it with double side foam squares and then cut off the excess stamped image. I added a few of the negative white pieces of the Mid-Century Cover Die that were cut out and stamped them with "You Are Amazing" and then glued them directly to the card front. Then I used foam squares to adhere the word.
Upcycled Project - Stencil & Cover Die Holder
I had a bunch of plastic sleeves laying around that I must've bought for an organization project I wanted to create several years ago. I actually forgot that I had these in my drawer.
For all of the cards I created above, I purchased several new Altenew Cover Dies. After creating all of the cards and trying to figure out where to store these dies, I remembered the plastic sleeves in my drawer. So, I created a booklet of sorts to keep track of all my Altenew Cover Dies and then included extra "pages" to also hold my Altenew stencils. It's easy to see on my shelf and super portable too!
Another recent purchase that I made was 4 different packs of Altenew Watercolor Brush Marker bundles. I wanted to create a pretty cover for this booklet and decided to create a swatch card using my new brushes. It would be colorful and practical at the same time.
Supplies used to create my new storage booklet: plastic sleeves, hole puncher, 3 metal ring clasps, leftover twine from gift wrapping, 1 sheet of watercolor paper and my trusty label maker.
Here is the finished booklet. The first sleeve contains swatches of every new watercolor brush marker set from these sets: Tropical Fiesta, Winter Wonderland, Spring Garden and Autumn Festival. The following pages contain several various Altenew stencils, cover dies and individual word dies. I also included several empty sleeves to fill when I buy new Altenew stencils or dies.
The plastic sleeves were 6"x9" with a flap at the end of the long end. I started by measuring the width and then finding the center to place the first hole using a hole puncher. Then I placed two additional holes equally spaced.
This first sleeve holds the watercolor paper that I used to make the colorful swatch with. Each watercolor brush marker set contains 10 different colors. I wrote the names of the 4 different sets down the short side of the paper. Then I wrote the 10 different colors across the top and did this for all 4 sets. Thus creating a nice grid-like area to lay down the color samples. Once I finished coloring in all the color samples, I set it aside to dry.
Next I found three metal ring clasps from my husband's toolbox and cut several strands of twine to tie around the metal clasp for decoration. Once the holes were punched in all the plastic sleeves, I held them all together with the metal clasps.
The last step was to label each of the plastic sleeves using my trusty label maker. This came out better than I thought it would and I'm so happy that my stencils, dies and cover dies are all organized now!
Thanks so much for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created each of my projects! I've thoroughly enjoyed learning with Altenew and finishing all the Level 1 and Level 2 classes. I have so many cards in my card stash now and can't wait to share them with my family and friends. Fingers crossed that I'll pass this level and move on to Level 3. Fingers crossed!
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