I have a love of circles & halftones so naturally I was drawn to this stencil & stamp set by Altenew! Circle overload? Ah maybe. But that’s ok, it came out as a fun design I think!
Materials –
Halftone Circle Stencil – Altenew
Trendy Circles Stamp Set – Altenew
Crisp Dye Inks – Altenew
Rose Gold Embossing Powder
I used the stencil for the background and ink blended the blues shown in the photo to get a gradient.
Gradient halftone background!
I attached it to the front of an A2 card base with foam tape for a bit of depth.
I chose 3 circles from the Trendy Circles Stamp set and embossed with the rose gold embossing powder, I cut them using my Brother Scan & Cut machine. There was a little bit of fussy cutting involved! I attached those with more foam tape, doubling up on the larger circle.
Double the foam tape – double the height!
I then stamped out the sentiment and adhered it so the end was tucked under the bottom circle. All done!
Lots of circle fun to be had!
I love this stamp set & stencil and it will definitely get more use out of me!
Hello! Similar to a design I recently did, I’ve gone and done another, why? Because I just love these splash stamps and the simplicity of the leaf design! It’s a fun, quick, easy way to create a card at the end of the day if you are short on time! Many people seem to love simple cards, and I am one of those people! (Now don’t get me wrong I love making complex colored stamp cards and cutting with my Brother Scan & Cut but simple is so fun!)
Materials:
Crisp Dye Inks – Altenew
Inky Bouquet Stamp Set – Altenew
Leaf Clusters Stamp Set – Altenew
Painted Rainbow Stamp Set – Altenew
A2 Vertical Cut Card
Sentiment Stamp – Altenew
Black Versafine Ink
And that’s it! Though it sounds like a lot more than it is…it’s a simple design that can be modified to suit what you have I think! Of course you can also make those pretty colorful splashes of color with watercolor on watercolor card stock, or draw them with markers!
The color combinations can be endless as well as the sentiment! Experiment with different leaf stamps & splashes of color!
I am really loving playing with these stamps and I find myself reaching for them especially when I am crunched for time and just want to create something after a long day.
…ok so maybe this one didn’t come out so “simple” – it did take quite a bit of work, but the idea was born out of “Lesson 4” which says at the end to try some embossing folders or similar to get a “raised” look.
I suppose “clean & simple” would have been leaving it white maybe and not inking it but…ah well. I haven’t used many embossing folders and this is one of only a few that I have.
Materials:
Mighty Waves 3D Embossing Folder (Altenew)
Cool Summer Night Crisp Dye Inks
Ink blending tools
Foam tape
White card stock
Blue card stock
“hope” sentiment created in Canvas Workspace for Brother Scan & Cut
“Mighty Waves” embossing with ink & “hope” cut out sentiment
I embossed a white piece of card stock, (with the embossing folder) then used the 3 colors of ink pictured above to add color. When finished I adhered it to 2 other white pieces of the same size, and then adhered the whole 3 layers to an A2 card with foam tape for even more “pop.”
…but I forgot I wanted to add a thin sentiment banner across the entire front, then tuck it & secure it behind the layers before placing it down with the foam tape. So I was left staring at it all put together without a plan B!
I left it for a while and we took a walk. I decided to do a cut out word instead. I chose “hope” because that was similar to the original plan – as if to say hang on and keep the faith during a difficult “wavy” time. Ride the waves!
I created the word for cutting in Canvas Workspace (by Brother) and sent it to my machine where I cut 2 white copies & 1 blue. I adhered the two white copies one on top of the other and I used the blue as a bit of a drop shadow. I used foam tape to secure it down to the card front. That was finally that! I think I much prefer the simpler cards! Lol! But this is fun too!
This was my first time ink blending over an embossed image, it’s a bit of a challenge to keep it where you want it! Definitely takes small blending tools!
So that’s about it for today! I hope everyone had a great start to their week! I am thrilled tomorrow is the last full day of school for my kids, followed by two 1/2 days and then we are DONE. I am so ready to close out the school year and send them back to real NORMAL school next year!!!
I have a sparkly card to share today! I have been super busy with my 3D shop so I haven’t had a lot of time to craft, but I make sure to find at least a few moments a day to create at least 1 card – even if that means doing more simple type cards that are discussed in the above mentioned course. However – this one was not quite as simple and took me a while to complete!
Before I go any further…if you want to learn how to make simple, pretty, fun, easy cards to give to your friends/family I highly recommend this course! Inspiration comes from everywhere, and you would be surprised how many different cards you can create with just stamps & ink! Link here! https://altenew.com/products/clean-simple-boutique-cards
So onto the card! This card is hot off the crafty table! “Shine like the Stars!” Part of the above course does cover basic foiling – but alas – I do not have foil! I watched the video anyway and decided to substitute with gold glitter embossing powder & sequins! (But tomorrow I think I’ll hit up the Hobby Lobby and see if I can at least find gold/silver foil!)
So I’ll go over the materials I used below:
Slimline Card Base (my first ever!)
Deep Blue Seas Crisp Dye Inks – Altenew
Halftone Stars Stamp Set – Altenew
Tiny Stars Stamp Set – Altenew
Black Ink
Versamark Embossing Ink
Gold Glitter Embossing Powder
Mixed Sequins
I stamped the larger halftone stars first using the set of inks above to get an ombré effect (I am obsessed with that!) Then I added the smaller stars with embossing ink and embossed those with the gold sparkly glitter embossing powder. Next I added the tiny stars in different areas around the edges, and finally I topped it off with a few sequins. I added the “Shine like the Stars” sentiment at the very end.
That’s it for now – maybe more to share tomorrow! Stay crafty! ⭐️
Today I worked on the first lesson of “Simple Boutique Cards” for AECP. I thought the first lesson in this course was lovely and so simple I really wanted to try it because I have always enjoyed using my micron pens for inking and adding fun doodles to watercolor.
I have started some of the other courses but I realized I needed to invest in a bit more supplies so when I saw this course I knew I definitely had everything needed for it. The first lesson focuses on a simple stamped design & inking to get the look of the minimalist cards seen in boutiques. How many times have you seen one and thought “that is so cute, so simple! I could make that!” But usually we buy it and we don’t make it – its easier that way! I’m guilty of it myself!
So after watching the video I knew I would love working with this style and I planned out a card right away. I have been wanting to try out the “Simple Flowers Stamp Set” (by Altenew of course!) I thought this lesson would be a great chance to use it!
I chose 3 stamps in different sizes and 3 similar colors that would look nice together. I also used 2 greens (one lighter one darker.) I tested my layout first on scrap paper before committing to the design.
I stamped each flower at least twice, first with the solid color, and second I tried to ink only around the edge. It worked best on the first two flowers from the left. I used the darker green to give more of a shadow color for the stems & leaves – if I did this again I would probably choose a much lighter green as it did not give me quite the difference I was going for.
A simple design using only a few stamps & colors + black micron pen
Finally I added some doodling with a black micron pen. This was a quick card for fun & practice. I can see where it could be improved upon if done a second time! But I enjoyed trying out this style and can see using it again for sure!
