AECP Level 1 - For the Guys

Hello, friends!

It’s hard to believe that I’m sharing projects for my fifth course and am now half-way through AECP Level 1.  Today’s Paper Play post is about that course, For the Guys, which focused on creating masculine cards.  Masculine cards can be a challenge . . . different color schemes than the florals that I’m used to working with, finding the right image(s), etc.  That said, I believe that I have come up with some designs that any guy would enjoy receiving.

Card 1

I had the concept for this card in mind for a while and I knew that the  Altenew Arabesque Medallion Stamp Set would be perfect for it.  Right away, it reminded me of a piece of stained glass art that hangs in Donahues, a local restaurant and bar.  That stained glass art has a very Celtic feel to it - lots of green, orange, and white.  Inspiration struck, and I knew that I wanted to make a stained glass card.  Cards that feature art work, especially in bold & masculine colors, work quite well for guys.  With this in mind, I watched several tutorials on YouTube and was ready to try one for myself.

Creating a stained glass card is actually quite easy.  The key to being successful is to make sure that you’re using heat resistant acetate so that it doesn’t melt when you apply heat.  I started by taking an A2 sized piece of heat reistant acetate, put it onto my stamping platform, aligned the Arabesque Medallion stamp with it, inked the stamp with Sizzix Clear Embossing Ink, and stamped it.  I inspected the stamping and was happy with the coverage.  I placed the embossed piece of acetate onto a sheet of paper and sprinkled Ranger Black Embossing Powder all over it.  Lightly tapping the back of the acetate sheet easily removes most of the excess powder back onto your sheet of paper.  The good thing is that the embossing ink and acetate create a nice bond with the embossing powder and it sticks really well.  Here’s a TIP for getting the stubborn little embossing powder remnants off of the acetate - flick it hard with a finger from behind the image.  Just about all of those small remants will fall without affecting your image.

Next up was using the heat gun to set the image.  I placed the acetate on a silicone mat, turned my heat gun on high, and started to apply heat while constantly moving around the image in a circular motion.  The circular motion and movement allows you to apply the heat needed to set the image while ensuring that you won’t warp the acetate.  It took around 90 seconds for the black powder to turn into a solid black outline.  There were a few areas where the black line had a small gap or two.  Never fear - it’s an easy fix!  I used my Sakura Black Flaze Pen to fill in those few spots and you truly can’t tell that it’s not part of the embossing!

With the image embossed, it was time to start coloring.  I chose the following Ohuhu Honalulu Alcohol markers to color my image: Orange, Rouge Orange, Barium Yellow, Vivid Green, and Cobalt Blue.  You  may color on acetate with alcohol markers.  It’s hard to get a streak-free image - but it is possible.  The trick is to let the ink dry before going back to make corrections and add more ink.  That said, real stained glass isn’t always perfect and smooth.  There is often some kind of texture to it, and so I used the technique of tapping my alcohol markers onto the acetate and it provided nice color coverage.  I went over each area a few times and was happy with the look.

Time to assemble the card!  I ran some craft glue along the edge of my colored image, and then adhered another A2 sized piece of acetate on top of it.  I cut an A2 sized piece of vellum, ran some craft glue  around the edges, and adhered it to the back of this panel.  I like how the vellum provides some depth to the image.  I took an A2 sized white card base, ran Altenew Double Sided Tape around it, and adhered the stamped panel to the front of it.  A frame die from the Taylored Expressions Frame in Frame 3 Cutting Plate die set was used to cut a frame from black cardstock.  I put Altenew Double Sided Foam Tape on the back of the frame and adhered it to the card.  I didn’t want to put a sentiment on the outside of the card and block any of this gorgeous image.  I stamped a Happy Birthday sentiment inside of the card.

Card 2

The second card isn’t really a completely new card.  It also uses the Altenew Arabesque Medallison Stamp.  I thought it would be fun to show one stamp to create cards using two different techniques.  To start this one, I cut an A2 sized piece of Recollections White Shimmer card stock to use as my fromt panel.  I like this card stock because it adds just a little bit of sparkle to to your image - even when inked.  I placed it on my stamping platform, aligned the stamp, inked it with Altenew Jet Black Crisp Dye Ink, and stamped.  I repeated this one more time to ensure a nice, crisp image.

I used the same alcohol marker colors to color this image, and then a Sakura Black Glaze Pen to outline and highlight some of the floral images.  The front panel was adhered to an A2 sized card base using double sided tape, and then the same frame as card 1 was cut from black card stock.  This time, I rubbed the frame with some Sizzix Silver Gilding Wax to give it an aged metallic look.  Double sided foam tape was applied to the back of the frame and the frame was adhered to the card.  Again, I didn’t want to put a sentiment on the front and block any of the image.  It was stamped inside.  The nice thing about stamping the sentiment on the inside is that it allows the recipient to frame the card and display it as a piece of art.

I really like the different look of each technique even though the same stamp and colors were used.  Here’s a side by side pic to contrast them:

Card 3

My last card for this course is a fun and punny thank you card that is perfect for the coffee loving guy in your life.  I love my morning coffee, and I can’t resist the chance to use a pun, which made this card easy for me to design.  The coffee mugs were made using a stamp and coordinating die from the Altenew Dancing in the Rain set.  The stamp is just a small part of the set but was perfect for this card since I wanted just a small coffee cup (or pair, in this case) to have repeating on it.  I stamped the image eight times onto white card stock using Jet Black ink.  I colored the images with my alcohol markers, and then cut them out using the coodinating die.  A circle die was used to cut the circle for the center of the card from some wheat card stock and the Altenew Organic Linen Embossing Folder was used to add some texture to it.  The sentiment was up next.  I used the thanks die from the Altenew Versatile Greetings Die Set to cut the word from white card stock and the word shadow die to cut the shadow from vellum.  The word thanks was adhered to the shadow using craft glue.  The last piece to cut was the stitched box for the second part of the sentiment, which was cut from cream card stock with a rectangular stitched box die.

Time to assemble the card!  I adhered the eight pairs of coffee cups to an A2 sized piece of cream card stock.  Next up was the circle, adhered with double sided tape, and then the word thanks, using craft glue.  I applied double sided tape to the stitched rectangle, and then used a Sakura Black Glaze Pen to write the rest of the sentiment.  The final step was to adhere the font panel to an A2 sized card base cut from cream card stock.

There’s three ideas for easy to make masculine cards.  Perhaps you’ll be inspired to give it a try?  Until next time . . . be well!