AECP Level 2 - Beautiful Details

Welcome back to Paper Play, friends!

What is it that makes you happy as a crafter, card maker, or creator of any kind?  What drives you to create?  For me, it's seeing the smile and happiness from someone when they receive one of cards or crafts.  That reaction fuels me and makes me want to create more.  It also fuels me to push myself and try new techniques, new ways of coloring, etc.  The course that I just finished, Beautiful Details, did just that.  It definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone by not coloring the images on my cards in my usual way.  The focus of the class was on tips and techniques to use different mediums in creating your cards and how to add details in a different way.  It took me a week of watching the lessons, then re-watching them, and then thinking about designs to finally come up with some cards that I liked.

Both of my cards were made using the same stamp set and have a lot in common, such as the color palette.  However, they also have some differences and those differences were informed by what I learned in the course.  Overall, I wanted to show how to use one stamp set and different techniques to create two different but beautiful designs.

Here's what I used to make the cards:

• Altenew Forever in Love Stamp and Die Set
• Altenew Silver Lake Crisp Dye Ink
  
• Sizzix Clear Embossing Ink Pad
• Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Silver Embossing Powder
• Artezza Inkonic Premium Colored Pens
• White glitter gel pen
• Sakura Gelly Roll White Gel Pen
• Clear drip drops
• Black sequins
• Gray card stock
• White card stock
• Pink card stock
• Vellum paper
  

Card 1 - Wish I Met You Sooner

There were three main details that I wanted to focus on with this card:

• a layered paper look of three different colors of card stock stacked on each other
• an image stamped in the same color (gray) as the card base color
• leaves that weren't colored but rather filled in with lines

I made the card by:

• Creating a 5"x7" gray card base.
• Cutting a 4.75" by 6.5" pink card panel, running pink around the panel edges, and adhering it to the card base with double sided tape.
• Cutting a 4.25" by 6" white card panel, running Silver Lake ink around the edges, and then stamping the image onto the card panel.
• Dusted the upper right corner of card panel with baking powder and inked the sentiment with embossing ink.  Applied silver embossing powder and set it with a heat tool.
• Used a green gray pen to draw lines within the leaves to define the color and detail of them.
• Used a white glitter pen to color the roses.  This added a sparkle detail to them.  There's no need for shading with this approach since the purpose is just o have them sparkle when the light hits them.
• Applied three clear drip drops with craft glue.

The resulting design is so pretty and much different than the card that I would have made prior to this course.  I likely would have just colored the leaves with green shading and the roses with pink shading.  However, the green gray lines on the leaves makes them stand out a little more, and the sparkling roses are so gorgeous.  The card is quite versatile as well and could be used for a wedding, anniversary, birthday, or even just to say "I love you."

Card 2 - Forever in Love

I knew that I wanted to use colored vellum for this card.  I thought it would add an interesting detail against a plain white background and an embossed silver sentiment.

 

I made this card by:

• Creating a 5"x7" gray card base.
• Cutting a 4.5"x6.5" white card panel and running Silver Lake ink around it's edges.  I dusted the top center portion with baking powder, stamped the sentiment with embossing ink, applied silver embossing powder, and set it with a heat tool.
• Dusted a piece of vellum paper with baking powder, stamped the image with embossing ink, applied silver embossing powder, and set it with a heat tool.
• Adhered the white panel to the card base with double sided tape.
  
• Colored the leaves with a light gray pen and then added lines to each leaf with a darker gray pen.  I then added some white highlight lines to the leaves with the white gel pen.
• Colored the berries with a dark gray pen and then added some highlights with a white gel pen.
• Colored the roses with a light pink pen, added shading with a darker shade, and then colored the centers with an even darker shade.  Added some white lights and lines with a gel pen.
• Applied some small pieces of double sided foam tape to the back of the image and adhered it to the white card panel.
• Applied three large black sequins and three small black sequins using craft glue.

 

I like the dimension that the vellum image gives to the card.  It's so much more interesting than just stamping the image onto the white panel.  Once again, this image was colored in a very different way than I would have previously done.  The lines in the leaves and rose petals add some interesting detail that also helps to soften up both.  Such a pretty card that, like the first one, can be used to so many different occasions.

 

 

This wraps up the time with me on Paper Play today.  I thank you for stopping by and spending a few moments of your day with me.  Until next time . . . be well!