AECP Level 1 - Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

The Clean and Simple Boutique cards class from Altenew had a lot of great ideas for creating "simple" cards that make a big impact.  This is especially important when you need a card quick.  I tried several of the ideas from the class, but wanted to share one today that I had been wanting to try for a few weeks now.

The lesson within in the class was about Foiling and Metallic details.  I LOVE to foil and use my Minc machine a LOT.  However, I am usually foiling on preprinted toner sheets, so I am limited to the items that I have in my stash or that I can purchase.  Recently, I had seen someone mention foiling using embossing powder.  This sounded like a game changer to me......to be able to stamp an image and then foil it......OH THE POSSIBILITIES!!!

To be fully transparent, prior to the class, I gave this a try on my own and it failed miserably!!  It was a very distressed look to say the least.  So, I was very glad to see this lesson.

The first thing I did was take some watercolor paper and used some dye ink (Catherine Pooler's Pixie Dust and Royal Treatment) mixed with a little water to cover my paper using a regular paint brush.  I wanted this to be airy, so I did leave some lighter areas as well.  I used my embossing tool to dry my paper once I was satisfied with the result.  

Creating full sheets of watercolor backgrounds can be done ahead of time and you can then quickly grab them when needing a quick card.

Next, I picked the Altenew Build-A-Flower: Bearded Iris stamp set.  I chose a shading layer for both the flower (A3) and the leaf (C3) and laid this out on my card.  Then I used a stamping platform to pick these up and used a darker ink (Catherine Pooler's Royal Treatment for the flower and Eucalyptus for the leaf) to stamp these shading areas.  I did use my heat tool for a quick pass to ensure this ink dried.

Now for the fun part!!  I used a new Anti-static tool I had just received on my cardstock.  I then put down the outline of the flower and the leaf and stamped it using embossing ink (Versamark is what I used).  I added my Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe Foil Reactive Embossing Powder), tapped off the excess and used a small brush to try and clean off any stray bits.  I used a purple foil sheet I had in my stash and ran it through my Minc machine twice to ensure it was adhering.

Well, you might be expecting magic, but when I pulled away the foil sheet, I was very disappointed.  I had dots of foil everywhere.  I guess I needed to check the image better.  I was using 2 new products (the anti-static tool and the Foil Reactive Embossing Powder).  

Luckily, I had a lot more area to work with on my watercolor paper, so I decided to try one more time.  This time, I used my Pink and Main Magic Anti-static Brush that I use regularly.  I did look a lot closer once the powder was on and only had a few stray pieces to get off.  The results, the second time were much better.  I had probably 3-4 stay dots of foil and I used a sharp edge to lightly scrape those off.

I did feel like the leaf needed a bit more green, so I used Catherine Pooler's Lime Rickey with water and watercolored in the open pieces on the leaf.  I then stamped the sentiment using Royal Treatment ink (sentiment is from Altenew's Blissful Bud stamp set).

I debated whether to mount this card on white cardstock, a dark purple, both colors or no background color.  I like the look of at least one layer for a more finished look.  After laying each down, I found I really liked the look of the dark purple as the card base.

Overall, I am pleased at how this turned out.  I think I can still perfect my techniques, but this does open a lot more possibilities in my foiling adventures.

I hope you enjoyed this explanation and will post as I work through the next set of classes.

Donna T.

Products used:

Altenew Build-A-Flower: Bearded Iris stamp set

  

Brutus Monroe Foil Reactive Embossing Powder  

  Pink and Main Magic Anti-static Brush

The Perfect Gift - Altenew October 2023 Inspiration Challenge

 I received this wonderful stamp, die, stencil and embossing folder set from Altenew as part of the Scrapbook and Cards Today Fall 2023 Crop and Create Delivered classes.  This set is called "Perfect Gift" and is wonderful and so versatile.  I love creating with it.

For today's card, I wanted to use the set for the Altenew October 2023 Inspiration Challenge.  This challenge provides an inspirational photo which can guide you for making a project.  In my case, I used the coral, red and orange tones on my card.

I first embossed the flower and frame image using the embossing folder that is part of this kit.  I then took the stencil and added embossing ink to the frame, so that I could emboss the frame in a copper color (as my orange element).  I absolutely love copper, so this was an easy decision for me.  However, in my excitement, I forgot to use an antistatic powder and my first attempt had lots of dots of embossing powder where I did not want them.  So, I did a "Take 2" and did another frame.  But I did save the first one as explained next.

Next, I took the original embossed image and did the flower stencil on that flower.  It was perfectly fine and I used an array of coral and orange/red tones for the flower and 2 shades of green for the leaves.  I did not stamp the outline of this image, but the embossing gives it the texture and I like this look.  I then took the die cut and cut this image out.  Then I put it on foam tape and added it to my good embossed frame card panel.

For the sentiment, I stamped "Perfect gift" in embossing ink and used the same copper embossing powder on it.  I then used the set's die cut to cut out this.  However, this die cut is detailed and is not open.  So, I cut it in black card stock first and then used that outline to line up my stamped image so the die cut was done in the right place.  Foam tape was added to most of the sentiment, with glue added to the bottom letters that were overlapping the flower.

For the last steps, I stamped the words "you are the" using the darker ink from the flower.  I then used a corner rounder on the corners of my card panel and then put it on some card stock that matched my darker color in the flower.

I love this clean look and I think it highlights the beautiful colors that were an inspiration for this project.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time....keep on crafting.

Donna T.