I don’t think I’m alone in the struggle to make cards for the fellas in my life – heck, it’s even hard to figure out what to give them!! So, I’m so thankful for the attention Altenew has given to those special people in our lives.
Today I’m sharing a few cards that I've made on my AECP (Altenew Educator Certification Program) journey after taking the For The Guys Online Cardmaking Class. Jennifer Rzasa presented several different ways to consider cards and I kept being drawn back to using geometrics. Well, that may be because it seems to be the mostly “non-floral” type of stamp that I have! I also appreciated tips about color. Fortunately I have a huge stash of color in a variety of mediums so it was pretty easy to pull out some less feminine colors.
For my first card, I’d been playing around a bit with Nuvo Embellishment Mousse (Aloe Vera, Coastal Surf, and Iced Aqua). I’ve had them stacked up but hadn’t really used them. When I was done, I didn’t want to leave the bits around on my craft mat (have I ever mentioned that I really hate to waste any of my supplies?) so I pulled out some watercolor paper, spritzed the leftover mousse with water, and mopped it up with the watercolor paper. I set that aside to dry and decided I had enough for 2 cards.
My favorite piece to start with was the more grungy bit, the wash of color is not overwhelming and there are even little bits of the mousse still present. As you get to know me better, you’ll find that I love the organic look and feel of things.
I decided to go with the Altenew Simple Shapes Stamp Set and use a light touch. The blue Altenew inks in Desert Night and Dusk really worked well with the blues in the background and, for some brightness, I added in some green inks from Catherine Pooler in Lime Rickey and Melon Ice. I decided to use the Altenew Birthday Greetings set for the simple sentiment and stamped that in Desert Night. To finish it off, I added dimension with craft foam on the back of the panel, found some lime green cardstock in my stash, and put it all on a top folding A2 card base. I can’t wait to send this one out to a special friend!
The second card is created using the rest of the “mopped up” background from earlier. This was a really quick card to put together.
I found some aqua cardstock in my stash and cut it out using the Altenew Reflections Die. I thought that really provided a bit of an underwater type effect and something great for guys. For the sentiment, I used the Altenew Many Thanks and the Mega Greetings stamp sets. I lined them up as I wanted in my Misti tool and stamped them using Versafine Clair ink in Warm Breeze and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I fussy cut around the full sentiment. To assemble the card, I glued the die cut on the watercolor panel and mounted that with craft foam to an A2 card base. Before adhering the sentiment, I put some Catherine Pooler Lime Rickey ink on my craft mat, added some water, and then flicked it all over to help with that water effect. Then I added the sentiment.
For the final card, I went back to the Altenew Simple Shapes Stamp Set and decided to use some kraft cardstock I had in my stash. Because of that I decided to stick with the browns and oranges you see here.
For the main panel, I used Distressed Oxides in Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen, and Spiced Marmalade. I really didn’t have a particular plan in placement of the shapes, I just wanted to have random placement of the full and outline shapes with the variety of color. When I finished that, I pulled out a piece of the kraft cardstock and the Altenew Halftone Squares Die set. I selected two squares and lined them up as I wanted, taping them together before running them through my Big Shot. I then went around the edge of the “diamond” with a Spectrum Noir Illustrator marker in Raw Sienna. For the sentiment, I used the Hello from the Altenew Rosie Posy Stamp Set. I stamped it on white cardstock with Versamark ink and embossed it using the Altenew Crisp Embossing Powder in Antique Gold. I am finding that I really enjoy the Altenew embossing powders – they are so rich and work so well! To put it all together, I glued the sentiment behind the square die cut, adhered that to the geometric panel, added craft foam to the back, place all of that on a bit of kraft cardstock, and finally glued it all to a top folding A2 cardbase.
I really had a lot of fun creating these cards and feel more confident in ideas “for the guys”. I hope this has given you some inspiration as well. Please let me know if you have any questions!!
The following is a list of the tools I used for these projects.
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