Hello all! I'm back again today with another entry for the Altenew Educator Certification Program. This time the lesson focuses on masking and how to use it to elevate your cards and projects. The instructor shows several ways to mask an image in order to create depth and the illusion of a forefront and background of a one dimensional image.

For my project, I used the simple method of paper masking my main image which in this case is this flower from the Whispy Begonia set by Altenew. After I stamped the flower onto a piece of card stock, I stamped it once again onto a post-it note and cut it out as close to the line as possible. This makes certain that there will be no gap between the flower and the leaves that I will stamp over the mask.

After I placed the post-it note mask over the flower, I stamped three leaves on either side of the flower. I then removed the mask to reveal my image which now has depth and dimension as the leaves appear to be behind the flower itself.

I colored the image in with Copic Markers and used the Dodec Circle cover plate die to add interest to the white card front. I love using masking on my images to create a cohesive dimensional images without using dies. Thank you so much for stopping by today!

If you are interested in learning more about the Altenew Educator Certification Program CLICK HERE to view the requirements and to apply!

Hey everyone! I am thrilled to be over on the Birch Press Design blog for the first time today. Hop on over to check out my process for making this card using Pad to Paper ink blending for shadow dies. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BLOG POST

Check out my video for the process here:

Hello everyone! Today, I've got a new video featuring one of the stamp sets from the newest Catherine Pooler release for February 2019! This one is pretty cool because it comes in three different  sections and can be used together as a background stamp or separately as you see fit. Check out the video below for more ideas!

Be sure to hop along with the entire video hop and leave a comment at each stop for your chance to win $25 to the shop!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll see you again very soon!

Hello crafty people! Today I am finally (FINALLY) submitting my first card for the Altenew Educator Certification Program. I have been a part of the program for quite a while, however, the Holidays are always a crazy, demanding time and I had to put it on the back burner but when I had the opportunity to join Altenew at Creativation, I was able to meet Amber Davis who completed the program recently. She had only great things to say about the program and is even teaching her first class at the Altenew Academy soon. Success stories always get my butt in gear! So here I am.

The first stage of the program is named All About Layering. The class is taught by Nicole Picadura and she gives many tips and tricks to try when using layering stamps. She suggests stamping the first layer and then drawing small arrows (in pencil) pointing to the obvious sections that will line up with the second stamp and so on. 

One of my favorite stamp sets is Painted Flowers from Altenew. I love that they look hand painted but also have the layer of the very fine outline which I stamped here in black. I stamped the first layer of the florals in my lightest color ink and then drew some arrows to the sections that I knew should line up with the second layer. Doing this helped me visualize where the perimeters were and to be sure not to let me second layer stamp go outside of those parts. 

I then took some of the extra outline stamps and added them with black ink around the card front to add some detail. For my sentiment, I used the Label Love stamp set also from Altenew and stamped the "Thanks A Bunch" sentiment in a burnt orange color ink to coordinate with some of the florals on the card. I adhered the card front to an A2 sized card base and added a few orange confetti sequins around the sentiment strip. 

I hope that you've enjoyed learning about how I created this card and the tips I learned so far from the Altenew Educator Certification Program. If you're interested in the program yourself, you can check out the requirement and apply here!

Supplies Used

Altenew Painted Flowers Stamp Set

Altenew Label Love Stamp Set

Happy February, crafters! It's time for the newest Spellbinders Small Die of the Month kit and this one is a good one! The versatility of this die is like no other. Here's a video showing this card I created and 3 additional ways to use the die.

Another way to use the die that I touch on briefly in the video is the way the die is actually intended to be used. Now, this took a while of my staring at the die and wondering what the emboss line in the center of the bottom portion was for. Sometimes things come to be slowly! Here's how I used the die as a lace-y overlay for a card front.

You can see how incredible the detailing is on this die. The butterfly wings actually pop up and give dimension to the die as well, which I put to good use in my first card. Here's a better angle at that.

I hope that you have enjoyed learning a little bit about how I created with the small die kit for this month. I can't wait to see what you come up with! Don't forget to #NeverStopCreating and #SpellbindersClubKits when posting on Instagram so we can all see the awesome-ness that you come up with!

I'll see you very soon!

Hello all! I'm finally digging into my goody bag from the Simon Says Stamp event that I went to at Creativation. I had such a great time meeting new people and old friends that I'd never met in person. It really was such an incredible experience and I'm so grateful I was able to attend.

At the SSS event, they gave out goody bags packed with stuff and now that I'm home and have finally gotten all things put away, I'm able to play! Obviously, I made a beeline to the Beautiful Flowers 2 set. This set is well named; these flowers are seriously beautiful. The detail in the images are so that if you didn't feel like coloring them in, a simple stamp with a bright bold color would suffice just fine.

I decided to do a little bit of both. I stamped the background images all over my card stock (cut to 3 1/2"  x  5") in Twilight ink by Catherine Pooler. This is is such a soft gray that it doesn't take away from the main image which I love. As a focal point, I used one of the single flowers in the set and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder onto a separate piece of card stock. I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and a water brush to bring some vibrancy to the card and then fussy cut it out so that I could adhere it to my card front with foam tape. 

Before I adhered the flower, I stamped my sentiment right onto my card front. I used the word "Thanks" from the Beautiful Flowers stamp set and the sentiment "you make life beautiful" from another SSS stamp set. I stamped both in Versafine Onyx Black ink and used my MISTI so that I could samp it twice to be sure it was bold and legible. Finally, I adhered my card to the lower right corner of my card front and allowed the petals to hang off the edge of the card stock as well as over the sentiment a bit. I loved the dimension this gave the card. To add bit more gold to the card, I used a gold metallic piece of card stock as a matted background to my card front and adhered it all to an A2 sized card base and added a few iridescent gems for sparkle.

I hope that you've enjoyed learning a bit about how I created this card. This has quickly become one of my favorite stamp sets that I'm sure I will use continuously. I'll see you again very soon!

Supplies Used:

Simon Says Stamp - Beautiful Flowers 2 

Catherine Pooler Ink in Twilight

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Gold Metallic Card Stock