Feminine and masculine card sets. Altenew Challenge Level 1.

Today I have a very special post, I completed my 10 AECP classes, and now I got a great challenge as a final test to approve level 1. It has been an awesome experience, allowing myself to create is a total gift.

Let´s get to it because I have loads to share. I made a video with all the process, including my creative process, the actual creation of the sets and the packaging.

 

The challenge consists in creating 2 card sets, a feminine set and a masculine set, with a cohesive theme. I needed to choose 3 elements from the classes taken during this level 1. It was a hard decision as I have many favourites… But I went with these three:

*Let it shine. It provides wonderful ideas to give that extra special touch to any card, adding shiny elements that take the projects to a higher level.

*Easy die cutting techniques. This class gave me a whole new way of taking advantage of my dies, and it´s very important when mass producing as it really speeds up the process, and also make the cards look more professional.

*Irresistible inking techniques. I enjoyed so much the different ways of incorporating inks other than stamping with it, it gives a lot of more potential to all those gorgeous ink colours. 

 

Creative Process

My mother, who is a PhD in Education, asked me about my creative process when I told her about the challenge. She was very curious to see and compare her creative process as an academic professional with a more relaxed and artistic process, so I thought it could be interesting for some of you to see how I did it.

-Before knowing all the details about the challenge:

·      I chose my favourite cards from the 10 classes during level 1.

·      I lay them on the table and stated (in my head) why I liked them, for example: the colour combination, the layout, the technique, etc. 

-After getting all the details of the challenge:

·      I wrote down all the requirements, I did it by hand as it helps me understand the idea better.

·      Then I made a list of common elements I wanted my cards to have, based on what I liked the most of my previous cards. I also considered that I needed to make many cards, they had to be special but not too time-consuming.

·      Then I made a little table where I put elements that were different to the sets, so I had the feminine on one side and the masculine on the other, so I could visualize the differences between the sets. 

·      Then I decided to make 6 cards per set. It sounds like a good number for a card set.

·      I created a little sketch for each card, I made 6 models, so I would make 2 cards of each design, one for the feminine set and another for the masculine one.

·      I had all this info in one piece of paper, and I used it all along, some ideas I used exactly as I wrote them and some I had to be a bit flexible and change.

·      This way of working kept me on track at all times, I had my guide to refer to at any point.

     Since making 12 cards counts as mass producing I created all elements for all cards step by step: first I made all the backgrounds, then stamped and heat embossed flowers, leaves and sentiments, then painted flowers and leaves, then assembled the cards 2 by 2, using my guide for the designs. This saves a lot of time and makes the elements more cohesive.

 

Creating the cards

Backgrounds

I created all the backgrounds at once. I cut around 16 pieces of watercolour paper, a bit bigger than A2 size. I sprayed both sides of the paper with water and inked a sleek surface with blue ink, then I picked some colour with a bush and started adding it to the panels.

I changed a bit the way I added the ink, sometimes using an acetate to smoosh the ink, sometimes more ink or more water. I just wanted to create different backgrounds with the same colours.

I let them air dry and placed them under a stack of books overnight to flatten them bit.

I wanted to add a shiny element to the backgrounds, so I heat embossed a few dots here and there, making it a bit distressed. I didn’t use a powder tool as I didn´t mind the embossing power sticking everywhere.

Later I decided to add some geometric element to the masculine set, so I stamped some lines with grey ink, I stamped them horizontally and vertically to create squares in the backgrounds.

Elements

Using my guide, I guessed how many flowers and leaves I would need, just to have an idea. 

I chose the set “Adore You” for my images, I love this set and I also have the dies which makes everything easier. 

Since I needed many flowers and leaves, I decided to leave the stamps in their original place, I took out all the sentiments. I prepared the surface with and antistatic power bag, inked the stamps with embossing ink and left them flat on the table, then I brought the paper on top of the stamps, rubbed it really well with my fingers but making sure it didn´t shift and lifted it carefully. Then sprinkled some embossing power and heat set it.

I repeated the process a couple of times and then changed colours to make enough elements for both sets. I also made a few more with only leaves for the masculine set.

For the sentiments I used “Painted Butterflies” and “Adore you” stamp sets. I used a stamp positioner this time, I like to stamp it 2 or 3 times to make sure all letters are properly stamped, without squashing them. 

I lined all the sentiments so I would get many at once. 

I used black cardstock and white embossing powder, always preparing the surface with the antistatic bag, and cleaning up the area with a dry brush to make sure there is no stray powder.

 

Painting flowers and leaves

I used a similar technique to paint the flowers and leaves as I did for the backgrounds. I wanted a distressed-watercolour look. So I wet the elements using a clean brush, then added a light colour to the whole image going outside of the line, then I picked a darker shade of the same colour and added a few touches here and there and let the ink flow on its own, this technique allowed me to paint everything really fast and I love the organic look it gives. I let everything airdry.

Cutting

I die cut all the flowers and leaves using my die cutting machine and I placed them in mugs, one for the feminine and another for the masculine to keep them organized.

I also cut the sentiment strips and trimmed the backgrounds to an A2 size.

 

Assembling

After creating my card bases, I distributed the elements and sentiments among the 12 cards, to make sure I had enough of the elements and balanced among the 6 models. 

I worked on pairs of cards following my sketches. So, I had models 1 to 6, depending on the design I wanted a darker or lighter background, I wrote the number of the model behind each background to identify them. There are 3 background that needed some die cutting.

This is the general process for each pair of cards.

·      Place elements according the model I was working on, move things around and arrange them in a way I like them. Do it for the feminine one and the masculine one.

·      Add dimension to elements using fun foam, I use all my scraps.

·      Glue all elements. Including the sentiment.

·      Work on the next pair. 

·      When they were ready, I added a couple of sequins to some of the feminine cards.

Model 1

 

Model 2 

Model 3

Model 4

Model 5

Model 6

Feminine card set

Masculine card set

Packaging

I used recycled elements to make my boxes. For the cardboard part I used the backing of cardstock packaging, the ones that come in a spiral book. And for the plastic cover I used a box of some make up brushes (for crafting of course!).

I drew a sketch for the bottom part of the box, a rectangle with flaps, cut it out and glue the corners. For the top, the piece was the perfect size, cutting it in half gave me the right size for each box. I decorated this plastic clear cover with some leftovers from the backgrounds. And to attach the top and bottom of the boxes I used a string, so I wouldn’t have to deal with gluing plastic to the cardboard, and it gives a nice touch.

I left the cardboard its natural colour, I think it goes well with the cards.

 

I hope you like them and that I gave you some ideas, or at least I make you wanna go create something. Have a wonderful day!

Espero que te hayan gustado y que te haya dado algunas ideas, o al menos te haga querer ir a crear algo. ¡Qué tengas día genial!

Clean and simple boutique cards

Hello everybody!

Today I bring another card I made to keep working with my certification with Altenew, AECP. They offer many classes at their website which are really nice, I have taken a few classes over last few years but now I decided to go with the full certification. They offer a few free classes if you would like to know how they are and see for yourself if this is something for you.

¡Hola a todos!

Hoy traigo otra tarjeta que hice para seguir trabajando en mi certificación con Altenew, AECP. Ellos ofrecen muchas clases en su página web y son realmente agradables, he ido tomando algunas clases en los últimos años, pero ahora decidí ir por la certificación completa. Ofrecen algunas clases gratuitas si te interesa saber cómo son y ver si es algo para ti.

On this opportunity I’m working with a class called Clean & Simple Boutique Cards, it’s guided by Jennifer Rzasa and I really like her classes, because she explains everything really detailed and with a calm way that makes me feel very confident when trying her ideas.

After working with several ideas that she gave during the class I decided to go with this one that uses repeated stamps on the card to make my own background, the focal point of this card is the background itself.

En esta oportunidad, estoy trabajando con una clase llamada Clean & Simple Boutique Cards, está dirigida por Jennifer Rzasa y realmente me gustan sus clases, porque ella explica todo muy detallado y con una forma tranquila que me hace sentir muy segura a la hora de probar sus ideas.

Después de trabajar con varias ideas que ella dio durante la clase, decidí optar por esta que usa imágenes repetidas en la tarjeta para crear mi propio fondo, el punto focal de esta tarjeta es el fondo en sí.

I decided to use the painted butterflies stamps set for this card. I got one of the silhouette stamps and stamp it several times on my background using grey ink, I wanted a subtle background, so that’s why I didn’t use black ink. I used a pencil to make some lines to guide me when I was stamping the butterflies and erased the lines when the ink was completely dry.

Decidí usar los sellos del set Painted Butterflies para esta tarjeta. Con uno de los sellos de silueta estampé varias veces en mi fondo con tinta gris, quería un fondo sutil, por eso no usé tinta negra. Utilicé un lápiz para hacer algunas líneas que me guiaran cuando iba sellando las mariposas y borré las líneas cuando la tinta estaba completamente seca.

Then I did some water colouring with Altenew inks. I did a very loose colouring; some butterflies have light pink and a little bit darker pink. I also coloured another butterfly with the darker pink and cut it out to use as an accent next to my sentiment, I’ve stamped this butterfly with black ink because I wanted it to stand out more.

Luego pinté un poco con tintas Altenew como si fueran acuarelas. Las pinté de manera muy holgada; Algunas mariposas tienen un rosa claro y otras un rosa un poco más oscuro. También pinté otra mariposa con el rosa más oscuro y la corté para usarla como un adorno al lado de mi mensaje. Esta mariposa la sellé con tinta negra porque quería que resaltara más.

For the sentiment I used ¨just saying hello¨ from the same stamp set. I cut it into a strip and added a black and white patterned paper strip underneath, but I wanted it to stand out a bit more from the background, so I watercoloured another strip of paper with the same pink ink so it will match the card. And finally, I foam mounted the sentiment and the butterfly to give it some dimension.

El mensaje, que lo saqué del mismo set de sellos, lo sellé con tinta negra. Lo corté en una tira y agregué un papel estampado en blanco y negro debajo, pero quería que sobresaliera un poco más del fondo, así que pinté tipo acuarela otra tira de papel con la misma tinta rosa para que todo combinara. Y finalmente, pegué el mensaje y la mariposa con un poco de goma eva por debajo para darles algo de dimensión.

I tend to work on more than one card when I sit down to create, so in this case I decided to do the same stamping on an off-white panel. I did the same steps but changing to orange.

Tiendo a trabajar en más de una tarjeta cuando me siento a crear, así que en este caso decidí hacer el mismo estampado en un panel color crema. Hice los mismos pasos pero cambié a color naranja.

I hope you like it and that I gave you some ideas, or at least I make you wanna go create something. Have a wonderful day!

Espero que te haya gustado y que te haya dado algunas ideas, o al menos te haga querer ir a crear algo. ¡Qué tengas día genial!

Love cards with Craftyscrappers

Hi there!
Today I'll share all the cards I made for the month of February for Craftyscrappers.
The digital stamp set is really cute, with critters love!!! So cute!
¡Hola!
Hoy compartiré todas las tarjetas que hice para el mes de febrero para Craftyscrappers.
¡El set de sellos digitales es realmente lindo, con amor de animalitos! ¡Muy lindo!

These images forced me to create a bit out of my confort zone, so I'm really happy with the results.
Estas imágenes me obligaron a crear un poco fuera de mi zona de confort, así que estoy muy contenta con los resultados.

I had fun looking for different colors combinations, using watercolors and alcohol markers, and trying to come up with different designs. I'm not very experienced using digital sets, I think this has been a great creative exercise for my brain.
Me divertí buscando diferentes combinaciones de colores, usando acuarelas y marcadores de alcohol, y tratando de crear diferentes diseños. No tengo mucha experiencia en el uso de sets digitales, creo que ha sido un gran ejercicio creativo para mi cerebro.

I hope you like them and you felt all the looooove.
Espero que te gusten y que se sienta todo el amoooor de las tarjetas.

Craftyscrappers design team member

Hello everyone!

Last year I applied to be a design member at Craftyscrappers. At the beginning of 2020 they replied saying I was accepted on the team. It made me really happy!!

I’ll be part of the team for 6 months, starting on February.

Each month I’ll be sharing projects with a digital stamp set.

¡Hola a todos!

El año pasado mandé una aplicación para ser miembro del equipo de diseño en Craftyscrappers. A principios de 2020 me respondieron diciendo que me habían aceptado en el equipo. ¡Qué emoción!

Seré parte del equipo durante 6 meses, comenzando en febrero.

Cada mes compartiré proyectos con sets de sellos digitales.

February’s projects are all about love, the stamp set is called Love Struck and it brings beautiful animals kissing and gorgeous sentiments.

Los proyectos de febrero tienen que ver con el amor, el set de sellos se llama Love Struck y trae lindos animales dándose un beso y hermosos mensajes.

So here is the first card I made. It was a bit of a challenge for me as I’m not used to digital stamps, the great thing is I can resize any image to whatever I want.

So I printed many images in different sizes to practice coloring with different media.

For this project I colored the pandas with watercolor pencils, sometimes I color straight on the paper and then apply some water with a water brush and sometimes I pick up some color from the tip of the pencil using the brush. Then I fuzzy cut the images.

I added some clear glitter paste on the heart and adhered the pandas with some fun foam behind them for dimension.

Así que aquí muestro la primera tarjeta que hice. Fue un desafío para mí, ya que no estoy acostumbrada a los sellos digitales, lo bueno es que puedo cambiar el tamaño de cualquier imagen a lo que quiera. Así que imprimí muchas imágenes en diferentes tamaños para practicar colorear con diferentes medios.

Para este proyecto, coloreé los pandas con lápices de acuarela, a veces coloreo directamente sobre el papel y luego aplico un poco de agua con un pincel de agua y a veces tomo un poco de color de la punta del lápiz con el pincel. Luego corté las imágenes. Agregué un poco de pasta de brillo transparente en el corazón y pegué los pandas con un poco de ego eva detrás para darles dimensión.

I hope you like them and that I have given you some inspiration or ideas.

Have a wonderful day!

Espero que te hayan gustado y que te haya dado alguna inspiración o idea.

¡Que tengas un día maravilloso!

Happy Hello, Dani´s card

This is the card my daughter made a while ago, at the time I only uploaded the video where she shows how she made the card, so here I show you some more shots of her beautiful card. You can see the original post with the video HERE.
Esta es la tarjeta que hizo mi hija hace un tiempo, en ese momento solo subí el video donde nos explicaba cómo la hizo, así que aquí muestro unas fotos de su linda tarjeta. Puedes ver el post original con el video AQUÍ.

I love how she learned the technique and made it her own, like she always new how to do it.
Me encanta como aprendió la técnica y la hizo suya, como si siempre hubiera sabido hacerlo.

Have a wonderful day ;)
Que tengas un día maravilloso ;)