Altenew Educator Final Certification

Hello everyone!  I am here today with my last post for my Altenew Educator Certification Program.  Because this was a class that I held at my home, this is a very photo heavy post!  If you want to watch the video of my class, You'll have to watch it on my Facebook Live HERE. Class actually starts at 13:41 if you want to skip the chit-chat.

Virginia Lu and Nicole Picadura joined our Facebook live so they could observe me in a class environment.  Nicole is the Operations Manager for Altenew and Virginia is in charge of the Altenew Educator Certification Program.

For my final assignment, I held a class at my home for 6 friends - new friends and longtime friends.  All but one of the ladies who is a neighbor in our new subdivision, my friends traveled anywhere from 45 miles to as many as 78 miles to be here!  Since we moved back to Texas this year, I don't know a lot of people in our new town but some of my longtime friends, (Jenica, Gloria, and Diane), drove a long way to see me and join me for the class.  I treasure these ladies and could never express in words how much it meant to me that they were here and came to support me.  I also got the chance to meet a fellow card maker, Carol Hintermeier, and get to meet her in person.  Carol is also doing the AECP so it was a chance for her to observe and see what it was like to hold a class when she gets to the final stage of her program.  We know each other from working in the same industry and we follow each other on Instagram so it was awesome to get to meet in person.  Gloria brought her friend Paula and although Gloria talks about Paula, we hadn't ever met before so it was great to put a face with the name.  Paula is pretty crafty and she was a natural for this class.  While I have met Trisha because we live in the same subdivision, we hadn't gotten to speak more than a few minutes for a few times.  Everyone has been busy moving and unpacking.  It was nice to get to know her a little more.

In order to prepare for the class, I did quite a bit of work ahead of time to make things go smoother for the actual class.  I prepared a simple outline to follow along to try to keep from rambling and the class taking too long.  We finished in about an hour and a half so that was great!

My outline consisted of a little bit about how the company got started in 2014 and then moved on to the basic products that we would be using for the class.  I talked about the beautiful layering stamps that Altenew has, their inks and some basic supplies that are needed if you want to make cards.  I kept the outline to one sheet of paper so I would be able to tuck it into my student packets so they could refer back to it later.

I also created three sample cards to show them what we would be making.  I die cut all of the elements for them and set up my MISTI's using the negatives as a place holder for the actual stamping.  I wanted my participants to be able to see how easy it is to stamp multi-layered images in this way and also be able to see how to mass produce several cards with the same design.

This was by far the best way to do this.  And it meant that I only had to change the stamp once for each MISTI.  Right now, I have the Original and the Mini MISTI, so I used the larger MISTI for the blooms and the Mini MISTI for the leaves.

In the student packets, I included a picture of the sample card and a small copy of the layering guide, a half sheet that showed a picture of the card we would be making with simple, step by step instructions, and a small copy of the stamp set image that we would be using.  I stamped all of the sentiment strips in advance and included one in each packet.  

Here you can see the contents of the packets which included a card base, an envelope, the layering guide, the image of the stamp set we would be using, the die cut pieces we would be stamping, and the sentiment strip all ready to go for them.

We talked quite a bit about the MISTI and how it changed the stamping world.  Carol and I both commented that we really didn't care for stamping until the MISTI hit the market and how we would never go back to stamping without one for the multi-layered images or really, any stamping.  I used to make cards using die cuts only so the MISTI changed my cardmaking skills dramatically!  Jenica actually gave me all of her old stamping stuff and I inherited her Stamp-a-majig.  What a pain that thing was!  The MISTI is superior to that in every imaginable way!

Trisha, Diane, Me, Jenica, Carol, and Paula.  Gloria was behind the lens! 

Jenica, Paula, & Carol

We were able to get down to the stamping pretty quickly after that.  I talked about ink pad sizes and why I have a preference for ink cubes over regular sized ink pads, but how both options were available.  I can't count the number of times I've dropped a full-sized ink pad on my nearly finished project!  Because I have MS, it affects my balance and coordination so I stick with the ink cubes rather than the full sized pads.  Plus, as a bonus, I can have more colors that way!  You definitely need to have the reinkers if you use the ink cubes and stamp as much as I do. 

Diane

Trisha

The ladies all loved the whole concept of and the actual process of stamping using the MISTI! Carol and I agreed that it was the thing that converted us to stamping - that ability to line things up and have them crisp, clean images. It can be really frustrating trying to use an acrylic block for layering stamps and once you use a MISTI, you just get used to using it for everything.

Seriously, how did we survive before the invention of that?  I know that until I got one,  I wasted a lot of premium cardstock.  There was also really no way to mass produce cards in an easy way and it was too frustrating to try.

Carol

Once all the stamping was done, I had the ladies arrange their card front how they wanted.  Each person has their own spin on things and I wanted them to do it how they wanted it; it didn't have to be like mine.  I forgot to get a picture of Gloria's and Paula's Cards when they were finished, but they do show them during the LIVE class toward the end.  

Jenica's Card

Trisha's Card

Diane's Card

Carol's Card

Paula's and Gloria's cards were probably the most unusual because they added distressing to their sentiment strips and Gloria did a Horizontal rather than a Vertical orientation card.  

As far as my thoughts on the class, I feel I was very well prepared.  I gave them enough information about Altenew to interest them, but not so much as to overwhelm them.  I kept anything I thought might be needed nearby for quick and easy access (tweezers).  The one thing I would change would be to go back and wear quieter shoes.  My boots made a lot of racket on the hardwood floors but hopefully, no one besides me noticed that.  I would have liked to have everyone at the same table, but that just wasn't possible.  

Now, I just have to wait for feedback from Altenew and then I will be a fully certified Altenew Educator.  Wish me luck!  

Altenew Educator - In The Mood For Color

Today's post is for the Altenew Educator Certification Program Class "In The Mood For Color" and was about the kind of emotions associated with certain colors.  You can use this as a tool to aid in your card designs.

Blue – Calm, Tranquility; Red – Love, Passion, Energy; Green – Soothing, Growth, Natural; Yellow – Energy, Cheer, Optimism; Pink – Sensitive, Caring, Sweet; Orange – Health, Happiness, Courage; and let's not forget Rainbow – Happy, Cheer, Optimism, Courage, Energy, Growth, etc….  Each day of class featured a specific color with a bonus class at the end for Rainbow.

I ended up making several cards today with a wide variety of supplies in a variety of colors as well.  I was trying to decide what type of card I wanted to make for my project as as I was looking through my stamps I saw that just to the left of me were my Wreath Builder Templates from Gina K Designs.  I then decided that would be a great way to come up with a monochromatic color scheme for a card.

I don't remember where I first heard it or read it, but I did remember hearing someone talk about how you could still use the templates to make an oval shape rather than a circle shape so I went to Gina's YouTube Channel to see what I could find.  It seems like Jennifer McGuire did something similar to this as well although for the first 2 months after our move, I had very limited Internet access, which meant I didn't get to watch too many videos because it would use up all my data.  I did find one where she shows the technique at this link from about a month ago.  I told you . . . I am way behind in my videos!  You don't realize how much you use the Internet until you have to limit what you can look at based on how much data it uses.

For my first card using the wreath builder I chose Altenew Crisp Ink in Blues which was day one of our Class.  I used Galactic Stream for the darkest blue, then Teal Cave, Aqualicious, and Ocean Waves.  I also used Ocean Wave for the Tri-dots.  I didn't have any Nuvo Drops in the right colors so I used Turquoise Stickles for the little Tri-dots and with the Ocean Waves underneath it really helps to add a little depth to the tone of the blue.  The longest image that I started with came from Altenew's Henna Elements Stamp Set.  The little 5 petaled flourish and the tri-dots also came from that set.  The sprig came from the Gina K Wreath Builder Set and the little star shaped flower came from the WPLUS9 Be Merry Florals. I love the way the images all came together at the bottom and made that kind of swirl for the start of my wreath. Once you start looking at what you have it is so easy to see other things you already have that you can use with the wreath builder.  I found so many different things to try and I have a stack of stamp sets still sitting on my desk to try with the Wreath Builder Templates.


Blue is a calming color and in large part that is why I chose a blue based grey for the paint color in my new home.  I have lots of blues throughout and plan to add some soft and mid toned teal in the future in things like pillows or throws, etc.

For my second card, I wanted to play with greens which is also a soothing or calming color.  Our painting is titled "Hawaiian Memories" in honor of a trip that Fayne and I took there way back in 1992. I actually won that trip through my job at the time.  It's got lots of sea blues with teal as well as gold and silver.  You know how I love my gold, but since the fixtures in my house are all Brushed Nickel, I thought we'd better tie that in as well.  You have no idea how hard it was for me not to put gold fixtures in the house but I feel like Brushed Nickel is more timeless.  Let me just say, this painting is very heavy and so large that it requires two of us to move it as well as barely fitting above our mantle.   We had planned to put it on another wall, but changed our minds when we tried it on the wall. 

Anyhow, I liked the first card so much that I decided to try a green version.  I used primarily Altenew Crisp Inks in Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades and Fresh Asparagus from Gina K Designs. Fresh Asparagus is my favorite fall and winter green. When I got it all put together, I liked it a lot and decided to add a holly leaf in each corner with Altenew Evergreen.  The tri-dots were stamped in Ruby Red and I put Christmas Red Stickles over the top of them.  I thought this might be a nice one to send after a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal with family or friends. 

The Sentiment I used for these cards is from the Papertrey 2016 Anniversary set that was only available for that year called Painted Petals.  ON the first card I used some Stampendous Sapphire Blue Embossing Powder and my usual Antique Gold on the 2nd card. I used a panel of Navy Blue Cardstock with a narrow strip of Silver Glitter Paper for the front of the card.  For the second card, I matted it in Antique Gold Vellum.

Then, while I had everything out, I decided to try a more fall or thanksgiving type of card with this technique using some fall themed stamps.  I usually make a few cards for one of my Sisters-In-Law that she sends to all of their Harvest Helpers when Harvest is finished each year.  So while this is only a prototype and there are things I would change (color wise), I like the basic design so I thought I'd still share it with you. 

I used a wheat stalk for the longest/tallest element of this wreath, the little sprig from the Original Wreath Builder Set, the acorns from a Papertrey Set, the leaf and the little flower are from the WPLUS9's Be Merry Florals and Autumn Leaves.  I put little gooseberry type things on the little branch-y sprig because that was all I could think of at the time.  I would definitely change up some of the colors to be deeper and brighter, but as I said, this was just for a prototype to get a feel for whether or not it would work.  Happily, it did.

Whenever I am doing a lot of stamping using multiple colors it seems that's always when I find out I don't have a reinker for some color or other.  It's practically a full time job just keeping track of those things.  I have three brands of ink that I use most of the time which is Gina K Designs, Altenew, and Papertrey Ink. I have quick access to the latter two right on my desk, so those were the colors I used for the Thanksgiving card.  I used Nuvo Drops in Bottle Green for the green berries on this card.  When I get to make more of these, I will actually look up which type of berries are out in the fall and stamp accordingly.  The town near where my Sister in Law lives is Hiawatha, Kansas and is known as the City of Beautiful Maples.  The have the most maples and they come in gorgeous reds and oranges so I would want to use more vibrant colors next time. 

I'm going to wrap up this post so I can move on to my next class which is called "With a Twist".  I hope you enjoyed my projects for this class and will think about trying one of your own.  It was a lot of fun to see how easily these wreaths came together.  Try finding small stamps in your collection to make wreaths with and you'll be surprised at how many you have or you can always buy the Wreather Builder Templates and so far there are three different Wreath Builder Stamps set made for this purpose.  You can check it all out at Gina K Designs here (Affiliate Link).  The templates are now offered separately.  Altenew Products are linked here (Affiliate Link).  Have a great rest of the day everyone! 

Altenew Educator - Level I Final Challenge

Hello everyone!  Today I am back with a more detailed tutorial of how I created today's card for my AECP Level I Class Final Project Assignment.  The three techniques I decided to use are Easy Die Cutting Techniques, All About Layering, and Let it Shine and although I'm pretty sure I had the Let it Shine part down pat already it is always great to see additional ideas and inspiration.

As you know if you're a regular visitor to my blog, I have been playing around a lot with alcohol inks and also regular Reinkers with 91% Rubbing Alcohol and Alcohol Blending Solution.  By this time I have many lovely backgrounds to use on cards and on most of them I have used my Minc to add foiling after they dry for that extra sparkle and shine that I love so much.  I had one that was particularly beautiful and large enough to make a 5 x 7 card, which I only do when making something for a special person or occasion such as a wedding or that type of thing.  This particular occasion is my daughter's 38th Birthday.

Sterling Silver Rose

Sterling Silver Rose

I started with a beautiful purple & rose alcohol inked blended background as my starting point for the flowers I wanted to put on it.  The Build-A-Flower Rose is an absolutely beautiful set that comes with dies and I love the finished product, but I needed more colors than I had in a single color family because there are 6 layers for the roses and 4 for the leaves, so I had to improvise.  Let it be said that a Misti or other stamp positioning tool is a must for this set.  I tried roses in several colors as I was initially planning to try to recreate Sterling Silver Roses which are a pale, kind of mauve-y purple and my daughter's favorite.  None of the colors seemed right and I even mixed in inks from other companies trying to achieve the look I was going for so I changed directions and went with a pink rose, which meant I also had to select a different background.  No problem, I had a favorite one in pink tones so I went ahead. 

I really wanted a more vibrant pink for my base color rather than Rose Quartz or Pink Diamond would have been for my pink roses, so I used Bubblegum Pink from Gina K Designs as my first layer on these roses.  The rest of the colors I used were all Altenew Crisp Ink colors from the Cherry Blossom and Rose Petals Mini Cube Collections.  Layer 2 was done in Pinkalicious, Layer 3 was done in Rubellite, Layer 4 in Razzleberry, and Layer 5 in Purple Wine.  This combination was exactly what I was looking for.  I did not stamp the 6th layer from this set.  It is very small and hard to see where it goes, so I didn't want to mess up all my work by putting it in the wrong place.

Now that I finally had the colors I was looking for I could stamp out the leaves in the Green Fields Collection of Crisp Inks Inks using Frayed Leaf for Layer 1, Forest Glades for Layer two and Evergreen for layers 3 and 4.  I stamped multiples of these so I could have some for the additional blooms I had stamped in an attempt to get a perfect match to the background.  I just tuck them into the stamp pocket for future use if I need to pull a card together quickly.

Now that I had all of my elements, it was time to decide what greeting to use and I also knew I wanted to use a frame for this card so I chose the Sweet Friend Stamp and Die Bundle which has a frame die with a coordinating stamp for it.  I took a piece of gold foiled cardstock and die cut the frame out of it.  I stamped the frame with the coordinating stamp using Versamark and Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Now this does get a bit tricky because the foil wants to curl up so I ended up double stamping it to make sure I didn't have any gaps in the design.  To do this, you have to use the negative pieces as a placeholder and add a dot of adhesive on the back of each piece to hold it in place while you stamp.

At this point, things went horribly wrong!  As soon as I tried to die cut the frame out of the background, I realized I had forgotten one important thing. You cannot die cut the 144 lb. Yupo with any type of intricate die.  If it isn't a basic shape like a square or rectangle, there is no way. Not in any die cut machine - not even the Gemini Die Cutting Machine. The 74 lb Yupo cuts beautifully, but not so much with the heavy weight.  All it did was stretch out and warp my Yupo leaving it unusable.  I decided I needed to walk away for a little while but I also realized I would have to try to recreate the background in those same shades using the lighter weight Yupo or Glossy Cardstock.

The thing about alcohol inks for me, is that it's more "playtime" than actual work time because you will never get two backgrounds that look the same. I don't keep track of the colors I use because even using the same colors you will still get different looks. It's kind of like watercolor in that you can't make duplicates.  I didn't have a clue what colors I had used to get the background, but I was willing to play around for a while.  I finally had to shred the other background so it wouldn't sit there taunting me, ha ha.  It did go through my shredder with no problem - but not my Gemini or Cuttlebug.  After about an hour I came back to create a new background in similar colors.  It's not nearly as lovely as the other one, but it's the closest I could get.  I also ran this through my Minc Machine to get some of the gold veins although most of them are covered up with the other elements of the card.

My card is 6.75 inches by 4.75 inches and will fit perfectly into a 5 x 7 envelope.  I don't have one the right color, but I can definitely make one using my Scor-Pal.   To get  a card this size that is vertical in orientation, I cut two panels of the plum cardstock  - one at 7.25 inches by 4.75 and the other at 6.75 by 4.75.  I scored the longer piece at the ½ inch mark and folding it over, creased it well which leaves a little flap.   Then I put a piece of 1/4 inch score tape on that flap, then and adhered the front to the back.  I was very careful when doing this but you can trim away any uneven edges if needed. I had to cut about ⅛ inch from the back to have the front just a tiny bit longer.  I learned this nifty little trick from Yana Smakula.

I used a frame die from Spellbinders (due to the larger size card) to die cut the frame which also cuts a center panel in a rectangular shape.  I added little dots of Multi Medium Matte all around the frame working quickly, then set it carefully into place on my plum cardbase.  I lined it up with the card base creating the frame all the way around.

Slightly sideways view so you can see the inside the card with
the white panel and the embossed detail on the interior frame.  

Then I die cut the center piece from the marbled and foiled lightweight Yupo cardstock.  You can cut a rectangle from the heavyweight Yupo, but nothing with any detail at all.  Using a piece of fun foam, I added the center panel with Score tape on both sides of the fun foam to keep it in place.  I used the white negative piece from the additional frame I had cut from white cardstock to heat emboss my sentiment which came from the Build-A-Flower Sakura Blossom.  I inlaid that into the frame and taped it together on the back side with a bit of micro pore tape.  I like using this in this type of situation because it's very flat and doesn't add bulk.  I also added the positive white frame to the heat embossed foiled frame to make it a little bit sturdier.  Then I laid the blooms, leaves and the framed sentiment on the cardbase until I had a design that was pleasing to my eye.  I really struggle to do arrangements that are not from left to right.  It's the obvious choice for those of us who read English because we read from left to right.  So I challenged myself to do one that started on the right and went to the left.

Once I had my design, I used a piece of Press N Seal over the top and rubbing it into place, then picked up all of the elements and flipped it over so I could put adhesive on the back side.  Then I flipped it over again and carefully set it into place, rotating as needed before actually putting it on there.  Because the Press 'N Seal is semi-transparent, it's a great way to see the the layout to make sure you have it lined up the same.  Once you lay it down, press everything into place walk away for a few moments to let it set.  When you come back, gently pull the Press 'N Seal away from itself.  The top pieces will probably be loose, but you can hold them in place as you are peeling the film back, then add foam tape or adhesive under them and put them in place.  Fold the used piece of Press 'N Seal in half and save it for the next time around.  I use the same piece over and over until it loses it tackiness.

Anytime I use a darker cardstock, I die cut a panel of white cardstock to put on the interior of the card for my message or in case I want to add a greeting there.
The 2nd to largest die in the Spellbinders 5 x 7 Matting Basics A set is perfect for the inside of the card.

Once I got this card finished and nearly completed this post, I decided it needed a special touch since it is for my daughter after all.  She loves shiny and sparkly things also. A quick layer of Tonic Nuvo Shimmer Pen and a few gems did the trick. In case I haven't mentioned it before, I love to use Flat Backed Swarovski Crystals in the colors Crystal and Aurora Borealis in the 12 and 16 millimeter sizes.  I watch for a sale and buy a few packages at a time.  I don't use them for every card and it takes so few to make a big impact on a card. For the smaller size, there are 50 in a package and for the larger size there are 40 in a package.  A small package goes a long way.  If you did big crystals, they would just be gaudy and ugly, but these small ones give you a whole lot of bang for your buck.

I am late getting this card done but she asked me to make something that I haven't completed yet and I want to give it all to her at the same time.  So I better skedaddle off and clean up the rest of my "Craftermath" so I can finish that project as well.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  I've linked the supplies I've used below for your convenience (Affiliate Links used).

Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder Shop at: ALT	Altenew Build-A-Flower Sakura Blossom Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Cherry Blossom Mini Cube Collection Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Mini Cube Collection Shop at: SSS | ALT
Altenew Green Fields Reinkers Shop at: ALT	Altenew Rose Petal Mini Cube Collection Shop at: ALT	Altenew Sweet Friend Bundle Shop at: SSS | ALT	Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS
Gemini Full Size Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Heidi Swap Minc Machine Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Marvy Jewel Picker Shop at: SSS
Mini MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | ALT | GKD	MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | ALT | GKD	Press 'N Seal Shop at: SSS	Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS
Scor-Pal Scoring Board Shop at: SSS	Scor-Tape 1/4th inch Shop at: PTI | SSS	Scotch 3M Foam Tape Shop at: SSS	Spellbinders Matting Basics 5 x 7 Set A Shop at: SSS | SPB
Spellbinders Renaissance Labels 52 Shop at: SPB	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Tonic Aqua Shimmer Pen Shop at: SSS
Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS