Facebook Freebie!

 Good afternoon! we have had storms and rain for the last few days, in all honesty it was needed!

The digital image Facebook group Digi Mojo is having a special even this weekend - Digi Mojo Midsummer's Mushroom Hunt is happening all weekend with lots of games and freebies. The theme is mythical creatures - Stamper's Delights are taking part and have a really cute image - Chibi Fawn:

I colored the image with alcohol markers and fussy cut him with my Scan N Cut. I also cut a mat for him to sit on.

I decided I wanted to make this card into an easel, I a 7x7in card for my base, folding the top down the center giving me the fold of the easel.

I matted a piece of white cardstock with brown and green cardstock and added this as my easel front. I did the same with the inside of my card base.

The front panel was added to the front of the card base, just adhering it to the folded part. This allowed my card to stand. I added my image and hid him amongst some leaves and flowers.

Standing my easel up I decided where I wanted my stopper, the included sentiment was used for this.

Finally I added some stamping to the edge of the inside and a lady bug to the sentiment to tie in the design

To get this adorable freebie you will need the code that will be available exclusively on the Digi Mojo Facebook group. The event is running all weekend and has lots of sponsors joining in:

So come and join us!!

Thank you for stopping by I hope you enjoy the freebie and the rest of the event!!!

Altenew Educators Certification Program - Polychromatic

 Good afternoon from a very rainy Michigan, storms and a ton of rain are the norm for the next week, we needed the rain but probably not as much as is forecast!

Welcome to my next submission for my AECP, the class this time was Polychromatic taught  by Nina- Marie Trapani and is all about color and color combos. I chose to cover 2 of the lessons for my submission. pastel shades with no line and monochromatic. 

My first card uses pastel colors with no line coloring. The no line is a technique I struggle with, I have tried a number of different light inks to stamp with but never got the desired look. This class teaches using an ink color that matches the coloring medium you have chosen and I found it worked for me!

I chose to use Cotton Candy and Lavender fields inks for my Indian lotus flowers, I stamped the outline only and then colored them with pastel shades of alcohol markers before using the coordinating dies to cut them out. I struggled to color the leaves using the same technique so I stamped 2 layers of these over my card base using 2 shades of green. This gave me the same look as my flowers.

When constructing my card I felt the flowers were overshadowed by the leaves so I added a white die cut corner to break up the background.

I heat embossed my sentiment onto vellum and added this across my card before added my flowers arranged on foam tape.

Finally I colored the underside some clear drops with coordinating markers and added these in a random pattern on my card

My next card used Nina- Marie's monochromatic technique, I have to say at the time this was my least favorite technique, which is why I chose to use it but I love how my card turned out.

I started with a piece of yellow cardstock and using a stamp from Persian Motifs stamped randomly across the card in an ink that was just darker than the card which gave me a tone on tone effect. Using a darker alcohol marker I then colored some sections on the flowers blending this out with a lighter marker. It almost give a watermark effect but with shading!

I cut the yellow card down to 4.25x3.5in so it fit across the bottom of an A2 card base. Using the Hello die I cut into the top of the yellow card giving me a recess to add the gold die cut of the same word. I adhered the yellow card to my base and fixed the gold hello in to place. I had kept the 'waste' from the yellow card hello cut and glued the small pieces into place around the gold card.

Keeping the rest of the card simple I just added a few gold sequins.

Thank you for stopping by, I will be back with my next class very soon!

Altenew products I used:

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Coverstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN	Warm Sunshine Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Build a Flower - Indian Lotus Stamp and Die Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Cotton Candy Purchase From: ALW
Crisp Dye Ink - Lavender Fields Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Frayed Leaf Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye ink - Limeade Purchase From: ALW	Embossing Ink Purchase From: ALW
Silver Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW	Persian Motifs Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Envelope Liner Die Set Purchase From: ALW

Altenew Educators Certification Program - Creative Watercolor Media

 Good afternoon, it's a bit cooler here this week thank goodness! We have a busy week, groomers and we are looking after another puppy over the weekend so are excited about that!

I'm here with my submissions for the next class for my AECP. The classes this time were all about watercoloring - but not with paint! Jen Rzasa, Debby Hughes and Laura Bassen used other media to paint with and I have some of them to share with you today.

My first card is using re-inkers - The refills for ink pads as paint:

I don't have many re-inkers for my Altenew inks but I do have for other brands so used these. I started by stamping the outline of the flower and leaves from the Peony Tree Build a Flower stamp set using versamark ink onto watercolor cardstock. I heat embossed this with clear powder which gives a resist on the paper.

 I then wet each flower with clean water and added the ink with a brush, just letting the ink flow with the water. This is known as wet into wet, it's not a technique I would usually do as I prefer to work clean and controlled. 

Once each flower was dry I repeated the step on the next embossed area, leaving it to dry in between stops the paints mixing together and becoming muddy. When all the flowers and leaves were colored and dry I trimmed the card panel down, removing any edges that were flooded with color.

For the rest of my design I die cut Thanks in black cardstock 4 times and stacked these on top of each other giving my a raised sentiment. I stamped the rest of my sentiment with Versafine ink and heat embossed this with clear embossing powder.

My stamped card was added to a black A2 card base and my sentiments arranged in landscape. Finally a few Nuvo jewel drops finished my design.

My next 2 cards were made using my Altenew Ink pads as watercolor paint. This was done by smooshing the ink onto my glass mat and picking it up with a paint brush to color the images:

I love anemones, they are bright happy flowers.

I started by stamping my image onto an A2 piece of hot press watercolor card, This is my preferred card to stamp on as it is smooth.

I then painted the image with a number of different color inks when painting flowers it's best to paint alternate petals, painting petals next to each other can lead to the paint bleeding together and you don't get the shading in the flower. I used a black watercolor pen in the center of the flowers to give them the stark black that anemones have.

While I let my image dry I adhered silver Washi tape down the edge of a white A2 card base. This was to give the card more interest. 

I trimmed my water colored image down to 4in wide so that the Washi tape showed when I added it to my card base.

Using Silver embossing powder I heat embossed the sentiment onto black cardstock and added this to the bottom right of my card. Finally I added some silver crystal gems to tie the design together.

I made my last card was just for fun - I couldn't resist painting the Moroccan Mosaic background stamp:

It was stamped on to hot press card again but I left the bottom edge clean.

I water colored each section, Once dry It was matted onto black card and an A2 card base. My sentiment was stamped with black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The giraffe was cut 4 times, each one stacked on top of each other to give me more dimension and added to my card overlapping the white area to break it up.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I will be back with my next class soon!

Altenew products I used:

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Coverstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN	Altenew Crystal Clear Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW	Shades of Purple Crisp Inks Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Build A Flower - Tree Peony Purchase From: ALW
Altenew Thanks Die Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Heartfelt Sentiments Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Fuchsia Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Warm Sunshine Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW
Altenew Persian Blue Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Fresh Leaf Ink Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Geometric Menagerie Stamp & Die Set Purchase From: ALW	Moroccan Mosiac Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW
Altenew Paint a Flower Anemone Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Magenta Ink Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Baby Pink Ink Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Forest Glades Ink Purchase From: ALW
Altenew Evergreen Ink Purchase From: ALW

Altenew Educators Program - With a Twist

 Good afternoon - Wow is it hot here, we have a red flag warning - high risk of fire as we have low humidity gusty wind and high temperatures - It's also not rained in a while!

My cards today are using techniques Therese Calvird taught in the Altenew Academy Class - With a Twist.

I love all the techniques she taught but have taken inspiration from 2 for my AECP class work. The first one is acetate with a twist, I love Therese's shaker so decided to do something similar but with a flower stamp set.

The Ranunculus stamp and die set are great for this technique as it is a gorgeous large flower! 

I started my card with an A2 card base and a piece of the same cardstock cut to the same size.

I lined up the die on the cardstock piece and ran this through my cutter. 

Before removing the die I lined up the card piece wit my card base and traced the inner edge of the die onto the front of my card base in pencil. removing the die from the cardstock,  I then lined the die up with the pencil markings, opened the card base and ran through my cutter leaving me with an aperture in my card front.

I did the same with a piece of white fun foam to use for the spacing of my shaker.

I traced the aperture onto the inside with pencil. This gave me a template of where to stamp my first flower layer. The remaining layers were stamped giving me the stunning flower so when I closed my card it showed through the aperture.

Next I built my shaker, I glued a piece of acetate to the outside of the card front and the back of the extra card panel. The foam was glued in place on the card front, making sure that the glue adhered the foam firmly around the aperture. I placed prills onto the acetate on my card base.

I stamped the sentiment on the outer of the extra panel and then adhered this to the top of my card base, encasing the prills between the 2 pieces of acetate.

Finally I added some Nuvo drops around my sentiment.

My second card inspiration was Therese" Cut oddly class, I used a die for my card cut out section:

I started with an A2 card base and cut the right corner away with the Soda Bottle die. I repeated this on a piece of A2 green card stock.

On the inside of my card I stamped the flower and colored with alcohol markers. 

I used 2 of the leaves from the same stamp set to do tone on tone stamping on my green card. This was then adhered to my card base. I stamped a sentiment with versamark ink and heat embossed this with white powder, trimmed it to size and added across my card front.

A few clear enamel dots were dotted around my flower to balance the card.

Thank you for taking time to stop by and I hope you enjoyed my post. 

On to the next class!

Items I used:

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Coverstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN	Copic Markers Purchase From: SSS | AZN	ZipDry Glue Purchase From: SSS | AZN	Translucent Enamel Dots Purchase From: SSS
Altenew Jet Black Ink Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Green Meadows Crisp Inks Purchase From: ALW	colored cardstock Purchase From: SSS	Altenew Sugar Plum Crisp Dye ink Oval Set Purchase From: ALW
Altenew Build-A-Flower Ranunculus Stamp & Die Set Purchase From: ALW	Acetate Dura-lar Sheets Purchase From: AZN	Plum Crazy Prills Purchase From: ACOT	Altenew Poppy Arrangement Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW
Altenew Soda Top Nesting Dies Purchase From: ALW	Altenew Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW	Versamark Ink Purchase From: SSS