AECP Challenge Tutorial: Card Making Challenge Part 2 (How-Tos & Techniques)

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A challenge I completed 1/3 of the way through my AECP course involved making ten cards and the boxes packaging the two sets (I present an overview of the sets in the previous post). This post will list supplies needed for these cards and packaging. I will also highlight key parts of the assembly.  And, finally, I will do a how-to on one pair of men's and women's card. 

Here, I am showing both sets packaged in their own boxes. Then follows a photo of the women's set and then a photo of the men's set follows.

Altenew's white cardstock, glue tape, Honeycomb Haven Craft Your Life set,  and Summer Afternoon fresh dye mini ink set were used on all cards.

Other products used in different cards:
As far as process goes, I found it easier to think about two designs at a time. I thought of a unifying concept (a certain sentiment or feature) and then tried to make a men's version and a women's version. (Note: I express my views about using  binary gender concepts as a design aesthetic in the previous post. For simplicity sake though, I will refer to the sets as men's and women's.)

I chose inking techniques, die cutting and bling as my main components for this project. I like experimenting with inks as I am a painter. My tip for creating colors with depth is to use several inks close in color and in the same color family. 


Many of my embellishments come from clearance barrels at craft and stores. Oh, how I lament the closing of A.C. Moores stores! They were wonderful in this regard. But these kind of large projects invite creativity. Don't be afraid to dig into your stash of embellishments. Almost every budding craftsperson has glitter and glue. That will do.

As I began imagining two different cards at a time, I found it helpful to work from big to smaller. By that, I mean I began thinking conceptually of the characteristics of the two sets and worked down into details from there. I decided the focus of the men's set would the honey pot; and the focus for the women's set was the leaves and flowers. That is easily observed in the two photos of the men and women's set above.

I am choosing my pair of "Don't Worry,  Bee happy" cards for the how-to. I really enjoyed creating the women's version in this pair. I felt I was truly designing this card myself and not just relying on photos of compositions from the packaging or tutorials. My confidence as a card maker is growing.

This pair used unique inking techniques and die cuttings as well as items I fussy-cut (by hand). And the shine or rather, the bling element, in both cards came from the borders framing the compositions. I found an iridescent orange-gold paper that I used to frame the women's card. The changing colors of the iridescent color invites movement of the card in your hand.  Playful. I chose a thick, plain gold border for the men's card. I think the unadorned, thick, metallic gold border lends itself to a "masculine" aesthetic.

I decided both cards would, aside from the same sentiment, prominently display the whole honey jar. However, I can not say the honey jar is the focus on both cards. On the women's card, the cut out flora, 
with it's elegant floating lines resting on top of the honey jar and even meandering into the border draws your eye all over the image. The interesting inking of the flora also make it stand out visually. 

Throughout this project, I used several different inking techniques. I used colored paper, stamped single colors, layered stenciled colors, alcohol markers and for her card, I sprayed different colors of inks to create one mixed color. In my previous post, I describe the texture as velvety.
You can see how different inking techniques change a look in the next two photos. The detail in the women's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" card shows the speckled look to the sprayed ink. It creates more of a textured feel than even the layered stamping shown in the other detail from another card (women's "We Bee-lieve in You" card).

If you want to play with spraying inks, I have another tip for you. No matter how careful you are, no matter if you lay down lots of paper around your project, you will get mists of ink on many surfaces. It might not be that apparent at first, but you will see it when you clean up.

One solution is to use a large cardboard box with one side and a third of the top cut-out.  Use that as a spray box. It really helps cut down mists of color everywhere. Here is a photo of mine. Opps, lots of shimmery purple left over from Halloween cards!
Another major difference between my two "Don't Worry, Bee Happy" cards are the backgrounds. In the men's version, I am visually captivated by the embossed bee hive background. What I love about looking at handmade cards (or looking at works of art for that matter) are the fascinating details you get with deep viewing. What I mean by deep viewing is simply looking beyond the quick once over. You find happy surprises in the details.

One last tip before I write the technical how-to. If you think you may want to create images with cut-out details. I suggest you get different types of adhesive for different purposes. The Altenew glue tape is a staple of mine. It is great for glueing down larger cut-outs. But get yourself a glue dispenser with needle nose applicator  for small cut outs like the trailing leaves in my women's card. Another option are glue pens that give you control in placing tiny dots of glue on the smallest bits and pieces.

OK, enough of my musings. Down to the nitty gritty. Here are the instructions for these two cards.

Women's "Don't Worry, Bee Happy" card supplies
  1. Prepare an A2 folded card from your white card stock.
  2. Cut a 4.25X5.5 piece of the iridescent gold paper and glue it to the front of the card.
  3. Cut a 3.75"X5" piece of white card stock.
  4. Using your Honeycomb Haven layered stamp set, stamp the honey jar. (I definitely rely on my Stampwheel to stamp layers. This kind of stamping tool is an investment but if you see stamping in your ongoing crafting repertoire, it is well worth the investment.)
  5. Center and glue the white card stock with the honey jar onto the front of the card.
  6. Cut out the dies in the Honeycomb Haven kit. Use white card stock.
  7. Spray layers of colors onto your cut out leaves and flowers with the spray inks and let dry.
  8. Glue the cut-outs onto your card front. Allow the cut-outs to float over the honey jar and into the border for a more 3 dimensional look.
  9. Finally, stamp the sentiment in permanent black.
Men's "Don't Worry, Bee Happy" card supplies
  1. Prepare an A2 folded card from your white card stock.
  2. Emboss the front of your card using the embossing folder from the Honeycomb Haven kit.
  3. Cut the die set from the Illuminated Scenes kit. You will be using the metallic gold card stock.
  4. Glue the largest frame/border cut out to the front of your card.
  5. Use the layering stamps from the Honeycomb Haven set to stamp the honey pot and honey dipper.
  6. Cut out the honeypot and honey dipper with scissors.
  7. Glue the honey pot and dipper to the front of the card. Design their placement in your head before gluing. Overlapping part of the dipper with the jar makes it more 3 dimensional.
  8. Stamp the "Don't Worry, Bee Happy" sentiment in permanent black ink.
  9. Cut out a pieces of gold card stock that you can glue the sentiment to so as to make it a border around the sentiment.
  10. Glue the framed sentiment to the front of the card.
So, there you have it. Two cards, similar in concept, but executed very differently for different effects. 

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