Drawing on vellum

I took a class with Marika Rahtu, in Altenew's Academy,  called Beautiful Details. Oh, how I loved her drawings on vellum and her pencil and marker shading. From the six lessons in her class, I made over 12 flowers until I felt I had one to two to use for these two cards. Part of the problem was that I was substituting some of her supplies and that made a difference. But part of the issue was my inexperience with working with vellum. That comes with time. And as I like to say, I have more time than money, so no worries. 

I was most happy with this wild western rose against a green frame. I ended up with several other roses drawn on vellum awaiting other projects. TIP: When I am setting out to make a card, I am now making several of the main design motifs so that after I finish one card, I have several design elements to use in other creative projects. It saves time to make several at the same time than only one design and card at a time. I save the extra design elements with the corresponding card making set which I keep in a flat storage bag. I guess this is only an aha! tip if you are really into card making, lol.

I have been missing in action for almost 2 months because I underwent a serious spinal crisis and had two cervical surgeries in March. I am recuperating with two neck braces and a walker but alas, I am only able to do my art or typing, etc., for half hour at a time. This is so frustrating as creating is healing for my soul and brings me so much happiness. But I am nothing if not tenacious.

So I aim to do one to two 1/2 hour sessions at my art table or computer a day however, since I have to do computer work just to manage my life, that leaves me working in tiny bits of time at my art table. It will get easier as I heal more. So, after two months, I am proudly, displaying my card, lol.

Supplies

• Altenew's Nostalgic Floral stamp and die set
• Altenew's stamps of sentiments from their Fruits and Flowers set (This is a wonderful bundled set to have but any sentiment you already have will suffice. Later, I will show a card with this complete set ;)
• Altenew's white cardstock
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in Evergreen
• Altenew's foam tape
• Altenew's glue (with needle nozzle)
• Green cardstock
• Vellum (you can substitute tracing paper in a pinch.)
• Cornstarch
• Embossing ink and clear embossing powder
• Heat tool
• Prismacolor pencils in chartreuse, lime green and olive green
• Alcohol markers in three shades of warm grey, light to dark. 
• Foam dots
• Clear drop embellishments 
  
  
  

1. Measure, cut and fold your cardstock for your A2 card (4.25"x5.5"). Cut the green panel to measure 4"x5", cut another white cardstock to 3.75"x5"and finally a white piece of cardstock to 2.5"x2.75". 
   
2. Center and adhere the green and larger white panel to your card front. Line your smaller piece of cardstock flush against the top left side of the white panel. I find that working asymmetry into a card creates visual interest.
3. Use cornstarch to brush a fine layer over vellum. Stamp your western rose onto your vellum with embossing ink.
   
   Sprinkle clear embossing power over the embossed ink. Then use your heat tool until the powder turns shiny. It may be difficult to see the clear embossed outline; good lighting helps tremendously.
4. Use lightest of your warm grey markers and begin shading in your rose. Do not outline shadows but rather lay swaths of color where you see shadows. Progressively shade in darker ares. You can use darker shades to delineate edges of the flower.

Use the rose die to cut out the flower

6. Adhere the flower to your card with small foam dots. I chose to cut off the leaves and use foam dots for the rose but flat glue dots to adhere the leaves. I felt showing the flower in two layers made the rose appear to flutter a little. 

7. My finishing touch was to add a tiny bit of embellishment. I chose iridescent drops that are flat on one side and convex on the other. They bring to mind raindrops.

This class was rich in lessons that taught me novel ways of drawing. I found it challenging and know that I will return to watch and work this class again in the future. I am far from Marika's skill with pen and marker drawing on vellum.  Also, I did not have some of the crucial supplies for several of her techniques, so that will also be remedied in the future. I have a feeling, this will be one of my toughest but one of my most favorite classes in the AECP (Altenew Educator Certification Program). 

Here is another card I made inspired by Marika's lessons. It features drawing over a stamped image with colored pencils. As an artist who has a strong hand in all my work, this suited my style more than the delicacy of drawing on vellum. 

Creating with a twist: using incongruous elements together

Have you ever liked fashion or art that was made up of elements you would not think "go together"? Have you ever heard someone describe something as "beautifully ugly"? I can not tell you why or how but sometimes you can go afoul of basic design principles and come out with something appealing. Well, I set out to create a visually pleasing card with elements that normally clash.

I think I succeeded in designing a fun card that illustrates this point.

I used non-analogous and non-complimentary dominant colors of purple and green and mixed vintage style florals with a modern graphic of thick stripes.  The sentiment set I used was perfect as it paired a lilting cursive "You" with a modern computer-ish block type. And the end result... I like it! it's quirky and fanciful.

Supplies

Altenew's Scalloped Ornaments layering stamp set. This set is not  available anymore but there are several other Altenew layering stamp sets to choose from.

Altenew's You Matter die set

Altenew solar white card stock

Altenew's fresh dye ink in Wisteria,  Ultraviolet and Sweet leaf

• Altenew's crisp ink in Parrot
• Altenew's Permanent Black pigment ink
• Altenew's scissors
• Altenew's double sided tape
• Altenew's glue and foam tape
• Altenew's large blending brush
• Tweezer
• Acrylic paint in light coral
• Flat paint brush
• Washi tape
• Die cutting machine

Optional: 

• Altenew's Stampwheel 2.0
• Glitter pens and markers

1. Cut and fold an A2 (4.25"X5.5") card and set aside. Cut two 4"X5.25" pieces of white card stock.
2. Lay washi tape stripes across one of your 4"X5.25" card stock pieces. Peel off every other stripe of washi tape.
   
   
   
3. Paint the exposed card stock stripes with your acrylic paint and set aside to dry.
4. Stamp your floral designs.
5. Use the stencils to layer colors with ink. You can leave it here or you can add highlights with glitter pens and/or markers. 
6. Fussy-cut (hand cut) your stamped images and set aside.
7. On a separate piece of card stock use your blending brushes to create swaths of color big enough for your chosen sentiment. I created an ombre effect on the bigger segment (the "You"). 
   
   
   
8. With washi tape, secure your dies to the colored swathes of color. Die cut the sentiments out.
9. Assemble your card.
   
   
   Use double sided tape to center the now dry striped piece of card stock onto the front of your folded blank card. Use foam tape for the floral design and main word: "You". Use double sided tape for the smaller text.

Relax, and enjoy your creation. Who will you send this card to?

Watercolor Flowers Made Easy: Painting with Ink Pads

I love working color onto surfaces in interesting ways. So playing with watercolor in unconventional ways was fun. I made a couple cards using watercolors in loose and surprising ways. These techniques require you leave your perfectionism at the door. I will go over one of those methods here.

Supplies

• Altenew's Nostalgic Florals stamp and die  set
• Altenew's Garden Gala stamps. At the time of this writing, the Garden Gala set is only sold to subscribers of Craft Your Life membership plan. Subscribers got early access to this March 2026 set. It will not be available to non-subscribers until next month.
• Altenew's metallic watercolor set
• Altenew's solar white card stock
• Altenew's fresh dye inks in azurite, ultraviolet, volcano lake and fresh lemon
• Altenew's crisp ink in parrot
• Altenew's permanent black pigment ink
• Watercolor paper, preferably hot press
• Watercolor brushes - I used a number 9 round tip for depositing color and a larger round tip brush for brushing water onto surface before painting.

• Embossing ink and powder
• Cornstarch 
• Heat tool
• Water spritzer
• Sequins
• Optional: Stampwheel 2.0

1. Cut and score an A2 card out of your white card stock and set aside.
2. Brush a fine layer of cornstarch over a piece of watercolor paper. This will help your embossing powder stick to only the inked image.
3. Apply your stamp onto this prepared watercolor paper, using permanent black pigment ink.  Then stamp over the same image with embossing ink. I like to use a base coat of black ink to create a crisp outline in case my black embossing powder does not adhere perfectly. 
4. 
   Sprinkle your embossing powder over your inked image and tap off excess. If you have stray embossing powder, use a clean, dry paintbrush to brush the powder away. 
5. Use your heat tool to emboss the image.
6. The embossed lines serve as a waterproof ridge that keeps the water inside the enclosed area. Use your brush to lay a film of clean water over the image you are going to paint. Change your water often so as not to contaminate your color.
7. Select the colors you want to use from your available water-based ink pads. Uncap your ink pads and lay them face down onto a water resistant surface. You can use a craft mat, a palette or a glass mat as shown here. And rub the ink onto the surface. Deposit about three good smooshes of ink. (Smooshes is my very technical art term.)
8. 
   
   Spritz the ink with water until it beads up and you have a puddle of color. Be careful to leave the paint highly pigmented. Do not lighten the color with more water until you want a soft glaze of color. 
9. Moisten the tip of your brush and then use it to pick up color.
10. Dab color onto the already wet surface in an area you want to see paint flow. (I.E. the inner petals, close to the center.) The paint will flow outward from the initial deposit of color. 
11. Allow each layer of color to dry before applying more watercolor. You can use your heating tool, but be careful to not burn the paper by holding it too long over one area.
12. After you are satisfied with the initial painting, use metallic watercolor to accent select areas. It gives a lovely sheen and catches light beautifully.
    
    
    
13. Once dry, use the coordinating die to cut your flower out. Also, with the colored card stock, cut out the 4"X5.25" piece you will glue to front of the A2 card.   
    
    
    
14.  Glue the colored card stock onto the surface of your card. Leave a small, uniform white border showing. 
15. Stamp a piece of white card stock with the sentiment and use the coordinating die to cut it out. 
16. Assemble the front of your card. Your vibrant blossom is the star, but your sentiment can balance the composition. 
17. Give your card an extra touch by glueing a few sequins to your 
    
    
    
    
    
    Here is another card in which I used same watercolor technique.

What I love about this type of watercolor painting is that the brush work is loose and surprises are welcome. As card makers, we measure with care, cut exact, imprint precisely... we are meticulous. So these dabs of color that disperse in wonderful patterns are so fun. Happy accidents. 

 

Using color to elicit a mood

As a card designer, one of the most powerful ways to create mood is with color. With this card, I demonstrate how atmosphere transforms a design by recreating an artist’s work table filled with inspiration, quiet focus, and creative energy. A dramatic overhead light source and minimal surrounding light helped me achieve the emotional tone I wanted. 

Using the Altenew Craft Your Life Kit: Illuminated Scenes, I show how to work with multi-layered stencils and coordinating dies to build a bold composition. Techniques for stencil layering, inking, die cutting, and thoughtful color choices elevate the card's design.

Supplies

• Altenew's Craft Your Life Illuminated Scenes kit with coordinating stamps, dies, embossing folder and layering stencils
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in warm sunshine, caramel toffee, olive, rocky shore, mocha, lavender fields and azurite
• Altenew's crisp ink in parrot
• Altenew's pigment ink in permanent black
• Die cutting machine
• Altenew's double sided tape and foam tape
• Altenew's blending brushes. 
• Optional: Altenew's Stampwheel 2.0

If you are like me, you benefit from both a visual demonstration as well as written instructions when attempting a new project. I made a video tutorial for this card on my You Tube channel. You can find that 20 minute instructional here. 

1. As usual, you will need to trim and fold a white cardstock A2 (4.25"X5.5") card. Also, cut a 4"X5.25" white cardstock piece of paper and another that measures 3.75"X5".
2. Blend azurite ink around the border of  the 4"X5.25" piece of white card stock. Set aside.
3. Secure your 3.75"X5" piece of card stock to a surface so that it will not move while stenciling. I use my Stampwheel for this; its clingy, sticky mat holds it in place. If you do not have such a tool, I recommend using washi tape to secure the edges of the cardstock and stencil to a surface while inking. 
   
   
   
4. Since this kit contains two separate scenes, familiarize yourself with the stencils that pertain to your chosen scene. Also, note the order in which to use the stencils. 
5. Use your blending brushes to ink the sequential stencils. You will need a new blending brush for each color. Do not reuse the brush right after you wash the old color out. It needs to be a dry brush for blending. So, I know what you are thinking... yes, you will want to have many blending brushes on hand. Those are staple investments, like card stock, inks and glue.
6. Once you have inked your entire scene, plus your chosen sentiment in permanent black, die cut the sentiment out. 
7. This may go without saying... after all your inking, make sure your hands and work area are clean, clean, clean. (Is it just me that tends to get ink transfer on my projects?!)
8. With double sided tape, adhere the piece of card stock bordered with azurite ink to the front-center of your folded card. Then use foam tape to adhere the stamped and inked scene front and center to that, so that the card is left with a white and blue border. 
9. Use your gold metallic card stock when cutting the frame die that comes with the kit.  I used the smallest rectangle to serve as the base for my sentiment. I also chose one of the thin gold frames to enclose the scene even more.  I then have a total of four framing rectangles around my scene. I like this as it contributes to the feeling of being drawn into an intense focus.  That is how I am when I am creating; I tune out miscellaneous distractions and concentrate. The stark over head light shining down on my work is a metaphor for the inspiration that occurs.

I was tickled by this card as I spend many a late night working at my art table. Actually, it is my favorite time to work. It is calm, quiet and I have no distractions. The rooms in my home are dark, except for my working lights. 

This kit comes with sentiments that reference one creative to another. It also comes with more general uplifting sentiments. And don't forget - there is a whole separate coordinating set for a different scene. That scene also revolves around a strong light source. Here is that scene as I created it.

Create a Dynamic Background using ombre inking techniques

 

When I first started making cards, it was all I could think of to find pretty paper and an interesting stamp to ink a pretty  card. Hey, we all start somewhere. Nowadays, I like more interesting designs and I love creating eye catching backgrounds. This tutorial shows you how to create a background of falling ombre colored flowers. 

Supplies

• Altenew white cardstock
• Altenew Nostalgic Florals outline stamp set
• Altenew Shades of Purple fresh dye ink set
• Altenew pure white embossing powder

• Altenew blending brushes (You will need four)
• Altenew glue tape
• Altenew foam tape
• Altenew clear sequins
• Die cutting machine
• Heating tool
• Washi tape
• Vellum (or tracing paper)
• Cornstarch

1. Cute an A2 (4.25"X5.5") folding card out of white card stock. Also cut a slightly bigger  (approximately 1/8"  bigger on each side) piece of card stock (any color).
2. Select the single blossom stamp and die from your Nostalgic Floral set and begin making your stencil. To do this, you will cut (the slightly bigger card stock) repeating die cuts of the blossom falling down the sheet. Make sure to have some of die cuts falling off the page and facing different directions. My photo of the supplies show my stencil after use. If you are careful, you may be able to reuse it. Leave space at the bottom, as if the falling flowers have not all fallen down.
3. Situate the stencil over your folded blank A2 card. Use a low stick tape to keep your card and stencil from slipping out of place.
4. Using your four pack mini set of fresh dye ink (does not have to be purples) and four separate blending brushes, begin softly blending ink over the stencil from the top down, using darkest to lightest in colors. Use one blending brush for each color and be careful to not mix them up.
5. Now you are ready to take the design up a level. Lightly brush an anti static powder (i.e. cornstarch) on the cards surface.  Use your outline stamp of the same flower and stamp all the falling flowers with embossing ink. Be careful to line up the outline stamp with the inked blossoms.
6. After inking the flowers with embossing ink, sprinkle your white embossing powder all over the stamped flowers. Shake off the excess embossing powder. And slowly rotate your heating tool over your embossed design (about 4-5 inches away from surface) until the powder melts. You will see it turn to a shiny patina. Be careful to not linger too long over an area so that the paper and ink do not burn.
7. In a similar step, take a separate piece of white card stock, prep the surface by brushing an antistatic medium like cornstarch all over. Then stamp the sentiment of your choice with embossing ink. Sprinkle white embossing powder over the embossing ink and shake off the excess. Use your heating tool to emboss the sentiment. 
8. Cut the card stock approximately 1/8" around the embossed sentiment.
9. Using your four mini inks, softly blend an ombre effect on your sentiment strip from top to bottom with darkest at the top again and lightest at the bottom.
10. Cut a slightly bigger piece from the vellum. You will then use your foam tape to mount the ombre sentiment to the vellum. Then use regular adhesive to glue vellum framed sentiment to your card.
11. For a last touch, I glue a few different size sequins floating among the falling blossoms. Beautiful.

The ombre inking is the star of this background. Sentiment, vellum and sequins can all be adapted to your taste. You may want a colored border around the sentiment or matte enamel dots for embellishment. Make it yours. I would love to see what you come up with!

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

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:

• Die cutting machine
• Altenew green card stock
• Altenew satin gold sequins
• Altenew You Matter die set
• Altenew's die set from the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Illuminated Scenes
• Altenew fresh dye ink in olive and grass field 
  
• Altenew pigment ink in permanent black
• Altenew scissors
• Lindys Gang flat fabio spray in Luscious Lime and Mango Mania
• Lindy's Gang starburst sprays in Shabby Turbine Teal, Rusty Lantern Lime and Glory of the Seas Gold 
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide spray in Antique Linen
  
  
  
  
• Metallic gold card stock
• Iridescent gold/orange paper
• Rhinestones, and sequins
• Alcohol markers

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

• Honeycomb Haven Craft Your Life set
• Altenew's white cardstock
• Altenew's glue tape
• Altenew's glue dispenser with needle nose applicator
• Altenew scissors
• Altenew's Summer Afternoon fresh dye mini ink set
• Altenew pigment ink in permanent black
• Lindys Gang flat fabio spray in Luscious Lime and Mango Mania
• Lindy's Gang starburst sprays in Shabby Turbine Teal, Rusty Lantern Lime and Glory of the Seas Gold 
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide spray in Antique Linen
• Die cutting machine

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

• Altenew's Honeycomb Haven Craft Your Life kit
• Altenew's die set from the Craft Your Life Kit: Illuminated Scenes
• Altenew's white cardstock
• Altenew's glue tape
• Altenew pigment ink in permanent black
• Altenew scissors
• Metallic gold card stock

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. 

Cardmaking Challenge Part #1 — Building Skills through AECP Certification Program

Note: I am writing a separate post on the process of creating these cards. This post looks at the design of the project as a whole.

My teacher in the Altenew Educator Card Making (AECP) Program, Erum Tasneem, issued me a challenge one third of the way through the program. The challenge consists of designing two sets of cards drawing on similar motifs and theme, but making one for men and the other for women. 

I need to incorporate and explain three technical components I learned so far. These his and hers sets were to be packaged creatively and I should incorporate the use of at least one recycled item in the packaging. Everything was to be hand made.

If you ask most people what a his and hers set means, the majority would come up with similar characteristics: durable vs delicate, plain vs frilly, bold vs soft, flowery vs architectural, you get the idea.

 Now, I know exactly what my teacher meant. On a personal level, I lean towards traditional feminine aesthetics. But I want to make a disclaimer here. I approached this challenge as designing two sets of cards: one that is more spare and stoic and the other more flowery and embellished. I saw them as opposite styles that would make the sets an interesting study in contrasts. Not so much a gender difference.

Now-a-days, many people choose a non-binary identity, and for them, designating certain kinds of attributes as unique to men and women make them feel invisible.  As gender norms continue changing in our society, I think designers will need to reflect those changes in their designs. 

The common attributes of blue for boys and pink for girls and all that comes with that aesthetic is changing; and the design industry will need to reflect that to stay relevant. But, for simplicity sake here, I will refer to the two sets of cards in the rest of this post as his and hers. 

I used a bee concept for my cards and the theme for them is "encouragement". The five cards shown above are my hers set and the five shown below are my men's set. I think the differences are more apparent when viewing the cards side by side. Here are a couple of the twin cards. 

The two Shine cards demonstrate my three chosen components excellently. I used inking techniques, die cutting and bling as my three components. 

Both cards used the Altenew Gradient Stripes Cover Die for the peek-a-boo peek into the designs behind. I think this is a fun aspect. It draws the viewer into the composition. They have to really look to see what is underneath. I also used the Altenew Shine Die Set for the sentiment on both. (This is a versatile die set; and it is on 50% clearance right now!)

The inking techniques were different between the two. The male card used an ombre inking that pulled colors from honey with Altenew's Summer Afternoon fresh dye mini ink set.

The woman's card used layered stencils from the Altenew Honeycomb Haven Craft Your Life Project. This is the set I used in all cards in these sets.

Lastly, the bling on the women's card is much more noticeable in real life than the selected sequins on the male card but they both really added the final touch to these presentations. Both cards used metallic cardstock for the sentiment. The women's card used rhinestones on the top and bottom edges while the men's card placed individual Altenew matte sequins down the card vertically. (I like this bottle of sequins because it is rare to find matte sequins but also it contains different sizes and styles in same copper color. AND, let me hear you say it : 'it is on clearance right now!')

In another set of cards, I chose to create two cards that did not have any text  sentiment. One can easily be added inside.

I am disappointed to see that

the subtlety of these surfaces are not as apparent in photographs but I provide a couple of detail photos here. The women's card in this set is tied with one other card as my favorite in the whole project. The embossed texture provides a rich background that is appealing but does not 'take over'. In the detail to the right, I hope you can feel the delicate complexity of this composition. Using rhinestone chains on the top and bottom really made this card bling-y. It reflects light in a major way.

I used individual elements from the Honeycomb Haven set die. I die cut with Altenew's white cardstock and hand colored the pieces with alcohol markers to be able to blend colors (acrylic markers are not blendable, they are opaque). I enjoyed creating my own composition from the cut out pieces, not simply duplicating the arrangement on the cover die. 

The men's card continues the no-text composition style with a richly stamped background using the stencil layering set from Honeycomb Haven.

Whereas the women's card had no one focal point but invited a slow perusal over the whole surface, the men's card focus is the honey pot and bees. In my decision to not use flowers in a central way for the men's card, I chose a background that is predominantly vine and bees. But I do reference flowers with two small flower outlines that I kept non-descript with a single wash of pale blue and no details. 

These next two cards show the biggest difference between the two approaches. The men's card is much less embellished. And though I added shine with a metallic gold border, I chose a thick plain band for the border. The men's card draws much of it's visual interest from the embossed background. The stamped honey jar in both cards used an ombre stamping technique and it was fun blending many colors.

 I did something different with the women's card's foliage and flowers. I wanted to add a subtle texture to the coloring. I sprayed the die cuts with a pigmented spray (Lindy's Gang). I was able to shade with different colors and the result is a soft wash of sprayed inks. 

I love the effect. That sole difference- spraying ink instead of stamping- created a velvety feel to the foliage. You can really see the difference between the green of these leaves and the green in the "You" in the cards below. This is my other card tied for my favorite of the project.

The last two sets of cards show similar differences. With the "Bee-lieve" pair, I made the women's card more ornate with a delicate floral background. She also got some shine with the metallic gold frame around the sentiment. I did insert a flower into the men's "Bee-lieve" card but I kept it non-descript with a muted color.

Both of the "You are not alone" cards have an embossed hive pattern. The women's card has a stamped floral background over the embossed surface. The result is a busy, intricate design. The men's card uses the same layout but with a  a lighter hand and the bees were hand watercolored smaller.

For the packaging, I recycled fancy tissue paper from previous year's holiday gifts. One is solid gold and I used that for the men's package. The women's package used a white tissue with gold metallic circles. I decoupaged two card boxes with these tissues and applied a couple layers of matte medium. Once dry, I used metallic gold acrylic paint and a sea sponge to dab gold color all over the boxes. This created a nice texture and unified the two boxes more. 

I used a die cut of a Christmas tree to create an ornament to decorate the boxes further, since it is now holiday time. I used several layers of holiday napkins from previous Christmas'. I decoupaged the tree ornament and once dry, I sponged gold acrylic paint all over lightly. I hung them with metallic thread. Finally, I made a wax seal in gold to top the boxes and hang the ornament. 

This challenge was daunting. But once I broke the tasks into small chunks, I began to enjoy the process. It was good practice comparing and contrasting aesthetics.

I liked creating a cohesive whole while flaunting subtle differences. I got to experiment with design elements and how they effect a composition. I learned a matte sequin still embellishes but in a quieter way than it's shiny sequin counterpart. I saw how spraying pigment inks can create a different texture than layering stencils with stamped ink. And most importantly, I learned to look beyond the compositions displayed on the kits and to think outside the box to come up with my own unique designs.

As far as labeling certain aesthetics as masculine and feminine, I still remain somewhat rebellious. I prefer to think of cards being appealing to a certain type of person, not so much the sex of the person. (My  boyfriend would love a beautiful Altenew floral card! ) But, I do get it. I am accommodating and can certainly deliver a card set that adheres to traditional masculine or feminine aesthetics. 

 

What are your thoughts about designing differently for men and women?