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? 

Stamping four layer roses on an embossed background

I am not one inclined to decorate with very ornate flowers, filigree or lace. Delicate flower buds in oh-so-quaint settings are not in my usual repetoire of designs. But the second class of layering in my AECP card making course lends itself to this kind of Victorian-ish look. So, voila, here is my card featuring four layer roses nestled in a garden themed frame.

I think the card is pure delicacy and I did not feel any sentiment needed to be on the front of the card. Actually, the embossed frame of flowers, leaves and butterflies does not leave much room for any sentiment. It is just a dainty note to drop a line to someone special.

For this card, you will need approximately four shades of inks in the red family, a couple shades of greens and an embossing folder. You will also do well to get a stamp with matching die set. 

Supplies:

• Altenew Sweet Rose Bouquet stamp and die set
• Altenew Parrot crisp ink, or any light spring green
• Altenew Grass Field crisp ink (this actually a four ink set for clearance price)
• Altenew Red Cosmos mini ink cube set
• Lindy's magical in Flickering Lights
• Lindys magical in Rosewood Rouge
• Die cutting machine (I got mine at Walmart but I really like Altenew's for same price)
• white cardstock (80lbs - 120lb)
• embossing folder (do not remember where I got this one)
• Foam adhesive stickers
• Crafting tweezers
• Glue
• palette
• small round paintbrush
• paper sensitive low tack masking tape

If I do not provide a link to a supply, it is probably because it came from one of those cheap Chinese businesses like Temu. I am not linking them as I know many people have bad feelings about doing business with them. I mainly go for what is affordable. Unfortunately, because of Donald Trump's recent tariffs, orders from TEMU are now not as cheap.

Also, if you want to try Lindy's magical's, you will need to get some instruction on how to use them. They are powder, but when mixed with water, make very potent inks. Using them in different ways, produces vastly different effects. That is one of the allures of the product. Lindy's YouTube offers brief tutorials on their magicals, such as this 2 minute explanation.

Steps:

1. Start with the lightest color first when stamping your four layers of the roses. Then increase in darkness with each subsequent layer.

2. Stamp the two layers of green for the greenery onto your blank facade of your card.

3. Use the corresponding dies to cut out the roses.

4. Using your craft tweezers, afix the cut out roses to the stems you stamped on card

5. Use a pale, shimmery color on your embossed frame. It should not overwhelm the main design. I painted on Lindy's Flickering Lights magical with a paint brush and after that coat dried, I brushed on a VERY diluted Rosewood Rouge magical. 

This detail shows you how the embossing looks up close. It provides a wonderful texture. I used a very pale yellow, with shimmer, to catch light as the card is handled.

I won't post all my mistakes; but know that there were several attempts. Either I did not layer my inks in the proper order or I did not line up stamps correctly. I also painted one of the embossed frames in pale reds, greens, yellows; but it proved to be way too busy. This card is simple sweetness. Since the line work is so busy, the colors and methods needed to be spare.