Creating Victorian Inspired Floral Cards with "The Drawing Room"

These two Victorian-inspired cards were created with Altenew's The Drawing Room bundled kit.

I really love this set. So many period tidbits to mix and create different tableaus. I am dying to make a card with the drawing room furniture. The card fronts were so complete in my mind,  I chose to keep one card blank and include an embossed sentiment on the inside of the other card. 

The colorful, layered florals appear vibrant against the neutral backgrounds. I chose four different colors to stencil the flowers and four for the leaves. While this had potential to look like a paint store exploded, it all works because I kept the colors in the same color family and increased the saturation in fairly even levels. Big tip: you can let others do the work for you by purchasing color sets already assembled with these considerations in mind. If you do not have a pre-packaged color set, then you can will likely need to whip out your (two level) color wheel. Here's my supplies and the steps I used to create them. 

Supplies

• Altenew's The Drawing Room Craft Your Life kit
• Altenew's solar white cardstock
• Altenew's black cardstock
• Altenew's pigment ink Permanent Black 
  
• Altenew's crisp ink in Parrot
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in Bamboo, Olive, Just Green, Evergreen
• Altenew's mini cube ink sets in Chasing Shadows and Enchanted Garden
• Altenew's Instant Dimension Foam Tape 
  
  
  
• Altenew's blending brushes
• Double sided tape
• Die cutting machine
• Embossing powder
• Heat tool 

Optional: 

• Anti-static powder (I use corn starch)
• Washi tape

1. Cut and fold an A2 card (4.25"X5.5"), cut a piece of 4"x5.25" black cardstock and a piece of 3.75"X5" white cardstock. Set side.
2. On a separate piece of white cardstock, use the kit's layering guide to stencil the flowers and leaves. I find it helpful to use a blending brush for each color. If you plan on continuing making cards, it is a good idea to invest in several. It's not a good idea to use a damp brush (recently cleaned) to stamp a new color. It will majorly slow you down if you need to wash and dry brushes between colors. 
   
3. Using your die cutting machine, cut out the flowers with their leaves. I use low tack tape (washi tape) to keep my die in place while cutting.
4. Using the desired stencil on your 3.75"X5" piece of white cardstock, create your neutral background with your gray tones. I originally made the stenciled background gradient in color by using an ombre effect with my inking. This is seen in my supplies photo above. It looked unfinished, so I later changed it to the solid color background seen in final card. This kit provides many options to use for backgrounds; ranging from stamps, stencils and an embossing folder.
5. Assemble the pieces of the card. I used flat double sided tape to center glue the black cardstock over the card front. And I tried two different layering approaches with my two smaller pieces of white cardstock. On one, I centered the white panel over the black. And on the other I nestled the smaller white cardstock to the lower left, leaving more black edge around the top and right sides. This is evident in the supplies photo. However, again, I changed my mind and centered it. I like asymmetry and planned on adhering my flower at an edge with her leaves partially extending beyond the card. I felt that was enough asymmetry. 
   
   
   
6. Using the foam tape, adhere the flower onto the card. I placed it lower right, with a tiny bit of overhang.
7. I chose to include an embossed sentiment inside one of the cards. True to form, Altenew kept the fonts and the wording in keeping with the Victorian feel. I love their attention to details.

I hope you can see that even though one might have a step by step process in mind when creating, you are always tweaking and changing course. Even re-doing entire cards to get the desired one. Some of your best creations will be the result of happy accidents. Have fun with your artistry!

A no-frills, non -floral card design: Clean & Simple Cardmaking Tutorial | Easy Handmade Card Idea

 

In this Clean and Simple (CAS) cardmaking tutorial, I share a fun geometric card design suitable for anyone who is a no-frills type of person. Yes, cardmaking does include many floral designs, but that is not all we can make.

If you want to make your card along with me, watch my You Tube video, complete with a blooper right at the end! 👉 The blooper shows up around the 27-minute mark, so you can either craft along with me as I stamp and assemble my card or skip ahead for a laugh. If you enjoy DIY cardmaking, stamping, or beginner-friendly handmade card tutorials, this video is for you! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to help my channel grow—I’d love to connect with fellow crafters.

Supplies

• 
• Altenew's Doodled Triangles Stamp set
• Altenew's pigment ink in Permanent Black
• Fresh dye in in Aqualicious, Warm Sunshine, Frayed Leaf, Sweet Leaf, Limestone
• Altenew white card stock

1. First you are going to cut and fold your white card stock into a fold-open A2 (4.25"X5.5') card.
2. Observe the design in the picture and begin stamping. Some elements should be stamped first and you will need to make a mask (as easy as a scrap piece of card stock) so that some elements look further back. It may be helpful to watch my video if you have any question as how to do this.
3. Lastly, stamp the sentiment.

And there you have it.  A CAS (clean and simple) design that relys on geometric shapes for pattern instead of florals and embellishments. Who says card making is just for frilly women!

Clean & Simple Cardmaking Tutorial + Funny Blooper | Easy Handmade Card ...

#Ever messed up your handmade card at the very last step? 🙈 You’re not alone! In this Clean and Simple (CAS) cardmaking tutorial, I share a fun geometric card design—and yes, you’ll see my real-life crafting blooper happen right on camera. 👉 The blooper shows up around the 27-minute mark, so you can either craft along with me as I stamp and assemble my card or skip ahead for a laugh. If you enjoy DIY cardmaking, stamping, or beginner-friendly handmade card tutorials, this video is for you! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to help my channel grow—I’d love to connect with fellow crafters. 💬 Are you a cardmaker too? Share what you’re working on in the comments—I’d love to see your creations!