VanGoghChica Studio

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...

  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 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). Select the single blossom stamp and die from your Nostalgic Floral set and begin making your stencil. To do this, you will cut...

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 perm...

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 ...

This is my third card that I have made to illustrate how I use vellum (tracing paper) in my die cutting machines for an airy effect on my cards. And what better imagery than a hot air balloon for airiness. In my last post, I addressed the mistake of not having a strong focal point with my design. Wouldn't you know it, I made the same mistake with my second card. D'oh! In an effort to correct it,  I colored in my sentiment with marker, as well as as my vellum cut out butterflies. But the look was muddled up close. So, onto card number three. My sailing balloon theme is perfect for incorporating vellum. the sheer paper brings to life the balloon's fabric. Supplies Altenew's Up and Away bundle of stamp, dies and stencils Altenew's fresh dye inks in aqualicious , caramel toffee , mocha ,  crimson  and ultramarine Altenew's  white card stock   Altenew's white embossing powder Embossing ink Heat tool Vellum or tracing paper Die cutting machine Glue  Cut an A2...

I achingly remember the crisp autumn colors of Fall in Louisville (my home town). Living in San Francisco for 13 years and now South Florida since 2000; I have long missed that foilage. As well as bonfires, frosty breath and well worn boots. That was my favorite season. So, I was eager to use my leaves cover die. I have several leaf themed dies. It's only natural as I am such a tree lover. I conjured up the feeling of dry, jewel toned leaves by preparing card stock ahead of time. The night before, I sprayed them with vibrant Fall pigments by Lindy's Gang. This paper would be for the central two leaves on my cover. For a video on this whole process, check out my video here . I also painted swathes of Autumn colored Dylusian paints onto another card stock sheet. My thinking was that the Dylusian colors would shine through the die cut windows around the perimeter of my card front.  Then, I individually tiled the leave's tiny components into the two central leaf windows. I  th...