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.

Healing through art. My 1 year recovery seen through my art journal

 September 19th is the one year anniversary of my emergency hospitalization for cervical myelopathy that resulted in cervical surgery (corpectomy and fusions). Three months after that on December 27th, I again had an emergency hospitalization and that resulted in thoracic spinal sugery (T9-12)

You see, my entire spine has sustained a lot of damage over time; to the point that the spinal compression was severe enough for paralysis and fatality. I ended up having two complicated neurosugeries  (cervical and thoracic) over three months. 

I am coming up on my one year anniversary of my first emergency hospitalization/surgery. I want to share with you two different art journal entries I created this year about my recoveries. To hear a much more detailed story with visuals, check out my You Tube video here. 

This first page was made five months post op from my cervical surgery. As you can see, I felt stuck, angry and sad. This was most optimistic page I created at that time. I tried to envision hope with the yellow at top. But falling over and pain were paramount in my mind. The overall sense in this piece is being unable to break through brick walls, tears, pain and not being able to walk or balance. I felt defeated.

In the second art journal spread, I focussed on the physical realm and the emotional realms. 

Having been to hell and back in both those worlds, I have adopted the phoenix as a special animal symbol for myself. Legend has it that the phoenix re-births itself after being consumed by fire. 

Yes. She swooped up beside me and I felt the wisps of flames licking my skin as she flew by.

You still see tears but I am now releasing some emotional tears (blue), not just the red ones of pain and fury. I incorporated butterflies for transformation and drew on the wisdom of my ancestors through the High Priestess tarot card. 

I only used paper that I had drawn on, painted, stamped or altered in some way. I like working in layers. Can you spot the three hospital bands in each art journal piece? They are white, red and yellow. They were color copies of the actual bands I wore for a month. You can find the white band in the video.  This photo cropped it out.

There is so much to say about this first year of recovery. It is like an onion. But what I take away is resilience, acceptance and yet, still I hold onto hope. And maybe one more . . . gratitude. Yes, I'll leave it at that.

Disabilities SD 480p

How to live with my disabilities as an artist.

07:19:25 Check-in: My Art Journal SD 480p

Here you can View my YouTube video that is a check in which focuses on my art journal pages. Here are pictures of my art journal pages that I show in the video.

CAS card using repetitive pattern

This card is a far cry from the multilayered roses in a Victorian garden card I made two posts ago. Granted, a skeletal human spine and brain are not usual thank you card images. Does it clarify things if I tell you this is a thank you card that I plan on giving my neurosurgeon(s) at my next appointment.? Thought so.

Within this last year, I had two serious spinal neurosurgeries. They were both myelopathy emergencies and I was quite ill by the time I was taken to surgery. The good news is that I have regained abilities with my hands for the most part and my doctors arrested the spinal compression that was causing me to lose my balance and that would eventually paralyze, then kill me. 

I am still trying to walk and hope the end of the year will see me getting around without a wheelchair or walker. But even if I stay as I am now, I am so very, very grateful to the neurosurgery department of Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Florida for saving my life and giving me back much of my abilities. 

I will see my main spinal neurosurgeon later this month for my nine month follow up. I am tickled to be able to give him this card. Hopefully, he will smile as he sees my colorful renditions of spines and brains; remembering all the macabre images he had to look at in the course of my treatment. It is especially poignant for me to give him this card as I remember so clearly lying on a gurney and asking him to "save my hands". I told him I was an artist and that I would rather live with a wheelchair than live without being able to create with my hands. And that is what he did. I am sure the significance of a handmade card will not be lost on him.

Supplies:

• White card stock
• Altenew Green Meadows gradient cardstock set 3X6"
• Altenew Permanent Black pigment ink
• Rubber stamps of anatomy
• Staedtler watercolor pencils
• Altenew Label Love stamps
  
  
  

1.Select one (one is best, but in my case I really wanted both images) image that you will stamp across the front of your card in a pleasing pattern.

2. Play with adding colorful accents with your chosen paint medium. I chose watercolor.

3. Cut a strip of accent color card stock to serve as a banner across the front.

4. Stamp your sentiment on the strip.

5. Glue the cardstock strip down.

This simple design makes a statement despite its humble methods. Patterning an image all over the front of the card which holds meaning for the receiver, makes this a very personal type of card. Best of all, it is quick and easy!