Creating with an intentional use of colors

 

One of the most delightful aspects of card making is the choices you have in colors - both in inks as well as papers and embellishments. Indeed, my art is characterized by a bold use of colors.  I wanted to create a card being more intentional about my choices of how I use  color. 

I started out wanting to create a veritable kaleidoscope. I chose a stylized flower bud from Altenew's Simple Flower set and thought of filling my card's front with all different colors. 

I set out to use almost all my Altenew inks I own. I stamped with select individual Altenew mini inks from all my mini-sets (golden sunset, pocketful of sunshine, summer afternoon, red cosmos, lapis lazuli, sweet dreams, shades of purple and coffee break). I also used a few of Ranger distress inks and select full size Altenew inks in fresh dye crimson, sweet leaf, and crisp ink parrot. Whew! I went crazy with color and loved it. 

But a funny thing happened. After I had filled the cover of my card with a rainbow of swirls, I noticed some blank spaces that seemed to interrupt the flow. I saw a tiny circular-ish stamp in the Simple Flowers set and used embossing ink to stamp the small shape in the large blank spots. My plan was to heat emboss it so that I had a faint clear, shiny design in the empty spots. It did not turn out as I hoped. I do not know why but they embossed in varying shades of brown and basically looked messy.

So, what is a girl to do but improvise. I cut the paper in strips, avoiding the ugly embossed stamps.  I layered a black cut out over a white card front and added the strips of color with a Hugs sentiment from Altenew's Garden Gala set in the upper left corner. Since the card was already becoming quirky, I chose different lengths and widths of colorful strips and placed the hello at a slant. In the end, I really like the bold variety of colors. This design was not a favorite of mine, but I did create an interesting look after all was said and done. This is how it goes - occasionally "oops" will happen. Sometimes your art muse lets you succeed in salvaging the design.

Because of the hitch in this card's design, I chose to make another. This time I chose a monochromatic use of color. I absolutely like this card. Not love or even prefer. For me, the hand drawn petal outlines make it look less polished than I wanted. And the choice of silver for the sentiment was not wise, as the silver is too close in tone to white and light lavender to really stand out.

But c'est la vie. I learn from my mis-steps. The two cards are nice. Just not ones I like to look at over and over, lol. Do you agree with my assessments? What do you think?

Supplies

• Altenew's Blooming Thanks stamp set
• Altenew's fresh dye ink in limestone
• Altenew's Fancy Hello die
• Altenew's Solar White card stock
• Altenew's Lavender Fields card stock
• Altenew's metallic watercolor 14 pan set
• Altenew's double sided tape and glue
• Alcohol marker in deep purple
• Acrylic lavender marker
• Metallic silver card stock
• Die cutting machine
• Sequins: clear and lavender 
  
  
  

1. Cut and fold an A2 (4.25"X5.5") card. Cut an A2 size single piece of lavender card stock. 
2. Using the limestone ink, stamp the Blooming Thanks flower all over the lavender card stock. Create a haphazard arrangement with some stamps cut off by the paper's edges.
3. Outline the flower with a deep purple alcohol marker. Leave the leaves in the pale grey color so that they do not detract from the purple theme of the card.
4. Use your metallic purple watercolor to paint the center of the flowers.
5. Paint in the petals with the acrylic lavender marker
6. Place your Hello die center on a 5.5" side of lavender card stock and let half be off the paper. Die cut the Hello die. Glue the lavender card stock onto the white card front.
7. Die cut a full size Hello from silver card stock. Cut two more Hello's from white cardstock (Not the A2 card).
8. Stack and glue the three Hello's with the silver Hello on top. 
9. Glue the thickened Hello cut-out onto the card front where it fits into the half cut-out. The effect is to have the silver Hello lying on top covering the card front - half on white and half on the lavender card stock.
10. Glue a few sequins in upper corner for embellishment.

As an aside, since I am one of many artists who offer written and video tutorials online, I try to offer something unique with my contributions to this field. I enjoy checking out other card makers and craft companies. It helps me grow as an artist and crafter. But I have noticed one thing with the majority of online creators. And that is an almost pristine presentation in so far as the actual vibe of their visual and written content. I admit, this is a weak spot for me as a content creator. I am naturally a messy girl and enjoy a kitchen table feel to my writing. This translates as my being OK with less than perfect tidiness in  crafting workspace and in a writing style that is transparent about my errors and bloopers. 

I hope you find this refreshing- my writing about two cards that did not measure up to my preferred standards. I value transparency and realness for my readers and viewers. I know that is what is attractive to me as a lifetime student of the arts. I hope it makes me more relatable and encourages any shy crafter out there thinking of purchasing their first supplies. I say "clear that kitchen table and roll up your sleeves". Don't worry about making mistakes. Everyone has a creativity muscle, you just have to exercise it. And I see all my missteps as valuable lessons and  every now and then I let you, dear reader, in on some of my bloopers.

Playing with alcohol markers

I like to keep my eyes and hands busy playing with beautiful  colors and shapes, even when relaxing. So it is no surprise that I enjoy coloring. I found a love of coloring when I was in hospital. And I continued with it when I got home.  I bought an inexpensive medium set of alcohol markers and now you can often find me coloring pages in front of the tv. And that satisfied me. That was the extent to which I used my alcohol markers. 

I had been hearing about alcohol inks and of course, I wanted to get my hands on few bottles of spray alcohol ink. But I told myself that I had many art supplies and was not sure I would get a lot of use with these sprays as they only work on non-porous surfaces; and I love working with papers or canvases. So I only explored my alcohol ink markers coloring adult coloring books.

Then I took a class with Sara Naumann called Magic Marker Techniques (offered through Altenew's Academy). And I learned I was sitting on those alcohol markers with a myopic eye. I learned I could use my alcohol markers to create beautiful effects on my cards. 

I created this simple flower card using those alcohol makers on metallic paper. While not totally non-porous, metallic card stock was a suitable enough non-porous surface. At first I was not keen with the effect I saw. But when it dried and I looked at it with fresh eyes, I saw a graceful speckled effect. I like it! 

Here is how I achieved that look.

Supplies

• 
  Altenew's Nostalgic Florals outline stamp and die set
• Altenew's permanent black pigment ink
• Altenew's solar white card stock
• Altenew's black card stock
• Altenew's ornate nesting die set
• Altenew's double sided tape, foam tape
• Altenew's permanent black pigment ink
• Altenew's scissors
• Metallic card stock
• Small spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
• Embossing ink and powder
• Embossing powder tool
• Heat tool
• Die cutting machine

Optional: Altenew's Stampwheel 2.0, Altenew's fine line brush

1. Cut and fold an A2 (4.25"X5.5") card and set aside.
2. 
   
   Using the largest of ornate nesting dies, cut out a large piece with your black card stock
3. Using the next smallest die (from the largest), cut out a piece with your white card stock.
4. Affix the large black nesting cut-out to the center of the front of your card. Then affix the white nesting cut-out centered onto that black background.
5. Prep your white card stock with an anti static medium. I use corn starch with an embossing powder tool. Stamp your selected sentiment with embossing ink. Then pour embossing powder over the ink. and shake off excess. You may need to repeat pouring powder to get complete coverage. If you find stray powder on your powder close to your design, use a fine line brush to brush stray powder away.
   
6. Use your heat tool to emboss the sentiment. Cut out the sentiment.
7. 
   Select alcohol markers in the desired colors for your flowers and leaves. Cover large areas (at least 4"X8") with your alcohol markers onto the metallic card stock. Since the alcohol makes the markers dry quickly, you will need to work fast. After you cover a large area with your colors, immediately spritz the area with your alcohol spray. I kept my spray around 6-8" from the metallic paper. The spritzed alcohol will react to your alcohol marker and create beading and movement of the pigment on the surface of your metallic paper. This effect is more dramatic if you use an even more non-porous surface, like a craft aluminum sheet of about 0.15 millimeter thick. You can find that in craft stores. Let dry thoroughly. I did around three passes of this process to get the effect I desired.
8. Now stamp your flowers and sentiment onto the metallic cardstock with the dried alcohol ink. Use the black permanent ink. Using the Stampwheel 2.0 helps me ensure I will have dark uniform outlines. 
9. Use your die cutting machine and dies to cut out the flowers from the inked metallic card stock. Use scissors to cut a framing piece to go under your sentiment.
10. Design the card layout and glue on your cut-outs. For visual interest I chose to incorporate heigh differences with foam tape for the larger flower and leaves. I also purposefully let my flower overlap the edge of the frames. I used flat double sided tape for the smaller flower and leaf. 
    
    
    
11. I made the sentiment really pop by foam taping both the white sentiment cut-out onto the metallic base cut-out and in turn, foam taping the entire sentiment onto the card.

The end result was highly dimensional card with unique inking. There are many points of interest on this card. What started as a simple design in my mind turned out to be intricate in it's

subtlety. I am so happy to have dipped my toe into working with alcohol inks in more artistic ways.

If you would like to purchase this card, head on over to my EBay store VanGoghChicaStudio The link is in my link list on this blog side panel.

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!

Guest Post: Bimini the Black Cat Extraordinaire 🐾✨

 🐾 A Note from Bimini: Black Cat Magic & a New Year Blessing

Hello, darlings.
My mom, VanGoghChica, has graciously given me a corner of her blog so I can chime in whenever I feel inspired—and trust me, inspiration visits often when you are a black cat.

With her help, I recently opened my very own eBay shop called BiminisBoutique. I’ve spent quite some time watching my mom create art, cards, journals, and all sorts of papercraft wonders. Somewhere along the way, I realized something important: I, too, have a creative flair. My other unique contribution? Black Cat Magic (BCM)—naturally.

Like my mom, I read tarot. Being a black cat comes with certain… perceptive abilities. My mom likes to joke that I live with one foot in the other world. She’s very astute that way.

To welcome the New Year, I pulled a tarot card for all of us and then created an ACEO (Art Cards, Editions & Originals) inspired by that. The card that revealed itself was the Ace of Pentacles

—and honestly, I couldn’t have wished for a better omen to begin 2026.

The Ace of Pentacles speaks of material blessings and fresh starts. It signals opportunities for prosperity—whether that shows up as money, a meaningful gift, new furniture, a refreshed home, or tangible support for a new project. This card is all about manifestation in the physical world, and it’s a wonderfully prosperous energy to carry into a new year. 

If you’d like to amplify your luck even more, you might consider one of my Black Cat Magic spell jars, each thoughtfully assembled to carry intention, charm, and a little feline mystique. You can read all about them in my shop listings.

And if you have comments, questions, or special requests, feel free to start a cat chat with me.
I know a lot. 🖤✨

— Bimi