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In the Mood for Color

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My oldest starts Kindergarten on Monday and I am NOT ready y’all! I felt like a school themed card with cheerful colors would be the kind of therapy I needed. I channeled what I learned In the Mood for Color AECP Level 2 through the Altenew Academy.

Let me tell y’all, the process of making this card was exactly how I’m feeling about this school thing! I made my wave (if y’all have the actual name for the squiggle, let me know please) going into the crayon box. It went super quick until I realized I wanted it larger. Takes a lot more work trying to blend out a harsh line than it did making the original piece. I decided I needed it a little more pzazz, so I covered the white parts of the paper and sprayed water on the Distress Oxide ink. I loved it! Then, I tried to silver emboss my sentiment on. I could not get it to stamp clearly with the powder. I needed a way to cover up the clear ink. So, I covered it up with pink embossing powder. I tried stamping on that. That didn’t work either. Then, I forgot I don’t have great handwriting and tried writing on the pink embossing. Finally, I settled on embossing pink pearl again, stamping the sentiment on white paper, and fussy cutting it.

I really wanted this card to feel bright and freeing. After all, life is messy but beautiful. It’s so easy to forget that. Out came the paint brush, distress oxides, and water. I splattered various colors onto the card. To tie this feeling in, I decided to get a distress oxide sheet I made months ago out of my stash and cut it to put under the card onto the card base.

At the end of the day, our cards are art. They have feelings. This class taught me to embrace showing those feelings on the card.

Stamp:
Colorful Crayons Stamp Set

Wave Ink:
Distress Oxide Saltwater Taffy
Distress Oxide Twisted Citron
Distress Oxide Salvaged Patina (also accent on edges of card)

Splatters:
Distress Oxide Broken China
Distress Oxide Dusty Concord
Distress Oxide Squeezed Lemonade
Distress Oxide Festive Berries

Altenew Alcohol Markers:
Crayon box – Y204, WG903, TG903
Crayons – Set D, Primary Colors Set, Rock Collection

Challenge:
CAS Colours & Sketches
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More!

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Butterfly of Hope

Disclaimer: Some links on my site are affiliate links which at no cost to you, help pay for my blog. Affiliate Disclosure Find this card on Instagram

Hope is such a powerful thing. It’s something that is needed everywhere these days. So, when I thought what can I do that’s red and blue for the fourth of july? I thought that Hope needed to be the center of that message. In today’s card I used techniques I learned through the Altenew AECP course, Polychromatic. I was really drawn to the lesson that talked about using water-based markers to paint with. Fun fact, I have a set of Stampin’ Up markers from probably at least 20 years ago when my Mom originally bought them. Somewhere along the years I obtained them, and my son uses them when I use my Copics. Finding this video was inspiring to go ahead and try this out!

I made this card with the 4th of July in mind and the Color Hues the Color Challenge while trying this new technique out. One of the beautiful things is that there are so many shades of blue and red. I felt like this fit in well with the polychromatic card. I started off with using a Hero Arts White Pearl Satin Embossing powder for the butterflies. This allowed a little bit of a buffer zone when painting. I colored small amounts on the butterfly with the markers and dragged out the color with water. I added some metallic paint in a small section of the butterfly to add some pzazz. 

I then die cut a circle out, inked up my Altenew Garden Rose Embossing Folder with Altenew Dew Drops, and sprayed a shimmer spray on the paper before running it through the machine. 

Embossing is something I love but, struggle with! I tend to always make a mess. I’ve found one of the easiest methods to contain the mess is to use the packing slips that Altenew (and other companies) send with their packages. Just simply take off the sticker part and keep the wax paper. This allows for the powder to slide back into the container easily! For doing circular pieces like this, I like using my mini Versa Mark ink pad! Gives great control. I applied embossing powder and set it in with heat twice. 

See the stray embossing powder on the desk? A hand vacuum gets that up really quick!

Now that I had all the pieces done, I wanted to figure out a way to take this card to the next step. Current Color Hue the Color Challenge suggested the use of stars or stripes. So, stars it was! This time I used a full size versa mark ink pad and wiped it along the paper and heat set it twice. Then, I die cut out stars and glued them on randomly. 

I’m pleased with how this card turned out and am thankful my new photo boards came in so that I could share this card with you! Thanks for your time. Until next time. 

Challenges:
Color Hues Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

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Are you an Artist?

Disclaimer: Some links on my site are affiliate links which at no cost to you, help pay for my blog. Affiliate Disclosure Find this card on Instagram

I have never been somebody who things just come naturally to me. I have gone from craft to craft trying to be ‘good’ at something. I finally realized that I used to love art, but I stopped and followed other fads. I had become growingly frustrated with projects that required computers. I mean the Cricut software is very temperamental. I was feeling like yes, I can do that stuff but, do I enjoy it? Well no. I spent most of my time being frustrated. So, I decided to get into card making. Along the way I discovered all of these amazing things people do with markers. I watched so many hours of YouTube videos and took various online courses. Then, I practiced, and I practiced some more. I took my markers everywhere. I wasn’t doing it for others but, I was doing it for me. Boy does that make a world of a difference.

I ended up being one of the top few for recognition in this contest! Super exciting! This is my first time having that happen with any contest!

Have you ever had that moment of wow; I’ve made a lot of progress! This was my moment; I was sitting waiting for my doctor to come into the room when a student doctor came in and saw me coloring the tree seen in this card. She asks me if I’m an artist. I was shocked. I love that she used that word and I love that I’m on my way to that! There really isn’t a better compliment! Have you had that moment in life, doesn’t have to be art, if so, what was it? 

Thanks for reading. Until next time,

Caitlin

Copic Colors used:
B34 B32 B14 B0000 C3 C1 C00 BV00
Other Products:
Storybook Frame Embossing Folder
Festive Silhouettes

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June 2022 Altenew Inspiration Challenge

fl

I had watercolored a flower several different times for a card I had in my mind but, I couldn’t get it to be the way I wanted it. So, when this flower came in the mail with my recent order, I knew this would be perfect and switched courses for this card. For this card I did do it with the Altenew inspiration challenge colors in mind. I used a burnt orange combo I made with my metallic Altenew watercolor paints. I think it really took this flower to the next level. I never would’ve thought of adding that color with the pink and green if it weren’t for this challenge. That’s the beautiful thing about inspiration challenges though!

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Until next time,

Caitlin

check out the challenge here

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Magnolia Mother’s Day Card

I wanted to start this blog off with this card because it’s probably my favorite card I’ve ever made. One of the big reasons is because I was able to mass produce it easily and send it to so many Mamas in my life!

In this card I used the Build-a-flower: Magnolia from Altenew. I then masked the flowers and applied distress oxide concord grape to the background. Then I splattered water on the card with a paint brush. Then, I stamped a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, Wake Up and Make Up. To finish things off, I backed it the card to a yellow backing.

I hope y’all enjoyed this card. Until next time.

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