Altenew Level II challenge

I completed my Level II classes for the Altenew Educator Certification Program. You can see all the cards I have made in the quick video below.

Now on to my Challenge. It is a bit detailed, of course. Below are the details.

1. Select any three components from the classes in Level 1 or 2.
2. Make 4 Masculine cards with themes of Birthdays, Love/Thinking of you, anniversaries, and Encouragement.
3. An Upcycled/Altered item.
4. Blog post-step-by-step tutorial and or YouTube video. There needs to be a minimum of 10 photos.

The first card I will show is created with the Creative Watercolor class in mind. I love allowing the colors to go where they want to in my projects. It makes my little artistic heart sing. This card is my Encouragement Card.

Card One

 

I allowed my husband to pick out the colors of this card by showing all the greens I had from Altenew’s Watercolor Brush Markers. He chose the Lagoon and Mountain Mist. I love these colors. I think they are more for water, but that is why he loves them so much. He is a sailor at heart.

 

 

• The first step you will take is to emboss your watercolor paper with white embossing powder and the Birch Forest stamp. Next, get some paper towels ready to catch water and ink color.

 

 

• Then take a paintbrush or water painter and wet the very top of your watercolor paper. Be very generous with this. You want it to run down the paper.

 

 

• Once the paper is wet, take your watercolor brush marker (I choose the Lagoon color first) and do the same thing. Allow the watercolor to flow where ever it wants to. I know this is hard; I always want to take control: patients, my friend.

 

 

• You can add more color as much as you like or as little as you want. If you have too much watercolor add more water.
• Once you are happy with the result of the primary color, you can take the paintbrush and add bits of the other colors where ever you like (I choose to use Moutain Mist). Now set it aside to dry.
• My sentiment piece is a scrap of watercolor paper brushed with the same colors to match the background.

 

 

• Once your sentiment piece is dry, you can emboss your sentiment with black embossing powder. (you could do this before coloring your cardstock)
• Once your background is dry, place it on top of basic black cardstock with some foam tape for some dimension. Then I put the entire card on some matching cardstock. The cardstock I used is Bermuda Bay.
• The sentiment has a bit of foam tape as well.

You can find another one of my cards that I did with this technique for Halloween below. Here is the link to the blog post.

 

 

 

You can check out the video I created below where I created this one for you.

 

 

 

 

 

Card Two

I will show you the second card with the Magical Markers techniques class in mind. Now that I have found and used the Altenew artist markers, I can not stop. Using the Alcohol Markers makes for quick cards with fabulous results. Also less drying time.

This is my Birthday Card.

• I created my background with Desert Night and Dusk artist alcohol markers. Color those onto a glass mat or a silicone mat, whichever you have.

 

 

• Spritz the colors with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol.

 

 

 

 

 

• Take your Yupo paper or alcohol-approved paper to the spritz colors and drag them through or lay on top of the color.

 

 

 

• Pick it up and spritz your paper. Not a lot because this will remove it if you put too much alcohol on it.

 

 

 

• If the color is not what you want, you can do it again and again till you get the effect you are looking for. I usually go once or twice through the ink on my glass mat.
• While the background piece dries, I stamped and colored two strings of lights from the String of Light mini set. I color them with Citrus Burst and Fresh Lemon artist markers and TanMit gel pen in silver.

 

 

 

• My layers are cut with a rectangular stitched die in two sizes, 4 1/2 x 3 3/8 for the smaller one. The Larger one is 3 1/2 x 5 1/8.

 

 

• I stamped the alcohol marker piece with the sentiment in Archival black ink from Ranger. The sentiment came from Tim Holtz’s Crazy Bird stamp and the Modern Hello from Altenew. Once this was done, I added foam tape to the back and put it on top of my larger rectangular piece.

 

 

• My string of lights is also covered with crystal effects or glossy accent glue. I added this once the card was complete.

 

 

Card three

The other Class I will refer to in these cards will be Simple Boutique cards. I loved it and was way out of my comfort zone, which has tamed my enthusiasm to add more to the card. But, sometimes more is not always better.

This is my Love/Thinking of you card.

• This card is created by stamping the background of a piece of white cardstock with Sahara Sand, second-generation stamping.

 

 

• To do the background, I started with the top by marking it at 2 inches and keeping the stamp so that the tip of the heart would be right in the center. I then stamped each heart accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

• I took the coffee cup stamp from Altenew and stamped the cup on some scrapbook paper with versamark.

 

 

• I used black embossing powder here to give my cup a bit of definition.

 

 

• I used an espresso artist’s alcohol ink marker to color the “coffee” in the cup.

 

 

• Then cut it out with the die.
• My sentiment is from the Altenew Coffee Talk stamp set. I stamped it in versamark and then my night of navy ink. Then put some clear embossing powder over it and heat set it.

 

 

• Once I adhered my Coffee Cup to the card, I stamped the steam from the coffee in black.

 

 

• I placed this on top of a piece of navy cardstock.

 

 

Card Four

This card uses Ink Blending techniques and a bit of Creative Watercolor. After watching the Ink Blending techniques card, I became a bit smitten with the ease of creating your color cardstock when you did not have what you needed. This was something I LOVED from other companies matching papers and inks. However, I had no idea about going out of the box and creating my own. So, this is my Anniversary Card.

 

 

• To start this card, I took a piece of watercolor paper, stamped the Birch Forest stamp set in versamark, and sprinkled white embossing powder and heat set.
• Once this was complete, I spritzed it with water saturating the front and back of the card. I gave it a few minutes to soak in. Not so heavy that it is oozing from the paper but wet enough that color will flow around the paper when applied.
• Sprinkle your Brusho colors on your wet watercolor paper till your little heart is happy. You can add more water to get it to flow better or more color. It is really up to you. The color I choose here is Prussian Blue. Leave this to dry completely.
• Now take a piece of Neenah solar white cardstock at 3 3/4 x 5 inches. I blended two colors here.
• Start with Stormy Sky oxide ink and blend heavy on the outside and very lightly on the inside. (I will do a small video for you to see how to do this.) Mask where you want your Moon now. I used a punch in 1 1/4 inches with Inkadoo masking sheets.

 

 

• Now blend your Chipped Sapphire distressed oxide ink again, heavy on the outside. As you can see in mine, it is NOT a big deal if it is splotchy. That is ok, and it adds to the effect.

 

 

 

• Remove your masked circle. Stamp your Moon with a second-generation light gray color stamp. (this is stamping once on scrap paper, then again on your work.) Now stamp your second stamp for the Moon. I used a darker gray ink here with versamark so I could put clear embossing powder over it to give it a reflection of sorts. Then heat set.

 

 

 

• Add a little sparkle or stars. I added a bit of water with some white shimmer acrylic paint and splattered it all over the background with a paintbrush. Remember to go close and away from the cardstock to give you different sizes. I also did this with the black alcohol ink marker.
• Back to your watercolor Birch Forest stamped piece. Pick your favorite trees. I went for some that gave off branches and some space between them. You will cut them out of the paper.
• Use some foam tape bits to place these trees where you would like on your card front.
• Place this on a white cardstock 3 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches.
• I placed the whole thing with foam tape on a piece of light gray cardstock for an A2 size card—4 1/4 x 5 1/2.

 

 

 

• Place on a card A2 card base.
• My sentiment is stamped with black ink and versamark. I used clear embossing powder and then heat set—1/2 in by 3 5/8 in white cardstock. I wanted to put Happy Anniversary, but I could not find a sentiment that I liked with that saying and the font that worked.

You can check out the video I created for you below.

 

 

Upcycled Item

I had a hard time deciding what to do for my upcycled item. I had my heart set on doing a flower pot. Unfortunately, it was not in the best shape. So back to the drawing board I went. My husband likes to dabble in woodworking. He had a slab of wood that he got from a local furniture shop. They allow you to come to grab piles of excess lumber for free. Hubby intended to make a charcuterie board with it. He gave it to me and asked if I could do something with it. An idea had been born. I have been looking for a way to perk up the photos on my cards. I decided to redo this board using Altenew stencils for the win.

 

 

• I took several items to create this. I started by sanding the board with 220 fine grit sandpaper on all sides, then wiping it clean with a damp microfiber cloth.
• I then took several other supplies, white acrylic paint, a sponge brayer, Altenew’s Leaf bed stencil, and painter’s tape.

• You could also use a spray adhesive on the back of your stencil. It would give a much better edge than I got with the painter’s tape. Sadly I ran out of it just before I went to do the project. (easy tack by Krylon is a repositionable adhesive)
• I took my stencil and placed it in the upper corner, layering bits of painter’s tape on edge to keep it in place.
• I put my first coat of paint on the stenciled area. Then I carefully removed the stencil.

 

 

• After allowing this to dry in the sun for about 30 minutes, I moved over to the other side and, with the stencil, proceeded to do all the different sides in the same manner.
• Once all the sides were covered with paint leaving my stenciled image. I let this dry overnight.

 

 

• The next day I added a layer of matte clear coat. I wanted matte so that when taking photos of my cards, they would not have that glare on them.
• I did two coats, then lightly sanded again and wiped with a damp microfiber cloth. I then added three more coats of the matte clear coat.

 

 

• I decided to add hooks on the back to hang this in the living room since I take my photos in front of the big window in my tiny house. I get the best light there. This makes for easy storage and a bit of artwork to boot.

 

I hope your enjoyed crafting with me and have been inspired to create something for yourself or someone you love today. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Supplies

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Card one

Card Two

• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamps for Happy Birthday.
• 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and Spritz bottle of any kind.

Card Three 

• Ocean Wave DSP
• Sahara Sand ink
• Night of Navy Ink

Card Four

• 1 1/4 circle punch

Upcycled Project

• Square wood block of some sort. Really whatever you have on hand.
• Altenew Leaf Bed Stencil
• Master Touch Acrylic paint White
• Sponge Brayer or sponge paintbrush. (any type of way to paint your paint on will work)
• Adhesive tacky spray or painter's tape.
• Clear coat varnish matte finish if you are using it for photos.
• Sandpaper (220 grit)
• Sander (not necessary you can do it by hand if you wish).