Hi friends! I made this card for the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) to demonstrate that I have completed the “Clean and Simple Boutique Cards” course, taught by Jennifer Rzasa. This was a great class! Jennifer demonstrated several ways to produce cards that are not too complicated and that don’t need a huge amount of supplies. Well, my experience with this card was not exactly as simple as I had hoped…. hhmmm… what do they say about “the best laid plans?” ?

I chose to use the Altenew “Tea Time” set for this card. I’ve had these stamps in my stash for quite a while, and I haven’t used them as much as I would like to. Aren’t they so cute? All kinds of little images that are fun for anyone who likes tea! Some of my best memories around tea are from when my husband and I took a trip to the UK and I got to have tea in various small shops….and then there is always high tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. That is an experience everyone should have sometime!

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See what I mean? Yummy!

I started this card by cutting a piece of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock to measure 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″. Jennifer used a little potted plant stamp for her example, so I decided to use the little spotted tea cup at the top of the stamp set. She used an acrylic block to stamp the image, but I decided it would be much easier to use my Misti Stamping Platform. One of the tools I have found is a great help when stamping over an entire card panel is to tape your card to the Misti and not use the included magnets to hold your paper down. I have seen others use low tack tape and double it up under the card, but I like to use the Scotch Double-sided Removable tape. It works great! Following Jennifer’s directions, I first measured to find the exact center of my card panel so that I could place the first stamp there.

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Next I positioned the teacup stamp and inked it with Altenew Black Obsidian ink. I love this ink! It stamps very sharp and clear. I stamped the center image and then just moved my cardstock up and down 1″ (or 4 squares on the grid) in order to stamp a whole column of teacups. No need to move the stamp at all, and everything is perfectly aligned. Yay!

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I then moved the teacup stamp over to the left center position and stamped another whole column. I repeated the same process on the right column. So I ended up with a whole card panel full of teacups – 15 of them! So far so good….

Then the challenge began. In the class, Jennifer used loose watercolors to color her images. Well, I forgot to use watercolor paper, and I didn’t want my cardstock to get too wet and warp. BUT, I also didn’t want to re-stamp 15 teacups! SO, I decided, “no problem,” I would just color the cups with alcohol markers…. but wait! The Obsidian ink will run with alcohol. Oops…. Now what? Well, I pulled out my Zig Clean Color markers and decided to just color the images directly without water in order to minimize getting the cardstock wet. And, Zigs come in lots of colors. One lesson that I learned through this process is: don’t give up! If Plan A doesn’t work, then try Plan B, and even move on to Plan C! I am such a perfectionist that I was tempted to just give up and start completely over. But, it worked out in the end. What do they say? “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?” Well, I didn’t make lemonade, but I made rainbow teacups!

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The next step was to choose my rainbow colors. (I will list the specific colors below.) I had five rows of teacups so I thought I would start with orange and go down through purple. But, when I made some quick sample swatches, I decided that I didn’t like either of my light orange choices, so I decided to add a row of pink at the bottom instead of using the oranges. I have learned the hard way to always make these types of little swatches ahead of time. It’s so much better to be safe than sorry!

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After the coloring process I decided that the teacups still needed a little pizzazz, so I used a Spectrum Noir clear Sparkle pen to make them shine. I took the picture on the right at an angle to show how they sparkle in the light. Next I focused on my sentiment. I chose one of the smaller sentiments, “It is never too late for tea,” because I didn’t want it to cover up the teacups. I used a powder tool on some black cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment with WOW Ultra Fine White embossing powder. I attached the sentiment with some foam tape to add dimension. Finally, I decided that the card still needed something else… but what? I chose to cut just a tiny edge off of each side of the card panel and attach it with foam tape to a piece of A2-sized rainbow patterned paper that I had left over from a Simon Says Stamp card kit.

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And voila! I ended up being happy with my Plan C Rainbow Teacup card! I really learned a lot from Jennifer in this class and look forward to trying out several of her other suggestions!

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ZIG MARKERS USED:

• Bright Yellow
• Yellow
• Lemon Yellow
• Green
• May Green
• Light Green
• Blue
• Persian Blue
• Shadow Mauve
• Purple
• Light Violet
• Pale Violet
• Dark Pink
• Pink
• Sugar Almond Pink

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Hi my crafty friends! This is my second card that I have completed after finishing the All About Layering 2 course in the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP). I used the Altenew Build-a-Flower Columbine stamp set. I have just started subscribing to this monthly club, so this is the first time that I have worked with these stamps. This stamp set is SO versatile! You can mix and match colors for the different parts of the flower in so many ways! I am looking forward to trying a bunch of color combinations, but for the first time, I decided to just go with three coordinating shades of Altenew Crisp Dye Ink: Baby Pink, Fuschia, & Magenta. The great thing about these Altenew inks is that they come in color-coordinated sets! I only have a few so far, but I have ordered several more and I’m anxiously waiting for them to come!

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The first thing I did was to cut some 80# Neenah Solar White cardstock into two 5 1/2″ x 4/1/2″ pieces. I used one piece to stamp all of my flowers and leaves in my Misti Stamping Platform. Fortunately, the Layering Guides that come with Altenew stamp sets make the layering process pretty easy. In addition, I learned many more tips and suggestions in both the All About Layering 1 & 2 courses, so it made the stamping even more simple! When I finished stamping, I die cut all of the individual pieces.

I used the second piece of white cardstock as the main section of my card panel. I wanted to give the front of the card some additional texture, so I dry embossed it with the Altenew Elegant Swirls stencil. Did you know that you can dry emboss with your stencils? It is so easy, and it greatly expands your different embossing patterns besides whatever folders you may have. After embossing, I cut it down to a 5 1/4″ x 4″ panel. Check out the embossed pattern close-up here….

The stencil I used is called “Elegant Swirls,” and I think that it really adds just the perfect amount of interest behind the flowers! The white-on-white pattern doesn’t conflict with the stamped pieces, but it is definitely visible and a significant part of the design.

At this point, as I laid out the flowers on the card panel, I decided that it still needed some “oomph,” so I decided to add a 3/4″ strip of some pink striped patterned paper that I had in my stash on the left side of the front panel. It made all the difference in the world! Just what the card needed! I had to cut the white panel one more time to adjust for the new addition.

The next step was to choose a sentiment, and I decided to go with the “Thinking of you” that is included in the stamp set. I first used my powder tool on some black cardstock, and then stamped the sentiment with clear sticky embossing ink. Then I heat embossed it with WOW Ultra Fine White embossing powder, and die cut a banner shape.

Finally I assembled the card by gluing the striped pattern paper strip and the white embossed cardstock to an A2 black card base (5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″). Next I glued the flower and leaves pieces to the card, using white glue on some and propping others up with foam tape. Then I used foam tape to elevate the sentiment and give the card some added dimension. Finally I added a few iridescent sequins to finish the card completely.

I love the way this card turned out! I always love pink and black together. Mixed with the stark white, the end result looks so crisp and clean! I am looking forward to working with more of the Altenew inks and the Build-a-Flower sets as I begin to get them delivered monthly. I hope you will give this one a try!

Until the next card…. Sande