In The Mood For Color

 

A Thinking of You Card

Have you wanted to send a card to someone to let them know you are thinking of them. Maybe someone is going through a difficult time or maybe even an exciting time like a new job or new home. This card may be just what you need. The basics of the card can stay the same, but changing the flowers into roses, daisies, lilies, or leave it cheerful like these plumerias, can set the tone of the card.

This card was designed as part of my card making journey and I am excited to announce my participation in Altenew's Educator Certification Program (AECP)! Over the years, I've learned techniques, have lots of products, and watched a lot of YouTube videos, but I decided to further learn each technique, one by one, to advance my creativity. The AECP program consists of three levels and each level has classes that I will need to submit projects based on what I've learned.

I began the program in Level 1 and my first lesson was the class "All About Layering 3". Plumerias are my favorite flower and I've had these products in my collection for awhile but I had a hard time figuring out lining each stamp correctly, and being a perfectionist, this was frustrating. Totally a user error (me)! I eventually gave up and stuck to other techniques and avoided layering stamps at all costs! Which unfortunately, left out a technique and beautiful products like Altenew's layering stamps which I longed to use for my cards.

But after working on this class, I feel so much more confident in my skills with the layering stamps and look forward to using them more often. They are actually easier than I first thought and I'm glad I was able to revisit them.

Now, on with the card...

From this class, I learned several techniques but wanted to use what really stood out for me on the card including having the flowers behind and in front of another die cut whether that be a frame or large letters like I used. I also added a little background behind the image on the card panel for added interest.

All of the products I used for this card are from Altenew:

• Playful Plumeria layering stamps and coordinating dies
• Dainty Swiss Dots Stamp Set (for the light gray background and sentiment)
• Bold Alphabet Dies

Using a white A2 card panel, I lightly stamped gray ink on the dainty swiss dots background stamp. I started in the center of the stamp and inked a little further out towards the edges but not all the way to the edge. I didn't want the dots to cover the whole panel. I then trimmed a little off each side so I can layer a piece of black cardstock underneath the panel to give it a nice frame before adding it to the card base.

Next came the plumeria flowers and leaves which are the layering stamps. I picked out three color families, yellow, orange and red inks for the flowers and shades of green for the leaves. I started with the lightest color for the first layer, a medium color for the second layer, a darker color for the third layer and then the darkest color for the final layer. I then die cut all of them out.

I decided to use the word 'hello' for the card using the bold alphabet dies first on black card stock and then again twice more with white card stock. I then glued each of the letters together with the black layer on top.

(Helpful Hint: These letters are individual letters and are not connected. So what's the best way to get all of them lined up to look even and not wonky? Take a lined piece of paper, or in my case I have a quilters cutting matt on my desk that I work on that has grid lines, but any grid lined paper would do. Using those lines, I carefully line up each letter, making sure that it's right up to the bottom line and also make sure that the space between each letter is even. I will then take low tack tape such as PostIt tape, Washi tape, or Glad's Press 'n Seal and carefully lay it on top of the letters but as I do, I make sure that they don't move but if they do I can adjust the letters as I lay the tape down. I then doublecheck to make sure they are all still lined up straight and evenly spaced. Once I see that they are and since they are now attached with the tape, I can now pick up the whole group of letters by first lifting off one side of the tape then the other side. Now all I have to do is flip them over, lay some glue on back of them, and then bring them to the card panel. Once I see where I want them placed on the card panel, I lay the group down and let the glue dry for a bit before I remove the low tack tape.)

Now that I had everything ready to go, I am ready to complete the card.

Here you can see the light gray dotted background and how it doesn't cover the whole panel.

Next, I added the red plumeria and some leaves underneath the letter 'h' by gently lifting the letter up a little and tucking them under. Now I needed to add the sentiment. I put the card panel into my stamp positioner and then laid the other two plumerias and leaves on the card without any adhesive. This enabled me to see where I can add the sentiment so it's evenly placed between them. I laid the stamp where I wanted, picked up the stamp with the stamp positioner, removed the plumerias and leaves and then stamped the sentiment in black ink.

Next, I need to add the rest of the plumerias and leaves. I added foam tape behind parts of the orange and the yellow plumerias and a couple leaves for added support since they are hanging off the letters. I used liquid glue onto the other parts of the flowers and leaves that lay directly onto the letters so that everything will be glued down.

Here's a view of how the plumerias and leaves have the added foam under them for support.

I just love this card and know the perfect person to send it to. I'm so excited to continue my crafting journey with Altenew's program so stay tuned for more inspiration!

I hope you enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it!