AECP: Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

02/07/2021

Hi Everyone!
Today’s card is my project submission for the “Clean and Simple Boutique Cards” class as part of the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP).

The class taught several techniques for taking simple cards and elevating them in a way that makes them perfect if you were selling them in a boutique. With so many great techniques to choose from, I had a hard time deciding which one to use for my project.

I decided to focus on elevating the background of my cards by embossing it with clear embossing powder and adding a sophisticated texture and shine to the card. You can see the embossed background in the close-up photo below.

I used the Altenew Frosted Garden stamp set for this card, which contains several floral images with leaves and stems. Having just finished up the All About Layering classes, I had to stop and think about how best to stamp with this set since this is not a layering stamp set.

I started by laying out the stamps I wanted to use on my Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock in my MISTI. Since the flowers and leaves are all together, I decided to use my Altenew Mini Ink Cubes to apply the ink to these stamps. The small size of the mini ink cubes allowed me to put the pinks on the flowers and the greens on the leaves/stems without (much) overlap.

First, I stamped the pink flowers using Pink Diamond and then I stamped the leaves using Frayed Leaf. Once those colors were put down, I used a technique called “thumping” to add Pinkalicious and Forest Garden. Thumping just means that I took the ink pad and touched the stamp here-and-there. Doing this added a few darker areas and made the flowers seem less “flat”.

I decided to add just a bit more color to the flowers and used Rubillite and a watercolor brush to give some of the petals a bit of purplish-pink variation.

Once satisfied with the stamped flowers and leaves, I stamped over the top of the whole panel with the large Thank You Background stamp from Simon Says Stamp using Versamark ink. I then heat embossed the Thank You Background using clear embossing powder.

I cut the panel using my favorite Nested Essentials Stitched Rectangles die from Maker’s Movement and mounted it to my card front.

For the sentiment, I stamped the “Sweet Friend” sentiment from the Frosted Garden set using Gina K Obsidian Amalgam ink on a piece of white cardstock and then cut it with the same Stitched Rectangles die to make sure that there was stitching on the edges.

I die cut the Altenew Fancy Thanks die three times from black cardstock and glued them together to make the sentiment thicker and add dimension.

I arranged the “Sweet Friend” sentiment where I wanted it on the card front and then adhered the “Thanks” die cut on top.

I absolutely love how the clear embossing over the top of the floral panel adds a bit of sophistication to this card. It’s subtle but it really does elevate this card to “boutique” status.

I hope you like this card as much as I do!

All the best,

      jd

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2 Comments

  1. Erum Tasneem

    This is fabulous!! So clever!!
    Thank you for submitting your wonderful work to the AECP assignment gallery.

    • Jean

      Thank you! I had so much fun with this card! The classes have been wonderful!

jean

designer & content creator

I fell in love with card-making many years ago and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. I love trying out new techniques and finding the perfect color combination for whatever I’m creating.

By nature, I am an uber-organizer and a steadfast planner, but as you’ll see, my creations are much more fluid. And while I love color theory, the concept of lights and shadows, and the importance of depth and perspective – these are not things I worry about when it comes to my creations.

I simply find joy in creating and delight in sharing.

I hope that by sharing my cards and other art with you here on my blog I can inspire you to create something you love!

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