Let It Shine

I loved making this card! In the Altenew Educator class, we learned about making our cards shine! Whether using glitter, foil, heat embossing, or glitter pens. It was a fun challenge to step up our stamping to make our cards shine. For this project, I chose to use the Altenew Build-A-Flower Begonia Layering Stamp and Die Set.

To create the begonias, I stamped the outlines using the Altenew Build-A-Flower Begonia Stamp set. Normally, my go to color for flowers is pink, but I wanted to spruce it up to give it a different look. Some beautiful examples I saw when searching for live begonias, the orange stood out to me the most. To imitate this beautiful sorbet appearance, I chose all Altenew Crisp Dye Inks. For the outline of the begonia, I used Altenew Firebrick color. For the large, light solid fill, I used Altenew Sunkissed to give a great peachy tone. For the next layer, I used Altenew Orange Cream. This gave the layers depth. To complete the last layer, I used Altenew Autumn Blaze.

Next, I needed to create the leaves. From this same Altenew Build-A-Flower Begonia Stamp set, I used the leaf outline and stamped it four times using Altenew Evergreen Ink. For the lightest layer, I stamped the solid leaf fill using Altenew Frayed Leaf. Then, I stamped the next layer using Altenew Forest Glades. Using a stamp positioning tool helps make aligning the stamps so much quicker and easier!

After stamping the flowers and the leaves, I die cut the stamped images using the Altenew Build-A-Flower Begonia Die Set. I love how this die set leaves a really thin excess around the flower and leaves. Once I die cut the images, I set those aside to start building my card.

Next, I created a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card base using a heavyweight 130lb. white cardstock I purchased from Amazon. I love this super thick paper. It makes the cards feel elegant and sturdy. Then, I scored the card base at 4 1/4″ and folded it using the boning knife. After that, I cut a 1″ strip of black cardstock. On the left side of the cardstock, I put a strip of double-sided permanent tape. Then, I poured the gold glitter along that strip of double-sided tape in order to create a glitter paper look without having to use the glitter paper. I learned this trick from the Altenew Educator Class as a way to use up glitter. I loved the outcome of it! I will definitely start using this trick a lot! I took a paintbrush to brush away any stray glitter and clipped any excess off the strip.

After that, I stamped the “Thank You” stamp from the Altenew Begonia Stamp set. I went over the thank you stamp using a black glaze pen I bought off Amazon. Then, I glued the black strip with the glitter to the left of the card base leaving a small edge of the white cardstock.

Before putting the flowers and leaves on the card, I stamped these using the outline stamp, and a glue ink. Then, I added the glitter and set aside to dry.

Once the flowers and leaves dried, I wanted to figure out the best layout to place these on the card. I placed these in a cluster on the top left of the card and then added dimensional foam dots. I glued the leaves down under the popped up flowers. Once setting the last leaf, I thought the card looked complete. I could have added a few gemstones or other embellishments, but I thought it was sparkly enough with all the glitter. I loved how this card turned out! Let me know what you think in the comments below!