Hello! Thank you for stopping by my blog. It has been a little while since I last posted anything. Life has been busy! I’m back, though, with this sweet and simple card. I passed all of my Altenew Level 2 challenges and have moved up to Level 3 Altenew Educator Certification program. Woohoo! The card I am featuring today is created from tips and techniques using a variety of layering flower stamps.
These layering flower stamps are quite nifty in that you are able to create a realistic looking flower with ink and stamps. Altenew definitely has some of the best layering stamps to create realistic flowers. If you have yet to try them, please try! These layering flowers are some of my favorite go-to stamps for quick and simple cards.
Let’s get into how I made this card. First, I cut a top-folding A2 (4.25 by 5.5 inches) using 130lb. heavyweight cardstock. Then, using the Altenew Ethereal Beauty Stamp set, I began creating the flowers.
- Stamp the solid flower layer in Altenew Amethyst ink.
- Stamp the second layering layer in Altenew Grape Agate ink.
- Stamp the center of the flower with a golden yellow ink. I used Gina K, but any other ink would work as well.
- Stamp the darkest portion of the center in Altenew Red Jasper ink.
- Stamp the solid leaf layer in Altenew Minty Mint ink.
- Stamp the second leaf layer in Altenew Sweet Leaf ink.
This was the first time I used Minty Mint and Sweet Leaf inks for my flowers. It gave the card a more playful feel, but for more realistic leaves, I would use Altenew Forest Glades and Altenew Frayed Leaf.
After stamping the flowers, I fussy cut these out. I believe Altenew has a coordinating Ethereal Beauty Die set, but I had received the flower stamps as a gift, so I did not have the die set on hand. Once cut, I set the flowers and leaves to the side and began working on the background.
On one panel of the cut A2 card, scored at 5.5 inches, I placed the Altenew Patchwork Kite Stencil on top of it. I taped it down so that my card would not move while inking the background. So that I could coordinate the background with the flower, I took Altenew Red Jasper ink and a blending brush and began blending ink on my mat before going over my card. I made sure to put a long piece of purple low-tack tape on the scored line and onto the back portion of the card so that ink would not get on that side.
A tip when ink blending and using stencils is to first blend the ink on scrap paper to the side before blending it on the card. This will limit the harsh lines. I decided to do a gradient effect with the darker portion of color at the top and fade as it went down the card.
After finishing the ink blended card base, I set it to the side to dry. On a small scrap piece of white cardstock, I stamped “thinking of you” in Versamark Ink. This stamp comes from the Altenew Thinking of You stamp set. Then I poured black embossing powder over it and heat set it. I accidentally forgot to rub it lightly with my anti-static powder before stamping in the Versamark Ink, but it still turned out ok to use on the card. To tie in the sentiment with the flowers and the stenciled background, I added a glittery copper washi tape to the bottom of the sentiment. Finally, I rounded the corners and created a fish-tail banner on the sentiment.
I played around with the positioning of the flowers for a small bit, trying to make sure the stenciled background would show the gradient effect. I glued the left and right flower onto the card. For the center flower, I popped it up with foam tape. Then I popped up the sentiment piece with foam tape. To finish the card, I added a few small Altenew Rock Collection gray enamel dots over the card. It was a nice, simple card. Let me know what you think in the comments. Also, what are some ways you have used the Altenew Ethereal Beauty stamp? I’d love to learn from you too!
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