This is a challenge for Altenew's Educator Certification for Level 2. To get to this level I've taken and passed 10 different courses that highlight different techniques for using Altenew's products. This challenge was to create four masculine cards and to re-pupose something using elements from at least three of the classes at Altenew Academy that I have completed.
The three classes that I have chosen were entitled Let It Shine, Die Cutting, and Embossing, although other techniques from other classes have certainly been used also.
Part 1
The four cards that I have chosen to make are slimline cards that will fit in a number 10 envelope and each opens differently. This is my first attempt at this card size and in some ways you have a little more room but you have to think of your stamps and dies a little differently. None of the products I used were specifically made for slimline cards, but this shows that most stamps and dies can be adapted for this application.
This first card is made with Altenew' SOHCAHTOA stamp set and the Halftone Happy stamp and die set.
The SOHCAHTOA set is perfect for masculine cards with the graphic triangles and the simple fonts and can be used in so many different ways. I chose to line them up across the length of the card.
To make this card I used a piece of white cardstock cut to 7.5" x 8.75" and folded in half along the long side. I used Altenew's Permanent Black and Silver Stone ink to stamp the solid and open triangles on a piece of white cardstock that was 2" x 8.75" and then stamped over the black solid triangles with Versamark ink and added Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder and heat set. For the solid triangles stamped in Silver Stone I added silver embossing powder and heat set.
Here are the three main pieces of the card, the black cardstock base that is 4" x 9", the folded white card base, and the black strip with the stamped strip attached.
The black cardstock that is 3" x 8.75"and I slid the Versamark pad lightly across both long edges of this and added the Rose Gold embossing powder and heat set. This black strip was affixed to the card base and the stamped and embossed white strip was centered over it as shown.
I die cut the "happy" from black cardstock twice and once from white
cardstock and layered them together with the white on the bottom and the
two black ones on top. I affixed this to the card front and added
Glossy Accents over the die cut for shine.
The "anniversary" was embossed with the Rose Gold embossing powder and added to the card with two pieces of black cardstock behind it to make it pop up slightly.
Finally, the white card base that was assembled was affixed to the piece of black cardstock that was cut to 4" x 9" and this is the finished card:
The second card uses Altenew's Plaid cover dies, and even though they are meant for an A2 (4.25" x 5.5") you can make them work for a slimline, as you will see. First here is the finished card and then I will explain how it was made:
As you can see, this card opens differently and the leaves make it a type of gate-fold card. (The base was white and does not show well in the photo!) Here is what it looks like closed:
First I used an embossing mat with my die cutting machine and Altenew's Plaid cover die A and made an impression on two pieces of black cardstock. The cardstock was cut to 4.25" x 5.5" to fit the die. The advantage of this is that you can get the impression and see the details without the added bulk.
I also cut two pieces of metallic bronze cardstock with Altenew's Plaid cover die B:
I glued the bronze pieces over the black pieces, even though both needed to be trimmed as they would be too long for the length of the card.
I trimmed them both to 4" x 4.5":
Both needed 1/8" cut from both long edges and the one that was going on the left flap of the card was cut on the right-short side and the one that was going on the right flap of the card was cut on the left edge. This keeps the A cover die the same on both of the folded edges of the card.
To make the card base I used white cardstock, one piece cut to 4" x 9" and two others cut to 4" x 5". The two smaller ones were both scored 1" from one 4" edge to make a flap that would be glued to the back of the long piece. A tip is to snip a bit of cardstock off the edges of the flaps so they don't show from the front of the card.
Once the above trimmed card front sections were clued to the front of each flap I added a 4" x 1" piece of metalic bronze cardstock to the edge of the left flap.
To make the leaf decorations on the left flap I used Altenew's Grape Leaves die set to cut the solid images from metallic copper cardstock and then the detail of the veins from the metallic bronze cardstock.
Again, I used Altenew's Halftone Happy die and stamp set for the greetings. I cut the "happy" from one layer of metallic gold cardstock and one layer of metallic copper cardstock, glued them together and added to the front. The other sentiments were embossed with gold embossing powder on black cardstock and added to a small piece of metallic copper cardstock. I added foam tape to the back to add dimension to both of them.
The card base is a piece of metallic copper cardstock cut to 4" x 9" and the card is a piece of kraft cardstock cut to 7" x 8.75", and folded in half so that it is 3.5" x 8.75".
This is the only vertical slimline in the set and I just love the options this Leaf Mix set gives.
I cut some of the solid leaf shapes from the metallic bronze cardstock and some from the metallic copper cardstock. I cut the detailed dies from the same but mixed them up so that a copper was glued on top of a bronze and a bronze was glued on top of a copper.
Again, the cover die cut needed to be adjusted to fit the front, but it's not difficult! I cut two of the Plaid cover die B from black cardstock and cut just the short edge off one of them. Then I positioned them on the front of the kraft card front to line them up to make a continuous plaid design across the front of the card.
As you can see, some of the die hangs over the edge of the card, but will be trimmed off.
Once I was happy with the positon of the die cuts, I glued them down and trimmed off the excess.
Then I affixed the card to the metallic copper cardstock.
I added a thin piece of copper metallic cord over the card front and positioned the leaves cascading down along the cord. I stamped the verse from Altenew's Best Sentiments stamp set with Altenew's Permanent Black ink onto a piece of kraft cardstock and mounted it onto a small piece of the copper cardstock and added it to the front with foam tape.
Here's the final card:
For the final slimline card, I guess I had enough of black, after all, men like color too! Again, I used Altenew's Grape Leaves stamp and die set, and Altenew's Simple Hello die. I also used Altenew's Plaid cover die B differently for this card, and I hope you see how versatile these dies are!
For the card I used a piece of Olive cardstock cut to 4" x 9" and a piece of vanilla cardstock that was cut to 7" x 8.5". Both of the 8.75" edged of the vanilla cardstock were scored 1.75" from the edge to make a center-opening gate fold.
I stamped the outline of 3 grape leaves with Versamark and embossed them with gold embossing powder. Then I used Altenew's Caramel Toffee, Autumn Blaze, and Olive ink with small applicator to sponge in the colors so the leaves would have a fall look.
Once they were colored in, I used the matching dies to cut them out.
To add interest to the front of the card, I cut Altenew's Plaid cover die B from cardstock and used it as a stencil to add color to the front of the card. Folding both of the flaps down and adding a little low-tack tape to hold them down, I applied Distress Oxide ink in Brushed Corduroy over the front, repositioning the "stencil" so that it lined up and inking the other side.
Once I was happy with the added color,the piece was glued to the center of the olive cardstock and I added a gold cord, curling like grape tendrils across the top section of the card and added the leaves, using foam tape on two and gluing one flat to the card. The gold cord does hang down on the lower flap, but it is not glued down. When doing this and having them hang over the edge, be careful to only add glue or foam tape to the part of the leaf that will be overlap the top fold of the card so you don't inadvertently glue the card shut.
Gold cardstock was used to cut the hello and only the top of the letters were glued to the bottom edge of the top flap. I stamped the "how are you?" with Altenew's Permanent Black ink on a piece of olive cardstock and added it to the bottom flap as shown.
I hope you found some inspiration for using dies in different ways, adding shine to your cards not only with embossing powder, but with metallic cardstock and metallic cording and learned that you can use the materials you might already have for different types of cards.
Part 2
Now, the repurposed project part of this challenge is the one that took longer for me than the cards and I really struggled with this as I bounced many ideas around. Many years ago my mother handed me four quilt tops that my grandmother made. Both my mother and grandmother have been gone for years so I really wanted to finish these. Three of these were hand stitched and the fabrics were worn and very fragile. One I took to a professional quilter and gave it to one of my brothers, I quilted two of them, one for me and one for my other brother. The last of the bunch was a silk necktie quilt that my grandmother made out of my grandfather's ties. Old silk ties don't keep well. And this photo will show you what this quilt top looked like when I recently pulled it out of storage:
Although this quilt top was rather large, I had to cut it down to 23" x 46". The process I am sharing in a video as the project took so long and I wanted you to see the entire process.
I used Altenew's Grape Leaves stamps and die set and although I forgot to mention in the video what I stamped the leaves with, they were stamped with Altenew's Permanent Black ink. This is the final result:
The process that I used for the above quilted wall hanging and close up shots of the stitching I've included in this short video.
