A Deena Card

So I am attempting my final challenge for level one of the Altenew Academy Educator Certification Program. It was a super fun challenge and I ended up making 14 cards (7 masculine and 7 feminine). I hope you stick around to the end of this post as it is a LONG one...you might want to grab a drink first.

So first was to determine what I wanted to do for the challenge. I needed to make several male and female cards that looked cohesive as a group but were not just replica cards...that part for me is easy as I usually do different cards verses mass producing anyway. I saw this colour palette while scrolling through the internet and I loved the colours in it so decided that is where I would start for the challenge.

I pulled my papers and some embellishments to get started and challenged myself to use only what I pulled out in advance. I felt these colours were more of a masculine feel to them which is where I needed to go anyway so that worked. I also decided to give myself an extra challenge and try to make my feminine cards with these masculine colours as well just to add to complexity in my brain.

My next step in preparation for a weekend of card making was to quickly design some general sketches I may want to follow. Nothing specific and no measurements, just a loosely based sketch for some quick balance.

My first step for the sets was to determine a theme for my cards. The feminine card theme was easy as I chose floral and Altenew has so many perfect florals to choose from. For the masculine cards I chose the deer head from the Festive Silhouette set to try and use a Christmas set for something other than Christmas cards. Then I chose to do a diamond pattern for several cards to make the sets connect.

I was inspired by the techniques in the "For the Guys" class to use geometrics and really took hold of that for the diamond pattern in my cards. I tried to do the female cards a little lighter and airier than the heavy look of the male cards while still running with the same theme throughout the two genres.

I am also all about the glitter and bling and was so happy to take the "Let it Shine" course to see that other people celebrate it the same way as I do. I use several different metallic, shimmery and glittery card stocks and specialty papers in my cards. I made sure to cut several of the diamonds out of the glitter paper to have just subtle hints of it throughout my cards. A little goes a long way and that was one of the tips from the class.

I love how you can do nearly the same card design change it up so much that it looks like a completely different card. I actually made 4 cards with this design as I liked the look so much I accidentally did it twice without realizing until I started laying out my cards. I guess two of my sketches were so similar that I ended up making almost identical cards. I figured it would be okay as I had enough extra cards that it wouldn't affect the work that I had done. I love the look of the metallic embossing power on this deer to make it look like an embellishment rather than a stamp. Another lesson learned from the "Let it Shine" class.

I loved the all about layering classes. They really helped me perfect some of my layering techniques. I was struggling with my layering prior to taking these classes and they forced me to practice and find the line up points of the different flower stamps. I am definitely getting better results now and enjoying these layering stamps way more.

So this was my feminine set with masculine paper. I think they turned out pretty good without any pink or purple. I do love a teal flower and the peach and orange turned out well together too, in my opinion. I also liked using the pattern paper on different flower layers to make them look less harsh.

I was really pleased with the look of my masculine cards. I often struggle with masculine cards and my Altenew supplies are definitely mostly feminine. I wanted to think outside the box and not just do space or planets for my cards in this challenge. I do believe that I achieved some very masculine looking birthday cards in the end.

Here is the whole set together. From what I can tell, I think the meld together perfectly into one large set of boutique looking cards. Below are some close ups of some of the cards in the set.

The second part of this challenge was to make packaging for the cards. There was also a requirement to use something recycled in your project at some point. I chose to use my recycled item as my packaging. I had kept a couple of Ferrero Rocher containers left over from Christmas because of their size and shape. I originally thought I was going to use them for my Altenew ink cubes but then bought too many cubes and my waist line couldn't afford for me to eat more chocolates, so I found a different storage solution for those. I had two containers so I made both masculine and feminine packaging.

I had to get the labels off so I used some goo gone and a razor to scrape them off....by the way, their labels are amazingly stuck on their containers pretty permanently so this was no small task and I was regretting my decision, but I persevered.

Once I got the containers all cleaned off and dried I measured them and cut some coordinating paper to the cards to place on the bottom of the boxes.

I then placed the cards and envelopes in the box and measured the upper remaining portion to make a box frame to hold stamps etc inside so that the cards can be sent once filled out. I made the frame from coordinating paper cut into 4 strips with an angle on one side and scored in 5 even intervals so that it can be folded into a square tube. I then glued them shut and glued the angle edges to the straight edges to make the rectangle.

Next I cut out some labels and letters to put on the front of the boxes. I chose coordinating paper and some sparkly silver to bling it up and blend it all together. I lined up the letters with a ruler and covered them with some removable tape to keep them in line when I flipped them over to glue and then placed them where I thought they would fit best. I then added some sequins and some sparkly tulle to finish them off.

The final result:

Thanks for sticking through with me to the end of this challenge. I was a fun one to do and I hope that I pass with flying colours.

This week's challenge at Shopping our Stash is to imagine where you would like to go once all of the travel restrictions are lifted and Covid is a thing of the past - whether it is from vaccine, adaptation or elimination of the virus, I am all for it packing it's bags and leaving. We have been in lockdown here since October 28. Only in the last three weeks has it been allowable to have up to two designated people at our houses and store are finally open to 25% capacity. Some restaurants are open but you can only go with family in the same household so lots decided not to open until you can sit with other people because they know most people are sick of only being with their household members so what is the point? lol. I chose to do my card for somewhere tropical that is warm and sunny...not here. Somewhere with no snow and beautiful blooming flowers...possibly Hawaii...maybe Fiji or Tahiti...any one will do at this point. Play along with us, will you?