AECP Level 1 final – Masculine Cards

Finally finished my Masculine card set. Just like for the feminine cards the first thing I did was choose a color scheme. For this set I chose blues and browns. The next thing was to choose the techniques I was going to use for these cards. I chose 1) ink-blending, 2) using stencils, 3) graphic elements, and 4) also did some scene building. For the first card I was thinking of graphic elements and wanted to use circles, so I got out my circle die cuts and started playing around.

At first I thought I’d put several overlapping circles on the card and tried that layout. Then I thought I’d cut rings out and put them on the card. But when I looked at the half ring on the background in the last photo, I thought of an arch and that’s what I decided to go with. I embossed the paper left over from cutting out the arch, seen in the second to last photo, with an embossing folder and glued that down to the top of my landscape card. The next thing I did was ink blend the blue and brown onto the arch itself. I left the top of the arch white to mimic light shinning on it.

With the technique of using graphic elements I thought I’d use the Pinstripe Stamp Set to add some stripes to my half circle. Then on top of the stripes I stamped Happy Birthday.

The stripes were stamped in the same blue that’s on the arch and the words were stamped in black and then embossed for a little texture to help them show off better on the striped background. Using my MISTI I first stamped the black ink then the Versamark ink for the embossing. However, my paper shifted slightly and the Versamark stamped off slightly, but that didn’t bother me because it just made the word Happy look like it had a shadow. I re-shifted the paper back and stamped again in the correct spot and then heat embossed using clear embossing powder. Because this was going to be a birthday card, I decided it needed balloons. So, I stamped balloons in black ink and blended them with the same brown and blue inks that was on the arch.

Finally I pressed each balloon on to the Versamark pad and embossed them with Altenew’s Translucent Pearl embossing powder. This made the balloons shiny and sparkly. I stamped the balloon strings and die cut them out and placed them under the arch on the card.

I taped them into place before I glued down the arch. I then glued the pinstripe semi-circle under the arch to finish the card.

For my next card, I purchased the Mountain Scene stencil. I wanted my background to have some texture so I decided to stencil using Altenew’s crisp die inks onto watercolor paper. Then, my idea was to add water and maybe some watercolor paint for that texture. However, that didn’t work out the way I wanted. The ink colors separated and I got a greenish fringe around the mountains and I didn’t like the way the trees and water looked either.

So then, I decided I would outline the stencil in pencil and paint it in with Altenew’s watercolor paints. This turned out much better and I could achieve the texture I was looking for.

I originally painted the mountains in grey, but went back over them in brown to stick to my color scheme. I decided not to add a sentiment to the front of this card. I added brown cardstock under the scene to add a frame and mounted it on a card base.

The next card was also a happy birthday card. This time I used another new stencil, the Square Weave Pattern. I wanted it to have a blue highlight in the center. So, I got out my Ocean Waves ink cube and blended a nice rich blue in the center.

After I did that, I decided to also blend the brown around the edges. When I blended with my brushes, I brushed from only one direction which gave a shadowed, dimensional look to the blending. I then die cut Happy Birthday 3 times out of white cardstock and glued them together. Before gluing, I colored the top Happy Birthday with the same brown ink. I also mounted the card on brown cardstock before adding to my card base to give a cohesive look to my cards.

The next card used the same stencil, but this time I used embossing paste and colored it with the brown ink. The embossing paste gave a more grungy look to the card which I thought had a masculine feel.

I wanted to use those circles again and thought the Ice Cream stamp would be perfect inside a circle. First, I stamped the ice cream stamp with the blue and bordered it with brown, but it was too light and I didn’t like it. You can see it in the first photo above. Then I stamped it in brown and bordered it with blue. To do that, I kept the circle in the die cut while I carefully ink blended blue with a brush just around the edge of the circle. I also cut 2 different sized rings to use on the card. Once die cut, I put the ring back into the negative space and was better able to blend the ink onto the ring. See the second photo above. To create the semi-circle sentiment under the ice cream, I gently curved the stamp and stuck it to my MISTI.

My last card was my sister’s suggestion. She thought I should use the Mountain Stencil for just the trees. First, I ink blended the sky about a third of the way down the paper. Then, I did the trees starting with a lighter shade of brown for the trees in the background working toward the front with darker brown. This gave the illusion that the trees in the back were further away. I wanted that circle again to put my “Hello” sentiment in. This time, I decided to put a yellow tinge on the circle to mimic the sun. Again, I kept the circle in the die cut while I carefully inked the yellow around the edge. Because I kept it in the die cut while inking, the very edge of the circle stayed white. I made another ring and colored that with the brown to give the “sun” a little more definition.

Just like the other cards, I mounted it on brown before I put it on a white card base.

Here is the Masculine set of cards.

After all cards are made, we are to package them, possibly with recycled material. This is how I usually package and send my cards.

I purchased these lovely clear boxes and they came with the gold braid to go around the package. However, that is not recycled. So, I looked around the house to see what I could find.

I recently picked up a set of spices from Penzeys Spices. They have a store about 45 minutes from me. I could have had the spices shipped, but they also have curbside pickup and it gave me an excuse to get out for a drive. They came in this lovely box, and the cards with envelopes fit so nicely inside. I decided to use this box, but I just couldn’t cover up the Choose Love on the outside, so I decided to decorate the inside, just a little.

I found some red cardstock that matched the outside of the box and decided to line the inside of the box with it.

I stamped random sentiments including “For You” in the center of the back panel. Then I wrapped the cards with a gold braid. I have just the person to give these cards to.

3 Comments

  1. Erum Tasneem

    March 5, 2021 at 11:25 am

    Look at those colours! The cards look fab! It would have been nice had you matched the box with the cards, that is how we like to see the packaging as it ties up the “whole package” 🙂
    Thank you for submitting your work to the AECP assignment gallery

  2. Andreja Majhen

    February 25, 2021 at 6:10 am

    Fantastic masculine cards! Congratulations!

    1. Laurie Patterson

      February 25, 2021 at 1:04 pm

      Thanks.

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