Start on Sunday
When you are starting to work on developing a new habit, do you prefer to start on a Sunday or a Monday? I prefer to start on a Monday. A few weeks ago on a Monday I started to get back out for a walk first thing in the morning to get some early morning sunlight which helps to reset your circadean rhythm which helps sleep. And I’m so glad I did. Last Monday I restarted doing svelte training’s One&Done 10-12 minute workouts. And I’m so glad I did. I have quite a list of habits that I’m planning to re-introduce into my daily routine. Tomorrow I’m considering adding a daily 2k run but that may be a step to far. I know I have loved having a regular running habit in the past, but I haven’t been doing very much running at all lately so that may not be the wisest choice for next week’s ‘tweak a week’. I heard that expression about a few years ago and do like the idea of trying to make one small change each week.
But this post is called Start on Sunday, not Start on Monday. Why is that? Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m doing the 100 day project again this year. The 100dayproject community leader picks a different start date each year. This year’s start date is today. And so, my theme for today is Start on Sunday.
Last year I crocheted 3 baby afghans during the 100 days. This year, I’ll be working my way through the Altenew Educator Certification Program. I’ll share some more details about that program in another post. But essentially, I’ll be watching a 10-20 minute cardmaking lesson, then making a card incorporating something that I’ve learned from that class then writing a short post about the process. I expect that some days I may watch more than one lesson and some days I’ll watch less than one lesson. Some days I’ll create more than one card and some days I’ll created less than one card. Some days I’ll create more than one blog and/or Instagram post and some days I’ll create less than one post. But each day I’ll try to spend a bit of time on my 100 day project. I expect that it may take me more than 100 days to create and post about 100 cards.
AECP Card 1 | Spellbinders Door 4 | Hello Friend
I must admit that I sort of started my Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) back on 3 January. That is when I made this card based on the first module in the All About Layering 3 class. Before I launched into making this card, I first experimented with the Primrose layered stamp set in the journal that I am using to try out my Altenew products. I’m planning to stamp each stamp set so that I’ll have a consolidated quick reference of the Altenew images, sentiments, inks and colouring mediums that I have on hand. I think this will help me a lot as I work my way through the AECP program classes. You can see that this stamp set has outline as well as layering stamps. The class was using a stamp set that just had layering stamps without an outline image, so when I made my card I didn’t use the outline stamp.
Some of the things that I learned when experimenting in my journal
- It is best to condition your stamp before using it for the first time; that will help the ink to better adhere to the stamp and you’ll get a better stamped image. You can do this by using an eraser, or rubbing it against your skin. I’ve also heard that stamping with versamark then cleaning off before using with a die based ink works for conditioning.
- The cardstock or paper onto which you’re stamping makes a difference.
- Having the colour names on the bottom of the ink pad helps when you’re putting the lids back onto your ink pads. I’ll talk about this more later when I talk about how I store my inks and reinkers.
- I found that the ink can tend to bead more on the surface of your stamp if you leave it there for a long time before stamping, which affects how the stamped image looks. Using a stamp positioner so that you can stamp your image a few times would minimize this effect.
- Putting a line on the wrong side of the various layers of a flower stamp can help you align the images. Of course, using the layering guide and watching the Altenew videos that are available for their stamp sets will also help you learn to align the different stamp layers.
- The exclamation point in this stamp set doesn’t stay stuck that well back onto the acetate, so I’ve put it into some foil to hopefully prevent me from losing it. I’ll come up with a better alternative for storing tiny stamps in the future.
- It seems easier to line up the layers when you’ve used an outline layer first. So, if there is an outline layer available, practice with it first even though you may not be using the outline layer on your card project.
- The light ink colours don’t ‘stamp off’ or do that well with ‘multi-generation’ stamping but that is an option to get ‘different’ colours of ink for the various layers. But I found it easiest to just use the different ink colours that come in the 4 ink sets. They are packaged like that for a reason: they make it very easy to create beautiful multi-layered stamped flowers.
To make the frame, I embossed a 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ piece of white cardstock using the deck planks embossing folder. Then I cut apart each plank. I adhered the 4 edges of the frame in the centre only onto the card front. Then I mitred the corners and adhered the rest of the frame to the card front. In the future I might try making the frame from coloured cardstock or ink blending the planks. But I was trying to mimic the design of the card in class which had a white leafy frame. I have added that versatile leaf frame coverplate die to my wishlist.
main products:
Have a Sweet Day (Spellbinders Advent Calendar Door 19)
Overall I am fairly pleased with how this card came out. I had been wanting to try mounting the chocolate bar onto a lighter coloured background – I think the ‘Have a Sweet Day’ stamp set made it a bit last jarring than it would have been to have had a plain kraft background. I could have been a bit more careful stamping the sentiment on the background – but it’s good enough. I had overinked my stamping spot so I smudged a few spots and had some inconsistent darkness to some of the words. I do like the sentiment mounted onto the bigger brown rectangle; it would have been nicer to have had that brown rectangle being 3 squares of the chocolate bar embossing folder. I had made the brown of the chocolate bar and the brown rectangle by ink blending Dusty Rose and/or Toasted Mauve ink. I think that gave a bit nicer texture / dimension than when I had embossed the chocolate bar out of brown cardstock. I think my flower clusters worked out okay. I like how there are three on the bottom right and two on the top left. I may add in some glitter pen, glossy accents or enamel dots into the centres of the flowers. Perhaps it would have been better to have placed the sentiment a bit more to the left so that it wasn’t covering a flower centre. It might be interesting to see how it would have looked if I had used white rather than kraft cardstock for the background and the sentiment strip. I also think that a scripty larger die cut sentiment might have been nice instead of the smaller text of the Have a Sweet Day sentiment strip. I had tried to clear emboss the sentiment onto a kraft cardstock strip which I then ink blend with the brown ink, but I didn’t like how that had turned out. I had also tried an ink blended (rather than repeating sentiment stamped) the card front. But I had used a lighter weight cardstock that wasn’t really suitable for a card base. And then when I opened door 19 to find the sentiment stamps, I thought it would be more interesting to use it on the background layer rather than having a solid ink blended brown background layer. I think the lighter weight cardstock of the embossed chocolate bar and the heavier weight cardstock of the sentiment strip have taken the ink blending a bit differently, but the colour may be slightly different because I used a different colour of brown ink that I thought I had – it would have been better to have done them both at the same time and with the same cardstock.
main products: Spellbinders Advent Calendar door 19 – Have a Sweet Day sentiment; Altenew Chocolate Flowers Craft Your Life kit – chocolate bar embossing folder; Altenew Primrose Build a Flower Primrose stamp set and die; Altenew Woodland Escape 4 Ink set – Dusty Rose and Toasted Mauve, Altenew Sweet Dreams 4 ink set, Altenew Green Valley 4 Ink set
Creative Treats 