Month: February 2025

Start on Sunday | 100DayProject Day 1 | Card 1 | Spellbinders Door 4

There were so many ducks in the pond this morning!

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

AECP Card 1| Spellbinders Door 4

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.

You can see why I love that leafy frame coverplate. It’s particularly gorgeous with a vellum layer in behind.

main products:

https://altenew.com/products/all-about-layering-3
https://altenew.com/products/deck-planks-3d-embossing-folder
https://altenew.com/products/enchanted-garden-fresh-dye-ink-mini-cube-re-inker-bundle
https://altenew.com/products/green-valley-fresh-dye-ink-mini-cube-re-inker-bundle
https://spellbinderspaperarts.com/en-ca/collections/2024-advent-calendars/products/2024-crafty-advent-calendar
https://altenew.com/products/all-about-layering-3

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

Saturday Skate

Today I’ll be meeting Anne and Andrea for a skate on the canal. It has been wonderful to have the canal in such excellent condition this year. And yet I’ve only managed to get out twice this year. But that’s a lot more than the zero times the last few years. It wasn’t even open 2 years ago and only for 1-2 days last year. The first time out this year was with Roland, Stef and Georgia when they were in town for mom’s Celebration of Life and had Thursday off – it was fantastic to skate mid-week on a crisp, cold day. The ice was in excellent shape and there weren’t that many skaters out. The second time skating was with Roland and Heidi one evening. It wasn’t quite so crisp but the canal was still in excellent condition. And, as usual Beavertails are the best after a skate.

Friendship Friday

Hello Friend


main products: sequins from door 18 and door 9 of Spellbinders Advent Calendar along with bee from door 6; Brutus Monroe honeycomb stencil, Stampin’ Up! Friendly Hello stamp set (flower and sentiment), ‘Altenew Dew Drops and Honey Drizzle inks, Wink of Stella glitter pen.

I must admit that when I opened door number 18 last night to find sequins my cardmaking energy rapidly dwindled. I was not feeling like making a shaker card even though I always love them once they are complete. I took some inspiration from some Sending Hugs cards that I had made a long time ago but had not sent. I used them as a model for some cards that we made last Monday at my in-person Card Crew class at the Dementia Society. I had 5 participants plus 2 caregivers and that was a really fun card design for us all to work on together. Some punches, some die cuts, some stamping, some glueing, and a nice message – who doesn’t like to send and receive hugs?

Originally I thought I might use the sequins to intersperse amongst some hearts, but in the end the You are Sweet card that I had made with that cute spellbinder bee behind door number 6 called out to me more as a starting point to use sequins on a card.

I am quite happy with how the Hello Friend card came out. I used wink of stella pen mixed directly with a few drops of Altenew inks directly from the reinker bottle to colour in the flowers. I popped up the bee with foam for a bit of dimension. I could have popped up the flowers too, and I think I would have like to have had a bigger third flower so should have stamped an extra one rather than just using the bit that I had trimmed off that was hanging over the edge of the card. I might have used a heavier weight cardstock or could have blended the honeycomb stencil onto a front panel rather than directly onto the front of the cardbase.

You are Sweet

main products: bee from door sweet die cut from Scrapbook and Cards today Sampler pack, flower stamp from a Stampin’ Up! set, honeycomb stencil, Altenew watercolour brushes to colour flower.

I like the slightly messy look of the honeycomb stencil. I might have preferred to have the stemp of the flower going off the right hand side of the card rather than randomly just ending mid-card. I like how I popped up the bee. I wish I hadn’t smuged black ink on the card front but, as Gina K says, the card is better than horrible. And that’s good enough. I really like the big sweet die-cut sentiment but wish I had taken a bit more time and stamped the ‘you are’ straigher and used my MISTI so that I could have inked it a few times to make it nice and black like the ‘sweet’.

Sending Hugs

I don’t want to emphasize that the hugs were supposed to be Valentine’s Day hugs. In hindsight a more generic hugs sentiment would have been better. In reality, it doesn’t matter that much; I can send Valentine’s Day hugs any time of the year. I think they will still be appreciated. And, I hope to actually get around to sending some of them out very soon. They have been sitting around for way too long. And it has been way too long since I’ve had a regular practice of actually sending out my cards. Hopefully I’ll have a big stack of cards to send out on an upcoming ‘Mail it Monday’.

This is a really fun card design. I like the mix of kraft and white and pink. I like the swath of mini hearts stamped across the card and the randomness of the pink and kraft hearts scattered about. I enjoyed using my Quickutz texture plates to emboss the hearts with a nice variety of textures. It is a fun and easy card to put together. Perhaps it would have been nice to include some glitter or shiny hearts and perhaps to pop some up for a bit of dimension. Using a stencil with tiny hearts along with some coloured embossing paste rather than stamping the mini hearts would have been a fun (but messy) way to have added some more dimension and texture to the card.

Friendship Friday

I got the idea for having a theme for the day from Kessonge when he was hosting Radio Headspace. For a week he opened his episode something like It’s a Marvellous Monday. It’s a Terrific Tuesday. It’s a Wonderful Wednesday. You get the idea. And I liked the idea. It kind of reminded me of wishing a colleague a good morning when you crossed paths with them at the hall in the office. Since I had then already been retired for a few years, I realized that I wasn’t having nearly as many chance encounters with people. But that I could intentionally reach out to friends to wish them a good day. And, although I wouldn’t be seeing them face to face, I could send them a photo of me as if I was wishing them a good day. Who knows, maybe it is kind of jarring for my friends to see a photo of me when they open our text thread and they’d rather just receive a few words, a couple of emojis or a gif. But, I choose to believe that they appreciate my goofy gesture. I know it always makes me smile when I receive a selfie from a friend. It’s not quite as good as seeing them in person, but it definitely helps start my day off in a fun way.

Today might have been a Fantastic Friday, a Fabulous Friday, or even another Finish it Friday. But I really felt today’s theme should be Friendship Friday. Because I’ll be seeing some friends today. One of them, Anne, is from out of town. I met her more than 30 years ago playing hockey back when she was living in Ottawa. She moved back to Oakville a few years later, but we’ve kept in touch. She makes the trip up here to Ottawa almost every winter for an annual cross country ski in Gatineau Park and a skate on the Rideau canal. To spend time doing some of her favourite actitivies with her Ottawa friends. I so appreciate her making the trip. I so appreciate her friendship. While it’s great that we text each other, and that we have some ‘walks and talks’ taking our respective dogs out for a walk and that we had quite a few Zoom calls during Covid, it is so nice to see her in person. Either when we’re down in her neck of the woods, or when she’s back up here in mine. Or when we’re somewhere else together on a hiking or kayaking adventure.

Here’s a photo from today with Anne, Andrea and Flora. And a photo from 1993 with Andrea, Anne and Laura, from back when we wondered if we’d still be skiing together when we got into our 60’s. I am so glad to report that we are. I will eventually get around to putting together a collection of photos of all of the years that we have cross country skied (and skated on the canal) together. But that’s a story and a project for another day. It’s time for me to head back over to visit with Anne and her aunt, to take advantage of the time we have to spend together in person.

Happy Thankful Thursday

We Must Celebrate

Main Product: confetti from door number 9 of the Spellbinders Advent calendar.

I made two of these shaker cards to give to two friends (Karen and Diana) a few weeks ago on the occasion of their retirement. Retirement is definitely something that we must celebrate. That sentiment came from a Stampin’ Up! set that I really like. It seemed to fit very well onto the banner die cut that had been behind door number 4. The vase was behind door number 8. This card design seems to hold the record of using products from 3 doors. Actually I just realized that the flowers on the vase came from doors number 3 and 6, so I used products from 5 doors. Maybe I’ll be able to beat that record sometime before the whole advent calendar has been opened.

I had a bit of a problem with the sequins on some of the sequins sticking to the top edge within the shaker window. I’m not quite sure what happened – but I had jostled the card before I got it properly assembled so some of the adhesive from the foam behind the card perhaps got onto some of the sequins. Or the sequins are just sticking to some of the adhesive on the foam – I have heard of a trick of running the powder from an embossing buddy along the edge of the foam to try to prevent shaker elements from sticking to the foam, but that seems a bit risky – knowing my luck I’d put too much powder down and the card wouldn’t hold together and all the shaker elements would fall out.

It may have been better to use a bit of a thicker foam since I had die cut elements rather than just stamped elements on the inside of the shaker window. The added thickness seems to cause the sequins to get wedged in place rather than to always shake freely.

But, as Gina K likes to say, it’s better than horrible.

Happy Thankful Thursday

It has been ages since I have written anything for a Thankful Thursday.

I am so thankful that I had written a Thankful Thursday email almost every week for about a month. I loved the habit of creating that email every week. In that email I had mentioned some of the things that had happened in the previous week for which I was thankful, I included a few photos and I talked about some of the things that were happening in Creative Treats Club. I posted a link to many of those emails on my blog. It’s kind of fun to go back to look at what was going on in my life at that time. You can check out some of those emails at:

I am so thankful that I had written a blog post several times a week for several years back when the children were younger. I loved the habit of taking a photo a day and sharing a bit about that photo as well as some of the things that were going on in my life at that time. I highly recommend embarking on a Photo365 project. It’s kind of fun to go back to look at what was going on in my life at that time. You can check out that blog at: I have to grant permissions for that blog – it was back before everyone was sharing almost everything on social media and I was sharing photos of my children and other people’s children so I didn’t open it up broadly.

I am so thankful that I fully participated in the 100 day project last year. I had half-heartedly tried doing the project a few times which was still a good thing, but I was very glad that I stuck with it for the full 100 days last year. I loved the habit of crocheting every day. My friend, Vanessa, had shared photos of a baby afghan that she was crocheting in the round for her each of her grandchildren. While I don’t have any grandchildren on the near horizon, our son Stefan was going to become an ‘uncle’ because his girlfriend, Georgia’s, sister Olivia was having a baby (a girl who they named Amelia). And so, I ordered some beautiful graduated yarn, enlisted the help of my friend, Ivana and learned how to crochet in the round. I was really pleased with the result. And more importantly, I loved the process. I ended up making 3 baby afghans. I was able to give one to a friend, Karen’s, daughter Anna’s baby Lennon. And, I have an extra pink one that is awaiting a baby girl to born. I tried out 3 different patterns, which I need to find again because I still have some more balls of yarn to turn into circular baby afghans. I’ll share the links here once I find the patterns. And, if you want to learn to crochet your own, let me know; I’m happy to pass along my basic knowledge. I’m so glad that my grandmother (my dad’s mom) had taught me to crochet many years ago. I made many rectangular afghans using the same (now lost) pattern. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed crocheting. I have 2 unfinished afghans from many years ago. Maybe for a future 100 day project I will dig them back out, figure out what size hook I was using and get a crafty friend to help me figure out what pattern I was using and finish them off. I do want to set up a monthly needle crafting session with friends. Let me know if you want to join that monthly session. Who knows, maybe I can make some progress on those half-finished afghans once I get that going. I’ve included an inspirational afghan photo below, as well as a photo of one of the ones I made. It was crazy how little yarn I had left after finishing the scalloped edge. I’ll save the photos of the other 2 for another blog post. I used a graduated yarn so you don’t get the effect of the separate sections, but I do want to try one of those soon – so that I can buy the Dr. Seuss book to give with the afghan.

Screenshot

The start date for this year’s 100 day project is Sunday 23 February. I can see a “Start It Sunday” post coming our way soon! I won’t be crocheting this year. I will be making greeting cards and writing blog posts. Maybe even making an occasional Instagram or Facebook post or making a YouTube video. But the main goal of this year’s 100 day project is to work my way through the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP). There are 3 levels. Each of the first 2 levels has 10 courses. Each course has 6 lessons. And I’ll be making a card after each of those lessons. That means 60 cards for level 1 and another 60 cards for level 2. I think we have to take 5 courses for the final level 3 which I think means another 30 cards. And we will be assigned a special project at the end of each level. I’m not sure how many cards / paper-crafting projects the special project will entail, but suffice it to say I won’t be finishing my AECP program during my 100 day project. But I will definitely make some progress on it. And that’s what I’m looking forward to: the process of learning and applying what I’m learning.

Way Less Wind Wednesday

I was thinking about calling it Windless Wednesday but there actually was a still a bit of wind as I went down to the lake to snowshoe. And there definitely had been wind yesterday since I had snowshoed. My tracks were once again almost completely covered with snow. A few weeks ago I had commented to a friend that it seems like there haven’t been nearly as many snowdrifts around as there were ‘back in the day’. Well, now that we have a winter with a lot of snow and wind, there has definitely been a lot of drifting snow. Be careful what you wish for.

But it was almost windless as I trudged through the snow, once again reestablishing a trail, following my barely discerable tracks from yesterday. But it was definitely easier going then yesterday. For one thing, when I managed to stay in the trail the snow was quite firm – the wind had done a good job of packing that freshly blown snow down into the trail. For another thing, I could hear the birds chirping. It was nice to have company on my morning trek, a cheering section of sorts. I’m not sure if they had been out on those other windy days and I just couldn’t hear them cheering me on, or if they had been wiser than me and had simply avoided being out on a cold and windy morning. But I was glad that they were there, and that I was paying attention to what was going on around me instead of being totally lost in my thoughts. It’s funny how much of the beauty around us we can miss when we’re lost in thought.

There was even a glimmer of sunshine when I slowed down to pay attention. It’s not yet a blue sky day, but it reminded me that the sun is always up there above the clouds. And we can choose to live each day as if it is a sunny day, because each day actually is a sunny day. And we can remember that our cheering section is nearby, whether or not we can hear their cheerful encouraging calls above the wind or not.

Just Saying Hello

Main product: Spellbinders Advent Calendar, door 10

I was pretty happy with how the card turned out. I have a few tips and ideas for what I could change.

Adhesive:

Because the flowered paper was so thin, I wanted to have adhesive behind the whole image and not just partially adhered as I might a thicker paper. I glued the thin paper directly onto the card front. The ‘spread’ end of the Tombow mono glue bottle worked very well to spread out the glue. I clean out and refill my Tombow bottles – I just remove the label to know that it is no longer the mono glue. I really like it as a dispenser with the versatility of both ends. Paint brushes and sponges are other ways to achieve a thin, even layer of glue over a complete surface. Another option would have been to adhere the flowers onto a sheet of double-sided adhesive paper before fussy cutting around them. There wouldn’t have been a need to deal with a wet adhesive with the potential mess of it as well as the tendancy that a wet adhesive can cause some wrinkles in thin paper.

I noticed that the cardstock does curl up a bit. Using double sided adhesive paper to adhere the flowers would have prevented that curl. Or it might be better to glue the flowers onto a front panel then adhere the panel onto the card base. Or to adhere the flowers with glue to a cardstock then fussy cut around them – that would give them more dimension rather than the look of the thin flowers being right against the card layer.

I may try to put the card in a heavy book for a while to flatten it out. Or to run it through my die cutting machine, with no die or embossing folder, the pressure of the plates can flatten cards.

It would have been easier to adhere the sentiment if I had cut them from adhesive-backed cardstock rather than needing to use liquid glue. I did use a fine tipped glue bottle which helps – you could also use a paint brush or sponge to apply a thin layer of glue rather than dots of glue behind the sentiment. I had some adhesive-backed cardstock at home but not with me at the cottage. You can create your own by running some two-sided tape or putting a piece of double-sided adhesive paper behind the cardstock before you run it through your die cutting machine.

Work Surface:

I use a thick mylar sheet as a work surface – it is easy to later wash off the glue and ink. These mylar sheets are great for transporting to my workshops. The mylar turned out to be too thick to cut on the Cricut to make stencils – but I will eventually learn how to use the City of Ottawa library laser cutting machine and will try that for making stencils. At home I have a glass work surface (a glass shelf from an old fridge). I also have a sheet of teflon both here at the cottage and at home.

Design:

To make it closer to a ‘one layer card’ it might have been nicer to stamp the sentiment rather than to use the die cut sentiment. Or, if I wanted to further emphasis the dimension of the sentiment, I could have cut it out a few extra times and stacked the layers.

I could have taken a bit more time to line up my sentiment so that the bottom and side margins were the same. To fix that problem I could have trimmed down the card front and adhered it to a new card base.

If you don’t have the correct colour of cardstock to make your sentiment, you can always ink blend a piece of cardstock before running it through your die cutter.

Adding a bit of bling using an odd number of clear dots or sequins would have been a nice finishing touch for this card. I’ll have to bring some of them up to the cottage.

Thanks

Main Product: Spellbinders Advent Calendar door 13

This time I adhered the thin floral paper to 110 lb cardstock before fussy cutting out the images. I really like the added dimension that it gives the layers of flowers and leaves.

I did use a thin layer of liquid glue to adhere the flowers to the cardstock. I notice that it is lifing up in a few spots. I could have been more careful to make sure I had a good but thin layer covering the whole flower. Or I could have adhered the thin paper to adhesive backed cardstock or used a double-sided adhesive sheet to adhere the thin paper to the thicker cardstock.

I inked the edges of my 3-3/4″ x 5″ layer to give it some added dimension. It might also have been nice to mat that layer with a layer of beige cardstock. A thin piece of craft foam or chipboard would have added some extra dimension.

I might try to make a similar card using a beige 3-3/4″ x 5″ layer rather than a white layer; in which case I would use a white heat-embossed sentiment or a sentiment strip. Or a brighter red/pink ink for the sentiment. Or perhaps die cut the sentiment rather than using a stamp. See the image a bit further down for my attempt today at making such a card.

I don’t have a lot of inks up here with me at the cottage so I was thrilled to realize that the Altenew Pink Sand ink was a perfect match for the leaf colour. So it was a great colour for inking the edges of the front layer. I think it was a bit light for my ‘thanks’ sentiment. Next time I would try to the Crimson or Velvet colour from that Red Sunset ink set. I think a bolder colour would have added in a nice contrast and would have matched the red of the bud and the highlights in the gardenias.

Adding a bit of bling using an odd number of clear dots or sequins would have been a nice finishing touch for this card, too.

Hello

Main Product: Spellbinders Advent Calendar door 14, doggy die cut

Even though I don’t love putting together tiny die cut pieces, I do love how this cute fellow turned out. I do wish I had had some adhesive-backed cardstock on hand to make the assembly easier, but the fine-tipped glue bottle certainly helped. Rather than using coloured cardstock, I die cut all the pieces from white cardstock then ink blended them. I used black ink to make the grey colour as well as Altenew Blush for the pink and Crimson for the red. I used a black pen to colour in the eyes.
I thought that the ink-splatted paper from an old Scrapbook and Cards Today (SCT) Crop and Create online class had the right amount of spunk to go with this saucy pup. I used the Spellbinders door 11 embossing folder on the black cardstock to give it some fun geometrical dimension.

If I was to make this card again I might try the hello in red, but there is already a nice trio of red elements which is why I opted to cut out a white hello rather than to use the red one I had ink blended. I might also centre the dog up a bit more rather than putting the combined dog and heart along the centre line. I might have tried to mat the black with another layer of white/beige and black. In an ideal world I would have had those white elements the same light beige as was in the ink-splattered patterned paper. I have some dog-themed stamps at home that I’ll use to stamp the front and back on an envelop as well as the white inner layer I put on the inside of my card. Maybe it would be nice to put the dog on a heart shape rather than on the square and to move the small heart down lower beside the hello. But, the other doors of my Advent calendar are calling so I will move on. And, I will soon be starting my 100 day project of working my way through my Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP).

Hello Fruity Drink

Main Product: Spellbinders Advent Calendar – door 12

I am quite pleaseed with how this card turned out. It was a bit fussy getting the acetate die cut glass together. I was worried about the glue showing through, or not holding together, but it seems to be holding up fine.

I used the Spellbinders door 11 geometric embossing folder. I really like how the geometric pattern contrasts with the curved lines of the glass and lemon. Having the background in white allows there to be some texture while not drawing too much attention away from the focal point of the fruity drink. I might have tried to emphasize the curvy edge of the drink a bit more and could have cut the straw just a bit shorter so that it was in the centre of that oval at the top of the drink. I could have tried a pink or yellow hello instead of the bold black, perhaps I could have also added a few pink or yellow enamel dots or sequins for a bit of bling to step the card up just a bit. I’ll have to find some coordinating stamps to decorate the inside and back of the card as well as to make a coordinating envelope.