Clean & Simple Boutique Cards Class Projects

Hello Crafty Friends! I am here today to share with you my projects from the Clean & Simple Boutique Cards Class from Altenew. I'm not sure that clean and simple cards are my thing but I have the class a fighting chance. You can let me know if I achieved my goal or not based on my projects.

Clean & Simple Boutique Cards Class Projects:

Class Overview:

All and all this was a fun and very informative class. I learned a lot of things that I didn't know. And having been an artist and card maker for many years it's always great to keep not only your skills expanding but your knowledge as well. In this blog post I will share my homework examples and a few tips and tricks I learned along the way while taking the Clean & Simple Boutique Card Class.

So what's the definition of a clean & simple card design? Well, I did a little research and this is what I found. "A clean and simple (CAS) card design has lots of white space, few layers, and little or no embellishments. The style also involves minimal layering or no layering at all." Which brings us to what I came up with for my class projects.

Artistic Penmanship:

The first lesson in the Clean & Simple Boutique Card Class teaches you how to create a one layer card with just a few supplies that you more than likely already have in your crafty space. Yelp we are using just stamps, ink, Cardstock, and a black pen (Micronpen). With these few simple supplies you can create a beautiful clean and simple card design that will wow the recipient.

During this class lesson Jennifer Rzasa (cofounder of Altenew) teaches just how quick and easy the Boutique Cards can and should be. But she also teaches a few key points during each of the lesson in the class; one of which is that it's okay for your inks to overlap and that you can add a little artistic flair to your card design with loose strokes of a black micron or similar pen.

So, for this card I outlined the leaves in my micron pen and added a few branches and additional leaves for the small flowers to be attached too. Along with a few dots in the center of the floral images to represent the flowers centers. For this design I used the Build-A-Flower Primrose Layering Stamp Set and stamped the first layers of each of the larger flowers in the following ink colors Coral Berry, Ice Berg, and Lavender Fields. For the second layer I stamped the second layer in the same colors but stamped it twice. For the leaves I repeated the process with Minty Mint Ink. I stamped the smaller flowers in Frosty Pink Ink. To finish the card I stamped the sentiment in Obsidian Black Pigment Ink.

Metallic Accents:

During another lesson of the Clean & Simple Boutique Card class Jennifer talks about different ways to add metallics to your card designs. Well, the one technique that has always intrigued me was the idea of using a laminator to add foil to your cards with embossing powders. So, I took a copious amount of notes and watched and re-watched that lesson a lot to see all her tricks and techniques.

Because I had tried this technique a couple of times and got ho hum results. So, with embossing ink, powders, and stamps (Build-A-Flower: Hawaiian Coral Layering Stamp & Die Set) in hand I pulled out my laminator and turned it own. I let it heat up for a while (what seemed like forever). You know how it is when you are dying to try a technique and things are just not going fast enough; We've all been there right!

I started out by stamping the outline floral image from the Hawaiian Coral Stamp Set in embossing ink and covered it in clear embossing powder. I then heat set the embossing powder and repeated the process with the leaves. I then covered the embossing with Pink Heat Transfer Foil and ran it through my laminator. I ran it through twice, and let the panel cool completely. Once the panel was cooled I removed the foil and added lines to the card front with my gold gel pen and the same black micron pen I used above. This added more interest to the card front and added a little texture as well.

Bonus Card:

Since I had the laminator out plus the left from the parts I foiled on the above card. I decided to make an extra card. I pulled out my Therm-o-web Heat Activated Foil Transfer Sheets and used the coordinating die cut from the Hawaiian Coral Dies and cut a piece of the transfer sheet. I sandwiched the transfer sheet with the left over foil and placed it inside my carrier sheet and ran it through the laminator just like above.

I stamped some leaves on my card front with Minty Mint Ink and then added a few scored lines on the right-hand side and the bottom of the card front before attaching the foiled piece. All I had to do at this point was add it to a card base and add my stamped sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by today I hope that you have a fabulous day and that you find a little inspiration from todays projects.

(Wondering what I used in this video/project? Everything is linked to multiple sources in the thumbnails at the end of this post, or in the text below. Compensated affiliate links used when possible).

Materials Used:

Here you will find the list of supplies that I used to create today's card. All supplies are linked to supply sources below. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.

Happy Stampin'

Rick Adkins