Category: Altenew Academy

Altenew Academy Class: Last Minute Christmas Cards Lesson #1

12/4/2017

The fifth, and final, card from the Altenew Academy class Last Minute Christmas Cards that I attempted was based on Lesson #1, "One Set, Three Looks" which I went back to today using some evergreen bough stamps in lieu of mistletoe (which are still out of stock so unavailable to me at present...). There is one more lesson that focused on coloring and I simply wasn't up to that right now - maybe layter - and the bonus lesson is to repurpose Christmas Stamps for non-Christmas purposes - again, maybe later.

Since the stamps I used are not layering stamps, I selectively inked parts of the stamps with different inks to get some color variation.

I was all finished with the card when I realized that I had stamped the sentiment on upside down! No worries - cut the top of the card off, trim it down, and mount it on a coordinating glimmer green card base! Add a little Wik of Stella so that the berries on the branches and the star that dots the Christmas "i" match the glimmer of the card (even though it doesn't really show up that well in this photo), and voila!

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous "Christmas Classic" (CMS322)
Inks: Altenew Crisp Dye Iks "Bamboo", "Parrot", "Moss" and "Sea Glass"; Archival "Jet Black"; Wink of Stella "clear" (GL 999)
Papers: The Write Stock Value Pack "white" and Soiree A2 card in glimmer green
Adhesives; redLine 1/8" Embossing Tape

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Altenew Academy Class: Last Minute Christmas Cards Lesson #5

12/4/2017

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The fourth card from the Altenew Academy class Last Minute Christmas Cards that I attempted was based on Lesson 5: "Words and Wreaths". I wasn't really sure about the one as I have klutzy fingers and anything to do with twists of fiber and/or sequins/beads/gems is very messy for me. But it was worth a try, right?

I had some green-and-white bakers' twine that had come with the November 2017 Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit and it seemed a logical basis for a wreath. Add to that some Neat & Tangled sequins and a bit of Collage Medium and here is my card:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous "Mini Doodle Greetings" (CMS287)

Inks: Distress Ink "Pine Needles"
Papers: The Write Stock Value Pack "white"
Embellishments: Neat and Tangled sequin mix (blue green and silver/clear); green-and-white bakers' tie (Hero Arts "Moe Monthly Hero November 2017)
Adhesives: Distress Collage Medium

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Altenew Academy Class: Last Minute Christmas Cards Lesson #4

12/4/2017

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The third card from the Altenew Academy class Last Minute Christmas Cards that I attempted was based on Lesson 4 " Magical Effects With Dies". It was getting late in the day by now and I was getting a little lazy so Decided to "substitute" what I had (a scrap of patterned paper) for the stamping in this lesson and, again, CASEd one of Julia's example cards:

The trickiest part of this card was gluing in the little cut-out bits --- but I didn't have a Christmas word die that was less ornate so I chose the now that was shortest!

Products used in the making of this card were:

Dies: Sizzix Thinlits "Vintage Tidings" (661605)
Papers: The Write Stock Value Pack "white" and S.E.I. "Holiday Traditions" Card Maker paper pack
Adhesives: RedLine 1/8" Embossing Tape; Distress Collage Medium

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Altenew Academy Class: Last Minute Christmas Cards Lesson #2

12/4/2017

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The second card I attempted from the Altenew Academy class Last Minute Christmas Cards was in Lesson 2: "Easy Backgrounds to Decorate". I used Distress Oxide, Distress Ik and Distress Marker inks to create a CASE of one of Julia's sample cards:

I discovered that Distress Inks blend into Distress Oxides, no matter how many times one stamps them, so I outlined the stamped tree with a marker a dthen added "snow" using a gel pen!

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous "Watercolor Trees" (CMS317)
Inks: Distress Oxides "Broken CHina", "Salty Ocean" and "Faded Jeans"; Distress Inks "Evergreen Bough" and "Pine Needles"; Distress Markers "Pine Needles"; Signo unibazl gel pen "white"
Papers: The Write Stock Value Pack "white"

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Altenew Academy Class: Last Minute Christmas Cards Lesson #3

12/4/2017

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I signed up for a class at Altenew Academy, that was being taught by Julia Altermann, called Last Minute Christmas Cards and after going through the six lessons, decided to tackle some of them.

I started with Lesson 1 ("One Set, Three Looks"), but didn't have what I thought was an appropriate Christmas stamp to work with so I switched in mid-step to Lesson 3, which was "Combine Holiday & Non-Holiday Stamps". Basically, I used a non-holiday stamp set in the pattern demonstrated in the first part of Lesson #1.

Products used in the making of this car were:

Stamps: Altenew "Layered Laurel" (ALT1877) and Stampers Anonymous "Christmas Classic" (CMS322)
Inks: Altenew Crisp Dye Iks "Tropical Forest" mini set and "Sea Glass"; Versamark
Embossing Powders: WOW! Metallic Gold Regular" (WC04R)
Papers: The Write Stock Value Pack "white"
Embellishments: gold sequins
Adhesives: Distress Collage Medium

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Author

Born in New Jersey, I grew up in Southeastern Ohio. Attended university at Bowling Green State University (B.Sci in biological science, 1964), University of Southern California (M. Sci in biological science, 1967) and University of Florida (Ph. D in zoology, 1971).
Worked in environmental consulting for a little more than a decade and then seven years as an instructor in biological science at various community colleges in California and Texas. Moved to London in 1992, then Beijing (1996) and Saudi Arabia (1998), before returning to NW Ohio in 2002. I am currently living in NW Ohio with my husband and three Bombay cats. I love to read (mystery, science fiction, history) and stitch (have done crewel, currently experimenting with free embroidery and needlepoint but blackwork and cross stitch are my main genres); have been known to knit; and now I'm heavily into papercrafting!
Retired upon the return to the US so lots of time for our hobbies...