Faithful Cards by Ruth

  City View:  Perfect for a Guy! I really liked the Project Inspiration in Lesson Two of Altenew's course, For the Guys. Trying my hand at a card featuring a cityscape seemed like a good challenge and I thought the cityscape stencil would be a good theme for "a guy card". So I purchased the less expensive option of the stencil, to try creating a card without a flower in sight, LOL!! I attached the Altenew City Scenes stencil using painter's tape to a piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock measuring 5.5 x 8.5, just above the bottom edge to create the look of a city skyline. I used the larger size of cardstock just to give myself some room to work out how the final card will frame the city scene. First, I dusted the cardstock with Pink and Main's anti-static powder tool. Then I generously and directly applied Versamark ink to the lower part of the stencil, sprinkled Nuvo embossing powder in Duchess Blue, and heated the powder until it melted, creating a very nice dar

Heat Embossing & Big Florals This extra large Altenew floral stamp has been a long time favorite of mine and was among my first Altenew stamps. I chose to heat emboss this stamp in white to achieve some subtle shine and contrast against the cardstock. I feel it worked out nicely, although the photo doesn't show it very well. After selecting a beautiful coral-red cardstock, I cut it down to 5.5. by 4.25 and dusted it with anti-static powder. Using my MISTI stamp platform, I stamped the Altenew Bouquet of Love using Versamark ink onto the card panel. I stamped several times to get a good coating on the cardstock, which the MISTI makes it easy to do without mistakes.. Once, I was satisfied with the amount of ink on the cardstock, I sprinkled white embossing powder over the card panel, brushed off extra powder using a paintbrush and used a heat gun to seal the embossing powder to obtain a nice sheen.  I set that aside, and used a scalloped edged Gina Marie Designs die, and cut out

Are Cards for Guys Harder? I'm moving outside of my comfort zone in focusing on cards specifically for guys and by making a card from stamps that are geometric or abstract. One of the tips in the Altenew's Cards For Guys class, suggested using gender-neutral stamps. This stamp by Altenew named Trigonometry looked to be about as gender-neutral as a stamp could get!  I started by choosing a two-tone color palette of Altenew ink cubes in Limeade and Blush. Not having worked it out in my head and completely unsure of what my final design was going to look like, I selected one of the triangles in the stamp set and started inking it up!  Using an A2 panel of white cardstock, I continued to add patterned triangles to the card, alternating between Blush and Limeade ink and the card started taking shape. Once I felt like I had a design going, I decided to just keep adding other triangles and mixing the patterns.  I selected black cardstock and lime green cardstock for matting. I reduced

Using Scriptures on Sympathy Cards For me, my faith is an enormous part of who I am, so I truly feel a calling to use scriptures on many of the cards I craft. In the case of sympathy cards, scriptures can bring comfort and consolation to a friend or family member who is grieving and needs encouragement. For this card, I used the large bloom from Altenew's Marbled Blooms stamp set stamped in pink tones to achieve a soft and muted look. The stamp had four petal layers and I used Distress Oxide Spun Sugar and Altenew Blush, Pink Pearl, and Coral Bliss. For the two inner layers, I used Distress Oxide Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilized Amber.  I stamped the larger leaf image twice using three layers of green ink including, Altenew Sweet Leaf, Just Green, and Fresh Leaf.  My next step was to use the coordinating dies to cut out the flower and leaves.  Next, on a white A2 card panel, I partially inked Tropical Trellis stencil by Miss Ink Stamps starting in the lower left corner moving diago