AECP: Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

September 03, 2022

AECP: Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Hi there crafty friend!

Todays post will be focused on the cards that I’ve created after finishing the AECP Clean & Simple Boutique Cards course. I have a total of three successful cards and two blooper cards to share. I’m including the blooper cards because I feel it’s important to show the creative process. Sometimes my process takes more than one try and I start to get hard on myself because I assume that other designers make beautiful creations in just one sitting… every time. So, lets start with the bloopers!

Blooper #1

If you saw my last post, you can see I was in the mood for Christmas cards. I thought it would be a good idea to create a Christmas themed card for this course. I decided on using the Lovely Ornaments stamp set. I first started off with stamping my ornament. I started stamping with no real plan on how I was going to lay out the rest of the card, nor did I properly plan out a color scheme for the card. As soon as I finished stamping the ornament I quickly realized that I did not like where the design was headed. I stared at it for a while then I stamped the greeting. I still didn’t like it. There was just too much white space for me. Then I got the idea that I could create a boxed area of shading around the card. So I pulled out the masking paper, created my mask, masked off the area, then shaded away! I liked what I was seeing and I was excited to remove the masking paper for the reveal. However…. That excitement quickly left as soon as I started to peal up the masking paper. The masking paper pealed up my paper! Now let me say this. I was tired when I created this card. Me and tired crafting are NOT a good mix because I tend to not properly plan layouts or color schemes. The paper I used as my base is a great paper for foiling, however I’ve noticed that it does not do as well once its saturated with ink. I should have used a different paper and I should have dried the ink with my heat tool prior to masking. Besides the fact that I ruined my card, I was not a fan of the white gap around my ornament. This was a result of me using the wrong size circle for my mask. For some odd reason, at that time it felt like a good idea to trace the ornament and cut out my mask by hand vs using the die that came with the set. Again, me and tired crafting are not a good mix. Lastly, the colors are not a great combo. So the entire card was a fail. At this point I should have taken my butt to bed. But…. I decided to move on to what became blooper #2….

Blooper #2

So this card isn’t a complete failure. I personally just don’t like it. The color scheme was good, however I did two things wrong with this design:

I didn’t properly plan my placement for the flowers
I should have listened to my gut when it told me to NOT stamp the butterfly.

I think I could have saved this card if it wasn’t for the butterfly. To me, the styles are not a good mix. The flowers are more fluid because they are in a water color style. Whereas the butterfly has thin, perfect lines. I also think I should have used colors that would have complemented the flower vs matching them.

I might try to challenge myself at a later date and attempt to save this card. For now, its in the corner with all my other failed attempts. After this card, I listened my inner self and went to bed. The next evening I wasn’t as tired so I went on the create cards I was more proud of.

Card #1:

The next day I was no longer feeling in a Christmas mood, however I still wanted to to use the idea of a shaded area similar to what I did with the the ornament card idea. I also wanted to use a smaller stamp.

I stamped the Mini Hibiscus Tea image using Obsidian black ink. Learning from my past mistake, I created a mask out of dry erase paper with, no sticky back. I like to use the dry erase paper because it has a glossy surface. This way my ink is not wasted by being absorbed into the paper. I randomly purchased this paper pad from Tuesday Morning many years ago for work. However, what I intended to use it for didn’t work out to well, so it just sat in my craft room stash. Every once in a blue moon I have a perfect use for it. The paper pad has been rebranded but it appears to be the same thing as what I used. I placed a link for it below. I highly recommend it for creating your own stencils and masks!

Once the yellow background was complete, I colored the image with colored pencils. I originally planned on using Copics to do the coloring but I forgot that I used a non-copic friendly ink. Once I was complete with the coloring I added my sentiment and it was done! Well… until this morning that is lol. Once again I was not happy with the amount of white space there was. Sure its a clean and simple card, but it was just a bit too simple for me. So I added some black splatter and to me it was perfect! Some times it takes a few days to perfect your card design, but thats okay! Here’s an image of it spatter free. Which is you favorite?

Card #2:

My second card was a remake of blooper #2. I decided to switch up the color scheme and better organize the floral images. It’s not perfect placement but it’s better than the original card. Also, this time… no butterfly! Lol. I’ll save that little guy for another design. What do you think about this second attempt? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Card #3:

For my final card I used the Elegant Motifs stamp and stencil duo for the floral images. I treated my paper with anti-static powder. I then stamped the image in gold pigment ink. Since this is a very slow drying ink, embossing powder is able to stick to it with no issue. I sprinkled on the embossing powder and heat set it. I wanted to have a bit of texture which is why I took this extra step. I then used the stencil to color in my flowers. Lastly I stamped the sentiment in the center. I was happy with this. However the longer I stared at it, the more I felt there was too much empty space. Clearly this is my gripe this week! I really didn’t feel as if I needed to add more color. I also felt that the card was too elegant for splatters. So I decided to do some simple embossing to draw the eye in on the images and sentiment. Boom! Perfection!