Hello everyone and welcome!

Today I am sharing my final designs for AECP level 2 challenge. It truly has been a wonderful and exiting challenge. Once I had an idea, somehow everything fell into place, just like a puzzle. So, let me explain what the Level 2 final challenge is, so you can better understand my design behind it.

Just like the Level 1 final challenge, this one has two parts as well . The first part was to create 4 masculine cards using any technique from levels 1 and 2. There are also 4 themes that needed to be followed: birthday, love/thinking of you, anniversary & encouragement.

The second part, which I will be showing in the following blog post, is to take something old and turn it into something new; to recycle or repurpose something old.

My something old was an old book that was on the way to the recycle bin and an old frame that was in a give away pile and collecting dust in the garage for quite some time . I wanted to use the pages for my card designs as well and the color of the old paper just matched the masculine look I was going for. Here is the list of main products that I used in my designs:

Card One: Birthday

This card was truly super quick and easy to make. One thing that you will need for this technique is a some kind of stamping tool for double stamping and for even positioning of your stamped images. I used a MISTI stamping tool, but there are other tools on the market that can do similar things. After I arranged my stamps I simply stamped my imaged on a page of the old book that I decided to repurpose. If you decide to use this technique, please keep in mind that book pages are fairly thin and you need to be quite gentle when working with them. To better keep the paper in the MISTI, I used removable adhesive by Tombow Mono. This adhesive truly helped prevent the paper from moving since the stamps were quite sticky. I then simply continued stamping and moving my paper upward until my paper was completely covered with stamp images. Once my stamping was done, I removed the adhesive and put the stamped page and a precut piece of heavy vellum through a Xyron sticker maker. This little, inexpensive tool is perfect for delicate paper and vellum in particular. The adhesive will not show and it will give you just perfect adhesion. This tool is great also because it does not require any batteries nor power, it is simple and very easy to use. I just had to make sure that the adhesive is stuck to my aper and just pressed over it with a bone folder. Then, I pealed it off and attached it to my card base. I then added vellum, decorated with some die cuts that I pre made using Leaf Mix Die Set by Altenew, added a sentiment and the card was done!

Card Two: Love/Thinking of You

To create this card I used the same, basic techniques in card making; the only thing that was different is that I did not use a stamping tool, but a stamping block and stamped directly on the paper. I did not need to double stamp, as a matter of fact I preferred that almost faded look. I repeated the same thing: I put my design and precut vellum through a sticker maker, then I attached them to the card base, embellished with die cuts, added a sentiment and the card was done. Simple, easy and quick. Love it!!

Card 3: Anniversary

What kind of card set would this be if I didn’t make a slimline card? I am a huge fan of slimline designs and I have not yet seen a slimline card I did not like. It is perfect for any occasion and I always get so inspired when creating these cards. As, always, I turned to my notes and the first step was die cutting. I used matching dies from the Leaf Canopy stamp set and did some simple, straight forward, die cutting. I used several pages from the old book and I also cut some leaf pieces from heavy stock vellum. I then arranged my cuts on my paper and picked them up with Glad’s Press n’ Seal. I then gently added permanent adhesive using a Tombow Mono tape runner. This type of adhesive is perfect when using such thin, or light paper, such as book paper, because the adhesive will definitely now show. I then attached it to the panel and gently pressed with a bone folder to make sure my cuts are adhered. I then gently pealed off press n’ seal and for all the little pieces that were loose, I used a Quickie Glue Pen to adhere them to the panel, and this is another way to adhere your delicate pieces to your projects. After my pieces were securely glued to my panel, I trimmed off the excess, embellish with leaf die cuts, added a sentiment and glued everything to the card base. And, the card was done!

Card 4: Encouragement

And here is the last, fourth card for today. For this card I used one extra technique for some extra interest. As mentioned above, I did some simple stamping first: first on a book paper with Permanent Black Ink from Altenew, and then more stamping with VersaMark Ink for some embossing. Please note that when you are embossing always prepare your surface before hand. Always use anti static powder, especially if you are embossing on vellum. Vellum tends to have more static than any card stock out there and if you want your embossed images to turn out nice and crisp, remember to use the anti static powder and always make sure that your heat tool is extra hot! And that is all to it when it comes to embossing. As done in my previous designs, I used Xyron sticker maker to apply adhesive on the back of my book page and vellum; I then attached everything to the card base and added embellishments. Another tip I have to give you when adding big embellishments to your projects, if you are trying to center your embellishments, always start from the middle and then move left and/or right. This will definitely help you center you embellishments, and I find this tip to be most helpful when having to attach letters. After my die cuts were attached, I glued the sentiment and the card was done!

Bonus Feature – Envelopes

I was truly impressed how my cards turned out and I realized that this would not have been a finished project without matching envelopes! Whenever I make special cards, I like to make matching envelopes for them. I used to do this all the time, but now, unfortunately I do not have as much time, so, custom envelopes go only with truly special cards. But it really isn’t that complicated, and this is how you do it. For regular envelopes, meaning envelopes for A4 and A7 size cards I use an Envelope Puncher by We R Memory Keepers. For slimline envelopes I just use a scoring board, and keep reading and you will find how.

The punch board is pretty self explanatory and super easy to use. There is a tableau that shows you the size of the paper needed for a desired envelope size, where to score it and where to punch it. You have to keep rotating the paper until all four sides are completed. Then just fold the flaps and glue the sides together, and its done! Since I had some leftover die cuts, I decided to embellish my envelopes for more interest.

For slimline envelopes I used a full size paper – 8.5 x 1, this is great because there is barely any waste. On the vertical side of paper, shorter side, I scored my paper at 2″ mark and 6 1/8″ mark; I then rotated my paper horizontally (long side) and scored my paper at 1″ mark and 10 1/4″ mark. I then cut off the outside corners (look at image above) and then just folded the flaps and glued everything together. Now, these two steps are optional, but what I like to do to my slimline envelopes is to use a corner puncher to decorate my “close” flap and a little 5/8″ circle puncher for a little opening so it is easier to pull out the card and it just looks more professional that way. And that is it!

Thank you so much for visiting me today. I hope you like today’s designs as much as I do.

Please don’t forget to check out the second part of this project in my following blog!

Cheers!