More Ways to Turn a Card From Very Nice to Beautiful, Using Different Mediums!
Marika Rahtu taught several inspiring lessons, using several different mediums, and again I couldn’t just make one card. I made cards for three of the six lessons!
Lesson 1: Artistic Flowers
In the first lesson, Marika used Tombow markers to “paint” on stamps, doing first and second generation stamping. She added some details with a fine marker. It was simple, beautiful and…stunning! At the time I did not yet have Tombow markers. So instead I used my old Marvy markers.
To make this I chose some petals and the sepals and short stem from the Watercolor Wonders Layering Stamp Set. I colored the stamp with my black Marvy marker, then added the wisps of lines with the other end of the marker! Next I used the brush end to extend the stem. The sentiment is from my Camelia Build a Flower Stamp set. I chose to keep it simple and not heat emboss it—rare for me! I thought needed a pop of something, so I added gold Washi to the sides, and then Obsidian black ink to the edges of the panel. After mounting it on a top-folding A2 card base I still thought It needed something so I added a splatter effect using my Sakura Glaze pen, which also added a bit of shine and a tiny amount of dimension.
Wild About You and Watercolor Wonders Stamp Sets
I liked this technique so much I changed it up a little and made several more cards by drawing on the stamps and stamping on card stock:
Victorian Greenhouse Layering Stamp Set:
On September 6, 2022 I attended a virtual workshop held by Sara Naumann. Although I liked the card I made, I wanted to do something different…
Instead of a pink or teal roof, I went for copper. I achieved this with Altenew Crisp Inks, sometimes putting the ink pad to the entire stamp, sometimes just leaning the ink pad to an edge or two. Often I did second generation stamping. Finally, to add an even more blotchy effect, more like weathered copper, I used a fantastix Absorbent Coloring Tool to “draw” blotches on the stamp pad, then stamped the image.
For the background trees I used the only tree in the set and turned it 90 degrees to the left or right to make most of the trees appear different from one another. One of the “trees” is actually meant to be a hanging plant! I made the succulents by drawing with a marker on the stamp, as was the planter for the tree. For the tree I second-generation stamped with several greens, the darkest being only around the edges. The pots for the succulents were done the same way. I love how it turned out!
Lesson 2: Detailed Leaves
In this lesson I learned to use Zig Real Color Brush Markers. As I watched Marika I was again inspired and bought a set of these. I only used a couple colors of warm grey.
Lesson 3: Majestic Bloom
With each lesson I grew more and more inspired and impressed with Marika. Here she really showed off her talent using Faber-Castell Polychromo Pencils. She mentioned how easy these are to sharpen and keep a point, issues I’ve had with my other pencils. I ordered these and used the Peony Bouquet to make this:
Ah, looks like you really enjoyed this class, Leslie! I am not surprised, as this is a fan favourite! Your cards are beautiful! LOVE them. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work and submitting it to the AECP assignment gallery.