How To Create A Custom Multimedia Greeting Card

Have you ever considered taking your greeting cards the next level by using more than one media? We often focus on stamping, embossing, coloring or stenciling, today we are going to mix it all up with stencils, inks, colored pencils, stamping, and even some glitter. 

Welcome to another edition of my journey in the Altenew Educator Program as I move closer to becoming a certified educator. We will be sharing some advanced stenciling ideas to inspire you to take a leap forward in your own journey with some ideas an some tips. 

My specific focus for this tutorial is with tow specific stencil sets. For these cards, we used the 

I also layered some embossing folders to add some design ideas. The embossing folders that we used are all Altenew  3 D embossing folders. Not only did we use them to create extra dimension, but we actually layered them to create focus. 

I selected the Geometric 3D embossing folder, the Botanical 3 D embossing folder, and the One Of A Kind embossing folder. Each of these folders have a unique design. 

To highlight the stencil pieces, I added another layer with some die cuts. That helps focus on the main stenciled images. 

I also stamped the sentiments to give some added interest, I raised them with some foam pieces. Here is how we created the three cards for today's tutorial. 

We are focusing in this tutorial on two specific cards. The burgundy and pink flower card as well as the blue flower card. But I have to say that the options with these combinations are endless.

Card Base

Because there are multiple layers to these greeting cards, I needed to have a good strong foundation. So, in this case, I used Neenah Solae White cardstock at 110 lbs. Each base was cut to the size needed. Then I used a scoreboard to add my fold mark. The scoreboard enables you to measure and mark your card to get the correct fold, The bone folder that comes with it helps you to get a crisp solid fold.

The Embossing Folders

The Altenew 3 D embossing folders are amazing! there is a lot of detail in these folders that make it easy to use them in this technique.

The detail makes it easy to pair them together to create designs that give your cards a lot of depth and design features.

They emboss well and are easy to cut down into any size that you need. 

The Stencils

The stencils on these cards are a little more intricate than others. But that is not a problem. Each of the stencils are clearly marked to help you place them exactly where they should be. The masks for the flowers are built in so there is no extra masking needed. There are outlines built into the stencils. So, though you may have to rotate them a bit, you will clearly see where they should be placed. Ther are three layers for the leaves and 4 layers for the flowers. Because they are so clearly marked, even beginners will be able to use them after a little practice.

Burgundy And Pink Flower Card

 This card shows depth in color and detail with both the focal flowers as well as the background for them. This 6" by 6" card features the Altenew  stencil. The stencil set has layered stencils in the set that give excellent detail to the featured bouquet.

Supplies

• White cardstock 110lb
• Cream cardstock.
• Burgundy cardstock
• Altenew Flower Bunch Die and Stencil Set
• Altenew Puffy Heart Dye Ink
• Altenew Coral Bliss 
• Altenew Maple Yellow Dye Ink
• Altenew Frayed Leaf
• Altenew Bamboo Dye Ink
• Altenew Hunter Green Dye Ink
• Altenew Maple Yellow Dye Ink
• Altenew Sicilian Amber Dye Ink
• Altenew  Organic Linen 3 D Embossing folder
• Nesting Dye
• Die Cutting Machine
• Ink Brushes
• Paper trimmer
• Double sided tape
• Glue gun
• Glue
• Pink half gems

1. Cut a piece of white cardstock into a 12" by 6" piece.
2. Score a line at 6" and fold. Use the bone folder to make the fold crisp.
3. Using the die cutting machine, emboss a piece of 6" by 6"creme cardstock with the organic linen.
4. Using the burgundy cardstock die cut the flower background piece.
5. Die cut the. Once sie cut, place the die cut back into the cut section.
6. Start with the leaf stencils. Stencil the leaves three times using the stencils. Each stencil adds another layer of darker green.
7. Stencil the two flowers in their base color.
8. Stencil the middle portion of the flower. 
9. Stencil the base of the cone shapes with Maple yellow dye ink
10. Using the second stencil, stencil the detail on the cone shapes with. 
11. Cut and stencil one additional flower and cone shape.
12. Use the three green colored pencil to add depth around the flowers. Use the darkest pencil closest to the flower. 
13. Use a pink and deep pink colored pencil to add depth and petal detail to the pink flowers.
14. Use a brown colored pencil to add depth to the cone shapes.
15. Use Nuvo glue on the petal centers.
16. Sprinkle gold glitter on the glue and tap off excess.
17. Apply the Organic Linen embossed piece to the base with double sided tape.
18. Glue the stenciled bouquet to the burgundy die cut piece. 
19. Add three pink half gems to the card front.
20. Add sentiment of choice to the card.

Blue Layered Card

This card has features of blue and yellow for a soft look. The card has a softness to it, but because of the geometric embossing folder, it could be used for a lot of different occasions. It would be a nice anniversary card, or a baby shower card as well.

Supplies

• White cardstock 110 lb
• Cream colored cardstock.
• Altenew Flower Bunch Die and Stencil Set.
• Altenew Organic Linen3 D Embossing Folder
• Altenew Checkered Diamonds 3 D Embossing Folder
• Altenew Sea Breeze Dye Ink
• Altenew Aqualicious Dye Ink
• Altenew Maple Yellow Dye Ink
• Altenew Sicilian Amber Dye Ink
• Altenew Frayed Leaf Dye Ink
• Altenew Bamboo Dye Ink
• Altenew Hunter Green Dye Ink
• Ink Brushes
• Background die cut.
• Die cutting machine.
• Paper Trimmer
• Die Cutting machine.
• Double sided tape
• Nuvo glue and gun
• Sickles 
• Dark brown colored pencil
• Medium blue colored pencil
• Dark colored pencil
• Blue half gems
• Foam dots.
• Sentiment of choice

1. Cut a piece of white cardstock into a 12" by 6" piece.
2. Score a line at 6" and fold. Use the bone folder to make the fold crisp.
3. Emboss the Checkered Diamonds embossing folder using a 6" square piece of creme cardstock.
4. Emboss the white cardstock with the Organic Linen embossing folder. Cut the embossed paper to a size of 4.5" by 5..
5. Die cut the blue piece of background paper.
6. Die cut the flower bunch die, Use the paper that you cut it from to hold the die in place while you are stenciling. 
7. Start with the leaf stencil using the lightest of the three green inks-Frayed Leaf
8. Apply the second layer of ink- Bamboo to the second leaf stencil.
9. Apply the darkest layer of green ink-Hunter Green to the third lead stencil layer.
10. Using the base flower stencil apply the Puffy Heart Ink,
11. Then apply the Second and third layer with the Sicilian Amber ink.
12. Use the base stencil for the cone base and color the shape with the Maple Yellow ink. 
13. Use the pink and the dark pink colored pencils to add detail to each of the petals of the flower. 
14. Add detail to the leaves with the three colored pencils. Use the darkest colored pencil closest to the flowers to help the flowers stand out. 
15. Use the dark brown colored pencil on the cone shapes. 
16. Dot the center of the flower with the  . Let it dry.
17. Apply the Geometric 3D embossed piece to the base with double sided tape.
18. Apply the One of A Kind embossed piece on the geometric piece with double sided tape.
19. Apply the blue die cut piece to the One Of a Kind embossed piece.
20. Glue the stenciled flower piece with the neuvo glue,
21. Attach the gems to the blue die cut piece.
22. Attach the sentiment of choice with foam dots.

Here are a few ideas to help make your experience more successful:

Number the stencils in permanent black ink. 

If there are numerous layers to the stencil, line them up and mark areas you can focus on. Mark them with a permanent marker on the back side of the pencil

To make your flowers stand out, use the darkest pencil closest to the edge of the flower.

Raise the sentiment with foam dots to create extra dimension.

With larger flower elements, make the flowers the focus. Use smaller sentiments.

Use a paper stub to blend the colored pencils.

You can also blend the colored pencils with some gamisol.

Thank you for stopping by. We hope that you will visit the community often to get resources, ideas and tips to help you grow in your art. 

So how do you feel about the prospect of creating layered multimedia greeting cards. We hope that you will give these ideas a try in the near future. 

Till next time, Happy Crafting!

Linda

Supplies To Make Multimedia Greeting Cards