Easy Masculine and Feminine Birthday Cards – One Kit, 2 Cards!

Hello, Altenew friends! Welcome to our  June 2020 Guest Designer post! We were so over the moon when Kelly Latevola agreed to be our guest designer this month! If you've been a regular hopper on our release blog hops, you would know how much we adore her stunning creations. In fact, we were so inspired by her incredible coloring skills, that we just had to invite her to teach our Color Blending with Artist Markers Class over at Altenew Academy. Make sure you check out her blog and have a quick look through her Instagram feed for more project ideas and inspiration!

Get to know Kelly!

I am a Police/Fire/EMS dispatcher for a living so it's pretty much always interesting. I'm engaged to a wonderful man named Eric and we have one little bundle of never-ending energy, Nathan, who is 6. Nathan has two furry sisters, our dog Molly who is a boxer/mastiff mix and Emma who is a boxer/bulldog mix. Between the three of them my house is never clean! Ha! 

My style of card making is pretty clean and simple. I sometimes venture into the clean and layered but even then my design isn't very busy. I do love a good one layer card, especially if it's a scene! I'm a big fan of encouraging and supporting each other as crafters because honestly kindness is free and it never hurts anybody.

You can check out my YouTube channel here where I frequently post videos of my crafting. If you are on Instagram, feel free to drop by my page here.

Let's take a look at her masculine and feminine birthday cards!

Hello, crafters! 

I'm so excited to be guest designing here at Altenew. I love all their sets but this is the first time I've ever used one of the Creativity Kits and no big surprise I completely loved it. 

I wanted to use all the items included in the Fabulous Frames Creativity Kit. After doing a little brainstorming, I decided to create two birthday cards; a feminine and a masculine version because, yes, these products are that versatile. (The Fabulous Frames Creativity Kit is, unfortunately, out of stock right now BUT do not fret! It will be available in the Altenew store again. Make sure you subscribe to the in-stock email alert on their site so you'll get notified when it's back in stock.)

I started by stamping four leaves and two of the flowers on watercolor paper using the Permanent Black Ink included in the kit. I watercolored all the images using the Watercolor 36 Pan Set.

For the leaves, I filled the entire leaf in with a watered-down Bamboo before adding shading with a Forest Glades, Citrus Burst, and Lagoon. I love the color variation you can get by letting the water do the work.

Masculine Birthday Card

Since the leaves are a large part of the focal point for the masculine card, I needed to make sure they'd be interesting. 

The Gold Fenstone element included in the set was a perfect center point for my heat-embossed sentiment to lay. I loved the way the leaves framed the Fenstone but it felt like it needed something else.

I decided to trim the cardstock down and foam mount it on colored cardstock. Unfortunately, I didn't have cardstock that matched. BUT, thankfully, Altenew matches all their colors well so I was able to use my mini cube of Lagoon Ink directly on the paper to color the outside edges of my white cardstock and no one will ever know the difference! 

Feminine Birthday Card

When it came to the feminine version, I colored the leaves the same way but I approached the flowers differently.  

I like to lay down a line of color where I want it to be the darkest and then use the water brush slightly damp to draw the color out through the rest of the petal.

While it's still wet I can add more pigment for a deeper shadow or even another color to get some variation. I did both for this card using Purple Wine for the main color and adding in Fresh Lemon. 

I love the way both birthday cards came out. It's always amazing to me how the same products can make two completely different cards. You can see the entire process for both birthday cards in the video below or watch it in HD on Altenew's YouTube channel.

Thank you so much for joining me and to Altenew for inviting me! I hope you found something to inspire you today. 

~Kelly

Thank you for being our June 2020 Guest Designer, Kelly! Your amazing ability in showcasing the versatility of this Creativity Kit is truly inspiring! You have definitely helped our readers see the creative possibilities of this cardmaking kit. We hope to have you again as our guest designer!

Find more of her work on her blog and follow her on Instagram. Which birthday card would you like to give a try? Don't forget to leave her some love in the comment section below!

Thank you for stopping by!

~SUPPLY LIST~

Floral Frame Stamp Set [ ALTN ] Floral Frame Die Set [ ALTN ] Fenstone Decorative Element [ ALTN ] Sea Shore Mini Cube Set [ ALTN ] Watercolor 36 Pan Set [ ALTN ] Fabulous Floral Frames Creativity Kit [ ALTN ] Lagoon Crisp Dye Ink [ ALTN ]