Use Tattoos To Inspire Your Card Making (AECP 3)

Today I have three cards (plus a bonus) to share as part of my Altenew Educator Certification Program, Level 3.

Here are my three cards, with more info on how I created them below:

The cards were made for my assignment based on Transcending Tattoo Techniques by Jaycee Gaspar. This masterclass had six lessons, each with a different perspective on how to get inspiration from tattoos.

I had so many ideas that I didn't know where to start. Who knew you could get so much inspiration from tattoos? I got a bit carried away with these cards, so I'm hoping they meet the assignment requirements. Fingers crossed.

In the masterclass, Jaycee shares how you can use tattoos such as Old School and Trash Polka to inspire your cards. This was a whole new world to me. I don't have any tattoos myself, although I would love a little Betty Boop tattoo one day. I'm just not brave enough to do it lol.

So, onto the cards:

Card One - Feather Tattoo

I saw a feather tattoo online and knew the perfect set to pull out - Altenew's Boho Arrows. I played around with two different ideas on this one. I started with a standard colour one, but I added a few extra doodles after colouring. I also made a black and white card, which you'll see soon.

Fun fact about me: If I'm stressed or trying to process something, I doodle feathers that look a little bit like these.

Here's the tattoo I used for inspiration. Now you can see why this stamp set was absolutely perfect!

For this card, I stamped the Boho Arrows onto Neenah white cardstock, and then coloured it using my Altenew Artist Markers. I used the following colours:

• Firebrick, Autumn Blaze, Honey Drizzle

• Galactic Stream, Teal Cave, Volcano Lake

Once coloured, I added some gold pen detail. I then die cut a rectangular stitched panel, which I debossed using Altenew's Dotted Tile Debossing Die. I attached this panel onto the white card base. I then die cut the Boho Arrow using the co-ordinating die, and two extra die cuts out of scrap cardstock, stacking them to make a 'chipboard' effect. I added this to the card base.

The Artist Markers are great for this level of stamped detail as you can use the bullet point tip to get into tiny spaces.

Next, I stamped the sentiment from the Boho Arrow set, and die cut it out with the Altenew Featured Sentiments Set. I also stacked this by die cutting two more pieces to layer under the sentiment.

This stamp set is SO lovely to colour, plus it needs very little work to turn it into a quick card.

Top Tip - Some stamped images take longer to colour. Take your time with them, and enjoy the whole colouring process. Make a cuppa, put on some music and have some me-time. It's a great way to take a step back from life and get out of your busy head.

Bonus black and white card

I thought I'd also make a simple black and white card while I was feeling inspired. I stamped the Boho Arrow, and coloured the feathers in using a UniPin 0.5 black liner pen. I wanted to separate the feathers, so I did a bit of masking so that I could remove the arrow and cut away the feathers to separate them, I've been pushing myself to have a go at black and white cards, as they aren't something I do really.

I used the Miss You sentiment from one of my favourite sets, Inky Bouquet. The little splats are from that set too. I stacked the die cuts under each feather and then added everything to a white stitched rectangular die, which was layered onto a scalloped rectangular die cut to finish.

One of the girls in the AECP Certification Program group asked me what it was that I found about black and white that was a challenge. It was a great question. I'm not sure what the answer is though. I tend to use a lot of colour in my cards, and yet I love to tangle and create Zentangle tiles which tends to be black and white, although other colours are used from time to time. What about you? What's your favourite - black and white or colour?

Card Two - Concentric Circles Tattoo

For my next card, I followed the theme of black and white, this time adding some detail with a black pen. This is the image that I used. I don't know whose leg it is, but I'm grateful for the inspiration!

When I saw this tattoo, the first set I immediately thought about was the Altenew Trendy Circles set. I knew it would be perfect.

Here's the card:

I started by die cutting a rectangular stitched panel. I then stamped on the three circles in the centre from the Trendy Circles stamp set. I had a very old circles stamp set so I used these to add circles randomly around the edge. NB. Altenew have a good stamp set for these called Pattern Play Circle.

I wanted to emulate the lines of the tattoo so I drew them on with a ruler using my 0.5 UniPin black pen, filling in one rectangle and leaving the other two blank. For the outer circles, I used a circle die to create the curved lines, and then coloured the lines in. I added the panel to a black stitched rectangular card panel, and attached this to a white card base.

To finish, I stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Sentiment Strips 3 and die cut it using the Featured Sentiments die.

Top Tip - Using pen work to add detail to your cards is a great way to make your cards unique to you.

Card Three - Traditional Tattoo Flashes

For my next card, I chose the following image for inspiration, the second image on the top row:

When I saw the little cards, I knew I could use the Altenew Curved Rectangle Die Set to create mini-cards. I die-cut the four cards in white cardstock using the smallest die in the set, and then wrote the letters, J, Q, K, A on the top left.

I then stamped lots of flowers in different colours using the layered stamp set, Heart Flowers, and die-cut them using the co-ordinating dies. I added a sneaky peek of flowers on each card, and then I added some Wink of Stella glitter pen for a bit of sparkle.

I used the Altenew Mini Dye Ink cubes in the following colours:

• Deep Blue Seas Crisp Dye Ink Set - Starlight and Turquoise

• Rose Petal Crisp Dye Ink Set - Cosmic Berry, Purple Wine and Puffy Heart

• Sea Shore Crisp Dye Ink Set - Lagoon and Volcano Lake

• Spring Bouquet Crisp Dye Ink Set - Fresh Leaf and Limeade

• Shades of Purple - Deep Iris and Midnight Violet

I die-cut a circle in purple to layer the 'cards' on, and added it to another larger circle in pink. Next, I stamped the 'Big Hugs' sentiment onto the bottom right hand side of a rectangular white stitched panel. Everything was attached to the card base.

To create the banner, I die-cut a long banner piece so that I had the 'v' banner tails and a long piece I could trim. (You can use your scissors to create a 'v' for the banner tails if you don't have a banner die). Altenew do a set called 3D Banner Die Set that you could use to adapt for this design.

Here are the measurements if you want to do a DIY one:

• Die-cut a full banner

• Cut off the tails either end at 5/8"

• Trim the banner down to 2 & 5/8"

• Score at 0.5", flip the piece of cardstock and then score again at 0.5"

• Stamp the sentiment 'Love &' from the Gerbera Revolution Set

• Glue the banner tail ends behind either end of your scored cardstock to create your mini banner

• Attach the banner over the bottom of the mini cards, before adding the additional flowers and leaves. NB. I used additional scrap cardstock to stack the flowers and leaves, to give them dimension.

To complete the card, I added Altenew White Satin Sequins. This also helped with the white space next to the sentiment. It was looking a bit bare.

That brings me to the end of my cards for today.

Supplies Used:

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