Here's to New Beginnings!

 Hello and Welcome 2025!

I've decided to get back to basics and begin anew in my crafting journey. A needed a card making reset, so I joined the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) to enhance and improve my card making skills. 

Here on my blog as well as my Michelle Makes Mail Instagram page, I will be sharing my journey with my assignments and projects. This means that you can expect a lot of Altenew crafty goodness mixed with other fun card-related content as well.

For my first AECP lesson, I took the All About Layering 3 class taught by Lydia Evans. I love Lydia's classes. I always step away with renewed inspiration!

I made a Double Gatefold Birthday Card using the Delectable Delights Crisp Dye Ink Family and the Cora Louise Peony Layering Stamp and Die Set. I love this stamp set. And to be honest, it is a very forgiving set. What I mean by that, is that it is easy to layer and it's difficult to see when you've made a mistake.

I used the sentiment that is included in the stamp set. I did gently cut the sentiment before stamping. I made the sentiment two lines instead of one so that it  was a better fit for the card. I love using the Double Gatefold format for a card. It's a fun-fold that adds a bit of "Wow", but is simple to make. When played out flat, you can see the basic construction.

Instead of using the accompanying dies, I fussy cut the stamped images. I actually stamped and cut six flowers instead of three. On three of the images, I only cut the insides. I then layered them using foam tape. This gave the flowers a touch of dimension. I used this to my advantage, in that it created a bit of a "tuck spot" using the bottom flower. It helped to keep the card closed. You can see this on the far right side of the photo below.

I also colored the stamen with a gold gel pen, but try as I may, I could not get the camera to pick up the gold.

Thank you for allowing me to share my Altenew card with you today. It's the first of many!

~Michelle