Two Backgrounds, Two Very Different Stories | CYL Painterly Perfection Altenew

Card 1

For my first card, I used one of the stenciled backgrounds as the starting point for a floral design.

The Painterly Perfection set also includes a beautiful layering stamp set for creating the flowers. I stamped the flower arrangement using the different layers stamps and then made three extra flowers because I wanted to add more dimension to the arrangement.

The 6x6 inch stencils are a slightly different size than the 5x7 inch cards I normally make. Usually that isn't a problem, but this time the difference in proportions became more noticeable. Maybe also because I didn't want to cut off so much.

I found a set of rectangle dies in my stash with slightly different measurements and used one of them to create a frame around the background.

The soft blue and pink combination is one of my favorite parts of this card. I also love how the dimensional flowers stand away from the background.

I still think the proportions are a little different from what I normally make, but perhaps that is also why I like this card. It pushed me outside my usual composition.

Card 2

For the second card, I wanted to do something completely different.

Instead of using the entire background as a card front, I wanted to use a small part of it as the painting sitting on an easel. Yes, it really hurt me to cut in that background.

That gave me the idea to combine it with the Art Studio Treasures Layering Die Set and create a little art room.

I wanted the room to feel slightly messy and lived in, with art supplies lying around and everything connected to the painting.

I paid particular attention to the colors. The colors in the little painting are repeated in the palette and the paint tubes, so the separate elements still belong together.

I even added a gold edge to the palette, inspired by the gold details on Altenew's own palettes.

The sentiment became part of the room too. I treated it almost like a piece of artwork hanging on the wall and added a frame around it.

And somehow, a little art studio appeared.

What I learned

These two cards reminded me that I really enjoy taking a product and asking myself:

"What else can I do with this?"

The first card stayed closer to the way I normally work, with flowers, layers and dimension.

The second one was much more of an experiment.

I don't make many scenes, especially scenes without flowers, so creating the art room felt unfamiliar. I can see things I would probably do differently next time, but I also know that this is exactly how I improve.

Sometimes a card doesn't have to be one of my favorites to be valuable.

Sometimes it is the card that teaches me what to try next.

And I think that is what these two cards did for me.