Art of the Teacher

Hi friends! I'm sharing a few cards I made for the boys' teachers this week. I ran across an Albert Einstein quote that I thought would make a good card sentiment to go with an artsy background, which is my current favorite thing to do. I typed it up and printed it out on card stock.  If you'd like to use it for your own cards, I've included the image at the bottom of this post.

To begin, I prepped five pieces of cardstock with gesso and then pulled out the color bursts.  For the first two cards, I used sap green because I remembered that Trevor's teachers like green, then dried and added in the Naples yellow.  I then thought I'd add  in some fossilized amber distress ink, but it was a bit too dark of a yellow, so I muted it with water and then added in more naples yellow.  I finished off the background by sponging some squeezed lemonade distress ink on the yellow areas and then lightly splattering with watered down gesso.

I originally had the idea to make the sentiment look like a clipboard by hanging it from a library clip on the watercolor background. Seemed simple enough, but when it came time, I couldn't find a single library clip in the chaotic mess that is my craft room right now. I'm sure all the clips are hanging out, laughing at me from a corner of the room, safe for another day! {grin}  I had already cut the sentiments, rounded the corners and matted with black cardstock, so needed something to pull it all together.  I found these stitched stars and wooden star accents and added them to the card with collage podge and then accented the wooden pieces with Nuvo glitter crystals.

 At this point, I had three cards still to make (Trevor has 2 teachers and Kellan has 3).  I decided that the stars and the star banner were too time consuming, so opted for a different design for the next cards.  For the background, I used naples yellow color burst and then a teal Magical Shaker for the background.  I did a few applications to get just the effect I was looking for, then coated each card front with Micro Glaze to try to seal in the color as best as I could. I then used a honeycomb stencil and some whipped spackle to add some texture.

Once the background was done, I cut the sentiments down, matted with black and then adhered a butterfly embellishment to each card before distressing the edges and finishing up.  The boys were so excited to hand deliver them to their teachers along with their gifts this morning.

Here's the sentiment, if you'd like to use it for your own crafty wishes.  If you use it, just link me up so I can see what you make.  Right click on the image and save to your computer.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend.

Enabler's List
Stamps: computer generated sentiment
Paper: white (Neenah), black (SU!)
Ink: Fresh Florals Color Bursts (Ken Oliver), Magical Shakers (Lindy's Stamp Gang), gesso, fossilized amber distress oxide, squeezed lemonade distress (Ranger)
Accessories: honeycomb layering stencil (Tim Holtz), whipped spackle (Faber Castell), Micro Glaze (Ranger), wood stars, stitched star banner, veneer butterflies