Altenew Educator Certification Program: Muse

Every time I take a class at the Altenew Academy, I think that it’s my favorite class so far.  Then I take the next one!  My latest class as I work toward completing the Altenew Educator Certification Program, was called “Muse”.

I really loved this class.  The instructor taught lessons on finding inspiration in various ways.  She used photos, fashion, home décor, art and party and paper goods.  She had a worksheet she used to show how she pulled inspiration from the object she was looking at for her inspirations.  She would pick the dominant colors, the shapes, the flow of the pattern, the mood, the theme.  It really was amazing how easy she made it seem.

I loved that she suggested creating a Pinterest Board and call it Muse. You can check out my Pinterest MUSE Board here.  I also love that she said rather than using other people’s cards as inspiration that we should use other things.  Have you ever been inspired by someone’s card and set out to make your own version of that only to make their almost exact card?  I think it is a great compliment to CASE someone’s card.  The problem is that we sit down and look at 20 cards in just a few minutes on Pinterest and then you can’t find the card maker when you want to give credit where credit is due.  Or perhaps you create a card based on something you saw months before.  It’s hard to always give credit to the original creator when you have a vague recollection of something you saw that inspired you.  Using art, home décor, fashion or photos actually takes the worry of that away.  Your interpretation of a piece of art or a skirt will be different than someone else’s interpretation.  Plus, you are working with what you have in your craft stash to create with and that won’t be the same as anyone else’s craft stash.

I actually couldn’t wait to finish my level 2 project so I could move on and share my inspiration card!  I was really inspired by a painting called White Center, 1950 by Mark Rothko that I saw on Pinterest.  You can see that painting here.

Now, I realize the painting is called “White Center”, but it really looked gold to me on the computer.  I do love my bling and dazzle, so I am calling mine Gold Center.  The original painting was sold in 2007 by Sotheby’s for $72.84 million.  I wonder how much mine will go for!

I had a lot of fun creating my interpretation of Mr. Rothko’s painting.  It is actually yellow, pink and lavender on rose.  I made mine by blending Altenew inks: Autumn Blaze, Warm Sunshine and Puffy Heart on Heart Beat.

I heat embossed an old paint swish stamp in white and then used my laminator and some gold foil to make the center gold.  (In hindsight, now that I know it’s called White Center, I probably did not need the laminator/gold foil step, but I really saw it as gold.  Maybe he should have used a brighter white paint!!)

The sentiment is from the Altenew You Are stamp set.  That is predominantly a sentiment set that I purchased to use in my scrapbooks.  It is just a fantastic set of sentiments that are great around photos.  The sentiment is heat embossed in white on black card stock (Ha!  A white center after all!) and popped up on foam tape to give it some dimension.

The colors of the card were blended on to Bristol paper using my Ranger blending tools.  I have to say that it was quick to make and it makes me happy!  I feel like I created modern art and I like that it feels like a fun imitation of an actual piece of art.

If you are looking for inspiration, check out Pinterest.  I searched Graphic Art and Nature and fount a ton of things that inspired me.  Create yourself a MUSE board and see what you can find!

Thank you for stopping by!  Happy crafting!