AECP Level 2 Final

This is going to be a long post…sorry! But I hope you read through the end and let me know what you think about my final project.

I have reached the end of Level 2 of the Altenew Educators Certification Program. This level consisted of me doing 10 classes with projects and then a final project. I learned some new things and brushed up on some old techniques during all the classes.

For the final project for this level I have been tasked with making 4 masculine cards with birthday, love/thinking of you, anniversary, and encouragement themes + an altered item/upcycled project.

I had to pick 3 components from the 20 classes I have completed so far to use in my cards. I chose Let it Shine, For the Guys, Easy Ink Blending, and Beyond Basic Backgrounds. To be honest there are probably even more components of other classes that I used in these projects.

In the Let it Shine class Carissa went over all things shiny from embossing powder to glitter to metallic cardstock and everything in between that adds shine to a project. In For the Guys class Jen talks about way to create masculine cards using geometric shapes, die cuts, ink blending, and interactive elements. Easy Ink Blending is pretty self-explanatory in this class Amy talks about different ways to use ink blending to create backgrounds and give your card a little something extra. In Beyond Basic Backgrounds Lydia showed many different ideas to create background techniques using embossing, ink blending, stencils, and more.

Without further ado here are my Level 2 final projects.

Card 1 – Birthday

For this card I used a geometric stencil and ink blended it on my white panel using Altenew Fresh Dye inks and small blending brushes. I randomly placed the colors around the panel. 

TIP – Use ink colors that are beside each other on the color wheel so that you do not create a muddy brown color.

When I was happy with my ink blending, I then used a gold gel pen to randomly trace some of the blocks to give a little extra something to the background.

I used the Altenew Birthday Wishes die to cut the sentiment in Altenew Brushed Gold cardstock and the shadow in a dark blue. The card panel was then layered on a piece of brushed gold cardstock and the same dark blue cardstock.

Card 2 – Encouragement 

For this card I started out with Altenew’s Masking Paper and cut a piece to A2 card size. I then just randomly tore an ovalish shape in the center of the masking paper. The mask was stuck on the white cardstock panel and I used the lightest shade to ink blend the shape. I then placed the Altenew Dotted Waves stencil over top of the card panel and started in the center with the lightest shade in the ink set at the middle and then used the next shade towards the outer edge of the “oval”. When I was happy with the center, I removed the outer mask and used the piece I tore from the center to cover the center ink blended section so I could use the 2 darker shades, as well as navy blue and black to continue ink blending around the panel to the outside edges.

I die cut the 2 koi fish from Altenew Calming Koi set in white cardstock and vellum paper. Then using the coordinating stamp set I stamped the marking on the fish before adhering them together. Using my stamp positioner, I carefully heat embossed the encouragement sentiment in the center of the card panel, placed the fish around the sentiment and using some shimmer I splattered the card panel before layering it on the card base.

Card 3 – Anniversary

For an interactive feature I decided to make a shaker card. I used a piece of Altenew Watercolor paper to create an embossed resist. Going with more of the geometric, I stamped the Shine Like a Diamond background stamp using Versamark ink and white embossing powder. 

TIP – If you have a stamp positioner this is a perfect use for it because of the texture of watercolor paper it can take several stamps to get complete coverage.

When the panel was cool, I lightly sprayed the watercolor panel with water and then used Lindy’s Magical powders and more water to do my ink blending. I dried the panel using my Ranger Heat Tool. Once the panel was dry, I used a circle die to cut the circle out for the shaker area.

I heat embossed the sentiment from Altenew Ambridge Roses set onto heat resistant acetate.  I also heat embossed in Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder a smaller sentiment to add on to the card front on a piece of navy-blue cardstock.

TIP – Make sure that your acetate is heat resistant because it will melt. There are several companies that sell heat resistant acetate. 

Card 4 – Thinking of You

Just like with the anniversary card I did the emboss resist technique. I continued the geometric theme and this time I stamped the Altenew Whimsical Herringbone background on to a A2 cardstock panel and using my Distress Stain and Oxide sprays I “ink” blended the background.

TIP – I would definitely suggest using a piece of watercolor paper to do this type of technique because you will get a better blend. However, I do like the way this turned out even if I was too lazy to dig out another piece of watercolor paper.

When I was happy with the background, I used my Ranger Heat Tool to dry the panel and cut it down to the size I wanted for my card front. I then used cardstock to die cut the Altenew Bird of the Mountain die. Altenew makes die cutting so EASY with their keyhole system. The die was super easy to put together.

Using Versamark and Altenew Antique Silver embossing powder I heat embossed the thinking of you sentiment from Altenew Heartfelt Sentiments set on to a piece of dark blue cardstock cut to the size I needed. Adhered the 2 background pieces to the card base and then adhered the bird where I wanted him to sit.

Altered Item

When we purchased our home a couple of years ago my husband created an Art Studio for me in our basement rec room. It is a huge room that gives me a place to do all the paper crafting, painting, sewing, or quilting I want. The one thing it has lacked is anything to decorate the space. So, for my altered item project I decided to make something that I can use to hang on the wall for décor.

Since we have decluttered our home and try not to allow things we are not using to hang out for long I had to purchase a blank canvas to use for my project. I purchased a black gesso painted canvas from our local craft store.

I have said for quite some time I wanted a sign in my art studio that said “Create something every day even if it sucks”. So that is what I have made for this altered item. Using Adobe Photoshop Elements I did a mockup of the sign so that I could decide on what font I wanted to use, what size the words needed to be and how I wanted to the layout to be.

Once that was all determined I used Word to print out each word. I placed the words on the canvas where I wanted them. 

Using some transfer paper from my sewing supplies and my dry embossing stylus I transferred the words to the canvas.

Then I used heavy-body acrylic paint and a small round paint brush to paint the words onto the canvas.

I let the painted words dry overnight and then came time to stamp the flowers from Altenew Sulfur Cosmos stamp set. This is where I ran into some problems. Even though my husband had cut some scrap wood pieces for behind the canvas I could not get a complete image when I tried to stamp on it.

After much thought on how to make this work, it dawned on me to remove the canvas from the wood “frame” stretcher. Once the canvas was flat, I was able to use Versamark ink to stamp the flowers on to the corners of the canvas and then heat emboss with Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder.

As you can see from my mockup, I originally was going to paint in the flowers using metallic paints but after seeing them embossed on the canvas I decided I like the clean and simple lines of it without the extra color. This clean and simple look goes much better with the midcentury modern aesthetic that I am working to create in our home.  

Masking Unleashed

The last level 2 class...YAY!! Looks like I will be able to meet my goal of finishing level 2 by the end of the year.  This is the card I made for the Masking Unleashed class taught by Svitlana Shayevich at Altenew. Svitlana teaches different masking ideas and gives lots of tips on masking.
 

For my card I started out by using Altenew's Masking Paper and stamping my image on the masking paper to create my mask.

TIP 1 - Depending on how you are layering your image you may need more than one mask. Because of the size and layout of my image I only needed one mask.

TIP 2 - when cutting out your mask make sure to cut just inside the image lines so that you do not end up with white spaces between your images when they are stamped.

I started by stamping the flower image from Altenew's Amazing Things stamp set. This was stamped in the lower left corner of my card panel. I placed the mask over the flower image and because I was using the Altenew Stampwheel I was able to rotate the top plate to stamp the image two more times on each side of the first image without moving paper.

Then I proceeded to stamp the second layer using Altenew Rubelite Fresh Dye Ink. The thrid layer was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with Altenew's Antique Gold embossing powder. 

I chose a sentiment from the Amazing Things stamp set and heat embossed it as well. Because I had some minor smudging of my ink in a couple of places I "fixed" the card using black and gold splatters to make the smudges not as noticeable.

The card panel was then layered on black and dark pink cardstock from Taylored Expressions and Concord and 9th.  

SUPPLIES USED

Stamps - Altenew Amazing Things
Paper - Hammermill, Taylored Expression Oreo, Concord and 9th Wildberry
Ink - Altenew Obsidian Black, Altenew Rubelite, Versamark
Misc - Altenew Embossing Powder Antique Gold, Dr PH Martin Black Star Matte India Ink, Yasutomo Japanese Watercolor Sumi-e Pale Gold

AECP - Magical Marker Techniques

I was able to finish up another class for the Altenew Educator Certification Program today. My hope is to finish all of level 2 before the end of the year so I can start level 3 fresh in the new year.

Sara Naumann gave several different terrific ideas for creating on your cards using alcohol markers in the Magical Marker Techniques class. Creating splatters, coloring on non-porous surfaces, and using stencils were just a few of her techniques. We all think about using our alcohol markers to color in images but this class will give you some ideas for creating backgrounds and do other things with the markers.

I use 3 of Sara's techniques to create my card. I did a splattered background, coloring on a non-porous surface (vellum), and spritzing the colored image with alcohol. 

For this card I started out by creating the splattered background and then set it aside to dry. While that dried, I used Altenew Fresh Flowers to die cut the flowers and leaves out of vellum. I prefer a heavy vellum for this type of project but any vellum will work.

Once I had everything cut out and sorted the matching flower pieces, I used my Altenew Alcohol Markers in Pocketful of Sunshine, Cherry Blossom, Green Valley, and Beach Garden sets to color each piece on the back side of the vellum. You can use any brand of alcohol markers you already have to do this technique.

After they were colored, I used my spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol and lightly spritzed the pieces giving them a mottled, splattered look. I used liquid glue to build each flower following Altenew's keyhole system and the layering guide provided on the packaging. The keyhole system makes creating the flowers so simple.

I die cut the sentiment in black cardstock using Altenew Waterbrush Hello die. After everything dried I was able to play around with the layout of the flowers and sentiment until I was happy with how they looked. I used liquid glue to attach all the pieces. And at the last minute decided the flowers needed a little something more so I dug out the Ranger Glossy Accents and used it on the flower centers.

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies - Altenew Waterbrush Hello, Fresh Flowers 
Paper - Vellum, Taylored Expression cardstock, Hammermill cardstock
Misc - Altenew Alcohol Markers, Ranger Glossy Accents

Tools - Bearly Arts liquid glue, Spellbinder Platinum 6 die cut machine

AECP - Impressive Heat Embossing

I am getting closer to finishing up Level 2 of the Altenew Educators Certification Program. Only a few more classes after this one.

The Impressive Heat Embossing class taught by Svetlana Marchenko is all about heat embossing and what it can add to your card making. Heat embossing just gives your card a little something extra that you don't get stamping with ink alone. It can also as in my case make watercoloring an image a little quicker because you don't have to skip around waiting for paint to dry or worry about ink running.

I stamped the image from Altenew's Craft Your Life: Fragrant Florals onto Altenew Hot- Press Watercolor paper using Versamark ink. TIP - because of the texture of the paper you will need to stamp a few times to get good coverage when stamping on watercolor paper so it is best to use a stamp positioner, like the StampWheel or Misti.

Once it was stamped I used Altenew Embossing Powder in Platinum to heat emboss my image. After allowing the embossing powder to cool I used Altenew Artists' Watercolor 24 Pan set  to watercolor the image. And because it was heat embossed I did not have to skip around and wait for paint to dry because the embossing acts like a dam to keep the areas separated. 

This is a large image and some times it can be difficult to decide where you want to trim it down to adhere to a cardbase. TIP - when trying to decide where to trim a large image down I use my A2 rectangle die to "audition" the panel so that I can determine how I want to trim it. You could also make a frame with a piece of paper and use that to get a better visual of what it will look like in order to decide which areas you want to trim off.

After I die cut the panel using my A2 rectangle die, I then used one of the sentiments in the set and Altenew Obsidian Black ink to stamp directly on to the panel before adhering it to my card base.

SUPPLIES USED:

Stamp - Altenew Craft Your Life: Fragrant Florals
Paper - Altenew Hot-Press Watercolor paper, Neenah 110 lb. cardstock
Ink - Altenew Obsidian Black, Versamark
Misc - Altenew Platinum embossing powder, Altenew Artists' Watercolor 24 Pan set, Princeton Velvetouch brush, Misti stamp positioner 

AECP - Color Your Day

Altenew's Color Your Day class taught by Therese Calvird was right up my alley with how I create cards. This class is all about finding new and unusual color combinations for your projects. Therese talks about how to use a color wheel in that class as well. If you struggle with making color choices or stepping outside of a regularly used color combination this might be the right class for you.
 

Pro tips: Look for color inspiration everywhere. Color wheel, photos, fabric, other cards, color challenges and in my case Sarah Renae Clark's Color Cubes.

Therese also suggests a 70/20/10 ratio for using colors on your project. 

For this card I stamped the image from Altenew Gracious Peonies and then using the coordinating stencil & blending brushes I colored in the image using 2 purples and 2 greens that I choice using the Color Cube card I had selected. I was able to get plenty of color variation by changing how lightly I blended with my brush.

Once my image was colored I used the coordinating die to cut out the image as well as cut 2 additional out of white cardstock. By layering the 3 die cut pieces I get just a little pop up of the image without using a bunch of foam tape.

I played around with the image on the card front until I was happy with the position and using a Mini Misti stamp positioner I stamped the sentiment from the Gracious Peonies set with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. Once the sentiment had cooled off so I did not risk smudging it I used Bearly Arts glue to attach my floral image and then adhered the piece to a card base.  

Supplies Used
Stamps - Altenew Gracioius Peonies
Ink - Taylored Expressions, Lawn Fawn, Concord & 9th, Versamark
Paper - Taylored Expressions, Hammermill
Misc - gold embossing powder, Bearly Arts glue, Color Cubes

AECP - Beautiful Details

I have completed the Beautiful Details class at Altenew taught by Marika Rahtu. She teaches how to use markers, color pencils, and pens to add detail to your stamped images. Marika gives lots of tips and ideas for adding additional details to bring out your images.

 

I stamped the solid image from Altenew's Garden Hydrangea layering stamp set in the lighest color and then using the same ink I stamp the last of the layers . Once my ink was dry I then used a Pigma Micron 0.3 pen and went around each flower in the clusters to define each one. Lastly I used my Faber-Castell Polychromos  color pencils and added in the center details and some shading.

There was too much white space for my liking so I went in with the purple ink as well as some Dr PH Martin's Bombay ink in black and created splatters just around the flowers in the white areas. Heat embossed a sentiment from Altenew's Beautiful Quotes stamp set.

Supplies Used

Stamps - Altenew Garden Hydrangea, Altenew Beautiful Quotes
Ink - Taylored Expressions, Versamark, Dr PH Martin Bombay
Cardstock - Hammermill, Lawn Fawn, Neenah, Taylored Expressions

Misc - Faber-Castell Polychromos, Pigma Micron pen

AECP - Polychromatic

Merriam-Webster defines polychromatic as showing a variety or a change of colors. In Altenew's Polychromatic class, Nina-Marie teaches how to use color combinations and ranges of color to give you more confidence in color usage in card making.

Nina's monochromatic card technique with partial die cutting of the sentiment makes for a quick and easy set of cards. Since I don't do monochromatic or partial die cutting very often I decided to use both of these techniques to make a few cards.

I started out by selecting several pieces of colored cardstock and inks in 1-2 shades darker than the cardstock. Some times it is nice to just grab a few supplies and create a card or two to have on hand. I wanted something simple that could be masculine or feminine, so I chose a simple background stamp to use for these cards.

After stamping each piece of cardstock, I trimmed each piece to 3.75" x 4.5". Then I partially die cut each sentiment from the top of the colored cardstock panels and attached them to my card bases. The sentiments were die cut from Altenew Brushed Gold cardstock and pieced into the tops of each panel.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Altenew Faceted Stars, Altenew Gracious Peonies
Dies - Altenew Fancy Thanks, Altenew Script Words, Altenew Simply Hello
Inks - Altenew Fresh dye inks, Versamark
Paper - Altenew Brushed Gold cardstock, Taylored Expressions cardstock 
Misc - Imagine Crafts irRESISTible Pico Embellisher Gold, old epoxy embellishments,
embossing powder, Wagner Heat Tool, Spellbinders Platinum 6

AECP - Creative Watercolor Media

In Altenew's Creative Watercolor Media class, Jennifer Rzasa, Laura Bassen, and Debby Hughes give lots of ideas about using your ink pads, ink refills, and shimmer sprays to watercolor on your cards.

Using ink pads and ink refills to watercolor has been around a long time in the stamping world but it is often a forgotten technique. This gives you more uses for you inks and you can get a great watercolor look without the expense of buying watercolor paints.

I started out my card by stamping a piece of Altenew Watercolor paper with Altenew Alluring Orchids using Versamark ink and then embossing the image with Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder.

Then using a wet-on-wet watercolor technique and Altenew Fresh Dye Ink refills I painted my image. With the wet-on-wet technique you start with wetting your paper with “clean” water and then use your brush drop on the inks and allow them to flow where the water takes them.

You can use your brush to push the inks around while they are wet to get darker and get lighter areas for shadows and highlights. Ink do stain the paper so you will only be able to lighten the image a small amount.

Supplies used:

Stamps – Altenew Alluring Orchids

Inks – Altenew Fresh Dye Inks – Frayed Leaf, Evergreen (Green Fields color family), Amethyst, Plum (Sugarplum color family), Citrus Burst, Maple Yellow (Pocketful of Sunshine color family)
Misc – Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder, Altenew Hot Press Watercolor paper, Silver Brush Black Velvet watercolor round brush #4, Simon Says Stamp Anti-Static powder

AECP - With A Twist

 

My cards for the Altenew Academy’s With a Twist class taught by Therese Calvird. Even though I have been a card maker for 17 years Therese gave a few ideas that I had never tried before. She gives instructions and ideas for layering stamps in different ways, using unusual color mixes, acetate, cutting the card front differently than just straight, mixing modern & vintage designs, and faux embossing.

For my cards I decided to do partial die cutting for the cut oddly and the faux embossing technique.

Card 1:

Was done using the cut oddly technique. I did partial die cutting using the coordinating die for Altenew’s In the Woodlands stamp set and after deciding where I wanted it to cut, I lined up the top cutting plate on my Spellbinders Platinum just to where I wanted the cut to stop and ran the card front through my machine. I was then able to line up the stamp to the cut and use Altenew Jet Black ink to stamp the outline. Once the image was stamped on the card front, I used the layering stencils to color in the image using Altenew Fresh Dye inks.

Products Used:
Stamps – Altenew In the Woodlands, Altenew Classic Greetings
Inks – Altenew Fresh Dye Inks in Jet Black, Pale Mauve, Amethyst, Firefly, Grass Field, Shadow Creek

Card 2:

Was done created using the faux embossing technique. Therese used an alphabet die set to cut the word she used for her card. I decided to be lazy and use one of the many word dies that I have in my collection.

For this I die cut the Altenew Waterbrush Hello die six times to cover the card front, then using Bearly Arts liquid glue I glued each of the words to the card front. Once they were dry, I used scissors to trim off any overhanging pieces. 

The butterfly was stamped using Altenew Jet Black Fresh Dye Ink and then I used Taylored Expressions Honey ink to layer the stamps. After the butterfly was die cut using the coordinating die, I popped it up on the card front with foam.

Products Used:
Stamps – Altenew Dovetail Butterflies
Dies – Altenew Waterbrush Hello
Inks – Altenew Fresh Dye Inks in Jet Black, Taylored Expressions Honey

AECP - In the Mood for Color

Well life got away from me and it has been a while since my last post on here. I finally finished another class for the Altenew Educators Certification Program. 

The In the Mood for Color class taught by Stephanie Klauck is all about how colors can affect our moods, thoughts and feelings. I am going out on a limb and say that this is one area that I am not sure I can see for myself. I decided to make 3 cards using different color schemes and you my readers can decide for themselves if they get a different feeling based on the colors I chose.

BLUE CARD

Let's look at the blue card first. The color blue is said to give the feeling of calm and tranquility. 

For this card I chose 2 shades of blue and stamped out the same image just switching up the position of the stamp. I used a similar layout to one of the cards inside the stamp package. For those new to Altenew, every stamp set comes with several ideas for cards inside the package with color ideas. This is a good jumping off point when you want to make a card but can't decide where to start with a stamp set.

I layered the stamped image on a piece of navy blue cardstock, adhered it a card base, and then found some old embellishments in my stash called Rain Dots and the blue ones seemed perfect for this card.

Supplies:
Altenew Leaf Clusters stamp set, Altenew Tranquil Greetings stamp set, Lawn Fawn inks, Taylored Expressions cardstock, and Cloud 9 Rain Dots.

RAINBOW CARD

Then I decided to make a rainbow card. Rainbow encompasses all of the colors and is said to relate the feelings of happy, cheer, optimism, courage, energy, and growth.

For this card I picked 6 colors. Yes I know there are 7 colors in a rainbow but 6 worked better for this design. This card uses all of the stamped images to stamp across the top of the panel in each of the colors. The panel was then trimmed down, layered on a black cardstock panel, and then adhered to the card front. 

This seemed like the perfect card front for a large sentiment and since I had recently purchased the Altenew Waterbrush Hello die, it was the perfect size for this design. I cut the die 3 times in black cardstock and glued all 3 layers together for some added dimension. Once I decided where it looked best I then glued the sentiment to the card front to finish this design off.

Supplies:
Altenew Leaf Cluster stamp set, Altenew Waterbrush Hello die, Lawn Fawn ink, Taylored Expressions cardstock.

GREEN CARD

For my last card I chose green. Green is said to give a sense of soothing, growth, nature.

For the green card, I stamped 1 of the leaf clusters twice, connecting the stems together to create the look of a longer image. This card was stamped using Ranger Distress Ink in Twisted Citron with a little Mowed Lawn just on the edges on Ranger Watercolor Cardstock. When the Mowed Lawn wasn't giving me the desired look, I swiped the pad on my glass mat, added a little bit of water, and then using a paint brush I went along one edge of each leaf to add a little more color and texture to them.

Stamped the sentiment from Altenew Moroccan Mosaic and layered on green cardstock. 

Supplies

Altenew Leaf Clusters stamp set, Altenew Moroccan Mosaic stamp set, Ranger Distress Ink, Ranger Watercolor cardstock, Lawn Fawn cardstock.

If you made it this far, I want to say thank you for checking out my blog!

AECP - Beyond Basic Backgrounds

I passed my Altenew Educators Certification Program Level 1 project and can now move on to the Level 2 classes. I decided to start with the Beyond Basic Backgrounds taught by Lydia Evans.

In Beyond Basic Backgrounds, Lydia shows 6 different techniques to step up your background game. For my cards I decided to showcase the Water Bleached and the Wax Resist Watercolor techniques.

For the Water Bleached cards I made 2 because I wanted to compare the difference between Ranger Distress Inks and Ranger Distress Oxide Inks with this technique. The oxide inks ended up giving a less defined bleached look and the regular distress inks was much brighter and gave me an almost tie-dyed look to the background. 

Using distress inks and a domed blending tool, I ink blended 2 pieces of pre-cut Ranger watercolor cardstock. Then because I am an impatient crafter, I used my Ranger Heat Tool to dry both of the backgrounds. 

In the class, Lydia suggests using a piece of Cut & Dry foam to dab water on to the stamps before stamping them on to the ink blended watercolor paper using a stamp positioner tool. For me, I found that I got a much better bleached look by lightly spritzing my stamps with the water. I would suggest you to try both ways and see which one works best for you.

Once the panels were dry, I was able to move ahead to finishing each one. 

For the purple and pink card, I simply stamped the vellum piece using the Altenew Classic Greetings stamp set and VersaMark then heat embossed with Brutus Monroe Raven embossing powder. I wrapped the vellum strip around the card front and embellished it with ebony black Nuvo Drops.

For the pink card, with VersaFine Clair ink I stamp across the top of the card with several of the leave stamps from Altenew Leaf Clusters and used a sentiment from Altenew Illusion Diamonds. Splattered with a little Dr PH Martins Black Star Matte ink and embellished it with more of the ebony black Nuvo Drops.

Supplies used:
Stamps: Altenew Classic Greetings, Altenew Leaf Clusters, Altenew Illusion Diamonds, Altenew Bold Bouquet
Inks: Ranger Distress Ink and Distress Oxide Ink, VersaFine Clair, VersaMark
Paper: Ranger Watercolor, Neenah Solar White, Taylored Expressions, Vellum
Other: Nuvo Crystal Drops

For the Wax Resist Watercolor technique, I messed up and used waxed paper instead of freezer paper. I miss read and heard what was suppose to be used but I think it still came out looking good even with that mess up.

For this card I cut the Garden Trellis cover die out of waxed paper. Ran the waxed paper piece & watercolor paper through my Minc machine and then using Altenew Artist Watercolor 24 pan set I loosely water colored a piece of Ranger Watercolor cardstock. Once the panel was dry, I die cut one of the leaf dies from Altenew Just Leaves die set using black cardstock, glued it to the water-colored panel, and then stamped and attached my sentiment using foam squares.

Supplies used:
Stamps: Altenew Sketchy Floral
Dies: Altenew Just Leave, Altenew Garden Trellis cover plate, My Favorite Things Sentiment die
Ink: VersaFine Clair
Paper: Neenah cardstock, Taylored Expressions, Ranger Watercolor

AECP Level 1 Final Challenge

Hey y'all! Glad you could stop by my blog today. This one is going to be a long one and I hope you will stay until the end and that you will find something new to inspire you. After completing all of my level 1 classes for Altenew Educators Certification Program, I was assigned a final challenge project and I will share my final project with you here.

The challenge rules were:

• Create 2 coordinated sets of cards. One set for masculine and one set for feminine 
• Create packaging for the cards to make a gift set
• Use 3 components from the Level 1 classes and explain them
• Use a recycled material in the sets or packaging

For my challenge cards you will see elements from the For the Guys, Clean & Simple Boutique, Easy Die Cutting Techniques, Let It Shine, Celebration Stencil Techniques, and Irresistible Inking classes. I had a hard time just choosing 3. 

I will start out with the masculine. This is the set that gave me the hardest time creating. Masculine cards are always a struggle for me. My crafting friend Tina let me borrow a couple of die sets that she had since I was lacking in the masculine stamps & dies department. For the masculine card set I chose blues, grays and silver colors, mainly because that is my husband and younger son's favorite colors.

Card 1 uses elements from the For the Guys class, Let It Shine class, and Irresistible Inking class.

For this card I pulled out my Lindy's Magical Powders for the background. I sprinkled the powders on to a piece of watercolor paper and then sprayed with water so the colors would move and blend. Once the panel was dry, I heat embossed with Altenew Whimsical Herringbone stamp and Brutus Monroe Raven embossing powder.

I die cut Simon Says Stamp Large Fancy Happy Birthday die 3 times and layered them for dimension. I stamped the wishing you from the Altenew Faceted Stars set onto a smaller strip and attached it just above the die cut words.

   

       

Card 2 uses elements from Easy Die Cutting Techniques, Celebrate Stencil Techniques, and Irresistible Ink Blending class. 

I started this card by ink blending then embossing with Altenew Bamboo Branches embossing folder and stencil set. I used Distress Oxide inks and a domed foam to do the ink blending before embossing the image for dimension and texture. Once the background was complete, I stamped and die cut the panda from Altenew Roaming Panda set and attached him to the card using foam tape.

This would be a great card for a younger boy and you could easily change up the sentiment for any occasion.

Card 3 uses elements from Easy Die Cutting Techniques and For the Guys classes.

This card started with die cutting the Simple Shapes Cover Die from 5 different colors of cardstock. I then cut down the cover die piece to make a strip instead of using the whole piece. After sticking the strip to a piece of double-sided adhesive, I then used the pieces from the other 4 colors I had cut to randomly piece in the triangle and parallelogram shapes. The double-sided adhesive makes this technique much easier to piece together.

Once the strip was pieced, I attached it to a strip of gray cardstock and using ATG tape attached the completed strip to the left side of the card front. I used Altenew Birthday Builder stamp set to create a sentiment and glued it to the card front. 

  

Card 4 uses elements from Celebrating Stencil Techniques and Easy Die Cutting Techniques classes.

Another card I was able to complete thanks to my crafty friend Tina. I started this card by cutting and layer the Altenew Wooden Rowboat die. While the glue dried on this layered die piece, I used the new Altenew Water Stencil and 2 different colors of ink with a large Altenew blending brush to create a watery background for my boat. You can get different looks with this stencil depending on how you rotate the stencil and how heavy or light you blend your colors.

I also die cut the Altenew Birthday Wish die sentiment twice and the backer layer once. When I started layering all of the elements it felt like the card was missing something. I cut another Simple Shapes cover die piece and then using my scissors I trimmed out the center of the die cut cardstock leaving just a frame that I attached around the edge of this card front giving it a more finished feel.

 

Card 5 uses elements from Let It Shine, Clean & Simple Boutique, and Easy Die Cutting Techniques.

For this card I stamped the right side of the cardstock with Altenew Illusion Diamonds using Versamark ink and then embossed the image with silver embossing powder. I trimmed the cardstock to be 4" x 5.5" and layered it on a piece of My Favorite Things Silver cardstock.

I used the same silver cardstock to die cut the Altenew Linear Crossroads die and glued it to the card front. I also die cut the Altenew Birthday Wishes die and layered it on top of the Linear Crossroads die cut. 

Now for the feminine card set. These were so much easier for me to create. Altenew has such terrific floral stamps and dies. For these cards I went with a purple and orange color scheme but also brought in a little of the blue from the masculine cards.

Card 1 uses elements from Easy Die Cutting Techniques and Let It Shine classes.

I started out by using the Altenew Circle Quilt Cover die to create a background leaving all of the pieces intact. I die cut the Altenew Craft-A-Flower Sulfur Cosmos die set from Taylored Expressions Candy Corn cardstock and then using Altenew Fresh Dye ink in Crimson and a small blending brush I ink blended the edges of the flower petals. I then glued them together and painted some Wink of Stella over the flower centers for a little shine. The leaves were cut from vellum and then I used a Copic alcohol marker on the backs for a little color. Altenew makes creating these great flower elements so easy with their keyhole and arrow system in addition to the directions in each package.

The sentiment was stamped with VersaFine Clair ink using Altenew Classic Greetings. I die cut the greeting 3 times and layered it for dimension. I prefer this technique to give dimension over using foam.  

Card 2 uses elements from Let It Shine, Easy Die Cutting Techniques, and Irresistible Ink Blending Techniques classes.

 

I again grab my Lindy's Magical Powders for this one. Using my Misti Stamp Positioner I stamped a piece of watercolor paper with Altenew’s In the Woodlands image using a very light ink so I could see where it was going to be then I sprinkled the powder colors where I wanted them to be concentrated and sprayed with water. I continued to add those colors until I was happy with how it looked and let it dry. 

After the panel completely dried, I brushed it well with Simon Says Stamp Anti-static powder and placed it back in the Misti then stamped it again using Versamark embossing ink and heat embossed it with Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder. The hello was die cut with Altenew Simply Hello die. I placed a piece of low tack tape covering half of the word and then used Versamark ink to cover the exposed half so that I could heat emboss it with more Gilded embossing powder.

The panel was die cut using Spellbinders A2 rectangle dies. Even with the sparkle in the Magical Powder the image felt a little flat so using the matching stencil I added some ink blending to the flowers and the leaves and a little around the edges of the card front for more depth. Once everything was layered on the card front, I decided to stamp the “a little note” sentiment and gold emboss it on black cardstock. 

Although I wasn't sure at first how I felt about this card, it is definitely my favorite one!

Card 3 uses elements from Celebrate Stencil Techniques, Let It Shine and Irresistible Ink Blending Techniques classes.

The background was ink with purple ink using the Altenew Sunburst Stencil. I lightly went over the whole panel with the ink left on my large Altenew blending brush to knock back the huge contrast of the white cardstock and purple ink. I trimmed the panel down again using the Spellbinders A2 rectangle die and very lightly blended some black in around the edges for added depth.

Using my Misti I stamped the large flower image from Altenew Nostalgic Florals set, then used the coordinating stencil to ink blend the image. The image was then placed back in the Misti and stamped again with the ink to crisp up the lines. Once that was completed, I die cut the image using the coordinating die.

I used Altenew Birthday Builder set to stamp the black strip using Versamark ink and Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing power to create the sentiment strip.

 

Card 4 uses elements from Celebrate Stencil Techniques and Easy Die Cutting Techniques classes.

Using the Altenew Circle Frame stencil I ink blended with purple and blue on to my white card base. I die cut Altenew Boho Vases die to die cut the vases and leaves from purple and green cardstock. Before adhering the dies to the card front, I placed everything in my Misti figured out where I wanted the dies to be placed and stamped the thinking of you greeting from Altenew Heartfelt Sentiments using VersaFine Clair black ink. Then I glued the larger vase and leaves to the card front and used foam dots to adhere the smaller ones for a little dimension.

Card 5 uses elements from Clean and Simple Boutique and Let It Shine classes.

I stamped the image from Altenew Paint-A-Flower Sweet Pea set on to an A2 size panel of purple cardstock using Versamark ink and silver embossing powder to emboss the image. The panel was then trimmed down to 4" x 5.5" and layered on a piece of My Favorite Things Silver cardstock then attached to the card base.

The smile was die cut from the same purple and silver cardstocks using Altenew XOXO & More die set and adhered to the card front with foam dots.

One of the challenge instructions was to use a recycled item in the cards or the packaging. I try not to keep a lot of stuff around but did find an Altenew shipping box that I had saved so decided to use that for my gift packaging.

To make the gift box I placed one of my cards on top of the piece of the shipping box to get my measurements. I then measured how tall the sides of the box needed to be by figuring out how tall the stack of 10 cards were. I added that to the measurements of the cards plus another 1/8". Once I had all my measurements, I drew them out on to the inside of the box piece. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a few pictures of the box making process; I promise to get better with my picture taking. Here I cut slits in the 4 corners to make flaps and then without cutting completely thru the cardboard layers, I lightly scored around all of the lines so that the cardboard would fold easily and neatly.  Here is a blog post I found to follow along with to make my box bottom - https://stickinsect.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/making-a-cardboard-box/. 

I decided I wanted a clear top for my gift box so I grabbed a piece of acetate and followed the same directions except that I cut out the corner squares completely out instead of just cutting slits so that I could fold it to make it fit inside of the box bottom. 

Once I was happy with the top and bottom, I could insert my cards, tie a pretty ribbon around it and add the for you tag.

If you made it to the bottom of this post, I greatly appreciate your time and hope you found even a little bit of inspiration to use in your card making journey. Thanks for stopping by!!