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