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.