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AECP Level 1 Course 8 Irresistible Inking Techniques

Hello,

Today is the day after my husbands birthday and I decided to use the inking techniques used in this course to make his birthday card.

I used the ink painting technique from this course with the Altenew Crisp Die Inks Aqualicious, Teal Cave and Galactic Stream. I painted them onto Bristol smooth cardstock from darkest to lightest creating a gradient. I let this dry, then painted it again to make the color more intense. I could have done this with watercolors but I wanted to stick with the lesson technique, even though I was not creating any flowers. I let this paper dry overnight so I could be sure it was not wet when I die cut it.

Using the Decorative Swirls Die Set from Altenew, thinking it was masculine enough I planned to cut a well from fun foam and from the card front to create a shaker card with the gradient piece I created as the backer of the shaker part. As I worked on this idea it was just not working out the way I wanted. I scraped this idea and moved on to the next. Next from black cardstock I cut out Happy Birthday from a set of dies I received in my Spellbinders Advent Calendar over Christmas.

Using a black card base I had in my stash (I was still determined to use this blue gradient background I created) I decided to make a stand up card, this card base I had was already scored perfectly to do this with. I cut 2 swirls from a silver specialty card stock from Tonic, I had received from their craft kit years ago. I do believe they still sell this paper.

Swirls and leaves from the Decorative Swirls Die Set from Altenew

I cut 3 sets of the leaves from the dies included in the Decorative Swirls set out of vellum. I colored one of these leaves on the back with the artist marker in Galactic Stream to coordinate with my painted cardstock. On the front I colored “veining” with silver glitter marker also from Tonic.

Leaf colored with Alcohol Marker on the back and with Silver Glitter Marker on the front.

I cut a piece of the gradient piece with a stitched rectangle die I had in my stash. It fit on the front of my 5×7 card with some reveal on each side. In that same die set were some heart dies I cut some hearts from my gradient piece and a 2×6.5 inch piece of the gradient piece to be my stopper.

Dies did a hear imprint as well as cut out hearts which I added to my stopper piece. I also added some iridescent powder to the dark cardstock.

I used my stitched dies to help me cut this piece so it would also have the stitched element around it. I had to be creative to do this as the dies were not the size I wanted. Remember you can cut different sizes with your dies to help get more use out of them. It is all about how you place the dies on the paper.

I had a small strip left of the gradient piece left over which I held onto thinking I might use it on the inside. Very little of this piece went to waste.

Now that I had all my pieces cut I could put the card together. When making a stand up card it is important that the scored areas are burnished very sharply for the card to stand up using the stopper to keep it in an easel position. So first, I creased my folds with my Teflon card creaser from Altenew. Once I was sure the card would stand I added the gradient piece I painted to the front of the card centering it. I placed all of the elements on the front of the card where I thought I would want them to go. One of the leave sets out of vellum was under the swirl and I needed to build this from the bottom up so I first attached this vellum piece to the card hiding the glue under where the swirl would be covering it. This is my favorite way to hide glue under vellum. I added foam strips to the 2 silver swirls die cut with the textured silver cardstock. I attached them in opposite directions over the leaves. At this point I took the colored leaves and tucked them under the other swirl and attaching it behind the swirl and letting it be loose the rest of the die cut. I like to do this with Vellum. I mounted the strip of the gradient paper to the flap on the bottom of the card, this is mounted with foam tape, with just enough height to keep the card in a standing position. I adhered some hearts on the left and another vellum leaf set draped to the left.

When I die cut the Happy Birthday sentiment I used double sided adhesive on the back of the cardstock to make it easier to adhere to the card front. Now was the time to add it and it was not standing out enough. So I cut another, also using double sided adhesive, with the silver textured cardstock. I stuck this to the back of the black sentiment slightly offset so it gave it a bit of a highlight. Doing this allowed the sentiment to stand out more.

The challenge with dark cardstock card bases is how do you write a personal message inside. There are a couple of ways this can be done. One could write with a metallic pen that shows up on dark cardstock or what I chose to do, add a block of regular white printer paper to the inside of the card. This will give a place where I could write a personal message to my husband. This allows him to display the card but the message inside remains hidden still where only he will see it. I added a strip of the gradient paper to the left margin of the inside and put one of the hearts at the bottom to keep it coordinating with the rest of the card.

This card took a very long time to create and took several directions, But I loved the way it turned out.

PLEASE CLICK BELOW TO A LINK TO THE PRODUCTS USED IN THIS CARD.

https://ldli.co/e/3oyk7gx

AECP Level 1 Course 7

Well it has been about a minute.

Hello, welcome to my blog. I have been offline for a bit, well life happens and I have just not been able to get back to work with the things I really love. I participated in the Altenew Live event on October 29th. It was fun. I was not able to watch live all day but the videos are there for me to go back to. My courses may seem out of order or that I jumped from 5 to 7 but when I counted where I was I clearly was on course 7.

This course was about cards for him. I think like the rest of us I struggle with the more masculine card. I also thought I was going to get on board with filming while I am working so I can include videos with my blog posts. It just did not happen this time. So here we go.

One thing I love is what I call a two-fer. Meaning I can use the negative and positive of a die cut out for two different cards. Not just to keep them to use later but to actually make two cards in a setting. They usually turn out to be nothing alike even though I am using the same supplies relatively speaking.

In this case I was using some Altenew Dies (Bold Alphabet Upper) to cut out a negative area in the center of my card panel. Using a piece of Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock. I planned to back the open area with a piece of cardstock from the Enjoy the Ride Cardstock pack from Altenew. I set the strip to appear diagonal in the window. I adhered the striped paper to the card front and added the cut out panel lifted on Instant Dimension Foam Tape from Altenew. I was careful to keep the insides of the letters, I also put small pieces of foam tape behind those letter insides. I used the letters that cut out to place the insides of the letters by placing them in the hole and then putting the insides where it would fit in the letter much like a puzzle piece. I stamped Happy Birthday using the sentiment from the Floral Garden Stamp Set. I splattered the front with Black Paint that was watered down. I placed some enamel dots in odd numbers from the the essential black and white set of enamel dots from Altenew. Now I have those letters that I cut out of the front of this panel.

I cut 3 more HBD letters, and stacked them on top of one another. I layered them on another piece of the cardstock from the Enjoy the ride set of paper. It is cut to 4×5″ to be slightly smaller. I thought it would be a bit plain so I lightly swiped a matching green down the letters and a blue up the letters, then I stamped across them with a feather from the Golden Feather Stamp Set from Altenew. I used the Sand Dunes Crisp Die Ink from Altenew. I honestly cant remember which blue I used but I think it was from the Cool Summer Nights set of inks. The picture below gives a bit of a better view of the stamping. I splattered ink from the Dina Wakely line of Gloss Spray from Ranger in the color Sand. I used cardstock I had in my stash for the card base. This one is from StampinUp! in the color Crumb Cake. I stamped happy birthday on that same Crumb Cake Cardstock from the Floral Garden stamp set in Mountain Pine to coordinate with the greens in the paper. I fussy cut the stamped sentiment to a rectangle and ran the edges along my ink pad so give it a bit of dimension.

Cards 3 and four are single-“fers”, but I did keep the letters on the of one of them to use on a project later. They are also very simple designs

I used another pattern from the Altenew paper stack Enjoy the Ride the patterns that were not floral seemed more on the masculine to me. I cute out the letters from a cover plate die from My Favorite things. I backed the opening with the pattern paper and scattered enamel dots from the Cool Summer Nights set.

The last card for this post I used an old die I had in my stash, I am not sure where it came from or what it was called for sure. It cut out the word from the center of a card panel, I cut it from my actual card base. I lightly blended some Azurite Crisp Die Ink from the top and bottom, then deeper and darker on the area that said “Friend”, I masked the bottom of the card off to prevent ink from going where I did not want it. I also masked the top of the card and blended some Silver Metallic Ink from Delicata at the top of the word, it was a bit of an Ombre look. I backed the Friend with a piece of Black cardstock I dry embossed with the Linked Ovals embossing folder from Altenew and with my fingers I added some pearl luster gilding polish from Creative Expression to the top of the texture the embossing folder added. I used some Instant Dimension Foam Tape from Altenew to lift the front panel and give a clean backing for the card. I found a stamp that said Just for you (I do not know which stamp set I pulled this from, at this point I had several on my desk and I was looking for one that fit) with Jet Black Crisp Die Ink from Altenew in the upper left corner so the card reads Just for You Friend. I scattered grey enamel dots all about in different shades and sizes from the Rock Collection set of Enamel Dots I tied a piece of bakers twine on the left in a knot, I had this in my stash it was Blue and Grey so it seemed to go well.

Below is a link to the products used. Some of the links are affiliate links meaning I receive a small commission for sending traffic to those sites. Thank you for using these links and helping to support my blog.

https://ldli.co/e/26zgd9y

AECP Level 1 Course 4 Easy Die Cutting Techniques

After watching the class videos it took me a while to come up with something I wanted to try. Yana covered so many options and I did not want to do exactly what she did, then I remembered I had purchased the Layered Ornate Frame Die Set and thought I would do something with that.

I wanted to use thick paper for this technique. I put ink on the cutting blades of my main die. I used an embossing mat to impress the image into the paper, which put the ink into the areas where the die had impressed, giving a bit of a letter pressed look. but I was not happy totally because some ink got in the center of my image. So I sat back to decide how I would deal with that for a couple of days. I decided to cut the die with some mat very light green foil cardstock I had in my stash. It almost looks silver but not quite. I inlaid the center piece into the center of the impressed image on my project. Ok, I am liking this a bit better.

I used my water colors to paint the paper to cut the flowers and leaves from. I used the same water color paper from Altenew, I cut several pieces at 4.25×5.5. I used and my 36 pan set from Altenew using the colors Purple Wine, Puffy Heart, and Pink Diamond for the flower colors and Forest Glades, Freyed Leaf, and Bamboo (I did not like the Bamboo with the other colors so I ended up using the other colors to cover it up). I cover a panel with Pinks and a Panel with the Greens, really just putting the color down in big enough blocks to die cut from. I left these to dry overnight so the paper would not be difficult to cut. Once the paint was dry I went about die cutting and putting the flowers together. It was easy the layering instructions were on the packaging. It was a little bit time consuming but not too difficult.

I dry fit all of the die cut pieces into the impressed image on the panel. Once I knew where everything was going and what I wanted to lift up I committed to gluing it all down. I lifted the flowers where they crossed over another flower. I used Nuvo Drops in the color English Mustard for the centers of my flowers. Again I left this overnight to dry. I have this bad habit of putting this much work into something then putting my hand in some wet medium I have put on it and ruining the entire thing. You can see the flowers in the pictures above.

The next day I decided to frame the outside of the panel with Baby Pink Ink from Altenew on my card base. This coordinated with the paint colors I had used. I cut the panel down slightly and adhered it to my card base. Now was time to add a sentiment. I had no idea what I was going to do with a sentiment on this card so I went shopping in my stash.

I decided to use the Wishing Die from Simon Says Stamp. This is an older die but I have a co-worker that is retiring soon and I thought it could be a good card to give her. So I said to myself, what am I going to put with the Wishing to finish the sentiment. Again, I went to my stash. I found another Simon Says Stamp stamp set called Best Hugs (no longer available but can really be used with any you have in your stash) that had a less scripty small sentiment that I could cut apart to fit the occasion. The stamp originally said Wishing you the best. So I cut off the Wishing and stamped “you the best” on a strip of white paper in Onyx Black Ink from VersaFine and heat embossed that with clear embossing powder. I cut the right side of the strip at an angle. I cut the Wishing out of black foam, and out of the green I had used for my leaves. I glued the green piece onto the foam before taking the word out of the surrounding area, this really helps to line it up properly. I dry fit my sentiment and sub-sentiment on the card to decide where I wanted to put them, then glued them down with Art Glitter Glue and the fine tip applicator. This really helps to just get a very small amount of glue on the back of your die cut pieces. The tittles were not very easy to place because they are so tiny, but worth it in the end. I don’t like to leave my tittles off the i’s.

Here is a link to the Products used. Where ever possible I will be using affiliate links, which gives me a small commission at no cost to you. And I thank you for your support.

https://ldli.co/e/5y724rx

AECP Level 1 Course 3 Boutique Cards

I feel like I am very behind today because I had to spend a lot of time trying to get my website up today. I broke it trying to install my secure socket. Thank goodness for technical support. Now I can get back in the groove.

Todays lesson gave me the opportunity to try a technique I saw and wanted to try. I will link that video at the end of this post. I was using the Altenew Mix and Match Frames die set. I created 2 cards with the exact same layout using different stamp sets. First, I stamped an arrangement of black and white and colored flowers from the Golden Garden stamp set from Altenew. Once I had enough area stamped out for my die cut I cut the panel with the middle die in the Mix and Match Frame Die set. I layered the cut out panel on piece of gold cardstock cut with just a slight reveal around the outside, I would say about 1/16 of an inch but I actually did not measure. I popped the center vertical pieces on foam strips, being very careful to match it up with the stamped design, I used the frame that was the “trash” to help keep them straight. I stamped Just for You with the label love with Altenew obsidian black pigment ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I cut this very close to the edge with a pair of scissors and also mounted this on the bottom right of the card.

It is amazing to me that you can still make out the image that was stamped. Your eye just blocks out that part of it is missing. This was fun. I have some stencils I want to try this technique with also.

The next card was exactly the same layout, however I used the Watercolor Wonders stamp set from Altenew. This time I left the background in white. Still used the same Die Set and sentiment. I just wanted to see how it would look different.

So each of these cards became a 2fer because I could not bare to throw away the frame that was cut out of the center of this panel, the one that I used to line up the vertical strips in the center.

So I took those and one I stamped one of the long blossoms with leaves and stem from the Golden garden stamp set. I did some very loose alcohol coloring of the leaves and blossom and adhered the frame horizontally across the stem of the blossom. I trimmed the panel about 1/2 inch around each side. Attached it to the center of the card and splattered it with black Gloss Media Spray from Dina Wakely. I cut black cardstock from my scrap bin 4 times with a Smile die from Mama Elephant. I attached Altenew double sided adhesive to the back of the cardstock before I cut it out and stacked the dies. I have to say every time I stack word dies that I will never do it again, they make it look so easy but it is never that easy for me. None-the-less I did it but I was not going to try to stack the tittle, well I tried to do that but lost my patience. I ended up using some Enamel Accents in black for the dot on my “i” instead.

I used the 2nd frame in the same way however this time I stamped the floral image from Flower Pop, another Altenew set. This one was a freebie sent to me for being a customer. I have to use what is in my stash right?! I stamped the flower and leaves, then fussy cut it out I set this card horizontal, or portrait top folding. I glued the frame horizontal and mounted the flower cluster over the top lifted with some foam tape. I splatter more of that Dina Wakely Gloss Media Spray over the front. I used that same Smile die and stacked them in the same way (yes i had the thought again about stacking the die cuts), and dotted the “i” with a dot of Enamel Accents in black.

Here is the you tube video that was the inspiration for my cards today. https://youtu.be/qYCzWmYAH7o

See Links to the products I have used below:

https://ldli.co/e/6l3pmnd

AECP Level 1 Course 2 Celebration Stencil Techniques

Today I created 2 cards inspired by the lessons, and by a video I watched that just happened to fit in with the lesson to use your dies to create a stencil.

The first card was from the stencil Watercolor Stripes I had created an ink blended card for another project and as inspired by the lesson I did not want the ink on the stencil to go to waste. I used Sheer Shimmer Spray from Imagine as my moisture to wet the ink on the stencil. I turned it over onto a card panel. I then stamped one of the images from the Hello Beautiful Craft Your Life Project Kit in the bottom right corner of the panel. I ran the panel through a dry embossing folder I had in my stash. It had a patter that ran in the same direction as the stripes. I had originally planned to leave the flower as a black lined image, but decided to color it very simply using the lines in the image created by the artist. I used my Altenew Artist Markers for this G702, WG01 for the shading and R601 for the flower buds. I used a Glaze pen to color in the tips of the stamen in black. This had to be done last as the ink in these pens does not try right away and I am notorious for putting these wet mediums on my projects and then putting something down on top of it. You would think I would learn. Not this time! I stamped a small strip of white card stock with the sentiment from the same stamp set. I attached a strip of the essential black and white patterned paper to the sentiment to give it some interest. Both strips were angled at the left side. I nestled my sentiment into the flower bloom.

The Sentiment was nestled around the flower bloom

Showing shimmer in photos or on videos is very difficult but you can kind of see it it the picture above and below.

The second card today was the one I had in my head to add these areas that looked like a paint dump then to have butterflies fly through almost to get their color from the area. When I saw the lesson video talking about using your dies to make stencils then I decided I would give this technique a try.

I used a border die I had and some acetate I cut the acetate with my die and used that as my stencil, overlapping it slightly for each color. I used the Glacier Caves Crisp Die Ink Set from Altenew Arctic, Caribbean Sky, Persian Blue, and Sapphire. Honestly, I just wanted to used that Sapphire color pretty bad, it is a stunning color. I blended 2 matching panels. One to stamp and cut out my butterflies and the other as my front panel. I used the Painted Butterflies Stamp Set from Altenew. I love the shape of these butterflies. I stamped them on the extra panel a couple partially off the colored area and one overlapping a couple of different colors. I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set using teh Jet Black Crisp Die Ink (the butterflies were also stamped with this ink) and nestled it in under one of the butterflies. I cut the left edge of the sentiment strip to match the curve of the color with a pair of scissors. I cut a frame out of silver cardstock and placed it around the butterflies, to give some interest. I added a few very small pearls scattered about.

Click below to the product list for all of the products used for these products. The only affiliates at this time are the Amazon Links.

https://ldli.co/e/m5e5g9r

AECP Level 1 Lesson 7 All About Layering Vintage Flowers

In Lesson 7 we used the Vintage Flowers Stamp Set. I had a card layout in my head with a 4.25×5.50 card base with heavy weight cardstock and a small panel in the middle with my stamped flowers this would create a large frame around my stamped panel. I used a scrap couple of pieces of paper to practice layering the floral blooms. I had a difficult time so I decided to used the branch in the stamp set and layer the small flowers much like a cherry blossom. I had a tough time with this as well. After 3 attempts to stamp my arrangement and not liking how it was looking I decided to go back to the larger blooms. I picked 2 of the blooms I stamped in my practice and cut them out with the coordinating dies. I then stamped the smaller bloom straight on the panel, included the outline. It is so much darker than my other stamping as you can see below.

I added my cut out flowers in the arrangement I wanted, I also stamped and cut out one leaf bunch. I inserted that behind on bloom and over the other.

The card base was from Brutus Monroe Not Your Mama’s Cardstock, heavy 130lb and used the debossing starburst cover plate on the front. I thought this would add some interest, you can see some of the debossing in the picture above. I stamped Celebrate your day from an Avery Elle Set I had called Sentimental using the jet black ink from Altenew.

I offset it a bit to the right. The panel still looked a bit stark so I added a scrap piece of patterned paper from Altenew Essential Black and White stack, to wrap around the left side of the panel to tie to the black of the sentiment and to add a bit of interest. I noticed a smudge of black ink so I covered it with a small gem and added 2 more so there would be 3 on the card.

Here are products used in this project. https://ldli.co/e/6lymrd9

AECP Level 1 Lesson 4 All About Layering Painted Flowers

Todays lesson was with the Painted Flowers Stamp Set. I decided I wanted to die cut my images, I lifted only 2 plus the sentiment the rest were adhered flat to the card base.

The card base was a piece of grey paper from my stash, I used the Dotted Swirls Debossing Plate from Altenew to add some interest in the background (Plus it is new to me and I wanted to use it). I practiced layering the flowers 3 for each flower, then cut them out with the matching dies. I had put an Altenew double sided adhesive sheet on the back of the cardstock I was using so I would not have to worry about adhesive.

The inks I used were all from Altenew. Fresh Lemon and Honey Drizzle from the Pocketful of Sunshine set of Crisp Dye Inks, Pink Pearl and Coral Bliss from the Tea Party Set, Cotton Candy and Peach Perfect from the Four Scoops set, from the Cherry Blossom Set there was Pinkalicious. That was all of the flowers, for the leaves I used Evergreen and Freyed Leaf both from the Green Fields set of Crisp Dye Inks. The black outline and sentiment were from the Green Fields set also, Jet Black. I am using this more and more and loving it.

After cutting out the flowers I arranged them around my card from with some of the extra images scattered around. I did leave the one leave off the side of the card, I like how this looks when you don’t cute things off at the cards edge.

I stamped the sentiment Just for You from the Label Love stamp set, cut it with a thin white border so it would stand out and popped it up with some foam strips. I adhered the flowers down by removing the backing sheet of the double sided adhesive. The extras I put inside. Then I colored the flowers with some Wink of Stella glitter pen for a bit of shimmer. I hope you can see it a bit in this picture.

Only the Amazon Links are Affiliate at the time of this writing. If you choose to use these links to shop thank you for your support.

Altenew Inks-

Tea Party- https://altenew.com/collections/oval-inks/products/tea-party-oval-set

Four Scoops-https://altenew.com/products/four-scoops-oval-set

Green Fields-https://altenew.com/products/green-fields-oval-set

Pocket Full of Sunshine- https://altenew.com/products/pocketful-of-sunshine-oval-set

Cherry Blossom-https://altenew.com/products/cherry-blossom-oval-set

Altenew Painted Flowers Stamp and Die set-https://altenew.com/products/painted-flowers-stamp-die-bundle

Altenew Label Love Stamp Set-https://altenew.com/products/label-love

Hammermill 80 White Cardstock-https://amzn.to/3d3U9sN

Fiskars Spring Assist Scissor Micro Tipped-https://amzn.to/3d4WGCQ

Pop Dots- These are not the exact ones I used but these will work nicely-https://amzn.to/3JrMeBw

Art Glitter Glue-https://amzn.to/3SsKtIn

Reverse Tweezers-https://amzn.to/3JI7N17

Finger Tip Cutting Blade-https://amzn.to/3PWF5fa

Acrylic Stamping Blocks, the ones I have are not available but these are very similar and the only ones I would recommend at this time-https://shop.catherinepooler.com/collections/blocks/products/acrylic-grid-10-block-bundle

Misti Stamping Tool-https://www.mysweetpetunia.com/MISTI-p/new-original-misti.htm

Stamp Cleaner, I am still trying to find a new cleaner I would recommend, I have used this one and it is good. You can also get it in different scents if you like.-https://www.brutusmonroe.com/collections/squeaky-clean-stamp-cleaner

MicroFiber Towels-https://amzn.to/3QgJJo2

Gray Cardstock, This is not the one I used but it would do nicely.-https://www.scrapbook.com/store/spe-cs-034.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=product-feed-shopping&utm_content=spe-cs-034&gclid=CjwKCAjw3K2XBhAzEiwAmmgrAlPSaaThfP3r5cBI3HVH6Z2eDp6jymKwBZI6_48_2L6kKVPK5O_j0RoCxNkQAvD_BwE

Wink of Stella Glitter Pen-https://amzn.to/3JvoInb

AECP Level 1 Lesson 5 All About Layering Painted Poppy

I did not have the stamp set used in the lesson today. I tried to find one in my stash that I could use in a similar design. I chose the Build-a-Flower (BAF) Clover set which I had not used yet.

I used Neenah 110lb cardstock for my base. I used a blending brush to add a hint of color in the background with Vanilla Cream from Altenew Delectable Delights Crisp Dye Inks. I used a brush I got from Taylored Expressions as it was in front of me, but any blending brush would do. This does not need to be perfect.

I stamped the stems first, giving me the layout of my cluster. I used the Altenew Embossing Ink, stamped down and put the embossing powder over the sticky ink and heat set it, melting the powder. Then I went through the process a 2nd time which gives the embossing just a bit more lift. Make sure when removing the excess do not over tap or “flick” the page to hard. This will remove embossing powder you do want as well as some you don’t. The 3 layers of the flowers were next and then rather than using the darkest color for the flower I used the Antique Silver Embossing Powder from Altenew.

I only embossed the flower layer one time, it did not seem to need two and I did not want to blur my image.

One thing to be careful of is that you test that your ink is completely dry by dumping some powder down to see if it sticks with no sticky ink on the page. If it does, it is not dry. The ink may be dry to the touch but it still has moisture to the paper. Try heat setting the ink with your heat gun or a heat tool. Then test the paper again. Because multiple layers of ink are stamped down it may take a couple of tries. You will regret it if you do not do this step. Ask me how I know :).

After heat embossing I stamped the 3 layers of the leaves. Oh my, did the leaves come to life when I stamped that final layer. Crazy how that happens.

I stamped the sentiment from the set Life is beautiful with friends like you with the same embossing ink and embossed with the same Antique Silver two times as done with the stems. I thought this sentiment would be fitting to this layout.

Here are some links to products I used for this project. The only Affiliate links at the time of this post was the Amazon Links. If you choose to use my Amazon Links I thank you for the support!

Altenew BAF Clover https://altenew.com/products/build-a-flower-clover-layering-stamp-die-set?variant=32643607920722

Altenew Embossing Ink https://altenew.com/products/embossing-ink

Altenew Cherry Blossom Ink Set https://altenew.com/products/cherry-blossom-oval-set

Altenew Tropical Forest Ink Set https://altenew.com/products/tropical-forest-oval-set

Altenew Antique Silver Embossing Powder https://altenew.com/products/antique-silver-crisp-embossing-powder

Antistatic Power Tool https://amzn.to/3oVYbG9

Heat Gun https://amzn.to/3oVYvVn

Neenah Solar White 110lb https://amzn.to/3BJwdVQ

AECP Level 1 Lesson 3 All About Layering Whimsical Flowers

Well this class project was not as simple as I had planned. It was inspired by some projects where I was seeing lined images in black and white with an area of color often in the form of a frame, CiaraT Designs is one of the places where I had seen this. I was also channeling my inner Laura Bassen, she has been using cream cardstock as her bases lately and I wanted to give that a try so I did my colored flowers on white cardstock and the lined images on the cream cardstock. I did not show all of my flowers colored, rather than doing a straight up frame around the outside of lined images I scattered them around.

Starting with a 2 inch piece of post-it tape torn on both sides for a rough edge, this was used as a mask for the center portion of the card. Giving me a place where my sentiment will go. I created a top folding card 4.25 x 5.5. I stamped the arrangement around the post it tape using different flowers from the stamp set. I stamped the same flowers on a piece of white card stock, these would be the ones I would cut out and stamp with the color layer. I decided my card background needed some interest so I splattered it with fine splattering of black paint (Black Soot Distress Paint) and opaque white ink from Copic (which you cannot really see).

I stamped the layers of color onto the images I planned to cut out. Not knowing how many I was going to use I stamped each of the images a couple of times and colored them, I think it ended up being three at the end of the day. I wanted a sentiment that was pretty large so it would show up against my background, I found a Concord and 9th Set in my stash that had a “Hello” that fit pretty well in the area I left open for the sentiment. There was also a label “friend” in the set that I stamped in a coordinating Purple (from Altenew), cut that out and glued flat to the right of the Hello that was stamped using my Misti so I could get the placement just right.

I used all Altenew Inks, from the Tea Party, Four Scoops, Shades of Purple and the Green Fields sets of crisp die inks for the flowers. The black I used also came from the Green Fields set, it was the Jet Black. The flowers and leaves were die cut with the coordinating dies. Dimension was to them with some flower shaping tools I have. I added foam dots to the back to keep them from being squished flat and attached them to the card over random flowers that were already stamped leaving some of them in black. I had a couple of left over small flowers I glued them to the inside of the card.

Here are some links to supplies I used, at the time of this writing only the Amazon Links are affiliate.

Tim Holtz Splatter Brush-https://amzn.to/3QcjChK

Distress Paint, Black Soot-https://amzn.to/3zXlV3f

Opaque White-https://amzn.to/3BBqgKA

Spellbinder flower shaping tool set-https://amzn.to/3zx971Q

Altenew Whimsical Flowers Stamps and Dies-https://altenew.com/products/whimsical-flowers-stamp-die-bundle

Altenew Inks-

Tea Party- https://altenew.com/collections/oval-inks/products/tea-party-oval-set

Four Scoops-https://altenew.com/products/four-scoops-oval-set

Green Fields-https://altenew.com/products/green-fields-oval-set

Pocket Full of Sunshine- https://altenew.com/products/pocketful-of-sunshine-oval-set

Shades of Purple-https://altenew.com/products/shades-of-purple-oval-set

Altenew Hello and Hugs Stamp and Die Set-https://altenew.com/products/hello-and-hugs-stamp-die-bundle

The cream cardstock I used is not available, here is a brand that will work-Clear Path Paper Warm White 80lb-https://amzn.to/3d4WGCQ

Hammermill 80 White Cardstock-https://amzn.to/3d3U9sN

Fiskars Spring Assist Scissor Micro Tipped-https://amzn.to/3d4WGCQ

Pop Dots These are not the exact ones I used but these will work nicely-https://amzn.to/3JrMeBw

Art Glitter Glue-https://amzn.to/3SsKtIn

Reverse Tweezers-https://amzn.to/3JI7N17

2 Inch Post-It Tape-https://amzn.to/3vCnQrp

Finger Tip Cutting Blade-https://amzn.to/3PWF5fa

Misti Stamping Tool-https://www.mysweetpetunia.com/MISTI-p/new-original-misti.htm

MicroFiber Towels-https://amzn.to/3QgJJo2

AECP Level 1 Lesson 2 All About Layering Scribbled Flowers

Boy did I have trouble picking colors and lining up this stamp. The card turned out ok. I used a single layer card 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 top folding. I used an 80lb paper this time, I usually like to use a heavier weight paper for a single layer card but I was not planning on a single layer card. My plan changed plans several times along the way.

I originally thought I had purchased the dies for this stamp set, but I did not. I could have used my scan and cut as the images are closed and that is the key but I was being lazy. That was the first place this changed, I am not very good at fussy cutting so I wanted to keep that to a minimum. I decided to stamp the flower along the bottom edge and cut around them to add a little interest.

I was trying to line my flowers up and decide on the colors and it was not going too well for me. This set is an older set and the etchings in the stamps are not as deep as the newer ones. Anyway ultimately decided on the Spring Bouquet Altenew Crisp Die Inks in the Fuchsia and Baby Pink for the floral and Fresh Leaf and Lime for the leaves. The one good thing about Altenew Inks is if you are having trouble finding the color to use theirs are in a color family which makes it much easier to find colors that work together. I stamped the images along the bottom of the card, and cut along the edge with my scissors. I use a fiskars spring assist scissor they are super sharp and make it easier to cut. I stamped Smile from the same stamp set in the Obsidian Pigment Ink from Altenew. I felt like my cut edge was lost at the bottom so I used the Obsidian ink to swipe along the bottom edge of the inside of the card which I think tied the black from the sentiment together. I might later stamp on the inside of the card I did not do that part today. Lastly I added a few sequins that went well with the ink color from my stash.

Here are a few links to some of my supplies:

Fiskars Spring Assist Scissors-https://amzn.to/3zLTzIW
Misti Stamping Tool –https://amzn.to/3vwuxes
Altenew Crisp Die Inks, Obsidian Pigment Ink, Scribbled Flowers Stamp Set-https://altenew.com/