Level 1.4 - ALTENEW Educator Certification Program (AECP)
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!
Well, this is exciting - I'm taking part in my first Instagram Hop as a member of the AECP family these days!!!
“Look for the small improvements, recognize those successes and let them be a big deal.” - Elise Cripe
And with this IG hop planned, I wanted to take another class and try something that I haven't done before. So, since I do love a good, colorful and unique background and the hop is all about celebrating our journey with ALTENEW and the AECP, I had to decide on the Celebration: Stencil Techniques class!
This course by Laurel Beard consists of 4 individual lessons. Each one of those lessons is about using stencils in a unique way. I made one card per class and will again present my three favorite cards here - in all honesty... I have no idea why I just can't decide on one or two...
"Create your own stencil" card
Like the name of my card already says - in one lesson I was taught to make my own stencil.
I did this, using the ALTENEW "Dodec Cover Die".
I cut my "stencil" from extra heavy card stock and used the Crisp Dye Inks from the "Sunflower Field" mini cube set. Using a blending brush, I started with "Buttercream" in the middle of the stencil, then used "Citrus Burst" outwards and finished with "Fresh Lemon". I also tried to let the color blend out towards the corners, knowing that I wanted to use a warm yellow card stock as a middle layer.
For the elements on top of the stenciled background I decided to use the "Painted Butterflies" set and the following inks: "Pink Pearl"/ "Heart Beat" for the red and "Dew Drops" / Teal Cave" for the blue critters. I arranged them on foam tape, fluttering all over the card, but knew that I wanted to leave space for the Happy Birthday strip.
This one is from the "Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set", which I die cut from a lighter teal / turquoise card stock. I also cut two additional white stripes and placed them all on top of each other to get some dimension.
To give the card some sparkle (you know I love a little sparkle), I used the Nuvo "Aqua Shimmer Pen" on the sentiment strip and some "Rainbow Party" sequins by Simon Says Stamp in between the butterflies.
"Embossing Paste" card
The second lesson with Laurel showed how to use Embossing paste in different ways to give your cards more structure.
I'm not a multimedia girl, that layers all kind of different textures and materials on top of each other (yet :-)) - but I had to try the embossing paste that I recently bought.
I figured, if the IG hop AND the title of the class are all about celebrating, I should also make a card that screams exactly that!
There's no better way than using the "Bubble Wrap Stencil" and ink blend a rainbow on paper!
That alone just makes me happy and smile. Using some super soft colors from the ALTENEW Crisp Dye Ink collection helped a lot with that also. I used "Coral Bliss", "Caramel Toffee", "Fresh Lemon", "Frayed Leaf", "Icy Water", "Aqualicious" and "Amethyst".
On top of that (when dry), I used the "Tiny Bubbles Stencil" with the simple, white Embossing paste.
While I put that out to dry, I decided on the "Fancy Celebrate Die" cut from Holographic card stock (tripled up), to be placed in the middle of the card as the eye catcher.
To make sure that the word doesn't look lost on the card, I cut two vellum balloons (Honey Bee Stamps) and attached them to the card with two dots of glue, but also with some ALTENEW Metallic Thread in "Silky Lilac".
To make the whole rainbow pop, I used pink card stock as a middle layer and rainbow sequins for my sparkle :-)
"Stencil Overlay" card
My last card using stencils is kind of a watercolor card.
I light-washed the background - which is a thick watercolor paper - with watered-up "Frayed Leaf" and "Forest Glades" inks and let it dry for a couple minutes. It was still a little bit wet/ damp when I placed the "Leaf Bed Stencil" on top. Then I used a wet baby wipe and used that to dab some "Evergreen" Ink on top. I used a dry cloth to also dab away the excess, turned the stencil 90 degrees and did the same thing again.
This way I got a beautiful green background with, what seems like, different shades of green leaves.
To stay in the leaf theme, I used the "Leaf Clusters" stamp and die set for my main element. I stamped some leaves in black (ALTENEW "Obsidian Black" pigment ink") and others I heat embossed with superfine gold embossing powder (WOW! "Metallic Gold Rich").
I arranged them on a stripe of "Deco Lines" Washi tape and tied them together with some Metallic Thread in "Antique Gold".
For the sentiment I decided on the "Fancy For You Die", cut from glossy gold card stock and to round it up, I placed some Studio Katia gold foil pearls around the ensemble.
I do love stencils because they can be used in so many different ways - and the price point is just unbeatable as well. I'm sure I see more stencil backgrounds in my near future :-)
But for now - Thank you again for stopping by and for reading about Stencil Techniques.
Please make sure to like and comment this post and let me know if you have any questions.
Love,
