Level 1.3 - ALTENEW Educator Certification Program (AECP)
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!
I hope - wherever you are - spring is finally in the air (I'm talking about temperatures above freezing) and trees and flowers finally look like trees and flowers again.
“The April winds are magical - and thrill our tuneful frames - the garden-walks are passional - to bachelors and dames.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson ("April")
As promised, I continued taking classes for the AECP program and I had fun working with colors and flowers for the Clean And Simple Boutique Cards class.
This course consists of 6 individual lessons. Each one teaches you how to create a clean card with simple tools and easy techniques. I practiced all of those techniques and decided to show you my three favorite cards:
"Sending hugs" card
For my first card I chose a technique that could be described as "stamp & doodle": you use a simple stamp set (preferably one without outlines), some bright colors and a black fine-liner pen.
I used the ALTENEW "Bright Blossoms" stamp set, which I have had for a while but haven't used before. Also I used the yellow and green Crisp Dye Inks from the "Sunflower Field" and "Green Fields" mini cube sets. They just reminded me of spring and new blooms.
FYI: you can click on each picture to enlarge it.
For the card base I used white, heavy weight (120lb) Hamilco card stock - I think a really heavy card base always gives the card a more exclusive touch.
For the middle layer I chose Michael's 80lb light yellow that worked very well with the light yellow "Buttercream" and "Citrus Burst" inks and for the stamping layer I used a white, heavy Neenah (110lb) card stock with a very smooth surface.
I decided to arrange the flowers first, leaving space for the sentiment in the middle.
In the second step, I masked off the blossoms and stamped the leaves. This way it looks like the leaves lay underneath the blossoms.
For the "doodle" part of the card, I used the Faber-Castell PITT artist pen in "S" to give the whole arrangement an artsy, sketchy look.
For the sentiment I chose the "Sending hugs" stamp from the "Fancy Greetings" stamp set, which I just love. I thought the squiggly sentiment in the middle of the artsy flowers would make a good contrast.
I used Scotch foam tape to adhere the top layer of the card to the yellow card stock. To finish off the card, I added yellow Enamel Dots from the "Pocketful of Sunshine" set.
"Grateful to have you as a friend" card
The second card I'm presenting you today is a foiling technique card.
I used the "Wild Hibiscus" stamp set and WOW! "Bonding Powder" with deco foil to get this amazing silver shimmer. The paper I used is also the white, heavy weight (120lb) Hamilco card stock that I used for the card base before.
Even though the paper is not a watercolor paper, I chose to use the ALTENEW Crisp Dye Inks ("Citrus Burst", "Frayed Leaf", "Forest Glades", Dew Drops" and "Teal Cave") with water to bring colorful accents to the card.
I did this in a super quick and free way - not really trying to stay within the lines or making sure the colors mix in the right way. I also used the same colors for some splatters across the paper!
Let me tell you: this was so different than what I did during the last class - no overthinking at all and lots of fun.
With the crisp and straight sentiment (stamped on white card stock and with a stripe of turquoise card stock underneath) positioned to level out the whole design, I finished up this card.
"Mother's Day" card
The third card in today's collection of Clean And Simple Boutique Cards is made using the "multiple stamp" technique. To be honest - I have no idea if these techniques have special names: I have the feeling everybody is calling them differently and I'm making names up here!
If I remember correctly, I've received the ALTENEW "Mini Poppy" stamp as a gift with a former order. And since I love Poppies and I had fun water coloring the last card, I decided to give this technique a try.
The Poppy has the perfect size to be stamped multiple times on white extra heavy card stock (120 lb Hamilco). And for that I used the Gina K. "Amalgam Ink". This ink is super black, crisp and it can be used with watercolor and alcohol markers without bleeding out.
I used the the ALTENEW Crisp Dye Inks ("Citrus Burst" and "Heart Beat") to add yellow, red, orange accents to the Poppy blossoms. Again, I didn't try to stay in line - but be a little artistic with the look of the card. One reason I did actually feel good about letting loose with the watercolor, was the sentiment strip. I knew that the deep red card stock banderole with the black "Best Mom in the world" stamp from the "Wild Hibiscus" set would tie the whole card together.
If you know me and if you have seen the cards I'm usually making - you know that I'm an Over-doer. I love colors and embellishments and big words or stamps. But while taking these lessons and especially learning about "less is more" in this past class, I really enjoyed the process.
I'm super curious about the next class i'll be picking and hope to see you back here, soon!
Thank you for stopping by and for reading about Clean And Simple Boutique Cards!
Please make sure to like and comment this post and let me know if you have any questions :-)
Love,
Comments