Hello friends and welcome!

I cannot believe I am finally here, writing a post for Altenew Academy – AECP Level 1 – Final Challenge and am so excited to share two projects I have created for this challenge!

My challenge was to select any 3 components from Level 1 classes, and create 2 projects (one of them appropriate for a teenager/masculine).

My first project was inspired by a photo I took during our recent trip to Maui where we were surrounded with natural beauty everywhere we went.

Layering florals are Altenew specialty and I just couldn’t pass on creating a project using some of their beautiful floral stamps 🙂

Let’s get on to how I created this Hawaiian vacation inspired card!

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For this project I choose 3 components: All About Layering 1, Easy Ink Blending Techniques and Clean And Simple Boutique Cards. 

Stamp set I choose is, of course, Build-A-Flower Hibiscus, absolutely perfect layering stamp set for my Hawaii inspired card.

I started with stamping all the images from the set multiple times. In All About Layering Class we learned how to find specific points on each stamp to help us align our images for perfect results.

What helped me the most was practice. Stamping images many times improved my layering skills so much – I also have a lot of leftover images ready to go should I ever need to create a quick card in the future.

Layering stamps have become my favorite as they create so much depth, dimension and amazing realistic look on every image!

Colors I used for my florals are from Pocketful Of Sunshine mini ink cube set, and for the red highlights and centers I brought in Heart Beat and Vineyard Berry from the Tea Party mini cube set.

For the leaves I used Tropical Forest mini cube set.

Once all the images were stamped, I heat embossed the stamen of each flower in yellow and red for more realistic look, then die cut all images with coordinating dies.

Next I created the background using techniques I learned in Easy Ink Blending Techniques Class. Using a very light hand, angling the blending tool to avoid harsh lines and adding layers of ink, I achieved the desired color intensity. I lightly blended several layers of ink from top left corner and bottom right corner leaving the center light, accomplishing gradient effect from bold to very light color.

I played with arrangement of the flowers and leaves for a while until I got the design I liked leaving the center open for the sentiment.

After the sentiment was stamped I choose the fine liner in matching color and hand drew a border on my card design, as I learned in Clean And Simple Boutique Cards Class.

In this class we learned many techniques to make clean and simple card stand out, for today’s card I did some ‘simple styling’ with a fine liner.

To finish off my card I added clear droplets completing the look and feel of Hawaiian Islands.

Designer Tip: When you’re stamping in layers give each layer of ink some time to dry (I waited about 30 minutes between each layer – yes it takes a while but the results are really worth it). Giving each layer of ink time to dry produced much crisper images!

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For my second (masculine) project I created a card that I will give to my husband for Valentine’s Day – coming up in less than 2 weeks.

I choose Love You So Mush stamp set for this project. This is such an awesome stamp set with punny sentiments, that can be used for masculine cards, friendship cards and layouts.

For this projects my components were: Easy Die Cutting Techniques, Easy Ink Blending Techniques  and For The Guys!

I started with creating the background panel which I covered with die cut masks. Next I blended all 4 colors from Coffee Break mini ink cube set from dark to light as I learned in Easy Ink Blending Techniques. Slowly building up the color was the key to create the ombre look.

In For The Guys Class we learned how to stretch our Altenew stamps, dies and inks to create masculine cards. I have used some tips and techniques from that class for this card. To create a pattern for my background I used fourth layering stamp from Story of Us stamp set (photo below).

Using acrylic block I inked up the image starting with the lightest color. Each time I inked the stamp, I sprayed it with water then stamped to my inked background.

Learning from Easy Die Cutting Techniques class has immensely improved my die cutting skills, especially aligning my dies to stamped images. I also opened a whole new world on how to use coordinating/standalone dies in a creative way!

I created masks for my background and die cut my mushroom images using techniques from this amazing class.

To assemble my card I choose dark brown layering cardstock to frame my background panel. I carried on the design from my background to the window opening in the middle, keeping it all uniformed.

I added the die cut mushrooms using foam tape then white heat embossed the sentiment on a strip of black cardstock.

For a finishing touch I added black liquid drops inside the window opening tying the color with the black sentiment strip.

Designer Tip: Take a look at the stamps you have and try using them in different ways than what they were intended for. I created a background pattern for this masculine card using a stamp from layering floral image.

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I am so thankful to have been able to participate in this amazing program and I have really enjoyed learning so much! I have also enhanced so many previously learned skills!

One thing is for sure you can never learn too much! No matter what level of crafting you’re at you will definitely learn something new at Altenew Academy classes!

I really hope you have enjoyed this post and like the two projects I have shared with you today 🙂

Thank you for stopping by and happy crafting!