Altenew Educators Certification Program - Masking Unleashed

 Good afternoon! boy is it hot and humid here! We are melting and there is no let up in the forecast! 

I'm here today with my submissions for my final ACEP level 2 class I am so excited that this level is finished! The class today is Masking Unleashed taught by Svitlana Shayevich. I do use masking often to arrange the scenes on my cards but I have never thought of masking negatively which is what I did with this card:

I cut a piece of Neenah Solar white 5.5in x 4in and a piece of freezer paper the same size
I die cut a circle from the freezer paper and laid it over the card. Using my baby easy press I ironed these together. The freezer paper has a plastic side which melts when heated. This seals it onto the cardstock so it doesn't move and it makes a waterproof seal.
Next I stamped flowers from Crown Bloom and Tree Peony in waterproof ink, the crown bloom flower was masked so I could add the others. I watercolored these, making sure to paint the whole circle, and left it to dry.
While they were drying I matted an A2 card base with fuchsia card and cut 'wonderful' from the same card.
Once dry I used my heat tool to reheat and gently remove the freezer paper. This left me with my painted image in a perfect circle.
I trimmed this down to 4x5.5in and added it to my card with foam tape. I positioned my die cut sentiment so I could add my stamped words around it. These were stamped in black pigment ink and heat embossed with clear powder.
Finally a few clear drops finished my design.

My second card uses masks to arrange flowers, or any image, with depth and on top of each other.

To make an arrangement for flowers for your cards there is a couple of ways to achieve it. You could stamp and die cut the flowers but this would give some dimension. If you want your images flat you have to mask the flowers off.

Had I just stamped these flowers without masking this is what it would look like:

All the parts of the flowers in the back overlay the front ones, so the stems of the buds are on the petals of the peonies and the leaves just look a mess!

So I stamped the images on masking paper and fussy cut these first. when making masks it's important to but inside the stamped lines or you can be left with white spaces around your flowers.

Once I had my masks I started stamping the outline images of my flowers on Neenah solar white card stock.

I started with the top peony - I wanted this in the foreground. I placed a mask over this and stamped the second peony and masked this off. Next the buds and 2 leaves (one at either side of the main flowers) were stamped and then masked. Finally I stamped the last 2 leaves. I then reversed my stamping with the colored layers, so I started with the last 2 leaves once these were done I unmasked the 2nd set of leaves and the flower buds. In reality I didn't need to mask the buds but I did. Once the leaves and buds were colored with the layered images I unmasked the bottom peony, stamped this and repeated with the top peony.

To make up my card I matted an A2 card base with purple cardstock added my image and stamped Thank you in bottom corner. A few clear drops just balanced the design.

Thanks for stopping by. My next step is to complete my level 2 challenge - I'm excited to see what this will be!

Altenew products I used:

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Coverstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN | ALW	Crown Bloom Stamp and Die Bundle Purchase From: ALW	Peony Bouquet Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Jet Black Purchase From: SSS | ALW
Crystal Clear Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye inks - Sugar Plum Oval Set Purchase From: SSS | ALW	Artist Watercolor brushes bundle Purchase From: ALW	Build A Flower - Tree Peony Purchase From: SSS | ALW
Heartfelt Sentiments Purchase From: SSS | ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Forest Glades Purchase From: SSS | ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Frayed Leaf Purchase From: ALW	Artists Watercolor 24 Pan set Purchase From: ALW
Embossing Ink Purchase From: ALW