Altenew Educators Certification Program - Level 2 Final Challenge Part 1

 Good afternoon. we have been busy this week, I have my usual 4 dogs and am dog sitting another 4 so chaos in our home!

My post today is the first part of my AECP level 2 challenge. 

The challenge is to make 4 masculine cards with themes of birthday, Love/Thinking of you, Anniversary and encouragement. This alone would have been a challenge before the course - male cards are a struggle for most card makers I think.

The challenge is also to use three techniques I have learned so far, for 2 of these I chose to use to techniques that are out of my comfort zone and know would challenge me - ink blending and scene building. My 3rd technique is die cutting, I own lots of Altenew stamps but not many dies so again this was a challenge to use what I have.

My first card was my birthday card and I chose to do a safari scene using Geometric Menagerie dies and a Happy Birthday stamp from the Floral Sprig stamp set.

I started with a piece of white Bristol smooth cardstock and using 5 inks I blended a backdrop for my scene.

Next was die cutting my images from black cardstock. As there is only a left facing giraffe die, I cut 2 and smoothed the edges of the second with a bone folder which gave me a mirror image. Wit the remainder of the black card I hand cut my landscape

Once I checked placement I decided to go with the waste from my landscape as I had cut this with a smaller 'hill'

Using white embossing powder I heat embossed 'Happy Birthday" on to the hill.

I trimmed the excess black card and adhered my scene to a black A2 card base.

My next card is my love/ thinking of you card. I made a galaxy scene using the Big World stamp and die set with little added stars from Starry Night die set.

I started this by die cutting and stamping my world layers 

 

 

Next I ink blending a galaxy background on to Bristol smooth cardstock using 6 different ink colors. I splattered white paint to add stars.

Once this was dry I worked out where I want my scene to sit and die cut into my scene. The rest of my sentiment was heat embossed in white around the word. I matted this onto silver mirror card stock so the world word and stars would shine through.

    

Finally my word was added and the scene was adhered to a black A2 card base.

I hope you are still with me - I did warn this is a loooong post 😁

Ok next is Anniversary. For this card I used the Modern Fox stamp set, I also used Moroccan Mosaic stamp.

I started with the top layer of my card and ink blended a piece of Bristol Smooth with 4 blue inks. Once this was dry I used a pigment ink to stamp the Mosaic pattern over the whole card I then heat embossed this with clear powder to give it a shine. Finally I cut an aperture with one of the Soda Top nesting dies.

I then moved on to my scene, I inked blended a second piece of Bristol Smooth with lighter blue inks to give me a back drop.

I then laid the die cut piece over this and using a pencil marked out where my aperture would lay.

You can see the marks on the second photo, These were erased once I had stamped my scene. I love the way the layers of these stamps build that little fox.

I placed the 2 pieces together to work out where I wanted my sentiment and then stamped this with black pigment ink and heat embossed with clear ink to tie in with the pattern on the outer layer

I trimmed both these layers to 4x5.5in and adhered them together.

This panel was then added to my card base with foam tape to give dimension. A few clear gems where added to the blue panel.

After I had made the card I decided to add a couple of hearts around my sentiment - It is an Anniversary card after all.

My final card is my favorite and the one with the most detail. I just love the spectacular Adventures Stamp and die set and had planned to use them for a shaker card so this challenge was the perfect opportunity to do this. They also fit with my final theme - Encouragement.

I started this card by die cutting the glasses from a piece of Bristol smooth cardstock. I then used this as a stencil to draw the glasses onto a piece of Neenah Solar white so I knew where to stamp the beach image. This was then colored with alcohol markers.

         

     

I then went back to the die cut piece, lining it up with the colors on my stamped image I ink blended  beachy colors. I then glued a piece of acetate to the reverse of this, covering the die cut negative.

I then laid the glasses stamp into the die cut area and stamped on to the acetate with solvent black ink. 

(There is a piece of white card behind the panel in the second photo so glasses showed up on photo)

I then placed foam tape on the back of this making sure to leave no gaps around the glasses as my shaker elements would fall out!

I used prills for my shaker particles these are small enough to represent sand.

I placed the prills over the stamped and colored image to make it easier to line up the glasses and then adhered the top panel over this.

I added my sentiment just below the glasses.

 I wanted black gems and didn't have any so a tip I picked up from the classes was to color my own with a marker so the ones on the card started out as grey ones!

Finally my panel was added to an A2 card base.

Here's a little video so you can see the shaker element

If you've made it to the end congratulations! 

Please tag me on Instagram if you've been inspired to give these techniques a go as I would love to see your creations!

Part 2 of this challenge can be found here I would love for you to read that also 

Altenew products I used:

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Coverstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN | ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Blush Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Jet Black Purchase From: SSS | ALW	Crystal Clear Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW
Crisp Dye Ink - Chamomile Purchase From: ALW	Soda Top Nesting Dies Purchase From: ALW	Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Warm Sunshine Purchase From: SSS | ALW
Geometric Menagerie Stamp & Die Set Purchase From: ALW	Moroccan Mosiac Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Evergreen Purchase From: ALW	Embossing Ink Purchase From: ALW
Ocean Waves Crisp Diye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Buttercream Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Rouge Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Ruby Red Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW
Grapevine Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Paper Bag Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Arctic Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Caribbean Sky Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW
Modern Fox Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Floral Sprig Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Spectacular Adventures Stamp and Die Set Purchase From: ALW