Altenew Educators Certification Program - Level 3 -Elements of Floral Composition.

 Good morning! I haven't done any of my AECP classes recently but school's out and the puppies are leaving us over the next couple of days so I will have a little more free time. 

I'm finding the heat too much to cope with with my illnesses so I spent Monday watching the lessons from Jaycee Gasper's Elements of floral composition. I loved this class and I'm sure it will be one I will return to many times. 

So today I decided to put what I have learned in to practice. I have made 2 cards from this class. The first one I chose to use the Space lesson:

As Jaycee eloquently put it "empty space is important - the stars can't shine without darkness. I prefer my designs to have open space so this theory is easy for me to follow.

There is a mathematical approach to space in art and using the rule of thirds is one way. For this you divide your canvas (card surface area) into 3rds like so:

To make the card more aesthetically pleasing you use the cross points for your design. I positioned my Build-A-Flower Tree Peony at the lower left cross point so my sentiment could go on any of the remaining cross points. The flower is quite a large one so I decided to place my sentiment in the top right cross point.

The sentiment is from Fresh Freesia stamp set. I do like to mix up the sets to fit with my theme.

As you can see I also added some splatters to the card before adhering my flower and stamping my sentiment. This is a new technique for me, I usually like a clean card but am trying to come out of my comfort zone. I did trim a small strip from the cardstock so I could add further detail.

Finally I added a piece of purple stripe wash tape to the fold edge of an A2 card base and adhered my floral topper with foam tape for dimension.

As I enjoyed the classes I decided to do a 2nd card using 3 other elements Jaycee explained. Form, Line and Texture.

 I started by stamping Build-A-Flower Giant Bellflower in black ink. Using a black fine liner I accentuated   the lines of the flower and leaves where there would be shade which gives the image a depth. I decided after I had done this to use the solid leaf stamp to give some further detail.

Jaycee explains that flowers inadvertently face upwards which can drawn the eye in a line from them. This is not the case with this stamp, however the stem does as you can see from my map:

Once die cut the white of the flowers seemed to get lost on the white cardstock so I decided to change this to a cream cardstock and added some ink blending under the flowers and splatters to rest of the card piece.

The blue straight lines indicate how the image can draw the eye to further detail. So my sentiment should be placed following these 

As with my first card I "cross pollenated" my stamps sets and used the Build-A-Garden set for my sentiment.

Another technique Jaycee taught was Form: So adding dimension to your designs. I achieved this by using foam squares under my flower. When using foam you need to make sure that you place enough to stop the design sagging when fed through mailing machines.

The final technique I used was Texture: Adding detail either to your image (embossing or using texture paste can do this) or by adding other textured items to your design give your card more interest and can be used to emphasize an area. For this card I used silver thread and silver bubble embellishments.

Thank you for taking time to read my post, I hope that it has given you some inspiration for your card designing. I would love for you to let me know in the comments.

Build a Flower: Tree Peony Shop at: ALT	Build a Flower: Giant Bellflower Shop at: ALT	Build a Garden: Magnificent Branch Shop at: ALT	Fresh Freesia Shop at: ALT
Wisteria Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Hydrangea Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Ultra Violet Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Andromeda Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT
Sunray Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Snapdragon Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Marigold Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Frayed Leaf Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT
Forest Glades Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Evergreen Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Obsidian Pigment Ink Shop at: ALT	Lavender Fields Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT
Jet Black Crisp Dye Ink Shop at: ALT	Elements of Floral Composition Online Class Shop at: ALT	Neenah Solar White 80lb Shop at: AZN