Tag: #AECP #Altenew #spinroo #pinkfreshstudio #spellbinders

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AECP – Level 3 – Elements of Floral Composition

Hello.  Welcome back.  I am so happy you are here.

This is course 5 for my level 3 certification called Elements of Floral Composition.  These classes were extremely educational as I have never had a formal art or floral class outside of grade school.  Jaycee Gaspar taught us about Color, Value, Line, Shape, Form, Texture, Space and the Rule of 3.  Let’s dive in!

For my card I chose the Altenew Stencil Art: White Cap Peonies with the add-on die. This card had more ink colors than any card I have ever made, using 14 not including the watercolors used on the background. This stencil set was so much fun to use.

My apologies as my photo for the first stencil using Altenew Fresh Dye Ink -Buttercream came out blurry.  On to stencil 2.  After positioning stencil 2 on top of the previously inked image, we ink blend Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Pumpkin Pie. Blending a bit darker towards the center of the large flower and the right side of the smaller flower.

We continue to stencil 3, using Altenew Fresh Dye Ink –  Sicilian Amber and the same technique as before.  This stencil has more than one stenciling layer so we covered the section we are not using with low tack tape, but a Post-It note would work well also.

We shift the stencil and our tape, then blend this section with Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Red Jasper.

Stencil 4 also has several sections to it.  The section on the large flower was ink blended with Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Misty Moor.

As before, we shifted the stencil and taped over areas to keep us from over blending into them.  This section was inked with Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Marshland.

The first later of the stem and leaves was blended using Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Misty Mint.

We blended the first layer of the smaller flower using Altenew Fresh Dye Ink -Morning Frost, applying it a bit heavier towards the stem of the flower.

On to stencil 5, using Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Sea Forest on the detail of the large flower.  Then moving to the stem and leaves using Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Sweet Leaf. Continuing the same technique as we did earlier with taping off sections to keep from over blending.

Finished with stencil 5 blending Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Evening Gray onto the smaller flower.

Stencil 6 is the final layers of the flowers. Using Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Mangrove Root on the large flower, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Hunter Green on the leaves and stems and the Altenew Fresh Dye Ink – Moon Rock on the smaller flower.

The final results using this stencil set are just beautiful. You can’t go wrong with this one!

I went back and ink blended another image using the same inks and techniques as we did on the first.

Now we die cut both images using the coordination die for this set.

These are so pretty.

Starting on our background, we tape a piece of watercolor paper to our board. We are using painters tape.

Wanting to try a technique I saw on Instagram where you put water droplets of color on your dry watercolor paper and then come in with a wet mop brush and move the color.

Mine dried faster than I expected but I went back over the color with the brush and the droplets smoothed out nicely.

Staying with a very night wash.

Before setting it aside to dry, we checked the color saturation on our background with our flowers.

The glitter watercolor added a nice shimmer and dried nicely.

Deciding not to keep the whole floral images we fussy cut one large flower apart and also removed some of the leaves and stems.

We began test placement of the flowers on our dry background.  Adding low tack tape to the arrangement so it can be moved without having to rearrange again.

I use a piece of cardstock that I cut a 5.5″ x 4.25″ rectangle out of the center.  This allows me to see what the final card will look like when all of the excess is cut off.

Testing a couple different arrangements.

Turning the entire taped arrangement over we add glue to the lower right leaves and then low dimension foam to the partial flower on the right.  Adding a bit of liquid glue to the foam gives a bit of wiggle time before adhering to the panel.

Removing all but one piece of low tack tape, which we can use as a hinge, we add dimensional foam tape that is thicker to the back of the large flower. We saved all of the cut off leaves, even creating a couple leaves out of the cut off stems incase they are needed.

Everything has been adhered to the panel, now it is time to flip the panel over and trim off all of the excess that is hanging over the edges.

We added some splatter using Altenew Metallic Watercolor Enchanted Gold and tested out a sentiment found in our stash.

The shimmer from the metallic splatter and the watercolor background is very pretty and adds a bit of texture.

Adding a couple of Champagne clear drops from PinkFresh Studio adds some additional texture.

I hope you like my final card for my AECP certification.  Wish me luck on my final.  Thank you for coming on this journey with me.

 

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AECP – Creative Watercolor Media

Welcome Back!!  It has been a while.

I am now working on my Level 3 classes for my AECP.  This class is Creative Watercolor Media.  It was so much fun.  I love watercolor and I have so much to learn.

I chose to watercolor a beautiful floral stamp from Altenew called Statement Flowers. Using the Stampwheel 2.0, I stamped it using Altenew Obsidian black ink on Strathmore watercolor paper and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

The crisp clean stamping you get from this ink is amazing.

Using a medium-dark green from my watercolor paints, I started at the points closest to the flower using a wet-on-dry technique but I had a very wet brush.

While the paint is still wet I switched to a lighter green and painted from the tips of the leaves towards the darker paint.  Allowing them to mix and flow together.  Using the same technique on the flowers but starting with a dark orange-pink and moving to a medium yellow.

On the larger flower I painted the center first.  As you can see I got paint outside on the white area.  I was not too worried as I am going to cut the flowers out before I add them to a card base.

Then adding the yellow paint and pulling the colors together in the center.

This is such a fun technique.  I love how the colors flow together and mix to make a beautiful orange.

While this was drying, I cut a piece of kraft colored cardstock to 5.5″ x 8″. Then using the Altenew Woven Basket 3D Embossing Folder, I covered one side with Altenew Espresso Fresh Dye Ink.  I spritzed the cardstock with water and ran it through the embossing folder.

By adding the ink it brings out the depth in the embossing folder.

While that was drying, I stamped out a couple cute bees using the Altenew Mini Delight: Bee Kind Stamp.  I used the same black ink as before and also used the Altenew Fresh Lemon Fresh Dye Ink. I cut them out using the coordinating die.

I cut an A2 sized card base from Spellbinders Truffle cardstock and trimmed the embossed background to 5.25″ x 4″. I also cut a piece of Spellbinder Pop-Up Die Cutting Foam in Cocoa to 5″ x 3.75″ to glue to the background and provide dimension.

I attached the flowers to the background and trimmed them off.  Then  attached some of the leaves that were trimmed off under the flowers.  I cut the “thank you” sentiment from the Altenew Timeless Sentiments Die Set using a dark brown and a tan cardstock from my scraps. I backed the sentiment as well as the bee with some dimensional foam tape and attached them to the front of the card.  I added a some clear champagne drops from PinkFresh Studio and a bit of Glossy Accents to the bee’s body, as well as a bit of shimmer to the wings.

I hope you liked this card.  It was so much fun and I look forward to more water coloring soon.