Altenew Level II AECP Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog.

The day is finally here!  I have finished all my Altenew EducatorCertification Program (AECP) classes (levels I and II) and I have completed my level II challenge assignment.  The assignment for the level II challenge was to create four masculine cards with the themes of encouragement, anniversary, love or thinking of you, and happy birthday.  The second part of the challenge was to either upcycle or alter something.   

I started the level II challenge with a plan just like the level I challenge (this will definitely save you in the end).  Give yourself time to come up with different ideas, keep in mind how realistic is the idea that you would be able to complete it and still keep up your everyday activities.  The goal is to have fun while creating your project.   

For me, I typed out the concept for each card and even drew a little sketch.  I chose the colour schemes, the techniques for each card, card size (all the cards are A2 or 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 finished), checked to make sure I had all the supplies for each card, and set time deadlines (this was key).  Because I have been pretty busy with work, if I did not set timelines for myself, I would get behind.   I also built in a little extra time for the unforeseen issues that might pop-up.   I was able to stay on course and complete my projects without panic and frustration.

So let’s take a look at the cards and I’ll give more details on each one.

 

**********************************************************************

Happy Birthday 

Technique: Heat Embossing and Die Cutting

Colours: Black and Gold

I started with a piece of A2 sized black card stock (cs).  I put a piece of painter’s tape toward the bottom.  I dusted the cs with an antistatic powder.  I put the taped cs in my misty stamp tool (just in case I had to restamp the image).  I used a Versa Mark embossing pad on Altenew’s Patten Play-Diamond stamp set.  Over a large sheet of scrap paper, I applied the gold embossing power and tapped of the excess.  I pre-heat my heat tool and warmed the back of the cs, then moved to the front to melt the powered, so there was little to no warping of my cardstock.  I removed the painter’s tape and wiped the card front with a dry cloth to remove the rest of the antistatic powder.  I cut 2 strips of the gold cs at 1/8” and laid them along the top and bottom edges of where the painter’s tape was.   I used wet (liquid) glue to adhere them to the card and clipped the ends to be flush with the cs.  Tape runner will not hold well on the embossing areas and the strips were too small for double sized tape.  I used the Altenew’s Halftone Happy die for my main sentiment.  I cut the happy out a total of 4 times, 1x in the gold metallic cs, and 3 times in the black cs.   I adhered all the pieces together and set them aside to dry.  While the “happy” was drying.  I embossed birthday on the card front in gold.  Then added the “happy”.

 

Thinking of You

Technique: Die Cutting, Beyond Basic Backgrounds, With a Twist (using washi tape)

Colours: Gray and White

This card was really simple and quick.  I took a 3 ¾” x 5” sized piece of white cardstock (cs) and covered it with Altenew’s Marsh Land washitape.  I cut out a 1/8 strip of the gray card stock and adhered it to the left side of the card front about ¼” from the edge with wet glue.  I sat it aside for few minutes to dry, then I trimmed the gray strip down, so that the strip was flush with bottom and top of the card front.   I used Altenew’s Thinking of You die as my focal point.  I cut it out three times, once in the gray cs and twice in the white cs.  I glued the two white die cuts together, then I off centered the gray (top) Thinking of You just slightly to create a shadow look and glued it to the other piece.   I added a gray mat to the card front.  I centered the “Thinking of You in the space between the gray strip on the left and the gray strip showing on the right side of the card front.  I adhere the card front to an A2 card based and that was it.

Encouragement card

Technique: Stenciling, Inking

Colours: Blue and Gray

I love geometric shapes from masculine cards.  For this card I used Altenew’s Mighty Corners Stencils as well as the Cool Summer Nights and Warm Gray Crisp Dye Ink Cubes.  I started with a 6x6 piece of CS because I was not sure of the final dimension of the card.  And it also the size of the stencil, so I would be sure to capture all the image.   I only wanted enough of the image to use all 4 colours of the inks I chose.  I chose blue and gray for this one as tribute to my favorite artist BTS (South Koreanboy band)-yep…I am ARMY (lol).   I started on one side of the CS and then flip the stencil to the opposite direction to overlap the colours.   Tip (1): The line parts of the stencil are very delicate, so to make sure my lines remained straight and sharp I used a TEMPORARY spray adhesive to hold the stencil in place.  As soon I was done with the stencil, I put it in some warm soapy water.  Tip (2): I used Post-it notes to cover the parts of the card stock (cs) that were inked before moving on to the next colour, in order to keep my colours from mixing.  Once I finished the stenciling, I trimmed the card front down to my desired size.  I double matted the card front with blue and gray cs and adhere the combined card front to an A2 card base.  The sentiment comes from Altenew’s Remember This stamp set.  It is stamped with their Obsidian Black Pigment Ink.  I trimmed the sentiment down and backed it with some of the left-over gray CS and applied it directly to the card front.  

 

Anniversary

Technique: Heat Embossing, Polychromatic

Colours: Black, Gray, and Metallic Gold, Silver, and Bronze

This card was a little challenging.  Not because it is hard but, it was more my supplies did not want to cooperate…lol.   I used Altenew’s Kind Confetti stamp set to create a celebration feel.  This really is a great stamp set.  I have used it several times.  I have definitely gotten my money worth out of it! 

I started with an A2 piece of cs.  I used Altenew’s Painted Poppy stamp set and embossed my sentiment where I wanted it first.  I used glossy black embossing powder as opposed to mat black embossing powder because I want to give the card a party feel.  I took a piece of Post-it notes and cut it down to cover the sentiment while I was embossing.  I dusted the entire card front with anti-static powder.  Tip (1): Do this every time you are going to emboss the image.  I started just off the edge of the card front, first stamping the image with Versa Mark, then applying the embossing powered.  Tip (2): It is also important to clean the stamp after each use.  It was a little time consuming and I had to start over 3 times before I got one that I was OK with (“Ok with” not thrilled with…lol).  I alternated 5 different colours of embossing powders; however, I have done a card using this stamp set and 2 colours of embossing powder and it was just as pretty.  I did the bottom of the card front first, then turned it upside down and added just the top part the image at the top (the bottom of the image has more concentration of the confetti dots).  I trimmed the card front down to the size I wanted.   Unfortunately, no matter how careful I tried to be, the powder did not cooperate as much as I would have liked.   At the very end, although I thought I got it all embossed, the sentiment had areas where the powder did not melt, and it smeared.  I used an erase tool and got off what I could.  I mounted it on some black cs and then on to an A2 card base.  Overall, I really do like the look. 

 ********************************************************************** 

Altered Item: ALTENEW Flag Banner

For the second part of the challenge, I wanted to pay a tribute to Altenew.  This project ends up serving two purposes.  One is the tribute to Altenew and the second is something to hang-up when I give a workshop!   

I had the flag banner in my craft lab for some time and would frequently come across them and ask myself now what was the plan for those again???  Well, the plan eventually came to me and it turned our perfect (at least how I anticipated).

Here’s what I did to create my banner flags

I painted both sides of each flag with two coats of white acrylic paint.  I let it sit for a least a day to see how well the two coats covered the flags and if I needed a third coat.  Two coats worked fine.  I then covered both sides with Altenew’s Floral FlurriesWashi Tape (To be on the safe side I purchased two rolls of the washi tape).  For the total banner I only used a half of one roll of the washi tape, this included some wasted tape, (I covered seven flags 5” x 7” each).  Before I covered each side of the flag with washi tape, I added a light coat of Mod-Podge (matte) for extra hold (optional).  I used a rubber brayer to remove any air bubbles.  After the flags with covered with the washi tape, I sat them under some heavy books for a day to keep them flat.  The next step was to trim off any extra washi tape and lightly sand down the edges until smooth.  To sand the flags, I used a polar bar and medium file from the beauty supply store.  The flags are about 1/8 thickness, so you don’t want to use heavy sanding, otherwise you will remove too much of the washi tape and the acrylic paint.  The polar bar and medium file are gentle enough for hands, so they were perfect for the somewhat delicate wood flags.  To sand the banner string holes, I used a precision file set. 

Make sure whatever washi you use, it is wide enough and long enough to cover the object.  My flags were painted and dried first.  I added a light coat of Mod-Podge Matte to each side before covering with the washi tape

Putting washi tape on the flags

Covering the back of the flag

Here I am showing what the flags look like once they were trimmed and sanded and the beginning of the decorating process.

Decorating the flags

I am a simple, less is more type of crafter.  I don’t like to journal much, so I pick cardstock, pictures, and other embellishments that speak for themselves; I just have to know how to put them together.  I absolutely love this washi tape and wanted to make sure my embellishments did not overpower it.  I also wanted to pull out some of the rich colour of the flowers.  It’s a banner so it had to have some celebration feel (without too much glitter of course…not a glitter girl at all!).   I used some smooth glitter cardstock and cut out the rosettes on my Cricut Maker.

I sized them to 1.75” x 9.75” for the 5” x 7” flags.  I cut two for each flag for a total of 14 (2 strips make one rosette).   For the lettering I used Cricut font Plantin School Book (multilayer).  I hot glued the rosettes to the flags and used glue dots to adhere the letters to the rosettes.  I made some white tool pom-poms tied with celebrations ribbon.  I curled the ends of the celebration ribbon and my project was complete.

The entire project could have been completed in about two weeks but, because of my busy schedule I took the entire month.  I’m glad I did because I was really able to enjoy the challenge and I really love my end results.   

Thank you for stopping by and allowing me to share my love crafting and Altenew products and ideas.  If you are interested in becoming a certified Altenew Educator, learning more about card making and other great craft ideas and products; click here. 

 

***********************************************************************

TUTORIAL

Here is a picture tutorial for a different version of the "Thinking of You" card.  This one is You are Loved.

Supplies: Card based A2 size, cs (card front 3 3/4 x 5 and mat 4 x 5 1/4),  strip cs 1/8 wide, washi tape wide enough to cover card front, liquid and double sided tape (optional), die, 3 die cut pieces, sharps, bone folder, craft pick (optional)

Cover one side of the card front with the washi tape

Trim off excess washi tape

Miter the corners.  This will help with folding the washi and decrease bulk on the back; helping the card to lay flat.

Fold the the remaining washi tape on to the back of the card front.

Turn the card front so the design side is facing you. Add the 1/8 strip of cs to the left side of the card front about 1/4 from the left side.  Adhere the strip with liquid glue.

Clip  the strip on the ends so that the strip is flush with the top and bottom of the card front.

If you are using double sided adhesive, apply it to the back side of both the card front and the mat

Die cut the sentiment/greeting out 3 times, once in the coloured cs and twice in the white.  Adhere the two white die cut together with liquid glue so that all sides are flush.  Then you will add the coloured cs BUT off center the coloured cs just slightly to create a shadow affect.

When you have the completed the above step, your die cut should look something like this.

Center the sentiment/greeting between the strip on the left side and the gray border on the right.  It is best to use a liquid glue to secure the die cut on the washi because of the (slick) surface of the washi. 

Add the card front/mat to the card base and you are done!

Thank you for taking the time to visit me again. And until next time, stay safe, Joyce.