Let it Shine || AECP

Hello, and welcome to another card share for my Altenew Educator Program coursework. I am pretty excited about both of today's cards because they are just really pretty.

The Class:

There is so much to love about this class, mostly because it's all about shimmer, shine, and sparkle. The lessons demonstrate techniques with glitter, metallic cardstocks, shimmery mediums, and sparkly embellishments. I tried out a few of these, but admittedly, I skipped the glitter. I was not about making a mess today. Not even a tiny one. 

If you've read any of my blog posts in recent days, you know I'm rather smitten with clean and simple boutique-style cards, and both of today's cards definitely fit that description!  Read on to learn how I created each. 

Technique: DIY Foil / Metallic Details

To create the background, I stamped two different leaves -- a larger and a smaller -- from the Altenew Leaf Clusters set onto a white A2 panel. For the larger, I used Concord & 9th Nectar ink, and for the smaller, I used Concord & 9th Aqua Sky ink. These two colors are absolutely gorgeous together!

At first, I stamped directly onto my panel, but then I decided to go with a softer look, so I did 2nd generation stamping. That means I inked up my stamp and stamped it onto scrap paper first and then, without re-inking, I stamped it onto my card panel. This creates softer ink colors. A couple images are stamped a bit heavier (1st generation stamping), but overall, I think those aren't too distracting. 

To create a color-matched card base, I ink blended the Aqua Sky around the edges of a top-folding A2 card base. Since I knew the center of the card would be covered, I did not need to ink the entire card front. 

Return to the Washi Graveyard:

A few days ago, I added a single strip of 1/8" gold washi tape to a clean and simple card. This required me to dig into the washi graveyard at the back at my adhesive drawer. After that successful solitary washi stripe, I vowed to resurrect the washi graveyard. 

For this card, I used that same 1/8" gold washi tape and ran a vertical stripe down the sides of the card, about 1/4" in from the each edge. I burnished the tape well since it's so incredibly old. 

I trimmed the leafy panel down to 3.625 x 5.5" and adhered it to the center of the card base, just barely covering the edge of the washi.

Next is my favorite part!

The Sentiment:

In this class, the instructor had used a glue pen and DecoFoil to fancy-up a die cut, but I didn't have those supplies on hand, so I improvised. 

Using that same 1/8" gold washi tape and plain white card stock, I laid down several strips, next to each other and slightly overlapping. To get the right coverage, I just compared the size of my tape stripe to the Altenew Fancy Thanks die I intended to die cut. There was no science to this. When the stripe was about 1/2" tall and 3-4" long, I burnished all the tape as one. 

Then, I die cut the sentiment. Funny thing about that. I did not line up anything. I just haphazardly stuck the die down to the paper and cut. By some miracle, the tape seems to follow a level line across the die cut. 

Now, I've heard a lot of people talk about the first time they saw embossing powder melt, how they will never forget that, how that is the moment they were hooked. Well, for me, popping this two-tone sentiment out of the die might be my moment. I was positively giddy. 

I die cut a couple extra white sentiments, layered them behind the gold one, and then glued this down to the leafy panel, near the bottom. 

Embellishments:

I embellished with Spellbinders Gold Smooth Discs -- following all the rules, of course. 

• In odd numbers. 
• In triangles. 
• Not tucking any under the sentiment, but placing some as near as possible. 
• Allowing one embellishment to serve as the point of two different triangles.

And this card was done. Clean. Simple. Shiny. Stunning.

Watercolor with a Shimmery Twist:

I have watercolored on cards before. Nothing novel about that. But what I had never heard of before was using a shimmer or glitter pen in place of a waterbrush. This. Is. Brilliant. 

For this card, I chose a floral from the Altenew Bold Bouquet set, which was an exclusive product from the Scrapbook & Cards Today Crop & Create Delivered Card Making event in March 2023.  I stamped the image with Versamark ink onto a piece of watercolor paper. (Don't forget the anti-static powder first!) Then, I poured on Hero Arts Fine Detail White embossing powder and heat set it. The heat embossing creates little walls that will help contain the color and water. This is great for watercolor newbies! 

I watercolored the image with Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens. 

• No.025 Pink
• No.026 Light Pink
• No.028 Pale Pink
• No.046 Mid Green

Dark Pink Flowers:

I colored with the pink Zig pen, only where there would be shadows -- near folds in the petals or where two petals meet or touch. Then, I used a Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen in Opal Quartz as a "waterbrush" to spread out the color toward the edges, leaving some light spots as highlights. 

Light Pink Flowers:

I first colored with Pale Pink, again, just in the shadows and then spread out the color toward the tips with the Shimmer Pen. When that was dry, I added very small shadows of Light Pink, only where petals would overlap each other, and then spread that out with the Shimmer Pen, too. The tips of the flowers remain white or very light as highlights. 

Leaves:

I colored with the Mid Green pen, trying to concentrate the color toward the base of each leaf, and then I spread out the color with the Shimmer Pen.The leaves are either so tiny or so veiny that it was hard to get good, purposeful shading on them, but there is some variation. 

So. Much Shimmer. 

Finishing Touches:

I stamped a sentiment from the Altenew Pen Sketched Silhouette stamp set in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I nestled the sentiment close to the focal image to respect the white space and to (sort of) connect it to the floral. 

For a little more bling, I added Ice Cube Jewels, which are from Lucy's Cards. These are positioned to draw attention to the sentiment and also to follow the triangle rule. 

I trimmed the panel down to 4 x 5.25" and matted it onto black card stock. I felt this made the pink flowers really pop. Plus, it coordinates with the black sentiment. 

And there you have another clean and simple boutique card! 

Is there a Lesson Here?

Maybe. Maybe every card should have a little bling. Can we make that a rule? I feel like card making already has so many rules. Triangles. Odd numbers. White space. Why not add mandatory bling to the list of rules? 

Done. 

Go forward and bling all the things! 

Thanks for stopping by!
Tammy