Aletnew Educators Academy Level 2 Lesson Masking Unleashed

This lesson focused on the technique known as ‘masking’.  A stamped image is covered with a cut out of of the stamped image.  I used the sticky edge of a Post It Note.  I have also used masking paper for images that are very intricate and needed the entire image covered. For this card the most important part that needed to be masked was the top of the vase and the Post It note paper worked well for this card layout.

I used Altenew stamps from the Garden Silhouette set and coordinating dies.  My paper choices were white card stock for the card base, yellow pin dot paper for the card front and Cason watercolor paper for the tag. The twine bow is from a May Arts spool.  The hugs stamp used Versamark black ink.  The vase was stamped using Stormy Sky blue distress ink. The flower was  inked with  two shades of Altenew yellow ink cubes set and stem was colored with a green Tombow marker.

First step, was to ink and stamp the vase on  a piece of watercolor paper.  I stamped it again on a Post It note, die cut the vase and covered the stamped vase.  I colored the stem and flower, stamped it using my MISTI stamping platform.  I had to ink and repeat the stamping to get a darker image.   Next I die cut largest tag  from Sizzix set that included seven different tag sizes. The die cut image on the watercolor paper creates an embossed edge which adds visual interest to the card.  I stamped the hugs on the yellow dot paper, die cut it to fit the card front and was ready to assemble the card. I tied a twine bow to the top of the tag.

The last step after adding the dot paper was to attach the tag using double sided foam tape.  A clean and simple masked card.

Supplies

  • Altenew Garden Silhouette stamp and coordinating die set
  • Altenew yellow ink cubes
  • Sixxiz Framelits tag die set
  • Distress Stormy Sky blue ink
  • Versamark black ink
  • Tobow markers
  • Pin dot printed yellow paper
  • May Arts twine
  • My Favorite Things stitched rectangle die
  • White card stock
  • 3M double sided foam tape
  • MISTI stamping platform
Nancy Souza Masking Unleashed
Nancy Souza Level 2 Masking Unleashed

Aletenew Educator Academy Level 2 Impressive Heat Embossing

On to this lesson which focused on the use of heat embossing when creating a  stamped card.  I used heat embossing when I stamped the double flower image.  I used the small double flower from the Forever and Always poppy set.  I stamped the double flower image over a quarter sheet of mixed media paper using Versamark ink and then heat embossed using Ranger silver embossing powder.

I painted the flowers using shades of Altenew ink cubes in light purple and pinks. When that was complete I used a scalloped curve My Favorite Things die for the bottom of the piece.  I added a piece of pink patterned paper to create the card front.  I then I die cut the card front using a stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things. I stamped the sentiment from another Altenew stamp set in Versafine black ink.  I added a few glittery pink Nuvo dots for accents.

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Nancy Souza  Heat Embossin

Supplies

  • Altenew Always and Forever stamp set- smll double bud stamp
  • Altenew stamp sentiment Hello Starshine
  • Altenew ink cubes- purple and pink
  • Ranger silver embossing powder
  • Heat tool
  • My Favorite Things die- curved scallop edge, stitched rectangle dies
  • Versafine black ink pad
  • Water barrel brush
  • Nuvo glitter drops
  • Fan brush
  • 3M double sided tape
  • MISTI stamping platform
  • Scor-pal scoring tool

 

 

AECP Level 2 Color Your Day Lesson

“Color Your Day” lesson focused on including color to a card.  I enjoy creating cards and other paper related projects that include that pop of color including even the smallest detail.  The topic of this lesson was focused on using colors so I reached for my  Copic alcohol markers.

I selected the Altenew Forevery Always stamp set and used the double poppy stems.  My paper selection was Neenah white card stock which works well with Copic markers.  I stamped the stems twice using black Memento ink and my MISTI stamping platform.  I varied the placment of the stems and was ready to color the stamped stems.  Starting with the lightest shade of orange for the buds and stems I colored in the images.  Then I blended and shaded moving to the mid range and darker colors to create depth in the images.

When I finished I used the gradient dot Altenew stencil and Altenew sunkissed ink cube and a blending brush to apply the ink.  I stamped an Altenew sentiment- Thinking of You- on white card stock, die cut the piece and inked the paper with the same ink I used on the stencil.

I created a window frame using  two different sizes of the stitched rectangle dies I had.  It was an A2 size to cover the front of the card.  I used liquid white glue to position the window frame onto the colored piece.   I assembled the card.  The word tag I popped it up using foam tape.  The last step that pulled it all together by adding dots to the open blooms using a black glaze pen.

What did I learn? Shading and blending add depth to the stamped poppy buds and focusing on a simple color palette.

Supplies

  • Altenew Forever and Always poppy set
  • Altenew dot gradient stencil
  • Altenew Sunkissed ink cube
  • Altenew sentiment
  • Copic markers- YG07 Acid Green, YG13 Chartreuse Green, Eii Barely Beige, YR21 Cream, YR02 Light Orange
  • Memento black ink
  • Neenah Solar White card stock
  • My Favorite Things- stitched rectangle dies in several sizes
  • 3M foam tape and double sided tape
  • White glue
  • Black glaze pen
  • Blender brush
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Nancy Souza Color Your Day Lesson

 

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AECP Level 2 Beautiful Details Lesson

Level 2 Beautiful Details Lesson took a bit of thinking and reviewing my collection of Altenew materials.  And watching the lesson videos again.  The Antique Rose stamp set has a matching stencil and masking option and the shape for the stencil is simple  and easy to outline.  I used a piece of heavy weight white card stock and inked the rose stencil using Altenew soft lilac ink cube. I moved the stencil around the paper to cover as much as I could cover rotating the stencil as I inked.  The ink color has a light gray shade to the purple inking.  Then I used a fine tip black marker pen from Faber Castell to outline each inked flower.

I die cut  matching light blue card stock for the background and the inked paper using several My Favorite Things stitched layered rectangle dies.  I added the black and white wide dotted Altenew washi tape to a strip of white paper and die cut that as well.  A stamped sentiment from Altenew “Just Because”, a black banner complete the trio of die cut banners.  I layered the pieces onto a A2 white card base.  When everything was in place, I added three raised black dots using glossy Nuvo drops.  That brought the three colors together- soft lilac ink, black and white.  The rose stamp from the set is a multi layered one and how I used it here looks very different than the stenciled on its own.  I included a card that I created for the lessons that I used the layered rose stamp on another card.

Supplies

  • Altenew stencil small Antique Rose
  • Altenew soft lilac ink cube
  • Altenew black and white dot washi tape
  • Altenew stamped sentiment
  • Versamark black ink
  • Stampin’ Up light blue paper
  • My Favorite Things  stitched rectangle die and banner dies
  • Nuvo drops- black glossy
  • Faber Castelle fine tip black marker

 

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Nancy Souza  Level 2 Beautiful Details 
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Nancy Souza Antique Roses layered die cut flowers 

AECP Level 2 Polychromatic Class

On to the next class in Level 2 and the title is Polychromatic.  I watched the videos, took notes and watched the videos again.  I finally decided that the mono color layout was the technique that was the one that I found one that I had limited experience with.  I selected a large daisy like stamp from the Smile More stamp set.  I thought yellow would be a good happy color to use for the card layout.   The card stock is a light yellow from Stampin’ Up I had in my paper collection.  I cut the sheet in half so I had more space to stamp the flower and then select the part of the paper I liked the best.

Stamping was done using Versaclair Cheerful Yellow ink which versatile ink.  It is stays wet enough to emboss with and can be used as a dry ink.  I dusted the paper with my embossing buddy anti-static poweder first. I used my MISTI stamping platform, secured the stamp to the cover, inked the stamp.  I added clear embossing powder to the image, heat set it and then rotated the paper to stamp the next flower and emboss.

When I was finished I used my awesome set of Prismacolor pencils and the different shades of yellow that I had in my set.  I started with the lightest shade of yellow to color in the petals.  Then I used a slightly darker shades of yellow to begin the shading and coloring  of the petals.  I added a darker yellow for the center of the flower.  That worked the best without being too dark.

Once I was finished coloring I selected the part of the paper that came out the best as I need to die cut a piece for the card front.  The card layout was a horizontal one with a left fold.  I used a stitched edge die from My Favorite Things for the yellow paper and for the piece of striped vellum. I die cut the Altenew hello  from a light yellow card stock.  I have a embossing and die from Stampin’ Up that creates paper buttons.   I tiny hole punch allowed me to thread the jute string to tie a bow.  Some carefully placed white glue  for the hello die and then behind the die to glue the vellum to the card front.  I few tiny pieces of foam tape for the paper button.  Another class done!

Souza yellow
Nancy Souza Level 2 Polychromatic

Supplies

  • Altenew Smile More flower stamp
  • Altenew hello script die
  • Prisma colored pencils- shades of yellow
  • Versaclair Cheerful Yellow ink
  • Clear embossing powder and a heat tool
  • My Favorite Things stitched rectangle dies
  • Stamapin’Up button embossed and die
  • May Arts thin jute twine
  • Embossing buddy
  • Stampin’ Up yellow card stock
  • Stiped vellum
  • White card stock
  • White craft glue
  • 3M tape runner and foam tape

 

AECP Level 2 Creative Watercolor Media Lesson

Next lesson is lesson four and the challenge is Creative Watercolor Media.  After watching the videos for the lesson and reviewing the Altenew stamps that I had and I was ready to start planning.  I selected  several liquid/ re-inks- twisted citron and tumbled glass , to paint with and a half sheet of Canson watercolor paper.   The stamp set is Leaf Canopy outline. The set also has solid stamps and I have the matching dies.  I used Versamark  ink and an embossing buddy anti-static powder before stamping the outline leaf branches. Next, I applied gold embossing powder and heat set the branches. I rotated the paper to stamp another part of the paper and heat emboss the branches again.

 I used a small bubble paint palette to drop in the liquid re-inkers and added some water to the inks. Next, I used a large flat paint brush to apply  water on the paper.  The first was very light as that was okay for the background.  Next, I added more inked color to the leaves and some of the ink puddled to create some contrast and shading.  I used a heat tool to dry and move some of the  ink around.  I used  a fan brush to splatter the diluted tumbled blue glass to the background.  Next I used a curved scallop edge die from My Favorite Things to cut the bottom of the piece and then trimmed it to the quarter sheet for a horizontal card front.

Almost finished- I cut a small piece of white cardstock and covered it with the gold  stripe  wide washi tape.  I attached it to the bottom of the card front and then adhered the painted piece to the rest of the card. I stamped  hugs on a left over piece and die cut it using s small rectangle  size  I added some gold thread behind the tag and a piece owf foam tape to adhere it to the bottom of the card.

What I learned? I enjoy watercoloring  and have used many different mediums to paint.  This was the firs time I used liquid re-inkers to paint with. I was able to add depth/shading to the leaves just by adding more ‘paint’  to the leaves.  A new option to paint with and I have a small collection of re-inkers.  That’s a good thing.

Nancy Souza Level 2 Watercolor Media PG
Nancy Souza Level 2  Watercolor Media

Supplies

  • Altenew Leaf Canopy – outline stamp
  • Altenew wide gold stripe washi tape
  • Ranger distress liquid re-inkers- Twisted Citron and Tumbled Glass
  • Gold embossing powder
  • Versamark embossing ink
  • Embossing powder buddy
  • Versamark blsck ink
  • My Favorite Things scallop curved die and stitched rectangle
  • Wide flat paint brush, round paint brush and fan brush for spalattering
  • Heat gun
  • Stamping platform
  • Fiskars paper cutter
  • Score pal scoring board
  • White card stock

Level 1 Badge1

 

AECP Level 2 Lesson With A Twist

On to the next Level 2 lesson and this technique is titled With a Twist.  The lesson videos shared many ideas to create unique backgrounds.  I wanted to try something new which was the inlaid technique of stamping and then die cutting the pieces, adding color and returning them to the background paper.  I selected the Altenew Ethereal  Beauty stamp set and coordinating dies. These flowers have a great outline stamp and would be easy to color/paint.  I used watercolor paper for the stamping using Archival black ink as I would be painting the flowers.  Then I die cut the stamped flowers.  Painted them with Zig markers in shades of yellow and light orange.  When dry I added black dots using my favorite pen- black Glaze pen.  I stenciled the background using the Altenew gradient dot stencil with a light organge ink cube from Altenew a foam blender to created the inked background.

Next I put the die cut flowers back in the original space and taped them in place on the back side of the paper.  I die cut the piece using a stitched edge rectangle from My Favorite Things. To keep with the organge color theme, I stamped the sentiment on to light orange paper and stitched die cut oval from My Favorite Things.  I assembled the card using foam tape and then added a few pieces for the back of the tag.

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Nancy Souza Level 2 With A Twist

Supplies-

  • Altenew Ehtereal Beauty stamps and die set
  • Altenew stamped sentiment
  • Altenew orange/yellow ink cubes
  • Altenew gradient dot stencil
  • Archival black ink
  • Zig watercolor markers and water barrel brush
  • Black glaze pen
  • My Favorite Things stitched oval die and stitched rectangle die
  • Canson watercolor paper
  • 3M foam tape0

 

 

AECP Level 2 Lesson In The Mood For Color

On to the next lesson and the focus for this lesson “In The Mood For Color” is using color to express a mood.  I created a card to express happy thoughts.  I used a stamp set from Altenew Garden Silhouette. The bright colors would create the mood and I used Tombow markers in  bright pink, yellow and light blue for coloring the flowers and bright green for the stems.  The leafy branch was inked with Altenew light green ink cube.

I used a simple clean layout that started with a quarter sheet of white card stock.  I colored the first stamp using the bright yellow marker and  green for the stem.  I stamped the yellow flower in each corner.  Next was the pink flower in the middle of each side and filled in  the other spaces with another flower and this one was light blue.  I filled in the other spaces with the stamped mini-leaf branch.

Next,  I stamped Happy Thoughts sentiment in black Versaclair ink and clear embossing powder.  The next step was to add light green ink using a foam blending pad and the small dot stencil.  The last step was to die cut the piece using a stitched edge die cut from My Favorite Things.  I used double sided tape to attach finished piece to white card stock.  Great easy card to customize for other occasions.

Nancy Souza ILevel 2 n The Mood .jpg

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Supplies

  • Altenew Garden Silhouette stamp, leaf, branches and matching sentiments

  • Altenew Happy Thoughts sentiment

  • Altenew gradient dots stencil

  • Tombow markers- Yellosw 062, Pink 743, Blue 451, Green 133

  • Black Versaclair ink and clear embossing powder

  • My Favorite Things stitched edge rectangle die

  • Foam blending tool

  • White card stock

AECP Level 2 Beyond Basic Backgrounds Lesson

It was time to work on another lesson 2 menu and I started this time at the beginning of the list.  After watching the lesson video and taking a look at the card inspiration I was ready to begin.  I used a new stamp set from Altenew called Garden Sillouette.  I ordered this set as liked the selection of solid flowers, leaves, branches and the canning jar and vase stamps.

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Nancy Souza Level 2 Lesson Beyond Basic Backgrounds

As the lesson focus was using a stencil I had to create one first. I used a piece of stencil paper from a pad that was from Melissa and Doug.  That was a great find one day.  I used two different leaf dies from the set to die cut five branches.  Next I used white card stock and my MISTI tool to ink the flowers using Tombow marker 553 and 192  for the stem.  I had to add more ink from the markers to get a darker image and for the final stamp I spritzed the flowers with water to blend the ink a bit.  I then die cut the coordinating from white paper for the three flowers.  I lightly sprayed each die cut using Pixie spray and covered each flower. I layered the stencil on top , used paper tape to secure it and used a foam bleding pad and Altenew firefly green dye ink to add color to  the branches. Now the flowers are in the foreground and the branches are in the background.

I added a  strip of black and white stripe paper  from paper pad fromMy I avorite Things.  I used the Thanks stamp from the set for the sentiment and banner die and a coordinating blue banner die cut as well.  I used my favorite stitched edge rectangle die from My Favorite Things  and then attached it to horizontal A2 card base.  I splattered the piece with water diluted light blue ink using the Tombow marker I used on the flowers.  Simple card layout using only a few colors.

stencil
I created the  stencil  using dies from the Garden Silouette set using stencil paper from Melissa and Doug

Supplies-

  • Altentew Garden Silouette stamps and coordinating dies
  • Altenew dye ink Firefly green ink cube
  • Tombow markers 553 and 192
  • Ranger foam blending tool
  • My Favorite Things  mini banner dies, stitched rectangle die
  • My Favorite Things black and white stripe paper pad
  • White card stock and strip of blue
  • Versafine black ink
  • Pixie spray adhesive
  • Fan brush for ink splatters
  • MISTI stamping platform

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AECP Level 2 Magical Markers Techniques

 

Level 2: magical markers
Nancy Souza Level 2 Magical Markers 

Hooray!  I received my Level 1 badge for successfully completing the Level Challenge!  Now it is on to the Level 2 lesson homework.  This lesson objective was to use markers to create a card with visual interest.  I have a sizable collection of Copic markers and of course I had Yupo paper.  I combined the two to create the background.  I like using Alcohol Ink (AI) and have done lots of projects using this ink on Yupo paper both the white and transparent paper and many different techniques including using canned air to move the ink  on the plastic paper. The homework for Lesson 1 is to use markers, so I used my Copic markers.  I created stripes of shades of green on Yupo white paper using five different Copic greens.  I added more ink to each stripe to darken them.  Then I used a spray bottle that is filled with 91% Alcohol and lightly misted the paper.  I only wanted to created some visual interest and keep the stripes intact.  Next, I taped the hello die to the inked paper and die cut it.  This created a matching colored hello. To cover up the die cut ‘hole’ I die cut a piece of white cardstock  using a stitched rectangle from My Favorite Things.  I also die cut the Yupo paper using another stitched rectangle to fit the front of the A2 card.  Almost done- I used some white glue to adhere the hello die cut to the white rectangle.  I stamped a sentiment from an Altenew set I had in my collection -You Make Me Happy that coordinated with the Hello sentiment.  I die cut it using a mini banner  die from My Favorite Things.  I used 3M foam tape to attach the completed rectangle, I added  a small piece behind the end of the word banner  and tucked the end behind the panel.  Done!  I love the shades of green.  This would look great in any color and is generic depending on the colors that you use. Happy Mail!

4GMZTiXw
Nancy Souza

Supplies

  • Yupo medium white paper pad Legion brand
  • Altenew Fancy Hello die
  • Altenew sentiment stamp
  • My Favorite Things stacked set of stitched dies
  • My Favorite Things banner die
  • Versafine black ink pad
  • Copic markers- G21 Lime Green, G24 Willow, YG 05 Salad, YG 25 Celadon Green, YG 21 Grass Green
  • Mini spray bottle with 91% Alcohol
  • 3M foam tape
  • Narrow roll of double sided paper tape
  • White glue
  • White card stock