AECP All About Layering 3

I am so excited to report that I was recently accepted into the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP). Altenew is one of my all-time favorite craft companies and I am so excited to start this journey learning techniques to expand and improve my card crafting skills.

Today I am posting my first project after completing the All About Layering 3 class focused on layered stamp sets. I started by first selecting the Peony Bouquet layered stamp set and my color palette which included the Enchanted Garden set of crisp dye inks, which are four lovely shades of purple, and the Summer Afternoon crisp die ink set in four shades of gold.

I love the complexity of making one-layer cards using masking, and since the Peony Bouquet stamp set includes outline dies for the images, I knew I wanted to try masking with a layered stamp set. The first step in my process was to determine the layout of my stamped images. Using one of the main tips picked up in the All About Layering 3 course, I knew I wanted my flowers and leaves laid out in triangle shape along the outside of a circle image. I grabbed my Misti stamping platform, an A2 panel of card stock, and a circle die and I began laying out my outline stamps to get an idea what my design should be. I am sharing a picture of my process below. Just like die cuts, you can play around with layout design using the stamps themselves. Once I selected my layout, I then got to work.

When making one-layer cards, I find it easiest to start with stamping out all of my masks onto masking paper and then fussy cutting out my masks so I am well prepared for the actual cardmaking process. After I completed my masks, I then created my own circle stencil using the die I chose for my layout, shown above, and simple cardstock. Using dies to create your own stencils is a great tip covered in detail with the Altenew course, Easy Die Cutting Techniques. With my stencil and masks complete, I was ready to begin my stamping.

For me, one of the most challenging parts of layered stamping is making sure you properly line up each stamp to create your desired image. The All About Layering 3 course gave so many great tips and examples for how to line up each stamp, not only using the layering guides provided by Altenew, but also using a visual triangle of line-up points including the divots, to ensure you get great placement. I could not be any more pleased with how helpful these tips were. The stamping of my card came out great.

I started by first stamping the outline of my main peony flower, the featured image in the foreground. Next I stamped the 3 additional peony layers using increasingly darker colors from my ink set. Before stamping each layer, I ensured I had properly aligned the stamp using three triangle points from the prior image. I then adhered my mask and moved onto stamping the leaves. When placing my leaves I ensured they overlapped with the peony image to create the illusion of depth, and then adhered my leaf masks. Next, I stamped my golden peony accent flower and the berries that came with the set, again masking each image. Now it was time to stencil in the circle background.

For my circle background I knew I wanted to ink-bend two soft shades that would enhance my peony scene. I like to use Distress Oxide inks when I have a large area to blend. They blend easily, and create a soft creamy look. For this card I chose Milled Lavender and Lost Shadow, which is a soft silvery gray. After placing my card stock stencil onto my stamped image, I focused the gray shades along the flower edges and then blended out to the lavender. I later decided I wanted a little subtle sparkle, so once done with my ink blending I added a few spritzes of Altenew’s Iridescent Shimmer Ink Spray. Now it was time for the sentiment.

I do love when images and phrases, peak outside of their frame, so I went looking through my Altenew stash for the perfect sentiment that would travel outside my ink-blended circle. I settled on “You’re on my mind” from the Grand Carnations Build-A-Garden stamp set. After stamping my sentiment in black ink directly on the card panel, I added a few gold embellishments and a purple cardstock mat, before adhering everything to an A2 card base.

I hope you like the card!