AECP Let it shine

Today’s post features a card I made using tips and tricks from the Altenew Certified Educator Program (AECP) course, Let it Shine, taught by Carissa Wiley. I incorporated the following lessons into project:

• Use glitter,
• Use a shimmer pen,
• Use small embellishments to enhance your card
• Use metallic paper

When thinking about the design of my card, I knew I wanted to feature a bold red glitter paper I had in my stash and I thought the Fancy Hugs sentiment die from Altenew would be the perfect focal point. Since I was going with such a bold color I decided to keep the rest of my color palette pretty neutral, using darker warm grays to let the reds be the star. So, next I chose some gray polka dot pattern paper I had in my stash as the backdrop for my sentiment, cutting it to 2.75″ and adding a 1/8″ gray cardstock border to each side. Instead of gluing my pattern paper background to the center of my white card base, I placed it closer to the left to create a little more visual interest and to give me a little more room to place the floral details I would be adding later. Next up… flowers…

I wanted just a few small flowers for this card to adorn the “Hugs” sentiment that was my feature, so I pulled out my Pond Flowers die set and cut several flowers out of various shades of red cardstock along with leaves out of the same dark gray as my pattern paper border as well as from some brushed silver metallic cardstock. I assembled the flowers following the guide on the back of the Pond Flowers packaging, using the side of my picking tool to lightly curl the petals for added dimension. In order to help the darker gray leaves show up against the pattern paper and to better match the brushed silver leaves, I grabbed my Zig Wink of Stella shimmer pen and added shimmer to all of the leaves, which is shown below.

Once I had everything die cut and assembled, including my glitter paper “Hugs,” which was adhered to two additional “Hugs” die cuts from white cardstock scraps, I laid everything out onto my card panel. I arranged my flowers and leaves along a pleasing diagonal pattern, another tip from Lesson 3 in the course. Additionally, I arranged the flowers and leaves in a triangular shape which is a more natural look for the eye. Once I was happy with the layout, I adhered everything to my panel using glue and thick and thin foam squares to create different levels of dimension for my card.

For my final touch, it was time to add a few embellishments. I happened to have some new Clear Drops from PinkFresh Studios on hand and I knew they would be the perfect touch to finish of the card. Again following Carissa’s guidance, I laid out my drops in a triangle pattern along my flower details, varying the sizes of each embellishment. My card was complete, and I just love it!

Thank you!