AH Crafts {Crafting powered by Coffee}: AECP Level 3

I passed my Level 2 Final Project for AECP and have officially started on Level 3. The first class I decided to take was Stencils Unleased by Nichole Watt. Stencils are so fun and easy to use and make it easy to step up into a more challenging or elaborate card.

For my first card I used the technique of ink blending through the Flowing Drops stencil and then stepping it up by use a graphite pencil and adding subtle shading.

You can see here in the first picture that I used 3 colors for the ink blending but haven't done the shading yet. This image is pretty as it is but by adding the pencil shading and blending it out a little it really does add something to the stenciled image.

If you zoom in and look closely you can see the shading that I added and how it steps up the stenciling. This pencil shading took some time but wasn't hard and was quite soothing. Something to do while watching a tv show or movie that you can LISTEN to more than watch.

Finished this card with sentiments from the Bold Sentiments stamp set, some splatters from Altenew Shimmer sprays and a few gems from my stash.

A little closer look at the shading.

And of course, I had to add some splatter to finish off the card.

For my next card, the technique was ink blending through layered stencils. This stencil set had 3 or 4 stencils to achieve the shading on the floral and leaf elements. In order to step up this card, I also ink blended around the image in a dark color and then stenciled over the ink blending with the Altenew Tulle stencil. The floral image is stamped from Sunshine Flowers Craft Your Life Set. To finish off this card I used Ocean Waves Shimmer Spray to splatter on the image and die cut the words hello friend out of the flower, then layered on a slightly darker cardstock to create an "eclipse" look.

A zoomed in look at the shading of the stencils, the stenciling over the ink blending (you can see this in the corners) and the eclipse sentiment. All very subtle but add to the overall card.

This next technique is called stencil stacking and again I stepped it up by also using shimmer sprays over the stencils.

My first step was to use the Altenew Feathery Stencil and I ink blending blues and greens over white cardstock. Once I was happy with the colors I then stacked the Fine Tulle stencil over the Feathery Stencil and ink blended again using the same colors but just going a little darker. The final step was to spritz the shimmer sprays over the top of the two stacked stencils.

For the sentiment, I used the Altenew January Release Outline Love You die and the One Go Loving Sentiments - stamp set and One Go Die.

Again zooming in so you can see the texture and the different stencils.

Finally, for my last card I tried a new technique to me, which is watercoloring through a layered stencil. This was fun and lead to a beautiful card in my opinion.

I started this card out using watercolor paper and the new Watercolor Garden Bi-Monthly stencil subscription from Altenew. What a beautiful image these stencils provide when using the stencils in a variety of ways. As I mentioned, I chose to watercolor through the stencil for this homework assignment. I chose the smaller floral arrangement and got out my Altenew Watercolor Markers. Once I used the stencils and got the colors layered and where I wanted them, I took the watercolor ink and added a light wash around the image and then finished with fine splatters after the image was dry. Die cut and layered with the Ornate Nesting Dies and finished with a gold foiled image, gems from my stash and a light stencil of Fine Tulle on the card base.

This was a great class and gave me new ideas for how to use my stencils and reminded me of techniques that I had forgotten.

Which one was your favorite technique that I tried?

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