AECP Level 2 Beyond Basics Backgrounds

Happy Sunday everyone! Today I am sharing that I made for the first class I completed in level 2 of the Altenew Educator Certification Program. I really enjoyed this class taught by Lydia. There were so many new techniques to creating wonderful backgrounds for your cards. I chose to focus on the first lesson, DIY Stencils.

For this technique, you create your own stencil by repeating a die cut. I chose to use the flower die from the Altenew Beautiful Day stamp and die bundle. I started with an A2 panel made out of 110 lb. cardstock so that it would not bend easily during the inking process. I made a few different ones until I was really happy with the placement, and then I went to work stenciling the background.

I chose to use Altenew crisp dye inks in Ruby Red, Coral Berry, and Frosty Pink. First I adhered the stencil to my A2 card base with some washi tape. I tape it on all 4 sides to ensure that there would be no movement in the ink blending process. I started at the top left corner with Ruby Red, and then blended it with Coral Berry toward the bottom of the flower. I did the same for the flower on the top right. I went a little heavy handed with the Coral Berry so that it would be a shade in between Ruby Red and a light coat of Coral Berry. For the mid section, I went light with the coral berry for that mid tone shade, and then the bottom of the flower I went a bit heavy with Frosty pink, the lightest shade. Then for the very bottom flower, I used only Frosty Pink and a tiny touch of Coral Berry in the upper corner.

Once I was done with this, I used the coordinating stamp and embossed with fine embossing powder from Recollections. I chose the sentiment from the Hibiscus Bouquet stamp set. I stamped it in black Versa Mark ink on white 100 lb. cardstock, and then cut out a piece of black 110 lb. cardstock and adhered the two layers together. I adhered the entire sentiment to the card with Scotch Foam tape for a bit of dimension, as well as adding a few miscellaneous sequins. I then adhered this entire panel to my card base. I really like how this background turned out, and love the idea of creating my own stencil to make a background. It really adds a lot of versatility to your dies!

Supplies used:

Altenew Hibiscus Bouquet stamp set

Altenew Beautiful Day stamp and die bundle

Altenew crisp die inks in Ruby Red, Coral Berry, and Frosty Pink

Versa Mark ink

110 lb. cardstock in black and white, both from Recollections

Embossing powder in white from Recollections

Scotch foam tape

Tombow adhesive runner

Thanks for stopping by!