AECP ~ Celebrate Stencil Techniques!

 Hi friends!

Today I'm sharing a cheerful stenciled card 

bursting with color and technique!

 I'm excited to have completed my card for the next course 

in the AECP Altenew Academy Level 1 journey

that I began in late 2024 and am half way through!

This exciting course was taught by the talented

Laurel Beard and it's all about ways to use your stencils.

I started out with the Build-A-Garden Morning Asters kit

which has a stamp, die, stencils and mini blending brush.

Laurel encourages us to use stencils in creative ways

and wow, she is an entertaining instructor!

I used the stencils in the kit to create a bold flower birthday card,

starting with stamping with black ink and die cutting the images.

Once I had the images ready, I used the matching stencils

and mini blending brush and yellow hues of ink

 from Deco Garden and Pocketful of Sunshine sets.

Once the flowers were blended from the stencils, 

I moved on to the leaves and stems using distress oxide inks.

I also added a background panel using the 

Dotted Starburst Debossing Die.

Here's one final look:

I loved Laurel's energy and how she encourages us to make things

 our own, which is a belief I've always stood by.

For example, make your own embossing paste colors for stencils -

mix in ANY color ink.

If you don't like it, remix it until you get a desired result.

And her techniques of lighter to darker make SO MUCH sense!

I look forward to my next class!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kelly