Category: ACEP

ACEP, Altenew LLC, Colored Pencils, Copic Markers, Embossing Paste, Faber-Castell Polychromos, Paper Art, Prisma, Stencils, Uncategorized

A Celebration of Stencils

Erika L Hayes

Stencils one of the most versatile tools in your crafting stash! They are easy to use and also are relatively inexpensive! This is one reason I love them so very much.

One issue I have when using stencils is shifting, especially the edges. It can be really annoying when you have a beautiful start to the stenciling and then it shifts. Using a bit of removable adhesive on the back of your cardstock and press it into your work surface. I found especially on this card when using the embossing paste on the edges it was particularly helpful.

I love adding texture visually with stencils and ink. Adding to the fun can be using texture pastes and glazes. I used the Altenew Embossing Paste and let me tell you, it was the best embossing paste this girl has ever used. Using texture paste can be a very messy process. When using the Altenew paste I found clean up to be very easy and it takes ink like a breeze. I will link to it here because once you use it, you can never use another!! Click here.

A few other things you can try with embossing paste is adding color to it with ink. On this card I used Altenew Half Tone stencil and simply used my ink cube (Ruby Red) added a dollop of paste and mixed it on my worksurface. The paste will soften the color a bit because in color theory if you add white to a color it will lighten the color. I would suggest if you want a brighter color that you increase the amount of ink and go brighter than you think you need.

If you find that you made a little too much? That a great thing you can do a few things, you can put it in a plastic baggie and save it. Another fun thing if you put it in a baggie is to use it like a piping bag on another project or you can grab another piece of cardstock and a stencil and make a background for future use!

One more thing I found to be helpful is to swatch your stencils. I know another swatching project. (You’re welcome) I discovered using black and grey ink to swatch my stencils was the best as it kept the stencil images the focus. I keep my swatches with my inks swatches to encourage me to use them more often.

A flip through my stencil swatches

Thanks for taking a look! Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or if you want to contact me directly, please go to the contact page!

Blessings Friends!

Erika

ACEP, Altenew LLC, Ink Layering, Parrot Tulips

Blending the Wheel – Altenew Class Layering 2

Erika L Hayes

Layering Class 2 – Altenew

Hello Friends!

I am working my way through my classes and in the second layering class, I had an idea that I haven’t done in a long while. Breaking it down simply is I blend the inks on the stamp. I thought how fun it would be to layer the blending. The secret is that you need to find colors that are far enough apart on a color wheel, but usually on the same side. What I mean by that is you really need to try and keep warm colors together and cooler colors together.

I used red and yellow in this example to create a layer of orange that would blend the layers of inks. Notice there is space between red and yellow on this color wheel. (This s a super basic color wheel so imagine if we had more colors between yellow and red.)

Different kinds of yellows will respond with different reds in fun way. Take a moment to look at all the fun you can have with layering colors, using a more complete color wheel.

Now you can image, with all those colors of ink that Altenew offers. I love that the inks are so subtle in change, yet so varied. Think of these inks as paints you can blend!

Moving on, You will note my card is on a green base with some green baubles on it. The reason I chose to use a yellow green is, that it is opposite red, (the primary color of my card image) on the color wheel. I use this yellow green because yellow is a primary blending color on this card. The yellow in the green of the base card is supported because I used yellow with red to make that yellow-orange blend.

The idea of layering isn’t just putting down ink colors on top of each other, but there is an art to it. Choosing a color scheme that makes sense will make our layered ink cards so much more beautiful. For some artist this is absolutely a natural ability for others it’s not that easy. I have found that understanding why I chose a color can help others make the choice easier.

Be patient – the ink needs to settle on the paper to complete the blending.

How I blended the inks is simple:

  1. Put the lighter colored ink (Yellow) on the center of stamp out almost to the edge.
  2. Add the darker ink (Red) around the edges and moving inward a bit.
  3. Using a wet baby wipe or wet paper towel, dab the hard edges made by ink pads
  4. Stamp image (usually best if you use a stamping platform)
  5. If you need to repeat, clean stamp between stamping image

The best part of using the Altenew stamps is the number of layers. I repeated the process on the next layer with inks that were slightly darker (creates great shadows).

The third layer, I used a darker red to be sure there was enough definition and to give the flower a defined overall color.

It is amazing the things that taking classes can bring back. I love the way this card came out. Let me know what you think below.

Blessings!

Erika

Yellow blended outward and created a smooth look on the parrot tulip.
ACEP, Altenew LLC, Ink Layering, Paper Art

New Adventure with Altenew

Erika L Hayes

Hello friends!

I have great news, I am taking part in the Altenew Certified Educators Program. I am very excited to share this wonderful experience with you as I take this road of creativity!

I will be taking several classes from the program and sharing my “homework”. If you are not familiar with Altenew I really encourage you to take a look. There are so many wonderful ideas and they carry more than just card making supplies. Pop over when you have a moment. Click HERE for more information.

This is my project for my first class on layering. Did you know that in most of the packaging of the layering stamp sets by Altenew, they have a guide to ensure you get a perfect (or near perfect) image! Lining up images can be difficult even with a stamp position tool. In my class I was exposed to some amazing practices on how to ensure you will get a beautifully ink layered image. I encourage you to check out the Altenew classes on layering which you can find right HERE. (It’s a bundle and it’s FREE!)

Let me know what you think of my ink layering card.