Hey my crafty peeps!  I am excited to share with you another project from the AECP Altenew Educator Program that I am a part of. The class for this project was all about simple, elegant, up-scale cards.  Think a less is more approach.  Now, for those of you who know me, you know that is not my jam lol!  but, I love a challenge and I believe as artists we should never stop learning how to push our creativity.  Although this project focused on the beauty of simplicity, I still added some technical elements in simple ways which I hope will inspire you to look at your own techniques in a new way.  I am really happy with how this project came out and  I hope you like it! 

Nothing says refined and elegant in the paper crafting world like a trendy slim-line card.  So, I started with a standard 8 1/2"x 3 1/2"slim-line card cut from Altenew Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock.  I then cut a layer for the front of the card at  3 1/4" x 8 1/4" of the same cardstock.  Setting the card to the side, my first task was getting an elegant, yet eye catching sentiment since the sentiment will be the main focus of the front of the card.  I used the "hugs" die from the Altenew "Script words" die set and set it at a slight angle for interest close to the bottom of the panel and ran it through my die cutting machine.  I reserved the cut outs from the "h" and the "g". Next I ripped the panel in half, ripping in an upward motion in the opposite direction of the angle of the sentiment. Tearing it in an upward motion leaves a ratty shelf of paper, which I applied Glossy Accents to as a glue and then sprinkled glass glitter and tiny crystal sequins on. 

Using Glossy Accents to adhere the glitter assures you of no visible residue glue might leave on the crystals of the glitter. I set this aside to dry.

Next I took the part of the panel I ripped off and using varying size hole punches I punched holes in a cascade effect down the panel.  This will be used as a stencil. As far as adding color to this card I knew I wanted to keep it subtle, but effective so I chose Altenew Crisp Dye inks in Mango Smoothie, Peach Perfect, and Baby Pink.  I lay the panel with the holes cut out of it onto the face of the card and surrounded it with post it notes so I could blend the inks in a soft rainbow pattern into the cut holes and not get any on the boarder edge of the card. 

 I then took the same inks and softly blended the same colors in an opposite rainbow at the bottom of the card, again, masking off the boarder edge of the card.  I only needed to blend enough to cover the area where the cut out sentiment will be.  Taking the panel with the cut out sentiment, I turned it over and generously applied foam sticky dots in all the cut areas and along the edges of the panel so the cut out sentiment will hold it's shape.  I added the little cut aways from the "h" and the "g" with the foam dots as well and added a tiny rhinestone where the cut away from the top of the "s" was. 

And that's it!  I know it is definitely not my typical project but I still managed to sneak some "Scrappy" into it :)  Please share this blog and leave a comment, let me know what you think or if you try any of these techniques!  Thanks for hanging out with me, and I'll see you soon with another AECP class project!