AECP 1 – Let It Shine

Hello! I’ve just completed the Let it Shine class for the Altenew Educator Certification Program, Level 1. I had a lot of fun making these cards inspired by the class!

Some links below are affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

I was inspired by lesson one, glitter. I wanted to create some colorful, glittery backgrounds. I began by cutting pieces of Bristol cardstock to about 6” square.

I used the following stencils and ink cube sets:

• Liquid Marble Stencil
• Linear Stencil
• Leaves and Berries Stencil
• Honeycomb Stencil
• Green Meadows Mini Cube Set
• Tea Party Mini Cube Set
• Pocketful of Sunshine Mini Cube Set
• Sea Shore Mini Cube Set
• Warm and Cozy Mini Cube Set

Spray Pixie Spray on the back of all the stencils. They all have some pretty delicate spots so this helped a lot.

Blend ink from lightest to darkest with blending brushes. I don’t have the new Altenew brushes but I hope to soon. Blending doesn’t have to be perfect since it will get covered with glitter paste.

Next, spread Iridescent Glitz Glitter Gel over stencil. You can also use texture paste and glitter. Cover the entire stencil or only do parts, like in the Honeycomb card. Set the piece aside to dry.

Stamp the images in the Hellebore Build-a-Flower Layering Stamp and Die set. I used the same ink sets, with the addition of the Enchanted Garden Mini Cube Set. Die cut all images.

Stamp the sentiments from the Playful Plumeria stamp set with Altenew Obsidian Pigment Ink. Cut them out.

Using a paper trimmer, cut the stenciled panels to 3 3/4” x 5”. Arrange the flowers and sentiments on the panel. Place a piece of Glad Press and Seal over the pieces and flip them over.

Add foam tape to the pieces, keep them grouped together. Add Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue to the foam tape to help them stick to the glitter. Holding the Press and Seal, flip the pieces over and place them on the card panel.

Put some extra glue under and pieces that overlap. Cover flowers in Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen for a little more shine. Place panel on a top fold A2 card base.

The Let it Shine class was very inspiring! Carissa Wiley is one of my favorite designers. Her backgrounds look beautiful. I love her color choices and how she combines elements on her cards.

There’s a few things I attempted to achieve with these cards. I kept the colors very simple. Each card uses one color for the background and it’s complementary color for the flowers.

I tried to keep the cards fairly simple to keep the focus on the backgrounds. Originally, I was only going to add a sentiment but I followed Carissa’s example and made a grouping with flowers. It was also a good time for more practice with stamp layering.

Have you taken Let it Shine yet? What are your favorite techniques for adding shine to your cards? What’s a technique to add shine you want to use more often? For me, it’s foiling.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments. If you like my blog, I hope you follow me.

Thanks for visiting!