Hello crafty friends! This is the first of a series of cards that I will be making as a participant in the Altenew Academy Educator Certification Program. I’ve been honored to be selected to participate in this program, however I believe anyone can sign up and purchase any of these classes. This card was made after taking the Layering 3 course, my first one in this program. Each stamped flower and leaf are layered using the different stamps in the set, but the course also focused on layering the components of your card. The course is divided up into several lessons which focus on specific techniques. I’ve really enjoyed the courses so far. The instructors are wonderful, and they often share their own tips and helpful hints.

Since this was my first course, I decided to use the first stamp set that I had ever purchased from Altenew – the Peony Bouquet set. I just love peonies, and I thought this was a beautiful set when I purchased it. Thank goodness I was smart enough to buy the coordinating die set at the time. It turns out I don’t like to fussy cut! At the time, I didn’t have any Altenew ink pads, so I tried to use what I had, with lots of frustration, and mixed results. Recently I’ve invested in some of the Altenew Crisp Dye Mini ink pad sets, and I’ll tell you, it’s made a huge difference! The colors in the coordinating sets are brilliantly designed to work together with these layering stamp sets. The results are just perfect in my opinion, especially compared to my results previously, not using Altenew inks. If you are going to invest in an Altenew layering stamp set, I strongly encourage you to purchase a set or two of the Altenew inks. It made a world of difference for me in being able to create beautiful cards that I’m pleased with.

I was inspired to make this card for my sister-in-law’s birthday. She’s elegant but down to earth, and is an interior designer. I knew she would appreciate these lovely flowers, and I wanted the card to be elegant and detailed. I chose purple because it was an accent color in a room she helped me decorate. Some of the techniques that I used from this course was to arrange the leaves in a triangle around the flowers, and to use an odd number of flowers in the arrangement. While there are two large peonies and two buds, I used the purple berry clusters to achieve this odd number of flowers. Another technique that was highlighted in the course was to use a large die cut shape in the background for a white-on-white effect. Instead, I used the Playful Circles 3D embossing folder. I was mindful in layering the pieces before adhering anything to the card, another point which was emphasized in the course.

Altenew products used:
Peony Bouquet stamps and dies
Playful Circles 3D embossing folder
Fancy For You die
Crisp Dye Ink mini cube set in Sugarplums, Summer Afternoon, and Green Fields