AECP - Seasonal Scene Building

After a long (almost 2 years to the day) break, I am happy to continue with my AECP Certification.  The next class on my list is Seasonal Scene Building by Nichol Magouirk.  I actually watched all the lessons years ago, and have found them to be very useful.  For my cards for this class, I focused on 3 lessons: Masking a Scene, Oversized Scenes, and Framed Scene.  Here are my 3 cards, respectively.  I am only going to go into detail on my first card.

  

Making a Plan

Generally, I prefer to place a die cut or fussy cut image on top of my scene rather than masking, but for this balloon bouquet, I had four overlapping layers in multiple places so masking became a much better option.  I used the Mini Delight: Birthday Love stamp set, which has one outline and one solid stamp, so I started by stamping 3 outlined hearts on masking paper and fussy cutting them.  Then I  made a sketch of my bouquet.  This was also a perfect way to get some practice with masking.  I then used my matching Altenew Markers to decide on my colors.  I took a few tries, but this is the sketch I used for my card.  (Initially, I had planned to tie the balloons in a bow, but decided I liked the vase better). I used Grapevine, Ruby Red, Velvet, Crimson, Pinkalicious, Coral Berry, and Frosty Pink Alcohol Markers and Crisp Dye Inks. 

Masking and Stamping the Balloon Bouquet

I stamped my vase from the Altenew Versatile Vases stamp set and then it was time to create my bouquet. I started by laying my sketch over my card front to place the outline stamp on the topmost heart.  Then I closed my stamping platform to pick up the stamp, removed the sketch, inked up stamp in Altenew Obsidian Black Ink and stamped it on the card.  Next I lined up the the solid stamp with the outline, and inked it up with the Altenew Crisp Dye Ink corresponding to my marker color. Then I stamped that a couple of times, until I was happy that I had good coverage.

Next I put a mask on top of the heart I just stamped and did the same thing for hearts to the bottom right and left of the first heart, making adjustments in placement where I wanted it.  I had to put some extra pressure near the masks, because the mask raises the stamp, and makes it difficult to get right up to the edge.  I wasn't too worried about it, because I had a plan for that as I will show later.

  

I had decided on 7 hearts, so it took 14 steps to create this, not counting the double and triple stamping I did to get a solid image.  I was very thankful for my stamping platform.  This is what it looks like after all the stamping was complete

Finishing Touches

If you look closely at the last picture, you can see white near the masks, where the stamp could not reach.  These areas should all be cast in shadow, so I used my Altenew Alcohol Markers in the corresponding colors and drew a shadow there.  I first drew some strings in pencil and then went over it with a think black micron pen. I also used a very light gray alcohol marker to add some dimension to the vase.  For the sentiment, I die cut a HUGS sentiment in black and it's shadow in white from Altenew's Hello and Hugs Stamp and Die Bundle and glued them in the center of the vase.  Last but not least, I cut 3/16th inch of each side of my card front and glued it to my card base with two 4.5 x 6.5 inch panels of thick cardstock in between to add some dimension.  Here is the finished card.