Purple Haze

Hello there!

My next class for Altenew's Educator Certification Program was  'Celebration Stencil Techniques'.  I am halfway through my Level 1 classes and they have been eye-opening for sure!  I am enjoying learning different techniques with products to make beautiful, creative cards in ways that I haven't learned before.

I love using stencils on my cards but have never used different media other than inks and using blending brushes to ink up the stenciled images.

As soon as I saw a video from Altenew using their product called Embossing Paste to use in stencils, I knew I had to try it.  Here is the finished card:

Since the embossing paste is white, you can add color to it by mixing a little of the paste and a little ink together.  I first used the lightest color of purple, mixed it into a little paste, and applied that onto the stencil that I had temporarily taped down onto white cardstock.  I then repeated this step three more times using darker shades of purple each time to get the ombre look.  I also took a hard edged scraper to smooth out the paste from top to bottom.  I then carefully removed the stencil from the card panel and set aside to let dry completely.

(Helpful Hint:  Make sure you wash your tools, work surface and stencils immediately when finished so the paste doesn't dry on them.  I washed them using some dish detergent and the paste cleaned off nicely.  Also, I put some plastic cling wrap onto my jar of paste before adding the lid so the paste stays fresh in the jar.)

Once I knew it was completely dry, I trimmed it down and glued it onto black cardstock before adding them to the card base.  I did notice some "user error imperfections" but I like them in this technique because it gave it a stucco look.

For the sentiments, I inked them up with black pigment ink then used clear embossing powder and then heat embossed them.

I love the look of the embossing paste on this card.  It has a great texture and looks powdery almost like an eye shadow pallet.

I didn't add any additional embellishments or shine as I like the simplicity of it.

Altenew Products used:

• Luminous Diamond Rings Stencil
• Embossing Paste
• Bold Sentiments Stamp Set
• Fresh Dye Inks:  Wisteria, Hydrangea, Ultra Violet, Andromeda 

You can add more and more ink to the paste until you get the desired color you are looking for.  I kept the colors soft and muted for this card.  This a fun technique and can also lead to many color combinations to customize any card.

I hope you found some inspiration to try out this technique!  Thank you for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!