Cindy Brown AECP: Creative Coloring with Erum Advanced Techniques Online Class

 

I have just completed this online course presented by Altenew and I enjoyed it and learned so many new techniques that I was able to accomplish. This has increased my confidence about the things I can do in card making. I am presenting the day 6 (final) project as it was the most challenging and the most satisfactory in terms of persevering and creating something that I love and will feel happy giving to someone. 

This class was all about coloring techniques outside of the obvious ones of stamping with ink. The card I am presenting was colored with alcohol markers for the flowers and leaves, then for the background, it was painted, then ink blended with a stencil. The card is only one layer and another aspect of the class was to create dimension by using gray to create a shadow. 

This day 6 class was challenging because I am not strong in those techniques and therefore avoid them. So, whenever I really want to learn a new technique online, I use the same materials that the teacher online is using so I can follow along almost exactly and check my work with the online work. This is the way I get a custom class as I can mimic the teacher's steps of creating the card. So for this class I purchased the Darling Rose stamp and the mask.

When I received the stamp from Altenew, I wasn't impressed and I wondered if I would ever use it again. That is until I saw the card that Erum (the instructor) had created with the stamp and then it reminded me of why I love card making so much as we take a stamp that looks so plain and make something so beautiful. This stamp, the Darling Rose makes a beautiful rose and I will keep working with it. 

My next steps are to take these new skills and apply them to new flowers. If I run into a problem, then I can go back to the lesson which is online in the Altenew Academy, and I can go over the skills again. 

This card just kept evolving into something I really love and then I found the sentiment with the set so true and this card could encourage someone going through something very difficult. 

This class now leaves me with one more class and my final to complete this wonderful program that Altenew has to develop crafters into educators. This program has been so rewarding and this class was my favorite. 

Day one card created using alcohol markers instead of layering of ink. This was the first time I tried this and was impressed by this technique. Before this course, I saw cards like this and didn't think I could do it. This card paved the way of confidence for me for my day 6 card. I like how a small piece of the technique let me know that by the time we got to the more complicated day 6 project, I believed I could do it.