Hello and welcome back!

Last week, many of the participants and educators from the Altenew Educator Certification Program gathered together for a fun Instagram Hop. We all created cards inspired by a class along our AECP journey and shared them in this lovely community. You can check out that post here.

While I was reflecting on my classes and planning my card project for that hop, I also recalled another Altenew Academy class that was not technically in the AECP lineup but was still one of my favorites! One of my first classes with Altenew was Zentangle for Cardmakers by Amber Rain Davis. I absolutely loved the techniques we learned and something about making the repetitive strokes and shapes was really therapeutic and relaxing. I was totally hooked and have since practiced many more Zentangle patterns – all because of Amber’s wonderful inspiration!

If you aren't familiar with Amber or her blog/projects, you MUST go check them out - she does fantastic informative videos with techniques of all kinds.  I love her design style and her presentation is wonderful.  Her blog is Notable Ink and click here for her YouTube channel.

So, on to the card I created inspired by my Zentangle class:

This design marries a stamped image from Altenew with my own hand drawn Zentangle patterns – can you tell which is which??

Okay, I’ll let you in on the secret. The largest pink bloom is a stamp from the Wonderland stamp set that I stamped in Obsidian ink and heat embossed on smooth watercolor cardstock.

Then I drew some Zentangle® patterns that I learned in class to complete my composition. I used a waterproof pigment liner and tried to match the size of my drawn lines to the size of my stamped lines the best I could.

I painted my images with watercolor using a wet-on-wet technique.

Then I painted the background and added a diet cut “congrats” sentiment from Pink Fresh Studio. A little swipe of shimmer pen on the sentiment and a few clear sequins finish things off. I matted my painted panel with black cardstock and then a coordinating citrus colored cardstock from my stash that matched some of the hand drawn elements.

I had so much fun revisiting the techniques I learned in this class – adding your own simple doodles can spice up your compositions and make your cards extra special and personal. Plus every one is completely unique!

That wraps up my project for today… I did not film this one because of the time it takes to edit, narrate etc, but PLEASE give me feedback on this – if you are missing the video let me know and I’ll keep that in mind for future projects.

As always, I try to link all the products I can below so be sure to check the supply lists if you want to grab something for yourself. I do participate in some affiliate programs so some of the links may result in small compensation for me which is really appreciated and helps me devote more time and resources to the content on my channels.

Thank you for visiting today, I hope you liked the project – let me know in the comments if you have ever tried Zentangle® or any other hand drawn elements in your Cardmaking!

xo,

Tricia

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