Monday, March 29, 2021

Altenew Educators "Favorite Old/New Altenew Stamp" Blog Hop and Linky Party + Giveaway

Hello friends! I am so pleased to be participating in my first Altenew Educator Blog Hop! I went through the certification program last year and loved every minute! For this post, I wanted to focus on two favorite stamp sets that I purchased while I was a student in the program, Doodle Blooms and Inked Lotus.

Altenew Doodle Bloom Die Cut Mixed Media Card

Using Stencils on Acrylic Gel Press Mixed Media Cards

I spent a day making 5 x 7" acrylic gel press backgrounds in a variety of colors and using lots of Altenew stencils and stamps. I love color and texture and wanted this "daisy" card to be bold and vibrant so I started with this gorgeous red panel. With a brayer, I mixed pink, orange and brilliant red and applied to a plate that had some leftover yellow and green already on the press. After the panel dried, I added a layer using the Flowing Drops Stencil and then an additional layer of gold with the Narrow Brick Stencil. You can see the lovely gold shimmer in the second photo.

Altenew Doodle Blooms and Narrow Brick Stencil

Die Cutting Floral Images from Acrylic Gel Press Monoprints

Using the Doodle Blooms Bundle, I stamped and die-cut a bunch of blooms from some of the other hand-crafted acrylic panels. I think this is such a happy and cheerful stamp set. I laid the die-cut flowers on the red panel and selected the blooms I liked best on the background and adhered with foam tape. The stems are from the Craft-A-Flower Cosmos Kit. The flower centers are enamel dots from the Glacier Caves and New Day collections. I finished off by adding a sentiment with a strip of my favorite Painted Grid Washi Tape.

The background from this next card is the top portion of the panel I used on the daisy card above. I die cut it with the largest Rounded Rectangle and then backed with foam for dimension. The Inked Lotus was heat embossed and die cut from a coordinating monoprint panel for a tone-on-tone look and was adhered with foam tape. The sentiment was die-cut from black cardstock using the Essential Sentiments Set.

Acrylic Paint Gel Press Mixed Media Card.

I made a second similar card, but this time the Inked Lotus was die cut from a red/orange acrylic panel where I brayered a lot of turqouise ink over the Narrow Brick Stencil. This is my favorite stencil to use on monoprints. The background panel was brayered with Yellow, Olive and Turquoise. After the paint dried, layers were added with the Leaves and Berries Stencil (blue), Mega Bloom Stencil and finally the Narrow Brick Stencil was lightly inked in gold over the background panel. I love the dimension you get by adding layer upon layer with stencils and stamps.

Blue and Violet Monet like Mixed Media card.

For my last card, I changed things up and used softer colors: Sky Blue, Blue Violent, Light Purple and Brilliant Purple over a press that had some leftover Olive and Turquoise. I then brayered over the Mega Bloom Stencil with a light coat of gold. You can see the shimmer better in the second photo. I again used the Doodle Blooms Stamp and Die Bundle to stamp and cut my elements from a variety of gel press prints. I finished with Glacier Caves Enamel Dots for the centers.

Blue and Violet Gel Press Card Background

Here is a photo of two of the backgrounds prior to card assembly. You can really see how lovely the stenciled accents look on the panels.

As I mentioned, I loved using these two stamps for my AECP class work. Here are two homework assignments I submitted using the sets:

Doodle Blooms Card

Inked Lotus Card

Prizes:

Altenew is giving away a $20 gift certificate to 5 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog (https://wp.me/p6Dps1-deu) by 4/4/2021 for a chance to win.

We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 Altenew gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 4/6/2021.

We Want to See Your Creations Too!

What’s a hop without YOU?! We have included an Inlinkz at the Altenew blog for you to enter your gorgeous Altenew “Old/New Favorite Altenew Stamp” creations. We will pick 2 of our favorite handmade creations from those who joined the linky party and they will each receive a $15 Altenew gift certificate!

If you arrived from NatashaDavies you are right on track!

Altenew Card Blog

Bridget Casey

Colleen Balija

Teresa Litchfield

Katrina Howe

Rosie Neustaedter

Terri Marie Koszler

Tenia Nelson

Pam Boedeker

Nandini Karmarkar

Amy Hill

Irina Fonina

Natasha Davies

Karen Brown You Are Here!

Nenette S. Madero

Sandra Woodson

There is plenty more loveliness, so keep hopping! Be sure to head to Helen's fun post next!

I would love to hear which card you liked best. Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Mixed Media ATC Card

Hello! Last year, a cardmaking friend gave me a 1968 dictionary that was part of a classroom set that was no longer used. I thought it was time to use a page or two in my cardmaking. I've also been fascinated by some of the ATC's (artist trading cards) that I've been seeing on Instagram so that was the inspiration for this card.

Mixed Media Greeting Card

Pink, Orange, Red and Aqua Acrylic Paint

Using the dictionary pages, I stamped and die cut the flowers using the Doodle Blooms Bundle. I then used watercolor pencils and a damp watercolor brush to shade and color the diecuts.

I wanted a rough, colorful background, so I applied pink, orange and red acrylic ink to mixed media paper with a brayer. After the paint dried, I used the brayer to apply aqua ink over the Narrow Bricks Stencil. I let this dry and then used the accent leaves from the Tea Time set and the greenery from the Billowing Blossoms stamp to randomly stamp on the background. For the ATC look, I used the Rounded Rectangles to die-cut my background panel. The sentiment is from The Birthday Greetings Set. With black ink, I inked the edges of the background and the sentiment strips and then applied Tea Party Enamel Dots for the center of the flowers.

Gelli Plate Monoprint Card

For this second card, I used gel press printing and acrylic paints (violet, tourquoise, yellow, olive and magenta) to make this striking background. I used the Flowing Drops Stencil on my second layer. I then used Deep Iris Dye Ink to stamp a variety of small images on the background. I was going for a grungier look on this card. I love using LOTS of inks, stamps and stencils for a complex mixed media card.

Next, I used the Smile More Bundle to stamp and die cut the daisies. I again watercolored with watercolor pencils.

violet, turqouise, yellow, olive and magenta gel press background

This was a very fun card to make!

Thank you for stopping by!

Karen

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Altenew Storybook Fantasy Stamps/Dies/Stencils/Embossing Folders Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Cheerful Rainbow Colored Library Bookshelves

Hi there, I am so happy you stopped by!

Today we’re celebrating the Storybook Fantasy release and I have two cards to share using some of Altenew's new stamps, dies and an embossing folder! If you arrived from Reiko's Blog, you’re right on track. If you want to start from the beginning, visit the Altenew Card Blog. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for details about the hop, giveway, free gifts and images of the full release.

Today's card was so much fun to make...sometimes it is great to just sit down and color! When I first saw this Tall Tale stamp set, I knew I wanted a cheerful rainbow colored library. I love how happy this stamp is...perfect for birthday and get well cards.
I stamped and colored three bookshelves and colored with Artist Markers Set F and G. I wanted lots of shelves on this card so I used the Nesting Slim Rectangle Dies to make a slimline card. I then cut the bookshelves to make the four shelves. The Nesting Rectangles make it so easy to make a slimline card. The cut panel is 3 1/2" wide and 8 1/2” tall.

Here is a graphic of all the stamps included in the wonderul Tall Tale Stamp Set.

Ink Blending on 3D Embossing

For my second card, I used the Majestic Blooms 3D Embossing Folder. After I dry embossed my panel, I used my Large Ink Blending Tool and Warm Sunshine Ink to gently go over the top of the embossing. I then used my Small Embossing Tool to add a second coat on the highest points.

I die-cut the Fancy Celebrate Die from black mirror cardstock. This embossing folder has a gorgeous large image so I created a 6x6 card. I finished off with yellow enamel dots from the New Day Collection. I like that the set has a rainbow of colors that go with any project.

Altenew Fancy Celebrate Die cut sentiment

You can see Altenew's new collection HERE ...and check out these free gift opportunities:

Here are THREE ways to get a FREEBIE to kickstart your creativity! Free gift will be added to cart automatically.

Get a FREE brand new Storybook Fantasy Stamp & Die Release Inspiration Guide (worth $5.99) with every order of high-value Storybook Fantasy release bundles. Shop *Exclusions apply.
Get a FREE brand new Creative Jump Start Class with every order from the new Storybook Fantasy release collection from 03/09/2021 through 03/15/2021. Shop HERE!
Get a FREE brand new Storybook Fantasy Stamp & Die Release Mini Inspiration Guide with every order from 03/09/2021 through 03/11/2021. Shop HERE!

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/15/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 12 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/17/2021.