Thursday, April 29, 2021

Altenew Wildflower Paper Crafting Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello friends!  I love paper, which I think  is one of the many reasons I am a paper crafter.  If you are fond of paper then I know you will appreciate Altenew's gorgeous new Wildflower Collection too. The release is full of beautiful colors, fun patterns and lovely floral papers plus two gorgeous ephemera packs.  To celebrate, Altenew is hosting a blog hop with beautiful inspiration and fun prizes.  Link To Blog Hop

Cardmaking with Altenew Ephemera and Printed Cardstock

I created three cards for this release.  On my first card, all the colored paper is from the Wildflower Collection 6x6" Paper Pack.  I love Altenew's Hibiscus Garden 3D Layering Die Set and thought it would be fun to die cut the elements from different papers in the pack.  I used two pages for the flower, two different pages for the leaves and then the soft green for the background.  I added a bit of splatter with Altenew's Jet Black and Pure White ink sprays.  I pulled the sprayer out and tapped the hose for pefect splatter each time.  So much faster than mixing ink each time.

Altenew Hibiscus Garden 3D layering dies
  


The second  card uses Bitty Bits Ephemera for a fast and colorful card.  For the background, I again splattered a white card base with Pure White and Jet Black ink splatters.  Next I used the Garden Trellis Cover Die and patterned paper from the Wildflower Collection 6x6" Paper Pad  to die cut a lovely background overlay.  I then arranged and layered the ephemera and adhered with foam tape. The packet has loads of die cuts, so I have plenty left over for future projects.  I finished off the card by adding Cherry Blossom Enamel Dots
Quick and Simple Altenew Cardmaking kit

                            

My third card is similar with a Garden Trellis die cut overly cut from a page from the Wildflower Collection 6x6" Paper Pad.  The background is again a paint splattered page from the same pad.  I then arranged and layered ephemera  from The Pink Posy Pack.  Lastly, I added Cherry Blossom Enamel Dots to the flower centers.
Altenew Card Kit

                            

There is a great Wildflower Paper and Ephemera Bundle available as well as a Wildflower Paper Crafting Jump Start Class


Giveaway Prizes:

$200 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 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 05/05/2021 for a chance to win. 


Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 05/07/2021.

 

Blog Hop:

Altenew Blog

Nathalie DeSousa

LauraJane

Patricia Roebuck

Virginia Lu

Michelle Short

Tenia Nelson

Amanda Baldwin

Karen Brown   You Are Here!  :-)

Lilith Eeckels

Verity Biddlecombe

Maryam Perez

Jaycee Gaspar

Jenny Colacicco

Raquel Bowman

Erum Tasneem

Audrey Yeager

Kymona Tracey

Kelly Griglione

Kim Jeffress

Seeka

Zinia Redo

Bridget Casey

Victoria Calvin

Carol Hintermeier

Joylita Dsouza

Linda Westfall

Nandini Karmarkar

Sandhya Iyer

Terri Koszler

Helen Kalb

Ready to shop?  You can access Altenew's Shop HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen





Sunday, April 25, 2021

Spellbinder's Stained Glass Bouquet

Hello!  I've been playing with  Spellbinders new Stained Glass dies and found them to be really fun to create with!    I have two cards to share with you today and I think they are both so happy and  cheerful.

Faux Stained Glass Inlay Technique for papercraftersInlay Stained Glass Die Cutting

I started by ink blending three panels for my stained glass in-lay: 

  • a coral gradient of soft pink, hot pink and orange
  • two greens
  • aqua blue
I let the panels dry and then began die-cutting. 
  • I used the square die to cut a 4 1/4" square while at the same time using the circle die to cut an opening in the center.  I stamped my sentiment near the bottom.
  • Using a tape runner, I adhered craft foam to the back of the square panel with the circle cut.
  • I folded a fabric softener sheet into fourths and then placed on top of the circle die cut so the small pieces would not stick to the die.
  • I then die cut the circle from black and then again from the three ink blended panels.  
  • I carefully put the black frame in the circle and then added the aqua, pink and green inlay pieces.  The tape runner adhessive was there to secure all the inlay pieces. 
  • I made a 4 3/4" x 4 3/4" square card and then attached my stain glass panel.  
I like that the pink/coral gradient gives subtly different tulip colors.


Supplies:
I decided to make a second card using the remaining inkblended panels from card #1.  
Papercraft Floral Inlay Diecutting Technique

  • I die cut the flower and leaf skeleton in white and then cut each base from white.  I glued the skeleton to the base with a tape runner again.  
  • I then cut the flower from the coral panel and the leaves from the green panel.  With the colored pieces still in the die, I flipped the die over and guided the pieces into the corresponding cavities.  This actually works really well for the small pieces.  
  • I dry embossed the plaid background.
  • The accent strip was cut from the coral ink blended panel and then glued to the embossed panel.
  • I used the circle die from the first kit for a spotlight circle and then attached the elements with foam tape.Supplies:
  • Spellbinders Be Leave Me Stained Glass Bouquet Dies
  • Spellbinders Plaid Embossing Folder
  • Spellbinders Tulip Trio Stained Glass Bouquest Etched Dies (diecut circle spotlight)
  • Hand Inked Panels for Inlay
  • Craft Foam
  • Tape Runner
  • Enamel Dots
I love the clean bright white and warm summery colors on this card.  I would love to hear which card you like best.

Karen



Sunday, April 18, 2021

Spellbinder's Sweet Street By Tina Smith Layer Cake Surprise Birthday Cards

 Hello!  I just received my Sweet Street order from Spellbinders  and had so much fun creating yummy birthday cards!  The dies emboss and cut so there is loads of texture on each card.   I made four cards with two different background colors....white and navy.   I also used my favorite border die, Spellbinder's Essential Rectangle Dies, on all four cards.

The first two cards are really fun as they are interactive....pull the candle and the layers telescope out. This first card I assembled with foam tape for added dimension.

 Don't you just love that cute little "Make a Wish" tag? The tag is part of the layer cake die set and the companion sentiments fit perfectly on the tag.  The navy interactive card was assembled with liquid glue, the other three were assembled with foam tape.

I made a second set of quick and easy cards that are not interactive.  I die cut just the base cake and frosting and assembled with foam tape for dimension.   I don't think you can ever have too many birthday sentiments, and this set is full of yummy word stamps.

This card was my husband's favorite because he always chooses chocolate cake!

I love the navy background with the pastel cake.

Supplies Used:

Spellbinder's Layer Cake Surprise Dies

Spellbinder's Sugar Coated Sentiments

Spellbinder's Essential Rectangle Dies

Spellbinder's Month 7 Die of The Month - Embellishment on Icing (older discontinued die)


I would love to hear which card is your favorite.

Karen







Sunday, April 11, 2021

Altenew 7th Anniversary Blog Hop Day 4 + Giveaway (over $1,400 in Total Prizes)



Happy Birthday Altenew!  I am honored to be celebrating this day along with such a talented group of designers and sponsors.  Altenew Cosmos Acrylic die cut flowers.

Die Cutting Floral Images From Acrylic Gelli Plate Prints

Recently, I spent a fun day making Acrylic Gel Press Monoprints and thought it would be fun to die-cut some of the images and make a few high contrast colorful birthday cards.  I used my favorite Altenew Craft-A-Flower kit, Cosmos Layering Dies for each of my projects.  

I sorted through my prints and selected bright colors that I thought would look nice on a card.  The first print was loosely brayered with turquoise and brown acrylic ink.  The flowers were die cut from three monoprint panels:  orange/red/gold; olive/yellow/gold and the whitish elements were cut from panels where I brayered off ink in between prints, so they have more white areas.  My sentiment is from an ancient labeler I had at the house.

Gel Press Die Cut Flowers
I love the background on this next card!  I put blue, yellow and olive on my press and then brayered gold over the Narrow Brick Stencil, which gives a beautiful textured look.  I used the Rounded Rectangles Die Set to trim down my panel.
Gel Press + Die Cut Flowers for a card.
The flower was die-cut using the  Cosmos Craft-A-Flower Kit.

Acrylic Monoprint die cut flower
For this last card, the background is from the same panel as card 1.  I again used the Rounded Rectangles and Cosmos Layering Die Set.  The sentiment is from the  Essential Sentiment Strips,
Gelli Print Handmade Card
   I think this makes a happy card.
Turquoise and Red Floral Card

Giveaway Prizes

Over $1,400 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $70 gift certificate to 5 lucky winners and one Altenew Academy class to 15 lucky winners. There are also 19 awesome companies/crafty friends who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:


 

Be sure to leave comments by 4/18/2021 for a chance to win one of 41 prizes! To make the hop more exciting, start your comment with "Hi from (city or country where you're from)!" 41 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog on 4/24/2021.

 



So happy to see that you are hopping!  If you arrived from Auzz Trinklets N Krafts, then you are right on track.


Altenew Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Jaycee Gaspar

My Sweet Petunia

Agnieszka MaƂyszek

Kristina Werner

Tenia Nelson

Paige Evans

Reiko Tsuchida

Auzz Trinklets N Krafts

Karen Brown                     You Are Here!

Ellen Hutson LLC

Seeka

Katrina Howe


There is plenty more loveliness, so keep hopping.... Ellen Hutson LLC  is next!


Ready to shop?  Be sure to use the free shipping code below:


Special Offer

Enjoy FREE U.S. shipping with code HAPPY7TH or $5 OFF international shipping with code ANNIV21 at checkout. Offer valid from 4/8/2021 at 12:01 am EDT through 4/11/2021 at 11:59 pm EDT. Shop here: https://altenew.com/  Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes. 


I am so pleased you stopped by and would love to hear which card you like best!

Thanks,
Karen

New Blog Site

Hello friends.  I just wanted to let you know that I have a new blog site:  Kennyscards.com I'd love for you to pop over and check it ou...