Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop + Giveaway


Hello Everyone!! Welcome to the Altenew 2020 Celebrating Parents Card Drive and Blog Hop sponsored by Altenew. Now more than ever, our elderly parents or grandparents are isolated and many who live in nursing homes can't have visitors due to the outbreak of the Corona Virus. Our elderly are particularly susceptible to the virus since as we age, our immune systems become weaker.  Altenew holds a Card Drive for these folks annually and this year they will be collecting cards from 3/3/2020 to 4/20/2020.  

Altenew 
ATTN: Card Drive 
6179 East Molloy Road 
East Syracuse, NY 13057

I hope you are all doing well during this difficult time.  We are self-isolating since we are just outside the Dallas Metroplex where they have a Shelter In Place order in effect from the Governor.  You all stay safe out there as well.  Let's get on to the projects!


I have four cards for you today.  This first card was totally inspired by my crafty friend and fellow Altenew Educator, Amber Rain Davis.  I linked her blog as she has an awesome one.  She did a card similar to this one in a YouTube Video found here.

I used a different stamp set, but the technique was the same.  I started coloring the petals with a Sunset Pink Pencil and then using a blending stump to move that pencil around in the direction of the petals. I didn't use any Gamsol or Mineral Spirits.  This is a dry blending of the charcoal rather than covering the entire petal with color.  For the center of the blooms, I added in some deep, more concentrated color and also some white highlights. When it came time to do the leaves that go with this set, I stamped them directly onto a Spicy Yogurt 4.25 x 5.5 panel and then went back in with Charcoal pencil to add the idea of some veins.


Once I had it colored and blended out, I stamped the image again, using Versamark this time and heat set it with Golden Peach Embossing Powder.  Using different thicknesses of foam tape, I place the blooms on the front panel and attached it to a Nude Metallic Card Base.

Between when I made this first card (in February) and now, I took the Artists Watercolor 101 for Paper Crafters over at Altenew Academy.  Emily Midgett teaches this class.  I have taken other classes, but until now, it just hasn't clicked for me.  I think the problem was not having the proper tools to do the job!  I changed two main things.  Instead of using Reinkers, I am using high-quality Watercolors and I am using (for the first time) Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper.  My particular preference at this time is Fabriano Artistico Extra White Cold Pressed #140 paper.  Lots of people like Arches Cold-Pressed, but I tried both and prefer the Fabriano.  Altenew just came out with a watercolor paper in the last few days and I hope to be able to try some out in the future.

My next cards all use the Floral Art Stamp Set again only this time I paired it up with the leaves from the Beautiful Heart Stamp Set.  I love the leaves in that set and so I decided to pair the two sets up for my focal image.  I especially like that the leaves are large enough to watercolor which I am into very much right now.  I try to show all the different ways to use the same set and regular stamping didn't even enter into it this time around.  That's probably because I'm taking a watercolor class over at Altenew Academy right now, so I'm more into line images rather than filling them in with stamped in color.


On this card, I heat embossed the images onto Fabriano Artistico Extra White Cold Pressed #140 Watercolor Paper with Gold Embossing Powder and then watercolored them using Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors.  Since this was one of my first projects for class, there are lots of light layers here.  I used a sentiment from the Extra Special Stamp Set that says "Happy Mothers Day".  I used some patterned paper for the background layer.


Next up is my favorite of the three cards.  For this particular bloom, I used one of Emily's Wet on Wet Techniques from the class to create an "underpainting". I used Quinacridone Pink with Finetec Gold Metallic Paint.  Once I let that completely dry, I stamped the bloom on top of that piece and proceeded to paint over it.  In person, you can really see the shimmer and shine of the underpainting and I love the intensity of color in this bloom.


To keep this card clean and simple I chose to put the bloom on a plain white card base and even put the sentiment on a white little tag. The watercolored images are the focal point of the card which is how it should be.



Giving Back Info - 20% of the profits from these products (Thanks, Dad Stamp SetWorld’s Best Dad Stamp SetBest Mom Stamp SetExtra Special Stamp SetBeautiful Lady Stamp SetPainted Butterflies Stamp SetSweet Bow Enamel PinStay Awesome Enamel Pin) until Father’s Day, June 21st, 2020, will be donated to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.

Prizes:  Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog for a chance to win. We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 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 Card Blog on 4/5/2020.

I had time to make several cards since I started the class at Altenew Academy as it was great practice and now that this blog post is finally going live, I'll be able to share these over in the Classroom at Altenew Academy.  If you are interested in the class, here is the link to it.  Totally the best $9.00 I ever spent for a class!

Once this blog post goes live, I am planning to enter this next card into this month's Altenew Inspiration Challenge found here








Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope that you'll share your thoughts with me!  Be sure to stop at all the links along the hop as there will be fantastic inspiration for you!

In addition, you can always find the current promotions at the Altenew Promotions page!  Click on the graphic below.



Affiliate Links may be used at no additional cost to you.
Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder
Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder
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Altenew Beautiful Heart Die Set
Altenew Beautiful Heart Die Set
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Altenew Beautiful Heart Stamp & Die Bundle
Altenew Beautiful Heart Stamp & Die Bundle
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Altenew Beautiful Heart Stamp Set
Altenew Beautiful Heart Stamp Set
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Altenew Floral Art Die Set
Altenew Floral Art Die Set
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Altenew Floral Art Stamp & Die Bundle
Altenew Floral Art Stamp & Die Bundle
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Altenew Floral Art Stamp Set
Altenew Floral Art Stamp Set
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Fabriano Artistico Extra White Cold Pressed #140 Paper ( 5 x 7 Block of 25 sheets)
Fabriano Artistico Extra White Cold Pressed #140 Paper ( 5 x 7 Block of 25 sheets)
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Kokuyo Long Dot Adhesive
Kokuyo Long Dot Adhesive
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42 comments:

  1. wow - these are beautiful! Love the soft colors!

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  2. Your choice of such soft colors really make the cards. I love the peach embossing. Something I may have to try.

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  3. Great cards! I love the watercolor look. And that blue/purple flower is gorgeous!

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  4. The soft colors wthe the gold embossing are a perfect combination.

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  5. Wow! Fantastic cards. I love the cards in different colors. Your favorite card is also my favorite one.

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  6. I love how you colored the light blue flowers. Both cards are very soft feeling.

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  7. Good watercolor examples. Thank you for some inspiration for the card drive.

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  8. Wow! Gorgeous cards!! Love all the shimmer and shine! <3

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  9. These cards are so beautiful! I love the soft colors.

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  10. All the cards are very beautiful. I love the last one. The blue colored flower is so gorgeous.

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  11. WOW, your colors are gorgeous, especially the BLUE!

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  12. Wow, lots of beautiful and elegant inspiration! tfs!

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  13. Wow, your cards are gorgeous! Love all the shimmer.

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  14. Oh my goodness! Love them all and I loved your technique of the dry nub blending. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. These are stunning! I LOVE all the different ways you colored the flower and the shimmer! WOW

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  16. I love the large flower and the various ways you’ve colored them!

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  17. I loved seeing the different moods you got out of the same stamp and die.

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  18. These big and bold flowers with the shine are sooo pretty! Such a great use of the large floral stamp sets!

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  19. Layered leaves and flowers, color - I'm inspired to give it a try soon! Thank you for sharing it.

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  20. Oh my, so lovely! The colors, the shine, yum yum!

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  21. Absolutely beautiful! Love all your cards ♥

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  22. they all have an ethereal feel

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  23. Lovely card for a wonderful cause.
    Priya

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  24. Your cards are absolutely beautiful. I love the colors.

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  25. Beautiful floral cards! Your coloring is looking fabulous!

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  26. Wow these are all beautiful cards the colouring is beautiful.

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  27. These cards are amazing. But that first card is SPECTACULAR! I must get this Sunset Pink pencil. TFS

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    1. The pink pencil is part of a set I already had from back in my scrapbooking days. They are Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils in a set of 24. They have smaller sets, but I don't think they have the pink in it. I don't know if you'll be able to find a single one or not, but happy hunting!

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  28. This is such a wonderful display of cards Vicky! I am in love with the gold embossing and watercolored image mix. Thank you for the inspiration and for being part of this hop.

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  29. Absolutely stunning cards!! So colorful and pretty! Thank you for sharing!

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  30. Wow, Vicki, your cards are stunning! Love all the beautiful colors & your awesome coloring! I think I should probably take that class & invest in better supplies. I love how the flowers can look so different depending on the colors & designs. Truly beautiful!!

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  31. Beautiful. Each is special in its own way. Your watercoloring (is that a word?) is stunning.

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  32. Beautiful cards! Love your coloring!

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  33. So lovely! I really like the color palette variations you chose for a different look each time.

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  34. Love the composition and use of the gold on the first card. Haven't tried water coloring yet; but, after viewing this I feel I need to get supplies and get started. Thanks for your efforts - beautiful.

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  35. Love love love gold embossing!!!

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  36. Your cards are just beautiful!!! I love the colors of the pink card, but all of them are gorgeous. I'm going to check out the Altenew watercolor class you mentioned. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  37. Very pretty floral cards--Love the colors.

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  38. I really love the beautiful colors you use.

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  39. Your cards are beautiful as is your coloring.

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  40. Oh, wow!!! These are all so gorgeous! The different techniques make the image look different on each one! Fabulous job!

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