Certified Altenew Educator Blog Hop - For the Love of Flowers

Hello everyone!  Today's Certified Altenew Educator Blog Hop is a special event with Altenew - a blog hop with the theme of "For the Love of Flowers".  This hop is different than others we've done before; there is a linky party over at the Altenew Card Blog so that all the customers can join in and show off their skills.

You should have arrived here from Amy Hill's Blog found here.  I've included the full Blog List for you below.

I wish I was better with Watercolor, but I keep plugging along as time allows.  I think I finally realized what it is that I'm doing wrong but I haven't had time to test that theory yet.  I do have real watercolors - about three different sets, but I'm a lot more comfortable using reinkers with a water brush.  Unfortunately, I think this is my problem - I'm using colors that are too similar and I need to add more contrast in my color selections.

I have several real watercolors to work with including the Altenew 36 Half Pan Set but I just signed up for a new class that Emily Midgett is teaching over at Altenew Academy.  Its called "Artist Watercolor 101 for Paper Crafters" and you can sign up here: https://altenew.com/products/artists-watercolor-101-for-paper-crafters.

When I was in grade school, the teacher told me I had no artistic ability whatsoever, so I never took art classes during school.  Until 2015,(more than 40 years after grade school) when I started seeing YouTube Videos where people who aren't traditionally "artists" making beautiful cards, I never tried making cards, only scrapbooks.  So the moral of this story is, don't listen to what others say, just listen to your heart.  If it's something you want, keep trying.  I got this stamp set specifically for watercolor because they are line images.  For today's card, I chose Perfectly Perfect Stamps and Coordinating Dies along with a sentiment from Kind Words, which is one that I have collaborated on with Altenew.

I stamped several of the flowers and leaves onto bristol cardstock using Versamark Ink since I was going to use reinkers to paint with.  I heat embossed in Altenew Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This provides that little channel to paint into that keeps the color from spilling over onto areas where it shouldn't.

I used Altenew Coral Berry (one of my absolute favorites) for the outside edges of the petals with Altenew Heartbeat toward the base of the petals.  I think I needed more water for the Coral Berry which is why I signed up for a watercolor class over at Altenew Academy that Emily Midget is teaching.  One of the things I have learned is that high-quality watercolor has less opacity and more transparency, which is why I have a tendency to use reinkers - they are transparent.  I am anxious to do some homework for my class and try out some of the things I have been learning about.  But first, deadlines. *Ü*

For the leaves, I used Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades reinkers.  I painted these using my little porcelain dish with a drop of reinker and a water brush.

I did ink blending on another panel of the Bristol Paper and added Finetech Gold Spatter to it.  Then I die cut the full A2 size panel for my background.  Adding a sentiment from Kind Words, I stamped it in Versarmark and heat set it with the same Antique Gold EP as well.

After I arranged my flowers, I used the Press-N-Seal trick to pick the whole arrange up and turn it over.  That way you can put glue on the whole backside, then flip it back over and turn the arrangement until it looks how you want it, then laying it in place.  I let my adhesive set for a couple of minutes before I removed the Press-N-Seal.  Then I put adhesive wherever the arrangement is not stuck down well.  It's such a great way to keep your arrangement how you had it, without having to try and duplicate it from a picture on your phone.  A nifty little trick I learned from Laurie Willison.

Altenew Card Blog

Michelle Ochoa Murray

Nandini Karmarkar

Terri Marie Koszler

 Irina Fonina

Amy Hill

Vicki Finger (You are here)

Laurel Beard

Teri Stokes

Neha Aggarwal

Nenette S. Madero

Nancy McClelland

Eva Bussom

 Amber Rain Davis

Rosie Neustaedter

Patty Mello

Helen Kalb

Teri Wilson

Christine Pennington

Maryam Sharara 

Nicole Watt

 VirginiaLu

Don't forget to share your own creation over at the Linky Party on the Altenew Card Blog!  There will be prizes given away!  

Prize info: Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment here on the Altenew Card Blog by 3/11/2020 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 3/14/2020.

There’s MORE! We will pick 2 of our favorite handmade creations from those who joined the linky party and they will each receive a $15 gift certificate to our store!

Special offer: Save 15% off on ALL Stamp & Die Bundles from 3/5/2020 at 12:01 AM EST until 3/6/2020 at 11:59 PM EST. No code needed to enjoy this sale! Not valid on previous purchases. Excludes February 2020 release products. 

SHOP HERE:  https://altenew.com/collections/stamp-die-bundles  

Laurel Beard is your next stop along the hop!  If you've lost your way, you can find the list here on my blog, on the Altenew Card Blog and at any of the stops along the way!  

Update:  I wanted to put a little update here for you regarding the Watercolor 101 for Paper Crafters Class at Altenew Academy.  So I'm only a couple of lessons in and have only practiced a couple of times for the first homework assignment.  My watercolor has come a very long way since I started the class this week!  Here's a little peek for you.  I'm practicing in every spare moment I have, so be sure to watch and see my progress.  I'm not quite right yet, but I have made huge strides.  Let me just say - It is truly all about the paper if you want to learn to do artist style watercoloring.  The class wasn't even available when I made and uploaded this card way back in January.  February was such a busy month for me, so I had to do my project very early!  I plan to paint the little blooms again that I used on today's card, from the (Perfectly Perfect Set) using the best quality watercolor paper!  The Sentiment is from Kind Words.  Links are my affiliate Links.  Be sure to watch for my projects on Instagram as you'll be able to watch how I'm progressing in my Watercolor Class.  

For Altenew Academy Classes, or to learn more about the Altenew Educators Program, check it out here:  https://academy.altenew.com/.  

Altenew Educator "Love & Friendship" Blog Hop + Giveaway

Welcome to Altenew Educators Blog Hop!   Welcome to today's Altenew Educator Certification Program Blog Hop brought to you by Altenew and those of us who have been Certified through this fantastic program.  We are celebrating "Love and Friendship".  We were asked to use one of our favorite sets for our project.  My first two cards feature Beautiful Day, which was my first Altenew Purchase and how I became an Altenew Fan!

If you’ve been following along, you’ve just arrived from Nenette S. Madero's blog. If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Altenew Card Blog.

I had this stack of background papers sitting on my desk that I had pulled out so I would remember to use them, so I wanted to very closely match the colors in that paper to my stamping. Today's project was created using the gorgeous Beautiful Day Stamps and Coordinating Dies with a technique that I developed, called Watercolor Detail Stamping.  For those of us who might not be as good at watercolor painting, this is an easy way to get the look of watercolor without the actual time and intensity involved.  

I start by stamping the images with Versamark and then heat embossing them with Antique Gold Embossing Powder onto Cougar Super Smooth Digital White #110 Cardstock.  You can use watercolor paper, but I wanted to prevent the continual spreading that using watercolor papers allows.  Basically, I wanted to contain the spread of color so I used cardstock which restricts the flow of water somewhat.  The heat embossed edges also help to contain the color.  

For the colors, I use my MISTI to stamp in each layer of color. Starting with the most solid image in my lightest shade, Rose Quartz, I stamp that in without any water misting since it's the base layer and the other colors will go on top of that. For the leaves, I used Frayed Leaf on a couple and Sweet Leaf on the others as my base layer color. 

For the second layer, I used the little water bottle that I keep on my desk.  It's an empty bottle from a previous product, but it has a very fine mist, so it works perfectly for this.  I can also use it to put a bit of water on my pan watercolors if I want to add spatters or do occasional watercolor.  The secret is finding a bottle that has a very fine mist.  For the second layer of the blooms, I inked up with Baby Pink Ink.  Holding my water bottle about 2 feet above the inked up stamp, I spray a light mist onto the stamps, then stamp it onto the paper.  If you do it too close, it will be too wet, so start light and go with additional layers of color if you want deeper tones.  This lets the first and second ink blend seamlessly.  I stamped the second layer of color for the leaves using Forest Glades Ink.  Again, I held my water bottle about 2 feet above and gave it a very light mist, then stamped the images.  

For the next color on the blooms, I chose Pinkalicious and did it the same way.  The final layer on the blooms was inked up with Puffy Heart.  I usually let each layer sit for a couple of minutes before stamping the next layer.  Once the stamping is done, I set it aside to let it dry.  You can easily see that there are no harsh lines between the color changes.  This technique works perfectly with Altenew's layered floral stamp sets and Crisp Inks.

While I waited for those to dry, I did a bit of work on my background paper.  I spritzed it with some gold shimmer mist and then some clear sparkle shimmer mist I let that dry and then, used my Finetech Gold Watercolors to create some spatter on the background piece.  Setting that aside, I went back to my stamped images that were now dry, and gave them all a liberal spraying of shimmer mist and let that dry before die cutting the images with the coordinating dies.

I also die cut the background panel using a basic stitched rectangle die.  Because I didn't want to cover up the design, I tried my arrangement several ways to see which was going to work best and then die cut it accordingly.  I mounted that to a top folding horizontal card base and worked with my elements until I had a pleasing arrangement.  

It was very important to me to have a nice balance and blend of color between the stamped elements and the beautiful watercolor look background paper.  I didn't want to take anything away from either of them.  

My second card features some of the stems and blooms from my initial Watercolor Detail Stamping but I used Corals instead of Pinks.   I started by stamping Pattern Play - Diamond Stamp Set onto a piece of Bristol Smooth Cardstock with Versamark and heat set it using Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  

I blended a line of Fresh Lemon Ink across the panel diagonally, from bottom left to the upper right-hand side.  Next, I used Rubellite Ink across one corner, blending into the center diagonal bit of Fresh Lemon Ink.  It was my first chance to try out the new Taylored Expressions blending brushes which are so fantastic you can't believe it!  I have another brand and these are superior!  Next, I used Autumn Blaze Ink in the opposite corner, blending toward that center diagonal line once again.  As I often do on many of my backgrounds, I gave it several good spritzes of shimmer mist and set it aside to dry.  This also gives that center line an absolutely seamless blend.

Once the background panel was completely dry, I die cut it with a stitched rectangle die.  Then I added Nuvo Dream Drops to each of the center points across the design in the color Cloud Nine.  This color picks up the colors underneath and so it looks like I have little bits of iridescent pink or orange pearls at each of those points.  I absolutely love the Nuvo Dream Drops and I am hoping they come out with additional colors this year.  

Once the Nuvo Dream Drops were dry, I figured out my arrangement and then starting placing all of my elements.  I again used Little things From Lucy's Glossy Porcelain Pearls for the center of the blooms.  I love how vibrant this card turned out!  

My last card for today's Certified Altenew Educators Blog Hop was created with Gilded Ombre Washi Tape, a sentiment from Beautiful Day and the Fantasy Floral 3D Die Set.  I applied Washi Tape on a 5.5 x 8.5 panel of white cardstock, then rotated it and did it again, so that the purple met in the center.  I am a huge fan of the Altenew Washi Tapes and this is a favorite.  I have all of the gilded ones and as always, they are my favorites!  I die cut half of it for a background panel, and then die cut the leaves randomly from the piece of leftovers.  I already had the two bottom layers of the bloom in two shades of purple, so to tie everything together, I cut the top layer from some gold foiled cardstock.  One of the really neat things about this die set is that while you can stack them exactly where all of the layers line up, you don't have to.  This helps to vary the look from bloom to bloom if you want more than one. 

The Altenew Educator Certification Program really helped me to stretch and explore beyond what I thought my style was.  I can easily do elegant designs, but I continue to explore the more artistic styles and techniques learned in the classes.  Beginning now through 7/21/2019, you can get class bundles at a discounted price of 20% off.  I always find Altenew Academy Classes to be well worth the money spent and very reasonably priced at around $10.00 or less.  They are self-paced, with lifetime access, so you can review a lesson at any time.  

To celebrate AECP blog hop and encourage people to join in the AECP program, we'll discount the following bundles by 20% from 7/19/2019 to 7/21/2019. Banner attached.

https://altenew.com/products/aecp-level-2-class-bundle
https://altenew.com/products/aecp-level-1-class-bundle

Prizes/Giveaway

Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Blog by 7/26/2019 for a chance to win. Altenew will 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 blogs on 7/30/2019.

Hop Order: 

Altenew Card Blog

Terri Marie Koszler

Michelle Ochoa Murray

Maryam Sharara

Amber Rain Davis

Irina Fonina

Teri Wilson

Francine Dodwell

Patty Mello

Nenette S. Madero

Vicki Finger (You are here)

Nandini Karmarkar

Amy Hill

Christine Pennington

Erum Tasneem

Your next stop along the hop is the talented Nandini Karmarkar!  There are many stops along the hop to enjoy, so don't forget to check them all out and be sure to comment for a chance to win one of the giveaways!

If you'd like to see all the projects on Instagram, here's that list for you.
@altenewllc

@yesvirginialu
@altenew_planner_girl
@_michelleomurray
@maryam_crafter
@irenemcbeatle
@notableink
@terismailbox
@fd92354
@treasuresinletters
@mylittleatticstudio
@vicki.finger
@crownfocus
@sevenscrafts
@penningtoncreates
@glitternswirls

Compensated Affiliate Links used whenever possible at no additional cost to you!

Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder Shop at: ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Die Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Inspiration Guide Shop at: ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp & Die Bundle Shop at: ALT
Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Cherry Blossom Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Cherry Blossom Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Gilded Ombre Washi Tape Shop at: ALT
Altenew Gold Foiled Cardstock Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Reinkers Shop at: ALT
Altenew Pattern Play - Diamonds Shop at: ALT	Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Rose Petal Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT
Altenew Rose Petals Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Rose Petals Reinker Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Spring Bouquet 6 Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Spring Bouquet 6 Oval Set Shop at: ALT