Altenew Educators "Giving Thanks" Blog Hop and Linky Party + Giveaway

Welcome to the Altenew Educators "Giving Thanks" Blog Hop and Linky Party + Giveaway! Today there is a big hop brought to you by all of the Altenew Certified Educators. This is no ordinary hop! We want you to join in on the fun as well. There is a Linky Party going on at the Altenew Card Blog. All you have to do is link up your creations based on the theme of the hop, which is, “Giving Thanks” and mention that you are taking part in the Altenew Educators Blog Hop and Linky Party where you can create, share, participate, and have a chance to win a Gift Certificate to the Altenew Store. So what are you waiting for?! Link up!

You should have come from Christine Pennington's Blog. If you stumbled across my blog and would like to see the full hop, I will have the links provided for you below.

I have two projects for you today using one of my favorite Build-A-Flower Sets. I truly love Stargazer Lilies so this Build-A-Flower Set is my current favorite! In fact, I made a card similar to the second one and mailed it before I remembered to take photos of it. So I had to make a new one. May was a pretty hectic month around here, so it's okay.



Let's get on to our projects. This first card started with a Pink Top Folding 7 x 5 card base. The mat is Gold Foil Cardstock, the next one up is Black Cardstock, then the uppermost mat is a paler pink cardstock.



For the Mandala, I die cut that using Curious Skin Black Cardstock. I like to use this particular cardstock sometimes because it is completely matte and has an almost suede look to it.

For the lilies, I used a combination of inks from different sets. My base layer was Baby Pink from the Spring Bouquet Ink Set. Then Pinkalicious and Rubellite from the Cherry Blossom Collection, Rubellite, and Purple Wine from the Rose Petals Collection.



For the leaves, I used Sweet Leaf from the Green Meadow Collection and Forest Glades from the Green Fields Collection and Hunter Green from the Green Meadow Collection. I like to mix within the families sometimes and this was one of those times. I stamped my simple "Thank You" sentiment from Hibiscus (From Build-A-Flower Hibiscus) in Versamark and heat set in Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

For this next card, I changed things up a little bit. I love the Sugarplums Collection of Inks and in fact, I suggested these and the Tranquility Grays to Tasnim. I have a few more requests in my mind that I think I want to send to her. We'll see!



I used the Sugarplums set to stamp these blooms, but I like to take it one step further often. In this case, I stamped the base layer of the lilies in Baby Pink. Pastels are difficult inks to make and can tend to have a grayish undertone to them. To prevent this, I like to mix a more vibrant shade as the first layer and then proceed with the four colors in the primary color family I want to use. You can see that this provides a different look than just using the four colors in the set. I have found it's something you have to play around with to get the look that you want. Pick a small flower to see what combinations you like and be sure to keep a list or chart of the combinations you like.

Since I always have a touch of gold on my cards, I decided to Heat Emboss the stamens of the flowers.



I used Gleaming Lilac Cardstock for another 7 x 5 Top Folding Card Base. I used the Gilded Ombre Washi Tape to go along the bottom of the card front. I also cut another of the Mandala Dies to put behind the flower arrangement only this time I used Pearlescent Garnet Plum Cardstock for this. This die is really intricate, so I usually run it through my Gemini Junior - twice, and then I look carefully to make sure everything cut before removing the paper from the die. If it isn't cut all the way, I rotate the die 90 Degrees on the cutting plate and run it through again.



While I love the first card, I didn't want it to look the same as the first card so I chose to put the "Thanks" vertically down the right-hand side of the card using Altenew Bold Alphabet Lower Case Die Set. The Mandala Die Cut was attached with E6000 Non-Aerosol Spray Glue. It would take me forever to glue it with Multi Medium Matte, so I keep that spray around just in case. Then I arranged my flowers and leaves on the card front and kept it intact by lifting it with Press-N-Seal.



I used a double or single layer of Foam Tape to adhere everything in place on the card front. It was at this point that I realized I forgot the black speckles on the petals, but since I used foam tape, there isn't any going back and doing it now. Not all Lilies have the speckled petals like the Stargazer does, so it's no big deal. I have a few hundred lilies in my flower bed this year, so I can take a peek right outside and look.  *Ü*

One of the things I really like about the leaves in this set (stamped in Green Fields Ink Collection) is that with the larger leaf, you can cut it in half and place those half pieces tucked in-between other for fuller foliage.

Prizes:
Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment here on the Altenew Card Blog by 6/17/2020 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 Card Blog on 6/21/2020.

There’s MORE!
Altenew 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!
Special offer:

FREE U.S. shipping with code HAPPY6T or $5 OFF international shipping with code SHOPPING6T at checkout on orders over $29. Offer valid from 6/10/2020 at 12:01 am EDT through6/11/2020 at 11:59 pm EDT. Shop HERE! Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes. Not valid on Altenew Academy Classes and Virtual Workshops.

Blog Hop List:

Altenew Card Blog

Nenette S. Madero

Christine Pennington

Vicki Finger

Amy Hill

Nandini Karmarkar

Nancy McClelland

Neha Aggarwal

Terri Marie Koszler

Rosie Neustaedter

Helen Kalb

Laurel Beard

Maryam Sharara 

Teri Stokes

Nicole Watt 

Erin Thompson

Irina Fonina

Amber Rain Davis

Patty Mello

Virginia Lu

I promise there will be lots of beautiful inspiration along the hop so be sure to visit each participant's blog and leave them a little love. Amy Hill is next on the list. We all work really hard to bring you beautiful and innovative content. I promise you won't be disappointed!.

Thank you so very much for stopping by today! I've linked the products I used below for your convenience and I very much appreciate your support.

Affiliate links may be used - Thank you for your support!

Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Baby Pink Oval Ink Pad Shop at: ALT	Altenew Bold Alphabet Die Set (Lower Case) Shop at: ALT
Altenew Build A Flower Stargazer Shop at: ALT	Altenew Cherry Blossom Mini Cube Set Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Cherry Blossom Oval Set Shop at: ALT
Altenew Cherry Blossom Reinker Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Gilded Ombre Washi Tape Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Gold Foiled Cardstock Shop at: ALT
Altenew Green Fields Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Reinkers Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Meadows Ink Cube Set Shop at: ALT
Altenew Green Meadows Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Meadows Reinkers Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Valley Mini Cube Set Shop at: SSS | ALT
Altenew Green Valley Oval Set Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Green Valley Reinker Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Mandala Die Shop at: ALT
Altenew Spring Bouquet (Includes Baby Pink Cube) Shop at: ALT	Altenew Spring Bouquet 6 Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Spring Bouquet reinkers Shop at: ALT
Altenew Sugarplums Ink Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Sugarplums Ovals Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Sugarplums Reinkers Shop at: ALT
Crystal Katana Tool Shop at: SSS	E6000 Adhesive Spray - 8 0z. Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Adhesive Shop at: SSS
Neenah Solar White #110 Shop at: ALT	PP.com Curious Skin Black Shop at: PPC	Scor-Pal Scoring Board Shop at: SSS
Scotch 3M Foam Tape Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Mini Craft Snips Shop at: SSS
Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS
Versamarker (Pen) Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS

Altenew Educator Final Certification

Hello everyone!  I am here today with my last post for my Altenew Educator Certification Program.  Because this was a class that I held at my home, this is a very photo heavy post!  If you want to watch the video of my class, You'll have to watch it on my Facebook Live HERE. Class actually starts at 13:41 if you want to skip the chit-chat.

Virginia Lu and Nicole Picadura joined our Facebook live so they could observe me in a class environment.  Nicole is the Operations Manager for Altenew and Virginia is in charge of the Altenew Educator Certification Program.

For my final assignment, I held a class at my home for 6 friends - new friends and longtime friends.  All but one of the ladies who is a neighbor in our new subdivision, my friends traveled anywhere from 45 miles to as many as 78 miles to be here!  Since we moved back to Texas this year, I don't know a lot of people in our new town but some of my longtime friends, (Jenica, Gloria, and Diane), drove a long way to see me and join me for the class.  I treasure these ladies and could never express in words how much it meant to me that they were here and came to support me.  I also got the chance to meet a fellow card maker, Carol Hintermeier, and get to meet her in person.  Carol is also doing the AECP so it was a chance for her to observe and see what it was like to hold a class when she gets to the final stage of her program.  We know each other from working in the same industry and we follow each other on Instagram so it was awesome to get to meet in person.  Gloria brought her friend Paula and although Gloria talks about Paula, we hadn't ever met before so it was great to put a face with the name.  Paula is pretty crafty and she was a natural for this class.  While I have met Trisha because we live in the same subdivision, we hadn't gotten to speak more than a few minutes for a few times.  Everyone has been busy moving and unpacking.  It was nice to get to know her a little more.

In order to prepare for the class, I did quite a bit of work ahead of time to make things go smoother for the actual class.  I prepared a simple outline to follow along to try to keep from rambling and the class taking too long.  We finished in about an hour and a half so that was great!

My outline consisted of a little bit about how the company got started in 2014 and then moved on to the basic products that we would be using for the class.  I talked about the beautiful layering stamps that Altenew has, their inks and some basic supplies that are needed if you want to make cards.  I kept the outline to one sheet of paper so I would be able to tuck it into my student packets so they could refer back to it later.

I also created three sample cards to show them what we would be making.  I die cut all of the elements for them and set up my MISTI's using the negatives as a place holder for the actual stamping.  I wanted my participants to be able to see how easy it is to stamp multi-layered images in this way and also be able to see how to mass produce several cards with the same design.

This was by far the best way to do this.  And it meant that I only had to change the stamp once for each MISTI.  Right now, I have the Original and the Mini MISTI, so I used the larger MISTI for the blooms and the Mini MISTI for the leaves.

In the student packets, I included a picture of the sample card and a small copy of the layering guide, a half sheet that showed a picture of the card we would be making with simple, step by step instructions, and a small copy of the stamp set image that we would be using.  I stamped all of the sentiment strips in advance and included one in each packet.  

Here you can see the contents of the packets which included a card base, an envelope, the layering guide, the image of the stamp set we would be using, the die cut pieces we would be stamping, and the sentiment strip all ready to go for them.

We talked quite a bit about the MISTI and how it changed the stamping world.  Carol and I both commented that we really didn't care for stamping until the MISTI hit the market and how we would never go back to stamping without one for the multi-layered images or really, any stamping.  I used to make cards using die cuts only so the MISTI changed my cardmaking skills dramatically!  Jenica actually gave me all of her old stamping stuff and I inherited her Stamp-a-majig.  What a pain that thing was!  The MISTI is superior to that in every imaginable way!

Trisha, Diane, Me, Jenica, Carol, and Paula.  Gloria was behind the lens! 

Jenica, Paula, & Carol

We were able to get down to the stamping pretty quickly after that.  I talked about ink pad sizes and why I have a preference for ink cubes over regular sized ink pads, but how both options were available.  I can't count the number of times I've dropped a full-sized ink pad on my nearly finished project!  Because I have MS, it affects my balance and coordination so I stick with the ink cubes rather than the full sized pads.  Plus, as a bonus, I can have more colors that way!  You definitely need to have the reinkers if you use the ink cubes and stamp as much as I do. 

Diane

Trisha

The ladies all loved the whole concept of and the actual process of stamping using the MISTI! Carol and I agreed that it was the thing that converted us to stamping - that ability to line things up and have them crisp, clean images. It can be really frustrating trying to use an acrylic block for layering stamps and once you use a MISTI, you just get used to using it for everything.

Seriously, how did we survive before the invention of that?  I know that until I got one,  I wasted a lot of premium cardstock.  There was also really no way to mass produce cards in an easy way and it was too frustrating to try.

Carol

Once all the stamping was done, I had the ladies arrange their card front how they wanted.  Each person has their own spin on things and I wanted them to do it how they wanted it; it didn't have to be like mine.  I forgot to get a picture of Gloria's and Paula's Cards when they were finished, but they do show them during the LIVE class toward the end.  

Jenica's Card

Trisha's Card

Diane's Card

Carol's Card

Paula's and Gloria's cards were probably the most unusual because they added distressing to their sentiment strips and Gloria did a Horizontal rather than a Vertical orientation card.  

As far as my thoughts on the class, I feel I was very well prepared.  I gave them enough information about Altenew to interest them, but not so much as to overwhelm them.  I kept anything I thought might be needed nearby for quick and easy access (tweezers).  The one thing I would change would be to go back and wear quieter shoes.  My boots made a lot of racket on the hardwood floors but hopefully, no one besides me noticed that.  I would have liked to have everyone at the same table, but that just wasn't possible.  

Now, I just have to wait for feedback from Altenew and then I will be a fully certified Altenew Educator.  Wish me luck!