Sunday, November 1, 2020

Altenew Build-A-Flower: Hawaiian Coral Release Blog Hop + Giveaway


Hi there!  I am so glad you could stop by my blog today to celebrate the newest Build-A-Flower Release: Hawaiian Coral! 



Giveaway Prizes

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog by 11/06/2020 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 Winners Page on 11/09/2020.


You should have arrived here from the blog of  Victoria Calvin.  I am the last stop on the hop today! As always, the Build-A-Flower Series includes both the stamp set and the dies!  For my card, I started with the beautiful Alluring Blooms Paper Pack and selected a sheet that I felt would match the Hawaiian Color Scheme I was going for.  I was actually lucky enough to win an 8 day trip for two to Hawaii way back in 1992.  The company I worked for at the time, had a contest for sales in December of 1991 during the Holiday Season.  We were the smallest store in our company, but we were the absolute best at what we did.  Our specialty was Loose Diamonds and then helping the customer select the right mounting for the diamond that they chose.  I am GIA Certified in the 4 C's of Diamonds: Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat Weight.  

You may wonder how I remember all this from a memory that was 30 years ago and the reason that I can remember is that before I started making cards, I was a Scrapbooker.  I learned the Creative Memories way, which includes a lot of journaling.  So I have a few Travel Albums that have all of these details.  Each member of our store won this trip for two which included $300.00 each (including our guest) in spending money.  That was quite a bit back then and you could pretty much buy all of your meals.  Of course, we had to have quite a few trinkets to bring home so it went fast, but it was the trip of a lifetime.  It's pretty much the only time in my life that I had a suntan.  I laid in a tanning bed every single day for a month prior to our trip since I have porcelain skin and I burn easily.  I didn't want to sunburn the first day of the trip and have to stay in the rest of the time.  That actually happened to one of the ladies we were traveling with and she had blisters covering the tops of her feet from the first day. The rest of us body surfed, snorkeled, and shopped in the International Market Place.  One member of our group had been stationed at Oahu during his stint in the Navy, so we went all over the island rather than the local tourist spots.  Hawaii is such a colorful and vibrant place!  Oh, the memories...
 

Now that you have a little background information for my color choices, I'll share a few details about my card.  I used the Red Cosmos and Tea Party Ink Families to stamp the blooms and the Green Fields Ink Family to stamp the foliage.  I started by stamping the most solid image in Frosty Pink Ink.  Next, I added the 2nd most solid image in Coral Bliss and the 3rd layer in Coral Berry.  I used Ruby Red for the deepest shading layer and chose not to use the outline image at all for my flowers.  I love that it has the outline image though, in case I want to watercolor the image some other time.  


This particular paper in the Alluring Blooms Paper Pack reminded me of a waterfall that we saw near Waimea Falls, Hawaii.  


I kept my embellishments simple, adding just a few turquoise sequins as an accent.  Be sure to stop by all the stops along the hop to see the fantastic designs that all of the designers and guest designers have come up with! Get your set here:  Build-A-Flower: Hawaiian Coral or Build-A-Flower: Hawaiian Coral & Ink Bundle.

If you'd like to sign up for the monthly subscription plan, that link is here:  Build-A-Flower Monthly Subscription Plan.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Monday, October 19, 2020

Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-Alone Dies Release Blog Hop + Giveaway


Hi there!  I'm excited to be joining in today's Altenew Blog Hop with a special release of Stand Alone Dies and Products.  

Special Offer

To celebrate this release, we are offering a free gift for a limited time. 
  • Receive a FREE Gift (brand new Winter Essentials release mini inspiration guide) with every order from 10/19/2020 at 12:01 am EDT until 10/21/2020 at 11:59 pm EDT or while supplies last. Shop here:  https://altenew.com/collections/all-altenew-products The free gift will be added to your cart automatically. * Not valid on online class, workshop, print media orders. 
Giveaway Prizes:

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog by 10/25/2020 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 Winners Page on 10/27/2020.



You should have arrived here from the blog of Reiko Tsuchida, but if not, you can start back at the Altenew Card Blog and go in order from there. Your next stop on the hop is Maryam Perez.

I have a ton of projects for you today, so let's get started!  For my first project, I used one of last month's releases with this beautiful "Happy Holidays" sentiment from this release.


I die cut the words from gold mirror cardstock.  I also die-cut Festive Clusters from the same gold card stock.  Then using the dies with my embossing pad, I ran it through my die-cut machine to emboss the outline of the Festive Clusters into a panel of white cardstock.


Using the new small size ink blending tools, I went over the areas for each part with some color. I used  Frayed Leaf for the foliage and Frosty Pink for the blooms.  This was super fast and easy to do.  


Before I die cut the image or the words, I ran my Gold Cardstock through my 5-inch Xyron Sticker Maker, so the adhesive would already be on there.  When I do it this way, I also run the piece of cardstock through my die cut machine with an embossing sandwich so that I don't have to go around each word with a multi-purpose tool or stylus.  That way the adhesive is already on there and I can easily place it on my card.  I press everything in place with my Teflon bone folder. I created a Vertical Tent folding card and a horizontal one.  


There are two different clusters in the Festive Clusters Die Set, so I used one on each card. One is a little smaller than the other.  I always enjoy doing Holiday cards in an unexpected color scheme and most of my cards go to girlfriends, so I can use all the Pink I want.  Pink Poinsettias are my favorites anyhow.  
 

As always, when working on cards for my girlfriends, I added a bit of bling.  I'm kind of known for that in my circle of friends and my best friend calls me the "Bling Queen".  I even love blingy nail polishes.  


For my next project, I used the Modern Fireplace Layering Dies along with the Mantel Decor - Winter Dies to create this sweet little scene on the card front.  I also used the Holiday Tag Sentiments Stamp Set once again and I love how versatile that set is.  While it does have a lot of sentiments for the Holidays, most of them are generic enough to use for other occasions as well - Birthday, New Year, any kind of handmade gift, and the like. I love the beautiful handwritten font that many of the sentiments are written in.  You might remember that I made a birthday Gift Tag for my daughter using one of the sentiments from that set along with the floral image in the Positive Vibes Stamp Set.


The Mantel Decor - Winter Die set let me build this sweet little scene.  This set also includes the pieces to create a wreath over your mantle if you so choose.  I have a very large (6 foot by 4 foot)  piece of artwork hanging over my fireplace so I would never hang a wreath over it, but I like that it's included in the set.  


I used foam tape for creating the fireplace to make the card dimensional, especially where the stockings are hanging. 


For the candles, I die cut from White Cardstock and then just colored the wicks with an Altenew Artist Marker in a warm yellow shade.  There are three different candlestick sizes and I cut two bows adhering the top one in just the center of the bow so that I could pull forward the bows to give it extra dimension as well.  I love the little touches of gold.  It adds instant elegance.


This next card combines a few products from this release; Essential Sentiment Strips and Layered Gift Tag Die - Present.  I'm always looking for things to make masculine cards for all the men in my life - mostly my grandsons!  They don't get into cards too much so this is a way I can incorporate a gift inside with a gift on the card.  


I have piles of Scrapbooking 12 x 12 papers and I used one of them here.  All guys like Black & Gold I think and if it's somewhat geometric, that's even better.  


This next card uses the Beautiful Bergenia 3D Embossing Folder inked up using the small Ink Blending Tools and another one of the Essential Sentiment Strips.  


This makes for a fast and easy Thank You type of card.  I hadn't yet received my Embossing Folder last month when it was released so I wanted to use it to showcase the Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set.


On the previous card, I cut a slim piece of gold cardstock to go behind the Essential Sentiment Strip but on this card, I let the background show through the sentiment strip.  





These 3D embossing folders are just incredibly well done.  You can do any color of cardstock and leave it white and still see all of the dimension in these beautiful embossing folders.  


For my final project today, I wanted to incorporate the new Lacy Panel Die with the Gift Tag Heart Die Set.  



Once again I used a sentiment from the Holiday Tag Sentiments Stamp set and paired it up with the other stand-alone dies in this release.  


Crisp, clean white always makes for a beautiful presentation when paired with a Christmas Red and Green and the little touches of gold.  

I hope you enjoyed my ideas for using the dies in this release and pairing them up with other previously released stamps, dies, and embossing folders.



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Altenew 2 in 1 Precision Glue Pen
Altenew 2 in 1 Precision Glue Pen
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Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder
Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder
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Altenew Antique Silver Embossing Powder
Altenew Antique Silver Embossing Powder
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Altenew Beautiful Bergenia 3D Embossing Folder
Altenew Beautiful Bergenia 3D Embossing Folder
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Altenew Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set
Altenew Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set
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Altenew Festive Clusters Die Set
Altenew Festive Clusters Die Set
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Altenew Happy Holidays Script Die Set
Altenew Happy Holidays Script Die Set
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Altenew Joyful Celebrations Gift Tag Die Bundle
Altenew Joyful Celebrations Gift Tag Die Bundle
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Altenew Jumbo Garden Picks Layering Die Set
Altenew Jumbo Garden Picks Layering Die Set
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Altenew Lacy Panel Die
Altenew Lacy Panel Die
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Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Cake Die Set
Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Cake Die Set
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Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Graduation Die Set
Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Graduation Die Set
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Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Heart Die Set
Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Heart Die Set
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Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Onesie Die Set
Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Onesie Die Set
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Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Present Die Set
Altenew Layered Gift Tag - Present Die Set
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Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha - Outline Die Set
Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha - Outline Die Set
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Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha - Solid Die Set
Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha - Solid Die Set
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Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha Solid and Outline Die Bundle
Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha Solid and Outline Die Bundle
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Altenew Mantel Decor - Winter Die Set
Altenew Mantel Decor - Winter Die Set
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Altenew Modern Fireplace Layering Die Set
Altenew Modern Fireplace Layering Die Set
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Altenew Watercolor Garden Layering Die Set
Altenew Watercolor Garden Layering Die Set
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Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-Alone Die Release Bundle
Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-Alone Die Release Bundle
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Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-alone Die Release Inspiration Guide
Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-alone Die Release Inspiration Guide
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Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-alone Die Release Mini Inspiration Guide
Altenew Winter Essentials Stand-alone Die Release Mini Inspiration Guide
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