Tag Archives: Altenew

Always Stronger Together

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IMG_1598-Stronger-Together

I’m posting a card I made for two people in NYC who are near and dear to me. I’m sending prayers and nothing but good vibes to them and their fellow New Yorkers as they go through the pandemic together. Be brave, be strong, have faith things will get better!

To everyone out there who stumbles on this post, stay safe and healthy!

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps:
    • MFT Stamps: You’re Super and Super Boy stamp sets (girl and boy super heroes, respectively).
    • Altenew: Sketchy Cities stamp set (NYC skyline)
    • Simon Says Stamp: Stronger Together stamp set (sentiment)
  • Stencils:
    • Newton’s Nook: Clouds stencil
  • Dies:
    • MFT Die-namics: Coordinating dies for the You’re Super and Super Boy stamp sets.
    • MFT Die-namics: Oval shadows (for ground underneath superheroes). This may stamp set may no longer be available.
  • Inks:
    • Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black (Copic-friendly ink) for stamping super heroes and skyline
    • Versafine Ink in Onyx Black (skyline and sentiment).
  • Copic Markers:
    • For super hero outfits: Belt: Y423, Y35; Boots R29, R89; Cape: R29 (outside); R89 (inside);
    • For super hero skin tones: E51, E53, E02
    • For super hero hair: Girl: Y11, U21; Boy: C7 (leave small areas white (uncolored);

Mother’s Day Card inspired by the Met Gala

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This card was inspired by this year’s Met Gala! I don’t think it is anywhere near the over-the-top fashions that appeared at the gala. However, I was inspired by all the rich colors, elaborate designs and intricate detailing on the gowns as well as the touches of gold everywhere (hence, the gold glitter border).

I love this cover die, Antique Engravings by Altenew. The design is very delicate, and I found it a little fragile and difficult to work with but managed to die-cut and adhere it to the card front. I didn’t apply any adhesive sheets, like Stick-it, to the back of my cardstock before die-cutting the cover die. Sometimes I find that on something so intricate and delicate like this die, you can end up tearing the die-cut piece when you remove the backing of the adhesive. Instead, I patiently removed the piece from the die after cutting it and added tiny dots of liquid adhesive to the back. It took a while, but I finally was able to do this and place it onto a 4.0” by 5.25” piece of burgundy cardstock.

Hope you like this card! Have a great day!

How I made this project:

  • Die-cut the cover die piece from a 4.25” x 5.5” piece of white card stock. Note: It is important to use a metal shim and you may have to run the die through a couple of times to completely cut through the paper. The number of times depends on your die-cutting machine. I have an old Vagabond machine, so I went back and forth 3 times. I also adhered the cover die to the paper with removable tape (like Purple tape) to make sure the die and paper didn’t shift.
  • Gently remove the die-cut from the die.
  • Cut a burgundy piece of card stock to the size: 4.0” by 5.25”.
  • Apply liquid adhesive in little dots to the back of the die-cut. (Note: I used a fine-tip Zig 2-way glue pen.)
  • Adhere the die-cut to the burgundy card front piece.
  • Cut an A2-sized (4.25” by 5.5”) piece of gold glitter cardstock.
  • Adhere the burgundy/die-cut piece to gold glitter, placing it in the lower left-hand corner of the gold glitter piece.
  • Die-cut a banner from the same colored burgundy cardstock and prep this piece with an embossing bag.
  • Stamp the burgundy banner with a Mother’s Day sentiment using Versamark ink.
  • Sprinkle gold embossing powder on the banner and heat emboss it.
  • Adhere the banner to the card front using foam tape.
  • Mount the completed card front to an A2-sized card base.

Supplies I used in this project:

  • Stamps: Papertrey Ink: Keep It Simple Sentiments: Mother (for the Mother’s Day sentiment).
  • Dies: Altenew: Antique Engraving Cover Die; MFT Die-namics: Sentiment Strips die set (no longer available, but there are many other sentiment strips that could be used).
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80# (for the die-cut); Papertrey Ink: Scarlet Jewel (for matting the die-cut); Mirri Sparkle cardstock in Gold (for the mat underneath the burgundy piece); Neenah Solar White 110# for the card base.
  • Other: WOW Embossing Powder in Pale Rich Gold; Zig 2-way Glue Pen (fine tip).

Lavender Bud Thanks

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Single-Lavender-Bud-IMG_1008

I love clean and simple card designs. However, for me they are difficult to achieve. I think the difficulty in making such cards lies in knowing that more is not better and there is a fine line between sparse and just enough.

I liked the results of this card. There is a single image of a lavender bud, a simple sentiment, and a little bit of background for the bud so that things don’t look too sparse or unfinished.

Hope you like this project. Have a great day!

 

How I made this project:

  • Stamp the lavender bud and its green stem onto a piece of white cardstock.
  • Die-cut or fussy cut the stamped image.
  • Adhere foam tape to the back of the image for some dimension.
  • Stamp the distressed circle and sentiment onto a 4-inch by 5.5-inch piece of white cardstock.
  • Adhere the 4-inch by 5.5-inch stamped circle onto a 4.25-inch by 5.5 inch (A2 size) of colored cardstock (in the same color as the stamped distressed circle).
  • Adhere the lavender bud over the distressed circle.
  • Mount the entire card front onto an A2-sized card base.

Supplies used to make this project:

  • Stamps: Altenew: Lavender Bud (flower and sentiment); Altenew: Watercolor Frames (distressed circle).
  • Inks: Altenew: Midnight Violet (bud) and Parrot (stem); Catherine Pooler Inks: Shea Butter (distressed circle).
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar white 110# (for stamped images and card base; Papertrey Ink: Summer Sunrise for mat.

 

Hooray and Smile: A Cheerful Card

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I created a cheerful card to brighten someone’s day. The card is gender-neutral so it is appropriate for anyone. You can use different color palettes or combos depending on your own tastes or the tastes of the card recipient. I love cards that can be sent to anyone with just a few minor changes!

The stamps and dies I used are all by Altenew. Though Altenew’s specialty are gorgeous floral stamps, they have some great graphic stamp sets as well. I used two of them to make this card (the name of the sets is listed below in the supply list).

I used two colors in the same color family for this project. A light orange/coral to stamp the background and a darker orange/coral to stamp the small images over the dots of the background stamp.

Hope you like this project. Smile and stay happy. Have a great day!

How I made this project:

  • Stamp the Watercolor Dots background stamp onto a piece of 4-inch by 5.25-inch white cardstock. Make sure that the background stamp pattern is centered onto the piece white cardstock. This means that the dots on the background don’t hang over the edge of the cardstock. (Note: I used the MISTI stamp positioner to stamp the background to ensure even ink coverage.)
  • Stamp the small images include in the background stamp set over the background dots. You can stagger the pattern of the images, use only a few images in the set. I chose to use the asterisk, scattered dots and flower images and alternated them across the dots in the following order: asterisk, scattered dots, flower. I repeated this across each row of dots and then started with the next image of my pattern on the next row of dots (e.g. if the row ended with an asterisk image, I started the next row with the scattered dots image and then continued with the pattern.).
  • Stamp the speech bubble sentiments with the darker shade of orange/coral and die-cut them using the coordinating dies. If you don’t have the dies, then fussy-cut the speech bubbles.
  • Adhere the speech bubbles to the background dots card front.
  • Cut a 3.75-inch by 5-inch piece of fun foam to the back of the card front. This will give the card front added dimension.
  • Mount the background piece onto a mat in the same tone as the darker ink.
  • Adhere the entire card front to an A2 (4.25-inch by 5.5-inch) card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps: Altenew: Watercolor Dots background stamp set; Altenew: Speech Bubbles stamp set.
  • Dies: Altenew: Speech Bubbles coordinating die set.
  • Inks: Catherine Pooler Inks: Bellini (lighter orange/coral); Samba (darker orange/coral).
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 110# (card front and card base); Papertrey Ink: Berry Sorbet cardstock (mat).

 

Happy Autumn: Leafy Background in Autumnal Colors

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Autumn arrives tomorrow technically and where I live, the cooler Fall weather has arrived today! YAY!

Spring and Autumn are my favorite season, followed by Winter. This is mainly because I’m a creature that despises heat and humidity and I live in a place in the Midwest where we have plenty of that in the summer.

Spring is wonderful because things become alive and start blooming. Fall is wonderful because of what I’ve mentioned previously. Winter is great because I love wearing sweaters and it’s too cold outside to do anything but craft and make cards!

I love rich color and Autumn is the time of year where Nature’s rich textures and golden sunlight come into play. I hope this card captures some of the rich colors.

The card was easy to make as far as techniques go, just randomly stamped leaves using rich autumnal colors.

Hope you like this project. Have a great Fall day!

How I made this card:

  • Stamp a pattern onto a piece of white cardstock cut to 4” by 5.25” using various leaf stamps in autumnal colors.
  • Stamp the sentiment using Versamark ink onto a burgundy piece of cardstock.
  • Heat-emboss the sentiment using gold embossing powder.
  • Trim down the sentiment piece to 2.5” wide and 3.75” long
  • Adhere the sentiment piece to the leaf-patterned card front with foam tape.
  • Adhere the card front to a burgundy A2 landscape-oriented card base.

 

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps:
    • Hero Arts: Textured Leaves clear stamp set (leaf background)
    • Altenew: For All Seasons clear stamp set (sentiment)
  • Inks:
    • Hero Arts Bold Inks in Mulled Wine, Moss.
    • Hero Arts Shadow Inks Mid-tone: Pumpkin, Cup o’ Joe.
    • Catherine Pooler Inks: Mandarin Spice.
    • Versamark ink (for embossing).
  • Cardstock:
    • Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock (for leaf background).
    • Papertrey Ink: Scarlet Jewel cardstock (for sentiment and card base).
  • Other:
    • Wow Metallic Embossing Powder in Gold Rich Pale.

 

Congrats! A Starry Flowers Bouquet

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I love the vibrant pink and reds in this congratulations card! The card was inked/water colored using Distress Inks re-inkers. I placed a few drops of each of my chosen colors into separate wells of a small plastic palette and used them as if they were watercolors.

The gold centers of the flowers coordinate the thin gold stripe and sentiment. I’m really pleased with the overall results.

How I made this project:

  • For the fuchsia-toned background, I started with watercolor cardstock (Tim Holtz), wet the cardstock, and then used a paint brush to swipe color onto the cardstock. I started with my lightest color first and then gradually switched to dark shade and then darker shade of pink/red. I used 3 colors in all for the background and they are listed below in the supplies. The paper was well saturated with water and watercolor and I turned the piece of watercolor on its end vertically to let the lightest color run down into the darker colors. I also swiped the running colors with my paintbrush, so the cardstock was fully covered with color. I put the watercolor cardstock to the side to dry and later used a heat tool to make sure it was fully dried before assembling the final card.
  • For the floral image:
    • Stamp the floral image onto watercolor cardstock using a waterproof ink or one that is appropriate for water coloring.
    • Color the images with the chosen colors. The watercolor cardstock was dry, only the brush was wet with watercolor.
    • After the flower image is completely dry, add gold watercolor ink to the centers of the flowers.
  • For the sentiment: Die-cut the sentiment from gold foil cardstock three times. Adhere the three sentiments on top of each other for a raised, dimensional effect.
  • Final card assembly:
    • Cut a piece of white A2 cardstock on the vertical (longer) diagonal (from corner to corner).
    • Use one of the diagonal cut pieces for the top half of the card.
    • Cut a strip of gold foil cardstock and adhere it to the back of the white diagonal piece.
    • Die-cut the water-colored floral piece using the coordinating die. If you don’t have the die, just fussy-cut the piece.
    • Mount foam tape to the back of the cut out floral piece.
    • Adhere the white diagonal piece to the top part of the water-colored background. Note: decide which side of the water-colored background you want to be visible.
    • Adhere the floral piece to the white diagonal piece.
    • Adhere the dimensional sentiment to the bottom part of the card front.
    • Adhere the completed card front to a card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps: Altenew: Starry Flowers stamp set.
  • Dies: Altenew: Starry Flowers coordinating die set; Papertrey Ink: Wet Paint Cuts III die set (word “congrats”).
  • Inks and Watercolors: For the card front background: Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Picked Raspberry. For the floral piece: Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry and Barn Door. For the floral stem: Cracked Pistachio. For stamping the floral image: Versafine Ink in Onyx Black. For centers of the flowers: Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set (Light Gold color).
  • Cardstock: Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock; Neenah Solar White 80# (white diagonally cut piece); gold foil cardstock (from my stash). Neenah Solar White 110# (card base).

Hope you like the card. Have a great day!

Ellen Hutson/Altenew Pin-Sights Challenge: Have a Fabulous Birthday

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Have-a-Fabulous-Birthday

Ellen Hutson’s October Mix It Up Challenge incorporates products from Essentials by Ellen and Altenew.

I decided to use the Floral Shadow stamp set from Altenew. It features large, solid floral and foliage images.  I chose two ot the floral and leaf images as my focal point and stamped them in a bold, deep raspberry ink. I used my MISTI stamping tool when I inked and stamped them a couple of times. I wanted to insure that I had good, solid impressions.

The color of the flowers is rich and bold, so I decide not to add other colors or things that might detract from the design. I wanted the flowers to really pop against the front of the card, so I emphasized this by matting the card front against black cardstock.

I love the sophisticated look of the handwritten “fabulous” sentiment die. I die-cut the word three times from the same black cardstock and glued all three pieces on top of each other for more dimension before adding it to card. I also added 2 small label sentiments, stamped in black, to complete my sentiment.

A few clear, sparkling sequins were added for a slight bit of shimmer and I “colored” the flowers using a clear, Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to up the glitz a little more.

I’m really happy with the results, my project is bold and striking and uses a minimum amount of color and fuss.

Hope you like this project. Have a great day!

Stamps:

  • Altenew: Floral Shadow Stamp
  • The Ton: Basic Labels (sentiment)

Dies:

  • Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies: Totally Fabulous

Inks:

  • Hero Arts: Raspberry Jam Mid-Tone Shadow Ink
  • Tsukineko: Versafine Ink: Onyx Black

Cardstock:

  • Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock (card front)
  • Bazzill: Licorice Twist (black) cardstock (mat)
  • Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock (card base)

Other:

  • Wink of Stella Glitter Brush in Clear.
  • Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins (assortment).

WPlus9 Watercolored Anemones: CAS B-day Card

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Happy-Birthday-Flowers

Love this stamp set Watercolored Anemones by WPlus9 and its matching set of dies. There are many different stamp pieces for each of the individual flowers and leaves. This only gives all the images more depth and dimension if you care to use all the layers.

I have been playing with this set for a while trying to get the hang of layered stamping. I know everyone else is way ahead of me in their layered stamping techniques.I tend to worry that my stamping of the layers is always a little bit off, but I think that is also the beauty of layered stamping.

For this card, I chose to simply focus on layering the flower images. I keep the background foliage simple by only stamping the major foliage image once in a mid-tone green.

This card itself is a pretty straightforward design borrowing from the clean and simple style. The focal point is the flowers which I stamped in pretty pink/pinky coral shades. The flowers are place against a background of leafy bouquet foliage.  The flowers have been inked, die-cut and then raised using foam tape to give the focal point added interest and dimension.

A simple birthday greeting from the Altenew stamp set: Birthday Greetings completes the front of the card.

The original card front was 4.25”x 5.5”, but was trimmed down to 4” x 5.5”. The card front was then matted to the right onto 4.25”x5.5” pinky coral cardstock using 3M foam tape. This in turn was mounted onto a top-folding A2 portrait-oriented card base. Sequins were added in a pink/coral color and a cream color.

Hope you like this CAS card! Have a great day!

 

Supplies used in making this project:

Stamps:  WPlus9 Watercolored Anemones; Altenew: Birthday Greetings.

Dies: Wplus9 matching dies to Watercolored Anemones stamp set.

Inks: WPlus9 dye inks (listed from lightest to darkest): Little Piggy, Sweet Nectar, Sweet Gelato for flowers and New Leaf for background foliage.

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80# for card front; Papertrey Ink: Berry Sorbet cardstock (100#) for matting for card front; Neenah Solar White 110# for card base.

Others: Neat and Tangled Sequins in Cotton Candy and Buttercream.

 

Mother’s Day Card 2016 #2

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Here is my second post for Mother’s Day 2016 cards.

Best-Mom-Watercolor-Flowers-1135

The card front is a single-layer, stamped onto a 4.00” x 5.25” piece of white cardstock which was later glued to an A2-sized colored mat that coordinated with the colors in the flowers and the entire front of the card was mounted onto a top-folding A2 card base.

I used an Altenew layered stamp set (Watercolor Wonders). This is such a beautiful stamp set. The sentiment is from another stamp set by Altenew as well (Wild Hibiscus). After stamping the flowers, I used Versamark ink to stamp the flower centers and then heat embossed them in gold.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I have trouble with the watercolor and layered stamp sets that are so popular now. I don’t seem to be able to get the layered stamping the way I want it or the colors the way I want. I’ve practiced many times, and I think I finally understand how to use the technique and line up the stamps (or at least the Stamping Gods were with me when I made this card).

I love the results.

This is wishing you a happy, belated Mother’s Day!

 

Supplies used in making this project.

Stamps: Altenew: Watercolor Wonders (flowers) and Wild Hibiscus (sentiment)

Inks: WPlus9 dye inks: Little Piggy, Sweet Nectar, and Sweet Gelato (flowers); WPlus9 dye ink: Last Leaf (leaves); WPlus9 dye ink: Black (sentiment); Versamark ink for flower centers (later heat embossed in gold).

Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 80# for the card front, Stampin’ Up: Pomegranate (obsolete) for card front mat; Neenah Solar White 110# for card base.

Other Supplies: WOW embossing powder in Gold Rich Pale.

Live Like It’s Spring Every Day

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Live-Like-Its-Spring

It’s beginning to feel more and more like spring. I made this card to celebrate the beginning of the new season.

I realized I used a lot of shades of pink in making this card. I think I got carried away, not to mention that that while distress the background the blending got away from me a bit. I wanted the blending to be a lot lighter but made a mistake in using too much ink in one spot of the background and then had to even it out with more distressing. However, the final effect wasn’t bad.

I like the fresh look of the card and the airiness of the butterflies. The large butterfly was first inked using a layered stamp set from Altenew and die cut using a coordinating die and mounted on fun foam for added dimension.

Hope you are enjoying the beginning of Spring.

 

Supplies used in making this card:

Stamps:  Altenew: Painted Butterflies; Papertrey Ink: Mini Blooms; Paper Smooches: Luminous Spring (for the sentiment); My Favorite Things: Distressed Patterns (for the scattered ink dots).

Dies: Altenew: Painted Butterflies (coordinating dies for the stamp set by the same name);  My Favorite Things Die-namics dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax.

Inks:

  • For the background: Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry (dots); Twisted Citron for dots around the sentiment; Papertrey Ink: Bright Buttercup (dots around the sentiment).
  • For the sentiment and smaller butterflies: Ranger Archival Ink: Watering Can.
  • For the large butterfly: Layered stamping using Hero Arts: Holiday Reds by Lia Griffith.

Cardstock:

Neenah Solar White 80# card front; Neenah Solar White 110# for card base; Papertrey Ink: Raspberry Fizz for matting the card front.

Other:

Fun foam (for backing on large butterfly).

Peace To The World Card

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There is so much turmoil here and abroad that I thought I’d make a card wishing for peace in the world. By the way, I hope I don’t sound like a beauty pageant contestant by saying this!

Peace-to-the-World

I started by stamping two geometric images from an Altenew stamp set, Dodecagram in Delicata Golden Glitz ink. This is my favorite gold ink and I try to use it whenever I want to add a bit of elegance to a card. The sentiments from Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Brushstroke Christmas by Julie Ebersole were stamped in Scarlet Jewel, an ink from Papertrey ink. Small pearls from my stash were added to the center of the stamped images.

The card front was originally 4.25” x 5.5” but I realized that it looked a little bare so I trimmed it down and added 2 thin strips of cardstock in Scarlet Jewel (by PTI) and Antique Gold (Stardream Metallic cardstock) on the left side.  All of this was mounted onto an A2 top-folding card base.

The result was simple and I liked the richness of the colors in the card. I think the combination of the Scarlet Jewel (a rich burgundy-red) and the Antique Gold lend an elegant look. I love the “peace” sentiment in the brushstroke font paired with the thin block letters of “to the world”. The two fonts are a nice contrast to each other.

Hope you like the card!

 

Supplies used in making this card –  Stamps: Dodecagram by Altenew,  Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps Brushstroke Christmas by Julie Ebersole; Inks: Scarlet Jewel by Papertrey Ink, Delicata Golden Glitz by Tsukineko; Cardstocks: Neenah Solar White (80 lb. for card front and 110 lb. for card base), Scarlet Jewel by Papertrey Ink and Antique Gold by Stardream Metallic. Other: Pearls from Hero Arts.