Altenew September 2022 Inspiration Challenge | Fall Inspired Card!

Hello and thank you for joining me for another Altenew Inspiration Challenge!

Fall is not quite here yet, but I can feel the nip in the air before work each morning as the temperatures have dropped considerably. I cannot wait for the splash of color to begin as mother nature transitions our landscape into its annual autumn beauty.

For this month’s Challenge, I wanted to use colors from the Altenew Metallic Watercolor 14 Pan Set that best match the colors in the challenge. To create this month’s card, I began with a piece of Legion Stonehenge Black Aqua Coldpress watercolor cardstock. I stamped the mandala image from the Altenew Blooming Mandalas Stamp and Die Bundle using Altenew Clear Embossing Ink then coated it with clear embossing powder and heat set it with my embossing tool.

The next step was to watercolor the image with the Altenew Metallic Watercolor 14 Pan Set – the colors I chose to use were Prasiolite, Rose Quartz, and Rhodolite to paint the image. Once the painted mandala dried, I used the associated die and my die cutting machine to neatly cut the image from the watercolor paper.

To add some texture and dimension to this card, I used another piece of the black cardstock, misted it with water, and utilized the Altenew Enchanting Vines 3D embossing folder to emboss the beautiful botanicals onto the cardstock. I followed that by adding silvery splatter all over the card front panel.

Using the Altenew Sweet Sentiments Hot Foil Plate and Die Set, I selected the Hugs sentiment and hot foiled it with a shade of pink hot foil onto a scrap of the black cardstock and cut it out with the coordinating die.

I applied double-sided foam tape to adhere the mandala and Hugs sentiment to the card front panel. Then to wrap up the card I chose some color appropriate gems from my stash and glued them to strategic places on the mandala and scattered about across the rest of the card front.

I was quite happy with the way my spin on the color selection for this month’s Altenew Inspiration Challenge turned out and I hope you enjoyed it as well. I cannot wait to see your project inspired by this month’s challenge image. You can start by clicking on the link below!

Fall Inspired Card | Altenew Inspiration Challenge

Thank you so much for stopping by to see me – I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…

Altenew August 2022 Inspiration Challenge | Summer-Inspired Birthday Card

Hello! I utilized the gorgeous color pallet above as my inspiration for this card. I hope you enjoy it.

When I first saw this month’s challenge color combination, I knew I wanted to watercolor a floral image. I couldn’t resist selecting one of my favorite Altenew products – “Captivating Blooms Outline Stamp Set” as my canvas.

To create this card, I started with some white watercolor paper and stamped the Captivating Blooms floral image using clear embossing ink and heat embossed the linework using a rose gold colored embossing powder. The Altenew Crisp Dye Inks I chose for this card were: Pastel Sunrise, Crimson, and Dark Chocolate.

Using the ink pads as my watercolors, I began painting each flower first with clean water then introducing the Crimson around the center of each bloom then adding the Pastel Sunrise beginning at the outer edge of each bloom until both colors met in the middle for a perfect mix. Then to complete the image I painted each of the stems and non-bloom portions of each flower with the Dark Chocolate ink – unconventional, but I love how it turned out.

Next, I stamped a second Captivating Blooms image onto another piece of A2 size, watercolor paper using Dark Chocolate ink for my card front. I trimmed down the watercolored version and applied foam tape to the back and adhered it to the card front ensuring the artwork lined up around the edges.

For my sentiment, I used Altenew’s “One-Go Birthday Greetings Stamp & Die Bundle” and stamped the greeting onto white cardstock and again using the Dark Chocolate ink. For my finishing touch, I applied some peach iridescent sequins for a bit of sparkle.

If you would like to play along and create your own summer-inspired birthday card, please click on this link to the Altenew Inspiration Challenge Post and have fun! https://blog.altenew.com/fun-birthday-card/

Creepin’ It Real

Sizzix / Tim Holtz released a very fun collection of stamps, dies, and Halloween accoutrement this year and my love of all things skulls inspired me to create this card. I used a couple of them in this design I hope you enjoy it!

This card panel all started with the Sizzix / Tim Holtz release of “Spencer”. I cut all the dies from white cardstock and used Distress Oxide Inks in various shades from Black Soot all the way up to Picket Fence to get the range of colors I wanted to create the skull. After the inks dried, I assembled the layers using Distress Collage Medium in the matte finish.

For the card’s background, I chose to go with a new member of my crafting stash – a 6×6 pattered paper pack from Whimsy Stamps called “Nevermore”. I selected the piece of patterned paper that I felt best suited Spencer and I absolutely love the piece I chose. There are so many good ones in this paper pack, but I could only choose one!

To create the frame, I used the Distress Black Two-Tone Woodgrain cardstock and a die set from Rubbernecker called “Nested Scallop with Holes”. I used the A2 sized frame from this set and used the Simon Says Stamp black foam squares to adhere the woodgrain frame and the skull to the background panel.

The only thing left was to add the greeting and embellishments. For the sentiment, I used the Simon Says Stamp “Spooky Salutations” sentiment strips. After selecting the sentiment that I wanted to use, I cut it out and used dark brown and black ink to edge the sides of the strip to give it somewhat of a weathered look. For my embellishments, I added a few gems from the Picket Fence Studios Gem Mixes called “Day & Night”. That’s it!

This was a very simple card that came together nicely thanks to the product creators.