Month: March 2023

cardmaking · Die cutting

Spellbinders Cards | Be Bold Blooms Floral Die Kit 3 Ways

Karen Brown2 Comments
Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms Die Set (S5-502) handmade card.

Happy Birthday to me! I had several crafty items on my wish list that I received as birthday gifts:

I thought it would be fun to combine these products together for a birthday blog post.

Using Sarah Renae Clark’s Color Cubes and Catalogue

I love color so Sarah Renae Clark’s bundle has been so fun to explore! I started by looking for color inspiration in the Color Catalogue and then I pulled out several Color Cube Cards that I found inspiring. I like to start with the Color Catalogue where I can search by Color, Key Word or Collection. I wanted a bright springy card so I began by searching for combinations with hot pink/magenta. For my first card, I settled on combination #35. My second card uses #218.

Once I had my colors selected, I matched them up with hues in my new Papertrey Cardstock. I love that there are 36 colors in each package!

Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms handmade cards in Pinks and Yellows from Papertrey Perfect Match Cardstock.

Spellbinders Flowers | Be Bold Blooms Die-Cutting Tutorial

I started die cutting with my Be Bold Blooms kit. I love the variety of flowers included…they are fun and whimsical! I used my Papertrey paper plus some Spellbinders Brushed Gold. I like that the gold adds a rich elegance without being too shiny.

I wanted to experiment with backgrounds too. For Card 1, I “debossed” my background panel with an older Embossing Folder of the Month called Intertwined Lattice. For Card 2, I die cut a frame with an old favorite Spellbinders Essential Rectangles.

Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms Die cut handmade card in blues and yellows.

I played around with layouts and once I had the die-cuts they way I wanted I carefully applied Press-N-Seal wrap over the top, flipped it over and applied Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the bottom of each piece. All I had to do was flip it back over, place, add a bit of pressure and then gently peel back the Press-N-Seal. So much faster than laying out, disassembling, adding foam tape and then reassembling piece by piece.

Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms die cut handmade card in blues and yellows using Papertrey Perfect Match Cardstock.

I added my sentiments (hello is from a past club kit) and was done.

Elegant Die Cut floral Sympathy Card.

I needed a Sympathy Card so did another quick card with white, gold and pink die cuts.

Die Cut Sympathy Card.

Products Used:

Have a great week!

Karen

cardmaking · papercrafting

Tips for Making Vibrant Colorful Cards

Karen Brown5 Comments
Tips for Making Vibrant Colorful Cards

Today I wanted to share some Tips and Tricks for making bold, vibrant colorful cards. The Featured Stamps are from Altenew’s March 2023 Mini Stamp Collection.

TIP #1: Use Watercolor Markers which have tons of pigment.

Below, you can see the watercolor panel that I used for my die cut word sentiments. I added Rubelite and Autumn Blaze from Altenew’s Spring Garden Brush Markers and then used a #18 brush and water to blend the colors. I did not increase the saturation on this card, the color on the screen is the true color in person. So bright and happy!

Making backgrounds with Watercolor Markers.

Products Used:

Altenew's Mini Coneflower Stamp and Die + Altenew's Spring Garden Brush Markers

TIP #2: Use Strips of Cardstock in Rainbow Colors

I like to keep strips of colorful cardstock on hand for quick cards. The strips on this card are each 1/4″ wide and they are a snap to make with your paper trimmer.

Using strips of colored cardstock to make colorful rainbow backgrounds.

Products Used on This Card:

Altenew's Mini Dogwood Stamp and Die on a handmade card.

TIP #3: Create a Rainbow Gradient Accent Strip

On Bristol Cardstock, I blended watercolors from Altenew’s Spring Garden Brush Marker Set in Rainbow Order. I used water and a #18 Brush to blend the colors. I created a 5.5″ x 4.25 inch panel and trimmed off a 1.75″ strip for this card, reserving the remaining panel for a future project.

Altenew's Spring Garden Brush Marker Set + handmade card

Products Used:

Altenew's Mini Dahlia Stamp and Die Set + handmade card

Thanks for stopping by! What do you think…..do you have a favorite?

Karen

cardmaking · Hot Foiling

Altenew March 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop #2 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Karen Brown35 Comments
Altenew Spark Joy: Sweet Strawberries Foiling Kit + handmade card

The March 2023 Altenew Spark Joy release is pure sweetness! These strawberries are just adorable and I had so much fun creating my cards. Today’s post is part of a HOP for the Marvelous Monthly series and there are wonderful prizes along the way.

Hot Foiling + Coloring Stencils

For my two cards I am using Altenew’s Sweet Strawberries Hot Foil Plates and Coloring Stencils. The darling sentiment is included with the kit.

Rainbow Foil + Coordinating Coloring Stencils on an Altenew Spark Joy Sweet Strawberries handmade card

For my first sweet card, I used rainbow foil with my plates and then I “colored” the images with the coordinating coloring stencils and Altenew Crisp Dye Ink. I LOVE coloring with stencils and with the slick cardstock (I used Yupo Paper on card #1), the blending is so easy. I got a great result foiling on Yupo paper. It isn’t bright white, but is a bit creamy and I love the soft result.

Altenew Sweet Strawberries Hot Foil Kit + handmade card.

For Card #2, I used X-Press It Blending Cardstock, black foil and I also added some black enamel dots. The X-Press It paper is whiter, but the foiling on the Yupo paper (Card #1) was flawless.

Hot Foiling on Yupo Paper and X-Press Blending Cardstock.

Products Used:

Giveaway Prizes

$300+ in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $100 gift card to 1 grand prize winner and a $20 gift card to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by March 26, 2023 for a chance to win.

Altenew will draw 5 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on March 28, 2023. *The grand prize winner will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew Card Blog.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

I am so pleased you stopped by!

Karen

cardmaking · papercrafting

Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive 2023 Blog Hop + Giveaway ($200 in Total Prizes!)

Karen Brown33 Comments

Altenew's Stunning Sakura + Trailblazing Fresh Dye Ink + Card

Hello, I am sharing two cards that I created using Altenew’s new Stunning Sakura stamp, die and coloring stencils for The Celebrating Parents Card Drive and Blog Hop!

For my birthday, I received received Altenew’s Trailblazing Fresh Dye Ink Mini Ink Cubes so of course I elected to use the periwinkle hues on this project. I also received Sarah Renae Clark’s Color Cubes (Volumes 1 and 2) and I wanted to use her cards for my color inspiration. I sorted through all the gorgeous color combinations and settled on #206, which you can see in the top left corner of the photographs.

Creating with Altenew’s Stunning Sakura Stamp Bundle

Altenew's Stunning Sakura Stamp, Coloring Stencil and Die on a handmade card.

Quick and Easy Coloring with Stencils:

How to Use Coloring Stencils + Altenew's Stunning Sakura floral stamp

I love the violet/lilac color combo!

Stamped floral card in Violets and Lilac purples

These cards are perfect for Mother’s Day….or a birthday!

We hope to see YOUR cards as part of the Celebrating Parents Card Drive.

Altenew's Stunning Sakura coloring stencils.

Products Used:

I really appreciate that you stopped by and are participating in this Blog Hop. Your next stop is Ishani and her projects are always such a treat! You can see the all the hop stops by clicking the button below:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Giveaway Prizes

$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/20/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/21/2023.

Giving Back Info

We have handpicked a few Altenew products that are perfect for your Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards (and other year-round crafting projects! Check out the collection HERE. We’ll donate $1 with every order of the products included in this collection from 2/28/2023 until 5/14/2023 to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

cardmaking · papercrafting

Altenew March 2023 Stamp/Die/Stencil & More Release Blog Hop #2 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Karen Brown56 Comments

Welcome to Altenew’s March Release and Blog Hop! I have SEVEN cards to share with you today. I was so excited and inspired by the Japandi Release….I had SO many ideas! I decided to do a “Rainbow” themed post and I am so pleased you stopped by. You can see Altenew’s entire release HERE.

Rainbow Gradient cards with Altenew Zero Waste Leaf Pattern Cover Die Kit.

Rainbow Gradient Handcrafted Cards

I started by watercoloring a bunch of panels for my cards, which I find this fun and therapeutic. On watercolor paper, using water and one of Altenew’s #18 brushes, I watercolored bands of color from Altenew’s Spring Garden Brush Marker set. I love how bright and vibrant the colors are with these markers! You can see two of my finished panels below.

Negative 2-For-1 card with Altenew's Zero Waste Leaf Pattern Cover Die.

2-For-1 Cards

Once my panels were dry, I started die cutting. My first two projects are 2-For-1 Cards using the beautiful new Zero-Waste Leaf Pattern Cover Die. When you are done, you have the pieces for a “Positive” Card and a “Negative” Card, and I love them both!

The Zero-Waste Leaf Pattern Cover Die and Archway Die Set (below) are part of the Zen Garden Ensemble from Altenew.

How To Make Rainbow Gradient Die Cut Cards:

  • On Watercolor Paper, paint rainbow bands of color with Spring Garden Watercolor Brush Markers and then blend with water and a #18 Paintbrush. I taped my panel to a hardboard with blue painters tape prior to painting. Dry.
  • I used the “Press and Seal” Method. After I die cut my Zero Waste panel, I smoothed Glad Press and Seal Multipurpose Sealing Wrap over the top of the die cut panel. I then flipped it over and using tweezers added cut Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back of each positive die cut. Next, I carefully flipped the panel over and adhered onto an A2 card base. Then I removed the Press and Seal.
  • I die cut my Simply Hello sentiment twice from black cardstock, glued the pieces together and added to the bottom right of my card.
  • For my Negative Card, I added liquid glue to the back of the panel and then adhered directly to an A2 card base. I added my Sweet Sentiments Celebrate die cut and shadow to the center of my card and voila, two bright and happy cards!
2-For-1 Cards with Altenew's Zero Waste Leaf Pattern Cover Die.

This Sweet Blossoms Layering Die Set is a real beauty and is definitely a new favorite!

Altenew's Sweet Blossoms Layering Die Kit + Rainbow Gradient Card.

You can see two of my watercolor panels just prior to die-cutting. I again used my Spring Garden Watercolor Markers and I really love the rainbow gradient across the blooms. For my sentiment, I die cut “For You” from the new Vertical Greetings Die Set and then backed with a scrap from the rainbow panel shown below.

Rainbow Gradient Card panels using Altenew's Spring Garden Watercolor Brush Markers.

Inlay Rainbow Die Cutting

Altenew's Archway Die Set + Rainbow Inlay Card.

Altenew’s new Archway Die Set is so fun and is perfect for mass producing cards. Cut the rainbow from 7 or more colors of cardstock, change the order and you can make a bunch of cards quickly. The included tree die adds a lot of interest. I added a coordinating sentiment and shadow from Altenew’s Sweet Sentiments Die Set.

Masculine Rainbow Card + Altenew's Archway Cover Die.

On card 2, I changed up the color order. I think these would be perfect for Get Well, Birthday, Graduation…

Rainbow Inlay Die Cut with Altenew's Archways Die Kit.

Quick and Easy Die Cut Cards

I thought the tree from the Archway Die Set was so pretty that I made a third quick and easy card. I die cut the tree from white cardstock and used the negative panel, placed Instant Dimension Foam Tape on the back and then adhered to my rainbow panel (watercolored with Spring Garden Brush Markers). I added a few of the white interior pieces and popped it on a fog A2 card base and added another die cut sentiment from Altenew’s Sweet Sentiments. Be sure to save the positive diecut for a future 2-For-1 card.

The Archways Die Set also comes with a third “Wave” die that I know you will also love!

Quick and Easy Rainbow Gradient Card with tree from Altenew's Archways Die Kit.

I used Altenew’s Leaf Essential Die Set for my 7th card and this card came together VERY quickly! On this card I used colored cardstock in bright vibrant hues. I added a few Enamel Dots and another Sweet Sentiments die and shadow.

Colorful Leaf Essential Die Cut Card + Altenew.

Giveaway Prizes:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a *$100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/12/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 11 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/13/2023.

You probably came from April’s Blog and the next stop is talented Tenia! You can see the all the hop stops by clicking the button below:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog. 

I am so pleased you stopped by and would love to hear which card was your favorite!

Karen