Altenew Educators “Alphabet Name Game” Blog Hop, Linky Party + Giveaway

October 4, 2021February 3, 2022 Karen Brown29 Comments

“K” is for…..Karen! I was inspired to make an initial notecard for Altenew’s “Alphabet Name Game” Blog Hop. I love to make my own paper so I started by coming up with a color palette. I wanted a bright happy card so I selected aqua, green, yellow, pink and tangerine.

Ink Smooshing Technique

I started by making three inked panels. Here was my technique:

I liberally inked an 6×6″ acrylic block with Altenew Inks. I wanted an ombre gradient look so went in rows across the block.
I very liberally sprayed the inked block with water
“Smooshed” the block onto a piece of watercolor paper
Weighted the ink/block with a book for 5 minutes
Uncovered. If the ink pooled, I dabbed with a paper towel.
I made a “second generation” panel for the background by taking a piece of Bristol Cardstock and soaking up the excess ink on my work space.

Panel one and the background were made with Seashore Mini Ink Cube Set (Lagoon & Volcano Lake), Rainbow Prism Mini Ink Cube Set (Parrot & Warm Sunshine). Panel two was Coral Berry and Orange Cream.

I let the panels dry overnight and then I started my die-cutting. The “K” is from Altenew’s Mega Alphabet Collection and the grid background uses Altenew’s GardenTrellis Cover die, which is a favorite of mine.

Altenew Garden Trellis Cover Die + Ink Smooshing Technique.

Here is a closeup of the card.

Prizes:

$200 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $35 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 10/09/2021 for a chance to win.

There’s MORE! What’s a hop without YOU?! We have included an Inlinkz at the Altenew blog for you to enter your gorgeous Altenew “Alphabet Name Game” creations. We 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!

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 10/11/2021.

Hop list:

Michelle Ochoa Murray

Irina Fonina

Penny Pynnonen

Anna Patricia Mahtani

Karen Brown (You made it to the end!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Spellbinders: Susan’s Garden Party Geranium Basket

September 20, 2021September 21, 2021 Karen BrownLeave a comment

Spellbinders Geranium and Antique Wooden Bucket from Susan's Garden Club

Hello friends…happy Monday! I spent part of my weekend creating with this lovely geranium and antique bucket die set designed by Susan Tierney-Cockburn. I’ve always loved geraniums so this was an especially fun project for me.

Card Details

I wanted a lot of color variation in my geraniums so I started by “ink smooshing” four panels of watercolor paper.

I liberally inked a 6×6″ acrylic block with Distress Inks. I wanted an ombre gradient look so went in rows across the block.
I very liberally sprayed the inked block with water then “smooshed” the block onto a piece of watercolor paper.
I weighted the ink/block with a book for 5 minutes.
Next, I uncovered the panel and If the ink pooled, I dabbed the excess ink with a paper towel.

For the geranium buds, I used two shades of red on the top half of the panel and two shades of pink on the bottom. The colors mixed and mingled and gave me the color variation I was looking for. Panel #2 for the basket was done with a light tan and brown. Panel #3 for the leaves mixed three shades of green. And the background panel was created with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

Once my panels were dry, I started die-cutting with the dies from Spellbinders Geranium and Antique Wooden Bucket from Susan’s Garden Club. I used brown, pink and green watercolor markers to go around the edges of the bucket, blossoms and leaves. I then gently shaped the leaves and buds. To finish the blooms I added a dot of pink glimmer lacquer to the centers.

For the background, I used longtime favorite Spellbinders Essential Rectangles Etched Die on my blue background panel for a little subtle interest. I then mounted my bucket with foam tape and then glued on my leaves, blooms and sentiment,

Die Cut Geranium card with hand crafted papers.

This geranium die set is beautiful, artistic and very versatile. I can see using it for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Sympathy cards, Thank You Notes etc.

Thank you for visiting today!

Karen

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WWC256 – Kath\’s Challenge: All About Occasions

January 29, 2020 Karen Brown2 Comments

Hello and welcome. This week is all about \”Occasion\” cards at The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and Kath is our hostess.

I started by making an \”ink-smoosh\” panel. Here was my technique:

I liberally inked an 6×6\” acrylic block with Distress Inks. I wanted an ombre gradient look so went in rows across the page. I used Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean and Twisted Citron.
I liberally sprayed the inked block with water
\”Smooshed\” the block onto a piece of watercolor paper
Weighted the ink/block with a book for 5-6 minutes
Uncovered. If the ink pooled, I dabbed with a paper towel.

The next day, after the panel was dry, I die cut the B using the Altenew Mega Alphabet \”B\” die. I heat embossed the birthday sentiment and die cut a cover frame using Sunny Studio \”Frilly Frame Stripe\”. I glued the striped frame, B and sentiment to an A2 card. I like the clean simple lines of this card.

I am entering this card in Simon Says Stamp\’s Anything Goes Challenge

I am so pleased you stopped by!

Karen

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WWC253 – Karen\’s Challenge: Anything Goes With A Feminine Twist

January 8, 2020 Karen Brown7 Comments

Hello and welcome! I can\’t believe it is a new year…and a new decade. This week we are making \”feminine\” cards at The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Website and I am the hostess.

$Ink Smooshing with Altenew\'s Mega Alphabet T die and Large Thanks die.$

I ordered some Altenew Mega Alphabet dies and the Altenew Large Thanks sentiment so I could make some thank you cards. I wanted a bright happy card so I decided to do some \”ink smooshing\”.

I started by making two inked panels. Here was my technique:

I liberally inked an 6×6\” acrylic block with Distress Inks. I wanted an ombre gradient look so went in rows across the page.
I sprayed the inked block with water
\”Smooshed\” the block onto a piece of watercolor paper
Weighted the ink/block with a book for 5 minutes
Uncovered. If the ink pooled, I dabbed with a paper towel.
I made a \”second generation\” panel for the background by taking a piece of Bristol Cardstock and soaking up the excess ink on my work space. I had never done this before but I like having a softer but coordinated background for my card.

Panel one was made with Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron and Mustard Seed.

Panel two (thanks) was Abandoned Coral, Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed.

After the panels were dry, I die cut the \”T\”, thanks and floral images (Spellbinder\’s Month 7 Die of the Month and Newton\’s Nook Flower Trio die). I also die cut Sunny Studio\’s Frilly Frame to go over my second generation background. I used Gina K Connect glue to adhere everything to the A2 card.

I am pleased with this bright vibrant card.

I am entering this card in:
As You Like It Thanks Challenge

Dies R Us Challenge I used Spellbinders floral dies.

Always Fun Something New Challenge I made a second generation ink smooshing panel to coordinate with my die cuts. I had never thought to coordinate like this in the past.

Alphabet Challenge Try Something New I made a second generation ink smooshing panel to coordinate with my die cuts. I had never thought to coordinate like this in the past.

UPDATE: I was very pleased to be chosen \”Top 3\” at As You Like It!

I would love to see YOUR creation in our challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Ink Smooshing with Altenew Mega Alphabet Die

November 9, 2019 Karen BrownLeave a comment

I felt inspired by Altenew\’s November Inspiration Challenge and those lovely pink flowers. I just received several Altenew Mega Alphabet dies plus Altenew\’s large thanks die and wanted to play with them. I was thinking thank you notes and personalized stationary.

I decided ink smooshing on the Mega \”T\” die would be interesting. I applied two shades of distress ink: Spun Sugar and Pickled Raspberry to a 6×6\” acrylic block and then sprayed with water. I put the spun sugar at the bottom and the pickled raspberry at the top because I wanted gradient color. I put the ink/water side onto watercolor paper, weighted it down with a book and let it sit for 5 minutes. When that was done, I took a piece of cardstock and sopped up the remaining color for my background panel. I wanted the same colors but in a more muted watercolor look. There is a bit of pinkish linen in the color swatch so I did the same smooshing technique with Antique Linen. After the watercolor paper was dry, I die cut the \”T\”. I also die cut the \”Thanks\” die cut from Elm Green textured paper that matched the color in the inspiration color swatch. I then die cut small flowers from the antique linen, and pink watercolor panels. The leaves were left over from a previous project and I thought they added to the layout.

I assembled the card by putting the second generation sopped up ink smooshed panel behind a die cut cover and then arranged the die-cut elements.

I always give my mom a packet of cards for Christmas and I think I am going to include this one.

I am pleased to be entering this card in Altenew\’s November Challenge.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!
Karen