Altenew Celebrating Watercolors Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!

July 25, 2022July 25, 2022 Karen Brown62 Comments

Framed watercolor Poppy from Altenew's Watercolor Coloring Book

Altenew’s 36 Pan Watercolor Set

Hello friends! Did you know it is World Watercolor Month? To celebrate, Altenew is hosting a grand Blog Hop with LOTS of prizes and inspiration.

I LOVE Altenew’s watercolor products and I used them on my framed project. I started with the Poppy from Altenew’s Coloring Book and I painted it with the 36 Pan Set and Artists Brushes.

Watercolor Poppy for World Watercolor Month using the Altenew 36 Pan Set

The coloring book is such a great idea! There are 12 designs…24 printed pages on good quality watercolor paper. Each design has a black outline and a “no-line” outline. I am going on vacation soon and this coloring book will be making the trip as it is so packable. Grab the book, brushes and watercolors and I am set for hours of creating. I also think this would make a great gift!

I went slow while I painted and added layer upon layer of color. For me, this is the secret to watercolor painting. Add color and blend with a damp brush with clean water, let dry and repeat. The quality of the paper in the coloring book allowed me to add lots of layers without any worry about the paper breaking down.

This no-line Poppy was loads of fun to paint! I didn’t mix the paints but used the color right out of the pans. Lovely and feminine. I did add a few accents to the flower’s center with a black pen and white gel pen.

Pink watercolor Altenew Poppy. — Altenew’s Coloring Book

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this special blog hop, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 08/05/2022 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 08/09/2022.

Blog Hop Order

As always, I am so very happy that you stopped by!

Karen

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Altenew Paint-A-Flower: Clematis & Artist Alcohol Markers Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

February 22, 2021 Karen Brown35 Comments

Altenew Clematis Paint-A-Flower

Hello and welcome to the blog hop for the February release of the Altenew Paint-A-Flower series and Artists Marker Sets F & G. This month\’s Clematis stamp is GORGEOUS and so fun to create with. Altenew releases a new Paint-A-Flower each month and you can subscribe HERE so you don\’t miss a single set.

I spent an enjoyable and relaxing Sunday afternoon painting this beauty. When my kit arrived, I saw soft blues as I started planning my card. For the flowers, I used pale blue with soft lavendar shadows and pink highlights. I kept with the muted look by adding pale green leaves and the fencing was painted with watery yellow and tan. I added a hint of grey to the background and called it done. I used watercolor markers for a fresh bright watercolor look.

This is an interesting floral stamp as you can use it both vertically and horizontally. I added my favorite Painted Grid Washi Tape along two sides and the included sentiment \”Life Is Beautiful\”. I finished the card off with a couple of pearl grey New Day Enamel Dots. A fresh and lovely spring card.

Altenew F and G Artist Alcohol Markers

Pink, Yellow, Green, Aqua and Violet Altenew markers

Water Garden Artist Alcohol Markers Set G

Altenew is also releasing two new sets of Artists Markers and I thought it would be fun to try them out by coloring the same image with both sets. Weekend Doodles is one of my all time favorites sets so I decided to use it for both cards. Water Garden Artist Alcohol Markers Set G is full of lovely aquas, lavenders and browns. I wanted the flowers to be the star of this card so I used the Cross Stitch Canvas Cover Die to create a clean and simple background that adds a bit of texture and interest but keeps the focus on the floral elements.

Such lovely colors in this marker set!

Sunshine Valley Garden Artist Alcohol Markers Set F

Sunshine Valley Garden Artist Markers SET \”F\” is full of beautiful pinks, yellows and greens. For this card I wanted a coordinating background, so using my 36 pan watercolors, I painted pink (which I toned down with some green) on a watercolor panel and let dry. I then embossed the panel with the Modern Squares 3D folder , which gives beautiful dimension to your backdrop. This folder is one of my new “go to” backgrounds. I added some pink, purple and black spatters because I thought the panel looked too sweet.

Altenew Weekend Doodles + Altenew Sunshine Valley Garden Set F markers + Modern Squares 3D embossing folder

The Tea Party Enamel Dots coordinate beautifully with this set of markers.

Altenew pink, yellow and green Artist Markers.

This graphic shows the colors that come in each set.

BLOG HOP LINK

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 02/28/2021 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 03/02/2021.

BLOG HOP PARTICIPANTS:

Your next stop is: Svitlana Shayevich

Thanks for hopping by!

Karen

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Multi Media Cards With Loads of Gorgeous Texture

October 11, 2020 Karen Brown4 Comments

Hello, hello and welcome! I am excited to share a couple of cards that I made after taking Demystifying Mixed Media at Altenew Academy. I think I can safely say this is the most fun class I\’ve taken to date. Tania Ahmed is a wonderful and inspiring instructor and I went crazy making backgrounds! I made 7 cards and 8 backgrounds, two of which I am showcasing in this blog post. I will be sharing the rest of the cards in future posts.

I love that there are really no rules with mixed media. It seems the best thing to do is lay out your messiest supplies and then select a bunch for each card. Do not be a minimalist when experimenting with multi-media.

This first background was made by hand-dipping the background and custom tinting my embossing paste.

I mixed Zig Cobalt Blue with water and Irridescent Shimmer Spray and then dipped a piece of Bristol cardstock into the colorful puddle. I dried the panel and then repeated.
I tinted my Embossing Paste with Carved Pumpkin distress ink for a fallish vibe.
I swiped the embossing paste over my stencil with a palette knife. I wanted a rough look so I didn\’t cover the entire stencil and I made sure there was a variety of thickness to the paste.
While the embossing paste was wet, I sprinkled just a bit of Peach Embossing Powder on the paste and then heat set. I love the texture and interest it adds.
I heat embossed Altenew\’s Best Mom spray (in brown) and then watercolored and die-cut the image.

I think the aqua, sherbet and brown make for a very striking card.

My second card uses watercolored embossing paste, tulle (a first on a card for me) and loads of paint splatters.

I applied texture paste through the Feathered Leaves Stencil and then heat set.
Using diluted watercolors mixed with shimmer spray, I loosely colored the background in blue and yellow.
Using a damp paint brush, I feathered the watercolor edges and then dabbed with a cloth to soften the edges.
I added blue, yellow and black paint splatters.
I stamped, watercolored and die cut the Weekend Doodles floral spray.
I cut an oval from some tulle gift wrapping ribbon and glued to the back of the floral spray and then adhered the combo to the card base.
I added a simple sentiment embellished with Painted Grid Washi Tape.

I am also playing along with:

Creative Artiste\’s Mixed Media Challenge I used paint, shimmer spray, embossing paste, embossing powder and of course paper.

The Flower Challenge #49 \”Circles\” I love the textured circles on this background.

UPDATE: The top card won at The Flower Challenge \”Circles\” Challenge

I hope you will stop by in the near future and see the rest of the Multi-Media cards that I created.

Karen

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WWC292 – Dawn\’s Challenge: Anything Goes With a Feminine Twist

October 7, 2020May 21, 2022 Karen Brown8 Comments

Hello, hello and welcome! I created this card for this week\’s Watercooler Wednesday Challenge. I recently took Altenew\’s Artist\’s Watercolor 101 course taught by Emily Midgett and the last class was on painting \”white\” flowers. Such a pretty look but I had never attempted anything like it.

I started by heat embossing these big beautiful blooms (Picket Fence Studio Lily Coloring Class stamp). Next I created a diluted grey watercolor halo around the flowers. I started close to the image and then pulled the water out with a damp brush. To ensure my brush didn\’t have too much water I dabbed it on a stamp shammy. This really helps me control the amount of water I use. I let this layer dry completely.

Next I started on the blooms. I added very diluted grey shadows but remembered it is important to leave some uncolored white areas so the flower appears to be white. I then added bits of diluted blue and pink. Lastly, to brighten the bloom, I added hints of yellow to the edges of the petals.

I finished the background by adding diluted blue up close the the bloom and then moving the watercolor around the panel. I did the same with pink and yellow so the colors of the flower and background were the same.

This watercolor technique is very delicate and understated but is beautiful in person!

I am also playing along with:

Rainbow Card Challenge #22 Smoky Slate

Thank you for stopping by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy Watercolor 101

September 21, 2020July 2, 2022 Karen Brown8 Comments

$Watercoloring with Altenew\'s Inked Lotus plus coordinating ombre background.$ Hello, hello and welcome! I was so pleased to learn that I passed the Altenew Academy Level 2 Final and can now begin working on Level 3 courses! For my first level 3 class I chose to take Artist\’s Watercolor 101 taught by Emily Midgett. It may be my favorite class to date! Emily\’s explanations and demonstrations are excellent and so easy to follow. I had so much fun during this class that I included two cards in this blog post encompassing three of Emily\’s lessons.

I watercolored the lotus using techniques in we learned in Lesson 2: Basic Watercoloring and the background is from Lesson 3: Ombre Backgrounds. I chose to use the lotus stamp because the \”sketched lines\” help indicate where the shadow should go.

My Process:

I wanted to use fall colors so I started by heat embossing the bloom with chocolate brown embossing powder. Emily taught us to slightly elevate the panel and then slowly build layers of color starting at the inked lines and then pulling the color out with a damp brush. The watercolors were fairly diluted. I started with yellow, then moved to orange, then scarlet and then a more concentrated scarlet in the deepest shadows. The first layers should have with widest application of color and each new layer should stay closer to the inked lines.

Keys to Remember:

In the past, I think I\’ve had too much water on my brush. Emily showed us that if you dab your brush on a stamp shammy you will have the correct amount of water. This really helped me.
Use fairly diluted watercolors.
Keep the tip of the brush pointing away from you. Rotate the paper and use the slant of the board to move the paint.
Remember to let each layer dry before beginning on the next layer.

I wanted a coordinating background so I used the same colors that I used to paint the lotus. I taped the watercolor panel to a board to reduce warping, elevated the board and then started painting at the top with a #12 brush. We learned to put darker color at the top and then pull the color down with a damp brush. Keep adding color and then maneuvering the color around with a damp brush. Flip the board, skip an area and then add the third color then pull the color toward with scarlet. Pull color down and push the middle color up. Continue adding layers of color and keep blending. I die cut the lotus, heat embossed a sentiment on cocoa card stock, assembled with foam tape and added some buttercream jewels. I like how bright, intense and cohesive the color palette is. I am very pleased with this card.

I find no-line watercoloring very intimidating so I was eager to start lesson #5. I feel like it is an advanced technique but Emily broke the steps down in such a way that I was comfortable painting. I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast the same lotus flower painted with the two different techniques.

$No lIne watercoloring with Altenew\'s Inked Lotus$

Emily recommends no line stamping with Ink on 3 Fadeout. This was my first time using this ink and it worked well. The key to no line watercoloring is to maintain contrast between the light and dark areas.

I started with fairly diluted paint, put my first color down and then pulled it out with a damp brush. Skip to an area that does not touch and then repeat the process until the first layer is down. After the first layer is dry, start with the second color but don\’t cover all of the first layer. Dry and add color 3 to the nooks and crannies. Do not add the third color to each petal as this keeps interesting contrast. Add the 4th color to the darkest shadow areas.

For the background, I randomly stamped \”mini branches\” on about half the background with pink. Next, starting at the top, I ink blended a gradient toward the bottom. The bottom third of the card does not have any color.

I assembled the card and added a navy die-cut sentiment and some water drop embellishments.

Here are both cards side by side. Which do you like best?

Altenew Featured Products: Here

Inked Lotus stamp and die bundle

Mini Branch stamp

Altenew Envelopes

I also wanted to play along with:

The Rainbow Card Challenge #21 Autumnal Amber. I am submitting my first card that was done in shades of autumnal amber.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Karen

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Altenew Academy: Color Your Day

August 2, 2020 Karen Brown3 Comments

I just finished this card for Altenew Academy\’s Color Your Day and I wanted to share it. This is the second class I\’ve taken with Therese Calvird, and she is an excellent instructor! She is creative, calm and explains her lessons well.

Today\’s card was inspired by Lesson #1. Therese showed us some loose watercoloring and I loved the color blue she used (Tombow #493). She also suggested that we leave a little white around the edges and I really like that look.

$Altenew Smile More with a die-cut frame made from Spellbinder\'s Essential Rectangles.$

My process: I stamped my blooms and leaves on watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx black ink. I then partially colored the images and then used a wet brush to move the color around. I was sure to leave a bit of white around the edges. Therese also suggested using just a hint of neutral for the flowers center, which is really pretty. Normally I would color the centers yellow. I added some clear glossy accents to the flower centers.

Supplies:

Altenew Smile More stamp and die bundle

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Watercolor Paper

Tombow Markers: 493, 443, N45, 173, 133

Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Spellbinders Essential Rectangles for the frame

Foam tape for the three blooms and sentiment

Liquid glue for the other elements.

I also wanted to play along with:

Simply Less Is More \”Summer Flowers\”

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen

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WWC281 – Heidi\’s Challenge: All About Occasions

July 22, 2020 Karen Brown7 Comments

Hello and welcome! This is my design team card for Watercooler Wednesday\’s All About Occasions Challenge and Heidi is our hostess.

I\’ve created a birthday card using a faux watercoloring technique. I used bright summer colors and added a bold birthday sentiment die-cut using navy cardstock.

Supplies Used:
Altenew Inked Lotus stamp and die bundle

Altenew Golden Peach Embossing Powder

Distress Inks: Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, Pickled Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn

Simon Says Stamp Happy Birthday die cut

Picket Fences Blending Brushes

Watercolor Paper

Navy Cardstock (for sentiment die cut)

Cream A2 card base

I am also playing along at:

The Flower Challenge: Summer or Fall I love summer and used bright, happy colors that I associate with summer.

The Paper Players #500 \”Clean and Simple Celebrate\” Challenge Congratulations on 500!

Inspired By \”Pretty Blossoms\” I was inspired by the floral theme and the colors in the bouquet.

I am so pleased you stopped by and hope to see your card in our challenge gallery.

Karen

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Altenew Academy Level 1 Final Project

July 1, 2020 Karen Brown5 Comments

I\’ve been working my way through Level 1 at The Altenew Academy and just completed my Final Project which was to create a set of \”feminine\” and \”masculine\” gifts sets. I have to say I learned so much and had loads of ideas but I would like to show you the cards I created for my final project. I incorporated lessons I learned in:

Let It Shine where we discovered how to add just the right amount of sparkle and shine to a card. I used metallic heat embossing and metallic watercolors on my feminine cards.
Easy Die Cutting where we learned to use die-cutting to up the \”Wow\” factor. I used die-cuts on each of my cards as I think they add loads of impact and felt this unified both card sets.
Easy Ink Blending – I used several ink blending techniques on my masculine card set. My two favorites were the soft blue background on the Healing Wishes card and the die-cut spotlight circles on the Get Well Soon card.

For my \”feminine\” cards I wanted subtle metallic touches combined with watercoloring. I kept the set cohesive by using cream card stock/watercolor paper, floral images, a pink and green watercolor palette and navy die-cut sentiments.

For this first card, I created a metallic watercolor background which is so pretty in person. I then stamped, heat embossed and watercolored the floral images. After the flowers dried I added a pearlescent white gold watercolor wash over the top which gave the flowers a beautiful sheen. I die cut the images and attached with foam tape. The next photo shows the first three card in process.

Here are the cards that round out the gift set. On each card I used big bold die-cut occasion sentiments cut from navy cardstock.

I really like this feminine spray and think the navy die-cut sentiments are beautiful and anchor the look of this set.

The painted Lotus die-cut is so pretty in person.

I did want to share this process photo as well.

The Feminine Set

For my \”masculine\” cards I chose to use an overall blue theme with ink blending techniques and Altenew\’s Garden Grow as the unifying elements. For my first card, I ink blended a background and used peek-a-boo die cut windows to spotlight my images. During quarantine, I\’ve been sending so many encouragement cards that I wanted to include one in this set.

I made a companion card using the die-cut circles from the card above. I ink blended the spotlight circle, added die-cut images and anchored with a strip of masculine brown paper.

The next two cards have a soft ink blended background to draw the eye to the die cut.

I thought a birthday and recovery card would round out the gift set.

Here is an in-progress photo. The die cut elements were attached to each card with foam tape.

PRO TIP: I blended one background on Neenah (Birthday) and the second on Bristol (Healing Wishes) to see which provided a smoother look. The Neenah panel (below left panel that is now the Birthday Card) is whiter but the Bristol (right panel that is now the Healing Wishes card) is far easier to blend on and resulted in a smoother background. In the future, I will remember to blend my backgrounds on Bristol cardstock.

And here is the masculine set.

We were challenged to use a recycled element in each set. For the feminine set I recycled a small Kraft gift bag and for the masculine set I re-used an elegant chocolate brown box. I heat embossed some tags to top each set.

Altenew Products Used:

Altenew Weekend Doodles stamp and die bundle

Altenew Best Mom stamp and die bundle

Altenew Inked Lotus stamp and die bundle

Altenew Garden Grow stamp and die bundle

Altenew Mini Branch stamp

Altenew Jet Black Crisp Die Ink

I am so glad you stopped by. I\’d love to hear what you think about these card sets. Thanks!

Karen

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Altenew Academy: Celebration Stencil Techniques

June 4, 2020 Karen Brown4 Comments

Hello and welcome. I just finished a wonderful Altenew Academy course and I am excited to share my card with you. Laurel Beard taught us stencil techniques and I loved them all! This is my favorite card from the class. I also used my favorite Altenew stamp and die bundle called Weekend Doodles.

My inspiration came from lesson 3: Stamping with Stencils and I chose to watercolor over my stencil.

My Process:

I taped my stencil to a 6 x 6 piece of watercolor paper. Next, I wet my watercolor paper well with a brush. I then \”pounced\” three colors of distress ink onto the wet watercolor paper.
I haven\’t used my Zig markers in months but they were exactly what I wanted for this project because of their bright vibrant colors. I heat embossed my floral image, colored with Zigs and then die cut.
I die cut a white panel for the sentiment and to provide some contrast with the bold stripes and then heat embossed the sentiment. I glued the white panel to the background and then used foam tape to adhere the flowers.

Supplies:

Altenew Watercolor Stripes Stencil

Altenew Weekend Doodles stamp and die bundle

Distress Inks: Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron

Zig Markers: Emerald, Green Shadow, Pale Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Yellow and Bright Yellow.

Watercolor Paper

Neenah Cardstock

Versafine Onyx Black ink and Clear Embossing Powder

Liquid Glue

Foam Tape

I am also playing along with:

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #458

Lil Red Wagon Create Your Own Background Paper Challenge

Seize The Birthday All About Summer Challenge

I was so pleased to see this card chosen as a Top 3 at Tuesday Thowdown!

I am so pleased you stopped by and I would love to hear what you think about this card.

Karen

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WWC274 – Dawn\’s Challenge: Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist

June 3, 2020 Karen Brown7 Comments

Hello and welcome! We are making \”feminine\” cards this week at The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Website and Dawn is our hostess.

I\’ve been admiring \”grid\” cards online and decided I wanted to make a watercolor botanical version.

My Process:

I decided to make an oversized A6 card since there is so much going on with the layout. I started by sketching six 1 1/4\” by 1 1/2\” rectangles on a watercolor panel. I added clean water into the first rectangle and then dropped in sap green and turquoise and let them blend for this wet on wet technique. I repeated this process for each rectangle, varying the color combinations as I went. The images were heat embossed for a vibrant silhouette. I backed the panel with craft foam and popped on an A6 card base made from watercolor cardstock.

I really like the framed silhouette look.

Supplies:

Altenew Garden Grow stamp set

\”Hi\” sentiment from Altenew Pinstripes background die

Watercolor Paper

Watercolors: sap green, turquoise, blue, olive, yellow and orange

Versafine Ink

Embossing Powder

Heat Gun

Brushes

I am also playing along with:

The Inspired Challenge: All the Details I was inspired by the grid layout and floral/botanical paper flowers.

Addicted to Stamps: Make Your Mark Challenge I made my mark with Watercolors.

Time Out \”Free\” Challenge I took \”time out\” to create this garden card. My husband and I have afternoon lattes in the garden every afternoon and that is where we enjoy spending our \”free\” time.

Hand Stamped Sentiments: #340 Challenge I was inspired by the squares.

I am so pleased that you stopped by!

Karen