Welcome to this special blog hop in celebration of Altenew’s Celebrating Parents Card Drive.
Each year, for Mother’s/Father’s Day, Altenew send cards out to Nursing Homes & Senior Centres, at what can be a very difficult and lonely time for seniors.
As cardmakers we know how special a handmade card is, and the love & warmth it can symbolise for the recipient. So, if you are able, please consider sending cards to this special cause.
Each person who does send cards is also eligible for the chance to win one of five $30 gift cards! For full information on the Card Drive itself, along with details of how & where to send your cards please see Altenew’s Celebrating Parents Card Drive blog post.
Today’s Blog Hop + Giveaway
$200 in total prizes!
To celebrate this great cause, 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 03/31/2021 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 04/2/2021.
Blog Hop links below!
Queen Anemone Layering Stamp Set
I decided to use the Queen Anemone stamp set but I paired it with a technique taught by Jaycee Gaspar in one of his recent Altenew videos. (You can check it out HERE.)
He showed how he adds further depth & definition to his layering stamps, by using a slightly darker ink in the centre and a small ink blending tool to soften the edges to avoid harsh lines.
I had fun playing with the Martian Terrain Ink Family on the wider opened flowers, switching between the first three colours and the last 3 colours, to give me some lighter & darker ones.
For the other flower, I used Buttercream, Caramel Toffee & Paper Bag to stamp out the flowers, then I added a layer of Pastel Sunrise to some and Canyon Clay to the others.
This gave me some lighter & darker shades, but the addition of the red/amber of the Martian Terrain inks really warmed up the soft browns in the other inks.
I really love how they came out!!
I stamped out the leaves with a mix of Moss, Olive & Parrot inks, and I used Olive & Honey Drizzle to do the centres of the flowers.
Once I was happy with my images, I fussy cut each of them, leaving a small white border.
I created two card designs with these beautiful florals, and even though I used the same images, the finished cards came out looking completely different!!
Card 1
I cut the Stacked Diamond cover plate die from Neenah 80lb, then I grabbed my scissors and cut that die cut apart.
I trimmed away the entirety of the thick border, because I wanted just that thin line work, then I trimmed down an organic shape from that to be a backdrop for my floral arrangement.
I wanted to add some tone on tone texture behind my focal images, but without taking away from them too much.
I glued this onto a 4 x 5.25 inch panel of Neenah 80lb, and added my images on top using a mixture of glue and adhesive foam.
I cut one of the Essential Sentiment Strips dies from 110lb Neenah twice, I used some double sided adhesive on the back of one to keep the letters in place; I blended some of the Canyon Clay onto this, then glued the other over the top.
I really like the way that looks and I will definitely be doing it again!
The doubled up sentiment has the same thickness that I would usually use 4-5 80lb die cuts to get; so I think 110lb is the way to go for fiddly, stacked Alphas and such!
I used some of the background die offcuts to add smaller areas of the pattern to two corners, and I embellished the card with a few well placed Satin White Sequins.
Altenew have chosen a few products that are great for your Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards (and other year-round projects)!
- Simply the Best Stamp Set
- World’s Best Dad Stamp Set
- Thanks, Dad Stamp Set
- Thanks Around the World Stamp Set
- Courageous You Stamp Set
- Arabesque Medallion Stamp Set
- Extra Special Stamp Set
- Precious Moments Stamp Set
Altenew will donate $1 with every order of the above stamp sets from 3/6/2021 until 5/31/2021 to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.
Card 2
I opted for a Slimline design this time, and I took inspiration from another of Jaycee’s recent videos for Altenew by cutting apart the embossed pattern from one of the 3D Embossing folders. (You can see that video HERE.)
I used the Geo Steps embossing folder on a piece of deep teal cardstock; I absolutely love the way this thicker cardstock takes every part of the detail in these 3D embossing folders so well!
I used my tiny snips to cut out two portions of the design, lining them up on a slightly smaller than slimline card panel to gauge how big I wanted them to be.
Once I was happy with the size and shape of each piece, I popped them back into the Embossing Folder to run them through my die cutting machine again. This freshens up any of the details which may have got lost during cutting; it’s really easy to put them back in the same exact space, because they literally lock back into place.
I cut the waterbrush hello from Neenah 110lb, and to make sure it really stood out against the white background, I just used the bit of ink left on my brush from earlier to blend a little colour on the lower half.
I finished this design off with some more of the Satin White Sequins and glue it to a Slimline card base.
You should have arrived to me from the wonderful Nandini Karmarkar‘s blog.
Next up is the lovely Preeti Chandran‘s blog.
Here is the full lineup for your convenience:
*Affiliate links are used, where available; this means that I may get a small commission if you purchase using one of these links, at no extra cost at all to yourself.A huge thank you goes to anyone who does purchase using my links, it is so highly appreciated. ?
Affiliate links are used MINI MISTI Shop at: ALT |
 Neenah 80lb Shop at: ALT |
 Neenah 110lb Shop at: ALT |
 Altenew Tropical Forest Mini Ink Cubes Shop at: ALT |
 Altenew Sentiments Strips Shop at: Scrapbookcom | ALT |
 Altenew Bone Folder Shop at: ALT |
 Altenew Martian Terrain minis Shop at: ALT |
 Small Blending Tools Shop at: ALT |
 Geo Steps 3D Embossing Folder Shop at: ALT |
 Waterbrush Hello die Shop at: ALT |
 Queen Anenome Stamp Set Shop at: ALT |
 Honey Drizzle Shop at: ALT |
 Summer Afternoon Shop at: ALT |
 Stacked Diamond Cover Die Shop at: ALT |
 Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set Shop at: ALT |
 Satin White Sequins Shop at: ALT |
 Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Scrapbook Pal |
 Gemini Jr Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
 Scrapbook Adhesive Foam Squares Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Scrapbook Pal |
 Tim Holtz Trimmer 8.5inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
 Stamp Shammy Shop at: Scrapbookcom | Scrapbook Pal |
 Vellum Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
 Tim Holtz Scissors 7inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
 Tim Holtz Mini Snips 5inch Shop at: Scrapbookcom |
Really Beautiful cards!!!
Thank you ?
Beautiful cards! I Love the bright blooms!
Thanks Nandini ?
Thank you ?
Beautiful cards! The coloring and color choices are amazing.
Thanks so much ??
Thanks so much!! ?
Very pretty, I like both cards. Your colors are a good mix.
I love the citrusy feel of these queens. Zesty!
Gorgeous cards, love the colors
Such gorgeous flowers!
A wonderful cause! The color of your flowers are so eye catching!
So beautiful!
Nice flower colors!
Thank you! ?
WOW! Both of your cards are beautiful!
Absolutely gorgeous cards! I especially like the one with blue – it perfect with those vibrant flowers!
Thanks so much Esther ??
The change in colors changes the look completely. They are all just gorgeous, but so different from each other….nice!
Just love these!
Thank you ?
Amazing card. Thanks for sharing
Thank you! ?
Beautiful color choices! ??
Thank you ?
Such beautiful details. Thanks for the opportunity to win.
Thank you! ? Good luck with the giveaway!
WOW! love the background on the A2 card. great idea. thanks for the inspiration. beautiful cards.
Thank you so much ? Glad I inspired you! ?
Such interesting backgrounds for your lovely flowers. Thanks for the details on how you created the cards.
Thank you Sarah ?
Beautifully colored flowers, and I really like how you cut up that background die. So creative and pretty.
Thanks so much! ? I’m so glad you like it!
Very pretty cards and layout with textures. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you ?
Both cards are beautiful, but I really love the first one! I especially love the background you created by trimming that cover die!!
Thank you so much!! ? I’m really glad you like them and I hope that I inspired you to try cutting up your die cuts for a different look! ?
These cards are show stoppers! I love the designs and they are so different yet both enchanting! Gorgeous!
Thank you so very much!!! ? I’m so glad you like them and I hope I could inspire you ?
So Spring fresh and gorgeous!
Thank you ?
Pretty, pretty cards.
Thanks Melanie ?
I don’t usually do orange – but these cards are beautiful. Thanks for helping me reconsider a colourr!!
Wow! Thanks so much! ? I’m glad I could inspire you to consider orange! ?
Great arrangement. I like the use of the cover die. Great ideas to create for the drive.
Thanks so much! ?
Awesome cards! I love the background texture on the first one!
Nice job on these.
Thank you ?
Wow!! Such a beautiful card.. I love it!! ?
Thank you!! ?
Love, love, LOVE the Orange colors!!! Just beautiful!
I’m so glad you do! Thank you! ?
Gorgeous cards with these beautiful flowers!
Very unique and beautiful cards.
Beautiful cards..
Beautiful color palette and I love the composition of the flowers.
Love the orange and navy together!
Oh, you made me very happy today! I just got my Queen Anemone set in my happy mail yesterday, and now I can’t wait to use it. Your cards have given me some amazing tips and ideas! They are just so beautiful!
Now you have made me so happy!!! ?
Thank you so much for your very kind words!!
I’m so glad that I could inspire you and I love that you are so excited to play with your new stamp set!!!
Happy Crafting! ?
Oooh love the colors and texture. The coloring is beautiful. Unexpected for me color combo and I love it.
stunning design!
Simply adorable! Both cards are so beautiful and unique.