Notable Nest: 2024

April showers bring ... all the Altenew flowers! The new Altenew May Release has no shortage of these May flowers, but also a lot of other must-haves, including the sweetest mini set with a birdcage and butterflies (sold out on the first day yesterday!), an exotic bird, and glamorous Art Deco elements.

You may have come from the blog of the amazing Jaycee Gaspar, but if not feel free to start this blog hop at the beginning on the Altenew Blog.

I admit, I'm a sucker for a plain stencil set! It always amazes me how much detail and beauty can be achieved without even a single stamp involved. This is the Stencil Art: Charming Delight.

Check out that detail in the center of the flower even! I added a bit with colored pencils, but wow. The two sentiments are from this set as well.

The border from Deco Cover Die adds the finishing touch, in a subtle way with a tone on tone die cut. Instatnt texture!

Here's the same Stencil Art: Charming Delight but this time I cut the main flower in half and used one half on top and the other on bottom.

Let's talk a bit about the Pixel Grid Cover Die, the ultimate in texture! I cut extra layers of the Charming Delight flowers, added those to the card base, and then sandwiched the Pixel Grid cover die in between the Charming Delight top and bottom layers. You get a lot of nice shadows this way.

The sentiments are nice from this set too - love the small font in all caps. The Hugs sentiment is a stencil and die combo, and since it was a stencil I was able to quickly combine the blue and purple colors.

I love Art Deco design, so was thrilled when I saw the Deco Frames, and this Streamlined Sprig.

It reminds me of an elegant stained glass, with the metallic gold outline. If you look close on the card base, you can see the Deco Fan Hot Foil Plate used as a press plate for a lovely background.

How about a tone-on-tone card - white-on-white is such a classic, and then when you add a bit of metallic gold : )

This time I used the Deco Fan Hot Foil Plate as a press plate on vellum to get a more pronounced impression.

One more project for the Art Deco supplies, the smallest Deco Cover Die is the perfect size to make your own custom faux book binding!! (and personalized tag)

Boy does it really shine when cut from metallic gold!

The middle of the Deco frame is the perfect size for the Tall Alpha Die set, and it's even on sale 30% off now!

Any time you can easily make a tall slimline card, you know there's a lot in the stamp set. This Build a Garden: Exotic Tuberose set completely covers the lower half of the card with the Tuberoses, and the upper half of the card with an exotic bird that was so fun to pick colors for.

Because of the tall nature of the card, I was able to use three of the sentiments from this set on the same card. I really like this set and all the design that went into it.

Finally, the Mini Delight: Butterfly Dreams Set is quite a workhorse. It's hard to believe such a tiny set can create such a large card.

Me with the gold again lol, but I love the gold accents on the black iron birdcage, with a gold sentiment in the "doorway".

Here's another sentiment from this set. To make the rainbow butterfly flock I lined up the outline and fill stamps in my Misti for the two butterflies on the right, and then kept rotating the square card 90 degrees and stamping again until it was all filled.

I had the Tall Alpha Dies out from the prior cards, and was happy to see that they fit in the birdcage as well (top right). This set came about quickly once it was set up.

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $50 gift certificate to 4 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 05/14/2024 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 05/16/2024.

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

Your next stop on this blog hop is Lhey Bella Ralston!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
- Kelly

Supplies used (thanks for supporting my blog by using affiliate links!):

Streamlined Sprig

Pixel Grid Cover Die

Deco Cover Die

Deco Fan Hot Foil Plate

Deco Greetings Stamp Set

Build a Garden: Exotic Tuberose

Mini Delight: Butterfly Dreams

Stencil Art: Charming Delight

Hello and welcome to the Colorado Craft Company new release blog hop! This release features the artistry of Kris Lauren, and several of her adorable critters.

What a cute sentiment! And scene to support it. In fact, this Good Company Stamp Set comes with two different choices of company to ride in your basket - this little bunny, or a fox. Either a worthy companion for Mr. Bear. There are also a few flowers to fancy things up.

Because the lines of the bicycle are so narrow for coloring, I didn't want to get out my watercolors, so I turned to my colored pencils. It's been a hot minute since I've played with these, and quite enjoyed it. Making fur for Mr. Bear was enjoyable, as well as the grass.

To finish this one off I sponged some yellow for a nice sunny day and blended a bit of sky on top of the card.

This little guy is just hands down adorable!! He looks so pleased with himself. He's from the Oceans to Fly set and is one of two different airplane pilots.

The sentiment is so cute for my little nieces and nephews! And I like that it can be for many different occasions.

Since the main image is small, I was thinking about what kind of background to make for the rest of the card. Then it occurred to me to just use the large airplane stamp!

The last card features the other airline pilot, who's quite excited to spot his adventure ahead!

I still had the colored pencils out from the bear riding a bicycle card so I put them to use on this card as well. It was fun to mix in a few different colors on the plane.

The banner sentiment is from a smaller set called Greetings Banner. After cutting the banner out and attaching it, I bent it up so it folds inward and would fit into an A2-sized envelope.

Originally I had just cut out several white clouds and layered them on the bottom of the card (see top photo). After photographing the card, I thought it was too washed out and didn't show well enough, and regretted not inking the edges before adhering them to the card base. Well, I decided to try inking the edges without removing the clouds from the card by slipping a piece of paper underneath the edges and sponging with the fine blending brushes which I love. I was happy that it worked!

I added another sentiment embossed in gold, and tucked it behind the cloud puffs.

Prizes!
We're doing two different giveaways! Enter as many times as you'd like until Apr 30th. Winners announced on May 2nd. Good luck!!

Giveaway 1: All designers will be giving away a stamp set from this release to a lucky winner that will be drawn from all the comments left on our blogs or instagram.
Giveaway 2:
We'll be giving away the complete release to one randomly chosen winner that has placed an order using your favorite designer's affiliate link (for example, by clicking on the links on the images in this blog post below).
Now it's time to send you to the blog of Kelly Taylor who will astound you with something amazing (as always)!
Here's a complete list of stops on this hop if you need it: