Thursday, February 13, 2020

Altenew February 2020 Stamp/Die/Stencil/Watercolors Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

 
Hello! I'm thrilled to help showcase the new Altenew stamp and die release, as well as a new set of watercolors and a reversible craft mat! First things first, you may have come from the blog of Lilith Eeckels, but if not please feel free to start at the beginning with the Altenew Card Blog.


1) Ornamental Bliss Stamp and Die Set

This is one of those sets where I would recommend clearing your calendar the first time you sit down to use it. There are just so many different possibilities on how to use this wonderfully detailed semi circular pattern! I'm going to share three different ways to use this set when you stamp the two halves together to form a circle. But, you can use it so many other ways (on top, on bottom, or on either side of a sentiment, as a background pattern all over a card base, on a die, etc.)


There are a few different components to this set. There's an outline stamp, which I've stamped in black here. Then you start coloring in the open spaces with stamps. Each different color you see here is a stamp. It's really neat how quickly you end up with a fully colored image! Inking up a stamp and having all the hot pink spaces colored at once is extremely gratifying.




The sentiment is from last month's Hello and Hugs set (I've used this one so much already!) I adhered the Hello die right over the design, and the black sentiment strip right over the hello die. The dots were stenciled through the Feeling Dotty stencil.


Here's where the new craft mat comes into play! The middle of the mat has an outline of a vertical and horizontal A2-sized card, including a clearly marked center line. So useful!! Now it's easy to see where you need to be stamping, instead of just eyeballing it. Especially for very symmetrical designs like this one.


Here's a second way to use this stamp ... just the outline of the design. Wow, take a look at all that detail on display! This card really couldn't be more simple, as it's just the two outline halves stamped together and a sentiment strip on top. But even though it's simple to make, it still packs a punch with all that detail.


I think this would be a great stationary-style card. It would also be a great candidate to make multiples of and give to someone as a set with different sentiments. Each card base is a different color, and you stamp the black outline design in the middle.


Finally, here's the third way to use this set ... skip the outline stamp and just stamp the fill-in pieces. I am really surprised at how much I love this look. It's not often I make a card without black on it.



There are a few layers on the "hugs" die to give it some separation from the busy background design. It's actually pretty easy to line up these two halves perfectly to form the circle. The key is to pay attention to the little flower image that extends to each side. It should completely overlap itself when you flip the semi-circle around to stamp the rest of the circle.


Three different looks for the Ornamental Bliss Stamp set, and still so many other possibilities and colors to experiment with!

2) Alpaca Stamp and Die Set



OK, now how cute is this guy? This alpaca will give your cards an instant sense of cool quirkiness. He's also got a bandana layering stamp that will allow you to customize the color of his bandana.


He's popped up over a background of the Layered Stars Die, with some gold glitter peeking out.

 



Super loving this background! It's the perfect combination of reaching across the entire card, without dominating the design. And all that texture from the dots!! Just perfect. I stamped this a second time in a light blush slightly offset from the first, and there's even a little more depth added. 


You can certainly add more depth to the watercolor roses with colored pencils, but not everything has to be mini works of art. I enjoy these blooms in their solid color for a more modern vibe.


I wanted to see how many different colors I could stamp the background in. It appears the answer is four! Or at least that's where I stopped. What a different look with the multiple stamping!



This set is really interesting. It's similar to the Ornamental Bliss set in that there is a stamp for each color in the design, including the mint background. How fun!





The other neat thing is that it's meant to go with the outline stamp from the Rose Blossom Stamp Set! Don't have that set? No worries, you can just use a felt tip pen like I have here and draw your own outlines.


This card is very similar, only I've included two of the panels horizontally. I think this one is my favorite of the batch.


The sentiment strip is cut to the same width to make one larger panel. Although I'm probably going to buy the Rose Blossom stamp set so I can have the outline stamp, it was pretty fun trying my hand at outlining the shapes on my own with a felt pen. 



Once again, I've probably gotten carried away with this release, but when you really love a set it's hard not to keep trying different things out. Thanks for making it all the way through!



Prizes:
To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by 2/18/2020 for a chance to win.

We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $20 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 2/21/2020.


Your next stop along this hop is the very talented Therese Calvird, who has some fun projects to share with you. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly


Supplies Used (clickable affiliate links below, I appreciate your support!)

Ornamental Bliss Stamp Set
Ornamental Bliss Die Set
Dotted Diamonds Background Stamp
Layered Stars Die Set
Watercolor Roses Die Set
Watercolor Roses Stamp Set
Warm Hugs Stamp Set
Rose Blossom Stamp Set
Cutting Mat
Watercolor 24 Pan Set

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Waffle Flower Release with Ellen Hutson - Four Modern Whimsy Baby Cards



Welcome to a blog hop featuring the new Waffle Flower release at Ellen Hutson! You may have come from Emily Midgett's blog, but if not please feel free to start at the beginning with Therese Calvird's blog.



Eeep! I love this set SO MUCH!!! I've been on the hunt for a modern "new baby" set for many years, so was overjoyed when one fell in my lap recently. The Design Ambassadors from Ellen Hutson were invited to select a set from the new Waffle Flower release and I did not hesitate picking out this Little One Baby stamp and die set. My husband's cousins are making babies like crazy (from 8 cousins we've got 22 babies, all age 13 and under!) It's awesome ... we've had a new little person at Christmas every year for the last decade!

Anyway, Brad's cousins are very urban and modern, so I never felt the "cute critters" were right for them. This set, however, is PERFECT! It's a wonderfully modern, yet whimsical style (modern whimsy ... is that a thing?!)



I'm just going to start with the good stuff. This one is my favorite! The die (lower left corner of the picture) is amazing ... it cuts the ENTIRE SCENE for you! Yep, in one pass you get the baby, two leaf sections, two birds, and three words. Not only that, but you don't have to spend time lining all of those dies over the stamped images!! It was almost too easy, and I kinda felt like I didn't work enough for it, hahaha.



In addition to being easy to die cut, it's also easy to color! Each leaf is one flick of the paint brush (for each color), so the coloring goes by super quick. The blending from white to deep purple (Catherine Pooler inks) came about from me trying to fix several oddly shaped drops of water. I didn't like how blotchy the water drops looked after I blotted them with a paper towel, so I went to town blending the heck out of the bottom to try and cover them up. Sure enough, the white water spots weren't nearly as noticeable, and I really liked the strong color on the bottom. Trash to treasure!



Are those little birdies not the sweetest little things? I still can't get over how they're cut out for you automatically along with everything else. The heart on the baby I just drew and cut out myself. Alternatively, how cute would it be to put the baby's initial(s) there?




Here's a quick card to show that you don't have to use all the foilage and extras, just stamping the baby and sentiment is pretty doggone cute!


This is one of the "extra" babies that you can swap out if you want a different pattern on the receiving blanket (check out those itty bitty florals!!) or a differet head of hair.



But back to the floral extras, because I love them, and they're so quick and easy to make. When you arrange them as intended, it makes the perfect circular design. And circular card! So sweet!


I chose a baby girl with a polkadot blanket for this card, and moved the words to be all together on top for the sentiment.


The final card is another marvelous feature of efficiency with this set ... take a close look at the frame, and basically every illustration aside from the baby. It's ALL ONE PIECE! Yep, that means more quick and easy die cutting!


Because it's so quick, I happily added a few additional cardstock layers so the design was nice and substantial. Can you imagine how long this would take to cut and piece everything together if the pieces were all separate?


I backed the oval with a colored piece of paper (actually just a copic-colored piece of paper) and arranged the die cut words so that the cursive continues with the border I drew around the card.


Sure hope you like this set as much as I do. I'm really excited to have a go-to set for making my "modern whimsy" baby cards!

Prize Alert:
One random & lucky commenter will win $25 to the EH shop! To enter for a chance to win, make sure to leave comments at each stop along the hop! Comment before Tuesday, February 18th at 11:59pm PST. Winner will be notified by email.

Your next stop is one of the amazing new Design Ambassadors, Ashlea Cornell. Ashlea not only makes some darn beautiful cards, but she's super fun to hang out with. We're so lucky to have her on our team!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies Used (affiliate links included, thanks so much for your support!)



Little One Baby, Waffle Flower Clear Stamps

Little One Baby, Waffle Flower Dies

Little One Baby, Waffle Flower Stamp & Die Combo

Wonky Backdrops By Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps

Queen For A Day, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Sugared Lavender, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Black Jack, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Sea Glass, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Tropic Teal, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Melon, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Bubble Gum, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Party Pink, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Citrine, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Leafy, The Stamp Market Ink Pad

Uni-ball Impact Gel Pen, White

36 Pan Set, Altenew Watercolor Paint