Saturday, February 1, 2020

Altenew Build-A-Flower: Begonia Release Blog Hop + Giveaway



Hi Folks! Welcome to the new Build-A-Flower: Begonia release blog hop! You may have come from the blog of Therese Calvird, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Altenew Card Blog


What an awesome flower this month, with all those details in the Begonia! As soon as I was done stamping the first flower I smiled to myself thinking how flippin' long it would take me to color this all by hand.


I graduated with an accounting degree from University of Illinois (not sure if you knew that, I never really talk about it) so I'm often wanting to quantify things. Mathematically, if you consider there are about 20 petals on this flower, and an average of 15 brush strokes per petal, and two main color layers with brush strokes, that comes out to ...
600 BRUSH STROKES

and if you consider there are two flowers on this card ...
1,200 BRUSH STROKES

Whew! One would really need to rest their arm after that. So, I guess it's a darn good thing the layer stamps do everything for us! :



You may have noticed I referred to two flowers on this card. One trick I like to do to be more efficient with my time and supplies is to slice a flower in half and make it into two partial flowers. I adhered the larger section of the flower on the left margin of the card, and I flipped around the smaller section of the flower and adhered it to the right margin of the card.



The background of the card is a subtle pattern from blending charcoal ink through the Flowing Drops Stencil on the gray cardstock. The sentiment comes with the BAF Begonia set, and I selectively embossed the "you" in gold. I kept the leaves simple and only stamped the outline of the veins in light aqua.



If you don't have a lot of Altenew Inks, or even just any series of inks in the same color family for the BAF layering, Altenew offers the Build-A-Flower: Begonia Ink Bundle at a discount. It has the stamps, dies, four coordinating ink cubes for the flower, and four coordinating ink cubes for the leaves. Of course these ink cubes can also be used for any of the other BAF sets you own.

Prizes:
To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 5 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog for a chance to win. We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 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 02/09/2020.



You have now officially finished the blog hop! I hope you've come away with some good inspiration, and perhaps one new technique, layout, color combo, etc. to try.


Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly  



PS. Do you find yourself loving each Build-a-Flower when it comes out? I always think to myself, OK, I've got enough, but then when I see the next flower it's somehow different than all the others! If you're the same, the monthly subscription plan might be for you. When signed up, you are guaranteed a spot in our monthly BAF releases and will receive a set each month - at a specially discounted price! ($35.00 →$29.99):

Supplies Used (thanks so much for your support!)

http://shrsl.com/23c44
Altenew BAF Begonia

http://shrsl.com/23c4t
Flowing Drops Stencil




57 comments:

  1. What a beautiful combination of colors and textures, Kelly! This flower/die set makes it so easy to pull everything together!

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  2. Stunning creations!!! I am so excited about this set!!

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  3. What a stunning card!! I LOVE the use of that stencil for the tone on tone effect!!

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  4. This is a beautiful card and the background just makes this gorgeous new Begonia design pop!

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  5. I loved how elegant your card came out!I know that the stencil had everythjbg to do with that! And the Begonias were so beautiful! Thank you for sharing your techniques with us

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  6. Wonderful pairing of those pink/red blooms with the grey background. So pretty.

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  7. Love how you used a stencil to enhance your card. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  8. Your card is really pretty! This new flower is special!

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  9. Those flowers really pop against the dark background!

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  10. Wow! The beautiful pink bloom really pops off that gray background. I love the subtle movement the stencil gave the background. Very nice!

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  11. Beautiful card and such a striking color palette. Stunning!

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  12. The gray background really make the begonias stand out. The white leaves are simple, but lovely.

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  13. You've done it again, Kelly--made me see I could use a set I had no intention of getting! Never thought of cutting a flower like you did--brilliant!

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  14. I like the combination of the stenciling on the grey background and the white leaves.

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  15. Unexpected cimbination that works beautifully together,thankyou!

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  16. I think your begonia colors are my favorite! Love them against the gray.

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  17. This is just stunning and love the tone on tone background also!

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  18. A wonderful composition! Those salmon pink’s and the gray our wonderful, combo!

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  19. Your card is stunning. I love how the dark stenciled background really makes those
    white leaves pop.

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  20. Great card! Love how you used the stencil.

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  21. What a beautiful card. Love the tip of cutting one flower in 1/2 and changing its direction. Thank you for the inspiration.

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  22. I just love the pop of color the flowers add to that grey background!

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  23. It always amazes me the different creations from the same stamp and die set. This card is fabulous!! I love the grey and then the beautiful, bright begonias to create a very harmonious card! They add such a great Wow factor to the card.

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  24. Really cute card! Love the design.
    natgodfrey4@gmail.com

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  25. These pink Begoina blooms are so pretty on the charcoal grey background!

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  26. Classy card. Very pretty design and colors!

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  27. Gorgeous cars and amazing job with all those detailed blooms

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  28. Gorgeous card. I love the begonia and the colors are beautiful. I love the subtle background.

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  29. Love this. Thank you for sharing.

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  30. I’m totally up for saving time with fewer brushstrokes...LOL. And I love your technique for cutting flowers to save even more time. Thanks so much for the inspiration!!!

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  31. Elegant card and color choice. TFS your talents with us.

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  32. I love how your pinks just POP from the gray background! STUNNING!

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  33. So pretty in the shades of pink/red and grey background.

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  34. Beautiful card! I love the detail from the stencil! Great color combinations too!

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  35. I just love the pink and gray, beautiful card! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  36. Beautiful card! I love the pink on grey!

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  37. What a pretty color palette! I love the texture you added with the stencil. Lovely!

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  38. Great use of the swirly stencil and I love how the top flower is just peeking at us from off the side of the card.

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  39. This is another fabulous set, your card is lovely Kelly. The stenciled background is the perfect setting for the gorgeous begonias, as always you did a great job! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  40. I love the color combo you used. That stencil background adds a nice touch!

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  41. Beautiful work! Love the pink and great with the gold sentiment peeking through!

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  42. Stunning card and love how you calculated how many brush strokes it would take normally to make this card Lol x

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  43. Gorgeous - love the contrast of those pretty coloured blooms on that dramatic dark and stenciled background!

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  44. Beautiful card, love the coral color begonias on the pretty dark gray stenciled background.

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  45. I truly love these colors and the great stenciling on the background. Beautiful begonia.

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  46. Love the grey and the stenciled background, beautiful begonia!

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  47. Hi Kelly :) You're awesome in helping us stretch what we buy...I would've never thought of splitting that flower like you did and it. is. gorgeous!!! It is a good thing that the layering stamps help us out....not sure I'd be up to 1200 brush strokes...LOL Thanks for the fun and inspiration :)

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  48. such clever and beautiful design!

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  49. I love the gray background and how the flowers look for beautiful on top.

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  50. Beautiful cards. I haven't done much with die cut flowers but I'll remember your tip for cutting a flower and using the other half on the card. Thanks for sharing.

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  51. Great colors! Love your beautiful card with the newest BAF set! The begonias are gorgeous!

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I absolutely love reading comments. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave one! - Kelly