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.

3) Watercolor Roses Stamp and Die Set, with 4) the Dotted Diamonds Background Stamp

 

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!

5) Warm Hugs Stamp Set

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