Artistry by Altenew 2023 Watercolor Tubes Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hello Friends! Want to up your watercolor game? Try something new? Or maybe you've been using watercolor tubes for awhile now and already know how awesome they are to work with. Exciting news, the fine folks at Artistry by Altenew have just released their own curated set of watercolor tube colors!

You may have come from the lovely Aga on this blog hop, but if not feel free to come from our amazing host, Artistry by Altenew (different from Altenew)

I honestly had the best time playing with these Watercolor Tubes. They aren't a medium I typically use, so this was a fun exercise to me. The two things I really love are 

1. the vibrancy of colors - this was all done with one or possibly two coats in areas. These specific tubes are formulated to have less binding agents and more actual pigments than others, and 
2. the ability to reuse them - the paint you squeezed out of the tube will become solid over time, so if you have to stop in the middle of painting, no worries. Just use your wet brush on the solid paint and continue painting! These have also been tested to reactivate quicker than others. 

Palette Perfection

I picked my FAVORITE floral set at Altenew - Precious Peony Stamp Set. Aside from being beautiful, of course, the flowers are large enough to be able to play with color a bit, but not too large that you need to be expert at playing with color. There are also three different main clusters to stamp so you can really mix up the looks you get. 

For the Peonies I used mostly Toluidine Red with little bits of Permanent Yellow Deep mixed in. Those darks are so wonderfully dark.

Turning the stamp upside down is a nice trick to fill the space on the bottom of the card. It coordinates, and you don't need to color it. You can do this with the same exact stamp, or this Precious Peony Stamp Set comes with a second main image to use.

The nice, blocked Happy Birthday sentiment is from Note for You Stamp Set.

This card uses the third main image in the Precious Peony Stamp Set.  

This time I was a little more adventurous and mixed a few different custom colors for the bloom on top, still using the Toluidine Red with little bits of Permanent Yellow Deep. The bottom bloom just uses Quinacridone Magenta. 

The Mix and Match Frames Die Set is another product on my Top Ten list. There are a lot of options to layer your frames on the card - this one uses the torn edge and the dotted/embossed edge. 

Fine Watercolor Brushes

Let's also spend a minute on the Fine Watercolor Brushes. Did you notice in the pictures the middle section is wider? It's like a sculpted triangle, and it's SO COMFORTABLE to use! They come in a set of 5 different tips, and the best news is they are FREE if you spend at least $59!! But it's only for today, Wed. Sept 27th. Then they are back to being $15.99.

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, ArtistrybyAltenew is giving away ONE $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $40 gift certificate to FIVE winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 10/03/2023 for a chance to win. ArtistrybyAltenew will draw 6 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 10/05/2023.

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

Next Stop

Here's the link to the rest of the wonderful designers on this hop - you're going straight to Svitlana who's got some wonderful artistry to share with you!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks for your support):

Palette Perfection

Fine Watercolor Brushes

Mix and Match Frames Die Set

Precious Peony Stamp Set

 

Note for You

Colorado Craft Company STAMPtember Release - Use Those Tiny Stamps!

Hello Friends! Do you sometimes overlook those tiny stamps that come with your sets? I do all the time, and often need to remind myself to use them. They might not seem like a big deal individually, but when you can add them to the main image they often enhance, or at least give you some different looks. 

Here's a good example. This is from the new My Muse set for the Colorado Craft Company STAMPtember release. The main image of the little mouse artist is adorable, and it's amazing how well he can paint with that giant brush he found!

You can see the extra tiny roses included - on this card I used them to stamp a coordinating background on the card base. Since I stamped the main image on a smaller panel, I wanted something to show behind it - either another cardstock layer, or in this case the stamped background. 

For this card I used the tiny stamps to add to the floral masterpiece Mr. Mouse created. It really fills whatever space you have nicely. You could make the whole card floral if you wanted - the choice is entirely up to you!

I just noticed the stamp and die set is sold out already, but as of now the My Muse Stamp Set is still available. 

Hope you're having a great week! Thanks for stopping!!
-Kelly

Anita Jeram End of Summer Fun Blog Hop and New Release!

Hello, hello! I'm always desperate for an extension of summer once the kids get ready to head back to school, as it always seems like the summer fun ends way too soon.

Playing with the darling new End of Summer Fun line by Anita Jeram really helped me out this week. All those critters hanging out on the beach made quite a disturbance in my craft room as I was coloring them to life : )

I'd love to share them with you! You may have arrived here from the blog of sweet Jennifer Gross, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the amazing blog of  Amy Young.

This first card is all about having as much fun as possible on the beach! The circles that highlight each scene remind me of what it would look like if you were hanging out in a submarine in the ocean and used your periscope to track the activities on shore. If you're not convinced by the first beach sighting, then there are two other ones gathered on this slimline card, all from one stamp set Beach Life. 

I thought this was a nice way to change up the main two images:

Beach Life

Stamping the foursome as two couples filled two of the holes, and then just stamping the head of the burried kitty is enough to get the idea across without having to use the entire image.

Honestly, how adorable is this confident little Miss from Beach Beauty?! The way she's strutting across the beach, not even needing her sunglasses ... watch out boys! 

Love the sentiment that comes with this mini set. This would be a great card to send your BFF : )

The Beach Background is a compilation of Anita's beach images all nestled together and ready to make a big impact on your card. I think it's a perfect background for a clean and simple image. Perfect design, and perfectly easy! I didn't feel the need to color any of the sea creatures in (although you certainly could!) Why do we (me?) always feel the need to make it hard on ourselves?!

What about you, are you doing OK with June/July/August passing? I'll be much worse in two years when my youngest goes away to school!!

Prizes!

We're doing two different giveaways! Enter as many times as you'd like until Sept 11th. Winners announced on Sept 13th. Good luck!!

Giveaway 1: All designers will be giving away a stamp set from this release (your choice) 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 a complete bundle (value $202!!) of this 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).

I am happy to send you to Adam Karle on Instagram who has something beachy to share!

Here is the full list of stops on this hop if you need a reference:

Amy Young
Daniel West
Amy Tsuruta
Kelly Taylor
Jenn Shurkus
Nancy Sheads
Michelle Lupton
Jennifer Kotas
Kassi Hulet
Donna Hitz
Jennifer Gross
Kelly Griglione

Visit these designers on Instagram:

Adam Karle 
Joe Sysavath
Laura Inguz

Thanks so much for stopping by!

- Kelly

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

Beach Background

Beach Beauty

Beach Life