Notable Nest: May 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.