Notable Nest

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Altenew July 2024 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hello Friends! Oh boy what a fun July Release this is from Altenew, with a little bit of everything - stamps, stencils, press plates, embossing folders, and even a new set of inks! I really took to this release and have A TON to show you, so let's get to it!!

You may have come from the sweetest ever Hannelie, but if not feel free to start the hop at the Altenew Blog!

As soon as I saw this Stencil Art: White Cap Peonies stencil I KNEW it was going to be FAB-U-LOUS!! And the first time I inked it up it did NOT disappoint!

The giant size and the multiple colors just demand attention! It's made with 6 different stencils so there's a lot of variation you can add. And not even a stamp in sight.

The Flutter and Bloom Set is an absolutely massive 8x11" set that also has tons of possibilities. The flowers stamped on the card base are sweet, but hello those butterflies are super elegant and delightful!

After coloring them with the stencils (love all the different color options on these!) I bent the wings up from the bodies for some cheap and easy dimension for the card.

This set is the Tangerine Grove Set and I like that in addition to the tangerines it features blooms, many different leaves (with varied colors) and the branches. It's all those details I think that make it lush.

There are a lot of different sentiments to pick from, including this gold one. The black raised sentiment is from an awesome embossing folder that's coming up : )

Here are two different looks for the same Inked Poppies press plate - one high on contrast and drama for a modern feel, the other a bit more weathered for a vintage feel.

What grabs me with this set is all the detailed lines making beautiful impressions when they are pressed in the paper - you just want to run your fingers over it all.

There's another floral press plate in this release that I think deserves some attention - the Blossoming Bouquet Set. This one has a coordinating stencil to aid in coloring it. I felt like mixing it up a bit and stamped it in the new Coral Bliss from the Tea Party Cube Set.

The HELLO sentiment, which also comes with this set, and the new raised embossed sentiment, which is still coming up, are bordered by an older Deco Cover Die set that I honestly get so much use out of.

This card was so fun, as it's a giant mash-up of sets from this release! We've got the previous Blossoming Bouquet Set in the background (stamped in green this time, instead of coral),

more of those raised sentiment strips, all cut from a massive Raised Sentiments Embossing Folder which produces sentiments for days (check out the piles of sentiments I've got waiting in Theo wings on the left edge of this next photo!!)

And finally, the star of this show, the best value Mini Delight Live in the Moment Set! How adorable is that tiny clock with the silver bells?! and the subtly-stamped rose on the face of the clock (which actually comes with this set as well, for even more value)! And the adhesive gem detail for the middle of the hands!!

You can also see a bit better in this photo how the sentiment is raised from the embossing folder. I ran the sentiment strip across a white ink pad, and then ended up using a white gel pen to make the white show up a bit more.

Two different ways to use the Blossoming Bouquet Set!

Finally, let’s see two of the new sets of ink colors - a Warm Gray Mini Cube Set that makes the leaves fad into the background in the best possible way, and one of my favorite color hues of all time, a handful of blushes from the Tea Party Cube Set.

I could just swim in those melon beauties!!

Whew! Hope you liked going through the new July Release with me, and maybe got a few ideas for yourself!

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 July 16, 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 July 18, 2024.

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

Your next stop on this hop is Maria!

Thanks for stopping by!
- Kelly

Supplies used (affiliate links, thanks for your support!):

Blossoming Bouquet Set

Inked Poppies Set

Raised Sentiments Embossing Folder

Stencil Art: White Cap Peonies

Live in the Moment Set

Tangerine Grove Set

Stencil Art: White Cap Peonies

Flutter and Bloom Set

Warm Gray Mini Cube Set

Tea Party Cube Set

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Altenew May 2024 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

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.