Altenew July 2018 Stencil Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi Folks! I'm super excited to be a part of the Altenew July 2018 Stencil Blog Hop! You may have arrived here from Vicky Papaioannou, but if not, feel free to start at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog.

Stencils are an important tool in any paper-crafter's arsenal. You could invest in a enormous stack of patterned paper, or you could have a nice little collection of stencils and make your own patterned paper as needed, in the exact colors you want. They're just so versatile! Not only can you use your stencils as-is, but there are so many other ways to create patterns. I have seven different ways to get the most out of your stencils, and I can't wait to share them with you ...

Let's take a look!
 

For the cards in this series I'm sticking to a basic color palette to keep them all coordinating. And for the most part I'm also limiting the stamps I'm using to these amazing 3-stamp florals in Vintage Flowers and the perfect font sentiments in Scribbled Flowers.
 

1. Don't reinvent the wheel, use the stencil as-is - starting off easy here! When I first use a new stencil I often just use it the way it was intended and don't do anything fancy so I get a feel for what it looks like.

This Step Builder Stencil is an interesting one because it's intended to be used twice to achieve a 3D effect. The first time you use it with a light shade of the color, and the second time you shift the stencil and use a darker shade of the color to complete the design. So easy to create an eye-catching pattern! 
 

I've also used the Feeling Dotty Stencil on the charcoal band at the top for some subtle texture. I can see using this stencil all the time for adding just a little interest, but not too much.
 

2. Shift the stencil to the right/left - taking a cue from the last step builder stencil, you can shift your stencil even when it's not intended to. Such a great look with the Feeling Dotty Stencil, especially in coordinating colors!
 

3. Only ink a portion of the stencil and fade away - this is a great way to create a border on your card. You can include a pattern, but also have the center of the card white for your sentiment and focal point.The sentiment for this card comes from Birthday Bash Stamp Set. I love that it has open letters so I can fill them in with coordinating colors from the card. 
 

4. Rotate your stencil (and keep rotating!) - no one says you can't turn your stencil around, or use it more than once on the same project, and here I've done both. For this card I've used the Caligraphy Maze Stencil and only two different colors of Altenew's Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray. 
 

The first time I sprayed Ocean Waves Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray, rotated the stencil counter clockwise and sprayed Frayed Leaf Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray. I tried to line the stencil up so I saw the most amount of white space before spraying, as my goal was to cover the entire card with ink. The final two times I sprayed with Frayed Leaf. 
 

 

Using the spray instead of sponging the ink is so quick ... just a few spritz's to cover the whole card. One great tip I learned from the Altenew website is if you want even coverage (no splotches), point the nozzle slightly off the edges of the card. To finish the card I embossed several sentiments and cut them the same height as the rows of the stencil. 

5. Spray on a dark background - If you want drama, this is a great technique. I sprayed Antique Gold Metallic Ink Spray on black cardstock through the Elegant Swirls Stencil and love the way it pops. For this card I pointed the nozzle more directly at the card, and you see a few larger spots, which I think ties in nicely with the sequins at the bottom.
 

The three repeated sentiments are embossed in gold. Shall we talk about all the sequins on the bottom? It's actually fabric from Hobby Lobby! Talk about mess-free ... they're all connected together. What a find!

6. Flip the stencil over - unlike rotating the stencil, actually flipping the stencil over gives you a mirrored image. This worked really well for the background on this card, as I was able to make an arched pattern with the Molded Lines Stencil which actually mimics the arches on the cathedral! It was looking a little stark behind the cathedral so I flicked a few drops from the Lavender Fields Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray.
 

The cathedral is from one of my favorite sets, Sketchy Landmarks. It seems to have a fairy tale vibe with the flowers layered over the bottom of it. 
 

7. Find a design within the pattern and highlight it - This one is a little more challenging, but very fun to execute. When I had my flower on top of the card, figuring out where to put it, I thought some of the swirls on the Elegant Swirls Stencil looked nature-inspired. When I started highlighting the swirl in the lower left corner, I was excited to see it take the shape of a flower stem and leaves!
 

In addition to highlighting a section of the stencil with additional ink, I added some doodling with a white gel pen. Finally, to further emphasize the leaves, I cut around the tip of one leaf with an exacto knife and stuck my sentiment underneath it. 
 

Well, there you have it, seven different ways that you can use these amazing new stencils (or really, any stencil you currently own). You can find these new stencils in the July 2018 Release section of the Altenew site.
 

I sure hope you enjoyed this collection of Altenew stencil cards! Stay tuned, I have a card coming up that I made from the left over scraps from this session ... including the paper towel I used to remove ink from the stencils! You can follow my blog and/or Instagram which is linked in the right side bar.  

Prizes:

The generous folks at Altenew are giving away a $30 gift certificate to one lucky commenter on my blog! Please leave a comment here by Thursday, July 12th and I will select a winner on 7/15/18.

Additional Giveaway:

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 Thursday, July 12th for a chance to win. 6 winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 7/15/2018.

Your next stop on this star-studded hop is the lovely Zinia Redo!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Kelly

Altenew Card Blog

Paige Evans

Vicky Papaioannou

Kelly Griglione <--you are here

Zinia Redo

Emily Midgett

Rubeena Ianigro

Olga Moss

Lilith Eeckels

Gayatri Murali

Virginia Lu

Nicole Picadura

Karin Åkesdotter

Norine Borys

Heather Hoffman

Altenew Scrapbook Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Erum Tasneem

Enza Gudor

Nina-Marie Trapani

May Sukyong Park

Justine Hovey

Svitlana Shayevich

Sveta Fotinia

Dana Gong

Kymona Tracey

Agnieszka Malyszek

Lydia Evans

Crystal Thompson

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Ellen Hutson June Color Trend Challenge

Hello! Well I know that it's absolutely been too long since I've taken on a card challenge, that's for sure! I'm quite sure I never would have gone for a purple ocean floor, but I have to say now that I see it, I wouldn't want it any other color. Just love that about challenges!!

The current Ellen Hutson June Color Trend Challenge was easy from the standpoint that these are already all the colors I've been crushing on in the last couple months. Someone would have to pry Catherine Pooler's Mint to Be and Green Tea from my hands when I'm at the crafting table. And I'm quite sure there would be a struggle. An epic struggle : ) I've also been into combining them with purple, which is the Pantone color of the year for 2018 (ultra violet). Softer shades of this monster have been popping up in fashion and interior design a lot recently, so you know it's spot on this year.

This made it so much more fun to play with a new set I've been dying to try ... Julie Ebersole's hilariously punny and charming S'Whale set.

My favorite part of the card came about on accident ... I wasn't happy with how much mint ink I blended onto the whale so I stamped another whale and was just going to layer it on top of the old, darker whale image. Then I thought, since this whale is rising to the surface to blow water out of his blowhole, he's probably using his tail pretty heavily (or maybe not, I'm no marine biologist, hahaha!!) But it seems like he would be, so I curved the whale's tail so that it would give the appearance of a flipping motion when I layered it on top.

Which brings me to my second favorite part of the card ... using the "whale done" sentiment for the water coming out of his blowhole! There's a story behind this one too. Hubs was being particularly nice and interested in what I was doing late last night, so he stopped by to see if I needed any ideas. To humor him, I said sure. I got several ideas for things that would have been impossible to make with a single stamp set ... like a helpful whale pushing a ship out of the way of an iceberg (how's that for a challenge?!) Or impossible to depict, like a boy whale funneling teeny tiny krill to a girl whale with eyelashes. But one thing he said had to do with blowing water out of a blowhole, and that gave me the idea to use the "whale done" sentiment for the water. I slightly curved the sentiment in two different directions and stamped it where I thought this guy would blow water.

The fun cluster of pinwheels stamped in alternating light and dark purple ended up making a wonderful ocean floor, and gives me the impression of different corals brightening up the ocean floor. Or I guess this could be a very large version of all the krill : )

I really have to say, participating in the challenge gave me a lot of new energy, and certainly some ideas that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Hope you are able to find some time to play in a challenge soon, even if you haven't in awhile. The nice thing about the EH June Color Trends Challenge is that, in addition to being based on this wonderful color scheme, it's open for an entire month, AND a random challenge participant will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson store!  To be eligible, you just need to use Essentials by Ellen products and the photo badge as inspiration.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!
-Kelly

Affiliate Links: Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, S'Whale by Julie Ebersole ATG Double-Sided Refill Tape, 2 pk, 1/4" ATG Kit, Advanced Tape Glider Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sugared Lavender Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sweet Sixteen Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Green Tea Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Mint To Be Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Seafoam Ranger Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam, 1 Inch Round Ranger Ink Blending Tool, 1 Inch Round My Sweet Petunia MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (8-1/8 X 10-1/2)

Combining Florals to Make a Bouquet

Hello! I've got something a little different on the Winnie & Walter blog today ... it's not a card, but a recipe scrapbook page for our family's last cousin to get married. Working with a larger format was a nice change, and really lets you use a ton of these gorgeous stamps we all have. It was fun to just keep layering them on!

The other benefit to making these recipe scrapbooks is ... the recipes!! A whole pan of Pay Day bars?! Umm, yes please!

If anyone's interested in trying them ... here's a shot of the back of the recipe.

My full post, with photos and tips, is on the Winnie & Walter blog.

Hope you're all doing well!
-Kelly

5 Random Stamps Make a Vase - EH June Color Trend

 

Hello! Whenever I start a card I usually want to have some sort of challenge involved in making it, like a new technique, a different twist, or maybe combining a few different techniques.

For this card, my challenge was to copy the inspiration photo of four vases in the Ellen Hutson June Color Trend Challenge as closely as I could, without having having any EH floral vase stamps.

So I spread out the sets I had and started picking out elements that could work. I have a round balloon from Essentials by Ellen Up the Happy that works for the vase if I turn it upside down, as long as I don't ink up the tied section (where the arrow is pointing). The neck of the vase will come from turning the letter "u" from Essentials by Ellen Basic Alpha upside down. The opening of the "u" doesn't have to match the un-inked opening of the balloon exactly since I will be blending ink to color inside the vase. A few stray ink marks won't be too noticeable.

The stem of the flower is an elongated "s" shaped squiggle stamp from Oh, Frappe by Julie Ebersole. I really just needed a straight line for the stem, so I stretched out the squiggle stamp on my block and forced it to be more straight. For each of the stems, I just inked up a different length of the stamp. The flower itself was pretty easy, as there was a tiny flower in the Spa Day by Brandi Kincaid set. But, I did notice that in the inspiration photo there were tiny yellow centers on the flowers. I could have just used the tip of a yellow marker to fill in my centers, but I'd feel better about my personal challenge if I could find a stamp to do this for me. Hunting through my sets again, I found a dot stamp from Oh, Frappe by Julie Ebersole. It was a little larger than I would have liked, but sometimes that's how you get the artsy look ... something's a little off and not how you would have planned it.

Now that all the stamps are picked out, it's time to start construction on the vases! I stamped a couple vases on a sheet of copy paper so I could cut out the insides and use that as a mask. TIP: don't be lazy like me and try to use the same mask for all your vases, especially if you're making more than one card. I did this at first and forgot the colors get muddy when you're blending mint ink over a mask that already has purple ink on it. So I made four separate masks, one for each color vase.

I blended some black ink to make a surface for the vases to sit. There wasn't a whole lot going on with the vases, so I thought I'd better make an interesting background. It couldn't be too distracting though because I wanted to stay true to the simple nature of the inspiration photo. Usually this means I add texture vs color. So I die cut the texture-loaded Bed of Roses by Julie Ebersole Cover Plate die and layered that behind my stamped panel. Although I covered the majority of the beautiful die cut, the wavy lines peeking out along the edges of my main panel are just exactly what I was looking for.

To finish it off I added a sentiment from Winnie & Walter's Sentimental: Winter set. 

Sure hope you get a chance to play along with the June Color Trend Challenge when it gets posted this Thursday! You have a whole month to dream up something special to share with everyone. Also, there will be a randomly chosen winner to receive a $50 gift certificate to Ellen Hutson!

Thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly

Affiliate links:

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack ATG Double-Sided Refill Tape, 2 pk, 1/4" ATG Kit, Advanced Tape Glider Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Up the Happy by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Basic Alpha by Julie Ebersole Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps, Oh Frappe by Julie Ebersole Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, Spa Day By Brandi Kincaid Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Bed Of Roses by Julie Ebersole Winnie & Walter Clear Stamps, Sentimental: Winter Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sugared Lavender Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sweet Sixteen Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Green Tea Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Mint To Be Ranger Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam, 1 Inch Round Ranger Ink Blending Tool, 1 Inch Round My Sweet Petunia MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (8-1/8 X 10-1/2)