Pinkfresh Studio January 2024 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release

Hello Friends! How, just how, can Pinkfresh keep coming out with amazing products month after month? IDK, but I'm happy they do, especially the delightful new alpha die set!

You may have come from the lovely Karin, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Pinkfresh Studio.

This beauty features the Heart of Gold Stamp, Die, Stencil. In addition to the lovely bird in the lemon tree, it comes with several useful sentiments, with dies that cut closely around all the letters. I love this look, since usually I forget about the sentiment until the end and by then I don't want to cover up the design I worked so hard on lol. The small die allows you to sneak the sentiment on. 

Here's a look at the new Julieta Alpha Die Set in gold glitter paper. It was a great chance to add an XOXO to the sentiment of "sending love," and nicely filled an empty space I had in the corner.

To make the main bird/branch image stand out, I die cut another piece in vellum and added that to the background. I think it registers as something extra, without being overwhelming. An OG Shaker Heart Die is in the background to help the bird stand out. 

I've recently been enamored with the four-panel cards that Yana Smakula has been making, there's something so visually pleasing, balanced, full, and flexible about them that really speaks to me. 

I embossed the sentiments from the Heart of Gold Stamp set in gold, cut the LOVE letters from Julieta Alpha Die Set, and arranged them on 2 1/8" x 2 3/4" rectangles of cardstock.

Then I just adhered them on the card base. Love, love (no pun intended) this look, and think it's great for a less-feminine card since there are no hearts, flowers, etc. 

Gah! Those letters cut in gold foil!!! 

Now I'm on a roll and want to use some of my leftover rectangles. A simple gold embossing of the Heart of Gold Stamp, another Shaker Heart Die (from Target glitter wrapping paper 50% off after Christmas a couple weeks ago!!), and those amazing Julieta Alpha Dies and you've got a great card!  

The empty O was begging to be filled with some gems : ) 

Really loved how these turned out!

Ok, so ONE MORE lol! 

For this one I extended the designs beyond the rectangle and trimmed them off, including the larger Shaker Heart Die and the Sending Love Stamp, Die. 

I agree with Yana and think this is a great way to break down the design of a card, and an idea you can use for any type of stamp or die set, any theme, any occasion, etc. 

OK, one final card from me. This one uses two cuttings of the Sending Love Stamp, Die, Stencil, Hot Foil set on the top and bottom, a stenciled stripe in between, and the Julieta Alpha Die Set.

I backed the SWEET alpha dies with gold foil dies, slightly offset. 

The sentiment originally had the word "SWEET" in it, so I just removed that and spelled out SWEET with the alphas instead. An easy way to customize your sentiment.

Thanks for taking a look today - I really enjoyed working with all of these products!

Prizes

We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel, as well as a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop. Comment along the hop for chances to win. All winners will be posted on February 5, 2024 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE, make sure to check within 2 weeks!

We've got a fantastic FREEBIE up for grabs this week in celebration of our January release! All orders $30+ before shipping will receive a FREE Folk Art Slimline stencil set, valued at $19! It's a great week to pick up some of our brand new products or shop from your wish list. 😉 This freebie is only available WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

PLEASE NOTE: You do not need to add the stencil set to your cart, nor is there a discount code. Our warehouse team will manually add the free stencil set to all eligible orders when shipping. 

Your next stop is the one and only Lea who has amazing things to share!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Kelly

Supplies Used (thanks so much for supporting my blog with free-to-you affiliate links):

Julieta Alpha Die Set

Sending Love Stamp, Die, Stencil, Hot Foil

Heart of Gold Stamp, Die, Stencil

Shaker Heart Dies

Altenew Card Using Tube Watercolors

Hi Friends! We're having an Instagram hop to celebrate using watercolors with Altenew, and thought I'd post my card featuring the Tranquility Rose set here as well. 

This card was created with the tube watercolors from Artistry by Altenew. Normally I use the pan watercolors, but when using the tubes I love that I can squeeze them out on my acrylic stamping block, mix a few different colors, and use them for as long as I'd like. If they dry and harden, I easily activate them again with a bit of water. 

The other bonus is that they have a much greater intensity than the pan watercolors I use. Love the results!

Have you ever given tube watercolors a try? 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
- Kelly

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

Hi Friends! The holidays are barely over and already the inspiring new releases start, including the new Altenew January Release! I had a lot of fun as you can see ...

You may have hopped over from the lovely and talented Mindy Eggen, but if not feel free to start this blog hop at the beginning with Altenew.  

Let's start with a pretty flat card, featuring the Mega Blossom Stencil Set. It always amazes me how much "oooh and ahhh" you can get from just a humble set of [well-designed] stencils!

I used this floral stencil three times, and then added a fourth rendering of the leaf tip on the upper left to fill the card space. 

To further fill the space, I loosely added dots in the empty spaces with the OG Feeling Dotty stencil, which is probably my most-used stencil in my craft room! You can see some dots bled into the large leaf, but don't stress, totally fine for this casual garden look. 

This card features two new goodies! The Dynamic Duo: Floral Whimsy and the Outlined Love You die.

These flowers are a bit unique in that the stamped image is only the centers! The included stencil set provides you the overall flower shape and then you just stamp the center. I love that this saves a bit of room in the stamp set (giving you more images/sentiments), but also is much more forgiving because you don't have to laboriously match up the stamp and stencil exactly. So smart! All of these flowers and leaves are from one round of the stencils and die. So many!

The Love You outline die is just beautiful in gold. It's wonderful how you can change up the colors underneath to coordinate with your card. There's no die for that, but I traced around the outline die and easily cut it out myself. 

This is such a beautiful die! The Dear Heart Die gives you an elaborate "heart doily" to feature on your cards. 

Since it's so finely detailed, there's not much else you need. I just cut two of the dies, adhered one directly to the center of the card, cut the other heart in half, and added each piece to the top and bottom.

Only thing missing is the sentiment. This one is from the new One Go Loving Sentiments Stamp Set and features several different loving thoughts, all meant to coordinate with the One Go Birthday Greetings Die. Like the title, "one go" and you've cut out 12 different sentiments!

After inking up the first heart on the prior card, it left such a nice impression on the background paper that I decided to make it into a simple card. I inked the second heart on a card front as a quick 2-for-1 set. After pulling away the heart die, I grabbed another one of the “one-go” sentiments and adhered it on. Done!

Finally, let’s kick it up a notch! Lots of impact here, but not necessarily lots of effort. 

To make this I inked up two heart dies on one side only, folded them down the middle, and adhered them right next to each other on the card.

To me, this is the best kind of dimension on a card because it folds flat for mailing and storage. 

Love the hint of color underneath. For the sentiment, you guessed it, I grabbed several of the leftover one-go sentiments. One is popped up higher than the others for a bit of focal point. 

These were honestly such a fun and quick set of cards to make with the Dear Heart Die!

Finally, I leave you with a sneak peek for the February release ; ) Come back during next month’s hop for all the details!

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 01/17/2024 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 01/19/2024.

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

Your next stop in the hop is Michelle Short who has amazing projects 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 so much for your support of my blog!!)

Dear Heart Die

One Go Loving Sentiments Stamp Set

Mega Blossom Stencil Set

Outlined Love You die

Dynamic Duo: Floral Whimsy

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

Hello Friends! These cards were sneak-peeked in the January hop, and now that the Graceful Gardenias set is released, with the rest of the February goodies, I'd like to share a bit more about them. You may have come from the amazing Jaycee, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Altenew.

Project Kit - Graceful Gardenias

This large gardenia (my favorite flower, I carried them down the aisle at my wedding and the smell was heavenly!) is detailed enough to be well-illustrated, yet open enough to add your own spin on coloring (see the light polka dots on the orange petals).

The sentiment really says it all, and I love that it's quite substantial. You could absolutely save these three lines for the inside of the card. But on the front, it's a nice secondary sentiment. The Fancy For You die is a staple in my craft room from an old release (but it's still in stock!)

Splitting the giant gardenia in two was a good way to get something for the top and bottom of my card (vs just the middle).

For a second card I inked up the other gardenia in the Graceful Gardenias set and wanted to make a quick card out of it.

I stamped the gardenia first on the base of the card, and then used the coordinating die to place over the stamped image and sponge ink around it. 

Then I added a bit more pizzaz to the gardenia by inking the polka dots a little darker on the orange petals. I rotated the gardenia die 180 degrees from the card base so you'd be able to see the leaves poking through.

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner who comments on the Altenew blog, and a $50 gift certificate to 4 winners from all the comments on the designers' posts! Please leave comments by 02/13/2024 for a chance to win. Winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 02/15/2024.

You've reached the end of the blog hop (congrats!) but if you'd like to revisit any of the stops, here is the complete list:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for stopping by!
- Kelly