Altenew April 2019 Washi Tape/Embossing Paste Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello friends!

Yay, it's the Altenew release of Washi Tape and Embossing Paste!

I am super excited to share my project with you.

If you've arrived from Ashlea Cornell 's blog, you are in the right place! For

all the details about this blog hop, please visit Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog.

For my project, I started out by applying the Botanical Rhapsody Washi Tape onto a piece of Altenew Parchment Card Stock. This Washi Tape is SO beautiful that it can be used on its own.

Coloring Washi Tape with Altenew Artist Markers Set D and Set E worked like a dream! 
Since Washi Tape is non-porous, it will not absorb the artist markers ink.
👉👉👉However, if you wipe/buff it off with a dry paper towel ( I just used my fingers!) it will leave a faint color! 💡 I colored part of the images with 2 shades of markers.
The more you repeat this process, the more intense the colors will become.
Imagine how you can incorporate this Washi Tape into your project with any colors!
 

I wish I could say that I came up with the brilliant idea of using the Geo Frame Die. But in reality, I made a boo-boo while coloring and there was no way I could wipe it off. 
Once the Artist Marker ink dries, it stays! 

 

That's when I decided that I needed to cut out the error and used the Geo Frame for this job! 
Yay, go me! 😁 I also applied a piece of Gold Trim Washi Tape with the Fancy Hello Die! 
That little bit of gold really made this card shine! 



Of course, I could not resist using the embossing paste and stencils. I took out Halftone Stencil and applied the new white embossing paste. A note about the paste: it came in the BIGGEST jar of paste that I have ever seen. It was soft and spreadable like butter!  Stay tuned for my upcoming post on using the new paste!


(Affiliate links are applied at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.)

Prizes: to celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners. Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by May 1st for a chance to win!

Extra Giveaway: Altenew will also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate in each designer's blog (such as my/this blog ) in this release. All winners will be announced on May 4th, 2019.

Today's Blog Hop

Altenew Card Blog
Nicole Picadura
Therese Calvird
Laurie Willison
Galina Filippenko
Lilith Eeckels
Amanda Baldwin
🌺🌻🌼Virginia Lu🌺🌻🌼
Nathalie DeSousaLydia Evans
Maryam Perez
Vicky Papaioannou
Agnieszka Malyszek
Alex Syberia
Kymona Tracey
Zsoka Marko
Altenew Scrapbook Blog
Svitlana Shayevich
Olga Moss
Erum Tasneem
Hussena Calcuttawala
Sandra Dietrich
Anna Komenda
Sveta Fotinia
Kathleen Graumüller
Norine Borys
Mona Tóth
Jen Schow
Reiko Tsuchida Kelly Janes
Marie Nicole
Ilda Dias

Your next stop is the blog of Nathalie DeSousa

 I will be back tomorrow for Virginia's Versatile Vases (finally back in stock, hurry!) 
series!! Thanks for stopping by!   

Simple ( and Sleepy) Watercoloring!

Hello friends!

Has it ever happened to you? 

You woke up too early, but you can't quite fall back to sleep right away....

Well this happened to me a few weeks ago during ScrapFest.

Weekend Doodles

Perhaps the nerve was getting to me? Anyhow I had a hard time falling asleep again and decided to do a little coloring. I took out one of the 50 pre-stamped image for ScrapFest and started coloring! 

I thoroughly enjoyed this little coloring exercise since it was so relaxing.

Before you know it, I literally created a card in my sleep!

I went right back to bed and fell asleep after coloring and finished assembling the card after.

So, it all worked out!I used Watercolor Brush Markers on Bristol Paper.
I added the blue shading and even add a bit of blue on the sentiment strip.




edited: the sentiment is from "Delicate Flower Bed". Sorry I forgot to mention that.
All products links are listed below for your reference/shopping.
👉👉👉 Versatile Vases Stamps/Die Bundle are back in stock. Hurry!

LAST day!
Build-a-Flowers are 20 % off! Click here or logo to shop. 

 all sales are valid except BAF-Sweet Violet

Shop sales here
Thanks for stopping by!

My Mental Guideline for Masculine Cards

Hello friends!

I am popping in to share a simple masculine card with "Wild Fern" Stamp.

Today card was created as part of the sample card for "Make & Take" during ScrapFest.

This new-to-me stamp set is so fun to create with. 

When my daughter saw the stamps, she said: "Mom, Ferns are IN"! Stephanie was right! I now realize that there are numerous images about ferns if you check it out over Pinterest.

(all product links are listed at the end of this post)

When it comes to designing Masculine cards, I always keep the following in mind. I guess you can say that this is my "Mental Guideline for Masculine Cards".

1. choice of stamps/dies: obviously, nothing too frilly or fussy. Nature, animals, sea creatures, structures and monuments, transportation, everyday objects, space.... etc. are the popular themes.

2. choice of colors: multiple colors or/and monochromatic all work. You can either apply color contrast or similar color scheme

3. choice of pattern paper: shapes, stripes and bold prints are excellent for creating masculine cards.

4. embellishments: I tend to keep the embellishments minimal . Unless it's a shaker card, I almost never use any sequins.

5. choice of sentiment: bold font and simple text are always easy on the eyes and they make a great statement.  Depending on the them of your designs,  TEXT is another excellent way for background or focal point.

If you read the above "mental guideline for Masculine cards", you can see that my sample card "makes sense"!!? By the way, the black dots you see are not sequins...they are dotted with Black Enamel Accent.



I love love this stamp set and I only wish I have more time playing with this"Wild Fern" Stamp. There is just not enough time to ink up every possibility of each stamp set!!

It will be awesome if you find my "Mental Guidelines for Masculine Cards" helpful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Altenew promotion (TWO Days only)

Build-a-Flowers are 20 % off! Click here or logo to shop. 

 all sales are valid except BAF-Sweet Violet

Shop sales here
edited--> Versatile Vases Stamps/Die Bundle are back in stock. Hurry!
Thank you for stopping by!

Frilled Petals in Two Ways!

Happy Easter, friends!
I have been enjoying some family time with my two grown kids and my daughter's fiancee Greg. Now that they live away from home, it is all the more precious to be around them. After today, they are going back to where they work and live. Life goes on and the card blog must continue...

I am popping in to share two cards with one stamp set "Frilled Petals"

The cards I made were the samples of "Make & Take" from ScrapFest over a week ago.

To keep the flow of workshop/Make & Take pace going, I needed to keep the design simple.
These two samples helped the participants to re-create and can follow easily.

Here are the samples that I created. 

 

This set also comes with the mask stencil. I think they are awesome to have if you love the images! I only used stamps and dies for my projects.

The image was colored with Watercolor Brush Markers. Since I didn't have the right card stock, the coloring was very limited in shades and contrast.  Eventually, we switched to  the alcohol ink-based Artist Markers. It is MUCH better.

This one requires the layered stamping. I used the latest die from April release "Fancy Hello" and pattern paper! This really is fast and effective!

I also applied a piece of Washi and they helped ground the image!
Here are cards that the participants created at the "Make & Take".

Hope that you find this interesting and helpful with the stamp set like "Frilled Petals".

 These are the happy crafters who stopped by the Altenew booth and created their gorgeous cards!



 Seeing their happy photos make me so proud and happy.

Simon Says Stamp's promotion ends TODAY
If you spend over $75, use code "ESTR75" and save $7.99! 

Please use the following product links for your shopping purpose.
Affiliate links are applied at no additional sot to you. Thank you for your support.
 Meanwhile....
I found the following sales are worth checking out--> Just Love
 Floral Print Silhouette,
Thanks so much for stopping by!

3 Creative Use of a Frame Die

Hello friends!

How many ways you can use a Frame die such as the "Dahlia Frame Die"? 

(all product links are provided at the end of this post)
Let me refresh your memory how I used this die with my two previous design....

Card #1

 
  technique used: Silver-Embossing, Multiple-Embossing,  Distressing-Oxide Inking , Inlaid Die-cutting

Card #2 

techniques used:  Die-cutting,  Ink-blending, Distress Oxide-inking and de-contructing

Card #3 (NEW)

Technique used: Water-coloring, Dry-embossing 



For the glitter, I simply added Glossy Accent with the Nuvo Glitter.


I hope that you find is post helpful with a frame die like this!


Simon Says Stamp's promotion ends on April 21st.

If you spend over $75, use code "ESTR75" and save $7.99!  
Affiliate links are applied at no additional cost to to you.
Please use the following links for your shopping purpose.  Thank you for your support.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Combining a Background Stamp with Solid Stamps

Hello friends!

If the title of this post confuses you....
Please come check out this post and take a look.

I am using the background stamp "Delicate Flower Bed"

and "A Study in Watercolor" together!

Combining Solid stamps "A Study in Watercolor"and Outline Stamps "Delicate Flower Bed" is a fun way to create an intricate pattern.

I started out with stamping the solid stamps with various inks. You do have to wait till the ink dry (you can use the heat gun for this purpose). I was too impatient, so I embossed the solid stamps.

Now I can go ahead and stamp the outline stamps. Gold-embossing works beautifully in this card.

I highly recommend A Study in Watercolor and Delicate Flower Bed.  
Both stamp sets are awesome on its own or...  you can use both like I do here!

For Altenew Sales, please click here

For the entire April release bundle, please click here.

 For all the details of this release, please use my affiliate highlighted text links.

FREE U.S. shipping on orders over $100 with code USFREE
$7 Off on orders over $100 with code SHIP7OFF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Simon Says Stamp offers a splendid Easter Sale
For order over $75, use code "ESTR75" and save $7.99
 valid till Apr. 21 at 11:59 EST

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will be back for Versatile Vases series next Friday. 
All Versatile stamps/die/stencils are out of stock everywhere.

April release from Altenew