Grab a cup of tea and pull up a chair as I’ve a lot to share today! This post is part of a blog hop (more details below) to celebrate the latest release of Altenew’s stamps and dies. The new release is available now at both Altenew and Simon Says Stamp. There’s more information on the blog hop below, but for now let’s take a look at what’s in the new release. I’ve linked all supplies, compensated affiliate links used.
ALTENEW MARCH 2017 STAMP/DIE RELEASE
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Such a gorgeous array of new products many with their matching dies already available. I chose to use the Garden Treasure, Hug Me and Simple Fruits sets today and mixed in a little Handmade Tags love too. The Engineers Rule set is top of my list for what to play with next – with an engineer husband, a son at University studying engineering and a daughter contemplating Robotics at University then this set was a must for my family!
ALTENEW GARDEN TREASURE
Beautiful Altenew flowers are always a hit with me as it seems they are with you too! I stamped a few of the blooms from the Garden Treasure set in Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then used a Molotow masking fluid pen to mask the flower centres and stamens so that as I watercoloured the flowers these would be protected. Once the painting of the flowers was complete and dry I then rubbed away the masking fluid to reveal the untouched watercolour card underneath and then I was able to add the pops of yellow and orange for the stamens.
I turned to my usual watercolour palette for the painting but also wanted to try a couple of new Daniel Smith paints I bought recently too – gorgeous Rose Of Ultramarine (a purple hue in which the blue settles and the rose lifts to give an interesting two-tone effect from one paint) and Undersea Green (a blend of French Ultramarine and Quinacridone Gold in which the transparent gold floats to the top creating a golden halo). Needless to say I had great fun painting these flowers!
With the painting now complete I added just a touch of interest to the background by rubbing Antique Linen Distress ink through the Halftone Stencil in a couple of places (it’s hard to see in the photographs). For the sentiment I cut a Handmade Tag from Olive card and stamped a Handmade Tag sentiment in clear embossing ink and then heat embossed with Antique Gold embossing powder. This tag is foam mounted on the panel with a twine bow to accent. The finished panel is then mounted on an Ivory card base and a few sequins added.
ALTENEW HUG ME
Next up I used the cute Hug Me stamps and dies – I adore this quirky fox with his scarf! I have a thing for foxes and love colouring them in. I started by stamping a bunch of the images in Intense Black ink on Neenah Solar White card and then colouring with Copics before die cutting with their matching dies. I then spent a while wondering what to pair them with; the bold black text of the Hug Me drew me in and I decided to go for a black and white theme with just hints of red and aqua. I found the perfect match with the Dear Lizzy Lovely Day papers and then added in hints of red by stamping the sentiments from Hug Me and Handmade Tags in clear embossing ink on card I’d coloured with a red marker and then white heat embossing.
I cut the paper layers for the two cards with Basic Rectangle Dies and used the Handmade Tags set to cut the matching tag which I threaded with Hemptique twine. Other than that it was just a case of adding all the layers with foam adhesive and then finally popping a cute fox on each.
ALTENEW SIMPLE FRUITS
My final card and tag duo for the day uses the graphic Simple Fruits set. I do love a clean and simple design with pops of colour and so I stamped the fruits in a combination of different Altenew inks on white card and then die cut with their matching dies:
- Kiwi – Bamboo + Olive
- Lemon – Buttercream + Warm Sunshine
- Strawberry – Coral Berry + Ruby Red + Bamboo
- Grapes – Lavender Fields + Deep Iris + Bamboo
- So Sweet – Versafine Onyx Black
For the background I blended Mountain Mist along the base of a piece of white card and then paired this with more Dear Lizzy patterned paper on a Fog card base with a sprinkling of clear sequins.
For the tag I stamped the polka dot background images from the Handmade Tag set in clear embossing ink and clear heat embossed before blending in Mountain Mist ink and then die cutting with a Handmade Tag. For the sentiment I stamped a Handmade Tag sentiment in clear embossing ink on Black card and white heat embossed.
BLOG HOP
As mentioned above this post is part of a blog hop to celebrate the latest Altenew release. Hopefully you’ve arrived here from Lydia’s blog but if not then a good place to start is the Altenew blog. As with any good hop there are prizes!
To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Thursday, March 30th at 11:59pm EST for a chance to win. The winners will be announced on the Altenew blog on Friday, March 31th.
In addition I have a $30 gift certificate to giveaway from comments left on this post by Wednesday, March 29th at 11:59 PM EST.
Now it’s time to hop along to …
Therese Calvird!!
Altenew
Erum Tasneem
Lilith Eeckels
Svitlana Shayevich
Jennifer McGuire
Sveta Fotinia
Agnieszka Malyszek
Vicky Papaioannou
Flora Monika Farkas
Kelly Tribout Latevola
May Sukyong Park
Laura Jane
Nicole Picadura
Laura Bassen
Evelyn Yusuf
Marika Rahtu
Yana Smakula
Lydia Evans
Debby Hughes
Therese Calvird
Kathy Racoosin
Eunyoung Lee
TaeEun Yoo
Virginia Lu
SUPPLIES
You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or wording to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read my affiliate and product disclosure here. I truly appreciate your support.
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PIN ME
Summary of the project which gives all the views of the card in one photo :D I’d love if you pinned and called by on Pinterest :D
Love the watercolor card beautiful you now have a new follower
Wow…what an amazing creations…
lovely comments
The flower card woooww stunning colored and I love the idea of TAG sentiment
I will remember it Debby thanks for your great idea
the fruit and the Fox one so so cuutee and happy colors there I love how you combine the stripes on the fruit and the fox card and TAG
great post Debby
hope I am the lucky one on your Blog :)
hugs
Monika
I like the color combinations of your awesome cards.
omgoodness, your cards are stunning! such beautiful colors!
Wonder^filled cards! Love your style and colors! TYFS