Rose Are Red … and Yellow … and Easy

I am addicted to these Rose Flurries dies from Altenew. Absolutely addicted.

Now, you know nothing makes me happier than using up my paper scraps. And then making pretty things. These dies let me do it all.

First, check out the card:

(Cover die is Altenew’s Watercolor Stripes over a watercolored background. Sentiment is from Altenew’s Persian Motif set. Gems from Studio Katia.)

As you can see if you look at the dies, there are a LOT of them in this set. So here’s what I did to keep them straight:

First, I used a Sharpie to label the back of each die (yes, they are skinny!) according to their set (1, 2, 3, etc.). Then I added letters to show the layering order (a, b, c, d). So it looks something like this:

While I was cutting, I separated the dies and the pieces in a box top. This helped me keep track of the dies and the pieces:

After all that cutting, I stored them in little baggies, which makes putting them together so much easier!

And now I have a nice stash of dies for easy card making!

Altenew Floral Congrats Card

I am having so much fun with these dies from Altenew!

This card is almost all Altenew — the floral dies are from the Fantasy Floral 3D die set, the background texture is thanks to the Watercolor Stripes Cover die. The sentiment is from Altenew’s Persian Motifs stamp set. 

This card was so easy to put together, especially since I had a frenzy of die cutting of the floral dies (a great way to use up my scraps!). See here for more on this die. It’s so easy and fun to make the flowers ahead of time … and then you are ready to rock and roll when you need a card. They were layered with Therm O Web Zots.

The gems are from Studio Katia. I also added Nuvo Glitter Gloss to the top later of the front flower — but oddly enough, it changed the color and made it more orange. Hmmm…. interesting.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Valentines, 2018 version

I love these unique dies from Altenew and couldn’t stop making flowers:

The layering die (this one is Fantasy Floral, but you bet the others are on my wish list!) comes in three pieces, plus the leaves. I just went wild cutting pieces out of various card scraps, then I matched up colors:

 

I even played around with embossing and tone-on-tone:

These two were cut from some painted background pieces. The one on the left has Nuvo Aqua sparkle; the one on the right has about three layers of clear embossing powder.

Here’s a close-up:

And a white-on-white (one with sparkles, of course):

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day!

Altenew Cards

In my last post, I showed some of my practice pieces made using the Altenew Amazing You set.

Here are the results:

These cards are all 4Bar sized (4 5/8 x 3 1/2 folded)

The backgrounds are made using Papertrey Ink’s  Mix & Mat Flourishes set.

The hello die is by Simon Says Stamp.

So much fun to mix and match the backgrounds and the images!

More Fabulous Finds from Creativation

Here’s another look at some of the Fabulous Finds found at the Creativation craft and hobby show in Phoenix last month:

 

(Layering stamps clockwise from top: large roses, Hampton Art; koi and rooster, Hero Arts; small vintage roses, Altenew)

Stamp layering (images you layer to create depths of color and design) is so pretty … and still oh-so popular, with more and more companies producing layering images. And ditto for stamps with coordinating dies. I became a huge fan of Altenew stamps, a company that elevated the stamp layering technique, when I first saw the company a few shows ago. They really ignited a trend.

Also fun, Hero Arts (love the koi and rooster and … a croissant? Whaaaat? So yummy); Waffle Flower  (marble, cross stitched cacti and roses, and more); Hampton Art, and more.

Here’s a cute layered/stitched cactus from Waffle Flower:

… and a nifty marbling stamp, also from Waffle Flower.

I also love the flower border stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Watercolored Card

A quick card that was easy and fun to create:

I stamped Altenew’s Persian flowers on watercolor card stock, using grey StazOn ink so I wouldn’t have harsh lines. (And the StazOn is doesn’t bleed with water.) I used Ranger Distress inks to add some soft colors, then trimmed the piece, edged it with a black permanent marker and mounted the panel to a kraft card front.

I added a dash of Zig’s clear Wink of Stella for a wee bit o’ sparkle.

I die cut two pieces of this Simon Says word from the same kraft card stock, glued them together and mounted on the front of the panel. The inside says “birthday greetings.”

Fast, easy and oh, so satisfying!

 

Fabulous Finds Friday — Double Whammy!

I have two Fabulous Finds today, and they complement each other like stamps and ink. The inks made it easy to create some quick cards.

First, I am in love with the images from Altenew stamps — they are so fresh and different. (I’ll soon be showing off some more of theirs stamps, including a nifty vintage rose stamp that makes me swoon.)

The second great find won’t really be a surprise to anyone who follows Hero Arts, but this is the first chance I’ve had to play with the new Ombre ink pads.

Let’s start with this adorable Halftone Hello set from Altenew. I wanted to make some fast and easy one layer cards, and pairing the hello stamps and the ombre inks was a natural fit. (I really love the half-tone hello.)

OK, I admit it, it was a little TOO flat and boring, even with rounded corners. So I added some Doodlebug Sprinkles to give it a little zing.

Much better.

But …. could layering improve it? Always!

So, two simple and fast cards. The inks I used were Hero Arts ombre pink to red, butter to orange, mint to green and grey to black (I used VersaFine black for the first card because I wanted the Hello to stand out.)

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for more Altenew news.