heat embossing

Hi there! I’m so excited today to be part of the Altenew June Stamp and Die release blog hop! You should have arrived here from Therese Calvird, and your next stop is Zinia Redo. Altenew also is generously giving away 6 $50 gift certificates, and they’re giving away a $15 gift certificate at each blog hop stop, so read all the way to the end to find out all of the details on how you can enter to win! You can find the full hop list at the Altenew Blog. There are some absolutely gorgeous new floral sets and some super versatile dies being released this month, and I am so excited to help show them to you all. I have created 4 projects for today’s release, so let’s get started with the details! 

I love the combination of yellow and gray, so much so that my twins’ nursery was decorated in that lovely, gender neutral combination! It can easily be a masculine color combination, but the addition of some sunny yellow flowers quickly adds a feminine twist! I used the new Sunflower Daisy stamps with the Mid-Century Frame die for a crisp and sunny project, as well as adding some gray foliage to my yellow blooms with the Dainty Bouquet stamp set. 

For this first project, I kept the card front simple and clean, adding the new Mid-Century Frame die cut from white card stock onto a crisp white background. I love using white-on-white for intricate dies; it create a beautifully subtle texture. I did a little pale yellow ink blending using blending brushes on the card base before adhering the white die cut to add just a touch of color, then turned my attention to my blooms.

I love using non-traditional colors for foliage. It creates such a unique look and allows your chosen color scheme to really stand out. I chose to stamp the foliage in shades of gray, keeping the blooms themselves a more traditional sunny yellow. I adhered the blooms and foliage in a cluster in the corner of the card front using foam tape, adding a sentiment from the new Sentiment Strips stamp set and a few gems for some sparkle. 

For my next project today, I used the same color scheme, stamping a full A2 background panel using the Dainty Blossoms stamp set and the same yellow and gray inks that I’d used for the first card. Those gray leaves create such a unique, striking look, I think! I also used a fine point black pen to add a few little dots here and there in the blank spots just to add bit more interest. I added a charcoal gray die cut “friend,” cut twice from white card stock and once from charcoal card stock, then adhered together to create a dimensional die cut greeting. I also white embossed a sentiment from the new Sentiment Strips stamp set onto a thin strip of mustard yellow card stock, adhering it with foam tape for extra dimension. 

For my next projects, I chose to use my newly-purchased Tropical Fiesta and Winter Watercolor Brush markers to create an ultra-feminine pair of purple, pink, and teal floral cards, pairing the new Frilly Frame die with the beautiful florals in the older Just Because stamp set, while the large bouquets in the new Forever In Love stamp set were perfect to create an extra long card. 

I began this first project by heat embossing both bouquets from Just Because onto some watercolor card stock using white pearl embossing powder, creating my own custom background pattern. I then used the super concentrated Tropical Fiesta and Winter Watercolor Brush Markers to watercolor the background panel in a lovely combination of lavender, fuchsia, mint, and teal. 

Once my watercolored panel had dried, I die cut the new Frilly Frame die from some heavyweight vellum, adding a white Hello die cut over the top, as well as a sentiment strip created with the new Sentiment Strips stamp set. I hid the adhesive behind the die cuts, offsetting the vellum doily slightly and trimming off the excess. The final step was to add some sparkling gems! 

For my final card today, I stamped the bouquets from the new Forever In Love stamp set on some more watercolor card stock and heat embossed them with more white satin pearl embossing powder. I love using white embossing powder for floral stamps; I think it creates a softer, more unique look than simple black stamping. I watercolored the florals with the same shades of fuchsia, lavender, mint, and teal Watercolor Markers, then die cut them with the coordinating dies. 

I trimmed a 3.75”x8.25” panel of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper and taped it to my watercolor board. I then scribbled the watercolor markers on my craft mat, diluting them with water and adding this diluted color to my long panel of watercolor paper to create an ethereal background for my florals. After it had dried, I added it to a slightly larger panel of pink glitter paper, then arranged the floral bouquets on the card front, adhering them with foam tape. I added another greeting from Sentiment Strips, finishing the card off with some more sparkling gems. 

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now, for some fun giveaway information. Altenew is generously giving away a $50 gift certificate both on the Altenew Card Blog and the Altenew Scrapbook blog, so be sure to leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by 6/12/2019 for a chance to win. They are also giving away a $15 gift certificate at each stop on the blog hop! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on each stop on the hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Your next stop is Zinia Redo.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!