3D embossing folder

Altenew January 2023 Nostalgic Memories Stamp/Die/Stencil Release Blog Hop #1 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

January 3, 2023

Hi there! It’s the first official blog post for 2023, and we are celebrating the new Altenew Nostalgic Memories release! You should have arrived here from Laura Bassen, and your next stop is Mindy Eggen. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. This Nostalgic Memories release is full of super unique stamp images, dies, and beautiful embossing folders. I have a super rich, jewel tone- saturated project to share with you today using just dies and embossing folder, so let’s get started with the details!

Standalone floral die sets are some of my favorite to work with, because the layouts, color schemes, and textures are so open to possibilities! The new Sweet Blooms set features beautiful layering florals paired with tons of different foliage options to make bouquet building super fun. My floral focal point and teeny accent flowers were cut from rich magenta cardstock as well as some coordinating magenta foil cardstock to add another fun textural element. I die cut the different foliage pieces from both deep teal cardstock as well as some glittery turquoise cardstock to add some fun, sparkling texture to my bouquet.

I love the texture that embossing folders create, particularly on richly colored cardstock, so I ran an A2 panel of intense navy blue cardstock through my die cut machine using the new Vintage Tile 3D Embossing Folder. To help enhance the beautiful details on this embossed image, I lightly brushed the Indigo Skies ink pad on the raised areas of the embossed panel. Because the color of the ink is so close to the deep navy blue of the cardstock, this creates a very subtle effect, but it’s so beautiful in real life and enhances the pattern on the embossed area.

Once I had created my card base, I arranged the die cut flowers and foliage in a swag on the corner of my card front, adhering the components with a mixture of liquid and foam adhesive to add lots of different heights to the card front. I added a greeting, cut using navy and turquoise cardstocks with the new XOXO & More sentiment dies. To add one final element of sparkle and shine to my card front, I created some flower centers for my magenta blooms using three different sizes of iridescent gems. I love the added textural element these gems create on this card front. Just because there’s no stamping doesn’t mean that this card is boring, by any means!

Well, that’s all for my card today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a *$100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 01/08/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 11 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 01/09/2023. *The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.

Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost:

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Altenew: A Year In Review: Crafters’ Edition Blog Hop #2 + Giveaway

December 22, 2022

Hi there! Today, Altenew is continuing the fun with Day 2 of their Year In Review: Crafters’ Edition Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Altenew Card Blog, and your next stop is Penny Pynnonen. When Altenew asked me to select my four favorite projects from 2022, I certainly had a difficult time coming up with only four. Being part of the design team means that I get to work with utterly marvelous products every single month, and the giant flowers and innovative products that Altenew produces make working with them seem more like fun than actual work!

My four favorite projects feature my favorite way to craft: with lots of flowers, color, and coloring with my favorite mediums!

Watercolored Christmas Rose Hot Foil Card

This first card is one of my favorite holiday cards from this year, and it uses the Wild Rose Hot Foil Plate and Dies and the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor set. I love the softness of the watercoloring in the background paired with the bold hot foil and glittery branches.You can read all of the details on how I created this project HERE.

Hot Foiled Alcohol Marker Card

This next card features one of my biggest obsessions for 2022: hot foil. Altenew has some truly gorgeous hot foil plates, not to mention a line of beautiful matte metallic foil rolls, and combining hot foil with alcohol markers is one of my most favorite new techniques! I used the Flowery Bouquet Hot Foil Plate with alcohol markers to create this incredibly vibrant card. This card features another of my favorite techniques that can be seen frequently on my cards: accenting a floral image with multiple sizes of die cut frames. The frames help to draw the eye to the focal point, while the varying widths of the frames lend an air of elegance and class (at least I think so!). You can read all of the details on this card HERE.

Ethereal Watercolored Card

My third card features more watercoloring using the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor and the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Always Sunshine. I adore the graceful draping of the flowers on this card, as well as the ethereal watercolor wash in the background. The lilac and bluebell watercoloring with the rose gold embossing just makes me swoon! You can read more details about this card (and another coordinating project!) HERE.

Preppy Watercolored Embossed Peony

My final card features another technique that I grew to really love over the last year: watercolor on 3D embossed images! This project uses the Peony Sunshine 3D Embossing Folder, paired with the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor. (Can you tell that I really love those watercolors? They are a fantastic price point and give amazing results!) The combination of the detailed watercoloring with the incredible depth and texture of the 3D embossed image create such a unique, tactile look. It reminds me of stucco or Italian sculpture. You can read all of the details on this particular project HERE.

This card gets an honorable mention because… who doesn’t love utterly massive, violently pink peonies and shiny gold? I paired the Gracious Peonies stamp set with the Sunshine Valley Garden Artist Markers to create this bold, vibrant card. You can read all about it HERE on the Altenew Blog!

Well, that’s all for this walk down memory lane! I can’t believe another year has gone by. I guess time flies when you are working with some of the most beautiful flower stamps that you can find anywhere! (Also, four energetic and kinda nutty kids, so there’s that, haha!) Now for some fun giveaway information:

Over $500 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $100 gift card to 1 lucky winner, 3 $50 gift cards, and 27 $10 gift cards. Winners will be chosen from both blog hop #1 and blog hop #2. Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog HERE by 12/28/2022 for a chance to win.

(Feel free to share your favorite projects using #Altenew and #AltenewBest2022 when you share blog hop projects on social media. Don’t forget to tag Altenew!)

Wait, there’s MORE!

We would also LOVE to see YOUR favorite handmade cards, layouts, home decor, etc. featuring Altenew products! Feel free to share them on social media or on your blog using the hashtag #AltenewBest2022. You may also add a link by clicking the blue button below.

FOUR lucky crafters will each win a $15 gift certificate to our store! Winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/30/2022. We are looking forward to seeing your beautiful creations!

Your next stop on the hop is Penny Pynnonen. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

December 2022 Blossoming Creativity Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

December 20, 2022

Hi there! I’m so excited to be continuing the celebration for this month’s Altenew Marvelous Monthly release with a second blog hop! You should have arrived here from Preeti Chandran, and your next stop is Teri Wilson. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost! The Marvelous Monthly release for December 2022 featured so many beautiful new blooms in an assortment of styles, arrangements, and textures; I was so inspired for springtime with these gorgeous new sets! I used the new Craft Your Life Project Kit: Watercolor Flowers and the Build A Garden: Rosa Gallica sets with two completely different mediums to create this pair of super springy, coral-bluebell-white-and-silver projects.

Here’s a peek at the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Watercolor Flowers kit:

So many amazing products that work beautifully together, as well as individual components!

Here’s a peek at the Build A Garden: Rosa Gallica set (with the add-on die, too):

You can also purchase the Rosa Gallica set without the die HERE.

I kept both of my projects for today extremely light and airy, with a touch of mint and blue to contrast with the warmth of the coral flowers. I am totally loving this color combo! I try to keep my color combinations unique with each project that I create, and these were so fun to work outside of my normal pink zone.

I began this project by heat embossing one of the bouquets from Build A Garden: Rosa Gallica onto some white cardstock using white pearl embossing powder. I love how different this looks to the typical metallic or black stamped images; the white pearl embossing adds such a feeling of lightness to the project, almost like no-line coloring, but still with the helpful lines to keep your coloring process a little more simplified! I used the lightest markers from the Island Garden Altenew Artists Alcohol Markers set to color the flowers and foliage, using the Colorless Blender marker as the final marker to keep those highlights nice and bright and keep the overall feel of the finished product super pastel and pretty. I cut the finished image out with the coordinating die.

For the greeting, I used several elements from the Build A Garden: Rosa Gallica stamp set, embossing them in silver on white cardstock, then using the Add-On Die to die cut the “happy.” To help make the sentiment pieces stand out a bit from the background, I also die cut a tag from the Labels and Tags 2 die set.

The size of the finished bouquet immediately put me in mind of a mini-slimline card, so I used the Dotted Scales Debossing Cover Plate to add some subtle texture to a 3″x5.5″ panel (this fit perfectly, as this cover plate was meant to cover an entire A2 panel at 4.25″x5.5″) and mounted it to a full size mini-slimline card front (3.5″x6″) using foam tape. I mounted the colored bouquet to the textured, raised panel using some more foam tape, creating a double layer in spots, then filled in some of the bare areas with some white sprigs cut using the Itty Bitty Branches dies. I nestled the label and sentiment strips into the bouquet, allowing both the bouquet and the sentiment pieces to spill over the sides to create a truly dramatic and unique card front. The final touch was to add a few iridescent white gems for some sparkle.

My second card using the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Watercolor Flowers features the same airy color palette with lots of white space and subtle color, this time created with stencils and ink blending! I was absolutely thrilled to discover that the stencils for the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Watercolor Flowers work not only with the stamped images, but the 3D Embossed images, as well.

I began by die cutting the shape that coordinates with the 3D embossing folder included in the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Watercolor Flowers kit. I then aligned the die cut with the embossing folder and ran it through my die cut machine. It created such a beautiful, ornate piece that I almost didn’t want to add color to it! It would look lovely just as a textured white piece!

I taped the die cut down to a piece of scrap paper with some washi tape, then added each layer of stencil over the top, keeping the stencils in place with pieces of washi tape. I used only four shades of ink for this image, preferring to keep the shading softer by doubling up on the same color of ink rather than creating intense shadows with a darker ink color. I added some silver metallic watercolor to the flower centers to keep things cool and artsy.

For the card base, I used white pearl embossing powder to emboss the other bouquet from the stamp set, adding subtle texture to the background. I also splattered some silver metallic watercolor to the background for a bit of added texture. I popped up the stenciled, 3D embossed panel with some foam tape. For the greeting pieces, I paired one of the greetings from the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Watercolor Flowers that I heat embossed in silver with a hot foiled “thanks,” foiled using the Sweet Sentiments Hot Foil and Coordinating Dies with some matte silver foil. I popped up both pieces with a double layer of foam tape to make them really stand out. Finally, I added a few more iridescent white gems for one last touch of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for these projects! Now for some fun giveaway information:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by December 25, 2022 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on December 27, 2022.

Here’s the full link list for the hop stops:

Stamptember Has Arrived + New Illustrations!

August 31, 2022

Hi there! Have you heard? Stamptember has arrived over at Simon Says Stamp, and it promises to be a month of pure fun with tons of exciting releases all month long. If you’re not familiar with Stamptember, it’s Simon Says Stamp’s birthday month, and they celebrate all month long with huge Simon Says Stamp product releases, as well as super fun, limited-edition collaboration stamp sets from the wonderful companies that we know and love! I am super stinking excited that two of my own illustrations have been used for tonight’s release: Floral Frames and Butterfly Ranunculus! I have two projects using these new sets to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features my new Floral Frames illustration. I have always loved combining thin, delicate frames with bold florals, and these images in this set are perfect for highlighting a poignant greeting, of which there are a ton included in the set! I began by stamping the framed anemone image from Floral Frames onto some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using Hero Arts Contour Ink. I then used my Sennelier watercolors to add some lovely plum and jade no-line watercoloring. I used a very thin black pen to add the stamens to the center of the anemone after the watercolor had dried.

For the greeting, I stamped one of the sentiments included in the Floral Frames set, again using Hero Arts Contour Ink. I then used some handmade metallic plum watercolor, a very small brush with a sharp point, and a steady hand to watercolor the sentiment and the frame itself. I love how it looks like I hand painted the greeting myself! The shimmer in the metallic plum watercolor is such a lovely complement to the plummy anemone and pink berries.

For the card base, I ran an A2 panel of Hero Arts Plum cardstock through my die cut machine using the Exotic Vines Embossing Folder from Simon Says Stamp. I lightly brushed the Pinkfresh Studio Regal Kiss inkpad over the raised areas to help add even more interest and texture to the background, then used a blending brush to lightly blend around the edges of the embossed panel. I popped up the watercolored die cut using foam adhesive. I thought that the card needed another shiny, metallic element, so I added a few sprigs cut using the Simon Says Stamp Privet Branch die, cut from some coordinating Purple Rain iridescent foil cardstock. I popped on a few gems for one last touch of shine and texture!

My second card features my other illustration released tonight: Butterfly Ranunculus! I adore the graceful movement of the butterfly ranunculus flower, and they come in tons of different shapes and sizes. I normally gravitate more towards pinks and purples, but I thought that for this project I would venture into the warmer area with some brick red, peach, yellow, and copper. I stamped images from Butterfly Ranunculus onto some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper using Hero Arts Contour Ink, and again used my Sennelier watercolors to add color to the images, keeping things a bit more muted with some buttery yellow, peach, and brick red watercoloring. I included several different sprigs and foliage options with this set, so it makes building a bouquet super fun!

For the background, I ran an A2 panel of Apricot cardstock through my machine using the Simon Says Stamp Alstroemeria Embossing Folder. I thought that the graceful movement of this background suited the movement of the ranunculus flowers beautifully! I splattered some copper metallic watercolors on the embossed background for a little extra interest.

I arranged the bouquet on my embossed card front, adding a few coppery sprigs of the same Privet Branch die, cut from Altenew Brushed Copper cardstock. I adhered the bouquet using both liquid and foam adhesive for lots of dimension, then added a greeting. I tried to included a few multi-purpose-but-still-heartfelt greetings in the Butterfly Ranunculus set, and this is my favorite one! I embossed it onto some vellum using copper embossing powder, then fussy cut it with some sharp scissors and added it to the card front using some tiny dots of adhesive. A few buttery yellow iridescent gems were the final piece to the puzzle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I have a few more projects that I’m saving for later this week, but I hope you’ll check out the entire new release HERE. It’s fabulous and chock full of a ton of different products and styles to suit every person! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and Happy Stamptember!

Altenew March 2022 Whimsical Fairy Tale Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

March 25, 2022

Hi there! Today, Altenew is releasing another beautiful collection of embossing folders, called the Whimsical Fairy Tale collection, and we’re celebrating with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Hussena Calcuttawala, and your next stop is LauraJane. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog in case you get lost! This beautiful new collection features a variety of themes, but as usual, I gravitated towards the bold floral folders, particularly the Peony Sunshine folder. It’s massive, it’s super detailed, and I absolutely adore it. I’ve taken the “3D” portion of the title to a new level with some watercoloring today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by running the Peony Sunshine embossing folder through my die cut machine with a panel of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper. I find that this super heavy duty paper is perfect for use with these embossing folders; the embossing is nice and crisp, and it holds up beautifully to watercoloring. Once I’d embossed my watercolor panel, I used the Artists’ Watercolor 24 Pan Set to add lots of beautiful reds and corals to the image. The 3D embossing creates little wells, but the watercolor can still bleed even with those dimensional hills and valleys, so it’s best to treat this as you would with no-line watercoloring: work in sections, and allow the initial wet areas to dry before moving to the sections next to it to avoid bleeding. Once the panel was dry, I fussy cut around the edge with my sharp scissors.

Next, I used a blending brush with the the Woven stencil to lightly blend some Dark Night ink on a navy blue A2 cardstock base. This pattern is super subtle, but adds just a touch of interest to the area behind the peony! I wanted to keep this color scheme very springy and almost nautical feeling, so I kept things simple with a coral and navy color palette. To help coordinate with those coral tones in the peony, I splattered some rose gold metallic paint from the metallic watercolor pan set over the top of the stenciled background.

For the greeting, I die cut the Simple Greeting dies, cutting the background from some more navy cardstock and the detailed top layer from some matte rose gold cardstock to coordinate with the metallic rose gold splatters. I also heat embossed a greeting from Sentiment Strips 3 using rose gold embossing powder onto a strip of the same navy blue cardstock. I popped up the watercolored peony, sentiment strip, and sentiment die cuts using Instant Dimension Foam Tape, finally adding some shimmering gems for some more sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Now, for some fun giveaway information:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/31/2022 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 04/02/2022.

Your next stop on the hop is LauraJane. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

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3D embossing folder