Hi friends! I am hopping along with Altenew today to help celebrate their new Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Better Press release for November 2023. You should have arrived here from Svitlana, and your next stop is Seeka. You can also start back at the beginning over on the Altenew Blog.
I am absolutely obsessed with the new Better Press Plates included in this release; they are so beautifully detailed and are so versatile. I love that you can use them for letterpress and hot foiling techniques alike!! I have examples of both techniques for today’s hop, so let’s get started with the details!
For my first card, I used the Wild Daisies Press Plate in a very simple layout, allowing the beautiful detail of the plate to be the star of the show. I began by using blending tools to blend Buttercream, Dusty Pink, and Toasted Mauve inks on a panel of Better Press Letter Press paper. These colors are a new combination for me; very warm and a little rustic, but so, so pretty together! After I had blended the entire panel and created a smooth transition between the colors, I used black Better Press ink (which comes with the system) with the Wild Daisies Press Plate in the center of the blended panel. I also splattered some Metallic Watercolors in complementary shades on the background and set it aside to dry.
While my blended and splattered panel was drying, I used the Classical Sentiments Press Plates to press a greeting. These press plates coordinate with the dies for the Classic Greetings product suite, so I used the coordinating die to cut it out. I love that the products all work together, depending on which technique you want to put to use for that project! I also blended the sentiment die cut with residual ink on my blending brushes from blending the background panel so that it would coordinate nicely with the color-saturated background. I added a thin black frame cut using the Fine Frames Cover Die die. A few black gems added some sparkle! The level of elegance that the letterpress technique adds to your cards is absolutely incredible. I can’t wait to do some watercoloring with these beautiful floral images!
My second card features the Billowing Flower Press Plate, which I paired with my Glimmer Hot Foil machine to create this elegant foiled image. I used Altenew’s Brass hot foil to hot foil the detailed floral image onto some black cardstock. I think the versatility between letterpress and hot foil techniques is what really sold me on this system; there are so many fun things that you can do with them!
For the greeting, I die cut the detail layer of the Thank You die from the Timeless Sentiments die set, cut from Brushed Gold Foil Cardstock. I backed it with a black glitter cardstock outline, in order to add another element of texture to the card. Adding textural interest to each layer of my monochromatic cards is a quick way to keep things interesting while still remaining loyal to your color scheme. I trimmed down the foiled floral panel and popped it up on a black Dotted Scales cover plate die with some foam adhesive. I popped up the thank you die cut greeting with another layer of foam tape, making it a double layer to give it a bit more emphasis. The final touch was a few shining black gems for one last layer of texture and shine!
Well, that’s all for my projects 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 $50 gift certificate to 4 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 11/12/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 5 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 11/14/2023.
*The winners of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.
Here’s the full hop list:
Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
