marvelous monthly

Altenew December 2023 Inks & Marvelous Monthly Series Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

December 13, 2023

Hi friends! Today, Altenew is celebrating their December “super release” with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Caly, and your next stop is Agnieszka. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. I have four projects to share with you today using the beautiful new Build-A-Garden: Blossoming Freesia and the stunning new Kaleidescope of Colors Fresh Dye Inks! Let’s get started with the details.

I began my first project by stamping the outline image of the beautiful new Build-A-Garden: Blossoming Freesia twice on my A2 card panel using very pale pink ink from the Rose Petal Fresh Dye Ink bundle. I used the layering stencils included with the new Build-A-Garden: Blossoming Freesia with the Rose Petal Fresh Dye Ink bundle, Buttercream, and Lagoon inks to create these lovely, vibrant, cool pink blooms on my card front.

After I had blended all of the images with the layering stencils, I used the included mask stencil to cover my images so that I could do some blending for the background. I placed the mask over the top of the image and blended Icy Water ink in the background, adding some touches of pale pink around the edges of the card front to create an ethereal effect. I also splattered some shimmering pink watercolor from the Metallic watercolor set to add even more ethereal magic to the card front!

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment strip from the Build-A-Garden: Blossoming Freesia set in silver on a strip of white cardstock. I also die cut the included “friend” die from some coordinating blue glitter paper from the Fairy Dust Glitter Cardstock pack, backing it with a die cut vellum bubble layer. I popped up the greeting pieces using foam adhesive, then added a few iridescent gems for sparkle!

My next trio of cards is an homage to some of the absolutely stunning new additions to the Fresh Dye Ink line. The new Kaleidescope of Colors Fresh Dye Inks feature some older color families in the new Fresh Dye Ink formulation, and there are also four new color families to add to your ink collection! I love ink blending with embossing folders; I think it is such a simple way to make a huge impact with your card front, so I pulled out lots of different holiday products and some beautiful inks to create a trio of simple Christmas cards.

My first project is an homage to the new Glacier Caves Fresh Dye Ink bundle. I started this icy project by ink blending the beautiful blues in this Fresh Dye Ink family around the edges of a white A2 cardstock panel, then running the blended panel through my die cut machine using the Starry Patterns embossing folder. To enhance the embossed pattern on the card front, I swiped the Cloud White pigment ink over the raised areas, allowing the snowflakes to stand out a bit from the colorful blue background, also adding some iridescent white shimmer watercolor splatters. I stamped the greeting from the Joyful Greetings stamps and die set using the darkest blue from the Glacier Caves Fresh Dye Ink bundle, heat embossing over the top of it with some pearlescent white embossing powder. I added a few glittering snowflakes cut using the Layered Snowflakes 2 die set from Dazzling Diamond glitter paper. A few sparkling white gems finished it off!

My second card features the brand new Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink bundle, one of the four new color families in this release. I blended a beautiful pink ombré down the front of my A2 card front using the Dried Petals Fresh Dye Ink bundle and ran the panel through my die cutting machine using the Poinsettia Cluster embossing folder. These large blooms make such a statement on your card front with so little extra work required! I ran my Rose Gold pigment ink pad over the top of the raised areas, highlighting them and adding some luxurious metallic accents, then splattered some rose gold metallic watercolor over the entire panel. I die cut a greeting from the Christmas Season die set using Rose Gold metallic cardstock, which I adhered to a strip of vellum. I folded one edge of the vellum behind the card panel and added some super strong double sided adhesive tape, then added tiny dots of liquid adhesive behind the solid die cuts. Some shiny pink gems finished it off!

Finally, I used the Sugarplums Fresh Dye Ink bundle to create this unique diagonal blended background. Blending the colors on the diagonal reminds me of a purple Tiger’s Eye gemstone! After blending the Sugarplums inks on my A2 card panel, I ran the piece through my die cutting machine using the Festive Greenery embossing folder. I swiped the raised areas with my Antique Gold pigment ink pad and splattered the entire piece with more metallic gold watercolors. I heat embossed some images from Winter Florals onto a piece of heavyweight vellum using gold embossing powder, then snipped the individual berry clusters off of the long branch to create a custom arrangement. I die cut a deep plum greeting from the Christmas Season die set and arranged all of my die cuts on my blended and embossed background. Finally, I added a few coordinating sparkling gems!

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 12/19/2023 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 12/21/2023.
*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 November 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

November 16, 2023

Hi friends! Today, I’m delighted to be hopping along with Altenew for their November 2023 Marvelous Monthly Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from the Altenew Blog, and your next stop is Agnieszka. This month’s release features some classic beauties, like the Craft-a-Flower: Layering Dogwood dies and some flowers that are new (to me, anyway): the Build-A-Garden: Cheerful Coreopses. I have a light and airy project to share with you today featuring the gorgeous blooms of the Craft-a-Flower: Layering Dogwood set, so let’s get started with the details!

I began by die cutting the flowers from the Craft a Flower: Layering Dogwood dies from plain white cardstock. Each piece on the flowers contains a different keyhole shape so that you can perfectly and easily line up your die cuts to create three differently-shaped blooms. Each bloom only has two main pieces, so assembly was super quick and easy! After adhering the pieces of each bloom, I used small blending brushes to lightly blend Buttercream Fresh Dye Ink around the edges of the petals and Dusty Pink in the centers, creating those gorgeous blooms that embody springtime! I used colored cardstock to cut the foliage and flower centers, blending some deep green ink on the leaves to add some extra dimension.

Next, I ran a panel of white cardstock through my die cutting machine using the Basic Plaid 3D Embossing Folder. I trimmed down the long edge of the embossed panel and added some thin strips of Sparkling Peach glitter paper from the Fairy Dust Glitter Paper Pack. This pastel peach shade coordinates beautifully with the subtle ink blending on the flowers. I adhered these cardstock pieces to the center of a full size A2 card front using Ultra Sticky Double Sided Tape.

For the greeting, I pressed one of the sentiments from the Classical Sentiments Press Plates using the black ink included with the Better Press system, then cut it out with the Classic Greetings coordinating dies. I arranged the flowers in a cluster on the embossed strip on the card front, adhering them with some foam adhesive to add extra dimension and using a double layer of foam tape for the greeting. Finally, I added a few sparkling pale peachy-pink gems for some 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 $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 11/22/2023 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 11/24/2023.
*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.

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

Altenew October 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

October 18, 2023

Hi friends! I am taking part in the Altenew October 2023 Marvelous Monthly Blog Hop. You can start back at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog or view the full hop list in the InLinkz at the end of this post. This month’s Marvelous Monthly release is filled with so much beauty; I was particularly struck by the Build-A-Garden: Blushing Magnolias. Each month, Altenew releases a beautiful Build-A-Garden set that is so unique that I am almost always drawn to them. If you love them like I do and want to be guaranteed to receive these gorgeous sets each month, you can check out the subscription page HERE. For today’s card, I was channeling the beautiful peachy-pink magnolias that are so prevalent in my area during the spring time. Let’s get started with the details!

I began my project by trimming down two A2 panels of palest blush cardstock and embossing the large floral images from the Build-A-Garden: Blushing Magnolias onto each one using Golden Peach embossing powder. This rosy golden metallic embossing powder looks scrumptious on this blush cardstock, creating a tone-on-tone effect that is super elegant!

After I had finished embossing the images, I used the coordinating stencils in the Build-A-Garden: Blushing Magnolias product suite along with the included blending brush and a few of my own to add lots of color and subtle shading to these beautiful magnolia images. For the blooms, I used Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, and Ruby Red inks from the Red Cosmos Fresh Dye Ink Quartet, while the foliage was created using Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen from the Green Fields Fresh Dye Ink Quartet. I used the coordinating add-on die to die cut one of the stenciled images. (You can purchase the Build-A-Garden: Blushing Magnolias bundled with the coordinating dies HERE.)

Next, I used the palest ink from the Red Cosmos Fresh Dye Ink Quartet to blend lightly on the bottom of the stenciled floral card base to add some extra interest to the background. I also splattered some coordinating rose gold metallic watercolor from the Metallic Watercolor 14 Pan set around the bottom blended edge. I arranged the die cut magnolia over the top of the card base, popping it up with Instant Dimension Foam Tape and allowing it to butt right along the edge of the card front. For the greeting, I heat embossed two sentiment stamps from the Build-A-Garden: Blushing Magnolias onto some more of the blush cardstock using the same Golden Peach embossing powder, die cutting one of the sentiments with the coordinating die. I popped those up with foam adhesive, as well, then added some shimmering gems for even more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for this project! 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 10/24/2023 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 10/26/2023.
*The winner 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!

Altenew September 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

September 19, 2023

Hi friends! Today, we are hopping along to celebrate the September 2023 Marvelous Monthly release! You should have arrived here from Svitlana, and your next stop is Seeka. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. The Build-A-Garden sets tend to be my favorites each month, because of the great value as well as the beauty of the designs themselves. The Build-A-Garden: Frilly Begonias set is truly gorgeous, with two large arrangements of begonias and foliage, gorgeous sentiments, and fun simple coloring stencils. You can also purchase the Build-A-Garden: Frilly Begonias + Add-On Die Bundle if you would also like to have the coordinating dies (both for the flowers and the large sentiments!). If you find yourself loving the Build-A-Garden series each month, you can become a subscriber HERE to make sure that you get first dibs and a discount! I chose to do some coloring with alcohol markers for my project today, so let’s get started with the details!

I began my project by heat embossing the large image from Build-A-Garden: Frilly Begonias using Altenew’s Rose Gold Embossing Powder, offsetting the image so that it was dripping off of the side. I then used alcohol markers to add some muted coral and warm teal to the images. I love that these colors are somewhat muted in overall tone, but still vibrant and can pop off of the page! To create a halo around the image, I blended around the edges of the A2 panel using a blending brush and Water Hyacinth Fresh Dye Ink. I splattered the entire panel with some coordinating metallic watercolor to add some artistic sparkle, as well.

To add a little interest to the layout, I used my trimmer to trim a 1/4″ segment out from the side of my colored, blended panel. I backed the open area with a piece of coordinating rose gold glitter paper from the Golden Sunrise glitter gradient cardstock pack. This creates a sparkly peek-a-boo strip amongst the colorful background!

For the greeting, I heat embossed and die cut two of the different greetings included in the Build-A-Garden: Frilly Begonias + Add-On Die Bundle. I popped these greeting pieces up with some foam adhesive to give them extra dimension, then added a few shimmering blue gems for one last bit of texture and 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 $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $40 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 09/25/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 6 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 09/27/2023.
*The winner 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!

Altenew July 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

July 18, 2023

Hi there! Today, Altenew is hosting a blog hop to celebrate their July 2023 Marvelous Monthly Release! You should have arrived here from Jaycee Gaspar, and your next stop is Caly Person You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. I have a project to share using the stunning new Build-A-Garden: Sweet Lilies set, so let’s get started with the details!

The new Build-A-Garden: Sweet Lilies set features a gorgeous 6×8 stamp set that is complete with a stunning floral arrangement as well as a wide variety of beautifully poignant sentiments that would work for so many different occasions. The set also features a layering stencil set and a small blending brush! You can also purchase the coordinating die as an add-on, which features a large die for the floral arrangement as well as dies for the larger sentiment stamps. I love the polished look that these sentiment dies give to the card! If you find yourself loving the Build-A-Garden series each month, you can become a subscriber HERE to make sure that you get first dibs and a discount!

For my card today, I began by heat embossing the gorgeous floral arrangement from Build-A-Garden: Sweet Lilies on a panel of cold press watercolor paper using silver embossing powder. I couldn’t resist painting the huge, beautiful lilies in the arrangement rather than using the layering stencils, so I pulled out my Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set, which is one of my most favorite sets of watercolors in my stash! The colors are beautifully vibrant and unique shades, or they can be mixed to create a custom color palette. For today’s card, I did quite a bit of mixing and matching to create this lavender, coral, pink, and green bouquet, adding Fall Harvest to the Shades of Purple to create the muted lavender shade, mixing Rock Collection with Green Meadows for the deep green leaves, etc. Each of the colors on the bouquet was created by combining two (or more!) of the colors in the palette. Sometimes, a little tweak is all you need to create a truly gorgeous custom color palette!

Once I had finished watercoloring the image, I used the coordinating die to cut it out. I wanted to coordinate my background with the colors in the image, so I decided to match my vibrant pink slimline background with an alcohol marker from my stash, then outline the white edges of the die cut. I love to keep the color palettes on these vivid projects as true as possible, so I avoided any white or black at all, preferring to allow the colors be incredibly vibrant! To accent the vivid bouquet, I die cut the Floral Lace Die from the same shade of bright watermelon pink cardstock. I also lightly blended some Midnight Violet ink along the top and bottom of the slimline card front to coordinate with the purple in the bouquet. I arranged the watercolored floral image and lacy die cuts on the card front, adhering them with a mixture of liquid and foam adhesive for lots of different heights.

Once I’d finished arranging the background, it was time to add a sentiment. I heat embossed the large “sending” and a smaller sentiment strip onto yet another piece of that bright watermelon pink cardstock using silver embossing powder. I used the coordinating die to cut the “sending” and trimmed the slim sentiment strip with my trimmer. I adhered them both to the center of my card with another layer of foam tape to allow them to really pop from the card front. I added a few shimmering jewels for some sparkle as a final touch!

Well, that’s all for my project. 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 $40 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 07/24/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 6 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 07/26/2023.
*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!