Good morning! Happy Monday! Today, Altenew is releasing their Suddenly Spring standalone die collection, and we are celebrating with a blog hop full of inspiration for you! You should have arrived from Nathalie DeSousa, and your next stop is Amanda Baldwin. You can also start back at the beginning at the Altenew Card Blog. Coloring is pretty much my favorite thing to do in general; one look at my blog can tell you that coloring is my favorite. But close behind coloring? Standalone dies. There are just so many things you can do with standalone dies, so many different looks you can achieve, and they can make such an impact on a card. I created two completely different cards using two completely different styles and die sets, but created a cohesive set by using the same colors of cardstock for both cards.
I normally like to keep floral/botanical card subjects within the realm of possibility in nature-i.e. lots of pinks, purples, corals, etc. Not many blue or green flowers to be found out in nature! I did think that the flowers in the Mini Flower Cluster Layering Die Set reminded me of a cluster of hydrangea flowers, which are one of my favorites and also can be blue, so I used that as starting point for my card set.
I began by die cutting the new Mini Flower Cluster Layering Die Set from three gradient shades of turquoisey blue cardstock, using black as the base layer for the flower centers. I cut two of these little clusters and several sets of the leaves (which I cut using two different shades of mint cardstock), and adhered the pieces all together using liquid adhesive.
I trimmed down an A2 panel of cardstock from some deep teal cardstock that I had in my stash (my husband always makes me “that face” when I buy more colored cardstock… occasions and projects like this are precisely why I need what seems like every shade of colored cardstock upon the face of the earth, thank you very much.) I splattered the background with some diluted silver gouache to add a bit of texture and interest to the background.
I stamped a greeting from Many Thanks on some white cardstock using Obsidian ink. Once my splattered panel had dried, I adhered all of the different elements on the card front using a combination of liquid and Altenew’s new Instant Dimension Foam Adhesive. Finally, I added a few of my favorite iridescent gems for some sparkle.
My next card features a custom patterned panel created using the new Whimsical Garden standalone die set. I love these super intricate dies, so much so that I wanted to use basically all of them on one card, ha! I recently saw a dress made with some beautiful fabric of emerald green embroidery on a teal background, and these Whimsical Garden dies were perfect to recreate that look on a card front.
I die cut several of the detailed and a few of the solid dies from the Whimsical Garden die set from some bright, grass green cardstock, arranged them in a pretty pattern on the deep teal card front, then adhered them using liquid adhesive. When creating any custom pattern for a card front, I always start with the largest element first, then arrange the rest of the elements around that, going from largest to smallest, and using the smallest pieces to fill in any gaps in the pattern.
Once I’d adhered all of the die cuts to the card front, I die cut a “thanks” from the Circled Greetings Thanks and the “so much for everything” (I trimmed off the “thanks” that is originally on the die cut to create a custom sentiment) from the new Slim Sentiments die set. The bright white sentiments pop beautifully off of the almost monochrome background! I love how subtle the green pattern is on the deep teal background. A few more iridescent gems finished it off.
As always, Altenew has some awesome giveaways to celebrate this release!
$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners 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 04/25/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 12 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 04/27/2021.
The next stop on the hop is Amanda Baldwin. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
