Hi there! Today, Altenew is hopping along to celebrate the release of their new March 2023 Collection! You can find the full hop list at the bottom of the post, but you can also start at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. I have two projects featuring some gorgeous cherry blossom inspiration today, so let’s get started with all of the details!
Both of my projects feature lots of beautiful texture, lots of gorgeous rose gold metallic accents, and lots and lots of pink. It’s my favorite, and I cannot get enough. I took my cues for my cards today from the new Stunning Sakura stamps, allowing bright pops of pink to be the star of my projects.
My first project features the fabulous new Everyday Sentiments Hot Foil Plate. These circular sentiments reminded me of the wax seals that are so popular right now, so after hot foiling the Hello sentiment using some Rose Gold Hot Foil, I die cut it with one of the Fine Rings: Circles dies, I began work on a bundle of flowers to “tie” with my “wax seal.”
I used the Itty Bitty Flowers dies with the Rose Petal Gradient Cardstock set, die cutting the branches from some crisp white cardstock. I wanted those bright pink blooms to really pop from the background, so keeping the branches white helps to keep the focus on the pink flowers. I adhered all of the flower components together using liquid adhesive, then adhered them to the white branches.
I used the new Wicker Texture 3D Embossing Folder with a panel of white cardstock to create this crazy-textured background. I love how the incredibly crisp embossing is still relatively subtle because of the simple, repeating pattern. I arranged my cherry blossom die cut on the card front, adhering it with some foam adhesive, then added the hot foiled “wax seal” over the bundle with a double layer of foam tape for extra height. For even more texture, I added a baby pink seam binding bow and some sparkling pink gems. This card is simple, but all of the different textural elements really help to make it interesting, I think!
My second card uses the beautiful Stunning Sakura stamps and dies with some shocking pink watercolor to keep things bright and bold! I began by heat embossing the Stunning Sakura bouquet all over an A2 panel of watercolor paper using Altenew’s Rose Gold Embossing Powder. I then used the new Fine Watercolor Brushes with my favorite Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolors to watercolor the blooms in a beautiful hot pink, keeping the foliage in the same color family by mixing in a touch of black to the bright pink (aptly named “Cherry Blossom”) to create a jewel-toned maroon. I die cut all of the finished watercolored blooms from my A2 panel, and because I had placed hanging off the edges of the panel, I knew precisely where to place them on the clean card front!
For the greeting, I hot foiled one of the greetings from the new Vertical Greetings hot foil + die bundle, again using Rose Gold Hot Foil from Altenew. I also die cut the Simply Friend die from some coordinating rose gold glitter cardstock. I adhered it to some heavyweight vellum with liquid adhesive, then used my sharp scissors to cut around the edge to create a shadow. This vellum shadow allows the greeting to stand out a bit from the busy background, where it might get lost amongst the coordinating rose gold embossing powder and bright pink blooms.
I adhered all of the watercolored cherry blossom die cuts to a panel of white linen cardstock from my stash using Instant Dimension Foam Tape. The warmth of the linen cardstock coordinates beautifully with the warmth of the creamy watercolor paper. I hate it when the whites don’t match! I adhered the hot foiled and glittery die cut greeting pieces directly over the top of the popped up flowers using a double layer of foam tape to help them stand out even more. I added a few iridescent pink gems for some sparkle and added texture.
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 $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 03/07/2023 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 03/09/2023.
**The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.**
Here’s the full hop list:
Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
