Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards, Catherine Pooler Designs, Classes, My Favorite Things

Christmas Wreath

Hi Angels!

Allergies continue to sideline me including the dog, who went to the vet unexpectedly this morning for severe allergic dermatitis, so I didn’t work on anything yesterday like I wanted and today was a bit slow but I got a card done & started another project.

I have been wanting to make this card since I saw the video by Verity Biddlecombe from Pretty Little Button during the July Cardmaker Success Summit. I had no leafy wreath stencils, so hunted down the Altenew one she used & ordered it.

I love how this turned out. I probably wouldn’t do a large batch but it would be pretty simple to assembly line about 6 of them in a short period of time.

I switched my colors up a bit from the video but it’s pretty much the same design. I used Altenew’s Wonderful Wreath Stencil, Catherine Pooler Designs Merry Christmas Word Die and sentiment from My Favorite Things Bitty Holiday Wishes.

Hope you’ve found some time to work on your holiday projects. The holidays will be here before we know it.

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

Seasonal Blooms One Layer Cards

Hi Angels!

I was planning to post these cards yesterday but appointments & errands took up most of the day and today I am battling a migraine. However I did finish off the 2nd card so I could post the set.

With my To-Do list including finishing up class projects, these cards were from the 4th class of the Craft Your Life Retreat last month, where I also had a bad migraine & didn’t finish my classes. I still have at least a half dozen more cards to finish from this retreat but since they focus on the Seasonal Blooms stamp/die/stencil set I may spread them out a bit. As pretty as the set is, I’ve already made many cards from the set. So I may start mixing in some other Altenew stamp sets.

For this set of cards, we created 2 identically colored card bases with the stencil set. The first one just has an embossed sentiment. The 2nd one has a watercolored background, regular stamped sentiment & then was embossed to “step it up”. I used a lattice embossing folder. Originally we were supposed to use the embossing folder that matches the stamps but it doesn’t line up. This was Altenew’s 1st Craft Your Life set & they have already corrected the problem for the 2nd set that released. This was my favorite color combo from the retreat classes. I broke out from the suggested class colors & did my own colors.

Have a Great Thursday!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

Seasonal Blooms on Watercolor

Hi Angels!

My allergies are just relentless lately so I’m dragging a bit. However I do have a couple of projects in the works including a very large art piece I was working on yesterday.

Tonight I grabbed one of the projects from the Altenew Craft Your Life Retreat that I hadn’t completed yet & finished it after spending part of today organizing more of the studio.

This is one of the cards from the Dye-namic Inking class. I used Distress Oxides to create a watercolor ombre background as well as inking through the matching Seasonal Blooms stencil that matches the stamp set to color the flowers. I then die & fussy cut the image to fit a standard A2 card base since the set was designed for a 6 x 6 square card which I don’t make because of the extra postage to send it.

I hope you have a fabulous Labor Day Weekend!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards, Watercolor

3D Embossing Watercolor Part 2

Hi Angels!

I was busy working on 2 other projects, so a little late posting tonight.

The 3D Embossing class was wonderful but more of a refresher for me. This is not a bad thing because techniques evolve over time and there were a couple of great new versions of techniques. Plus because it was more of a refresher course it was easy to do the projects on time and complete the class.

It wasn’t part of the class but I really wanted to detail color an embossed image & the result was stunning!

I used the same Altenew Majestic Bloom 3D embossing folder & the same Koi Creative Art colors as last night’s card. I just followed the contours of the embossed image to watercolor in detail. There might have been a “one” hair paintbrush involved too, LOL! The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Essential Sentiments set.

Never be afraid to try something new and step out in faith. You might be surprised at the results.

Have an absolutely wonderful Wednesday!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

3-D Embossing Watercolor Part 1

Hi Angels!

My allergies are trying to get the best of me with these high pollen counts we’ve been having but I’m still poking around the studio a bit each day.

Our final lesson for the 3-D Embossing class was watercolor.

The instructions were to loosely add some color. I used the Koi Creative Colors palette with metallics. It seemed a little stark so I added a copper wash over the top. It’s pretty but a bit splotchy to me. It actually looks better in person than in the photo. I used Altenew’s Majestic Bloom Embossing folder with sentiments from Build-A-Flower Primrose.

So after I tried this, I went for watercolor my way. Check back tomorrow for an absolutely fabulous card!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

3D Embossing – Emboss/Deboss

Hi Angels!

I had planned to post last night but I had a migraine.

Lesson 6 of 3D embossing class was creating 2 cards featuring the embossed & debossed sides of an embossing folder.

I used Altenew’s Deck Planks folder on kraft with gray ink to highlight each side. These will make terrific guy cards! Birthday is a Unity die, You da Best is Simon Says Stamp and happy was a Taylored Expressions freebie.

I am working on lesson 7 and hopefully will finish up my class tomorrow.

Have a Blessed Sunday!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

3D Embossing Ink Blending

Hi Angels!

I got more sorting & organizing done today. Purged quite a few things too. Making progress one small area at a time.

Lesson 5 for class was ink blending 2 ways on 3D embossing.

This one is very subtle because it uses Versamark ink to highlight some of the raised areas. A lot of us use Versamark for our heat embossing & forget it gives a watermark effect by itself. A matching ink color to your cardstock would work too.

I did a more traditional background blend on this version to highlight the flowers, a bit different from the class sample.

I used Altenew Daisy Bed embossing folder. Blessings is from Sweet ‘n Sassy and Happy Everything is a Penny Black die.

The weekend is almost here. Enjoy!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

3D Embossing Jazz It Up

Hi Angels!

I spent a good part of the day reorganizing an area & of course created more to sort through & find new homes for.

Lesson 4 of the 3D Embossing class was Jazz It Up and there were 3 techniques so I have a trio of hello cards to share tonight.

For this first card we revisited an older technique, stamp your images and then emboss your background. I used Altenew Never Give Up stamp and Seasonal Blooms stamp sets and pulled out my SU! Brick Background 3D embossing folder. I only have 4 Altenew embossing folders.

Card 2 revisits the chalkboard technique. I used Altenew Deck Planks embossing folder & Gina K Designs Hello.

Technique 3 was dressing up a frame with die cut images. I don’t have any 3D frames so I used Altenew Daisy Bed embossing folder & dug into the infamous Bits & Pieces box for the die cuts.

I’m stressing just a wee bit because I am a day behind in my class but it should be easy to catch up.

Enjoy your Thursday!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

3D Embossing Plus Heat Embossing

Hi Angels!

I had a very long, hot, busy day today so I am glad I got yesterday’s class lesson done last night. I did work on today’s lesson too but it was 3 cards so I’m not quite done.

Yesterday’s lesson was adding heat embossing to your 3D embossing.

I embossed Altenew Majestic Bloom 3D embossing folder on purple, swiped with an embossing ink pad & added silver embossing powder to the card. I had a wee bit of “outside the lines” embossing so I added some champagne metallic watercolor to camouflage it. The sentiment is from the Weekend Doodles stamp set.

Hopefully tomorrow I can work on some organizing & a couple of art projects, including catching up on this class.

Have a Great Day!

Altenew, Art Inspiration, Cards

3D Embossing & Cutting

Hi Angels!

I hope you had a terrific weekend!

I had a relaxing Sunday and worked a bit on a couple of projects.

Today’s 3D lesson was cutting up your embossing folder piece and adding an accent to your card with it.

I only have 4 Altenew embossing folders so you may see them several times throughout the lessons. I don’t have a big Altenew collection overall.

I did the background with Daisy Bed and used Deck Planks to cut up after adding some accent inking. The flower is from Build a Flower – Primrose and the sentiment is from Spectacular Adventures.

Enjoy the week ahead!