Altenew August 2022 Inspiration Challenge | Summer-Inspired Birthday Card

Hello! I utilized the gorgeous color pallet above as my inspiration for this card. I hope you enjoy it.

When I first saw this month’s challenge color combination, I knew I wanted to watercolor a floral image. I couldn’t resist selecting one of my favorite Altenew products – “Captivating Blooms Outline Stamp Set” as my canvas.

To create this card, I started with some white watercolor paper and stamped the Captivating Blooms floral image using clear embossing ink and heat embossed the linework using a rose gold colored embossing powder. The Altenew Crisp Dye Inks I chose for this card were: Pastel Sunrise, Crimson, and Dark Chocolate.

Using the ink pads as my watercolors, I began painting each flower first with clean water then introducing the Crimson around the center of each bloom then adding the Pastel Sunrise beginning at the outer edge of each bloom until both colors met in the middle for a perfect mix. Then to complete the image I painted each of the stems and non-bloom portions of each flower with the Dark Chocolate ink – unconventional, but I love how it turned out.

Next, I stamped a second Captivating Blooms image onto another piece of A2 size, watercolor paper using Dark Chocolate ink for my card front. I trimmed down the watercolored version and applied foam tape to the back and adhered it to the card front ensuring the artwork lined up around the edges.

For my sentiment, I used Altenew’s “One-Go Birthday Greetings Stamp & Die Bundle” and stamped the greeting onto white cardstock and again using the Dark Chocolate ink. For my finishing touch, I applied some peach iridescent sequins for a bit of sparkle.

If you would like to play along and create your own summer-inspired birthday card, please click on this link to the Altenew Inspiration Challenge Post and have fun! https://blog.altenew.com/fun-birthday-card/

Creepin’ It Real

Sizzix / Tim Holtz released a very fun collection of stamps, dies, and Halloween accoutrement this year and my love of all things skulls inspired me to create this card. I used a couple of them in this design I hope you enjoy it!

This card panel all started with the Sizzix / Tim Holtz release of “Spencer”. I cut all the dies from white cardstock and used Distress Oxide Inks in various shades from Black Soot all the way up to Picket Fence to get the range of colors I wanted to create the skull. After the inks dried, I assembled the layers using Distress Collage Medium in the matte finish.

For the card’s background, I chose to go with a new member of my crafting stash – a 6×6 pattered paper pack from Whimsy Stamps called “Nevermore”. I selected the piece of patterned paper that I felt best suited Spencer and I absolutely love the piece I chose. There are so many good ones in this paper pack, but I could only choose one!

To create the frame, I used the Distress Black Two-Tone Woodgrain cardstock and a die set from Rubbernecker called “Nested Scallop with Holes”. I used the A2 sized frame from this set and used the Simon Says Stamp black foam squares to adhere the woodgrain frame and the skull to the background panel.

The only thing left was to add the greeting and embellishments. For the sentiment, I used the Simon Says Stamp “Spooky Salutations” sentiment strips. After selecting the sentiment that I wanted to use, I cut it out and used dark brown and black ink to edge the sides of the strip to give it somewhat of a weathered look. For my embellishments, I added a few gems from the Picket Fence Studios Gem Mixes called “Day & Night”. That’s it!

This was a very simple card that came together nicely thanks to the product creators.

Spooky Salutations

Hello friends! Vicky here and I’m excited to share one of my Halloween 2022 card projects with you.

This card started simply with me playing with Lindy’s Magical powders to create some general ‘moody’ backgrounds for the upcoming Halloween card making season.

I started this card project using some Canson XL watercolor paper that I applied Lindy’s Magical powders to in the “Gag Me with a Spoon Gray” color. After I achieved the look I was going for, I set that aside to allow it to dry for a couple hours.

Next, I stamped the spider web across the top of the page using the Stampers Anonymous / Tim Holtz “Life of the Party Stamp” stamp set with embossing ink and white ultra-fine embossing powder.

I wanted to use the Whimsy Stamps “Fuzzy Spiders” stamp set but did not want to add the spider as a die cut image, so I had to get a bit creative. I selected which size spider I wanted for the card, then using a VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink pad I stamped the spider onto the background, covered it with black ultra-fine embossing powder, heat set it and allowed the embossing powder to cool while I plotted the white part of the eyes situation.

To get the opaquest white coloring of the spider’s eyes, I painted a couple layers of Winsor & Newton Designers gouache with a small paint brush and crossed my fingers that it would cover the background showing through the eyes… it worked!

I finished off the card panel design by ink blending a little Black Soot Distress Oxide ink around the edges to draw the eyes to the center of the card.

My final step was the sentiment. I got out my new Simon Says Stamp “Spooky Salutations” sentiment strips and selected the greeting I thought was most appropriate, matted it with some black cardstock and popped it up with some Simon Says Stamp black foam squares.

The final detail was to add some embellishments. I chose to use the Picket Fence Studios “Moon Shade” Gem Mixes and placed those strategically around the card panel for a little sparkle. Next I added Ranger’s Glossy Accents to the eyes and this card was complete!