Thinking of You | Altenew Challenge Live! Creative Challenge #55

Hi friends!  Today’s card is my take on Jen’s weekly Altenew Challenge Live for 9 June 2026 (Creative Challenge #55).  The challenge is to “create a project using techniques like soft blending, vellum, or layering to achieve a dreamy look”.  We’ll see how this goes… wish me luck!

The supplies used:

     Altenew – Captivating Blooms Stamp Set

     Altenew – Stylish Greetings 2 Die Set

     Brutus Monroe – Alabaster White Embossing Powder

     Fabriano – Artistico Extra White Acquarello Watercolor Cardstock

     Lawn Fawn – Vellum Paper

     Copic – Sketch Alcohol Marker BG93

     Tsukineko - Versa Mark Watermark Stamp Pad

     Taylored Expressions – Anti-Static Powder Tool

     Fuumuui - Semi-Moist, Opaque Watercolor Palette, Grays

     Altenew – Ultra Stick Double Sided Tape, 1”

     Altenew – Instant Dimension Foam Tape, 1/16” x 1”

Honey Bee Stamps - Warm Pearl Stickers

     Altenew – StampWheel 2.0 Stamp Positioner

     WOW! – Dual Speed Heat Tool

     My Sweet Petunia – Original MISTI Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Main Panel

For the decorative/main panel, I trimmed a piece of Fabriano Artistico Extra White Watercolor card to measure 7” x 8”.  I placed the watercolor card into my StampWheel 2.0 and coated it with anti-static powder and used Versamark watermark ink to stamp Altenew’s large Captivating Blooms stamp onto the watercolor card.  After I removed the watercolor card from the StampWheel, I applied a coating of Brutus Monroe’s Alabaster White embossing powder over the stamped image, tapped off the excess, and melted the powder with my heat tool.

I chose to use my Fuumuui’s semi-moist, opaque watercolor paints for my coloring medium.  I felt they would present the soft, dreamy look I was going for in this challenge.  Using a wet-on-wet watercoloring method, I painted all the petals using Red Gray-1 and Red-Gray-2, the flower centers were a mixture of several of the colors from the palette to attempt to get a brownish-grey tone.  For the leaves and stems, I painted using Yellow Gray-1 and Yellow Gray-2. 

Creating the Matting Layer

I used a paper trimmer and cut a piece of the same watercolor cardstock to measure 4.5” x 6.25”.  I placed the trimmed watercolor paper onto my glass mat and applied a layer of the Fuumuui Yellow Gray-2 watercolor paint around the outer ½” of the watercolor paper panel – this will serve as my matting layer and will match the leaves from my painted, floral panel.  I set the panel aside to dry while I moved on to the sentiment.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I decided to use Altenew’s Stylish Greetings 2 die set and selected the “Thinking of You” sentiment.  Since I don’t have cardstock that matches my greens exactly, I decided to repeat the process I performed for the matting layer.  I took a scrap piece of the watercolor cardstock and added the Fuumuui Yellow Gray-2 watercolor paint across the cardstock until I had painted enough to die cut the sentiment.  I die cut the sentiment three times from the watercolored cardstock – once from the Yellow Gray-2 painted cardstock and two additional times from the plain watercolor cardstock – then I die cut the coordinating shadow layer from a piece of vellum.  I used liquid glue to adhere the painted sentiment to one of the plain white sentiments then used my Copic Sketch alcohol marker BG93 to add a layer of color around the outer edges of the sentiment to tone down the edges of the white and make them more cohesive.  After that, I adhered them to the front of the piece of vellum and added the third white die cut sentiment to the back side of the vellum to add a diffusing/softening effect so that the sentiment wouldn’t compete with the floral background.

Assembling the Card

I started by trimming the watercolored, floral panel to measure 4.25" x 6". To assemble the card, I added strips of Altenew’s 1” Ultra Sticky Double-Sided Tape to the back side of the matting layer and adhered it to an A6, white card base.  Next, I added strips of Altenew’s 1” x 16” Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back side of the floral painted panel and adhered it to the top of the matting layer.  Lastly, I added liquid glue to the back of the sentiment and adhered it to the lower bottom third of the card front and added five little white pearls around the sentiment.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it.  Until next time, happy crafting!

Happy Birthday – Today Is About You | Spellbinders

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing an A6 sunflower birthday card featuring products from Spellbinders.  The Sunflower Serenade die set has been on my to-do list for quite some time and today I decided… let’s make a card!

The supplies used:

Spellbinders – Sunflower Serenade Die Set

     Spellbinders – Essential Modern Ovals Die Set

     Spellbinders – Birthday Unboxing Hot Foil Plate & Die Set

     Spellbinders – Linen 3D Embossing Folder

     Paul Rubens Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper

     Spellbinders – Indigo Colorwheel Cardstock

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink Re-Inker

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink Re-Inker

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Mowed Lawn Distress Ink Re-Inker

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink Re-Inker

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Walnut Stain Distress Ink Re-Inker

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Ground Espresso Distress Ink Re-Inker

     Penny Black - #4 Round Paint Brush

     Spellbinders – Matte Gold Glimmer Foil

     Pinkfresh Studio – Metallic Matte Gold Pearl Embellishments

     Ranger / Tim Holtz – Distress Collage Medium Matte

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Altenew Black Instant Dimension Foam Tape

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     Anna Griffin Empress Gild Hot Foiling System

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

To create the background, I took a piece of Spellbinders Indigo cardstock, cut it to 4-1/2” x 6-1/4” and embossed the panel using the Spellbinders Linen 3D embossing folder.  Normally an A6 card would measure 4-1/2” x 6-1/4”; however, after running the panel through the 3D embossing folder it shrank a tad so my finished card size will actually be 4-1/2” x 6-1/8”.

Creating the Focal Point

Using the largest die from Spellbinders’ Essential Modern Ovals die set, I die cut a piece of Spellbinders Indigo card.  Utilizing the Spellbinders Sunflower Serenade die set and sheets of Paul Rubens hot pressed watercolor paper, I die cut the flower 14 times, the three leaf style dies were die cut six times each, and the two flower centers seven times each.  I decided to watercolor the images versus cutting them from colored cardstock and used Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Ink re-inkers as my painting medium.  The flower petals were given a watercolor wash of Squeezed Lemonade followed by placing Carved Pumpkin toward the base of the petals and allowing the color to wick its way up each petal naturally.  For the flower centers, the larger pieces were watercolored using Ground Espresso and the smaller pieces were watercolored using Walnut Stain.  I separated the leaves into two even sets (three of each leaf style per set) and began watercoloring one set of the leaves using Mowed Lawn and the other using Rustic Wilderness.

Once the watercolored elements were dry, I used liquid glue to adhere two sets of the leaves together, the larger flower center die cut next, and lastly the smaller flower center piece.  I repeated this process until I had seven complete flowers.  I positioned the Indigo cardstock oval where I thought it looked best on my embossed background panel and began arranging the flowers on top of it until the oval was no longer visible.  When the arrangement was completed, I glued the flowers in place and began adhering leaves in random locations until I was content with the panel. 

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I chose to go with an older Spellbinders hot foil plate and die set called Birthday Unboxing Glimmer.  I hot foiled the sentiments onto Spellbinders Indigo cardstock using my Anna Griffin Empress Gild hot foiling system and Spellbinders Matte Gold Glimmer Foil.  I used the coordinating dies to die cut the sentiments and cut two extra Indigo pieces to glue behind each of the sentiments for dimension.

Assembling the Card

I added strips of Altenew black foam tape to the back side of the oval that I glued the flowers to and adhered it to the card’s embossed background panel while allowing approximate 1-1/2” of the oval to hang off the top of the background panel.  I used a paper trimmer and removed the excess oval and any overlapping flowers/leaves from the top of the card panel.  I used liquid glue to adhere the two sentiments to the lower portion of the card front and added a sprinkling of Pinkfresh Metallic Matte Gold pearls around the sentiments.  Lastly, I adhered the card front to a white, side-folding, A6 card base using a combination of strips of Scor-Tape and liquid glue (yes, I am an over-adhesive user!).

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really appreciate it. Until next time, happy crafting!

Happy Easter 2026 | Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a cute Easter card featuring products from Picket Fence Studios and Spellbinders.  Let’s get into it!

The supplies used:

Picket Fence Studios – Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail Stamp Set

     Picket Fence Studios – Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail Die

     Spellbinders – Spring Canopy Glimmer Plate Set (GOM-FEB25)

     Waffle Flower – A6 Piercing Layers Die Set

     Lawn Fawn – Jet Black Premium Ink Pad

     Altenew – Obsidian Pigment Ink Pad

     Copic Alcohol Markers – RV13, RV25, RV10, R21, RV0000, C3, C1, C0

     Sakura Gelly Roll #10 White

     Mijello Mission Gold Watercolor Paint – Prussian Blue & Hooker Green

     Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Surface Paper

     Spellbinders Rose Gold Glimmer Foil

     FuuMuui #12 Round Paint Brush (or any other brand)

     Scotch Painter’s Tape

     Ampersand Hardbord Panel

     Silver Black Velvet ¾” Oval Watercolor Brush

     Winsor & Newton Permanent White Gouache Paint

     Finetech Pearlescent Colors Watercolor Paint – Golden Rose

     Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Splatter Brush     

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     Altenew – 1” x 1/16” Instant Dimension Foam Tape

     Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Anna Griffin Empress Gild Hot Foiling System

     Anna Griffin Empress Elite Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

Using my Anna Griffin Empress Gild hot foiling system, a 5” x 7” piece of Strathmore Vellum Surface Mixed Media paper, and Spellbinders Rose Gold Glimmer Foil, I hot foiled the leaf canopy from the Spellbinders Spring Canopy Glimmer plates set onto the mixed media paper.  Next, I adhered the foiled piece of mixed media paper to an Ampersand Hardbord using low-tack painter's tape.  To add the watercolored background, I used Mijello Mission Gold watercolor paint #W544/Prussian Blue and painted a streaky wash across the top 80% of the paper and then added a wash of Mijello Mission Gold #535/Hooker Green to the lower 20% of the paper and set aside to dry (you could dry with a heat tool if desired).  You will notice the canopy foiling resisted the watercolor paint and left the foiled areas nice and clean.  Once the panel dried, I spattered Winsor & Newton white gouache across the background as well as Finetech’s Golden Rose pearlescent watercolor paint just for fun; however, I did place the leaf canopy glimmer plate over the foiling so I didn’t get any spatter on the leaves before I started.  After the spatter dried, I used the second largest die from Waffle Flower’s A6 Piercing Layering Die Set to die cut the watercolor panel to size and cut a piece of white cardstock using the largest die in this set for the bottom mat.

Creating the Focal Point

For the focal point, I chose to use the rabbit ears stamp from Picket Fence Studios’ Hoppin’ Along the Bunny Trail stamp set.  I stamped the image onto X-Press It cardstock using Lawn Fawn Jet Black ink and colored it with Copic Alcohol Markers.  The Copic colors I used were:

       Rabbit:  C3, C1, C0, R21, RV10, RV0000

       Bow:  RV25, RV13, RV10

Once I completed the coloring, I die cut the rabbit using the coordinating die and added Glossy Accents to the bow.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used the “Look who’s hoppin’ down the bunny trail?” sentiment from the Picket Fence Studios Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail stamp set and stamped it onto the card front panel using Altenew Obsidian pigment ink.

Assembling the Card

I added Scor-Tape to the back side of the white A6 cardstock panel and adhered it to the card base.  To give the card some dimension, I added Altenew Instant Dimension Foam Tape (1” x 1/16”) to the back side of the watercolor panel and adhered it to the white cardstock panel.  I added thin 3D foam squares to the back side of the rabbit and adhered it to the card front.  My final touch was to add a sprinkling of metallic pink flatback pearls around the card’s focal point.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really do appreciate.  Until next time, happy crafting!