Happy Little Stamper April Watercolor Challenge...

Hi! I hope you are ready for the fresh new challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

This month we have an optional prompt for the HLS Watercolor Challenge.

I used the Fragrant Florals stamp and die set. The coloring was done using Zig markers. 

I ran the base through an old Tim Holtz Embossing Folder. The sentiment is from the Altenew On The Go Birthday stamp and die set.

Here is another look at the card.

I hope you liked my card. I look forward to your beautiful creations in the HLS gallery. Do visit the blog for some more inspiration by my teamies.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes:

Can You Handle The Pressure?

NBUS Challenge #49:

The embossing folder is several years old, I found it while reorganizing my stuff. The Stamp is also about an year old.

AAA Birthday Game #8 - Layer it Up:

The Card Concept #192:

I was inspired by the brick wall in the background.

Love,
Nandini

CAS Shaker Card...

Hi! I am here today with a quick CAS shaker card. The idea for this card came to me as I was making another card. Initially I wanted to make a one layer card. But the design developed into a shaker card.

I used a very old stamp by Fiskars called Petals From Scratch. The sentiment is from the Fancy Banner 2 set by Taylored Expressions. I colored the flower using my Zigs. Here is a close up of the shaker element.

And another look at the completed card.

Entering this card in the following challenges.

Freshly Made Sketches #513:

Color Throwdown #670:

Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes:

Addicted To CAS Challenge #211:

Perfectly CAS Challenge #21:

STAMPlorations November CAS Challenge:

Love,

Nandini

30 Days Coloring Challenge - Day #5

Watercolor painting with a touch of the vintage style.

Penny Black April in Paris Stamp Set + Camlin Artists Watercolours + Zigs

Love,

Nandini

30 Days Coloring Challenge - Day #1

 Hi! I used the Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms stamp set and my Zigs.

Love,

Nandini

Rainbow Card Challenge #30 – Radically Rainbow…

Hi! Welcome to another great challenge at the Rainbow Card Challenges. The mood board this month is one of our all-time favorite themes! 

I had fun creating this quick and simple card. 

I used the candle stamp from the Simply Celebrate stamp set by Lawn Fawn. I colored my candles in rainbow order using my Zigs. The sentiment is from the Party Time stamp set by STAMPlorations.

I hope you liked my card and are inspired to create something beautiful! Please do check out the Rainbow Card Challenge blog for more inspiration. And don’t forget to link your cards to our gallery. I look forward to seeing your beautiful creations.

Love,

Nandini

Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop + Giveaway

Welcome to the annual Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop and Giveaway, hosted by Altenew. I am honoured to be a part of this great initiative. Our goal is to send cards for the elderly that live in nursing homes or shelters to let them know they’re not forgotten. Please encourage people to check out the Celebrating Parents Card Drive and join this great cause by sending in cards.

You must have arrived here from the blog of Linda Westfall. In case you want to start at the beginning, I have included the whole list at the end of this post.

I created two cards for this hop, both using the same supplies.

I used the Beautiful Day stamp and die set for the flowers. The flowers were stamped with black ink and then colored with Zig Real Brush Markers and alcohol inks.

The sentiments are also from the Beautiful Day stamp set and stamped with black ink.

The foliage was die-cut using the leaves from the Floral Fantasy 3D die set.

I used some scraps of handmade paper for matting as well as the leaves for both the cards.

I also did some stenciling using the Sunburst stencil and silver pigment ink on the base.

I just changed the arrangement of the flowers to create different looks.

I arranged the flowers in a pleasing arrangement and then popped them up with some foam tape.

To finish, I added white pearls to the centers.

Here is another look at both the cards together.

No Altenew blog hop is complete without some great prizes!

Giveaway Prizes

$200 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 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/31/2021 for a chance to win. 

 

Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 04/2/2021.

We have chosen a few Altenew products that are great for your Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards (and other year-round projects)!

• Simply the Best Stamp Set

• World's Best Dad Stamp Set

• Thanks, Dad Stamp Set

• Thanks Around the World Stamp Set

• Courageous You Stamp Set

• Arabesque Medallion Stamp Set

• Extra Special Stamp Set

• Precious Moments Stamp Set

Altenew will donate $1 with every order of the above stamp sets from 3/6/2021 until 5/31/2021 to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.

Blog Hop Order

The next person on the hop is the amazing Natasha Davies. In case you are lost or want to start at the beginning, here is the whole list!

Altenew Card Blog

Nathalie DeSousa

Tenia Nelson

Virginia Lu

Alex Syberia

Carol Hintermeier

Cheryl Espie

Dana Joy

Eva Bussom

Helen Kalb

Hussena Calcuttawala 

Jenny Colacicco

Joylita Dsouza

Kelly Griglione

Linda Westfall

Nandini Karmarkar - You are here!

Natasha Davies

Preeti Chandran

Sandhya Iyer

Seeka

TaeEun Yoo

Terri Koszler

Bridget Casey

LauraJane

Love,

Nandini

Tag #4 - 25 Days of Christmas Tags

Hi! My fourth tag inspired by the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event hosted by Tracey McNeely on her blog In My Creative Opinion. 

This tag is inspired by two different tags. The background was inspired by Lindsay Larsen's beautiful tag on Day 19. Here is the link to her original post. 

The sentiment was inspired by Kathy Schweinfurth's tag on Day 10. I just replaced the flower with a cupcake. You can find her original tag here.

This tag is also part of the What a Sweet Holiday video hop. You can watch the video below or head to YouTube by clicking here.

Entering this tag in the following challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge:

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #WWC229:

Cut It Up Challenge #214 - Christmas:

Yes, Virginia November Show And Share:

Love, 

Nandini 

MFT Summer School Day 1 - Visual Triangle...

Hi! I recently completed 5 projects for the MFT Summer School. This is a fun, educational series by My Favorite Things. It teaches you the basics of good design and how to apply those designs in your cards.

Day 1 covered the concept of creating a visual triangle to add interest to your card. You can read more about it here.

Here is the card I created.

You can check out my video on how I created the card here or you can head over to my YouTube channel.

I used the Buildable Bouquet stamp and die set by MFT for the flowers and Zig real brush pens for all the coloring. 

I used the Smile word die by Lil' Inker for the sentiment.

I have also started keeping track of my NBUS products. NBUS stands for Never Before Used Stuff. These are products that we crafters buy on impulse and never get around to using! I am trying to use as many of these as possible. I have created a Pinterest board for this and plan on updating it. For today's card I used the MFT Buildable Bouquet set from my NBUS stash.

Here is another look at the card.

 

Hope you liked my card and enjoyed the video. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Creations in Pink #25:

Yes...Virginia August Show & Share:

Love,

Nandini

Papercrafter Unite Against Racism Blog Hop...

Hi! Thank you for participating in the Papercrafters Unite Against Racism Blog Hop! You must have arrived here from Jo Herbert's blog.

I am so excited that you are joining in for this great cause! The goal of this hop is to come together to stand behind our crafty sisters and brothers of colour not just in the art industry, but also to show our support in the never-ending fight for equality all over the world.

This hop is the brainchild of Justine Hovey. You can visit her blog for more details of this worthwhile cause.

I made a couple of bookmark cards for this hop. The original idea of the bookmark card is by Jennifer McGuire. You can find her post here.

I love the concept as I love reading and often make bookmarks as gifts. Here is my card.

I used the New Begining stamp set by STAMPlorations and my Zigs for the bookmark. The sentiment is also from the same set.

Once my panel was ready, I adhered it to a piece of kraft cardstock folded in half. 

To complete the card, I made a couple of slits in the red card base. One was at the top fold and another halfway down the card. The slits were fractionally larger than the bookmark so that I could tuck it in.

The bookmark can be easily slipped off the card base and used in a book.

For the second card, I used a slightly different technique. 

I used the New Beginning stamp set by STAMPlorations again along with my Zigs. To create the bookmark, I scored an ivory panel ¼ inch from the top and adhered the colored panel to it. Once the glue was dry, I trimmed both to get a bookmark.

I took a panel of kraft cardstock ½ inch larger than the bookmark and cut a slit towards the top. I glued the panel to the red card base taking care to apply glue only to the top and the edges, leaving a large pocket in the center. Once the glue was dry, I slipped the bookmark in through the slit at the top.

Here is another look at the card.

I hoped you liked my cards and will give this technique a try. I would love to see your twist on this type of card.

The next stop on the hop is Ishani. In case you are lost or want to start from the beginning, here is the entire list.

Neha Parab
Fairuz Fabiha (aka Craftivation)
Joy Dsouza
Jo Herbert
Nandini Karmarkar - That's me!
Ishani
Stacy Zant
Tricia Y
Mary Ellen Driggs
Margaret Schuering
Justine Hovey
Alison Heikkila
Ardyth Percy-Robb
Natasha
Marcia Dehn-Nix
Sandy Allnock
Erin Reed
Martha Lucia Gomez / Joy Clair Designs
Juliana Michaels
Amy Hill
Betz Golden
Erica A-B
Angie Cimbalo
Rebecca
Karen Hasheck 
Char Kochensparger (chark)
Jess
Jill Lipscomb of Jill Cameron Creations
Dana Warren
Mansi Bhatia
Ingrid
Charlotte E (Lady Joyful)
Carrie Rhoades
Anna Mahtani
Jessica McAfee
Amber Rain Davis
Kari VanNoy
Kathya Kalinine
Annette Witherspoon
Mona Toth
Natasha Davies
Anja Glauner
Robin Flenner
Nancy Salkeld
Eva Costigan
Michelle Woerner
Haley Pettit
Verity Biddlecombe
Love,
Nandini