Altenew Educator "Love & Friendship" Blog Hop + Giveaway...

Welcome to Altenew Educators Blog Hop! We are celebrating "Love and Friendship" in this hop. If you’ve been following along, you’ve just arrived from Vicki Finger's blog. If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Altenew Card Blog.

I am very excited as this is my very first blog hop, and that too for my favorite crafty brand Altenew!

When the call went out for the Altenew Educator Certification Program in December 2017, I applied without much expectation of being selected. After all, it was a worldwide call for an amazing brand and sure to receive hundreds of applications. Imagine my surprise when I received the acceptance email!

I took over a year to complete my certification. And I love this flexibility that allows for doing the classes at my own pace. The classes themselves are absolutely amazing. I learned both new techniques as well as great twists on old techniques. The support from Altenew team has been great. And the feedback from Virginia and Erum after every challenge is invaluable.

My first card uses one of my absolute favorite Altenew sets - Peony Bouquet. This is one of the most beautiful floral layering sets by Altenew. I have used it in the majority of my projects during AECP. For the card today I used a medium I have explored very little - watercolor pencils.

I stamped the images with light ink on watercolor paper and die-cut them with the coordinating dies, after coloring. I rather liked the texture I got on the paper. So I didn't use any water for blending. I used two shades of pink and white for blending for the flower. Here is a close-up of the flower.

The bud was colored the same way. Only I used much more white. The leaves were colored with two shades of green and yellow for blending.

To assemble the card, I started with a cream card base with a speckled surface. I placed the Sunburst stencil on top and lightly applied Sand Dunes ink through it. I also splattered some pink distress ink over the stenciling.

The sentiment is from the Fresh Freesia stamp set. I absolutely adore this set for its beautiful sentiments. I arranged the die-cuts and adhered them with glue, popping up some with foam tape for added dimension.

Here is the completed card.

For my second card, I used the beautiful Cross Stitch Flower set. This set does take some practice to master. But the results are well worth the effort.

I placed the stem image at the corner of my card base and stamped with Evergreen ink, stamping off the ink once to get a lighter shade. I rotated the card base 180° and repeated the process. A stamp positioner is essential for creating this card as it saves time and helps in aligning the layers properly.

One trick I find very useful is stamping the layers on separate sheets of vellum or any transparent paper. I stamped on acetate sheets with black pigment ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. You can then easily align each layer, place the corresponding stamp on top and use the stamp positioner for stamping. Here is one of the stamped flowers.

I used the Red Sunset mini ink cubes for the flower and the Green Fields mini ink cubes for the stem. 

The sentiment is cut using the Simply Hello die. I decided to use the eclipse technique which is so trendy right now. I love it because it is subtle and doesn't take away from the gorgeous stamping. The secondary sentiment, stamped in black is also from the Cross Stitch Flower set.

Here is a look at the completed card.

My third card is in a completely different style. Though Altenew is most famous for its beautiful floral stamps, they also have some great sets with geometric designs. I have long been fascinated by the Art Deco period with its graceful designs. That was my inspiration for this card. I used three stamps from the Simple Shapes stamp set to create a background of repeating patterns.

A stamp positioner is very useful when creating a design based on a repeating pattern. I placed the three stamps together and stamped on a scrap piece of paper. Measuring the image gave me the distance by which I needed to move the paper to create an evenly placed pattern. In this case, I needed to move by one inch. I stamped with embossing ink and heat embossed each row with metallic gold embossing powder. I flipped the pattern every alternate row. Once the background was ready, I smooshed it with distress inks in yellow, pink, orange and red. I used water and a brush to add more color to the shapes so that they stood out. Here is a closer look at the background.

Once the panel was dry, I trimmed it and added some more gold embossing powder at the sides to give it a slightly grungy look. I popped it up with foam tape and mounted it on a black card base.

For the sentiment, I die-cut the Simply Hello die a few times and stacked the die-cuts together. The whole thing was covered with 3-4 layers of clear embossing powder. The secondary sentiment is from the Cross Stitch Flower stamp set. I heat embossed it on a strip of black paper with the same metallic gold embossing powder and added it to the card base, popped up on some foam tape.

Here is the completed card.

I hope you liked my cards. I would love to know which is your favorite. You can continue the hop by visiting Amy Hill next. She is very talented and has something great in store for you. You can go to the Altenew Card Blog if you want to start at the beginning. I also have the complete blog hop list for you below.

Hop Order:
Altenew Card Blog
Terri Marie Koszler
Michelle Ochoa Murray
Maryam Sharara
Amber Rain Davis
Irina Fonina
Teri Wilson
Francine Dodwell
Patty Mello
Nenette S. Madero
Vicki Finger
Nandini Karmarkar - That's me!
Amy Hill
Christine Pennington
Erum Tasneem

Offers

To celebrate AECP blog hop and encourage people to join in the AECP program, Altenew has discounted the following bundles by 20% from 7/19/2019 to 7/21/2019.

AECP Level 1 Class Bundle

AECP Level 2 Class Bundle

Prizes
A blog hop is no fun without some great prizes! So Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment here on the Altenew Blog by 7/26/2019 for a chance to win.

We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 7/30/2019.

That's all for now. Thank you for your wonderful comments. They make me very happy!

Love,
Nandini

Addicted To Stamps And More Challenge #350...

Hi! It is another lovely Wednesday and I am back with this week's photo challenge for the Addicted To Stamps And More Challenge. Here is the inspiration pic.

The obvious choice seems to be nautical. But I decided to go a little off the path. I was really inspired by the navy blue striped pillow. I used that pic and created this card.

The die is part of the Bols Blooms set by Ellen Hutson. It has been on my wishlist for a very long time. I die-cut the flowers and leaves out of red card stock and layered them over vellum. To create the stripes, I simply dragged my ink cube across a cream card base several times.

I die-cut a circle with a die and adhered it to the card base. The sentiment is by Mudra Craft Stamps. It was part of the grab bag that Varshitha was kind enough to send all the DT. Here is a closer look at the card.

I love the way this card turned out. Please don't forget to visit the Addicted To Stamps And More blog for more inspiration and to link your beautiful creations.

Happy Little Stampers July Challenge...

Hi! This month is off to a rocking start! First I joined the design team at Rainbow Card Challenges. I am also joining the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies design team.

I love to die cut as much as stamping. So I jumped when Kylie Putrell, the owner mentioned that there was a spot available. I am so happy that she decided to add me to this great team.

My card today uses the gorgeous Fantasy Floral 3D die by Altenew.

I die cut the pieces from cream cardstock and colored then using Altenew mini ink comes and makeup brushes. I also splattered the with colored gold acrylic paint. While the die cuts were drying, I cut circles out of Kraft cardstock using stitched nested circle dies. I adhered them to another circle cut from some scrap paper and then covered the surface with some champagne Delicata ink. I popped up the circle with foam tape and adhere it to a cream card base. I added the assembled flowers and leaves around the base of the circle.

Here is a closer look at the assembly.

The sentiment is from the Fresh Freesia stamp set. I heat embossed it with metallic gold embossing powder on a scrap of black paper and added to the card popped up on some foam tape.

Here is a look at the completed card.

I hope you liked my card. This is a monthly challenge. So you guys have plenty of time to get inspired and create something beautiful!

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Love,
Nandini

Addicted To Stamps And More #348...

Hi! Today is Wednesday. Which means another fun challenge is up on the Addicted To Stamps And More challenge blog. This week the theme is:

I made a quick and simple, one layer card as inspiration. This design can be easily adapted for any occasion and the sentiment works great for almost any celebration or holiday.

I started with a cream card base with speckled finish. I placed it in my stamp positioner and arranged the sentiment and the images from the Bold Blooms stamp set by Ellen Hutson over it. I stamped twice using the Versafine Onyx Black ink. While the ink was still wet, I carefully poured Ranger's Holographic embossing powder only over the blooms and leaves and heat set it.

This is a great card idea for mass production or making card sets. Hope you liked my card. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Love,

Nandini

Great News!

Hi! I am back to blogging after a break of one whole month. With some exciting news. Last month I was happy to be a guest DT at the Rainbow Card Challenge. I was really thrilled when Mynnette Kitchen who owns the blog asked me to join the team.

This month the theme is Blue Breezes and here is the beautiful inspiration graphic.

The butterfly on the right really caught my eye and I decided to go with it.

I started by placing a piece of watercolor paper in my stamp positioner. I arranged the stamps from the Grungy Butterfly set by Mudra Craft Stamps in one corner. I also added two small butterflies from the Papillon mini stamp set, again by Mudra. I inked the stamps with Peacock Feathers, Blueprint Sketch and Mermaid Lagoon distress inks, sprayed with water and stamped. I rotated the panel and repeated the process. I flicked the distress inks over the panel and continued spraying with water till I was happy with the background. I dried the panel a little, re-inked the stamps and stamped again, this time without any water. Then I allowed the panel to dry over-night.

To add some more interest to the card, I dabbed some Versamark ink randomly on the stamps and heat embossed with Ranger's Holographic enclosing powder.

Here is a closer look at the background.

The sentiment is from the Fresh Cut Roses stamp set by Mudra. I first heat embossed it with WOW!  Opaque White embossing powder and then again with Ranger's Holographic embossing powder.

Here is a closer look at the sentiment.

To finish I simply popped up the stamped panel and the sentiment with foam tape and added them to a Navy blue card base.

Here the completed card.

I am really happy with the way this card turned out. I hope you are also inspired to create something beautiful. Please visit the  Rainbow Card Challenge blog for more, amazing inspiration. You can also link your cards to our gallery. Looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Love,

Nandini