Thursday, March 5, 2020

Altenew Educator "For the Love of Flowers" Blog Hop and Linky Party + Giveaway



Hi! Welcome to the latest blog hop by Altenew Educators. You must have come here from Michelle Ochoa Murray. Isn’t she amazing? If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Altenew Card Blog.

I completed my Altenew Educator Certification Program in March 2019. It was a great experience and I am so glad I opted for it! I have really enjoyed the support from the Altenew team and the great group of Altenew Educators.

I am sure you will agree that Altenew is the best in terms of great designs, especially their florals. It is very easy to create beautiful cards with the Altenew stamps and inks. But I wanted to take this further and explore other mediums. Coming from a textile design background, I have a great affinity for working with fabrics. I decided to use these products on fabric. Here is my first project.


I started with a simple fabric pouch made of unbleached cotton. These are normally sold as bases for painting or decoupage. I like the cream color and the heavily starched surface. I used black pigment ink and the Floral Art stamp set to stamp the images on the pouch. After letting it dry, I added colors using the Altenew Crisp dye inks. I was pleasantly surprised by the crisp stamping and the brightness of colors. I used the darker shades of the colors so that they would show up nicely against the cream background.


After my stamping was done, I allowed the inks to dry overnight. Here is a close-up of the stamping.


To make the colors permanent, I simply applied decoupage medium over the entire pouch with a brush. Just remember to work fast as the medium might smudge the inks slightly. Once the medium was dry, my stamped pouch was ready to use. Here is another look at my completed pouch.


Encouraged by the success of the pouch, I decided to extend my experiments further. I have always felt the beautiful layered floral designs by Altenew are very suitable for decoupage designs. I made a small fabric bag this time.


I tried it first with regular tissue papers. Though I got the stamping part right, the tissue paper itself was too delicate and tore. I decided to use a kitchen towel instead and had better luck.


Kitchen towels are thicker and sturdier which makes it easier to work with them. I stamped the flower from the Beautiful Day stamp set in shades of pink and red. I cut masks out of used regular copy paper and used those instead of masking paper. Once the towel was dry, I carefully applied it to the bag with decoupage medium. Here is a closer look.


I like the texture that the kitchen towel brings to the surface. I added details with chalk paint and crackle medium around the paper. I also rubbed some metallic gold was to enhance the crackle and added some sparkly embossing paste to the center of the flowers. Once the bag was completely dry, I covered the entire design with decoupage medium. Here is the completed bag.


Since this bag is again made of unbleached cotton, it is quite stiff and stands up well. The design also lies flat, with just a little texture from the kitchen towel and the crackle.


Another angle


I am very happy with both my fabric projects. Here is a look at the bag and the pouch together.


Moving on, I decided to do another non-card project. I recently restarted scrapbooking. I used to do a lot of digital scrapbooking in the past. Last year I did a few layouts and found that I really enjoy the larger canvas that scrapbooking offers. Here is my layout.


This picture was taken 3 years ago at Hyderabad. We were all friends throughout 5 years of college and have kept in touch. We all got together at Hyderabad after over 20 years. It was an amazing trip and this picture was taken when we went out site-seeing. The dress theme of the day was red. So naturally the layout had to be red! I started with a sheet of red paper and adhered two ivory circles to it. I also stamped the outline images from the Japanese Mum set on the upper left and bottom right corners to give some texture.


I took a piece of jute and frayed the edges. This served as my mat behind the photo. I also lightly inked the edges of the photo with brown ink.


To create the flowers and leaves, I first smooshed several sheets of paper with green, yellow, orange and red watercolors. I die-cut the sheets with the Fantasy Floral die set. I also die-cut some green handmade paper for leaves. I assembled the flowers and then added them to the layout. Here is a closer look at the left side


And the right side.


I decided to not have a title and instead decided to go with a small sentiment which fit the layout perfectly! It is from the Leaf Canopy stamp set. I heat embossed it with white embossing powder and popped it up on the layout with some foam tape.


To finish, I die-cut a few more circles out of ivory paper and added them to the layout. Here is another look at the completed layout.


I couldn’t resist making a card with the beautiful Leaf Canopy stamp set which I recently bought. I decided to go with some loose water coloring and here is the result.


I started with a piece of watercolor paper and the solid stamp from the Leaf Canopy set. I sprayed the paper with water and then inked the stamp with a mix of Altenew Crisp inks and distress inks. I stamped the image after misting the stamp with water for a diffused impression. I repeated this process until I was happy with the final look.


I added some splatters with the diluted inks. Once the paper was completely dry, I used the outline images and stamped them slightly offset. I heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I also added some gold embossing along the edges of the panel.


The sentiment is from the Signature Words die-set. I simply die-cut it from a scrap of black paper and adhered it with liquid glue to the panel.


To finish, I popped up the panel over a black card base with foam tape.



I hope you enjoyed my projects and will try some of the techniques. I would love to know which project is your favorite. Also, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. You can continue this hop with the super talented Terri Marie Koszler. Or you can start at the beginning with the Altenew Card Blog. I have also included the entire list of participating blogs for you.

Blog Hop Order:
Nandini Karmarkar - You are here!

Prize info: No Altenew blog hop is complete without some great prizes. This time Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment here on the Altenew Card Blog by 3/11/2020 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 Card Blog on 3/14/2020.

There’s MORE! We will pick 2 of our favorite handmade creations from those who joined the linky party and they will each receive a $15 gift certificate to our store!


Special offer: Save 15% off on ALL Stamp & Die Bundles from 3/5/2020 at 12:01 AM EST until 3/6/2020 at 11:59 PM EST. https://altenew.com/collections/stamp-die-bundles  No code needed to enjoy this sale! Not valid on previous purchases. Excludes February 2020 release products.  

That is all for now.  I hope you will consider following my blog and keep visiting me often. I look forward to your comments. They always make me happy!

Love,
Nandini

53 comments:

  1. The fabric projects are just fabulous! I used to do a lot of fabric painting and I now wonder why I stopped. Oh great, now another thing to keep me busy!!lol

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  2. I just love how you made the pencil case and the bag! You have inspired me to try myself. Thank you for the idea. <3

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  3. Amazing creations! Especially loved the fabric projects! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Great projects Nandini, always good to see something hand stamped that is not a card!

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  5. Beautiful Day is my favorite, so I really love that bag! Great projects!

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  6. Your bags, page and cards are fantastic. I want to give the bags a try. What kind of decoupage medium did you use?

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    1. Thanks Carol. I used an Indian brand called Little Birdie. I guess any decoupage medium should work. All the best. Do share your project. I would love to see how it turns out.

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  7. Love the idea of using stamps on fabric!

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  8. WOW! I'm so impressed with your fabric stamping. I too love the texture the paper towel gave to the bag. Beautiful arrangement of flowers too!

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  9. I am in love with your fabric projects, it's been such a lont time since I made a soft craft projet with stamps. Your work is beautiful

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  10. Great projects, I love seeing projects other than cards.

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  11. Oh yes, I thoroughly enjoyed each of your projects! So creative, all of them. The bags are really fun and beautiful, too.

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  12. Your fabric projects are amazing, Nandini!!! Thanks for sharing your techniques!

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  13. What interesting projects! I've often wondered about using stamps on fabric and wasn't sure what the best method would be to make the inks permanent - thanks for the tips!

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  14. Love working on fabric. These projects are beautiful!

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  15. I want to learn from you in person Nandini. Is that possible? I loved every piece displayed here. Colors make me happy and love the floral stamp on the bag. Wow!

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    1. Any time, dear. We will definitely plan something.

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  16. Inking the die cut flowers is such a gorgeous idea!

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  17. Fabulous projects Nandidni, love the textile printing the most, thanks for the inspiration!

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  18. What a great Idea of something different .. Love your project nandini

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  19. Ooh so many great and beautiful projects!! Love the purse and the tote :)

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  20. Wow fun and beautiful projects!! Love the stamping on the pencil case and bag, thanks for sharing.

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  21. I like the leaf canopy watercolor stamping and the idea to stamp and color on canvas.

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  22. Whoa!!! The bag!!!! I have that stamp set and am gonna try that. Thanks for the help and inspiration!

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  23. Nandini, awesome job thinking out of the box with your pencil case, frame, shopping bag, and more!! You did a great job!

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  24. Ooo . . . all of these projects are awesome!! Never would think to stamp on fabric, both bags turned out fabulously, but I think the little pencil pouch is my favorite!

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  25. Fabulous layout and card and love your stamping on fabric!

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  26. Your fabric stamping is great! This is such a beautiful stamp set!

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  27. WOW -I am so impressed with all your projects. Everything is just incredible.

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  28. Great projects! Pretty coloring, Thanks for sharing.

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  29. Thanks for showing us all of your projects! Beautiful!

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  30. Your bag and pouch must get attention wherever you take them! Awesome!

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  31. Love the bag and and pouch. So creative! Thanks for showing us how versatile these beautiful stamps are.

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  32. Love all of your projects. Thanks for sharing.

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  33. I love all your projects. I never knew you could stamp on fabric. I really love the bag. Have to try that.

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  34. So many neat projects!! Love how you used them for the canvas cases! What a lovely gift idea.

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  35. Wonderfully fresh and interesting ways to use these lovely flowers! Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring!

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  36. Your bag is such a great idea! I love it! I especially like the leaf canopy card. It is so pretty and has wonderful colors.

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  37. wonderful projects and cards - love your leaf cards with the gold outlines!

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  38. Fabulous creations! LOVE the canvas work. The zipper pouch and bag are awesome ♥

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  39. How creative and cool! I LOVE the canvas bags and great layout!

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  40. Your projects are wonderful. I really like the bags. Your layout looks fantastic also. I wonder if you could mix reinkers with fabric medium and color with it instead of applying decoupage medium? Hmmmm.....

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  41. Your projects are amazing! I love the stamping on fabric and how beautiful they both turned out.

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  42. Wow so much beauty in one post. I am a fabric person and i love how you created one of kind projects..and i love using the watercolor technique on waterpaper too..again makes a one of kind gift. Thank you for your inspiration!

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  43. Wonderful projects!🌸 I'd love to have such a bag😍

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  44. These fabric projects are amazing. Beautiful beautiful!

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  45. I agree, Altenew has the most gorgeous florals out there. Your projects are wonderful, reminding me that these products are not limited to my card making hobby.

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  46. Nandini these projects are so innovative. Amazing work.

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  47. Everything looks SO gorgeous!! I cant wait for you to have the Altenew fabric inks once they release it. You would do wonders with those inks! I am glad you chose to go with all sorts of projects, shows us the versatility of the Altenew products! Thank you for being part of this hop!

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  48. Fabulous projects! I've never thought of using my stamps on fabric. Such a great idea. Thanks!

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  49. Beautiful projects! Nice technique😊

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  50. I love all of the cards and bags that you made! The fabric projects are especially great. I would love to see you do a video of those so that we could see your exactly how you do this!

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