Altenew Educators Blog Hop
Hello crafty friends! I’m thrilled to be hopping along with my fellow Altenew Educators. There’s a ton of talent in this group and lots of fresh inspiration on the hop all focused on our personal favorites. Be sure to check out all the participants here.
I’m featuring lots of favorites in this 4 card set, so come on in and stay a while! As always, supplies are listed below & details are in the videos!
If you’re not familiar with the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) and you love card making, I encourage you to read more about it, here. The program is self-paced and the Altenew Academy classes can be accessed at any time, which made it easy to fit into my schedule.
The classes are enjoyable and offer great knowledge and inspiration from a variety of artists. Often, I found myself learning a technique and adding my own twist. My craftsmanship and artistry have evolved during my journey with the program. Sharing and bouncing ideas off the Altenew family and fellow AECP’s has been priceless. I love this community!!
Ink Smooshing & Zentangle® Cards
I use several favorites in the first two cards: color coordination of mediums, stencils, Ruffled Flowers & Wispy Begonia Stamp Sets, and adding hand drawn elements to projects.
One of my favorite things about Altenew is the coordination of their coloring mediums. The inks pads match the alcohol markers, watercolor brush markers, half pan watercolors, etc. This makes it so easy to mix media!
Ink Smooshing
I did some ink smooshing onto a piece of 100% cotton paper cut with a circle die and tangled the white space with simple Zentangle® grid patterns. Stay tuned, there will be a class on this technique coming soon!
Ink Smooshing Colors
Midnight Violet, Dusk, & Emerald Watercolor Brush Markers
Tip: Heat set the ink in between layers and splatter on some additional color making sure to reserve some white space.
I LOVE how each set of Altenew Ink pads offer 4 shades of the same color. This makes the layer stamping a breeze. But, I also love the unexpected pop of mixing up the sets when I layer stamp. Play around with your colors to discover some spectacular combinations.
Layer Stamping
Ruffled Flowers Colors
Midnight Violet & Dusk Crisp Dye Ink
Lagoon & Dusk Crisp Dye Ink
Wispy Begonia Colors
Midnight Violet Watercolor Brush Marker
Dusk Watercolor Brush Marker
Dry Embossing
Now comes another favorite, dry embossing with stencils! I recently started using stencils and I can’t get enough of them!! So much bang for your buck as you can do soooo many techniques!!W
Stencils
Wavy Grid Stencil & Square Weave Pattern
To assemble the cards, I adhered the circles directly to the embossed panels and popped up the flowers and leaves.
I stamped sentiments and cut them into strips or fussy cut them in order to show as much of the backdrops as possible. Before fussy cutting the Happy Birthday sentiment, I did some ink smooshing with the leftover ink on my glass mat.
On to the next 2 cards, using stencils with embossing paste.
Wet & Dry Embossing Cards
I kept the circle backdrop and color palette consistent throughout all 4 cards. Instead of ink smooshing I used embossing paste.
Wet Embossing
Tape the circle die cut to the stencil and spread Nuvo Embellishment Mousse in Old Navy one once circle and Aquamarine over the other circle die cut.
Work the paste gently to get a smooth surface and replace extra paste back in the container. Remove the stencil and wash immediately. All the mousse to dry per package directions.
Layer Stamping
Beautiful Heart Colors
Flower Desert Night & second generation stamping with Midnight Violet
Leaves Desert Night
Tip: Stamp your sentiment before dry embossing with Beveled Squares Stencil for added interest.
Finally, I popped up the navy circle, flower, and leaves with foam dots.
Build-a-Flower: Gardenia Colors
Flower Desert Night, Dusk, & Lagoon
Leaves Desert Night & Mountain Mist
Tip: Trace the embossed circle onto an A2 sized white card panel & die cut with the same size circle die before dry embossing with Starburst Stencil. Use a smaller circle die on an A2 sized piece of sticky back fun foam to easily pop up your panel.
Flower was popped up with foam dots and the leaves & sentiment were adhered directly to the white panel.
I struggled with whether or not to add sequins but ultimately decided to leave the cards as is.
I am so thankful to Altenew as this program has opened so many doors for me in the craft industry. I’ve taught multiple Altenew classes, done a new release product demo at my local stamp store, started assisting with Altenew Product Intro videos, I’ll be teaching an Altenew Make & Take at Creativation, and I’m developing an Altenew Academy class. So many wonderful things! I do encourage you to check out this program! I’m loving every minute of it!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope these cards inspire you to get creative and try out some of these techniques. Have fun and Breathe · Ink · Inspire.
Prize & Giveaway info below.
Supplies
Prizes
Altenew is giving away $30 Gift Certificate to THREE lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog by Jan. 23rd for a chance to win. Three winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 1/25/2019.
Giveaway
Altenew is sponsoring a $15 gift certificate giveaway on my blog as well! To enter leave a comment below. I would love, love, love if you would subscribe to my YouTube channel here.
Winner will be announced here by 1/22/2019. Good luck everyone!!
Winner Update – 1/22/2019
Mindy Drummond
“All 4 cards are gorgeous! The mix of textures, colors, style is all fantastic, I love them all. I cannot wait to try these techniques. Thank you for sharing these and for the awesome inspiration, I will definitely be referring to your YouTube for direction and technique!!”
Mindy, congratulations again and that you so much for following and your support! To claim your prize, please email winner@altenew.com by 1/31/2019 with the subject line Altenew Educator’s Blog Hop Winner from Amber Rain Davis’ Blog.
Next Stop
The next stop on the hop is the lovely Irina Fonina!
Altenew Card Blog
Nancy McClelland
Michelle Ochoa Murray
Terri Koszler
Maryam Sharara
Amber Davis < you are here >
Irina Fonina
Francine Dodwell
Teri Wilson
Patty Mello
Nenette S. Madero
Nicole Picadura
My favorite color combinations. Beautiful projects. TFS
Amber, thank you for sharing such beautiful cards! I really love your color schemes and stamping technique. Just gorgeous!
luv hearing about your experience with the program!
All 4 cards are gorgeous! The mix of textures, colors, style is all fantastic, I love them all. I cannot wait to try these techniques. Thank you for sharing these and for the awesome inspiration, I will definitely be referring to your YouTube for direction and technique!! (mardy14@bellsouth.net)
Amber, you did an amazing job in this post . The quality of your cards is so pretty . And I am definitely would like to try these techniques. Love the doodling in your watercolored background, they are so unique I appreciate these personal touches on the cards . And the colors are just perfect together. For your second set . They are so gorgeous I liked who you used the stencile in an unique way. Congratulations Amber , can’t wait to see more of your coming creation .
I love your cards, love the creative process and the uniqueness they have. I have followed you on FB, YT and here on your blog. Thank you so much, so glad I came to the hop.
Congrats on being an Altenew educator! Beautiful projects, I love the variety of spotlight backgrounds for your pretty flowers!
Am in awe of the impressionism of your cards! Gorgeous!!! Love your color choices especially!
love the colors you chosed beautiful
I love the subtleties of your backgrounds. Simply gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!
Your cards are just lovely!
Absolutely love your color combo’s!!
Congratulations on becoming an AN Educator Amber! Love this card set and the way you have incorporated the stencils, that is one of my favorite techniques. Thanks for the inspiration and for the giveaway!
Oh, I am so totally loving your cards! Especially the watercolor ones with the zen backgrounds. Totally so eye-catching. Great design, too. You made me want to play with my own stamp sets today! Thank you!
Beautiful set of cards!
Love colors choice and design of these cards!
Your cards are stunning. But I want to congratulate you on becoming an Altenew-Certificated Educator, and all that you have accomplished, mastered, and working on now. My hat is off to you!
These are all such beautiful cards Amber. The Zentangle really looks like fun and for me would be relaxing. I don’t have any Nuvo mousse but it looks like fun to use and your finished cards were very nice. Enjoyed the videos very much.
Lovely cards.
Love all of your cards Amber, they are totally delightful, I especially like the touches of Zentangle to your backgrounds. Thanks for the videos and sharing your designs.
My fave is #3 because the colors are so pretty together. Congrats on your certification!
Beautiful card design with the circle and the backgrounds for these pretty flowers.
Great cards Amber! I really like what you did with the stencils. The last two are my favourites.
Wonderful cards, especially all the details on your backgrounds and the use of stencils. Lovely color choices, too!
These are all so pretty! 🙂
Beautiful cards! I love the backgrounds you created and the gorgeous flowers!
Very nice!
Beautiful cards! You did a great job teaching us how to replicate your ideas, thank you on a job well done! Congratulations on your achievements!
Lovely cards! thank you for sharing and the video!
I like your creative backgrounds. Beautiful cards
Beautiful cards…they look as if the flowers are spilling out of the centerpiece….very unique.
These are all beautiful – love the colors. Great tips, thanks for the reminder to use stencils to dry emboss.
Love how you took a basic design and changed
it up into four different cards. All are
fantastic. thanks for sharing
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Hello Amber, I love the way you used the embossing paste and stencils in the last card of your video, love the color combo! Thank you for creating the video…off to subscribe to your you tube channel. Carol-Lynn
What a gorgeous color pallet!
Great designs. Stencil use intimidates me. thanks for sharing some excellent examples
Beautiful cards and I love the colors
Gorgeous, gorgeous cards!!
so beautiful and versatile, love your designs
Lovely cards – I enjoyed seeing each one!
Love your cards, Amber! I have been following your work for some time through AECP and it never fails to inspire me!
Your sets of cards are stunning and the colour palettes for the begonia ones are gorgeous! I can’t wait to see more of your creations!
These are beautiful! I subscribed to your Youtube channel so I wouldn’t miss your zentangle video. I had never seen zentangle before and now I’m intrigued and want to learn more. I like the sloshing and glimmer paste. Your florals look wonderful!
Gorgeous cards. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Beautiful flowers and cards!! Love your style and gorgeous color combos!! Congrats!!
What a beautiful set of cards!! Love the pretty flowers 🙂
You have been super busy with Altenew! Congrats on your certification!
Congratulations on earning your Altenew Educator’s Certification!! How very exciting for you! Your cards are so gorgeous.
Congrats on achieving your Altenew Educator certificate! Beautiful cards! Stunning coloring, layouts and textures. Gorgeous!
I love your beautiful cards! Thanks for the tutorials and inspirations!
Congratulations on qualifying as an Altenew Educator. Your cards are lovely!
Lovely lovely cards!! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful cards and interesting tangle technique!
Wow, you all are really convincing me to get more flower stamps! These are gorgeous.
wow your cards are true works of art – they should be framed!!!
Love your beautiful and colorful cards!! Thank you for sharing!!
Gorgeous cards – I love the colors you used – great job!
I love how you did variations of the same design with different products and methods. Thank you so much for sharing! (and I’m off to follow you on YouTube now!)
love how you used one design to create all your gorgeous cards, Amber!
BEAUTIFUL work and post, Amber! Thank you for joining the Altenew Educators Blog Hop today! So glad that you are having fun and helping out at the Altenew booth in Creativation!
Love all the pastel colors – and the embossed backgrounds are so classic and pretty <3