Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive 2023 Blog Hop + Giveaway ($200 in Total Prizes!)

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I am part of Altenew's Celebrating Parents Card Drive Hop. Altenew is hosting this card drive from 2/28/2023 to 4/17/2023. This card drive aims to honor and celebrate the fantastic parents and parental figures in our lives. Altenew will also donate $1 with every order from this collection (from 2/28/2023 until 5/14/2023) to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need. Details on how to participate in this drive is linked above. There is also a chance to win a $15 gift card to the Altenew store which is all detailed in the Altenew Card Drive blog.

I lost my parents in less than a year. My Amang (father in Filipino) last September 2021, and my Inang (mother in Filipino) last August 2022. It still hurts each time I face this realization but I find comfort in knowing that they are together and believing that a part of them is who I am right now.

The cards I created are also made in fulfillment of the AECP 2 courses. I will explain this later on in the blog.

My first card is a masculine themed card. I did an ombre embossing technique on the star which is one of the classes in the AECP 2 course on Impressive Heat Embossing. The star is from the Altenew Halftone Star stamp set. The trick to get a flawless ombre embossing technique is to use a stamping tool like the Misti which is very helpful with repeated stamping.

I added stitching to create a frame for the star. The stitching holes were created using the Altenew String Art Rectangle die set. The sentiment is from the same stamp set but I added the word 'rock' which is from the Altenew Label Love stamp set.

The next two cards are feminine floral cards. I am using the Altenew Sixties Sunshine bundle which includes a stencil set and a 3D embossing folder.

I traced the stencil on a cream cardstock using a brown gel pen, a technique inspired by the AECP Magical Marker Techniques course. The class is about drawing with stencils. To fill the background, I traced some of the flowers using a gold glitter pen. I created a holding paper for the cardstock, sort of like a jig, to temporarily adhere the cardstock I will be drawing on. I taped the stencil to this holding paper so it will not shift. Since I was using a gel pen, I traced the images slowly. 

The embossing folder pattern matches the pattern created by the stencil. I lined up the pattern of the embossing folder with the doodled pattern, then ran this through the embossing folder. I added color to the flowers by blending ink on the printed side of the embossing folder, then ran this through the die cut machine. I repeated this process for every color. Just make sure you are lining the right embossed image to the embossing of the folder. My embossing and inking are not perfect but I like it this way since I am going for an organic look. 

I am so amazed by this embossing folder that I created another card using an orange cardstock. I tried swiping a white dye ink to the embossing folder to lighten the color of the recessed areas of the card panel. I should have used a white pigment ink instead of a dye ink for a more dramatic effect. Something to think about later on. I blended a brown dye ink on the centers of the flowers for a bit of shading. I flicked Tim Holtz Distress Oxide sprays on the panel. I added stitching to the panel to tie up with the stitched sentiment.

For the sentiments, I heat embossed this on kraft cardstock. The sentiment is from Altenew Wild Hibiscus stamp set. I added stitching holes to frame the sentiment using the same die I used on the masculine card. I adhered this to the center of the embossed panels with foam tape. 

I trimmed a bit off the sides of these embossed panels. I adhered this to a vertical top folding A2 kraft note card. 

I hope you join Altenew's Card Drive. Let us show love to these parents through the power of cardmaking. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

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 03/20/2023 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 03/21/2023.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I added below links to the Altenew products I used on the cards above. There will be no additional cost to you should you decide to purchase this/these product/s. It is just a way to help a fellow crafter sustain her love for crafting. While in the Altenew blog, don't forget to check out their new release for this month. Some of the products are out of stock already. Can you believe it?! Make sure you hit the notification button to be notified when this product is back on stock. Thank you for your support!

I am sharing this creation at:

Inspired By Challenge

Simon Says Stamp IG Challenge