Friday, March 10, 2023

Altenew March 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Preview #3

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Are you enjoying the previews so far? We are past the halfway mark. Do you have any favorites? This bundle includes a mini stamp set which includes a focal image stamp and sentiments. It comes with a coordinating die, too. 

Below are snippets of cards that I created using this bundle which I hope sparks your interest on this bundle. I will have a post dedicated to this bundle and detailing these cards after the release becomes live. 

  

This bundle and the rest of the products in this release will be available on March 17. 

Please drop by my blog for the last product preview on March 13. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.




Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Altenew March 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Preview #2


Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I hope you enjoyed yesterday's preview. 

Today's preview is a stamp-die-stencil and embossing folder combo. 

The stamp set is a 6 x 8 stamp set with a large floral image, and two floral clusters. Use it by itself as the focal image of your card or you can cluster all three images together just like the sample card above.

The sentiments on the stamp set have combined large and small fonts. The large font sentiment can be a stand alone or you can complement it with a small font sentiment. I like the font used on the large sentiments. How I wish the die set has coordinating dies for the sentiments as well. But with its bold look, fussy cutting won't be a big problem at all. 

The stencil set makes coloring easy since all you have to do is line the stencil to the stamped image, then blend the ink. Of course, you can always go for a no line coloring by just using the stencil.

The embossing folder embosses the large floral image in the stamp set. You can mix and match these products and you get a different look each time. Lots of possibilities! 

This bundle and the rest of the products in this release will be available on March 17. 

Be on the lookout for more Altenew product previews in the coming days here in my blog. Thank you for your time. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

 

Easter Swinging Spider Card

 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. The spider is back! This time the spider is celebrating Easter. If you have been following me and this spider, this is the fourth card of the spider in which the spider celebrates a different holiday in every card. Below are links to the other four spider cards:
I die cut the spider webs using the full sized spider web die included in the Kat Scrappiness Creepy Crawly die set. I die cut this on white cardstock. I trimmed it in half. I blended inks on these spider webs and spritz it with pearlized water. 

For the spider, I die cut this on a light brown, and a white cardstock. I inlaid the white eyes die cut to the light brown spider die cut, securing it with tape on the back. For the bunny ears, I am using a bunny ear hat stamp from my stash. I stamped this twice on a sticky note. I fussy cut this and adhered it to a white and pink felt. I used the Post-it Note as a guide to cut the ears. I adhered the cut outs together using Glossy Accent. I trimmed the bunny ear hat cut out to make it into a head band. 

The eggs were die cut using a small egg die from my stash. I die cut the eggs on scrap patterned paper.

I die cut the grass on a light green cardstock. I blended a green dye ink on the pointy edge of the grass to add more depth to the grass. 

For the background, I created a cloud stencil by die cutting a sticky note with a cloud die. I blended a blue ink on the blue cardstock panel. 

The toughest part of the card is creating the interactive swing feature. Using a double adhesive tape, I adhered two pieces of clear thread to the back of the spider and the eggs. One piece was adhered at the center, and the other piece more on the top of the die cut. Using a pencil, I placed dots on the blue panel. These dots are the areas where the spider and the eggs are placed in the layout. I poked a hole thorough these dots. I threaded the center clear thread through this hole and secured it with tape on back. I secured it a bit loose so the die cut has some freedom to move. The thread on the top of die cut was adhered to the back of the spider webs. 

After the scene was put together, I stamped the sentiment using a black dye ink. I used the Misti Stamping Tool to stamp the sentiment. Because of the layers, I knew that I will need to stamp the sentiment more than once. And, I was right. It took me three times to get a crisp stamped sentiment.

I hope this card, especially the spider, made you smile. Maybe I should start giving this spider a name. Any suggestions?


Below is a short video, showing off the interactive feature of this card.


Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I added below a link to the Kat Scrappiness product I used on this card. There will be no additional cost to you should you decide to purchase this product. While you are at the Kat Scrappiness website, do check out their wide array of products especially the exclusive Kat Scrappiness products. 

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Monday, March 6, 2023

Altenew March 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Preview #1

 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Did you hop on yesterday's blog? If not, just go to the previous post, view my cards using some of the products from Altenew's March release, a link to Altenew's March release, and the list of participants for Altenew's blog hop. 

Today's post is the first of four previews of Altenew's Marvelous Monthly Series Release. Today's product is about strawberries. Do you know that March is the month of Strawberry Festivals? This product is very timely. 

This bundle consists of a hot foiling plate and a set of stencils. You don't have to have both. You can color on the foiled image if you choose the foiling plate, or you can do a no-line look should you choose the stencil. 

This bundle and the rest of the products in this release will be available on March 17.

Be on the lookout for more Altenew product previews in the coming days here in my blog. Thank you for your time. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.


Sunday, March 5, 2023

March 2023 Stamp/Die/Stencil & More Release Blog Hop #2


 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today is Altenew's March's new release. This is a huge release with lots of amazing products to choose from. All of my cards feature four products from this release. All of these products are linked below. 

 

The first two cards' designs are opposite versions of each other. I was planning to create the card on the left only which has an oval window on the center. After getting done with this card, I have a leftover of the oval negative die cut. I did not want to keep it for a later project, so I created a reverse design of the first card. 

For the second card, I die cut an oval on the same kraft cardstock I used on the first card. I matted the embossed oval piece with this. For the card panel, I stamped the huge flower stamp to create a background which is the background of the oval piece on the first card. I used the same washi tape to add strips to the top and bottom of the panel. The second card has more weight compared to the first card since the oval die cuts on the first card are inlaid. 


For my third card, I colored the flowers from the stamp set using Altenew Woodless Watercolor Pencils. When I color with this medium, I pick the pigment from the pencil with a water brush and put this on a palette. On this palette is where I either add more water to soften the pigment or mix pigments together to create new colors. I feel I have much more control in coloring when I do this technique. Remember to always start light with the colors. You can always add more pigment to make the image darker. For me, it is harder to lighten up a dark colored image. No matter how much water I add to the image to mute the color down, I cannot pick up the pigment anymore with a paper towel. Most likely the pigment is already absorbed by the paper. After I was done coloring these flowers, I realized that I was actually doing a technique I have learned from one of my AECP classes. The course is Beautiful Details on no line coloring. The light gray ink I used, despite being a water activated ink, did not soften with the water while I was coloring the image. Next time, I will do second generation stamping using this dye ink to lighten the ink some more.

I fussy cut the flowers, cutting it close to the outline. I die cut the solid leaves from the die set and also water colored it. I splattered green inks on these leaves. For the basket, I die cut a kraft cardstock using a circle die. I trimmed a portion of it to create the basket. I embossed this using the 3D embossing folder. I added a gold pigment ink to the embossing folder so it will transfer to the cardstock once it is embossed. For the basket handle, I created this using two nesting oval dies. 
 


I added details to the front of an A2 gray panel with the Altenew Dotted Swirls Debossing die. The sentiment was created using the same hot foil plate I used on the first two cards. But I did not do hot foiling with this card. Instead, I added dye ink to the hot foil plate. I laid a white cardstock over it and used a brayer to transfer the ink to the cardstock. 


For my fourth card. I stamp the flower image on watercolor cardstock. I used the Altenew Woodless Watercolor pencils to color these flowers. I fussy cut the image leaving a white border around it. 


For the panel, I trimmed a grayish-blue cardstock into 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". I trimmed two pieces. I trimmed one of the panels in an angle. I embossed this using the wicker embossing folder. I rotated the paper so that the diagonal edge will be lined up with the embossing. A part of the panel was sticking out; thus, it was not embossed. It is easy to line up the embossing with the folder to emboss the rest of the panel.


I flicked gold paint on the other panel. I adhered the embossed piece on this panel. I adhered the fussy cut flower to this panel using foam adhesive. The sentiment for this card was heat embossed this time using the same foil plate. 

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you find inspiration in today's post and find interest in the Altenew products that I used in my cards. 

Have a blesesd, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

Here is a link to Altenew's March Release Products: 



Giveaway Prizes:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a *$100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/12/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 11 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/13/2023.

*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog. 


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

6/2024: Altenew decided to change its affiliate program starting this month. Below is my affiliate link to the website. I don't think I can directly link the products I used with this new program. Please feel free to do a product search. I will update as I figure this out. The good thing about this new affiliate program is that I get to earn on each Altenew product you purchase and not only on the product/s I used on this project. As before, there will be no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. 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. Thank you for your support!


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Wednesday, March 1, 2023

A Cat-ty Card Panel

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. We have a new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs. For this month, the challenge themes are Pets +/or Happiness. We have two sponsors for this challenge. I am using an image from one of our sponsors which is linked below. 

If you noticed the title, I am calling this project a card panel. So, what is a card panel? It is a cardstock or patterned paper cut at a certain card size card, in this case, a portrait A2 card. It is where the elements of the card front are adhered. Once it is finished, just adhere it to the front of a note card to make it into a card. My sister has a lot of my handmade cards. I don't foresee her giving these cards away since most of these cards were made with her and her cats as inspirations. So, I told her that from now on, any cards made about her, and her cats will be created into panels and compiled in a portfolio. 

As I mentioned above, the inspiration for this project is my sister and her cats. Her house is currently in the finishing phase of construction. And through the construction, sadly, she lost most of her cats and kittens. When I saw the images provided by the sponsor, I conceptualized the idea of paying tribute to my sister, her living cats and the cats that went to heaven. The cats with the girl on the image are my sister's living cats. The ones on the frames are her cats in heaven. 

After I printed the image, I colored these with Copic markers. I fussy cut the images leaving a white border around it. 

I trimmed a patterned paper at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". I die cut a woodgrain cardstock using the Lawn Fawn Mini Picture Frames die set. I die cut a floral patterned paper using the same die set. I only used the negative cuts. I inlaid the floral negative cuts to the frame and adhered it together with tape on the back. I used a strip of brown patterned paper to ground the couch of the main image. I inked the edges of this strip with brown dye ink. 


I adhered the elements to the patterned paper panel to create my scene. 

I can't think of any other sentiment more appropriate than 'meow.' I die cut the letters using the Sugar Pea Designs Message Letter Board die set. I die cut these letters originally on white cardstock but I decided to color it with a brownish gray Copic marker to match the patterned paper strip. I added clear Wink of Stella to these letters for some shimmer. 

I inked the edges of the panel with the same brown dye ink for a bit of vintage look. 

I hope I've inspired you with this project. I hope you join our latest challenge. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

Image Sponsor


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Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Altenew's March Release Preview #4


Hello! Welcome back to my blog. This is the last preview of the upcoming Altenew release in March. The only product I have in this batch of products is the 3D embossing folder. Hit the older post button below to see how I used this product in my cards. 

Are you enjoying the previews? Any favorites so far? There are only 2 more days before this release goes live. Until then, you can now add the products of your liking from the upcoming release to your wish list. Also, be on the lookout for Altenew social media hops to see how other designers used these products from the release. We hope to inspire you.

Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.