Altenew Crafty Friends Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello friends! I'm excited to be part of Altenew's 2-Day Crafty Friends Blog Hop + Giveaway. If you're already hopping with us, you'll have arrived here by way of Galina Filippenko. If not, be sure to head over to the Altenew Card Blog to begin! And when you're finished here, you'll visit Papercraft Magazines next (I'll link again at the end).

Today's hop is all about celebrating our unique community and all that it means to us! We have lots of sponsors and prizes and special offers, so stay tuned for that in a bit.

I can still remember seeing a hand-stamped card for the very first time. A friend of mine came in to the Little Gym class our kids were attending waving it around saying "I MADE this." (That was at least 15 years ago, only because the preschooler I was taking to the gym class is now 17!) I really do believe I was hooked on card making that instant. That magic never gets old! Little did I know then that the real blessing would be the online (and sometimes in-person) community that has built up around this hobby. I was shy and very slow to put myself out there in the online community. It actually took me four years to work up the courage to post a card of my own. Now I realize that every day I chose to watch instead of participate was just another day I missed out on the joy, support, and camaraderie of our community! 

I've put together two projects for today, both featuring the Fantasy Floral Die Set and the More Than Words stamp set. 

As soon as I saw the Fantasy Floral Die Set I wanted to watercolor those die-cuts! That layered effect of the flower dies is gorgeous.

 I die-cut these from watercolor paper, used used Zigs to color, and added some splatter after everything had dried.

For the background, I spritzed the watercolor paper with water, then scribbled Zigs on an acrylic block and smooshed to the watercolor paper. After I let that dry, I lightly splattered with a metallic gold mist. Last, I stamped one of the More Than Words sentiments in black.

This next card was a bit of an accident. I had stamped the beautiful Charmed image onto watercolor paper, intending to watercolor that image. But when I happened to lay the watercolored Fantasy Floral  die-cuts down on top, I ended up really liking the simple black-and-white Charmed line art as a background pattern. 

I added a strip of black and white striped paper along the right, the More Than Words sentiment, and some clear sequins to finish.

And now for some special offers, prizes, and a giveaway:

Special Offer

FREE U.S. shipping with code CRAFTY or $5 OFF international shipping with code FRIENDS at checkout. Offer valid from October 17th at 12:01 am EDT through October 19th at 11:59 pm EDT. Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes.

Prizes

Altenew is giving away a $100 Altenew prize pack to FIVE lucky winners. There are also 13 awesome companies/magazines who are offering the following prizes:

Jennifer McGuire Ink: 1 prize pack of three Altenew stamp sets

Online Card Classes: 3 class spots

Create and Craft TV: £50 gift certificate

My Sweet Petunia: Mini MISTI

Ellen Hutson LLC: $30 gift certificate

Pretty Pink Posh: $30 gift certificate

Simon Says Stamp: $30 gift certificate

Chameleon Pens: 1 pack of 5 Chameleon pens

Tombow USA: 1 pack of 10 dual brush pens

WOW! Embossing Powder: $25 gift certificate

Butterfly Reflections Ink: $25 gift certificate

Freckled Fawn: $20 gift certificate

Papercraft Magazines: One copy of each of the latest issues of four magazines

Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine: 1-year subscription

Be sure to leave comments by Friday, October 27th, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT for a chance to win! 21 WINNERS will be chosen at random from the comments left on all of these blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog on October 28th, 2017

Giveaway:

And last, leave a comment here on my blog by 11:59 Eastern Time on Thursday, October 26 for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Altenew. I will post the winner here on Friday, October 27. Good luck!

For more Crafty Friends inspiration, visit all the stops on the hop:

Altenew Card Blog

Jennifer McGuire

May Sukyong Park

Keeway Tsao

Svitlana Shayevich

Galina Filippenko

Amy Sheffer (you are here)

Papercraft Magazines

Taheerah Atchia

Joni Nina Andaya

Virginia Lu

Simon Says Stamp

Enza Gudor

Nina-Marie Trapani

Lilith Eeckels

Laurel Beard

Chameleon Pens

Vicky Papaioannou

Erum Tasneem

Laurie Schmidlin

Carissa Wiley

Thanks so much for visiting today, and thank you Altenew for having me!