I've drawn a name for the $20 Altenew gift certificate giveaway from THIS POST:
And here is comment #11:
Andrea S, please email me for instructions on how to claim your prize!
-Amy
Friday, October 27, 2017
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
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:
Amy Sheffer (you are here)
Thanks so much for visiting today, and thank you Altenew for having me!
Friday, June 2, 2017
Altenew May Blog Hop Winner
I have drawn a name to win the $30 Altenew giveaway from this post. Congratulations goes to Holly Stephens!
Be sure to check out the Altenew blog tomorrow for their announcement of three $50 giveaways. If you didn't win today, maybe you'll win tomorrow!
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Altenew Stamp/Die/Embossing Powder Release Blog Hop + Giveaway
I'm super excited to participate in Altenew's May 2017 Blog Hop! Altenew is releasing some fabulous new products, including stamps, dies and even embossing powders. You're in for a real treat with today's hop!
If you're already hopping along, you will have arrived here by way of Yoonsun Hur If not, and you'd like to start at the beginning, head over to the Altenew blog to get started. When you're finished here, you'll head to Therese Calvird (I'll include the full hop list at the end).
PRIZES:
To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Thursday, June 1st at 11:59 pm EDT for a chance to win. The winners will be announced on the Altenew blog on Saturday, June 3rd.
ADDITIONAL PRIZE:
In addition, I will draw a winner to receive a $30 gift certificate. Just leave a comment on today's post. I will announce the winner at 9 am EDT on June 2.
Okay, ready for some projects? I had a lot of fun playing with the products I chose to work with! I have three cards and two card sets to share.
ENCHANTED IRIS:
My first card features a beautiful new floral set called Enchanted Iris. Altenew has the best floral images!
I have two patches of Siberian Iris in my yard, and I look forward to those blooms every year! For this card, I stamped one of the iris images repeatedly and randomly, then embossed in white, and watercolored the flowers against a gray background.
I used Zig watercolor markers. I confess to having not been a huge fan of the Zigs, but they do have some magnificent, intense hues that are perfect here! I may be coming around!
Stamps: Enchanted Iris
Dies: stitched rectangle
Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, light aqua
Paper: watercolor paper, white card stock, stone card stock
Other: Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, paintbrush, clear embossing powder, ink blending tool, dew drops, silver metallic embroidery floss, foam adhesive
Crafty Friends is a ginormous set filled with wonderful sentiments perfect for crafty types! Pattern Play - Diamond has one extra-large background stamp as well as two smaller diamond trios, one solid and one outline.
I started this card by stamping and heat embossing the large diamond pattern onto watercolor paper. I knew those embossed diamonds would be perfect for creating little puddles of varying saturation.
I don't know if this is going to make sense, but I really appreciate the extra-large size of the background image in Pattern Play - Diamond. With a typical card panel-sized background, if you want your card to be horizontal, you have to rotate the stamp and the diamonds will run horizontally too. This stamp is large enough that your diamonds can be oriented in either direction, on both vertical and horizontal panels, too. It's a little thing, but appreciated!
I am totally dedicating this card to each and every person in the crafty community!
I did this background with Zigs, too. I just kept building up the color until I had the depth and saturation I was hoping for.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play - Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangles
Ink: Versamark
Paper: watercolor paper; stone and charcoal card stock
Other: white embossing powder, Zig Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers, water brush, foam adhesive, teal sequins
I wanted to do another, lighter blue-green background, this time with the beautiful Antique Silver Embossing Powder. Isn't that silver gorgeous?!
See how the diamonds are still vertical on the horizontal card? That's thanks to the extra-large background image.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangles
Ink: Versamark, teal
Paper: watercolor paper, white card stock, vellum
Other: Altenew Antique Silver Embossing Powder white embossing powder, Zig Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers, water brush, ink blending tool, foam adhesive
The sentiments in Crafty Friends just keep going and going. I wanted to create a design that I could relatively quickly mass-produce. In addition to the large background in Pattern Play - Diamond, there are also two smaller images of three diamonds, one solid and one outline. These are perfect for building fun patterns, including argyle.
Here I've overlapped the solid triangles and then stamped the outline in the spaces in between.
Once I had my images positioned in my MISTI and the measurements figured out, it was a breeze to whip up a whole set. I typically lose interest quickly when trying to mass-produce, so to keep it interesting, each card is slightly different.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play - Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangle
Ink: Versamark; aqua, green, yellow and navy ink
Paper: white and navy card stock
Other: Antique Silver Embossing Powder, sequins, silver thread
I made a second set, this time with a warmer, brighter color combo.
Between the two sets, I have eight cards, each with a different Crafty Friends sentiment.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play - Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangle
Ink: Versamark; fuschia, orange, gold, and dark gray inks
Paper: white and charcoal card stock
Other: Antique Silver Embossing Powder, sequins, silver thread
If you're already hopping along, you will have arrived here by way of Yoonsun Hur If not, and you'd like to start at the beginning, head over to the Altenew blog to get started. When you're finished here, you'll head to Therese Calvird (I'll include the full hop list at the end).
PRIZES:
To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to THREE lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Thursday, June 1st at 11:59 pm EDT for a chance to win. The winners will be announced on the Altenew blog on Saturday, June 3rd.
ADDITIONAL PRIZE:
In addition, I will draw a winner to receive a $30 gift certificate. Just leave a comment on today's post. I will announce the winner at 9 am EDT on June 2.
Okay, ready for some projects? I had a lot of fun playing with the products I chose to work with! I have three cards and two card sets to share.
ENCHANTED IRIS:
My first card features a beautiful new floral set called Enchanted Iris. Altenew has the best floral images!
I have two patches of Siberian Iris in my yard, and I look forward to those blooms every year! For this card, I stamped one of the iris images repeatedly and randomly, then embossed in white, and watercolored the flowers against a gray background.
I used Zig watercolor markers. I confess to having not been a huge fan of the Zigs, but they do have some magnificent, intense hues that are perfect here! I may be coming around!
Stamps: Enchanted Iris
Dies: stitched rectangle
Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, light aqua
Paper: watercolor paper, white card stock, stone card stock
Other: Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, paintbrush, clear embossing powder, ink blending tool, dew drops, silver metallic embroidery floss, foam adhesive
CRAFTY FRIENDS and PATTERN PLAY - DIAMOND:
Crafty Friends is a ginormous set filled with wonderful sentiments perfect for crafty types! Pattern Play - Diamond has one extra-large background stamp as well as two smaller diamond trios, one solid and one outline.
I started this card by stamping and heat embossing the large diamond pattern onto watercolor paper. I knew those embossed diamonds would be perfect for creating little puddles of varying saturation.
I don't know if this is going to make sense, but I really appreciate the extra-large size of the background image in Pattern Play - Diamond. With a typical card panel-sized background, if you want your card to be horizontal, you have to rotate the stamp and the diamonds will run horizontally too. This stamp is large enough that your diamonds can be oriented in either direction, on both vertical and horizontal panels, too. It's a little thing, but appreciated!
I am totally dedicating this card to each and every person in the crafty community!
I did this background with Zigs, too. I just kept building up the color until I had the depth and saturation I was hoping for.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play - Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangles
Ink: Versamark
Paper: watercolor paper; stone and charcoal card stock
Other: white embossing powder, Zig Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers, water brush, foam adhesive, teal sequins
I wanted to do another, lighter blue-green background, this time with the beautiful Antique Silver Embossing Powder. Isn't that silver gorgeous?!
See how the diamonds are still vertical on the horizontal card? That's thanks to the extra-large background image.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangles
Ink: Versamark, teal
Paper: watercolor paper, white card stock, vellum
Other: Altenew Antique Silver Embossing Powder white embossing powder, Zig Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers, water brush, ink blending tool, foam adhesive
The sentiments in Crafty Friends just keep going and going. I wanted to create a design that I could relatively quickly mass-produce. In addition to the large background in Pattern Play - Diamond, there are also two smaller images of three diamonds, one solid and one outline. These are perfect for building fun patterns, including argyle.
Here I've overlapped the solid triangles and then stamped the outline in the spaces in between.
Once I had my images positioned in my MISTI and the measurements figured out, it was a breeze to whip up a whole set. I typically lose interest quickly when trying to mass-produce, so to keep it interesting, each card is slightly different.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play - Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangle
Ink: Versamark; aqua, green, yellow and navy ink
Paper: white and navy card stock
Other: Antique Silver Embossing Powder, sequins, silver thread
I made a second set, this time with a warmer, brighter color combo.
Between the two sets, I have eight cards, each with a different Crafty Friends sentiment.
Stamps: Crafty Friends, Pattern Play - Diamond
Dies: stitched rectangle
Ink: Versamark; fuschia, orange, gold, and dark gray inks
Paper: white and charcoal card stock
Other: Antique Silver Embossing Powder, sequins, silver thread
For more May release inspiration, be sure to stop by each stop on the hop:
Amy Sheffer (you are here)
Thanks for stopping by!