Hello crafty friends! I'm so excited to be joining this blog hop with Altenew and friends to celebrate a brand new product! The new Metallic Watercolor Pan Set is joining the family and I can't wait to share some inspiration with you today. Be sure to comment at each stop along the hop for your chance to win some fabulous prizes!

To let the metallic properties of the watercolor shine, I decided to use them on black card stock. This meant that I needed to use much less water but it also allowed the shine and glimmer of the watercolor to pop off the card front. 

I started by stamping the leaves and a flower image from the Flower Garden stamp set and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I decided on heat embossing because I wanted to be sure that the details stood out on the images even after adding a couple layers of the metallic watercolor. I used a gold shade for my leaves which gives such a pretty gilded feel, and a beautiful red shade for my rose image. I fussy cut the images out and arranged them in an open wreath on my card front. 

To personalize this card, I used the letter "J" from the Tall Alpha Die Set to stand for the recipients name, and placed it inside the partial wreath. For embellishments I broke out my gold Nuvo crystal drops which I think contrasts so well against the black card stock. 

I love how smooth this metallic watercolor is. There are so many beautiful colors that shimmer and shine and will help make your projects stand out from the ordinary! I hope that you've enjoyed seeing how I used the new watercolor set today. Your next stop is the incredibly talented Svitlana Shayevich.

You can find the full hop list below the product links. Thank you again for stopping by! I'll see you very soon!

Hello Altenew fans! Thank you so much for joining us today on the October 2019 Decal Release blog hop. As always we've got lots of inspiration, sneaks, and prizes for you today so let's get right into it, shall we?

First, I'm showing the "You Can" decal set. I love this encouraging decal set and decided to frame it and place it on this picture shelf in my craft room. These frames are 11" x 14" which worked really well with the phrases sizes, but I did need to rotate the frame for the "Yes I Can" phrase. I used poster board trimmed down to place the decals onto as a base and that's all it took to create this great focal point for my room. It's a great reminder to believe in myself when I'm feeling lost for creative ideas or mojo. This would also be great for a child's room or a classroom, I think!

Before we get into this next beautiful and functional decal, let's talk about prizes! 

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by 10/30/2019 for a chance to win.We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 11/2/2019.

For my second project I've got the Floral Dry Erase Board Decal Set. I thought this set would be great for my craft room as well to jot down personal things I want to remember. I keep a card making only calendar by my desk so I thought having this for personal reminders would be wonderful. It's washes cleanly without leaving behind marks (when using EXPO dry erase markers) and looks gorgeous on the wall. Of course this would look great in an office, kitchen, or bedroom as well. Practicality and beauty is a combination you don't always find!

Thank you so much for stopping by again! You can find the full product list below and the entire hop list just below that. Your next stop is the super talented Kymona.  I'll see you again very soon!

Hello, again! I'm thrilled to be joining Hero Arts today for another of their collaboration stamp sets to celebrate our industry. Today's collaboration is Altenew and in true Altenew fashion, we have a large, bold floral image with accompanying sentiments in a beautiful font. Continue reading to learn about how I created with the set today, and the giveaways available for commenters on the hop!

For my card, I decided to use the no-line watercolor technique to create an artistic look with this large floral image. After stamping the flower, I masked it and went on to stamp the leaf image on each side on the flower and the top of the card. This made a nice space to stamp my sentiment "we are better together". I shocked myself upon realizing this ended up being a one layer card, but the size of the images really dominate an A2 sized card in the most wonderful way.

Now; let's get to the really good stuff! There will be three (3) winners chosen from the comments along the entire blog hop. One commenter will win the stamp set, one will win $25 to Altenew, and one will win $25 to Hero Arts. Be sure to comment on each stop by October 27th. Winners will be announced the week after on the Hero Arts blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by and hopping along with us! There's tons of inspiration on the hop so be sure to continue on by checking the links below. I'll see you again soon!

Hello there everyone! Thanks for stopping by today. This post coordinates with my video over on the Altenew YouTube channel, so if you haven't seen it yet take a look here:

I'd love to link the Altenew products I used today in the video and explain to you why I chose them for this card and technique.

(Click the image to view product) 

The Grateful Heart Stamp set is a favorite of mine. I love the it includes the outline stamp as well as the layering stamps so that you can choose which look you'd like for the flower. For today's coloring technique, I used just the outline stamp because there is very little detail in the petals, and I wanted to show how you could add those details yourself as your second layer of coloring.

(Click the image to view product)

The Artist Markers Set A has some of my favorite color combinations in it. The red palette included is great for flowers and the green pairs perfectly for the leaves and greenery. I also adore the blue set included, but didn't use those on my card today. These markers are easy to use and simple to learn with, if you're not used to alcohol markers. They come in coordinating sets making blending easy and quick.

(Click the image to view product) 

The Framed stamp set has been a favorite of mine for a long time. The shapes and sizes work perfectly with A2 sized cards and the design of the shapes included is just genius. I decided to use the mid size rectangle for this card as a way to highlight the flower and give some dimension and interest by intertwining the flower with the frame. 

For colored pencils, I use the Prismacolor 72 set. However, I have heard a time or two that the best colored pencil is a sharp one so whatever brand you use will work just fine! I slowly build up the color and dimension for my second layer of coloring with these pencils. For more information on how I do that be sure to check out the video above! 

Well, hello there everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today for the introduction of this years stamp set fundraiser for Layton's Legacy. 

I'd love to offer some information about the fundraiser from Lea's blog. Lea has put this all together in honor and memory of her son Layton, who spent 5 months and 7 days in the NICU before his passing. Most of this information will be directly from Lea's post which you can find at this link: http://www.lealawsoncreates.com/2019/10/2nd-annual-laytons-legacy-fundraiser.html

**October is Pregancy & Infant Loss Awareness month, and October 15th is what many in the loss world call Wave of Light. It is a public way to share the memory of your lost pregnancies and/or babies. This is Lea's version of Wave of Light 2019.**

It's today! The Pinkfresh Studio ink pad release is finally here and we've got a fun, colorful, inspirational hop for you today. I can't wait to dig in and show you some of my favorite colors from the 48 available, so lets get started!

If you frequent the Pinkfresh blog hops you may have already seen this one, but I wanted to bring it back because I love this color combo. Sapphire and Regal Kiss make up the background to this snowy mountain scene for our cute skiing polar bear. I ink blended Regal Kiss onto the mountains and used Sapphire to ink blend the night sky. This color combo reminds me of a cool winters night and I know that they two would blend perfectly together, as well.

This non traditional holiday card is one of my favorites. Raspberry Bliss is bright and bold and takes charge on this card front with Evergreen as the understated sentiment. When I created this card, I thought it was a nice twist on the tradition red and green and I love the way these two work together.

I chose a different route for this card using both the actual ink to ink blend, and also as inspiration for the floral coloring. I used Coral Reef and Marigold to ink blend over one of the Lacey Edgers 1 Dies and assembled them at the bottom of the card front. I used these colors as well as Regal Kiss to inspire the colors used on the bouquet on my card front. 

I hope that you've enjoyed some of my inspiration for the new inks! I'd love to know which colors you're most excited for and if you prefer full size or mini cubes for your stash! Check below the product links for the link of the full hop list. Thank you so much! See you soon.

SUPPLIES USED

Hello everyone! I'm so glad that you could join us today as we celebrate the newest stamp/die/stencil release from Altenew! First up, I've got a quick video for you showcasing a couple stamp sets which include outline stamps. No worries, if you're not an expert colorist, though. I focus on 3 ways to use these outline stamps without coloring. Check it out here:

But, maybe you enjoy coloring! In that case, the Precious Peony set offers gorgeous images that are perfect for coloring. Here, I used Copic markers for a base color and added detail with some Prismacolor colored pencils. 

The Grateful Heart stamp set offers so many possibilities. There's an outline stamp, which is great for those who love to color, but also layering stamps so you can create beautiful dimension without picking up a marker. I used the layering stamps here and I love the details of shadows and highlights. 

The Wanderlust stamp set is perfect for created beautiful scenery cards like the one here. Some simple ink blending and heat embossing brought this card to life quickly and simply. 

I hope that you've enjoyed seeing some inspiration from the newest release! Your next stop is the talented Jen Schow

You can find the full hop list just below the product links. Thank you for stopping by! See you again soon!