Altenew Thanks and Blessings Stamps/Dies/Stencils/Embossing Folders Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hello everyone, and welcome! I am beyond excited to celebrate Altenew’s Thanks and Blessings release!!! If you are on a blog hop journey, you should have arrived from Svitlana Shayevich‘s blog. If not, please start at the beginning, Altenew. You definitely do not want to miss out on Lydia’s amazing project.

It was SO hard to choose where to begin with all the amazing-ness packed into this release. Rose Tea pulled me in and I had to create with it. I began by stamping the floral image with Obsidian pigment ink onto a panel of Spicy Yogurt card stock. I cut a mask for the floral and stamped my leaf image (again with Obsidian pigment ink). Since my floral was masked, I began with a set of detail blending brushes to color my leaves. I started with Marshland for my base layer, Sea Forest and Mangrove Root were used to add depth and dimension. In the end, the leaves turned out a little darker than I intended, but I really love how they pair with the gorgeous pink combination. I did not mask anything to color the floral. I was careful and aware of my lines when blending. I began with Pinkalicious in the center of the floral. Next, I started adding it to areas where I thought there would be darker tones. Over this I blended my lightest color, Pink Diamond. This is something new for me — I usually start blending with my lighter color. However, the nice thing about doing it this way is that you can lighten some of the darker areas if you choose/need to. I was not concerned about obtaining the perfect blend on this project. I pounced my brush down in some areas – it added more texture to my floral. I made an effort to not fill in my floral with color, to leave some “white” areas on the tips. Overall, I am super happy with the outcome of the floral and leaves. I chose one of the amazing sentiments in the set to finish off the card. The sentiment was stamped in Obsidian pigment ink.

For my second card with Rose Tea, I chose to keep it super, super simple! I loved the tea cup image in the set — more specifically the tea tag! How awesome is that??? I stamped the tea cup onto Spicy Yogurt card stock with Mangrove Root ink. I chose another amazing sentiment and stamped that in the upper left-hand corner with the same Mangrove Root ink. Cards don’t have to be complicated to be beautiful! It’s nice to have quick cards you can make in a flash when time counts!

Blossom & Bloom has the most gorgeous large floral perfect for anytime of year, but definitely great for the autumnal season we are coming up on rapidly!

One of my go-to ink families at the moment is Martian Terrain. Beginning with Pastel Sunrise, I created an ombre effect across the front card panel with this ink family. The panel was given time to dry before heat embossing the image with Golden Peach embossing powder. My sentiment came from another stamp set in this amazing release, Bird of the Woods. The sentiment was stamped in Obsidian pigment ink. The final touch was to splatter the card with Antique Silver metallic ink spray.

This is one of my favorite cards – I love the elegance and simplicity! It may look complicated, but looks they are deceiving! I began by die-cutting Delicate Mandala die from the gorgeous Gold Foil card stock. I ran an A2 panel through my die-cutting machine with Geo Diamonds 3D embossing folder. I put this in my splatter box and sprayed with Antique Gold metallic ink spray. While I was spraying my background, I popped in a strip of white card stock to use as a sentiment strip.

Once the background panel and sentiment strip were dry, I began to assemble my card. I heat embossed my sentiment from Greatest Blessings with Obsidian pigment ink and clear embossing powder. Before adhering together, the background needed more gold…yes, yes, it truly did! Since it was crying for more gold I splattered the background with Antique Gold metallic spray. When I layered the Delicate Mandala onto the full panel it was too overwhelming to my eye for this project. I decided to cut some off the side of the mandala. I made sure to line up a couple points and trimmed off the excess. I centered the sentiment strip in the circle of the Delicate Mandala. I allowed the sentiment strip to overhang the sides of the card. I will either hand deliver or use an A7 envelope.

This is my absolute favorite card of the release for me! I have been obsessed with the Rainbow Prism set from Altenew for the past few months. I LOVE how this card came out — so bright and cheery! I began with the Flowing Wreath 3D embossing folder and Neenah Solar White 80# card stock. When embossing my folders, I like to use a 5.75 x 5.75 panel. I can always cut it down to any size I would like. This panel was trimmed down to an A2 sized panel. I set this aside and started working on the accompanying pieces. The idea for this card originate from the Greatest Blessings set when I saw the phrase “Thankful. Grateful. Blessed.” Altenew has the Mega Blessed die and it worked perfectly! I die cut the Mega Blessed die and left it in the cutout. I put washi on the back to keep the die-cut in the place to start the blending. I followed ROYGBIV to complete my rainbow with Rainbow Prism inks. The die-cut was popped out and foam tape was applied to the back of the phrase. I stamped “Thankful. Grateful.” without stamping the blessed in Obsidian pigment ink. The strip was trimmed down and popped up with foam tape. A bright way to let someone know exactly how you feel ♥️

My final card for this release – thanks for hanging in there! Dry Brush Poinsettia is absolutely stunning! It will make an amazing addition to your holiday stash of card making supplies. This card was a complete experiment for me! My color combination was not one I have used before. I started with Morning Frost, Coral Bliss, and Grapevine for the floral and the leaves were created with Mountain Mist and Volcano Lake. The flower center also used Mountain Mist.

The poinsettia was then sprayed with Iridescent ink spray before sprinkling Crisp White embossing powder on top. I heat set before sprinkling with clear embossing powder and setting again. All of the images were die-cut. I stamped my sentiment with Obsidian pigment ink in the lower right-hand corner. There were a couple of the gorgeous Delicate Mandala golden die-cuts on my desk. The holiday season needs more gold!! I put the leftover piece on the left-hand side of the card. I adhered my poinsettia with foam tape, I tried to match the curves of the floral to the curve of the Delicate Mandala. The leaves were adhered directly to the panel with glue tape pen. I will be honest — I wanted to add more…but, I stopped! Sequins were calling my name…I resisted!! So proud 🙂

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 09/09/2021 for a chance to win. 

Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 09/11/2021.

Blog Hop Order

Please add a link to the person before and after you in your post. You are encouraged to include the full list as well.

Altenew Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Jaycee Gaspar

Vicky Papaioannou

Emily Midgett

Jenny Colacicco

Seeka

Virginia Lu

Verity Biddlecombe

Nathalie DeSousa

Terri Koszler

Laurie Willison

Michelle Short

Tenia Nelson

Amanda Baldwin

Norine Borys

Dana Joy

Erum Tasneem

LauraJane

Maryam Perez

Joy Baldwin

Svitlana Shayevich –> Should have arrived from here 🤏🏻

Bridget Casey –> You are here 🥳

Lilith Eeckels –> Up next 🤏🏻

Erin Thompson

Therese Calvird

Amy Hill

Zinia Redo

Tania Ahmed

Colleen Balija

Reiko Tsuchida

Natasha Davies

Anna Mahtani

Daniel Diaz

Joylita Dsouza

Nenette S. Madero

Sandhya Iyer

Rosie Neustaedter

Keeway Tsao

Ishani

I can not wait to see all that you guys create with these phenomenal products! We all love to inspire you, but you guys all inspire us! I hate to see you leave, as always, but the lovely Lilith Eeckels is waiting to greet you!

Until next time, be safe and happy crafting!