This die is spectacular and much more versatile than meets the eye.
The full die was stunning in white glitter paper with just touches of gold. Wouldn’t this make a great wedding card?
But each individual flower also makes a statement on its own.
Almost Clean and Simple but adding a bit of texture with the Peppermint Stripes Embossing folder and extra dimension on the center of the daffodil and sentiment.
And the full flower pairs beautifully with the Four Pedals 3D embossing folder.
Makes me smile to see the cheery and bright cards.
Thanks for visiting…please comment below and tell me what you would do with this set.
Hugs, Penny
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This a magnificent flower outline this month. The Aura Gold foil is so shimmery it was hard to photograph but it was great for getting two cards out of one design. First I foiled the outline and then took a solid plate and did the reverse, coming up with a white flower.
The same plate I folded with green foil…very rich looking. Plus I green foiled some sentiments from Yana’s Sentiments Glimmer Hot Foil Plate and Die Set in both the green and the aura gold. They came out beautifully.
I used watercolor to color the yellow flower and the purplish-blue flower just free-handing it. And I loved that I could a wax seal on the blue flowered card with a bit of purple streaking through. Lots of fun with this combinations.
What do you think of all this shimmery goodness? Have you tried the glimmer machine yet? Please let me invite you to indulge in its glory!
When I was a kid, I used to have wax sticks that we could put on envelopes…oh, we thought we were cool and classy to send an envelope with a wax seal!
Well, nothing has changed in the last 55 years, in that regard. Now through Spellbinder’s Wax Seal Club of the Month I can again have fun with the seals. These are even classier than what I had long ago, though. Besides envelopes they can be put on cards or scrapbook pages too. There are lots and lots of color choices. Some packs have multiple colors to swirl around and look regal. There is also a huge variety of stamps for creating the seals - anything from plain to very elaborate. With more to come each month with your Wax Seal of the month Club.
This afternoon I got out my kit, set it up and just played…experimented with colors, used different seals. I made a dozen or so and started to make a card…only to go back and make a dozen more seals. It’s addicting!
This month’s seal is “made with love” and the wax it a gorgeous shade of royal blue.
I learned a lot today about the original set and the Seal of the Month. Here are my take-aways:
Make a lot all at once. When all your supplies are right there, just go to town.
The more intricate the seal the fewer the colors of wax makes the design stand out more.
When putting the melted wax onto the silicone mat, just pour it OR swirl it for a different look.
Feel free to use a gel pen or small marker to bring out the words or design.
5. And, don’t just think of making a seal!!! I used the little drops of extra wax in the spoon to make my own matching embellishments.
6. And to continue stretching your supplies, save the little tiny bits that might be left or “strings” that might occur if you moved your hand in pouring the wax. Just put it back into the bag or container with like colors and on you go.
Spellbinders thought of everything as they also created stickers for the seals. You can purchase them and adhere your ready made seals on stickers to your project.
Such a fun way to spend my day –and the bonus is I have several for the future!
Thanks for coming to visit and checking my work out. Leave a note and tell me what you like.
Hugs,
Penny
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Susan Tierney-Cockburn has created many wonderful realistic flower dies and tutorials on how to put them together. These new additions to her line live up to the greatest of all expectations, creating 3D or flat cards with the glimmer machine.
This first one is called Glory of Snow. This was new-to-me flower but in looking into it found that it is a perennial in hardiness zones of 3-9. It comes up very early in the spring from a small bulb and the flowering will last about 3 weeks. It is usually blue with white centers but can be a pale pink as well.
For my card I wanted the flowers to stand out on a white background but have the card base match the blue. To make the flowers you cut out lots of leaves and flower petals as well as a piece to roll to make the stamen. It is much easier to put together than it looks.
I took each of the petals and colored both sides with Altenew Persian Blue alcohol marker. For the leaves I colored both sides with Altenew Mountain Pine and Grass Fields alcohol markers. The petals and leaves have score marks in them to create curve and dimension. There are specific tools in Susan’s tool kit that will help to create the curves but there are ways to do it without as well. I have used both. If you don’t have the tool kit, take a curved pointed tool and press along the scored line with the petal or leaf on top of a foam pad (even the Misti pad works). Take some tweezers and bend backwards the tip of the flowers. They look soooo life-like at this point. (tool kit is the easiest option) In gluing them together I found that Zots or Glue dots works a bit better than liquid glue as it would stick but not have a dry time wait.
For the stamen, just put a very small line of glue along the bottom then hold on with tweezers and roll it up tight. When dry, separate the “stamen” — the whole thing then looks like a teeny badminton birdie –lol. I found two ways to create the “powder” on the stamen. 1. Dip in glue and then dip into the Woodland Scenics Yellow Pollen sold at Spellbinders. 2. Use Distress Snowfall paste mixed with yellow ink and dip paper stamen into then let dry. I also found it easier to use lots of reverse tweezers – one per stamen until they dried. Then they weren’t laying down and drying glued together.
The base was matched as closely as possible to the flower color, plus I ink blended the upper right and lower left corner of the base, getting some of it on the white. Since the white ovals were already glued down, that was a mistake but rather than redo I just continued the blue around the white oval to give it a glow effect. No such thing as a mistake in crafting — just a way to redo something. When done I still felt like it needed something more in the background so I added the gold splatters. Oh la la, classy looking now!
This second one is the Crocus and Ladybugs. The flowers were made the same as mentioned above in the Glory of Snow. I wanted this card to be a bit fancier so I made a 5.5″x5.5″ card base, embossed it with Spellbinders Four Petal 3D Floral Embossing folder, making sure the raised areas were going to show the same way on the front and inside. I folded over the front piece at 2.75″. With a light hand I ink blended some purple ink to show the embossing more, edged the card base with the same purple ink and added Wink of Stella to the flower centers.
I made a smaller card — first cutting a piece of white cardstock 4″ by 10.5″, scoring 3.5″ from each end, then making it a trifold card. TIP: stamp your greeting inside before attaching it to larger base. I added a piece of yellow plaid patterned paper to the front. The best way I have found to put the two cards together is to close up the smaller card and set it where you want it in the inside of the larger card base gluing it down. Then the top of the smaller card can be put over the front fold of the larger base, gluing down only half of the small card to the large base. This gives you a nice card that will easily stand up.
From then on, it was just arranging the flowers, leaves and sentiment on the front of only the small card. A few sequins and, OF COURSE, the ladybug was added to finish it off.
This third card was made with the mighty Spellbinder Glimmer Machine. Using ivory cardstock I foiled the plate with green foil. I used the oval dies to cut out the foiled section and a slightly larger oval to create a frame. The card base was embossed with a Gina K Designs Tapestry embossing folder to give it some texture. Before assembling this I colored in the red berries and the pine cones with Altenew alcohol markers. I had some red chunky glitter in my stash and found that it worked well for some added bling to the front. The Merry Christmas sentiment was foiled in red and the green strip of glitter paper covered a spot the embossing could not reach. I was really pleased with this one and felt it was relatively quick and yet very elegant!
You will be sure to impress the recipient with one of these cards.
Hope you enjoyed my renditions from the Spellbinders August Release. I had a great time making them and learned more techniques along the way. Please leave a comment below and tell me what you like best and would you try them too? If you do, I’d love for you to tag me @pennypynnonen both on Facebook and Instagram.
Have a great day!
Hugs,
Penny
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Oh what FuN to play with some of the new August release stencils and dies from Spellbinders. Like my two friends above, I had a big smile on my face creating them. The snowmen were cut from white glitter paper. The big guy has four layers to him –two together to slightly shadow him and give him dimention. The little guy is full of activity as he sits on an action wobbler so he jiggles and dances. I wanted this to be bright and cheery cuz the smiles are saying “come play with me”.
This beauty is created by glimmer machine and stencils. The red ornament was from the Snowflake Ornament Stencil by Bibi Cameron. I used the stencil to create the red ball with Distress Lumberjack Plaid then used Tonic Shooting Stars Nuvo glimmer paste to add the snowflakes. On navy paper I used silver foil to add snowflakes to the background – turning the plate upside down to get a different look on each side of the back ground. For the ornament holders I used the stencil to put Versamark in then embossing power. The bow is also part of the stencil. Since I didn’t have dies I cut them out myself and popped them up with some foam tape and twine from my stash.
These little guys came all the way to the US from Scandinavia to send their love. They had their “picture” taken in front of the Northern Lights, imagine that! Lights are created with finger and Simon Hurley’s Lunar Paste with some drops of white pigment on them from stars. Metallic paper for bodies and even Lunar paste on the moveable backs of his hands so he can give you that big hug. Gnomes for any season and any time can be created with this cute set of dies.
These were lots of fun to create and I hope they put a smile on your face too.
Thanks for visiting! Come back in a day or so for more inspiration with other new products.
Hugs,
Penny
@teamspellbinders #Spellbinders #neverstopmaking and #glimmerhotfoilsystem
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At the end of April and most of May, I had the pleasure of taking a cruise with my husband on the Viking Orion. His calling was to teach the game of Bridge on sea days, to share his love for the game and to teach and entertain the Viking guests.
This particular cruise also afforded ME a wonderful opportunity to teach Card Making in the mornings on sea days. This was my first time teaching on a ship thus I wasn’t sure what the guests would like or even if they would be interested. But to my great delight, the first day I walked in early to a crowd waiting in line to come into the restaurant –I mean my classroom.
I had prepped seven cards that we could do…not knowing if all would get accomplished but I would give it a try. We were only able to do 6 cards. Since I was the only teacher, I asked that no more than 20 guests come at one time. So many showed up that we had up to 30 at a time. Yet it worked extremely well because they all began to help me and each other. I hope that if YOU were in the class to please post a comment and/or post your cards on social media and tag me. Thank you all for coming!
I tailored our cards to our itinerary: Tokyo to Alaska. Here are the examples I taught during ten days at sea:
Card 1
Participants learned various card-making skills including basic blending, using cardstock and vellum, coloring with alcohol markers, inking, and card design.
In each kit was the Altenew Reflections die, 5 Vellum flowers from the Sakura Blossom Die Set, centers precut from the same Sakura die set, and a card base. I was only able to get one pagoda design die (from Frantic Stampers) but purchased precut pagodas in different designs from KraftKittyPDX on Etsy. Each guest got to choose their own pagoda. My card was simple yet I suggested ways to change the background with ink blending, embellishments, and changing the orientation. I invited people to copy my design but encouraged them to be creative to make the card of their own design. In the end, there were no two cards alike and many were very creative.
Card 2
For this card I taught using dimensional foam tape, layering petals to complete a flower, making a shaker card (with elements under an acetate card front), and how to use shimmer pens.
This is a Shaker Card. I used the Altenew Craft-a -Flower Water Lily, Altenew Dotted Swirls Debossing Cover die, Spellbinder’s Essential Stylish Ovals Etched Dies, Hero Arts Koi Bunch stamp and coordinating Fin Friends Fancy Die, Altenew Ribbon Waves 3D Folder, and assorted sequins. Each kit contained a 5×6.5 card base, a piece of acetate, blue paper embossed in ribbon waves, white A2 size debossed piece with oval cut out, fish stamps and cut as a whole, and all the layers of the water lily and bud. Each guest could cut whichever individual fish they wanted from the HA Koi Bunch, add shimmer if desired, and choose their own sentiment from various sources.
Cards 3 and 4
Here, guests learned ink blending, coloring with alcohol markers, use of an action wobble, and how to build up dimension with foam tape.
There were two options for these two sessions. Because we were on a Viking ship, we were highlighting Gnomes on land and sea. I purposely did not complete full cards for ship as I wanted them to design their own…and boy, did they! On land, there were mushroom treehouses (Simon Says Stamps) to color, gnomes (Simon Says Stamps) to color and the opportunity to create their own design. On the sea, I gave the option of a Viking-like ship (Stamp Anniething) that was put over an embossed waves cardstock from Altenew Mighty Waves 3D embossing folder. Guests colored their gnomes, blended ink on the waves background and the ship and then put the gnomes on or off the ship as they wanted. I gave them each an “action wobble” form Simon Says Stamps. This is a small plastic spring that is sticky on both sides so that they could stick the wobble to the ship and then to the waves background. When struck, the spring moves to show movement of the ship. Some choose to put their gnome on the ship that “rocked” and some chose to make their gnomes stationary. On those that made gnomes on land, many made one of the gnomes wobble and bounce in the same manner that the ship did. The rocking ship was very appropriate at the time as we were crossing the Bering Sea and the waves were active.
Card 5
Card 5 used techniques of die cutting, layered stamping, creating a different card fold, blending color, using sequins, and coloring.
I started each guest off with a pre-embossed card that included Simon Says Stamps Pine Tree Meadows embossing folder done at both ends of the 8.5x 5 inch card base. This card featured some icebergs, Picket Fence Studios Glacier scenery stamps and dies in water with Hero Arts whales and wildlife. I demonstrated how to layer the different colored inks on the same whale shape by using Altenew’s Stamp Wheel. After the demonstration, I guided each guest, as needed, to create their own “Orca” whale from Hero Arts Coloring Layering Orca stamp and die. A different die cut whale, from Hero Arts Dream Accessories Fancy Dies was offered for variety and practice in die cutting. I stamped some wildlife – eagles, moose, bear – so that these could be cut out. The guests enjoyed learning to use a small die cutter Hero Arts Compact Cutter – putting the paper on one plate, the die face down then the over-plate and cranking it through the die cutter. Once they did this, they were able to die cut for themselves whatever critter(s) they wanted for their card. Guests especially enjoyed creating the critter by die cutting or stamping and producing a finished product of their own design and making. After creating the cards, once again, there were no two cards alike. To a teacher of creativity, this is music to my ears. I loved seeing them so excited about both the process and the end result.
Stamp Wheel demonstration with Hero Arts whale
Card 6
Techniques used were stenciling, blending, a new way to fold the card, die cutting, taping items together, and coloring.
Most of the process of constructing this card was the coloring of the inside of the card to create Alaskan scenery. I had several Altenew Mountain Scene stencils cut in half. Some started with the mountains and others with trees, then switched. I kitted card fronts by using Simon Says Stamps Tall Pines embossing folder. They had to cut it in half then add critters and trees, etc. to each side of the gate fold card. Critters and sentiments came from Hero Arts Fuzzy Winter Animal stamps and dies and Gina K Designs Fearless Flyers Coordinating stamps and dies. One of the best compliments came from a guest who told me the Alaskan scenery looked just like what she put on her card!
EXHIBIT
The day before the cruise ended we had an Exhibit of the art that students/guests had created. In another class, a different instructor taught water-color painting, so both cards and paintings were exhibited for our art show. These pictures only represent about half of what was actually made.
After several trips out of town and country this year, I came home to many new products to play with. I just wanted to delve into ALL of them! I decided to work on the Challenges that each company puts out each month.
This first one is the June 2023 Challenge from Altenew. I love the colors and the simple Line Art Craft a Kit was perfect for this. I also got to use new fresh dye inks from Altenew — Tickled Pink, Be Grapeful and Lettuce Celebrate. I used Altenew black Obsidian ink for the stamp, the pink, purple and green inks for the flower stenciling in each color. Then on the card front used the embossing folder and stencil to color the leaves. Added a bit of splatter to background and some dew drop embellishments for the completed project.
Here is my first creation that actually WOWed my socks off. I just love the vibrancy of these inks.
I liked this so much I decided to try doing another card. For this one I stamped Obsidian ink onto pink cardstock then adding Translucent Pearl embossing powder to keep the ink from bleeding into the flower. After fussy cutting it out, I highlighted the edges with Tickled Pink fresh dye ink and added Be Grapeful to the center of the flower with a very light hand. With the help of liquid glue, I added Woodland yellow Pollen for some texture in the center of the flower. I used the Line Art die set to create the purple leaf outline and covered it and the flower with Wink of Stella Clear Glitter pen. Hoping you can catch the glimmer on the flower and leaves. Together with some Lettuce Celebrate splatter, a saying from the stamp set, and some green sequins rounded out this beauty.
Aren’t these colors GORGEOUS!
Do you have a favorite?
Will you take up this challenge? If so, please tag me when you share it. @pennypynnonen on Facebook or Instagram
2022 was a WONDERFUL ALTENEW year! I am pleased to show you a few of my favorites from this year. If you want to start at the beginning go to the Altenew Blog. If you are following along, you got her from the magnificent Emily Midgett . Your next stop on the blog post is terrific Therese Calvird.
Now — Come along with me as we travel memory lane.
First up is the Craft-A-Flower Orion Geranium that is one of the monthly subscriptions for which Altenew is so well known. This one just came to life with some purple glitter paper on black. These layered flowers are so easy to put together.
And all the new foil plates that came out in 2022 are to die for! I absolutely love the starburst of the Rainbow Burst Hot Foil Plate with two different blue foils. Topped with some blue sequins and a glittery sentiment to finish it out.
Who can resist a two for one special? This was created with alcohol inks on silver sparkle yupo paper then an outline clean and simple card and its obverse with the cut out pieces put into the white framing. The Altenew Rose Queen die is perfect for this technique.
This last one is just plain fun with embossing folders, alcohol inks and gold embossing powder…all put together with some fun folds — so much easier to do than it looks. It uses the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Fragrant Florals. The Craft Your Life Project Kits are another monthly subscription and you get so, so much for your money. With embossing folders, stamps, dies, and stencils your creativity can soar.
Thanks for coming along with me in reviewing 2022 creativity. If you have any questions, please contact me. Happy New Year!
Love and hugs,
Penny
Prizes:
Over $500 in total prizes! Altenew is giving away a $100 gift card to 1 lucky winner, 3 $50 gift cards, and 27 $10 gift cards. Winners will be chosen from both blog hop #1 and blog hop #2. Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog HERE by 12/28/2022 for a chance to win.
(Feel free to share your favorite projects using #Altenew and #AltenewBest2022 when you share blog hop projects on social media. Don’t forget to tag Altenew!)
Wait, there’s MORE!
We would also LOVE to see YOUR favorite handmade cards, layouts, home decor, etc. featuring Altenew products! Feel free to share them on social media or on your blog using the hashtag #AltenewBest2022. You may also add a link by clicking the blue button below.
FOUR lucky crafters will each win a $15 gift certificate to our store! Winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/30/2022. We are looking forward to seeing your beautiful creations!
This is my favorite of all the cards! It also took a lot more time but thanks to JenniferMcGuireInk and her video and the help of Lawn Fawn’s video I was able to complete this. The scarecrow is from Gina K Designs as is some of the ephemera. The Boo and Happy Halloween are from Simon Says Stamps “My Zombie Boo” which is no longer available. The grass cut is also from Lawn Fawn. Pumpkins and batts are stamps from my stash. The backrounds were made with Nuvo Shimmer paints.
Next up come Mischievous in play again for the girl with the BLACK cat named GHOST. For this I ink blended with Altenew inks of Velvet, Maple Honey and Shadow Creek then used the Altenew Angled Mosaic embossing folder. The words are from Sizzix Bold Text Halloween colored to match the candy corn idea-ology with the Distress crayons.
This ghostly aberration is a mix of lots of things…. Simon Says Stamps stencil with Gina K Glitz Glitter gel, Spellbinders words and ghosts in vellum, Sizzix Pumpkin Duo colorize dies.
This last one is an ink blend of the same Altenew inks as above then stamped using Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cat Halloween and a few sequins.
I only started these Halloween cards Sunday, October 23rd because I kept wanting to work on Christmas cards and couldn’t get my head into Halloween. But the pressure was on and I got them in the mail on Thursday, the 27th. It was LOTS of fun making these.
I sure hope you enjoy them as much as I have in making them.
Thanks for visiting and WATCH OUT FOR THE GHOSTS AND GOBBLINS TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
Hugs,
Penny
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