Exclusive Access to the Altenew Brand New Release!

Hello inkers!

Did you know that downloading the Altenew App gives you exclusive early access to new releases?

Altenew will release the following products EXCLUSIVELY on 12/28/2022 on their Mobile App before their official release in-store on 01/03/2023.

• Nostalgic Florals Stamp Set
• Nostalgic Florals Die Set
• Nostalgic Florals Simple Coloring Stencil Set (3 in 1)
• Nostalgic Florals Complete Bundle

You can enjoy early access to their NEW stamp, die and stencil ONLY through the Altenew Mobile App!

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Sketch and Colour Challenges

Hello folks,

Just sneaking in with a couple of cards before Christmas. I had me some happy mail from MFT a few days ago and was itching to get some ink on some new stamps: 

 

First up is the sketch - I used the Drifts and Hills Stencil, Cloud Stencil, Stitched Rolling Clouds and Let Your Hair Down which I specifically bought as it reminds me of my beautiful niece!

For the colour challenge I used PI Winter Kisses and the Drifts and Hills stencil again. I knew that one would come in handy!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Claire

Altenew A Year in Review: Crafters' Edition Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello inkers!

I'm thrilled to be taking part in Altenew's Year in Review: Crafters' Edition Blog Hop + Giveaway - you should have found your way here from Karen's blog.

As 2022 draws to a close it's a great time to look back at all those projects you've made throughout the year using Altenew stamps, dies and stencils.  It gives you inspiration for future projects and reminds you of all those Altenew products in your stash waiting to get re-inked! 

I've made quite a few projects this year using Altenew so it was quite hard to whittle it down to just 4:

Blissful Blossoms featured in a couple my favourites - the flowers are quite small so there's lots of different ways they can be arranged to give a different look each time.  On the first card I arranged them around the Mid-Century Frame Die. I love the sentiments in this set too - I'm very particular when it comes to fonts and I love the mix of the pretty script and the plainer serif. 

For the second card I set the blooms against a rectangle from Halftone Squares and added a sentiment from a different set - Leaf Clusters.

I gave the flowers a miss for this little card and instead used the butterfly from Ori Kami set against some Leaf Clusters. I added a touch of embossed gold to the leaves using a tiny stamp from Hennah Elements. I do love that a lot of Altenew sets come with smaller stamps so you can add some finer detail. 

My last card is actually my most recent using the ever popular Beautiful Day with a sentiment from Sentiment Strips.  I've kept the foliage very simple in shades of brown and gold - it's so detailed it really doesn't need any colouring. The background has been embossed using the Majestic Bloom 3D embossing folder. 

Prizes Galore

Altenew is giving away over $500 in total prizes including 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 12/27/2022 for a chance to win.

Wait...there's MORE!

Altenew would love to see YOUR favourite handmade cards, layouts, home decor etc featuring their products! Feel free to share them on social media or on your blog using the hashtag #AltenewBest2022.  You can also add a link to your project on the Altenew Year in Review post. FOUR lucky crafters will each win a $15 gift certificate to the store!  Winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/29/2022.

Your next stop is the very talented Mindy Eggen but if you'd like to go in blog order here's everyone taking part: 

Altenew Card Blog

Erin Thompson

Annemarie Caister

Seeka

Karen Brown

Claire Apostoloff

Mindy Eggen

Fiona Duff

Karen Reátegui

Carol Hintermeier

Bobby Hagen

Michelle Short

Lorena Brougher

Michelle Burnier 

Happy stamping! 

Claire x

Altenew New Release Sneak Peek - January 2023 Nostalgic Memories Stamps, Dies and Stencils

Hello inkers,

This week Altenew are giving you a sneak peak of their brand new January 2023 Nostalgic Memories release and I've been lucky enough to have a play with a few of their gorgeous new products. 

 

First up is the Zero-Waste 3D Floral Cover Die. So many different ways to use it on a card or scrapbook page - use the entire panel as a background or create custom made blooms in multiple ways using the die cut flowers.

Make sure you head over to the Altenew blog throughout the week to see more sneak peaks of this brand new release due in January 2023!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew - A Year in Review Inspiration Challenge

Hello folks,

I always like the Altenew Inspiration challenge in December as you can choose whichever colour combo you like from the year.  Because I was away I went with the colours for November: 

I've based my layout on the sketch at Sunday Stamps using Beautiful Day with a sentiment from Sentiment Strips and  I've popped it on an embossed background using Majestic Bloom.

Happy stamping!

Claire

With Love at Christmas

Hello again,

Getting back into the inky swing of things now - good job as I haven't yet finished my Christmas cards!

Here's one using Freshly Made Sketches' simple sketch with Colour Throwdown's latest palette:

 

I love the detail in this Cherrypie Art Stamp - it's so detailed I always feel nothing else is required. Just some embossed snow and a couple of strips of dp from Your Next Stamp. The sentiment's from MFT. 

I'm also popping it over to Time Out's Winter/Holiday Season challenge!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Holiday Greetings with Sunday Stamps

Hello inkers!

It's been a long time since I posted a card. A holiday in Spain and the UK kind of gets in the way of any craftiness - especially when the kids and hubby stay at home! That's right - all the boys stayed at home whilst I had a post Covid reunion with family and friends. I'm not sure they wanted me to come back to be perfectly honest!

 I always find when I go away the inky mojo stays wherever I've been and takes quite a while to kick back in. What better way than a Christmas card for a few of my favourite challenges - Sunday Stamp's colours, Time Out's holiday theme and The Paper Players' feature a Santa challenge. 

 

I love these cute selfie images from Stacey Yacula at MFT - coloured with Copics with a sprinkle of holographic glitter along Santa's hat.  The striped background is a stencil from Altenew.

Here's hoping it won't be almost 3 months until my next card!

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Colour Challenge #197

Hello folks,

It's the big bloke's birthday this week so I used the perfect masculine colour combo over at MFT for a bit of inspiration:

 

My card making mojo's completely disappeared at the moment - I find it so frustrating when that happens. I can't help thinking this little guy from Festive Old Friends is missing something. A bottle of beer to help him celebrate perhaps?! 

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS Christmas

Hello inkers,

I made a very CAS Christmas card for CAS on Friday's Christmas themed challenge and Time Out's Photo Inspiration challenge:

I was inspired by the Christmas tree and baubles - it's been a while since I inked up PTI's Take a Bough. The sentiment's from It's a Sign: Holiday Sentiments.

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Colour Challenge #196

 Hello folks,

Another Christmas card using the colours from MFT and the sketch from Sunday Stamps:

I've used Freezin's Greetings with Christmas Background and a sentiment from Bitty Holiday Wishes.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew September Inspiration Challenge

Hello inkers, hope you're having a great weekend!

Here's a quick card for Altenew's September Inspiration challenge:

I used the smaller bloom from Peony Bouquet - it never seems to see as much ink as the main flower but I find it so much easier to line up and layer than the big bloom stamp.  I've set it against Halftone Squares and the sentiment's from Tiny Sentiments Hello. 

In hindsight I wish I'd white embossed the Halftone stamps on Kraft rather than used black - it would have been a bit softer..the black is perhaps a bit dramatic with those dainty blooms!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Colour Throwdown #710

Hello folks,

Quick post with a card for the Colour Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches:

 

I layered some snowflake dies from CAS-ual Fridays, added a greeting from MFT and set it against Altenew's Dotted Lines Debossing Cover Die.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Altenew Pair-a-Flower Watercolour Edition

Hello inkers,

Altenew is challenging us to use their watercolour pan set to colour a flower and photograph the real thing next to the finished project.  Hopefully they'll accept that as I'm in Australia and we've just come out of Winter,  blooming flowers are few and far between!  So I've had to make do with a photograph:

It does make me chuckle that I've entered a watercolour competition - I frequently lament that I'm not a natural watercolourer and that beautiful loose, flowy style is completely beyond me, usually ending up in a muddy mess.

But hey, you've got to have a go so rather than use a loose style I tried to capture more of the detail in the photo. I've used Altenew's Lotus Stamp Set with a sentiment from Handpicked Bouquet. Behind the blooms I've used watercolour from the 12 pan set with the Beach Towel Stripes Stencil to give some soft stripes in the background.  I framed them with the Mid-Century Frame Die.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Autumn Hues

 Hello folks,

Lots of Autumn themed challenges out there in blogland so here's a card combining the latest Freshly Made Sketch with the Autumnal theme over at The Paper Players and all the colours from Sunday Stamps:

Not much stamping but heaps of die cuts with a sunflower from MFT Die-namics and various die cut sprigs and leaves from goodness knows where! The sentiment's from MFT and the embossed background is Altenew. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Pink and Vellum

Hello again,

Sickness is still rife in our household so doesn't inspire much card making. However, earlier in the week this great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers appeared in my inbox by Chrissie Stokes which I knew I wanted to try. Less is More's 'vellum' challenge gave me the necessary nudge to have a go:

 

It's a total CASE of Chrissie's beautiful card. I used Altenew's Leaf Clusters and Tiny Sentiments, white embossed the front of the vellum panel and then stamped the back in bright pink. I added a stitched frame from MFT to finish it off. 

This one's also off to Addicted to CAS for their 'pink' challenge - in a houseful of boys I need my pink fix!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Feeling Festive

Hello, happy weekend!

I'm cracking on with my Christmas cards and the latest colours at MFT are perfect so I used the ever popular Santa's Elve's combined with the layered sketch over at Sunday Stamps: 

I added few papers from the Very Merry paper pad and the sentiment's from Bitty Holiday Wishes. Can you believe I've had that stamp set for years and I don't think I've ever inked up that elf?  He does look like he's been a bit neglected - hopefully he made Santa's 'nice' list!

This one's also going over to Time Out who have a festive themed challenge happening.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Fusion Colour Palette

Hello inkers,

I made a very simple card using the pretty colours from the latest Fusion inspiration pic:

 

It's entirely different to what I had in mind - I had wanted to do a simple beach scene by masking a striped background and adding a sail boat. Since that didn't work I stamped the Clearly Besotted bloom over the stripes instead but it looked very dull and flat so I used the matching die to cut the image out and then popped it up with some dimensional tape. I also matted it against some black card to make it pop. Amazing what a difference a bit of dimensional tape can make!

Happy stamping!

Claire