Chaos & Happiness

 I was having such a mental block on the Seasonal Scene Building Course that I am taking with Altenew.  I tend to overthink A LOT about many things and this made the cut...  HAHA! So the Seasonal Scene Building course is about making scenes with your card making. Building up elements to create a certain area or place.   I struggled with it.  I have so many ideas in my head and then I have too many ideas and can't decide which one I want to go with.  Ultimately, I just jumped in and decided that whatever I chose would be fine.  I will get better at it as I go.   I kept the card simple only using a stencil to build the background with 3 inks, three stamped images and a sentiment.  The last thing I added were the black enamel dots. You guessed it, 3 of them.   I ink blended the blue tone inks ( blueberry , dark night & cloudy sky ) using the Abstract Mountain stencil on a card panel I cut to measure 4 x 51/4 inches....

 I think this is by far my favorite project so far.  The Easy die-cutting Techniques course at Altenew was taught by Yana Smakula.  I love seeing all of the inspiration projects listed and especially when there is an added file for even more creativity to soak in.  I tried to link the instagram post but the image wouldn't cooperate with the size of the window...so here we are.   I recently got the Zero waste cover dies that are available at Altenew and the flowers are so much fun to work with.  I couldn't wait to get started on them. So I chose the die to be the star of the card so to say in two of them.  I cut a total of 6 panels and made 3 cards.  The fourth is still sitting on my desk but it's almost complete.  Card 1 The first card was cut from 110lb.cardstock along with a backing of double-sided adhesive and I ink-blended the entire die with the mini ink blending tools .  Then popped all of the flowers ou...

So after taking 4 layering courses, I have a pretty good understanding of layering per say. My ability to line the stamps up is getting better and I was happy with the way I finished off the latest card.   There were a quite few examples where different things were added besides layering the stamps.  One that caught  my attention was the use of embossing paste.  I chose to use a stencil and add some translucent pearl crisp powder to it, instead of the paste after inking it.  I love the finished look. When the light hits it, it shimmers just under the layered flowers.  I also used some clear jewels that look like water droplets.  Those together with the embossing powder really put a step up in the card.   Starting from the beginning of the process of making the card, I chose the Angelique Motifs stamp and die set to work with.  I used the fine tulle background stencil and various Altenew  pink , purple and green crisp dye ink...

You know how you were always taught to read directions?  Well sometimes, you forget what you were taught.  The Altenew Academy courses for the first level were laid out in a syllabus style format.  I "assumed" that the 1 and 2 courses were the qualified courses... Not. All about layering 3 is a little more detailed in layering I would say.  Both the 3 and 4 layering courses are taught by Lydia and show the student how to layer and then how to incorporate them into a card. The jest of the course is about how you line up your stamps for the more intricate stamps having multiple layers.  I found that if you practice, as with anything, you get better at it.     The card I made is a 4 1/4 by 5 and a half side folded card.  I used used Bazzill cardstock in a plum color for the back panel and the the word hello, which was cut 4 times and adhered with Altenew Double sided adhesive sheets .  The floral images are from the Fresh Blooms stamp and d...

 I love adding bling and sparkles to scrapbook pages, so adding it to cards is just as satisfying.  For the Let it Shine course with Altenew Academy, I really enjoyed seeing all of the ways Carissa used to demonstrate how you can make a card shine.  Out of the various classes in the course and all of the cool techniques, I have to say I loved all of them.   I had a difficult time choosing which one I wanted to use for my assignment after I had made a few.  Eventually, I went with the coloring page I did a few weeks back while I was in Canada.  For the card, I used a few bling products.  The gold sequins , gold thread, Brushed Gold cardstock and some gold shimmer splatter.  I fussy cut the floral image out and added some Altenew instant dimension foam tape to the back and lined it up on a card panel that I embossed with the Dreamy Tiles folder  and cut to 5 1/4 inches by 4 inches, adding some craft foam to the back.  I mounted it...

 The stencil course is all about finding ways to use your stencils in different ways and/or your cover dies as well. I tend to shy away from products that are messy because I dislike the "clean up" process. My craft space is outside of my home so I have to go inside to clean up anything that needs water.  I am lazy sometimes and put it off... then end up with a stencil or tool that is harder to clean than it should have been had I done it right away.  So...on to the project.  I chose a cover die to use as a stencil for my project.  The Radial Butterflies Cover Die seems like a challenge for me because of its simplicity.  That statement probably seems odd but that's how it felt.  It's simple but almost too simple.  I was striving for some way to make it look more interesting and using it as a stencil for building up dimension is just what I needed.   I cut two of the cover dies out of Nina solar white cardstock and adhered them together f...

January 2023 Challenge I am still very new to watercoloring, but I think eventually I'll find my niche'. I used a 5x7 watercolor paper for this one because I loved the size of the stamp and didn't want to lose a lot of the image by having it only be an A2 size.  It's the Bewitching Rose stamp from the Craft your life project kit from Altenew.   I heat embossed the image using versamark ink and antique gold embossing powder.   I painted the image with the 24 pan watercolor set  and then added the sentiment from the same stamp set applied with  obsidian ink . I added some bling with Altenew's gold sequins .  I also added some white splatter from the pan set and some gold nuvo mica mist spray.  I adhered the panel to a 5x7 card base with a layer of craft foam and called it done. 😉  

 I have a few guys that I buy cards for, but making them a card is so much easier now that I have finished this course with Jen.  It's called For The Guys .  She gives so many tips on how to make it more guy themed.  The one thing that bummed me out was that there were a few stamp sets I fell in love with, that Altenew doesn't carry any more.  Over all though, I loved the course! For my card, I used blue tones but kept the image as a flower.  I enjoyed making this one because  I love using embossing powder to build up images.  The flowers on the card were created using the Folk Flowers stamp and die set along with the coordinating stencil for the background.  It's a 5x7 card with some decent layers for added dimension.  I chose not to use the stamp on the flower image so that it would be less of a flower and more attention to the leaves. The die cut flowers were inked up with Iceberg Crisp Ink and each time I added a layer of ink, I us...

I tend to overthink things way too much.  It causes me to have a creative block and then take FOREVER to post a project.  I finally had more me time and less overthinking so here we are. For the next course from Altenew academy, I made a card using simple direct to paper inking technique where I took each color of ink and ran it across the paper. I then added some water with a small mister bottle, dabbed the access water off and used my heat tool to dry it.  I used all of the colors in the Rainbow Prism set of mini ink pads to create a background and cut out the die cover image String Panel for the card panel and adhered it to a black base.  The pieces from the die cover were used to stamp and cut out the cactus images from the Be Strong stamp and die set.  I popped them up with foam tape and cut out the sentiment using the Featured Sentiments die set .  I cut three different sizes to raise them a tad more for focus on the sentiment.  Inside I added a...

  I am participating in the Monthly Inspiration challenge on Altenew's website this month.  So for my submission I chose the Floral Acanthus stamp and die set from the Craft Your Life Project kit.  I also used the Fine Tulle stencil and the trailblazing inks for the background splatter and color on the die cut "hugs".  The flowers and leaves were done with alcohol markers from Altenew.  I list them below in the last photo.  The colors are off because I usually just snap a pic of the image to keep track of the colors for my reference.  The jewels are from Pink Fresh Studio.  The card is a 5x7 because I love the flourishes and the perfect size of the stamped floral images.  They needed a good size card. 😉 Natural light and a brightness boost. Indoor lighting late at night... Thank you for stopping by!💛

I was hoping the new Trailblazing fresh dye inks would be different from their original inks and I was not disappointed.  I can't wait for other colors to be released.  I am a fan!!!  They are easy to open and close.  Thank you Altenew , from an arthritis sufferer.  What a game changer!  The Crisp Dye inks are beautiful in color , have an okay ability for coverage the first impression, but ultimately need a second application for a more crisp image.  The lids are almost impossible for me to open without a tool to pry between the lid and base which frustrates me and I end up not using them as much.  I still love the inks but am happy they have a new design and way better coverage the first time stamping an image on paper.  I planned on starting with the mini's and sadly didn't get to try them out before I finally just took the plunge and got the full size pads. I saw Jennifer McGuire do a demo video on the ink pads and was convinced I ...