Fun

Had a bit of time this weekend to just do something fun. So, I tried making some mints. Those weren’t quite what I was hoping, but they are pretty and they taste pretty good. No, I can’t have much as I have diabetes, but I had a couple. I gave some away today and will give some more away later. Also took the time to make a couple of cards.

I joined the Altenew Mini Monthly subscription and my husband wanted to make sure it was worth it, so a friend, who also gets that subscription said we would challenge one another to use what we get each month before the next one arrives. We’ve both made a couple of cards with this Mini Delight: Pretty City Stamp and die set. For this one, I also used Altenew’s Hello and Hugs stamp set. Definitely had fun with this one, as the idea came to me when I saw their January challenge colors. Tried to do lots of different things with this one, as learning new things is fun. I used the MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil for the clouds with Ranger Distress Oxide ink in Picked Raspberry. The halo around the city was done with Ranger Distress Oxide ink in Spun Sugar. I also used Versamark Ink with the Ranger Platinum embossing ink, some random bling and card stock in white, gray, and 2 shades of pink. There’s a bit of sparkle in there with the bling and the embossing, so I’m thinking this works quite well for the Altenew January 2021 challenge.

Tried lots of new things with this card, as well. Hero Arts’ Stay Crafty Challenge #19 was to use a heart somewhere. So, I made heart bubbles. You can’t really see it in the picture, but there is Nuvo Crystal clear drops around the edges and in the heart to make it shine a bit, like a glass bottle would. For this, I used the Hero Arts sets: Enjoy the Journey CM169, Mermaid Kisses CM160, and CL392. I also used the following Ranger Distress inks: Frayed Burlap, Mowed Lawn, Dusty Concord, Twisted Citron, Abandoned Coral, Tumbled Glass, Black Soot, and Brushed Corduroy. Also used some alcohol markers and colored pencils, a Wink of Stella pen, as well as some bling.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today. I hope one or both of these might have brought a smile to your face. Join me in trying new things, or things in a different way and lets see if we can grow in this new year. Have a wonderful week!

Card 11

Woo hoo! Last one and I have completed my goal for the Altenew Year End Challenge, of doing a card for each of their challenges. It was fun. I tried new things, did things a bit differently in some cases, tried different color combinations than I would normally have used, and had fun along the way. Where’s the fun if you never try new things. Even if they bomb, you’ve tried and know. And sometimes they turn out great.

This one might be a bit busy, but I still kind of like it. I used Nuvo Mousse in a pink and turquoise on a dark blue card for the background, using Altenew’s Layered Dahlia Stencils. Let me tell you, it was quite difficult to clean my stencils afterwards (I’m one of those that likes to clean everything back to the way it looked before starting). I also used Altenew’s Perennial Beauty set for the flowers. All 4 of the purples used were from their Enchanted Garden mini ink cube set.

I hope you saw at least one of these 11 cards that you liked and might inspire you to try something new.

Thank you for spending some of your time with me today and have a great rest of your week!

Card 10

This one was another one that stood out to me. I really liked the October inspiration, too.

Spent time coloring the image, from one of Altenew’s sets (don’t know the name) with pencils and really like the way it turned out. Had fun putting different colors of card stock together for the background and embossing, as well. When it came to stamping the sentiment from Altenew’s Faceted Stars set, I was so very glad I had used a stamping platform, so I could restamp and use a brayer to press quite hard. Embossing first was not the best way to go. But it turned out pretty well in the end. I was impressed when my friend told me about using the brayer on the stamping platform for extra pressure. It works wonderfully.

Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with me today!

Card 9

This is what I made for the September part of the challenge:

For Christmas, my BFF gave me Altenew’s Hello and Hugs stamp set, so used that for this card. Had fun playing with some special effects paste, which looks gloppy and uninspiring in the picture, but has lots of shine and catches the light really well in person. The red is a shimmer sheet, too.

Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with me today!

Card 8

This is what I did for the August part of the challenge:

This one I really like and had fun creating. Used the Cube Builder Stencil, as well as another Altenew stamp set that I have no idea of the name of, as I borrowed it.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today.

Card 7

On to the July Altenew inspired card:

I liked the wreath and the colors, so had some fun with this one. You can’t really tell, but there is pink in the stenciling, towards the center, then out to dark brown. Used the Altenew Starburst Stencil and the Best Sentiments stamp set.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today.

Card 6

So, finally had a chance to finish these. Here’s what I made for June:

This was inspired by the roundness of the bowls in the picture, as well as the wispiness of the smoke. It was definitely an “inspired by” creation. I used the Altenew To The Moon stamp set, as well as some of their inks.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today.

Card 5

Okay, this is as far as I’ve gotten with the Altenew Year End Challenge. It’s Christmas week, so not sure if I’ll be able to get the rest done, but I’ll try. I’m also going to see if I can find where their monthly challenges are posted, so I can actually play along in 2021.

So May was interesting colors and one large flower. I looked at it before heading to church this morning and thought strips would be fun. So, I cut strips and played this afternoon.

Those really are peach, yellow, blue, and white strips. It looks a bit darker of a peach in the picture. The flower looks a bit closer to the peach, as well. Anyway, used the Altenew Peony Boquet stamp and die set for it, as well as some peach, yellow, and dark peach inks to color it. Had fun with this one, too. Looking at it, I probably should have used a different embossing folder for my flower frame. Oh well.

Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with me today!

Card 4

You’re probably getting tired of these, but only this one and one more to go. This is for the Altenew Year End Challenge.

So, for April, I definitely went with “inspired by” rather than too close to exact. Not like me, I know, but I’m stepping out.

I used the Altenew Cube Builder Stencil (love this stencil), as well as some of their inks for the background. The flower that I had stamped for the front was just not looking right, so I used a couple of the Altenew Alcohol Markers to color some white paper flowers. Had a lot of fun with this and I really like the way the flower looks.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me today!

Card 3

Back to the Altenew year end challenge.

Here’s what I made for the March one. I know you only had to make one, but I’ve just been having fun with it. This is one of my favorite ones.

I used the Faceted Stars stamp to emboss the background, then used watercolors for both the image and the background. Had a lot of fun with this one. The succulent stamp set is also an Altenew set, but I borrowed it from a friend, so don’t know what it’s called. The sentiments are from the Faceted Stars, too.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with me!