You Are Awesome

Hello, friends! This is Yana with you today sharing a very simple, almost an everyday kind of card. To be honest, the simplest, cleanest cards are always the hardest to design. Even though the final project looks like a piece of cake, it usually takes hours to actually stamp one!

Nonetheless, I always enjoy a little challenge and try to come with simple ideas like this whenever I have the time.

The card I’m sharing today is a one layer project. First I stamped triangles using several light colors of Altenew ink starting with the largest triangle in Warm Sunshine. I also added another one right next to the first one and stamped that in Frayed Leaf, the lightest green. I kept stamping additional solid triangles and also added a few striped ones to this design. The balance the colors I also introduced a third color – Frosty Pink.

One of a Kind Card for One of a Kind Person. Video

Hello, friends! Yana is here with you today sharing a one of a kind card for one of a kind person. I’ll be honest with you, I love purple. I adore purple. I think purple and gold make one of the most gorgeous and elegant color combos. I know a lot of people dislike this color, but I find it to work well with all things gold.

I’ve used a gorgeous butterfly from the Bejeweled stamp set and heat embossed it using brass embossing powder. I used the same watercolor pencils I shared in this blog post and video but I applied a different technique for a much more vibrant look. I cut the butterfly out using a matching die and adhered onto a simple almost one layer card.

Stamped Simplicity

Hello, everyone! Yana is here sharing a rather simple stamped project. I personally like to make all sorts of cards, some – clean and simple, some – heavily layered, but today I felt like less is more. So the card that I’m featuring in my today’s video is very simple and has a good design to be easily mass produced.

I’m using 2 stamp sets – Fresh Freesia and Painted Flowers. I really like the Happy Birthday to you sentiment, is nice and classy and painted flowers always seem to add a nice touch to any project.

Stamp Focus: Raise the Steaks

Hello everyone! This is Yana here, I’m so excited to share my Stamp Focus take on the Raise the Steaks stamp set. When I first saw this stamp set back in July I will admit, I was puzzled. I didn’t know what to do with the images and how to incorporate them onto cards and I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way.

I always love a little challenge so I decided I would do my very best to bring you some fun and fresh (and funny!) ideas for using this set. First of all I should probably say – be sure to read the sentiments in the Raise the Steaks set. Clever greetings that work amazingly well with the meat image is what makes this stamp set rock.

Video. Modern Geometric Thank You Card

Hello, friends! Its Yana here with you today sharing a new video tutorial. I am a huge fan of all things bold and geometric. And I’m also a fan of custom backgrounds. So today I’m going to show you how to create a Modern Geometric Thank You card using several stamp sets from Altenew.

I started working on this card by stamping a background using a tall solid triangle stamp from the Sohcahtoa stamp set. I used 3 colors of ink for my stamping – Coral Berry, Frayed Leaf and Warm Sunshine. I had the top central part of my main panel masked as I knew I wanted to heat emboss a large bold Thanks there using gold embossing powder.

I also heat embossed several triangle outlines using gold embossing powder to add a bit to the randomness of my triangle background. I wanted this card to have a bit more feminine look and feel to it, so I added several roses from the Vintage Roses set. Instead of using 3 colors of ink to stamp these (a light, medium and dark) I only used two colors – a light Buttercream and a medium Warm Sunshine and heat embossed a third layer using gold embossing powder. I’ve never done this before and I’m very happy with the way it turned out. I used the same trick for the leaves.

I’ve also added drops of black ink onto the background and stamped a black Thank You to finish this project. I did use a few additional elements – a bit of gold thread and a few coral enamel dots.

I’ve filmed a video tutorial to show you how I made this card from start to finish. I’m sharing lots more tips in my video and simply having fun stamping. I hope you will too!

Like this video? Please give it a thumbs up and share with friends! And be sure to visit Altenew Youtube channel for more video tutorials and creative inspiration.

Do you like geometric backgrounds? Have you done one using Altenew stamps? Be sure to share in the comments below! Thanks!

We Should Get Together

Hello, Altenew fans! Yana is here with you today sharing a We Should Get Together card. I love to travel (in fact I just came back from Poland a few days ago) and I’ve made a lot of friends over the years while traveling. I try to stay in touch with everyone on Facebook or via e-mail, but sometimes its just nice to snail mail a card, don’t you agree?

I made this one (and a bunch more like this to mail to friends) using Sketchy Cities Abroad stamp set. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on my cards so instead of coloring the skyline I did wet water coloring using Altenew Coral Berry and Warm Sunshine inks, very similar to what I shared in my previous blog post in video.

Video. Easy coloring using ink pads

Hello, friends! Its Yana here with you today sharing yet another simple coloring video. I used to be one of those people who was intimidated by outlines images that are meant to be colored, I avoided stamp sets like that as I had no idea how to color them or did paper piecing at best. I was, however, always fascinated with colored images and really wanted to try coloring myself. I finally gave up and got some markers and pencils and started practicing.

But I still remember how that fear of coloring felt. Today I’d like to share a truly simple way to add color to outline images that are designed to be colored and hopefully this will inspire those of you like me to give coloring a try.

You wont be needing markers, you wont be needing colored pencils, you wont be needing chalk or anything of that sort. If fact, the only thing you’ll need is something you probably already have – ink pads! I’ll be using Altenew ink pads to add color to the butterfly images from the Bejeweled stamp set.

The technique I’m sharing today is so ridiculously simple you can never go wrong! Start with a slick surface like a clear block or a piece of plastic and add a few colors of ink from your ink pads by pressing the ink pad onto the surface. If you are using just pinks or just yellow start with the lightest color and add other colors overlapping with previous one but moving from light to dark. If you are adding several different colors try not to overlap them not to contaminate your ink pads. Next spritz some water and place the image you want to add color to on top. The paper will pick up the ink and you will end up having a uniquely colored piece.

I have video tutorial where I explains everything is detail and share a ton of tips. You can watch it here or on Altenew channel:

If you like this video please give it a thumbs up and share with friends! Thanks so much!

I used a large Love stamp from the Super Script 2 set and stamped a bold background for both of my cards using black ink. If you are not a fan of bold backgrounds like this try using a different color of ink like light pink or light yellow.

Happy stamping!

Video. Easy watercolor for beginners with Peony Scrolls

Hello-hello, Altenew fans! Yana is here with you today sharing, you guessed it right, a new video tutorial using amazing Peony Scrolls stamps and dies.

I’ll be honest with, I had no idea what to do with this set (I have seen a million amazing samples done by our design team and I didn’t want to duplicate them) until I read the product description and realized that those were Japanese Peonies. I than did what I usually do, which is went to Pinterest and looked them up. And than, than the magic happened, I got inspired and rushed to my craft room to create.

And here is what I came up with:

I started working on this project by heat embossing a few peonies and leaves onto white cardstock in white embossing powder. I wanted to watercolor these using Faber Castell Art Grip Aquarelle Pencils, but I didn’t want to use watercolor paper as it usually has texture and its really hard to perfectly heat emboss an image with thin outlines like these are. So I didn’t use watercolor paper but went with regular white cardstock. I was still able to watercolor my images and ended up having pretty good results.

I used a pink color and 2 aqua colors for my coloring. I originally wanted to have green, but I didn’t have a green pencil in my stash, so I went with aqua instead, I think it was a nice substitution.

I clustered the stamped and die cut flowers and leaves behind a beautiful gold trim from Altenew and finished my card with a heat embossed sentiment from the Sentiments & Quotes set. I also added some drops of pink and gold ink onto my card base to create some movement and interest for this project.

Would you like to watch a detailed video tutorial? Please watch below or on Altenew Youtube channel and be sure to subscribe, too!

If you like this video please give it a thumbs up and share with friends! Thanks so much!

I also created a second version of this card, a simpler and a cleaner one. I didn’t use as many elements for this one and skipped the pink drops of ink but added some gold instead. I wonder which card you like best? Comment below!

Happy stamping!

Video. Just For You Card using Striped Flowers

Hello stamping gang! Yana is here with you today sharing a new video tutorial using amazing Altenew products. Be sure to grab a cup of coffee/tea and enjoy now or bookmark/pin/save this post and come watch our video later.

Today I am sharing an elegant Just For You card using lots of gold accents and bright colors. I seem to be enjoying working with the gold-colored products more and more these days.

If you have been following my video tutorials you might have noticed that there was a request from Sue to use Lacy Scrolls for my next video, unfortunately, I do not have that stamp set, so I had to go with a different one for this project. I hope you will enjoy it!

May Challenge: From Places Abroad – Tunisia

Hello-hello, Altenew fans! Yana is here hosting May challenge. We are once again bringing you the “From Places Abroad” theme and inviting you to go abroad to Tunisia in search of creative inspiration.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our previous challenges and will join us once again. We certainly loved each one of your projects and your take on our inspiration photos.

This month’s theme: From Places Abroad: Tunisia

A look at the gorgeous ceiling in one of the carpet shops in Tunisia

When traveling inspiration can strike at any moment! Look at tiles on the floor, mosaics on the walls, take a glance at the ceiling. You might be surprised at what you’ll see!

The inspiration photo above was snapped at one of the carpet shops in Tunisia. The minute a walked into the shop I was fascinated with all the beautiful carpers the place had to offer. But the moment I looked up and saw the ceiling I was so impressed! I loved the mix of gold, bronze, blues and aqua colors together! Absolutely beautiful!

Here’s a project I created inspired by the photo above:

I used the combination of light and dark blues to stamp the roses for my project using Vintage Roses stamp set. I also heat embossed in gold and die cut a few branches from the Doodle Blooms set.

The beautiful sentiment for this card was also heat embossed in gold on black cardstock. It reads: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Finally I added a stunning Fenstone Decorative Element trim and finished my project.

Play Along:

Make a card, a tag, a layout or any other project based on the inspiration photo above. You may use either the colors, the composition, the elements, the texture or any combination to create your project.

Rules:

• Make a new project for each challenge and post it by 11:59 pm EDT May 31st.
• Use at least one Altenew stamp
• Link back to Altenew May Challenge in your post
• When uploading your project, make sure to link to your entry post, not your entire blog
• You may enter as many times as you wish!

Prizes:

After the challenge closes, Four winners will be selected, and one random winner will be drawn. Each will receive a $30 store credit at www.altenew.com.  Winners will be announced at the beginning of the next month.

Please click on the button below to link your challenge entries. We can not wait to see where this month’s inspiration takes you!