Living My Dream: Altenew January Release Blog Hop II + Giveaway

Hello Altenew Blog Hoppers! This is my first time to join in as a guest designer for Altenew, so I'm super excited to be a part of this blog hop! I was SO excited that I got a little carried away working with some of their new stamps and I made 7 cards to share with you! Yep, I had fun with all these gorgeous florals! First I'll show you my cards and give you a few technique details and then I'll give you the blog hop details!

Card 1:

My first card is made with the gorgeous daisies in the Smile More stamp set. I randomly stamped the flowers and leaves on a piece of watercolor paper using Versamark Ink and embossed with white embossing powder. I painted them all in with watercolors. I stamped the sentiment with Versarmark Ink as well and used green and white embossing powder. I finished with some Nuvodrops and twine.

Card 2:

I made two cards with the flowers in the Amazing You stamp set. There are two different type of blooms giving you more options with one set! I used the roses on this one. I stamped them with black ink and watercolored them all. I used a sentiment from the Smile More stamp set with red embossing powder. Last I added some green sequins around the leaves.

Card 3:

This card uses the other flowers in the Amazing You stamp set. I love that you can get two totally different looks from this set. I stamped them with a light tan ink and then colored them in with Copic markers for a no-line stamping look. I attached them to a watercolored background. This sentiment is also from the Smile More stamp set. I embossed it with white embossing powder on a watercolored banner. I added some sequins to finish it.

Card 4:

Oh, I really REALLY love this Garden Hydrangea stamp set! I used it for two different cards with a completely different technique and look to the stamps. This one only uses the outlines for the blooms and leaves. I embossed them with white embossing powder on watercolor paper. I painted them with watercolors and added some light watercoloring to the background as well. I stamped the sentiment (which is from the Amazing You stamp set) with two colors of ink. I applied the lavender ink first and then touched the darker pink ink on just the bottom of the letters.

Card 5:

This is my second card using the Garden Hydrangea stamp set. This time I utilized all of the stamps in the set by layering them with different colors of ink. I stamped the flat background stamp first with a lavender ink. I then stamped all the details from the next two stamps with blue and purple inks. Last, I added the outline stamp with a darker blue. After they were all stamped, I used Copic markers to add some shading. I also used a blue glitter marker to outline the centers of each flower. The sentiment is from the Amazing You stamp set.

Card 6:

This flowers and vase on this card are made with the Life is Beautiful stamp set. I stamped them in black ink on white cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers. I attached them to a white cardstock oval. For the background of the card, I stamped "don't forget to smile" from the same stamp set over and over. I used black ink and stamped it on a red watercolored background. I used the large sentiment from the Smile More stamp set and embossed it with white embossing powder on black cardstock. I finished it with some red sequins.

Card 7:

I saved my favorite card for last. I love hummingbirds. Seriously love them. So this Wishing You stamp set has my heart! I stamped the daffodil and hummingbird with a natural color ink on watercolor paper. I painted them with watercolors. I built up layers and used it somewhat opaque on the bird. I embossed the sentiment with pinkish red embossing powder to match the pink on the bird and a light teal for the smaller word. The paints I used are very shimmery and so pretty in real life. I have a friend that just had surgery, so I can't wait to give this to her since she is a nature lover too!

Ok, if you made it through all that, now I'll get to the details of the blog hop! Here are the things you WANT to know!

Leave a comment on the Altenew blog to be eligible to win one of THREE $50 gift certificates!!! (Leave a comment by Thursday, Feb. 2nd for a chance to win); Winners will be announced on Saturday February 4th on the Altenew blog.
Leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST to be eligible to win a $30 Altenew gift certificate by Thursday, Feb. 2nd; I will announce a winner on Friday February 3rd.
Leave a comment on all of the other blogs in this hop to also be eligible to win $30 gift certificates!

Here is the list of hoppers today with links to each blog. Next in the hop is Eunyoung Lee.

Altenew

Svitlana Shayevich
Laura Bassen
Virginia Lu
Simon Hurley
Lydia Evans
Heather Hoffman
Ashley Horton
Kelly Latevola
Debby Hughes

Suzy Plantamura (you are here)
Eunyoung Lee
Erum Tasneem
Lilith Eeckles
Emily Leiphart
Yana Smakula
May Sukyong Park
Aimee Dow
Agnieszka Malyszek
Sveta Fotinia
Nicole Picadura
Marika Rahtu
Jennifer McGuire
Therese Calvird

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the hop and thanks so much for visiting today! And thanks to Altenew for letting me be a guest on this blog hop! Suzy

PRODUCTS USED IN THIS POST LINKED TO SIMON SAYS STAMP SHOP: