Friday, December 22, 2017

Altenew : A Year in Review Blog Hop 2017 + Giveaway

Hello everyone!
Today is a very special day as I'm hopping along with the talented team members and some super special guest designers for the Altenew - A Year in Review Blog Hop. If you're here from the lovely, Lilith Eeckels blog, then you're on the right track. I have included the full blog hop list at the end of my post so that it's easier for you to hop along :)

I am sharing some of my favourite cards of the year I made using Altenew products. I hope you enjoy looking at what I have made.

Here's my Altenew Best 2017


And here are my favourite cards of the year! If you would like to read about the creative process in detail, please click on the card titles and you will be re-directed to the posts.


Supplies used - Altenew Adore You
To create this card, I first stamped and heat-embossed the leaves on watercolour paper and using my Zig markers, I coloured the flowers and leaves from the Altenew Adore You set. I fussy cut them each one of them and then did my floral cluster by adhering few on my card panel and some on foam dots.


Hello Beautiful Card
Supplies used - Altenew Golden Garden, Altenew Painted Butterflies, Altenew Sweet Friend
To create this card, I first die-cut a card panel and did some loose watercoloring by creating watercolor stripes in an ombre fashion using Altenew Dark Chocolate ink. Then I die-cut a frame and coloured it using Inka Gold and foam-mounted it on my card base. Next, I gold heat-embossed the flowers and leaves from the Altenew Golden Garden set and coloured it using my Zig markers. For embellishing, I added a butterfly which is from the Altenew Painted Butterflies set. 


Supplies used - Altenew Sweet Friend stamp, Altenew Sweet Friend die, Altenew Doodle Blooms stamp, Altenew Doodle Blooms die
To create this card, I did some ink blending on my card panel using yellow inks. I only did partial ink blending so that there is white space still showing through. I stamped and clear heat-embossed the frame from the Altenew Sweet Friend stamp and die-cut it using the coordinating die. I then stamped and die-cut the flowers and vines from the Altenew Doodle Blooms stamp and die set respectively. They were all coloured using Zigs. The sentiment is from the Sweet Friend set too.


Supplies used - Altenew Build A Flower - Rose, Flowers - Pocketful of Sunshine, Warm and Cozy and the Coffee Break mini ink cubes to create my flowers. For the leaves, I used only the Coffee Break set.
The gorgeous flowers and leaves on this card are from the Altenew Build A Flower : Rose set, one of my most favourite sets from Altenew. This is a six-step layering set for flowers and creates the most realistic looking flowers.


Supplies used - Altenew Magnolias For Her, Altenew Super Script stamp, Altenew Super Script die
To create this card, I have used the most popular Altenew set - Magnolias For Her which I have first stamped and heat embossed in white on watercolour paper and colored using Zig Markers. The background was created using Black Soot Distress ink which was also watercolored on my card panel. The sentiment was stamped and die cut using co-ordinating die from the Super Script stamp and die set.



Supplies used - Altenew Dahlia Blossoms, Altenew Beautiful Day stamp, Altenew Sentiments & Quotes
For this card, I have masked and watercolored the stripes for my background. Then, I stamped and colored the flowers and leaves from the Dahlia Blossoms set and Altenew Beautiful Day set. I die-cut an oval frame and foam mounted it on my card base and created my floral arrangement around it. The sentiment is from the Sentiment & Quotes set.




Supplies used - Altenew Rose Filament Die, Altenew Bamboo Rose stamp
To create this card, I first die-cut some flowers and leaves from the Rose Filament set using black cardstock and white cardstock. I did some inlaid die-cutting for the flowers and leaves using the negative bits from the white die cut pieces which I then watercolored using markers. The small flowers and berries are from the Bamboo Rose stamp set which were stamped and water colored using markers as well. 



Supplies used - Altenew Extra Special stamp, Altenew Extra Special Die
To create this card, I did some watercoloring using my Gansai Tambi watercolours. I used a flat paint brush to make the stripes on the left side. Then I started working on the main focal of my card. I stamped and die cut the main floral image from the Extra Special stamp set and used the Altenew Red Cosmos ink set for watercolouring the flowers. The sentiment is also from the Extra Special set which I added in a curved shaped by twisting my sentiment stamp on my clear block and stamping using black ink. I added the die-cut 'Mom' letters and few glitter and black enamel dots to finish it off.


PROMOTION :
FREE U.S. shipping with code GOODBYE2017 or $5 OFF international shipping with code WELCOME2018 at checkout. Offer valid from December 22nd at 12:01 am EST through December 24th at 11:59 pm EST. Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes. Shop HERE>> www.altenew.com


PRIZES:
Altenew is giving away a $40 gift certificate to FIVE lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog by 01/03/2018 for a chance to win. Five winners will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog on 01/06/2018.

ADDITIONAL GIVEAWAY:
I will select one lucky winner to receive a $20 gift certificate to the Altenew store. For a chance to win, please leave a comment on my post before the 4th of January, 2018 to qualify. I will announce the winner on my blog on the 5th of January, 2018.

BLOG HOP ORDER:
The next stop on the hop is, Barb Engler.


Hope you enjoyed the cards I have shared here. Please do let me know which one is your favourite. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Thursday, November 30, 2017

So happy for you | Card

Hello friends
I am back with another card today which I made for the Altenew November Inspiration challenge. I really loved the color palette for this time's inspiration and Sveta's gorgeous card too! Here's a look at my card :

I have used Altenew Build-A-Flower : Rose to create my card and honestly, I am head over heals in love with this set. It's a six layer flower set and the results it gives are just breathtaking.

To create my card, I first stamped the flowers and leaves on Neenah Solar White 110 lbs cardstock using inks from Altenew. I used a combination of the Pocketful of Sunshine, Warm and Cozy and the Coffee Break mini ink cubes to create my flowers. For the leaves, I used only the Coffee Break set.

Once I stamped the flowers and leaves, I die cut them using the co-ordinating die which comes with this set and the small florals were also stamped and die cut. Once the flowers and leaves were ready, I worked on my card panel by slightly inking my card panel with Fresh Lemon ink from the Pocketful of Sunshine set and spritzing it with water to create the distressed look. 

Once my background was dry, I arranged my florals by popping some of them on foam squares. The rest were stuck directly to the card base. Finally added some local golden sequins and layered my base on a gold glitter background before foam mounting it on my card base.

I stamped my sentiment directly on the card base which is from the Altenew Sketchy Floral set. I used the Espresso ink to stamp the sentiment.


My card is inspired by the colours from this time's Altenew Inspiration Challenge.


I hope you liked my card. Do let me know if you did :) I would love to hear your views on it.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you have a great day.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Hugs Dearest Friend | Card

Hello everyone!
I am blogging after a long break. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with friends and family :) I made this card recently using some new supplies from Altenew. Here's a look at my card :

To create this card, I first cut a card panel measuring 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inches and die-cut it using the Stitched Rectangles die by Lil Inker Designs. Next, I took the large floral image from the Altenew Sketchy Floral set and partially stamped and heat-embossed it using White SuperFine Embossing powder. After the image was heat-set, I started colouring the image using Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. 

I kept adding layers to the image till I was happy with the way it looked. I lightly watercoloured the background in grey and added few black and gold paint splatters. You can see them in the close-up shot below.

For my sentiment, I decided to use the Altenew Script Words die. I die-cut the word hugs twice, once from black cardstock and once from gold glitter paper. I off-set the glittery hugs word on the black die-cut to give it some interest. I also added few enamel dots in yellow and black which I made using Nuvo Crystal Drops.

I then added the sentiment 'dearest friend' which is from the Altenew Sketchy Floral set as well. I stamped it using black ink on white cardstock. Added a strip of black stripes below my sentiment to balance my design. I matted my card panel on to some yellow cardstock and then on white cardstock again. That completed my card.

My card is inspired by the colours from this time's Altenew Inspiration Challenge. I loved the warm colours and had to play along :)


I hope you liked my card. Do let me know if you did :) I would love to hear your views on it.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you have a great day.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Altenew November 2017 Blog Hop Winner!

Hello everyone!
I'm here to announce the winner for the $30 gift certificate from the Altenew November 2017 Release blog hop. A big thank you to everyone who took out time and left me such encouraging comments. I loved reading each and every one!

I received a total of 107 comments and I used random.org for choosing the winner.


The lucky winner is 
.
.
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Yay! Congratulations to you, Angela. Please e-mail Altenew at winner@altenew.com with the subject line Altenew November 2017 Release Blog Hop Winner from Hussena's blog to claim your certificate.

Thank you so much, once again everyone! I'll be having more giveaways in future so stay tuned.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Altenew November 2017 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello everyone!
I'm super happy and ecstatic to be a part of the Altenew November 2017 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway. This release has some really amazing stamps and dies. If you have not checked out the new release yet, you must check it out HERE in the Altenew store.


You should have come here from the lovely, Reiko Tsuchida's blog. If not, you can check out the full blog hop order at the end of my post :)

I have four cards to share today, so let's dive in!

I have used the Altenew Story of Us stamp set for my first card. This set has some gorgeous layering flower stamps and it's not only perfect for cardmaking, but also to create beautiful scrapbook layouts. I really love how it looks!
The flowers have been stamped using the Altenew Rose Petal inks. I have used Altenew Tropical Forest inks for the leaves. All the flowers and leaves were then fussy-cut and placed on foam dots for dimension.

The tiny pink flowers are from the Altenew Build A Flower : Rose set. I stamped it using Versafine Onyx black ink and then die-cut it using the coordinating die. I coloured the tiny cluster using Altenew inks in pink.

The sentiment is from the Golden Feather set. I stamped it using Altenew Jet Black ink directly on my card base. I added few black and gold paint spatters as well as few clear sequins to complete my card.


My second card features the Golden Feather stamp set. This is again a layering set and looks so pretty. Absolutely in love with this set!

To create this card, I first created the loose watercolour background using few different shades of Altenew inks. I then stamped the two feathers from the Golden Feather set using Altenew Sea Shore and Glacier Caves inks. The feathers were die-cut using the coordinating Golden Feather die set and popped up on the watercolour background using foam dots. I also added a golden notebook edge at the top of my card which has been die-cut using the Altenew Creative Edges : Notebook die.

The 'our story' is from the Story of Us stamp set. I die-cut the word 'love' twice, once using black cardstock and the other using gold glitter paper which is from the Altenew Script Words die set. 

I added a gold button and few black paint splatters to complete my card. I have also added few sequins in gold to further embellish my card.


For my third card, I have made a one-layer card which has lot of watercolouring on it. I have used the Altenew Story Of Us set to watercolour the flowers.

I started by stamping the floral from the Story Of Us set using Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine and Warm Cozy inks. I spritzed my stamps with water while stamping to create a faux watercolor look. I didn't add water while stamping the final layer so that my flower would have a outline.

The small berries and leaves are from the Altenew Peony Bouquet set which were stamped using the Altenew Warm Cozy inks and Tropical Forest inks respectively. The berries and leaves are stamped using the same technique I used for the flowers. The 'hello' is from the Golden Feather set while the 'sweet friend' is from the Altenew Sweet Friend set.

I also did a watercolour wash on the background to compliment the flowers and foliage. I added few clear sequins to complete my card.


My final card is also using the Golden Feather set. I have used black and gold primarily to create my card.

I started by stamping the feathers from the Golden Feather set using Versamark Embossing ink on black cardstock to create my background. I then sprinkled gold embossing powder and heat-set the panel.

The sentiment has been heat-embossed in gold which is from the Altenew Sketchy Floral stamp set while the little floral pieces are from the Altenew Build A Flower : Rose set. It was also heat-embossed using gold embossing powder on black cardstock.

I also matted gold cardstock pieces to finish off my card.

Prizes :
To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to SIX lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog by Thursday, November 16th for a chance to win. Six winners will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog on Saturday, November 18th.

Giveaway :
The kind folks at Altenew have allowed me to giveaway ONE S30 gift certificate to the Altenew store. To be entered in the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post by November 15th. The winner will be announced here on my blog on November 16th.

Blog Hop order :
Your next stop on the hop is, Agnieszka Malyszek's blog.

Hussena Calcuttawala (you are here)

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you like my cards.

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Just For You | Card

Hello everyone,
I have a card to share today which I made solely with a stencil and watercolours. Here's a look at it :


To create this card, I first stenciled the design outline using the CrafTreat Poppy stencil on a piece of a watercolour paper using a black Microtip Pen. After I finished tracing the outline, I loosely watercoloured the poppies and the leaves using various shades of Distress inks.

I added this sentiment from the Altenew Label Love set. I also did some ink blending and added paint splatters to the background.

I added Nuvo drops in green, red and black to complete the card. I die-cut the card panel and popped it on a card base which was embossed using the Darice Woodgrain embossing folder and my card was done :)


I'm entering my card in the following challenges :



I hope you liked my card which I shared today. If you have queries regarding any of the techniques or the products used, please let me know in the comments below, I will get back to you.

Thank you so much for dropping by! Have a nice day everyone.

Trio of Gift Tags | Winnie & Walter

Hello everyone,
I have some really cute gift tags to share today. I love making these and it seems like I am very much into circular tags these days. :D Here's a look at all my tags :



Here is the individual view :

To create this tag, I went with the ombre look. I wanted to use the newly released dies from w and w as they are the perfect size for the tags. I'm especially in love with the Thanks word die.

I started with first die cutting some circles in white cardstock and then stamped and white heat embossed the background using the Mini Scenery stamp : Do You See What I See set. I then did some ink blending using Picked Raspberry Distress ink keeping the top part dark and gradually fading the ink blending, creating an ombre look.

I die cut the sentiment 'Celebrate' and colored it partially using Picked Raspberry Distress ink and the remaining half with my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush pens. The flowers and leaves are stamped and die cut using the Winnie and Walter: The Big, the Bold and Extras set. The small poinsettia flower is from the In Bloom : Hollie's Festive Florals. I also added some Diamond Stickles over my die-cut sentiment to add some bling.


I made another tag keeping the design same, but changing the ink colours. I have used Fired Brick and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks to get the orange colour. I ink blended the colours and created an ombre background. 

                                                 
The flowers and leaves are stamped and die cut using the Winnie and Walter: The Big, the Bold and Extras stamp set. The small poinsettia flower is from the In Bloom : Hollie's Festive Florals. I also added some Diamond Stickles over my die-cut sentiment to add some bling.


Thanks Tag

The circle for this tag is cut from the w and w Ring in the Celebration cutaways. I love the scalloped look of it and even though it is not a stand-alone die, I think it looks great as an individual tag. 

I heat-embossed the Mini Scenery : Do You See What I See using Ranger Super Fine White embossing powder. This time I used Broken China Distress ink to create the ombre background. The poinsettia and the foliage are from the In Bloom : Hollie's Festive Florals. I also added the thanks die cut from the Thanks Cutaway to complete my tag.


I am entering these in the following challenges :


I hope you liked my tags :) I would love to hear what you think of them. Thank you so much for stopping by!