Altenew Craft Your Life Project Kit: Fragrant Florals Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

Hello, crafty friends!

I'm so happy and honoured to be joining Altenew for the Fragrant Florals Release Blog Hop today showcasing the next installment in their monthly Craft Your Life Project Kit: Fragrant Florals! Craft-Your-Life is a monthly subscription plan for their Fragrant Florals Project Kit. When signed up, you are guaranteed a spot in their monthly Project Kit releases and will receive a kit each month - at a specially discounted price! ($59.99 →$49.99)

If you arrived here from Eva Bussom's Blog, then you are on the right track. If this is your first stop, then you will want to start at the beginning, the Altenew Card Blog. We've got tons of inspiration and giveaways for you on the hop today, so keep reading till the end of this post for more information.

The Craft Your Life Project Kit, is an exciting monthly package that is sure to get the creative juices flowing! Featuring a 6x8 stamp set, coordinating die set, as well as a stencil set and embossing folder to fit the theme, this project kit has almost everything you need to start crafting. Just add ink and cardstock, and you'll be good to go!

This Project Kit contains the following exclusive products:

• One 6" x 8" Clear Stamp Set containing 18 stamps made in the USA from high-quality photopolymer
• Coordinating Die Set with 1 Coordinating Die
• One simple Coloring/Mask Stencil Set containing 4 Stencils which coordinate with the Stamp Set
• One 6x6 3D Embossing Folder

Note: These products are NOT sold separately. The stencils coordinate with the embossing folder.

The Fragrant Florals Stamp Set features a beautiful arrangement of anemones. The large stamp size makes it quite versatile, as you will be able to stamp it off of your card base at different angles and proportions to get different looks. It is a lovely image to color or use stamped as is. There are also some heartfelt sentiments included in bold fonts to contrast the delicate nature of the flowers.

I created two cards for today's hop, so let's dive deep into it! Both projects feature a soft, cool blue and yellow tones from the Martian Terrain ink pad quartet and Delectable Delights ink pad quartet, but both have a completely different aesthetic to them!

My first card uses the Fragrant Florals Stamp Set and coordinating Fragrant Florals Die Set. It is gorgeous, and I couldn’t wait to color all of these different blooms.  The design can fill the entire background of a slimline card, but I trimmed my down to fit on an A2-sized for something different. I added layers of flowers and even a foiled frame to this card perfect for sending to a friend or a family member.

To start, I stamped the large floral image from the Fragrant Florals Stamp Set onto Altenew’s Watercolor Paper with Embossing Ink and heat embossed it using White Super Fine Embossing Powder to create a pearlescent look. I watercolored the entire image with the Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set and a Fine Watercolor Brush.  I love all of the incredibly different looks you can achieve with this one stamp just by changing up the color scheme! Then, I die cut the watercolored image using the included coordinating die.

After I had finished watercoloring the main image, I used my MISTI to do some more heat embossing. I placed the anemone cluster from the Fragrant Florals Stamp Set onto Altenew’s Watercolor Paper with Embossing Ink and heat embossed it using Gold Super Fine Embossing Powder this time. I watercolored the leaves and foliage using Bamboo and Frayed Leaf from the Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set with a Fine Watercolor Brush and cut it out with the coordinating die. 

For the card background, I used Mountain Mist from the Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set to add a wash of very diluted blue to the entire background, going back with dabs of more concentrated color in random spots, but keeping the overall feel very light. Then, I used the Antique Gold Metallic Spray and Jet Black Ink Spray to add some shiny, shimmery gold splatters to the background to make it extra artsy. Next, I simply laid a strip of the Gold String Washi Tape over a a piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock and adhered it. Once that was done, I die-cut the panel using the Rectangle Shape Extra Large Pattern Die and Rectangle Shape Large Pattern Die from the Nestabilities Essential Rectangles Etched Dies and adhered it to my card panel using foam tape for a raised effect.

Next, I die-cut Citrine Cardstock using the coordinating Fragrant Florals Die Set and snipped off some of the leaves to add to my floral spray. Next, I assembled the watercolored pieces onto my panel using a combination of Craft Glue and foam adhesive for dimension and interest. Then, I stamped a sentiment from the Fragrant Florals Stamp Set onto the panel using Obsidian Ink. Lastly, to finish, I adhered the panel to a top-folding A2-sized white card base using tape runner. I added a few Antique Gold - Sequins for some sparkle!

I love the range of beautiful new 3D embossing folders by Altenew including the one I’ve used for today’s project: Fragrant Florals. Let’s get started with the details!

I love the effect of watercoloring on the super detailed, textured embossed backgrounds, so I began my project by embossing the Fragrant Florals Embossing Folder on some of Altenew’s Watercolor Paper. This lightly textured paper looks beautiful when embossed alone, almost like super fancy letterpress! The huge embossed image covers the majority of the A2 card front. Next, I used the Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set to add some watercolor to each of the petals. Once the watercolored image had dried completely, I added a bit of subtle shading to the centre of the flowers to give it a more realistic finish. I then fussy-cut around the image using a pair of scissors. 

Then, just like my previous card, I used Mountain Mist from the Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set to add a wash of very diluted blue to the entire background. Next, I used the Antique Gold Metallic Spray and Jet Black Ink Spray to add some splatters to the background to make it shimmer. Next, I die-cut Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock, Citrine Cardstock, and White Foam using the Circled Greetings: Hugs Die. I cut around the outer edge to use the positive image as an accent on my project and adhered the pieces together with Craft Glue. I then ink-blended Rubellite ink into a nice ombré to add some visual interest to the sentiment. Then, I stamped my sentiment onto a strip of White Cardstock using Obsidian Ink and affixed it to my panel using foam adhesive. Next, I split the embossed image into two pieces and adhered it down to my card panel using  foam adhesive. 

To complete, I adhered the panel to a top-folding A2-sized white card base using tape runner. I added a few Antique Gold - Sequins for some sparkle!

Giveaway Prizes:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 04/18/2022 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 04/20/2022.

Blog Hop Order:

I am the last stop on the hop. If this is your first stop, then you will want to start at the beginning, the Altenew Card Blog.

Altenew Card Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Michelle Short

Cheryl Espie

Jenny Colacicco

Colleen Balija

Erum Tasneem

LauraJane

Jaycee Gaspar

Katrina Howe

Laurie Willison

Preeti Chandran

Nathalie DeSousa

Mindy Eggen

Emily Midgett

Rosie Neustaedter

Tenia Nelson

Nenette S. Madero

Terri Koszler

Linda Westfall

Virginia Lu

Maryam Perez

Norine Borys

 Reiko Tsuchida ***Note: Due to strict regulations in Japan, you might not be able to leave a comment on her blog post. 

SathyaKala Sankaran

Teresa Litchfield

Sande Woodson

Ann Taylor

Susan Stagno

Amy Hill

Bridget Casey

Daniel Diaz

Eva Bussom

                      Hussena Calcuttawala (You are HERE)

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. I hope you have a wonderful day!

If you like what you've seen from me, please give me a follow over on my Instagram (@hussena_cal) and/or subscribe to my blog if you haven't already.