Faithful Cards by Ruth

  The card that I decided to enter in the Time Out Challenge #214 definitely fit the criteria of being night themed.  The image of The Three WiseMen is apropos because Christ was born during at night. Who knew that this little baby born during the hours of darkness would become the Light of the World?  God knew.  Thank you to Kailash, whom I met on IG and gifted me several of these Tim Holtz Christmas die cuts last year. Little did she know how much The Three Wise Men means to me. 

Pinks, yellows and greens are the colors of the Altenew Blog Inspiration and it was quite easy to design a challenge card using the Altenew Sweet Pea Paint-a-Flower stamp.  For the pink card panel,  I used a Spellbinders embossing folder of the month for May 2022 and used a cube of a Hero Arts Pink to color the panel.  I used a Brutus Monroe stencil and dry embossed it onto a yellow A2 panel then colored in the stencil in Squeezed Lemonade. Then I cut out the smaller frame using a Gina Marie die and added a scalloped border in yellow and attached it to the pink panel.  After stamping the Sweet Pea stamp using Ink on Three no line ink cube to stamp it. I colored in the stamp using several shades of Ohuhu Art Markers in RP1, RV070, RV080 and R110 for the petals and Lemon Yellow Zig Clean Color marker for the lower portion of the petals and G440 and G120 for the leaves and stem. Finally,  I added a Pinkfresh foiled sticker for the sentiment and splatters in Memento Rose Red.

Altenew Marbled Bloom is a versatile layering stamp that makes it easy to achieve a multi-layered style. After I stamped the four layers using Distressed Oxide (DO) Carved Pumpkin, Spiced Marlmalade, Memento Luxe Morroco and DO Candied Apples, I stamped one layer on four leaves from the stamp set using DO Lucky Clover.  In the center of the flowers there are two layers that I stamped first with Memento Dandelion and on the second layer I stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Champagne embossing powder by Recollections. Then I dry embossed a tan A2 cardstock panel for the background using a Memory Keeper Geometric embossing folder, and attached the blooms.  Finally, I cut three layers of a Gina Marie Blessed word die and adhered it to the embossed panel. 

These daisies really brightened up my day. It's amazing to me that crafting can be such a mood lifter for me.  For this stamp, I stamped the outline flowers twice in Distressed Oxide (DO) Weathered Wood for a lighter look. Then using Ohuhu Alcohol Markers, I colored the stamp using several blended shades of Bright Pink, Deep Lilac and Sardonyx. In the center I blended Orange, Bright Yellow and Marigold. Then I fussy cut the stamped images and selected three out of the four.  I die cut some leaves from lime green cardstock and used the markers to add some shading in light and mid tone greens. I die cut an oval from white card stock. On the oval, I ink blended DO Saltwater Taffy and Kitsch Flamingo. Then, I arranged and adhered the oval, the three blooms, and four leaves on an A2 panel of patterned peach cardstock.  Finally, after printing a digital sentiment from Gracie Ellie, I die cut it using a modified square and adhered it to the top of the panel. I finished by adding gold Pink

I'm not feeling blue but I'm in a blue phase, so this Altenew Marbled Bloom is perfect for making a card with the blooms using several layers of blue.  After I stamped four layers on two flowers using Distressed Oxide (DO) Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch, Prize Ribbon and Faded Jeans, I die cut both. I repeated the process using a tiny bud stamp. Then I stamped three layers on four of the larger leaves using Memento Luxe Pear Tart, Memento Bamboo Leaves and Hero Arts Mid-Tone Green and die cut the leaves as well. I then ink blended the same four colors onto an A2 panel diagonally going from dark to light and splattered water over the whole panel. Next, I ink blended a decorative circle from Cricut Design Space using the two lightest shades of blue mentioned above. After the panel dried, I adhered the circle, the two blooms, the bud and four leaves to the ink blended panel. Finally, I stamped a sentiment in Blueprint Sketch at the top and adhered blue enamel dots. 

I'm learning more about layering stamps and getting in some good practice while completing my homework assignment in Altenew's All About Layering Lesson 3. This card took a while to come together, there were multiple versions in my head before I felt like it was completed. I started with one of the outline stamps from Altenew's Scalloped Ornaments Stamp Set, which I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah Solar White 8- lb cardstock. I began to stamp the first two layers in Altenew Crimson and Peach Parfait. Moving to layers 3, 4 and 5, I used Memento Luxe in Pear Tart and stamped layer 6 and 7 in Memento Luxe in Bamboo Leaves. Layer 8 which was a tiny flower at the top, I stamped in Altenew Rouge.  I then smooshed a white tag in Twisted Citronne and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide inks and Memento Luxe Bamboo Leaves. Using gold mirror cardstock, I die cut a brick motif and glued it to the bottom of the tag diagonally, cutting off any part that extended beyond the edges

  I definitely enjoyed making this card based on what I learned in Lesson 2 of the Altenew Academy All About Layering Level 1 class. I rarely make cards using floral stamps for the background; they're usually the focal point. So this lesson was challenging but I was happy with the outcome. From the Scalloped Ornament Stamp Set from Altenew, I selected one of the outline stamps and chose to use blue and orange as my color palette. First, I stamped the outline stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black randomly over a Neenah 80 lb. Solar White A2 panel adding partial stamping along the edges. Then I began filling in the second layer of the motifs using one of three shades of Altenew ink, Blush, Rouge or Peach Parfait and I stamped the third inner layer in Rubbernecker Azure ink. I stamped another motif randomly over the panel and on the edges in shades of blue Rubbernecker ink in Sky, Azure or Odyssey. Then, I used the smallest stamp consisting of four dots grouped together and stamped that rando

Altenew Layering Stamps I have to pat myself on the back!! I finally got around to completing homework assignments for one of the Altenew All About Layering classes I signed up for awhile back. I was sweating a tad bit on this assignment, lol, because I'm not that fond of layering stamps and have avoided them. Then I slowed down and focused on being present (and stopped daydreaming!) and it got easier. I have to admit, I was pleased with this card.  My first layering card was made using one of the stamps from the Altenew Scalloped Ornament Stamp Set. I chose a color palette first that I found/edited on schemecolor.com. After experimenting with color placement, I settled on shades of blues, greens and orange.  Next,  I stamped the outline stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black on a 80 lb. Neenah Solar White cardstock A2 panel. Using Rubbernecker and Altenew ink pads I filled in the stamp layer by layer.  I then embossed an A2 panel of Neenah 80 lb. white cardstock with a Gina Marie Designs P