Altenew October Release Blog Hop

You may have noticed that once again, I have been MIA on the blog.   I even missed the latest Runway Inspired Challenge, and I HATE when I have to skip it!

But, of course I have a good reason:  I have been making cards like a mad woman for today's Altenew Blog Hop!  We have an incredible line-up of designers, and some fabulous new stamp designs that will be available for purchase today!

Hopefully you came here via the Altenew blog- if not, please start over there!   Tasnim and I made cards to feature each of our 14 new stamp sets!  See some sneaks of my cards below:

I love the new sets SO much, that I couldn't put them down- below are my "overflow" cards that didn't fit into the Altenew post! (Warning: card overload coming up!)

For this card, I stamped the outline from Halftone Hello and used a Copic marker to color the bottom half.  I used a coordinating sentiment and some adorable patterned cardstock to create this sweet card for a friend of mine who is due next month!  To finish off the card, I punched out a few hearts and adhered them with foam tape.

Every year, I get worried that I'm not going to be able to finish all of the holiday cards I need to make.  I have a feeling you are going to be seeing a lot more of the Festive Silhouettes set between now and Christmas!  I stamped the deer head onto white cardstock and cut it out.  To make my background, I watercolored onto Tim Holtz watercolor paper, and once it dried I painted stripes with diluted glue.  I grabbed a container of glitter and sprinkled it all over to get these cool free-form glittery stripes!  Sentiments and stars from the set complete the card!

I really wanted to Christmas-ize one of my favorite Altenew sets, Sketchy Cities America.  I stamped it onto white cardstock and added dots with with red, green, and gold Copics.  A sentiment from Sketchy Landmarks was curved onto my acrylic block and stamped.  I drew a banner freehand with a gel pen, and cut it out before adhering with foam tape.  Note to self- design a banner set so I don't have to keep drawing them! :)

This is definitely a less traditional holiday card, since I used black as the main color.   It was the perfect backdrop for gold and white embossing!  The berry spring and pine cone are from our new Poinsettia and Pine set, and the sentiment is from Lyrical Script.  A strip of glitter ribbon and rhinestones add the perfect sparkly touch!

This card uses one of our newest multi-stamp flower sets (and we have a few for this release!).  I stamped the Painted Poppies directly onto a thick white card base for a one-layer card.  Don't you just love the font of the sentiment in this set?  SO pretty!  To add some interest, I scored along the outer edge of the card and added a strip of glitter across the bottom.  I think this post might be the most glittery I have ever had! lol.

More glitter! Although there is an ornament in the Festive Silhouettes set, I wanted to show how you could turn the star into an ornament too.  I stamped the star and bow onto white cardstock, and splattered red and green distress ink focused on the bottom corner.  I die cut the panel with a decorative frame die, and mounted it onto a square card base with 2 strips of glitter paper.  It looks almost like a little present!

Here's that deer again from Festive Silhouettes!  I attempted to make a more masculine card, and to be honest, I don't love it.  I do, however, like the little string of lights on his antlers!  I drew the swirly line first, then added the light bulbs and colored them in with Copics.  To finish the card, I stamped a sentiment with letters from Invisible Alpha- an amazing alphabet stamp set!

I love the little scene created on this card!  I started with some lovely background paper which I adhered directly to my scored card.  I embossed the chapel from Sketchy Landmarks (it's Westminster Abbey!) onto vellum, and carefully applied glue to the back on the white parts only so it would stay hidden.  The sentiment was stamped onto white cardstock and popped up with foam tape.

This card is definitely getting sent to my grandparents on my dad's side.  They sing in their church choir, and I think this will be perfect for them!!   I masked a circle onto the center of my cardstock, then blended Distress Ink so it would fade out at the edges.   When I peeled off the mask, I had a perfectly crisp circle to stamp my sentiment (from Lyrical Script).   I wanted to jazz up the glowing yellow, so I used a white gel pen and a ruler to draw lines coming out like sun rays, then swiped on a bunch of Wink of Stella for a glittery shine!

Every year I make holiday tags, and then I never use them.  I am going to make a point to ensure that some of them end up on gifts this season!  I stamped the flower from Poinsettia and Pine onto white cardstock, then colored it with marker.  I wanted to brighten it up, so I added some accents with a white gel pen.  I die cut the tag, stamped "to" and "from," then finished it with ribbon and crochet thread.  

I love how soft and pretty this card is- I started by embossing the flowers from Peony Scrolls onto white cardstock, then used my watercolors to give them some depth.  The sentiment, from Halftone Hello was stamped with chalk ink onto white cardstock and carefully cut out with scissors.  I noticed that the chalk ink worked A LOT better than dye for this detailed stamp, because the dots didn't bleed together (sadly, I got some bleeding on the card I posted on the Altenew blog).  

Phew!  Your reward for getting to the end is a chance to win a fabulous PRIZE!!

Altenew is giving away five stamp sets of choice to three lucky winners! The winners will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog. 

There is more! I will choose a winner from comments left on this post and the prize will be two stamps sets of your choice. You have until Friday October 31, 11:59 EST to leave your comments. You may enter up to two comments on each blog: 

• Comment on the project, or the stamps. 
• Like us on Facebook 

The winners will be selected and announced on Saturday November 1 at 9:00 am EST.

Good luck!  Your next step on the hop is the always amazing Jennifer McGuire!  Love her! :)