Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Guesting on the Altenew scrapbook blog + Giveaway!

Hey lovelies,

First of all, Merry Christmas guys! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones!

I'm so excited and honored to be guesting on the Altenew scrapbook blog! Thank you Altenew for the awesome opportunity!

In case you're new here, here's a short bio about myself:
I am a Hungarian living in Germany with my Dutch boyfriend and our 10-year-old son. I've been crafting ever since I remember...I tried every craft under the sun, from glass/porcelain/silk painting, bead weaving, mosaic in all form, to cake/cookie decorating and lots more. I need to craft to keep sane! Scrapbooking has been my main focus since early 2015 and this year I've added card making to the mix as well. I love love love patterned papers and all colors of the rainbow, so you won't be seeing me use a lot of white and solids except maybe on cards!

For today's blog post I've made 2 layouts and a bunch of cards that are similar in design yet all a bit different. I've worked with the Reflection scrapbook kit which is my favorite from Altenew. So much so that I am on my second kit now! 

For my first layout I've embossed a lot of flowers from the gorgeous Frosted Garden stamp set. I used Altenew Pure White Crisp embossing powder on 2 different patterned papers from the kit, then using the Frosted Garden die set I die cut them all. 


I then created my background. This is one of my go to designs - 2 partial wreaths/circles on opposite sides of the layout. I chose a black and white striped paper and added some white card stock at the top and one of the patterned papers from the Reflection kit at the bottom. I covered up the edges with flowers.


I placed my photo inside the bigger wreath and decorated this area with a few wooden buttons, stickers, tags and chipboard pieces. I also added my title and journaling here. 


I was actually planning to add my journaling in the bottom wreath but then I found this chipboard about traveling which was the perfect fit for my page, so I glued that down there instead. I also stamped my date here. Done!


I wanted to go green with my second layout because I haven't made a green layout with this kit before. I started out by covering a heavy weight white card stock with the Dotted washi tape. I've never been a huge washi tape fan, as in, I haven't used them often on my pages, but ever since Altenew came out with these wide washi tapes, I'm hooked. They are so versatile! I believe this is my first time using one on a layout though. 


I then cut green stripes from one of the patterned papers and covered the bottom of my page with them. I distressed the edges a bit to give them some dimension. I don't like flat layouts, I'm all about dimension and texture. I fussy cut out lots and lots of roses from two patterned papers and layered them on top of the green stripes. I used different adhesives to do this, liquid and foam, again, to create a more dimensional look. 


I tucked my photo behind the roses. It seems I forgot to add the date even though I specifically asked my aunt when this photo of me and my cousin was taken ha! We were 4 and a half years old! One of my favorite childhood memories, harvests at my grandparents' vineyard. Since I've been living in Germany, I've only been able to go once...Anyway. Back to the layout! To finish off my page, I added my title and a few chipboard and wood veneer pieces as well as some wooden buttons.


As for my cards. I love love love the Mega Alphabet dies so I thought I'd make some cards with one of them. Namely, the B. I thought I'd make some birthday cards because for some reason I never find any when I need one! But of course, I don't have a single Happy Birthday sentiment from Altenew haha! So, I went through all my stamp sets to find sentiments that make sense with the letter B :). Here's what I've come up with:

All 6 cards are A2 size and top fold. On my first two I used the Watercolor Stripes and the Cross Stitch Canvas cover dies. The stripes I backed with a purple patterned paper and glued it on my card base. The other one I left white. I then covered some white card stock with the stunning Gilded Ombre and Glitter Flurries washi tapes. I fussy cut out lots of flowers and die cut two letter B's.


I added some foam tape to one of my B's and before gluing it down, I tucked some washi flowers under it. I white embossed a tiny sentiment which I then placed on my B, using foam adhesive. On my other card I used liquid adhesive to glue down my B and layered some flowers over it, at the bottom. I embossed my sentiment on patterned paper and added it on top of the flowers.


For my next duo I used the Peach Gold washi tape, a black and white floral patterned paper from the Reflection kit, the Cozy Flannel and the Cross Stitch Canvas cover dies, and last but not least my favorite Layered Floral Elements die set. These are products I use a lot, because they are so versatile. 


As you see, I pretty much did the same thing as before, just decorated my letters with different supplies. 


On my last duo I used my favorite patterned paper from the Reflection kit to create the card fronts. I had plenty of fussy cut roses left from my layout so I used those here. And I used the Dotted washi tape to cover my letters. 


For a little something something I added some gold metallic tangled thread behind the letters.


That's it guys! I hope I could inspire you in some small way! Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'm always happy to help!

*********************************************************************************
Altenew is kind enough to sponsor a giveaway here on my blog! You can win a $20 gift certificate if you leave a comment below! Comment away :). I will try to announce the winner on January 1, 2019 - but it could be a bit later because we will be travelling to Iceland that day.
*********************************************************************************

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

X