Altenew All About Layering 1

Its the beginning of Peony season here in Saskatchewan and if you drive the rural areas many of the abandoned farms will have Peony bushes growing. The beautiful pinks, whites, and reds just brighten up the prairie scenery this time of year. For my first card I had to use a Peony stamp set because its not only one of my favorite flowers but it invokes some fond childhood memories playing in my Baba's backyard. She had the biggest peony bushes with white and pale pink colored blooms. The bushes were so big you could play hide and seek in between them but you had to be careful of the bees because they were fond of them as well. When I was browsing my local craft store Creative Haven YXE I came across the bud and bloom set and right away I knew that this was going to be the set I would use for my first layering class.

Let's talk about the layering class because if you are thinking about trying out their stamps this is a great way to gain the knowledge on how to stamp them properly. Also Altenew not only offer the free layering classes but have layering guides for all the stamp sets that either come with the set or can be downloaded off their site. I will include a link to Altenew so you can check out the classes available and where to get the downloads.
Here is the bud and bloom one:

So lets start the card. I began by getting out an 81/2 by 11 sheet of Simon Says white cardstock and I decided to use the whole sheet to randomly stamp the bud all over the paper. I decided to start with the bud leaves and I used the first layer all over the sheet and then moved on to the next layers until it was completed. Here is how it looked with just the leaves:

Here it is with the buds stamped

To stamp the images I used the Altenew mini cubes that come with coordinating colors to help with layering. There are four in a set which goes from light to dark. For the leaves I used frayed leaf, forest glades, and evergreen. The buds were stamped with pink diamond, pinkalicious, rubellite, and raffleberry.

 I decided to use a Close to My Heart premade card base that is 41/4 by 51/2. I wanted a bit more color so I cut Simon Says Fuchsia Cardstock to a 41/4 by 51/2 and I adhered that to the card base with Tombow Liquid glue. I then took the stamped cardstock and cut it to 33/4 by 5 and I used foam adhesive to attach it to the card base. I felt the card needed something else and I love to splatter so I got my Vicki Boutin watercolor crayons out and I splattered black and hot pink all over the card. I also added some pink Nuvo drops randomly on the card and for the sentiment I used the MFT captions die (hello). It was cut out of CTMH black cardstock three times and I glued it together for dimension and popped it up on the card with foam tape.

Here is another card I made using more of the background:

Here are the links to the products I have used.

Altenew

Simon Says Stamp

Close to My Heart

Creative Haven YXE

Altenew

I have mentioned how starting a blog was something I wanted to do for a very long time but I talked myself out of it so many times. When I made the decision to start using social media to show my work and to take my crafting to the next level I wanted to learn more about stamping. I did a lot of research and I found the stamping company Altenew. I loved their stamps especially their realistic flower stamps. Their stamps were a bit intimidating to me because of the layering but as I researched I found they have some great classes that made things so simple. I also saw they had a certification program that could allow me to eventually teach others or design for them which would be a step towards my dream. I decided to fill the application not thinking they would accept me because of how new I was to social media. Well a few months later I received an email saying I was accepted into the program and I can proudly display my participant banner on my blog. I will be posting my work for each class and I would love feedback from everyone.

My Journey

In this post I wanted to express how much crafts or creating has impacted most areas of my life and how important it is for me to have the chance to create. For me creating is not only something I enjoy doing but it really has become my passion. It has made such an impact on me that I have decided to really look at how I can make creating part of my professional goals. In fact creating this blog is the first step in making crafting more that just a past time but part of my career.

I should start from the beginning and discuss how family really started me on the path to a love of all things crafts.   Like most people I started making things as a child but it was the women in my life that sparked the passion. My Mom is an avid crafter and is known for her many talents. She could make anything beautiful with some glue, ribbon, and fake flowers. My Baba Mary and Grandma Helen were into needle crafts and they made some beautiful pieces that I continue to display in my home. Watching those three women in my life create pieces of art really sparked my own interest and made me realize how crafts are not only was a way to express oneself but something to pass on to future generations. I hope I can pass on my love of creating to my kids and they can find something they can be passionate about even if its not crafts.

Two pieces my Grandmothers have made and I have them displayed in my home. 

Of course my journey is not complete without some failure and I have had some real failures in my life. I realized that not all crafts are my thing and that you have to not take things so serious or you will give up on crafts early on. I wish I would have taken more pictures of my earlier work because it would show not only my progression but that even seasoned crafters have some bad ideas. When people comment that they don't have a creative bone in their body I want to show them some of those failures so they realize everyone can create. You should be proud of all your work because without those failures you would not continue to work to become the better crafter. Also I have found crafters are some of the most non-judgemental people and they just want others to find joy in creating not frustration.

Here is one of my epic fails. I had a great time creating but my cow looked a bit evil. We sure laughed that night.

Finally I want to discuss how crafts are such a social thing for me and it has really allowed me to connect with others. It helped me reconnect with my girlfriends because we realized we needed to find time for each other and having a scheduled craft day was the way to make us get together. We had time away from the kids and husbands and just had fun. We laughed together, did a bit of crafts, and shared a meal. Those girls really helped me to see how maybe my dream of making crafts part of my profession is not unattainable. They showed me that I have some talent and I could share my passion with others.  My family, failures, and friends have had such an impact on my life and love of crafts. I had to make this my second post to not only share my journey but to thank all those that have given me the courage to start making my dreams a realty. I hope this post lets them know that without them I would not be taking this step of blogging .

Welcome

Wow I can’t believe I am creating my first blog post. I have been thinking about doing this for a few months and I finally got the courage up to do it. I am not sure what was holding me back if it was my insecurities, my weak tech knowledge, or not being sure if I can come up with good content. I am glad I took the plunge because it wasn’t as scary as I thought and I am excited to start documenting my love of crafting. Welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy my posts.