Altenew Crafty Friends Blog Hop Day 2 + Giveaway!

Hi there and welcome to my stop on the Altenew Crafty Friends blog hop! I’m so glad you’re here!

I’m honored to be among these crafty friends and this wonderful creative community. I’ll never forget when I first started stamping — I was in college and decided to hand stamp my Christmas cards. I had a snowflake stamp and clear sparkle embossing powder and I just thought it was so cool. I didn’t have a heat tool, I melted the embossing powder by holding it over my toaster — one time I caught the paper on fire lol! Fast forward to today when I have an actual heat tool, along with many (many!) other crafty supplies, lol! So seriously grateful for all the amazing companies out there like Altenew who dream up these awesome bits of creative goodness for us!

Now on to my cards! Today I’m sharing THREE different ways to use Altenew Watercolor Brush Markers and I have a video for ya, too!

Both cards use the cacti from the Be Strong set — I love cacti and I love this set so much! I’ve gotten tons of use out of it and I love using cacti for Christmas, especially since it’s usually still warm here in Texas. It was 75 here today!

Altenew Be Strong stamp set. Find it HERE at Altenew or HERE at Ellen Hutson.

Here’s a quick video with the THREE techniques! Watch below or over on Youtube:

Here are some closeups so you can see those cacti better!

This guy just makes me happy! He feels so cheerful and festive, am I right?

Now for a closer look at the peaceful version:

Isn’t it cool how the markers blend together?

Tips and Tricks

I love working with the Spring Garden Altenew Watercolor Brush Markers — it’s almost like the cards just color themselves! I find them super easy to use, and the colors are so vibrant. I used watercolor paper for both cards as I find the colors blend better on watercolor paper than they do on regular cardstock.

Here are a few tips and tricks for each card:

Merry Cactus

  • Since the colors are so vibrant, it’s best to blend from your lightest color towards the darker color — otherwise the darker color will take over! You can scribble color on a plate and pick it up with a damp brush if you’re working in a smaller area and the color is too intense. I just used a single dot on those flowers!
  • I colored the cactus pads one at a time using emerald and limeade markers.
  • For the pot I used autumn blaze (orange) and rubellite (red).
  • It’s super easy to make striped paper to coordinate with your card! The big trick here is to go over each color with water, rinsing your brush between colors. So I go over all of the red first, then the light green, then the dark green and so on. Otherwise your brush will pick up some of the color and you’ll muddy up your stripes!

Peaceful Cactus

  • For the peaceful background, scribble some color off on scratch paper so that the marker is pretty dry before you use it on the card. I used dusk, midnight violet and sea breeze for the sky.
  • I used emerald, midnight violet and dusk for the pot.
  • Use masking fluid to block out areas that you want to stay white, such as the snowy cactus. Dot some here and there for snowflakes. Then the only hard part is waiting for it to dry before adding color! After your marker color has completely dried you can gently rub off the masking fluid — I find that just using my fingers works the best, or there are rubber pickup erasers specially designed for the task.
  • I couldn’t resist adding a few of these new crystal clear droplets and glitter to this card to finish it off!

Hope you give these techniques a try! Let me know if you do — I’d love to hear!

Special Offer

FREE U.S. shipping with code CRAFTY18 or $5 OFF international shipping with code FRIENDS18 at checkout. Offer valid from 11/29/2018 at 12:01 am EST through 12/1/2018 at 11:59 pm EST. Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes.

So. Many. Prizes!

First off, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 5 lucky winners and one Altenew Academy class to 5 lucky winners.

Annnnd, our sponsors have some awesome prizes up for grabs as well!

There are 12 awesome sponsors who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes — be sure to leave comments by Sunday, December 9th, 2018 for a chance to win! 35 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on all of these blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog on December 15th, 2018.

And that’s not all!

I’m giving away a $20 gift certificate! The lucky random winner is Heather Nelson! Yay, Heather! I emailed you!

Hop On

Your next stop on the hop is Anna Komenda’s blog — I can’t wait to see what she’s made! Here’s the full list in case you’re just now joining us or encounter a broken link along the way:

Thanks so much for joining me! xoxo

Supplies

Note that these are my affiliate links, so if you make a purchase by clicking the link I’ll receive a small commission at no charge to you — thank you so much!

The star of the show is the Altenew Spring Garden Watercolor Brush Markers set — find them HERE at Altenew or HERE at Ellen Hutson!

Here are my links to the stamps and dies at Altenew:

Here’s my full supply list at Ellen Hutson, where you can find even more Altenew goodies:

79 Replies to “Altenew Crafty Friends Blog Hop Day 2 + Giveaway!”

  1. Great cards and thank you for the tips.

  2. Erika Rodriguez says:

    Beautiful cards, I love the colors. Great job!

  3. I absolutely love your use of color. I never cared much for cactus — too prickly and reminds me of the harsh summers here in the Southwest. But after seeing your cards I want this stamp set! Your work is beautiful.

  4. Love your fun holiday cacti! They are so bright and colorful and look amazing!

  5. Marisela Delgado says:

    Cute cards

  6. Wendy Lambert says:

    Awesome cards! I love the use of the cacti for a holiday card! The coloring is just so pretty, thanks for the useful tips!

  7. I’m not sure which card I like best. I live the bright vibrant colors of the first card and I love the background of the other. Very nice job on both. Thanks for the tips and techniques. I’m new to watercolor markers and don’t have the hang of them yet.

  8. Denise Bryant says:

    I’m enjoying all the inspiration along the Crafty Friends blog hop! Awesome cards! I’m anxious to try out the markers!

  9. Amazing cards…loved it…

  10. Two beautiful cards – brilliant colors. Love how you started your card making journey – myself, I did get a heat tool but still managed to scorch the paper – hehehe

  11. Like the tips with your instructions.

  12. Love the story, the toaster sounds familiar LOL, now it’s a whole different story also in my craftroom. Your cards are awesome and I love the happy feeling of the first cacti card. The second one is calm and peacefull. Thank you so much for sharing your post and video.

  13. Cathy Lillie says:

    Fun and festive cards! Living in the Midwest, I don’t normally think of cacti for Christmas, but these are really cute! Love the bright colors and the touch of glitter.

  14. Great video. Thanks so much. I remember my first experience with heat embossing…I used the burner on my stove. Your artwork is so beautiful and so inspiring. I NEED to try these watercolors. You are so very inspirational! THANKS!

  15. loved watching you color with your fun techniques, Lisa – fun and cute cards!

  16. Super cheerful cards. Thanks for sharing.

  17. LOVE the vibrant colors of these beautiful cacti cards and the colored striped background looks amazing! Thanks for another great tutorial and getting a heat gun was a game changer for me too.

  18. barbara lassiter says:

    I have the Altenew watercolors, not the markers and I used them for some of my Christmas cards. I love your tips for using the markers and loved the results you achieved on your beautiful cards. Someday, maybe, the markers for me! LOL! Thanks for always inspiring and sharing! :)

  19. Denise Kitts-Wadlow says:

    Love the bright, vibrant color, and your story about the toaster. I didn’t know it was even possible to heat set over a toaster. So glad nobody got hurt and that you have a heat gun now. TFS–Have a blessed week.

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