Wood Stove Fireplace Card

I recently saw this adorable wood stove fireplace die set on Altenew's website and knew it would be perfect for some cards for my extended family members. My dad's great-grandpa started a homestove company when he came to the US from Switzerland in the 1800s. It was called the Alig Home Stove Company and was located in Indianapolis, IN. Some of my relatives have collected old Alig home stoves, and they look kind of like this die set! This particular card was designed with my dad's oldest brother in mind, since my uncle is one of the family members who collects the stoves and has an interest in family history.

I started by creating a white A2 card base. Then I sprayed Tart Cranberry Distress Mica spray on a card panel and let that dry. In real life, there's a lovely shimmer to the spray that doesn't show up in the photos. 

I trimmed the red sprayed panel to fit on a black panel and then set about die cutting all the pieces for the wood stove. This is a very detailed die set, but it is easy to assemble. Next, I stamped the sentiment in black ink (the sentiment is from Altenew's Pumpkin Patch stamp set) and then adhered the wood stove using foam tape to add some dimension. 

Close up of the wood stove:

Close up of the sentiment:

Challenges I'm entering: 
 

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 11/20/24)

Double D Challenges: Warm and Cozy (1/3; ends 11/17/24)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends 11/26/24)

A Cut Above: ATG with die cuts (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG with a twist of sentiments of thanks (ends at the end of the month)

Gem of A Craft Challenge: ATG (2/4; ends 11/22/24)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (2/4; ends at the end of the month)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with optional twist of give thanks (2/8; ends at the end of the month)

Colorful Options: Red (ends at the end of the month)

Mystery Stamping Fall Card

I recently was able to participate in a night of Mystery Stamping with TX Stampin Sharon Armstrong (if you've never followed along on one of her Mystery Monday stamping adventures, you are missing out!), and I used some fall cardstock and my new Woven Basket layering die set and Pretty Pumpkins layering die set from Altenew to create my card. If you'd like all the instructions and measurements for this card design, see Sharon's video here: Mystery Stamping (youtube.com). If you want to play along in the future, just check out her description under the video for an explanation of how to get the clues emailed to you each week. 

After trimming my papers per Sharon's instructions and die cutting and layering my basket and pumpkins, I assembled the card according to Sharon's clues during the Mystery Monday session and then stamped and die cut the "thank you" sentiment from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Splendid Bouquet set. 

I just used the base layer of these pumpkin dies for this card, but you can see what they look like with the other two layers added here Carrie's Custom Cards: Pretty Pumpkins Thank You Card (carriescustomcards.blogspot.com): 

 Challenges I'm entering:

Double Trouble Paper Crafting: Thing 1: At least 3 layers Thing 3: The photo from Inspiration Station includes a pumpkin and fall colors like my card Thing 2: Entered in the Inspiration Station Challenge (1/4; ends 11/17/24)

Inspiration Station (inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com): My card has pumpkins and fall colors like the photo (1/8; ends at the end of the month)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends 11/26/24)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Thanks/Thanksgiving (1/5; ends 11/18/24)

A Cut Above: ATG with die cuts (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG with a twist of sentiments of thanks (ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 11/20/24)

Gem of A Craft Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends 11/22/24)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (1/4; ends at the end of the month)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with optional twist of give thanks (1/8; ends at the end of the month)

Pretty Pumpkins Thank You Card

I recently created a set of fall-themed thank you cards to give to the lovely people who spoiled me on my birthday, and this is one of them. I used Altenew's Pumpkin Patch 3D embossing folder with some orange cardstock for the background panel and attached it to a white A2 card base. Then I die cut and embossed a fence from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Rustic Charm set using woodgrain cardstock and added that to the left side of the card. I trimmed it a little to leave room for the embossed pumpkin patch to show at the bottom.

To create the pumpkin die cuts, I used Altenew's Pretty Pumpkins layering die set and papers I had ink smooshed, watercolored, and/or sprayed to give them a nice texture. I die cut the stems from some paper I had created using a metallic acrylic paint. I arranged the pumpkins in front of the fence and adhered them using liquid glue and foam tape to give dimension in places. 

Finallly, I stamped and die cut the "thanks" sentiment from Altenew's Build-A-Garden: Bougainvillea set. 

Close up of the pumpkins:

Challenges I'm entering: 
 

digidesignchallengeblog (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.com): Include a pumpkin (2/3; ends 11/8/24)

Allsorts challenge blog: Cute and/or Cuddly or ATG (1/3; ends 11/1/24)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Embossing and/or Fall + Sentiment (4/5; ends at the end of the month)

Double Trouble Paper Crafting (doubletroublechallenge.blogspot.com): Thing 1: bat colors: green, orange, brown Thing 3: entered A Cut Above challenge 

A Cut Above (craftingacutabove.blogspot.com): ATG with die cuts (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

Inspiration Station (inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com): My card includes fall colors and pumpkins like the inspiration photo does) (1/8; ends at the end of the month)

Rustic Charm Pumpkin Card

I needed some thank you cards for the people who so kindly gave me birthday cards recently, so I thought I'd make some fall-themed ones. I have been having so much fun playing with my new Altenew Pumpkin Patch 3D embossing folder and Pretty Pumpkins layering die set, and I wanted to use them for this card.

I created a side-folding A2 card using heavy weight white cardstock and then chose watercolor cardstock I had ink smooshed for the front panel. I embossed it using the Pumpkin Patch embossing folder and then trimmed it to fit the front of the card. Next, I die cut and embossed the fence using Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Rustic Charm set and some woodgrain cardstock. I trimmed it a bit to fit on the left side of the card because I wanted more of the embossed pumpkins to show. After I had the background and fence made, I die cut the pieces for all 3 pumpkins from the Pretty Pumpkins set using papers I had sprayed, ink smooshed, and/or water colored and layered them together using Art Glitter liquid glue and my reverse tweezers. I arranged them in a little grouping in front of the fence and then stamped and die cut the "thank you" sentiment from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Splendid Bouquet  set. I die cut it a few times, stacked the die cuts, and then adhered the sentiment to the card. 

Close up of the adorable pumpkins:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 11/6/24)

Can You Handle The Pressure? (cyhtp.blogspot.com): ATG with an embossing folder with a twist of pumpkins (2/3; ends 11/6/24) Prize winner 11/9/24

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of lots of leaves (8/8; ends at the end of the month)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge ...: ATG (1/3; ends 11/1/24)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with optional theme of use some pink (ends at the end of the month)

Double D Challenges (daranddiane.blogspot.com): Use a pumpkin (3/3; ends 11/3/24)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Embossing and/or Fall + Sentiment (3/5; ends at the end of the month)

Inspiration Station (inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com): My card includes fall colors and pumpkins like the inspiration photo does) (2/8; ends at the end of the month)

Sending Love and Prayers Vintage Garden Card

I'm sharing one final card that I made with Altenew's Vintage Garden stamp set here. This time I cut the large floral focal part apart so that I could tuck the pink flower behind the other two flowers. This allowed me to fit all three flowers on a 5 by 7 card base. 

I started by stamping and heat embossing the florals and leaves using Altenew's embossing ink and their Platinum embossing powder. Then I colored the leaves and flowers using my Ohuhu alcohol ink markers. 

I felt like the white card base was too stark to just add the flowers directly on it, so I added strips of Altenew's Our Family washi tape and then arranged the flowers and leaves how I wanted them. I used Glad Press N Seal to hold the arrangement together while I adhered each layer. 

For the sentiment, I stamped and heat embossed "Sending love and prayers" from Altenew's Blessings stamp set. The sentiment stamp actually says "Sending love and prayers for a blessed holiday season," but I was able to trim off the rest of the words. I added the sentiment using foam tape to finish the card. 

Close up:

Challenges I'm entering: 

 October 2024 Cardmaking Inspiration Challenge (altenew.com): 

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (4/4; ends 11/8/24)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge ...: ATG (3/3; ends 11/1/24)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Spooky or Add Some Purple (2/5; ends 10/28/24)

Stamping Sensations: Autumn Colors or ATG (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with optional theme of use some pink (ends at the end of the month)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (3/6; ends 11/12/24)

Red And Green Vintage Garden Hugs Card

I send out a card to my daughter who is deployed each time I send her a care package, and I send out 1-2 care packages a week, so this is card #17 for this deployment! 😄 

I have recently been playing with Altenew's Vintage Garden stamp set, and I thought I would see how it worked to stamp the images using red ink on the flower and green ink on the leaves by simply tapping the mini ink cubes over the flowers and leaves separately. It wasn't perfect in the places where the leaves met the flowers, but I felt like it worked well anyway. I really liked the look it created, and it was a nice change from just using black ink for the entire image.

After stamping the flowers, I used the coordinating dies to die cut them and then used the coordinating stencils to color them. The coordinating stencils leave a lot of white space, and at first I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but in the end, I like that it's a little different from so many of my other floral stamp sets. 

Once I had the flowers done, I also stamped the other leaves in the stamp set using the same green ink I had used on the large floral images. I die cut them and added a bit of color to them with the coordinating stencils, too. 

In using this set for previous cards, I have trimmed the largest floral focal point to fit an A2 card or used the smaller flower on an A2 card, but for this card, I wanted to use all 3 flowers and extra leaf die cuts from the set. It meant creating a card base that is 7 1/2 inches by 4 3/4 inches, an unusual size for a card to be sure! But I happen to have some oversized envelopes, and this is going into a box rather than being mailed in the envelope I put it in, so I'm fine with it being bigger than usual. 

I used some heavy weight white card stock to create the card base and then added a piece of plain red cardstock to cover the front of the card base. I then added a piece of watercolor cardstock that I had sprayed with Tim Holtz's Peppermint Distress Mica Stain. I love the look of the Peppermint Distress Mica Stain! It's got a beautiful shine when you see it in real life. 

I arranged the flowers and leaves where I wanted them on the panel and used a piece of Glad Press N Seal to hold everything together as I added liquid glue to some places and foam tape to others to add dimension to the stamped images. 

For the sentiment, I used the "Hugs" die from Altenew's Watercolor Roses set and die cut it multiple times to stack the dies and give the sentiment some dimension. For the green in the top layer of the die cut word, I swiped my ink pad over some white cardstock and then die cut the word from the inked cardstock. 

To finish the card, I added several of Altenew's Emerald City Gem Sparkles on the top left, bottom right, and the flower centers. I used the darkest shade for the corners and the middle shade for the flower centers. 

Close ups:

 Challenges I'm entering: 

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (2/4; ends 11/8/24)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (3/4; ends 11/8/24)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of lots of leaves (2/8; ends at the end of the month)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles (welove2create.blogspot.com): ATG (2/2; ends at the end of November)

We Love Stamping: Autumn or ATG (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with optional theme of use some pink (ends at the end of the month)

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! (stencilfun.blogspot.com): ATG with stencils with an optional twist of Halloween (I used the coordinating stencils to color the flowers and leaves) (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 4/10 for the challenge; ends 11/6/24)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (1/6; ends 11/12/24)

Hello, Beau-TEA-ful Card

I recently purchased Altenew's Mini Delights: Afternoon Delights stamp and die set, and I had so much fun playing with it to create this card for my youngest daughter. I send her a special card in every box I send out to her while she's deployed. I just sent out box #16 last week, so I've been having fun making loads of cards for her, including Halloween and Thanksgiving cards since I needed to send them out about a month early for them to reach her in time. She loves tea and has a little group of tea-drinking friends who share their favorite teas together, so I think this set is perfect for a card for her!

To start making this card, I sprayed some white cardstock using Sugary Gumdrop Distress Mica Stain spray. Then I trimmed a panel to fit the front of my A2 card base and embossed the panel using Altenew's Organic Linen 3D embossing folder. 

Then I got to work die cutting all the pieces for the teacups and saucers and little tea bag strings from Altenew's Mini Delights: Afternoon Delights stamp and die set. I really enjoy layering die sets now that I have reverse tweezers to help me hold all the little pieces and fine tip glue bottles to apply the glue to the tiny die cut pieces. These teacups came together easily. I die cut them in the colors for this month's inspiration challenge over on the Altenew blog. Then I adhered all the pieces and stacked them on the card front using Altenew's foam tape to give them a bit of dimension. Then I stamped the "hello beau-TEA-ful" sentiment on one of the saucer die cuts and adhered that to finish the front of the card.

For the inside of the card, I trimmed another piece of the cardstock I had sprayed with the Sugary Gumdrop Distress Mica Stain to 3 3/4 inches by 5 inches and then stamped the floral image from the same Afternoon Delights set using tone-on-tone stamping. I stamped the sentiment "you are tea-riffic" onto another saucer die cut and adhered that to the inside panel. I just love puns, so and this set has some great ones!

Inside the card: 

Close ups:

Challenges I'm entering: 

October 2024 Cardmaking Inspiration Challenge (altenew.com): 

 Allsorts challenge blog: Cute and/or Cuddly or ATG (3/3; ends 11/1/24)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (1/4; ends 11/8/24)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of lots of leaves (7/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with optional theme of use some pink (ends at the end of the month)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Embossing and/or Fall + Sentiment (5/5; ends at the end of the month)

The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog: Pretty and Pink (ends 11/4/24)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Spooky or Add Some Purple (3/5; ends 10/28/24)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (5/5 for the week; 5/10 for the challenge; ends 11/6/24)