Be Strong Pop-Up Diamond Card

One of the promotional products Altenew is offering this month is the Be Strong Word Die set, so I was given the set as part of my Guest Designer box. Thanks, Altenew! I love large word dies with shadows because they can easily be the focal point of a card. 

I used Altenew's new Enchanted Gold Shimmer Relief Paste for the Be Strong sentiment shadow by spreading a thin layer of the paste onto white cardstock and letting it dry before die cutting it. I also used the same paste through the stencils in the Beautiful Butterfly press plates, dies, and stencils set. It has such a pretty shine to it! 

I also used Altenew's new Bubblegum Fresh Dye Inks and Shades of Purple Fresh Dye Inks through the stencils to color the butterfly. I thought it would look nice to add a second butterfly under the one I colored in to add some dimension, so I adhered one on top of another using liquid glue only on the body of the butterfly and bending the wings up a bit. The butterfly is a press plate I purchased from Altenew after receiving a BetterPress for Christmas. I love my new BetterPress and enjoyed pressing a half dozen more butterflies to use on future projects.  

To create the card base, I used a template found here: Diamond Pop-Up Card Template. Craftworld has a lot of free fun fold card templates you can download, so I suggest taking a look around if you like fun fold cards. After I created the white card base, I trimmed the panels I needed using some alcohol ink backgrounds I had created with several shades of pink alcohol inks. I really love the look of alcohol ink! I die cut the "Be strong" sentiment out of the same alcohol ink background panel as well. I like to use poster board for my alcohol ink backgrounds. I can create a large piece in one go and then use it for die cuts, backgrounds, etc. whenever I need it. I find poster board die cuts a lot more easily than Yupo paper and is considerably less expensive. 

Challenges I'm entering:

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #100: ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Creations in Pink Challenge: ATG with mostly pink (1/3; ends 3/13/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for the week; 7/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (2/3; ends 2/24/25) C10

Colorful Options: Moodboard: I chose the pinks in the moodboard (ends at the end of the month)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG (unlimited entries; ends 3/12/25)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Inspiration Station: Like the inspiration photo, my card features a butterfly (ends at the end of the month)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Shimmer + a sentiment (I used Shimmer Relief Paste for details on the butterfly's wings and body and for the shadow behind the sentiment) (2/5; ends 3/1/25)

Crafty Gals Corner: Pink _____ (butterfly and background) (1/3; ends 3/11/25)

No more challenges. 

 

Twisted Easel Congratulations Card

To celebrate my youngest's daughter's most recent accomplishment in the Navy (becoming a card signer who can help other sailors qualify for different watches now that she has earned "senior in rate"), I wanted to make her a special card. I thought a twisted easel card with one of her favorite kinds of flowers would be perfect!

Since daisies are one of her favorite flowers, I pulled out my Altenew Craft-A-Flower: Daisies die set and my Altenew Daisies 3D embossing folder and set to work! I die cut several daisies using watercolor cardstock I had sprayed and/or watercolored. Some layers have Altenew's Dark Cyan watercolor on them, some have Lindy's Tibetan Poppy Teal Shimmer spray, and some have Tim Holtz's Wonderland Distress Mica Stain. I had a fun evening getting out a bunch of watercolors, sprays, and stains to create some watercolor papers to match the teal blue in this month's Altenew Inspiration Challenge color palette. 

Once I had die cut the pieces for my daisies, I assembled them and set them aside. I also die cut some leaves out of the same teal papers, but I felt they didn't look quite right with the flowers being those same colors. I then tried them in creams and browns (the other challenge colors) but didn't care for that, either. So I went with vellum because you can never go wrong with vellum! 😂

I trimmed the panels for the stopper and the background behind the daisies and then embossed the larger brown panels using Altenew's Daisies embossing folder. I loved how that turned out on the brown cardstock! I don't typically use brown cardstock with floral embossing folders, but I think this turned out nice. 

I thought the bottom of the card was a bit too plain, so I trimmed another piece of cream cardstock 1/8 inch smaller than the base and stenciled it with Altenew's Scattered Tiles stencil set. I did the same for the triangles behind the flower panels. 

For the sentiment, I used stamps from Altenew's Billowing Peonies set that say: "congratulations!" and "so proud of you."  I stamped them onto the watercolor paper I had sprayed with Lindy's Tibetan Poppy Teal Shimmer spray. It has a lovely shine in person. 

Top view:

Side view:

Here's a look at the front of the card when the card is closed:

The back of the card when open:

Close ups:

Challenges I'm entering:

February Challenge | Textured backgrounds & sweet greetings: Ends the end of the month

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #100: ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Snippets Playground: Congratulations on your 500th challenge! That's outstanding! Theme: Celebrations and snippets (my snippets were bits of vellum for the leaves and small snippets of cream and brown cardstock for the centers of the daisies) C10

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (2/6; ends 3/15/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 5/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (1/3; ends 2/24/25)

Double Trouble Paper Crafting: Thing 1: 3 embellishments (I have 4 flowers as my embellishments) 2 layers (I have a stenciled layer and then 3 layers for my easel stopper--fun foam, brown cardstock, teal watercolor paper) 1sentiment (on my stopper) Thing 3: include flower of choice (daisies in the embossed background and die cut daisies) (1/4; ends 3/1/25)

 Allsorts challenge blog: Shades of blue (1/3; ends 2/28/25)

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game!: ATG with stencils with optional twist of Pinks and/or Reds (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

Can You Handle The Pressure?: ATG with option of something with an F (I used flowers on my card) (3/3; ends 2/19/25)

No more challenges. 

Be Strong in the Lord Easel Card

As a guest designer for Altenew this month, I was given quite a few wonderful products to play with, and one of them is this Be Strong word die set that is a free gift with purchases over $69 from February 18-20. 

The phrase "Be strong" always makes me want to add "in the Lord" because I know I don't have any strength in myself. God is the one Who enables me "to will and to act according to His good purpose" (Philippians 2:13). It is God who empowers me "to stand firm in Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:21). Ephesians 6:10 tells believers to "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." That's the inspiration behind my easel card. 

I started my card by choosing the inks I wanted to use for Altenew's new Patterned Petal stencil set. It's a stencil set with 4 layers of stencils that can be used separately or together. So versatile! I chose inks from Altenew's Warm & Cozy ink family and used them on the first three layers of the stencil. Then I used Altenew's new Smoky Quartz Shimmer Relief Paste for the final layer. I also spread some of the Smoky Quartz Shimmer Relief Paste onto a piece of cardstock and let it dry. Then I die cut the "Be strong" and the letters for the word "LORD" out of it. I used Altenew's Linear Pathway Alpha set for the die cut letters I used on the inside of the card. They make the stopper for the easel. 

I die cut the shadow for the "Be strong" die out of vellum and then decided to die cut the "Be strong" out of orange cardstock and out of black fun foam. I adhered the Smoky Quartz layer onto the black fun foam and then offset that a little on the orange layer I had adhered to the vellum shadow layer. The background is quite busy, so the extra layers on the sentiment help it stand out a bit better. 

To finish the card, I adhered the die cut letters onto black fun foam and then lined them up on the inside of the card and adhered them with liquid glue. 

I've recently become an affiliate for Altenew, so if you are interested in ordering something lovely from Altenew and would like to use my link, thank you very much! Here's the link: Carrie's Altenew affiliate page 

Here's a look at the card when closed:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 4/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #100: ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (4/4; ends 3/10/25)

613 Avenue Create: ATG (8/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG or Things in the Sky (8/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

The Creative Crafters: ATG (3/3; ends 3/15/25)

Let's Craft and Create: ATG with option of pink and/or red (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

Creatalicious Challenges: ATG with option of green (3/3; ends 3/15/25)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Bookmark or Inspired by a Book (The Bible is my inspiration for this card) (1/5; ends 2/23/25)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Shimmery (I used Shimmer Relief Paste through a stencil and also for the "Be strong" and "LORD" sentiments/letters) (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

Word Power: ATG with words as the focus (ends at the end of the month)

Heart Aperture Card

I cannot stop creating with this beautiful Altenew Craft-A-Flower: Bearded Iris set! Today's card features the iris in an unusual color palette for me. I'm playing along with the monthly Inspiration Challenge on the Altenew blog, and the colors are brown, cream, and teal. 

To make the card base, I used a Silhouette Design Studio cut file graciously provided by Sabine Harris in the Facebook Silhouette Card Making & Paper Crafts group. Thanks, Sabine! I chose papers to match the colors of the inspiration challenge and cut the card base and layers using my Silhouette Cameo 4. 

For the sentiment on the card, I used the free scripture word art of 1 John 3:1a: "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" found on the Word Art Wednesday blog here: Word Art Wednesday: Anything Goes - Weeks #687-688. I use a lot of their word art for the cards I make for the homebound members of my church, and this is another beautiful one. What greater love is there than God's love for us?

For the insert behind the heart aperture, I used Altenew's Shimmer Relief Paste in Burnished Platinum through Altenew's new Squiggle Lines stencil and let that dry before adhering it behind the aperture. 

For the bearded iris and leaves, I die cut the leaves out of the same cream cardstock I used for the base and inset, and I die cut the flower petals out of watercolor cardstock I had sprayed and spritzed to match the teal color in the challenge. 

To finish the card, I added a few Antique Gold sequins in strategic places so I could cover an oops with a bit of glue from adhering the leaves. 😂

I've recently become an affiliate for Altenew, so if you are interested in ordering something lovely from Altenew and would like to use my link, thank you very much! Here's the link: Carrie's Altenew affiliate page 

Challenges I'm entering:

February Challenge | Textured backgrounds & sweet greetings: Ends the end of the month

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for the week; 3/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #100: ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (3/4; ends 3/10/25)

613 Avenue Create: ATG (6/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG or Things in the Sky (6/8; ends at the end of the month)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG or option of burgundy, pink, and sage green (6/6; ends at the end of the month)

Crafty Catz: ATG with option of use a die (5/5; ends 2/20/25)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles: ATG (4/4; ends 2/27/25)

The Creative Crafters: ATG (2/3; ends 3/15/25)

Let's Craft and Create: ATG with option of pink and/or red (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Creatalicious Challenges: ATG with option of green (2/3; ends 3/15/25)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (1/6; ends 3/12/25)

Trendy Bendy Birthday Card

My youngest son turns 24 this week, so I wanted to make him a special card. I decided to use the colors from Altenew's monthly Inspiration Challenge, so I watercolored some watercolor cardstock using Altenew's Dark Cyan watercolor tube from their Palette Perfection Artists' Watercolor Tube bundle. After the cardstock had dried, I trimmed 2 pieces to fit my "Trendy Bendy" card and embossed them both with Altenew's 3D Mighty Waves embossing folder. I added some of Altenew's Lagoon ink to the raised parts of the panels to help the waves stand out more. 

I trimmed all the pieces for the card and adhered the 2 embossed blue panels to the 2 dark brown panels. Then I scored them in the center and bent the bottom panel as a valley fold and the top panel as a mountain fold. I added the narrow brown strip on the bottom of the card after scoring it on both sides and gluing the scored sections to the card base. 

For the focal point, I die cut the pieces for the boat using Altenew's Wooden Rowboat layering die set. I assembled all the pieces and glued them together. I added foam tape to the back of the boat and attached it to the center panel. Then I bent the panel to help score the boat so it bends with the panel. 

I stamped the "Happy birthday" sentiment in brown ink using a stamp from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Bewitching Rose project kit. I adhered it to the narrow strip in the front of the card to finish the card. My whole family loves canoeing and kayaking, so I think my youngest son will enjoy the card. 

Here's a sneak peek at the new Petal Palette Altenew will be releasing very soon. It's really lovely! I was blessed to be a guest designer for the Petal Palette, and I received the Petal Palette, the Palette Perfection Artists' Watercolor Tube Bundle, the New Your Cityscape Gouache Bundle, and the Mixed Media Palette Knife Set from Altenew as part of my Guest Designer box. Thanks so much, Altenew! 

Side view:

View from the top:

Challenges I'm entering:

 February Challenge | Textured backgrounds & sweet greetings: Ends the end of the month

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #100: ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (2/4; ends 3/10/25)

613 Avenue Create: ATG (5/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG or Things in the Sky (5/8; ends at the end of the month)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG or option of burgundy, pink, and sage green (5/6; ends at the end of the month)

Crafty Catz: ATG with option of use a die (4/5; ends 2/20/25)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Paper Rocks Scissors: ATG with paper and/or scissors (5/5; ends at the end of the month)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles: ATG (3/4; ends 2/27/25)

Can You Handle The Pressure?: ATG with an embossing folder with an optional twist of "F" (2/3; ends 2/19/25)

The Creative Crafters: ATG (1/3; ends 3/15/25)

Let's Craft and Create: ATG with option of pink and/or red (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Creative Crafting Uncles: Embossing folders (1/3; ends 3/15/25)

Creatalicious Challenges: ATG with option of green (1/3; ends 3/15/25)

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog: ATG (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Craft Rocket Challenges: Happy birthday (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

AECP Homework for For the Guys class 

Peruvian Lily Feel Better Soon Card

My husband's aunt just finished several months of chemotherapy for her lymphoma, and I have been sending "praying for you" and "get well soon" themed cards to encourage her along the way. It looks like the lymphoma is in remission now (praise God!). I wanted to make another "feel better soon" card for her as she recovers from this final round of chemo that takes so much out of her each time.

To create the card, I made a fun fold base by die cutting a scalloped rectangle out of an A2 card front as well as out of some teal cardstock of the same size. I scored the white card base to bend in half and adhered the teal frame to the left side of the score line. 

For the front of the card, I wanted to use Altenew's new Build-A-Garden: Peruvian Lily stamp, so I stamped and die cut the image and then used the coordinating stencils to color the image. I used the new Bubblegum Dreams Fresh Dye Inks as well as the new Whispering Woodlands Fresh Dye Inks. The yellow is an older ink: Fresh Lemon Crisp Dye Ink. Once I finished ink blending the image, I adhered it to the teal frame and then added a few Bubblegum Dreams enamel dots to the frame and the inside of the card where they show through the opening. 

For the sentiment, I stamped "Feel better soon" from Altenew's Build-A-Garden: Grand Carnations and die cut the sentiment before ink blending an ombré look to it. I adhered it behind the lilies where it doesn't show until the card is opened. 

I've recently become an affiliate for Altenew, so if you are interested in ordering something lovely from Altenew and would like to use my link, thank you very much! Here's the link: Carrie's Altenew affiliate page 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #100: ATG with a fun fold (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game!: ATG with a stencil and option of pinks and/or reds (1/3; ends at the end of the  month)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (3/4; ends 3/6/25)

613 Avenue Create: ATG (4/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG or Things in the Sky (4/8; ends at the end of the month)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG or option of burgundy, pink, and sage green (4/6; ends at the end of the month)

http://asyoulikeitchallenge.blogspot.com/?m=1: Stamping or digi and why: I like both but tend to use my physical stamps more often. I can heat emboss with them and I usually use coordinating stencils to color them in, a feature I love! (2/3; ends 2/20/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

Crafty Catz: ATG with option of use a die (3/5; ends 2/20/25)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (3/3; ends 2/22/25)

Let's Craft and Create: ATG with option of red, pink and white (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Paper Rocks Scissors: ATG with paper and/or scissors (4/5; ends at the end of the month)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles: ATG (2/4; ends 2/27/25)

Stamping Sensations: ATG with stamping and option of Valentines, Romance, Love (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

We Love Stamping: CAS or ATG (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

#AltenewCraftYourHeartOut

 

Bearded Iris Shaker Card

Today is a big day for me! The Altenew Instagram Release Hop for the February release just went live, and I'm one of the stops on the hop! If you'd like to hop along for a chance to win an Altenew gift card, you can visit my Instagram at @carriesheridan.70 or Altenew's instagram at @altenewllc. This shaker card is one of the cards I created for my Guest Designer spot! I needed a thank you card and decided I hadn't made a shaker card in a long time, and I also hadn't made a slimline card in ages, so why not combine the two in one project?! 

To start my card, I created 3 of the Craft-A-Flower: Bearded Irises along with stems and leaves by die cutting them from various colors of cardstocks I had ink smooshed, sprayed, and/or watercolored. I love having a messy craft session when I make loads of different mixed media papers I can use in future projects like this. Sometimes I die cut them, sometimes I use them as backgrounds for cards, and sometimes I stencil onto them for additional texture. I have a large basket of them that I keep by my die cutting machines for convenience. 

I created the shaker part of the card the easy way: I used a slimline shaker pouch from Tonic Studios. I added some white cardstock to the back of the shaker pouch and took the adhesive off 3 sides of the pouch to attach it to the cardstock. Then I added a bunch of beads, sequins, and glitter to the pouch in colors to match my flowers before adhering the last side of the pouch closed. 

Once I had the shaker pouch done, I added it to a piece of shimmery purple cardstock I had trimmed a quarter inch larger than the shaker pouch. Then I adhered the whole thing to a white slimline card base I created using a heavy weight cardstock. 

I finished the card by adhering all my flowers and foliage and then stamping the "Thank you" sentiment from the new Craft-Your-Life: Garden Whispers set. I die cut the sentiment with the coordinating die and adhered it to the bottom of the card. This card was hand delivered to some friends as a thank you for the lovely gifts they gave us recently. 

I've recently become an affiliate for Altenew, so if you are interested in ordering something lovely from Altenew and would like to use my link, thank you very much! Here's the link: Carrie's Altenew affiliate page 

 

Challenges I'm entering: 

The Diva's that cut ....paper!: Shaker cards (1/4; ends at the end of the month)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (2/4; ends 3/6/25)

Gem of A Craft Challenge: ATG (4/4; ends 2/20/25)

Allsorts challenge blog: ATG (3/3; ends 2/14/25)

613 Avenue Create: ATG (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG or Things in the Sky (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Bright and Cheerful (4/5; ends 2/10/25)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG or option of burgundy, pink, and sage green (3/6; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 5/10 for the challenge; ends 2/19/25)

Crafty Catz: ATG with option of use a die (2/5; ends 2/20/25)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends 2/22/25)

Cut It Up: This makes us smile (Shaker cards make me smile!) (3/3; ends 2/17/25)

Let's Craft and Create: ATG with option of red, pink and white (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG (unlimited entries; ends 2/12/25)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

Triple B: ATG with birds, blossoms, and/or butterflies (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Paper Rocks Scissors: ATG with paper and/or scissors (3/5; ends at the end of the month)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles: ATG (1/4; ends 2/27/25)