Serene Garden Layered Card

I recently attended a free class taught by Altenew Educator Evette Jacobson, aka Evie, where she gave us the idea of embossing and stenciling an image before fussy cutting it and then adding a layer of vellum behind it. Following her instructions, I took a white A2 card base and cut off most of the front panel, leaving about 3/4 of an inch to adhere the embossed panel and the vellum to. 

I used Altenew's Serene Garden 3D embossing folder and coordinating stencil for the front panel. I fussy cut the side of the panel and adhered the remainder of the panel to the 3/4 inch strip left on front of the A2 card base. 

Next, I trimmed a piece of vellum to an A2 card panel size and embossed it with Altenew's Cloudy Day 3D embossing folder. I adhered the vellum on the other side the front flap (the embossed and stenciled image was adhered to the top part of the flap and the vellum to the other side of the same flap). Then I adhered a 3/4 inch strip of gold glitter cardstock over the section where the adhesive showed through the vellum. 

To finish the card, I ink blended some of Altenew's Lagoon Crisp Dye Ink onto an A2 panel to match the Lagoon ink I used on the butterfly and then used the same ink through Altenew's Squiggly Lines Background Stencil to add a little texture to the panel. I went over it with more pressure through the stencil to create the tone-on-tone look I wanted. Then I stamped "sending smiles across miles" from Altenew's Mini Delight: Breezy Quest set in a spot where the butterfly covers the front so the sentiment can't be seen through the vellum. Then I adhered the panel to the inside of the card. 

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

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (2/5; ends 3/5/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 3/12/25)

Can You Handle The Pressure?L ATG with an embossing folder + optional twist of masculine (2/3; ends 3/5/25)

Crafty Catz: ATG with option of For the Girls (4/5; ends 3/6/25)

Alphabet Challenge Blog: W is for Wings (1/1; ends 3/6/25)

Inspiration Station: My card features flowers and a butterfly like the inspiration photo (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

AECP homework for Ink Blending Techniques class: Lesson 2: create a matching cardstock by ink blending

Doves in Flight Sending Love Card

A friend of mine recently lost her mom after a long battle with Alzheimer's. I wanted to send her a special card, so I pulled out my new Altenew Creative Cuts: Doves in Flight layering die set and die cut and assembled one of the doves from the set using a cream-colored shimmer cardstock. 

The same Doves in Flight set comes with a few words dies and shadows, and I die cut the "sending" and "love" words and their shadows using the dies from the set. The words were die cut from cardstock I had applied Altenew's Enchanted Gold Shimmer Relief Paste to. 

For the background of the card, I watercolored a blue panel and embossed it using Altenew's Cloudy Day 3D embossing folder. I then added some Pearl Shimmer Relief Paste to the edges of the clouds and adhered the panel to a brown A2 card base. The brown seemed a bit too stark, so I added more of the Pearl Shimmer Paste to the edges. I just used my finger to apply the paste, and it's a bit messy, which isn't my usual style, but I'm hoping the wisps of Pearl Shimmer Relief Paste fit with the cloud theme on the blue panel.  

To finish the card, I adhered the dove and the sentiment using foam tape. 

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

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (1/5; ends 3/5/25)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Look to the Night Sky (1/5; ends 3/3/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 3/12/25)

The Paper Shelter: ATG with option of buttons or bows (1/2; ends 3/5/25)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Shimmer + a sentiment (I used Shimmer Relief Paste and shimmer cardstock for the dove) (4/5; ends at the end of the month)

Can You Handle The Pressure?L ATG with an embossing folder + optional twist of masculine (1/3; ends 3/5/25) Top Pick 3/7/35

Allsorts challenge blog: ATG or Shades of Blue (3/3; ends 2/28/25)

Crafty Catz: ATG with option of For the Girls (3/5; ends 3/6/25)

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

No more challenges. 

Blessed Daisy Card

I recently took out my Altenew Craft-A-Flower: Daisy die set to make a card for my youngest daughter, (see that card here: Carrie's Custom Cards: Twisted Easel Congratulations Card), and I decided to die cut a bunch of the flowers while I had everything out. Do you ever do that? I sometimes make cards with the extras right away, and I sometimes put the extras away for future use. 

The flowers on this card were die cut from watercolor cardstock that I had used the following on: Altenew's Dark Cyan watercolor from the Palette Perfection Artists' Watercolor Tube Bundle, 

Lindy's Tibetan Poppy Teal Shimmer spray, and Tim Holtz's Wonderland Distress Mica Stain. I watercolored and sprayed 3 separate panels using those products and then die cut and mixed and matched the pieces for these flowers. I die cut the leaves out of vellum because I didn't want to cover up any more of the Turquoise Glitter Cardstock (from Altenew's Ocean Reflection Glitter Cardstock Set) panel than necessary. It adds such great sparkle to this card!

I created a cream-colored slimline card base and then trimmed a panel of brown cardstock for the center of the card front. I adhered that down to the card front and then adhered a sheet of the Turquoise Glitter Cardstock in the center of the brown panel. Now I was ready to arrange my flowers and leaves. I used liquid glue and foam tape for the flowers so that some of them have more dimension than others. 

To finish the card, I die cut the "Blessed" word and shadow using more glitter cardstock for the shadow and cardstock I had watercolored using the Dark Cyan watercolor tube for the sentiment. I adhered the layers together and then added the sentiment to the card. 

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 

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

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (1/3; ends 3/3/25) C10

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (5/6; ends 3/15/25)

As You Like It Challenge: Favorite: Masculine or Feminine and why: I prefer making feminine cards because I tend to send more cards to women than men and I like using flowers on my cards (3/3; ends 3/5/26)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (3/3; ends 3/5/25)

Crafty Catz: ATG with optional twist: For the girls (3/5; ends 3/6/25)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (5/5 for the week; 9/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

Gem of A Craft Challenge: ATG (2/4; ends 3/20/25)

Allsorts challenge blog: Shades of blue (2/3; ends 2/27/25)

little red wagon: Winter blues (ends 2/25/25)

No more challenges. 

Daisy Shaker Card

I'm having so much fun with Altenew's Inspiration Challenge colors this month! When I first saw them, my mind went to masculine cards because of the cream and brown colors, and these colors do work well for masculine cards like the one I created here: Carrie's Custom Cards: Trendy Bendy Birthday Card. But these colors work great for feminine cards, too! I've enjoyed seeing all the cards over on the Altenew blog and being inspired by the creativity there.

For this card, I wanted to be able to use the leftover watercolored panel from which I had die cut the Altenew Craft-A-Flower: Daisy die cuts I had used for this card: Carrie's Custom Cards: Twisted Easel Congratulations Card. I watercolored the panel using Altenew's Dark Cyan watercolor from the Palette Perfection Artists' Watercolor Tube Bundle. 

To start my card, I trimmed the panel with the negative space and added acetate behind it. Then I added foam tape around the daisy cut outs and all over the back of the card and sprinkled beads and sequins for the shaker bits inside the flower portions of the panel. Then I carefully added the cream panel on top of the upside-down card front. I then added that whole panel to a brown card base. 

To finish the card, I added sequins and the "happy birthday" sentiment. The sentiment is from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Bewitching Rose project kit. 

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 

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

The Diva's that cut ....paper!: Shaker cards (2/4; ends at the end of the month)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (1/3; ends 3/3/25) C10

Double Trouble Paper Crafting: Thing 1:   3  Embellishments (I used sequins) 2  Layers (I have watercolor paper, acetate, and cream cardstock on top of the brown card base) 1  Sentiment  Thing 3: Any seasonal flower Thing 2: I linked up with Beautiful Blossoms challenge (2/4; ends 3/2/25)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (4/6; ends 3/15/25)

The Neglected Stuff Challenge: I haven't used these cream sequins since I got them at least 2 years ago! And the Craft-A-Flower: Daisy set was languishing in my stash until I made the card that created the panel for this card a few days ago😂. I went on to use it to create another card, too! It's fun to get out old items and use them in new ways! (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Ellibelle's Corner: I spy with my little eye: No designer papers (2/5; ends 3/16/25)

As You Like It Challenge: Favorite: Masculine or Feminine and why: I prefer making feminine cards because I tend to send more cards to women than men and I like using flowers on my cards (2/3; ends 3/5/26)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends 3/5/25)

Crafty Catz: ATG with optional twist: For the girls (2/5; ends 3/6/25)

No more challenges. 

I'm Here For You Card

One of my best friends is going through a very challenging time right now, and I'm praying for her to feel God's comfort and peace during this difficult time. I made her a special card using Altenew's Build-A-Garden: Peruvian Lily set and chose the "I'm here for you" sentiment from the set. 

This is a 6 by 6 card as I wanted to include some stenciled panels I had created and needed more space than an A2 card would provide. I used the following stencils on my card: Scattered Tiles, Linked Spots and Dots, and Squiggly Lines. I used Pearl Shimmer Relief Paste for the Squiggly Lines stencil and inks from the Bubblegum Dreams Fresh Dye ink collection for the other two stencils. I also used Bubblegum Dreams for the stamped flowers and Whispering Woodland Fresh Dye ink collection for the leaves. The flower stamp and sentiment were stamped with embossing ink and embossed with Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder. 

I created a white 6x6 panel that I then stenciled with the Scattered Tiles stencil. Then I did some ink blending on a white panel with the Bubblegum Dreams Fresh Dye inks and then went over the panel with a darker color in the Bubblegum Dreams collection using the Linked Spots and Dots stencil. Once that was dry, I went over the panel in random areas using Pearl Shimmer Relief paste through the Squiggly Lines stencil to add a bit of texture. I trimmed the pink panel into three strips and adhered them to the bottom panel using foam tape. Then I adhered the flowers to the card using more foam tape. Finally, I added the sentiment to the center of the card with foam tape as well.  

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: 

Altenew Fresh Dye Inks Contest 2025: Use Altenew fresh dye inks and blending brushes. My favorite season is summer😊

Creations in Pink Challenge: ATG with pink as the main color (2/3; ends 3/12/25)

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog: Shimmer + a sentiment (I used Shimmer Relief Paste and Rose Gold embossing powder) (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

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

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 8/10 for the challenge; ends 2/26/25)

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)

Crafty Gals Corner: Pink _____ (flowers and background) (2/3; ends 3/11/25)

The Sisterhood of Crafters: Red or pink (1/3; ends 3/9/25)

Ellibelle's Corner: I spy with my little eye: No designer papers (1/5; ends 3/16/25)

As You Like It Challenge: Favorite: Masculine or Feminine and why: I prefer making feminine cards because I love using feminine colors like pink and using flowers on my cards (1/3; ends 3/5/26) Top 3 Pick 3/6/25

My Time To Craft!: 1-2-3: One floral focal point; 2 stencils (Scattered Tiles and Linked Spots and Dots); 3 raised stripes in the background (1/3; ends 3/6/25)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (1/3; ends 3/5/25) Top 3 Pick 3/14/25

Crafty Catz: ATG with optional twist: For the girls (1/5; ends 3/6/25)

Gem of A Craft Challenge: ATG (1/4; ends 3/20/25)

Stamping Sensations: Valentine, Love, or Romance or ATG with stamping (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

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

AECP Homework for the Let It Shine class (heat embossing lesson)

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. 

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)

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. 

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 

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)