Blessed Retirement Card

I recently purchased a bundle from Altenew called Happy Hummingbird, and it comes with an embossing folder, a coordinating stencil set to color the embossed images, a hummingbird stamp set with a few sentiments as well as a die that cuts out the hummingbird. I have been having fun playing with this set and decided to use it to make a retirement card for my pastor. After 35 years at our church, he is retiring at the end of this month. We will miss him! He has been such a faithful shepherd all these years! 

To create this card, I trimmed a panel of white cardstock to fit an A2 card base and embossed the panel using the Sweet Honeysuckle 3D embossing folder that came in the Happy Hummingbird set. I then ink blended purples and greens using the coordinating stencils and Altenew's Sugarplums Crisp Dye Ink and Whispering Woodland Fresh Dye Ink collections. 

I stamped and die cut the hummingbird and then watercolored him using a bit of ink from the Sugarplum Crisp Dye ink collection listed above and some Fresh Lemon Crisp Dye Ink. I smooshed the inks onto acetate and added a spritz of water and then used a paintbrush to color the hummingbird. I popped him up on the panel using Altenew's new 1-inch wide by 1/16-inch thick Instant Dimension Foam Tape. 

For the sentiment, I stamped "retirement" from Altenew's Bouquet of Poppies set onto the card panel and then die cut "Blessed" and its shadow from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Garden Whispers set. I ink blended some of the Pale Mauve from the Sugarplums Crisp Dye Ink collection onto the die cut word and adhered it to 2 more die cuts to give it more stability before adhering the stacked die cuts to the coordinating shadow die cut. Then I added a few enamel dots from Altenew's Sugarplums Enamel Dot set to finish off the card front. I trimmed the panel slightly and added it to a slightly larger panel I had ink blended some of the Sugarplum inks onto using a piece of fun foam to pop it up slightly. Then I added the panels to the top-folding A2 card base. 

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:

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

We Love Stamping: ATG with option of favorite stamp (3/3; ends at the end of the  month)

Stamping Sensations: Birds, flowers, animals, and nature or ATG (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 4/10 for the challenge; ends 5/7/25)

Gem of A Craft Challenge: ATG (3/4; ends 5/8/25)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge ...: ATG (2/3; ends 5/3/25)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (1/3; ends 5/5/25) C10

Double D Challenges: Spring Flowers (3/3; ends 5/4/25)