Altenew November 2019 Gradient Cardstock Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi there!
Welcome to the Altenew November 2019 Gradient Cardstock Release Blog Hop + Giveaway.   You are arriving from Laura Jane's blog  ( a list of all the participants is available at the bottom of this post).

Today, I am so excited to join this blog hop as Altenew is releasing a set of Gradient Cardstock  that will make your die cut florals just that much easier to create.   The new cardstock has been designed to match the colors of the Altenew Inks and are perfect not just for florals, but titles, sentiments, etc.  Let me show you!

I am working on my Gratitude journal at the moment, so i used the cardstock to create entries for it.  In this first layout, i used the Virginia Rose 3D die and the Sea Shore, Shades of Purple and Green Meadows gradient cardstock bundles.

I used the Sea Shore and Shades of Purple along with the Virginia Rose to florals, and then cut the leaves from some of the Sea Shore and Green Meadows cardstock.  I clustered them all on the page as to form my own textured patterned paper, and then added a simple label with a the title of the page.

For my next entry I used the Summer Afternoon, Red Cosmos and Green Meadows along with the Layered Rose Die set to create the embellishments for this layout.  This time i tried a few combinations of the cardstock to layer my florals.

I clustered the floral die cuts at the corners of the page as to help frame the pictures on the pages.   I used the Bold Bunch Stamp set to  heat embossed the title to the picture.

I used the same cluster configuration to frame the journaling on the page -which was mounted on a paper from the Our Family collection-.  Then finished the page with a sentiment from the new Across the Pond stamp set.   Super simple and vibrant idea for this page.

For my next project, i chose a monochromatic approach to my simple layout.  I used the Sea Shore Cardstock bundle and the new Fancy Thanks Die for this layout.

I cut the word Thanks once out of three of the papers in the Seashore  cardstock pack and glued them to the top of the layout so that they show the gradient in color as they approach the picture. I created a pocket behind the photo and used a PL Card to add my journal.

For my last layout, i chose to create a rainbow for my page, and showcase it with a large title.   For this i used all the Gradient Cardstock sets, the Bold Alpha die set, the Magnolia Heart and the Half tones Nesting Hearts Die sets.

Unfortunately, there was an issue with my camera  and the video was damaged so i cannot show you how i created this page ( my apologies), but i started by chosing two cardstocks from each pack to create a rainbow.  Then cut 0.5" strips and glued them to white carstock.  I used the Bold Alpha die set to cut the word "THANKFUL" from the rainbow paper.

I used a paper from the Our Family collection for the background, and set the picture and title in place.   Then decided to work on creating embellishments. For this, i cut 1/8" strips of the same cardstock, and glued them all in a rainbow order.   I cut hearts using the Magnolia Heart and Halftones Nesting die sets.

I arranged the smaller hearts so that they resemble a cascade of hearts surrounding the picture and embellished with a few clear stickers.   Just love how easy it was to build all of these pages using the new Gradient cardstock packs.

Now it is time for the fun part of this blog... GIVEAWAY

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog by 11/20/2019 for a chance to win.

We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 11/23/2019.

Good Luck everyone!

This is all for me today  - my apologies for the video malfunction-  and now it is time to hop onto Therese's blog and be inspired by her work... remember you can start the loop at the Altenew Card Blog or the Altenew Scrapbook blog, or come back here to start the loop.  A list of all the participants has been for your convenience.

Altenew Card Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Ashlea Cornell

Jen Schow

Kelly Griglione

Jaycee Gaspar

Keeway Tsao

Lilith Eeckels

Svitlana Shayevich

LauraJane

Nathalie DeSousa <<< you are here

Therese Calvird

Altenew Scrapbook Blog

Virginia Lu

Emily Leiphart

Norine Borys

Maryam Perez

Vicky Papaioannou

Kymona Tracey

The Hedgehog Hollow

Laurie Willison

Mindy Eggen

That is all for  me!  Thank you so much for joining me, I hope you are inspired to check the new Gradient Cardstock and get to work projects of your own.  If you have questions on how these came together, please do not hesitate to contact me.

XO

DECEMBER DOCUMENTING - Pinkfresh Studio

Hi there!  Nathalie with you today with a bit of inspiration to make this December one to Remember.   The new Home for the Holidays collection from Pinkfresh Studio is so ideal to bring the cheer onto your December memories, then add some of the exclusive Pinkfresh Studio cut files and you have the perfect inspiration for your December memory keeping.  Let me show you...

This page was inspired by the twinkle of the tree lights and all the color in the papers.   I started by cutting the Gift Trio cut file twice from white cardstock (i did a bit of fussy cutting to create the large gift cluster).  The die cuts were backed using papers from the Home for the Holidays collection.

However,  to break some of the patterns in the die cuts, i chose to create my own solid patterned paper using the new Pinkfresh Studio inks, a brush, and white cardstock.  I chose  Sky Blue, Berrylicious, Blue Jay, and Sapphire to create papers that brought the colors of the papers and picture together in the present bundles.

I chose the Peace and Love paper as the background for the page, and wanted to extend the twinkle of the Christmas lights to the page.  So, i used a paper piercing tool to create a stitching guide inside some of  rhomboid patterns of the paper.  Then used some white embroidery floss to detail the little stars.

I added a few embellishments to the page (there are so many cute embellishments in the collection) and finished it with some of the colorful enamel dots and pearl accents in the center of the stitched stars.  The following video will show you how it all came together:

Now that you have seen how beautiful the collection works on a layout, let's put Home for the Holidays collection to work on a December Daily style album.

I was so happy to see all the colors and designs on the collection as there is a rainbow of possibilities that can easily help you create pages in your December album.

I started by cutting a piece of the Mistletoe paper for the background of the page, and then used the leftover pieces to create the layers behind the picture on the glassine bag.   The Essential Classic Tags with Fillable elements to create a tag that houses the journal of these pages.

The title page of this spread was created by using the Kelly Alphabet die, gold glitter paper, double white cardstock and a piece of acetate.     The lovely die cut letters become the focus on this page, and having them floating on acetate marries the two sides of the page together.

To embellish this page, i used the Season's Greetings Stamp and Die set to add the sentiment to the label at the bottom of the pictures, and then embossed the bow and then detailed it with Berrylicious and Candy Apple inks.

Can't have all that beautiful b-side paper go to waste, so i used it to create another layout for my December album, and this time is all about COFFEE...

The title of this page was built using the white puffy alphas from the Home for the Holidays collection.  I needed to pull the ampersand from the Office Hours collection, and that gave me the idea to color half the alpha to match it.  So, i pulled Berrylicious, Summer Shower and Evergreen ink pads and an ink brush to color the bottom half of the alphas.

For the pocket side of the page, i cut some of the packaging to  fit into the 2x2" pockets, as well as vellum and Mistletoe paper.  I fussy cut a few cups from the Advent Love paper and used them to complete the vellum pockets of the page.  to finish the page, i used two of the packaging pockets to add my lines of journal, and the other two house some circle embellishments from the Cardstock stickers of the collection.
You can see how these came together in the following video:

I hope these have inspired you to check the new Pinkfresh Studio Home for the Holidays collection. It is truly such a beautiful and versatile collection that will fit all your December memories easily.  As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions on how this came together.

XO

MERRY & BRIGHT - Simple Stories

Hi there Simple Stories friends!

 Nathalie with you today with a new project that brings the joy of the Christmas season to a layout.  When i saw the new  Simple Stories Say Cheese Christmas, I knew that the colorful designs and papers will be perfect to document this picture of our Goddaughter as an elf last Christmas.

I started by creating a fun title for the page. I chose an alphabet from the Silhouette store, and cut each  letter from different papers from the Say Cheese Christmas collection.  In addition, i arranged the letters in order -for the title- and created an offset around the words.  I cut this offset from white cardstock and used it as a base to handstitch the letters of the title together.

For the background of the page, i chose the Sn@p Basics Hickory/Cream grid paper .  I chose to fussy cut a few florals form the Making Spirits Bright paper and attached them around the  outer edge of the background using foam adhesive

Once the title was glued to the background, the layout came together quickly,  First i used a few of the papers to frame the picture and add layers behind it.   I tucked the picture under the title, and started to add small embellishments around it,

All the cute and festive stickers and ephemera pieces were perfect to add sentiment to this page.   Plus they are so easy to combine that it makes this page come together in just a few minutes.

I hope this has inspired you to check the new Simple Stories Say Cheese collection.  You are going to fall in love with the designs, colorful images and how versatile it can be.

Til'next time