Hi guys! I’m absolutely gobsmacked with the number of comments on the Altenew blog hop post! Thank you for every one of them. I hope you enjoyed the inspiration throughout the event, I know I did!

I offered to one lucky commenter one each of Peony Bouquet and Beautiful Day stamp sets, and Random.org chose… Toni C. (Toni Cancellier)!

Toni wrote:
“Gorgeous. I love your first two cards in particular.”

Congratulations Toni! Please email me at iwona_estera(at)wp.pl with your postal address and I’ll send them out to you 🙂
Winner has 48 hours to claim the prize, I reserve the right to re-draw the name and update this post afterward.

And just because I’ve been having heaps of fun with my lovely floral sets, I made one more card with Peony Bouquet, woot! Check it out:

Lots of fussy cutting again, hey? I used Altenew inks for stamping, they rock my socks off! Cotton Candy and Grapevine for the big flower, Buttercream, Caramel Toffee and Dark Chocolate for the small blooms, Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades for the foliage, and finally Desert Night for the sentiment (from the awesome Label Love set).
I layered the cutouts over a triangle die cut panel and a strip of patterned paper. The card base is light grey and the panel is white, I love the subtle play of shades and the little extra something it adds to the lot 🙂

That’s all from me today, thanks again for visiting and I hope I will make an odd appearance here again in the future, time permitting. Mwah x

Well hello there! I’m back - temporarily - to join my very special friends at Altenew to celebrate their 2nd Anniversary! I still remember the initial Blog Hop two years ago, and the excitement of being a part of a brand launch. And just look at Altenew now! Great friends and great stamps make up for something really, really awesome and I’m very happy to be here.
Hopefully you’ve come here from May’s blog, otherwise feel free to start at the beginning! (Altenew blog)

Leave comments along the way for the opportunity to win one of THREE prize packs valued at over $100 from Altenew! This amazing prize pack includes not-yet-released stamp sets.

There are 8 awesome companies who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

• Pretty Pink Posh : $30 Gift Certificate
• WOW! Embossing Powder : $30 Prize Pack
• Simon Says Stamp : $30 Gift Certificate
• Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L : $30 Prize Pack
• Ellen Hutson : $50 Gift Certificate
• Freckled Fawn : Gypsy Kit valued at $27
• My Sweet Petunia : Mini MISTI
• StampNation : Three 3 Month Subscriptions

Be sure to leave comments on each stop by Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST for a chance to win! 13 winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the hop list and will be announced on the Altenew blog on Apr 14th.

And that’s not it! Altenew extends these special offers to their customers:

• First 100 orders : 1 free mini stamp set (Starting April 7th at 9:00 AM EST)
• Orders over $75 : 1 free mini stamp set (Now through Sunday, April 10, 2016)

Now, let’s go down to business! You probably remember that my favourite designs are florals. I’ve been eyeing both Peony Bouquet and Beautiful Day ever since I’ve seen them in action. I mean, wow, they’re simply exquisite! So I chose to play around with these two, and I could have gone for much more, have I had more time on my hands.

The first card features Peony Bouquet in the most straightforward way - by layering stamps using coordinated inks. It provides stunning effect as-is, no bells and whistles needed!

I used Altenew’s range of inks, you can find the whole selection HERE.
Frosty Pink, Cotton Candy and Grapevine were used for the flowers, and the foliage / berries were stamped with Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen, and Deep Iris, Midnight Violet respectively. I must admit to never have tried these inks before, and they didn’t disappoint this fussy crafter. They stamp like BUTTAH!
The sentiment belongs to the Ori Kami set.

Next, um… I’ve gone a tad over-excited with Beautiful Day. To the point that I run out of time to show you more of Peony Bouquet… Duh! It’s my favourite out of the two (if I have to choose) because on top of the large feature flower, it has a lovely selection of good sized floral doodads that compliment it perfectly. I’m able to create a variety of arrangements pairing them in any way I find pleasing. And that’s what I appreciate most about florals - total flexibility! But really, they’re both absolutely fantastic in this regard and officially one of the best stamp sets I’ve ever tried.

Here I stamped the outlines in black and used Copics to fill in with colour. I’ve seen Altenew’s own Marika lovin’ on these stamps with a similar technique of brushstroke colouring (my own term) and it’s always been one of my favourite ways to colour, so I decided to run with it 🙂

This beautiful, simple ‘hello’ stamp belongs to Hennah Elements.

For the next card I stamped in black again, but I used my precious Peerless watercolours for some freehand job. Quick messy strokes, I was aiming for a more relaxed, informal look. I fussy cut a bunch of pieces and arranged them in a lush bouquet (plus a little add-on accent added to the opposite end for balance)

Another simple sentiment to finish off, from the Lace Up set.

Lastly, I stamped some of the foliage and smaller florals onto a sorbet-ish patterned paper, cut out and arranged freely on this card, around the banner (sentiment also from Lace Up). I enhanced the look in a few places by adding little splashes of watercolour, just a tad of yellow / orange on the flower centers and green on leaves. Love the randomness that comes with stamping on patterned paper.

The background is a patterned paper as well. I flicked some Diamond Glaze around, added a few star sequins and I was good to go!

I hope you enjoyed what you saw! From here you should make your merry way to WOW! Embossing Powder but before you flee, and because you’ve been so awesome & read all down to here, how about a little GIVEAWAY from me? Heck YES!

I happen to have an extra set of Peony Bouquet and Beautiful Day and I’d like to offer them to one lucky person. Just leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST and I’ll draw the winner on Apr 14th.

Enjoy!! 🙂