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jessica frost-ballas

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Altenew April 2018 Release and Blog Hop (+GIVEAWAYS!)

16 Apr

Good morning!  I’m thrilled to be joining the amazing Altenew design team to celebrate their April 2018 release!  They have a fabulous selection of stamps and dies in this month’s release!

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

I decided to keep to a black, white, gold, and blue palette and I love how the cards look like a set!

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

For my first card I did a loose watercolor wash of ombre blues on a piece of canson montval watercolor paper.  I let it dry and then die-cut it with the new Gradient Lines cover die.  I laid the die-cut over a piece of white cardstock and held it in place with post-it tape.  Then I puzzle-pieced the negative strips into the die and adhered them in place before carefully removing the die which I reserved for another card.  This left a really neat striped ombre effect on my background panel.

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

Next I stamped the Happy Heart florals onto a piece of white cardstock and heat-embossed them with gold embossing powder.  I used copic markers to add shading to the center of each flower in colors that matched the background stripes.  Next I die-cut the You Are Loved sentiment from black cardstock and gold glitter cardstock and adhered them together on a slight offset angle.  I layered the florals onto opposite corners of the panels and adhered the sentiment in the top left.  I finished the card with a sprinkling of gold sequins and a layer of spectrum noir clear sparkle on the black cardstock.

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

My next card uses the original Gradient Stripes cover die piece.  I simply adhered that to a white cardstock panel and sprayed it with the jet black spray.  I layered a few more of my copic colored flowers from the Happy Heart set under the You Are Loved sentiment and added a gold sequins.  I die-cut the sentiment with black cardstock and gold mirror cardstock for a slightly different effect and added a layer of spectrum noir clear sparkle to the black cardstock.

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

For my last card I made the Mega Greetings the focus of my card.  I stamped some of the berries and leaves onto a white cardstock panel and heat-embossed them with gold embossing powder.  Next I stamped the flowers from Happy Heart onto white cardstock and heat-embossed them with gold embossing powder before die-cutting them with the coordinating dies.  I used similar shades to copic color the die-cut flowers but used slightly darker shades of blue.

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

I adhered the flowers over the gold embossed background and then die-cut the Mega Greetings hello from black cardstock and gold glitter cardstock.  This time I layered the gold glitter over the black and adhered it to the panel with foam mounting tape.  I stamped the rest of the sentiment from Happy Heart onto black cardstock with versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder.  I trimmed that down to a label and adhered it to the card with foam mounting tape.  Finally I finished the card with a few turquoise blue sequins!

Altenew April 2018 Release by Jessica Frost-Ballas

To celebrate the release Altenew is giving away SIX $50 gift certificates!  To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to SIX lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog by Saturday, April 21st for a chance to win. Six winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 4/22/18.

And, there’s even more good news! 😉 EVERY stop on the hop is giving away a $30 gift certificate so the more you comment, the more chances you have to win!  Please leave your comments by 11:59PM EST on April 20th and the winner will be announced on April 21st!

Here’s a list of all the stops on the hop:

  • Altenew Card Blog
  • Erum Tasneem
  • Kay Miller
  • May Sukyong Park
  • Nina-Marie Trapani
  • Svitlana Shayevich
  • Lilith Eeckels
  • Jenn Shurkus
  • Agnieszka Malyszek
  • Lydia Evans
  • Jennifer McGuire
  • Flora Monika Farkas
  • Janette Kausen
  • Sveta Fotinia
  • Lydia Fiedler
  • Debby Hughes
  • Virginia Lu
  • Laurie Willison
  • Kymona Tracey
  • Keeway Tsao
  • Sandra Dietrich
  • Gayatri Murali
  • Vicky Papaioannou
  • Altenew Scrapbook Blog
  • Therese Calvird
  • Jessica Frost-Ballas —> You are here!
  • Nicole Picadura
  • Justine Hovey
  • Reiko Tsuchida
  • Amber Rain Davis
  • Enza Gudor
  • Kelli Cool
  • Laura Bassen

If you’ve gotten all the way to the end of my super long post, thanks so much for visiting and enjoy the hop!  If this is your first time at my blog I hope you’ll consider subscribing via the sidebar on the right or visiting me on Youtube or Instagram!  Have a fabulous crafty week, friends! 🙂

Interested in the products I used?  To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases through my links help keep my blog running with no additional cost to you and I thank you so much for the support!!

Altenew GRADIENT STRIPES COVER Die…
[ SSS ]
Altenew HAPPY HEART Clear Stamp Set…
[ SSS ]
Altenew HAPPY HEART Die Set ALT2221
[ SSS ]
Altenew YOU ARE LOVED Die Set ALT2249
[ SSS ]
Altenew MEGA HELLO Die ALT2230
[ SSS ]
Altenew JET BLACK Ink Spray ALT2126
[ SSS ]
Mijello MISSION GOLD WATER COLOR SET…
[ SSS ]
Mijello MISSION GOLD WATER COLOR…
[ SSS ]
Canson MONTVAL WATERCOLOR 9×12 Pad…
[ SSS ]
Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH…
[ SSS ]
Tonic GOLD DUST A4 Glitter Cardstock…
[ SSS ]
Tonic POLISHED GOLD Mirror Card Gloss…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100#…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh 6MM METALLIC GOLD…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh 6MM AQUAMARINE…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM METALLIC GOLD…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM AQUAMARINE…
[ SSS ]
Copic Markers
[ SSS ]
Crafter’s Companion CLEAR OVERLAY…
[ SSS ]
Inkadinkado EMBOSSING MAGIC Powder…
[ SSS ]
Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER…
[ SSS ]
Ranger Embossing Powder GOLD Tinsel…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER…
[ SSS ]
Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun…
[ SSS ]
3M Scotch PINK ATG ADVANCED TAPE…
[ SSS ]
Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS…
[ SSS ]
3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE…
[ SSS ]
Crafter’s Companion GEMINI JUNIOR…
[ SSS ]

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    Always Be Blooming by Jessica Frost-Ballas for Altenew

Comments:
172 Comments
Categories:
bloghop, card-making, crafting, guest-designer
Tags:
altenew, mijello mission gold watercolor

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Comments

  1. Sam Burnett says

    April 17, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    Love the large sentiments – your cards are beautiful! TFS!

    Reply
  2. Cindy Martin says

    April 17, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    Such beautiful cards. I love the blues.

    Reply
  3. Sue Smith says

    April 17, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    Fantastic cards. I love the new mega dies a lot !!

    Reply
  4. knurse22 says

    April 17, 2018 at 3:15 pm

    Stunning cards. LOVE the blues/gold/black color scheme and the way you double stacked that gorgeous big sentiment! Thanks so much for you inspiration!

    Reply
  5. Terrie D. says

    April 17, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    Your cards are gorgeous! I love the mega greetings stamp set 🙂

    Reply
  6. Rachel P says

    April 17, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    The cards as a set are so striking and beautiful!

    Reply
  7. Riecy says

    April 17, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    Great cards, love the big hello!

    Reply
  8. Linda Miltzow says

    April 17, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    The gradient die and the mega words are fantastic! Making the word dies pop by offsetting it on an opposite color is just “WOWing”! Thank you!

    Reply
  9. Lisa says

    April 17, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    Absolutely gorgeous cards today! I love the colors you chose along with the gold embossing and glitter! Thank you for the inspiration!

    Reply
  10. Karen Hale says

    April 17, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    Thank you Jessica for your gorgeous cards. Always an inspiration.

    Reply
  11. cyndi morris says

    April 17, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    Amazing cards. I love the way you offset those words.

    Reply
  12. Jackie L says

    April 17, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    Love your cards!! Love how you offset the dies with gold to give it a striking look.

    Reply
  13. Kathy McCluskey says

    April 17, 2018 at 8:30 pm

    Thank you, Jess, for sharing your beautiful cards with us! I really love the color scheme and the layout of your cards! Thanks for sharing your awesome creativity with us!!

    Reply
  14. MelissaF says

    April 17, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    Gorgeous cards (awesome photography too!) – These Mega sentiment stamps and dies are my favorite of this release.

    Reply
  15. Patty Eifert says

    April 17, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    Beautiful cards!! Have ordered some of the products you used!! Want many more…best release ever!!

    Reply
  16. Kim Salito says

    April 17, 2018 at 9:53 pm

    Loving the color palette. Great cards.

    Reply
  17. Joy Huang says

    April 17, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    Your card is so beautiful ! I love the various styles and ideas.

    Reply
  18. Darshana Acharya says

    April 18, 2018 at 12:01 am

    Gorgeous cards!loce the mega dies

    Reply
  19. Rajee Pandi says

    April 18, 2018 at 12:15 am

    so cute

    Reply
  20. Anushree Vaish says

    April 18, 2018 at 12:21 am

    Awesome cards….enjoyed them!!

    Reply
  21. Isabel says

    April 18, 2018 at 12:52 am

    amazing colors. Love the colors you used!

    Reply
  22. Sharon L. says

    April 18, 2018 at 2:38 am

    Love the colors and the offset shadow of the die cuts.

    Reply
  23. Lesley S says

    April 18, 2018 at 2:40 am

    Absolutely love all these cards, and they would make an amazing gift set for someone!

    Reply
  24. Diane T. says

    April 18, 2018 at 6:21 am

    Love the colors of your cards. So beautiful! Really like the large hello die.

    Reply
  25. Amna Hasan says

    April 18, 2018 at 9:09 am

    Beautiful cards! Love your style!

    Reply
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Jessica About Me Photo
Hi, I'm Jess! Thanks for visiting my blog where I share my adventures in cardmaking and papercrafting! I hope I can inspire you to craft with a little extra sparkle!

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Disclosure

I design for several companies because I truly love their products! Anything I recommend on my blog is something that I genuinely love and regularly use. I do not get paid for product reviews and I will never recommend a product that I do not like or would not use.

I am affiliated with several of my favorite crafty companies which means I receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you!!) when you click on one of my links and make a purchase through the store.

You can find my full disclosure as well as a list of the companies I am affiliated with HERE. Thank you so much for supporting me!

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