Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop + Giveaway

 

Today I am happy to be part of Altenew's annual Celebrating Parents Blog Hop and Card Drive. The goal is to send cards for the elderly living in nursing homes, shelters and other care facilities to let them know they are not forgotten. You should have come from the very talented Eva Bussom's blog.

This past year has been difficult for all of us as we have been navigating Covid restrictions, but older people have been especially hard hit. Many have been ill and too many have died from the virus, others have not been able to see any of their loved ones for months on end as visits have been restricted to prevent further spread of the virus. I am happy that vaccinations are happening on a large scale now.

Below is a list of selected Altenew Products that would be great for cards for elders and parents but also for other year-round projects. Between March 6 and May 31, 2021 Altenew will donate $1 with every order of these stamp sets to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.

• Arabesque Medallion stamp set - this is the set I use for the cards in this post
• Simply the Best stamp set
• World's Best Dad stamp set
• Thanks, Dad stamp set
• Thanks Around the World stamp set
• Courageous You stamp set
• Extra Special stamp set
• Precious Moments stamp set

There is more: Altenew is giving away a total of $200 in prizes on this occasion! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and on each designer's blog no later than March 31, 2021 for a chance to win. Two lucky winners will receive a $50 gift certificate and five others will each receive a $20 gift certificate.

The winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on April 2, 2021.

My first project is a card rather masculine in style, it's colorful, using darker tones of gray and orange that would be perfect for a man. The Arabesque Medallion is very large so on this square card I just used part of the medallion and added a hello label from the great Label Love set stamped in black embossing ink.

The design continues on the back of the card; it's back-to-back. To make a card like this, do not score your card base until the stamping is finished. I really like the way this looks :)

Altenew Crisp ink colors used: Charcoal Suit, Cloudy Night, Gray Denim, Silver Lake, Orange Cream, Sunkissed. I used the rock and roll technique to add shading to the flat shapes.

Then I made a more female version in pinks and blacks. I stamped the medallion in black pigment ink onto pink card stock from my stash, the filler colors I used were Altenew Crisp inks in Silver Lake, Gray Denim, Grape Agate, Amethyst and Baby Pink. Then I mounted the card on to a square black card blank. I added Glossy Accents to a couple of the shapes. I often do not put sentiments on my cards - this one can be used for any occasion.

For my final card today I used an un-scored A2 card base and stamped the full sized medallion in the middle in black pigment ink. The inks used for the filler shapes on this card are very springlike and bright and I again used the rock and roll technique to make a variation in color intensity. 

Altenew Crisp Inks used: Eastern Sky, Ultramarine, Baby Pink, Fuchsia, Limeade and Lime.

Once the card is scored you have a back-to-back card with a sentiment on the front - Congratulations sentiment from the same Arabesque Medallion stamp set. 

I have one final project to share with you and this is not a card but a candy wrapper for a small, sweet gift of a chocolate bar. I remember my great uncle loved to receive candy when he was living in an old person's home :)

To make this I first measured the width of the chocolate bar and cut some solar white 110 lb card stock to that width, adding about a half inch. Then I scored 3/8 and 1 inch from one end to create a flap. I laid the chocolate bar on top to determine where my next score line should be. then I again scored at 3/8 inch below. All I had to do next was cut the last edge to size to create an open ended box, still flat at this point.

The box was decorated while it was still flat.

I stamped a full Arabesque Medallion in gray ink using my MISTI on turquoise card stock, and leaving the stamp in place so that I could over stamp later on. Then I colored the image using my Prisma Color pencils in different shades of white and turquoise.

Once I was happy with the coloring I put my colored image back into the MISTI, over stamped in clear embossing ink a couple of times for good coverage and heat embossed using Altenew Rose Gold embossing powder.

The medallion was fussy cut and then again cut right down the middle and glued to both right sides of the box. Then I heat embossed Thank You from the Adore You stamp set on one side.

Now it was time to assemble the box by folding and using a bone folder to get sharp creases. The box was glued close with double sided tape. I fashioned a closure on each end by cutting a strip of turquoise card stock, scoring and securing with double sided tape to keep the chocolate inside.

A gift wrap and card all in one!

Please let me know in the comments below which of my projects you prefer, I am always excited to read what you have to say.

Now it's time to go to Hussena's lovely blog, if you get lost you can always start at the Altenew Card Blog. The full list of all participants below.

Altenew Card Blog

Nathalie DeSousa

Tenia Nelson

Virginia Lu

Alex Syberia

Arjita Sepaha Singh 

Carol Hintermeier

Cheryl Espie

Dana Joy

Eva Bussom

you are here - Helen Kalb - that's me

go here next - Hussena Calcuttawala 

Jenny Colacicco

Joylita Dsouza

Kelly Griglione

Linda Westfall

Nandini Karmarkar

Natasha Davies

Preeti Chandran

Sandhya Iyer

Sandra Woodson

Seeka

TaeEun Yoo

Terri Koszler

Bridget Casey

LauraJane

Please note that I do not participate in any affiliate programs, I only link to products that I love, for you to find them easily.

Hope to see you here again soon!

Hugs, Helen