Altenew Educators Blog Hop Floral with Geometric Elements

When I saw GEOMETRIC in the theme for the Educators Blog Hop I almost didn’t sign up.  The word “geometry” brings fear to my heart.   I spent after school hours with a demanding geometry tutor hired by my mother.  He was a senior who thought only of mathematics.  I don’t think he enjoyed those sessions any more than I did.

I do remember parallel and perpendicular from those tutoring sessions.  So my geometric element is parallel and perpendicular lines.

In this one tag I incorporated many of my favorite things:

TAGS  I have been enthralled with tags for a very long time.  They are my favorite paper craft to make, especially for the holidays.  It has become a tradition that my family members expect to get a very special tag as their present from me each Christmas.

I have a tag tree in my studio decorated with tags I’ve made over the years.  Some family members have also created tag trees with my tag gifts to them.

Other favorite things include:

GOLD  Gold has always been my favorite metal.  About five years ago I took a class from Sandy Allnock called Go for the Gold.  She taught how to use a vast number of gold products.  That’s when I became obsessed.  If you look at the posts on my blog you can see that I believe no card is complete without a little gold.

Gold Altnew products used in this tag include  Antique Gold embossing powder, sequins, thread and Washi.

BLACK Some believe black is not appropriate for holiday cards.  I hope this changes their minds.  Black makes other colors, especially white, just pop off the card.  

I have used Altenew’s Jet Black cardstock for this tag.

WHITE  A project can look totally finished.  Adding white at the end just brings the images to life.  I have used white gel pen and Altenew’s  Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder on my tag.

MASKING  Call me crazy but I love to mask.  When it’s all colored and I pull the mask away, the reveal just delights me every time.  Masking creates depth.  While designing this tag I found I could emboss over Washi. ( It did have to be embossed twice. ) The images are both in front of and behind the Washi creating the illusion of more depth.

WATER COLOR  Altenew’s Metallic Water Colors are amazing and amazingly easy to use.  The shine creates it’s own highlights.  On this tag I used just one color of red and one color of green.  Look at what that metallic paint creates all by itself or with just a second coat!

ALTENEW STAMPS  The artistry in Altenew’s images make me look like a pro.  This began with a piece of stationary that caught my eye on Pinterest.  I looked through Altenew’s catalog and found stamp sets with images that would contrast yet create a balanced images.    The size of the rose cluster in Paint-A-Flower Rose was perfect and would make a great focal image.  The tiny Baby’s Breath stamps in Bold Bunch would provide a dainty element that would look great in white.  One of the leaf clusters in Vase Fillers would bring in the solid image I wanted.

When new stamp sets arrive I stamp and die cut every image.  I move them around and take pictures  of different arrangements.  That’s how I get familiar with each set.  Then I stamp drafts of cards  with different combinations.  Finally I take what I like from each draft and combine it into a finished card.

The sentiment in a beautiful font is from Warm Blessings.

Slimline cards are wildly popular. They cause me to look at my stamps in a different way.  Making this was easy after designing the tag which is the same shape.  I just switched it to landscape and changed some of the elements.  This card is 3 1/2″ x 8 1/2″

Large cards like this 5 x 7 are ideal for holiday greetings.   A beautiful image plus a lot of white space is dramatic, especially on black.  Even more elegance can be achieved by putting gold paper inside the envelope flap.

Being asked to participate in the Educators Blog Hop was like getting an early Christmas present.

Now that it’s done, I have two cards and a tag to cross off my To Do list!

 Prizes:

Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner! Please leave a comment here on the Altenew Card Blog by 12/21/2020 for a chance to win. 

 

Altenew will also draw a winner to receive a $15 Altenew 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 Winners Page on 12/23/2020.

 

There’s MORE! What’s a hop without YOU?! We have included an Inlinkz for you at the Altenew blog to enter your gorgeous Altenew “Floral with Geometric Elements” creations. We will pick 2 of our favorite handmade creations from those who joined the linky party and they will each receive a $15 Altenew gift certificate!

 

You have come from Rachael Shedeed’s blog and now you will head over to Maryam Shahrara’s blog. Below is a list of all participants.

Nenette S. Madero

Kari VanNoy

Helen Kalb

Teresa Litchfield

Colleen Balija

Rachael Shedeed

Pam Boedeker

Maryam Sharara

Nandini Karmarkar

Amber Rain Davis

Neha Aggarwal

Amy Hill

Teri Wilson

Terri Marie Koszler

Eva Bussom

Sandra Woodson

Irina Fonina

Jaycee Gaspar

Roteja Galvan

Teri Stokes

Michelle Ochoa Murray

Rosie Neustaedter

Patty Mello

Virginia Lu