Altenew November 2019 Gradient Cardstock Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello Folks! Welcome to the Altenew gradient cardstock release blog hop! You may have just come from Jen Schow. but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Altenew card blog.

I was so excited to hear Altenew is now offering gradient cardstock for their layered dies! Just like they offer the gradient inks for their layered stamps : ) Totally takes the work out of hunting for four different shades of pink if you want to make a layered die flower. Here's a few more "official" words about the new offerings:

Our gradient cardstock shades have been hand-selected to coordinate with our inks, making them the perfect choice for layered die cutting, 3D dies, and more! The color families include Cherry Blossom, Green Meadows, Red Cosmos, Sea Shore, Shades of Purple, and Summer Afternoon, and each sheet has been sized to fit on our Mini Blossom Die Cutting Plates. You're sure to find one (or more!) to add to your collection!

Let's take a look at some projects!

Aren't these colors gorgeous?! This card mostly uses the Red Cosmos cardstock pack ... for the layered flowers AND the background. I love how rich all the reds look together.

The leaves come from the Green Meadows cardstock pack. I can't stress enough how luxurious it is to sit down, open a pack of green and red paper, and just start running your dies through the machine. Since the papers are slim, you can fit two papers side-by-side on a standard die machine. I cut them in half lengthwise so I can have all four colors go through the die machine in one pass. Very efficient!

Let's also talk about the beautiful Peony Dream 3D Die here ... it has two main flowers that you can either layer on top of each other (like the bottom flower) or use individually (like the top flower) for a different look.

Here's a close-up. I backed each main layer with chipboard to give it a ton of dimension. You really can't help but run your fingers over it when you see it in person!

One other thing to note, I wanted the smaller flower to be up in the pink section of the card, but it looked odd floating up there without a stem. I was going to cut a strip of paper to use, but then I decided to cut another set of leaves (from Virginia Rose 3D Die), and just take all the leaves off. Voila, a beautifully thin and slightly curved flower stem!

This card uses one of the beautiful blues from the Sea Shore collection as a vertical panel on the card. In the same color family, I stamped the bold leaves from Dot Botanicals to groud the arrangement. The white on the left of the card was looking very stark and unbalanced, until I remembered the white Graph Die Cut Tape. Perfect texture to add for some balance!

Remember on the last card I said you can layer the two main flowers in Peony Dream 3D Die or use them separately? This card just uses the larger flower as the focus of the card. And instead of white highlights, they deep red from the Red Cosmos set for a different look. I also stenciled some dots on the petals with my most-used stencil, Feeling Dotty.

I never would have imagined it, but this is actually my favorite color combination! The yellows from Summer Afternoon and the blues from Sea Shore look stunning together.

They both have a lot of gray in them and screm "Fall" or "Winter" to me ... which is the perfect palette for a floral Happy New Year card. Bright yellows and aquas are often better suited for the traditional summer florals.

This particular flower is made with the Virginia Rose 3D Die Set. This set has the stem for the smaller bloom all figured out already. I knew I wanted to make blue leaves for this card, but I wasn't prepared for how much I'd like them with the yellow and tan flowers.

I would use that light blue on every card if I could ... it just makes me happy : )

Bundle Pack

Here's a look at all the color families that are being offered. If you're not sure what colors you're going to want to use, you can also purchase the cardstock bundles as a set, with a 5% discount.

Also, the cardstock is sized to fit in the cute Mini Blossom Die Cutting Machine ... which happens to be 20% off now through Friday 11/15.

I really enjoyed being spoiled with my pre-cut and pre-matched cardstock. I only planned on making two cards, but I kept wanting to try different combinations of colors together. Fun times!

Prizes:
To celebrate, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scarpbook Blog by 11/20 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. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on 11/23.

I happily send you off to the fabulously talented Jaycee Gaspar ... it's always such a JOY to see what he's come up with!

Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly

Supplies used (affiliate links included, thanks so much for your support!)