Altenew Refresh Your Alcohol Markers Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hello fellow Altenew fans!  Welcome to this stop of the Altenew Refresh Your Alcohol Markers Blog Hop!  If you're hopping along with us, you might be visiting me from Kymona Tracey's blog.  If you're jumping in here, you can start back at the Altenew Card Blog blog for all the details.  I also have the entire blog hop list at the end of this post in case you've missed anyone.

Altenew has released refills for its beautiful line of alcohol markers!  The refills come in beautiful, sturdy bottles in all the gorgeous marker shades.  This is obviously great for refreshing your markers (if you use them as often as I do, this is wonderful news), but it's extra exciting because we can now use these beautiful colors for alcohol ink techniques.  I've been wanting to expand my alcohol ink horizons for quite a while, so I decided to focus on using these techniques with my refills for my cards today.

When making my alcohol ink panels, I found that I occasionally made a panel that I was entirely happy with.  More often, there would be a splotch or section that I wasn't as thrilled with as the rest of the panel.  So I thought it would be helpful to split this blog post into two parts: how I used alcohol ink panels in their entirety and what I did when I liked only a portion of my panel.

My first cards use whole alcohol ink panels.  I played around with my marker refills by using them both in their concentrated form and by diluting them with 90% isopropyl alcohol.  My technique was simple... just drop the inks onto Yupo paper and blow them around with a straw.  The results were so beautiful, and you can see the difference between the diluted and concentrated inks.

I really loved the panel I created on top, so I decided to make it the focus of a card.  Not wanting to take away from the beauty of the inks, I die cut the word "Sweet" from Altenew Script Words 3 Die set  gold glitter cardstock and adhered it in the middle of the panel.  I heat embossed the "Hello" and "Thank you for being amazing" sentiments from the Amazing You Stamp Set.  One tip... when embossing on Yupo paper, make sure your heat gun is REALLY hot (like you've warmed it up for 10 minutes hot).  And don't point the gun on one section of the paper for too long or your paper will warp.  I swirled the gun over my panel, lifting it off the paper every couple of seconds to avoid melting or warping.

Some gold stitching and gold sequins and this card was finished.  I love how the panel really shines on this card!

For my second card, I used the same technique of diluting my refills with isopropyl alcohol.  I then painted them onto a Yupo paper panel with an inexpensive paint brush so I could concentrate the colors where I wanted them, dabbing ink here and there and blending them together with the brush.  I loved the soft effects that I achieved, so I decided to heat emboss flowers in white over the panel so not to take away from the inks' beauty.  I used flowers from the Botanical Garden Stamp Set to achieve this look.  To add some additional interest, I colored over the leaves with my Frayed Leaf artist marker.  I embossed my "just because" sentiment from the Painted Greetings Stamp Set on vellum so the background could show through, and added gold stitching and sequins to finish.  

More often than not, I would create a panel where I'd be unhappy with a splotch or section that just wasn't as nice as the rest.  For these panels, I decided to die cut shapes to showcase the beautiful inky backgrounds. Flowers and alcohol inks are just a gorgeous pair!  

For my first card, I decided to heat emboss flowers from the Botanical Garden Stamp Set onto a panel I had created with Frosty Pink and Ruby Red refills.  I layered these flowers onto a panel I stamped with additional flowers and sprigs from the same stamp set.  To make the leaves green, I colored over the alcohol inks with my Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades markers.  This was such a fun technique (I made sure to scribble off my green markers onto scrap paper to avoid any staining of the nib).  I cut the "Hello" from Blooming Bouquet Die Set from the same pink and coral panel and embossed the "so thankful for you" sentiment from the Needlework Motif Stamp Set.  

For my next card, I decided to use my Fantasy Floral 3D Die Set to layer alcohol ink die cuts to make a gorgeous rose.  I cut the Thinking of You die sentiment from the same pink and red panel, and cut the leaves from the green and aqua panel shown above.  To make the background panel, I used diluted Sea Glass refill ink and blew it over Yupo paper with a straw.  

For my last card, I die cut the word "hello" from a few different panels I had created.  I watercolored a background using my Altenew Watercolor Pan Set in shades of aqua.  My "Stay Awesome" sentiment is from the Needlework Motif Stamp Set.  I stitched around the edge of the panel and the words with silver thread.  

I clearly had a lot of fun making cards with my Artist Marker Refills!  LOL  These techniques are so fun and I just love the results you can achieve!  

To celebrate this blog hop, Altenew is running a 15% off marker promotion! Save 15% Off on All Artist Markers from 9/20/2018 at 12:01 EDT until 9/22/2018 at 11:59 PM EDT. No code needed to enjoy this sale! Not valid on previous purchases. Shop HERE→ https://altenew.com/collections/artist-markers (excluding the refills and brush nibs)

PRIZES!!! 

To celebrate this release, you have a chance to win a $20 gift certificate right here!  Just leave me a  comment below and I'll choose one lucky winner by September 26, 2018!  Good luck!!!

Altenew is also giving away a $30 gift certificate to six lucky winners!  Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or Altenew Scrapbook Blog for a chance to win.  The six winners will be announced on the Altenew blogs on September 29, 2018.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!  Next stop on the blog hop is the lovely and talented Virginia Lu.  I can't wait to see what she creates!  Enjoy the blog hop and have a WONDERFUL day!!! 

The blog hop order is:

Altenew Card Blog

Erum Tasneem

Gayatri Murali

Therese Calvird

Kristina Pokazanieva

Laurie Willison

Rubeena Ianigro

TaeEun Yoo

Lydia Fiedler

Agnieszka Malyszek

Kelly Latevola

Altenew Scrapbook Blog

Zinia Redo

Laura Jane

Svitlana Shayevich

Emily Midgett

Kymona Tracey

Leigh Houston

Virginia Lu

Barb Engler

Enza Gudor

Norine Borys

Erica A-B

Lilith Eeckels

Michelle Short

Links to the supplies I used are below.  I participate in the Altenew affiliate program, which means that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you when products are purchased through the links I share.  Thank you for your support!

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