Thursday, September 20, 2018

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:



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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52 comments on "Altenew Refresh Your Alcohol Markers Blog Hop + Giveaway!"
  1. All beauties, loving the pastels. Great designs too, thanks for sharing xx

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  2. Wow these are gorgeous. I love playing with alcohol inks! I especially love adding drops of clear alcohol to make it look bubbly... so much fun!

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  3. Wonderful set of cards!! I love the gorgeous blended backgrounds! :)

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  4. So many beautiful ways to use these refill markers to make such stunning cards!

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  5. Gorgeous cards and fun techniques using the markers/ink refills. My favorite if the 'hello - so thankful for you' card. I love the design of it.

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  6. So many pretty cards. My favorite is the second one.

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  7. All of your cards are beautiful, I love how you made some vibrant and some soft colors. My favorite is the last one, the "hello's" cut out with various colors to match the background is gorgeous. Thank you for all the inspiration.

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  8. I love all of your cards! Especially the first two with the alcohol ink backgrounds - the colors are great - so soft and pretty! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  9. These are beautifully artistic cards! I like the soft, and also I like the bright!

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  10. Very pretty cards. Creating is like life...sometimes your happy with a whole day and sometimes there are only snippets, but learning to be grateful for those small things makes it a good day! TFS.

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  11. you always have such creative and lovely cards,Leigh - especially love the last one!

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  12. WOW! INCREDIBLE backgrounds! I love the soft colors!

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  13. Gorgeous backgrounds Leigh, I love that you don’t discard of accidentally smudged panels, fabulous use of refills! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  14. Soft or vibrant...You have created a mix of both and they are all stunning.

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  15. Wow, you have been busy playing with these alcohol refills!! Very lovely cards. All of them have such beautiful colors!!

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  16. Your cards are awesome, love the backgrounds!

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  17. Sweet cards, I love stitching. The color from the Markers is so vibrant!

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  18. Beautiful creations! Love each one of these beautiful cards.

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  19. awesome cards - love your creativity:)

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  20. Such lovely cards and amazing alcohol ink panels! Love the soft colors and organic movement of the ink.

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  21. Hello Leigh,

    Everything you created is splendid! Thank you for sharing your talent and e planning exactly how you created each one. It must have taken you forever to stitch around those letters on the bottom card. Wow! I bet it is really stunning in person.

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  22. Wonderful pale sweetness you've created on your cards. These refill colors are very nice.

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  23. Great cards. I love the Think Of You card. Very pretty.

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  24. Love your cards , they are cheerful and pretty.

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  25. SOOO PRETTY! Great choice of colors Leigh!
    Thank you

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  26. Love the soft colors you created. Your cards are awesome.

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  27. Beautiful cards and great backgrounds.
    Thanks for sharing...

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  28. I love the colours! And the tiny bubbles in the first card! Beautiful!

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  29. These creations are all so beautiful! Love those awesome backgrounds, especially those pretty soft colors.

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  30. I love that beautiful color combination! Those blues and greens look so fresh! Thanks for some fun inspiration today!

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  31. The last card is my favorite. I haven’t tried the alcohol inks yet, but looking forward to it soon.

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  32. All your cards are fantastic but my favs are the last 2 stunning

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  33. Love there backgrounds you created with the reinkers - and the cards are gorgeous!

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  34. Lovely cards! The backgrounds you've made are amazing. Thanks for sharing! ~ Lenice

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  35. Your cards are just so soft and lovely. I think using these reinkers would a great bit of fun. I am so happy that they have released the new refill sets....that is awesome....thank you so much for sharing your work...hugs

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  36. so soft and elegant..lovely set of cards..

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  37. The soft embossing on the second card
    is fantastic. Love the last card - the
    mixing of colors is gorgeous. thanks
    for sharing. txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  38. Youve really explored the different ways to use these refills, I really like what you did with them. Even the ones that didn't quite for the bill totally you got some stunning decorative flowers & sentiments from, I actually can't pick just one favourite, I like all.

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  39. I love those backgrounds! The one with the Sweet sentiment is darling! Love how you used the markers on your sentiment die cuts also!

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  40. Love that you see the positive in every creation! Those backgrounds are beautiful that you created, the colors together are amazing! You cards cutting out pieces add so much great texture. Beautiful!

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  41. These are so beautiful. I particularly like the white embossed flowers over the pastel colors and the really bright red die cut roses over the light teal. Thanks for sharing with us!

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  42. Very pretty cards. Love the soft backgrounds you have created!

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  43. I understand situations where you only want to use part of a panel. I had to force myself to stop creating alcohol inked backgrounds today. having too much fun!

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  44. Wowza! Wowza! Wowza! Your creations are amazing :) I'm sure glad you not making me choose a favorite because I don't think I could do it! Thank you so much for this inspiration Leigh :)

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