Oh my... this month's Build-A-Flower Flourishing Zinnia is GORGEOUS. I love zinnias. They come in a happy rainbow of hues, and they are my favorite go-tos when fall color starts to fade my otherwise colorful garden. But not only do I love the flowers, I love the process of stamping this set. I recall stamping the second layer of the image for the first time and saying, "Oh!" And then stamping the third layer and saying "WHOA!" (and laughing as my little dog lifted his head wondering who I was talking to 😂) This is just an absolutely beautiful stamp set.
I always like to stretch my supplies, so I decided to try a "one stamp, three mediums" challenge. I started by stamping some flowers with my Altenew Crisp Inks. Did you know that the only color zinnias do not naturally come in is blue? One of my favorite things about stamping is that we can make flowers any color we want, so I stamped my zinnia in Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake, and Lagoon inks. Not content to leave this beautiful bloom by itself, I stamped a garden of blooms with Altenew's Hope and Garden Treasure sets and layered the images together. I stamped the sentiment with Volcano Lake ink. As you know, the crisp inks are so vibrant and this garden just pops off the card!
I loved the first card so much that I decided to stamp a second card, this time using Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, and Rubellite inks for one flower and Sunkissed, Orange Cream, and Autumn Blaze inks for another. I then watercolored a background panel using my Altenew watercolor pan set and layered the blooms on top.
After stamping the sentiment and embossing it in gold, this card was finished!
For my third card, I wanted to try stamping my images with Distress Oxide Inks on kraft paper. I layered Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Candied Apple (slightly toned down with Picked Raspberry) inks for my pink flower. I then masked off that flower and stamped a second with Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean inks. I used foliage from the Hope set and stamped them with Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce Inks. I stamped the sentiment to match the foliage.
I had never tried stamping with Distress Oxides on kraft paper before, and I love the rustic charm of the final result.
For my last card I wanted to try to achieve a different look, so I decided to try using watercolor pencils to color my image. Again going with blues, I stamped my first layer using Altenew's Limestone ink on watercolor paper. I colored over the ink with watercolor pencil, and used my Altenew water brush to soften the layer. I then stamped over this base layer again using Limestone ink, colored over the ink, and softened it again using my water brush. I repeated this process for the final layer. I once again used the foliage from the Hope stamp set for my leaves, again stamping, coloring, and softening with water.
I hope you enjoyed these projects! I love the different looks you can achieve using different mediums to color your images. This set is just perfect for playing with these techniques!
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 October 5, 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. Three winners will be announced on the Card Blog, and the other three winners will be announced on the Scrapbook Blog on October 9, 2018.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog! Next stop on the blog hop is my wonderful friend Rubeena Ianigro. I can't wait to see what she creates! Enjoy the blog hop and have a WONDERFUL day!!!
The blog hop order is:
Your cards are beautiful! My favorite is the one with the two flowers.
ReplyDeleteI really like the kraft color with distress oxides! Great idea.
ReplyDeleteThese are really all gorgeous!! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThese cards are beautiful, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCombining several colors of these new Zinnias looks so pretty
ReplyDeleteLove your zinnias...especially the last card. You can see the layers of the petals so detailed and it's as if I can reach out to flick a petal.
ReplyDeleteLovely designs Leigh! The zinnia is so pretty! Love the different color combos and the sentiments, simply amazing! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteLots of pretty color combos. Love them.
ReplyDeleteHooray for you! If you color a zinnia, you might as well go all the way...well done.
ReplyDeleteLove all of the designs you created. What a great combo of sets you used for the first card, and those happy colors!
ReplyDeleteI love all the various techniques you used. So versatile.
ReplyDeleteGreat cards! I think the second was my favorite though!
ReplyDeleteI love the cards you created. The zinnias on kraft gives such a soft, pleasing look.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love all of your cards. You know, with cards and flowers, you should be able to color the flowers whatever you want. I do, I love to color flowers and hate to be limited to the only color you can do for THAT flower. We should be free to be creative.
ReplyDeleteWow your cards are Stunning!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards! Love the ink blended background :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing so many great examples showing off these flowers my fav is the one on kraft paper!
ReplyDeleteLove all your cards, especially the 2nd one and the last one! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful cards and colours! Love the first two!
ReplyDeleteWow! The inspiration cards are absolutely gorgepous! Love the new BAF set.
ReplyDeleteThose would brighten anybody's day!
ReplyDeleteLove all the rainbow of Altenew crisp in k colors! You are right that we can make them any color that we fancy!! So beauty!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards! Another beautiful flower release.
ReplyDeleteLike the zinnias, you made quite a few cards with some of their colors and even blue which I liked the best. I must have this set. I can't grow them because the deer think they are candy but I can at least stamp my favorite flower.
ReplyDeleteEspecially like the first one with the floral cluster!
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame zinnia do not come in that color (blueish aqua) because yours is gorgeous!!!! ;) Love all your cards...way to go showcasing so many. I grew ten large pots of zinnias this summer from seed packets so this set is whispering (or shouting) in my ear that it wants to live with me! ha-ha
ReplyDeleteSTUNNING COLORING! I just love how you did these! WOW
ReplyDeletewhat happens in the craft room stays in the craft room. at least if we're talking to our supplies. :)
ReplyDeleteI did not know that Zinnias do not come in blue. Very interesting fact. Love your rainbow of flowers. All are simply beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteLove those images! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteAll your cards are drop-dead gorgeous! I really love your designs and the colors!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous cards!! I love every one of them.
ReplyDeleteThose are beautiful cards!!!
ReplyDeleteYour cards are gorgeous. I love the teal zinnia. It's beautiful.
ReplyDeletethey should come in blues and teals for real. They are really lovely
ReplyDeleteYour cards are all gorgeous, but my favorite is the combination of flowers in the first card. I just learned what a blog hop was this month. I'll be following you to get more inspiration for beautiful cards!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness so much inspiration on this BAF: Flourishing Zinnia set! Your cards are all beautiful and I love that you showed us different medium options to try. Thank you for sharing your amazing cards and all the inspiration. PS: Every flower comes in blue and/or purple, at least in my mind :) (mardy14@bellsouth.net)
ReplyDeleteLeigh, you have created a true garden of lovely flower cards with the Zinnia as the focal point! Beautiful! So many lovely colors. TFS.
ReplyDeleteI love all the big, bold flowers! Lovely!!
ReplyDeleteYour zinnia cards are lovely!
ReplyDeletelove your cards - the colors are perfect:)
ReplyDeleteAll of your zinnias look so bright and fresh! I love your color choices and your cheerful design!
ReplyDeleteThese look wonderful! I like how you paired the zinnia with the other flowers and I love the blue "hello" card. I think it's really pretty.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards with a very pretty flower!! Fantastic color combinations too! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the colors you chose to use! Really beautiful cards
ReplyDeleteThe stamp has such beautiful details!
ReplyDeleteLove how you stacked the images. Fabulous projects. TFS
ReplyDeleteLove the variety of cards. The colors are just gorgeous and show the versatility of this stamp. I really love the blue.
ReplyDeleteYour cards are so lovely...the details of the zinnias so amazing. tfs
ReplyDeleteStunning cards! Especially love all the gorgeous colors you used. My favorite is the blue hello beauty!
ReplyDeleteAll of your cards are beautiful. Love that you used blues.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous collection of cards! I love your color choices, especially with the distress oxides, which I often have problems getting layered correctly. I also really like your subtle backgrounds. Thanks for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, bold and vibrant! Fantastic cards.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards. the zinnia is so pretty and the colors you chose are stunning.
ReplyDeleteFantastic cards.
ReplyDeleteLove how you paired the colors on
the first card. thanks for
sharing. txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Gorgeous set of cards! I love the pink and orange combination on the second card. The watercolored background is so pretty with the matching Zinnias.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful cards! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a pretty flower with so much dimension. Love It! Thanks for the beautiful inspiration! This is an absolutely gorgeous card!
ReplyDelete