Hello crafty friends! April Leithner is on the blog to introduce the October 2024 Inspiration Challenge and share a pair of handmade cards that have a ton of dimension!

October 2024 Inspiration Challenge

Each month, a member of the Altenew Design Team (or guest) selects a photo that they have taken and then uses that as inspiration for a project. We want to share the fun, of course, and so we invite YOU to use your own creativity to make a project inspired by this month's photo. Let's hear it from April!

Inspiration Challenge Photo

I love to snap photos of flowers when we travel to send to a friend who loves floral photography. I snapped this photo outside of our casita in Aruba this summer. The white petals really make the other colors really pop. I am a huge fan of the tropics, and this flower says tropical paradise to me.

INSPIRATION CHALLENGE CARD #1: STICKING TO THE THREE INSPIRATION CHALLENGE COLORS

• Die cut the Zero Waste Die from the Craft Your Life Chocolate Flowers Kit using white cardstock.
• Leave all pieces in place to make stenciling easier. Low tack tape like washi tape placed on the back of the die cut piece helps everything stay in place while working.
• Use the stencils in the Chocolate Flowers Kit to ink blend the flowers and flower centers (save leaves for another project). I used Fresh Dye Ink in Maple Yellow along with Purple Wine and Pinkalicious Crisp Dye Ink, as I don’t have all the Fresh Dye Inks yet. These three colors were the closest match I had to the inspiration colors for this month.

• Ink blend using Mini Blending Brushes lightly over the entire flower and more heavily at the ends of the flower petals. Ink flower centers entirely. Tip: Remember, you can achieve different shades of any color when ink blending with pressure and how much ink you use.
• Pop ink blended dies out of the background piece and adhere centers to flowers.
• Tip: Use a pencil, watercolor brush, etc. to curl the ends of the flower petals upward for more dimension.
• Using Vellum to die cut the Zero Waste Die from the Craft Your Life Kit once again. Save all the extra pieces for another project.
• Use the background stamp from the Chocolate Flowers Stamp Set and the Stampwheel to stamp a background panel of 4″ x 5.25” of white cardstock with Silver Lining Fresh Dye Ink. The stamp used on this card is easy to line up in order to stamp two times to fill the entire background piece of cardstock.
• Using some silver metallic thread from the Metallic Thread Set, create a bed of thread to adhere your flowers over. Pop up all but two flowers using small pieces of Instant Dimension Foam Tape. Adhere the smallest flowers directly to the background panel.
• Next, using a small amount of adhesive on the very end of the leaves, tuck the Vellum leaves under the thread and flowers.
• Heat emboss a sentiment from the Chocolate Flowers Stamp Set using Obsidian Pigment Ink and Crystal Clear Crisp Embossing Powder. Trim down close to the heat embossed image for a beautiful, bold sentiment.

• Adhere sentiment with Instant Dimension Foam Tape to bottom portion of card.
• Go direct to paper with the Purple Wine Crisp Dye ink around edges of a 4.25″ x 5.5” piece of white cardstock, or use the Crafty Necessities Purple Wine Cardstock to create a final layering piece.
• Adhere the flower panel to the Purple Wine layering piece and use Iridescent Crystals Gem Sparkles to scatter around the card.
• Adhere to a heavy weight card base.

INSPIRATION CHALLENGE CARD #2: ADD MORE DIMENSION WITH AN EMBOSSING FOLDER

• Use the same Craft Your Life Chocolate Flowers Kit plus ink colors for this card.
• Die cut Zero Waste Die from the kit, same as on Card #1, keeping all pieces in place.
• Stencil same as before with the same ink colors except concentrate color in centers of flowers this time. Curl edges of flowers as before.
• Use Firefly Fresh Dye Ink to ink blend leaves with Mini Blending Brushes, leaving edges of leaves lighter.
• Emboss an A2 piece of white cardstock with the kit's embossing folder. Mist lightly with the Fine Mister to prevent paper from cracking.
• Trim to 4″ x 5.25” when the paper is dry. Tip: Trimming the panel after using the embossing folder ensures a true measurement, as an embossing folder can change a card panel’s size.

• Smoosh some Maple Yellow Fresh Dye Ink on a non-porous surface and add a small amount of water. Splatter on a white embossed panel using a watercolor brush.
• Arrange flowers around the corner of the white panel, adhere some with small pieces of Instant Dimension Foam Tape and some directly to the panel. Tuck leaves under flowers.
• Stamp and heat emboss another sentiment as in Card #1.
• Adhere sentiment directly to the white panel this time.
• Add Sicilian Amber Gem Sparkles to flower centers and in the top corner of the card.

• Create another back layering panel by ink blending with a Small Blending Brush and Pinkalicious Ink around edges of an A2 panel of white cardstock. Adhere flower panel to layering piece.
• Adhere to the heavy-weight card base.

I decided to keep my flowers more tropical and add a little more color. However, you don’t have to and can focus on the white space more. If you want to join in the challenge, simply use our inspiration photo from the graphic above and link your project(s) by clicking the button below. You could win one of five $30 gift certificates to the Altenew store! I can’t wait to see what inspires you and what you create! Thanks for stopping by! ~April What do you think about April's gorgeous cards? Now, it’s your turn!

Play along with our Inspiration Challenge

• Altenew products should be the focus, but other companies' products can be used.
• Make sure to use our challenge image above in your blog post.
• Include a link back to the ALTENEW INSPIRATION CHALLENGE POST.
• When uploading your project, make sure you link your entry post, not your entire blog.
• You may enter the challenge as many times as you wish!
• The challenge ends on October 31st, 2024, at 11:55 pm EDT.

FREE Coloring Pages!Nothing from Altenew in your crafting stash? Not a problem!

Introducing our FREE Coloring Pages, a collection of printable coloring sheets that you can use for the Inspiration Challenge. Color them with your favorite medium or combine them with other designs in your stash—the creative possibilities are endless! Get more designs here.

After the challenge ends, FOUR WINNERS will be selected. Each will receive a $30 gift certificate to spend at www.altenew.com. Winners will be announced on November 10, 2024.

More Prizes!

If you use #AltenewChallenge when you share your challenge entry on social media, you are instantly entered into a raffle to win a $15 gift certificate to our online store. 

Feel free to use the badge above and let everyone know you are a participant in our Inspiration Challenge! Click the blue button below to link your entry (or entries!). Good luck and happy crafting!