Thursday, July 12, 2018

Altenew Color Therapy Blog Hop & Giveaway

I've been on a bit of a coloring kick lately. I do this sometimes to sort of break up my creative routine. So if I have a long stretch of watercolor, I switch to markers or pencils.

Lately, I've been reaching for the marker.

So today I challenged myself to get a watercolor look with alcohol markers. I had tried the Altenew markers at Creativation in January - and just now got my first set - I got set C - and I wanted to play with them. So I chose a layering stamp set - (see my post using the layers here - it's the third card in that post) - but didn't use the solid layer so I could color. Then I just used two markers from the set for the leaves, trying to make them look like wet on wet watercolor.

Here's what I did:


  1. Saturate the leaf with yellow - 2 or three layers.
  2. Working quickly, add deep red to the top of the leaf.
  3. Touch the yellow marker to the red marker to pick up red ink, and then blend the line between the red and the yellow on the ink.

Keep practicing it - you'll see some of my leaves are blendier than others - and that's fine - that's how watercolor is too! The sentiment is from this set.
Watercolor Effects with alcohol markers by Understand Blue







Altenew LEAF CANOPY Clear Stamps ALT2330
[ SSS ]
Altenew LEAF CANOPY Dies ALT2331
[ SSS | ALTN ]
Altenew FLOWER ARRANGEMENT Clear...
[ SSS ]
Altenew FLOWER ARRANGEMENT Die Set...
[ SSS | ALTN ]
Altenew Artists Markers SET C ALT1783
[ SSS | ALTN ]
Artist Markers — Altenew
[ ALTN ]
Hero Arts NEUTRALS MIXED ACCENTS...
[ SSS ]
Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White
[ GNK ]
MISTI Stamping Tool
[ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | SBC | MFT ]
Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth
[ AMZUS ]
Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -...
[ BLIC ]
Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding...
[ AMZUS ]
Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675
[ SSS | ART | AMZUS ]
Essentials by Ellen Storage...
[ ELH ]
Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC
[ ELH | SSS ]
Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two...
[ SSS | ART | BLIC | ELH ]
Ink Off Cloth
[ INK ]

It's nice to have markers that match inks I own too. These are nice because they have a brush tip and a bullet tip, so you can do large or small areas of color. You can buy them all in one set, or they also have them broken into families  - A, B, C and Warm Greys, as well as mini bundles of four markers. You can see all of them here.

So my experiment with these markers was in perfect timing for the Altenew Color Therapy blog hop today, so I'm happy you're here if you've been hopping. I can't wait to see what everyone does. 



Here is the list of lovelies hopping with me today. 


AND - they are offering a sale on the markers in conjunction with the hop too. Code is below!



AND, on top of the sale, I have one $20 Altenew gift card! So leave me a comment below with your plans for this weekend, and I will draw a winner and post the winner on the 19th, when I'll be back with a Christmas card - STOP YELLING AT ME I KNOW IT'S JULY! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

82 comments:

  1. Beautiful coloring on the Leaf Canopy .... I'm not quite ready for fall, but those colors are tempting!

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  2. Love this and the coloring is so pretty. Did you use Cardstock or yupo? Either way so gorgeous thanks for the inspiration.

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  3. Awesome blending! :) My plans for the weekend are to relax and make some cards.

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  4. I love the tip to tip technique you used on these pretty leaves!

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  5. What a simple, elegant card. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  6. Clean and simple cards are my favorite. Your card is fabulous!!

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  7. Pretty colors put together here. Lovely card.
    (And I need A LOT of practice coloring!! lol).

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  8. Love this color combo--so deep and rich! BEAUTIFULLY done, Lydia! So glad to have you in this blog hop!

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  9. Love your beautifully blended flowers!!!!

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  10. Love the beautiful colors of the new markers! This is stunning

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  11. Simply beautiful! Love that you gave a tutorial of how to use them!! So helpful to understand it and it came out beautifully!!

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  12. Lydia, I love how you were able to blend these markers, in a similar way to water colouring, yet with alcohol markers. Very nice and thanks for the explanation.

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  13. Thank you for sharing your card. This stamp set was one of my favs from the recent release. I love the simplicity of your design but the coloring is beautiful. This has sparked me to continue to practice. Thanks again.

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  14. Beautiful leaves! I love the vivid color!

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  15. Oh man.....I just love the cards that I have seen done with this stamp set.....your choice of colors was wonderful....thank you so much....someday I hope to own it....

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  16. Gorgeous! You really did make them look like watercolor. Love the card, too! hugs, treen

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  17. I haven't used any alcohol markers yet, but these might be a good starting place. love your card!

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  18. A very simple, but elegant card. Nice job!

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  19. Such a wonderful card.
    Thanks for sharing...

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  20. Such a stunning card. Simple and effective.

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  21. Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
    you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, let alone
    the content!

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  22. Hi Lydia! Your card is vibrantly gorgeous :) I absolutely adore your color palette too! Thanks for sharing your creativity with us :)

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  23. Beautiful card! Love the colour blending!

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  24. Fabulous card! Love the way you colored the leaves! I don't have specific plans for the weekend. Waiting for out of state company to show up and they are not sure when they will be here.

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  25. Very pretty card! I really love the BEAUTIFUL simplicity of it! And the coloring is FANTASTIC too!!

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  26. Strikingly beautiful, great colorering!

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  27. This is a beautiful card ! I have done some of the top of one market to the other it works pretty well.

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  28. Super cool coloring, Lydia! I love this CAS card & the gorgeous colors. Great one for almost any occasion! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!

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  29. What a beautiful card! Great coloring. We are going to a candy store for a fundraiser for the local children's hospital then Rib and Beer fest in the evening!

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  30. Love the colors you chose for the foliage! Just stunning!

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  31. Pretty card! That's amazing that you were able to achieve that look with only two markers. Love the colors! My weekend plans include looking for a bridesmaids dress for a wedding I'm in, and hoping to spend some time swimming - my favorite summer activity.

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  32. Love the technique, coloring turned out so vivid!

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  33. Lydia this is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! You blendied magnificently!!!! OMG MY WEEKEND IS GONNA ROCK! Way better than last weekend! We are traveling to Pendleton (home) to the Pendleton Whiskey Music Festival to see PITBULL & BLAKE SHELTON!! SO STOKED!!!

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  34. Another way to use these cool leaves. I have them, and they are perfect for so many things.

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  35. How pretty! I really like this stamp set form Altenew and how you colored it.

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  36. Lovely card. I love the colors you used to create the leaf canopy. It reminds me of a cool fall day. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  37. I never thought about making alcohol markers look like watercolor, very interesting! I like the way your card turned out, with each leaf looking a little different than the next - just like in nature. I love it!

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  38. I love this card. The warm colors are gorgeous. And thanks for the tip on blending. That is an area that I always struggle with.

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  39. WOW great blending on your leaves. A stunning CAS card

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  40. Will be sitting in front of a fan !

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  41. Love the clean lines of this striking card.

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  42. Beautiful card! I love the vibrancy of the leaves and the clean design.

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  43. What an adorable card I'm loving the colours. Thank you for the great tutorial too xx

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  44. I LOVE the colors; loving the bold & bright; love the sentiment - simple yet so striking!

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  45. Gorgeous card! I love the colours you used for the leaves! I will continue organizing my craft room (it's almost there but still feels like so much more to do), do some crafting, and have a games night planned with friends.

    And, it's never too early for Christmas cards!

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  46. Gorgeous colors and blending - whether less or more blendy. Funny, what I thought of as the top of the leaf was the other end - the tip. Not that I’m right.

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  47. Such gorgeous colouring - and with markers! I love Altenew stamps, but I don't own many...thanks for the chance to add to my stash! :)

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  48. I plan on enjoying time spent with my family. Your card is lovely!

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  49. Hi there! Excellent work on the card; love the blending tips! This weekend I'll be a hostess at a wedding, so tonight I'm planning to finish some touches on the wedding card I intend to give (it might turn out to be my first shaker card, so wish me luck!). On Sunday I hope to get some youth of our church into cardmaking by making some cards for some members that are sick. Have a good weekend!

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  50. Love your gorgeous card! The color you chose for the leaves is wonderful! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  51. So pretty. Would be a great fall card

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  52. Beautiful coloring. I love the blending. I struggled with blending the Artist markers at first too.. and I think just like all other markers, you just learn how to use them. This looks beautiful and I love my artist markers!

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  53. I just love the colors on these leaves!

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  54. Very nice work on these leaves!! So excited to see the new release of these markers!

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  55. If Ihadn't read the description, I would have thought that maybe you blended watercolors to get this look. And I am less intimidated knowing I don't need every single "in-between" color to achieve a beautiful look with alcohol markers. Maybe I will give them another try. Thank you.

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  56. The shading on your flowers is fabulous, Lydia - such a gorgeous CAS card!

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  57. Beautiful blending with those markers! Lovely card!

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  58. Great alcohol ink tutorial...Just got some and learning along with you.

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  59. WOW ! I really like the look of those petals, they blend so nicely with a definite watercolour look. I've not got enough craft pennies yet for a set so I envy you so much. I think you've cracked this effect totally, will lose i forward to seeing more x

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  60. I love these vibrant yellow-orange leaves and their watercolor look. Thanks for the tip to saturate the whole leaf first with the light color, that helped my blending tons. This weekend I won’t be crafting but helping my kids pack and move apartments.

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  61. Thanks for sharing how you colored these leaves.

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  62. Love the autumn tones you have used on this card. It is CAS and beautiful.

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  63. So wonderful!! Can't seem to do markers!

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  64. I love the yellow-orange color that ultimately takes on the color of the flower petals. It almost looks like the flower got to be this color via the water it was living in. Just beautiful!

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  65. I would have assumed this was watercolor! Beautiful card and I'm looking forward to a (shhh!) Christmas card!! My plans for the weekend are sad - my baby girl is going to visit some family so I will be home all alone! :( Oh well, more no-guilt craft time for me!!!

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  66. Simple yet super beautiful card! Love the color shades! We just shifted to the USA from India and my weekend was pretty occupied with jet lag :D

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  67. Amazing I love this stamp set and your coloring is just perfect.

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  68. I love these warm colors, So beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  69. Great CAS blending design! Thanks for the blending tips, I have yet to try this method. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  70. Great hint on coloring the leaves. I've sometimes started with the dark on an edge and then take my light color and pull the dark to middle to blend and then end up with light color at the tip. This card's image is great - - reminds me of fall foliage - - turned brownish/red

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