Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Feb/Mar 2026

Hello Friends!  It's time for a new challenge month at The Beautiful Blossoms Challenge Blog.  The challenges are Always Anything Floral Goes (entries must be floral focused) with an optional inspiration picture.  Following is the picture this month:

I was directly inspired by the Purple and Yellow Iris flowers in the bouquet, and I've used the Altenew Build-a-Flower Bearded Iris Layering Stamp and Coordinating Die Set for my card. To color the flowers, I've stamped each layer using Catherine Pooler and Stampin' Up inks.

The background panel has been embossed with the Mod Squares 3-D embossing folder from Altenew, and I've lightly inked around the edges of the panel using Pixie Dust light purple ink from Catherine Pooler.

To finish off the design, I've stamped the sentiment, from the stamp set, popped the strip on foam pads and adhered to the embossed panel.  Lastly. I've added lilac faux gems for that extra something special.

Please stop by the Challenge and check out the beautiful cards my teamies have created, the ladies are so talented and you'll be inspired.  We hope you'll create a floral focused project and join us this month.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Donna

**Challenges Entered:

AAA Colorful
Creative Crafters

Allsorts Challenge

Can You Handle the Pressure?

Sweet Stampin'

Simply Clean & Simple

Craft Rocket

Ellibelle's Garden Party

Word Art Wednesday

Crafts Galore Encore

 

Wild Rose Slimline Card

Hello Friends and Happy Friday!  I hope you have plans for something fun and/or relaxing this weekend.  For me, nothing too exciting planned other than a bit of crafty time for me!

My card today features the new monthly Altenew Build-A-Flower for September, the Wild Rose Layering Stamp and Coordinating Die Set.  I've used a non-traditional floral color and a slimline profile.

Using Catherine Pooler browns, oranges and greens inks, I stamp layered the roses and leaves, die cut and set aside.  I wanted a bit of interest in the backgound, so I stamped the outline images in a light shade of brown, die cut the panel with the Cross Stitched Slinline Nesting Dies from Kat Scrappiness and matted with brown card.

I laid out the arrangement and once I was pleased with the look, I used Press and Seal plastic wrap to pick it up.  I adhered the arragement to the focal panel and popped up the front bloom on craft foam.  Lastly, added some extra die cuts in shades of orange and yellow along with gold sequins.  The card base is Neehan 100 lb. Desert Storm Kraft Card.

Have a wonderful weekend and until next time, Happy Crafting!

Donna

**Challenges Entered:

Daring Cardmakers

Cardz TV

Creative Fingers

Outlawz Festive Friday

Pattie's Creations

Creative Knockouts

Lil Red Wagon

Mod Squad

Penny's Challenges

Word Art Wednesday

Altenew Academy Level 1 Course: Seasonal Scene Building

Hello Crafty Friends!  Todays card is my submission to the Altenew Educator Certification Program Course:  Seasonal Scene Building.  The course covered various ways to create scenes in order to bring cards to life.  

For my card today, I created a scene using the Altenew Build-A-Flower:  Fashion Monger Dahlia Stamp with Coordinating Die Set and the Altenew Megal Label Love Sentiment Set to create a summer sky full of clouds for my flower to sit against.

To start my design, I ink blended clouds using a Cloud Stencil, blue ink, a blending brush and a light hand on a card panel measuring 3.5" x 4".  The stencil is 4 sided, so as I blended down the card panel, I turned the stencil 1/4 turn in order to get different cloud shapes.

The Dahlia image and leaves are layering stamps so using my stamp positioner, I stamped the images using yellow, orange and green shades of inks.  I die cut the images with the coordinating dies, adhered the leaves and mounted the floral on craft foam. 

I mounted the blended panel and sentiment strip on craft foam and adhered all to a card base of Neenah Solar White 110 lb. card.  Lastly, I added sequins for a bit of sparkle and shine.

This was a wonderful course that reminded me scene building does not have to include lots of images but can be as simple as my design here today...a simple sky and a floral to create a tranquil scene.  

Thanks for visiting me today.  Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Donna

Products Used:

Altenew Build-A-Flower:  Fashion Monger Dahlia Stamp with Coordinating Die Set

Altenew Megal Label Love Sentiment Set

My Favorite Things Mini Cloud Edges Stencil

Catherine Pooler Inks

Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 80 lb. and 110 lb. Card

Makeup Blending Brushes - Amazon

Sequins - Hobby Lobby

Versafine Onyx Black Pigment Ink

**Challenges Entered:

Avenue 613

Chocolate Baroque - Fav stamps are Altenew Florals

Stamping Sensations

Moving Along with the Times

NBUS - 1st time using stamp sets

Crafter's Cafe

Crafts Galore Encore

QKR Stampede

Altenew AECP - All About Layering 3

Hello Friends and Happy Friday!  Today I'm sharing my submission for the Altenew Academy All About Layering 3 course.  This course goes further in depth with instruction on multi-layer stamping and has lots of great tips and tricks to get a perfect layered image.

For my class project, I've used the new Altenew Bearded Iris Layering Stamp and Coordinating Die Bundle to create my A2 sized card. This is the newest set in the Build-a-Flower monthly subscription plan and it's a beauty.  

To start my card, I brought out the color wheel for a bit of color wheel theory on the design of this card.  I decided upon an Analogous + Complimentary color scheme.  For those not familar, Analogous are colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel and Complimentary are colors that are directly opposite each other.  So, my floral is stamp layered with Analogous colors and the background is a complimetary color.  

I stamped and heat embossed one of the iris images (this set contains 2 floral images) using embossing ink and Fine Detail Gold Embossing Power on Strathmore Watercolor card.  I started the stamp layering process with the other floral image in the set, first with the outline using black pigment ink and the layers using different shades of yellows and oranges.  The floral has 4 layers; the stem and leaf having 2.  The floral was a bit more intricate to line up but in no way difficult, just a bit of patience.

Setting aside the die cut floral, I watercolored the embossed panel with a light purple wash.  Purple is the complimentary color I mentioned earlier, it is complimentary to the yellow/orange floral.  With my heat tool and being careful not to skorch the embossing, I dried the panel thoroughly and adhered to the card base.  The sentiment was created using a manual Dymo Label Maker.  

The final touch to my assignment was adding faux lilac colored gems.  I hope you've enjoyed my post today, and appreciate you visiting.  Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Donna

Supplies Used:

Altenew Bearded Iris Layering Stamp and Coordinating Die Bundle

Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 110 lb card base

Strathmore Watercolor Card

Catherine Pooler Inks

Versafine Pigment Ink

Versamark Embossing Ink

Ranger Fine Detail Embossing Powder

Gansai Tambi Watercolors

Art Glitter Glue Liquid Adhesive

Art Class Faux Gems

Dymo Label Maker

Challenges Entered:

Cardz TV

Creative Fingers

Outlawz Festive Friday

Paperbabe

Pattie's Creation

Creative Knockouts

Simon Says Stamp

Snarky Stampers

Dreaming of Scrap