Hello, crafty friends! Welcome to Altenew’s Crafty Friends blog hop. If you are coming from the fabulous Jennifer McGuire’s blog, you are in the right place.
To celebrate friendships in this special paper crafting community, I created a floral watercolor card inspired by Debby Hughes’s beautiful watercolor card.
She taught me how to watercolor florals when we met at the craft retreat last April. I still need to brush up on my watercoloring skills, but at least I don’t feel afraid of trying watercolors any more thanks to my sweet friend, Debby.
Before I started, I wanted to talk a little bit more about my crafty friends. I have been so lucky to make some amazing friendships through our mutual love of paper crafting.
It’s been my pleasure to get to know them better and inspire by their amazing talents. I’m so thankful to be part this paper crafting community full of kind, supportive, and talented people.
These photos were taken when I went to the craft retreat in Cincinnati, OH last April. We had a fantastic group of fun, sweet ladies in the ballroom crafting, chatting, and laughing for five days. I’m traveling again to Cincinnati this week to see my friends, of course, I’ll have a blast at the retreat with my most lovely, supportive, and amazing crafty friends.
For today’s project, I combined three flower stamp sets from Altenew to build my own floral arrangement: Build-A-Flower Coral Charm, Remember This, and Beautiful Day. I started by stamping the images with Versafine Onyx Black Ink on a piece of Strathmore watercolor paper.
FYI, I used the masking technique to create a dimension in my card while stamping. Then I watercolored my images with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Pens.
It’s hard to see from the photo, but I watercolored in gray along the bouquet of my flowers to add some interest in my background. I added some white dots on the center of each flower using a white gel pen to add interest to my card.
It took me about three hours to complete my watercolor card. But I realized that how much I love watercoloring no matter how excellent I am at waterocloring.
I combined two sentiment stamps from Altenew Beautiful Inside stamp set to add a message insdie of my card.
To finish off my card, I stamped a fun sentiment and envelope image from Altenew Crafty Friends stamp set on the back of my card.
I also made a matching envelope by heat embossing the sentiment from Altenew Crafty Friends stamp set with Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder on a flap of my green envelope.
Video
I made a video tutorial to show you how to create a watercolor card. You can watch it above or on my YouTube channel.
Altenew Special Offer
Enjoy FREE U.S. shipping with code CRAFTY or $5 OFF international shipping with code FRIENDS at checkout now through October 19th at 11:59 pm EDT. Shop HERE>> www.altenew.com
Blog Hop Prizes
Altenew is giving away a $100 Altenew prize pack to FIVE lucky winners. There are also 13 awesome companies/magazines who are offering the following prizes:
- Jennifer McGuire Ink: 1 prize pack of three Altenew stamp sets
- Online Card Classes: 3 class spots
- Create and Craft TV: £50 gift certificate
- My Sweet Petunia: Mini MISTI
- Ellen Hutson LLC: $30 gift certificate
- Pretty Pink Posh: $30 gift certificate
- Simon Says Stamp: $30 gift certificate
- Chameleon Pens: 1 pack of 5 Chameleon pens
- Tombow USA: 1 pack of 10 dual brush pens
- WOW! Embossing Powder: $25 gift certificate
- Butterfly Reflections Ink: $25 gift certificate
- Freckled Fawn: $20 gift certificate
- Papercraft Magazines: One copy of each of the latest issues of four magazines
- Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine: 1-year subscription
Be sure to leave comments by Friday, October 27th, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT for a chance to win! 21 WINNERS will be chosen at random from the comments left on the participating blogs in the Blog Hop Day 1 and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog and Altenew Scrapbook Blog on October 28th, 2017.
Another Giveaway
And there is more! I have a $20 Altenew gift certificate to give away. Leave a comment below, sharing a story about your crafty friends. I will announce one lucky winner on Thursday, October 26th. Good luck!
Blog Hop
It is now time to head on over to the fantastic Keeway Tsao’s blog to see what creation she has to inspire you all. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Happy hopping!
Supplies
I have listed the supplies I used below. I participate in several affiliate programs including Simon Says Stamp(SSS), Ellen Hutson(EH) and Altenew(AN). It means I get a small commission at no additional cost to you when products are purchased through links I share here. Thank you for your support.
 Altenew Build-A-Flower Coral Charm Shop at: SSS | AN | EH |
 Altenew Remember This Stamp Set Shop at: SSS | AN | EH |
 Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set Shop at: SSS | AN | EH |
 Altenew Crafty Friends Stamp Set Shop at: SSS | AN | EH |
 Altenew Beautiful Inside Stamp Set Shop at: SSS | AN | EH |
 ZIG Clean Color Real Brush 36 Set Shop at: SSS | AZ | EH |
 EK Success Cutter Bee Scissors Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS | AZ | EH |
 Wagner Embossing Heat Tool Shop at: SSS | HA | EH |
 Versamark Watermark Ink Shop at: SSS | HA | EH |
 EK Success Craft Tweezers Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Dahle Self-Healing Cutting Mat 18×12 Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Be Creative Double Sided Tape Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: SSS | EH |
 3M Post It Notes Shop at: SSS | AZ |
 Neenah Solar White Cardstock 80LB Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Uni-Ball White Gel Pen Shop at: SSS | PS | EH |
 Tombow Removable Adhesive Shop at: SSS |
 Original MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | AZ | EH |
 Altenew Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS | AN | EH |
 Strathmore watercolor paper Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Tim Holtz Water Brush Shop at: SSS | EH |
 Altenew Acrylic Block Set Shop at: AN |
 Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Shop at: SSS | EH |
Janet Zeppa
Your card is stunning!!! Crafty friends are the BEST friends. They are my forever friends!
Oct . 22 . 2017Nunzia
This blog hop is very sweet. It’s clear from the photos you enjoy your retreat.
Oct . 22 . 2017The card is stunning.
Nunzia
Nesya Collings
Beautiful! My craft friend is my sister!! It’s fun to have a hobby in common to keep our relationship strong.
Oct . 21 . 2017deb pereira
Your watercoloring is just gorgeous!
Oct . 21 . 2017Sonja
Your water color card is beautiful!!!!
Oct . 21 . 2017Denise Gutshall
May, the watercoloring is gorgeous! You inspired me to get out my paints and practice.
Oct . 21 . 2017Crimson Owl Creations
May, I always enjoy your beautiful colorful designs that look like high art paintings! You have a beautiful style I love finding inspiration in!
Oct . 21 . 2017Take Care!
Michele
Renae
Love the look you got with the zigs! I love working with watercolors even know I’m not that good at it. Thanks for sharing!
Oct . 21 . 2017Henriëtte
Hi May, what a great watercolor card. Love the way how you tell us how to do it. Thanks for that. I have also a question about your card. In your blogpost you write that you added white dots to the flowers. Are the dots realy white?
Because I have tried differend white gelpens ( also the unibal) and none of them stays white after putting it on the image coloured with the Zig markers. Ore am I doing something wrong?
Love also the beautiful pictures of all your crafty friends, I recognize numerous people because I am fan of them.
Whe had a group of crafy girlfriends and whe crafted every week when the kids where young. But some are moved, most of them have a busy job and I have been very sick last year and still recovering. So I have some crafty friends left but whe are not crafting together any more. I still craft but know with my adult daughter.
Oct . 21 . 2017Holly Graham
Fabulous cards! I love getting ideas on watercolored cards, and this is perfect!
Oct . 21 . 2017Betty J
Such pretty coloring with your zigs. I love the look you achieved!
Oct . 21 . 2017Lisa
Love your card May, the colors are so beautiful! Thank you for sharing with us and all your inspiration!
Oct . 21 . 2017Sue McRae
Gorgeous watercoloring!
Oct . 21 . 2017Laurie
Beautiful card!! I love the watercoloring. I have a couple of friends at work who also like to craft, but my “best” friends are my family. I learned crafting from my grandmother and mother. When they were younger, it was great fun to get together and craft.
Oct . 21 . 2017Megan N
Fabulous masking and fabulous coloring!
Oct . 21 . 2017nahla thomas
You have a great talent. I have a long way to go. Thanks for inspiration and time for showing your techniques.
Oct . 21 . 2017Kris Reeves
Just stunning!
Oct . 20 . 2017Karen L K
Such a pretty card and your watercoloring looks great! I am enjoying hearing your craft friends stories and seeing the pictures with familiar faces. Enjoy your time in Ohio.
Oct . 20 . 2017Nikita Jhanwar
I almost forgot to mention that , hey I loved all your work and this is definitely gonna be my fav place to visit more often 🙂
Oct . 20 . 2017Nikita Jhanwar
Hi, my name is Nikita and I’m currently living in New Haven. (Yale University town)
Being a part of YALE community I must say I’m really fortunate to have FRIENDS from all over the world 🙂 I guess I’m truly blessed.
So coming to my FRIEND STORY for this lucky giveaway-
I have a friend from South Korea, her name is Amy! She is such kind hearted person.( And a cherry on a cake, She has these two sweet, cute li’l dolls too. Hehe)
She is going back to Korea in December. and I wanted to make a “KOREAN THANK YOU CARD” or scrapbook for her to adore our friendship forever. Hence I was looking for some ideas on Pinterest. That’s when I came across your blog.(I didn’t find thank you card though, but one of your love you card in Korean)
And it’s just about TIME they say, you have here a giveaway dedicated to FRIENDS hehe 🙂
I wish I can get all these freebies. So just enrolling myself. No matter what’s the result, I really enjoyed writing my part.
Oct . 20 . 2017Traci Luckadoo
What a gorgeous card! You are super talented! Thanks for sharing with us!
Oct . 20 . 2017Isabel Z
Wow, this is an amazing giveaway and I love blog hops b/c they inspire me to create.
Oct . 20 . 2017bevyb
You excel at water coloring. This card is just gorgeous. Thanks for the video tutorial and sharing your techniques.
Oct . 20 . 2017Pam Dunbar
Beautiful card! Your water coloring is gorgeous! I am loving this hop celebrating crafty friendships! My story is I guess that I have a great group of people that I enjoy getting together with and creating. We try to do something monthly but schedules don’t always allow that often. It is great to share and learn from each other.
Oct . 20 . 2017dannscraftingwhims
GORGEOUS!!! I love Debbie’s watercoloring, too… wish I lived next door to you both so I could soak up the talent!
Oct . 20 . 2017