Get to Know Me + $200 Prize Pack Giveaway

Hi crafty friends! This month I had a fun interview with Altenew and I wanted to share it with you on my blog in case you missed seeing it.

1. What motivated you to start making cards and begin stamping?

I had not enjoyed any arts and crafts until my friend showed me her amazing scrapbook album in May 2010. I honestly didn’t know there was a paper crafting world before.

A month later, I made my first scrapbook page when I went to the Crop Night at Michael’s. Then I started scrapbooking with the encouragement of my hubby and slowly moved into making cards after I found Kristina Werner’s YouTube channel.

Crafting has been my passion since then. Sometimes I’m surprised to see myself as someone who is passionate about cardmaking. Because I had never thought of myself as a creative person back in South Korea.

2. How did you fall in love with Altenew and how did you start working for Altenew?

To be honest, I haven’t created any cards using Altenew stamps before I joined the Altenew Card Design Team in March 2015. (By the way, I met Tasnim Ahmed, President of Altenew, at CHA in January 2015.)

(Altenew Card Design Team)

Of course, I already owned the Painted Flowers Stamp Set and Vintage Roses Stamp Set as they seemed very popular in the paper crafting community so I had to buy them. But I never got to use them as I didn’t understand the concept of stamp layering and I wasn’t crazy about flower stamps back then.

(Blog Post)

Then you know what? I decided to use the Vintage Roses Stamp Set on my first Design Team assignment and I was amazed by the fact that it allowed me to create flowers with a detailed depth and realistic look with no effort. Lining up the images was so much easier than I thought and the result was amazing! That experience got me hooked on all things Altenew.

One month later, I asked Tasnim why Altenew was not on Instagram. Then she asked me back if I was interested in managing the Altenew Instagram account. Of course, I answered YES as I already was into sharing my cards on Instagram and I thought I could help Altenew present their products better in the paper crafting community. I didn’t know at that time where my decision would take me later.

I started managing Altenew’s social media channels in May 2015. Then, I expanded my responsibilities to design team coordination and other marketing activities including blog hops, email campaigns, promotions, releases, etc.

I can’t thank Tasnim enough for trusting me with this position and I’m so honored that I’m in charge of marketing at Altenew. I was able to meet lots of amazing friends and learn so many good things through my job. Can you tell I love working at Altenew? It’s the best job ever! 🙂

3. The way you build your backgrounds is amazing! Please share some tips on them!

I love creating my own backgrounds using small stamps from different stamp sets. When it comes to choosing images from different stamp sets, it’s important to choose the stamps that have a similar design style or similar thickness of the outline images.

(Blog Post)

When you create a stamped background with large images, it’s always good to plan out the placement of your sentiment first before stamping the images.

I also love arranging my stamps on my paper to decide the placement of my images before stamping because it’s important to stamp your large images on the right place as they help balance the rest of your small images. Then I always start stamping larger images first and fill in the gaps with smaller images later.

(Blog Post | Video Tutorial)

The most fun part of the background stamping is that you can keep stamping as much as you want. It depends on where you stop stamping, you can create a slightly different look of the background.

It’s also good if you stamp the image partially off the edge of your card front. That way you can balance your stamped images better.

(Blog Post | Video Tutorial)

You can go even further by adding small dots between the images using a tip of Altenew Artist Markers to add subtle details to your background. Depending on your projects, you can add a different size of the dot by choosing a different tip from your marker – brush tip, fine tip, or chisel tip.

You can also create a different look by the distance of each dot. The dotting technique is a great way to dress up your stamped background and give your card a more finished look.

4. Do you have a specific style that you are comfortable with or like to stick to?

I used to like making clean and simple cards based on creative designs and unusual ideas. Especially one-layer card with lots of white space. I also loved telling a whole story with a single image.

(Blog Post | Video Tutorial)

This year I find myself experimenting with lots of different styles and techniques which helped me find my love for watercoloring. Surprisingly, I was good at watercoloring! 🙂

5. Can you share a favorite card you made previously using Altenew products?

I’m STILL a big fan of one-layer cards. I created THIS CARD to celebrate Altenew’s 4th anniversary in April 2018 using some of my favorite stamp sets that I’ve illustrated for Altenew: Wildflower Garden Stamp Set and Crafty Life Stamp Set.

(Blog Post | Video Tutorial)

I had so much fun creating my own background while the card design is perfect for sending out to any of my crafty friends! You can check out my blog post HERE or watch my video tutorial HERE to learn how I made my card.

6. This is just for fun! If you can choose only three crafting supplies for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Aside from the true basics like stamps/inks/papers, these are my favorite tools: Tim Holtz paper trimmer, Teflon bone folder, and Original MISTI stamping tool.

That’s all for the interview. Thanks for reading my long interview. Let me know what you think. 🙂

$200 Prize Pack Giveaway

I just love to share! So I’m giving away one prize pack valued at over $200 including new/old/used stamps, dies, stencils, ink from various companies.

I want to make sure you have many opportunities to win the giveaway, so I came up with 4 chances to enter. You are not required to do them all, I just love giving you guys bonus chances to enter!

• Leave a comment, telling me what you think about my interview, 1 entry.
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel and comment on this post, 1 entry.
• Follow my blog via email and comment on this post, 1 entry.
• Follow me @mayholicdesign on Instagram and comment on this post, 1 entry.

I’ll announce one lucky winner on 12/26/2018. The winner will also receive a handmade card from me. 🙂

*A winner agrees to pay a shipping/handling fee for their package – $10 for those in the United States and $35 for international. The winner will receive a PayPal invoice for the shipping cost. No other payment methods will be used. 

$15 Altenew Gift Certificate Giveaway

I’m also giving away a $15 Altenew gift certificate. Leave a comment below, and I will announce one lucky winner on 12/26/2018. Good luck!

That’s all for today. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Wish you a very warm and joyous holiday season! Happy crafting!