Altenew Modern Blooms magazine box set Volume 1

Hi,

Today I am going to do a review of the new Altenew Modern Blooms magazine box set Volume 1, along with making three cards and using the stamps, dies and stencil that come in the box set.

I do a full start to finish demo of all three cards in my Youtube video that you can find linked here. If you don't like chatting on videos, feel free to mute me (I won't be offended) and listen to your own music, I have added captions for most of the information.

 

I tried to use minimal supplies, except for what came in the box set, so if you are new to Altenew, or layering stamps, you could see what you would need to get the most out of your magazine kit. This is everything I used, except for basic tools and card stock/ card blanks, and the dies that came with the magazine, which I missed out of the photo! 

If you are new to layering stamps, you will need inks in three or four different shades of the same colour to use these stamps in the classic layering way that they are originally made for. The magazine gives ideas for using the stamps with patterned paper and other techniques, but I thought I would stick to a basic style, showing some tips and tricks for stamping lots of images at once.

Using the outline stamp and pale ink for a quick background on a 5"x7" white card.

To get the most from these stamps, I would recommend having a 'flower' colour that you like (pink, purple, teals...), plus an orange/yellow set for the centres and a green set for the leaves. The centres and leaves only need three colours, but the flowers use four layers and, if you choose to use it, a fifth colour for the outline (this could be black or grey.) If you only have two or three colours of inks in a colour family, you could try double or triple stamping a lighter colour to try to get a darker shade, or stamping a pale grey over (or under) a lighter colour to get a darker shade. Have a play and see what you have that might work!

Using the stencil to make background using the second lightest ink colour in my flowers.

I would also recommend having a stamp press, I used a MISTI in my video, but there are many out there, I have different brands in three different sizes and all work in the same way, and work equally well, but I think for the more complicated layering stamps, you really do need to use one. I would have given up trying to layer the large flower had I not been able to use a stamp press.

Using the small cluster stamp with VersaFine onyx black ink to make a background with Altenew iridescent spray. This is the only card I used something not from the magazine kit for, the large die-cut sentiment is an old Crafti Potential one. The sequins were from my stash.

On to what I think of the magazine. I paid the full cover price of £12.99 (I pre-ordered it from CraftStash in the UK), which I think is a bargain for what is included. The magazine includes various how-to guides using both the included stamps and other Altenew stamps that have been 'freebies' in older magazines or other Altenew stamp sets. There is also a pull-out section of printed papers that coordinate with the stamps, dies and stencil. I did a quick flick through of these papers at the end of my video if you would like to see them. 

I would guess that the stamps, dies and stencil would cost about £30 if bought in full Altenew packaging, and I didn't find the quality of the stamps to be much less than the usual Altenew stamps. They may be a little thinner and more stretchy, but they also don't feel like 'cheap' stamps. I show the conditioning I did on the stamps in my video, but I would have to do this with any new stamp set that included solid images rather than just outlines. I have been to a full day Altenew workshop (run by Tasnim the owner of Altenew), and they recommend this for their solid images. Most solid image stamps stamp better as they are used more, as the ink clings more evenly, so I don't see this as an issue related to the magazine stamps.

The flower image is a good large size, with 5 layers including the outline, making it really versatile for lots of different techniques, the leaves and small cluster mean you came make a bouquet, or background using nothing but what came with the box set. The stencil is great for male cards and backgrounds.

A nice close up of all the layers, this does not include the outline layer, that you can see I used in the background of this card.

The main thing I didn't like, was the lack of a good sized layering guide. I searched the magazine and had made my cards before I found the layering guide on the back of magazine. I also thought it was a little misleading showing Altenew style packaging for the stamp and die sets on the outside of the box set, but this isn't in the box. Here's the back of the magazine...

Can you spot the layering guide? Its a small band across the full A4 sized magazine... Here it is in close up with the one inch square ink pad for scale, the images are tiny! I have perfect vision, am used to layering stamps, and trying to spot points to match to line up with, and this is simply too tiny to be of much use. It would have been a simple thing to include a cut out and keep stamping guide in the magazine, even if, understandably, you can't give full stamp packaging for cost reasons.

That's a one inch ink cube for scale, showing how small the layering guide is.

 

This is what a normal Altenew layering guide looks like (this is from the Floral Fantasy set that I have), and while the guide is at 50%, you can see it shows the layers clearly and added lines of where to look for points to help you line it up.

Altenew's early sets didn't include a layering guide, but they were free to download from their website, so I am hoping this might be done for the magazine set. I have checked their layering guides, and it isn't there at the time of writing, but here's the link to their page in case it does get added (also handy if you are missing a layering guide for a stamp set you own!)  https://altenew.com/pages/layering-guides

Overall this is a fantastic kit for the price point, and a great introduction to Altenew layering stamps, but I would recommend using them with a stamp press, a good investment for any stamper, to get the layering perfect on these flowers.

Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the kit in the comments here or on my youtube video, stay safe and I hope you will pop by again soon!

Lesley

Supplies

Altenew Modern Blooms magazine Volume 1 (Part of the Inspired to Create box set magazine series, issue 61)

Altenew Crisp Dye Ink in: Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, Heart Beat, Vineyard Berry, Sunkissed, Orange Cream, Autumn Blaze, Firefly, Grass Field and Shadow Creek.

Altenew Ink Sprays in Iridescent

VersaFine Ink in Onyx Black

Crafti Potential Hugs and Kisses stamp and die set

Sheena Douglas Stamping Card, smooth white 300gsm

Black card scraps from my stash

Various card blanks in 5"x7" and 6"x6" in white and kraft

Sequins, iridescent in various sizes from my stash.

Basic tools

Stamp press MISTI, but any brand will work!

Die cutting machine Gemini by Crafters Companion, but any will work, even small ones should fit these dies

Tonic Craft Tacky Glue my favourite glue

Foam make up applicator mine is from Primark

Foam pads I use ones from The Works usually

Scissors

Low tack tape I us cheap washi tape usually

Dovecraft essentials gem pick up tool handy for small gems a sequins, but you can use a blob of blu-tack on an old blunt pencil

Pokey tool I use an Xcut ball and pin pen tool, but again handy for moving things about, poking dies out etc.

T-square ruler a must have for getting anything straight, I use a really cheap one I got from Amazon