Altenew Blog Hop

Scrapping for Less is so excited to bring another fabulous new company to the website. This time we are introducing Altenew! This is a small stamp company that is on the move! They are known for their beautiful layering stamps. The Design Team has quite an array of various creations to share with you today. You can find the Altenew stamps here in the stamp category! While you are at the website make sure you sign up for the newsletter (you won't be sorry, I promise!) and also while there browse around in the store we have lots of goodies you can purchase. 

Make sure to leave a comment on each blog for a chance to win a blog prize from our store! Thanks so much for taking the time to hop with us today. 

Hi ya! 

What better way to kick off 2017 here on Sunshine, Smiles and Cards than with a blog hop! Altenew is a stamping company with some of the most beautiful stamp sets I have ever seen and the stamps have inspired me so much to want to play with my embossing powders, inks, coloring etc. 

When I laid eyes on this stamp set I got so excited because my mind was flooded with ideas! I am going to give you the run down of what I did for the two cards that I made. 

Altenew "Big World" Stamp Set & Die

So here's the run down of the products I used: 

• Altenew "Big World" Stamp & Die (the globe on the black card I cut the images out with the die)
• Embossing powders Pearl Gold on the white card/ Jeweled Gold on the black card
• VersaFine black ink on white card for sentiment 
• Stamp Perfect Tool from Hero Arts which I LOVE! I was able to get the globe and the sentiments exactly where I want them and since I have been using it for a while now I have noticed that I have more confidence when I am creating with my stamps. 

As you can see there were not many products used but I just love how they turned out, the pictures don't really do them just they are so sparkly and shiny! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you get the chance to get your own Altenew stamps and dies they are so much fun to create with. Your next stop is Stacy: Craft-A-holic Momma

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,

Kim :)

Here is our Lineup:

Scrapping for Less

Yvonne: Adventure of the Creative Mind

Sandy: Scrapbook Blessings Club

Teresa: Fresh and Renewed

Kimberly: Sunshine, Smiles, and Cards

Stacy: Craft-A-holic Momma

Our App Is Up!!!!

 I am so excited to FINALLY get to share this information!!! An app I have wanted for quite some time now exists and what do we want to do with the apps we love? SHARE THEM!!!

The Fast Facts:

• App name is Organize My Dies
• it's FREE
• available on iTunes App Store and on Google Play  
• works on iPhone and Android

What It Does:

• a convenient system that allows you to organize the dies you own, create a wish list for the dies you want and NEVER buy a duplicate die again! (I never thought it would happen to me either...and then it did) 

There will be updates coming in the future as we add more companies and more features and of course fix anything that needs fixing as there is always something that can be tweaked or improved upon.

What The Heck is a Die?:

• A die is a sharp, thin metal piece that cuts through paper and other materials when rolled through a die cutting machine (like a Big Kick, Cuttlebug, or Vagabond) thus creating whatever shape the die makes. (Think hearts, stars, flowers, circles etc.)  

In the world of card making, scrapbooking, and paper crafting they are very handy tools in creating whatever project you may be working on. Below is a picture of some of the dies I own.

my pile o' dies

my die machine

BACKSTORY:

  Over the last several years my collection of metal dies has been growing and with new releases coming every month it continues to grow. A few different scenarios kept coming up for me. I would be in a store and would walk up on a clearance sale and ended up not buying any of the dies that were at an AMAZING price because I didn't know off the top of my head what I already owned (and these clearanced items couldn't be returned). Not a life changing moment I will agree but frustrating nonetheless.  OR
I would be at a friends' house and we would be talking about a card series we wanted to do together and brainstorming, sharing ideas for cards and then the last step was to compare what we both owned and what we would need to share because only one of us owned said item. This conversation got put on hold until I could physically be at my house to check my stash. Again, not the end of the world I know, however if any of you have experienced that connection when an idea is coming together and you are feeding off of each others' ideas and then it all comes to a halt for whatever reason and you try to pick up later where you left off and it is NEVER the same energy...that frustrates me to no end!!!

After having this happen over and over for the last several years I thought "how great would it be if there was an app that I could carry with me on my phone (which I take with me everywhere like it's a body part -go ahead judge me) that I could check any time I needed to see what is in my stash and then I don't have to worry about buying duplicates or my inability to keep a running catalog in my mind of everything I own?" Well I thought it would be STINKING FANTASTIC but alas no apps of that sort existed. And then, light bulb moment,  I don't know how to build an app but my husband was currently in school becoming a software developer and mobile app developing was one of the skills he was in the processing of acquiring.

So I waited, and waited, and I am not a patient person, but I waited. Then the moment arrived when he was able to think about doing his own project and that is when I presented my idea one evening in between our TV time hanging out on the couch together. I thought he was just humoring me since I got the "I'll think about it" so we went back to TV time. We didn't make it through a full 30 minute episode before he was pausing the show to ask more questions about my idea and what exactly I was looking for and then I knew...he's gonna build it!

And now here it is! Ready to use, ready to share, ready to talk about and I am so excited because it will solve a problem for me and I cannot be the ONLY person who has experienced this frustration will the cataloging of my dies. The bonus of it all is that my husband created the app and I am over the moon proud of him!!! This app fills my heart with joy as I add my dies and I can filter by company name or die name it has even begun to make my blogging easier!

Thank you so much for listening and please check out the app if it would be a help to you and your creative needs. Feedback is absolutely welcome and desired so please if you are willing to leave a comment and a rating.

Wishing you Sunshine, Smiles & Cards,
Kim :)