I had a delivery yesterday day from ‘Seven Hills Crafts’ which included a lot of Altenew stamp and die sets. Immediately – which do I use first, how do I decide, what am I going to make…..? All those questions, and I found it very difficult to decide. I started by using Pinterest and YouTube to search for images, when I should have really gone straight to the Altenew web site. Really, I should have, would have saved me a load of time!

On the Altenew web site, they have challenges, and it made me decide, and answered all my questions. The February inspiration challenge is from a beautiful picture taken by the host Aga – lovely colours, bright and cheerful. There we have it – it certainly inspired me.

I started by using the ‘Amazing You’ stamp set, and stamped three of the flowers and stems onto a smooth white base. Once I had stamped them in black, I was also spoilt for choice on how to colour them. I knew I wanted to use the bright pink and the green – but which pens, or water colours, or inks to use…..?

Whilst I was looking round my craft room at all my choices, my eyes lit upon my Spectrum Sparkle pens – and a sparkle certainly lit in my eyes. Sparkly pink for the flowers, and sparkly green for the leaves. Sorted. Then, another conundrum. (Will these never end?) How do I decorate it? Which sentiment do I use? My goodness, I was again spoilt for choice.

I ended up using the sentiment which came from the stamp set, and I thought it was quite fitting. ‘Hello Beautiful’. Lovely. Then I decided to add more sparkle by splashing my pink Spectrum Noir sparkle pen at the picture, and added even more sparkle by splashing my clear sparkle pen at the picture.

The photograph which shows the sparkle is taken at an angle to try to show how really, really, sparkly these pens are, so forgive the amateur photography. I will be entering this card into the Altenew February challenge, as the picture inspired me so quickly, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

As I mentioned earlier, I have had quite a delivery today, so hopefully I can play to my heart’s content in the next few days. I hope you like what I come up with.