AH 282 - O Holy Night

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch 282! 

I stayed true to the sketch this time - I liked the design and I also wanted to create a Christmas card - among my first this season, so I am WAY behind. 

Non-traditional colours for Christmas are my preference and blue is one of my favourites so I decided to cut the wreath and sentiment using shades of blue. A grey background along with silver glitter worked well. The photos don't show this card nearly as pretty as it looks in real life. It sparkles so much. 

The wreath and attached stars are from a new CTMH Cricut cartridge called Season of Joy - there are so many great images on that cartridge! 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above. 

You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Charcoal Cardstock, Pebble Cardstock, Carolina Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, Lemon Cardstock, Silver Glitter Paper

Stamps: Woodland Wishes (ret.)

Inks: Lemon

Accessories: Season of Joy Cartridge, Basic Stars Thin Cuts (ret.), Silver Foil Tape (ret.), Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

HE New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Expressions New Product Blog Hop. This blog hop features the new products that are available in the Holiday Expressions catalog that was released on September 1st. There is so much goodness available - five exciting new paper collections, new colours plus all sorts of stamp sets as well as some other new and exciting products.
I am sure that as you cruise through this blog hop, you will see a wide variety of projects that highlight the many new products that are available, and hopefully it will stimulate your creative spirit to get going to create your own awesome projects! 

You should have arrived here from Gina Brandstetter's blog.

If you get lost, a complete list of participating bloggers can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

One of the new products available is texture paste. I was very hesitant to start playing with this as it was completely new to me. However, once you start using it, there are SO many things that can be done with it! It can be used alone as a white paste, it can be coloured using a variety of mediums (ink, markers, reinkers and even the shimmer brushes), and since there are three type of it available, they create varying effects as well. 

I used the opaque matte texture paste here - and I created my stencil by cutting it on my Cricut from a pattern found on the Artbooking Cricut cartridge. I mixed the texture paste using 3 reinkers - Saffron, Fern and New England Ivy (each separately). I kind of blended them together down the stencil, going from lightest to darkest in colour. 

The wreath and pieces are cut from the Flower Market and Artistry Cricut cartridges. They are simply layered multiple times on top of each other. The sentiment is brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush. 

A couple of extra pieces were inserted at the bottom and a ribbon with a bow was added.  

Although I did cut most of the wreath pieces from patterned paper from the Grateful Heart paper pack, that's hard to see. It looks like the only patterned paper used on this card is the zip strip at the bottom.

The next blog on the hop is Haley Dyer's blog.

I am sure she will show you more terrific new products in her fabulous project! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Grateful Heart Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Saffron Cardstock, Pomegranate Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock

Stamps: none

Inks: Saffron Reinker, Fern Reinker, New England Ivy Reinker

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, Flower Market Cartridge, Stencil Sheets, Opaque Matte Texture Paste, Palette Knives, White and Gold Ribbon, Foam Tape, Gold Shimmer Brush 

Enjoy,

Alyson

H2H - Banner Day

Welcome to this week's challenge at Heart 2 Heart! 

The theme this week is Banner Day. That can be interpreted in a couple of ways - a great day or you can chose to add some sort of banner(s) to your project. Then again, there may be something that we haven't considered that fits this challenge. 

I chose to use banners on my card - and I did that in two different ways. I used the obvious banners for my sentiment but I also used rounded banners to create the background for my card. They extend from the top of my card base to almost the bottom where they have been rounded to ft exactly beside each other. 

The floral grouping was stamped, coloured and fussy cut. I brushed the flowers with the gold and clear shimmer brushes. These papers are from the Boutique collection but they are probably the lesser used papers so I wanted to do something with what I think of as the secondary colour scheme within that paper pack. 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret "Banner Day". 

You have until the end of September to link up with this or any of the other September challenges. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: Boutique Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Linen Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Gold Foil Paper

Stamps: Bunches of Love

Inks: Intense Black

Accessories: Oval Stitched Dies (Gina Marie Designs), ShinHan Markers, Sugarplum Glitter Gems, Gold Pearls, Glacier and Gold Ribbon (ret.), Scallop Border Punch (ret.), Corner Rounder, Clear Shimmer Brush, Gold Shimmer Brush, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

Birdy Splattered Birthday card

A good friend of mine has a birthday coming up shortly - and it calls for a masculine birthday card. I struggle so much with masculine cards... 

I decided to pull out the Thoughtful Bird stamp set. I love that the bird is triple stamped as it provides so much dimension. I used Smoothie ink for the first layer, Pomegranate ink for the second layer and Nutmeg ink for the top layer. In the end, Pomegranate is the most dominant colour which is really what I wanted for the colour scheme as I used papers from the Grateful Heart collection. 

Using a waterbrush and two ink pad colours just pressed down on my splatter mat, I picked up some of the ink (separately) and tapped on the brush to create the splatters in the background.

The card pattern is taken from Make It From Your Heart - Vol. 4 and came together so easily. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Grateful Heart Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Pomegranate Cardstock, White Daisy Card Base and Envelope

Stamps: Thoughtful Bird (ret.), Short and Sweet (ret.)

Inks: Toffee, Sapphire, New England Ivy, Smoothie, Pomegranate, Nutmeg (ret.)

Accessories: Thoughtful Bird Thin Cut (ret.), Waterbrush, Oval Thin Cuts, Stitched Oval Thin Cuts, Thin Foam Tape, Pomegranate Burlap Ribbon

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 280 - Amazing Day with Texture Paste

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #280! 

I deiced to turn the sketch sideways and consequently turn around some of the elements with it. 

Close To My Heart has a brand new catalog out as of September 1st and one of the new products available is texture paste. This is new medium for me and this was my first attempt with it. I actually didn't use a stencil but a metal die instead. That gave a lot of depth as a result but that's not a bad thing - just different. When the paste had dried, I inked the entire paper with Glacier ink and then I used a small makeup brush to edge the leaves with Peacock ink. I spritzed it all with a bit of water and then did the same thing again. I love how it turned out. The hardest part was cutting the sheet as the paste dries so hard. I had to go to an old trimmer with a super thick blade and even then, it took multiple tries to cut through the paper. 

The patterned paper is from the new Boutique collection and the leaf dies are from various sources. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us your interpretation of the sketch shown above. 

You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Boutique Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock

Stamps: Boutique Cardmaking

Inks: Glacier, Peacock

Accessories: Leaf Stem Die (Melissa Frances), Rose Garden Thinlets (SU), Flourish Thinlets (SU), Open Leaves Die (Gina Marie Designs), Sponges, Lagoon Ribbon (ret.), Button (ret.), Thread (not CTMH), Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, Opaque Matte Texture Paste, Palette Knives

Enjoy,

Alyson

September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to September's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "Just Treats" - a set of 22 stamps. This stamp set features 4 main stamps that highlight the main celebrations during the autumn and winter months, along with a friendship stamp. There are also lots of little images to go along with those celebrations. The bloggers along this blog hop will certainly show you many ways to use this stamp set, so sit back and enjoy the tour. 

You should have arrived here from Vickie O'Dell's blog. 

If you get lost, a list of all participating bloggers can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog.

The stamp set looks like this.

I really wanted to use the new Shaker Thin Cuts to make a shaker card. I LOVE the new Boutique papers so combining the two seemed like a perfect idea. 
I also wanted the shaker part of the card to be inserted within the card rather than having it sit on top, so I cut the circle into the card front. That way, the shaker is actually part of the card itself. The package containing the circular adhesive pieces and acetate sheets make it SO EASY to create these cards now! And you even get a bunch of leftover adhesive pieces to use on other projects... I masked the sentiment so I could stamp it in both Peacock and Sugarplum. 
I added a few too many sequins inside my card so they don't shake quite as nicely as I would like - it has been a while since I have made one of these so I know for next time! 

I hope you enjoyed my card. 

The next blog on this hop is Michelle Loncar's blog. 
I am sure she has something wonderful to share with you. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: Boutique Paper Pack, Glacier Cardstock, Sugarplum Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock
Stamps: Just Treats
Inks: Peacock, Sugarplum
Accessories: Thin Cuts - Shaker Window and Confetti, Shaker Window Foam and Acetate, Mink Twine, Silver Shimmer Trim, Basic Hearts Thin Cuts, Stitched Hearts Thin Cuts, Clear Shimmer Brush, Loose Sequins - Silver, Sugarplum Glitter Gems, Scallop Border Thin Cuts (ret.), Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

H2H - For the Love of Crafting

Welcome to this week's Heart 2 Heart challenge! 

The theme this week is For the Love of Crafting. It just so happens that Close To My Heart's August Stamp of the Month has the same title but you do not have to use that stamp set for this challenge. 

I chose to do something else entirely. A few months ago,  I was in the US for brief visit and I was at a stamp shop. In the back corner, there was a collection of the most hilarious stamps... I honestly laughed so hard that there were tears in my eyes and I couldn't decided which ones to purchase because there were so many great ones! The two used on the cards below are the two I finally decided to take home. A few weeks go, I was at a crop and was talking about these stamps so I went to the website and pulled up the selection. A few of us were reading them out loud and we laughed so hard that we got to the point of not being able to breathe properly because we were laughing so hard... Some of them are very amusing (but I am not sure I would actually use them on a card...)

Nonetheless, I couldn't decide which of the two sayings I wanted to use so I decided to use BOTH! The one with the bow is created using the Beautiful You paper pack and the other is created using a brand new paper pack called Boutique. I love these new papers and this shows only a sampling of a few of them, plus the new Colour of the Year - Sugarplum. 

I stamped the sayings using three ink pads each to create an ombre effect. The sentiments were then mounted on a PML card and then on cardstock. 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and share with us your interpretation of 
"For the Love of Crafting". 
You have until the end of August to link up with this or any of the other August challenges. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Beautiful You Paper Pack, Boutique Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Sugarplum Glitter Paper

Stamps: Feel like Failure (Two Lips Stamps), Pinterest Forgot (Two Lips Stamps)

Inks: Crystal Blue, Bluebird, Sapphire, Glacier, Peacock, Charcoal

Accessories: Oval Die (Nestabilities), Stitched Rectangle Dies (Gina Marie Designs), Silver Shimmer Trim, Friendship Bows, White Twine, Peacock Stitched Ribbon (ret.), Mini Stapler and Staples, Bashful Gems (ret.), Sugarplum Glitter Gems, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

Birthday Spinner Card

It is getting late this evening and I have been working on this card for two days, on and off, between a long list of other commitments. 

It's finally finished. 

I am entering it in a few challenges... 

Colour Dare 

Double Trouble

Pause, Dream and Enjoy - Summer Birthday Party 

Thing 1 - Create a cheerful and fun project (birthday card)

Thing 2 - Link up with the Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge
                (Summer Birthday Party)

Thing 3 - Add glitter to your project

So, here is what I did. 

This is a classic spinner card. I started with a white base and inked up an acrylic block using Bashful, Blossom and Eggplant ink pads. I spritzed a bit of water on the inks and then turned the block upside down on the paper. The result is what you see here. I had to do it twice as my largest block was not quite large enough to cover the entire surface of the paper. I used some patterned paper from the Documented paper pack for the background and I stamped a butterfly from a retired stamp set using Bashful and Eggplant. A few embellishments were added and the spinner spins wildly. 

I photographed the inside of the card as well, just to make sure that you know it IS a birthday card. The butterfly was brushed with the Bashful Shimmer Brush, which is shown in a separate photo. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Documented Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Eggplant Cardstock, Bashful Glitter Paper

Stamps: Dreamin' Big - Cardmaking (ret.), Say it All (ret.), Birthday Sparkles

Inks: Eggplant, Blossom, Bashful

Accessories: Nestabilities Circles (not CTMH), Dreamin' Big - Cardmaking Thin Cuts (ret.), Hearts Thin Cuts (ret.), Scallop Border Punch (ret.), Bashful Shimmer Brush, Clear Sparkles, ShinHan Marker, Foam Tape, Black Journaling Pen

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 278 - Kindness Changes Everything

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Challenge #278! 

I LOVE this sketch! I intend to use it to create a box of cards because the design is so awesome. 

This week, I tried a few different options for the sentiment and the main shape and decided to stick with flowers because they just worked so well. 

A few weeks go, I purchased the combination stamp and die set "Abstract Impressions" and "Springtime Impressions" from Stampin Up. The die for the set is one large die containing flowers and leaves and they can be cut out if you don't want to use the large die. That is what I did. I also cut the sentiment stamp so I could use it in parts. The paper is from the Adventure Fundamentals (pink piece), Cats and Bats (the green piece) and La Vie en Rose (the black striped background). I love how this all came together and the gold accents everything perfectly. I did brush the flowers with the Gold Shimmer Brush but the photography doesn't pick that up. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you use the sketch shown above 

to create something beautiful! 

You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Adventure Fundamentals, La Vie En Rose Paper Pack (ret.), Cats and Bats Paper Pack (ret.), Black Cardstock, Raspberry Cardstock, Willow Cardstock, Gold Foil Paper

Stamps: Abstract Impressions (SU)

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Springtime Impressions Thinlets (SU), Rose Embossing Folder, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Pink Dots (ret.), Gold Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - A Mountain Scene

Welcome to this week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge! 

The theme this week is Heavy Metal. Upon hearing that, the first images that came to mind were heavy metal bands - and I was completely at a loss. But there are lots of other ways to interpret this challenge. Metal can be found in many places and if you prefer to create a scrapbook page about some aspect of metal, there is most certainly that option. There are also "metal" types of paper and foil paper certainly looks like metal. That is the route I chose to take and my project is very different from what I initially expected. 

I pulled out two very old stamps - long ago retired stamps - for my card. The scene was created using one stamp from Beautiful Things, my stamp platform along with 8 stamp pads, daubers and much patience. I wasn't able to see exactly where I was inking the stamp so it was a guessing game as to where the colours would land... I had to redo this a couple of times after sort of figuring out where the lake and grass were located on the stamp. The paper moved slightly on me as well due to the stickiness of the stamp.

The trees were cut from the retired tree line die using both silver glitter and silver foil papers - MANY, MANY times. They were then cut and layered over and over to create the background. 

The Crystal Blue background paper is actually the retired Fundamental embossed paper but that seems to have been lost in the photography. 

I do have to say that I initially created a different card for this challenge... It was a 4x embossed Christmas tree set on an acetate background but it did not photograph well. I could not get it to look right so I chose not to use it. 

However, I am going to post it at the bottom, just so you can see it... 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret Heavy Metal. 

This, and all August challenges, are open until the end of the month. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Crystal Blue Fundamentals (ret.), Silver Foil Paper, Silver Glitter Paper

Stamps: Treasure Life (ret.), Beautiful Things (ret.)

Inks: Versamark, Fern, New England Ivy, Pacifica, Glacier, Crystal Blue, Lagoon, Heather, Mink

Accessories: Tree Line Die (ret.), Oval Stitched Dies (not CTMH), Sponge Daubers, Silver Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, Silver Ribbon (not CTMH), Licorice Opaques (ret.) 

Enjoy,

Alyson

This is the card that didn't make the cut...