September SOTM Blog Hop - Family is Forever

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring September's SOTM, "Family is Forever", a set of  7 stamps.  If you have come here from Krista's Blog , you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. A complete list of bloggers can be found here.

This month we have approximately 80 Close To My Heart Consultants (WOW!) sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and fabulous Close To My Heart products on their blogs. Just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

The stamp set looks like this: 

I chose to create two cards using this month's stamp set. I also used two completely different paper packs for my cards. 

The first one uses Confetti Wishes and it is a round card. 

I wanted to focus on the smaller images in the set and I used them to create the background paper on my card. The Purple Shimmer Trim is gathered around the edge of the background paper and then secured at the top where it is hidden. 

The second card is created using several of the colours from the Pathfinding Paper Pack, although I didn't use any of the patterned papers from the pack itself. I cut along the edge of the tree to make it the edge of the card. 

I tried to use the ShinHan markers to colour the tree trunk but it was difficult to cover the Olive ink... To create the scallops along the tree side, I had to do it the hard way - using the corner rounder - because I couldn't tell exactly where the scallop punch was in relation to the edge of the card and I didn't want to have to go back and cut out a second tree! Better to be safe than sorry!  

I hope you enjoyed my projects :)

 Now "hop" on over to Michelle's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the September SOTM is only available until the last day of September!

Click here to see how you can get this stamp set for 

just $5 this month!

All products used are Close To My Heart: 

Paper: Confetti Wishes Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Pacifica Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, Barn Red Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Sweet Leaf Cardstock

Stamps: Family is Forever

Inks: Pacifica, Thistle, Olive, Sweet Leaf, Goldrush, Barn Red

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, ShinHan Markers, Purple Shimmer Trim, Purple Glitter Gems, Foam Tape, Aqua Dots, Scallop Punch, Corner Rounder (old style - ret.)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Happy Birthday Card for a "Marker" Birthday

This card is for a special friend of mine... She has a very special birthday coming up shortly and I don't want it to go unnoticed :) It is one of those "marker" birthdays... those ones that one may wish would slip by but we really know that they can't. So, here's to you, my friend! May your day be as wonderful as you are! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Chantilly Paper Pack (ret.), White Daisy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock, Twilight Cardstock (ret.), Cotton Candy Cardstock
Stamps: Lifetime of Happiness, Happy Thoughts (ret.), It's the Little Things
Inks: Twilight (ret.), Cotton Candy Pigment Ink, Pear
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Pink Glitter Gems, Foam Tape, Chantilly Textiles (ret.), Copic Markers (not CTMH), Pink Shimmer Trim, Pink Ribbon (not CTMH), Chantilly PML Cards, Black and Grey Sparkles, Chantilly Dimensional Element Complements (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Thrive Operation Smile Auction - Item #2 - Christmas Centerpiece and 12 Napkin Rings

FINALLY, my second item for the Operation Smile Auction at our upcoming Thrive and Survive Event is complete! It took me a while to do because I had to search high and low to find the last Base and Bling Cuff to complete a set of 12 napkin rings. You have no idea how hard it is to locate these once they have been retired! I finally found someone in Washington State who had one and I had to pay dearly to get it shipped to me in time... but it finally arrived and now the auction item is complete.

So, below you will see a set of 12 napkin rings and a centerpiece for Christmas. I used the Yuletide Carol Paper Pack to create these. The only other items I used were home decor items that are readily available and easy to get (I will show you that below the artwork). 

This is a view of all the pieces together. I put 4 of the napkin rings around actual napkins to give you a better idea of how they look. Someone who knows how to fold napkins in creative ways could do really neat things with this, I'm sure! 

I took this picture looking down a little bit, just to give a better idea overall. 

This is a picture of the centerpiece. It is very simple - it is decorated on the backside as well but I didn't photograph that. You can see inside here. I didn't want to use a candle for safety reasons with the moss in there. The flashlight provides a LOT of light!

This is a close-up of one of the napkin rinks. I tried to stand it up using my camera case. 

The products used are listed below. I have shown the Close To My Heart products first and then in a separate listing, I have shown the products I used for the other parts of this project and where I bought them. 

Close To My Heart products: 

Paper: Yuletide Carol Paper Pack, Ruby Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock
Stamps: None
Inks: Ruby, New England Ivy
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, ShinHan Marker (Sap Green), Clear Sparkles, Base and Bling Cuffs (ret.)

Other Supplies: 
Spanish Moss (Gardening Store)
Clear Vase (Ikea)
Small Mixed Rocks (Dollar Store)
Round Flashlight (Dollar Store)
Cashmere Coloured Napkins (Walmart)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Tri-Shutter Birthday Card

This birthday card is for a wonderful lady who it turning 80 tomorrow! She is a talented, generous soul who is so giving and thoughtful and I simply had to do something for her. I haven't known her long and I just found out a couple of days ago that she has a birthday coming up...

I pulled out a lot of retired products to create this card... and some non-CTMH supplies as well. 

 
Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Balloon Ride Paper Pack (ret.), Sorbet Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock
Stamps: Frame it Up, Joyful Birthday
Inks: Sorbet, Crystal Blue, Cashmere, Chocolate
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, ShinHan Marker (Bronze), Bronze Shimmer Trim, Scallop Punch, Foam Tape, Sorbet Buttons (ret.), Blue Baker's Twine (not CTMH), Blue Ribbon - wide and narrow (not CTMH), Off-White Satin Ribbon (not CTMH), Dimensional Elements Birds (ret.), Mocha Opaques (ret.), Shimmer Brads (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #69 - Happy Birthday Card

The challenge this week at Atlantic Hearts is a sketch that I love - the tree or plant on one side and a sentiment on the opposite side. I immediately thought of a tree and went in search of that tree on one of the Cricut cartridges. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I created one using a tree base and some branches from the Art Philosophy Cartridge. More details about the card are below the sketch and the photo.

The woodgrain embossing folder gave me the background I was looking for. I decided not to use any patterned paper for this card and to stick with just cardstock. The Holiday Tags stamp set gave me the chance to stamp a background and then the sentiment I wanted inside. A few small embellishments later and this card came together very easily. It also gave me a chance to create a card needed for a friend's birthday next week!

Be sure to come and play along with Atlantic Hearts this week - the sketches are terrific! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Juniper Cardstock, Cocoa Cardstock, Cashmere Cardstock
Stamps: Holiday Tags
Inks: Cocoa, Juniper
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Neutral Metallic Baker's Twine, ShinHan Marker, Brown and Tan Sparkles, Gold Sequins

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Home Organization Frame - For Always PML Cards

I have wanted to create a home organizer for myself for some time now and I got this idea from a board that I saw at Convention this summer, done by Ginni Candelaria. Since my main home area is decorated in teal and white, the Picture My Life cards from the For Always Collection were perfect for this project. I picked up the frame at a discount department store and removed the mat so the frame itself is 16x18 inches. Using Lagoon cardstock, I adhered the pieces together to form the mat. I used Microsoft Excel to create the calendar and the days are cut from a PML card. The rest of the pieces are from the For Always PML cards. I did stamp a few additional parts onto some of the cards to personalize them for my use. 

The flowers are placed to cover the seams of the cardstock  more than anything, although they do add some additional interest. 

Since the cover is glass, it can be written on using a dry erase marker. I am going to attach one to the side using a velcro strip so it is handy at all times. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Lagoon Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: Polka Dot Alphabet, Keyboard Uppercase Alphabet
Inks: Black Pigment Ink, Versamark Ink, Lagoon, Glacier
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Silver Embossing Powder, Craft Heater, Corner Rounder, Microsoft Excel (not CTMH), Picture My Life For Always Scrapbooking Program, Paper Fundamentals Whimsy Assortment (Glacier), White Chalk Sharpie Marker (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge - Sketch 68

Another week, another challenge from the Atlantic Hearts Design Team. This week's challenge looks like this:

 Keep in mind that a sketch is simply a guide - it can be interpreted in many ways. 

With autumn looming in Ontario (although at times, you wouldn't know it with days above 30 degrees Celsius and high humidity, although we haven't had many of those this summer), Pathfinding was my paper pack of choice for this sketch. Its gorgeous autumn colours fit perfectly for what I had in mind. 

I love the changing of the colours in autumn - it is my favourite season of the year for that very reason. I have added two photos below to show you what this area looks like in the autumn months, especially for the benefit of people who live in areas where the seasons don't change as drastically as they do here. Visitors come from all over the world to see the changing of the leaves in this part of Ontario!

These photos were taken in my yard before I moved last summer... pretty amazing!

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Pathfinding Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock, Olive Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Barn Red Cardstock
Stamps: Always Grateful
Inks: Olive, Autumn Terracotta, Pigment Inks: Olive, Goldrush, Autumn Terracotta, Barn Red, Cocoa
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Bronze Shimmer Trim, Foam Tape, Brown and Tan Sparkles, Flirty Assortment (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Pinterest-Inspired Card... Reinkers with Flourish!

The card below was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest recently. I loved the concept but when I found the details for the card, I found out that it had been created using a STAMP that looked like a paint swirl... how disappointing! I thought I could do one better and make the same idea myself so I decided to try it out! 

I decided to use reinkers without adding anything else - just the ink from the reinkers alone. I started out using a paintbrush and that didn't give me the effect I was looking for so I then tried a couple of different brushes but still wasn't getting the right effect. Finally, I used some old edge brushes - just little brushes that I used to use to add colour to the edges of my cardstock. They were perfect but I had to brush off quite a bit of the ink first before putting them to the paper. It took a while for the ink to dry completely and then I used Black Staz-On ink to stamp the flourish... major disaster. It lifted a lot of the ink right off the page and only gave me a very light ink impression. Before totally giving up and starting all over, I decided to try restamping the flourish using Black Pigment Ink and that was much more successful. The ink held and didn't lift the reinker off the page! 

So, here is the final product. The original site where I found the card is stampingwithsandi.com if you want to check it out. If you search under "Works of Art" (SU), that is the name of the stamp set that she used to create the original card. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock
Stamps: Your Own Kind of Wonderful, Love Life, Have a Happy Day
Inks: Black Pigment Ink, Lagoon Pigment Ink, Reinkers - Glacier, Crystal Blue, Lagoon, Cotton Candy
Accessories: Corner Rounder, Foam Tape, Clear Sparkles

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Brae'ers Team Blog Hop - New Product Focus

Welcome to the Bra-ers' Team Blog Hop. We are featuring NEW PRODUCT from the awesome new Annual Inspirations Book, which went live August 1st. There are so many terrific new products available. If you have come from Jan's Blog, you are in the right place. A list of all participants can be found on Brae's Blog.

I am choosing to feature the Brushed Paper Pack, along with three of my favourite stamp sets.The Brushed Paper Pack is my favourite paper pack in the new book and I adore the colours in the pack - I think they are so feminine and soft (just like Chantilly) and it is such a beautiful mix of colours. How can you go wrong with Pixie, Canary and Pear mixed with White Daisy? Throw in a little Hollyhock and what a gorgeous combination!

The stamps sets "Have a Happy Day" and "Lifetime of Happiness" are great collections for all-purpose crafting, particularly card making. There are excellent sentiments, small flowers and leaves and fabulous banners plus other little do-dads to spice up your creations. I happen to take one of my sentiments for my project from another stamp set called "A Budding Friendship"- yet another terrific stamp set in this Idea Book. It is a Base and Shade stamp set, meaning you can stamp an outline image in one colour and then the inside image in a totally different colour if you want. 

Now for my project:

I chose to create a three-dimensional card. I found the directions for this card on Pinterest. It wasn't difficult to make, just time consuming. 

This is the front of the card. 

 And the open card....

I took another photo of it while looking down a bit to give you a better idea of the three-dimensional effect. 

The empty spot on the left side is to write the message to the recipient. 

If you would like the instructions to create this card, leave me a message and I would be happy to send you the information with the cutting diagram. The finished card is not a standard size - it ends up being approximately 5-1/8" x 6-1/4" " (closed). 

I hope you enjoyed my project.  

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Brushed Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock, Pink Glitter Paper, Paper Fundamentals Cardstock -Canary, Paper Fundamentals Cardstock - Pear
Stamps: A Budding Friendship, Lifetime of Happiness, Have a Happy Day
Inks: Canary, Pixie, Hollyhock, Pear
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Clear Sparkles, Pink Glitter Gems, Foam Tape

Now, hop on over to Heather's Blog to check out her awesome creation. 

Thanks for stopping by :)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Auction Item for Thrive and Survive Event

As some of you may know, my awesome upline, Brae Montgomery and her team won one of the Thrive and Survive events from Close To My Heart! That means that a member from the corporate staff (Kristine) will be coming to Barrie in September to work with us and teach us business AND creative classes! How AWESOME is that. Plus, Brae has gone one step further and has planned a FULL WEEKEND CROP as well, so the entire event runs from Friday evening through Sunday evening :) There are consultants attending from as far away as St. John's, Newfoundland. What a wonderful opportunity for each of us! We will meet consultants from across the country and get to mix and mingle with people we have only contacted through Facebook and email before! 

An auction is being held for Operation Smile and I have decided to create two items for that auction. Below is the first of the two items. It is a frame with 12   3x3 cards attached. I was at a loss as to what kind of title to use so I decided to go with a generic title of FAMILY, figuring that anyone could use that title because once the cards were removed, they could add their own photos and memorabilia to the frame. The small box contains an additional 12 cards - one extra of each of the cards shown on the frame - plus the 24 envelopes.

This photo shows all the cards open and the box in front of the frame. 

I hope this will fetch a pretty penny for all bids go to support Operation Smile. 

I have not listed the products used because I used several stamp sets and I didn't keep track of all of them... It is the Seaside Paper Pack and co-ordinating cardstock and well as the Paper Fundamentals Cardstock in the same colours. 

Enjoy, 
Alyson



  

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge - #67

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #67! 

This week's sketch is really cool. When I saw it, the first thing I thought of was clouds but I know that sketches are designed to be interpreted and not used exactly as they are created, so I chose to use flowers in place of the clouds for my design. 

The sketch is shown below and my card follows the sketch. 

For my card, I used a sheet of patterned paper from the Snowhaven Paper Pack as my background. I then chose Glacier and Lagoon Cardstock from the Paper Fundamentals Collections and I used the reverse side of the Glacier paper as well for the middle flower. Some older embellishments make the flower centers and I split a sentiment into three pieces by masking it to create my sentiment (it is one long stamp). 

Products used are all Close To My Heart 

Paper: Snowhaven Paper Pack, Glacier Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Paper Fundamentals - Whimsy and Adventure Assortments

Stamps: Big Hug

Inks: Black, Lagoon

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Teal Shimmer Trim, Lagoon Zipper Lace (ret.), Baker\s Twine - Paradise Assortment (ret.), Teal Acrylic Flowers (ret.), Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Family Cards

These two cards are for special members of my family. They are created using patterns from the Make It From Your Heart Book - Volume 2, although I changed the size to 5x7 from the standard cards size. 

For both cards, I used the Family Love stamp set. For the first card, I used the Pathfinding Paper Pack. 

For the second card, I used the Brushed Paper Pack.

Some of the embellishments are retired but they fit with the cards perfectly.

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Pathfinding Paper Pack, Brushed Paper Pack, Chocolate Cardstock, Olive Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Pear Cardstock, Pixie Cardstock, Hollyhock Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: Family Love, Stitched Together (ret.)
Inks: Olive, Pear, Pixie, Hollyhock
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Brushed Assortment, Bronze Shimmer Trim, Pink Shimmer Trim, Foam Tape, Pink Glitter Gems, Harvest Baker's Twine (ret.), Brown and Tan Sparkles (ret.) White Crochet Flowers (ret.), Hollyhock Stitched Ribbon (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson