Atlantic Hearts Sketch 123

It is already the end of August and in my area, some of the trees are already starting to turn colour! Autumn is my favourite season of the year. I love the crisp mornings, the beautiful colours on the trees and the falling leaves. 

My card for this week's challenge reflects my love for this season. I stamped the tree using the stamp set "Always Grateful" and I used 5 colours of pigment inks. I love those inks because they stay wet long enough to allow you to do amazing things with them! I started with Sunset and covered the tree with that colour. I went back and added Barn Red, Autumn Terracotta (the last two colours are both retiring as of today), plus a bit of Pear. The trunk was inked in Cocoa and the base was done with a bit of Pear. I just used a Kleenex to push into each ink pad and then dab on top of the original colour on the tree - so easy to do and I love the final effect. 

Show us your interpretation of this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. You have until Sunday evening to link up with this week's sketch shown above. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock, Sunset Cardstock, Pear Fundamentals Cardstock, Sunset Fundamentals Cardstock

Stamps: Always Grateful, Botanical Backgrounds, Big Hug

Inks: All Pigment Inks - Black, Cocoa, Pear, Barn Red, Autumn Terracotta, Sunset

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, ShinHan Markers, Coral Reef Sequins, Black Shimmer Trim, Sparkles Black Flourishes Small, Foam Tape, Corner Rounder

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - Workin' 9 to 5

The challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week is "Workin' 9 to 5"... very appropriate with Labour Day just around the corner. I thought about the qualities that come with working as a woman in today's world and a mini stamp set came to mind - one that was featured at Close To My Heart's 2013 Convention. It is called "She Believed". I love the saying and it reflects confidence - a quality required by women in today's working society. 

My own confidence level has taken a huge hit with the number of personal struggles I have faced over the last two years so this is a project that really hit home for me. Although I am no longer working 9 to 5, confidence is something that all women require. It is such an important quality. This saying is one that is written on a board in my creative space so I see it daily. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart this week and show us how you interpret "Workin' 9 to 5". We would love for you to share your projects with us. You have until the end of the month to enter any of the August challenges. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: For Always Paper Pack (ret.), White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Lagoon Paper Fundamentals

Stamps: She Believed (ret.)

Inks: Black Pigment Ink, Lagoon Pigment Ink

Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape, Oceanside Sequins, Bitty Sparkles, Bling Pins (ret.), White Crocheted Flowers (ret.), Black Ribbon (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 121

I love working with sketches and this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts is no exception. I decided to take a completely different approach with my project this week. It s still a card but the sketch is found both on the front AND on the inside of the card. On the Atlantic Hearts website for the Design Team, we can only upload one photo, so I chose the inside of the card. Here, you will see both the front and the inside of the card. 

This is a book card - because it open sort of like a book. When I found the instructions, they were all in cm... so I had to convert everything to inches (even though, being from Canada, I am used to working in metric measurements for everything EXCEPT paper crafting). 

The lighting is kind of funny as the top of the card looks almost pink while the bottom looks purple like it is supposed look - that happened because I was trying to avoid shadows and with a light shining from above to remove shadows, it's really tough  to get consistent colour throughout (especially in the second photo). 

Here is the front of the card.

And here is the inside of the card.

Here is this week's sketch - can you see it both on the front and inside the card?

Needless to say, colouring and cutting all these flowers took me forever, but I love the final outcome. I didn't anticipate them hanging over the edge of the card like they did so I had to add the scalloped piece after the fact but it adds so much so I rather like the effect it creates. 

Be sure to join us at Atlantic Heart Sketch Challenge and show us your interpretation of the sketch shown above. You have until Sunday night to link up your project. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock, Gypsy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock

Stamps: Wavy Blooms, Holiday Tags, Documenting Moments

Inks: Black Pigment Ink, Gypsy Ink, Black Ink

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Thistle Thick Twine, Clear Sparkles, ShinHan Markers - Leaf Green, Vivid Green, Peony Purple, Lavender, Colourless Blender, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, Liquid Glass, Scallop Border Punch, Scallop Embossing Folder

Enjoy, 

Alyson

I Thought of You Today... Card

This card has one of my all time sentiments on it - from an old stamp set that I have kept for several years now. It is called "Smiles" and the sentiment is just so perfect. 

The flowers are from a SU stamp and to create the smaller ones, I just stamped the larger flower and cut it down from the edges. The leaves are from "A Budding Friendship". 

It's impossible to see in the photo but the black strip is from the Paper Fundamentals so it has the chevron print on it and it is shiny so it adds some additional interest to the card. 

I love the way this turned out - not sure who will receive this yet, so that will be a surprise :) 

Supplies are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Black Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Black Paper Fundamentals Cardstock
Stamps: A Budding Friendship, Smiles (ret.), Blended Bloom (not CTMH)
Inks: Black Pigment Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Lagoon Ink
Accessories: Flourish Embossing Folder (not CTMH),  Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, ShinHan Markers and Blending Pen, Blue Adhesive Gems (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - "Ticket to Ride"

The challenge this week at Heart 2 Heart Challenges is "Ticket to Ride". I had a terrible time deciding what to do for this challenge... Initially, my mind went to amusement parks with roller coaster rides and such and sometimes, once your mind finds a theme, it's very difficult to think away from that theme and to something else. Eventually, the thought of my car came to mind and how I am going to need to replace my set of wheels before too long... and I have a pretty good idea of what I want. I decided to go with that idea as my "ticket to ride".... 

So, after finding two photos of my two possible (not so far in the) future car purchases, here is my layout. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us your interpretation of this week's challenge, "Ticket to Ride". You have the entire month of August to submit your entry! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Chalk It Up Paper Pack, Skylark Paper Pack (ret.), Snowhaven Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Black Cardstock
Stamps: None
Inks: Lagoon, Glacier
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Artbooking Cartridge, Silver Sequins, Marquee Enamel Shapes (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Masculine Car Birthday Card

I need a birthday card for a very difficult individual for whom to create... yes. one of THOSE. I think we all have one of those people on our lists. I recently found out that he loves old cars and so that was my take for this card - to use the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge to create a pop-up card for him with a classic car inside! 

I haven't played much with this cartridge but the pop-up part of this card came together very quickly! For the front, I just slightly increased the size of the car, flipped it for the orientation, added some paper behind the open sections and I cut the image twice to get the wheels in a different colour. That was it! So simple. Inside the card, I coloured the car using our ShinHan markers. Again, a bit of paper placed behind the open sections and the car was finished. 

The rest of the card came together really quickly - just a handful of embellishments, a small stamp and everything was finished. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Jackson Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock, Cocoa Cardstock
Stamps: Cricut Artiste Collection - Birthday, Just a Number (ret.), Bingo Alphabet (ret.)
Inks: Cocoa, Juniper
Accessories: Artfully Sent Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Oceanside Sequins, Glacier Thick Twine, Mocha Opaques (ret.), ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 119

Love this week's sketch! I haven't used burlap in ages and I didn't want sewn edges on this so I cut off the finished edges on the CTMH burlap ribbon before cutting this into the pieces to fit this card. Burlap can be really messy to work with because the edges unravel very quickly the more you handle it. The faster you can get tape on it and adhered to your surface, the better! I did turn the ends over just so they wouldn't look so unfinished. 

The Paper Fundamentals (in Canary) provided the perfect backdrop for this beautiful flower. A few sequins with Bitty Sparkles in the centers and this card came together very quickly. 

Won't you join us at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge this week 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: White Daisy Cardstock, Paper Fundamentals (Canary)

Stamps: Happy Birthday (ret.), Blended Blooms (not CTMH)

Inks: Black, Black Pigment Ink

Accessories: Burlap Ribbon (ret.), Oceanside Sequins, Bitty Sparkles, Aqua Dots, Foam Tape, ShinHan Markers, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

Enjoy, 

Alyson

August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - "Framed"

Welcome to August's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "Framed" - a set of 12 stamps. This is a terrific set of stamps for any purpose - card making, scrapbooking, labels - just about anything! The sentiments cover so many occasions as well :) The bloggers along this blog hop will show you several ideas, so sit back and enjoy the tour. You should have arrived here from Darlys Recker's blog. If you get lost, a list of all blogs can be found here. 

The stamp set looks like this.

I chose to create two cards using this stamp set. I love the way the sentiments fit perfectly inside the frames! I used two older Mojo Monday sketches as the guides for my cards. 

For this card, I coloured some of the white sequins from the Coral Reef Sequin Collection using the Peacock Green ShinHan Marker so they would match the Lagoon colour on the card. 

On the second card, I trimmed the inner circle of the sentiment by hand and then glued it over the first stamped image. I played around a bit in Pic Monkey to try and disguise the lines but that's a tough thing to do for those of us who don't use advanced photo editing programs! I hope you can't notice the lines too much...

I hope you enjoyed my projects. 

The next blog on the hop is Jennifer Dykstra's blog. I'm sure she has something wonderful to share with you.

You can get this stamp set for just $5 this month with only a $50 purchase. Visit my shopping site here. Remember this stamp set is only available until August 31st! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Seaside Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Desert Sand Cardstock, Pear Cardstock

Stamps: Framed

Inks: Lagoon, Desert Sand, Sorbet

Accessories: Artiste Cartridge, Dot Embossing Folder, Coral Reef Sequins, ShinHan Marker (Peacock Green), Bitty Sparkles

Enjoy, 

Alyson