Family Emergency

I won't be posting for the next while. My mother is ill and I need to attend to her so my blog will not be updated for an indefinite period of time.

When I am back to creating again, my posting will return to a normal schedule. I have actually been dealing with this for a month already but several posts were previously scheduled.

Thanks for understanding.

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 137

The sketch this week at Atlantic Hearts made me spend some significant time developing my artwork... I also learned some key things about my Cricut Explore machine in the process - like what I can and can't do with the Slice feature. I learned that I can't slice a circle on a card from Art Philosophy due to the score line on the card... I had to use just a plain rectangle instead. I also learned - after I had lined up 9 circles on my rectangle - that the slice tool will only cut ONE circle at a time! There may be shortcuts to doing this of which I am unaware but it took me forever to create the open circle background! 

Then I had to find stamps that would fit into the 1 inch circles... 

So, here is my card - I probably should have used a neutral background instead of a patterned one but such is life...

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Pines Paper Pack, Cocoa Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock
Stamps: Polar Bear Holiday (ret.), Merry & Bright (ret.), White Pines Cardmaking Workshop, Reindeer Bells, Perfect Fit Holidays
Inks: Glacier, Cranberry, Black, Fern, Cocoa
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Red Shimmer Trim, Green Shimmer Trim, Green Triangle Enamel and Glitter Duos, Thin Foam Tape, ShinHan Markers, Clear Sparkles Assortment

Enjoy, 
Alyson

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Candlelight Garden

Welcome to December's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "Candlelight Garden" - a set of 10 stamps. This set of stamps is terrific for creating cards for friends or scrapbook pages to honour friendships. The bloggers along this blog hop will show you several ideas, so sit back and enjoy the tour. 
You should have arrived here from Lauren Moore's blog.
If you get lost, a list of all blogs can be found here.

The stamp set looks like this.

I love one of the sentiments in this stamp set - specifically the sentiment that reads, "A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden." I thought I would create that sentiment literally and actually create a broken fence with a garden below. It wasn't quite as easy as I anticipated... Those flowers are difficult to cut around and the fence took some time. I cut the pieces and then ran them through my Cuttlebug with the woodgrain embossing folder. Distressing the edges was tough considering how small they were. Then, it was a matter of layering them to create a "broken fence" appearance... I tried cutting the flowers from the bottom as well but they fell apart so the second time, I opted to cut only from the top. They looked funny without some sort of ground cover which led to the grass at the bottom.

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

The next blog on the hop is Katy Taylor's blog.

I'm sure she has something wonderful to share with you.

You can get this stamp set for just $6 this month with a $50 purchase. 

Visit my shopping site here. 

Remember this stamp set is only available until December 31st! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Kaleidoscope Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Whisper Cardstock, Pixie Cardstock

Stamps: Candlelight Garden

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Slate, Desert Sand, Pear

Accessories: Clear Sparkles Assortment, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Edge Distresser, Sponge Daubers, Foam Tape, ShinHan Markers: Marigold, Golden Yellow, Leaf Green, Sap Green, Lavender, Peony Purple, Tender Pink, Cherry Pink

Enjoy, 

Alyson