Colour Dare - Cascading Card filled with Flowers

It has been quite a while since I have had the chance to create a project for the Colour Dare challenge and I have missed it! However, when I saw the colour challenge for this week, I knew I couldn't pass it up. I LOVE these colours together and Lagoon and Gypsy are two of my favourite colours in the CTMH palette. I HAD to do something! 

So, after much thought, I decided to create a cascading card. With just three colours to work with, that presents an extra challenge because it places some significant limitations on where to place items. I pulled out all the papers I had in those colours - basic cardstock, glitter paper, Fundamental cardstock and patterned paper. There wasn't much in terms of patterned paper for sure... just one sheet from the old Skylark paper pack. However, the other papers gave me enough to do what I wanted. I also had some Lagoon flowers and some SU white pearls in my stash from many years ago that helped me out. 

I used the Skylark patterned paper, the Lagoon Fundamental cardstock and the teal glitter paper to line the front sections of the card. That can be difficult to see in the photos so I took a few pictures - one straight on, one from slightly above, and one from the side. I used the purple glitter paper and the Gypsy Fundamental cardstock to create the flowers. The teal glitter paper was used to create the leaves. I cut a variety of flourishes from white cardstock. The sparkles were coloured using a ShinHan marker. 

Front View

Looking slightly down from above

Side View

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Skylark Paper Pack (ret.), White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Gypsy Cardstock, Teal Glitter Paper, Purple Glitter Paper, Adventure Fundamental Cardstock Pack (Gypsy and Lagoon)
Stamps: none
Inks: none
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Artbooking Cartridge, Lagoon Paper Flowers (ret.), White Pearls (not CTMH), Scallop Border Punch, Clear Sparkles, ShinHan Marker

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - The Birds and the Bees

The challenge this week at Heart 2 Heart is "The Birds and the Bees". With spring technically having just arrived, this is a timely challenge. I chose to focus on the birds aspect of this challenge as I am definitely not a fan of bees! Besides, I love some of the bird stamps sets that I own. 

I wanted to try a triple easel card that I saw recently. It was a lot easier than I expected it to be. The hardest part was lining up the scallops and that wasn't difficult - it just took some extra time to do. I'm sure this could be done using the Cricut but I wasn't patient enough to try it that way so I used some Nestabilities that I have had for ages to cut my shapes instead of fighting with Design Space and trying to figure that out, which would have taken me much longer. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret "The Birds and the Bees". This challenge has been extended until April 2, so you have a few extra days to complete your project and link it up! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Penelope Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock

Stamps: Sunshine Birdies, Tweet Me (ret.)

Inks: Black Memento Ink, Thistle, Honey

Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Green Triangle Enamel and Glitter Duos, ShinHan Markers, Purple Shimmer Trim, Thistle Thick Twine, Nestabilities Circles and Scallop Circles (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 152 - Purple Blooms

Once again, I love the sketch at Atlantic Hearts this week! As soon as I saw it, I knew the La Belle Vie papers were perfect for this sketch. Something black and white with one added colour was what I had in mind. 

The Wavy Blooms stamp set was perfect for the flowers - I chose to emboss them with pigment ink so the ink wouldn't run when I coloured them. I used two shades of purple and the blending ShinHan marker to colour the flowers and I am happy with how they turned out. 

Join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us your interpretation of this gorgeous sketch. You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: La Belle Vie Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock
Stamps: Wavy Blooms, Say it All
Inks: Black, Black Pigment Ink
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Dot Embossing Folder, Grey and White Enamel Dots, ShinHan Markers and Blending Pen, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Paper Pieced Thinking of You Card

Pinterest is such a fabulous place to find ideas! That is where I found this neat idea. Simply stamping a design on a smaller piece of paper and then cutting it into smaller pieces and gluing it one one side of the card seems so simple but it wasn't me who came up with the idea. Kerry's blog at lakulcards.blogspot.ca was where I found this fabulous idea! (The post date is June 25, 2012.) Her card actually looks a lot better than my attempt. I think it may have been more successful if I had used a shorter card rather than a card with a vertical orientation. I may try this again when I have more time. 

Nonetheless, as you will see from the product list, I used a LOT of stamp sets - primarily for the small flowers. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: A Happy Hello (ret.), Lifetime of Happiness (ret.), Dreams Come True (ret.), It's the Little Things (ret.). Shower Flowers, Have a Happy Day (ret.)
Inks: Cotton Candy, Topiary
Accessories: Corner Rounder

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Rose Wonder Stamp - Happy Birthday

I recently had a look through some SU catalogs and the latest one has some gorgeous stamps and other items in it. There were a few that I really loved, like the image below and I decided to splurge and purchase a few stamps during the Sale-a-Bration sale. I don't do that very often but a few of the stamps were ones that were just too good to pass up... 

This image is one from a set called Rose Wonder and it is available with a set of dies to match the stamps. The dies for this image cut not only the outline but also all the tiny little pieces inside the image. I decided to cut the image in 4 different colours and then fit the pieces inside the open frame... It sounded like a good idea at the time - until 3 hours later when I was still piecing it together! I covered the black outline with Liquid Glass when I was finished and let it dry overnight. 

The rest of the card came together quickly - a few embellishments, an embossed background and that's it. 

Products are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Penelope Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock, Topiary Cardstock, Eggplant Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock
Stamps: Holiday Tags, Rose Wonder (not CTMH)
Inks: Eggplant
Accessories: Dies (not CTMH), Purple Hearts Enamel and Glitter Gems, Thistle Thick Twine, Green Shimmer Trim, Cascading Dots Embossing Folder, Foam Tape, Liquid Glass, Purple Ribbon (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - Colour Challenge FERN

This week at Heart 2 Heart, we have a colour challenge - and the challenge is to use the colour Fern. With St, Patrick's Day coming up shortly, green is in season! 

I didn't want to do anything related to St. Patrick's Day, so I decided to do something a little different. Since I don't have any paper with Fern patterns on it, I had to use the Fern Fundamental Cardstock and come up with something creative. A pattern from the Make It From Your Heart Book - Volume 1 was my inspiration for this card. 

Happy FERN Day (or Happy St. Patrick's Day, if you prefer)!

Join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us what you can do with the colour Fern. You have the entire month of March to enter any or all of the challenges posted this month. 

Products used are all Close to My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, Basic Fundamental Cardstock (Black), Enchantment Fundamental Cardstock (Fern)

Stamps: Banner Wishes, Beloved Bouquet (ret.)

Inks: Fern

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, White Doily (not CTMH), Neutral Baker's Twine (ret.), Green Baker's Twine (not CTMH), Green Enamel and Glitter Triangles

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 150 - Penelope Sampler

The sketch at Atlantic Hearts this week kind of looked like a sampler to me... and so I treated it as such. I looked at it as an opportunity to showcase a lot of the papers in one kit and I chose Penelope because I LOVE that paper pack! The colours are so bold and bright with delightful patterns, perfect to welcome spring (if it ever gets here as we are having a major winter storm as I am writing this post...) 

The little purple enamel hearts were the perfect finishing touch for this card - they match the Thistle colour exactly and I happened to have one left in the glitter style. The others are all the matte style. 

Join us at Atlantic Hearts this week 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: Penelope Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: Say it All
Inks: Thistle
Accessories: Penelope Complements, Purple Hearts Enamel and Glitter Duos

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - Retirement

The theme this week at Heart 2 Heart is "retirement". That can mean an actual retirement - of someone who is retiring from work, a commitment of some sort or something else or retirement of a product, such as a Close To My Heart product! I went with the latter - retirement of Close To My Heart products. 

My all time favourite paper pack is Blossom and I was SO SAD to see it retire. This is my chance to use it again in a challenge so I also pulled out an old, retired stamp set that is one of my all time favourites - Blessed. It was a Stamp of the Month many years ago. It is a two-step stamping set with birds, flowers and swirls, a butterfly and two of the most beautiful sentiments as well. I have cut up the sentiments (yes, I often cut my stamps and have not damaged one yet!) and I will hold onto this stamp set until it doesn't stamp any longer because I love it so much! 

So, here is my creation using the Blossom Paper Pack and Blessed - two of my all time favourite products from Close To My Heart. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart to show us your interpretation of retirement. You have the entire month of March to enter this challenge and any of the March challenges. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Blossom Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Sunset Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Pear Cardstock
Stamps: Blessed
Inks: Lagoon, Glacier, Sunset
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, ShinHan Markers, Bitty Sparkles

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Watercolour Blog Hop

Welcome to the Watercolour Blog Hop! The focus for this blog hop is the use of Close To My Heart's watercolour products. I have to say that watercoloring has been a real challenge for me as it is WAY out of my comfort zone. I have watched a lot of videos and it still hasn't made me any more comfortable with the techniques of watercoloring... I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants here! 

You should have arrived here from Lisa Plummer's blog. 

A list of all participating bloggers can be found here. 

I chose to create three cards for this blog hop. The first is a card that simply uses blobs of paint and then an image stamped over top. I love this look and wanted to try it out myself. I backed the watercolour section with pink glitter paper for emphasis. 

For the second card, I decided to mimic a gorgeous card I saw on Pinterest some time ago. The base was done in watercolours in varying shades - I chose two shades of blue, a dark purple and a vibrant greenish-turquoise colour. I initially tried to keep them somewhat separate but they ended up being blended together. 

The flowers are cut from the Artistry cartridge and they are lightly painted with a yellow watercolour wash, just enough to give them some colour instead of leaving them white. They ended up with a Colonial White kind of colour so I chose a background of Colonial White paper as White Daisy looked kind of stark as a background. The branches were cut in black and adhered behind the flowers. For the centre of the flowers, I used the Blue Glitter Gems. 

The last card is one of total experimentation... I just painted sections in colours that I liked and slightly blended the edges together. I stamped the sentiment and added few sparkles afterwards. 

Your next stop on this blog hop is Carol Taggio's blog. I'm sure she has something wonderful in store for you. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart (for all 3 cards):

Paper: Pacifica Cardstock, Pink Glitter Paper, Watercolour Paper, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock

Inks: Memento Black Ink

Stamps: Friendship Wreath, Picture Perfect (Cricut Collection)

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, Watercolour Paints, Paintbrush Set, Clear Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Blue Dot Enamel and Glitter Gems

Enjoy, 

Alyson

March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Sunshine Birdies

Welcome to March's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "Sunshine Birdies" - a set of 11 stamps. This is the cutest set of stamps ever - I absolutely love this set! These birds are adorable, along with the butterflies and the two sentiments are just so heart warming. The bloggers along this blog hop will certainly show you many ways to use this awesome stamp set, so sit back and enjoy the tour. 

You should have arrived here from Carol Taggio'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. 

The first is a 6x6 card. I used the Georgie Paper Pack and used my spray pen but it's kind of hard to see that in the photograph. The elements are purposely offset on this card - it is not supposed to be even and lined up. 

My second card was created using some paper from the Kaleidoscope Paper Pack. I just adore these two birds facing each other! 

This is the inside of the card.

I hope you enjoyed my projects. 

The next blog on the hop is Priscilla Gotham'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 March 31st! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart (both cards)

Paper: Georgie Paper Pack, Kaleidoscope Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Slate Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, Pear Cardstock

Stamps: Sunshine Birdies

Inks: Memento Black Ink, Juniper, Slate

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Spray Pen, Canary Reinker, Rubbing Alcohol (not CTMH), ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape, Pixie Thick Twine

Enjoy, 

Alyson