Atlantic Hearts 244 - Hello Sign Post

Merry Christmas! 

Yes, there IS a challenge this week at Atlantic Hearts. While many other challenge blogs take a break over the holidays, we do not! We offer challenges throughout the holidays to keep your mojo up and running - so do come and join us! 

The sketch this week can be interpreted in so many ways. It is a basic sketch and the shapes can certainly be altered - they are only there as a guideline. I am finished with Christmas and starting to think about spring with this card. I guess that's kind of odd, considering that today is one of the shortest and darkest days of the entire year where I live! 

I decided on a signpost, holding basket of flowers that is hanging from a post. 

Do think about joining us this week at Atlantic Hearts. The sketch is shown above and can be turned sideways, upside down, etc. You have until Sunday night to link up your project. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Pebble Cardstock, Nutmeg Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Rustic Home Fundamentals (ret.)

Stamps: Short and Sweet, What I Love (Stampin' Up)

Inks: New England Ivy, Raspberry, Blossom, Bashful

Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Art Philosophy Cartridge, Bashful Pearls, ShinHan Marker

Enjoy,

Alyson

H2H - Pun Intended

Welcome to another challenge at Heart 2 Heart! This week, it's all about the pun! ACCORDION to me, this is one of the best challenges to date and you will WATT to be part of this one just PIGcause it is such an awesome challenge. 

There are so many things you can do with puns - and Close To My Heart has some fabulous PUNNY stamp sets available, including the December Stamp of the Month that is all about puns! If you don't happen to have that stamp set, or any punny stamps, make up your own puns or do a play on words! 

I chose to use the Operation Smile Punny Pals stamp set for my card. These little cats caught my eye this time around. Their "cattitude" was just too adorable :) 

I used the Basic Fundamentals to create my card and the vellum overlay was not cut along the edges but torn. I scored it first so as not to tear it out of control - it is just "nicely" torn... The brown twine adds the rough touch to my card but I have no idea where it came from! It has been hiding in my stash for several years now.

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and make us laugh with your puns! They really can be OTTER-ly funny or terribly bad! We just want you to share your artwork with us! You have until the end of December to enter this or any of the OTTER December challenges.

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, Basic Fundamentals

Stamps: Punny Pals

Inks: Espresso

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, Punny Pals Thin Cuts (ret.), Vellum, Brown Twine (not CTMH), ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

Rejoice!

As it turns out, I have need for a few more Christmas cards... isn't that always the case? 

I decided to break out an oldie but goodie of a stamp set - the Sing Glory set. It has such beautiful images on it - and they are perfect for creating cards in non-traditional colours as well. I chose to use Sapphire and Silver. 

This pattern is from a BRAND NEW cardmaking book - Make It From Your Heart - Volume 4! It will be available as of January 1st! All I can say it that it is simply awesome :) 

I stamped the sentiment on the white cardstock before running it through the embossing folder. The gathered ribbon is some I had had for ages and it fit perfectly for this card. 

Unfortunately, photographing that silver foil paper is so difficult... shadows cause such a problem so I tried a face-on view as well as a side view - am showing both here. The ribbon looks strange in one view and the shadows are prevalent in the other...

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, Silver Foil Paper, Silver Glitter Paper

Stamps: Sing Glory (ret.)

Inks: Versamark, Sapphire

Accessories: Heat Tool, Silver Embossing Powder, Dot Embossing Folder, Holly Embossing Folder (not CTMH), Clear Sparkles, Foam Tape, Silver Gathered Ribbon (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts 242 - Swirly Christmas Tree

It's a very simple sketch this week at Atlantic Hearts - perfect for those last minute Christmas cards! 

I decided to stay very close to the sketch this week - and finish my LAST Christmas card as well - what a relief! 

I used a very old Close To My Heart stamp - embossed it using Willow Pigment ink and clear embossing powder. I did the same thing using Cranberry Pigment ink and clear embossing powder and then cut out the tiny birds and glued them onto the tree. I made a frame using two stitched border dies and then using Silver Shimmer trim and two grey ribbons, created the lines for the background. Such an easy card to create! 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above. You have until Sunday night to link up your project! 

Supplies used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: What Daisy Cardstock, Willow Cardstock

Stamps: Holiday Wishes (ret.), Festive Trees (ret.)

Inks: Willow Pigment Ink, Cranberry Pigment Ink, Willow, Cranberry

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Stitched Rectangular Frames (Gina Marie Designs), Silver Shimmer Trim, Whisper Ribbon (ret.), Silver Ribbon (not CTMH), Clear Sparkles, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

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Colour Dare 272 - Traditional Christmas

Welcome to a Traditional Christmas at Colour Dare. My team is celebrating traditional colours for Christmas this week. The opposite team is celebrating Non-Traditional colours, so be sure to check their projects as well. There are prizes available and all sorts of challenges running on the Colour Dare website so be sure to check in regularly throughout the month of December as there will be lots happening! 

My traditional colour card uses traditional colours - Cranberry, Willow and White Daisy. I used an old die that I love - it is a swirly Christmas tree and I cut it three times and glued it together to give it more stability and a little more depth. The embossing folder is also one that I love - beautiful holly and berries. The whole card is foam taped onto a white background. I needed a very small sentiment so I went to my Festive Trees stamp set and cut the smallest sentiment I could find (it originally read Merry Christmas To You) and I cut it into three pieces. That way, I was able to layer the Merry on top of Christmas without having to mask the words. The white dots from the Black and White dots were coloured green with a ShinHan marker. 

Be sure to join us this week AND next week when the teams will switch and show you the reverse challenge next week. You have two weeks to link up with this challenge. 

Remember - it's traditional Christmas colours only: 

- red(s)

- green(s)

- white

- choice of one neutral (optional)

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock, Willow Cardstock

Stamps: Festive Trees (ret.)

Inks: Willow

Accessories: Swirly Christmas Tree (Memory Box), Holly Embossing Folder (not CTMH), Stitched Dies (Gina Marie Designs), Black and White Dots, ShinHan Marker, Foam Tape

Enjoy, 

Alyson

H2H - Silver and Gold

Welcome to a terrific challenge at Heart 2 Heart! One of the fabulous paper packs in the Holiday Expressions catalog is the Silver and Gold paper pack. This week's challenge is titled "Silver and Gold". It is perfect for Christmas - and even better, it also ties in with an ongoing challenge over at the Colour Dare website, so if you are planning to enter this challenge, be sure to check out the Colour Dare website and see what is happening as there are potential prizes to be won over there as well! Who doesn't like FREE STUFF??

Back to the Silver and Gold challenge here at Heart 2 Heart... You don't have to use the Silver and Gold paper pack but it makes it easier as those papers are all in those colours. I chose to use a few of those papers and add silver, gold and white glitter paper as well as silver and gold foil paper to my card. Due to the detail in the the glitter Cricut cuts, I wanted them to stand out so I chose a black centre piece from the Silver and Gold paper pack on which to place my poinsettia and to see of the branches. I still lost some of them with the white and silver background piece but that's ok. I also photographed the centre of the flower to show what I did. The Cricut cut is white and gold glitter paper but I also outlined it with bitty silver sparkles and then placed a larger one in the centre. 

It is difficult to photograph foil paper as it tends to reflect shadows... The card looks so much better in real life. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you use silver and gold on a project! It is such a beautiful combination for Christmas - or for any project, for that matter. 

And don't forget to check out the Colour Dare website as well for the similar challenge happening over there :) 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Silver and Gold Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Silver Glitter Paper, Gold Glitter Paper, White Glitter Paper, Silver Foil Paper, Gold Foil Paper

Stamps: Beary Christmas Cardmaking

Inks: Black

Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Clear Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to December's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set 

"A Little Bit of Pun" - a set of 17 stamps. This is the most adorable set of stamps - the images and puns are perfect for cards, gifts, tags and even scrapbookers! They can be used in so many ways. 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 Jennifer D's blog. 

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

The stamp set looks like this.

I decided to create two different cards for this blog hop, both using the Fundamental paper collections. Both card patterns are from the Make It From Your Heart sketch books. 

For the first card, I used the Basics Fundamentals - and of course, the S'More pun. Who can resist that adorable sentiment? 

The second card was created using the Whimsy Fundamentals. Since I had some extra space at the bottom of the card, I decided to add Happy Birthday as this will go to friend celebrating a birthday in a few weeks.

I hope you enjoyed my projects. 

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

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Basic Fundamentals, Whimsy Fundamentals, Linen Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Sweet Leaf Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, White Cards and  Envelopes

Stamps: A Little Bit of Pun, Short & Sweet

Inks: Espresso Pigment Ink, Lagoon Pigment Ink

Accessories: Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape, Corner Rounder, Basics Ribbon Collection, Scallop Border Thin Cuts, Clear Sparkles, Grey Gems

Enjoy,

Alyson

Colour Dare 273 - Non-Traditional Christmas

Welcome to a Non-Traditional Christmas at Colour Dare. My team is celebrating non-traditional colours for Christmas this week. The opposite team is celebrating traditional colours, so be sure to check their projects as well. There are prizes available and all sorts of challenges running on the Colour Dare website so be sure to check in regularly throughout the month of December as there will be lots happening! 

For my non-traditional Christmas card, I chose to use White and Sapphire. I actually prefer non-traditional colours for Christmas and the vast majority of my Christmas cards are created in non-traditional colours. This one ended up taking much more time than I originally anticipated... I SHOULD have done it backwards to what I did. I used Design Space to first weld the snowflakes together and then slice that line into a white base. I didn't anticipate having to glue in the six tiny little white diamond pieces after the fact when they were also cut from the snowflakes... I would have been better doing this the reverse way, I think! I love the white flourish on the white base, though. The shimmer brush was used to brush the poinsettia to give it lots of sparkle. 

Be sure to join our Colour Dare challenge this week. 

The non-traditional colour expectations are as follows: 

- use up to 3 non-traditional colours (EXCLUDING red or green)

- white and/or your choice of one neutral

- optional silver and/or gold

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock

Stamps: First Noel

Inks: Sapphire

Accessories: Artistry Cartridge, Art Philosophy Cartridge (ret.), Flower Market Cartridge, White Pearls, Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 240 - MistleTOE Wishes

Welcome to another sketch at Atlantic Hearts. This week the sketch is pretty minimalistic - two small images, each in a corner, and a diagonal line across the card. This opens things up to a LOT of interpretation. I decided to stay rather close to the sketch this time. I was considering using flowers but thinking about Christmas, I have had a stamp with elf feet for ages and I have never used it, so I waned to do something with that.

I looked hard for sentiment using those feet but the best I could find was what I used. That kind of required mistletoe on my card as well... I decided to place a cute little reindeer under the sprig of mistletoe. My Cricut came in handy to write the title as I really didn't want to stamp it. 

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 Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock, Emerald Cardstock

Stamps: Season's Tweetings (ret.), Elf Shoes (So Suzy Stamps), Santa's List (Your Next Stamp)

Inks: Tuxedo Black Memento Black

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Base Camp Cartridge (not CTMH), Gold Cricut Pen (not CTMH), ShinHan Markers, Metallic Gold Marker (Sharpie)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Colour Dare 271 - Happy Ho Ho Ho to You

Welcome to another challenge at Colour Dare! This week, it's all about Beary Christmas colours. If you happen to have the Beary Christmas paper pack, that makes it really easy as all the colours are taken from that paper package. If not, the basic Christmas colours are pretty standard and easily found. 

We ask that you use at least three colours from the palette including neutrals. There are MANY from which to choose!

I found a stunning Christmas card on Pinterest but unfortunately, the link didn't lead to a specific gallery and the card was not watermarked so I can't tell who was the creator. I pretty much CASEd this gorgeous card because it was perfect for these colours and I loved the design. 

I used only the Cranberry and New England Ivy papers from the Beary Christmas paper pack along with White Daisy cardstock. I did use a tiny bit of Cranberry cardstock for the leaves in the corner.  The background for the sentiment was sponged using Cranberry ink and the sentiment was stamped using both Fern and New England Ivy. I dug out some very old Cranberry grosgrain ribbon and I love  the effect it adds to the card. 

Join us at Colour Dare and show us how you use some or all of the colours in this palette.

This challenge is open until Thursday, December 7 at 10pm EST. 

Our last two challenges are extra special Christmas challenges - more about that shortly so stay posted :) 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Beary Christmas Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock

Stamps: Ho Ho Ho 

Inks: Cranberry, Fern, New England Ivy

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge (ret.), Artistry Cartridge (ret.), Flower Market Cartridge (ret.), Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon (ret.), Red Enamel Gems, Sponge Daubers, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

H2H - Do Be Bashful

Welcome to another challenge at Heart 2 Heart. This week, it is all about Bashful! Bashful can be a lot of things - it can be shy, timid or easily embarrassed. It can be Bashful, one of the Seven Dwarfs - he was always my favourite! Or is can be Close To My Heart's Colour of the Year! 

I chose to go with the last option - the colour option. The cardstock is now double sided so you have TWO shades of Bashful to work with in addition to the Bashful Glitter paper! 

As I was looking through my doggie's scrapbook album, I realized that I don't have a layout done for when I first brought her home - that very first evening! She was just so adorable - and just under two pounds. I chose to journal on the back of this layout which is why you don't see any writing on the front. I also used the lighter side of the Bashful cardstock for the base of the layout. The flowers are stamped with Bashful for the first layer and then Pansy for the second layer. The glitter paper is very close in shade to the cardstock... and can be hard to see in the photo. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret the Do Be Bashful theme. You have until the end of November to link up with this or any of the other November challenges. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Bashful Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Pansy Cardstock, Willow Cardstock, Bashful Glitter Paper

Stamps: Framework Alphabet, Flourishes, Ink Blot (ret.), Hello Lovely Scrapbooking (ret.)

Inks: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, Black, Willow, Pansy, Bashful

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, Art Philosophy Cartridge (ret.), Artiste Cartridge (ret.), Black Shimmer Trim, Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

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Just for Fun Blog Hop

Welcome to the Just for Fun blog hop. This blog hop features products from the Fundamentals line as that is the featured special in the month of November! There are Paper Packs, Complements and Ribbon packs available in 4 different combinations - Adventure, Enchantment, Whimsy and Basics. Each has its own distinct flavour. Some are bold while others are more subdued. The consultants along this blog hop will present a wide variety of projects using these products - and I am sure you will see all 4 palettes represented as well.

You should have arrived here from Krista Hershberger's blog.

If you get lost along the way, there is complete list of participants on Melinda Everitt's blog.

On the last blog hop, I was so inspired by a card made by a friend of mine, Brenda Lapp. Her Christmas card was just beautiful - so I contacted her to check if she would be ok if I used her basic idea for this bog hop but with different colours. Her original card can be seen here. I chose to use the Thistle dotted page from the Whimsy Fundamentals for the base of my card and the striped Pansy piece from the Adventure Fundamentals to create my poinsettias. The leaves and branches are Cricut cut using Charcoal cardstock and Silver Glitter paper. I coloured in the Bitty Sparkles with the Lavender ShinHan marker.

I hope you enjoyed my project.

The next blog on this hop is Darlys Recker's blog.

I am sure she has something terrific to share with you.

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Whimsy Fundamentals, Adventure Fundamentals, White Daisy Cardstock, Charcoal Cardstock, Silver Glitter Paper

Stamps: Beary Christmas

Inks: Pansy, Eggplant, Black

Accessories: Flower Market, Corner Rounder, Sponge Daubers, White Pearls, Bitty Sparkles, ShinHan Marker, Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts 238 - Joy Wreath

It's time for another Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. This one is in the shape of a wreath - one of my favourite designs! 

I decided to pull out a stamp set that I have had since last year but have only used a couple of times. It is a triple stamping set - the base of the wreath is stamped in one colour, the the second set of leaves is stamped over the first set in a second colour and the berries are added on top of that in a third colour. The stamps are designed to line up with each other. 

I wanted to mount the finished wreath on a piece of patterned paper that looked like wood so I went back to last year's Rustic Fundamental papers. That meant that Heather was the colour of choice for the base of my wreath. Lagoon was the second colour and Ruby made up the berries. Some stray ribbon in Lagoon was used to hang the wreath. The silver JOY sentiment was die cut four times for thickness and layered on top of each other. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above. You have until Sunday night to link up your project. 

Product used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Rustic Home Fundamentals (ret.), White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Silver Glitter Paper

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath (SU)

Inks: Heather, Lagoon, Ruby

Accessories: Wondrous Wreath Dies, Turquoise Ribbon (not CTMH) 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Hello Lovely for Christmas

I have had this Hello Lovely stamp for some time now. There are lots of pictures of it coloured in various ways - partially coloured, completely coloured, done with watercolours... and it is beautiful every single time. 

Why not colour it for Christmas using red and green? I embossed the stamp using gold embossing powder and then selected various ShinHan markers in red and green shades. I was left with the smallest flower after exhausting most of the red markers that I have so I decided to colour those in yellow. 

I like how this turned out... it took a while to do, though. I am not experienced with blending colours but I did my best. I didn't add any shimmer or anything else to the card - it is simply coloured. I stamped a sentiment at the bottom and here is the finished product. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Emerald Cardstock
Stamps: Hello Lovely (Concord and 9th), Christmas Love (ret.)
Inks: Emerald, Versamark
Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape

Enjoy,
Alyson

CTMH Christmas Card Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH Christmas Card Blog Hop. This is a special blog hop where we are featuring Christmas cards made with Close To My Heart products. It is time to sit back, relax and enjoy the cards made by several consultants. You will see a wide variety of cards and ideas as you follow this bog hop around the circle because there are terrific products available this season, along with very talented consultants!  

You should have arrived here from Krista Hershberger's blog.

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

I have always been partial to non-traditional colours at Christmas. For this blog hop, I wanted to do something along those lines and stay away from the traditional red and green. I chose to use the Basic Fundamentals along with Bashful. Some people will say that this doesn't look like Christmas but I disagree. Christmas can be whatever you choose to make it. More and more people are choosing to go the non-traditional route and decorate in a thematic colour instead of red and green.

I love how this turned out. I used one of my favourite sketches to create this card. It is 5x7 in size. The lighter banners are stamped in Charcoal using the In the Background stamp set and the tiny leaves are coloured with our Silver metallic marker and a pink ShinHan marker. To prevent the background from being too stark, I used Linen instead of White Daisy for my card base. 

This close-up shows the shimmer on the poinsettia a little better. 

I hope you enjoyed my card. 

The next stop on this blog hop is Darlys Recker's blog.

I am sure she has something festive and wonderful to share with you. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Linen Cardstock, Charcoal Cardstock, Bashful Cardstock, Basics Fundamentals, Silver Glitter Paper
Stamps: In the Background, First Noel
Inks: Charcoal, Black, Bashful
Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Art Philosophy Cartridge (ret.), Basics Ribbon Collection, White Pearls, Foam Tape, Clear Shimmer Brush, ShinHan Marker, Silver Metallic Marker, Sponge Daubers, Corner Rounder

Enjoy,
Alyson