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

SaveSave

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