H2H - For the Love of Crafting

Welcome to this week's Heart 2 Heart challenge! 

The theme this week is For the Love of Crafting. It just so happens that Close To My Heart's August Stamp of the Month has the same title but you do not have to use that stamp set for this challenge. 

I chose to do something else entirely. A few months ago,  I was in the US for brief visit and I was at a stamp shop. In the back corner, there was a collection of the most hilarious stamps... I honestly laughed so hard that there were tears in my eyes and I couldn't decided which ones to purchase because there were so many great ones! The two used on the cards below are the two I finally decided to take home. A few weeks go, I was at a crop and was talking about these stamps so I went to the website and pulled up the selection. A few of us were reading them out loud and we laughed so hard that we got to the point of not being able to breathe properly because we were laughing so hard... Some of them are very amusing (but I am not sure I would actually use them on a card...)

Nonetheless, I couldn't decide which of the two sayings I wanted to use so I decided to use BOTH! The one with the bow is created using the Beautiful You paper pack and the other is created using a brand new paper pack called Boutique. I love these new papers and this shows only a sampling of a few of them, plus the new Colour of the Year - Sugarplum. 

I stamped the sayings using three ink pads each to create an ombre effect. The sentiments were then mounted on a PML card and then on cardstock. 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and share with us your interpretation of 
"For the Love of Crafting". 
You have until the end of August to link up with this or any of the other August challenges. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Beautiful You Paper Pack, Boutique Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Sugarplum Glitter Paper

Stamps: Feel like Failure (Two Lips Stamps), Pinterest Forgot (Two Lips Stamps)

Inks: Crystal Blue, Bluebird, Sapphire, Glacier, Peacock, Charcoal

Accessories: Oval Die (Nestabilities), Stitched Rectangle Dies (Gina Marie Designs), Silver Shimmer Trim, Friendship Bows, White Twine, Peacock Stitched Ribbon (ret.), Mini Stapler and Staples, Bashful Gems (ret.), Sugarplum Glitter Gems, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

Birthday Spinner Card

It is getting late this evening and I have been working on this card for two days, on and off, between a long list of other commitments. 

It's finally finished. 

I am entering it in a few challenges... 

Colour Dare 

Double Trouble

Pause, Dream and Enjoy - Summer Birthday Party 

Thing 1 - Create a cheerful and fun project (birthday card)

Thing 2 - Link up with the Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge
                (Summer Birthday Party)

Thing 3 - Add glitter to your project

So, here is what I did. 

This is a classic spinner card. I started with a white base and inked up an acrylic block using Bashful, Blossom and Eggplant ink pads. I spritzed a bit of water on the inks and then turned the block upside down on the paper. The result is what you see here. I had to do it twice as my largest block was not quite large enough to cover the entire surface of the paper. I used some patterned paper from the Documented paper pack for the background and I stamped a butterfly from a retired stamp set using Bashful and Eggplant. A few embellishments were added and the spinner spins wildly. 

I photographed the inside of the card as well, just to make sure that you know it IS a birthday card. The butterfly was brushed with the Bashful Shimmer Brush, which is shown in a separate photo. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Documented Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Eggplant Cardstock, Bashful Glitter Paper

Stamps: Dreamin' Big - Cardmaking (ret.), Say it All (ret.), Birthday Sparkles

Inks: Eggplant, Blossom, Bashful

Accessories: Nestabilities Circles (not CTMH), Dreamin' Big - Cardmaking Thin Cuts (ret.), Hearts Thin Cuts (ret.), Scallop Border Punch (ret.), Bashful Shimmer Brush, Clear Sparkles, ShinHan Marker, Foam Tape, Black Journaling Pen

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 278 - Kindness Changes Everything

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Challenge #278! 

I LOVE this sketch! I intend to use it to create a box of cards because the design is so awesome. 

This week, I tried a few different options for the sentiment and the main shape and decided to stick with flowers because they just worked so well. 

A few weeks go, I purchased the combination stamp and die set "Abstract Impressions" and "Springtime Impressions" from Stampin Up. The die for the set is one large die containing flowers and leaves and they can be cut out if you don't want to use the large die. That is what I did. I also cut the sentiment stamp so I could use it in parts. The paper is from the Adventure Fundamentals (pink piece), Cats and Bats (the green piece) and La Vie en Rose (the black striped background). I love how this all came together and the gold accents everything perfectly. I did brush the flowers with the Gold Shimmer Brush but the photography doesn't pick that up. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you use the sketch shown above 

to create something beautiful! 

You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Adventure Fundamentals, La Vie En Rose Paper Pack (ret.), Cats and Bats Paper Pack (ret.), Black Cardstock, Raspberry Cardstock, Willow Cardstock, Gold Foil Paper

Stamps: Abstract Impressions (SU)

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Springtime Impressions Thinlets (SU), Rose Embossing Folder, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Pink Dots (ret.), Gold Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - A Mountain Scene

Welcome to this week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge! 

The theme this week is Heavy Metal. Upon hearing that, the first images that came to mind were heavy metal bands - and I was completely at a loss. But there are lots of other ways to interpret this challenge. Metal can be found in many places and if you prefer to create a scrapbook page about some aspect of metal, there is most certainly that option. There are also "metal" types of paper and foil paper certainly looks like metal. That is the route I chose to take and my project is very different from what I initially expected. 

I pulled out two very old stamps - long ago retired stamps - for my card. The scene was created using one stamp from Beautiful Things, my stamp platform along with 8 stamp pads, daubers and much patience. I wasn't able to see exactly where I was inking the stamp so it was a guessing game as to where the colours would land... I had to redo this a couple of times after sort of figuring out where the lake and grass were located on the stamp. The paper moved slightly on me as well due to the stickiness of the stamp.

The trees were cut from the retired tree line die using both silver glitter and silver foil papers - MANY, MANY times. They were then cut and layered over and over to create the background. 

The Crystal Blue background paper is actually the retired Fundamental embossed paper but that seems to have been lost in the photography. 

I do have to say that I initially created a different card for this challenge... It was a 4x embossed Christmas tree set on an acetate background but it did not photograph well. I could not get it to look right so I chose not to use it. 

However, I am going to post it at the bottom, just so you can see it... 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret Heavy Metal. 

This, and all August challenges, are open until the end of the month. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Crystal Blue Fundamentals (ret.), Silver Foil Paper, Silver Glitter Paper

Stamps: Treasure Life (ret.), Beautiful Things (ret.)

Inks: Versamark, Fern, New England Ivy, Pacifica, Glacier, Crystal Blue, Lagoon, Heather, Mink

Accessories: Tree Line Die (ret.), Oval Stitched Dies (not CTMH), Sponge Daubers, Silver Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, Silver Ribbon (not CTMH), Licorice Opaques (ret.) 

Enjoy,

Alyson

This is the card that didn't make the cut... 

Cross Canada Blog Hop - Documented

Welcome to the Cross-Canada Blog Hop!

This month, we are featuring the Documented Paper Pack. 

You should have arrived here from Brae's blog. This blog hops runs from East to West across Canada so if you want to start at the beginning, go to Michelle's blog and she has the entire list of bloggers on her blog as well. 

I love the deep, intense colours in the Documented Paper Pack and wanted to do something different with that paper pack for this hop. A good friend of mine is celebrating a milestone birthday and I wanted to create an extra special card for her. These papers were perfect for that occasion. 

I chose to create a Four Fold card - it opens into a much larger card than you expect. There are lots of photos below to show several aspects of the card. 

I had to adhere the card together with temporary adhesive to keep it closed to show the front as it didn't like to sit completely closed for the first photo... 

Here it is, fully open. The front page is not visible as it is on the backside of the first page now. 

I did stamp and leave a place on the largest page on the back so I could write a short greeting there. 

This is my favourite page within the card itself - and the next couple of photos show the shimmer on the flowers and on the sentiment at the bottom. 

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

This card is not hard to create but the decorating is time consuming. 

The next bog on this hop is Brandi's blog. 

I am sure she has something fabulous to share with you!

Be sure to join us again on September 10th when we will feature a brand new paper pack from the new Holiday Expressions catalog! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Documented Paper Pack, Bashful Glitter Paper, White Daisy Cardstock, Saffron Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Eggplant Cardstock, Bashful Cardstock

Stamps: Documented - Cardmaking, Casual Expressions (ret.), One in a Million (ret.)

Inks: Charcoal, Eggplant, Saffron, Peacock Pigment Ink, Eggplant Pigment Ink

Accessories: Artiste Cartridge (ret.), ShinHan Markers, Gold Shimmer Ribbon, Gold Shimmer Brush, Bashful Shimmer Brush, Clear Shimmer Brush, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Documented Dots, Bitty Sparkles, Scalloped Border Thin Cut, Documented - Cardmaking Thin Cuts

Enjoy,

Alyson

Here's To You Blog Hop

Welcome to the Here's To You Blog Hop. This blog hop features the four gorgeous stamp sets that are part of the Here's To You collection. They can be purchased individually or as part of a kit. Each is a beautiful stamp on its own and I am sure you will see all four of them featured somewhere on this blog hop. The kit itself features stunning artwork but the stamps can be used alone to create amazing artwork as I am sure you will see as you continue this tour, so enjoy! 

You should have arrived here from Darlys Recker's blog. 

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

I honestly could not decide which of the four stamps I liked the best so it was the card style for me that determined which of the stamps I was going to use. Since the front of my card was narrow, that meant it had to be a narrow stamp so I was down to two choices... and after deciding I wanted to use the Fresh Air paper pack (which I have barely used at all), the Sending Sunshine stamp was the winner!

I had a small dilemma in that I didn't want the right side of the card to show the written part when it was closed... so I had to find something to put on the far right that would fit with the stamp. After using the basic circle and stitched circle thin cuts to create the sentiment and spot to write, I decided upon a basic jar with gold leaves. It fits perfectly with the sentiment with the gold leaves along the border on the front of the card when it is folded. 

Once the card is opened, the trees are visible on the centre panel as is the message section (for which I used a PML card and left some of the leaves at the top to coordinate with the front page background). 

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

The next blog on this blog hop is Miss Carrie's Creations. 

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

Products used are all all Close To My Heart

Paper: Fresh Air Paper Pack, New England Ivy Cardstock, Nutmeg Cardstock, Gold Glitter Paper

Stamps: Short and Sweet, Sending Sunshine

Inks: Glacier, New England Ivy, Nutmeg

Accessories: Artistry Cartridge, Flower Market Cartridge, Basic Circle Thin Cuts, Stitched Circle Thin Cuts, White and Gold Twine, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 276 - Dandelion Wishes Birthday

Welcome to another sketch at Atlantic Hearts! 

I decide to play around a little bit with this week's sketch - I rotated it, changed the direction of the sentiment and also changed the direction of the cross piece. 

One of the papers from the Beautiful Friendship paper pack is the background but I wanted to use the Dandelion Wishes stamp from SU to create the main image. That was done using the emboss resist technique. It was stamped using Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. I used Smoothie and Canary inks to cover the paper, bringing out the image. Once the two colours were blended, the final results looks much more orange than the ink colours really are... The ribbon is really old Smoothie ribbon from many years ago. 

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: Beautiful Friendship Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock

Stamps: Dandelion Wishes (SU), Rose Wonder (SU)

Inks: Sapphire, Smoothie, Canary, Versamark

Accessories: Artiste Cartridge (ret.), Smoothie Ribbon (ret.), Adventure Ribbon Pack (ret.), White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Stitched Oval Dies (GMD), Foam Tape

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Happy Birthday - Monkey Style

I had some extra time this week and decided to create a card for the current 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge (sketch #275). 

For this card, I pulled out the Punny Pals stamps set - one of my favourites. I rotated the sketch 90 degrees and changed the center shape to make it work better for what I had in mind. After all, a sketch is a starting point only and as long as it is recognizable in the final design, that's what counts. I used a triadic colour scheme (three colours evenly spaced around the colour wheel and that gave me orange, purple and green. I used the purple for the background, orange for the ovals and green for the leaves to surround the monkeys. Placing all these branches and leaves plus the moneys took FOREVER! I had to stamp and cut far more than I anticipated... and then cut several of them into smaller pieces to hide parts as well. I'm happy with the end product, though. 

Here is the Atlantic Hearts sketch (#275). 

The inside is also decorated in the same theme, still leaving space for my message to the recipient. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Willow Cardstock, Pansy Cardstock, Eggplant Cardstock, Tangerine Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Toffee Cardstock 

Stamps: Punny Pals, Short and Sweet, Chelsea Gardens - Cardmaking (ret.)

Inks: Willow, Pansy, Eggplant, Rich Cocoa Memento Ink (not CTMH)

Accessories: Punny Pals Thin Cuts, Stitched Hearts Thin Cuts, Basic Hearts Thin Cuts, Chelsea Gardens - Cardmaking Thin Cuts (ret.), Petal Palette Thinlets (SU), Woodland Branch Die (Memory Box), Oval Stitched Dies (Gina Marie Designs), ShinHan Markers, Sharpie Markers (not CTMH), Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

August SOTM Blog Hop - For the Love of Crafting

Welcome to August's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "For the Love of Crafting" - a set of 9 stamps. This stamp set highlights so many aspects of creativity - so if you are a crafter, this stamp set is a MUST HAVE! 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 Gina Brandstetter's blog.

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

The stamp set looks like this.

I wanted to use a couple of images from this stamp set but I knew that the image for the front of the card I wanted to make (a Dutch Fold card) needed to be a large one. Another stamp set pairs really nicely with this one and that is "We are Makers". I chose an image from that set for the front of my card - so it looks like I didn't use the August SOTM... but WAIT! 

Upon opening the card, you see where I DID use a few of the images from the 
August SOTM after all! 
I cut apart the heart and the image inside the heart - I fussy cut inside and outside the heart and then placed some flowered paper behind that. The center image from inside the heart was used on each side of the panels, paired with the stitched heart thin cut. The main sentiment is at the top, coloured in with markers. I left the top section blank for a message. 

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

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

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: Documented Paper Pack, Charcoal Cardstock, Linen Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Bashful Cardstock, Saffron Cardstock
Stamps: For the Love of Crafting, We are Makers
Inks: Peacock, New England Ivy, Eggplant
Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Peacock Stitched Ribbon, Heart Thin Cuts, Stitched Heart Thin Cuts, Corner Rounder, Documented Dots, Beautiful Friendship Bows, ShinHan Markers

Enjoy,

Alyson