Celebrate - Happy 2019!

I have had this card created for some time now... realized late last night that I never got around to posting it. 

With a Celebrate sentiment, it is perfect for the New Year! I chose the blues and pinks from the Oh What Fun paper pack from Close To My Heart and and cut a couple of branches from the Flower Market Cricut cartridge. Some old ribbon and a couple of buttons finished off the card. 

Happy New Year and best wishes in 2019! 

I will be back again shortly with projects for Heart 2 Heart, Atlantic Hearts and I am back on the Design Team with Colour Dare as well! 

See you in the new year :) 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Oh What Fun Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Pomegranate Cardstock, Pixie Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Silver Foil Paper, Neenah Solar White Cardstock
Stamps: Celebrate
Inks: Lagoon
Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Scallop Thin Cut, Basic Circle Thin Cuts, Stitched Circle Thin Cuts, Hello Lovely Cardmaking Thin Cuts, Turquoise Ribbon (unknown), Grey and Silver Button, Pink Button, Pink Waxy Flax

Enjoy,
Alyson

AH 296 - HAPPY Eclipse card

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch 296! 

This seems like a very basic sketch - with room for a super large sentiment! 

I thought it was perfect for an eclipse card - one where the letters are raised on a dark background. The hardest part for me was choosing the stamp to create some sort of background for the letters... I finally settled on a new stamp that I purchased - from Penny Black called Fragrant Flowers. 

I used a single stamp from the set and randomly stamped around the white cardstock using Willow ink. I coloured in the flowers using two shades of watercolour pencils and then used a clear shimmer brush to blend the colours. The leaves were coloured using a single shade of green and also blended. 

The letters were die cut and then raised using foam tape to create the eclipse effect. To stay somewhat close to the sketch, I added some gold foil tape above and below the letters. 

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 as follows: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock, Pansy Cardstock (all Close To My Heart)

Stamps: Fragrant Flowers (Penny Black), Banner Wishes (Close To My Heart)

Inks: Willow, Versamark (all Close To My Heart)

Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Gold Pearls, Gold Foil Tape, Block Alphabet Dies, Clear Shimmer Brush (all Close To My Heart), Merry Christmas Thinlets (SU), Watercolour Pencils (Derwent), Foam Tape (unknown)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Heartfelt Sympathy card

I was asked by a friend to create a sympathy card - and these always have to be created right away as the need is immediate. 

The Boutique paper collection from CTMH is such a pretty set of colours and patterns and it was perfect for this purpose. I chose to use the Peacock, Glacier/Mint and Peach colours within those papers. The pattern is from Make It From Your Heart - Volume 4. 

My friend was thrilled with this card and is mailing it out today - exactly the reason that we create handmade cards, right?

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

Paper: Boutique Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Stamps: Know That I Care

Inks: Peacock, Mint, Peach

Accessories: Blending Pen, White Pearls, Foam Tape, Pool Party and Silver Twine (SU)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - Shaker Ornaments

Welcome to another Heart 2 Heart challenge - this one titled Season's Greetings. 

As Christmas Day is just around the corner, this is my LAST Christmas card. All of mine were sent out long ago but I wanted to make one last shaker card for this challenge. 

I chose to use a blue and silver colour scheme. The blues are a mixture from Close To My Heart - Carolina, Bluebird and Sapphire. I used the snowflake paper from the "Tis the Season" paper pack for the front of my card and using die cuts for the ornaments, I stamped the images underneath. Piecing the foam tape took forever to ensure there was a "pool" for the sequins for each ornament. 

An old and a new stamp set combined for the ornaments and the decorative branch above. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours - although I will be back on December 24th with another card for my other design team :)

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us your Season's Greetings projects. 

You have until the end of December to link up with this and any other December challenges. 

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

Paper: 'Tis the Season Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Bluebird Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock, Acetate Sheet (Staples)

Stamps: Adorn-able, Oh What Fun - Cardmaking

Inks: Versamark, Carolina, Bluebird, Sapphire, Sapphire Pigment Ink

Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Oh What Fun - Cardmaking Thin Cuts, Foam Tape, Loose Sequins - Silver

Enjoy,

Alyson

Snowflake and Trees Card

I had another special request card... This one also to be signed by several people. 

The papers used on this card are from Kaisercraft's Wonderland collection - the colours are STUNNING! I used a base paper for the background so it wouldn't be too busy and then a tree pattern for the inside circle. There are so many beautiful patterns in this collection, I had a hard time deciding which ones to use... 

Rather than using a white base, I opted for Linen as many of the papers are set on a slightly off white colour. The sentiment is from the Wonder of the Season stamp set by Close To My Heart. I chose to use silver and Peacock as alternate colours with this paper as they really brought out the colours. The gems were coloured to match the papers.

Products used are as follows: 

Paper: Wonderland Collection (Kaisercraft), Linen Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Silver Foil Paper (all Close To My Heart)

Stamps: Wonder of the Season (Close To My Heart)

Inks: Versamark (Close To My Heart)

Accessories: Silver Embellishing Thread, Clear Sparkles, ShinHan Markers, Silver Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Decorative Border Dies, Winter Flurry Dies (all Close To My Heart), Circle Die, Scalloped Circle Die (both Nestabilities), Silver Ribbon (unknown), Sharpie Marker

Enjoy,

Alyson

Roses for Christmas

I had a request for a Christmas card for a special individual... I went back to a sketch that I have used before expect that I turned the card into a 6x6 size as several people will be signing the inside. 

The rose and leaf dies are from Kaisercraft and are layered dies. There are three layers so I wanted to use three close shades of red to create the flowers. I chose Cranberry for the base, Candy Apple for the middle layer and Poppy for the top. I outlined the top two layers with a gold shimmer brush but that wasn't picked up in the photo. I also brushed the leaves with the same shimmer brush. 

The patterned papers are from the 'Tis the Season paper pack, along with some gold fold paper. 

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

Paper: 'Tis the Season Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock, Candy Apple Cardstock, Poppy Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, Gold Foil Paper

Stamps: First Noel

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Layered Rose Dies (Kaisercraft), Circle Die (Nestabilities), Open Scalloped Die (Nestabilities), Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Gold Gems, Scallop Die, Gold Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 294 - Circles, Circles Everywhere!

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch 294!

This week's sketch is all about circles - open or closed, solid or a ring, circles abound! 

I chose to stay right on with the sketch - it was just easier for me this time around. I even kept my circles exactly as indicated on the sketch. If they were shown open, I kept mine open. If a circle was shown as solid, I kept mine solid as well. I had a sentiment and image already in mind and they fit the rectangles perfectly so that made this pretty easy. 

I used stitched circle dies to cut my circles so they have a little bit of extra interest to them. I fussy cut the flowers because I wanted specific ones that were simple but still had room in the centre for a dot the same colour as the stamped image. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us your interpretation of the sketch shown above. 

You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are as follows: 

Paper: Beautiful Friendship Paper Pack, Smoothie Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Linen Cardstock, Heather Cardstock (all CTMH), Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Lifetime of Happiness (CTMH), Wild about Flowers (SU), Thoughts and Prayers (SU)

Inks: Sapphire, Smoothie (CTMH) 

Accessories: Blue Circle Glitter Gems (CTMH), Stitched Circle Dies (Gina Marie Designs)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - Poinsettia and Pine Cones

Welcome to a fabulous challenge at Heart 2 Heart! 

This is such an awesome challenge - it gives you a few choices and they are wonderful! 

Take a look at the gorgeous picture below. You can use that as your inspiration and there is also a colour scheme underneath. You can use that if you wish or you can use BOTH the photo and the colour palette. 

You have three choices: 

1. the photo as your inspiration

2. the colour palette

3. a combination of the two 

I chose to use a combination of the two. I love the colour palette as it contains some of my favourite colours (Glacier and Lagoon in particular). The scene itself is so peaceful and calming and I wanted to use the branches and pine cones in my card as well. 

I pulled out a stamp set from last year that was perfect to create the branches - Perfectly Pine. The pine cones were stamped using the Wonder of the Season stamp set and then coloured and the sentiment is also from that set. The poinsettia is cut from the Flower Market cartridge and brushed with the Clear Shimmer Brush after it was shaped. 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart for this, our first December challenge. 

We can't wait to see how you interpret this awesome challenge! 

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

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock

Stamps: Wonder of the Season, Perfectly Pine

Inks: Lagoon, New England Ivy, Espresso, Glacier, Fern

Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, White Pearls, ShinHan Markers, Clear Shimmer Brush, Nestabilites Dies (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson