Sunflower Gift Card Holder

 I love interactive cards and this one is a gift card holder. 

The top of the card folds out to reveal a space to hold a gift card. I used various sunflower and leaf images to decorate both the front and the inside of the card. The top section is held together with a piece of twine that is tied on top and that entire section is mounted on a regular card base to allow a spot inside to write a message.

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Bloom with Grace Paper Pack, French Vanilla Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, Sangria Cardstock

Stamps: Bloom with Grace - Cardmaking

Inks: Espresso Pigment Ink, Fern Pigment Ink 

Accessories: Bloom with Grace - Cardmaking Thin Cuts, Stitched Bracket Thin Cuts, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Tri-Blend Markers, Fern Twine, Foam Tape, Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Glitter Gems, Brown Sharpie Marker (not CMTH) 

Enjoy,

Alyson

TSOT 477 - YOU Matter!

Welcome to Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge #477!

In addition to the sketch, the optional theme is colouring.

I have had this stamp set for a while and never used it until today. There is a wreath and several awesome sentiments in the set. 

I decided on a colour scheme of coral and blue with woodgrain paper for the background. The flowers and leaves on the wreath were coloured and then set on patterned papers and cardstock in the selected coordinating colours. I love the sentiment in the centre - it is just perfect! I added a few little flower embellishments with coloured bitty sparkles in the centres and brushed parts of the flowers with the Clear Shimmer Brush. 

Come and join us at TSOT and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above.

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack, Woodgrain Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Bluebird Cardstock, Smoothie Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Take Pride (Pink Fresh Studios)

Inks: Intense Black, Espresso

Accessories: Basic Circle Thin Cuts, Stitched Circle Thin Cuts, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Tri-Blend Markers, Foam Tape, Bitty Sparkles, Springtime Flower Sequins, Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 388 - Thankful Heart Sunflower Shaker

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #388!

It's autumn - my favourite season - and time to break out the autumn colours and images. 

This card was created using a gorgeous woodgrain background and some sunflowers - and it is a shaker card as well. Behind each of the large sunflowers is a mini shaker containing gold sequins and stars. I created the window on my Cricut and adhered acetate and very thin foam tape strips to the back. The sunflowers were stamped in Espresso ink and the leaves were stamped with New England Ivy ink. Neither of those ink pads are dye ink so I was very careful when colouring as the ink can easily bleed. I masked the sentiment to stamp it in two colours and then the Gold Shimmer Brush was used to highlight the small flowers, the word "Thankful" and the lines on the sunflowers. I added some Gold Embellishing Thread and a few gold sequins. 

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. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Woodgrain Paper Pack, French Vanilla Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Bloom with Grace Cardmaking, With a Thankful Heart

Inks: Espresso, New England Ivy, Sundance 

Accessories: Cricut Basic Shapes, Stitched Circle Thin Cuts, Basic Circle Thin Cuts, Acetate (not CTMH), Foam Tape, Loose Gold Sequins, Gold Confetti Stars, Gold Shimmer Brush, Gold Embellishing Thread 

Enjoy,

Alyson

CD 413 - Sunflowers

Welcome to Colour Dare Challenge #413!

We have another tic-tac-toe board this week - and it is filled with colours from the Bloom with Grace paper pack. A line using 3 colours is required for your project but you can add as many other colours from the grid as desired. 

I used every colour on the grid this time!

The sunflower images were cut using the Flower Market Cricut cartridge. I could have stamped them but I wanted to bring in the colour Sundance and this was the best way to do that (I used the light side of that cardstock). The centres of the sunflowers were cut using Toffee and Espresso cardstock and then inked on the front and around the edges. I cut some leaves from gold glitter paper and stamped the sentiment with Espresso ink. The layers of the card were assembled and some gold embellishing thread and gold gems were added. The flowers were also brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush. 

Come and join us at Colour Dare and show us how you use the grid shown above. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can’t wait to see what you create!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Bloom with Grace Paper Pack, Canary Cardstock, Sundance Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, Toffee Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, Gold Glitter Paper, Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Stamps: You Brighten My Day

Inks: Toffee, Espresso

Accessories: Cricut Flower Market Cartridge, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Scallop Border Thin Cuts, Stitched Circle Dies (GMD), Forever Flourishing Dies (SU), Stitched Nested Label Dies (SU), Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Shimmer Brush, Gold Gems, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

DT 67 - A Gnome off the Edge

Welcome to Double Trouble Challenge #67!

This challenge is all about being "off the edge"... check out the condensed information below. For a more detailed explanation, please visit the Double Trouble Challenge Blog. 

I wasn't sure what to do for the challenge and the sketch made this more difficult than I anticipated... I settled on a folded card with an image cut from one side so it hangs over the edge. I flipped the sketch to make this work. This is attempt #3... one card ended up in the trash and the other is posted below but I forgot to use the sketch! 

I began by die cutting three stitched circles and a coordinating piece of cardstock for the cross piece. The card background was splattered with three shimmer brush colours and then the circles and the cross piece were adhered. The gnome die was used to cut through the front of the card along the fold. I stamped a second gnome and die cut that as well so I could colour the image. That piece was adhered on the right (front) side of the card so it shows when the card is opened as well. 

This is the first card I created - but I forgot to use the sketch. The outside red chameleon fits directly on top of the one inside when the card is closed. 

Come and join us at Double Trouble and show us how you interpret the challenge shown above. 

I am also linking my card with Try Stampin' on Tuesday. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart (not listed for Chameleon card):

Paper: Lovely Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Ballerina Cardstock, Blue Belle Cardstock

Stamps: Garden Gnomes

Inks: Intense Black, Evergreen

Accessories: Garden Gnome Thin Cuts, Stitched Circle Dies (GMD), White and Gold Skinny Ribbon, Pink Gems, Tri-Blend Markers, Shimmer Brushes - Evergreen, Bluebird, Bashful 

Enjoy,

Alyson

H2H - Teeny Tiny...

Welcome to this week's Heart 2 Heart challenge.

The theme this week is Teeny Tiny. That can take a lot of forms - tiny images, tiny items, scrapbooking something about tiny/small, etc.

I chose to create my own background using tiny images. I stamped four different images in black and then coloured them. Some images were so little that I had to use Sharpie markers as well as the Tri-Blend markers to colour them. I added a strip of glitter paper that I created and then stamped a large sentiment on Lemonade cardstock. A ribbon was added along with some bitty sparkles. The glitter hearts were cut using the heart shaker thin cut. 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret the teeny tiny theme. 

You have until the end of September to link up your project.

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Lemonade Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: You Brighten My Day, Shared Happiness, Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking, Every Bit of Wonderful 

Inks: Intense Black, Lagoon Pigment Ink

Accessories: Heart Shaker Window Thin Cuts, Stitched Fancy Brackets Thin Cuts, Ice Blue Glitter Kiss (not CTMH), Tri-Blend Markers, Sharpie Markers (not CTMH), Bitty Sparkles, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Craft Foam (not CTMH), Turquoise Ribbon (misc.)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Creativity in Motion Blog Hop

Welcome to the Creativity in Motion Blog Hop! 

This campaign is so awesome - the images appear to be moving under the acetate! How cool is that? 

You should have arrived here from Wendy Kessler's blog.

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

I created a lot of interactive cards with these stamps... those can be found in earlier posts. This time, I decided to create a mini album using several of the images. 

There is a mini paper pack (6x6) available with this campaign and I really wanted to use those papers - except I needed pieces that were a little longer than 6x6. Since many of the patterns in that mini paper pack are also found in the So Much Happy paper pack, I went back to that so I could cut the sizes I needed. 

The squares were all cut using the Stitched Square Thin Cuts. I didn't use foam tape anywhere in this album but simply cut away one section of the square and adhered it to the back of the acetate to provide the opening for the slider. It does make sliding the pieces a little harder, but that's ok. The white cardstock pieces were cut with the border attached to prevent the edge catching as they are inserted. I used coordinating inks to stamp the images and the sentiments. The patterned papers were folded over the squares and attached back to back to form the album. I decided to use the left side for 3x3 photos and on the back of 2 white slider pieces, I drew journaling lines and added some small stamps to decorate those pieces. On the back of the remaining 4 pieces, I added a photo mat and a 2x2 photo mount. That allows for 10 photos in total plus journaling spots in this little album. I decorated the front using one of the sentiments which I cut into pieces to stamp it in 3 sections. I tried tying up the album with embellishing thread but that didn't work - I had to resort to the white twine (which is retired) since no other ribbon coordinated with this colour scheme. 

There are lots of photos - each page plus 2 groups at the end that show the animated stamped images and the reverse sides with the photo mounts and journaling spots. 

I hope you enjoyed my project! 

The next blog on the hop is Gina Brandstetter's blog. I'm sure she will wow you with these products!

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: So Much Happy paper pack (same patterns as in the mini paper pack available for this campaign), White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, Clover Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Mint Cardstock, Smoothie Cardstock, Peach Cardstock, Animated Acetate

Stamps: Animated Butterfly Kisses, Animated Safari Animals, Animated Sentiments, Border Tab

Inks: Sapphire, Clover, Smoothie, Candy Apple, Peach, Mint, Lagoon

Accessories: Stitched Square Thin Cuts, Border Tab Thin Cuts, White Twine, Black Journaling Pen

Enjoy,

Alyson

Turquoise and Silver Christmas

Yes, Christmas will be here before we know it! I spent some time working on non-traditional Christmas cards today...

This one was created using alcohol inks and a blower. The blower moves the inks around and when they were partially dry, I added the silver metallic ink. This card is so much more vibrant in real life than in the photos. I added a die cut flourish to the centre of the card and stamped a sentiment to go at the bottom. Finally, a few silver glitter gems were added to some of the dots on the die cut. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Carrdstock, Silver Foil, Yupo Paper (not CTMH), Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Inks: Alcohol Inks (shades of turquoise), Lagoon

Stamps: Say It In Style 

Accessories: Flourishing Phrases Thinlets (SU), Silver Glitter Gems 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Peek-a-Boo Technique Blog Hop

Welcome to the September Technique Blog Hop!

This month, the technique (or feature) is Peek-a-Boo projects. 

You should have arrived here from Katy Taylor's blog. 

I decided to create three cards for this hop - two are Christmas cards because I really have to get started on those and the third is just for fun. The Multi Square Window and Multi Circle Window Thin Cuts are perfect for the peek-a-boo idea.  

The first Christmas card is a "multi-national" one... I coloured the elves in various skin tones. I used just three images from the Jolly Characters stamp set - the reindeer and the two elves (male and female). They were rotated in all directions and coloured using the Tri-Blend markers. I added some Stickles to the elf hats and also brushed sections with the Clear Shimmer Brush although that isn't noticeable in the photo.

The second Christmas card is much the same - just using more of the stamp images from the same set. Stickles were added to various images. Both of these cards were framed using the Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts. 

The last card is a multi square shaker card. I added Gold Confetti Stars and Gold Loose Sequins only to the windows where I used patterned paper. The sunflowers and leaves were stamped and coloured. I added a sentiment along with a piece of Espresso cardstock underneath. A few gold sequins were placed around the sentiment. 

I hope you enjoyed my cards. 

The next blog on this hop is Miss Carrie's Creations. I'm sure she has something amazing to share with you!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Bloom with Grace Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Candy Apple Cardstock, Avocado Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Sundance Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock (not CTMH)

Stamps: Jolly Characters, Bloom with Grace Cardmaking

Inks: Intense Black, Fern, Candy Apple, New England Ivy, Lemonade, Glacier, Espresso, Canary

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Multi Square Window Thin Cut, Multi Circle Window Thin Cut, Acetate (not CTMH), Christmas Red Stickles, Goldenrod Stickles, Clear Shimmer Brush, Tri-Blend Markers, Gold Confetti Stars, Loose Gold Sequins, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

TSOT 475 - Gold Christmas Trees

Welcome to this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday challenge!

The additional theme for this week (plus the sketch) is to use metallics. 

I used gold on my card for the metallics theme. Christmas is coming up way too fast and I need to get started on my Christmas cards! Gold works well with any colour so I chose standard red and green for my card. 

The trees were die cut from gold foil and gold glitter paper and adhered to a piece of Clover cardstock. The background striped paper is gold foil cardstock and I wrapped a piece of white and gold ribbon around the paper and tied a bow on the front. The flourishes are from a very old set of adhesive flourishes and I coloured them in red. The sentiment was stamped in Clover ink and backed with a Candy Apple mat. 

I also decorated the inside of the card since it is a large card (6" x 6"). The sentiment there was stamped using the rock and roll technique to get both green and red inks on the stamped image. I drew a border around the edge and added dots and stars along the way. 

Come and join us at TSOT and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above. 

You have two weeks to link up your project.

We can’t wait to see what you create!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Gold Foil Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Candy Apple Cardstock, Clover Cardstock, Gold Foil Paper, Gold Glitter Paper

Stamps: Winter Woods (SU), Merry Christmas to All (SU)

Inks: Candy Apple, Clover 

Accessories: Winterland Tree die (Memory Box), Frosted Bouquet dies (SU), White and Gold Ribbon, Clear Sparkles, Sparkle Flourishes, Sharpie Markers

Enjoy,

Alyson

Atlantic Hearts 386 - Jolly Holly

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #386!

It's September and this is the first Christmas card I have made... I have a feeling it will be a race to the finish at the rate I'm going. 

I used a two step stamp set to stamp the holly and berries for the focal image. The patterned papers are from the Mix-In paper pack from last winter but they were the perfect colours and smaller patterns that I wanted. I stamped the sentiment and mounted it on Candy Apple cardstock. The three trees at the bottom were stamped with both Clover and Evergreen inks and lightly coloured. A few red enamel gems were added and I brushed the berries with the Clear Shimmer Brush. 

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. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack (Nov/Dec 2019), Candy Apple Cardstock, Clover Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Stamps: Joyful Holly (SU), A Dash of Joy 

Inks: Evergreen, Clover, Candy Apple

Accessories: Clear Shimmer Brush, Red Enamel Gems, Tri-Blend Markers

Enjoy,

Alyson

CD 411 - Leafy Thinking of You

Welcome to Colour Dare Challenge # 411!

The new Core catalog has been released for Close To My Heart and there are 8 colours that are retiring. This challenge gives you one last chance to use those colours as the tic-tac-toe grid includes all of them plus silver and gold. 

My tic-tac-toe is twofold - bottom row and diagonal from top left to bottom right. 

Since the autumn season is upon us with the trees changing here, I decided to use the colours that would work for the changing leaves. The leaves were die cut from an older set of thin cuts and I used the lighter shade of the cardstock for the leaf bases and the darker shade for the overlay. A background of black dots was used along with a piece of Eggplant patterned paper and some Julep glitter paper. The sentiment was embossed with gold embossing powder and placed across two sections of the card. I added some gold embellishing thread, a few gold glitter gems and I also brushed the leaf overlays with the Gold Shimmer Brush. 

Come and join us at Colour Dare and show us how you interpret the grid shown above. 

You have two weeks to link up your project.

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack, Documented Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Julep Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Ruby Cardstock, Julep Glitter Paper, Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Stamps: Word Up (Reverse Confetti)

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Layered Leaves Thin Cuts, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Gold Glitter Gems, Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Shimmer Brush, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

New Product Blog Hop - Sept/Oct Catalog

Welcome to the New Product Blog Hop! This blog hop is featuring products primarily from the Sept/Oct catalog. 

You should have arrived here from Michelle Loncar's blog.

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

I chose to focus on the Bloom with Grace paper pack and a stamp set that I adore called O, Hay There. The animals in that set are so sweet. 

As happy as I am with the finished card, this was a fussy cutting nightmare. There is no thin cut for the monkey and although there are thin cuts for the sunflowers and the leaves, they looked strange with the border left around them so I fussy cut those as well. They were all coloured using several shades of the Tri-Blend markers. I had to be very careful about blending as the images were stamped with regular dye ink as I didn't want to introduce black into this colour scheme. I chose three patterned papers from the paper pack and decided on Sangria cardstock to mat the papers. The tiny envelope was cut using a new thin cut and if you look carefully, it looks like the monkey is holding the envelope - I love that! A message was stamped on a piece of French Vanilla cardstock and placed inside the envelope. The flowers were brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush (inside circle with the Clear Shimmer Brush) and I wrapped some gold embellishing thread around the card and placed a gold gem on top of the bow. 

I hope you enjoyed my card! 

The next blog on this hop is Katy Taylor's blog.

I know she has something awesome to share with you!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Bloom with Grace Paper Pack, French Vanilla Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, Sangria Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: O, Hay There, Bloom with Grace Cardmaking

Inks: Espresso, Fern

Accessories: Mini Envelope Thin Cut, Tri-Blend Markers, Brown Sharpie Marker (not CTMH), Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Glitter Gems, Thin Foam Tape, Gold Shimmer Brush, Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

DT 66 - Ski Snowfall Double Shaker

 Welcome to Double Trouble Challenge #66!

This week, it's all about creating a scene - any season, any location, etc. The second part of the challenge is to add some form of transportation to your scene and then link up with The Paper Girls challenge (#207). The condensed graphic is below - additional details can be found on the Double Trouble blog.

 This card took me quite some time to complete - it's all created using various Cricut cuts. I cut various trees, the moose and the skiis first and inked around the edges of all the pieces. The background was sponged using Distress Oxide inks and then a white chalk marker was used to create snow. The back layer of trees was adhered directly to the background and I added some snowy confetti along with some silver stars to turn that piece into a shaker. The remaining trees were adhered onto the acetate and then more snowy confetti was added. The top layer was created by welding some ovals together to look like a snowy hill. I adhered the moose and and skis just under that top piece of acetate and added a sentiment along with some silver embellishing thread. The final layer was placed on top of the previous layer to create two separate sections with snow. I inked the white area on the front with a very light Linen ink pad as snow is never really white :) 

I am linking up my project with the Paper Girls Challenge #207.

Come and join us at Double Trouble and show us how you interpret the challenge requirements.

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Evergreen Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Espresso Cardstock, Toffee Cardstock, Bluebird Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Reindeer Crossing

Inks: Espresso, Bluebird, New England Ivy, Fern, Evergreen, Linen, Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass (not CTMH), Distress Oxide Broken China (not CTMH), Distress Oxide Salty Ocean (not CTMH)

Accessories: Complete Creativity Cricut Collection, You are Here Cricut Collection, Basic Shapes Cricut Collection, Silver Foil Tape, Silver Embellishing Thread, Acetate (not CTMH), Snow Confetti (not CTMH), Silver Star Confetti, Foam Tape, Silver Glitter Gems, White Chalk Marker 

Enjoy,

Alyson