CD 519 - Sunflowers

 Welcome to Colour Dare Challenge 519! 

It's a brown week - choose any two colours to go with shades of brown. 

Brown is not a go to colour for me - I chose to use sunflowers since the centre is brown and I could add yellow and green to work with the flowers. 

The images were stamped with brown and green pigment inks and embossed. I coloured everything and then die cut the flowers and leaves. I used a pattern (sort of) from one of the Make It From Your Heart books and used brown patterned papers along with matte gold cardstock to create a V toward the bottom of my card. The sunflowers were arranged at the top and I added a gold pre-foiled sentiment to the right side. A few gold gems finished off my card. 

Come and join us at Colour Dare and show us how you interpret this week's challenge. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can't wait to see what you create!

Enjoy,

Alyson

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop! 

It is exactly FIVE months until Christmas... what better time to start working on Christmas cards? 😳😳😳

Close To My Heart has a Christmas in July campaign happening - the White Pines paper pack and four additional stamp sets have been brought back. You will see a variety of Christmas projects on this blog hop as any other Christmas products that are still available may be used. 

You should have arrived here from Brenda Lapp's blog. If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I have a hard time thinking of Christmas when it is hot and humid outside. Usually by mid-December, there is snow on the ground and the temperatures are around or below the freezing mark. 

My first card was created using the Bargello technique. I inked a background using Peacock, Lagoon and Mint. Since Peacock and Mint are impossible to blend together, Lagoon was placed in between those colours each time. The strips were cut in the opposite direction and placed on the card front. I added a stitched frame and embossed the sentiment on vellum. The poinsettia was cut from the Comfort and Joy Cricut collection using silver foil, silver glitter paper and vellum. Then - and I believe I am totally crazy for doing this - I individually coloured several white beads using a Tri-Blend marker. I wanted them to match the papers... My fingers were blue for days afterward! The final step was to add silver Stickles around the card. 

My second card was created using a sketch from Make It From Your Heart - Vol.5. I originally stamped and fussy cut a wreath and lots of small elements and then decided that wasn't what I wanted... so it was on to the trees. They were stamped in Evergreen in first, second and third generation. They were fussy cut and the edges were brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush. The patterned paper is from the Holiday Stack and I drew some stitching lines on each side with a green marker. The background was splattered with two shimmer bushes - Candy Apple and Evergreen. I added a strip of Gold Shimmer Trim to the sentiment and also used some Gold Embellishing Thread . The last step was to add gold Stickles around my card. 

The next stop on this blog hop is Show and Tell with Michelle. I am sure her project will put you in the Christmas spirit! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Holiday Stack, White Daisy Cardstock, French Vanilla Cardstock, Candy Apple Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Mint Cardstock, Silver Foil, Silver Glitter Paper, Vellum

Stamps: White Pines Cardmaking

Inks: Mint, Lagoon, Peacock, Evergreen, Candy Apple, Toffee, Lemonade, Versamark

Accessories: Comfort and Joy Cricut Collection, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Silver Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Gold Shimmer Trim, Gold Embellishing Thread, Goldenrod Stickles, Silver Stickles, Bitty Beads, Green Sharpie Marker (not CTMH), Gold Shimmer Brush, Candy Apple Shimmer Brush, Evergreen Shimmer Brush, Tri-Blend Marker, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

CD 453 - Hexagon Birthday

Welcome to Colour Dare Challenge 453!

The colours on the tic-tac-toe this week are taken from the Wander paper pack.

I started out using just three colours and ended up with a complete tic-tac-toe as I used every colour (plus gold).

The background was embossed with a woodgrain embossing folder on Linen cardstock. I used Linen ink to rub over the raised sections to define the embossing a little more. That piece was then die cut using a stitched rectangle die. Several hexagons were die cut from a variety of papers in the colours on the grid. They were arranged across the centre of the card. The sentiment was die cut from Peacock cardstock and stacked a few times. I added some gold embellishing thread and gold glitter gems around the card. 

Come and join us at Colour Dare and show us how you use the tic-tac-toe 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 Packs, Holiday Stack, Enchantment Fundamentals, Blue Skies Paper Pack, Fresh Air Paper Pack, Linen Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: none

Inks: Linen

Accessories: Hexagon Thin Cuts, Stitched Rectangle Dies (GMD), Happy Birthday Die (Creative Expressions), Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Glitter Gems 

Enjoy,

Alyson

H2H - Birthday Pennants

Welcome to the first July challenge at Heart 2 Heart! 

The theme this week is pennants, flags and banners. I decided to use a sketch from the latest Make it From Your Heart collection (Volume 5). This is a clean and simple card. 

I started by selecting the colours and patterns for the banners and the background. I didn't want a white background so I chose an old paper pack (Oh Deer) and found a birch tree print that was perfect. The banners were cut from papers in Blue Belle, Sapphire, Sundance and Paprika. I coloured some clear sparkles and placed them between the triangles. Some bitty sparkles were coloured in the coordinating yellow shade and added around the card. Simple and quick! 

Come and join us at Heart 2 Heart and show us how you interpret this week's theme. 

You have until the end of July 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 Packs (misc. current and retired), Oh Deer Paper Pack, Paprika Cardstock, Linen Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock, Blue Belle Glitter Paper, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: On Your Birthday

Inks: Sapphire

Accessories: Clear Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Tri-Blend Marker, Touch Marker (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Baby Congratulations

A friend of mine recently had a baby - always a good occasion to create a card! 

I used the new Make It From Your Heart - Volume 5 for the card pattern. 

I used several retired Mix-In papers for the card and I also hand stitched two lines along the left side. The sentiment was stamped and die cut using basic and stitched circle dies. I pulled out some old stamp sets for this one - Cute Koalas and Ink Blot. The Ink Blot stamp was used on the sentiment piece and also along the right side panel. The koalas (there is one inside the card as well) were stamped, coloured and fussy cut.  I added a few Glacier holographic sequins to finish off the card. 

I hope my friend will like it! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Papers: Mix-In Paper Packs, White Daisy Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Cute Koalas, Ink Blot 

Inks: Intense Black (SSS), Pewter, Mink, Glacier 

Accessories: Basic Circle Thin Cuts, Stitched Circle Thin Cuts, Tri-Blend Markers, Holographic Sequins, Embroidery Floss (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

National Scrapbooking Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the National Scrapbooking Month Blog Hop! 

This hop features the products that are available for the NSM special - You Are Enough. 

You should have arrived here from Krista Hershberger's blog. If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I used a pattern from the new Make It From Your Heart - Volume 5. I created the same card four times using different papers from the You Are Enough paper pack. The gold-foil patterned cardstock was used for the bottom layer of the V shape, followed by regular cardstock and then patterned paper on top. I used cardstock - some light side, some dark side - for the base of the cards. The sentiments were stamped in coordinating colours and the enamel gems were all coloured using markers. The butterflies were die cut from holographic paper and I added some faux stitching around the bottom of each card. 

I hope you enjoyed my projects! 

The next stop on this hop is Michelle Loncar's blog. I am sure she will wow you with another awesome project. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: You Are Enough Paper Pack, You Are Enough Coordinating Cardstock, Holographic Paper - Twinkles Toes, Oasis and Majestic, White Card Bases 

Stamps: You Are Enough

Inks: Sapphire, Glacier, Sangria, Peach

Accessories: You Are Enough Thin Cuts, Layered Butterfly Thin Cuts, You Are Enough Sequins, Black and White Dots, Tri-Blend Markers, Sharpie Markers, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson