Brae-ers Unit Blog Hop - Year Noted

The Brae-ers Unit Blog Hop is all about the National Paper Crafting Special this month. The Year Noted Paper Pack is available only in the month of January with a $50 minimum purchase. 

If you have come from Michelle's blog, you are in the right place. 

A full list of participants in the blog hop can be found on Brae's blog. 

I chose to use this kit to create cards. I promised myself that I would not add any additional paper to the kit and only use what was provided. That was a challenge, for sure. The stamp set that comes with the kit, however, presented a major challenge in terms of creating cards, and for that, I had to go to another stamp set to get sentiments, but I also wanted to challenge myself a bit, so I chose a Hostess set from the Seasonal Expressions catalog. I chose the set called "Love this Story" There are 4 banner sentiments in this set. 3 of them are usable for cards but the fourth ("So (heart) this Story") is much more appropriate for scrapbooking or mini-albums than for card making... I did use the Year Noted stamp set wherever possible and you will see that in the cards. 

I also added some select embellishments, which are listed at the bottom in my products used list.  

I ended up creating the following cards: 

One 5 x 7

Six 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 

Three 3 x 3

I finished all the insides of the cards as well. Most of the coloured cards have white insides from the leftover white cardstock. I used the leftover stickers to decorate the insides of the cards. 

A hint re wrapping twine around cards - if you want the twine to stay in place, use a small hole punch a punch a half circle where you want the twine to stay. Once the twine is wrapped around the card, the little half-hole will not show and the twine won't move. I did this on the top left card in the first photo to keep my twine where I wanted it and it works like a charm - far better than using glue dots or other adhesive to try and hold it in place! 

Now hop on over to Heather's blog to check out her fabulous creations! 

You can get your Year Noted kit (and a mini album for an extra $5) by purchasing just $50 this month. Contact me or shop online here. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart.

Paper: Year Noted Paper Pack
Stamps: Year Noted (in Year Noted Kit), Love This Story
Inks: Chocolate, Sorbet
Accessories: Artiste Cartridge, Bronze Shimmer Trim, Gold Shimmer Trim, White Shimmer Trim, Sunset Chevron Washi Tape, Lagoon Hearts Washi Tape, Honey Triangle Washi Tape, Gold Polka Dot Washi Tape, Baker's Twine Neutral Metallic Assortment, Foam Tape

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Tic-Tac-Toe

This week's challenge at Heart 2 Heart is a tic-tac-toe grid. You need to choose any three boxes in a row and use those three boxes to create your project. Here is the board:

I knew right away that I didn't want to use distressing on my project and I also didn't want to do a scrapbooking project for this challenge, so that eliminated a lot of options right away. However, I love working with sketches and I thought a Cricut-based card might be an interesting idea, so I chose the top line. 

I chose an old Cardabilities sketch and stayed very close to the sketch itself. The sketch is shown below my project. I used the new Hopscotch papers and I am happy with the way this turned out.   

Be sure to join us at Heart 2 Heart to enter you own artwork into this awesome challenge! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: Hopscotch Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Smoothie Cardstock, Flaxen Cardstock, Indian Corn Blue Cardstock
Stamps: None
Inks: None
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artbooking Cartridge, Dot Embossing Folder, Paradise Paper Flowers (ret.), Adhesive Pearls (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 89

This week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts has the potential to be a many layered project if you so desire or it can be a simple project, like I chose to create. I needed a birthday card and I decided to use the Chalk It Up paper pack for my card. A quick visit with the Artbooking and Art Philosophy cartridges gave me the window template and the template for stamping that I required and this came together quite quickly. 

Join us at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge this week to enter your artwork in our awesome challenge!  

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Chalk It Up Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock
Stamps: Joyful Birthday, Just a Number
Inks: Black
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artbooking Cartridge, Aqua Dots, White Grosgrain Ribbon (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Something Old, Something New

I am honoured to have been selected to be on the Heart 2 Heart Design Team! The first challenge of the new year is Something Old, Something New. It is to use something old in a new way OR to pair something old with something new. I did a little bit of both in my artwork. 

I used the old Rhinestone Brads and the Bling Pins to dress up my card. I chose to colour both items using our new ShinHan markers, so I used each of these items with a new product. However, I also used each of them in a sort of new way as they are used a little bit differently than normal by adding colour to them. I have to say that this is the HEAVIEST card imaginable! I can't imagine putting postage on it, so I think it will given to someone local! 

Come and play with our challenge this week at Heart 2 Heart and have some fun! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Heartstrings Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Ruby Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock
Stamps: None
Inks: None
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Artbooking Cartridge, Foam Tape, Bling Gems, Rhinestone Brads, ShinHan Markers (Cherry Pink, Carmine, Peacock Green)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

January Stamp of the Month Bloghop - "This Moment"

Welcome to January's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "This Moment" - a set of 12 stamps. The obvious theme is love, but there are so many other things that this stamp set can be used for as you will see throughout this blog hop, I am sure, so sit back and enjoy as you hop through the consultants' blogs on this tour. You should have arrived here from Gina Brandsetter's blog. If you get lost, a list of all blogs can be found here. 

The stamp set looks like this.

I chose to complete three projects with this set. The first two are cards. The first is a standard card at 41/4" x 51/2". I also wanted to use the Heartstrings PML cards as I have not used any of those products for card-making yet and I really wanted to experiment with that option, so this is what I came up with.  

 The second card is a 3"x 4" card - very simple and easy with few embellishments. 

My last project is a fun one - I decided to create a set of "Love Notes" - 6 fun date night cards. I used a PML card for the front and stamped the Love Notes sentiment on the front and then added a few embellishments. The following photo shows three of the six date night cards. I simply printed them on cardstock and then mounted them on co-ordinating paper from the Heartstrings paper pack. Everything is held together with a clothes peg from the Ruby Mini-Medley Collection.

I hope you enjoyed my projects. The next blog on the hop is Kathy Burrows' blog. I'm sure she has something wonderful to share with you! 

You can get this beautiful stamp set for just $5 this month with only a $50 purchase. Visit my shopping site here. Remember this stamp set is only available until January 31st! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Heartstrings Paper Pack, Picture My Life - Heartstrings, White Daisy Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock

Stamps: This Moment

Inks: Lagoon Pigment Ink, Crystal Blue, Hollyhock, Lagoon

Accessories: Heartstrings Complements, Pink Glitter Gems, Ruby Mini-Medley Accents Collection, Sparkles - Clear Assortment, Lagoon Hearts Washi Tape, Junebug Puffies, White Shimmer Trim, Corner Rounder

Enjoy, 

Alyson

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12 Christmas Day

Day 12 - Christmas Day - has finally arrived! Today, the final gift was sitting at their door. It is two gift certificates for a local coffee shop - Tim Hortons. Anyone from Canada knows that Tim Hortons in Canada, particularly this area of Canada, is HUGE. There is a Tim's at every rest stop, on every corner, just about everywhere! Everyone visits Tim Hortons - if not for coffee, for donuts, muffins, sandwiches, tea - for something at some point! These will definitely be put to good use!  

I had so much fun doing this - I will definitely consider doing this again in the future. 

Products used are all Close to My Heart

Paper: Snowhaven Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock

Stamps: Magical Day, Home for the Holidays (ret.)

Inks: Cranberry, Glacier

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Harvest Baker's Twine (ret.), Snowhaven Complements, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

Day 11 of the 12 Days of Christmas brings a little box filed with Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I don't think I have met anyone who doesn't love these chocolates! And the ones in this box are a mixture of the types that are made by Ferrero Rocher - not just the standard ones... There are white chocolate ones, dark chocolate ones, and some of the regular ones as well... mmm, mmm good! 

The box was cut from the Artiste cartridge and came together so easily. To keep the top down, I put a hook and loop closure on the end, just so it wouldn't keep popping up. The tag was cut from Art Philosophy and the red ribbon was from my stash. 

Products used are Close to My Heart unless otherwise indicated

Paper: Cranberry Fundamentals Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Ruby Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock
Stamps: Magical Day, Snow Flurries (ret.)
Inks: New England Ivy, Ruby
Accessories: Artiste Cartridge, Art Philosophy Cartridge, Hook and Loop Closures, Red Ribbon (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Merry Christmas to All!

Mika and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! It has not been the easiest year but we made it and we hope that the coming year will be filled with blessings, lots of creative time and continued opportunities for growth.

Have a wonderful holiday, filled with joy and hope of things to come. 

Enjoy, 
Alyson

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas is another offering of loose tea - this time it is Magical Mango tea. The smell of loose tea from Steeped Tea is simply beyond measure and if you have not had tea from this company, find a consultant and host a party because their teas are absolutely amazing (and they smell terrific, too!)

The Pillow Box was wrapped and decorated in a very simple manner - just once around with a piece of cardstock from the Paper Fundamentals Collection and then two layers of paper for the sentiment with piece of Baker's Twine wrapped around the bottom. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Desert Sand Paper Fundamentals Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock
Stamps: Magical Day, Best Christmas
Inks: Lagoon, Desert Sand
Accessories: Neutral Metallic Baker's Twine, Pillow Box

Enjoy,
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 87

The sketch at Atlantic Hearts this week comes so close to Christmas that I thought I would take a break from Christmas and start thinking toward spring! Yes, even with snow on the ground and mistletoe in the air, my mind is already on spring :) So, I pulled out a couple of my favourite stamp sets and went to work. The colour combination of orange and blue always works so I used the new Hopscotch Paper pack for my background paper and Sunset as the accent colour.

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: Hopscotch Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock

Stamps: A Budding Friendship, Have a Happy Day

Inks: Sunset, Lagoon, Glacier

Accessories: Sunset Arrow Washi Tape, Scallop Punch (ret.), Circle Punch (not CTMH), Orange Twine (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson