Sending Smiles Card

I created this card quite a while ago but couldn't post it until now as I used a stamp set from the new Holiday Expressions catalog and it wasn't live until September 1st. Ah, such is life... I found this gorgeous idea on Pinterest. 

I am loving the Rustic Home Fundamental papers with this woodgrain background - wish I could purchase just that paper in bulk quantities! I have to keep a close eye on every scrap of it so I can use it for my small pieces on different projects. 

The stamp set is called "With You" and it has various flowers, a few which co-ordinate with the new Flower Market Cricut cartridge. The sentiments are also terrific on this stamp set but I chose to use one from one of the stamps that came with the Flower Market cartridge instead as it was smaller. A bit of thin twine from my stash finished off the card. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Thistle Cardstock, Rustic Home Fundamentals
Stamps: With You, Sending Smiles (from Cricut Bundle)
Inks: Eggplant, Thistle, Sweet Leaf
Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Circle Punch (not CTMH), Clear Sparkles Assortment (ret.), Shin Han Markers, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, Twine (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Blessed Beyond Measure

Welcome to September's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month, we are featuring the stamp set "Blessed Beyond Measure" - a set of 19 stamps. This set of stamps is a perfect set for the autumn season, filled with leaves, berries and wonderful sentiments related to gratitude and blessings. It is perfect for Thanksgiving and any time a grateful sentiment is required (which should be ALL the time!) The bloggers along this blog hop will certainly show you many ways to use this awesome stamp set, so sit back and enjoy the tour. 

You should have arrived here from Brenda Lapp's blog. 

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

The stamp set looks like this.

I LOVE the autumn season - it is a time in my area where the leaves are turning to gorgeous colours and we see visitors from all over the world to view the changing of the leaves. 

I created two cards for this blog hop. 
The first one keeps the greenery green but uses fall colours for the basis of the card. I love the sentiment because gratitude is SO important. 

On my second card, I used a technique called "tissue stamping". For the leaves, I first inked them lightly with a sponge dauber, just to give them some colour (in Fern). Then I stamped the image in one colour and quickly took a tissue and rubbed it in another ink colour and dabbed it on top of part of the stamp. I did that again with a second tissue in a third ink colour. This has to be done quickly as dye inks dry quickly. Then the image was stamped onto the cardstock, resulting in a mixed coloured image. I did this three times, each with slightly different effects. I used Fern, Goldrush and Ruby. I also distressed the edges of the leaves and the flowers both with ink and by turning up the edges by bending them slightly. 

I hope you enjoyed my projects. 

The next blog on the hop is Jennifer Bennett's blog. 

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

You can get this stamp set for just $6 this month with a $50 purchase. 

Visit my shopping site here. 

Remember this stamp set is only available until September 30th! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Lemon Cardstock, Sorbet Cardstock, Pomegranate Cardstock, Saffron Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, Black Glitter Paper, Memo Fundamentals, Uptown Fundamentals, Enchantment Fundamentals

Stamps: Blessed Beyond Measure

Inks: Cocoa Pigment Ink, Pomegranate, Goldrush, Ruby, Saffron

Accessories: Artistry Cartridge, Artbooking Cartridge, Flower Market Cartridge, Gold Sequins, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, ShinHan Marker (Sap Green), Sponge Dauber

Enjoy, 

Alyson

H2H - Hip to be Square

The last challenge of August at Heart 2 Heart is "Hip to be Square". The focus of this challenge is to create a square project or to use a square somewhere on your project. 

I decided to use a few squares on my card - the card itself is a 6x6 card so that's a square and then there are 4 squares within the card - 2 of them are open squares and the sentiment and the mat are also squares. So that's 5 squares in total. You can't see the inside of the card but the writing mat inside the card is also a square, so technically, there are 6 squares... 

This card is for a friend of mine who is retiring shortly. It has been long overdue for her and she is so looking forward to it! I know she will need reminders to "enjoy the little things" and not think about the clients that she has spent so much time assisting... 

I coloured over every other flower using the Shimmer Pen but that just does not show up in photographs. I tried taking pictures from various angles but I can't get that shimmery appearance to show in a photo - it makes the card look so much prettier in real life... 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart with your "square" creation. This challenge has been extended until September 3. All other August challenges end on August 31st so be sure to get your entries in before the end of the month! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Sorbet Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, Sweet Leaf Cardstock, Canary Cardstock, Whimsy Fundamentals

Stamps: Little Things (ret.)

Inks: Sorbet

Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Shimmer Pen, Bitty Sparkles

Enjoy,

Alyson

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Atlantic Hearts Sketch 174 - Basics Fundamentals Celebrate Card

For this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts, I wanted to use some of the Basics Fundamentals from the Annual Inspirations Catalog as they are among my favourite new papers. They are just so versatile, lending themselves to both feminine and masculine cards, layouts and just about any type of projects imaginable! 

Keeping with that, I also wanted to incorporate gold into this masculine card. There is a birthday sentiment stamped inside the card, although I didn't photograph that. 

I used strips from the white and gold cardstock piece to create the gold background for the main piece and also for the gold backgrounds for the ribbon pieces. The small black circles were sponged using a die cut from Artbooking - purposely darker in some areas and lighter in others. 

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 all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Gold Glitter Paper, Uptown Fundamentals

Stamps: Balloon Wishes

Inks: Versamark, Black

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Sponge, Black and Gold Ribbon, White and Gold Ribbon, Gold Sequins

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Heart 2 Heart - My Precious Mother Layout

The challenge this week at Heart 2 Heart is "For the Girls". I chose to create a very special layout as a tribute to my precious mother. She means the world to me and I love this photograph of her from her youth. 

I purposely used a sepia based photograph because the original photo was black and white so it didn't detract at all from the original and I was also able to use many of the new Basic Fundamental products from Close To My Heart. 

There is journaling on the reverse side of the photo as I used a 4x4 Flip Flap. That message is shown below the layout. 

Join us at Heart 2 Heart this week and show us your interpretation of "For the Girls". Be sure to use some Close To My Heart products in your project. You have until the end of August to link up your creation. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Desert Sand Cardstock, Raspberry Cardstock, Blossom Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Whisper Cardstock, Rustic Home Fundamentals, Memo Fundamentals, Uptown Fundamentals, Gold Glitter Paper

Stamps: Ink Blot, Dictionary (not CTMH)

Inks: Desert Sand, Black, Brown Staz-On

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Artistry Cartridge, Gold Shimmer Trim, Gold Sequins, Wood Slats Embossing Folder, 4x4 Flip Flaps, Rustic Home Ribbon Pack, Uptown Ribbon Pack, Shimmer Brush - Clear, Thin Foam Tape, Black Thread and Sewing Machine (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

SaveSave

Fall Transparency Card

With summer still so incredibly hot in my region, it's hard to think about autumn - however, there have already been a few leaves falling with the latest rain storm and that is a sure sign that autumn is coming. I couldn't imagine living in a place where the four seasons weren't as pronounced as they are here. We have such a distinct summer, autumn, winter and spring. I would miss all four of them - even the dead cold of winter - because they each have their own beauty about them. 

Autumn is probably my favourite season of all. The gorgeous colours of the leaves as they change on the trees is a sight that can't be matched. We get visitors here from as far away as Japan - seriously! They come to see the the leaves on the trees in their glory - usually around the end of September and into the first week of October - just before our Thanksgiving holiday. 

So, in anticipation of that, here is my first fall-themed card. It is a transparency card - but it is so hard to photograph these due to the shadows... the shadows show through the open section... 

I masked the top section and everything is embossed except the sentiment. I have added to my ShinHan marker collection with some additional colours to match some of the CTMH ink pads. 

Products used are CTMH unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Tangerine Cardstock, Transparency (not CTMH)

Stamps: Marker Alphabet, Lovely Leaves, Sending Smiles (from Flower Market Cricut Collection), Little Leaves, Owls (ret.)

Inks: Coca Pigment Ink, Tangerine Pigment Ink, Ruby

Accessories: Poppy Twine, Fern Twine, ShinHan Markers (some not CTMH), Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Cross-Canada Blog Hop - Favourite New Product from Ann. Insp. Catalog

Welcome to our August Blog Hop featuring our favourite new products from the NEW Annual Inspirations catalog. To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order. 

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our visitors... whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that you would like to learn how to do... By leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like and what you want to see. Thanks - now on to the hop! 

If you have just hopped on to my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop but if you want to follow us across Canada, then please start at the beginning and visit Michelle Stewart's blog. If you came from Michelle Hughes' blog, then you are in the right place! 

I have many favourite products from the new Annual Inspirations Catalog but one that is right at the top of my list is the Flower Market Cricut Cartridge - and I am sure I am not alone!I  have been waiting for something like this for ages. This cartridge has dozens of flowers (flat and three dimensional) plus wreaths (one of my favourite crafting items!) and all sorts of items in which to place flowers like containers, baskets, even boots and more! And there are a ton of other images on there as well! 

I had need to create a birthday card for a special friend so I decided to use the Flower Market cartridge as well as another of my favourite products - the Rustic Home Fundamentals. The flowers on my card needed to be reasonably flat for mailing purposes but one great thing about the Flower Market collection is the the stamps that come with the cartridge include two background stamp sets (so 8 different design) plus one set of sentiments. I stamped the flower pieces with one of those background images to give them some depth. The sentiment that I used is from the third stamp set. The sparkles were coloured to complement the flowers before adhering them to the centres. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Whisper Cardstock, Lemon Cardstock, Blossom Cardstock, Raspberry Cardstock, Fern Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Rustic Home Fundamentals
Stamps: Playful Patterns (from Cricut Bundle), Sending Smiles (from Cricut Bundle)
Inks: Raspberry Pigment Ink, Blossom Pigment Ink
Accessories: Flower Market Cricut Cartridge, Artistry Cricut Cartridge, Clear Sparkles, ShinHan Marker, Enchantment Ribbon Pack, Thin Foam Tape

Your next stop on the Cross Canada hop is Donna Digby's blog. If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle's blog as she has the entire list posted there. 

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. Please join us again next month when we will be featuring projects with a Back to School theme. Mark your calendars for September 15th and hop along with us once again. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Captured Moment Layout

I collect a lot of photos on Pinterest - photos that inspire me for various reasons. Many of them are of animals and recently, I found the one that I used for the layout below. I absolutely LOVE this photograph. The colours are exquisite and it captures the bird in a perfect position, looking backwards at something. I don't do a lot of scrapbooking any longer as I don't have children of my own and I don't tend to take many photographs myself. 

Many of the pieces on this page are cut from Close To My Heart's new Cricut cartridge, Flower Market. I had a hard time with the editing of the colours on this layout... The background paper has light blue stripes but they show up more grey in the pictures. And that Shimmer Pen... it just doesn't want to show up for me at all! I covered all the flowers with it and there is no sign of it in the photos... It is absolutely there in real life, though! 

This photos shows the details on the left side. The vellum piece has diagonal lines on it but they are hard to see with the lines on the background paper. 

The final photo shows the detail of the flowers above the photo (even though the Shimmer Pen doesn't show up on any of the flowers...) 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Whimsy Fundamentals (Crystal Blue Lines), Adventure Fundamentals (Willow Arrows), Basic Fundamentals (Diagonal Vellum), White Daisy Cardstock, Willow Cardstock, Sea Glass Cardstock, Pansy Cardstock, Eggplant Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Desert Sand Cardstock
Stamps: Ink Blot, Capture This
Inks: Pansy Pigment Ink, Crystal Blue, Lagoon
Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, White Doily (not CTMH), Sponge, Blue Circle Enamel and Glitter Gems, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Mini Stapler, Shimmer Pen

Enjoy, 
Alyson

In the Mood for... a Flower Card!

With the incredibly dry conditions here, there have been no flowers blooming anywhere. Everything has dried up as we haven't had rain for weeks on end. I miss the flowers... I am not a gardener myself but I miss walking down the street and seeing the gardens with the blooming flowers and greenery that is nowhere to be found right now. We haven't had a summer like this in many, many years...

So, I decided to create a flower card to bring some blooms back! This card is CASEd from Pinterest because I loved the idea so much! It was created using the stamp set "What I Love" from Stampin' Up. The flower stamp is a triple stamp set, designed to be stamped over top of each subsequent image three times. I loved the idea of using the "over images" as backgrounds... 

The idea for this card was originally created by Tracy May. I love the way this turned out - so clean and simple. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: What I Love (not CTMH), Happy Birthday (ret.)
Inks: Pacifica, Lagoon, Crystal Blue, Glacier, Fern
Accessories: Foam Tape, Florence Sequins, Twine (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 172 - Sympathy Card

I stayed true to the sketch at Atlantic Hearts this week - and I was in need of a sympathy card pretty quickly. Those are the types of cards that I never seem to keep around! 

The new Flower Market cartridge is awesome! There are SO MANY flowers from which to choose! The one on this card happens to be a flat flower but there are all sorts of three dimensional flowers that can be created as well as containers in which to place the flowers and all sorts of other great images. I chose to stay with a blue-green colour scheme to match the flowers, so I used Glacier, Crystal Blue and Lagoon. The papers are varying designs from the new Adventure and Whimsy Fundamental papers. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us your interpretation of this week's sketch! You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Adventure Fundamentals, Whimsy Fundamentals

Stamps: Heartfelt Thoughts

Inks: New England Ivy

Accessories: Flower Market Cartridge, Glacier Twine (ret.)

Enjoy, 

Alyson