Black and White Hello

A friend of mine periodically posts a sketch on her Facebook page and I like to participate. This one is an old Sunday Stamp sketch. She also had a requirement that the card be black and white - NO other colours.

I started with some black and white patterned papers and decided I wanted to use dot patterns. I also went to my Cricut and cut a flower and leaves from the Serenity collection. The front of the flower was cut from patterned vellum and I added little white beads in the center. A piece of black and white twine was tied around one piece of patterned paper and I added a tiny sentiment just where the bow is tied. I added some White Opal Liquid Pearls to the centres of the berries and brushed the branches with the Clear Shimmer Brush. I am pretty happy with the end result... working with only two colours isn't always easy! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Mix-In Paper Packs, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Black Fundamental Cardstock, Patterned Vellum, Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Stamps: Mini Messages (Hero Arts)

Inks: Archival Black 

Accessories: Cricut Serenity Collection, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Nestabilites Basic Oval Dies, Nestabilites Scalloped Oval Dies, Black and White Twine, White Beads (not CMTH), White Opal Liquid Pearls (not CTMH), Clear Shimmer Brush, Thin Foam Tape, Craft Foam (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

Dandelion Wishes Rainbow Card

Another rainbow card on the horizon... I am loving these cards! 

This one was based on yet another idea from Pinterest - posted by Linda Arinou but without a link. 

I die cut a large circle from a square piece of cardstock and used the negative part to place on the card front. I blended a few Distress Oxide ink colours together with a lighter touch than usual. Upon removing the negative piece (the mask), it resulted in this beautiful multi-coloured circle. I stamped a trio of dandelions, overlapping part of the inked circle. I also stamped a bird on the inked circle and a sentiment was stamped in the bottom corner. The card front was mounted on a black base. Clean and simple!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, White Cards and Envelopes 

Stamps: Angel Hugs, Dandelion Wishes (SU), Miss Your Smile (Pink Fresh Studios)

Inks: Archival Black, DO Inks - Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass

Accessories: Nestabilities Circle Dies 

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 428 - Sending Hugs

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 428!

This is an interesting sketch - and there are so many possible ways to interpret this one! 

I began by stamping a bunch of related floral images on a piece of white cardstock. I tried to cover the majority of the paper. Those images were coloured using pink and green markers. I decided on the section that I liked the best and cut that into three narrow strips. Each was mounted on black cardstock. I added a dotted ribbon along the bottom and then adhered the long floral strips. The sentiment was die cut twice and stacked on top of the black shadow. A smaller word was stamped and mounted on green cardstock, set slightly behind the word Hugs. I brushed the main word with the Clear Shimmer Brush to finish off my card. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you interpret this week's sketch. 

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: White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Willow Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Happiness Never Grows Old, Smile (Photoplay)

Inks: Intense Black, Archival Black

Accessories: Hugs Die (Pink Fresh Studio), Black Ribbon (SU), Tri-Blend Markers, Clear Shimmer Brush

Enjoy,

Alyson

Miss You Rainbow Slimline Card

I love the effect of black against a rainbow background and that is what I did for this card. The original idea is from Instagram and the creator's Instagram name is ritzyhag. I wasn't able to copy a direct link from that post.

The background was created using a variety of Distress Oxide inks. The background needed time to dry before stamping - I tried stamping an image once before the inks were dry (on a different card) and it was a disaster! 

I stamped a large floral slimline image in black and just added a small sentiment at the top. The main piece was cut to fit on a stitched black border. I added some Onyx Liquid Pearls around the card. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Slimline Cards and Envelopes 

Stamps: Miss Your Smile (Pink Fresh Studios)

Inks: Archival Black, DO Inks - Picked Raspberry, Kitsch Flamingo, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet 

Accessories: Stitched Slimline Dies (Pink and Main), Onxy Liquid Pearls

Enjoy,

Alyson

Double Trouble 88 - Special Delivery

Welcome to Double Trouble Challenge 88! 

Babies, babies, babies... it's all about the little ones this week. The small graphic is below - please visit the Double Trouble challenge blog for more information.

I pulled out three old stamp sets for this challenge - I love the elephant with the balloons and that was perfect for a baby card. 

First, I went to my Cricut and cut a banner for the sentiment. I created a shadow for that piece as well. The card base was splattered with two shimmer brushes. The elephant and balloons were stamped, coloured and die cut . The side pieces had to be adjusted in size as I used a pattern from Make It From Your Heart Vol. 4 but the measurements were for a horizontal card. I also stamped some vine images on the Mint cardstock. The balloon lines were stamped after I had everything positioned - and after I had edited the card, I went back and drew in the lines so they met up with the edges of the elephant's trunk and the balloons as they looked funny to me. 

Come and join us at Double Trouble and show us how you interpret this week's challenge.

You have two weeks to link up your project.

I am also linking up my card with the Bitten by the Bug challenge. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Carolina Cardstock, Mint Cardstock, Smoothie Cardstock, White Card Bases and Envelopes

Stamps: Sweet Baby, Balloon Wishes, Botanical Borders

Inks: Intense Black, Archival Black, Mint, Carolina, Smoothie, Peach

Accessories: Artiste Cricut Collection, Sweet Baby Thin Cuts, Mint Shimmer Brush, Peach Shimmer Brush, Tri-Blend Markers, Foam Tape 

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

Rainbow Angled Card

Rainbows... one of my favourite things! I love creating cards with any sort of rainbow effect. This is one I found on Pinterest and the link to the blog is here. 

I used regular CTMH dye inks to create the rainbow effect. I placed a piece of cardstock along each edge and used a sponge to add colour. The white cardstock was cut slightly smaller than a standard A2 card and I added a black border. The sentiment was also stamped in black. The final touch was to add some coloured sequins on each section. Easy but the effect is awesome!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, White Cards and Envelopes 

Stamps: A Friend Like You

Inks: Archival Black, Bluebird, Lagoon, Green Apple, Lemonade, Pixie, Smoothie 

Accessories: Various Sequins (misc.) 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Rainbow Kindness Cards

I was experimenting with some rainbow die cutting and discovered that this card combination is a two for one! The idea came from a post I found on Pinterest. It was uploaded by Linda Levoir but I'm not sure if it was her creation or not as there was no link. 

The rainbow section was created using Distress Oxide inks on a piece of white cardstock. That piece was die cut using a stitched border die. The top of it was used on the first card. I also die cut the word "kindness" from that top piece. All the little inside pieces from the letters needed to be saved as they had to be glued back in place in the openings of some letters. A piece of white cardstock was also die cut with the same border die and the bottom of that piece was matched up with the top rainbow piece. It worked the opposite way for the second card.

The only embellishments I added were some clear sequins. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, White Cards and Envelopes 

Stamps: Kindness (Photoplay)

Inks: Archival Black, DO Inks: Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet

Accessories: Kindness Die (Photoplay), Decorative Borders Thin Cuts, Clear Sequins (not CTMH) 

Enjoy,

Alyson

CD 451 - Many Blessings

Welcome to Colour Dare Challenge 451! 

The grid shows 9 options - you need to choose at least 4 of them (not including the centre square). 

I used the following:

    - one neutral (Mink)

    - Lagoon

    - Glacier

    - Sapphire 

    - Smoothie

    - embellishments 

The flowers and leaves were stamped and coloured in Lagoon, Glacier and Smoothie. I adhered the patterned paper to my card and then machine stitched along the papers using dark blue thread. The sentiment was die cut from Lagoon and Glacier and after adhering the flowers, I added a few gems. I also brushed the flowers with the Clear Shimmer Brush. 

Come and join us at Colour Dare and show us how you interpret the colour 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: 

Papers: Mix-In Paper Packs, White Daisy Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock

Stamps: Isabella Scrapbooking, Blessings (Photoplay)

Inks: Intense Black, Sapphire

Accessories: Isabella Scrapbooking Thin Cuts, Blessings Dies (Photoplay), Touch Markers (misc.), Sapphire Enamel Gems, Glacier Enamel Gems, Clear Shimmer Brush, Sewing Machine and Thread 

Enjoy,

Alyson

July SOTM Blog Hop - Strong Roots

Welcome to the July Stamp of the Month blog hop!

This month, the featured stamp set is Strong Roots and an image of the stamp set is below. 

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

I did a LOT of masking to create this slimline card. All the images were stamped and immediately masked so the next image could be stamped beside the previous one. I left the masks in place so I could create the clouds. To create the clouds, I use a stencil that I created a while ago by welding a bunch of circles and ovals together in Cricut Design Space. Once the clouds were in place, the masking paper was removed and the images were coloured using watercolour pencils and a waterbrush. I inked the bottom with Fern and touches of New England Ivy. The sentiment was stamped in black and the card was mounted on Black, Carolina and New England Ivy cardstock. 

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

The next  stop on this hop is Brenda Lapp's blog. I'm sure she has something terrific to share with you! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: White Daisy Cardsotck, Black Cardstock, Carolina Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Slimline Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: Strong Roots

Inks: Archival Black, Intense Black, New England Ivy, Fern, Carolina

Accessories: Cricut Basic Shapes, Stencil Sheets, Watercolour Pencils, Waterbrush

Enjoy,

Alyson