A crop party is a modern quilting bee. A group of friends gather to have girl friend time, sharing joys and sorrows while preserving memories and creating a special keepsake.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Freshly Made #66

I have been going through withdrawal!  Yes, I know I have done three recent posts, but all those cards were made before Christmas.  Today, I finally had time to make a new card.


 
 
I love Close to My Heart's Silhouette paper which was discontinued ages ago.  This was a way to use just a little bit from my dwindling stash and, by augmenting it with card stock, get the feel of it.  The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.  The remaining shapes were cut using the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge.  The layout is the current (for the next 36 minutes) Freshly Made Sketch pictured below.  I left some room below the medallion to stamp a sentiment when I know what I will use this card for.
 

 
 
 
 
Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time,  Hansi
 
 


Sunday, December 30, 2012

More Catching Up

Making the Advent tree ornaments made me think of the Designer Tag layout from the Close to My Heart book, Wishes, so I made a few extra tags to use for cards.  Unless otherwise stated, all materials are from Close to My Heart.


 
 
I check the "While Supplies Last" section on my Close to My Heart consultant's page frequently because you never know what goodies you will find.  Last September it was the Mistletoe level 2 assortment for only $2.50, so I bought five packs.  I used the red flowers on my cats' Christmas cards (Yes, Luna and Phoebe send cards to some of their kitty friends.) and the white ones for these cards.  What you can't really see here is the metallic gold ink from Color Box that I sponged lightly on the green card stock to give it a gold pearlized affect.  The paper is Mistletoe and the stamp, Snow Flurries.
 
 
 
 
More Mistletoe paper with metallic gold sponged on the green.  The Sentiment is from October's Stamp of the Month set and the flourish from Love Life.    The metallic ribbon is by Offray.  I like the vintage feel of this one.
 
  
 
 
This is Wonderland paper with stamps from both the Snow Flurries and Snowflakes sets.  I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the ornament and snowflake.
 
I plan to enter these cards in the Heart 2 Heart Christmas challenge.  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time,  Hansi

Catching Up

The last Heart 2 Heart challenge of the year, posted December 9th, is Christmas.  No problem!  I was doing nothing but Christmas at the time.  The problem was that I had no time to post.  Now to catch up:

 
 
One of my husband's gifts will not ship until mid January, so I tucked the shipping notice into this card I made based on a Mojo Monday layout using Close to My heart's Wonderland paper and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  I could not help but include the sentiment from CTMH's Snow Flurries stamp set.  Yes, you can call me sappy...
 
 
 
I think it made a nice stocking stuffer.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi


Friday, December 28, 2012

'Tis the Season Revisited

In my last post I wrote about making cards for two families who would be spending their first Christmas without a loved one.  Upon further reflection, I decided that although the cards should not scream "Merry Christmas," they should give some recognition to the fact that it is Christmas, so I remade them using the same layout from Freshly Made Sketches but with Wonderland paper from Close to My Heart along with a bit of metallic paper from Michael's.  The brad comes from CTMH's Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment which was recently on sale "while supplies last." 


 
 
 
 
Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time,  Hansi

Monday, December 10, 2012

'Tis the Season

In this season of joy feelings of loss can be more acute.  I need cards for two families who are facing their first Christmas without a loved one.  This week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches fit my wish for something simple.

 
 
I decided not to use a Christmas theme, so I used Pemberly paper from Close to my Heart..
 
 

 
 
Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, Hansi


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

I really should be decorating...

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is a layout for a format I have only used twice before:

                                        


 
 


 


The three boxes and long horizontal format made me think of the Captured Moments stamp set.  I combined it with Wonderland paper, one of my all time favorite paper packs, a sentiment from October's Stamp of the Month, Very Merry Christmas, and the flourish from Wicked, the Halloween Stamp of the Month from last year.  I think the flourish complements the font of the sentiment. 
 
Now back to putting up the Christmas decorations.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi
 
 


Saturday, December 1, 2012

Advent Tree Tags/Ornaments

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent.  In my church we put up trees with ornaments labeled with the needs of some community programs that we support.  It works like the Angel Tree in that you take an ornament, purchase what is needed to return to the church and are encouraged to hang the ornament on your tree to make the recipient a part of your Christmas.  I have always loved making the tags, and the Cricut makes it so easy, particularly when you use the auto fill feature.  I believe ornaments need a little (or a lot) of shine to take advantage of the lights on the tree. 



 
 
 You can be subtle about it with some dabs of metallic ink, pearls, or metallic glue.  I love how dabbing a bit of gold ink across the surface of the green ball gives it a golden pearlized effect when the light catches it from an angle.
 
 
 
 
 
You can kick it up a notch with some embossing, dabs of glitter glue or a sparkle or two.
 
 
 
 

Or you can go all out by using some prisma glitter along with your glitter glue or sparkles.   I used  Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy and Artiste Cricut cartridges to cut the tags and all CTMH products except for Color Box Gold and Silver pigment inks and Stampendous embossing powder in PEARLustre Sapphire.  I am hoping now that CTMH is carrying pigment inks that they will eventually offer metallic inks.

Needless to say, with making over a hundred ornaments, I did not have time to make a card for this week's Heart 2 Heart Glitter It Up challenge.  Then again, I think some of these ornaments meet the criteria...  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi