A Snowhaven Birthday Card

Snowhaven may be a winter/snow themed paper, but you don't have to use it that way.  I cut one of the strips out of the striped paper, added a scalloped border and hearts following this sketch from Atlantic Hearts, and had a birthday card with nary a snowflake in sight.

I had a problem with the sentiment. You see, I love the retired Pewter Mini Medley but am down to one last frame which I hesitate to use.  Then it occurred to me that I could use the corner pieces, of which I have quite a few, to make a bracket for the sentiment.  The sentiment, by the way, is a two parter from the retired Card Chatter - Birthday set.  The rest of it is inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Snowhaven, White Daisy, Cranberry and Black cardstock

Ink;  Black

Stamps:  Card Chatter - Birthday (retired)

Embellishments:  Red hearts, Black Sparkles (retired), Pewter Mini Medley (retired)

Other:  Border Punch from ek Success

Color My Heart in Sunset, Olive and Blue Denim

Here is a scrap your stash card featuring this week's Color My Heart Color Dare colors of Sunset, Olive, and Blue Denim.  I started with this sketch from Mojo Monday:

This sketch screams for a use scraps kind of card, so I chose Close to My Heart's Lucky, an oldie that goes back to the days when B&T papers were not printed on cardstock and just happens to feature the challenge colors.  I sponged the edges with Desert Sand and was very careful when attaching the strips because thin paper does not lend itself to repositioning.  I used sponge daubers to color and outline two Milepost Shapes (retired) and backed the star with another star cut from cardstock before attaching it with foam tape.  To complement it I added stars from the Scaredy Cat Assortment.  The sentiment is from one of the sets that comes with the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.  I used Post-it  Notes to mask off sections of the stamp before inking and stamped it twice, first with Cocoa and then Olive.  The clear acrylic of CTMH's stamps makes it easy to stamp twice and keep the parts of the image aligned.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out the other creations at Color My Heart and Mojo Monday and perhaps even enter one or both of these challenges yourself?  I would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Lucky (retired), Victory, Bamboo, Sunset, and Colonial White cardstock

Inks:  Desert Sand, Olive, Blue Denim, Cocoa

Stamps:  Artbooking Cricut Bundle 

Embellishments:  Scaredy Cat Assortment, Milepost Shapes (retired)

Heartfelt Sympathy

It is no secret that I love lighthouses, so I was pretty excited to see that Close to My Heart has a new lighthouse stamp.  For this card, I used the emboss resist technique in which you stamp your image with Versamark and emboss it with clear detail powder and then sponge over it with dye ink to make the image appear.  It is one of my favorite techniques.  Usually I leave the embossing and wipe off any excess ink.  The problem this time was that I wanted to use this sketch from Atlantic Hearts:

This meant I would be stamping at least partially over the embossed image and the ink would, well, resist.  The solution was to remove the embossing by ironing it off.  To do this you place a sheet of paper (I used copy paper.) over the image and iron over it using a low heat.  The embossing transfers to the paper.  I found I had to do this several times, using a fresh part of the paper each time, to get it all,  The surface felt smooth, but there was still a bit of a shine.  I stamped the sentiment using pigment ink and embossed it with clear detail powder to make sure it "stuck."

I used Whisper ink to sponge the image and around the edge.  I had a lot of trouble selecting the framing layers.  I finally went with one of the patterned sheets, sponged with Desert Sand, and Glacier cardstock.  Given the reason I need this card, I decided not to use any embellishments.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Seaside with Glacier cardstock

Ink:  Whisper and Desert Sand along with Black pigment ink

Stamps:  Seaside Greetings, Look to the Light

An Anniversary Card Made With Christmas Paper?

As promised in my previous post, here is a second non Christmas card made with Close to My Heart's Christmas paper, Yuletide Carol, this one based on this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  I deviated a little from the sketch because I thought the tag looked better at an angle rather than straight across.

I embossed the Champagne piece using Cuttlebug's Tiffany frame folder and then very carefully trimmed it with a rotary trimmer.  I have two trimmers, a Frisker's which I use most of the time and can be used cut out corners and a Cutterpede rotary trimmer which is handy for very precise cuts or when you need to trim just a smidge off of an edge.  I used a border punch from ek Success to make the bit of lace and then sponged all the pieces with Cashmere ink to give an aged, romantic feel.    

I embellished the card with the rose and a filigree piece from the Yuletide Carol Assortment and some ribbon that I bought ages ago from I do not remember where.  Because the rose overlaps the filigree piece and knot of the ribbon, I put a bit of foam tape under it on that side only.  This provided the needed lift while allowing the outer edge of the rose to appear to lay flat on the card.  Here is a close up:

 Here is the inside:  

Tomorrow, October 13th, is our anniversary, and yes, we got married on a Friday.  I never thought that I would be making an anniversary card using Christmas paper!  Do you think Tim will figure it out?  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Yuletide Carols, Black glitter paper, Black and Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Cashmere, Ruby

Stamps:  The Happy Couple, In My Heart (retired)

Embellishments:  Yuletide Carol assortment, black ribbon of unknown origin

Other:  Artiste Cricut cartridge, border pinch by ek Success

Love Birds Freshly Made Sketch 157

I love Close to My Heart's Christmas paper, Yuletide Carol!  It is so elegant and lends itself to more than just Christmas projects.  This card, based on this Freshly Made Sketch, is the first of two romantic cards illustrating non Christmas uses.

I lightly sponged the edges of each piece with Cocoa ink to help them stand out against the planned Colonial White background.  (Actually, I started by sponging the circle with Saddle, decided it was too red, and sponged back over with it Cocoa.)  This made for a delicate card which was pretty, but I decided that the images popped more against the Kraft paper background which also gave the card a somewhat more masculine feel.  The sentiment comes from the Big Hug stamp set.  What?  You say you don't see a "Love" stamp?  That is because I committed sacrilege by trimming the "Love is All You Need" sentiment with a pair of tiny manicure scissors.  I can always put both pieces on a block and stamp the original image but, in the meantime, saved myself the hassle of trying to precisely mask off the rest of the sentiment.  I used another sentiment from the set on the inside:

I am going to put this in my stash of cards for my bird loving husband because you can never have too many "I love you" cards to give for no special occasion.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out the rest of the cards inspired by this Freshly Made Sketch?  You may even be inspired to enter a card yourself.  You have until tomorrow, Monday, at 3:00 p.m. eastern to enter.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Yuletide Carol, Colonial White cardstock, Kraft paper, Brown glitter paper

Ink:  Saddle and Ruby

Stamps:  Big Hug

Color My Heart in Shades of Blue, Yellow, and Orange

The Color My Heart Dare this week is to use Crystal Blue, Pacifica, Honey, and Goldrush which just happen to be the colors in Close to My Heart's retired Dreamin' paper pack.  This was not a particularly original idea on my part as three out of seven design team members have used this pack.  I scraplifted this from the talented Cassandra Bennett whose card you can see here.  Have you ever had a paper pack that you love so much that you have a hard time deciding which of the papers you want to use because you love them all?  Then this is the card for you!  It is also a great way to use up scraps.

The easy part was cutting .5 inch by 3.75 inch strips and sponging the edges with Saddle ink.  The fun part was weaving them together while keeping the strips parallel and evenly spaced.  It helped to work on my Versamat, but a piece of graph paper would work just as well.  Once I had everything how I wanted it, I carefully lifted the ends of the strips that were on top and  and used a dab of Bonding Memories glue to stick them to the strips below.  This helped stabilize  the piece while I applied adhesive to the back and transferred  it to the card base.  After the fact I realized that I could have used little bits of Washi tape on the front to hold everything in place, applied adhesive to the back, attached the piece to the card base and then removed the Washi tape.  

Although I used this design for a get well card, it would work well for birthday cards, etc. and be suitable for a guy.  I don't know about y'all, but I am always looking for ideas for masculine cards.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please check out more of Cassandra's work at her blog, Cassandra's Scrappin' Bliss, and then head on over to Color My Heart and see some other creations using Crystal Blue, Pacifica, Honey, and Goldrush.  Better yet, take the dare yourself.  We would love to see your work!  As always, if you do not have a specific color, feel free to use the closest one you have and include any neutrals you like.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Dreamin' (retired), Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Saddle, Pacifica

Stamp:  Big Hug

Embellishments:  Brown Opaques (retired), Antiqued Copper Mini-Medley (retired)

A Beautiful Day with Heart

There are so many possibilities with this Atlantic Hearts Sketch, but since I am way behind on birthday cards, I went with Close to My Heart's new Brushed paper and "Capture the Day" stamp set.

I love the ShinHan markers with their vibrant colors.  I know some folks use special inks when stamping images that they plan on coloring, but I used regular black ink and let it set for about fifteen minutes before coloring.  Then as I colored I colored along the lines, not across them and had no problem with smearing.  By the way, these markers are not only fun to color with, they can also be used to color sparkles.  And y'all know how much I love sparkles!  Now I can have them in 24 colors.  Once I completed the center panel, I attached it with foam tape to give some added dimension.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Brushed, Pixie, Black and White Daisy cardstock
Ink:  Black dye ink with Golden Yellow, Leaf Green, Tender Pink, and Cherry Pink markers
Stamps:  Capture the Day
Embellishments:  Clear and Bitty Sparkles
Other:  Stripes embossing folder