Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 122

One of the things about challenge blogs is that you get exposed to products from many companies.  I don't know about you, but occasionally I see one that I just have to have.  Such was the case with this stamp and punch set.  When I saw this sketch from Atlantic Hearts, I knew it was time to break it out.

I stamped the ornaments with Versamark and embossed them using Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder which is available through Close to My Heart.  I love this product line because the powders are so finely ground that they melt smoothly and keep the details in your image.  While I was at it, I embossed the sentiment from Close to My Heart's Holiday Cheer set.  I then added some color to my shiny, gold ornaments using a Cherry Pink ShinHan marker and embellished them with Pearl Opaques (retired).    

Thank you for stopping by!  Now go see the beautiful cards others have made for this Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Pear and Partridge (retired), Cashmere and Colonial White cardstock.

Ink:  Versamark, Cherry Pink ShinHan marker

Stamps:  Holiday Cheer, Mosaic Madness by Stampin Up

Embellishments:  Pearl Opaques (retired), Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder

Time for Christmas Cards

For some people late August means the start of a new school year.  For me it is time to get serious about making Christmas cards.  In January I resolved to play a Christmas themed challenge each week to get a head start, but as with many resolutions, let's just say I got side tracked.  Now to recommit...  The ladies over at Jingle Belles Rock (got to love a blog with a name like that) are playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, a Christmas version of Beach Blanket Bingo:

Now if you have followed my blog through a Christmas season, you will know that I love sparkles and snowflakes, so it was a no brainer to play the center vertical column of Bling, Die Cuts, and Snow which I combined with this Freshly Made Sketch:

It worked out to being a double play with the diagonal of Glitter, Die Cuts and Stamping.  I started by cutting a snowflake using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and then stamping and clear embossing it with a stamp from the retired Frosted Cardmaking Workshop.  Next I used a sponge to rub on some Crystal Blue and Whisper inks to expose the stamped image and then some metallic Silver by Color Box to guild the edges.  While I had my stamps out I stamped a sentiment from Holiday Tags and embossed it with Ranger Silver Super Fine embossing powder which is available from Close to My Heart.  I love how smoothly it melts.  I ran the background panel through my Cuddlebug with using an embossing folder from Darice and put the card together, popping up the snowflake up with foam tape.  Finally it was time to bling up my card with some Tan Sparkles on the snowflake and Silver Stickles in the background.

I made two other versions of this but like the one above best.  Which one do you like best?

Thank you for stopping by!  Now head on over to see some other beautiful cards at Jingle Belles Rock and Freshly Made Sketches and maybe be inspired to enter yourself.  You have until tomorrow, Monday, at 12:00 PST to enter the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and September 9 for the Jingle Belles Rock challenge.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Frosted (retired), Frosted Gray (retired), Whisper, Champagne, and Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Crystal Blue, Whisper and Versamark

Stamps:  Frosted Cardmaking Workshop (retired), Holiday Tags

Embellishments:  Silver Stickles, Tan and Blue Sparkles (retired), Ranger Clear and Silver Super Fine embossing powders

Other:  embossing folder by Darice

Celebrating the 200th Freshly Made Sketch

Last week was so hectic that I never did get into my craft room, but I did manage to sneak in this morning to make this card following this sketch from on of my favorite challenges, Freshly Made Sketches:

Did you notice the sketch number?  That's right!  Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating its 200 challenge.  That's almost four years of challenges!  Running a challenge blog is a lot of work and many don't last very long.  Thank you to the ladies over at Freshly Made Sketches for their continued dedication.  

Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, Hansi

 

Happy Belated Birthday to My Sister

My sister takes the most exquisite close up pictures of flowers.  I call her the Georgia O'Keefe of photography, so there was no question that Close to My Heart's Someone Special stamp set was the one to use for her birthday card.  Nevermind that her birthday was three weeks ago...

I started with the flowers.  My original thought was to stamp the base flower with Thistle dye ink and then stamp the shade layer with Gypsy pigment ink and emboss it with Clear Detail powder.  As I was pulling out inks I decided to also try Pixie as the base for a flower or two.  The Thistle and Gypsy flower was darker than I had imagined it would be and the Pixie and Thistle combination did not have as much contrast as I liked.  On a whim I tried Gypsy on Pixie which turned out to be my favorite.  I love playing with base and shade flowers and cannot wait to show y'all the new set coming out in September!

While I was at it I embossed the sentiment as well.  Next I made the card front following this sketch from Try Stamping on Tuesday:

The Background and Texture paper is from the long retired Babycakes paper pack, but Zoe would work well, too.  If you miss having a baby themed paper pack you have only a few more weeks to wait because there is an adorable baby themed pack in the new catalog. I attached the darker flower using thin foam tape and the leaves and lighter flower with regular foam tape.  To finish of the front I used a bit of Slate Diagonal Ribbon and some Purple Glitter Gems from a long retired Workshop on the Go.  If you like glitter gems, you are going to love the new embellishments.  

With the front of the card done it was time to work on the inside.  I figured embossing the inside flower would be over kill so I stamped some using regular dye based ink for both layers.  Interestingly, the Thistle layer in dye ink showed better against Pixie than the Thistle in pigment form did.

I had to modify the sentiment from the You are Loved stamp set:

This month Heart 2 Heart Challenges is throwing a Birthday Bash and the challenge over at Seize the Birthday is to use embossing of some sort, so I plan to enter this card in those challenges as well.  Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't y'all head over to Heart 2 Heart, Try Stamping on Tuesday, and Seize the Birthday to see what others have made.  There is even still time to enter the Heart 2 Heart Challenge if you are so inspired.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Babycakes (retired), Pixie, Thistle, Whisper, and Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Thistle, Pixie, Gypsy, Sweet Leaf, Ponderosa Pine (soon to be retired), Olive (retired), with Gypsy and Slate pigment inks

Stamps:  Someone Special, You are Loved, and Holiday Tags

Embellishments:  Purple Glitter Gems (retired), Slate Diagonal ribbon (soon to be retired), Clear Detail powder

A Lighthouse Birthday

My youngest brother and sister have birthdays two weeks apart, and of course, I have missed them both.  First up is the card for my brother based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

I used one of my favorite techniques, resist embossing, in which you emboss your stamp image using Versamark and clear detail powder and then sponge over it with ink (preferably dye based) to make the image appear.  When you finish, wiping the embossing with a sponge or paper towel will make it pop even more.  I combined the Perfect Day stamp set (retired) with Timblerline paper (retired) and added a sentiment from Holiday Tags and a couple of grey sparkles (soon to be retired).  The lighthouse panel is popped up with foam tape to give it some dimension.

On the inside I used a sentiment from Card Chatter - Birthday (retired) along with another image from Perfect Day stamped in second generation Ponderosa Pine, which will be retired the end of this month.:

I also plan to enter this card in the Seize the Birthday challenge to use embossing.

I know that I have used a lot of retired products in this card.  Stay tuned for my sister's card which features current products and a hint as to what is coming in the new Close to My Heart catalog.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Timberline (retired), Colonial White and Avolea Teal (retired) cardstock
Ink:  Twilight (retired), Ponderosa Pine (soon to be retired), Lagoon, Black
Stamps:  Perfect Day (retired), Holiday Tags, Card Chatter - Birthday (retired)
Embellishments:  Gray Sparkles (soon to be retired), Clear detail powder

Freshly Made in Black and White

When I saw this Freshly Made Sketch, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to use my new Spellbinders die cut, Medallion One.

At first I was planning to use metallic gold paper and a dark color, maybe Close to My Heart's New England Ivy or Outdoor Denim, but as it often happens I began to see things differently as I played.  Sometimes I forget how much fun it is to work in black and white which requires me to focus strictly on the graphic design.  I used a retired stamp set, Universal Backgrounds, to stamp the musical notes on the banner and a Shin Han marker to add antennae to the butterfly.  I do not know remember who made the butterfly die cut nor where I bought it.  Finally I added a bitty Black Sparkle to the center of the medallion and a larger one to form the head of the butterfly.  The sparkles are set to be retired at the end of this month, so stock up while you can.  You know I did!

For the inside of the card I used Your Own Kind of Wonderful, one of my favorite sets from the current catalog, along with a sentiment from the Artfully Sent collection:

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please check out some more designs at Freshly Made Sketches and, if you are a Close to My Heart fan, I encourage you to consider entering Freshly Made Sketch challenges as it seems to be dominated by fans of another company's products.  Let's show folks what Close to My Heart has to offer!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Black and White Daisy card stock
Ink:  Black and a Black Shin Han marker
Stamps:  Just to Say (Artfully Sent collection), Your Own Kind of Wonderful, Holiday Tags, Universal Backgrounds (retired)
Embellishments:  Black Sparkles (soon to be retired)
Die cuts:  Medallion One by Spellbinders. Unknown butterfly  die cut

An Atlantic Hearts Graduation Card

I am sorry to have disappeared off the face of the earth, but it has been a difficult time for my family.  One good thing that has happened, however, is my nephew's graduation from Virginia Tech which called for a return to my craft room.  I used Close to My Heart's Pro Player paper, A Thing Well Done stamp set, and this Atlantic Hearts sketch to make a card with an engineering theme.

I used the new thin foam tape to pop up the blue panel just enough to accommodate the bulk of the ribbon.  Then I used regular foam tape to pop up the sentiment.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please check out some more cards at Atlantic Hearts.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Pro Player (retired), White Daisy and Whisper cardstock

Stamps:  A Thing Well Done (retired)

Ink:  Ruby, Outdoor Denim, Black

Embellishments:  ribbon from Outdoor Denim Mini Medley (retired), Hanger and brad (retired)