Through the Window with Heart 2 Heart

Happy Monday, y'all!  Do you see that badge on the right?  The one that says Guest Designer for Heart 2 Heart Challenges?  That's right!  I was awarded the honor of being named Top Chick for the month of September for these cards which means I am the guest designer for the month of November.  We have some fun challenges lined up, and the first one is...(sound the trumpets)...Through the Window.  This can be interpreted a number of ways, so I chose the cut out window interpretation.

For this challenge I went all the way back to Close to My Heart's first Cricut cartridge, Art Philosophy.  It is still one of my favorites.  Is has interesting shapes that you can layer and every page has at least one and usually two cards.  This one can be found on page 47.  I started by cutting two cards, the first at 6.5 inches out of Colonial White and the second at 6.3 out of a sheet from the retired Yuletide Carol.  No, that is not a typo.  Did you know that if you go into "settings" on your Cricut you can change the size to cut in increments of tenths of an inch, centimeters, or millimeters?  I cut the front and back of the second card apart and then trimmed a quarter of an inch off of each side of the front piece.  I wanted an additional layer, but because the center would not be seen, I simply cut a 6.25 x 4.75 piece and cut out the middle with my trimmer.

I have always loved the vintage feel of this stamp set, Holiday Cheer.  No it is not in the current catalog, but it is still available.  With the exception of Workshop on the Go stamp sets and Stamps of the Month, CTMH does not retire Cricut compatible stamp sets.  I stamped the ornaments on a piece of scrap paper, cut them out, and sponged the edges with Saddle ink to "age" them to go along with the vintage feel.  I also sponged the green layer with saddle and the light layer with Saddle and a bit of Cocoa.

Here is the inside of the card:

You can see what I did with the back part of the second card.  Now when you are making the inside of a window card, you have to be mindful of what you want to show when the card is closed and what you want to hide.  I find it helpful to close the card and lightly trace the window shape in pencil, so you can see where your edges are.  I cut the holly leaves out of Fern cardstock using the same cartridge (page 46), sponged their edges with Saddle, used a scoring tool to create veins, and finally lightly sponged over them with some New England Ivy.  I used a hole punch to punch 1/4 and 1/8 inch circles of glitter paper to make holly berries and embellishments.  Yes, I have a 1/8 inch punch that I think I bought at Michael's.  I used liquid glass to glue on the "berries."  When I was done I had a very flat, easily mailed card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head over to the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog for some inspiration and maybe enter yourself?  You have all month to complete any of the November challenges.  We would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Yuletide Carol (retired), Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Saddle, Cocoa

Stamp:  Holiday Cheer (B1381)

Embellishments:  Red and Green glitter paper

Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, 1/4 and 1/8 inch punches