Peek-a-boo Gull

If CAS means lots of white space and minimal embellishments, this card would qualify, but I am not sure I can say simple because lining up the die to cut the window in the right place was fun and games.  I started with this Freshly Made Sketch:

I knew I wanted to make a summer themed card for the Paper Players Challenge, and I had just discovered the Daring Cardmakers intriguing challenge to create a secret hideaway for an element of your card.  I found myself thinking what if I made the circle on the sketch a window which only showed a hint of what was inside.  Some of y'all may know that I grew up where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and have a thing for lighthouses, so this is what you see when you open the card.  

First I stamped the inside using Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink and Close to My Heart's Perfect Day and Seaside Greetings stamp sets.  Then I cut a window and stamped the front.  After coloring with Prismacolor pencils, I stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Quilted Elegance in Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink.  Then as I wrote the above sentence and looked at the sketch again I realized I had not noticed that it includes an element along the left edge, so I stamped the edge with Stampin' Up's Wood Background stamp and re-shot the photo.  Can I get this posted and linked in time?

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Lighthouse and Waves for Mojo Monday

When I saw this Mojo Monday sketch I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it.  Finding the time this week was another story!

To make the background I stamped my new Hero Arts Waves background stamp using Versamark, embossed the image with Ranger White Detail embossing powder, and sponged on Distress Inks.  I left one at that and sprayed the other until it was saturated to the point of puddling and let it dry to a soft watercolor look.  I then ran it though my Cuddlebug with the sandwich I would use to die cut plus two pieces of cardstock to flatten it back out.  Lastly I sponged around the edge of each panel with Chipped Sapphire to ground it against the card base.  Background done!

Next I heat embossed the lighthouse and birds from Close to My Heart's Perfect Day set in white on vellum.  This is one of my favorite stamps because, not only do I love lighthouses, but this one resembles the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse in my hometown.  The trick to attaching vellum is to apply the adhesive behind the embossing.  For one I folded the top over the edge on the background panel and glued the flap to the back.

Rather than trying to match colored cardstock to ink, I cut strips of White Daisy cardstock and sponged on the same Distress Inks.  The scripture verse was stamped with Blue Denim pigment ink and embossed with Stampendous Clear Detail powder.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe quote was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Stampendous PEARLuster embossing powder.

Both sentiments were attached with foam tape.  A few Bitty Sparkles from Close to My Heart complete the card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

My New Lighthouse Stamp

I have a new lighthouse stamp!  Many of y'all know of my fondness for the Cape Henry lighthouse in my hometown, Virginia Beach.  There is, however, another lighthouse that has also occupied my heart for many years.  You see, my family, all of whom (except me) live within spitting distance of both ocean and bay beaches, rents a beach house in the Outer Banks near Cape Hatteras.  Yes, we invade someone else's hometown.  Cape Hatteras is the site of the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States.  In case you are thinking the the designer of this stamp took artistic license drawing the lighthouse so close to the beach, I can assure that this is where the Cape Hatteras lighthouse stood until 1999 as concern grew that the encroaching ocean would wash it away.  In a feat of modern engineering, the lighthouse was moved 2900 feet inland where it will hopefully stand for years to come.

To break in my new stamp I made a quick sympathy card following this Freshly Made Sketch:

The lighthouse stamp, by the way, is no longer manufactured but still available.  Google "Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Stamp."  Caution:  Some sellers are asking a ridiculous amount for it.  I got mine for $7.00 plus shipping.   For the card I used Tommy paper (retired) and distressed the edges with Cocoa.    My only embellishment is a bird from the color ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes which I colored with two layers of Outdoor Denim and heat set each time with my craft heater.  The new micro dots came in handy for attaching him.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Tommy (retired), Outdoor Denim (retired) and Colonial White cardstock

Stamp: Look to the Light. 

Ink:  Outdoor Denim (retired), Cocoa 

Embellishment:  Bird from color ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes (retired but still available in the clearance section)

Freshly Made Sunrise

I have needed way too many "thinking of / praying for you" cards lately!  This time I needed one for a man.  Since lighthouses are usually a safe bet for guy cards, I broke out Close to My Heart's Seaside Greetings stamp set and, following this Freshly Made Sketch, began stamping.

I masked off the fence and water portion of the lighthouse stamp before inking it with Cocoa ink because I thought it would blend better into the dune and fence stamp.  After I stamped the images I let them sit for a long time, as in overnight, but an hour would have done it.  I wanted to make sure the ink did not bleed when I sponged over it.  I cannot tell you how I sponged the background because I just kept layering different colors until I liked how it looked.  Once I was done I added the sentiment in black.  The scalloped edge, meant to evoke waves, is pPacock and a bit of Seaside (retired) paper.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Seaside (retired), Colonial White, Desert Sand and Peacock cardstock

Ink:  Cocoa, Black, Desert Sand, Flaxen, Saffron, Sapphire, Peacock, Whisper, Smoothie, Sorbet, and Galcier

Other:  Scallop punch

Heart 2 Heart One

If you have been following my blog for a while or have seen this post from 2013 that is still getting hits (!), you may remember that I love the lighthouse stamp from the retired Perfect Day set because it reminds me of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia Beach where I grew up.  What I have not mentioned is that on the beach is the First Landing Memorial Cross to commemorate where the Jamestown settlers first landed in the New World and set up a wooden cross to thank God for their safe arrival and to claim the land for England.  Nearby on the bay is First Landing State Park where I grew up camping with the Girl Scouts (when it was called Seashore State Park) and where we spent Christmas night in a cabin with my sister and her husband.  This travelogue is a round about way of introducing Heart 2 Heart's first challenge of the new year, "One."  This can be interpreted any number of ways, so I decided to scrap the pictures I took the next morning at the beach.

First of all I have to tell you that I totally cased the sand dune border from Amie Kiger.  Please head over to her blog and check out the card she made for her daughter.  For this page I used paper from three retired packs, Seaside, Footloose, and Timberline.  I lightly sponged most of the edges, not so much to distress them, but to define them.  The lighthouse, flying birds and bird on the fence are from the Perfect Day stamp set, the sand dune fence is from Seaside Greetings, and the shell and sentiment from Treasured Friendship.  I used the Artiste Cricut cartridge to cut the letters.  I plan to do my journaling on the computer, so I have used temporary adhesive to attach a piece of Colonial White so that you can see where it goes, along with the date.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Seaside, Footloose, Timberline, all retired, Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Cocoa, Slate
Stamps:  Perfect Day (retired), Treasured Friendship, Seaside Greetings
Other:  Artiste Cricut cartridge

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

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

A Heart 2 Heart Sketch Challenge

This month the ladies over at Heart 2 Heart are challenging us to use this sketch:

This one proved a bit challenging for me, but isn't that the point?  I had trouble deciding what to do with that oval.  Then it came to me.  I had just gotten Close to My Heart's new Timberline paper pack which has an outdoorsy, camping theme to it which got me to thinking about my days as a Girl Scout camping at Seashore State Park (now First landing State Park) which was near the Cape Henry Lighthouse.  It was time to break out the Perfect Day stamp set!  I used the resist embossing technique where you stamp the image with Versamark, heat emboss it with clear detail powder, and then sponge over it with water based ink to make the image appear.  Sometimes you have to wipe over the embossed area with a tissue to remove the thin film of ink that can coat to your image.  In this case, I sponged Juniper, Twilight, and Pondersoa Pine over the image stamped on Bamboo cardstock.  I sponged the edges of the "corner squares" with a little Colonial White pigment ink.  I do not have any Ponderosa Pine cardstock, but I found that Avonlea Green from the retired paper pack made a good substitute.  For embellishments I started with the new Durables Triangle Studs which have really grown on me.  To complement them, I cut the prongs off some brads and attached them with Liquid Glass.

I am not sure if this will be a masculine birthday card, thinking of you card, or note of encouragement, so I have not done anything on the inside yet.  Thank you for stopping by!  Now head on over to Heart 2 Heart Challenges to see some more takes on this sketch.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Timberline, Bamboo, Avonlea Green (retired) and Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Juniper, Twilight, Ponderosa Pine

Stamp:  Perfect Day (retired)

Embellishments:  Duarables Triangle Studs, Metal Brads (retired)

Take Me Home, Heart 2 Heart!

I now live a hundred miles up river, but home to me will always be the corner of the Chesapeake Bay and The Atlantic Ocean where the Cape Henry Lighthouses have been guiding sailors since the founding of our country.  This stamp from Close to My Heart's retired Perfect Day set has always reminded me of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse.

When Haley told me that the theme of this week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge was going to be Water, Water, Everywhere, how could I not use this stamp?  I stamped it with Versamark, heat embossed it with Clear Detail powder and then sponged over it with Crystal Blue and Outdoor Denim to reveal the image.  The birds were stamped in second generation Outdoor Denim and the sentiment in Cocoa.  In order to accommodate the bulk of the hemp, I must have used half a roll of foam tape to pop up the background panel and the lighthouse panel.  The layout is an old one from Freshly Made Sketches.

Here is the inside: 



There is a new challenge in town, the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge in which a challenge photo will be posted on the 1st and 15th of the month and you have ten days to complete it.  It just so happens that inaugural challenge is Feeling Nautical.  What can be more appropriate than the lighthouses which have warned and guided sailors through out history?  Can you tell I have a deep emotional connection to lighthouses?



So ends my fourth week as July's guest designer at Heart 2 Heart Challenges.  I have one more week to go and it is a challenge that is right up my alley!.  You will just have to come by and see what it is  In the meantime, thank you for stopping by!  Now please hop on over to see all the creations inspired by water.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper: Majestic Blue (retired), Bamboo and White Daisy cardstock
Ink: Crystal Blue, Outdoor Denim and Cocoa
Stamps:  Perfect Day (retired)
Embellishments:  Natural Hemp, Filigree Charms, Clear Detail embossing powder





Another Freshly Made Lighthouse

This is the second card I made playing with the Perfect Day stamp from Close to My Heart and the resist embossing technique.  For this one, I stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear detail embossing powder.  As I sponged over it, the image appeared as a lighthouse might appear out of a fog.  I have always loved this stamp as it reminds me of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse where I grew up.



Again, the layout is this one from Freshly Made Sketches. 

Thank you for stopping by! Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all from Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy cardstock, Majestic Blue
Ink:  Bamboo, Desert Sand
Stamp:  Perfect Day
Embellishments:  hemp, a wooden button from Joann's
Other:  Clear Detail embossing powder



A Freshly Made Lighthouse

What a weekend!  After spending Saturday with some of my Scrappin' Friends, I went home for a belated Father's day celebration with my family.  "Home" is where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and on the corner stand the Cape Henry Lighthouses.



The Perfect Day stamp set from Close to My Heart has always reminded me of the old lighthouse.  Monday I had some fun playing with it using the resist embossing technique where you heat emboss an image and then sponge over it.  This is the first of two card I made using it and this layout from Freshly Made Sketches.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Heavenly Blue and White Daisy cardstock, Majestic Blue, plus a paper bought at Micheal's ages ago.

Ink:  Bamboo, Desert Sand

Stamp:  Perfect Day

Embellishments:  White embossing powder, hemp, buttons from Joann's