Trending Now With Heart 2 Heart

Happy Monday, y'all!  One of the things that makes Monday bearable for me is that it means a new Heart 2 Heart Challenge.  This week the challenge is "trending now," so I made a card using the Bokeh technique and this Freshly Made Sketch:

The Bokeh technique mimics the photographic effect created by shooting with a narrow depth of field (or Photoshop) where the subject is in focus and the background blurred.  Here is a video tutorial by Brenda Keenan.  I used a couple of Close to My Heart's new colors, Sapphire and Peacock, along with Crystal Blue and White  Daisy to create the background.  I cut the circle out of Slate cardstock using CTMH's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (page 31) and then sponged over it with White Daisy in a circular motion.  Yes, I could have just used Whisper paper, but this gave it a softer feeling to compliment the background.  The embellishments are definitely not trending as they have all been retired for some time.  I am not going to be happy when I have used the last of my Opaque Flourishes!

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out some more creations at Heart 2 Heart or Freshly Made Sketches and maybe even make something yourself?  You have only until noon PST to enter the Freshly Made Sketch challenge, but you have all of November to enter the Heart 2 Heart one.  I would love to see what you come up with!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy, Slate, and Sapphire cardstock
Ink:  Sapphire, Peacock, Crystal Blue, Slate, and White Daisy
Stamp:  Holiday Tags
Embellishments:  Base and Bling Floral Accents, Pearl Opaque Flourishes
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

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

Freshly Made Special Sympathy Card

When a friend lost her beloved dog of many years last week, I knew that I wanted to use this adorable dog from the new Artistry Cricut cartridge to make her a sympathy card.  This Freshly Made Sketch was perfect for what I had in mind.

I started by making a rainbow with my new CTMH watercolors and then added the puppy cutout embellished with an enamel heart.  If you are not familiar with the Rainbow Bridge, here is a link to the comforting poem.  I wanted to keep the emphasis on the image yet give the card some interest and dimension, so I pierced a border and attached the panel to a Colonial White card base with foam tape.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Black
Stamp:  Big Hug
Embellishment:  Enamel Heart (retired)
Other:  Artistry Cricut Cartridge, Watercolors

Not Christmas Cards for Christmas

What do you do when you are making your Christmas card list, and you want to remember someone who does not celebrate Christmas?  Or maybe you know someone who has recently suffered a devastating loss whose Christmas will not be "merry."  Here are two "not necessarily Merry Christmas" cards that I made for the Jingle Belles Challenge using this Freshly Made Sketch:

As y'all may have noticed, I have a fondness for snowflakes as a design element.  The real stuff not so much...   This sketch cries out for snowflakes and seemed like a good opportunity to play with the Bokeh technique and some of Close to My Hearts's new colors.  If you are not familiar with this technique, here is a video tutorial.  For the first card I used Whisper, Glacier (appropriate name for a snow theme, don't you think?), Crystal Blue, Sapphire, and Peacock with White Daisy over top.  The snowflakes were cut using a Spellbinders Shapeability set, Create-a-Flake Five.  I trimmed the smallest flake to make it fit and also removed the portion of the largest flake that is behind the medium sized flake.

For my second card I used Whisper, Crystal Blue, Sapphire, and White Daisy for the background and dug out an old stamp set from the retired Frosted cardmaking workshop to stamp snowflakes and emboss them in silver.  While I had my embossing supplies out I push the edges of the sentiment panel into the Versamark and then embossing powder to guild the edges.

I embellished the centers of my snowflakes with Blue Sparkles which have been retired.  If you don't have any colored sparkles you can always use ShinHan or any other alcohol based markers to color clear ones.  Now I have two cards to send when "Merry Christmas" cards are not appropriate.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy cardstock and Silver paper by Recollections
Ink:  Whisper, Glacier, Sapphire, Crystal Blue, Peacock, and White Daisy
Stamps:  Frosted Cardmaking Workshop (retired), Scandinavian Wishes (retired)
Embellishments:  Blue Sparkles (retired), Ranger Silver Super Fine embossing powder, Glacier extra thick twine
Other:  Create-a-Flake Five Shapeabilities by Spellbinders

Christmas Doodles

The ladies over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges want to see some doodles, so with this card as inspiration, I cut some ornaments using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy and Artistry Cricut cartridges and began playing.  This first card is more like what most people think of when they think of doodling:  lines and repetitive patterns that grow into something.

I used a sponge dauber and black ink along the edges of the ornaments and sentiment border to ground them against the white background.  The sentiment border may look like doodling, but it is actually a piece of paper from the new La Vie En Rose paper pack.

For the second card I revisited my favorite way to doodle when I was in high school.  I always liked creating designs that mess with your eyes. 

The graphic below the stamped sentiment is a sliver of the retired version of Black Paper Fundamentals.  Both cards are embellished with a few black sparkles because y'all know I like sparkles...  Although the black sparkles have been retired, you can always make your own by coloring a clear sparkle with a black ShinHan marker.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Black Paper Fundamentals (retired), La Vie En Rose, White Daisy and Black cardstock

Ink:  Black

Stamps:  Merriest Christmas (retired), A Very Merry Christmas (retired)

Embellishments:  Black Sparkles (retired)

Other:  Art Philosophy and Artistry Cricut Cartridges

Shopping My Stash With the Jingle Belles

The Jingle Belles have teamed up with the ladies over at Shopping Our Stash for a joint challenge which is perfect for me because I have been on a Christmas card binge and Heaven knows I have a stash...  I was inspired by this card on Pinterest to make some cards using iris folding (sort of) and long retired Christmas paper, embellishments and stamps.  If you are not familiar with iris folding, this website has a description of the technique as well as a tutorial and patterns (some free!).  True iris folding requires lightweight paper because you are, well, folding it and cardstock would get too bulky.  Since I wanted to use cardstock, I  cut strips of paper and then sponged the edges to give them some of the definition that a folded edge would have.  I did not have a pattern, but after several attempts, I managed to draw my own.

 Now iris folding can be a little unnerving because you are working from the back and cannot see how your card is coming along:

I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with my own pattern until I realized that I had forgotten a critical detail that I would have noticed if I could have seen the front as I worked.  The completed card will be the reverse of the image you see on the pattern.  I had intended the red to be on the outer side of the ornament.  Oops!  Lesson learned.

If you don't have a pattern and are not not sure if you are up to drawing your own, this card uses strips of paper to get the general effect but without the iris.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Card 1:
Paper: Pear and Partridge (retired), Cashmere and Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Metallic Gold by ColorBox, Cranberry
Stamp:  A Very Merry Christmas (retired)
Embellishments:  Pear and Partridge complements (retired), Ariana assortment (retired)
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Card 2:
Paper:  Frosted (retired), Silver Metallic paper by Recollections (not longer available from Michael's, Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Metallic Silver by ColorBox
Stamp:  A Very Merry Christmas (retired)
Embellishments:  Colonial White ribbon and Blue sparkle (both retired)
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, Create-a-Flake Five Shapebilities by Spellbinders

Sparkling Trees

Continuing with my Christmas and gold embossing theme, I have two cards inspired by the 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown challenge to use any sketch in their archives.  I chose this one from July 2014:

As you can see I stayed pretty close to the sketch which is not my usual style, but I had a brand new stamp from Hero Arts that I just had to play with.

For my first take I paired the embossed tree with Pear and Partridge (retired) gilded with Metallic Gold ink and embellished it with Red Stickles.   

For my second take I went for a more elegant feel with Colonial White cardstock and Metallic Gold paper and kept the embellishing subtle by using Clear Bitty Sparkles.  I like this one best and will enter it in the challenge.  Which one to you prefer?

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Pear and Partridge (retired), Olive and Colonial White cardstock, Metallic Gold paper of unknown brand that I bought on Amazon

Stamps:  Christmas tree by Hero Arts, Sentiment from Holiday Wishes (retired)

Ink:  Versamark, Metallic Gold by Color Box

Embellishments: Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder, Clear Bitty Sparkles, Red Stickles