All That Glitters From the Heart



I love playing the challenge blogs except for the frustration that comes when I see the Close to My Heart consultants playing with the new CTMH products for a month before they are available to the rest of us.  Well, I have my new catalogue, and I have made my wishlist and planned my spending for the next six months.  (You know, of course, that the For Always paper pack is at the top!)  Now I just have to wait until tomorrow.  In the meantime...

The Heart 2 Heart challenge this week is to use glitter, so here is a valentine with silver glitz and (!) glitter ribbon.  I used the Cricut Artiste cartridge to cut the heart and then ran it through my Cuddlebug with a folder from the Paper Lace II set.  The brads from the Spring Blossom mini medley and the paper flowers are retired as is the color Tulip which I just love, although Ruby seems close.  I combined sentiments from the "A Little Everything" and "Say it in Style" stamp sets.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Color My Heart in Shades of Green

 

 

For this card I combined the Color My Heart Color Dare to use New England Ivy, Topiary, and Sweet Leaf with Unscripted Sketch #195.  I  used sponge daubers to ink the stamp and then to apply additional color to the stamped image which comes from one of my favorite, long retired Close to My Heart sets , "Find Your Style."  Dry embossing with the Cuddlebug folder "Musical Flourishes" adds interest to the background.  Over all, this is a pretty simple card that I hope will bring comfort to a friend.

 

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time,  Hansi

 

 

 

 

 





Freshly Made Sketch #70

 

 

It seems like I need quite a few "Thinking About You/Praying For You/Wishing You Well" cards.  I made this one with the Cruisin' paper pack from Close to My Heart along with some CTMH embellishments and a sentiment from "Say It in Style," a versatile and, unfortunately, retired stamp set.  I owe a big thank to Susan who brought her Martha Stewart butterfly punch to scrapbook day for me to borrow and play with just long enough to realize that I needed to buy one for myself.  I like to glue just the bodies down, so the wings can pop up.  The layout was based on this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

 

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi



 

A DynamicDuo Valentine for Tim

 

After playing with the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month using black on white with a pop of color, I found myself thinking about white on black with a pop of red and how dramatic that might be, so I random stamped with Versamark and than embossed the design in white to make sure the roses really popped.  The flourish (page 60 cut at 2 1/4) and rose (page 69 cut at 2 1/4) were cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  I finished it off with some black and red sparkles.  This is the inside:

It just so happens that the Dynamic Duos color challenge this week is to pair black and red with a valentine theme.  Perfect!

 

 

 

I still have leftover flourishes in black that I am playing with and plan to get them up soon.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time,  Hansi

A Pop of Cotton Candy

 

 

 

I love working with black and white, so how could I resist the Color My Heart dare to use black and white with a pop of color?  I had just gotten the Close to My Heart January Stamp of the Month which I could not wait to play with and the Freshly Made Sketch had this really cool diagonal, so I put my Cricut and the Art Philosophy cartridge to work.  To accommodate a sentiment, I split the swirly shape (page 60 cut at 1 3/4 inches) and then traced a template of copier paper to cut some white cardstock on which I had random stamped the roses from the SOTM, after which I realized I could have just used my template as a mask and stamped directly on the card...

  

 

 

 

I lightly filed the edges of the petals of my rolled roses (page 68 cut at 2 inches) to give them some definition and cut off the first two petals before rolling so that I would have a larger center to accommodate a pink sparkle.  I used a sentiment from the Card Chatter Birthday set and popped it up with some foam tape.  I also used the SOTM on the inside of the card and sponged a little Cotton Candy ink around the white cardstock to give a subtle pop on the inside.

 

 

 

 

This is the layout from Freshly Made Sketches:

 





 

 

I had a lot of fun with this card.  I also had to cut a few swirls before I settled on the right size, so I am making cards with those which I will post, hopefully, tomorrow.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

 

 





Heart 2 Heart Cocoa Challenge

 

 

The theme for the Heart 2 Heart challenge this week is Hot Cocoa as in the drink or the Close to My Heart color.  I love to use Cocoa when I want to make bold colors, such as those found in the Stella paper pack by CTMH, pop.  All the shapes were cut using the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  To make the flower, I cut four flowers (accent 1, page 73) in sizes ranging from 2.5 to 1.5 inches, sponged the petals with Olive ink, molded the petals into a boat shape and stacked them with pop up foam between the layers.  I finished it off with an antique copper brad.  Here is a closer look:

 

 

 

 

 

I used this layout from Mojo Monday: 











 

 

Now I think I will go enjoy a cup of the other kind of cocoa on this snowy evening.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Snow Much Fun at Heart 2 Heart Challenges



When I saw the theme of the first Heart 2 Heart challenge of the year was snow, all I could think was "Seriously?!  Do you know how many snow flakes I made leading up to Christmas?  Well, my nephew's birthday card has penguins and snow, I can enter that."  After having to rethink my husband's birthday card, I was left with this embossed piece of Close to My Heart's Outdoor Denim cardstock that had a sprinkling of pearl embossing powder in the negative space.  As part of exploring what I can do with my new Cuddlebug (Again, thanks, Tim!), I lightly sanded it and found myself thinking of swirling wind, so I combined that piece with White Daisy cardstock by CTMH and metallic silver paper I bought at Michael's, used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the snowflakes, embellished it with a snowflake brad from the retired Mistletoe mini medley set that was featured in "While Supplies Last" over the summer and attached the result with pop up foam.

I could save this for next Christmas, but I think next time it snows I will send it to one of my Yankee friends who likes to complain about our lack of snow.  You know who you are.  ;)   Thank you, as always, for stopping by.  Until next time, Hansi