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 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 122 Take Two

When I was making this card for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, I had to add color to the ornaments to co-ordinate with the paper, but I found myself thinking about how elegant they looked in just gold and white.  This inspired me to make a gold and Colonial White version of the sketch.   

I sponged a little Metallic Gold ink along the edges of each ornament to help separate them from the background and used thin foam tape to attach the background panel to the card base to give the card some dimension while still making it easy to mail.  I don't know if you are allowed to enter more than one card, but I like this one too much not to enter it!  

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out how others have interpreted this Atlantic Hearts Sketch?  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Colonial White cardstock, Metallic Gold paper of unknown brand that I ordered through Amazon 

Stamps: Holiday Cheer,  Mosaic Madness by Stampin Up

Ink:  Versamark, Metallic Gold by Color Box

Embellishments:  Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder

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