Fall is Finally Here

The temperatures are in the 70's and the humidity tolerable.  Never mind that the leaves are green and I'm still wearing sandals, fall is finally here!  That means it's the season for black cats and pumpkins (and chocolate).  I made my first Halloween card of the season using Close to My Heart's Artistry Cricut cartridge and this sketch from Atlantic Heart's Sketch Challenges:

One thing to remember about cutting the cats on page 10 is that setting the dial on the same size for all of them will result in cutouts that are nowhere near the same size.  To get cats that were similar in size I cut the sitting cat at 1.75 inches, the playing cat at 1.5, and the walking cat inside at 1.25.  You may have noticed that I did not punch out the hearts.  The pumpkin can be found on page 44 and was cut at 1.25.  The paper is from the long retired Moonlight pack.  Here is the inside:

Now my husband wants me to make ten for him to give to people on his team at work!  Now why not check out some more takes on this sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenges?  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Moonlight (retired), Olive (retired), Goldrush, Saffron, Black and Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Smokey Plum and Olive (both retired)
Stamps:  Holiday Tags, Eek and Shriek (both retired)
Embellishments:  Black sequins
Other:  Artistry Cricut cartridge

Adult Coloring with Heart

In honor of National Stamping Month, Heart 2 Heart Challenges wants to see something with a stamp from Close to My Heart.  Now I love adult coloring books, so it is no wonder that I love the retired Ornate Blossoms set:

Plus it reminds me of India, a country that has fascinated me since I was barely a teen (We won't say how many years ago).  Normally I would think in terms of using bright, fully saturated colors maybe with some gold embossing, but lately I have been playing with black and white, a combination that can also be bold.  After "coloring" a few with my journaling pen. I used this Freshly Made Sketch to make some cards to show the possibilities with this stamp set.

My first thought had been to use a white background with a black border, but after cutting the stamp out using the corresponding Thin Cut and seeing the white border I got to thinking about a black background:

I attached the stamp with thin foam tape and the sentiment with thick foam tape to give the card some dimension and added a few white enamel gems.  Then, just for grins, I made a card as I originally envisioned it in black and white:

Lastly, because I couldn't resist, I got out my embossing stuff and ShinHan markers and made a version in color:

To emboss the edge of the sentiment I pressed the edge straight down into the Versamark pad and then into the embossing powder.  Using my tweezers kept my fingers from being burned while heating.  I embossed the Peacock strip using a border folder from Cuddlebug.  I do not remember the name.

There you have it:  Three ways to play with Close to My Heart's Ornate Blossoms stamp set.  Thank you for stopping by!  Now why not check out some more inspiring takes on this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and see some more CTMH stamps at Heart 2 Heart Challenges?   Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, All Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Saffron, Peacock, Black and White Daisy cardstock, La Vie En Rose (retired), Florence (retired)
Stamp:  Ornate Blossoms (retired), A Friend Like You (retired)
Ink:  Black, Marvy Uchida LePen, Poppy, with Golden Yellow, Peacock Green and Carmine ShinHan markers, a border embossing folder from Cuddlebug
Embellishments:  White Enamel Gems, Gold and Black sequins, Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder

Thinking of You Card

The Ornate Blossoms (retired) stamp set from Close to My Heart makes me thing of India and screams for being embossed with metallic gold and colored with fully saturated hues; however, I wondered what would happen if I did it in black and white, so I went to work with my LePen journaling pen to make a card following this Atlantic Hearts sketch:

I decided that I liked the sentiment off center and popped it up with thin foam tape to give it some dimension.  I played around with black sequins and then black sparkles but was happier leaving my card unembellished.  Then I decided it needed something, so I went with the sparkles.  This is what it looks like unembellished:

Which do y'all think works better?  Thank you for any design advice and for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Black and White Daisy cardstock

Stamps:  Ornate Blossoms, Sincere Expressions (both retired)

Ink:  Black plus Marvy Uchida LePen 

Father Daughter Card

The theme of one of the Heart 2 Heart challenges for August is "Boys Will Be Boys."  Yes, boys will be boys, then they grow to be men, and sometimes they become fathers.  My husband is the best father you could ask for, and I make it a point to let him know this on a regular basis.  This card is an example of thinking beyond the theme of a paper pack.  These papers, which work beautifully for a summer theme come from "Chalk It Up," Close to My Heart's back to school paper pack from last year.  The sentiment was snipped from a zip strip from last year's Seaside pack.  I popped up both the sentiment and the background panel to give the card a little bit more dimension.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Chalk It Up (retired), Seaside (retired), Chocolate and Colonial White cardstock
Embellishments:  Chalk It Up Assortment (retired)

Bath Time for Baby

A new laptop and issues loading the lateest version of Photoshop means that although I have done quite a bit of crafting this month, none of it has been posted.  Time to catch up!

The first Heart 2 Heart challenge for August is to make something featuring the Florence product line from Close to My Heart.  Florence's bright summery colors beautifully compliment these shots of my daughter giving her "baby" a bath.  Although my preferred orientation is vertical, when I started shooting I found that she was moving out of the frame, so I switched to shooting horizontally.  This meant my photos had extra space at the sides which detracted from the image, but the photos could not be cropped down to 3x4 without decapitating baby, so I had to go with square photos.  By the way, this week's challenge theme is "hip to be square," but that is for another project.  

The Rose Gold foil banner in the lower left was made by putting a strip of tape on Colonial White cardstock and then cutting the banner.  I used 1/8 inch and 1/4  punches to create the centers of the flowers.  The title comes from the retired Nursery Charms stamp set and the flourish was cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (page 59) and then trimmed.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head over to the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog  to see some other ways to use Florence.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Florence (retiring August 31), Colonial White and Peacock cardstock
Ink:  Peacock, Marvy Uchida LePen journaling pen
Stamp: Nursery Charms (retired)
Embellishments:  Florence Complements (retiring August 31), Florence sequins (retiring August 31), Rose Gold foil tape, Poppy thick twine
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (retired)

Sightseeing With Heart 2 Heart

Please excuse the quality of this photo.  I had to use my phone, the lighting is poor, and I am trying to enter this into Heart 2 Heart's sightseeing challenge just under the wire.  I will post a better picture in the morning.

My daughter was in the hospital and was given a four hour pass so that we could go on a riverboat cruise with my husband's employer.  Although we live six blocks from the James River, "our part" is full of rapids.  It was interesting to see part of the river below the Fall line.

I used Regatta paper and the Artbooking Cricut cartridge to make this layout.  I hate my handwriting, so I used my computer to print the journaling and then cut out the border from one of the PML cards in the pack and put it over my journaling.

In case you were wondering about the title, in the Navy liberty is when you have permission to leave the ship at a port of call.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Regatta, Sapphire, Pomegranate, Glacier, and White Daisy cardstock
Ink:  Le Pen
Other:  Artbooking Cricut cartridge

Throwback Thank You Card

My fabulous scrappin' friend, Susan, found an awesome place to have a crop retreat, so I needed to send her my share of the deposit.  Of course, that meant making her a thank you card.  I was inspired by Heart 2 Heart's challenge to use retired materials.  That would be just about everything on this card including the ink.  Only the Colonial White cardstock and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge are still available, although the Art Philosophy cartridge is scheduled to be retired this Sunday.  The paper is Florentine  (not to be confused with Florence) which I sponged with Desert Sand.  Oops!  Desert Sand is still available, too.  I have had the material that I used to make the wreath for so long that I cannot remember exactly what it is or where I bought it.  I think it may be heavy duty upholstery thread.  It is much thicker than thread but not as thick as hemp and comes on a large spool.  The bird and flower are Color Ready Wooden Trinkets which I colored with Creme Brulee and Twilight ink.

Here is the inside.  I did not think and wrote the note before I photographed it.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Florentine, Olive and Colonial White cardstock

Stamp:  Thank you

Ink:  Olive, Twilight, Creme Brulee

Embellishments:  Color Ready Wooden Trinkets, Tan opaque, Black sparkle, regular thread for the stitching (Walmart), some kind of thread I don't remember what