Freshly Made with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers

I have been seeing a lot about ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers and had a birthday check to spend so...  Here is my first attempt with them using Altenew's Persian Motifs stamp set and this Freshly Made Sketch:

Yes, the tip really is a brush and they can be used like watercolors.  I made life a little easier by embossing the image which helped me stay within the lines.  The panel is popped up with a sheet of craft foam and the sentiment with foam tape.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Strathmore watercolor paper, Colonial White, Thistle, and Fern cardstock from Close to My Heart
Stamps:  Persian Motifs and Beautiful Day by Altenew, Holiday Tags by Close to My Heart
Ink:  ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers, Fern from Close to My Heark, Versamark
Embellishments:  Princess Gold by Ranger and PEARLusture Rubellitte by Stampenous embossing powders

Freshly Made Watercolor Embossing

After watching the Jennifer McGuire video, Watercolor + Embossing Folders, I couldn't wait to play.  Essentially you rub Distress Ink on one side of an embossing folder, usually the flat side, put in watercolor paper, run it through your embossing machine, spray it with water until saturated, and wait for it to dry.  After doing one panel inking the flat side, I tried it inking the raised side for a different effect.  When the paper was dry I put it back through the Cuddlebug set up for die cutting which flattened it somewhat so it had the texture of heat embossing.  Lastly I sponged a bit of ink around the edges.

I then used this Freshly Made Sketch and Altenew's Peony Bouquet stamp set to make a birthday card.

The Peony Bouquet has four (!) layers, a base, an optional outline, a midtone shadow, and a deep shadow layer.  There is a PDF guide as well as this post and this video on Altenew's website to help you line them up.  I found it was a lot easier to see the parts of the shadow layers that need to line up  after the stamp  was inked which makes it hard to use a MISTI.  If you want to use a MISTI it is easier if the stamps have acquired a bit of stain to help you see which parts actually stamp.  If you miss a bit so they are not perfectly lined up you can fussy cut them and remove the parts that "stick out."  After I cut mine out I used a foam eye make-up applicator to ink the edges where I cut off the outline.  I could have also skipped the outline layer all together but I found I needed the outline the first few times I used this stamp to help me line up layers.

The sentiment is heat embossed in gold on vellum. and the flower attached with foam tape.  I used a bit of gold metallic paper to compliment the embossing.  Here is the inside:

I also plan to enter this in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Watercolor paper, White Daisy and Desert Sand cardstock from Close to My Heart, Vellum from Michael's, Gold metallic paper from Amazon
Ink:  Pixie, Hollyhock. Vineyard Berry, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, New England Ivy, and Cashmere from Close to My Heart, Victorian Velvet, Aged Mahogany, Gathered Twigs distressed inks from Ranger, Versamark
Stamps:  Peony Bouquet by Altenew, Holiday Tags and You Mean the World to Me by Close to My Heart
Embellishments:  Princess Gold embossing powder form Ranger
Other:  Embossing folder by Spellbinders

Freshly Made Henna Elements

This Freshly Made Sketch has so many possibilities that I am sure I will be using it long after the challenge closes tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. EDT.  Thank you, Cecile!  When I saw it Wednesday I knew I wanted to play with it using Altenew's Henna Elements stamp set, but finding the time was another matter with my garden competing for my attention.  It's that time of year...

The square with the flower is popped up with foam tape.  What you may not be able to see in the photo is that the stamping is just as intensely black as the border because I stamped it twice.  How did I manage to stamp something twice in exactly the same place?  I used a MISTI which was a Christmas gift from my husband.  It tells you something about how crazy my life has been that I am only just now trying it out.  If you are not familiar with a MISTI, here is a video that shows it in action.   I'm sorry about the ad in the beginning, but it is the most succinct and complete video that wasn't trying to sell it I could find.  Tonic and Tim Holtz have a version set to hit the market soon.  I will say there is a learning curve.  Sometimes the paper will shift when you lift the lid, so you should check the position of the paper each time you stamp, even if you are using magnets to hold it in place.  Secondly, to avoid smudging your paper, it is a good idea to wipe excess ink from the lid after inking our stamp if you are using clear polymer stamps.  Ask me how I know.

Here is the inside:

I used acrylic blocks for the inside stamping because my MISTI is not large enough to accommodate a ten by five inch piece of paper.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Black and White Daisy cardstock from Close to My Heart
Ink:  Black from Close to My Heart
Stamps:  Henna Elements by Altenew, Just to Say... and Say It All by Close to My Heart
Other:  MISTI by Sweet Petunia

My Favorite Butterfly in Blues

I saw this Addicted to Stamps photo challenge and knew it was time to pull out one of my all time favorite stamps, the butterfly from the retired "Find Your Style" stamp set from Close to My Heart.

I also knew immediately that I wanted to use this Freshly Made Sketch:

To ink the butterfly, I pressed the stamp into my Crystal Blue ink pad and then used sponge daubers to apply Pacifica and Blue Denim.  After I fussy cut her out, I sponged some Black around the edge of her wings and colored her body with a black journaling pen.  I am not very adept at splatters, so a stamp from the Ink Blot set came in handy to create the border.  A  single black sparkle and flourish completed the card for now.  I am not sure what I am going to use this card for, so I will stamp a small sentiment to the right of the butterfly when I know.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Round and Round and Round We Go

The ladies over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges must have had a sneak peak at this Freshly Made Sketch when they selected "Round and Round" as a challenge theme:

This note card uses an old Stamp of the Month, "A Happy Hello" to showcase some of Close to My Heart's newer colors plus an oldie but goodie.  The Lemon ring was stamped directly onto the card.  The other circles were stamped onto White Daisy cardstock and cut out.  The flower is from my stash of Just Blooms paper shapes.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy, Lemon, Willow, Blossom, and Pansy cardstock
Ink:  Lemon, Pansy, Blossom, Willow, Lagoon
Stamp:  A Happy Hello (retired)
Embellishment:  Just Blooms paper shape

Vintage Christmas Kitten

I have loved cats all my life so how could I not buy this Christmas Kitten stamp by Stampenous?  I stamped her with Cocoa pigment ink and heat embossed her with clear detail powder.  What I love about clear embossing powder is that not only does it give you the ability to emboss in any color pigment ink you have, but unlike color powders, any stay bits don't show.  I embossed it because my original intent had been to use watercolor pencils, but as I looked at the paper I wanted to use I decided that dry pencils would echo the texture of the print, so I went to work with my Prismacolor pencils.  The one drawback was that the raised embossing makes it difficult to bring the color all the way up to the lines.  Can we just say that this adds to the vintage feel of the card?  In keeping with the vintage theme I sponged all the edges with Cocoa ink.  The sentiment from Close to My Heart's Holly Jolly Christmas is also embossed.  To accommodate the bulk of the twine I used regular foam tape to pop up the kitten and thin foam tape to pop up the white panel.

Here is the inside:

The the sentiment is also from Holly Jolly Christmas and the holly from To You and Yours.  The layout is based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Cream and Green Holly by DCWV, Colonila White, Ruby, and Cocoa cardstock
Ink:  Cocoa pigment and dye inks, Prismacolor pencils
Stamps:  Christmas Kitten by Stampendous, Holly Jolly Chrismas, To You and Yours
Embellishments:  Clear Embossing powder by Ranger, Fern thick twine

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

Magical Birthday Kitty

Normally I struggle with guy cards except when I need to make a card for my brother who is owned by a black cat.  Then it's Close to My Heart's Artistry Cricut cartridge to the rescue.  I thought the Magical paper pack with its mostly primary colors would complement my black cat die cuts purrfectly and guess what one of this month's themes at Heart 2 Heart Challenges just happens to be?  That's right, Magical!  The clean crisp colors in that pack lend themselves to a CAS card which is the challenge for this week at Addicted to Stamps and More.  For the layout I used this Freshly Made Sketch:

Here is the inside of the card:

Thank you for stopping by!  It has been a while since I posted and I've missed y'all.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Magical (to be retired August 31), Honey, Black and White Daisy cardstock

Stamps:  Holiday Tags (to be retired July 31), Love My Cat (to be retired July 31)

Ink:  Black, LePen marker

Embellishments:  Magical complements (to be retired August 31),  Red Enamel Heart (to be retired July 31)

Other:  Artiste (to be retired July 31) and Artistry Cricut cartridges 

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

Words of Comfort

This just under the wire card is based on the Freshly Made Sketch by Narelle:

My daughter is due home any minute, so I will have to tell you about this later.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Joy to the World!

When I saw this Freshly Made Sketch I thought of Close to My Heart's Noel Holiday stamp set.

The card actually came together pretty quickly, even with all the embossing.  I am really loving the Ranger embossing powders!  They are finely ground, so they show more detail.  Unfortunately, no matter how I light it, when photographing a white and gold card I can never get the shine to show without the highlights blasting out that detail.

  

To keep with the vintage feel of the stamp set I used a cropped text box cut using the Artbooking Cricut cartridge (page 81) in place of the banner. The embossing and metallic paper provides enough sparkle and interest so I opted not to use any embellishments.

Another Christmas card down.  I don't want to think about how many more I need to make...  Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head over to Freshly Made Sketches for some inspiration and perhaps enter the challenge yourself?  I would love to see your work.  You have until Monday December 7th at 12:00 PST to enter.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Colonial White cardstock, Gold metallic paper I ordered on Amazon

Ink:  Versamark

Stamp:  Noel Holiday (retired)

Embellishment:  Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder.

Freshly Made Sketch 214

After a hectic weekend I finally got a chance to play with this Freshly Made Sketch:

I used a Spellbinders Shapeabilities to cut and emboss the snowflake and another to cut the hexagon.  The background and sentiment come from a long retired Close to My Heart Stamp set, Snow Flurries.  Of course I had to embellish with some sparkles...

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Glacier and White Daisy cardstock, Kraft paper

Ink:  Saddle, White Daisy

Stamp:  Snow Flurries (retired)

Embellishments:  Blue sparkles

Other:  Create-a-Flake Five and Hexagon Shapabilities by Spellbinders

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

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

Time for Christmas Cards

For some people late August means the start of a new school year.  For me it is time to get serious about making Christmas cards.  In January I resolved to play a Christmas themed challenge each week to get a head start, but as with many resolutions, let's just say I got side tracked.  Now to recommit...  The ladies over at Jingle Belles Rock (got to love a blog with a name like that) are playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, a Christmas version of Beach Blanket Bingo:

Now if you have followed my blog through a Christmas season, you will know that I love sparkles and snowflakes, so it was a no brainer to play the center vertical column of Bling, Die Cuts, and Snow which I combined with this Freshly Made Sketch:

It worked out to being a double play with the diagonal of Glitter, Die Cuts and Stamping.  I started by cutting a snowflake using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and then stamping and clear embossing it with a stamp from the retired Frosted Cardmaking Workshop.  Next I used a sponge to rub on some Crystal Blue and Whisper inks to expose the stamped image and then some metallic Silver by Color Box to guild the edges.  While I had my stamps out I stamped a sentiment from Holiday Tags and embossed it with Ranger Silver Super Fine embossing powder which is available from Close to My Heart.  I love how smoothly it melts.  I ran the background panel through my Cuddlebug with using an embossing folder from Darice and put the card together, popping up the snowflake up with foam tape.  Finally it was time to bling up my card with some Tan Sparkles on the snowflake and Silver Stickles in the background.

I made two other versions of this but like the one above best.  Which one do you like best?

Thank you for stopping by!  Now head on over to see some other beautiful cards at Jingle Belles Rock and Freshly Made Sketches and maybe be inspired to enter yourself.  You have until tomorrow, Monday, at 12:00 PST to enter the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and September 9 for the Jingle Belles Rock challenge.  Until next time, Hansi

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

Paper:  Frosted (retired), Frosted Gray (retired), Whisper, Champagne, and Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Crystal Blue, Whisper and Versamark

Stamps:  Frosted Cardmaking Workshop (retired), Holiday Tags

Embellishments:  Silver Stickles, Tan and Blue Sparkles (retired), Ranger Clear and Silver Super Fine embossing powders

Other:  embossing folder by Darice