A Freshly Made Girl's Birthday Card

 

 

 

This girly girl birthday card, the second of three cards I made using Close to My Heart's new Chantilly paper pack, is based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

 

 

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

 

Paper:  Chantilly paper pack

Ink:  Black

Stamp:  Joyful Birthday

Embellishments:  Thistle and Lime Green Stickles, Black Opaques, Pink Glitter Gems

Other:  Cricut Artiste cartridge









There is a New Challenge in Town

 

 

 

There is a new challenge in town! You know we card makers like to embellish which can create issues when it comes to mailing cards, so the idea behind the Cards in Envy Challenge is to create cards that will easily fit into an envelope and not require additional postage.  The entire card can be no more than 1/4 inch thick and embellishments no thicker than a shirt button.  On the first Monday of the month there will be a sketch challenge and on the third Monday a themed challenge.  This is the sketch for the inaugural challenge:

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please head on over to show your support and to see what the others have created.  Until next time, Hansi

 

 

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

Paper:  Chantilly paper packet, Pear cardstock

Ink:  Black

Stamp:  Joyful Birthday

Embellishments:  Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Black Opaques, Pink Sparkles

Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge





Unscripted Play

 

My box came Tuesday!!!!  I finally got to play with some of the new Close to My Heart paper!  This is the "For Always" paper pack.  I had two flowers cut from Blush cardstock left over from another project, so I distressed them with white daisy and blush and then edged them with black.  After curling the petals, I attached them with foam tape to keep them from flattening and embellished.  Here is a close up:

 

 

I used this layout from Unscripted Sketches:

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

  

Materials used, all from Close to My Heart:

Paper:  For Always, Blush, Black and White Daisy cardstock

Ink:  Blush, White Daisy, Black

Embellishments:  Black Mini Medley (retired), Sparkles Black Flourishes

Other:  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge





Yes, My Cats Send Valentines! Don't Yours?

Luna and Phoebe, AKA The Feline Moon Goddesses on facebook, have over 900 friends.  Now their little paws would be a mess if they sent valentines to everyone, but they do send them to a few special friends and four legged relatives.  I have been wanting to try a white on white card, so when they commissioned me to make some valentines for them, I did this white on white CAS card.  I popped the square with the cat and heart up with some foam tape to give it some dimension.  It is postcard style, so here is what the back looks like:

Needless to say, I had to create the greeting on my computer.  The layout is this one from Freshly Made Sketches :

Thank you for stopping by!  You can stop laughing now...  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used are from Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  White Daisy cardstock

Ink:  Tulip (retired) and Slate

Stamps:  Mad About You (retired), cat from Inkadinkadoo, paw prints from Recollections and All Night Media

Other Stuff:  Heritage embossing folders from Cuddlebug









Color My Heart With Blush and Cranberry

 My black and white birthday card featuring A Pop of Cotton Candy won the Color My Heart Color Dare for the week which means, not only did I get a nifty Diamond Award to display on my blog, but I was invited to be this week's guest designer on the challenge to use Blush and Cranberry.  This card uses the same layout and concept as this card, but what a difference color choices and embellishments can make!  I used the Cricut Artist cartridge to cut three flowers (accent 1, page 73) in 3, 2.5 and 1.5 inches, sponged the edges and across the ends of the petals with cranberry ink, shaped the petals and then stacked them with pop up foam between the layers.  I used the Cuddlebug Tiffany folder to emboss cardstock, carefully trimmed the edges with a rotary cutter and then cut off two inches from each end to make the top panels.  For the bottom panel I laid a 4 x .75 inch piece along the long side of the frame to emboss it.

Thank you for stopping by! Now hop on over to the Color My Heart Color Dare to see what the others have created with Blush and Cranberry.   Until next time, Hansi



Unless otherwise noted, all the materials I used came from Close to My Heart
Paper:  Blush, Cranberry, Colonial White, and Slate cardstock
Ink:  Cranberry
Embellishments:  Just Blooms Paper Shapes (retired),Pewter Designer Brad (retired)
Other:  Cricut Artiste cartridge, Cuddlebug Tiffany embossing folder





An Unscripted Heart

 

 

This year I have been in a black, white and red mood for valentines.  This one, based on this week's Unscripted Sketch, gave me an excuse to play with my Cuddlebug.  I did not have a sentiment stamp that fit the space I wanted to use, so I used my computer to print one on cardstock and then popped it up with foam tape. Problem solved!  Here is the sketch:

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time, Hansi

 

 

Materials used, all from Close to My Heart:

Paper:  Colonial White and Tulip (retired) cardstock

Embellishments:  Just Blooms Paper Shapes (retired), Tulip brads from the Spring Blossom Mini Medley (retired)

Other stuff:  Cricut Artiste cartridge, Cuddlebug Paper Lace II embossing folder, foam tape







Fancy Folding





 

 



They call them challenges for a reason!  The Heart 2 Heart challenge to create a card using "fancy folding" was, well, challenging.  The only cards I have made that involved more than folding a sheet in half to make a card base have been gateway cards like this one from last year:

 



After scouting out the blogs, I settled on a diagonal double pocket card.  Haley published a link to this easy tutorial on her blog, The Ink Scrapper.  The main challenge with the folding is positioning your 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper so that the pattern on the paper ends up where you like it.  This is not an issue with an over all consistent pattern, but a paper where different parts of the sheet have different graphics is another story.  I test folded a piece of printer paper and made this cheat sheet to help me visualize what part of the paper would show where:

 

Using one of my all time favorite paper packs from Close to My Heart, La Belle Vie, I went to work.  You may have noticed that I flipped the butterfly card.  This is so the part of the back of the sheet that I liked the most would show.  On the rose card, I cut one of the corners rather than folding it and then used an edge punch from ek.  My one gripe with Close to My Heart has been their recent use of colors on their papers which are not available as inks.  I found that using a sponge dauber to apply Vineyard Berry (retired) over Smokey Plum directly on the stamp approximated La Belle Vie Mauve on the butterfly.  I cut the pearl opaque flourish to make it fit how I wanted.  I can't wait to get some of the new, small flourishes!

Head on over to the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog to see what other Close to My Heart fans have come up with.  I am definitely going to try some other types of fancy folded cards!  I think I will try a napkin fold card like Kim made next.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

These are the supplies I used, all from Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  La Belle Vie, Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Vineyard Berry (retired), Smokey Plum, Bamboo, Black
Stamps:  "Find Your Style" (retired)
Embellishments:  Opaques Pearl Flourish, brad and button from Antiqued Gold Mini Medley, Designer Pewter brad (retired), light tan and pearl opaques, Sweet Leaf ribbon (retired), black ribbon from Michael's
Other Stuff:  Artiste Cricut Cartridge, border punch from ek