Humble ARtist's Swap - Aug 10th

I'm finally able to post this card. Since I am the Hostess of this swap, I am the one who has held up the posting of these cards sooner! Yikes......I'm workin' it out!



Our guidelines made me cringe when I read them.......the amazing Vicki Wizniuk, was in control for this go around. Here were the requirements:

-Make cards 8 x 3 1/2
-Use one of Jeanette's colour combos
-Use a card layout from Wishes or Originals
-Use a circle and either a rectangle or square somewhere on your card
-Use ribbon
-Use 2 other types of embellishments
-7 layers, minimum, in one spot


Here is my card using our August stamp of the month, Happy Forever. I embossed the cute hedgehog and sentiment in some Ranger Snowflake Tinsel embossing powder on Black cardstock. The circle was cut with a Nestabilitie die and is on pop dots.


The three layers behind are stamped with Noted Backgrounds in Black on White Daisy; Spot On Backgrounds in Juniper on Juniper; and Intrinsic Backgrounds on Tulip in Tulip, respectively.


The polka dot paper is from Jingle and the heart image border is from Togetherness. The word border stamped at the bottom is from Soul Mates Word Puzzle. Both of the borders are stamped in Black ink. All mats are either Black or White Daisy.

I added White Daisy organdy ribbon with a crocheted flower and Juniper waxy flax, to finish the embellishments off.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.

Stamps: Togetherness; Soul Mates Word Puzzle; Noted Backgrounds; Spot On Backgrounds; Intrinsic Backgrounds; Happy Forever

Ink: Black; Tulip; Juniper; Versamark

Cardstock: White Daisy; Black; Tulip; Juniper

Embellishments: White Daisy organdy ribbon; Crocheted flowers; Juniper waxy flax

Other: Nestabilities; Snowflake Tinsel embossing powder

Humble Artist's Swap for Jun 10th, 2010

Here is my Humble Artist's Swap card for June 10th. The images in the upper left and bottom right corners were stamped in Versamark and chalked. The rest of the images on the green patterned paper from Passages, we stamped in Olive ink.

I used one of my Martha Stewart punches to punch the border. Then I threaded CTMH's white hemp through the holes. The sentiment and pillar images are stamped in Barn Red. I added an Autumn Terracotta edge anchor, since there had to be at least two embellishments.

I've posted the guidelines for this swap below.

GUIDELINES:
-Use at least one NEW patterned paper from either Cherry-O; Splendor; Passages; or Zippidee.
-Must have at least 6 stamped images.
-Must use Versamark ink.
-Must have at least 8 layers, stacked on top of one another, somewhere on your card.
-Must have at least two embellishments.
-Your card must be square and at least 5"x5".
-You must use only CTMH products, but may use other tools, such as punches or die cut shapes.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Stamps: Noted Backgrounds; Live Inspired; Happy Journey
Paper: Passages L2
Cardstock: Colonial White; Barn Red; Brown Bag; Cocoa
Ink: Barn Red; Olive; Versamark
Embellishments: White Hemp; Autumn Terracotta Edge Anchor
Other: Martha Stewart punch

Humble Artist's Swap for April 10th

Yes, I am very late in posting this card. Life gets in the way often and some cards were a little late. Then I got really busy and just didn't have time to get through all of the photos. So here is my contribution for April 10th.

The guidelines were:
-Use at least one alphabet stamp
-Have at least 3 stamped images
-Use at least one colour cardstock from 3 different CTMH colour palettes
-Use wet or dry embossing
-Must have 7 layers somewhere on your card
-Must have at least 3 embellishments
-Must use paper from Spring 2010 Idea Book only

My embossing is the "B" alphabet stamp, from E-sized Friendship Alphabet. I inked in Vineyard Berry and kissed to a background stamp from Noted Backgrounds, then stamped. I inked the "B" again in Versamark and over stamped. I added clear embossing powder and melted it with my heat gun.

I used a Nestabilities to cut my label shapes. The patterned paper is from Topstitch.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.
Stamps: Friendship Alphabet; Noted Backgrounds; Veranda WOTG stamp; Be Yourself; Topstitch WOTG stamp
Paper: Topstitch Level 2
Cardstock: Vineyard Berry; Cocoa; Colonial White; Crystal Blue
Ink: Vineyard Berry; Versamark
Embellishments: Cocoa grosgrain; Button; Chocolate Waxy Flax

Faux Humble Artist's Swap card

I thought I was going to get a jump on creating my Humble Artist's swap card for June 10th. I created the guidelines again and thought they would be challenging.

Well, this card meets all of the guidelines, but is just too simple for this swap! There had to be 8 layers of paper in one place; 2 different embellisments; paper from our NEW Summer Idea Book; Versamark ink used and there had to be at least 6 different stamped images.

The Versamark was used on the Sweet Leaf strip that is stamped with the square/dot pattern. I first stamped it in Tulip and then stamped again with Versamark and embossed with clear powder.

The six stamped images and 8 layers are also pretty clear to count.....so this will just not cut it. So, expect to see something much more complicated, posted sometime in June or July.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Stamps: You're Sweet, Cherry-O WOTG kit stamp
Paper: Cherry-O
Cardstock: Colonial White, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate, Tulip
Ink: Desert Sand, Tulip, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate, Versamark
Embellishments: White Hemp; Colonial White brad
Tools: EK Success Scallop/Corner Rounder punch

Magical Hydrangea

Happy Easter! I hope you've not been sick from an over abundance of chocolate and Easter treats this weekend. The Easter bunny will hide chocolate tonight for our kids and tomorrow will be a day of running the kids outside to burn it all off!

I've had a busy week making photo cards. I sat down to do some scrapbooking and when I came to my computer to print out some photos, had this incredible idea. I love to include my photos in every paper craft I make and happened upon these wonderful hydrangea pictures I'd taken last Fall.

Something about them had me looking through hundreds of flower photographs I'd taken last Fall. I changed the hue and saturation on one photo and this is the new style of photo card I came up with. Also, after reading a comment on my blog from Jean over at www.justscraps.ca, I thought these cards would fit in their "New Beginnings in Pastels" challenge.

Each of these cards is 5x7. The sentiment has been stamped in black and then overstamped and embossed in clear. They are blank on the inside.

This is the second version I made with the same Hydrangea photos. They are very simple cards, but for me pack a lot of colour punch. I will have something like this on my etsy shop soon, or you can contact me if you would like to purchase a package of four.

Close To My Heart products used:

Stamps: Picture Perfect; Priceless; From Me To You

Ink: Black ink and Versamark

Love You Forever......

I created this card from some leftover pieces from my April 10th Humble Artist Swap card.

The patterned paper is from Topstitch and the sentiment and birdies are from "Love You Forever". I also used my favourite new background from our "Noted Background" set and added some faux stitching from "Togetherness".

The shaped pieces were cut with my Sizzix big shot using one of my many Nestabilities dies. I also put the pieces through my machine a second time to get the embossed edges.

Finally, I added some Chocolate brads and grosgrain ribbon. Then some Colonial White ribbon and a Bitty sparkle for just a tiny bit of bling!

The leaves; nest and flower are all paper pieced with either patterned paper or in the flower's case, Vineyard Berry cardstock.

All supplies are Close To My Heart unless noted.

Stamps: Love You Forever; Togetherness

Paper: Toptstitch

Cardstock: Colonial White; Vineyard Berry; Heavenly Blue; Chocolate

Ink: Vineyard Berry

Embellishments: Chocolate and Colonial White grosgrain ribbon; Chocolate brads; Bitty sparkles

Tools: Sizzix Big Shot; Mega Nestabilities Curved Rectangles

I'm still singing in the rain, sun and wind.......

Our weather is moving around rather crazy.......it is windy and overcast; then sunny and calm; then overcast with terrible black clouds moving in. I think we may be in for a thunder shower or two......it is 14 degrees Celsuis here!

This is another card I created using our wonderful Springtime stamp set. I put it together with our March stamp of the month, A Little Everything and Caboodle paper. I didn't use the whole kit and Caboodle........but my favourite plaid pattern from the paper pack!

I used a mask to create the look of the pair of boots. I double stamped the word "Celebrate" to make it dark and inked only the "Spring" of "Happy Spring" from the Springtime set.

Once again, I added our Bitty Sparkles to our Chocolate mini Blooms. The boots were stamped in Sweet Leaf; Crystal Blue and Sorbet. Everything else is in Chocolate ink.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.

Stamps: Springtime; A Little Everything

Paper: Caboodle

Cardstock: Chocolate; Colonial White; Crystal Blue

Ink: Chocolate: Sweet Leaf; Crystal Blue: Sorbet

Embellishements: Bitty Sparkles; Chocolate Mini Blooms

I'm singing in the rain....................

Well, we are finished our big event at the Victoria Sewing & Craft Show this past Thurs. through Sat. After doing nothing but sleeping for two days, I sat down to play with stamps.

I LOVE this stamp set, Springtime. I'm sure CTMH was thinking of us in BEAUTIFUL British Columbia when they created it, with its rubber boots and umbrellas!

I used Chocolate ink for the sentiment; outlines; and edging on Sorbet cardstock. I stamped on Colonial White. Then I added some mini Chocolate blooms with Bitty Sparkles. The "Happy" is from our March stamp of the month, A Little Everything.

I created the overlapped images by stamping and cutting a mask of one rubber boot. This allowed me to stamp the second boot and umbrella behind the full image boot.

Check back tomorrow, when I'll show you more of my singing in the rain cards!

All supplies are Close To My Heart.

Stamps: Springtime; A Little Everything

Cardstock: Sorbet; Chocolate; Colonial White

Inks: Sorbet and Chocolate

Embellishments: Bitty Sparkles; Mini Chocolate Blooms

A Tweet

This is the fourth and final card from my recent Veranda workshop.

I must say I sure do like bird stamps and paper these days. This is our bird from the A Tweet set. I inked her up in Juniper; stamped off the first ink; then rolled her in Chocolate ink to get this effect.

My next all time favourite type of stamp is any kind of flourish stamp. This large background flourish is from our new Cherished Flourishes and is stamped in Vineyard Berry. The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate and then again in Vineyard Berry.

The tiny flowers are stamped in second generation, Vineyard Berry ink and then cut out. Each has a mini sparkle added and they are on folded glue dots. I like using glue dots this way to give a bit of movement to images, but not the rigid appearance pop dots give.

As you can see, my bird is on pop dots overtop of another stamped bird. This is so the bird has feet. I've placed the one mat under the ribbon just for a different look.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.

Stamps: Cherished Flourishes; A Tweet

Paper: Veranda Creative Basics

Cardstock: Garden Green; Chocolate; Colonial White

Ink: Chocolate; Juniper; Vineyard Berry

Embellishments: Creme Brulee grosgrain ribbon; Mini sparkles