A Valentine

I made up a quick valentine today to play along with a couple of challenges.  Falling in Love is the theme for the first week of Feb challenge on the Heart 2 Heart blog, so I pulled out some old-as-the-hills Close To My Heart paper (anyone remember this?  Becca?) and one of their newer thinlit dies for "love".  I had coloured up this little Boy Cupid from Art Impressions a few weeks ago, and wanted to make up a valentine for one of my kids, so I am also playing along with the current challenge on the Ai blog which is "Lots of Love":

Cricut Capers

I haven't played along with the Heart2Heart Challenge blog in a while... so I'm happy to be playing along this week :o)  This week's challenge is to use one of the CTMH Cricut cartridges, and I have a cute Halloween card made with the Close To My Heart Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge, and Art Impressions' Be Scary Set:

I love this spider web card base - and it was so quick to put together, the Cricut cut the entire black card base, so all I had to do was adhere some patterned paper behind the spider web, and then glued my cute little trick-or-treater on top (I popped her up with some pop dots).

Patterned papers are Frightful by My Mind's Eye; Stamp set is Be Scary Set (Sku #4521) by Art Impressions; Ink is Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; Sequins are Glimmer Glam by Craft Medley.

Three challenges

I'm pleased to have my first Christmas card of 2015 in my stash!  And I was able to combine three different challenges, as well.  I've used the sketch from Retro Sketches, the theme at Heart2Heart is Old/New (last year's Frosted stamp set, with this year's Snowhaven papers) and I am entering this at Merry Monday, where the challenge is to use a snowflake on your card.

Merry Monday inspiration:

Artfully Sent Christmas Card

My first ever design team gig was with the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog - and I haven't played along in a while, so I'm happy to be joining their first November challenge, especially since my niece Allie is the hostess!  This month is all about "NO" on H2H, and this week is "NO stamping".  Lucky for me, I've purchased the newest CTMH Cricut cartridge, Artfully Sent which has about a zillion die cuts especially for card making.  Here's what I came up with:

I used some older CTMH Christmas paper from the Believe pack, along with Grey Wool & Sky cardstock.  I cut the Noel pocket card at 3", popped it up on some pop dots, and put a piece of silver glitter paper under it.  I die cut a few white and glitter snowflakes, and glued them on with a bunch of sparkles.  So there you have my NO stamping card!

Monogrammed card set

I wanted to make a little something for a friend who has been very helpful with an elderly relative of ours, so I made a set of six monogrammed cards for her using the Clare papers.  Making card sets is my absolute FAVOURITE thing to do... single cards are fine, but there's something about making a coordinating set, that simply makes my brain happy?!  I used a few buttons on my project, so I'm entering this into the Heart2Heart button up challenge:

And I made a little folder that holds 3 cards and their envelopes on each side, then it folds in half and ties with a piece of organdy ribbon.

 

Patterned papers are Clare; Cardstock is Outdoor Denim, Sunset, Blush & Colonial White; Stamp sets are Perfect Fit Frames and L Monogram; Inks are Blush, Hollyhock & Outdoor Denim; Navy Chevron striped ribbon, Orange organdy ribbon, Outdoor denim buttons, Outdoor denim bigger brad; Cricut Artiste Cartridge - all Close To My Heart; Sweet Scallop die & Pennant Border die, Verve; Mini Monarch border, My Favorite Things.

 

 

Dynamic Duos #47 - Pun Intended!

We have the prettiest colour combo for you this week at Dynamic Duos: Pool Party & Cherry Cobbler!  I really love these two colours together... so I wanted to make a little set of cards using the fun Puns of Praise stamp set.  And it just so happens that it is Pun Fun week at Heart2Heart Challenges, so I'm entering this there, as well!  I have also used the In the Background stamps to create the stripes and chevrons across the bottom:

Scroll down to see individual close ups of each of the cards!

I also made a little file folder box to hold the cards, which I'll be decorating a bit more over the weekend:

Check out the Dynamic Duos blog to see the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team, or you can see them listed on my sidebar.  If you don't have the exact colours, just use something similar like I've done.  Neutrals are welcome!  There is also a design team call for Dynamic Duos, as the current team's term is coming to an end in the next few weeks - check it out!

 

Stamp sets are Puns of Praise and In the Background; Inks are Grey Flannel, Black and Heavenly Blue; Cardstock is Grey Wool, White Daisy, Cranberry & Heavenly Blue; Cricut Artiste Cartridge - all Close To My Heart; Pennant die, Verve; Baker's Twine, The Twinery; Copic Markers.

A Halloween Door Hanger

I don't send out any Halloween cards, but I do like to decorate the house for the occasion, so for this week's Heart2Heart challenge (Halloween/pumpkins) and the colour challenge at Dynamic Duos (pumpkin pie/basic black with a dessert option of die cuts)... I came up with a cute little door hanger using the Artiste cartridge:

I grunged it up a little by sponging slate ink around all the pieces, and distressed the edges of the face a little.  Cute, quick and easy to make :o)

Patterned paper is Dotty For You; Cardstock is White Daisy & Black; Ink is Slate; Cricut Artiste cartridge - all CTMH; Ribbon, Fabricland.

A Big Card for Heart2Heart

This week's Heart2Heart Challenge was to make a card larger than 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"... so mine is 5 1/2" square.  I love the new CTMH burlap ribbon!  It's a trend I've been seeing all over the place.  Here's my card:

Patterned papers are Florentine; Cardstock is Twilight, Cocoa, Brown Bag & Vanilla Cream; Inks are Cocoa & Creme Brulee; Just Blooms paper flowers; Mocha Opaque Pearls; Natural Hemp; Burlap Ribbon; Stamp set is Avonlea WOTG - all Close To My Heart.

A CAS card for Heart2Heart

This week's Heart2Heart Challenge is to use Sunset, Pear & Lagoon on a card, so I pulled out our August/September promotional stamp set - It's Your Day to make a couple of CAS style cards.  I used the solid butterfly image to stamp each colour on the base, then stamped and cut out the matching chevron image.  I glued down just the body of the butterflies to give the wings a little dimension.

Cardstock is Black & White Daisy; Stamp sets are It's Your Day, Say it in Style & Stitches; Inks are Black, Sunset, Lagoon & Pear; Black Opaque pearls.

Heart2Heart Challenge - Sympathy cards

This week's Heart2heart Challenge is sympathy cards, which are always good to have on hand - and my stash is getting low.  I made some similar cards a few months ago, and really liked using the Miracle papers for sympathy cards, as they're so soft & pretty.  I've done two version, the first one is pretty straight up:

For the second one, I made the cream oval a negative die cut through all the layers, so you're actually seeing the sentiment and butterfly on the inside of the card.  I used my metal die as a template and sponged bamboo ink inside of it to leave a bit of an oval shape on the inside as well:

and here's the inside:

Patterned papers are Miracle; Cardstock is Colonial White & Kraft; Inks are Bamboo, Heavenly Blue & Desert Sand; Just Paper Blooms, Butterfly; Mocha Opaque Pearls - all CTMH.  Stamp set is Blessings, Verve; Dies are Spellbinders & Taylored Expressions.

Heart2Heart Challenge

I love playing along with the Heart2Heart Challenges whenever I get the chance... and this week is a "Black/white and a pop of colour" challenge.  I decided to go CAS with this one, just a little stamping and a few pop dots to lift up the whole front panel.  This is the first chance that I've had to ink up the March Stamp of the Month, too:

Stamp sets are Damask Tiles & Potential; Inks are Black & Pear; Cardstock is Black and White Daisy; - all CTMH; Spellbinder's die.

A CAS card for Heart2Heart

This was a hard card to photograph (doing it an night didn't help!)  I'm afraid that the picture looks a little dingy, but the card is very soft and light in person :o)  The Heart2Heart blog is having a colour challenge this week: Sky, Garden Green & Sunkiss Yellow.  Since I don't own Sunkiss Yellow, I subbed in Buttercup.  I've been inspired by what Nancy Ball has been creating lately, and also a card by Maile Belles:

Heart2Heart Challenge & Inspired By

I've combined two challenges for today's card... both Heart2Heart and Inspired By have holiday inspiration photos in classic holiday colours, so I dug into my Believe papers and this is what I came up with:

Here was my inspiration:

The wreath is for Heart2Heart and the cake is for Inspired By

Products: Patterned papers are Believe; Cardstock is Topiary & White Daisy; Stamp set is Holiday Magic; Inks are Holiday Red, Pear, Topiary & Black - all CTMH; Baker's Twine is from The Twinery; Martha Stewart border punch.

A couple more things to share... I was named one of the monthly Top Ten for November on the Heart2Heart Challenge blog for this card!

And I thought I would share a little bit about my day job :o)  I work part-time for my girlfriend Teresa who owns a home staging/interior decorating business.  I'm generally involved in the staging side of things, not so much in the decorating end, but I am the company photographer, so when a design job is complete I get to go in and take photos of the finished project.  Here is what we worked on today, a fabulous condo in downtown Toronto.  I'm really proud of my photography, I still make plenty of mistakes, but am getting better all the time and hope to do a bit more of this in the Real Estate business.  The company is called Design To Go - check out her website!

Have a wonderful weekend :o)

Simple is Good.

Sometimes a simple card is a good thing... at this time of year, with so many cards to make, I need to remember that they don't all have to have "stuff" on them!  So I kept this week's Heart2Heart Challenge card fairly simple, with just a touch of bling.

Here was our sketch:

All supplies are CTMH: Patterened papers are Jingle; Cardstock is Cotton Candy & White Daisy; Stamp set is Just for the Holidays; Ink is Juniper; Prisma Glitter.

Remarkable Wreath for Heart2Heart

This week's Heart2Heart Challenge is to use numbers on your project, so I've cased this card made by Vicki Wizniuk last week, to make up a fall birthday card:

Patterned papers are Elemental; Cardstock is Kraft, Sunset & Colonial White; Chocolate ribbon collection; Inks are Creme Brulee, Sunset & Desert Sand; Stamp set is Remarkable Wreath; - all CTMH; Spellbinders die.

A Gift set for Heart2Heart

I'm a week behind on my Heart2Heart Challenges!  I've been busy, and also needed to make a donation item for a friend's silent auction next week, so I pulled out a little photo book that I made a few years ago (yes, years!) and pulled out the coordinating papers to make a set of 8 gift cards and a cute little holder.  The H2H challenge is to use die cuts.  Sorry for the hastily snapped photos!

Patterned papers are Sonata; Cardstock is Chocolate, Spring Iris & Colonial White; Ink is Chocolate; Ribbon is Lilac Mist Organdy; Pink and Clear buttons; Gems are Summer Celebrations Mini Medley; Stamp set is Say it with Style - all CTMH; Blessings and Sweet Treats stamp sets & dies by Verve; Spellbinders dies.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #98 & Heart2Heart Challenge

I couldn't believe that I had the absolute perfect papers for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge!  So I took the opportunity to get another Christmas card added to my pile.  This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge was to use our favourite colour combo, and while I can't say that I have an absolute favourite, I've always loved these papers, so that's what I'm going with!

Stamp set is Glad Tidings, Verve; Sweet Scallop Tag die, Verve; Patterned papers are Aspen; Cardstock is Outdoor Denim, Creme Brulee & White Daisy; Inks are Twilight & Outdoor Denim; Creme Brulee marker; Outdoor denim organdy & Bigger Brads; Snowflake buttons - all CTMH.

Inspiration at Heart2Heart

Well, this is a big day for me!  I'm back as a player this week on the Heart2Heart Challenges blog, and happy to be here :o)  We were given this photo as inspiration, and asked to come up with a project based on it, so I took the colours & flowers, and pulled out our Sophia papers (perfect for this!) to make a 60th birthday card that a friend requested:

  Patterned papers are Sophia; Cardstock is Hollyhock, Pear & White Daisy; Inks are Blush & Hollyhock; Stamp sets are Happy Birthday & Precious Alphabet; Bitty Sparkles - all CTMH; Marvy punches; Baker's Twine from The Twinery; Spellbinders Die.