last minute inspiration gift tag

So, I'm posting this project too late for for anyone to use for this Christmas, but gift cards are a year-round gift giving staple these days so I thought I would go ahead and share as there are many different sentiments that could be used in the middle.  I am submitting it in the There She Goes weekly challenge, with this week's theme being "last minute Christmas," as well as the Heart2Heart Christmas part 4 challenge.  I had actually been working with this particular tag for a couple of weeks but was never quiet satisfied and then on the 23rd I got the idea of wrapping the ribbon around it and tying the card closed.

It was a little tricky but I loved the effect when I was done.  I kept this one simple and hand-wrote a message and used double sided tape to adhere the gift card to the inside without damaging anything on the back of the card.

details:  All materials used were from Close To My Heart except the ribbon, which is just something I've had sitting around for a long time and was trying to get used up.  The card base was cut with the Art Philosphy cartridge using Cranberry paper, the stamp set used was (C1469) December 25th using New England Ivy ink on White Daisy CS.

On a side note, I only wrapped 1 present in traditional wrapping paper and used 1 purchased gift box for my daughter's gifts, and for the rest I used CTMH paper and/or boxes made using the AP cartridge.  It just so happens that a year ago I bought new Christmas ornaments, tree skirt, etc. and had gone to using red, green, and gold for Christmas so the Pear and Partridge and Believe papers looked really nice with a touch of gold thrown in.

Deals, discounts & FREE products to bring in the new year!

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year blessed with health, happiness, peace and an abundance of creativity!  I invite you to click on my "shopping, promotions & events" tab to check out the fabulous bargains and promotions going on right now.  I know winter can be a long and dreary affair sometimes but I believe even a little bit of time creating, especially with family and friends, is the best way to muddle (or should I say huddle) through the cold months until spring arrives at last!

Happy crafting,
Annette

a cause worth sharing

I saw the link to this post shared on the CTMH Facebook page and I'm so glad I checked it out, I think this crafter has a wonderful idea:  she is a pediatric psychologist and she has posted info on how to donate papercrafting supplies for an art therapy project for the community of Newtown, CT and the families affected in the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy.  I hope you will take a moment to click on the link and read about the project and contribute if you can, or at least pass the information along so that maybe someone else can, and of course I hope you will keep all the children and families in your prayers!  Drawn Together - a fundraiser for Newtown, CT

Annette

Freshly Made Sketch #63 - just the sketch I was looking for!

 

                                                                 I have to give a big "thank you" to the gals at Freshly Made Sketches for posting the *perfect* sketch at the perfect time.  I have been saving a particular paper kit for my daughter's 18th birthday because it contained her favorite shades of blue and she loved the graphics.  Problem was, I couldn't figure out how to make a card out of this paper and keep the main graphics intact.  Although I had to take some liberties with it, my problem was solved as soon as I saw this week's sketch.  

So here is my take using the long retired Close To My Heart paper kit "Magnifique" and the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the frames for the sentiments on both the front and the inside using Lagoon cardstock.  The "happy" and "birthday" stamps are from the Card Word Puzzle (C1494), the "th" from the Typeface alphabet (A1117), and the "18" is from this month's Stamp of the Month set, Capture the Date.

 

 

 

 

Color My Heart #19 meets Merry Mondays #42

I was so glad Sarah extended the Color My Heart challenge to use Hollyhock, Cranberry & Sweet Leaf for another week.  I used the sketch at the Merry Mondays challenge so I will be submitting this card there, too.  I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and will have a holiday season filled with peace and joy! ~~ Annette 

details:  All supplies are from Close To My Heart.  The ornament stamp is the October Stamp of the Month "Very Merry Christmas" in Hollyhock for the center and Cranberry for the main part; the sentiment on the tag is from "Holiday Commentary" in Sweet Leaf and Hollyhock; and the sentiment at the bottom is from last year's "Holiday Wishes" in Cranberry. The green polka dot paper is from the Dotty For You kit from this past summer and the pink polka dot and red striped papers are from a long retired set called Jingle.

my part in a friend's good deed...

So one of my friends has chosen to do something very thoughtful and she's making homemade gift packages for others as this holiday season begins, not for show or recognition (in fact, it's going to be as anonymous as possible) but just to show support, care, concern or appreciation for others where it's warranted, and she asked for those who agreed with what she was doing to pitch in any way they could.  So, not surprisingly, I offered to make some gift tags and we sat down a few weeks ago and discussed what she wanted and it was agreed to keep it short and sweet, so here's the first 2 of 100 tags I will be doing in the next day or two:

I have some other fall-colored papers I'm going to use but these were my "tests" and I was really pleased that they had a more masculine look, and the only hard part was how long it took me to get the letter stamps to my liking, LOL.  I also thought it might be wise to let her actually see these two and make sure this is what she had in mind before I make the other 98. 

Happy holidays to all!

Annette

Holiday events & specials

Check out my "local events and shopping" tab to for information on the events I'm participating in, the services I'm offering to my customers during the holidays, for information on the free crop THIS Saturday, and to find the special gift I'm offering to all customers through 12/31/12.

May this be your most COLORFUL holiday season ever!

Happy crafting, Annette

Color My Heart #18

This week's challenge at Color My Heart was to use the Avonlea Teal, the Bella La Vie Pink, and the Flirty Raspberry.  These colors seem so festive together I thought I would use them for a birthday card for my best friend - and she will be so surprised when I have it done EARLY!  lol

I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to make the present image.  Then I measured the square and manually cut a card to fit the "box" and glued the present onto the card base.  The tag was stamped in Chocolate using the Tag the Occasion (B1362) stamp set and then I used a 1 1/4" punch and edged the tag in Chocolate.  For the sentiment on the inside I used "Sending you birthday wishes wrapped in love" from the Card Chatter-Birthday set (D1475).  In case you were wondering, I used a small manual punch and held it upside down so I could see through the bottom to center the image and cut circles from the Belle La Vie paper so the darker color was in the center of each circle.

Happy crafting, Annette

Color My Heart Flirty card

When I saw that this week's challenge at Color My Heart called for using the Avonlea Teal, the Bella La Vie pink and the Flirty Raspberry I instantly thought of this card.  I don't know if I did it justice but I do know my teenage daughter can't wait to give it to her BFF!  :-)

 

The inside reads, "your naughty boy list!" but I can't take credit for coming up with the sentiment as I saw it on another site.  However, I've looked at so many sites lately getting ready for the holidays that I can't remember which site I saw this on.  I promise, though, as soon as I find it again I will give credit where it is due!

 

I'm not quite done with this card, I want to add some mistletoe and maybe a one-line greeting, but you get the gist.  I used the retired Ms. Chillin' stamp set, the above mentioned papers, and both the small Chocolate and Friendship alphas in chocolate.

 

Happy crafting, Annette

 

Masculine card challenge at CASual Fridays

Here's my card for the masculine card challenge for the CASual Fridays challenge #77 which I really enjoyed as I've had this paper and stamp set for several months but hadn't done much with either of them yet.



I used the Victory paper kit (X7150B) from Close To My Heart and the featured colors of New England Ivy, Chocolate, and Outdoor Denim, the Varsity alpha set (E1023) and antique copper brads.

For the inside I used the zip strips from this paper pacik and the Tiny Typewriter stamp set in Outdoor Denim again, leaving some room at the bottom for a personal message to be added later.

Thanks to the design team at CASual Fridays for their constant inspiration.

Happy crafting, Annette

Color My Heart #16 - autumn colors

This week's challenge at Color My Heart is to use the colors Honey, Goldrush, Autumn Terra Cotta, and Cranberry.  I chose to try a technique I haven't done before, to layer stamped images on multiple layers of paper stacked with solid color borders.  I was a little worried about how thick this card was going to get so I "cheated" and used my Gypsy, Cricut, and the Art Philosophy Cartridge to cut layers that would fit inside one another.  I also got bold and tried a slightly different shape than just a traditional square or rectange.  I thought about adding a bow or some ribbon but I had added enough color and layers I wasn't sure if that would be overkill, so here's my card:

 

The stamps used were Thanks (A1125) and Harvest Happiness (C1463).  Have I mentioned that I *love* Thanksgiving? 

Happy crafting!  Annette

Sweet Shop #181

I loved this week's challenge at Sweet Shop  for sketch #181 but it had a twist-to also make this card based on a book or movie, and I admit that had me stumped for a bit.  However, inspiration did finally strike and I'm particularly happy with the results.  Not only was this the first time I broke out this stamp set and paper kit but it brought back very fond memories of watching "Somewhere In Time," a 1980 movie starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour which was one of the last movies I remember enjoying with my mother before she died at the very young age of 35.  Now I just have to decide who to give this special card to...  maybe my own daughter who has an 18th birthday just around the corner.  (shhh, don't tell!)

All products used were from Close To My Heart.  I used last year's Sonoma paper kit with an Olive cardstock background, I inked the edges of all papers and the cameo's frame with Cocoa ink.  I stamped the center of the cameo in Petal and rolled the edges in Smokey Plum and stamped on Colonial White cardstock, and I used both Petal and Smokey Plum for the sentiments.  The cameo center and frame were from the Sweet Moments stamp set (C1467) as well as the "sweet moments" sentiment and the butterfly below it and I used the Card Word Puzzle (C1494) for the "wishing you" sentiment, all of which I stamped on Bamboo cardstock.  Enjoy!~~Annette

guest blog for H2H Halloween or pumpkin challenge

I have a special treat this week:  my friend Kenya made this adorable treat holder and she isn't a blogger yet so I suggested she be a guest blogger and enter her creation on this week's Heart2Heart: Halloween or pumpkin challenge.   I know you will enjoy her project and I hope you will leave her lots of comments so we can have her guest again or start a blog so she can join us more often!~~Annette

Kenya:  I saw a tutorial online for this treat holder some time ago but I can't remember exactly where.  The papers are from a collection I picked up at Archiver's but I used the CTMH Magic Potions (C1509) stamp set and Cocoa ribbon and ink.

Directions:
1)  I started with 2 empty cardboard ribbon spools and I tore one end or top off of each spool and then I decorated the end and what would have been the center of each spool.
2)  I used a sheet of overhead projection paper/acetate for the tube.  You choose whatever height you want or that works for you, but you need to cut the width so it's 1/4-1/2 inch wider than the circumference of the ribbon spools and glue together the overlapped (width) edges so that it forms a tube shape that will just fit inside the spools.
3)  I removed the top piece and punched 2 holes in the side of this spool (where the flowered paper is in this picture) so that the holes are opposite each other.  I put the top piece back over the tube and used a marker to indicate where I needed to make holes in the tube piece.
4)  I glued the bottom piece to the acetate tube (I used glue dots) and filled the the tube with treats.  Then I put the top piece on and threaded the ribbon through both the spool and acetate on one side, through the tube, and through the acetate and spool on the other side and tied the ribbon in a knot.  The ribbon has to be untied to open the tube but this way nothing accidentally gets spilled.
5)  I made a rosette 2 1/2" wide, stamped the image in Cocoa, cut it out by hand, and inked the edges in Cocoa, and attached both with glue dots and my finished project was 5" tall.

This was such a fun project to make, I hope you enjoy it!

Kenya

Heart2Heart meets CASual Friday

I have been wanting to try this card for some time but couldn't find the quilt pattern it was based off of so I decided to wing it and I think it came pretty close.  I am entering this card for the CASual Friday heart challenge as well as the Heart2Heart Christmas part 2 challenge.

 All products used were from Close To My Heart.  I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut this card using Colonial White cardstock.  All the patterned papers were from the Pear and Partridge kit cut at 1/2" widths.  I used the Card Chatter-Christmas (D1388) and last year's Holiday Wishes stamp sets in Cranberry ink.  I really kept this one clean and simple, I haven't even inked the edges although I may go back and add a small red bow to the heart on the front, what do you think?

Happy crafting!  Annette

CASual Friday card-in reverse

The challenge this week at CASusal Fridays was a clean and simple card using a heart.  Well, it so happens I've had a partially finished card sitting on my desk for several weeks because I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the inside which featured a heart which I wanted to look like it was encased in melting ice...  so here is the INSIDE of my card for this week's CASual Friday's heart challenge.



 

Once again, all products are from Close To My Heart.  I used the I Adore stamp set (A1123) and Tiny Typewriter alphabet (D1222) in Blush ink on Daisy White cardstock.  This was my first try really "painting" with Liquid Glass so I actually cut a piece of acetate to the size and shape I wanted by placing the stamp on the acetate and cutting around it, adding a drop or two of the Liquid Glass on the back of the acetate to hold it in place on the card, and then generously applied a coating of Liquid Glass to the acetate.  So I'm not sure how long it's going to take for such a thick coating to dry but I think when it does it will have the look I was hoping for.

 

 

By the way, this is the front of the card and the stamp used here was the Pair a Phrase set, and now I can say I have finished this special card at long last!

Happy crafting!

Annette

feeling witchy

I thought of this card last year when this  "Wicked" stamp set was the CTMH stamp of the month, but I just couldn't get the look I wanted.  However, when I saw the new Moonlight paper this fall I to give it one more try and while I still want to work on one or two details I like the look of it with the Moonlight paper and I am going to go ahead and post so I can share it in some challenges I have been following for a few week, and this will be my first entry in both the Pause Dream and Enjoy challenge as well as the Paper Playtime.


I used the CTMH Moonlight paper kit for the borders on the top and bottom of the inside as well as for the mirror frame and the word "witch" on the front, and the rest of words were stamped in Autumn Terra Cotta and Pear ink using the Tiny Typewriter alphabet stamp set (D1222).  I also used a fingertip sponge dauber and Smokey Plum for the coloring around the edges of the front.
I cut the card base, mirror and mirror frame with the Art Philosophy cartridge and used the Happy Hauntings cartridge for the cauldron and the word "witch" on the front.  The mirrored paper was something I picked up at a craft store some time ago so I can't really say who makes it but I believe there are several varieties in craft stores, and the shiny brew in the cauldron was achieved by adding green Glitz glitter gel over Pear paper.  The  Pause Dream Enjoy challenge this week actually called for purple and orange but I added just a little green because when I got to playing with the Moonlight paper I thought it would be fun to use the gray/green patterned piece and then color in the "skin" parts of the witch the same green color to basically tie the word and the image together.  You probably can't tell from the photo but I made this a pop up card, although that didn't leave me as much space as I would have liked in the bottom half so I will probably have to sign it using a Daisy White marker so it will stand out against either the dark border on the bottom or on the cauldron, or I will have to nix the pop and adhere the mirror to the top half of the card so that there's enough room in the bottom half for the sentiment as well as the who/what/where & when.  Oh, and next time I will stamp my sentiment before I adhere the pop up mirror, that made stamping much trickier.  So while this isn't a "technically perfect" card, I was more focused on it being a fun card and I hope it "reflects" the humor I was going for.  (no more puns, I promise! lol)

Happy crafting!
Annette

 

 

Heart2Heart: Always Remember

Before I get to  the details of this card, I want to take a moment to honor and remember my mother, Diane, who passed away in 1984 from a rare form of breast cancer. She was only 35 years old and left behind a husband, 17 year old daughter (that was me), 15 and 5-year old sons, and a 17-day old baby girl as well as parents, siblings, and numerous other family members and friends. She was smart, funny, brave, a little off beat, loved scary movies and books but got genuinely scared by them, she was great with children and she is still missed every day. If you haven't had a mammogram yet this year, I urge you to do so and also to encourage your friends to do the same. Until we find a cure, early detection is our best weapon.

card details:  This week's challenge at Heart2Heart is a technique challenge of inking a stamp with one color and then rolling the edges in another color before applying the image to paper.  I chose a very basic, clean and simple card to try this approach and I'm hoping the color combination is not too subtle, but I used Blush for my base color on the retired Always Remember stamp set with Hollyhock as my edge color.  I cut the card shape at 5" height using the Art Philosophy cartridge, sponged Baby Pink on the edges, and I used Blush ink on the A Typeface alpha (A1117) and Hollyhock  on the "find the cure" sentiment which is also part of the Always Remember set.

 

Happy crafting!

 

Annette



Christmas JOY

I just got the Merry and Bright stamp set this weekend and have been trying a variety of techniques with it.  While I'm entering this card at the Heart2Heart Christmas part 1 challenge too late to be considered for the contest, I'm too pleased with how it finally came together not to share, LOL.

 

details:  All products used were from CTMH.  I started with adhering Cashmere cardstock onto a Colonial White die cut trifold card (Z1738) and I used the Pear and Partridge paper for the flap and "J" and "Y."  The sentiment and wreath are both from the Merry and Bright stamp set (C1510).  I stamped the sentiment in Cranberry and used New England Ivy ink on Olive cardstock for the wreath.  I stamped the little flowers (from the same set) on Colonia White using Cranberry ink but they were a little too bright so I gently sponged Bamboo to tone it down just the tiniest bit.  I made the bow using Cranberry grosgrain ribbon and used medium toned mocha Opaques (Z1333) on the letters and one of the Antiqued Copper brads (Z1410) on the flap.  FYI, I used my Gypsy to size and center two circles together at 2.25" and 1.25" so I could use my Cricut to cut the base for the wreath, and also used the decorative font on the Art Philosophy cartridge (also at 2.25") for the "J" and "Y."

 

Happy crafting!  Annette



Heart2Heart-Go big!

I was just playing around and looking for inspiration last night and liked the look of these letters but they were too big for the original card I had in mind so I changed a few things around to make a 6x6" card for a last minute entry in the Heart2Heart go big challenge.

details:  All materials are CTMH products.  I used Olive for the card base and the Olivia paper kit from a couple of years ago for the banners.  I used the small Chocolate alphabet (D1296) for "give" and sponged Sorbet, Sunset, and Barn Red on letters from the Bohemian alphabet (E1019) for the "thanks."  The pumpkin was from the So Grateful (B1395) set stamped in Sorbet and Barn Red again for the flourished lettering.  I love working with both of these stamp sets so much, I have a feeling they will be showing up a lot more in the next few weeks.  BTW, have I mentioned autumn is my favorite season?  :-)

Happy crafting!  Annette

my first CAS-ual Friday card

After following along for the past couple of weeks, this is my first entry into the CAS-ual Fridays blog where the challenge this week (CFC70) was black, white, and one other color of your choice.  I dearly love this cutout butterfly on the CTMH Art Philosophy and decided to go with orange in honor of the monarch butterflies; I have never seen their migration but if I were to actually make a bucket list, I believe I would have to put that on it.

I tried several plain orange papers but none of them was quite what I was looking for so I used the CTMH Backgrounds and Borders stamp set (D1463) using Sunset cardstock and ink to make my own patterned paper and was pleased with the little extra dimension that created.  Then I used the "Soar" stamp from the Live Out Loud set which was the July stamp of the month set to try a watercolor/crackle embossing technique I saw on one of Jeanette Lynton's blog posts.  I first stamped the image with Sunset ink, let it dry completely, then sponged Versamark randomly onto the same stamp, stamped that directly onto the original image, applied black embossing powder and heat set it.  Not bad for my first attempt but you can check out Jeanette's tutorial for a better example of this technique: Week of Wonder: Two-color, too beautiful

Color My Heart - Go BIG!

I have been playing around with the idea for this card for quite some time but it really came together when I was checking out all the past sketches for the 1-year anniversary of Freshly Made Sketches and saw #37.  While I didn't get this card finished early enough to enter that challenge, the Heart2Heart blog's challenge last week was "Go BIG!" and make a card larger than 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" and when I sized the border to the height I wanted to use everything came together for a 6x6" card so I am entering it there, which makes me every bit as happy because all the materials for this card are CTMH products.

The patterned papers are from the retired Roxie kit which  featured Vanilla Cream, Tulip, Smoothie, Black, and Desert Sand.  I used Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the border and sentiment shape from Vanilla Cream cardstock and the hearts from the Roxie patterned paper.  I know it's hard to read the sentiment as the writing is rather small, but it's from the January 2013 stamp of the month "Happy  Valentine's" and reads, "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. ~ Emily Bronte"  I thought this was the *perfect* sentiment for this card!  I used black cardstock for the base of the Ying and Yang symbol but used the Groovy Times cartridge which is a Cricut product.  This is one of those times I don't think my photography skills do the card justice but I was happy with the results.

Happy crafting!

Annette

Blissful Mojo Monday

I am entering this card in the Mojo Monday #258 challenge.  As soon as I saw this sketch, I started thinking about some milestone anniversary cards I've been wanting to make, as I envisioned the two circles in the upper corner holding each of the couple's names and the center embellishment the anniversary sentiment and number.  I had planned on using a heart for the extra embellishment but by the time it all came together I chose the birds printed on one of the papers that came with this pack for a more cohesive look.

details:  All products used were from Close To My Heart.  I used the retired Bliss paper kit which featured the colors Chocolate, Vanilla Cream, and Grey Flannel.  I also used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut all the circles, scallop circles, and "65th."  After I cut the birds out of one of the B&T papers I used pop up adhesive tabs to add a little dimension there.  I used the Tiny Typewriter alpha (D1222) to stamp the couples' names and the Card Word Puzzle stamp set (C1494) to finish the sentiment.  When the card was assembled it seemed just a little lacking for such an accomplishment so I liberally applied Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel to  the scallop circle and numbers and I was much happier with the results.

Happy crafting!

Annette

Heart2Heart challenge: mini cards

Well, you know how it is...  you think you're done crafting and then you just can't stop yourself and sometimes that's when your best ideas strike.  The materials for this card were leftover from a larger card I made, but I think I actually like this one better.  Since it's a 3x3" mini card, I'm entering it in this week's Heart2Heart challenge.  If you haven't visited this blog or if you haven't checked it out lately, you are really missing some inspiring art work!

http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/2012/09/time-for-mini-card-challenge-h2h.html

I made this card using paper from the Wonderland kit.  I cut the snowflake using the Art Philosophy cartridge and some silver paper from TPC Studio.  The sentiment  is from the discontinued Ice Crystals stamp set.  And I have already given this card to it's recipient, when my
17 year old daughter came home from work with a smile on her face.

Happy crafting!  Annette

 







Let It Snow-Mojo #257

My last card has me thinking about snow so I pulled out the Wonderland kit from last year's autumn/winter catalog, which I really liked but somehow just never got around to using.  The featured colors are Twilight, Crystal Blue, Sping Iris, Grey Flannal, and Chocolate.  Everything on the card is a CTMH product except the snowflakes, which I cut out of some silver cardstock from TPC Studio using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The smaller two snowflakes and the tiny diamond shapes around the edge of the circle are actually the leftover/negative space pieces--I like to use everything I can, LOL.  Then I added some sparkles to the center of the smaller snowflakes and stamped the sentiment using the discontinued "Ice Crystals" stamp set.

I'm entering this card in the Mojo Monday #257 challenge/contest.  Check out the other inspiring entries here:  http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/09/mojo-monday-257-contest.html

Happy crafting!  Annette

Color My Heart challenge #14

I just discovered how challenging it can be to take a clear picture of a 3" card, LOL.  Still, I  got the outside done for this card so I can submit it for the Color My Heart challenge #14, to use Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, and Crystal Blue.  I haven't quite got the inside finished but plan for the sentiment to be "and only you could melt my heart," I'm just trying to figure out how  to make a heart look like it's melting.  Any thoughts?  Check out the other fabulous entries here:  http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/08/color-dare-14-outdoor-denim-indian-corn.html

I used the colors mentioned above and the Pair a Phrase stamp set, first stamping the image on Outdoor Denim using White Daisy and then stamping the image on white cardstock using Crystal Blue ink and cutting that image out, touching  it up the edges with Crystal Blue and using Indian Corn Blue  for the sentiment and the scarf and hat.

By the way, this little guy was the inspiration for my card, and after some consideration I cut back the sides of the white cardstock so that it looked like that snowman was also sitting on a block of ice.  You see, my husband's "hobby" is making ice and he is very particular about which trays he likes to use, etc.  So when I originally found this little figurine, naturally I had to get it because it makes me think of my guy.  We all got  a good  chuckle out of it and the figurine  sits on a little shelf in my kitchen year round.  That said, maybe you can guess who's getting the snowman card...

As always, thanks to Sarah and the gang at Color My Heart for another dose of inspiration!
Happy crafting,
Annette

previous project-dry erase board

This is a project I had posted on another page of my blog, before I had a better handle on blogging. At any rate, I wanted to include it here so I could use the page it had been on for other information. Anyway, this is a dry erase board made out of a photo frame (this particular one is 12x16") and they're super easy to make, not to mention lots of fun.

Color My Heart #13 meets MOJO 256

I hadn't really planned on crafting this week but still had several leftover shapes cut from other projects and lots of scraps, so I simply used what I had lying around for a quick challenge for a little personal crafting  therapy and I'm submitting the card to two challenges:
Color My Heart #13: http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/08/color-dare-13-twilight-sorbet-creme.html
and Mojo Monday 256:  http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/08/mojo-monday-256.html

details:  The Color My Heart challenge this week called for using Twilight, Creme Brulee, and Sorbet.  I liked using the square-patterned Sorbet paper from the new Clementine kit with the Creme Brulee paper from the discontinued You & Me kit backed with the Twilight paper from the Florentine kit.  I just cut these banner shapes by hand but used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the shape for the sentiment which was stamped with the 4 My Friend stamp set (D1510), and the flower in the corner was stamped using the Just For You (B1398) set which is one of my favorites.  Not necessarily my best work but I do like the colors together and I got a lot of my scraps used!

Happy crafting,
Annette

Color My Heart challenge #12-olive, blush & hollyhock

This was one of those projects I had big plans for that didn't work out quite the way I wanted and I was a little frustrated but posted it to the Color My Heart challenge anyway thinking I would work on it a bit more over the weekend, but I just couldn't get it out of my head.  Next thing I knew I was elbow deep in paper, ink and bling but I was much happier with the finished pages and this was the first traditional (vs. digital) layout I have finished in some time.  Anyway, hopefully this will make my family happy too as my husband has asked more than once if I am ever really going to use "all that stuff."  LOL

So here is the link to see the other entries at Color My Heart which were very inspiring, as always:
http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/08/color-dare-12-blush-hollyhock-olive.html

Details:  The challenge called for using Olive, Blush, and Hollyhock and I used those colors of cardstock as well as some Colonial White.  I used Olive ink and the August Stamp of the Month, Baroque Borders, on the left page and cut out an oval frame using the AP cartridge to mount the picture.  I also used the  AP cartridge to cut the scallop borders in Hollyhock and mounted them behind the strip of Blush and again, using the AP, I cut several different frame shapes to mount the other pictures.  I sponged the 1st small frame with Blush, alternated Blush and Hollyhock brads for the 2nd frame, just edged the 3rd frame in Blush, and sponged the 4th in Hollyhock and added some white adhesive pearls to each corner of that frame.  I used the Keepsake Alphabet for the title and one of the flowers from the Card Chatter stamp set.  I placed the negative spaces from the center of the frames in line with each photo but below the title and plan to use those for my journaling and I may go back and ink those edges too, depending on how they look once I've written on them.

 

One last note, the photos are of my daughter when she was younger. I really miss those days, now she's a senior in high school and is almost always in jeans and tee shirts now but in my heart she will always be my little girly girl.

 

Thanks for looking & happy crafting! Annette

Color My Heart challenge #11

This has been a super busy, hectic two weeks for me so I didn't have quite as much time to put into the background of this card, but I put a lot of work into coloring the stamped image, which is the Stamp of the Month for September, appropriately titled "Fall Favorites."   I made this specifically with the Color My Heart#11 challenge in mind and knew I wanted to color in this stamp as soon as Sarah announced the colors for this challenge were Ruby, Goldrush, Honey, Indian Corn Blue, Sweet Leaf, and Cocoa. 
You can check out the other inspiring entries here:
http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/08/color-dare-11-ruby-goldrush-honey-sweet.html

I haven't ordered any of the new alcohol based markers yet but I have never really taken the time to try to blend with the old, water based ones so I thought I would give them one last hurrah.  I took the time to make a mask for the overalls and first sponged the Indian Corn Blue and then stamped with the same color using the discontinued Charmed set for a nice tone on tone effect.  It was rather a lot of extra work but I have always lived in farming communities and couldn't imagine overalls that weren't striped!  LOL  The tag "frame" was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.
Thanks again to Sarah and  all the other "players" at Color My Heart for so much inspiration!  As always, thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!
Annette

Color My Heart challenge #9

Here's my last-possible-minute entry for this week's color my heart challenge using Creme Brulee and Petal.  Purple is my favorite color but I don't have many scraps using Petal so I was really stumped for a bit, but when inspiration hit I couldn't resist making this card, whether it gets included or not.  At any rate, I love this challenge and thank you to Sarah for all your hard work, guidance & inspiration!
check out the other entries here:
http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-dare-9-creme-brulee-petal.html

And since this week's challenge at Heart2Heart is a scraps challenge, I have included it there as well.
Check out those inspiring entries and the design team's projects here: 
http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/2012/07/its-scraps-challenge.html

I used Petal scraps from the long retired (but still my personal favorite) Paper Garden kit, the Creme Brulee is from the You and Me kit (also retired), I used Colonial White and Cocoa cardstock for the card and star outlines, the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the card base and both outline stars (cut the scraps using the negative space pieces as guides), and the sentiment is from B1398 Just for You, which I stamped using Cocoa ink.  I don't have a sentiment inside, as I'm trying to build up a small collection of "just because" cards for those special moments when you really need to send a personalized note.  Hope you enjoy & thanks for visiting my blog!

Happy crafting!  Annette

Florentine birthday card

Since I'm already here, I am going to share a card I made for my sister-in-law's very belated birthday.  The card was inspired by the MOJO Monday sketch #250 but that was a busy week for me and I didn't get it finished in time to have in included in the challenge.  Still, I liked how it came together in the end and I'm hoping she will like it as well.  And just in case you aren't familiar with MOJO Monday challenges yet, here's the link to their home page:
http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/

All papers were from Close To My Heart's current Florentine paper kit.  I stamped the larger stitching pattern on the banner with Brown Bag ink using the D1495 set (again, I can't find the name but I think it originally came with the You & Me kit), the smaller stitching pattern on the blue background square was stamped with Cocoa ink using the stamp from last year's Elemental Workshop on the Go.  The "You're the Best" sentiment was from a consultant set "A Huge Thanks" using Twilight ink.

Happy crafting!  Annette

Heart2Heart challenge for 7/30/12: scraps challenge!

H2H gals read my mind!  I just couldn't finish putting away the remains of my weekend projects last night without playing with some of the scraps scattered across my dining room table, and came up with matching bookmarks for my daughter and me.  We liked how they turned out so much, I may have to barter and trade with some fellow CTMH enthusiasts since these scraps were from a discontinued kit. 

The base of the bookmark is from the Florentine kit, that brown patterned paper is from the discontinued Typeset, the scalloped circle is the flip side of the brown Typeset paper, the center circle is Colonia White.  The monograms were stamped using the Token alphabet set using Brown Bag ink, and the stitches were stamped in Cocoa using the D1495 stamp set (I can't find the name but I think it came with the "You and Me" constant campaign).





here's the link to see all the entries for this challenge:
http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/2012/07/its-scraps-challenge.html
I love scrap challenges and I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.  Thanks to everyone at the Heart2Heart blog for the hard work and inspiration!

happy crafting!   Annette

Mojo Monday 251

I was planning to enter this card in two challenges, MOJO Monday 251 (http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/07/mojo-monday-251.html) and Color My Heart challenge #8 (http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-dare-8.html), and I was hurrying to meet the earlier deadline for Color My Heart...  only to remember I hadn't yet added the finishing touches!  So here is my entry for MOJO Monday, bling and all!  The details are the same as I described in my previous post http://www.littlecropshop.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-my-heart-challenge-8-and-mojo-251.html except I added some small self-adhesive pearls, I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the corner arrow shape from p.61, and I used the Little Reminder stamp set (which was the January 2012 stamp of the month), all of which are Close To My Heart products.

Happy crafting!  Annette

Color My Heart challenge #8 and MOJO 251

This week's challenge at Color My Heart (http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-dare-8.html) was to use Smoothie and it's split complimentary colors, Sky and Pear.  I used the sketch for Mojo 251 (http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/07/mojo-monday-251.html) and entered this card in that challenge as well.  With all the excitement of the new Autumn/Winter 2012 CTMH catalog coming out, I decided this made a fun invitation for my upcoming open house!

As I said, I used the colors Smoothie, Pear, and Sky.  I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the pennants (which were strung with Smoothie baker's twine and stamped using the A Typeface alpha), the main circular shape was featured on p.51 of the AP handbook and the chevrons were made from negative space left over from cutting several rows of the border featured on p.63.  I used the Love Life stamp set (D1482) for the stamped background on the left side and the retired stamp set Remember This for the circlular date stamp. Of course, after I posted this picture I remembered I was going to add some more finishing touches so you can see the completely finished project and additional "recipe" info here:  http://littlecropshop.blogspot.com/2012/07/mojo-monday-251.html
  
Happy crafting!  Annette

flip book with July Stamp of the Month "Live Out Loud"

As I get more involved in papercrafting I've found my organizationl style keeps changing and evolving, and I have been contemplating making a visual index of my stamps so I could go through the images more quickly.  Well, last weekend my computer completely crashed so since I had to redo my personal inventory anyway I figured I might as well make it something I would want to look at each day.  I made this after looking through the new catalog online and I really felt this sentiment, "Imagine the possibilities," perfectly sums up how I feel each time I go through the catalog, sit down to design something or, best of all, receive a new shipment of goodies from CTMH!

I had a small binder of unknown origin but if it fills up too quickly (which is a quite likely, lol) I may recreate the front and back covers layering the patterned paper over cardstock, punch a couple of holes along one edge, and use some jump rings or ribbon to make my own.  Other than the binder, everything else I used was a CTMH product:  Roxie cardstock (which will no longer be available after 8/1/12 but there's still time to order a set!), Desert Sand cardstock for the inner cover, and the July  Stamp of the Month set "Live Out Loud."  I used the Art Philosphy cartridge to cut the shapes (black, Vanilla Cream, and Smoothie) and used some Bitty Sparkles.  I love how it came together and I think I will like this system... at least for now.  

Happy crafting!

Annette

Color My Heart color dare #6

Here's my entry for week #6 at Color My Heart http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/06/color-dare-6.html

I added a Petal patterned paper from the discontinued Paper Garden kit (my all-time favorite, at least so far, LOL) to the Lucy paper pack as purple is complimentary to yellow, as pink/aka red is complimentary to green.

Color My Heart challenge #5

Here is a project I made for the Color My Heart color challenge this week, using rainbow colors.  I chose to use  Holiday Red, Sunset, Sunny Yellow, Topiary, Moonstruck, and Gypsy.  I used the Art Philosphy cartridge and used the base butterfuly and one of the "lace" or cutwork butterflies in black to create the base and mosaic effect, then one lace cutwork butterfly in each of the rainbow colors, coated the base butterfly with glue and worked the individual "negative space" pieces in to create a mosaic or stained glass look.  Fun, but a little time consuming.  I also cut the card base with the AP cartridge and sponged Sky for the background.
Here is the link to check out all the fabulous projects at the Color My Heart challenge blog:
http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/

Color My Heart challenge #4

I entered this fun Father's Day card in two challenges:
the Heart to Heart challenge (Heart to Heart Father's Day challenge)
and the Color My Heart challenge for week #4 
(http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/).

As always, thanks to the wonderful gals at the H2H blog and to Sarah & friends at the CMH blog for all your work and inspiration!

This week's Heart to Heart challenge called for projects honoring fathers, and the Color My Heart challenge called for the colors Sunkiss Yellow, Cranberry, Sky and Moonstruck was also allowed.  I used  the Superhero paper kit and several Close To My Heart Stamps.  In case you were curious, the writing on the red blocks are reminders of fun family stories that we worded so that they were "just some of the reasons Dad is our hero and very own man of steel," as my husband works for a company that makes steel pulleys and roller tubes.  Here's what we came up with for his heroics:

*Able to keep your cool in intense situations!
*Able to soothe the worst pains with a gentle backrub!
*Able to prolong the life of crappy cars far beyond their life expectancy!
*Able to rescue lost dogs and injured children in a single swoop!
*Able to make up for lost time on the highway!
*Able to defend and protect innocent schoolgirls!

This is also the first trifold card I have completed and I made the template on my Gypsy so that I can quickly cut the base out using my Cricut, so I'm sure I will be making many more.  It was a fun project, my husband enjoyed it, and I actually got my daughter to papercraft with me!  Life doesn't get much better.

Happy crafting!
Annette

Pemberly treat bag

I keep coming back to this particular bag from the Art Philosophy cartridge, and I don't know exactly what I'm trying to do with it yet but I feel like I'm getting closer.  I have tried several different folds for the sides and this one seems to work best for smaller bags (this one was cut at 3" height so if you are careful you can cut 2 bags per 12x12" paper); the sides were 2" wide so I measured and marked the center with a dot along the top of the bag and just scored from each corner of the bottom of the bag to the center mark I made, then the front and back can come together and the handles lay flat against each other quite nicely.  I like this size because it holds the 2.5x2.5" color swatches I make and give out to new customers and leaves just a little room for some bling, a business card, or folded note, etc.

I used Vanilla Cream for the bag, some scraps from Pemberley (front and back of the same page), and the tag was cut from Bamboo and stamped with Outdoor Denim using a stamp from the Art Philosophy collection.

Have I mentioned how much I love Studio J?  The only hard part for me has been making up my mind because there are so many possibilities but here is one that I have finished and am ready to share.

I would love to hear from others about their favorite feature of Studio J and if you haven't tried it yet (or if you have and you can't get enough) check out my special offer under the "current promotions" tab as well as info on a special CTMH paper pack for National Scrapbooking Month and the Stamp of the Month "Friendship Bouquet."

Happy scrapping!

Annette

I started this project to demonstrate Studio J to a friend.  Since we were planning the layout for her son Sean's 2nd birthday which hasn't happened yet, I didn't have any pictures to use so this was the first time I tried to make and purchase a layout making text boxes where the pictures would go at a later date.  It was a little tricky and there were a couple of places where I didn't get things lined up as well as I thought I had, but with a little practice it is very doable.  I wanted to go ahead and share it, though, because I loved the colors and the energy (I was especially pleased with how the airplane "pulling" the tag turned out) and overall thought it was very fitting for a busy little guy.

I used the Rough 'n Tumble kit and the Fab Fifteen layout (mix #4) for this layout.

Tip: If you decide to replace empty picture wells with text boxes, I found I had better luck if I added a 1/4" mat to the photo well and then added a text box and made sure to use the same color for both, and I had to type in one space so that no text showed, etc.