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