Complements Theme for Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back to another installment of the Close To My Heart Featured Products Blog Hop, where this week we are bringing you projects using a variety of  our Complements.  There is a coordinating Complements set for each current paper kit in the Seasonal Idea Book as well as multiple stand alone sets with their own individual themes.  If you came here from Corinna's blog you are in the right place but as hops are circular, you are welcome to jump in anywhere along the way and simply make the rounds.  A complete list of this week's participants is included at the end of this post in case you get lost along the way.  Let's get started!

I chose the Hello Lovely paper and complements for this layout celebrating my mother.  Her life was too short and I have very few pictures of her, so naturally the ones I do have are very precious.  It has taken me several years of "playing" at scrapbooking and paper crafting to build my skills so that I feel I can finally give those photographs and the memories behind them the love and credit they deserve. Not that my work will ever be "perfect" because our art and our skills, just like our lives themselves, are ever changing and growing but I am happy with what I have created from these photos *today.*

details:  I used the Hello Lovely paper kit and coordinating Complements.  The "my beautiful" and hearts are in part of the complements (the word "family" is also included but I chose not to use it), as well as the heart stickers by the word "mother" and at the edges of the smaller photos.  The Sea Glass piece in the middle with the year on it is also one of the stickers from this kit, as is the small banner by the top picture.  I used Rose Gold foil tape along the edges of the corner pieces, and then I used Cricut Design Space and Flower Market cartridge to cut "mother" at 1.75" high in both Colonial White and Desert Sand and layered them slightly off centered for a shadow font.  The year was cut using the Cricut font.  I layered the bottom 3 photos with Fern, Sorbet, and Desert Sand and for the top photo, I fussy cut one of the 4 x 6" PML pieces from this kit so I could use it to frame the main photo.

And that's all there is to this one.  Now it's time for you to hop on over to Lauren's blog to see what she has in store for you.  We hope  to see you back in two weeks on May 3, 2017, when our theme will be the gorgeous Live Beautifully kit, a special collection of papers, stamp set, and/or Workshop Your Way kit.  Until then, thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette


Complete list of this week's participants:

1.  Corinna Murphy

2.  Annette Clark (here)

3.  Lauren Moore

Mother's Day Cameo for AHSC #208

Hello, crafty friends!  There are so many possibilities for this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge but from the very first time I saw it, I knew what I wanted to do with it.  I even made a couple of variations and had a little trouble figuring out which I liked best, but in the end this is the one I went with:








details:  All products for this card are current or retired Close To My Heart.
Hello Lovely patterned paper
New England Ivy, Fern, and Colonial White CS
Sorbet and Desert Sand inks
White and Gold Ribbon
Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge cuts
Sweet Moments stamp set (retired)

We would love to see your take on this sketch, as well.  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time/9:55 Central  on Sunday, 4/23/17, to play along and you may link up your projects HERE.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Some Kinda Wonderful for BTF #44 and Mojo Monday #493

Hello again, crafty friends!  I thought I had my Some Kinda Wonderful project figured out for this week's theme at Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge Blog but when I saw this week's super cute sketch from the Mojo Monday Challenge, I immediately changed plans, dug into my stamp stash, and whipped up this sweet little card for a super sweet young friend of mine.








details:  CTMH Some Kinda Wonderful patterned paper, black and Raspberry CS
wreath stamp is Doodled Designs (retired CTMH); "hello" is from the Hello, Life - cardmaking set (retired CTMH); and the Scribble Heart is from Stampabilities
CTMH Raspberry and Memento Black inks
CTMH Gray and Pink Enamel Gems

We would love to see your projects featuring the CTMH Some Kinda Wonderful paper kit or it's color  palette of Black, Glacier, Lemon, Pacifica, Raspberry, Whisper, White Daisy, and Willow.  You have until 11:55 pm Eastern Daylight Savings time/10:55 pm Central on Monday, 4/24/17, to play along and you may link your projects HERE.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Some Kinda Wonderful for Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello crafty friends and welcome back to another installment of the Close To My Heart (CTMH) Featured Products Blog Hop, where this week we bring you projects using the Some Kinda' Wonderful paper kit, its color palette, Workshop On The Go, or coordinating stamp sets.  If you came here from Corinna's blog you are in the right place, but hops are circular so you are welcome to jump in anywhere along the way and simply follow the links until you've made the rounds.  A complete list of this week's participants is included at the end of this page in case you get lost along the way.  Let's get started!

While I find this collection of colors and prints very energetic and interesting, they're not ones I usually choose to work with so I was struggling a little bit with this one.  However, last night I was playing around with this week's sketch from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and I thought I would try that sketch with the Some Kinda Wonderful kit and this darling Beautiful Moments stamp set to make a divider page for my Everyday Life Planner, and this is what I came up with!

I customized the scalloped frame die cut from the retired Art Philosophy cartridge using Cricut Design Space so that the opening was 3 x 3" in a 3.6" square frame (which slightly larger than the original opening for this cut but it can be accomplished using group/ungroup and slice features in CDS).  The horizontal stripe is one of the zip strips from this kit and the two vertical banners are just fussy cuts from other patterned papers in this kit.  The horizontal banner is crafted from one of the 4 x 6" PML cards included in this kit.  I plan to stamp "#life is..." but I haven't decided what stamp set to use so that will have to be added later.  At any rate, I wanted a journaling section for dreams, goals, and bucket lists, etc. and I think this will make a great divider page for that purpose.  (I am also going to post this for one of the Some Kinda Wonderful theme weeks at Between The Folds challenge blog on my "off" week as we are all pitching in a bit extra to help out one of our teammates.)

And now it's time for you to hop on over and see what Lauren has in store for you.  Please join us again on Wednesday, 4/19/17, when our theme will be Complements.  Until then, happy crafting!
Annette


complete list of participants:

1.  Corinna Murphy

2.  Annette Clark (here)

3.  Lauren Moore

Grad Card for AHSC #206

Hello again, crafty friends!  Today I've got a graduation card based on another awesome sketch by Michelle Stewart for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #206.











details:  I have used this technique before but wanted to revisit it as I have more materials to choose from for embellishments, such as this silver shimmer trim and metallic silver paper for the banners and black shimmer trim for the horizontal stripe.  I used Black Memento Ink with the Diploma Day stamp set.  Once again, I have created my own custom background by inking up the back of a long, narrow stamp (in this case, the line of cross-stitches image from the retired Typeset WOTG set)  in Lagoon and a stitched line image (from the retired Circle Around set) in black, and then used my ruler and silver metallic marker.  Just line up the blank card base on the diagonal lines of your VersaMat and line up your stamps on the horizontal or vertical lines of your choice to create a quick and easy faux plaid background that can be customized in any colors you choose, which is a great way to create a graduation card in your school's colors!

We would love to see your take on this fun and versatile sketch, too!  As always, you have until 10 pm Eastern Daylight Savings time/11 pm Central on Sunday, 4/9/17, to link your project HERE.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Spring Theme for BTF #43

Hello again, crafty friends!  Our theme this week for the Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge Blog is Spring.  This brings many things to mind: the Easter holiday, spring break, the beginning of the growing season and the return of flower and fauna, and - at least for my husband - the return of baseball season, lol.

Now, while I am not a gardener in any way, shape, or form I love seeing flowers and enjoy the colors of the season in all their many forms and hues.  So, I had this Dreamin' Big - Scrapbooking stamp in mind for this challenge from the beginning.  Then, a few weeks ago the CTMH artwork team showcased how to use pigment inks with clear embossing powder for a lovely new technique and I knew I had to try it.  I  used the Pixie, Sorbet, Canary, Sweet Leaf, and Thistle colors from the Whimsy Pigment Ink Pads and clear embossing powder with for the "hello," and Versamark and white embossing powder for "spring."  I used the Sweet Leaf and Crystal Blue watercolor patterned papers from the Whimsy fundamental papers for the background/card base and also for the bottom third of the card, which I trimmed with a pair of decorative edge scissors.  The final touch was a length of retired Thistle ribbon tied into a bow.  This is a fun technique and my photo really doesn't do justice to the glossy colors that the pigment ink and heat embossing bring to the card; the only downside is that it's a bit tricky to wash all the pigment ink from such an intricate stamp set.

This theme is very open to interpretation and we'd love to see what "spring" means to you and your projects.  You have until 10 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time/11 pm Central to link your projects, which you can do HERE.  Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette