Wild Things for AHSC 222

Hello again, crafty friends!  Michelle Stewart has come up with another great sketch for us to play with this week at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and I can't wait to see what everyone makes out of this one.  A few weeks ago I was gifted with a cute little stamp set by a young crafting friend and this sketch gave me the perfect opportunity to ink it up.  Let's get started!






details:  I don't have a name or manufacturer for the stamp set that the monkey, vines, and boy and girl came from, but the sentiment is from CTMH's retired Wild Wonders set.  The card base is cut from Topiary CS, the patterned paper is from the Calypso kit, and I used Sunset CS to back the sentiment piece.  The monkey was stamped using Chocolate ink on Cashmere CS, and the boy/girl images were stamped on watercolor paper with black Memento ink and colored with a variety of ShinHan markers.  Although you can't really see it in the picture, I popped the girl image up with 3-D tape for a little added dimension and visual interest.

This was a fun sketch and we'd love to see your take on it, too!  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central to link up your projects, which you can do HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting! ~~ Annette

School Kids Retirement Card for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back to another installment of the Close To My Heart (CTMH) Featured Products Blog Hop.  July is Stampaganza! month which means it's time for our month-long Buy 2-Get 1 Free special on our fabulous My Acrylix stamps, which makes this the perfect time to use STAMPS as the theme for our hop!  It's a short hop this week, just me and Tara Hendrickson from Tara's Treasure Trove, so don't forget to hop on over and see her *adorable* project and FYI, it's her  first time joining our little hop so be sure to leave her a comment to welcome her aboard!

BTW, you'll have to pardon the blurry photos for this project.  It was specially commissioned by just about the dearest, sweetest lady I know: my sister-in-law's mother who also happens to be my neighbor, Erma.  She wanted a unique and humorous retirement card for a lifelong friend who just decided to retire from being a paraeducator in our school district for many years.  As soon as Erma and I talked, I knew what stamps I wanted to use but then time got away from me and I was cutting it really close to the surprise party friends had planned for the retiree, and I nearly forgot to get a photo after my hard work so I had to settle on snapping a hurried pic with my tablet.

 details:  I started by using this lovely watercolor-patterned Crystal Blue paper from the recently retired Whimsy fundamentals pack for the sky.  I used my journaling pen to draw "hills" on this Emerald patterned piece from the Prickly Pear kit.  I needed a lot of words in a little space for this sentiment so I printed it on White Daisy cardstock on my computer, trimmed it to size and rounded the corners, and backed it with this flowered piece that's also from the Prickly Pear kit.  All the stamps the card front are from the School Kids set and were colored with a variety of ShinHan markers

For the inside, I used the ruler image from this set and Black Memento ink on this gray woodgrain patterned paper from the Rustic Home Fundamentals paper pack (isn't it great how CTMH sized that to fit so perfectly on an A2 sized card?!?!).  I used markers and the other two childrens' images from the School Kids set along with these adorable heart-shaped balloons from the Happy For You stamp set, which also provided the sentiment I used here.  I am happy to say Erma was thrilled with this card and I was so glad to help make a little something for two dear friends.

This card was just a little bit "simpler said than done," that's all there is to it but I loved how it turned out.  Don't for get to hop on over to see what Tara has in store for you, and please come back on Wednesday, 8/2/17, when our next theme will be the Jack paper kit and/or the coordinating stamps.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting! ~~ Annette

Flowery Thanks for AHSC #220

Hello again, crafty friends!  I took a week off from crafting to get my home in order so we could host a family dinner for my husband's 50th birthday, and it feels like I've been gone forever!  And while I dearly love celebrating holidays and occasions with family and friends, I am ready to get back into my old, familiar routine again.  So I thought it was only fitting to create a thank you card for my sweet sister in law who was a big help, and this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge was perfect for the occasion!



























All products are from Close To My Heart:
New England Ivy cardstock was used for the 7 x 5" card base.
Pink variegated paper was from retired Happy Times (HT) kit cut at 6 3/4 x 4 3/4."
Flower patterned paper was also from HT, cut at 6 1/2 x 4 1/2."
The banner was cut at 5 1/2 x 3 1/4" using the same pink variegated paper.
The Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge was used to cut the scalloped oval from NE Ivy cardstock using at 2."
The center oval was from White Daisy cardstock using the Thin Cuts - Basic Ovals (largest of 4).
The sentiment was stamped with New England Ivy ink using the Scripty Thank You stamp and colored using the following ShinHan alcohol markers:  Sap Green, Leaf Green, Tender Pink, Cherry Pink, Light Orange, Marigold, Golden Yellow, and Clay.
The rolled flower was cut using the AP cartridge using the   setting at 3" and held together with Liquid Glass adhesive, and a retired medium sized pearl was added to the center.  The leaves were cut freeform from a zip strip from the HT kit.

We would love to see your take on this fabulous sketch.  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 7/16/17, and you can link your projects HERE.  You can also follow this link to view the other design team members' projects.  FYI, the AHSC team is recruiting new members so if you have an interest is creating a sketch-based project every other week for a 6-month term, you can find out how to apply by going to THIS PAGE.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting! ~~ Annette