A Little Cross Stitch Love for AHSC #252

Hello again, crafty friends!  I am extra excited to bring you today's project based on this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  This stamp set is my personal favorite out of the current Seasonal Expressions catalog from CTMH.  My first crafting love was cross stitch and my first project, taught to me by my paternal grandmother, was a pink rose with green leaves stitched onto baby blue gingham.  My aunt has a bedspread made from blocks of the same rose pattern (I believe on lavender gingham) and I plan to send this card to her.  I hope it will remind her as much of sewing with her mother/my grandmother as it did me and brighten her day.

details:  I had to change the orientation of the card to make it work using this image as the centerpiece.  I used Sweet Leaf and the long retired Bubblegum ink with this Cross Stitch Love stamp/die cut set.  Because I wanted to recreate my childhood sewing project, I dug down REALLY deep into my stash to find this single-color based set of papers in various shades and designs and as near as I can tell, this was the Sky set.  I also used the smallest sized Basic Hearts Thin Cuts die set for the larger, off set heart.  To make the larger heart stand out a little from the smaller one next to it, I stamped it twice with the same ink to give it a deeper hue.

This was a fun sketch that I am sure I will come back to again, and we would love to see your take on it too!  As aways, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 2/25/18, and you can link your projects HERE.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Congrats on #250 for AHSC

Here's a big shout out to Michelle Stewart and the gang at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for reaching their 250th sketch this week, that's quite a milestone!  Woo hoo!  I don't know about you, but I've been both challenged and inspired by all the fabulous artwork the design team and participants have submitted every week.  BTW, let's not forget a big shout out to all of  you who visit, follow, or regularly play along with us at AHSC, as without an audience there wouldn't be a blog.  So THANK YOU to all the AHSC fans out there, keep playing along and sharing your amazing talents with us!  Also, stick around till the end of this post for the details for the give away I will be doing on Wednesday, 2/14/18, in honor of our 250th sketch!

So on to my project for this week.  I am rather late getting to the "party" but better fashionably late than to miss the big event!  While this particular sketch lends itself equally well to a variety of styles, I really wanted to go for something bright and festive.  To my way of thinking, primary colors and the contrast of lines against curves always lends a sense of energy to a project so that's what I was going for.

details:  I started with a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card base and some scraps from the Prickly Pear kit which features Blossom, Emerald, Lemon, Poppy, Sapphire, Sea Glass (retired), Sorbet, and Tangerine.  I cut 3/8" wide strips of the striped paper for each side and adhered them to the base.  I used the template I made from the Confetti embossing folder (on clearance for $4.50 while supplies last!) from this post, the featured colored ink pads for this kit, and a sponge dauber for each to make this fun confetti-looking background panel on a 5 1/2 x 4 3/8" panel of White Daisy, adhered that to a panel of Sapphire that was 1/8" wider for a thin border to help separate the striped patterns from the dotted, and centered the combined panel on the card base.  I then used Poppy and Sapphire plus Tangerine ink and Lemon cardstock with the Way To Go stamp set to create these streamer images, which I then fussy cut and adhered.  I used the larger two of the Basic Circles Thin Cuts dies to create the 2 1/2" circle of patterned paper and the 2" circle of white CS.  I used the Sapphire ink with this sentiment (also from the Way To Go set), centered the circles, and then used my glue pen and Poppy thick twine (also on clearance) to add a little dimension and color to the center panel.  For the finishing touch, I dug through my stash and found this heart sticker in Sapphire from a retired style of fundamental stickers and popped it up with 3-D foam tape.  Once again, there were a lot of little steps for this one but hey, how often does your favorite challenge blog hit their 250th challenge milestone!

Now on to the prize!  I am offering this pendant in gold tone to one winner of a random drawing, which will be announced in THIS POST.  Good luck to all and THANK YOU for helping the AHSC blog to reach this fun and exciting milestone.  Don't forget, if you haven't entered a project yet, you have until 9:55 pm Eastern/10:55 pm Central on Sunday, 2/11/18, to do so and you can link your projects HERE.  Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette