Fresh Air + Father's Day for AHSC #266

Hello again, crafty friends!  Time flies for us all and here in the US we have already celebrated the late spring/early summer holidays and events of Mother's Day and Memorial Day weekend with many high school and college graduations in between, so the next big event on many calendars is Father's Day.  When I saw the sketch Michelle Stewart whipped up for this week's challenge at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog I wanted to get a jump start on my holiday cards for once.  Let's get started!

Since CTMH released this year's Seasonal Expressions 2 catalog, I have been really focused on the fun and floral Friendship kit but I knew it was time to start playing with the other kits in this catalog as well, and so when I began looking the various patterns I had to choose from, this lovely palette wood-looking pattern from the Fresh Air collection immediately jumped out at me.  This one is a very CAS card using just two colors of ink and cardstock, Glacier and Nutmeg, and two retired stamp sets called The Best Dad Ever and Perfect Fit - Dad.  When I started actually piecing together the layers, I was not as happy with the contrast between the Glacier and wood grain and Nutmeg papers as I had expected so I chose to soften the transition by inking the Glacier papers with Nutmeg ink using a sponge dauber.  The effect ended up being even more subtle than I wanted so while I still wasn't 100% happy with it, I liked it better than the "naked" Glacier, lol.  Anyway, here is what I came up with:

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.  Don't forget to stop by the AHSC blog to check out the rest of the design team's creations and we would love for you to share your creations based on this sketch, too, which you can do HERE.  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 6/3/18, to link up your projects.  Thanks again and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Happy Mail for AHSC 264

Hello again, crafty friends!  Wow, I missed one of my bi-weekly challenge posts and it feels like I haven't posted in forever.  Even though I have been a busy little crafter, I just haven't taken time to share it all.  However, I had a ball with this week's sketch from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog and I can't wait to share it with you.  I admit, this is another sketch I found a bit intimidating at first but once my idea came together I pulled out all the stops.  Let's get started!

details:  I started by creating a custom background on White Daisy cardstock using a hostess-exclusive stamp set from the SE1 Idea Book, called "Sent and Delivered," and Heather ink and my WeRMemory Keepers stamping platform.  For a little added pop of color, I dug up my Studio G punch that features 4 tiny hearts and punched sets from scrap pieces of Raspberry and Pixie cardstocks and adhered them to the envelope images.

For the horizontal stripe, I used the retired chevron border punch to create a base out of Heather, Raspberry, Pixie, and White Daisy cardstocks.

I used the retired Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to create this postage stamp image by selecting the slider tag image and contouring the slots, and sized the image to 2 1/4".  I then used VersaMark ink and white embossing powder to heat emboss the main sentiment.

For the element on the right, I used Raspberry ink to stamp this image of 3 wavy lines onto white cardstock.  I then used Raspberry ink again for the "special delivery" sentiment that is set on an oval, and then I fussy cut that image and popped it up with 3-D foam tape.

For the final element, I used the smallest size in CTMH's new 4-piece set of stitched heart Thin Cut dies to create this charming little heart from a scrap of Raspberry cardstock.

I hope you enjoy looking at this card as much as I enjoyed making it.  I hope you will also take time to check out the rest of the design team's creations for you, and we would love to see your take on the sketch too!  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 5/20/18, to link up your creations, which you can do HERE.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette