Central Park Neighbors for AHSC #278

Hello again, crafty friends!  I've been working on a card for a very special person and this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge was perfect for what I had in mind.  I will also be submitting it to the "Lovely Layers" theme at the Heart2Heart challenge and the "Blast From the Past" theme at the Three Amigos Blog Hop challenge (for #15 "machine die cutting" and #16 "embossing").

When my husband and I first began looking into buying our current home, the first people we told were our neighbors-to-be, Carl and Sandy.  They were a wonderful couple that we looked up to from the moment we moved into town and the thought of becoming neighbors as well was just the icing on the cake.  Fast forward a decade and a half, and sadly Carl has passed away and Sandy has an early form of dementia and is no longer living in her home.  I hadn't visited her yet because I honestly didn't think she would still recognize me but her daughter told me she brought Sandy back to her house for the afternoon and as they drove by my house, Sandy stated, "Oh, I'm so glad Annette got that house, I just loved having them for neighbors!"  Well, that completely made my day!  So I am planning to visit her soon but I wanted a special card to give to her, one that was pretty and cheerful and reflected what a special friendship we have been blessed to share.  I really hope she enjoys it, I have missed seeing her radiant smile and would love to bring one of those smiles on her face.  Anyway, here it is:

details:  I started with the Central Park paper pack and coordinating cardmaking stamp and die cut set.

Keeping in mind that Sandy's house is a cheerful yellow and mine is a pale gray, I wanted to incorporate those two colors as much as possible.  I used Pacifica cardstock, the Lemon and white striped/watercolor patterned paper from the Adventure Fundamental paper collection, more Pacifica, and this brick-patterned paper from the Central Park kit.  I used another lovely pattern from this kit that features various houses, trees, bicycles, and hot air balloons for the first vertical rectangle, inked the edges in Pacifica ink with a sponge dauber.  For the next vertical rectangle, I used Bashful ink with the cascading hearts pattern from the retired "Charming Cascades" stamp set, and inked the edges with Bashful ink again.

To create the houses, I used the Pacifica pigment ink pad to stamp the smallest house images from the Central Park cardmaking set twice on watercolor paper, cover with clear embossing powder, and heat setting it.  Once they had cooled, I pressed the centers of my Lemon and Mink ink pads so some of the ink was transferred to the inside of the lid.  Then I used a medium waterbrush to pick up the ink from the lid and paint it onto the houses.  For the die cut heart in the center, I used the pretty lace-patterned Blush paper from the Beautiful Friendship kit with the second-smallest of the stitched heart Thin Cuts dies.

For the sentiment rectangles, I used Mink and Lemon cardstocks, the retired "Tiny Typewriter" alphabet stamp, and Heather ink (I tried Mink but it wasn 't quite as dark as I thought it should be).  I used a small Momenta alphabet die cut set to cut "chance" from the same brick patterned paper, and "hearts" from the Bashful and white polka dotted paper (also from the Central Park kit).  Now all I need is a couple of daisies in a small vase, tied with a pink ribbon, and I'm all set to visit my sweet neighbor again!

Just a quick reminder:  You have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 8/26/18, to play along with this sketch at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge (you can enter your project HERE), and 11:55 pm Eastern/10:55 pm Central on Friday, 8/31/18, to enter your project in the Lovely Layers theme at the Heart2Heart Challenge (which you can submit HERE).  I hope you find time in your busy week for some crafting (hey, it's back to school week if you have kiddos!) and can share your art with one or even all three of these challenges, or at least take a stroll through their websites to get inspired by all the fabulous artwork you will find there.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Feline Fun for AHSC #276

Hello and welcome back again, crafty friends!  I had so much fun with this project I just can't wait to share it with you.  Usually I start with a particular sketch I want to use but this week inspiration struck first and I was lucky enough to be able to combine my idea with the sketch for my design team duties (or should I say, privilege) for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  And, as I love to combine projects with other challenges so that I can help promote the efforts of my fellow crafters, I will submit this one to play along in the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #303 (Tic-tac-toe grid based on the colors in CTMH's Central Park kit); Challenge #6 over at the Double Trouble Papercrafting Challenge blog (Anything Goes/decorate the inside of your card/combine with a previous partnering challenge blog); and the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge #17 (Time Warp theme, use your choice of any past theme from 2018, my project qualifies for #16-embossing and #15-die cutting).  Trust me, it's way easier than it sounds, and a ton of fun so let's get started!

details:  I got my inspiration from wanting to combine this "spotted" patterned paper from the Central Park kit with the super cute Cat's Meow stamp set.  I used Lemon and Mink cardstocks to create a layered base.  I also used Heather CS with the largest of the basic ovals Thin Cuts and White Daisy CS with the largest of the stitched oval Thin Cuts to create a base for the central of the sketch.  I used black Memento ink to stamp the silhouette image of a cat on that oval base as well as the cat emoji faces and the outline of the word bubble (all from the Cat's Meow set mentioned earlier).

For the horizontal border piece, I used the side of a piece of Poppy cardstock with the solid-looking piece from the hearts border Thin Cuts dies, and the traditional shade of Poppy for the heart-frames border, which I then touched up with my clear shimmer brush to add a little shine and to also help differentiate the shades.  I used Poppy ink for the "hello" sentiment, which is from a retired set called Love My Cat, and popped up the word bubble with some 3-D foam tape.

 

For the cat paw borders, I used Mink ink with a part of the M-sized Paws stamp set (I "amputated" part of the stamp to make it easier to work with for this project, but cut it in such a way it will easily fit back together for future projects).  I used Poppy ink with the two smaller-print sentiments (from Cozy Cat and Love My Cat) and black Memento for the "purrrfect" sentiment and the cat silhouettes, all three of which are from Cat's Meow again.  The ball of yarn image is from Love My Cat and I stamped it on the card in Lemon, stamped it in black ink on Lemon cardstock, and fussy cut and adhered.

I should note, I chose the Lemon, Poppy, and Mink colors to work with the Color My Heart Dare, which is also a previous challenge partner over at the Double Trouble Papercrafting Challenge Blog, which allows me to enter it for play in both of those challenges, and the die cutting and embossing qualifies for two past themes at the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge.  And, of course, this sketch is for AHSC and for once I am *EARLY* with a project so this sketch will be open for play starting Monday morning, 8/6/18, and you will have until 9:55 pm Eastern/10:55 pm Central on Sunday, 8/12/18, to link your projects.

Thanks for stopping by happy crafting!  ~~  Annette