Last Christmas Card of 2017 for AHSC #244

Hello again, crafty friends!  I truly hope everyone had a truly wonderful Christmas holiday!  Several of my family members got sick over the holidays so we haven't been able to get together with everyone just yet but maybe this will just help us extend the magic of the season.  At any rate, I procrastinated a lot less this season but I still found myself running behind for a couple of projects so I managed to get one more Christmas card put together and this week's sketch at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge worked out perfectly for what I had in mind. 

This card is for my best friend's daughter who happens to have Downs Syndrome, and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met.  She is still a big believer in Santa and she has gotten into adult coloring books just lately (which is what we got her for her gift this year) so I thought it was only fitting to work in some watercolors on her Christmas card to show her I still like to color too!

details:  I started with the Christmas themed paper from the first year I discovered CTMH, which is called Believe.  I used black Memento ink to stamp this adorable Santa and reindeer images from last year's Reindeer Bells set, which I then filled in with watercolor pencils.  To frame the images, I ran pieces of white and Topiary (retired) cardstock through my Cuttlebug using this scalloped die with an embossed stitched border from My Favorite Things (MFT) and pieced them together.  For the sentiment, I used Versamark ink and white embossing powder with the retired Say It All stamp set.  Due to the stamped images I chose, I will also be submitting it to the Christmas Critters theme over at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge.

And now I officially done with the last of my Christmas cards and gifts and ready to get started on my goals for 2018, which definitely included more crafting projects!  I hope crafting continues to be in your future too, and that you find time to play with this week's sketch at AHSC.  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 12/31/17, to link your project HERE.

Thanks for stopping by happy crafting in 2018!  ~~  Annette

City Sidewalks for BTF #34

This week's challenge at the Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge is the City Sidewalks paper kit of it's color palette.

I chose to use the green and red patterned papers from the City Sidewalks kit with my favorite pattern from page 46 of the Make It From Your Heart Vol. 2 pattern book.  I used this striped paper from the same kit to back the sentiment and bell image, both of which are from the Yuletide Joy set and stamped in Memento ink.  I used the Vivid Green, Leaf Green, and Carmine ShinHan markers.

We would love to see your creations featuring the City Sidewalks paper or its colors.  You have until Monday, 11/21/16, at 11:55 pm Central time to link your projects here.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

City Sidewalks for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back for another installment of the Close To  My Heart Featured Products Blog Hop.  This time out we are bringing you projects featuring the City Sidewalks collection, which includes both a paper kit and an exclusive Cricut cartridge.  If you came here from Donna's blog you are in the right place but, as always, hops are circular things so you can jump in anywhere along the way and just make the rounds, plus there is a complete list of participants at the end of this post.

My project is inspired this a set of Christmas gift tags shared by the talented Annette Green, which features 5" gift tags cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  You cut several bases and then you cut your patterned paper in the same shape and size and cut it at designated intervals and mix and match and then embellish.  I have also sized a box and sliding cover/lid from the Artiste cartridge to use as a tag holder so that if I can get these to come out as nicely as I hope, I will offer them as a mother/daughter workshop later this month.

These are the papers I chose to work with, based on the dimensions Annette Green used.  Be careful when using the Christmas tree print, it is directional so I wasn't able to use the top of that print but I was able to turn the rectangle around and still use it.
Another help hint, these go much quicker if you have one of the Xyron adhesive machines, so I ran my tag bases through and then started layering my individual pieces to your liking.  I found I needed the piece Annette G. marked as scrap but I chose to use a zip strip in its place to add some interest, the only difference being I had about 1/16" at the end of that tag I had to manually trim down.

And here is the box and lid once assembled.  I cut the base of the box out of white CS and used Cranberry for the lid to save on my patterned paper (and keep the cost of the class as low as possible if I use these for a class).

I'm still working on my embellishments so that's all I have for now, but I plan on using a mix of stamps with both Cricut and Thin Cuts, so I will continue to post the finished tags throughout the month as I continue to play around with them.  I hope you enjoyed them and are inspired to create some of your own.  Now it's on to Lauren's blog to see what she has in store for you.  Be sure to leave some comments for my very talented fellow hoppers, especially Lauren and her husband as she is under the weather and he finished up her post so she could still participate and we could still enjoy her creativity.

Don't forget to stop back in 2 weeks on 11/16/16 when our theme will be CTMH's exclusive Cricut Cartridges.  With 4 to choose from, including the new Flower Market and City Sidewalks, there should be no shortage of inspiration!     Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

1.  Lauren Moore

2.  Janna Gray

3.  Corinna Murphy

4.  Donna Digby

5.  Annette Clark  (here)