Floral Friendship Card for AHSC #194

Welcome, crafty friends!  My project today is inspired by this week's 

sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  I admit, this multiple-paneled kind of sketch is the most challenging to me and over the last few days I've taken several different approaches with it before I finally found one I felt satisfied with.

details:  I tweaked the sketch size a bit to give it a 6" square rather than the rectangle shown in the sketch so that I could incorporate this stamped image in the center panel.  The two patterned papers are both from last year's La Vie En Rose kit.  The panel on the left is cut from Pixie cardstock and trimmed with decorative scissors.  I used Pomegranate ink and a dauber to touch up the edges and to stamp the sentiment, which is from the retired "Someone Special" set.

The center panel is done on watercolor paper and features the retired "Candlelight Garden" stamp set.  I used black Memento ink to stamp the flowers/stems image and a silver ink pad from ColorBox to stamp the jar, and then I used the watercolor paints set to fill in the images.  The final touch was to tie a bow around the card with a length of Pixie-colored thick twine (retired).  And that's all there is to this one!

We'd love to see your take on this sketch too!  You have until 10 pm Central time on Sunday, 1/15/17, to link your creation HERE.  We are also having a Design Team member call for the upcoming term, and you can find more information and how to apply by following the same link.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Between The Folds Challenge #18B: Embellishments

This week's challenge at Between The Folds Challenge Blog is to use Embellishments.  Luckily, CTMH gives us plenty to choose from!  Enough that I had a really hard time choosing a project so I "cheated" and made several little projects, which are all tags I've made to add to gift bags for upcoming birthdays and special occasions.  I will share the details for each tag at the end of this post but first I just want to say that there are so many possibilities with this challenge, I want to encourage you to share your creations with us (you have until Monday, 4/11/16, at 11:55 p.m. Eastern/10:55 p.m. Central).  And don't forget to check out the inspiration from our design team and the other participants.  Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

details:  All tags were cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (image is shown on p.40, cut at 3" and the layer feature for the same key/page).

Make A Wish tag:  Wish stamp set in Pomegranate ink, Pixie Extra Thick Twine, Silver Sequins, Flamingo Dots, Bitty Sparkles, and La Vie En Rose paper.

Wishing You tag:  Belated Birthday stamp set (retired) in Sapphire ink, Whisper Thick Twine, Silver Foil Tape, Durable Triange Studs (silver), and Urban paper and white cardstock.

Everything Is Better tag:  Better With a Friend (retired hostess rewards stamp set) in Black ink, Red Enamel Hearts, and La Vie En Rose paper colored with Carmine ShinHan marker.

Happy Birthday tag:  Heartfelt Birthday Wish stamp set (retired) in Gypsy ink, Green Shimmer Trim and Enamel & Glitter Duos Purple Hearts, and Kaleidoscope paper.  I stamped the image twice, once on the card and once on the patterned paper (both times in Gypsy), and then I fussy cut the image on patterned paper and glued it in place.

Awesome Birthday tag:  Card Word Puzzle (retired) and the Say It All hostess rewards stamp sets in Sapphire ink, one of the buttons from the Urban Complements collection and Durable Triange Studs (gold), and Urban paper.

"One" Challenge at H2H

The first challenge of 2016 over at the Heart 2 Heart blog is, appropriately enough, entitled "One."  As we get closer to February, I was looking for a new hearts and love themed display for the shelf above my craft space and I came across this photo I've had for ages.  I am guilty of never liking to see photos of myself but this one still manages to make me smile.  It was taken by a dear friend when my husband and I got to spend an evening out without the children, which was quite a rare treat considering one child had severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy and the other had life threatening food allergies.  Anyway, we all had a great time that night and I couldn't think of a better photo to use for a Valentine display and, coincidentally, this is the first layout I've completed in the new year!
details:  The background paper is from the La Vie En Rose paper pack.  I used the Artbooking Cricut cartridge to cut the photo mat in Pixie CS and added the Ruby colored hearts from the retired Stuck On You Puffies.  I also used Artbooking to cut both sentiments twice, once in the older version of CTMH's Fundamentals as the Ruby color had a clear embossed heart pattern on it, and I cut another layer in Black CS for a shadow layer.  I then used the Designed Decor Black Shadow Box Frame which is turning out to be my go-to for displays.
Note:  This smaller picture was my first version in which I used Ruby for the photo mat and Pixie for the title words, but I was disappointed in how much the words blended in with the background and essentially got "lost," so I just thought I'd share in order to encourage newer scrappers to take time to play with color and various options because sometimes a really small change can make a big difference!
And that's all there is to this one.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette