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

Santa In July for AHSC #274

Hello again, crafty friends!  I broke out some oldies but goodies to play with this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  I didn't plan to start on Christmas cards just yet but the first two ideas I had for this sketch didn't quite pan out, so I was inspired to think outside the box... or calendar page.  In addition to creating this card for this week's AHSC design team submissions, it meets the themes for a couple of other current challenges so I will be entering it to the Heart2Heart Challenge Blog for their Christmas In July; the Double Trouble Paper Crafting Challenge Blog for their Christmas Only theme; and the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenges for their embossing theme.

details:  All products used are from CTMH and almost all of them are retired.  I started with the red "plaid" from the Believe paper kit.  The stamped image is from a set called I Believe (C1427) and inked in Holiday Red.  The scalloped edge frame was cut in Topiary CS using the Art Philosophy cartridge, and I used Pear colored mini-brads to add a little extra interest.

The tag is from the Home for the Holidays (SOTM in 2014) and was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The sentiment from the Santa Claus set (C1567) and was initially cut from the Artbooking cartridge but I was a little pressed for space so I ended up trimming it up a bit by hand.  Both images were stamped using a Sweet Leaf mini pigment ink pad, covered in clear embossing powder, and heat embossed.

I used some Topiary mini chevron ribbon to for embellishment and to secure the tag.  I used the scallop border Thin Cuts with white glitter paper.  To get a scalloped edge on the base layer too I cut the white glitter paper first, glued it so that the very edges of the scallops met the edge of the patterned paper, then positioned the solid-piece scallop thin cut over the glitter paper, taped the straight edge in place, positioned the piece so that the scallops faced the opening of the Cuttlebug, and then I just rolled them into the device only until I could feel the increase in pressure that indicated a cut was being made.  I had to finish trimming the dips between one or two sets of scallops but otherwise it worked very well.

And that's all there is to this one!  Don't forget the weekly deadline at AHSC is 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 7/29/18, and you can enter your artwork by going HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette