Congrats on #250 for AHSC

Here's a big shout out to Michelle Stewart and the gang at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for reaching their 250th sketch this week, that's quite a milestone!  Woo hoo!  I don't know about you, but I've been both challenged and inspired by all the fabulous artwork the design team and participants have submitted every week.  BTW, let's not forget a big shout out to all of  you who visit, follow, or regularly play along with us at AHSC, as without an audience there wouldn't be a blog.  So THANK YOU to all the AHSC fans out there, keep playing along and sharing your amazing talents with us!  Also, stick around till the end of this post for the details for the give away I will be doing on Wednesday, 2/14/18, in honor of our 250th sketch!

So on to my project for this week.  I am rather late getting to the "party" but better fashionably late than to miss the big event!  While this particular sketch lends itself equally well to a variety of styles, I really wanted to go for something bright and festive.  To my way of thinking, primary colors and the contrast of lines against curves always lends a sense of energy to a project so that's what I was going for.

details:  I started with a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card base and some scraps from the Prickly Pear kit which features Blossom, Emerald, Lemon, Poppy, Sapphire, Sea Glass (retired), Sorbet, and Tangerine.  I cut 3/8" wide strips of the striped paper for each side and adhered them to the base.  I used the template I made from the Confetti embossing folder (on clearance for $4.50 while supplies last!) from this post, the featured colored ink pads for this kit, and a sponge dauber for each to make this fun confetti-looking background panel on a 5 1/2 x 4 3/8" panel of White Daisy, adhered that to a panel of Sapphire that was 1/8" wider for a thin border to help separate the striped patterns from the dotted, and centered the combined panel on the card base.  I then used Poppy and Sapphire plus Tangerine ink and Lemon cardstock with the Way To Go stamp set to create these streamer images, which I then fussy cut and adhered.  I used the larger two of the Basic Circles Thin Cuts dies to create the 2 1/2" circle of patterned paper and the 2" circle of white CS.  I used the Sapphire ink with this sentiment (also from the Way To Go set), centered the circles, and then used my glue pen and Poppy thick twine (also on clearance) to add a little dimension and color to the center panel.  For the finishing touch, I dug through my stash and found this heart sticker in Sapphire from a retired style of fundamental stickers and popped it up with 3-D foam tape.  Once again, there were a lot of little steps for this one but hey, how often does your favorite challenge blog hit their 250th challenge milestone!

Now on to the prize!  I am offering this pendant in gold tone to one winner of a random drawing, which will be announced in THIS POST.  Good luck to all and THANK YOU for helping the AHSC blog to reach this fun and exciting milestone.  Don't forget, if you haven't entered a project yet, you have until 9:55 pm Eastern/10:55 pm Central on Sunday, 2/11/18, to do so and you can link your projects HERE.  Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Sugar Rush Color Palette for BTF Challenge

Hello and welcome back, crafty friends!  This week's theme at Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge Blog is the Sugar Rush paper kit.  Unfortunately, I didn't order my kit in time so I challenged myself to get creative with the color palette.  Since my first craft love was stitching and fabric crafts, I decided to piece a quilt block card to send warm winter wishes to a good friend.

 details:  I began by cutting a 6" square card from White Daisy cardstock and a 6" square piece from Whisper for the base.  I used the retired Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the shape at 5 1/2" from White Daisy.  When I removed the paper from the cutting mat, I used my trimmer to trim the piece down to a 5 1/2" square and adhered the negative space pieces for the base of the quilt block.  I then cut the same sized star using the layer function from Sea Glass, Canary, and Blossom cardstock.  I used the outline or frame piece from the Sea Glass and then alternated the Canary and Blossom pieces.

I used Sea Glass ink and the twisty lines stamp from the Way To Go set in each of the corners for the "quilting" and the background stamps that came with the Flower Market cartridge on the Canary and Blossom pieces using Tangerine and Pomegranate inks.  I also used the Pomegranate ink with the stitched line stamp from the retired Elemental WOTG set for the border.  To finish off my "quilt," I used Raspberry ink to stamp the center button from the retired Buttons, Bits and Bobs set, and then I went over the button with my clear shimmer brush and secured it to the card with white twine.  I love how it turned out and can't wait to give it to my friend, probably with a loaf of strawberry bread fresh from my oven.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the other fabulous projects at the BTF Challenge Blog.  I also hope you find time in your busy week for a little crafting and decide to play along with us.  As always, you have until 11 pm Central time on Monday evening (1/16/17 for this challenge) to link your project using the link you can find here.  One last note, if you love creating with Close To My Heart products, we would love for you to consider joining our design team!  If you are interested, you can find more information on our current design team call by going here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy, and crafty, new year!  ~~  Annette