Valentine's Card for AHSC #246

Happy 2018 to all my crafty friends!  I don't know about you but every year the only resolution I  truly try to stick to is to get more organized, especially my craft area, and I am proud to say I have already made progress this year.  Yay!  So I'm happy to report this Valentine's card came together much more quickly and easily than usual since I could more readily access the supplies I was looking for.

I started with this week's sketch at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  I used a base of Lagoon cardstock layered with this lovely small hearts-patterned paper from the retired CTMH "Heartstrings" kit.  I knew I would have to change the proportions of the horizontal stripes element somewhat, but I really wanted to incorporate this "love" stitching pattern for this one.  To do this, I used the We R Memory Keepers stitching tool and some Cranberry colored embroidery floss I bought ages ago, as that shade of red is one of the featured colors in this kit.  For the arrow-patterned horizontal stripes, I used the Heartstrings zip strips set on Whisper cardstock with a very narrow border.  I used the retired Thin Cuts hearts die on the patterned red paper (also from Heartstrings) and again on Bashful glitter paper, adhered both pieces on white cardstock for better stability and then fussy cut around them.  The "truly, madly" banner is a sticker that was available with this kit.  I thought I was done but then I felt there was just a little too much empty white space at the bottom so I added a couple of the negative-space hearts cut from another piece of Bashful glitter paper using the Thin Cuts hearts border.

And that's all there is to this one!  I'm not sure who I will give it to but I do know I had a lot of fun creating it.  I hope you will find some time to create a project with this week's sketch, and we would love to see it if you do!  As always, you have until 10:55 pm Eastern/9:55 pm Central on Sunday, 1/14/18, to link your project HERE.  And don't forget to check out what the rest of your design team has created with this week's sketch, they are sure to inspire you!  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting in the new year!  ~~  Annette

Using Ribbon for BTF Challenge #39

Hello again, crafty friends!  This week's theme at Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge Blog is to use ribbon, and we have plenty of lovely options to choose from between the current Annual and Seasonal Idea Books (plus a couple of additional choices in the clearance section of our online shopping sites).  Let's take a look at what caught my fancy this week:

details:  I started with a strip of this heart patterned paper from CTMH's retired set of fundamental papers.  I paired that with this lovely gold metallic XOXO printed ribbon from the gorgeous Uptown Ribbon Pack on the top and bottom of the center panel.  I used the Hearts Thin Cuts die set and red glitter paper to make two sizes of hearts which I knotted together with a piece of white and gold ribbon.  For the sentiments, I used black Memento ink and the January 2017 Stamp of the Month set "Adore You" (with the "and" from the retired Card Word Puzzle set) on the left, and the stamp set from the retired Heartstrings WOTG on the right.  Simple to make but simply lovely in person!  The only thing I dislike about this lovely Uptown ribbon is how hard it is to get a good photo of that metallic gold, my poor photography skills just can't do it justice.

We would love to see what you like to create with the various ribbons CTMH gives you to choose from, so if you find some crafty time in your busy week you can add your link HERE and, as always, you have until 10 pm Eastern/11 pm Central on Monday, 2/13/17, to share your projects.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette