Three Amigos December 2017 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog Hop. We are three Close To My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping, and would like to share our creative ideas with you. On the 3rd of each month, we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project. There are only three stops on this hop, so it will only take a few minutes to hop through. When you finish hopping, be sure to check out the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge!

This month we are featuring projects using the Silver & Gold Paper Pack (papers or featured colors). The featured colors are Black, Pebble, Pewter, White Daisy, and Gold Foil.

Time doesn't seem to be on my side when it comes to creating things these days. I put together a quick and easy card using two papers from the pack, a little bit of cardstock, ink, some die cut shapes, ribbon, and sparkly embellishments. The card is so pretty in person. It's hard to capture all of the sparkle and shine from the foil and gems.

The black ribbon actually has gold threads running through it. The stars are cut from Gold Foil Paper with the Basic Stars Thin Cuts. I added clear shimmer to the word JOY (you can see it if you zoom in a little). The sentiment is from the WYW Joyful Tidings Cardmaking Kit.

Did you notice the pierced edges on the black cardstock? Our ruler has stitch guide holes for piercing, but it'll be going soon! I pierced around the black panels on the front and the inside.

Thanks for hopping by today! Hop over to Lisa's Blog and Donna's Blog to see what they created for you, then over to the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge. We hope you play along!

Supplies Used:
X7226B Silver & Gold Paper Packet
G1142 Workshops Your Way Joyful Tidings Cardmaking Kit
X7226D Silver & Gold Coordinating Cardstock
Z3365 Gold Foil Paper
Z2833 Pebble Ink
Z3271 Archival Black Ink
Z4012 Black Shimmer Ribbon
Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems
Z1263 Bitty Sparkles
Z3328 Thin Cuts- Basic Ovals
Z3329 Thin Cuts- Basic Stars
Z3293 Shimmer Brush- Clear
Z2046 Piercing & Embossing Tool Kit
Z1471 Ruler (Going Soon)
Z1859 Foam Mat (Going Soon)

Color Dare #272 Traditional Color Challenge

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's challenge is to use only Reds and Greens, White Daisy, your choice of a neutral, and optional Gold and/or Silver.

Have you seen the ribbon trees the CTMH design team shared on the Close To My Heart Blog? I decided to give it a try for this challenge. The layers of my tree alternate between ribbon and paper (Beary Christmas and Falling For You), with a few strips of Gold and Red Shimmer Trim tucked in for sparkle. A wooden toothpick is sandwiched between two stars cut with the Star Thin Cuts from Gold Glitter Paper for the topper. 

All of the ribbon I used is unfortunately retired now. You can see in the close-up that I layered gold ribbon beneath New England Ivy ribbon so the green would show better.

Ready to play? Just create a project using ONLY the colors in this week's challenge, Reds and Greens, White Daisy, choice of a neutral, and Gold and/or Silver. This color challenge is open for the entire month of December, giving you more time and flexibility to create, share, and invite your crafty friends to join us too. You have until 10pm EST Thursday, December 29th to enter! To make the holidays even more festive, we are partnering with the Heart2 Heart Challenge blog!   Enter to win and share some holiday cheer! I can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
X7225B Beary Christmas Paper Pack
X7223B Falling For You Paper Pack
Z3238 Gold Glitter Paper
Z1848 Red Shimmer Trim
Z1985 Gold Shimmer Trim
Z3318 Thin Cuts- Basic Circles
Z3329 Thin Cuts- Basic Stars
Fern Satin Ribbon (retired)
Garden Green Grosgrain Ribbon (retired)
New England Ivy Ribbon (retired)
Gold Ribbon (retired)
Other: Styrofoam cone- 6", straight pins, toothpick

Color Dare #270 Gift Tags

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's colors are Espresso, Heather, Mink, White Daisy, Pick Your Own Red, and optional Gold.

I had the Merry Everything Cut Above Tag Kit sitting on my studio table and decided to put together a few quick and easy tags for this challenge. The striped gold foil bases and gold glitter bows are included in the kit. I die cut circles from Heather (Large circle) and Mink (small circle) Cardstocks, and flipped them over to the "light" shade of each color. The edges are inked heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I added a strip of patterned paper (Espresso dots and Pomegranate stripes) to each Mink circle before placing the gift recipients initial on top.

After die cutting each initial with the Block Alphabet Thin Cuts, I masked the top portion of each letter and heat embossed the lower portion with gold embossing powder. I then clear embossed the top portion of each letter to add some shine. The "E" was cut from Cranberry Cardstock. The "A" and "N" were cut from Espresso Cardstock. Each letter is popped up with Thin 3-D Foam Circles.

Ready to play? Just create a project using ALL and ONLY the colors in this week's challenge. Remember, for this challenge you can pick your own red! If you don't have the exact colors, use the closest colors you have. Our color challenges are open for two weeks, giving you more time and flexibility to create, share, and invite your crafty friends to join us too. You have until 10pm EST Thursday, November 30th to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:

Z4049 Cut Above Tag Kit- Merry Everything

Z3353 Basics Fundamentals Paper Pack

Z3352 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Pack

X5942 Basics Cardstock Combo Pack

X5975 Cranberry Cardstock

Z3318 Thin Cuts- Basic Circles

Z3386 Thin Cuts- Block Alphabet

Z891 VersaMark Ink Pad

Z2066 Ranger Princess Gold Embossing Powder

Z2088 Ranger Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder

Z4014 White & Gold Twine

Z3341 Thin 3-D Foam Dots

Three Amigos November 2017 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog Hop. We are three Close To My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping, and would like to share our creative ideas with you. On the 3rd of each month, we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project. There are only three stops on this hop, so it will only take a few minutes to hop through. When you finish hopping, be sure to check out the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge!

This month we are sharing projects using Beary Christmas (papers or featured colors) from the new Holiday Expressions Idea Book. The featured colors are Charcoal, Cranberry, Fern, Glacier, New England Ivy, Pebble, Pewter, Tangerine, and White Daisy.

I put together a quick card using the From The Heart Card Bases & Envelopes that are available in the Going Soon section on my website. I cut out the bear in the wreath image from a PML card and popped it up with 3-D Foam tape on the front of the card. 

I added Red Glitz Gel (retired) to the berries on the wreath. The bows sparkle thanks to the Clear Shimmer Brush.

The card pulls open from the top to reveal another PML card with a sentiment from the Short & Sweet stamp set. The falling snow and two blue trees are accentuated with the Shimmer Brush.

When the card is fully extended, there is a place to write a personal message. The picture doesn't capture the shimmer on the Cranberry banner, but it looks beautiful in person.

Thanks for hopping by today! Hop over to Lisa's Blog and Donna's Blog to see what they created for you, then over to the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge. We hope you play along!

Supplies Used:
A1189 Short & Sweet
X7225B Beary Christmas Paper Pack
CC1227 From The Heart Card Bases & Envelopes (Going Soon)
X5978 Glacier Cardstock
X5975 Cranberry Cardstock
Z2841 Glacier Ink Pad
Z2832 Pewter Ink Pad
Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems
Z3129 Gold Foil Tape
Z3293 Clear Shimmer Brush
Z1484 Red Glitz Gel (retired)

Color Dare #268 Happy Holidays Card

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's colors are Almond, Cranberry, Fern, New England Ivy, White Daisy, and optional Gold.

Have you seen the Beary Christmas-Scrapbooking stamp set and Thin Cuts? Even though the stamp set was designed to use for scrapbooking, many of the images are suitable for cards as well. I lined up all of the word stamps onto a 2 x 6.5" My Acrylix block and stamped them with Almond ink at an angle across a white panel. Since our embossing folders have a slit in the top opening, I was able to slide my stamped panel in at the same angle as the words to emboss only the top section.

The tree is stamped with New England Ivy Ink on Fern Cardstock. I used ShinHan TouchTwin Markers to color the tree lights and add a little texture to the branches. The Christmas balls and star topper are colored in with the Gold Metallic marker and over-brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush. I used the shimmer brush on the embossed stars as well.

The inside is fairly simple with a couple of the gifts cut with the coordinating Thin Cuts, Gold Shimmer Trim, and a sentiment from the Short & Sweet stamp set.

Ready to play? Just create a project using ALL and ONLY the colors in this week's challenge. If you don't have the exact colors, use the closest colors you have. Our color challenges are now open for two weeks, giving you more time and flexibility to create, share and invite your crafty friends to join us too. You have until 10pm EST Thursday, November 16th to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies Used:
A1189 Short & Sweet
Z4047 Beary Christmas- Scrapbooking + Thin Cuts
X5959 New England Ivy Cardstock
X5975 Cranberry Cardstock
X5960 Fern Cardstock
1385 White Daisy Cardstock
Z2835 New England Ivy Ink Pad
Z2816 Cranberry Ink Pad
Z2827 Almond Ink Pad
Z3238 Gold Glitter Paper
Z3316 Gold Shimmer Brush
Z1768 Gold Metallics Marker
Z2448 Carmine R11 ShinHan TouchTwin Marker
Z2463 Sap Green GY235 ShinHan TouchTwin Marker
Z3189 White & Gold Ribbon
Z1985 Gold Shimmer Trim
Z3341 Thin 3-D Foam Dots
Z3119 Confetti Stars Embossing Folder (Going Soon!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Rockin' With Christmas Tunes

I had a little bit of fun with the October Stamp Of The Month, Christmas Tunes. Since the stamps are designed with lyrics from Christmas songs, I decided to add a gold label record and music notes to my card.

To give my record it's grooves, I layered the Circle Thin Cuts onto the cardstock and ran it through my Cuttlebug using a rubber mat instead of a cutting plate. The rubber mat won't let the dies cut through the paper, resulting in an embossed image. Each little musical note is cut by hand, covered them with Liquid Glass, and has Black Enamel Dots to finish them off. I stamped the Tree image with New England Ivy Ink and colored in the stars with ShinHan Touch Twin Markers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:

D1710 Christmas Tunes

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

1386 Black Cardstock

X5975 Cranberry Cardstock

X5959 New England Ivy Cardstock

Z2816 Cranberry Stamp Pad

Z2835 New England Ivy Stamp Pad

Z3365 Gold Foil Paper

X254 White Value Pack Cards & Envelopes

Z3318 Basic Circles Thin Cuts

Z3314 Black & White Dots

Z679 Liquid Glass

Z2448 Carmine Red R11 ShinHan Touch Twin Marker

Z2452 Golden Yellow Y222 ShinHan Touch Twin Marker

Color Dare #266 Snappy Birthday

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's colors are Black, Pebble, Pewter, "Pick Your Own Pink", Silver, and White Daisy.

I have been drawn to the Oh Snap! stamp set since the Holiday Expressions Idea Book was released. When I pulled it out and set it next to the Operation Smile Punny Pals stamp set that was already on my table, the idea for my card was born! I chose to use Bashful for my pink.

I was able to create a camera with multiple shades of Pewter and Pebble thanks to our new two-sided cardstock. The back side of each color is a lighter shade of that color. After stamping the camera on both the "light" and regular shades of the Pewter and Pebble cardstocks, I cut out various parts and pieced them together (Pebble base, "light" pebble flash, "light" Pewter woodgrain and dial, Pewter lens). I traced over the stitching with a black journaling pen for a little added contrast. The center of the lens is Silver Foil Paper layered with a heart cut from Bashful Glitter paper.

See the "punny" birthday greeting? I got the idea from the "Yappy Birthday" greeting in the Punny Pals stamp set. I used the masking technique and a few sentiments from the Sending Smiles stamp set (included in the Flower Market Cricut Bundle) to stamp "SNAPPY" onto the flash. "Birthday" is from the Punny Pals sentiment. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the camera is mounted onto the card with Thin 3-D Foam Tape.

The Oh Snap! stamp set includes a filmstrip stamp. I stamped it onto black cardstock using VersaMark ink and colored the small rectangles with a white gel pen. The sentiment is also from the Sending Smiles stamp set.

Ready to play? Just create a project using ALL and ONLY the colors in this week's challenge. The color graphic shows Pixie, but you get to choose your own pink! If you don't have the exact colors, use the closest colors you have. Our color challenges are now open for two weeks, giving you more time and flexibility to create, share and invite your crafty friends to join us too. You have until 10pm EST Thursday, November 2nd to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies Used:

D1708 Sending Smiles (Flower Market Cricut Bundle)

D1748 Oh Snap!

D1751 Punny Pals

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

1386 Black Cardstock

X5941 Bashful Cardstock

Z3360 Bashful Glitter Paper

Z3366 Silver Foil Paper

Z2819 Bashful Ink

Z2832 Pewter Ink

Z2833 Pebble Ink

Z891 VersaMark Ink

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Z534 Microtip Scissors

4275 My Legacy Writer Set (Retired)

Other: Sakura White Jelly Roll Pen

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Dare 264 Believe In Miracles Card

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's colors are Black, Crystal Blue, Pacifica, Sapphire, and White Daisy.

I played around with the "smooshing" technique for this card. To get the effect on the sentiment panel, I added Crystal Blue, Pacifica, and Sapphire inks to a 3x3 acrylic block, spritzed it with water, and "smooshed" it onto a piece of White Daisy cardstock. The focal piece is popped up with foam tape on a simple base, reminiscent of a piece of art hanging on a gallery wall. 

The results reminded me of the sky at night, so I added sparkles to twinkle like stars. A sentiment from the Stronger Together stamp set is heat embossed in black.

Take a look at all of the great sentiments included in this stamp set. Remember, Proceeds from the Stronger Together stamp set will be donated to the Red Cross to aid disaster relief efforts.

Ready to play? Just create a project using ALL and ONLY the colors in this week's challenge. If you don't have the exact colors, use the closest colors you have. Our color challenges are now open for two weeks, giving you more time and flexibility to create, share and invite your crafty friends to join us too. You have until 10pm EST Thursday, October 19th to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies Used:
C1716 Stronger Together
1385 White Daisy Cardstock
X5957 Sapphire Cardstock
Z2817 Crystal Blue Ink
Z2848 Sapphire Ink
Z2892 Pacifica Ink
Z891 VersaMark Ink Pad
X254 White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack
Z1263 Bitty Sparkles
Z3274 Clear Sparkles
Y1006 3x3 My Acrylix Block
Black Embossing Powder (Retired)

Thanks for stopping by!

Three Amigos October 2017 Blog Hop and Challenge

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog Hop. We are three Close To My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping, and would like to share our creative ideas with you. On the 3rd of each month, we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project. There are only three stops on this hop, so it will only take a few minutes to hop through. When you finish hopping, be sure to check out the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge!

This month we are sharing projects using Cats & Bats (papers or featured colors) from the new Holiday Expressions Idea Book. The featured colors are Black, Charcoal, Emerald, Goldrush, Pebble, Pewter, White Daisy, and Willow.

I used two very special stamp sets on my card today. That cute lion is just one of 13 adorable images on the Operation Smile Punny Pals stamp set. When you purchase this stamp set, CTMH will donate $7 to Operation Smile. CTMH also designed a stamp set specifically to benefit those affected by disasters, such as the recent hurricanes in the United States and the wildfires throughout the US and Canada. The stamp set is titled Stronger Together and features a variety of sentiments that can be used for comfort, encouragement, and more. 100% of the cost of this stamp set will be donated to disaster relief efforts!

I thought the courage sentiment was perfect with the lion.This particular sentiment is vertical on the stamp set with a row of dots separating each word. Using the masking technique, I stamped each word on one line. I offset the two die cut circles and accented them with gold pearls. I used another Stronger Together sentiment on the inside.

Thanks for hopping by today! Hop over to Lisa's Blog and Donna's Blog to see what they created for you, then over to the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge. We hope you play along!

Supplies Used:

C1716 Stronger Together

D1751 Punny Pals

X7224B Cats & Bats Paper Packet

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

1386 Black Cardstock

X5969 Emerals Cardstock

Z3271 Archival Black Ink

Z2805 Black Ink

Z2823 Goldrush Ink

Z2806 Emerald Ink

Z3318 Thin Cuts Circles

Z3371 Gold Pearls

Z3224 Waterbrush- Small Round

X254 White Daisy Cards & Envelopes

Color Dare #262 Do What Makes You Happy Card

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's colors are featured in the Cats and Bats Paper Packet. For this challenge you must use Willow, Goldrush, and Emerald, plus one or more of the neutral colors (White Daisy, Black, Charcoal, Pewter, and Pebble).

Cats and Bats is our Halloween paper this year, but that doesn't mean you have to create Halloween-themed projects! You'll find all of the featured colors in my card today. I layered the light side of Pebble cardstock onto a White Daisy card base, added a Black panel, and a Zip Strip from one of the background & texture papers. Each star is cut in a different size using the Thin Cuts-Stars, and stamped in a different shade of grey (Pebble on Goldrush, Pewter on Willow, and Charcoal on Emerald). As I have done in the past, I layered several star shapes to give them dimension. The sentiment is heat embossed in white.

The inside sports another piece of the Zip Strip and an Emerald star.

Ready to play? Just create a project using ALL and ONLY the colors in this week's challenge (Willow, Goldrush, Emerald, plus one or more of the neutrals). If you don't have the exact colors, use the closest colors you have. We decided to change our color challenges from one wee to TWO WEEKS! This change gives you more time and flexibility to create, share and invite your crafty friends to join us too. You have until 10pm EST Thursday, October 5th to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies Used:

C1685 Inspire

D1733 Splash of Color

1386 Black Cardstock

X5955 Pebble Cardstock

X5962 Goldrush Cardstock

X5969 Emerald Cardstock

X5970 Willow Cardstock

Z2831 Charcoal Ink

Z2832 Pewter Ink

Z2833 Pebble Ink

Z891 VersaMark Ink Pad

Z2068 Ranger Super Fine White Embossing Powder

Z3314 Balck & White Dots

Z3216 White Twine

Z3329 Thin Cuts-Stars

Z3341 Thin 3-D Foam Dots

Thanks for stopping by!