Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Love Letters

Hi! Just a quick post to share the National Papercrafting Month Love Letters I put together. When I first started with CTMH, one of my good friends nicknamed me the Inky Temptress. Since most of my friends and customers know me by that nickname, I decided to make a shadowbox showcasing it for my studio.


Each Love Letter package comes with three different sized banners, an alphabet sticker sheet, more than enough flowers, succulents, and accent sprigs, and an instruction sheet with photos of each finished letter. True to my nickname, I inked the edges of all of the flowers and succulents before assembling them with Liquid Glass. I hope you give them a try!

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to come back on Friday for the newest Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge and on Saturday for the February Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge!

Supplies Used:
Other: Frame from IKEA

Friday, January 19, 2018

Color Dare #276 Good Thymes Card

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's challenge is to use only Heather, Mink, and Sweet Leaf (with optional Black and White Daisy).

This week's challenge really stumped me until I spotted the Good Thymes Together stamp set and pattern 8 from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4. I created a card base using Mink Cardstock, added Sweet Leaf B&T paper from the Whimsy Fundamentals Paper Packet, and accented it with Heather Cardstock. The banner is stamped with Mink ink on the light side of Mink Cardstock for a subtle tone on tone look.



The Clear Shimmer Brush adds a sparkly sheen to the jar lids, balloon heart, and the accent strip across the card. I tried to capture the sparkle, but pictures don't do it justice. I used the new Basic Circle Tags Thin Cuts to cut a Heather tag as a backdrop for the two thyme jars. I dipped a dry waterbrush into Sweet Leaf ink to add color to the thyme leaves and the balloon, and Mink ink for the lids.


I kept the inside simple to leave room for a handwritten note. The Heather accent strip and balloon hearts are highlighted with the Clear Shimmer Brush as well.


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 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, January 18th to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Retired items: Sweet Leaf Ribbon, My Legacy Writers, Scallop Border Punch

Friday, January 5, 2018

Color Dare #274 Just For You Card

It's time for another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge! This week's challenge is to use only Charcoal, Glacier, Bashfuland optional Silver.

I pulled out my Basics Fundamentals, Bashful Glitter Paper, and Vellum Paper for this challenge. The Chelsea Gardens- Cardmaking stamp set was still sitting out on my work surface, so I inked it up again for this card. I used the clear shimmer brush to pick up a small amount of Glacier Ink to add color to the butterflies. The sentiment is heat embossed with silver embossing powder.



When I started designing the card, I used our Basic Circle Thin Cuts. I felt like the edges needed something, so I cut a new circle using a stitched die. A few Bashful Pearls finish off the design.


I stamped a couple leafy stems inside and added another small glittered butterfly.



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 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, January 18th to enter! I can't wait to see what you create!


Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Other: Die-namics Stitched Circle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge #10



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!

The challenge this month is Anything Goes. Time to get our creative juices flowing this year. The three cards I am sharing today are actually cards we made at the Seasonal Expressions Launch last month. If you haven't checked out the new Seasonal Expressions 1 idea book, I highly recommend you take some time to browse through it!

All of these cards feature a technique using the Watercolor Pencils and Clear Shimmer Brush. After lightly coloring the images with the pencils, I used the shimmer brush to soften the pencil strokes. The result is a shimmery, watercolored effect. I love the Background & Texture papers (B&T) in the Chelsea Gardens Paper Packet!



You can see the shimmer on the wing of this butterfly. It's stunning in person!



This card uses vellum to add interest and texture to the card. The leafy stems, flowers, and butterflies are all colored using the watercolor pencils and the shimmer brush.



The vellum on this card tones down the charcoal cardstock behind the sentiment. I attached it with glue dots positioned behind the butterflies.



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!