Monthly Archives: January 2019

I love color, how about you?

Today’s challenge over at Heart 2 Heart challenges is all about color. This can be interpreted in so many different ways! You can choose to use your own favorite color or color combo, you can use all of them, you can take inspiration from somewhere else, nature, pinterest, other challenges, photos, and so much more, including the CTMH Love of Color Book. Inspiration is everywhere! Today I grabbed a little from here, and a little from there.

So, along with the H2H challenge, I am playing along with Fusion and Color Throwdown! I knew I wanted to play with the sapphire color, and Color Throwdown happened to have a dark blue, Green, and Grey color palette for this week’s challenge . . . how perfect! Over at Fusion, they have a sketch or a photo that you can take inspiration from. Their photo this week is some adorable Penguins, and I’m telling you, if I had the Hostess only stamp set, “Got Snow?” . . . I would totally be using a super cute penguin on my card today! However, that is not one that I have (but I wish I did!), so I couldn’t use it.

Now, the colors that I use are partially one of the color suggestions in the Love of Color book, there are more options in the palette that they suggest, but I wanted to stick with the few for the throwdown challenge! These are very traditional ‘boy’ colors, but it just popped so well!!

This card is mostly plain cardstock, I almost think I should have done a bit of background stamping on the pewter cardstock, but it looks ok anyway! The sentiment is in the cut-aparts from the Something Fierce paper pack, and the banners are scrap pieces that I have had leftover from other projects using this same paper pack!

I love how simply this fun card came together! Tell me what you think of it? If you had this card, who would YOU give it to?

Creativity is in the cards!

Welcome back! Today I have a super fun card for you! Over at H2H, the challenge this week is to make a non A2 sized. That means that it should be something other than 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. Also today, over at Atlantic Hearts Sketches, is their 300th sketch! So, they are celebrating a bit, go and check it out!

My card today is 3 3/4 x 9 1/4, and fits perfectly into a number 10 envelope. (This is the ‘normal’ long envelope that you see mailed)

I’ve used the Something Fierce papers today, and as you can see, there isn’t a dino in sight, anywhere! This paper pack is so versatile!

I decided to turn the sketch on it’s side, and of course, since I’m doing a skinnier, longer card, things had to be stretched out a smidge.

I cut the coffee cups from the Artistry cartridge, and I was going to do a banner from there as well, but decided to just use a scrap of white cardstock, and wrap the banner myself.

I also decided to make this card be a fun to give card, so there is a small pocket on the inside so that you could put cash or a gift certificate, or even a gift card.

I used three different stamp sets on this card, which is unusual for me, but it turned out so cute! I used the letters from the Simply Said stamp set, the word Enjoy from Picture Perfect, which is one of the sets from the Artistry cricut bundle, and the ‘for you from me’ from Sending Smiles, which is one of the sets from the Flower Market cricut cartridge.

I used the cut outs of the hearts from the cozy on the cups, on the inside of the card. I backed the open hearts on the cozies with scraps from the pink pieces that you see as banners, then I colored them with a couple of coats of the clear shimmer brush. Once that dried, I added a few drops of liquid glass to give it some shine to go with that shimmer!

To make the banner, I stamped on a piece of white daisy cardstock that was 3/4 x about 6 inches. I stamped the sentiment with Archival Black ink, and then I spaced out the coffee cups about how I wanted them (not gluing them down yet) and found a piece of scrap cardstock that I could use to start the folds of the banners. So, I wrapped the scrap cardstock with the banner, but pinched only just the top corner, making sure to angle out the bottom of the banner. Then I folded the end pieces back again, making sure they (mostly) lined up with the straight bottom of the main part of the banner. At that point, I trimmed the ends to be about the same length, and dove tail cut the ends. I used some thin foam tape to pop up the space between the two folds to give it some dimension. Used the same thin foam tape behind the coffee cups, to make it an even lift.

I used some black shimmer trim to help tie in the black of the sentiment on the front and inside of the card.

I do have to say, this is one of my favorite cards in the last little white! So, I hope that you will come join in on both of the challenges this week! The “Not your typical sized card” challenge that is over at Heart 2 Heart and the sketch that is over at Atlantic Heart Sketches!

I would love to hear what you think about this fun little card! Leave a little comment below, and then go check out those fun challenges!

Until next time, stay crafty, my friends!

~Michelle

Tag, You’re It! – CTMH Technique Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH Technique Blog Hop! This month we are playing with tags! Tags come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so make sure you hop along with us to see how many we can share with you! Today you should have arrived from Michelle’s blog, but if not, that’s ok, it’s a big circle, and you will get back around to her!

So, today I am playing with the Something Fierce paper pack, which is just so fun! I am using the sketch from Fusion Challenge is celebrating their 5th anniversary, and I wanted to share another fun challenge site with you guys!

The sketch is simple, and allows for adding things and making a few little easy changes, and I wanted to show how easy it is to do the same thing with the same cards and papers, and end up with two very different looks!

My first card is very ‘girly’ card. Lots of pinks and greys.

My tag is just a pewter cardstock that I trimmed the corners off of, to match some tags that I have in my stash. I punched a hole with just a hand held punch. Then I used a bit of washi and taped it to a sheet of lined paper, and used the line of dots from the Years of Sweetness stamp set to add some interest. Check it out!

I just alternated where the dots fell, so they weren’t straight lines from the top to the bottom!

I used some white ribbon and mink twine for the punched end, and I added a bit of bling with some sparkles.

My second card is much more ‘boyish’ looking, though it would work for boys or girls. Unfortunately, most of the dinos are hidden under the other elements!

I used the white ribbon again, but paired it with some thick whisper twine. The tag already had the dino feet on it, so I didn’t do any stamping there. To finish it off, I used some of the black and white dots.

I used the same Years of Sweetness set for the sentiments on both cards. On the girl card I stamped the cupcake frosting in ballerina, the candle in first and second generation raspberry ink, and the flame in lemon ink. The Yay was stamped in archival black. On the boy card, the sentiment is stamped in pewter ink. The sentiments are stamped on circles cut with the stitched circles thin cuts.

I hope you have liked my cards today, I would love it if you left me a comment to let me know what you think, or what you might have done differently! (everyone would tweak something just a smidge!)

Next up, is Haley! So, hop on over to her blog, and leave her some love too!

~ Michelle

Have you tried stamping yet?

This week’s challenge for H2H is background stamping. This week you will see some fun examples of different ways you can get different personalized papers using just your own inks and stamps! It’s the perfect way to be able to make sure your project matches what you are looking for, perfectly!

I showed how to make this card on my weekly FB live, so if you want to watch step by step, jump on over there to check it out!

So, for today’s card, I used both Ballerina and Archival Black inks, Colorful Texture and Years of Sweetness stamp sets, and I used Black and White Daisy cardstock on top of one of the card bases from the Value Pack. I used the decorative borders thin cuts to get the fun scalloped border, glued it all together with some liquid glass, and finished it off with some white ribbon.