Pinwheel Greetings - Color Dare 190

For this week's Color Dare challenge, I was inspired by all the nice spring weather we've been having and decided to try out a pinwheel card.  There are so many ways to incorporate a pinwheel theme into cards, you can get lost for hours watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts for ideas and directions!

I went with a basic pinwheel pattern on a card to start out easy so I can use this type of card at an upcoming workshop.

If you'd like to try out a card like this, here are the instructions:

• Start with a Colonial White card base
• Cut two 3" squares of Ruby cardstock and mount them diagonally on top of each other on the card front.
• Cut four 1.5" squares of Gypsy cardstock and use a stamp from the D1660 - Ink Blot stamp set to make a patterned background with Gypsy ink.
• Cut four 1.5" squares of Kaleidoscope paper (Pear side up)
• Start with a Gypsy square in the top right corner and then layer on a Pear square, alternate all the way around your pinwheel, you'll have to tuck the last one in under the first Gypsy square.
• Cut a .75" circle from Honey paper and layer on some Liquid Glass for a nice shiny pinwheel center.
• Stamp your greeting in Ruby ink; I used the greetings stamp from the C1613 Paper Bird set which is a retired hostess item.

You can shop my CTMH website for lots of fun stamps, paper packets, inks, accessories and many more crafting supplies.

Georgie - Father's Day - SWAA Blog Hop

This month the Stampers with Attitude blog hop is featuring the Georgie paper pack and/or Father's Day. If you are coming from Sheila's blog, you are in the right spot.  My project this time is a quilt card featuring the Georgie paper pack and an Ohio star pattern inspired by some cards I saw on Pinterest.

 
I started with a 4.25" square piece of Georgie B&T paper then mounted a 3.5" square of the pattern paper on top of that. Then I cut 1.25" squares and mounted one in the middle of the set then cut the remaining 2 squares in half then in half again for the nice triangle pieces that I placed around the square.  Then to add a bit of dimension for a quilt look, I embossed the whole square with the diamond embossing folder.  Next I used Juniper pigment ink with a Thank You from the Thousand Thanks stamp set and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The last step was to finish it off with a strip of Georgie paper on the bottom of the card.

I'm putting this in my sample set for a home gathering, I think this would be fun to do with a group.  Now head on over to Wendy's blog and see what she has lined up for us.

Thank you card - Color Dare 189

Color Dare 189

For this week's Color Dare challenge, I am using a Pinterest inspired design for a quick and fun Thank you card that you could use for pretty much any color challenge, it's a great way to use some scraps that you might have on hand as well.

I started with a piece of Hollyhock paper - cut at 1.25"x 5.5" and use Hollyhock ink circles to make patterned background.  For the next strip, I used Juniper washi tape (retired) and for the final strip, I used Thistle paper embossed with the dots folder and then sanded the raised dots for the white to show through.

I used a piece of white ribbon on the top and cut a banner for the title from the Thousand Thanks stamp set.  The small flower is Hollyhock ink and paper backed with a Juniper leaf.

Technique Blog Hop - RESISTING CAN BE FUN

For this month's technique blog hop, I am in line after  Kristen's blog and we are featuring the resist technique.  I had fun trying this out on a card for some team members I worked with on a project at work as a way to thank them for the great work they did.  I had so much fun with those that I decided to also make birthday cards at one of my gatherings so the group could try this technique out.

For this technique, you use Versamark ink and then heat emboss with either clear or white (they really looked the same to me in the finished product.)  Then use sponge daubers to layer on the color you want for the card; finish with a title and you are all set!

Products used:
Stamp sets - C1588 Great Job, Z3170 Artiste Cricut Collection
Versamark stamp pad and clear embossing powder
Inks of your choice on White Daisy cardstock

Now hop on over to Cathy's blog to see what she has to share.

H2H Challenge - 4 Mother's Day

Heart2Heart has a "4" challenge going and the theme is pretty open, whatever you what to showcase is fair game so I designed a Mother's Day card featuring 4 flowers.  We had fun making this at a gathering last weekend, what's not to like about a card with pretty flowers and shimmer trim?!?

Supplies used:
C1540 - Hello Blooms Flair stamp set
Ink - Lagoon, Sunset,Sorbet
Teal shimmer trim
Silver sequins
Blossom paper packet (retired)

Best Wishes Card - Color Dare 188

Color Dare 188

This week's Color Dare challenge is featuring the colors from the Regatta paper packet.  I made a Best Wishes card for a co-worker who is taking a new job.  The inspiration from this came from Pinterest and I adapted it using Close To My Heart products.

Instructions and Supplies Used:

• Glacier paper cut to 7" x 10" and folded in half to make a 5" x 7" card
• Ink around the edges with White Daisy and Glacier using stamps from the Dizzy Circles set
• Cut a piece of White Daisy paper at 4" x 6" and mount on card front
• Cut open squares found on the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge at 1.75" and .75" from Flaxen, Sapphire and Pomegranate papers, mount in random pattern 
• Ink the Best Wishes phrase from the Springtime Wishes stamp set 

Thanks for stopping by!  

Why I became a CTMH consultant

This is the Close to My Heart blog hop featuring stories and artwork about why we all became consultants.  I hope you enjoyed reading Jennifer's story and seeing what she has to share with us.

I joined for a couple of reasons.  First, my local CTMH consultant let me know she was no longer a consultant when I asked her if she wanted to attend a fundraising crop that I was hosting. We ended up having a couple of other vendors come to the crop but it wasn't the same without Close to My Heart there.  At this crop, one of the attendees had the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and she let me use it for some of the scrapbook pages I was working on....I was hooked at that point.  I signed up the next day and didn't know who to pick for my upline when I registered so I picked Keeley since her name is similar to my daughter, Kelsey.

Now, two years later, I am mostly a hobbyist and hold gatherings about once every 6 weeks with a local group of scrapbookers and cardmakers.  The annual fundraiser crop continues on as well!

Enough about me, on to the good stuff! A 2-page layout with Kaleidoscope paper pack and Artistry, the newest Cricut Cartridge. (Did you know you have an option to earn a free Cricut cartridge if you sign up in April to become a consultant? How cool is that! Check my website for details.)

2 page layout recipe – Make It From Your Heart vol 1, page 20 

Cut the following:

• 3” x 5” Sunset (emboss with confetti stars folder)
• 3” x 3” Colonial White for journaling/photo block
• 4” x 6” Colonial White for photo blocks 
• 1.5” x 5” strip of Gypsy (dove tail one end) 
• 1.5” x 2” strip of Gypsy (dove tail one end) 
• 1.5” x .75” strip of Gypsy 
• 1.5” x 11” strip of Pear (dove tail one end) 
• 1.5” x 1.5” strip of Pear (dove tail one end) 
• 1.5” x 1.75” strip of Pear 

Artistry Cricut Cartridge:

• pg 19 banner – cut 7” from Colonial White (ink edges with Pixie) 
• pg 19 banner – cut 8” from B&T Duo 
• pg 34 shape- 2.5” Colonial White and 3” Gypsy 
• pg 50 banner - .75” Colonial White 
• pg 17 balloon – 4.75” Sunset (emboss with confetti stars) 
• pg 17 balloon – 4.75” Canary (emboss with dot) 
• pg 17 balloon – 4.75” B&T Duo 

Stamp sets:

• D1682 – Artistry set (Gypsy ink saying on larger white banner, Pear ink “Celebrate” on long strip) 
• D1667- Balloon Wishes (Pacifica ink on small white banner) 

Assembly instructions: Kaleidoscope Paper – Two sheets 12 x12 B&T Duos (green side up as base) Layer the Gypsy & White banners, mount 1.5” in from left edge. Layer the B&T and White shapes, cut 1.75” off right side Mount Gypsy strip .75” in from left and 2.5” from bottom of page Overlap Pear strip halfway over Gypsy strip (use these as guides to lay down rest of the pieces)

Thanks for stopping by, next up to share her story is Gina, happy blog hopping!

Thank you card for Color Dare 187

Color Dare 187

This week's Color Dare challenge is to use any combination of White Daisy and "greens" so I decided to make a Thank You card; you can never have too many of those on hand.

I started with a piece of Topiary washi tape (retired) and then sponged the bottom part of the card starting with Sweet Leaf on the left, then blending in Pear and finally Topiary on the right.  On the bottom third of the card, I used White Daisy ink on the back of a circle stamp in overlapping spots for the Bokeh effect.  To finish the card, I stamped the title in Topiary ink and did come clear embossing with small circles on the white background for a bit of shine.

While I used some retired products from my stash to complete this project; all the green inks are available along with many other products are available on my Close to My Heart website for your shopping convenience if you don't already have a consultant.

April SOTM Blog Hop - Life in Pictures

Welcome to the April Stamp of the Month blog hop featuring artwork created from the S1604 - Life in Pictures stamp set by Close to My Heart.  This month we have almost 30 consultants participating. My blog is in line after Haley's blog and I've created a quick card from this stamp set.  I have grand visions of creating a scrapbook layout with this set also but ran out of time so will post that another time.

To make this card, I cut the film strip on page 67 of the Artiste Cricut Cartridge at 2.25" and Hello at 2" and mounted the black strip, stamped the images and then added the title.  I'm thinking you could also use this for a fun birthday card as well.

S1604 - Life In Pictures

You can purchase this stamp set for only $5 during the month of April with a $50 purchase of Close to My Heart products.  Next in the blog hop is Paige, head on over to see what she has created for us.