Three Amigos Blog Hop, September!

 

So, believe it or not, it's the beginning of September!  Where has the time gone?  Welcome back to the Three Amigos Blog Hop.  We are three good friends and CTMH consultants and we challenge each other once a month to create something with our favorite Close to My Heart Products.  This month our "challenge" was to use new products from the new Idea Books that went live yesterday.  I thought it would be easy and I thought I would use ALL new products... nothing old... but alas, I did end up going back to some of my old favorites and I think I got a nice blend of old and new.  After all, I don't think any of us have used up all of anything yet ... lol!

 

So, I used the fantastic "old" Artfully Sent cartridge to cut out this birdcage card.  I used the new Artistry cartridge to cut the flowers (using one of our great new colors, Poppy).  The leaves and vines were leftovers from previous projects and to be honest.. I have no idea what cartridges they are from any more.  I used blue for the background of the card because I wanted to give the feel of blue skies and an empty cage.  (Although the escapee did leave behind a couple feathers!)   I embossed the blue with the new Confetti Dots Embossing Folder.  The butterflies are old Just Blooms butterflies that I splashed some new watercolor paint on and added just the colors I wanted.  This was a challenge.. to decide what color with everything else I had going on, so I have lots of practice butterflies that are just as pretty that I'll use later because the colors just weren't right... or the size... in the end, maybe I was just tired because I was finishing up at the last minute and I chose the purplish ones.  This made me fall back on my purple glitter gems to spread that color around on the card a little bit more.  The gold gems are not new, but they are in the new book.  I created the sentiment from some of the Zoe complements.  A large quantity of liquid glass and finally I was finished. 

 

I chose the birdcage because I had seen a card posted on one of the groups I am in that had a lot of gold and what I thought was a green patina, but it turns out it was just a reflection.  It was so pretty I started thinking about giving my gold some patina.  I didn't get exactly the look I wanted-I suppose it looks a little weathered, but I think with a little more work and the right products I'll get the look I want.  For this one, I started with lagoon paper to cut out the cage, then embossed the entire thing in gold, but tried to leave areas where the lagoon showed through.  Then I had some aqua embossing powder, but really it was too light so then I rubbed some lagoon ink over it and over the areas where the paper showed through.  IDK... like I said... not exactly what I envisioned but maybe a little time on Pinterest and I'll try again.

 

Stop again soon for some more artwork with new products-now that the book is live I'll have lots to show you!  Hope on over to Donna and Susan's blogs and see what they've cooked up for you!