Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #149

 

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch #149!  I decided it would be a good time to make a card without any stamping.   See, you can make a pretty cool card with just some pretty papers and your Cricut.  You don't have to be a stamper to make great homemade cards and this went so fast. 

 

 

Of course, the stamper in me just couldn't let it go at that...lol!  I had to add some cute little shy, mischievous kittens.  These guys are from the Operation Smile set, Animal Greetings... love this little set... it's become my go to accessory when I need a little animal to add.  And CTMH has so many cute and beautiful stamp sets and March 1st is the start of Stampaganza!!  Buy two get one free stamp sets (don't forget your lowest priced sets on an order are the free ones.. plan wisely)!!!  Available on my website NOW!  And don't forget the Clearance section while you're there!

 

Isn't she cute?  That adorable hat is from the Cutting Café Shop owl set I bought a few weeks ago... it was the purrrrfect size!  I'm also playing along with the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge and the Aud Sentiments Cute and a Sentiment Challenge

 

I'll dedicate this one to my friend, Kitty!  If you flip out over the felines, check out her creations!

 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to head on over to the Atlantic Hearts blog and check out all of the great artwork and make this the week you play along!

Craftin' Desert Divas Linky Party Lots of Layers Week #1

 

 

Welcome to this week's Crafting Desert Divas Linky Party! The theme for this Linky Party at Craftin Desert Divas is “Lots of Layers”!  Please play along and create something that fits this week's theme and link up at the Craftin' Desert Diva’s Blog.

Every other Monday is beginning of a new semi-weekly Linky Party over at the CDD blog. We hope you will share your projects with us! And there are prizes! Every Linky Party will have a winner and a Top 3!  The more times you link up…the more chances you have to win!!

 

Here is my project for this week's party:

 

Well, of course I wanted to use this owl... you knew I would eventually, right?  I just love this Love Letter Owl Digi Stamp available in the Craftin' Desert Divas Shop.  I've had this idea brewing in my head for a couple weeks now and finally got to get it down on paper.  But first, I had to get my hands on this awesome Sky Is The Limit Die Set that I used to cut out the stitched clouds and sun.  And the rolling hills were cut using the Outdoor Landscapes Die Set.

 

 I printed the owl on white cardstock and then again on vellum (just so I could layer the vellum envelope over some of these adorable heart sequins... and that owl... just love those big eyes that come alive with a little liquid glass.

 

 Aren't they so sweet??  These are the Coral Heart Sequins from the CDD shop.   I added a little prisma glitter as well.  And I got lucky and found this PML card with the cute little birds on the wire in my stash and made the sentiment on the computer.. again... I'm not the author... but I remembered seeing it somewhere on Pinterest and thought it was perfect for this!

 

So, check out all of the great works of heart by the Design Team Members and participants as well and give it a try!  There are prizes to be won!  And do not forget to join the Craftin' Desert Divas New Product Release Party on Facebook!  The fun starts on Tuesday, March 1st.

 

Thanks for stopping and come again soon!

Craftin' Desert Divas New Release Starts Tuesday!

 

So excited!  Tuesday starts the preview period for some great new products from Craftin' Desert Divas!  You can join the party here!  I was lucky enough to get to play with some of the new sequins that will be in the shop and they are oh so sweet!

 

 

I told you I was going to be using this Pretty Peacock digital stamp available now in the Craftin Desert Divas online shop.  And check out this beautiful new sequin mix, Fairy Dust, that will be available in the CDD online shop starting next Friday AND they'll be on sale!  I cut the background scalloped circle using the CDD die set, Stitched in Circles and those pretty little purple glitter hearts were cut with the beautiful Heart of Hearts Die.

 

I always like to add a few sequins outside of my shaker to give the feeling that they're falling out all over the place.... I forgot to add a feather to my last Pretty Peacock creation... so I was sure to add one here.

Here's a close-up of those oh so pretty white and iridescent sequins.. they are so sweet!  Look at those tiny stars and pretty flower shaped ones... they are delicious!  You can check out all of the beautiful sequins available now in the CDD shop here...  Be sure to join us starting Tuesday to get a peak at all of the new products available Friday!  And there will be sales and free shipping offers!  Do not miss it!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #148

 

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #148!  Love this week's sketch because that circle in the middle immediately made me think of a cluster of images and then my thoughts turned to one of my favorite CTMH sets that I haven't been able to use in a while, Stuck on You and one of the cutest new sets Springtime Critters as well as the coordinating die sets.  I'm also playing along with the Aud Sentiments Cute Plus a Sentiment Challenge!

 

Since the cactus made me think of the sun, the circle was the perfect way to give that sunshiny feeling to my card... and then I decided to use orange as a complementary color.  Not part of the Penelope paper pack that I used, I thought it goes along quite well!

 

And then when I was trying to decide which critter to add... why the orange fox turned out to be just perfect!

 

Making it a quick post today, but be sure to hop on over to the Atlantic Hearts blog and check out all of the artwork from design team members as well as participants and play along while you're there!  It's a great week to start! And don't forget to check out Aud Sentiments too!  Great way to combine a couple challenges!

Craftin' Desert Divas "Nature's Wonder" Linky Party - Week 2!

 

Welcome to this week's Crafting Desert Divas Linky Party! The theme for this Linky Party at Craftin Desert Divas is “Nature’s Wonders”!  Please play along and create something that fits this week's theme and link up at the Craftin' Desert Diva’s Blog.

Every other Monday is beginning of a new semi-weekly Linky Party over at the CDD blog. We hope you will share your projects with us! And there are prizes! Every Linky Party will have a winner and a Top 3!  The more times you link up…the more chances you have to win!!

 

Here is my project for this week's party:

 

 

As soon as I saw this Pretty Peacock digital stamp, available in the CDD shop, I knew I needed to use it on some projects.  She is so sweet and pretty and I couldn't wait to color her and add some sparkle and shine. 

I created the background with some watercolors and gold color shine spray and backed that with some gold glitter paper.  The perfect backdrop for this beautiful bird. 

 

 

I colored her in with all kinds of greens and blues and purples and added a little gold Wink of Stella.  I used one of my new favorite sets of dies, Stitched in Circles for the shaker element.  The large scalloped circle at the back, the PML card I used for the sentiment, and the pretty wreath I cut out of glitter paper were all cut using this die set.  This one is going to get a lot of use.

And speaking of getting a lot of use... I already have more plans for this beauty.  When I printed her, I printed lots of different sizes and even flipped her to face the other way...

 

Check out the CDD shop for these items!

 

 

http://craftindesertdivas.com/pretty-peacock-digital-stamp/

http://craftindesertdivas.com/stitched-in-circle-dies/

 

Birthday Owl Flying By With A Sweet Wish!

 

Had fun making this shaker card today!  I used one of the overlays from the CTMH Artbooking Cricut Cartridge and welded it inside one of the banner frames.  Really happy with how it turned out.  The cute little owl is from Artbooking as well. 

 

I used Penelope papers for the first time and I'm really liking how bright and cheery they are.  That sweet "Happy" cutout is from a Paper Sweeties Sweet Cuts die... one of my favorites.. love those skinny cursive words...

 

And you can't really see it in the photo, but the white background is embossed with clouds... subtle... but cute if you notice it...lol...

 

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back Monday for the Craftin Desert Divas Linky Party and on Tuesday or Atlantic Hearts!

 

Color Dare #180 and H2H Share The Love

Dear Mom, Thank you so much for the wonderful gift of the Misti that you gave me ... idk... a year ago?  I am so sorry that since that time, when you ask me if I've yet discovered the wonders of the Misti that my answer has been no.  A resounding no.  Painful to your ears and heart, I just didn't think of it.  Then, as I was making this card and getting frustrated because my cat was just not turning out dark enough, a lightbulb went on and I could hear this most wonderful Misti calling my name from inside the dark cupboard it's been forced to spend its life in since it came to my house... Harry Potter-ish... very sad.  So I thought... what the hey!  I'll give it a try... and I'm here to tell you... You were right.  And I was wrong.  (And yes, you too, Marilyn Hepp.. You told me so).  Love, your favorite daughter.

 

 

Ok... now that that's out of the way, I'm playing along with Color My Heart Color Dare again this week who just happens to be mashing up with Heart2Heart Challenges so again I thought... What the Hey!  I know.. I told you no more Valentines... but this isn't necessarily a Valentine... as lovey as it is.
 

I used mom's new awesome Storybook die from Pretty Pink Posh and I didn't set out to make it an actual window.  In fact I was going to make a quick and simple card... but then I saw a cool shaker done by Valerie Klein Ward using one of these dies and I knew I wanted to make it a shaker.  You can see her card here if you'd like and you should cause it's really cute!

 

 

So, I cut the "window" out of the red cardstock and then I cut one out of some foam because I knew it would be hard to cut my sticky foam tape skinny enough for those lines between the panes.  It stretches it out a bit when you put it through the Big Shot, but it worked out pretty well.  I cut my base piece in white and did my stamping and then blended some of all the reds in the color challenge to create a sunset-ish kind of look.. the white was just too stark.  Still using some of the little hearts from my Heart of Heart Die from Craftin Desert Divas and also mixed in some of their pretty Valentine sequin mix (minus the pinks) and a few other black and white sequin mixes in my stash.  The stamp set I used is Amour from CTMH (borrowed that from mom too)... seems to be the theme here...

 

 

Embossed the Je T'adore sentiment white on black cardstock and then added one of my new favorite embellishments... Tim Holtz Distress Glitter using some translucent embossing paste... a few flowers and then it struck me.  I had seen a post from a girl who was upset and showed how she made such a pretty embossed image of the word Café and accidentally put it in backwards so the word was embossed backwards.  When I saw it, I thought... I feel like I'm sitting at a window in a café and looking out... so I decided my window needed a litte Café sign in it and added the coffee cup (adorable wood veneers I got from Latina Crafter) and macaroons (from a really cute set "Cup of Cheer" from Poppy Stamps)... and of course a little doily.

 

 

Guess I better wrap it up and get to work, but be sure to check out these two challenges and take a look at some of the great artwork!

 

 



Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #147

 

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  As soon as I saw this sketch, I thought of my yummy washi tape that I just got from The Cutting Café Shop last week.  I haven't used it nearly as much as I've wanted to so I thought I'd make one more Valentine card.  I also threw in some of my very favorite CTMH gold polka dot washi and gold foil tape.  This was a quick and easy card and this is gonna be a quick and easy post.  I also borrowed mom's new scalloped frames die set she got from Pretty Pink Posh... I might have to get them so I don't have to have them on constant loan out from her.

 

I just love this adorable owl set I also got from The Cutting Café Shop.. some really adorable owls and sayings along with some other cute stamps are on the set.  You need to check it out!

 

And be sure to head on over to the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge Blog and check out last week's beautiful creations and take a few minutes and play along with this one... so easy to make a beautiful card with this sketch in a short amount of time!  Thanks again, Michelle!

Lessology Challenge #55-Pretty Tassels

 

 

 

This month's Lessology challenge is all about Tassels... the only other rule is you must use something upcycled in your project.  I was very lucky and when I won the Lessology challenge a few months ago, my prize package just happened to have a tassel in it.  So I was all set when this month's challenge came along, right?  Noooooo..... I have had that tassel hanging in front of me for a while now trying to decide what I would do with it... and then  remembered all of these little canvases I got for almost nothing recently somewhere and I decided I'd start there.  Then my niece has been loving all that is France these days and her new bedroom is decorated in this theme so I thought .. ok... that will work... and off I went.

 

I started by painting the canvas black.  I took some old CTMH paper that had handwriting on it and sprayed it with water and wrinkled it up and sprayed it again and wrinkled it up and then straightened it out while it was still damp and modge podged it onto the canvas.  After that was dry, I took some Tim Holtz distress ink in a Old Paper and Old Photograph and did some distressing because the paper was pretty white and then stamped a couple coffee stains on it.  I let that dry and painted some light splashes of white gesso on the right hand side where I knew I wanted to stamp the Eiffel tower.  I also mixed it with a bit of purple distress ink and added some swipes of purple.  When dry, I took the purple and mustard distress ink and just kind of swiped it across in a few thin areas.  When that was dry (theme here... I tend to have a second project going so that I don't lose my mind during dry time), I stamped the Eiffel Tower over it.  At this point, I sprayed the piece with some workable fixative so be sure nothing would smear... and then... you guessed it... waited.. for... it... to .... dry... (sigh)

 

I had tried to stamp Je T'Adore right on the canvas, but it didn't come out how I wanted which turned out to be a good thing because I ended up embossing it in black on some white paper, cut it out, and then added all kinds of inks to that and the look makes me happy.  So what's upcycled here... see that little castle?  That is a button that used to belong to my Niece's great grandma.  My Sis-In-Law gave me a bin of her grandmother's buttons.. some new and some old.. a while ago because she just didn't know what to do with them and figured I could use them.  So I've been trying to include some things from there when I make things for her and I thought it would be nice for Izzy to have some on hers... plus.. the castle .. perfect, right?

 

There's that oh so pretty tassel... thanks Yvonne!!

 

Also, a while ago I cleaned out my jewelry box of old costume cheap jewelry and instead of throwing it out or donating what would probably end up thrown out anyway, spent some time taking apart necklaces and earrings and I have quite the collection of little charms to use here and there.  This one was silver, but I used some gold paint on it..

 

The black flowers with gold on them were leftover from old projects and the purple ones had been cut, but today I added some extra variations of purple colors with watercolors and then squished them and sprayed them with some gold color shine as well.

Here are a couple more of Grandma's buttons... I just love that amber colored one there and another goldish brassish one hiding under the flowers.

 

Please head on over the Lessology challenge blog and check out some of the VERY cool and beautiful pieces that have been created... and if you're feeling randy, play along!  You might surprise yourself.

 

Be sure and come back tomorrow for Atlantic Hearts!  

An-otter CDD Birthday Card (Punny Right?)

 

So... as soon as I saw this little cutie I knew I had to make something with him.. I know someone who loves Otters and I thought what a cute birthday card he would make... I think it's pretty cute!  I made a circle card and used the CDD Stitched In Circle Dies for the frame.  It's hard to see in pics, but the background of the shaker card is watercolors and it really does look pretty cool.  Then I used a mixture of different sequins from my stash to fill it up.  That cute banner is from the Craftin Desert Divas Party Dies as well as the cute little bow next to the sentiment.

 

Isn't he adorable?  I'm gonna have a hard time giving this one away.  This little guy is a CDD digital image called Birthday Otter.

 



 

One of the cool things about digital images is you can print them whatever size you want.  I like to print a couple at a time in different sizes to save time and paper and then I have leftovers for another project all ready to go.  Someone asked me what the secret is to printing the images and not having them smear.  To be honest I don't know.  I worried about that, but I haven't had an issue.  I can tell you I use an Epson printer and Epson Inks and print on special paper made to take alcohol markers (which is also pretty and sparkly).  I also like to print and then let it set for a while.  I am going to ask around about this though and see what other tips there are out there and please if you have some share them here in my comments... inquiring minds want to know!

 

I had this sentiment in my head and printed it also... I'm sure I saw it somewhere at some point so no... I'm not that clever... but how easy it was to print it!  CDD has some nice digital sentiment sets too to take the guesswork out of fonts and such... check them out!

 

And don't forget to play along with the Digi Challenge in the CDD Facebook Gallery... if you're interested I can help you get into the group and get started:

 

And it's not too late to save on some awesomely adorable digi images:

 

Birthday Otter: