Celebrate Sketch 21

I have to say that I am very happy with how my card turned out for this sketch! I did have a bit of help though as there was a card class I took at Carousel Rubber Stamps back in 2010 that I absolutely loved! I wanted to recreate it but of course it used a punch I didn't own (and couldn't find), a stamp that by the time I decided I wanted it was no longer available and expensive shimmery paper..... You can see the original from the class here. Of course I was going through all the sketches Michelle had given me to digitize and came across this one and nearly fell off my chair as if you look at it sideways was perfect.... I guess it was time to try to create the same stunning effect using what I had on hand. The Artbooking cartridge and Create-a-shade Pearl Paint made this extremely easy and I'm really glad I waited so long as I actually like this one to the original as the Sentiment stand out more, and I didn't have to heat emboss and fussy cut out (by hand) the butterfly. Yay!

This first one show the colours the best and more true with the Celebrate sentiment but I adjusted the colours a bit in the Remember sentiment one so you could see the shimmer that the pearl paint mixture adds better. 

I used White Daisy card base and for the top rectangle mat. The rest is all Colonial White that has been sprayed with a mixture of water and Pearl Paint. I am in LOVE with Pearl Paint for many techniques but this is by far my favourite!. :) I also sprayed some of the pearl paint mixture on one of my teflon craft mats and then stamped a swirl from Love Life in it and onto the top white piece randomly to add a bit of shimmer there as well and to provide some flight paths for the butterfly. I don't think you'll be able to see that in the photo though so you'll just have to trust me on that one. 

All the pieces (border, Sentiment and Butterfly were cut from the new Artbooking Cricut Cartridge. 

The ribbon is just some sheer ribbon from my stash that I got at Michaels when it was on sale.

Now go check out all the rest of the Design Teams wonderful creations this week (as well as the Top 3 from last week) HERE.

Also, if you'd like to play along with this weeks sketch you can find it and the link up for it HERE.

Products Used:

Sketch 20 Peace

I actually intended to share a different card with you for this sketch but it never got finished as it's been another crazy week in our house. Keep an eye out though as I really want to make the other card I had in mind so I'm sure you will see it show up here eventually.

I had also made this card which is a variation on a card I had made a year or so ago at a local craft store that is now close unfortunately. I switched out some of the colouring and what I used for the colouring as well as popping a few squares up with dimensional adhesive.

I am on a search to find the name of this stamp for you but it is one of my older non-CTMH wooden ones and the name of it has worn off so if any of you recognize it by all means please let me know the name in the comments. I will find it though as I am determined and will update the post when I do. :)

Now head on over to see the rest of the design teams creations this week and check to see if you made top 3 or not by clicking HERE.

You can also go directly to this weeks sketch and link up your own entry by clicking HERE.

Lovely Sketch 19

This weeks sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge was provided by one of our fabulous Design Team members Carrie Wright.

I decided to stick with the heart shape she used in her sketch and with a little help from some white embossing powder, Laughing Lola Paper and D1571 Sweet & Lovely which is one of the stamp sets that comes in the Artbooking Cricut Collection Bundle I came up with this card.

The strip down the left is just the zip strip on this paper which I just cut my piece for my card from that edge of the paper to include the zip strip.

Now please head on over to Atlantic Hearts Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the Design Team came up with this week as well as the Top 3 from last week by clicking HERE.

You can enter this weeks challenge and see the original sketch HERE.

Happy Birthday - Sketch 16

I had to make a card for my little cousins 1st birthday... (Happy Birthday sweet girl!) on the weekend and as usual I fell back on the sketch for Atlantic Hearts as my starting off point. Of course after I finished the card I remembered I just got the cutest stamp set from the new idea book out of Jeanette's Archive so I pulled it out and made a second card with it.

Here's card #1

Here's card # 2

I honestly can't tell you which is my favourite as I keep going back and forth between them. They both use the new Babycakes paper with chocolate cardstock on colonial white card bases. They also both use the Babycakes Complements for the "ribbon". Oh and yes, they really are the same colour in real life but when I tried to correct the colour in the photo of the giraffe one it turned the grey background green when I adjusted the colour for the chocolate so I gave up and left the patterned paper as close as possible to the correct colour and I'll let you imagine the chocolate colour like you see on the teddy bear card on it instead of the darker almost cocoa colour that you see in the photo.

The giraffe card I simply stamped the sentiment from D1502 - Look Who's on the canvas Babycakes complements using the chocolate pigment ink from the basics assortment.

The teddy bear card everything is stamped with the pigment ink and then I used alcohol markers to colour in the bow, present and hat (by the way the present and hat are separate stamps in the set so your bear doesn't have to be birthday he can just be a bear with a bow on him). I used a blender pen with the chocolate ink to colour in the bear nice and light.

Now head on over to the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog to see the all the awesome creations by our wonderful Design Team and to see who got Top 3 from last weeks sketch HERE.

Once you've been inspired I'd love to see you get brave and link up your own take on this weeks sketch HERE.

Products Used Today:

Beware Sketch 15

Make sure you check out the  rest of the Design Teams creations and Tops 3 from last weeks sketch (after you read my post of course or at least check out the card I made) so you don't miss out on some truly awesome creations! I am so very proud of our design team, they make my heart happy.

I always try to make cards for my sons preschool class and friends and family from both my kids (my youngest isn't in preschool or anything yet) for all the holidays.

This year I need to make sure I start them just a little bit earlier than usual to ensure they get made on time for each holiday.

That said when I was looking through my new Close To My Heart Artbooking cricut cartridge I saw a few images and had this weeks sketch in the back of my mind for this years Halloween cards. Now I know you're probably not ready to start your Halloween cards just yet but I bet over the next month you're going to start trying to (or after the fact will wish you started to so you didn't end up doing them last minute like I usually do) figure out what you're going to make so you can get all the supplies you'll need.

Check out what I came up with!

The card base is 6" square of cranberry cardstock and then the black is a 5.5" square. I used the Artbooking cartridge to cut the spider web overlay at 5.5" from whisper cardstock which I then sanded a bit and added some glitz gel randomly on it (not sure if you can pick out the glitter in the photo or not but trust me.. in real life the web has a definite sparkle). The spider was cut with the dial size set at 11.5" (this cartridge is set up so that the pieces will cut to make the layout pictured in the handbook by setting the dial size once and cutting all of your pieces hence the large dial size for this spider... I also could have used real dial size and cut it somewhere around 3" since that's how big he ended up). I cut the "Beware" at 1" with real dial size on (I think it would have cut this size had I just left my dial size on 5.5" and not used Real Dial Size as well).

I covered my spider with bonding memories glue using the jumbo glue stick and poured some black flocking on him. I love that this card has the fuzzy spider and the shimmery web. The spider is then positioned with the "Beware" first and then the word and spider are popped up together with foam tape.


Please head over and check out what the rest of the design team made with this weeks sketch as well as the Top 3 from Sketch 14 HERE

Products Used:

Your friendship is like coffee

My card for you today uses Sketch # 14 from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

 In case you were wondering what happened to me last week I was away on vacation and although I had a card made and had taken pictures of it to post for you while I was away the files went corrupt on me and I couldn't get them off of my camera to share with you and of course I didn't bring my card with me to re-photograph it. The card has vanished into the abyss which is my craft room and when it appears again I will get it photographed and posted for you. :)

 This is actually not the original card I had made for this weeks sketch as my original card is lost with last weeks card somewhere (yes, I seriously need to re-organize... or actually right now the problem is that I re-organized but can't remember where I re-organized everything to). The card I have for you today is one I made for a new but dear friend to me who listens to my complaining and is my shoulder to lean on on a daily basis. She picks up my slack for me when life throws lemons at me and I just haven't gotten around to making lemonade with them yet. Although I have a feeling it will be quite some time before we have a childless coffee date with hubby being away I made this card for her. Thanks Michelle!

I used the new stamp coming in the Autumn/Winter book which goes live tomorrow called Geometric Backgrounds to make my background. Sooooo simple and I just love the effect. I was going for old fashioned tablecloth here and I think it works. Although Michelle's favourite colour is blue I just couldn't bring myself to do this in anything other than red as that's what stands out as the old fashioned checkered cloth to me. I stamped the pot and cup from Cup of Cheer, coloured them with alcohol markers and fussy cut them out minus the steam. The sentiment was stamped from the same stamp set on the white layer as was the steam. the card base and the strip across is Ruby Cardstock.

I hope you enjoyed my card today and will go over HERE to see the rest of the Design Teams creations this week for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge # 14 as well as the Top 3 from Sketch 13. 

If you'd like to see this weeks sketch and enter yourself please check that out HERE.

Products Used:

Hello Sketch # 12

I'm going to keep my post very short and sweet this week as I'm trying to spend all my time with my husband and children this week before hubby leaves for deployment for 8 months this weekend. :)

Without further ado... here is my take on Sketch # 12 from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog.

I flipped the sketch sideways and used a card design from a kit by fellow consultant Dawn Montagano from quite a while ago that she had done using the victory paper and barn red. I used our current Tommy paper paired with outdoor denim and honey. I coloured the dog in from the A Bowwow stamp set (love this set at just $6.95 it's fabulous) with alcohol markers. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set as well as the little bones that were fussy cut out and stuck on top of the honey like a bow. The outdoor denim layer behind the dog was scored every 1/4" 6 times and tyhen lightly sanded to expose the white core of the card stock on the score lines. The panel with the dog on it was scored 1/4" in all the way around and sponged with some cashmere ink.

Make sure you check out ALL the design teams creations using this sketch today HERE.

Go HERE to see all the entries so far and to enter your own creation! :)