Good Luck Card for Freshly Made Sketches #229 and Between the Folds #17B

One of my favorite managers at my golf course is leaving for a better job and I made him this card to say "goodbye" and "good luck".  I used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge for the greeting that I designed in Design Space.  I am sharing the cut file here.

Close to My Heart products used:
     White Daisy CS
     Grey Wool Ink (retired)
     Tee Time stamp (retired)
     Grey Wool CS (retired)
     Dots Embossing Folder
     Art Philosophy font in Design Space

Other products:
     Frances Meyer turf paper
     Cricut Black pen
     CraZart green marker

The card layout is from Freshly Made Sketches #229:

The challenge at Between the Folds #17B is to use Embossing Folders.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

Color Dare #186 Meets Sketch Saturday #404

Welcome back to another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge blog post.  This week we are challenging you to use all and only the following colors:  Gypsy, Lagoon and White Daisy.

My first card features the Spring Critters frog and the original Adventures Fundamentals pattern.  This adorable stamp set also has a matching Thin Cuts dies to make it so easy to use.  I used a Q-tip and Lagoon ink to "color" the frog and an old Gypsy Alcohol Marker to outline the frog.

Close to My Heart products used:

     Lagoon CS

     White Daisy CS

     Adventures Fundamental Paper (original pattern--retired)

     Spring Critters stamps

     Spring Critters Thin Cuts

     Gypsy Ink

     Lagoon Ink

     Gypsy Alcohol Marker (retired)

     Chalk Marker (to color flowers on the lily pads)

Other products:

     tiny wiggle eyes

     Spring Fling cricut cartridge to cut lily pads

     Violet Cricut pen to outline lily pads

My card was inspired by this sketch from Sketch Saturday #404:

When I was making the frog card I originally thought I would use the Gypsy on top and Lagoon on the bottom but then I changed my mind.  I already had the pieces glued down so I decided to make a second Easter card using the Give a Lift stamp set.  

Head on over to the Color Dare blog to check out what the rest of the fabulous Design Team has to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

     

Use Your Stash Blog Hop Cricut Craze

The theme for our Use Your Stash Blog Hop this month is "Cricut Craze".   As Close to My Heart enthusiasts we have 5 wonderful cricut cartridges to choose from--over 3500 images!  If you are coming from Michelle Loncar's blog you are on the right track.

My project started with a tag with a shamrock on it from the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I attached it to a rectangle in Design Space and then separated the shamrock out and made several different sizes of it.  I am freely sharing the Design Space cut file here.  The inspiration for using this color came from the Heart 2 Heart challenge to use the color Fern.

My card uses Art Philosophy cartridge, White Daisy CS, Fern CS, Fern Ink and Holiday Tags stamp set.

The inspiration for my card came from the Sunday Stamps Sketch #122:

When I cut my card on the cricut I cut two pieces--one to be used on the card and the second to be used as a stencil.  Here I used Topiary Ink and a Sponge Dauber to create the second card.  I was inspired by the CAS on Sunday Challenge #79 to Stencil it.

I've been playing with my Close to My Heart Watercolor Paints lately so I decided to paint the shamrocks that came out of my stencil piece and glue them to a card.  I masked off the inner piece with large post it notes so I could paint the outside border the same color as the shamrocks.  I used Clear Embossing Powder and Versamark Ink to stamp the greeting before I painted over it in green.  Soon after painting I used a soft cloth to rub the paint off the embossed letters.

Before you run off to see Wendy Kessler's project please leave me a comment and let me know which card you like best.  Will it be the shade of green that you prefer, the technique used or something else?

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

Color Dare #185 Meets Atlantic Hearts Sketch #151

Welcome back to another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge blog post.  This week we are challenging you to use all and only the following colors:  Cotton Candy, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, Glacier and White Daisy.

My card features the Close to My Heart stamp set called "Kiss it Better" and the challenge colors.

The hearts in the center of the bandaids were stamped in Cotton Candy Ink and then covered with Liquid Glass which slightly altered the color.

When I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch I knew I would be using these bandaids to make this card.  Thank you Atlantic Hearts for providing such wonderful sketches to inspire us!

Head on over to the Color Dare blog and check out what the rest of the fabulous Design Team has to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

Watercolored Easter Card for Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #272

The theme for Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #272 is Easter.  I can't believe that it is 2 weeks away already!  

My card was cut from the Simple Holiday Cards Cricut cartridge from White Daisy Cardstock and then painted with various colors.  It was so much fun to do!

We would love to have you join in on this challenge.  Head on over to the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge blog to see what the other designers have made here.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!
:) Marie

Color Dare #184 Meets Mojo Monday #438

Welcome back to another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge blog post!

This week we are challenging you to create something with all and only the following  Close to My Heart colors:  Smoothie, Canary, Flaxen, Sweet Leaf and White Daisy.

Close to My Heart products used:

     White Daisy CS

     Smoothie CS

     Canary CS

     Regatta paper

     Sweet Leaf CS

     Spring Critters stamp

     Spring Critters Thin Cuts

     Art Philosophy (flourished star)

     Smoothie Ink

     Liquid Glass

     3D Foam Tape

     White and Gold ribbon

Other products

     tiny wiggle eyes

The inspiration for my card layout came from Mojo Monday #438.

Head on over to the Color Dare blog and check out what the rest of the fabulous Design Team has to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

Watercoloring for Atlantic Hearts Sketch #150 and Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Welcome back to another Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  We are a group of Close to My Heart consultants who share something each month on the 9th and at 9PM EST.  If you are coming from Betty Locco's blog you are on the right track.  (If you get "lost" along the way visit Joyce's blog for the complete lineup.)  Have fun being inspired! 

I had so much fun using Close to My Heart Watercolor Paints for the Watercolor Blog Hop last week that I decided to use them again for this card.  The sketch is from Atlantic Hearts Sketch #150 and the color theme is from A Blog Named Hero called "Rainbow".  Since this card has a birthday message I'm also entering it into the Seize the Birthday challenge.

I used thin washi tape to mask off sections on watercolor paper to create the color blocks.  Here's a helpful tip:  when watercoloring use painter's tape and a flat sturdy board so that you can heat emboss it to dry the paper and keep it flat.  I used a Dollar Tree mini cutting board for this purpose.

Close to My Heart products used:

     Watercolor Paper

     Watercolor Paints

     Canary CS

     Gypsy CS

     For Family stamps

     Versamark Ink

     Ranger White Super Fine Embossing Powder

     3D Foam Tape

The next stop on the blog hop is Crystal Davis' blog.  I'm sure you'll be inspired by what she shares.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

P.S.  If you like Close to My Heart products and you like to challenge yourself I invite you to check out the Color My Heart Color Dare blog.  We award blog badges to our weekly winners and have a monthly prize drawing for a randomly drawn entry so the more often you play the more chances you have to win a donated prize from a CTMHconsultant.

Your Own Kind of Wonderful in the Watercolor Blog Hop

Welcome to our Watercolor Blog Hop!  We will be featuring the Watercoloring products from Close to My Heart such as our Watercolor Paints and our Watercolor Pencils.  If you have come here from Kathy Burrow's blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog:  http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/p/stamp-of-month-blog-hop-list.html. 

This month we have 30 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using Watercolor Products and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! 

My project features a technique called "Watercolor Lifting".  Basically you paint your panel and then clear emboss your images.  Next you paint your panel with plain water to lighten the colors so your embossed images are darker.  It's pretty easy to do!

Here's a close up so you can see how shiny the silver embossed panel is:

Can you guess how I got the silver embossed dots on the butterfly?  Okay, I'll tell you--I used a small Q tip cotton swab dipped in Versamark ink pad and then applied silver embossing powder and a heat tool.  I got the Happy Birthday Greeting from the Perfect Fit Birthday stamp set.

Close to My Heart products used:

     Watercolor Paper

     Watercolor Paints

     Art Philosophy cartridge Pink dotted butterfly

     Versamark Ink

     Clear Embossing Powder

     Ranger Silver Embossing Powder

     Your Own Kind of Wonderful stamp set

     Perfect Fit Birthday stamp

My card layout was inspired by Freshly Made Sketch #226:

Now "Hop" on over to Lela Norris' blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get the products I used in this project.

Here are some other projects I've made recently using the Watercolor Paints:

     Monochromatic Blue Watercolor Card

     Spring Critters Frog Card

     Watercolored Striped Card

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

     

Sunshine Birdies for Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring March's SOTM, which is Sunshine Birdies, a set of 11 stamps.  If you have come here from Nancy Womersley's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog.  

This month we have 39 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

Without the Artbooking Teal frame:

Which card do you like better?

Close to My Heart products used:

     Thistle CS

     Kaleidacolor paper

     Sapphire CS

     Canary CS

     Artbooking cartridge (pg 61 at 3.25") card cut file is here

     Sunshine Birdies stamps

     Peacock Ink (sun)

     Memento Black ink (greeting, butterfly)

     Liquid Glass (sun and butterfly)

     Turquoise Blue Shin Han Touch marker (outline the greeting)

     Golden Yellow Shin Han Touch marker (flower center)

My card was inspired by the Sketch Saturday sketch:

Now "Hop" on over to Kathy Burrow's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the March SOTM is only available until March 31st!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie