Sunday Stamps Guest Designer for SSC23

I'm very excited to be a guest designer for Sunday Stamps this week--a site that I recently found and love!  It is a color challenge:

The closest colors that I have that match these are from Close To My Heart.  I used Cocoa, Autumn Terracotta and Goldrush.  It was a lot of fun to play with these fall colors which gave me so many wonderful ideas that I couldn't decide what I liked best so I made 3 cards.

Card #1--leaf cut is from Art Philosophy cartridge (page 43 branch 1 cut at 2.5") and the center panel is raised using 3M foam tape  as in the second photo.  The greeting is from Card Chatter--Sympathy and is embossed with Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder (retired CTMH)

Card #2 is a design from Jeanette Lynton's Wishes Book.  The stamps are from the Harvest Happiness set.

Card #3 has clear embossed leaves on the colored portion which adds some texture.  The greeting is also from Harvest Happiness by CTMH.

Do you have a favorite?  We would love to see what designs you come up with--please join us!
:) Marie

Top Tip Tuesday #89--We're All Heart

Just this week I made this card for my sister and her husband's 20th wedding anniversary which fits into this challenge by Top Tip Tuesday to use a heart on a project.  All products are from Close To My Heart and are available on my website here (although some have been retired from CTMH).  The jigsaw puzzle heart was cut from the Artiste cartridge on page 57 at 2.75" from Dotty for You paper and Colonial White CS.  The colors are Autumn Terracotta and Goldrush.  The anniversary greeting came from "Life is Tweet" which was a Stamp of the Month this past June.  I wrote in "20th" with a gel pen.

My Tip:
  To get a more intense color from dye based inks clear emboss the image.  First I ink my stamp with Versamark and then the chosen color ink.  Stamp your image onto the paper and then sprinkle clear embossing powder over it and heat set.  It is so easy to do and then you don't have to have all those jars of embossing powder and stray pieces of embossing powder are invisible!

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

Made with Cricut Scraps and H2H Challenge

Now that I've been playing with the new CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge I've accumulated quite a bit of scraps from which my shapes have come from. I challenged myself to find ways to use some of these scraps. Here is what I started from:

This first card was made with the Hollyhock paper from which the "ticket" shapes were cut. The greeting is from Harvest Happiness (C1463) set. Outdoor Denim and Indian Corn Blue CS was also accent the card. The dark blue circles were cut with a regular hole punch. As this card has 3 colors and no patterned paper it qualifies for the Sept. 19th H2H challenge.

The next card also qualifies for the H2H Sept. 19 challenge with the following colors: Goldrush, Autumn Terracotta, Barn Red and Colonial White. The frame for the leaf on the top right was sponged with goldrush ink. The leaves and greeting were embossed in Goldrush EP (now retired).

This card was made sponging through the scraps with Autumn Terracotta and Goldrush inks. It was very fast and easy to do.

The final card I have to share with you today uses Hollyhock, Black and White Daisy CS so it would also qualify for the H2H challenge. The inside of the flowers was made with a Ranger product called Liquid Pearls.

Flourished Blessings with Clear Embossing Technique

Here are two cards that I made using a clear embossing technique over Splendor paper.  First I stamped the leaf image (D1379 Flourished Blessings) onto the patterned paper with Versamark Ink.  Next I applied CTMH Clear Embossing Powder and heat set with our craft heater. After that I used a sponge dauber with either Chocolate stamp pad or Topiary stamp pad to rub ink into the grooves of the stamped image and around the stamped image to provide contrast from the original paper print which shows in the leaf image.  The first card uses Colonial White as the base with Goldrush and Pansy Purple cardstock and Chocolate ink.  The second card uses Colonial White as the base with Garden Green and Autumn Terracotta cardstock and Topiary Ink.  Close To My Heart has such beautiful patterned papers that this technique can be used with--let your imagination run free with this easy yet stunning technique!