What a Wonderful World - H2H Apr Wonderful World Winner

Heart2Heart Challenge - Apr 20, 2015 "What a Wonderful World"  

This was the song I chose for my son and our dance at his Wedding, and I thought I would use the lyrics "The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the Sky..." as my background.  I selected to use a smack down technique using a rose stamp from the CTMH Stamp Set "Floral Happiness Stamp of the Month".  CTMH ink colors used for the rainbow, from top to bottom, were Cotton Candy, Hollyhock, Sunflower, Buttercup, Seafoam, Sweet Leaf, Lagoon and Crystal Blue.  For the sheen on the background, added VersaMark on full background and used clear embossing powder and heat embossed.   

"I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you..." The rose stamp was chosen for this part of the lyrics, but I didn't use red because it seemed too harsh for the soft background. Tried several rose floral designs for the focal point using Cricut Design Space and finally decided on CTMH Artfully Sent - Floral Bouquet Card, resized using Lagoon Cardstock, and then lifted design with 3D Thin Foam Tape on Sunset Cardstock and lightly applied "Wink of Stella" to soften the Floral Bouquet.  

The Sentiment was from Cricut Design Space text that I created and then printed with the Explore using Cricut Thin Point Pen "Candy Crystal" on white Cardstock and framed with Lagoon and Sunset cardstock. Using a couple of the leaf pieces from the cut-out Floral Bouquet, I applied to the corner of the Sentiment and applied "Wink of Stella".  

I had put this card on the back burner knowing I had time to think about the card before the challenge was due at the end of the month.  Getting near the deadline I had an idea of what I was going to do. However, it took a couple of attempts to do the background, even tried a bokeh technique, and three focal attempts which I have set aside in my stash in hopes that I may use for a future card.  But I finally got the card where I wanted it...and "What a Wonderful World."   

Please go to Heart2Heart and see all the inspirations from the Design Team and entries for this month's cards...and if you can make cards fast you still have some time to enter these challenges.  

Mother's Day Card - CMH Color Dare #139 Diamond Winner

Stamped on Daisy White Cardstock and Sorbet Cardstock several Exoctic Flower image using CTMH Stamp Set B1477 "Exoctic Flower Flair," and Sentiment from Stamp Set B1473 "Flowers for Mom Holiday" using VersaMark and then heat embossed with a Sorbet powder, and fussy-cut for layering each with 3D Thin Foam Tape.  Inked the background layers with champagne and pearl.  Picture below shows better detail on the Exoctic Flower.  Added ribbon between sentiment and flower and Pearl in the middle of the exoctic flower top layer.  

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #139, 

Sorbet

Champagne
Optional twist: add pearls

Heart2Heart Challenges - Anything Goes 

Still time to enter Color Dare and Heart2Heart Challenges and see the beautiful and inspirational designs of the Design Team Members, along with the other card entries.  

I'm Stinkin' Cute

Sweet Sketch Wednesday2 Sketch #SSW2-52, using a Dilly Beans digital stamp if you have one...since I didn't have one I chose an image from Cricut Design Space...something with big eye(s), a Disney character from Bambi, "Flower" a skunk...who is so stinkin' cute.  And what better than "Flower" sitting in a Garden of Flowers for the Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #212 National Garden Month.  

"Flower" was from Cricut Design Space Cartridge "Disney Classics" and additional flowers were from same image but ungrouped, made a little larger and placed in front of flowers with original image.  Instead of using color cardstock for each piece, all pieces were cut from Daisy White Cardstock and then colored with ShinHan pens so the flowers could be a variety of colors.  To add glitter to flowers, clear Wink of Stella was added.  The butterfly is an image from Cricut Cartridge "Home for the Holidays - Spring" cut from Purple Glitter Sheet.  Liquid glass added to the body of the butterfly, Flower's eye and nose.  Flower and Flowers were lifted with 3D Thin Foam Tape.  The background pieces were made from CTMH Cardstock and Paper Fundamentals - Whimsey Glacier. The stripe at the bottom is a zip strip from Paperpak "Blossom".

Please take a peek at the Design Teams example of these challenges and entries made by many craft enthusiasts...for both Die Cuttin Divas and Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  

You're Sweet as Honey - AHSC #104 Top 3 Winner, Color Dare #138 Diamond Winner

The Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #104, is a card I've wanted to do and a favorite....triple time stamping technique.  I chose to use the colors for this week's ColorMyHeart Color Dare #138 by combining a sketch and color challenge and feel I have accomplished both with this card.  Using a favorite stamp set of mine C1537 Honeycomb Flair, I triple time stamped a variety of honeycombs and colors (Smoothie, Sunset, Canary, Pear, Juniper) on cardstock White Daisy...using the Atlantic Hearts sketch below.  

Please check out the Design Teams papercrafting at Atlantic Hearts and ColorMyHeart Challenges...they are very inspiring and there is still time to enter either of these challenges.  

The mat for each of the triple time stamping was made from Smoothie cardstock.  Using the stamp set B1374 Bee Happy, stamped 3 of the Bees and colored with Shin-Han pens (closest to the colors in the color dare challenge) and then fussy-cut each of the bees and placed on Card with 3D Thin Foam Tape, along with three coordinating honeycombs raised.  

Picture below shows the layers of raised images.  Added a little bit of color on the bees' faces and added liquid glass to make them round and liquid glass on their feet.  Put a second layer of wings on the bees, curled second layer up and put some Wink of Stella on wings to make them look transparent.  Added a small jewel to the center of the flower for some embellishment and stamped on the white cardstock the sentiment from the Bee Happy stamp set.  Still needed something on the right-hand corner, so I stamped, colored, fussy-cut and layered the fourth Bee from the stamp and he's sitting on the mat.  Stamped inside of card with some more colored honeycombs to finish off card.    

Fooling Around - 4th of July Dress-Up

 Page 2

These pages were made for Heart2Heart Challenge - April 1st - No Fooling Scrapbook Challenge. Since this was a scrapbook challenge, I was looking at my Snapfish Albums and decided to do one of our favorite vacations.  My son and I planned a surprise Survivor Game with challenges and prizes daily at a home that we rented in the Adirondacks called "Crowberry Camp".  These two pages are Day 4 of our Survivor experience, a competition for "Best 4th of July dress-Up" for food award...we were all winners.    

Page 1 

All die-cuts were from Cricut Design Space, except for the flourish on Page 1, which was a die I borrowed from my neighbor.  

A lot of our Family Vacations were done with Snapfish because it's so much easier to order extra books then to make a ScrapBook for each family.  One year, our Alaskan trip, my daughter made small albums for each family for Christmas, but never took on that task again...it was a lot of work and she personalized each one...and we all enjoyed receiving them in hopes we would get them yearly.  However, the next year she did the Adirondack vacation on Snapfish, and I have continued with the next few vacations on Snapfish.  These two pages are a gift to her and maybe she'll pick up those 2008 pictures and do some ScrapBook pages for album collection...if not maybe I'll do them when I get the inspiration for another challenge.  This was a fun challenge.  

Please stop by to view the many Design Team's Heart2Heart scrapbook pages and other entries submitted for this challenge...enjoy your visit and there is still time to enter into these challenges for April.  

2nd Birthday - Zoo Card Die Cutting Diva #211 Recognized

This week I wanted to create a card for  Die Cuttin Diva #211 Zoo Awareness using the Sweet Sketch Wednesday #2-51 since there is no particular Sketch required by the Die-Cutting Challenge. This sketch gave me a stepping stone to what I wanted to do for the Zoo challenge.  When looking at the different images for a zoo animal it came to mind why not a Tiger, and why not Tigger?  

Tigger's Tail looked like a "2" to me so the sentiment had to be "Years Old" which then made it into a Child's Birthday Card...only problem is I don't know any 2-year olds.  

After I had my focal point planned out, now I needed some soft and cheerful colors...luv polka-dots and in the CTMH Old PaperPak "Dotty For You" I had all the colors of the rainbow.  Wasn't hard to plan out the Sweet Sketch Wednesday in fact almost matching the colors in the sketch.

Anna's Garden - Share our Similarities

Freshly Made Sketches #182.  I chose one of the designs from Anna's Garden Cards and Embellishments Cartridge "Rose Face Card" available in Cricut Design Space, and printed the image on the Cricut.  I used the regular A2 card size to use on a 5x7 card, but changed from a 5x7 to a 5x6 turning card to landscape to better interpret the sketch.  After coloring the design with many colors of my Shin-Han alcohol base pens, I then added some beads to the center of each of the open flowers. The background cardstock is from CTMH Fundamental Basics - Adventure, color Topiary which matched well with the stems.  The Sentiment comes from CTMH Stamp Set "Simple Blossoms".  

Please click on HERE to view the many Design "Clean Team's" sketch interpretations and the many other cards submitted for this challenge...enjoy your visit.  

Good Time - Spins

I scrap-lifted my neighbor's origami fold shadowbox for this card and used as a focal point of the Heart2Heart -  April 13 Sketch Challenge; but put my own "spin" on it using CTMH "Hopscotch" PaperPak for the design paper, cardstock and Complements.  Layered the Hopscotch complement stickers in the center of shadowbox, along with the Sentiment Good Times which was an Embellishment Sticker from a Scrapbook Kit, but a good match for this card.  The mat behind the shawdowbox and the Banners were cut from coordinating cardstock and embossed with a Zig-Zag design.  Finished the card off with another complement sticker on the bottom L-H side and added sequins on the banners.  

Stop by at Heart2Heart to see the Design Teams' designs and join the challenge...you have until the end of the month to submit your entries.  

Hello Coffee/Spring - CMH Color Dare Sapphire Winner

Well, what's better than to show off Springtime with Brushed Paperpak, and waking up in the morning and having a cup of coffee on the patio and a butterfly coming over to say "Hello" while checking out the daisies on the cup.  

The Daisy Coffee Cup is an image from Cricut Design Center "Kate's ABCs" which was colored with Shin-Han pen colors close to the colors listed in the Color Dare Challenge.  The Borders were made with Fundamental Paper Fundamentals, Cranberry.   Coffee Cup and Sentiment were raised with 3D Thin Foam Tape, and card distressed with Pixie Ink. The Sentiment was a free image on Design Center, and the label was from CTMH Art Philosophy, and the Butterfly an image from Serenade Cartridge.  Pulling in the last couple of embellishments just brought the card together.  The bow is from a collection of ribbons from my sewing room, and the smiley face in center of bow is an embellishment from CTMH "Chalk It Up Assortment", and black beads added to represent aroma and a hot cup of coffee.    

Click on here to go see the Design Teams unique interpretations for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and Color Dare's and Fantabulous Cricuts Challenge and don't forget to put your papercrafting in also.

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #103:  Sketch above

Color My Heart Color Dare #137 for this week's challenge they combined a lot of colors, but they are all contained in the CTMH Brushed PaperPak   Cranberry, Hollyhock, Pixie, Canary, Pear, Juniper, Black and White Daisy. So it was an easy decision to use that PaperPak and also use the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #103 since I primarily use CTMH products for their challenges.   

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #249 - Welcome Spring (Must use 1 Cricut cut on project from Cricut catalog of images, and identify Cartridge).  

Daisy Card "Just Because"

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 - Challenge #50 A day for Daisies...well I went on Etsy to check out the shop and didn't see any file images that popped out at me, so I just decided to go with Daisies and used images from Cricut Design Center, and just followed the Sweet Sketch 2 #50 to enhance my die-cut focal point using CTMH PaperPak "Brushed" and Paper Fundamentals cardstock for the background papers.  

Also entered in Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #249 - "Welcome Spring".  The Daisy cut was from Don Juan Cartridge - Flower which was ungrouped from a frame, resized, and cut several Daisys, Flowers were colored with ShinHan alcohol pens...Golden Yellow for the flower and Leaf Green for the stems...curled, layered and then each flower was lifted with 3D Thin Foam Tape.   Added the thin Yellow Ribbon and Bow.  

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2...Click on here to go see the Design Team  sample designs for this week's sketch...the giraffe is so darn cute...from A Day for Daisies, Digital Shop.

Checkerboard Card

Heart2Heart  - April 6, 2015 Checkerboard Challenge.  I was going through my older CTMH papers and found several plaid papers, which sorta could be interpreted as checkerboard, and selected one of the plaids from "Promise of Spring Project Pack" which was at least 12 years old from when I used to make cards back East.  The Flower and leaves were from a coordinating design print to the checkerboard (plaid) pattern which I fussy-cut, heat embossed with clear embossing powder, and then rolled, and placed on card with 3D Foam Tape. Butterfly was cut from Cricut Design Space, with white and then glitter paper from the purple pak. The Sentiment was from CTMH  CC1014 Pair-a-Phrase Stamp Set, and the little flair on the sentiment was a scrap piece cutting from the butterfly.   

Stop by Heart2Heart to see the Design Team unique designs, as well as other challengers unique cards, and join us...each week is a challenge but you have all month to submit any of the challenges for that month.  

Another sketch challenge for the same card, but somewhat out of the box, was submitted to Challenge #210: April Sketch Challenge - Die Cuttin Divas

After linking I realized that my flower was not a die-cut but it was a fussy-cut.  The butterfly was my die-cut.  Looking forward to next weeks challenge though because I am a die cuttin diva as you will see from some of my other cards on my blog. 

Butterfly Kisses and LadyBug Hugs - AHSC Top 3 Winner

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #102 had a big butterfly in the sketch, and I decided I was going to do just what the sketch had...a Butterfly but using a whimsical, fun and colorful image from Cricut Design Space since I still have a couple days to get free images.  The Butterfly is from "Florals Embellished" Cartridge, and the LadyBug is from "Paisley" Cartridge.  The scalloped mat the butterfly sits on is from "Artfully Sent". The Sentiment was typed in text and then welded together and cut.  When our kids were young I'm sure they remember we used to give them Butterfly kisses... winking our lashes against their cheek, and they in turn would give us a Butterfly Kiss and chuckle.  

The PaperPak "A Year Noted", printed paper and cardstock, was used throughout this card.  And even the ribbon was made from a fussy-cut row of one of the design papers. No glitter this time, but I did use my favorite 3D Thin Foam for the mat and butterfly.  

Again, I make all my cuts for the images in either daisy white or colonial white, and then color the pieces with the colors shown when ungrouped.  The Butterfly cut had about 10 different colors which would mean changing the paper for each cut...so much faster cutting all as one color and using ShinHan alcohol pens on each piece.  

Atlantic Hearts Challenge

 Linky Party - Craftin Desert Divas

Please be sure to stop by Atlantic Hearts and Linky Party to see the other designs for these challenges...and join us with your papercrafting.   

Wedding Card

The PaperPlayers Challenge 238 called for a die-cut and knowing that I would be using die-cuts or punches for my next card I decided to use this challenge to make a wedding card for my niece's daughter who is getting married on April 18th and her flowers are going to be White and Blush Pink Hydrangeas.

For the background I used a satin finished paper and embossed it with an Anna Gifffin folder and punched the bottom edge of the card with Martha Stuarts' scalloped punch.  Also cut a piece of cardstock from Fundamental Paper - Whimsical "Pixie" and punched the same edge with the scalloped punch.  For the focal part of the card I used a Cricut Cartridge "Love Struck 2010" Heart with some flurishes, raised with Thin 3D Foam, then covered it with small petal flowers. 

The small petal flowers were from the CTMH Stamp Set B1473 "Flowers for Mom Holiday"...first stamped flowers with Pixie Color on white cardstock, then versamark spread on the flowers, heat embossed with clear embossing powder, and then cut each flower using a Stampin'Up punch. Flowers were layered in the heart and small pink bling was added to the center of several flowers.  Placed a bow in the corner with some pearls added to the ribbon, and then added three of the hydrangea flowrs to the bottom corner with pink bling.

Take a hop over to The Paper Players to see the beautiful cards from both the Design Team and competitors...and join this challenge too.  

Here is a closeup of the hydrengea flowers mounted on the Heart.  

Quad/ATV Birthday Card - SSW2 Top 3 Runner Up

A friend told me about this challenge, and I needed to make a Birthday Card for my Grandson's 15th Birthday...my Grandson wants a Quad for his birthday and this was the closest I could come to giving him a Quad. My card followed the Sweet Sketch Wednesday Sketch #49 DeeDee's Digi's.  DeeDee's Digi's did not have a Quad image so I found my image as a coloring page, and downloaded the .png file...this was my first experiment using Digital .png file with Cricut Explore, and my first challenge with Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  

Easter Blessings

This is a special card I made for special friends and neighbor.  Mel, thanks so much for sharing our ideas for Challenges...and appreciate your support and your opening up your crafting shop to me when I need something to finish off a card.  And Bob, thanks for sharing Mel with me in support of our passion in cardmaking.

Lovely Amazing You - AHSC #101 Top 3 Winner

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #101   Really wasn't sure what I was going to do for this sketch but knew I wanted something different but as colorful as flowers.  Also wanted to experiment with embossing.  Going through my embossing folders there was a Peacock by Darice that would work out for a corner focal point. Cut and embossed the peacock on Colonial White, took out my ShinHan pens and colored using different shades of blue, green, and purple, fussy-cut the peacock and then added StarDust Glitter Gel on the eyes of the feathers.  Coated the Peacock with VersaMark and added Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and heat embossed.  The background paper and border are from CTMH Jackson PaperPak which gave it a nice backdrop with the focus still on the peacock's beauty.  Added a couple of sequins and stamped Sentiment right on the card without layering to keep it a Clean and Simple Card.  Sentiment from Stampin'Up "Lovely Amazing You" borrowed from a friend.