A crop party is a modern quilting bee. A group of friends gather to have girl friend time, sharing joys and sorrows while preserving memories and creating a special keepsake.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Freshly Made Sketch 214



After a hectic weekend I finally got a chance to play with this Freshly Made Sketch:



I used a Spellbinders Shapeabilities to cut and emboss the snowflake and another to cut the hexagon.  The background and sentiment come from a long retired Close to My Heart Stamp set, Snow Flurries.  Of course I had to embellish with some sparkles...

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Glacier and White Daisy cardstock, Kraft paper
Ink:  Saddle, White Daisy
Stamp:  Snow Flurries (retired)
Embellishments:  Blue sparkles
Other:  Create-a-Flake Five and Hexagon Shapabilities by Spellbinders

Monday, November 23, 2015

Heartfelt Gratitude




This is my last week as guest designer for Heart 2 Heart Challenges.  Being the week of Thanksgiving is it any surprise that this week's theme is "Gratitude?"  This year I am particularly thankful for family, friends, and modern medicine.  Last month my husband had surgery which, although successful, was followed by a difficult recovery.  I owe so many thank you notes to friends, family, and neighbors who brought or sent food, cut our grass, helped with our daughter, and kept him amused when he got bored.  Most of the cards will not be as elaborate as this one, but seeing as this is an inspiration card for a challenge, I had to up my game.

This card uses the faux tile technique.  If you are not familiar with it, here is a tutorial featuring the card that inspired me.  Basically you score your paper on the diagonal, use a mask to sponge lower the edges of each square, and then stamp over the "tile."  Theoretically the image is broken up because the stamp goes across and not into the scored lines.  I used pigment ink which is more opaque to stamp the flower and may have pressed too hard because some of the ink transferred into the scored grooves in a few places, spoiling the tile effect.  To fix this, I pressed a piece of scrap paper perpendicularly into Colonial White ink and then pressed the inked edge into the groove to cover the Eggplant and Thistle ink and make it look like grout.

The only embellishment I used was Fern twine.  I will have to tell you that the new thick twines did not appeal to me until I saw where someone had unraveled the ends.  Now I love it!  I used the new thin foam tape to attach the card front to the card base and the sentiment piece to the card.  This accommodates the thickness of the twine preventing bumps made by the twine below.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please go check out the projects at Heart 2 Heart Challenges and perhaps be inspired to enter yourself.  You have until the end of the month to enter any of the November challenges.  We wold love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Colonial White, Thistle, and Eggplant cardstock
Ink:  Cashmere and Fern with Thistle and Eggplant pigment inks
Stamps:  Paper Garden (retired Stamp of the Month), Variety of Thanks (retired Hostess Reward)
Embellishment:  Fern thick twine

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Merry Reindeer



I need some cards that have interest but are easily mailed; in other words, no sparkles and the like.  Because I need to make a lot of them I do not want to deal with embossing.    I started with this reindeer stamp from from the long retired Heartfelt Christmas stamp set.  It just so happens that he Merry Monday Challenge this week is to use a reindeer. 




 The paper is Pear and Partridge, Close to My Heart's Christmas paper from three (I think) years ago.  I added interest with a narrow strip of Gold glitter paper and a dab of Red Glitter Glitz to embellish the nose.  I also attached the reindeer panel with foam tape.  The sentiment is from an old Stamp of the Month, Scandinavian Wishes.  Here is a horizontal version featuring a sentiment from an old Hostess Reward set, Sing Glory.




Both cards were based on this sketch by Sunday Stamps:




There you are, two flat, easy to mail cards.  Now to make a whole bunch of them...  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Pear and Partridge (retired), Champagne, New England Ivy, and Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Saddle, Cranberry
Stamps:  Heartfelt Christmas, Scandinavian Wishes, Sing Glory (all retired)
Embellishments:  Red Glitter Glitz (retired) 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

A Watercolor Christmas





Don't you just hate it when life interferes with your crafting?  It took me over a week to finish this card for Heart 2 Heart's Wonderful Watercolor challenge!  Now I do have to tell you that watercolors intimidate me, but there is a reason why they are called challenge blogs, so I pulled out my watercolors, a brush, and a cup of water and gave it my best shot.  I have always loved this tree from the Always Grateful stamp set.  To get the snow covered effect, I stamped it first with black ink and then after lightly tapping the stamp on Versamark, stamped it just slightly higher than the first image and embossed with Ranger White Super Fine embossing powder.  To balance all the white on the right side of the card, I used some White Enamel Gems.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head on over the Heart 2 Heart Challenges blog for some inspiration and maybe enter the challenge yourself?  We would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy, Outdoor Denim (retired), and Indian Corn Blue (retired) cardstock
Ink:  Indian Corn Blue (retired), Black
Stamps:  Always Grateful, Holly Jolly Christmas
Embellishments:  White Enamel Gems, Ranger White Super Fine embossing powder
Other:  Snowflake folder by Darice

Monday, November 9, 2015

Trending Now With Heart 2 Heart



Happy Monday, y'all!  One of the things that makes Monday bearable for me is that it means a new Heart 2 Heart Challenge.  This week the challenge is "trending now," so I made a card using the Bokeh technique and this Freshly Made Sketch:



The Bokeh technique mimics the photographic effect created by shooting with a narrow depth of field (or Photoshop) where the subject is in focus and the background blurred.  Here is a video tutorial by Brenda Keenan.  I used a couple of Close to My Heart's new colors, Sapphire and Peacock, along with Crystal Blue and White  Daisy to create the background.  I cut the circle out of Slate cardstock using CTMH's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (page 31) and then sponged over it with White Daisy in a circular motion.  Yes, I could have just used Whisper paper, but this gave it a softer feeling to compliment the background.  The embellishments are definitely not trending as they have all been retired for some time.  I am not going to be happy when I have used the last of my Opaque Flourishes!

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out some more creations at Heart 2 Heart or Freshly Made Sketches and maybe even make something yourself?  You have only until noon PST to enter the Freshly Made Sketch challenge, but you have all of November to enter the Heart 2 Heart one.  I would love to see what you come up with!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy, Slate, and Sapphire cardstock
Ink:  Sapphire, Peacock, Crystal Blue, Slate, and White Daisy
Stamp:  Holiday Tags
Embellishments:  Base and Bling Floral Accents, Pearl Opaque Flourishes
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Monday, November 2, 2015

Through the Window with Heart 2 Heart




Happy Monday, y'all!  Do you see that badge on the right?  The one that says Guest Designer for Heart 2 Heart Challenges?  That's right!  I was awarded the honor of being named Top Chick for the month of September for these cards which means I am the guest designer for the month of November.  We have some fun challenges lined up, and the first one is...(sound the trumpets)...Through the Window.  This can be interpreted a number of ways, so I chose the cut out window interpretation.

For this challenge I went all the way back to Close to My Heart's first Cricut cartridge, Art Philosophy.  It is still one of my favorites.  Is has interesting shapes that you can layer and every page has at least one and usually two cards.  This one can be found on page 47.  I started by cutting two cards, the first at 6.5 inches out of Colonial White and the second at 6.3 out of a sheet from the retired Yuletide Carol.  No, that is not a typo.  Did you know that if you go into "settings" on your Cricut you can change the size to cut in increments of tenths of an inch, centimeters, or millimeters?  I cut the front and back of the second card apart and then trimmed a quarter of an inch off of each side of the front piece.  I wanted an additional layer, but because the center would not be seen, I simply cut a 6.25 x 4.75 piece and cut out the middle with my trimmer.

I have always loved the vintage feel of this stamp set, Holiday Cheer.  No it is not in the current catalog, but it is still available.  With the exception of Workshop on the Go stamp sets and Stamps of the Month, CTMH does not retire Cricut compatible stamp sets.  I stamped the ornaments on a piece of scrap paper, cut them out, and sponged the edges with Saddle ink to "age" them to go along with the vintage feel.  I also sponged the green layer with saddle and the light layer with Saddle and a bit of Cocoa.

Here is the inside of the card:




You can see what I did with the back part of the second card.  Now when you are making the inside of a window card, you have to be mindful of what you want to show when the card is closed and what you want to hide.  I find it helpful to close the card and lightly trace the window shape in pencil, so you can see where your edges are.  I cut the holly leaves out of Fern cardstock using the same cartridge (page 46), sponged their edges with Saddle, used a scoring tool to create veins, and finally lightly sponged over them with some New England Ivy.  I used a hole punch to punch 1/4 and 1/8 inch circles of glitter paper to make holly berries and embellishments.  Yes, I have a 1/8 inch punch that I think I bought at Michael's.  I used liquid glass to glue on the "berries."  When I was done I had a very flat, easily mailed card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head over to the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog for some inspiration and maybe enter yourself?  You have all month to complete any of the November challenges.  We would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Yuletide Carol (retired), Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Saddle, Cocoa
Stamp:  Holiday Cheer (B1381)
Embellishments:  Red and Green glitter paper
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, 1/4 and 1/8 inch punches