Sunny Thoughts Card

Today was such a dark, cloudy day I made my own sunshine crafting. My photos weren't the greatest. But despite the dreariness, I'm hoping this card will brighten someone's day.  I got the idea from the Heart 2 Heart Challenge.

You can barely see the gold glittery look below on the sun's rays from the shimmer brush. I still had three wooden flying birds, long retired, so used those for embellishments. The checked

I used the CTMH Gimme Sum Sugar paper, Peacock Stitched ribbon,  and the Sunny Thoughts Stamp of the Month. Today is the last day for this Stamp of the Month:

Thank you for visiting! May your cloudy days be filled with sunny thoughts!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Sunny Days
Papercraft Challenge #6 - ribbon
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #324-325 - anything goes

Color My Heart Dare Using the Make Waves Tic Tac Toe Board

Here are three cards I made using the CTMH Make Waves-Cardmaking stamp set with its accompanying Thin Cuts Die and Cricut Design Space.

I'm sharing this first card with the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge. All of the sentiments were white embossed on Pansy cardstock.

I used the top row across to make some fun cards, adding Pansy as an extra color. (I'm sure the Make Waves Shimmer Trim is Lagoon!)  Since the heart cut is Emerald waves design, I cut the background for both cards using Cricut Artbooking on Cricut Design Space to look like waves, too. I unlocked the size and altered it to fit 5.25" x 4."  You can use my file if you have that cartridge. The embellishments are Make Waves Sequins and Gems.

I have one more card using the waves cut background and the Make Waves -Cardmaking stamp set. Thist one still uses the same colors with the addition of a Sorbet crab and some retired Sea Glass cardstock behind the waves, a color not on the board.

Thanks for visiting!

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:

Cards in Envy - Give it some heart
City Crafter Challenge #401 - die cuts
Color My Heart Color Dare #281 - Tic Tac Toe Board
Unicorn Challenge #29 - love/valentines

Hearts and Glitter

I think I could keep making cards with hearts all the rest of the year, not just in February! There are so many reasons to share some love! I cut out the kraft, pink, and red hearts along with the title using the Cricut. Somehow I really like the look of kraft cardstock with glittery papers.

 The gold foil rose outlines and diagonal stripes in the background are from last year's CTMH Live Beautifully paper. The paper for the pink heart is from the long-retired Sweetheart paper pack.

May you be blessed as you share your cards and your love with others!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking February Challenge - Red and/or Pink
Crafty Gals Corner #159 - add a heart
Die Cut Divas February Challenge - Love is in the air
Heart 2 Heart -  True Love
That's Crafty - I Heart You challenge
Stamps and Fun = Creativity Challenge #318 - glitter

Magical Mermaid Birthday Card

The Make Waves - Scrapbooking stamp set has such a lovely mermaid that I thought would make a great birthday card for a lovely little girl.  I chose Pattern 23 from the Make It From Your Heart 4 book for the design of my card. It has a simple 2.5" circle overlapping a 1/2" strip. What I like about the sketches is their simplicity with examples adorned with more elements and embellishments. I liked the way the mermaid could overlap the circle. I love grouping components.

My background panel is a Cricut cut I resized from the Artbooking cartridge. You can use my cut file if you'd like.  I colored the mermaid with copics, then easily fussy cut her. The silver embossed sentiment comes from a retired stamp set, Birthday Princess.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz #65 - Stamping
Crafty Catz #405 - anything goes with optional birthday theme
Cut It Up Challenge #142 - anything goes with a die cut
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Make It From Your Heart Sketch Challenge

Color Throwdown #451 Encouragement Card

My prayer list grew this week to include a neighbor, our former mail lady, who is back in the hospital with lung cancer and an eight year old  boy who has inoperable brain cancer, along with quite a few others in our church. I also watch the news and see situations that need God's help. My heart always breaks for all of them, so that certainly prompts me to pray. I also made several encouragement cards to send.

When I saw the group of colors from Color Throwdown #451 this week, I thought of a vintage type card using my old Plum Mist and Smokey Plum cardstock. I combined it with cream and cocoa/chocolate browns.

When I white embossed the flower silhouette it was just too white, so I used a light yellow Copic marker over the white to make it match the cream colored papers. I also flicked two shades of brown on the middle of the butterfly with Copics.

 I had some pieces of Plum Mist stamped with script using Plum Mist ink. There was a blank area on the left so I filled it with an old stamp design (CTMH Adorable) using the darker Smoky Plum. I used a cream card base and cardstock, cream ribbon, Cocoa cardstock, Chocolate Pearls, an old stamp of the month for the flower silhouette, new butterfly stamp from Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking set, and a PTI scripture sentiments. The inside has this verse from Isaiah 40:31, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

May you be blessed as you share your creativity with those who have needs.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges;

Color Throwdown #451 - light purple, dark purple, off white and brown
HeARTful Stamping Challenge - anything goes with stamping
International Art and Soul #27 -  use stuff you already own
Stamping Sensations - anything with flowers
Word Art Wednesday #322-333 - anything uplifting goes

February Blog Hop - Think Pink

This month Close To My Heart is having a special sale on favorite PINK papers, inks, and embellishments, as well as some gold embellishments, so our blog hop is all about giving you ideas for using those pink elements.
You 're on the right track if you have just come from Alyson Mayo's blog. To see the entire list of participants, visit Melinda Everitt's blog here.  (We're having an ice storm as I type, so I'm hoping I can finish this post without the power going out.)

I used Cricut Design Space, basic shapes, and the Artistry cartridge to weld a heart background to a rectangle border for two versions of  my 6.5" x 5" card. The shape will also fit a 5.5" x 4.25" card.

Here is my cut file in case you have the Artistry cartridge and would like to use the welded image I made. I cut two of these using the light side of the Blossom cardstock and one from the darker side.  I backed the cut panel with watercolored flowers from the Adventures Fundamentals paper pack. I placed some Bashful and Gold Glitter papers behind a few of the hearts,p then used pop dots to create dimension. I embellished  a couple of hearts with pink Bashful Pearls (out of stock now) and added gold ribbon from the Basics Ribbon pack.

This second card was easier to make with the lighter side of the Blossom cardstock mounted on Bashful cardstock backed with a Raspberry mat. Then I filled the hearts with pieces from the cut I made from the darker side of Blossom cardstock. Then I used Thin 3-D Foam dots to slightly pop up a second cut of the lighter side, lining it up easily with the layer that was glued flat on the mat. I embellished it with White and Gold Ribbon, Gold Glitter Gems, and a Gold Heart Clip that fit perfectly on one of the heart cut-outs. The word "love" was cut from Gold Glitter Paper using the "love" Thin Cut that will be available again March 1st!

Now you're ready to move on to see what Darlys Recker has created for you!

Die Cut Hearts

Here's  a die cut card that doesn't have to be only for Valentine's Day. Sharing love should be our daily gift to those around us.

This was easy to design on Cricut Design Space. I selected two squares, unlocked the sizes to make rectangles, sized them and attached so it would cut a frame, then added the heart panel and sized it to slightly overlap the smallest rectangle. The hearts were welded to the frame.  If you have Cricut Artistry, you're welcome to use my cut file! This card is a preview of two similar, more embellished cards I'll be sharing in tonight's blog hop after 8:00 p.m. Central time. (The word "love" is from a Thin Cut die that will be available again March 1st.) I wanted a watercolor look for the background, but I had a very old paisley watercolor ctmh paper in my scrap drawer from over 10 years ago that looked great!

Thanks for visiting! May God bless you as you share love with your own cardmaking and giving!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafty Calendar February Challenge - 2 or more layers.

Crafty Cardmakers #205 - Love and Romance

Crafty Friends Challenge #77 - Love is in the Air

Cut It Up #141 - Layers of Love

Dare2BArtzy February Challenge - Love

D.L. Art Thankful Thursday #222 -  pink or red

My Time to Craft # 364 - Love is all you need

Happy Valentine's Day!

I feel so blessed to have had truly loving friends all my life. I made several cards to celebrate this day. Here's the first:

The sentiment is my favorite part of this card. It comes from a long-retired CTMH stamp set:

"Side by side, or far apart, true friends live within our heart."

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafting By Designs - Be My Valentine

Crafty Gals Corner #159 - Add a Heart

Crafty Sentiments Designs - Add flowers

Deep Ocean Challenge #174 - Love Is All Around

XOXO Tuesday Morning Sketch

Valentine's Day is a special time to let others know we love them, but so are the other 364 days of the year! When my hubby and I first started dating years ago, some of our dates included riding bikes in the park. That was what I thought about when I saw this fun Cricut tags that's currently free in Design Space.  I really love last year's XOXO die from CTMH. It's bold and fun, perfect for this tag .  This week's sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches #438 was just right for this combination. I also used the theme and color combo from SumMore Fun. I added black for contrast.

 

I also love the CTMH cardstock with the white core. I embossed the little hearts and lightly sanded them.

I hope you'll let the others around you know that you love them, both by words and deeds

and cards!

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments #196 - Valentine or Love Sentiment
Bastel-Traum #61 - Valentine/Love
Creatalicious Challenges #132 - anything goes with option of love, anniversary, thinking of you
DL Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #221 -  Love
Scrap From Your Heart #18 - Mother's Day or Valentine
SumMore Fun Mood Board #21 - red, pink, kraft, white and love theme

February SOTM Blog Hop - Sunny Thoughts

Welcome to our blog hop featuring the CTMH Stamp of the Month for February, Sunny Thoughts! If you just arrived from Priscilla Gotham's blog, you're on the right path. You can see the entire list of participants here at Melissa Everitt's blog.

Are you tired of the drab white, grays and browns of winter? I'm ready for some sunny colors! This is a great stamp set for birthdays! The sentiments are larger and in an informal script that's so popular! So I used it to make three larger cards that are 5" x 6.5." I chose to use the sunny, flowery papers in the Be-YOU-tiful Picture My Life Cards along with some favorite Cricut Artbooking and Artistry cuts. I welded rectangles to borders to make the bordered mats.

I trimmed one of the 4" x 3" cards into a bottom point and added marker dashes to resemble stitches.
The sentiment is white embossed.

For the last one I cut the Artbooking sunshine pattern out of kraft cardstock, paperclipped it to the 4" x 6" pml card and sponged Canary ink in the spaces, then Tangerine ink closer to the sun for a sort of ombre effect.

If you have the Artbooking cartridge (and Artistry for the sun shape) you can use my cut files from Cricut Design Space. I've included a few more product details below. You can get this lovely $17.95 stamp set from your consultant at a discount for $5.00 with a $50.00 order or you can find it here.

Thank you for visiting!  Now you're ready to move on to see what Darlys Recker has for you to enjoy!


Materials used:
Gimme Some Sugar Coordinating Cardstock: Bashful (dark side), Tangerine, Juniper (light side), Picture My Life Be-YOU-tiful cards, Kraft Cardstock
Inks: ! & 2- Tangerine; 2- Pixie and Canary, 3- Versamark and Ranger white superfine embossing powder
Ribbons - Adventure Ribbon Pack (yellow dotted), Whimsy Ribbon Pack (Juniper fiber), Blush Shimmer Ribbon
Bitty Sparkles, Light Orange ShinHan Touch Twin Marker, Thin 3-D Foam Dots,  Sponge Daubers