Hearts of the West Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hearts of the West Team 

monthly Blog Hop!

In this blog hop today, we are featuring the brand new 

CTMH paper pack "Sugar Rush".  

You will find "Sugar Rush" in the new Seasonal Expressions catalogue 

that goes on sale TOMORROW, January 1st.

If you came from Anna Miller's blog , then you are on the right track. 

This is a circular blog hop so you can start anywhere. Just in case you get lost, the full list of participants can be found at the bottom of this post. 

For this card, I used the "Spread the Love" D1711 stamp set and watercoloured the little girl.  I think the sentiment "This card is a Paper Hug" is my favorite of all the CTMH stamps!  It's such a lovely thought to send to someone you care about!  

I've embellished the card with some pink twine from the Adventure Ribbon pack and pretty new gems "Sugar Rush Dots".  The card components were cut with a die set from Papertrey Ink called the Scalloped A2 Die.

Thanks for joining us on our Blog Hop today!

Next on the hop is Brenda Gieck.  Be sure to check out what she's made with the Sugar Rush papers!!

Blog Hop participants:

Nancy Klein

Donna Digby

Corrina Murphy

Anna Miller 

Brenda Gieck

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve tonight and I'll see you next year!! 

Linda

Edited on January 1st.  Yesterday when I posted my card, I wasn't entirely happy with the watercoloured image... however I had a deadline so I posted it anyway.  Today I worked with it a bit again, and thought I would show you what a difference removing a little paint can make.  

This is the version I am now happy with.  To fix it I wet a paintbrush and painted over the background which I thought was too dark, and then dabbed it with a paper towel to pull the paint off.  I'm happy now that the background isn't the first thing catching your eye anymore... it's now the little girl who is the focal point on the card as it should be!

January Planner Page

Hi everyone!  

It's the last day of 2016 and I treated myself to a quiet morning of watercolouring in my Planner... getting ready for the New Year.  I decided to use these pages as practise sessions for water colouring.

I wanted a "frosty" look to my January page... as these are the colours of winter in my part of the world.

These are the colours I used from the CTMH Watercolour Paint Set.

To prepare my page for colouring, I first painted it with a layer of clear gesso, as I knew I was going to be using a lot of water on it.  This ended up working well to keep the page fairly flat.  As I worked, and it dried, I kept flexing it and flattening it, and it dried very nicely.

I began in the center with January, and then I worked my way from the left upper corner over to the right, and the same for the bottom.  This kept me from dragging my hand through any wet paint.

I began with my lightest colours first and then added the darker colours.  I found I got better at painting as I got to the bottom.... I loosened up and was letting the paint fall where it wanted.  If it got too dark I added extra water and blended it out.  Sometimes I dabbed it with a paper towel to blot it up a bit... always with a "light" hand.  The nice thing about watercolouring is you can go back and fix things... so I went back and added extra depth here and there where I felt I had blended it out too much.  

To finish, I went all around the leaves with the lightest colour, adding lots of water to blend it out.  Once it dried, I added zentangle type accents with a white gel pen.

Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I'm up to today!  I hope the New Year brings you peace and prosperity!

Linda

Mary Did You Know?

Hi everyone!

I was wanting to make a card for some special friends and looking for a starting point... over at Creative Carte Blanche, song lyrics are the theme for the monthly challenge.

This got me thinking about my favorite Christmas carol which is "Mary Did You Know?"... and that led me to design this card with the nativity as the focal point.

I'm still using Close to My Heart's paper "Oh Deer" but I've abandoned the sea glass colour I've  used on past cards, and focused on the golds and browns instead, with a hit of red glitter.  The musical notes on the paper continue the theme of the challenge.

All three Nativity dies that I used are from Penny Black:  Manger, Winter Garland, and Rejoice, and the interior label die is Merry Labels from Catherine Pooler's Candy Cane Lane collection this year.

If you haven't heard Pentatonix sing "Mary Did You Know?" you really must relax back in your chair and enjoy this YouTube video.

Wishing you peace and blessings this Christmas season!

Linda

Sweet Treats

Hi there,

Yesterday, I shared a fun Christmas gift that I made for a friend, and today I'm putting it together with a card and entering it in Power Poppy's challenge this month "Sweet Treats"

When I first saw Power Poppy's stamps, I was smitten!  They have the loveliest images!  This little tree in a tea cup is from a set called Cozy Cupfuls and it is just darling.

I used paper from Close to my Heart called "Oh Deer" and waterpainted the image with coordinating inks:  Juniper, Sea Glass, Fern, Whisper, Desert Sand and Ruby.

Finishing touches are a glittery silver bow, diamond stickles on the tree bulbs, and Bitty Sparkles here and there.  The card and mats are a set from Papertrey Ink called the Noted: Scalloped A2 Die Collection.

The inside sentiment comes from a different Power Poppy stamp set "Poinsettia".  It was stamped in Delicata "Golden Glitz".

On the envelope I stamped another image from the "Cozy Cupfuls" set in Delicata "Golden Glitz".

You still have time to enter the Power Poppy Challenge as it goes until Dec 31st., and you don't need to have a Power Poppy stamp to enter.  (They do have digital images available for sale though if you should want to use one of these sweeties for the challenge!)

Thanks for stopping by today.  Especially with the big day drawing ever closer!  If I listen carefully enough I think I can hear the sound of rustling wrapping paper being taped together all around the world!

Linda

Christmas Gift Trimmings

Hi!

Today I'm sharing a gift I made for my friend.  

She and I are gardeners, so I purchased a jar similar to this for her to display cut flowers in during the summer.

I've been fascinated with some of the little house domes I've seen on Pinterest, so I decided to try making one myself. 

I cut the little house on my cricut, scattered Stampendous Shaved Ice over cotton batting, and then added snow with Aleene's Glitter Snow texture paste.  The dome is half of an acrylic ornament.

I added a gift tag with a die in it of a little terrier since she just got a Cairn Terrier puppy this year!

                         

The die that I used to make the gift tag enclosure is one I purchased from Catherine Pooler from the Candy Cane Lane SOA box.  It is an awesome die that cuts and embellishes all in one pass through the Big Shot.  I love its' elegant lines and the word "Joy" was a piece that came with it.

The dome is attached by lace ribbon which can slip off, leaving the jar ready for its original purpose!

She's a very special friend and I hope she likes it!!

Linda

Sea Glass Poinsettia

Hi everyone!

I'm back again to share another Christmas card in CTMH's beautiful Sea Glass colours!

This card is another SVG file that I cut on my Cricut Explore, only this time the file comes from Birds Cards who is another favorite of mine!  You can find this card file here.  

I really loved combining the Sea Glass colours and white glitter paper.

I wanted to share with this close-up, how I painted all the Sea Glass cardstock with a white Wink of Stella shimmer pen, to tone it down a bit and give it a soft look.  Add lots of crystal gems and it sparkles like the snow in winter!

Thanks again for stopping by and sharing my joy in creating Christmas things that sparkle!

Linda

Supplies used:

Sea Glass cardstock

White cardstock

Sea Glass glitter paper

White glitter paper

Clear Sparkles

Bitty Sparkles

White Wink of Stella brush

Oh Deer Winterscape Luminary

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share what has been one of my favorite things I've made for Christmas this year!

This is an SVG file called Winterscape Card that I purchased from Dreaming Tree.  I happened to win a gift card from the Cricut Explore and More facebook group, which Leo from the Dreaming Tree sponsors... so I raced over and fell in love with this beautiful box card.

The deer theme fit in perfectly with Close to my Heart's Oh Deer paper pack.  I LOVE this paper and although I have been working with it since October, I have not tired of it yet!

I put my box together a little differently than the Dreaming Tree's instructions.  I cut an extra layer of birch trees and in the front panel I cut out a couple of branches in the center so you could get a better glimpse of the deer.  I like the angle photo above, because in it you can see how the beautifully designed trees and snowflakes wrap right around the sides.

Close to my Heart's beautiful white glitter paper made gorgeous sparkly snowflakes.

A little close up of the "blinged up" front panel.  (What's Christmas without sparkle...right??)  

"Joy" was cut from gold glimmer paper with a Penny Black die from a set called "Greetings".

The back has a little "cut out" to tuck a led tea light in and the card is SO pretty with the light shining on the silver moon through the trees.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I hope you are all enjoying your last minute crafting for Christmas!!

Linda

Hearts of the West Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hearts of the West Team monthly Blog Hop!

In this blog hop today, we are featuring the very beautiful CTMH paper pack "Oh Deer".  

You will find this paper pack in the Holiday Expressions Mini Catalogue.

If you came from Corrina Murphy's blog , then you are on the right track. This is a circular blog hop so you can start anywhere. Just in case you get lost, the full list of participants can be found at the bottom of this post. 

To make this shaker card, I used the piece of sea glass patterned paper in the "Oh Deer" set, for the inside of the shaker.

Then I ran a piece of sea glass card stock through an embossing folder, lightly rubbed the top of it with White Shimmer Delicata ink, and stamped it in Golden Glitz and White Shimmer Delicata ink using  the A1190, All is Bright stamp set.  I finished the card stock mat by splattering it with watered down gesso.

The Poinsettias were cut on the cricut using a flower from Anna's Winter Wonderland cartridge.  They were sponged with Golden Glitz Delicata ink.  The pine needle branches are from the CTMH Flower Market cartridge.

The shaker itself was cut in several layers:  White daisy, "Oh Deer" sea glass, white foam, acrylic window, and finished off with the beautiful CTMH White Glitter paper.  The ornament shape of the shaker was made with the Sizzix Bigz Chandelier Ornament die.  "Joy" was cut out of  CTMH Gold Glitter paper using a Penny Black die from the "Greetings" set.  The card was finished off with a bow made from CTMH White and Gold ribbon. 

 "Oh Deer" has been a delight to work with... it is so bright and pretty.!

I am the last one on the hop, but if you started somewhere in the middle, head over to Nancy Klein's blog to see what she has created with "Oh Deer"!

I hope you enjoy yourself on this hop and find lots to inspire you.  Thank you for stopping by today!

Linda

Blog hop participants:

Nancy Klein

Donna Digby

Corinna Murphy

Me!

10 CTMH "City Sidewalks" Christmas Cards

Hi everyone,

I have made another set of 10 Christmas cards.  These ones were made using the CTMH "City Sidewalk" Workshop Your Way.

As I did in this post, I wanted to see how many cards I could make using the Workshop Your Way kits after first making the 3 double layouts.  I could have made more cards... but I stopped at 10.  There is a lot of value in these kits!

I explain how I glittered up the dark blue tree paper above, in my instruction PDF which you will get a link for below.

Thanks again Janice Gilhooley for the instructions for the snowman card!

If you would like the instructions for these cards, you will find them here. 

Linda