Changes + CTMH Card Workshop 9/29/15

The theme this week at the Heart to Heart Challenge is Changes.  When I'm crafting, I am constantly making changes.  The card rarely turns out the way I first envisioned it.  

For instance... 

Yesterday I checked to see what the new colors are for this week's Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge.  They are Honey, Cocoa, and Poppy (I substituted cranberry) - nice fall colors.  I pulled out some Fundamental papers, which I love, and die cut this leaf.

As I was collecting papers and a sentiment to make a card, the remaining negative from the die cut caught my eye.  

Using the required colors, I used the negative and sponged 2 leaves, intending to group them with the die cut.  I also stamped and fussy cut the word "fall" in the 3 colors.  But in the CTMH stamp set with the fall stamp was a  pumpkin stamp that would  fit perfectly on one of these leaves.  I sponged a third leaf in the honey color, inked the pumpkin stamp in cocoa and then rolled the edges in cranberry. 

A bit of embossing and the card was finished.  And the original die cut will eventually find its way onto another card.

This card is entered into the following challenges:

Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge # 161 - Honey, Poppy & Cocoa

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Change 
Crafty Sentiment Designs Challenge - Autumn Leaves 
Deep Ocean Challenge #113 - Autumn
Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge #256 - Ink it Up or Emboss Your Background
Through the Craft Room Door Challenge - Anything Goes
Ooh-la-la Creations Challenge #190 - Get Krafty
Classy Cards n Such Challenge #104 - Feeling "Fall"ish
One Stitch at a Time Challenge #246 - Anything Goes with Leaves
A Gem of a Challenge #145 - Autumn
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge #281 - Use a negative as a mask
Sweet Stampin Challenge - Use a non-white base

 

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Here are the cards and a cute little treat box I made at Joyce's yesterday:

There are oreos inside!

 

CAS for Tuesday Throwndown # 264

Clean and Simple is the theme this week and Sugar Pea Designs is the sponsor of the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge.   I've used a set of dies from Sugar Pea Designs called Stitched Autumn Icons.

I've posted a closeup of each of the die cuts so you can see the stitching and fine details.  There is a separate die for the pumpkin and stem, top and bottom of the acorn and wings and body of the bat.  

I have a problem with CAS cards.  Sometimes, I don't know when to stop.  On the first card, I think it lost it's CAS look when I added the sponging.  I tried really hard with the next 2 cards to keep it clean.

I love the stitching!

This is glitter paper.

 

If you adjust your screen you might be able to see the zigzag imprint from the die on the acorn cap.

 

My teamies have worked very hard to inspire you to join this week's Tuesday Throwdown Challenge.  Please check out their projects and visit their blogs for more details. 

And I hope the products we've used from Sugar Pea Designs inspire you to visit their store. where you'll find stamps and dies.

I'm going to drop these acorns into a few other challenges:

Amusing Challenge - Anything Goes
CAS on Sunday Challenge #68 - Polka Dots
Classy Cards n Such Challenge #104 - Feeling "Fall"ish
Emerald Faeries Challenge #71 - Thank You
Cards in Envy Challenge - The Colors of Fall

 BTW (All stamps used are CTMH)

Thanks for stopping by today.

I love when I get visitors to my blog, any time, day or night.  

It's not like I have to dust or anything! 

Exception to the Christmas Card Mission

Even though I am determined to get those Christmas cards finished, I just have to work in a few exceptions...like this birthday card for my college BFF's grandson.  This is a tall & skinny (3.5x5.5) Z fold card for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #417 . 

  

Noah loves soccer, which you might have guessed. And since he lives on the opposite side of the US, I sewed a gift card pocket on the inside so he can do his own shopping.  The sentiment on the front is CTMH and the soccer ball stamped around it is SU.  The inside sentiment is computer generated.

I am entering these challenges:

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #417

Clear It Out Challenge - Use a Stash Item (I really had to hunt for those stick on letters.)

Stamping Sensations September Challenge - Sew Special 

Suzy Bee's Bloomin Challenge #99 - Stitching

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - non-white base

Cards from Joyce's Annual Christmas Card Extravaganza

Every year my CTMH consultant, Joyce Houck, hosts an all day Christmas Card workshop where she showcases the new CTMH products.  This year she was assisted by CTMH consultants Stacey, Crystal and Liz.  Everyone received a CTMH Christmas stamp and I won a pack of gorgeous Enamel and Glitter Duos as a door prize.   I couldn't wait to try them out.  So last evening, while my DH watched football,  I got busy and made one more Christmas card:

Challenges I am entering include:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #248 - Stick it down.  (I've used pop tape to stick down the circle with sentiment.  Couldn't live without that sticky stuff!)

Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge #56 - Lots of Texture or Layers

Crafting with Friends Challenge #7 - Anything Goes 

Winter Wonderland Challenge - Traditional Christmas 

Christmas Cards All Year Round September Challenge - A Country Christmas 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for September -  Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper September Challenge - Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments Challenge #141 - Christmas + sentiment 

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Here are the 8 cards I made yesterday at the extravaganza:

oops! I forgot that I still need to color the presents in Santa's bag.

 

Goin' to a House Party,

actually a House Warming Party, but I do like that country music song.  Thought I'd save some time and pick up a card in the store, but Mom & I looked 3 places and found nothing that would be ok for this young couple.  So I've made one to deliver later today.  That would be after going to Joyce's Christmas Card Extravaganza.  That always gives my Christmas card pile a boost.  I'll show you the cards we make tomorrow.  
For now, here's the card for the House Warming...

(using Spellbinders dies & CTMH stamp)

(inside of card; computer generated sentiment)

Challenges: 

Crafting with Friends Challenge #7 - Anything Goes

Jo's Scrap Shack Funday Friday Challenge #107 - Anything Goes 

Crafty Ribbon Challenge # 127- Include Lace 

Gotta run.... 

This is why....

I don't get my Christmas cards finished early.  I always have good intentions. Then I come across a blog with a fun challenge and before I know it I'm making a card for the 
2015 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

The fall coffee flavors are so yummy.  I made a list of some of them (pumpkin is my favorite) and created some background paper for this card.  I added a sentiment and  fussy cut digi image from TLC Creations.

Challenges I am entering include:
Fall 2105 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - Fall themed
Cards in Envy Challenge - Colors of Fall

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Please don't leave yet.  I have another card to show you!

I may have veered from my Christmas card mission in making the card above, but I did make a Christmas card, too.  It is for my bestest college friend of over 40 years, Dawn, who lives in Arizona so very far away

 from me.  A few years ago she, her mother, and her girls got together and used pieces of cards I had sent them for various occasions to decoupage a wood tray on which I keep all my necessary stamping supplies.  It is the only gift I have ever received that brought instant tears to my eyes.  They had saved every card that I had made with love and sent that love right back to me.  So this card is for Dawn:

(Every year from birth I sent Dawn's girls a Christmas ornament, so this ornament is just for Dawn)

(This is a close up of the tag, stamped on Shrinky Dink Paper, colored and shrunk. The stamp is CTMH)

Challenges I am entering:

Share Joy Challenge #4 - Sketch/CAS

 

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge #265 - Sparkle n Shine (the ornament is made from glitter paper) 

Aud Sentiments Challenge #141 - Christmas + sentiment

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #330 - Photo Inspiration (I've tried to pick up on the color scheme, grays, black and white with just a hint of one other color.)

 

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Christmas 

Amusing Challenges - Use a tag on a card 

Splitcoast Stampers, You've done it again!

Did everyone receive their email issue of Splitcoast Stampers Weekly Inkling yesterday?  The featured tutorial is a double diamond fold.  Of course, I had to try it!  There's nothing like a new fold to send me to my craft table in my nightie!  I used a pack of CTMH Sparkle & Shine paper which I had close at hand and I thought would be perfect for the December anniversaries of both my brothers and their wives, of course.

 

It is actually a relatively simple fold,  although, I'd like to rework the measurements so the card fits in a smaller envelope.  The finished size of this card is 7"x6".  I might be making an envelope and paying extra postage for this one.

That takes care of one of the Anniversaries.

To make the finished card I used: CTMH cs and dp, Silver Shimmer Tape, Cricut Artiste Cartridge for the Heart, and Silver Glitter Paper; a Spellbinders die for the inside white cs; a Cherry Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish die; and a Fiscar's corner punch; a rose stamp from Sparkle n Sprinkle stamp, embossed in black and fussy cut; and a sentiment stamp from Great Impressions.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Fresh Brewed Designs Challenge Sept 23-29 - 3 or more patterned papers (I've used 5)

Inky Impressions Challenge #274 - Dots and Stripes

Scrapy Land Challenge #26 - Add an image (roses) with dies sold at Scrapy Land (Cherry Lynn & Spellbinders) 

Sparkle n Sprinkle September Challenge - Anything Goes (I've used black embossing powder on the SNS roses.)

Fashionable Stamping Challenge #103 - Words

Glitter n Sparkle Challenge #155 - Use a punch or die cut (I've used both)

Scrapbook Blessings Club September Challenge - Anything Goes + Favorite technique (paper folding)

Cut It Up Challenge # 80 - Oh! Brother!

The scraps from the first card fit together perfectly to make a frame for a second Anniversary card.

The stamped sentiment inside this card simply reads:
Happy Anniversary
Enjoy Your Special Day
The birds on the branch are a cut from the CTMH Scrapbooking Cricut Cartridge.  
The hearts are a die cut from Paper Sweeties. 

I am entering this card in the following challenges:  

Crafty Creations Challenge #298 - It Takes Two ( 2 hearts; 2 birds; 2 different dp) 

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #38 - Sparkle and Glitter

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #148 - Make it Sparkle

Allsorts Challenge Week 329 - Sparkle

Crafty Friends Challenge #14 - Something beginning with "b" (birds on a branch; bling; bow)

Well, I'm off to get my root canal! 

Doesn't that sound like tons of fun? 

Christmas with fall colors

A quick stop at AC Moore (a local craft store) can easily turn into a not so quick stop.  I am half way through crocheting a scarf and am almost out of yarn.  The pattern called for 5 oz.  I bought 5 oz.  The gauge is working out correctly.   But I needed to make a quick stop to grab another skein of yarn or it is going to be a very short scarf.  So I was on my way home from my dentist appointment, feeling a bit sorry for myself because I need to get a root canal and crown on the tooth I broke (to the tune of $1800!), and decided to do a walk around the store before picking up the yarn.  

A pack of Christmas stickers caught my eye,

 and I forgot all about the tooth, 

at least momentarily.    

Here was a way to make another Christmas card, using fall colors, and still enter some of the current fall challenges.  I even did a little sewing on it and added another pinecone sticker inside.

card front - frame and sentiment stamps used are CTMH

inside of card

I am submitting this card to the following challenges:

Cards in Envy Challenge - Colors of Fall

Crafting from the Heart Challenge #78 - Always Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Challenge #280 - Always Anything Goes 

House of Cards September Challenge - Stitch It Up 

Sparkle n Sprinkle September Challenge - Anything Goes (I've used SNS Antiquities EP for the sentiment.)

Stamping Sensations September Challenge - Sew Special 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown September Challenge - For a Man

Sweet Stampin Challenge - Emboss It (Sentiment is heat embossed.)

QKR Stampede Challenge #157 - 3 of Something (3 pinecone stickers on the front of the card; 3 base layers, gold, barn red, and textured green) 

Christmas Cards All Year Round September Challenge - A Country Christmas

So far...so good!

Still on my mission to create those Christmas cards.  Today I followed the weekly sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #126 and threw in some doodling for the Heart to Heart Challenge.  

I used the CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge for the cut. Except for the barely visible houndstooth embossing folder I used, all the products are from CTMH.   I have so much Christmas paper, I'm determined to use it up before I buy any more.  Like that will happen!

Wish me luck, my blogging friends.  I'm off to the dentist to see what he can do about the tooth I broke last Friday.
I'm afraid this is going to hurt both me and my bank account!

 

On a mission

to get my Christmas cards finished.  So I've decided to forego some of the seasonal themed challenges and concentrate on challenges that lend themselves to Christmas cards.  It's a good plan.  But, like a diet, it might be hard to stick to.

Today's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge was perfect for this holiday card....

Papers, stamps and glitter tape are all Close to My Heart products.  Who knows where I picked up the ribbon! 

Challenges:

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #416

Allsorts Challenge Week 329 - Sparkle

Crafting from the Heart Challenge #78- Always Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion Challenge #280 - Always Anything Goes 

Love to Scrap Challenge #62 - Anything Goes 

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Use a Stamp and Blog Hop 

Have a wonderful day! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Color Dare

Last week I just didn't have the new colors needed to join in the weekly Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge.  This week, I'm good to go with this card:

(CTMH paper, glitter tape & stamps)

 

Here's a close up of the tiny ornament bling I made.  Stamped on goldrush paper twice and ruby once, then fussy cut, paper pieced, coated with clear Wink of Stella brush glitter and then covered with Liquid Glass.

And now I have one more Christmas card ready!

Additional challenges I am entering before going to my grandson's baseball game: 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown September Theme Challenge - For a Man 

Allsorts Challenge Week 329 - Sparkle

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge #247 - something beginning with "p"  (The best I can do is paper.) 

Great ball game.  Nick got 2 good hits and made an awesome catch to help the team to a win.
Now I have a cake in the oven, dinner on the stove, and a few minutes to finish this blog post.

Challenges I am entering after going to my grandson's baseball game:

Jingle Bells Challenge - Shopping our stash for items more than a year old. (This stamp set from CTMH is several years old, but I love it.)

Just Add Ink Challenge #280 - Glimmer 

Simply Create Too Challenge #94 - Early Holiday Wishes

A Snowflakes Promise Challenge #5 - Winter or Christmas themed

Fashionable Stamping Challenge # 103 - Words