Black and White with a Pop of Color...

For Challenge #161 at Creatalicious Challenges, we had to create artwork that used the colors Black and White with one color.
I made my focus color Lagoon (teal).

I used the digital image Mermaid Treasure Map Girl from Hannah Lynn.

I colored in the digital image with my Close to my Heart Watercolor Pencils.

My sentiment is a retired stamp from Close to my Heart.

I used black cardstock as my base. 

With layers of Close to my Heart paper from the So Much Happy Paper Packet.

I added white enamel dots for some dimension. 

I hope you enjoyed my creation. 

I also entered it into the following challenge:

Artistic Inspirations Challenge Blog- #214 Anything Goes

My Favorite Color Is Green... Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

I don't exactly celebrate St. Patrick's Day at my house, even though my husband is Irish, but my favorite color is Green. 

So for today's card I went with various shades of green, and colored this cute little girl with reddish blonde hair. 

The digital image is Glittery and Sparkling from The Paper Shelter. 

I used Watercolor Pencils from Close to my Heart to color her in.

The card base is Emerald Cardstock. 

There are various layers of Lagoon and Sweet Leaf cardstock as well.

The Heart Patterned Paper is from the So Much Happy Collection from Close to my Heart.

The little banner under the layered image is also from the So Much Happy Collection.

The yellow striped paper is from the  I Heart Us Collection also from Close to my Heart.

The sentiment is stamped in Lagoon Exclusive Ink, and is a retired stamp from Close to my Heart.

The edges of many of the layers are distressed with Sapphire Exclusive Ink.

To add a little sparkle, I added three Silver Glitter Gems.

Finally, the inside of the card is a layer of White cardstock distressed with Sapphire Exclusive Ink.

I entered my card into the following challenges:

Pile It On! Challenge Blog-Favorite Color (Design Team Entry)

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge- Feminine/Girly

Crafty Friends- #105 Ladies/Girls

Crafty Creations Challenges- #386 Anything Goes

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog- #119 Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations Challenge Blog- #213 Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by, have an awesome day!

Heartfelt Sentiments Card For a Friend

Today's card, is on the edge of clean and simple, yet it was a lot of fun to put together.

The card features, the February Stamp of the Month set "Heartfelt Sentiments"! 

Only $5 when you place an order of $50 or more! 

While you are shopping the President's Day Sale, be sure to add one of these to your shopping cart for only $5!

I used Lagoon Exclusive ink for the sentiment banner and leaves.

Glacier Exclusive ink for a few leaves.

Pewter Exclusive ink for the distressed edges.

I cut out a few of the leaves and popped them up on 3-D Foam Tape for a little added dimension.

I used a few Silver Glitter Gems to add a little sparkles!

I added just a few little stamped images to the matching envelope. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Feeling Blue Thinking of You Card

Happy Sunday!

Today's card was one I created for the Feeling Blue Challenge from Pile It On! 
I chose to use various shades of blue to fit that theme. 

This Challenge is sponsored by All Dressed Up

The card was created using the "Amore" Digital Image.

The digital image was colored with Copic Markers.

All of the layers of cardstock are from Close to my Heart. 
The card base is Peacock cardstock.
The overlay is Carolina cardstock, distressed with Lagoon Exclusive Ink. 

I cut the overlay from the Cricut Cartridge Edge to Edge.
The Digital Image is layered with two pieces of Glacier cardstock. 
I just turned one to the lighter shade. 
I distressed several layers of the cardstock with Glacier Exclusive In k from Close to my Heart.

Since the Digital Image had it's own sentiment, I didn't add an additional one, however to highlight it, I added two banner strips behind it. 
The white banner strip is distressed with Glacier Exclusive ink. 

For a little added bling, I added a few Silver Glitter Gems from Close to my Heart.

The inside of the card is a layer of White Daisy cardstock also distressed with Glacier Exclusive Ink. 

I entered my card into the following challenges:

Pile It On! Challenge Blog- Pink or Blue 

Crafting From The Heart- #234 Anything Goes 

A Bit More Time To Craft- #86 Anything Goes 

Classic Design Team Challenge Blog- February #2 Anything Goes 

Magic Moments With Corrosive Challenge Blog- February #2 Anything Goes 

Love to Craft Challenge Blog- February Anything Goes 

Pearly Sparkles Challenge Blog- #37 It's A Love Thing

Love of Color - CTMH Technique Blog Hop

Welcome to the December 

Close to my Heart Technique Blog Hop!

There are 13 other amazingly talented Close to my Heart Consultants sharing their artwork with you for this month's Blog Hop. 

Should you get lost along the way, all participant's links can be found here. 

If you are coming from Michelle's Blog, you are on the right track.

As mentioned in a post a couple weeks back, I love to use our new 

Love of Color How-to-Book to inspire my cards and layouts. 

This month's Blog Hop showcases how useful this book really is.

The book has several awesome features:

It fits inside our Everyday Life™ albums for easy and convenient transportation. 

It includes breathtaking artwork that illustrates how to create perfectly balanced color combinations, and has tons of patterns for cards and layouts.

This book is perfect for both new and seasoned crafters. 

It would make an awesome Christmas or Birthday gift!

I created this card, to showcase the color combination on page 10 of the book. 

The three featured colors are Saffron, Smoothie and Lagoon.

The card base and second layer of the circle is Saffron cardstock. 

The torn strip is Lagoon.

The layer of cardstock behind the strip is Smoothie. 

One of my favorite Stamp Sets in our current catalog is the Grateful Heart Stamp Set. 

It is perfect for Thank you, Birthday, even Wedding cards!

I used Versamark Ink with the butterfly from the Grateful Heart Stamp Set, to create a very subtle tone on tone background on the Smoothie cardstock.

I used Lagoon ink to stamp the "Thank You" from our Grateful Heart Cardmaking Stamp Set.

For a bit of dimension, I used Saffron Ink to distress the edges of the White Daisy circle. 

Thank you so much for stopping by, before heading over to Darlys's Blog, please consider leaving a comment and enjoy the rest of the creative talents in this month's Blog Hop! 

Disney's Up Themed Artist Trading Cards For An ATC Swap

So earlier this weekend, I signed up for an Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swap on Splitcoaststampers. 

Splitcoaststampers has been my go to for swaps for years. 

For the ATC Swap, there are 4 categories. 

They are Vintage, Disney, Shades of  1 Color, and Bugs/Insects. 

So since my time tends to be limited, I decided to go ahead and get started. 

Well we all know I am a major Disney fan, so of course that is the category I completed first!

So I present to you my 3 Artist Trading Cards for the Disney category. 

They are titled "Up Fan Art", I made only 3. 

In hindsight, I should have made a 4th for myself. 

But it's okay, I am just happy that the picture in my mind, turned out the way I wanted them to.

I used nearly all Close to my Heart products for them.

The house and balloons are from the July Stamp of the Month "Highlight Reel". 

When you purchase $50 in products you can purchase "Highlight Reel" for only $5!

(#1 of 3)

On White Daisy cardstock, the house is stamped in Toffee ink. 

The balloons were stamped in Archival Black Ink. 

The balloons are masked to create varying amounts. 

Then colored in with Copics. 

I then used a Clear Shimmer Brush to give them some shine. 

(#2 of 3)

The cliff, and waterfall were drawn with a pen. 

Then colored with Copics. 

I added Liquid Glass on top of the waterfall, to make the water really stand out.

(#3 of 3)

I used the Pen Pal alphabet set to stamp UP. 

The UP is stamped on Lagoon cardstock, with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. 

I then dovetailed the cardstock, then mounted it on dimensional tape. 

I then used Pacifica Ink to distress the edges of the front of the card.

I mounted the card onto chipboard. 

(Back of all Three Cards)

Then on the back, I mounted a piece of Sapphire cardstock. 

Then used a stamp I found while in Las Vegas, that is made specifically for ATCs. 

I also distressed the information portion of the back with Pacifica Ink as well. 

Welcome Baby Card...

So about a week ago, I was in my local Tuesday Morning, browsing the baby aisle, and stumbled upon this adorable blanket... 

I immediately thought to myself, wait, I have a hot air balloon stamp at home. 

So tonight's card which will also be on my display at the Close to my Heart Convention in about a week and a half, was in fact inspired by that blanket. 

Now originally I was planning to use soft pastel blues, but decided against it, and chose to use the soft aqua colors. 

I may go back and create some neutral ones and even a pink or blue one. 

The hot air balloon stamp is from the Cheers To You Cardmaking Workshops Your Way stamp set. 

I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, and filled in just a few spots with some of my 

Cricut Markers. 

The "Welcome Baby" sentiment is from the Short & Sweet Stamp Set. 

One of my favorites, because it has so many different sentiments. 

And at only $6.95 it is an amazing deal.

The cardstock used is Pewter, Lagoon and White Daisy. 

The small strip of White Daisy was also run through the Cuttlebug (Exclusive Hostess Offer) , with our Rose Embossing Folder. 

This embossing folder, is truly my go to for many cards and scrapbooking layouts.

I used a little Lagoon ink to help distress the edges of the hot air balloon panel. 

Then I finished off the card with a few Bitty Sparkles to add some simple shine. 

I did enter this card into the following challenge:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog- Transport It (Hot air balloon)

Convention Swaps Batch Two

As promised, here are a few photos of batch #2 of my Convention Swaps.
Some of the batches I will post, others I will leave for an element of surprise at the Convention.
I try to make each batch somewhat different, by changing the style, layout, technique etc.

I made 13 cards to swap at convention.
These 13 cards were made into two different sets.
For both sets, I tried to create a semi monochromatic look.

In this first set, the flowers came from the stamp set Beautiful Friendship-Scrapbooking 

by Close to my Heart, I used them to make a One Sheet Wonder piece, for a few of the cards.
For the One Sheet Wonder patterned paper I made, I used Juniper and Lagoon ink.

I used Juniper, Lagoon, Peacock, and White Daisy cardstock for most of the floral cards as well.
The cards are all based with the White Cards and EnvelopesValue Pack.

Most of the cards, have panels that are distressed with Pewter ink.

The "Perspective is Everything" and "the World is Yours to Explore" sentiments both came from the "A New Adventure" stamp set.

This set is so versatile and definitely one of my personal favorites.
For most of the sentiments I mounted them with 3-D Foam Tape.

For the second group of cards, I used Kraft, Pewter, and Sapphire for the A Big Thank You Thin Cuts overlay.  

Underneath is a layer of White Daisy that has been distressed with Glacier, Lagoon, and Sapphire ink. Love this color combo.

The cards are all based with the White Cards and EnvelopesValue Pack.

To attach the overlays I used the Bonding Memories Dual Action Glue Pen.

I used the Bitty Sparkles to embellish all of the cards.

Hope you enjoyed these, as much as I did making them.

As always if you have any questions at all please let me know.