Oh Happy Day!

Using the Freshly Made Sketch this week for a Birthday card with a little interaction! I kept looking at this sketch thinking that it could possibly swing open and become more interactive. It turned out great and now I want to experiment with more ideas!

 

Opening the card to reveal the inside message!

How fun is that! Sometimes a flat card is just boring!

Country Sketch

The Paper Players has an interesting sketch this week. I decided to use the Country Born stamp set and some older Elemental papers. The finished card makes me really happy...maybe it's the colors or the sweet country images.

 

The City is exciting, but Life is Good in the Country!

 

 

Orange Sympathy

The color combination on Dynamic Duo's this week is a soft and dark orange. I don't believe I have ever experimented with this combination before so it was challenging. I ended up creating a sympathy card with some gorgeous stamped flowers that lent themselves easily to the shades of orange. I chose Close To My Heart colors of Sunset and Autumn Terracotta.

What's Your Favorite Color?

Today is my last day to be a Guest Designer on Heart 2 Heart Challenges! :( I enjoyed playing along with them this month and look forward to new challenges next month.

This week H2H wants to color you happy! We were asked to create a project using our favorite CTMH color. To be honest there are a couple colors that really make me "happy"! I know it's a favorite color when I find that I am constantly re-stocking cardstock or my ink pad starts going dry.

I created this fantastic flip album to celebrate things that make my heart happy and of course it incudes my favorite colors. It's really hard to choose just one color, so I give you my top 3!

3. When I'm looking for a happy color, I think of yellow. Not a blinding, sunny yellow, rather a soft, creamy yellow. My third favorite color is Crème Brulee.

2. I love my pinks, but mostly a strong, bright pink. I especially love to mix it in with black, gray or white. I have a small collection of running shoes all in this color combination! My pink pick and second favorite color is Cotton Candy!

1. Finally, my number one pick is everywhere in home décor, jewelry and fashion trends lately. My daughter and I fight over who gets to buy the blouse, shorts or sandals in this color. Some stores refer to it as turquoise, teal or tropical breeze. In my CTMH world it's Lagoon and I love it!

 I popped a little Pear green in there too! That would be a 4th favorite color and rounds out my primary colors!!

This flip album idea came from a video posted by Heidi Swapp. I found the basic supplies I needed to create my own from Walmart.

It all starts with a simple clear acrylic standing frame. Mine is only 7x5, but you could make it larger if you wish. A piece of texture paper quickly dresses up the background. I chose some chevron For Always papers.

The next item was a little tricky! I needed to find binder rings that were on a bracket so that they would be able to mount to the frame. I was fairly certain that these are not sold individually and I would really need to be on the hunt for something I could tear apart. I just so happened to find these little index card binders in a plastic folder. I was able to pop the binder piece out of the folder and hot glue it onto the face of my frame.

All I had left to do is add fancy Cricut cut pages. So far I only have 4 pages created, but you can see that I have plenty room left on my ring to add more pages.

 

 

So what's your favorite color? Can you pick just one? Submit your favorite color project on Heart 2 Heart this week.



Hello, I Miss You!

Today I am playing with Freshly Made Sketches. They have a clean and simple sketch with a popular flag banner sentiment. I pulled in some older Dotty For You striped paper and some practically ancient sassy strands. The end result is a fun card that would bring a smile to someone you've been missing!

Irresistibles!

You can order the Irresistible Frames and Cubby through me directly or order online www.amysart.ctmh.com!

Z1843 Irresistibles Frames $3.95

Z1804 My Creations Cubby $16.95

Inspired By Pattern

This card was inspired by the photo on the Inspired By Blog! It contains no background papers at all and might be considered almost a one layer card. I've created a pattern similar to the photo using all stamps; images and sentiments! I chose some fun patterns and lively, cheerful colors.

{Inspiration Photo}

 Instead of using a dotted line to separate the sections, I lightly embossed squares. Unfortunately it is very difficult to see with the white photo?! It's still a very cool concept for a card or invitation. I might play around some more and see what I come up with!!

Thanks! {with green and a pop of bling}

I combined two challenges today for a fun, graphic "Thank You" card!

The pop of Pear green with black and white is so stunning! That was the color combination this week on Dynamic Duos! I chose some chevron paper from the For Always kit. The little Thank You sentiment is from a special stamp being offered for a limited time to help provide relief to the Oklahoma victims. You can get the details under the Current Specials tab!

I splashed just a little chartreuse Color Shine {Heidi Swapp} on the base of the card giving it a bit of shimmer. I then added some green bubbles and black sparkles for some "bling". I hope it was enough for the challenge on The Paper Players , Bring on the Bling!

 

 

H2H Photo Inspired

This week on Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog we are given a photo to inspire our project. I was really excited to create something from the first moment I saw it~

I loved all the clean white with the pops of color from the flowers. The bird cage itself inspired the beautiful bird image that I chose.

 

Be sure to stop by Heart 2 Heart Challenges to see the fabulous art that the Design Team has created from the photo!



Dad's Day 'Stache!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! A little late, but I wanted to share the card I sent off in the mail for my own Daddy! I don't get to see him very often, but he is often in my thoughts. We send silly stuff back and forth in the mail all the time, so I thought he should get a fun Father's Day card from me. A "serious" card just wouldn't be right!!

You can see by this old photo of me and my Dad that the "mustache" was quite appropriate! Aren't we cute!

Buzz & Bumble Beauties

It's that time of year when I do some reorganizing in the craft room. An opportunity to go through my stash and use it rather than hoard it! I came across these papers and the coordinating MyStickease. They are really beautiful images and the Buzz & Bumble papers are gorgeous as well.

Wherever I'm With You

I love the sentiment on this card! I used the sketch over on Mojo Monday which had lots of different layers to play with. I was able to split up the words in the sentiment with a banner as shown in the sketch. The color combination came from the Paper Players Blog. {CTMH colors are Sky, Smoothie, Crème Brulee and Cocoa}

Tool Time on H2H

This week Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog asks us to create a project using our favorite tool or incorporating a tool on our manly project! One of my favorite tools is undoubtedly the Cricut. I chose the Artiste cartridge for the fun sprocket images. They worked perfectly for a "bike" theme on my awesome guy card! I used the Later Sk8r papers and some small metal looking screw images from the coordinating embellishments. I added more real metal with brads and eyelets to the sprockets using another fun tool, the Crop-o-dile.

Be sure to pedal on over to H2H Blog to see more creations from the Design Team!


This card will be given to my husband for Father's Day. He has been riding his bike to work almost everyday for over a year now! When we ride together he motivates me to ride farther and faster. He also listens to my complaining the whole ride..."I'm exhausted", "My knees hurt", "Are we there yet?"...What a great guy, I'm so proud of him!!

Summer Time Sketch

Today is the first day of our Summer Vacation! The Paper Players challenge this week is to create a project with a Summer theme. I chose to feature a little bike. It's one of the activities I really enjoy doing. I have to get up early in the morning though to beat the sweltering heat! I also used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week. I loved the banners and twine. I thought it would be interesting to create black & white banners to contrast the bright pinks, oranges and yellows.

{All products are Close To My Heart except the patterned background label by Heidi Swapp; colored with Color Shine sprays}

Dynamic Duo Wedding Cards

Earlier I posted some anniversary cards I intend to donate. I also wanted to contribute some cards with a wedding theme. I thought the Dynamic Duo colors of red and purple would work well. I used up some more of the For Always My Stickease Assortment. I simply added in some purple ribbon with the black, gray and ruby red colors!

Hello Again H2H!

I told you in a previous post that I had some exciting news from Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog! I was asked to join them this month as a Guest Designer! I was excited to get started with this month's first challenge with a tropical theme. Do you like Pina Colada's?

{Photo out for publication}

If you have Pina Colada's then it must be a party!! I immediately thought of a BBQ/Luau with this theme! Invite your friends, have a welcoming gift ready for them, and don't forget to decorate the table!

 

After dinner mints or a scented tea light candle would nestle perfectly into this tropical goodie box! All the cuts are made on the Cricut Artiste cartridge. I added some chevron stamping, folded it up and added the top flower layers. So easy!

{Photo out for publication}

Tropical flowers on the straws make them fun and festive. Just a bit of twine around a napkin and cutlery dresses them up well!

Be sure to stop by Heart 2 Heart challenges blog to see what the designers have created and play along!!

For Always Anniversary

One of the organizations that I donate cards to was in need of some anniversary and wedding cards. I pulled out some of the gorgeous For Always papers and the coordinating My Stickease. These cards were super simple to put together. I only needed to do some cutting and just a little bit of stamping as the Stickease images were really the star.

This first card uses the Freshly Made Sketches pattern. I used a background stamp as if it were a border stamp by only stamping a portion of the stamp on the edges of the cardstock base. I like the pop of yellow with the black, white and juniper colors!

 

 

Here are the other cards I created with the same papers and My Stickease images. Changing the colors really changes the whole look. This first one uses the same colors as my own wedding day! A classic color combination. The other card is more of the juniper color with black & white. I have noticed a growing trend everywhere of turquoise and coral colors! The second card really blends with the current trends.