July Heartfelt Creation Alumni Blog Hop

Happy July! If you are here from Vicki's blog you are on the right track. Make sure you leave comments along the way by Friday, July 29th at midnight EST to be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Emma Lou and Heartfelt Creations. The final stop is Archana's blog, and I wish you all the best for your chance to win the HFC gift certificate!

I am adding to my Christmas card stash. I appreciate the elegant font of this sentiment from Dove of Peace (discontinued). Good alternatives to this sentiment would be either Ornate Sleigh or Gift Wrapped Presents. The striped panel is from Daphne Paper Collection (discontinued) but would look beautiful with either Sunrise Lily or Sparkling Poinsettia.

I adhered the ivory panels using dimensional foam, and the effect of the shadow is quite marvellous. I used a 1/2" hole punch for the row of ornaments, and backed it with transparent tape to adhere the glitter. I adhered dark pink cardstock behind the ornaments to bring out the pink in the pattern paper. The ornament hangers were hand drawn. I think I would draw the bows a little smaller next time!

Please do leave comments on all the alumni blogs for a chance to win a $25 Heartfelt Creations gift certificate. Carry on to Mary's blog for your final stop on the hop, and we hope to see you again next month!

stamps: dove of peace (heartfelt creations)
paper: daphne (heartfelt creations); ruby (bazzill); cuddle cream (spellbinders)
ink: onyx black versafine (tsukineko)
accessories: 1/2" circle punch (uchida); angel dust glitter (art institute glitter)

Defining Calories

My inspiration for this card comes from 2 sources: Deconstructed Sketch #200 and my determination to walk 10,000 steps per day. I started at accomplishing my goal 3 times per week and gradually over the last 6 weeks have increased to daily as of this week. I promised my youngest daughter I would give this 6 months to see what happened after she took 6 months running uphill from her school to my school after school was out and she was impressed that she attained many physical milestones despite being athletic to start with and I'm not, so I should see a lot of improvement.

I really love the combination of floral and polka dot pattern paper in this card. Typically I'm intimidated by the 'wow factor' of polka dots, but I think I used it to advantage here. They make a pretty background for the floral and bunting.

I built a great deal of depth into this card, and I'm not sure it was the right direction to go with it, except that the flat version left me feeling flat. The darkest bunting was made using a coredin'ations scrap I had laying on my desk, and I don't know where it came from. I sanded it to expose the embossing and I really love the effect.

stamps: calories (riley & co)
paper: almond cream (bazzill); cuddle cream (spellbinders); juliet (bo bunny)
ink: onyx black versafine (tsukineko)
accessories: baby buntings (spellbinders); dimensional foam adhesive (3L); mini screw head brads (tim holtz idea-ology)

Getting my Mojo on!

I saw this Mojo Monday sketch and was inspired! While I didn't finish it in time to add it to the mojo collection, ultimately that's not what this is all about. I was inspired to create something lovely, and I would encourage you to go back through older challenges from whatever your favourite source is to gain new perspective and inspiration.

Using what I already have is the name of the game for me during this season in my life. I'm buying groceries day by day so I am motivated to be creative with what is already in my fridge, freezer and pantry to feed my family. I'm using fabric from my stash to create clothing to supplement my wardrobe. For paper crafting, I'm using some very old supplies (5-10+years old) and combining it with online challenges that inspire me in the moment.

The pattern paper I've used here is from 2014 (no so old) with a vellum (purchased in 2005) overlay, and spellbinders dies from 2011. Not bad! The sentiment stamp is the baby of the project, from last year.

Have a wonderful week, friends! And I hope you are inspired!

stamps: glass half empty (riley & co)

paper: the story of us (simple stories); white, raven (bazzill); vellum (paper accents)

ink: onyx black versafine (tsukineko)

accessories: baby buntings, persian motifs (spellbinders); black ribbon (offray); clear rhinestones (want 2 scrap); black brad (unknown)

Using the Negative for some Positive

I made this card using Seth Apter dies and posted it early June.  When I made the original card, I nested the dies to conserve paper and created another image by carefully cutting around the die cuts to center the cuts in a panel. And to think, I almost threw this away!!

Since I had the panel cut out of this very distinctive basic grey pattern paper, I used similar colours to create this new card. The additional pattern paper is Blue Awning from K & Co. I'm fairly confident that it has been discontinued, but you never know what you will find if you look.

I've used a cheeky sentiment from Riley & Co. Funny Bones. I must admit, I do love me some sass when it's tasteful. I'm not sure if this could have used a little more embellishment or not, so for today, I decided less is more!

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned as I start blogging about my other passion - teaching Fashion. I have a whole pile of projects that I'm working on and I've been diligently designing and getting on the treadmill daily to attain 10,000 steps per day. It's proving challenging to design for a changing body shape!!

stamps: pretend to be normal (riley & co)
paper: hang 10 (basic grey); blue awning (k & co), white, rave n(bazzill)
ink: onyx black versafine (tsukineko)
accessories:A2 matting basics b, splatter proof, coffee ring (spellbinders); black ribbon (su!)

Dear Self - A little inspiration

I wanted to join in with a splitcoast challenge since it has been quite a while since the last time I did, so I went to my favourite challenge (inspiration challenge) and saw Tim Holtz Mania (IC551) and chose this pin from the inspiration board.

I have several 'Dear Self' sentiments from Create with TLC, and today I have a card using another of these fabulous digi stamps. I cut and embossed the sentiment using large petite ovals, sadly a discontinued die cut set. I used a silver paint pen to edge the sentiment and several other layers and accents.

We all need a reminder occasionally to be brave, to move forward, and that today we will win! I know I do. I really love the secret I'm showing in this photo - the underside of the pattern paper is ORANGE! The sage, grey and ivory print is one of my absolute favourite papers of all time, and I have rarely featured the orange print. Today, the flowers show the bright and happy flip side. While I could make all sorts of ethereal connections from this print to the sentiment,  I won't. I'll leave that for you to do, if you choose.

The little orange glow is highly appealing, I think. I couldn't find any pink anything I was willing to use like my inspiration piece for this card since I wanted to keep the focus on the sentiment.

I used Cinch and Go dies to create these flowers (since I couldn't find my tattered blossoms dies - it took me an hour of looking before I finally gave up and turned to this die set instead!!), and they are super simple to assemble. I used an awl to make the hole in the center larger so I could fit in this many pearl stamens, and I really love the effect.

stamp; dear self (create with tlc)
paper; everafter (cosmo cricket - discontinued); horizon, lily white, front porch (bazzill)
accessories; yellow pearl stamens (darice); stack and fan flowers, cinch and go flowers, make a wish, i'll never leaf you, labels 41, labels 41 decorative accents, lg petite ovals (spellbinders); silver paint pen (uchida)

Heartfelt Creations Alumni June blog hop winner

Congratualtions to Patty O'Malley! You are the winner of the June Heartfelt Creations Alumni blog hop gift certificate. You have 72 hours to contact EmmaLou at EmmaLou@heartfeltcreations.us to claim your prize with "Winner of June Alumni Hop" in the subject line. 

June Heartfelt Creation Alumni Blog Hop

Happy June! If you are here from Kathy's blog you are on the right track and nearly done. woot!woot! Make sure you leave comments along the way by Friday, July 1st at midnight EST to be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Emma Lou and Heartfelt Creations. The final stop is Emily's blog, and I wish you all the best for your chance to win the HFC gift certificate!

This is a learning experiment. I am not completely happy with the watercoloring and will be giving it another go. I am happy with the idea, just not 100% happy with the execution. I have used one of my favourite HFC stamps from Vines and Blooms. I utterly adore this we bird on a blooming branch.

I have used 'Missing You' from Classic Message. Truth be told, this sentiment has the most ink on it from this set. Apparently my project today is full up of favourites since I also love water colouring. My vision for the background is much lovelier in my imagining than in the execution! *ugh*

Please do leave comments on all the alumni blogs for a chance to win a $25 Heartfelt Creations gift certificate. Carry on to Emily's blog for your final stop on the hop, and we hope to see you again next month!

stamps; vines and blooms, classic message (heartfelt creations)
paper; lily white (bazzill)
ink; onyx black versafine (tsukineko)
accessories; inktense pencils (derwent), A2 curved matting basics a (spellbinders)