More Sweet Little Things Cards

 The adorable January stamp of the month, Sweet Little Things, has been so much fun to play with this month.  At my recent card class, we created two cards with this set.

The first card features the Sweet as Honey collection and watercoloring with distress oxide inks.  To achieve this look, I first stamped the bear with Vintage Photo distress oxide ink.  Then, I grabbed my waterbrush and pulled color from the lined image in towards the center to pain the bear.  For the flowers and the bee, I smooshed some Spiced Marmalade and some Peeled Paint distress oxide ink onto scrap plastic then picked up the ink with a paint brush to paint (without water).  The heart is from the Sweet as Honey cork shapes, and I also added a little gold glitter paper.  (You could also use gold shimmer trim.)  This sketch is from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4.

For my second card, I was thinking about Valentine's Day and thought that cute mouse was perfect inside a Thin Cut heart.  I colored him with Spectrum Noir markers to match the Sawyer color palette.  The Wisteria ribbon and bitty sparkle finish it off nicely.

Remember that the stamps of the month are only available during the month they are offered, so if you haven't gotten your Sweet Little Things set, order quickly HERE!  (Did you know that as a VIP with a qualifying purchase you can get the stamp of the month for free?  If you're not a VIP, with that same qualifying purchase you can buy the stamp of the month for only $5.)

January/February 2022 New Product Blog Hop

Close To My Heart keeps cranking out amazing products with each of our idea books, and the January-February idea book is no exception!  Everything featured on this blog hop is available for this two-month cycle, so be sure to grab your favorites before they are gone!  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Kim's blog.  From here, you'll visit ScrappinKaty's blog next.)

When I saw the Sweet as Honey collection, I knew that it would be perfect with our daughter's college graduation photos!  She got her cap and gown and diploma in the mail in May of 2020, but Oglethorpe held a graduation ceremony for her class the day after the in-person graduation for the Class of 2021.  She was very excited to get to walk across the stage and receive her hood!  We are so very proud of her!  (After working for a year as planned, she is now in graduate school working on her Master's degree.)

Here's a close up of the left page.  I based my layout on one of the layouts in the current Smitten workshop guide.  All of the papers are from the Sweet as Honey collection.  I did spritz the background of both pages with Gilt gloss spray.  I actually made two almost identical layouts- one for her and one for me.  Her layout says OU 2020 with the white alphabet foam stickers, but mine is a little shorter because I ran out of 2s.  I created the mortarboard out of cardstock of my own design then added gold embroidery floss for the tassel.  I embellished the page with black enamel dots, black acrylic stars, and black acrylic arrows.  I also used a white gel pen for the faux stitching.

My photos definitely determined the layout of the right page.  In addition to the aforementioned supplies, I also added a Sweet as Honey sticker embellishment.

I had so many photos that I will be using a flip flap to show them all- which also gives me a journaling spot to write a bit about her special day.  (I need to remember to add that the photos of her receiving her hood were actually from my parents, who were watching the livestream feed from home!)

Thank you for letting me share a Sweet as Honey layout minus the bees to commemorate our daughter's graduation.  Please leave a comment before you hop to the spectacular ScrappinKaty's blog next to continue the January/February 2022 new product blog hop!

Heart2Heart Challenges: Watercolors

The second January Heart2Heart Challenge is watercolors, which can really be interpreted in so many ways!  For my project, I am excited to use distress oxide inks and a waterbrush to create a watercolor card.

After stamping the sweet bunnies from the January stamp of the month, Sweet Little Things, with Vintage Photo distress oxide inks onto watercolor paper, I used my waterbrush to pull in ink to paint those sweet critters.  Then I used a dry brush to add a little Tattered Rose nose and Spiced Marmalade flower petals.  To ground the bunnies, I used a little Pumice Stone with my waterbrush.  I also painted the sky with Peacock Feathers.  

Here are my materials:

I backed my main panel onto the lighter side of Toffee cardstock and then onto an A2 side-fold card.

Be sure to check out all of the H2H Design Team's projects, and join us for the watercolor challenge!  You have until the end of the month to participate in both of our January challenges.

January Technique Blog Hop: Let's Get Geometrical

The January Technique blog hop is getting geometrical!  We are going to have lots of fun with cool shapes.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Kim's blog.  From here, you'll visit Darlys next.)

I was inspired by a card from last month's Craft with Heart subscription, so I recreated the general layout with color inspiration from Smitten (Raspberry, Capri, Flamingo, and Lemonade) and the January stamp of the month, Sweet Little Things.  I had fun with the rectangles and circles for this geometrical card.  I used several Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend markers and a white gel pen to color my images.  I added a bitty sparkle to the focal flower center for a little sparkle in addition to the Capri glitter paper.

Please leave a comment before you hop on to Darlys's blog next!  Thank you!

I'm also linking this card up to the Double Trouble Challenge #100 to use layers and dies.

As You Grow Wyoming Layouts

One of my current big projects is to continue scrapbooking our travel photos from our trip out west this summer (plus two other big trips from years past...).  I really liked how well the As You Grow collection paired with photos from our time in Wyoming at Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park.

On the left page, I used an old gold metal clip to attach the bulletin from the church service we attended.  I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of my mom and me to mimic the one my dad took when I was about two years old at the same location!  In our defense, it was really cold that morning!  

The right page for this layout (which is also the left page of the next layout) uses a 12"x12" Memory Protector #4.  I used a few Picture My Life cards plus patterned paper.

I used stickers from the collection also as embellishments and my Daisy Alphabet stamp set to help add to my layout.

As you can see, the As You Grow collection isn't just for babies and toddlers!  I love how it looks with my travel photos too.

Heart2Heart Challenges: Wild Berry (Color of the Year)

Heart2Heart Challenges is kicking off the new year with our Close To My Heart color of the year, Wild Berry!

I knew that I would use Wild Berry for my first day of school layout (which is pretty timely since today is the first day of the second semester- but fortunately a teacher work day).  My color scheme of Wild Berry, Toffee, Nectarine, Black, and White Daisy was totally inspired by my shirt.  

I used a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 2 to mimic the stripes of my top.  Can you tell how many paper packs I used?

The "composition book" print and ruler is from Smarty Pants, the newsprint is from Sweet As Honey, and the Wild Berry and Nectarine patterned papers came from the recent (now retired) VIP Hip Hip Hooray collection.  I made my journaling tag from the Date Stamp stamp set & Thin Cuts.

I used a few black acrylic stars and Wild Berry dots to embellish my layout (plus a stripe of black shimmer trim that doesn't show well in the photo).

Be sure to visit the Heart2Heart Challenge blog to see our designers' inspirations and join us this month to feature the CTMH color of the year, Wild Berry!

January 2022 Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Sweet Little Things

Happy 2022!  Close To My Heart has an adorably sweet stamp of the month, Sweet Little Things, to kick off the new year.  Hop along to see lots of great ideas with this stamp set.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Kim's blog.  From here, you'll visit ScrappinKaty's blog next.)

I decided to make two simple cards focusing on two of the adorable images, Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend makers for coloring, and coordinating with simple cardstock.  For my first card, after coloring the bear, flowers, bee, and foliage, I used a waterbrush and Carolina ink to paint a background.  Although I was channeling the Sweet as Honey collection, the colors didn't work as well as I had expected, so I used Black and Lemonade cardstock.  A few black acrylic star shapes finished it off (because I thought a sentiment on the front took away from the image).

My second card uses only markers to color the image.  I tried using the True Blue marker to create a sky without coloring in the entire background.  (In truth, I like the waterbrush/ink background better but glad I tried this idea.)  I paired my image with Carolina, Sage, and Ballerina cardstock.  If you look closely on the sentiment, you can see that I highlighted parts of the saying with a marker.

Isn't this set adorable?  Please leave a comment- I'd love to know your favorite image- before hopping on to ScrappinKaty's blog next to continue the January stamp of the month blog hop.

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}

Goodbye 2021!

It is really hard to believe that today is the final day of 2021!  What a year it's been for the entire world!  I am definitely choosing to focus on the positives.  Today is the final day to take advantage of all of the awesome CTMH December specials: the stamp of the month, Owl Love You Forever; Deck the Palms scrapbooking and cardmaking; Merry Making wooden ornament kits; VIP Flower Shop card kit; and the VIP Hip Hip Hooray workshop.

I made two of the layouts from the VIP Hip Hip Hooray workshop (and look forward to creating the rest of the projects soon).  My first layout features some fun we had tubing in Wyoming.  I didn't have enough pictures so I turned the left page's picture into a title.

Did you know that you can curve our My Acrylix stamps?  That arrow border is normally straight, but I bent it for the pennants.

Here's a close up of the fun, playful elements of the layout.

The second layout is a really fun pattern to make.  You need two 12"x12" cardstock bases.  (I swapped out Wildberry as provided for Sundance that better matched my photos.)  Add one piece of 12"x12" patterned paper cut on the diagonal (you will need a long ruler, a pencil, and scissors to accomplish this step) and another 9.5" square also cut on the diagonal.

My family and I wish you all the best in the upcoming year.  Goodbye, 2021, and HELLO, 2022!!!

Stitched Lattice Thin Cut Wedding Card

One of our daughter's dear friends got married last month, and we all had a wonderful time celebrating their wedding!  I made this card for the bride & groom.

I cut the white glitter panel with the Stitched Lattice Thin Cut die, but then I cut it so that I could mount it onto a 5"x7" card.

To hide the cut, I added a strip of Evergreen cardstock with pleated vellum behind the White Daisy strip.  I used my Sentiments by Melissa Esplin stamp set.  I cut the hearts with my Heart Shaker Thin Cut die.

If you look closely, you'll notice that I used the light side of Evergreen cardstock for the card front, but then I sponged Evergreen ink to give it an ombre effect.

I used the same stamp set for the inside sentiment and also added some die cut hearts to make confetti.  (Hopefully they didn't hate that part of their card!)

We happily send best wishes to the new Mr. and Mrs. Peney!

Map Your Journey- USA: North Dakota 6"x8" Layout

While I am making my family American Adventure album, I am also making 6"x8" albums for our daughters.  I gave them their albums for Christmas on the condition that I get to keep them until I finish them! 

I am keeping their layouts really simple and leaving room for their journaling (not mine) because of course their perspectives may be somewhat different than mine!

Did you make any gifts this year?  If so, what did you make?

Map Your Journey- USA: North Dakota Layout

Our family had a great time on our awesome American adventure this summer!  One highlight was going to North Dakota and hiking its highest peak, White Butte.

I used the As You Grow collection along with the Map Your Journey- USA stamp set.

I love using flip flaps to add more photos to my layouts.

Here's a close up of the Map Your Journey stamped accent.  I fussy cut both South and North Dakota from coordinating cardstock and then popped up ND with 3D foam tape.

I also used a few wooden arrows to accent the layout.

Thanks for letting me share part of our adventure with you!

December Technique Blog Hop: Accents of White

The December 2021 Technique Blog Hop is featuring our white gel pens and accents of white.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Cat's blog.  From here, you'll visit ScrappinKaty's blog next.)

For my card, I Thin Cut the deer on Pewter cardstock, stamped in black, and then colored with white gel pen and three Spectrum Noir markers.  I added "stitching" on the Glacier strips with the white gel pen.  I embellished the deer with Mint Stickles.

If you look closely, I added a little dot of white gel pen to the corner of the deer's eye, which really brought it to life.

Here's another card I made with the Wonderland collection and the Deck the Palms Cardmaking stamp set.  (You can learn more HERE.)  I used the white gel pen to color the white parts of the hat and beak.

Please leave a comment before hopping on to ScrappinKaty's blog next!