Heart2Heart Challenges: Favorite Tool

This week's Heart2Heart Challenge is to highlight your favorite crafty tool, and it was honestly difficult for me to decide!  I cannot imagine crafting without my paper trimmer and some really good adhesive, plus some stamps and inks...

So, I am actually going with... can you guess what?  While Thin Cuts sure make cutting stamped images easier, my current favorite tool is actually my SHIMMER BRUSHES!!!!

The flowers are highlighted with red shimmer brush after being colored with watercolor pencils.

I colored the fish with Peach and Toffee shimmer brushes (plus blue watercolor pencils) and the bubbles with Mint shimmer brush.

The sun's rays, after stamping with Lemonade ink, were then colored with Lemonade shimmer brush.

 Peach shimmer brush fills in the frosty drink with Lemonade shimmer on the umbrella...  (Is it enough where you are for some umbrella drinks, too?!?)

Mint shimmer brush painted on the background gives the illusion of sky, plus of course some Lemonade shimmery rays...

 Can you see the Lemonade and Peach shimmer on the fish scales?

This fish was colored the same as the preceding card, plus Candy Apple highlighted the "seaweed" and clear shimmer added sparkle to the bubbles.

Please join us at H2H Challenges to share your favorite tool!  I know that you will be inspired by our DT creations.  We'd love to see yours too!

Dry Embossing, Part 1

If you follow my InkyScrapper Facebook page, then you might have caught my video about dry embossing basics.  (If not, you can find it HERE.)  I have set a goal for myself to make a "tips & techniques" video each week.  My goal was live each Tuesday, but that hasn't happened yet, but I am two weeks in at least.  The first video was how to use Thin Cuts die cuts, so I continued with my die cutting machine to feature dry embossing.  (Next week will be dry embossing, part 2, with more advanced techniques.)

Each card featured a 4"x5.25" dry embossed panel.  This first one uses a retired floral embossing folder with Wisteria card stock.  I went back and painted the flowers with Wisteria shimmer brush. (I think I prefer it without, but I didn't think to take before/after pictures.)  The sentiment is from the retired Yesterday & Today Cardmaking stamp set, and the patterned paper is from the retired Every Little Thing collection.  The Wisteria ribbon is currently available.

(close up of the Wisteria shimmer brush detail)

My second card uses a non-CTMH embossing folder.  It was a gift, and I'm not sure of the manufacturer.  I used the same sentiment and piece of the retired Mix-In collection and sparkles to embellish.

This third card may be my favorite!  Before I embossed the card stock with the retired scallops folder, I inked the folder with Glacier, Lagoon, and Sapphire.

The fish and bubbles are from the current Summer Vibes Cardmaking stamp set & Thin Cuts.  I freehand cut (free cut?) the "seaweed" from the same retired Mix-In 

Can you see how I painted the images and "seaweed" with shimmer brushes?  Candy Apple on the seaweed, clear on the bubbles, and Lemonade and Peach on the fish makes this card even cuter in real life.  I haven't decided on a sentiment yet- either the "Just Keep Swimming" from the set or possibly "Birthday Fishes" from the (retired) April stamp of the month.

As always, if you have any questions, ask them in the comments.  Of course I love to get comments if you've taken the time to stop by.  Just keep swimming!

The Pretty of Paper-Piecing Technique Blog Hop

This month's technique blog hop, the Pretty of Paper-Piecing, was honestly a challenge for me!  I think you're going to learn a lot along this month's hop.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Lauren's blog.  From here, you'll visit Darlys next.)

My project might not be what you were expecting when you thought of paper-piecing.  While I was struggling for ideas, I turned to Pinterest (of course), and all of the paper-piecing projects were for quilts.  One thought led to another, and I decided to create a sunburst card.

I used strips of scraps from my Summer Vibes collection.  As you can see below, the pieces behind the focal sentiment are a hot mess.  I maybe should have trimmed them a little more at an angle (less rectangular and more triangular), and I wish that I had added some gold shimmer trim.  The thing is, because I was using scraps, there's really no way for me to make it again unless I start cutting up big pieces of paper.

For the focal sentiment, from the July Stamp of the Month, For My Beautiful Friend, I first inked up the sentiment in Lemonade, then Smoothie, and the Candy Apple before stamping it on the White Daisy rectangle.  Even the Smoothie mat was a scrap that I cut down a bit.

Here's another quick card that used paper piecing for the focal sun.  I stamped it first in Lemonade, then again on scrap in Black.  I cut out the Black circle center and adhered it to the Lemonade sun.

Thanks for letting me share some quick & easy paper-piecing projects with you.  After leaving a comment, hop on over to Darlys's blog to continue.

4th of July 2020 Layout

This layout ended up being super fun to make!  I let my photos guide my on my layout, and my color palette included Candy Apple, White Daisy, Sapphire, and Glacier.  (I don't often get to work on "current" photos, so I'm excited to share 4th of July 2020 with you.)

Can you guess how many different paper collections I used for this layout?  (I'll list them at the end.)

Oftentimes, I stamp titles directly on my layout, but this time I decided to create a banner first instead.  I used my Simply Said alphabet and Sapphire ink for the title (and then I embellished with the asterisk stamp in Glacier).  Below is a "cheat" tip:  If your paper isn't long enough but you're layering anyway, cut it in half to stretch the piece.  (This plaid is from the piece on the bottom right of the right page.  It's nice to have patterns used on both pages across your layout.)

Okay, what's your guess for paper packs/collections?

I actually used four different paper collections: Summer Vibes (red check and waves, plus the sticker art), retired Stitched Together paper (red half circle pattern) and PML cards (bottom right plaid and journaling box mat), retired Aurora (constellation mats), and retired Mix-Ins (Glacier plaid and Sapphire floral).  Don't be afraid to mix and match your paper collections!  CTMH does a great job of coordinating them together without being repetitious.

I am linking my layout up to the Color Dare #401, a red, white, and blue inspiration board.

Heart2Heart Challenges: Just Add Water

The newest Heart2Heart Challenge, Just Add Water, can be either about the water or use water.  I decided to make a fun lake day layout.

After ordering my pictures, I decided that Pattern 3 of the Make It From Your Heart, Vol.. 3 how-to book would fit my photos nicely.  I knew that the Summer Vibes collection was perfect for lake day memories.

I cut the kayak from the CTMH/Cricut You Are Here collection (the base piece is black cardstock, and the overlay is Lemonade).  YOu can see how I used some Summer Vibes stickers to accent my page.

The journaling box is actually a (retired) PML card from the Stitched Together collection.  All of the fun yellow embellishments are Summer Vibes acrylic pieces (attach with glue dots or Liquid Glue).

How are you going to Just Add Water?  Join us all month long at H2H!  A new challenge is posted each Monday, and challenges are open for the entire month.

New Product Blog Hop: July/August 2020

In addition to our core (yearly) idea book (which expires as the end of next month), Close To My Heart is offering a new idea book every two months.  This blog hop features exciting new products from the July/August Idea Book.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Lauren's blog.  From here, you'll visit Gina next.)

All of my layouts use the Summer Vibes collection and feature my family's visit to Dortmund, Germany, where our daughter studied abroad last summer.  (Her dad, sister, and I flew over at the end of her summer semester to travel with her through parts of Europe.)  My first layout was inspired by 12x12 Sketch 155.

One of the perks of being a CTMH consultant is that I have access to project guides, which I used to create many of these layouts.

The little Picture My Life card on the right page is actually from the (retired) Stitched Together collection!  While it doesn't match Summer Vibes exactly, they have enough of the same colors to be able to pull in a few of those pieces.

In addition to the cute Summer Vibes stickers, have you noticed the pink and yellow acrylic shapes?  I also used black & white dots to accent my layouts. Don't worry if you don't have beach pictures for this collection!  I think it blended nicely with our travel photos.

TIP:  Use a ruler to trace the diagonal to cut the squares in half for this layout.

Use Page Protector Plus pages to add more photos to your layout.

Another Stitched Together PML card to accent this Summer Vibes layout (sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 3).

I had to use the red checkerboard pattern for my food layout!

Thanks for letting me share part of our trip with you and the NEW Summer Vibes collection!  I will be showcasing cards from this collection soon, so please come back.  Please leave a comment before hopping on over to Gina's blog.  Thank you!

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

Silver Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary yesterday (not sure where the time went!) so here are the projects that I made.

Of course I saw the original idea on Pinterest.  I found the frame at our local Walmart and used actually spoons from our set that we've been using since our wedding (with extra pieces added thanks to eBay since Oneida no longer makes our pattern).  The background is the mountain pattern from the recently retired Aurora collection, and I cut the letters with my CTMH/Cricut Art Philosophy collection at 1" on silver foil paper (and the numbers at 1.25").

(I think he liked it!)

Here is the card I included:

I used the same Cricut collection with the silver foil paper cut at 2.5", the recently retired Mix In collection, silver shimmer trim, the Say It In Style stamp set, and pewter ink, along with some silver glitter gems.

We had a lovely day and hope to get away in the fall since our cruise earlier this summer was cancelled.  Is anyone else ready for this pandemic to get under control?!?  Thanks for letting me share my recent anniversary and projects with you.  Thanks for being a part of our story!

July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: For My Beautiful Friend

Not only does CTMH have a new stamp of the month, For My Beautiful Friend, but we also have a new Idea Book!  You're going to be seeing new products along with with this pretty stamp of the month blog hop.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Lauren's blog.  From here, you'll visit Gina next.)

I have a confession.  I don't really like to color (GASP!), and of course this set lends itself so well to coloring!

Since I know you will see some gorgeous coloring along the hop, I wanted to show you ways to incorporate this pretty stamp set without having to color.  For all of my cards, I used the new Summer Vibes collection and black ink.

After stamping the sentiment in black, I used Smoothie and Glacier inks to accent it.  Don't you love the pretty banners?  They were all made with scraps leftover from cutting the pieces for 3 layouts and 6 cards (to be featured soon).

I added black card stock to the collection for this tiled card.  Each square measures 1.25".  On the Smoothie squares, I stamped the center of the big bouquet held by the girl.  Do you like that pink acrylic heart?  Check out the Summer Vibes acrylic shapes!

My third card is entirely made of scraps and embellished with white enamel dots.  You probably can't tell in the photo, but after stamping the butterfly in black on the card base, I stamped it again on a scrap, colored with Light Pink and Orange markers, then fussy cut and adhered the center.  The wings pop off of the card.

Thanks for letting me share how you can use this stamp set without having to color in each image.  I'd love a comment before you hop on to Gina's blog.

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