Truly Amazing

The wild west is back! Yep it's time to dig out those prairie skirts circa 1981, grab your Stetson and get crafting! Close To My Heart has released two new western-themed paper collections. Today's card features the Dakota collection.




This collection includes weathered wood grains, bandana paisley prints, stripes, and houndstooth in stunning rich reds and blues.

For the main sentiment, I used stamps from the April 2012 Stamp Of The Month. The background and "You Are Truly" banner are stamped in slate ink (the background is a second generation stamping). "Amazing" is from the same stamp set and is double-stamped in barn red. All the stamping was done on Colonial White cardstock. I mounted "Amazing" on a banner made from the blue bandana paper and popped it up with foam tape.
Here's a close-up:




The second sentiment, "true story," is stamped on Colonial White cardstock in sky blue ink. I then double matted it on two pattern papers and added a couple of antiqued copper brads for a little flair. The stamp is from the "It's Your Day" double stamp set.
Here's a close-up:




Hope you enjoyed a quick look at Dakota. Now put on your happy boots and get out there and create somethin'! (Just so you know, I'm resisting adding y'all at the end....)




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A Little Flirty

When I first saw our new Flirty collection, I thought, "Hmmm. Nice, but not me." But when I had the actual papers in front of me, I was hooked. This collection has all the richness of fall colors, but with lovely versatile patterns.




The card base is a standard A2 in Kraft cardstock. Though it doesn't come through that well in the photos, I stamped the card base using the large flower from the "Card Word Puzzle" set in desert sand ink using the second generation stamping technique to give a subtle texture. The accent cardstock and the ink used for the sentiment are both Outdoor Denim. The sentiment is from the "A Little Thanks" stamp set. I added some mocha opaques for a little bling, though silver brads or clear sparkles would also be a nice touch.

Here's a close up of the sentiment:




If you look carefully you can see a little bit of background stamping on the base. The sentiment is stamped on White Daisy cardstock and popped up with foam tape.

Hope you enjoyed! You can check out the entire Flirty collection here.






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Avonlea meets the Hexagon Trend

My friend Lynn and I are exchanging cards so that we have more creative examples from the new Close To My Heart lines to share with you. I thought I would post some of the cards I made over the next few days just to give you an idea of how beautiful and versatile the new lines really are.


With today's card, I used paper from the Avonlea B&T paper pack and a long-retired hexagon punch. The hexagon shapes allowed me to showcase all the beautiful patterns and colors this paper pack has to offer. Aren't they gorgeous? (A simple, but effective design!)

The green and teal cardstocks are unique to the Avonlea collection. However, our Exclusive inks in olive (used here), desert sand and chocolate (both used on the Avonlea layout posted here) work well with this entire collection including the unique color-trend colors.




Here is a close-up of the sentiment stamped in olive ink. The background is second generation stamping using a stamp from the Avonlea Workshop On The Go exclusive set. "Hi!" is from the "It's Your Day" double stamp set that will be available between 15 August and 30 September in celebration of National Stamping Month. ("It's Your Day" can be purchased for $5 with any $35 order during that time period!)

The base of the card is a standard 5 1/2-inches by 4 1/4-inches, and was cut from a 12x12 sheet of our Kraft cardstock. The sentiment is stamped on colonial white cardstock, and popped up slightly using glue dots.

I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to post any questions or comments. If you want to take a look at Avonlea, just click on "Shop With Me" to the right.




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A Layout from Avonlea

I wanted to share a layout I did from the new Avonlea Workshop On The Go. This kit has an amazing amount of supplies in it. Over the next few days, I'll be posting all the projects I was able to do with it. The layout shown here is the main layout for the kit.

Because I'm new to this, I didn't have all the recommended ink colors or alphabet stamps. Rather than ordering those, I wanted to see what I could do with what I had. I think it worked out pretty well.

Here are the pages separately:

I used desert sand ink for the title and a mixture of desert sand and chocolate  for "so happy together." The kit instructions calls for olive and chocolate inks on the stamped images, but I substituted desert sand for olive, and really liked the effect. The alphabet set that is used in the kit example was the keepsake alphabet. I don't have that set yet, so I substituted the glamour lowercase alphabet.

One of the things I really enjoyed about using this kit was the multiple stamping techniques it employs, such as reverse and second generation stamping. You can see both techniques here:

These stamps were reversed (that is the side that usually clings to the acrylic block was used as the image and then stamped to the page on the second generation (that is after the ink has been stamped of once on a scrap page). I then cleaned the stamp and placed it back on the block in its with the reverse side down as usual and stamped over the reversed image. It softens the image a bit, I think.

The kit comes with a package of opaque mocha adhesive gems that look gorgeous scattered across the page randomly.  The stamped images and "so happy together" are part of the exclusive stamp set that also comes with the workshop. Four of the images coordinate with the new Artiste cartridge as well.

I also enjoyed using the parlor velvet rub-ons. I had never used them before and I think they add a nice touch to the layout.

The slate gray is a little light for the base cardstock, so the instructions suggest outlining the rub-ons in chocolate ink. It really does give them extra pop.

I substituted desert sand in for the chocolate in called for in the title. In order to make it stand out a little more, I gave the stamp a shadow. (I'm sure the technique has a name, but I can't seem to find it.)

I stamped the each word directly to the page and then did a second generation stamp a little below and to the right of it. (That's the nice thing about clear stamps. You can do techniques like this because you can see through the stamp for placement. It's much harder to do with rubber stamps, though not impossible.)

So what do you think?

I hope you enjoyed this, and are inspired to get out there and get those pictures on some pages for everyone to see!