Summer Cards

I've been receiving Holiday greetings and update letters for years.  I really enjoy reading them and catching up a little with those friends who keep me on their list.  Well, when we decided to have kids I thought it would be great to join the ranks and follow suit with the updates.  However, Holiday time is too chaotic a time for me.  The solution?  Send out summer updates.  I won't have to rush, the recipients would receive unexpected mail, and I could do it!  Eight years later, I'm finally embarking on my goal.  I've made the cards, now I just have to write my letter.

Unfortunately for many lovers of CTMH colors Bubblegum, Watermelon, Hydrangea, Citrus Leaf, Clover Meadow, Orange, and Star Spangled Blue, they are being retired by the end of 2010.  Of course I have those colors -- and I think they are wonderful summer colors -- but don't want to have much paper by the end of the year.  I hate waste.  And I don't like to use items in samples that you can't purchase.  So they are the perfect colors for my summer cards.

These two cards are almost identical.  The one on the left has an additional element from the White Daisy Mini-Medley packet.  I'm not sending any of those out because of the location of the buckle (I want to make sure they aren't returned in the mail, nor do I want to pay more postage to be hand sorted).  I also thought the "Hello" would be a nice touch for the shout out.  I made a total of 10 of these cards.

Oh, but I don't know how many cards to make.  Shoot.  I don't even have a mailing list going.  I know, I'll make another 10 cards and call it a day.  I don't think I have 19 friends who really want to know that much about my life who doesn't already.  I should be very safe.  But I can't make the same card since I already cut all of these colors out.  So this is what came out next.

This card has been rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the above cards.  The cards come from Wishes and is titled Gallery.  My next challenge for this project is to write the letter and send it out.  I guess that means I better stop writing here...

Products are all CTMH:

Clover Meadow Base Cards

1385 White Cardstock

1229 Clover Meadow CS

1231 Bubblegum CS

1226 Watermelon CS

(X5631 Amthyst CS for the card on the left)

1228 Citrus Leaf CS

Z2123 Clover Meadow Ink

Z2109 Bubblegum Ink

Z2158 Watermelon Ink

Z2100 Amethyst Ink

Z2129 Hydrangea Ink

Z2112 Citrus Leaf Ink

Z1136 White Daisy Mini-Medley

Z1114 Piercing Tool
D1187 For Every Occasion (card on right)

D1354 Endless Friendship

Amethyst Base Card

1385 White Cardstock

X5631 Amthyst CS

X5634 Hydrangea CS

1229 Clover Meadow CS

Z2123 Clover Meadow Ink
Z2109 Bubblegum Ink
Z2158 Watermelon Ink

Z2100 Amethyst Ink

Z2129 Hydrangea Ink

Z1219 Essential Brads (White Daisy)

Z1114 Piercing Tool

D1354 Endless Friendship

A Cut Above

This week's Color Me Monday Challenge was with the colors Outdoor Denim, Lilac Mist, Olive, and Brown Bag.  My card uses three of those four colors, measures 3"x3", and features the July Stamp of the Month.

The technique I used to color the hedgehog in was Reverse Masking.   Stamp the image on another sheet of paper, leaving large margins.  Since I had two areas to color, the image was stamped twice, again, leaving large margins.  Then a cutting knife (and mat) was used to carefully cut away the areas I wanted to color -- in this case, the body from one image and the spines from another.  Make sure you don't throw these away!  I put them in the back of my stamp holder envelope so I always have them handy.

Next thing to do is line up the one template and sponge the color you want into the opening.  The spines are in Chocolate while the body is Brown Bag.  It's that easy!

Products used are all CTMH:

X7110B Back Country Paper Packet

Z2168 Colonial White Pigment Ink

Z2108 Brown Bag Ink

Z2111 Chocolate Ink

Z280 Natural Hemp

Z1151 3D Foam Tape

D1423 Happy Forever

D1283 Say it in Style

Z1252 Cutting Knife

Z1279 VersaMat

H2H Recipe Challenge

This challenge, was just that, challenging. I had seen the design teams posts and didn't want to replicate them. Luckily I thought of something and quickly went to work.

I've used the Perfect Day Paper Packet to create the dressing for a cookie in a jar.  Liquid glass (one of my favorite adhesives) was put to use adhering the cranberry velvet  ribbon to the B&T paper.  A Colonial White button was glued onto a Just Blooms flower and a Filigree Charm was slipped through a button hole.  My recipe was mounted onto Cocoa cardstock and tied onto the lid of the jar.  How sweet!

Items used are all CTMH:

Perfect Day Paper Packet (X7100B)

Cranberry Designer Ribbon Round (Z1209)

Holiday Craft Buttons (Z1285)

Filgree Charms (Z1269)

Liquid Glass (Z679)

H2H ABC (Anything But a Card) Challange

So I was perusing CTMH bulletin board, feeling blue that I wasn't at convention when I came upon a post for making a purse.  Christine Marshall, on her blog, posted a three day tutorial to make a purse/briefcase.  I thought this was a perfect opportunity for this week's H2H challenges.

On the tutorial, Christine added outside pockets to both sides of the purse.  I wanted mine to look more like a suitcase so I didn't add any pockets.  I used Ocean cardstock and Splendor B&T paper (X7124B).  The stamped images are mostly from Boys at Play (C1386) and the bus is from In the Month of August (C1418 -- 43 more days). 

Since I wanted it to look like a suitcase, I added some brads to the bottom of the case too.  The entire thing was sponge edge distressed with Desert Sand for that used look.  There are two pockets on the inside of the suitcase.  I'm thinking of making some of these for teachers and dub them survival kits.  Then I'll put some chocolate, a pen, a notepad, and some tissue (since summer is over) inside.

Midpoint Cards

Midpoint is a 5"x7" card from Wishes.  I incorporated Color Me Monday from 6/30/10 with this example. The colors are Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand, Crystal Blue, and Tulip.  I used the ribbon from the Colonial White Collection (Z1126), the Tulip photo clip (which is threaded through the ribbon) is from the Tulip Mini Medley(Z1320).  I added the Clear Inspiration Acrylic Accent (which this one isn't available ACK! but others are (Z1053)) with hemp because the ribbon is too thick to go through the little hole.  I sponge distressed all of the paper with Desert Sand Ink, stamped the plant in Desert Sand and stamped the words in Outdoor Denim.  The words were raised using the 3D Foam Tape(Z1151).

I don't use 5"x7" cards too often so I wanted to make the card standard size too.  That's how this second card came about.  The difference between the cards is the colonial white ribbon was replaced by the ribbon from the Tulip mini-medley and I didn't use clear accents.  The Desert Sand focal point and words are raised.

So where did the papers come from?  The Crystal Blue background is from the paper packet Caboodle (X7121B) and the Outdoor Denim is from the You Rock paper packet (X7122B).  Lastly, the stamp set is Treasure Life (D1306).

Taking the Plunge

I've often thought about setting up my own blog.  The problem is that I feel I have to be updating it consistantly.  That's going to be the hardest part for me, but I'm going to try.

I'm trying to be more focused with what I work on in my spare time -- what there is of it anyway.  So I've decided to start participating with the Heart two Heart (aka H2H) Challenges.  I'm also going to try to do more of Jeanette Lynton's Color Me Monday (CMM) "challenges."  You can play along with both.  My last challenge was presented to me by Dawn Heuft.  She is going through Wishes and making a sample for each card in turn.  I've been doing something similar because I can't go in order.  My goal is to make at least one of each card within Wishes too.

I hope you are inspired by what you see.  Enjoy the ride, I know I will.  :)