It's not easy bein' green!

I couldn't resist the title for this monochromatic card using Olive and Sweet Leaf Green for the Color My Heart Challenge #62.  The challenge is to create using the two shades of green and everything else must be neutral!  Now the theme this week for Heart 2 Heart is Au Naturale which is all neutral colors or something from nature!  So, I'm placing this card in that one also!

My color pallet consists of an Olive print paper from the Partridge and Pear CTMH from last year and Sweet Leaf ink on the tree.  The CTMH cardstock all come from the Basic set and I believe the colors are bamboo, cashmere, and saddle.  I used chocolate and saddle inks.  I embellished with Brown Sparkles from CTMH; they were included in the Huntington Workshop on the Go! The twine was in my ribbon stash ~~not sure of the brand on that.

The embossing was done with a Cuttlebug Paisley folder.

The stamp sets used are CTMH Country Born and Universal Backgrounds stamp behind the tree.

Check out KatiesCorner for Close to My Heart Products.

**Emerald winner at Color my Heart:  September 28 - October 4, 2013.

Cats or Dogs Challenge

Cats....this week!

This was a really simple card made for another September birthday.  Bitten by the Bug's challenge this week is Cats or Dogs ~ Which is Your Favorite?  The timing was purrfect to create this one!

I started with pink cardstock (looks a little more peach in the picture).  I used the cuttlebug on white cardstock from CTMH.  This print has little berries so I accented them with CTMH Pink Glitter Gems. I loved this print with the birds; I think it's great with the cut from A Child's Year.  I have to admit, I see the birds taunting the cats everyday out in the barn much like this cut!  The gingham bow is from my bag of ribbon scraps!

Please don't tell the dogs I have put another cat on my blog and don't have one dog on there yet!  This could cause a mutiny over here!

It's in the Bag!

This week, I'm working on gift bags for the volunteers at PATCH by Design.  PATCH, Potential Achieved Through Creative Horsemanship, is a small therapeutic program for kids who love horses.  In October, we are hosting our first Horse Expo for the kids to show-off their skills!  After the show and pitch-in dinner, we will give out awards and thank you's in a casual ceremony style!  It should be a lot of fun!  To learn more about the program you can click on PATCH.  Anyway, I want to honor the wonderful volunteers who help me so graciously every week.

I, of course, checked the Heart 2 Heart challenge this morning and it was Alphabet Soup.  Interesting challenge, you can check it out and play along by going to Heart 2 Heart!  I was then inspired to use the font cartridges for the bag ~~ perfect since many of the words/phrases fit the occasion!

This bag was cut from the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  I used Kraft paper for the bag.  The orange cardstock was from the CTMH Dream Pop paper pack.  I believe the green cardstock is Sweet Leaf.  I inked the CTMH Poster Tidings Fall stamp with Sunflower, Barn Red, New England Ivy, and Pansy Purple. (I think Pansy Purple is comparable to Smokey Plum, but I'm not sure of that.  I've been using CTMH for quite a while, so some of the names of colors have changed!  That is another thing I love about CTMH products; the inks last for what seems like forever!  My sister was commenting about how they don't dry out like many of the others.)  I embellished with some ribbon from my huge bag of odds and ends and some tissue paper.

My two different fonts were the first half of the Fall Poster Tiding and the little thank you on the side from the Art Philosophy Bundle.

I'm looking forward to filling the bags with some goodies and sharing them with my incredible team!  They really are a great bunch of horse people!

Brown Paper Packages......

 Tied Up With String

 I have been watching several tutorials on the Close to my Heart Artbooking mini albums and decided I really wanted to try one, but I just couldn't come up with an idea.  Then it came to me after seeing the Heart 2 Heart Challenge:  Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String.

I was out in the barn thinking of my favorite brown packages I tie everyday, my horses, when I decided that was it!  A mini album for my grand-girl who rides with me.

I used paper from Clementine and Dakota and several different colors of cardstock.  There might be some older paper in there; I really can't remember.  I was grabbing paper from here, there, everywhere!  All inks are CTMH:  Sky Blue, Chocolate, Barn Red, Sunflower, Dutch Blue, and Twilight all come to mind.
Cuts are from:  CTMH Art Philosophy, CTMH Artbooking, Country Life, Paper Doll Dress Up, and Old West.



Stamps are all CTMH:  Universal Backgrounds, Artbooking My Life,  Artbooking Take Note, and Capture the Date.

Embellishments:  Mocha Adhesive Gems (of course!), Sarsparilla Letters, Stella Compliments, twine, copper wire (horse's tie ring) and a button.

Incidentals:  3 -D foam tape, gel pens, markers, computer printer for the saying on page one, key rings, M-Bossability folder (hearts), Cuttlebug folder (flowers), and CTMH liquid glass.

The faux fence is the perfect little pocket for something and a great spot for a picture.  Journaling on the days of the week would be fun! The heart page is the place for her favorite horse photo!  Notice the twine comes through the holes in the pages and goes through to the page with the clipboard!  (More of the "tied up with string" theme here!)  The paper on the clipboard, as well as the clipboard, lifts making room for more pictures!  "Whoa" is a popular thing to say out in the barn!  hee hee

The pocket is a real pocket for more goodies!  There are a couple of pretty pages where she can glue in some of her artwork, place photographs, or write.  The flower is a pretty touch next to the floral page.  Flip that flower page and you'll find it's a paisley envelope to tuck away some pictures or notes.  The page to the right of the envelope is a pocket page for horse patterns, ribbons, etc.

One of "my favorite things" is how you can mix and match the          CTMH paper packs.  The colors stay
the same so you know your old paper will always fit with the new
styles!

We round up things with a little cowgirl looking pretty in pink.  Her "cream colored pony" is "tied up" to the brown fence!

In Case You're Wondering.........

...........why I haven't posted in
a few days, I am working on something!  Yes, as many of my projects do, it has taken a turn from a simple 1 - 2 cartridge idea to a multi cartridge, stamping, extravaganza!  If I could just follow the directions and stay on track these projects wouldn't take so long.  But, alas, one thought leads to another and my brain goes in a different direction.  Before I know it, I have digressed and the final project looks NOTHING like I had at first envisioned!

Anyway, the picture above is a sort of preview of what I'm hoping to post over the weekend as  finished for a Heart 2 Heart Challenge.  Stay tuned~~~~~

Heart 2 Heart Color Challenge

Color!

This card is for the Color Challenge at Heart 2 Heart.  I thought it would be fun to play along and enter this card!  The challenge is to use Gypsy (a purple color), Barn Red, Cashmere, and Sunset and use as many wonderful Close to my Heart products as one can!

For this card, I'll describe by color!

Cashmere:  I used a Cashmere cardstock for the base and the piece I stamped the sentiment.  I also used cashmere pigment ink to finish the edges on the layers for the sentiment.

Gypsy:  I used this color on the flower petals, first layer for the sentiment, and the ink on the petals and the sentiment.  The stamped sentiment is from the Art Philosophy bundle.  All of the sentiment layers were cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge.

Sunset:  I used this color to trim out the flower petals which were cut from the Artiste Cartridge and Clementine paper.  I used a piece of embroidery floss for the bow in a sunset orange color.  I also trimmed the embossed layer.  I embossed with an M-bossabilities folder EL- 020.

Barn Red:  The branch/stem was cut from barn red cardstock and the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The middle layer was also cut from this color.  I embellished the flowers with Mocha Adhesive Gems ~~ I love these!  I use them on everything.....have you noticed?

Bitten by the Bug 2 Challenge

Fall Card

I have a relative getting married this fall; I wanted to make her a special card for her shower.  This challenge was the perfect opportunity to showcase this card!

The #1 rule from Bitten by the Bug 2 is to use a Cricut cut from the weekly challenge.  This week is a Fall Theme ~~ like I said, perfect opportunity for this card!

I used the CTMH Artbooking Cartridge for the tree-frame and iced around it with different fall colors.  The font was also cut from Artbooking.  The paper is from the DCWV The Green Stack.

The pumpkin was cut from CCR Basics and the children are from A Child's Year.

Once the card was assembled, popping the children with 3-D tape and embellished with a little embroidery floss and a gem from the CTMH Mocha Adhesive Gems, I covered it with a sheet of polyester film from Dura-lar.

However ~ and here is the fun part ~ before adhering it, I stamped the film and heat embossed falling leaves to it.  Caution:  When heat embossing onto this film, be quick about it!  The film will start to curl if you take too much time!  The effect is a mulit-dimensional look.

You can find small leaf stamps in the CTMH Huntington Scrapbooking Workshop kit available at Katiescorner.ctmh.com

Calico Kitty in the Barn: Heart to Heart Favorite Things Challenge

I chose this card for the My Favorite Things Challenge at Heart to Heart  since this card was inspired by so many favorite thoughts!

Yesterday I was out doing barn chores when I saw a kitty run past me.  As I was thinking through this card (sweat pouring ~~ from barn chores....not the card thought process) I envisioned a plain kitty.  Then I remembered she was a calico.  Of course, this conjured up pictures of calico fabrics which in turn took my brain to Laura Ingalls and Little House.  That made me think of her mom in the mercantile looking at fabrics for the dress she wanted to make for herself, but she ended up making dresses for her girls...........wait, I've digressed!  Back to the card!

I used CTMH Dakota for the Card Base and cut it using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge.  In CCR, I inserted the window, in place of the leaf, from the same cartridge.  I also cut two window frames from the Whisper cardstock.  Kitty was cut from CTMH Clementine; shadow from Twilight cardstock.  I embellished with Mocha Adhesive Gems and a piece of ribbon from my bag of scraps.

Now for the inside.  I didn't have a stamp I wanted to use.  Therefore, it was the perfect opportunity to try out a new (for me) technique I saw on Youtube!  I made my own stamp using CCR, my machine, and Cricut Cuttables Stamp Sheets.

First I went into CCR and chose the branch from Spring Seasonal.  I found the bird in A Child's Year and welded them together.  Then I cut my new stamp using the Cricut.  Here is a link to a video on that topic!  www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXj87uPw4pU

I recommend using a new mat when cutting stamps.  I used pigment ink to stamp the image; the dye based inks don't seem to hold very well to the stamps.  I'm still experimenting with this!  I hope to have a better idea of how to make it work better later.

I stamped the image on CTMH Sky Blue cardstock.  I made the cloud affect by inking around a tree cut-out with Sky Blue ink.  The sentiment is from the CTMH Art Philosophy Bundle.

Check out the great promotions at Katiescorner.ctmh.com.  The September deals are great!

September Birthdays

This card was actually made in August for my Cowgirl Buddy's birthday!  She and I have hit the trails, gone to clinics, and seen each other break various things......like body parts!  Anyway, back to the card!  I thought it would be fun to make her a card with a safe horse riding experience on the front!  : ) 

This card was cut from the Cricut Old West Cartridge.  I didn't even realize there was a card there!  It's a fun cut since the horse shoes interlock to close the card. I cut the Card twice to put the horseshoes on it contrast.   The background piece for the little girl was cut from the Old West, also.  

The little girl and shadow were cut from A Child's Year.  All paper is from the CTMH Dakota.  Quote was done with CTMH Yeehaw Stamp.  Mocha Adhesive Gems from CTMH were used on the horseshoe.  Happy Birthday 

stamp, punched stars and heart brads were in my collection.

Check out all the cool stuff  Close To My Heart has to offer at KatiesCorner

or click the link under my CTMH Shopping!