Heartfelt Creations Alumni Blog hop - May2019!

Today we have a super fun event with the Heartfelt Creations Alumni Blog Hop for May!

I has a lot of fun making this fancy fold bridge card

There are some other beautiful creations you can ogle posted by other talented members of the Heartfelt Creations Design Team Alumni, check them out.  

In my card I've used a fancy fold called a Bridge Card.  This paper pack worked awesome with sheets seemingly designed to perfectly fit the panels.  The card has been made almost exclusively with papers from the Sugarspun Paper Collection from Heartfelt Creations.  I've fussied it up with a bit of random ribbon and lace from my stash, and used a lot of foam tape for depth beneath the cherry(also from this paper pack).  On the cherry I used a glitter pen for added sparkle.

A randomly chosen comment from a mystery blog will receive a $25 gift certificate to shop at Heartfelt Creations. To claim your prize please  email Heartfelt Creations at socialmedia@heartfeltcreations.us with "Winner of the June Alumni Hop" in the subject line.  

So with no further ado, here is the bloghop to follow!  Enjoy!!

Kathy Clement- http://www.kathybydesign.com

 Amarilys Doria - https://amadrian8.blogspot.com/search/label/Heartfelt%20Creations  

Vicki Dutcher - https://allidoisstamp.blogspot.com/search/label/Heartfelt%20Creations

Gloria Stengel -   https://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/2019/05/heartfelt-creations-monthly-alumni-blog.html

Kristina Andersen -https://reflectionsofahappycrafter.blogspot.com  --> You are here!

Alissa Wells- https://willrunforstamps.blogspot.com/2019/05/thinking-of-you-today-heartfelt.html

Susan Smit -  https://sussipoppins.blogspot.com/2019/05/sending-you-hug-heartfelt-creations-may.html 

Sweet shop

The last couple months I've been experimenting with graphic45 and Hunkydory paper packs And have been really enjoying making cards with all the coordinating images and papers. Last weekend DH picked up three Heartfelt Creations paper packs for me, they are all beautiful! I've already whipped up a whole bunch of beautiful quick and easy cards with them—my stash is restocked and ready!!

This card uses images from the Sugarspun pack, with some basic cardstock, lace and ribbon from my stash. Nothing else! No die cuts, no stamps, no embossing folders. Perfect pack for someone starting out who doesn't have a ton of equipment and stuff, will definitely be buying some more papers to gift to some friends who are just starting their crafty adventures.

So details! The main image is a card front in the kit, simply matted it on some cardstock. I fussy cut the cupcake and stand and popped them up with foam tape. I also popped up and added a flower vase on the right and then used a double layer of foam tape for the sentiment. It looks great IRL and was super easy.

Just for you

Another easy and lovely card using the Hunkydory papers.  This style of using a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 base allows me to go off the edges and still fit in an A4 envelope, and it makes the image just pop.

I’ve used lots of foam tape here for layering and depth and nuovo shimmer pen on the butterfly.

It’s taking a bit of a mindset change to make cards without digging out my copics, lol!   I’ve been looking at online galleries and seeing quite a shift in styles, what are you focusing on with your style rught now?  Is it mixed media?  Layers and texture?   Die cuts and embellishments?  Clean and simple?  Having so many areas we can try out and focus on sure keeps things interesting.  

Finding a new love - Hunkydory!

After colouring my heart out card after card for several years, I felt a bit snobby about using precoloured images—“that’s cheating” I figured.   But I signed up for some classes at a local craft store to get my mojo back and I discovered the joy of planning a card without the time investment of colouring.

I’ve totally fallen in love with these Hunkydory papers in their Garden Treasures- floral moments line.  I’ve made 30 cards so far with it!!  I’ll share a few of them with you in the next couple weeks.

Bridge Card with Graphic45 - Round 2

Another bridge card with the same Graphic45 Blooming papers and stickers as my last post

My prior post includes a link to tutorial if you haven't made one of these bridge cards before. Try it out—super easy!! And mailable in a standard A4 envelope.

Sentiment is from SU, accessorized with some lace from the fabric store and some nail head stickers. All in all a super quick card to make, I'm quite happy with this one!

Blooming Bridge Card

I recently took a class on fun folds and remembered how easy and neat looking they can be, so today I dug out my new Graphic45 Bloom collection pad and whipped this bridge card together.

You can find an instruction tutorial for bridge cards on the Splitcoast site here:  https://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/bridgefoldcard/

All papers are from the bloom collection 8x8 paper pack, plus the coordinating sticker pack.   I find the stickers challenging to use as is, for some of them I simply adhered to white card stock then fussy cut out.  

The swirl die cut is an old sizzix one, and i sponged it with Tim Holtz bundled sage Distress Oxide ink.

Faith - with G45

It was a brave day today as I cut into and decimated a gorgeous sheet of graphic45 paper to harvest a butterfly and some flowers, but the finished product is well worth it!

Paper used is Graphic45 Bloom, from the 6x6 pad. Sentiment is an ancient one from SU.
Embellished with gold foil paper, rhinestones, and some gorgeous crinkle ribbon.

Hard to see in the photo, but I've also used a Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen to add glitter to the two butterflies and the flowers.

I've had this new paper pad for weeks but couldn't bear to cut in to and "wreck" or "waste" any of the sheets (let's not discuss how MANY unused G45 pads of paper I have!). Today I finally took the scissors to it and I'm glad I did.

Cupcakes!

I've been dieting so of course this sweet image caught my attention!

Delightful image by mo manning, and better yet, found in my stash already precoloured and ready to go, lol! Likely coloured circa 2012 using copic markers and airbrush. Paper is all Su except for image which would be my standard Neenah solar crest 110.

I've used some rhinestones to embellish —expect to see a lot of these as i found them at the dollar store—the same brand and items as at the local craft store but less than half the price—bought about 10 large sheets. Then I did the math. I have enough rhinestones to last at least 10 years now!!!!! Have you done something like that recently?

I've been working on adding more latera amd dimension, so had fun playing with the banners, i really like how it turned out. A simple card but one That makes me smile.

Back again!

After a long hiatus I have found my mojo again and have been making cards for a couple of months. I'll be back to blogging later this week.

There have been so many changes in the past four years or so I took off from crafts—more stamps, more dies, more patterned paper, more layers..... digging through my stash I have had trouble remembering how to use some of my tools (like how to make bows with my bow-easy 🙄)

Lots of updates for you, keep posted.

For now, this post is a bit of an experiment as I am trying out a new app to edit images on my phone—i recall after spending 2 or 3 hours making cards I used to have to set up a spot to take a photo, then email photo to the computer, then edit it on the computer, then create a blogpost — easily an hour! Now i can take the photo on my phone, edit it in an app, and email it to the blog all in 15 minutes!!

Golf thank you cards

With the cool winds of autumn approaching, I think it will be time to get back in to card making!

Here are two thank you cards I made tonight for the gals who organize the ladies golf league I joined this summer.  I've really enjoyed meeting new people and hanging out for a girls night once per week, it has been a highlight of each week, and I was happy to get to make these.

They were a bit of a challenge as they  needed to be big enough to accommodate many notes from many people inside, so I made them 5 1/2 by 8 1/2--> double the size of my normal cards, AND I added an insert inside each one so it is more like a book with multiple pages. 

This first one (above) is with a house mouse stamp, coloured using Copic Markers on Neenah Solar white.

The second one, below, was stamped with Black Soot Tim Holz Distress Ink and heat embossed with some sparkly glittery embossing powder.  It looks great, and worked out way quicker than colouring these very detailed stamps.  The stamps below are from a Stampin up set called "the back nine" which has been in my stash for VERY many years now.

For both these cards I pulled out my handy dandy "Bow-easy" tool.  Since it had been so long since I used it, I had to go watch a tutorial on you-tube to refresh my memory, LOL!

It felt good and satisfying to make these, so I think you'll see more things popping up here soon.  The past few months I haven't been doing too much crafty stuff--each time I dig out my stamps I miss my mom, with whom I spent many crafty hours.  But time is passing, and it seems perhaps its time to find the joy of playing with ink and paper again.

New forest die

Hi all,

Well, in the last couple of weeks I finished all my current swap cards, and even gotten some done for the next five months, LOL!  I wasn't sure what to do next, but I have some new dies I haven't used yet, and decided to play with this Birch Trio one.

The image is stamped a bit crooked, but I think it's still ok.  The image is stamped in black versafine, the water is sponged and the sky airbrushed.  I used SU markers (the old type) to colour in the boat etc, as the Copics make versafine smear.  The background is embossed on coordinations paper, and then sanded, and the trees were also cut from coordinations paper and sanded.

I'm really happy with how this came out, and glad to have another masculine card to add to my stash.

Another set of swap cards - new baby congrats

Finished off a second set of swap cards today, feels great to look at these all!

This one's for a congratulations swap.

I also decorated the inside a little bit -- I always like to do a little bit extra on baby and wedding cards, as these are more often to be kept for sentimental reasons.

The image is from Mo's digital pencil, and I coloured them with Copic markers.  The sentiment is from Whimsy Doodle Stamps.

A new year and a fresh start - welcome 2015

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope that 2015 is starting out to be a fabulous year for all of you.

It's been about a year and a half since I've had a chance to make cards and play with my blog, and visit your blogs.  I'm looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and having some fun and pleasure from crafting

You all know how life intervenes sometimes.  The past year and a half my mom was quite sick, and then passed away, so that took away a lot of my time and energy, and sucked all my creativity away.  I was also working in a really intense job with lots of overtime, and that certainly didn't help with finding time and energy for crafting or keeping in touch with friends.  Somehow I stopped crafting and doing lots of fun things, and hanging out with friends, and boy, do I miss everyone!  I guess we all have to deal with life as it comes up, and I'm hoping this new year is quiet, happy and uneventful :-)   I've just started a new, less time consuming job, which is a relief.  With my mom gone, it's lonely and I'm thinking that coming back to blogland will be a nice way to fill the gap.  It's 2015 now, and a fresh start!!  

To get started in the new year, I signed up for some card swaps and here is my first card for the first card swap, what do you think?

The image is from an SU stamp set, the paper is Graphic 45, Nesties dies, and the rest is from my stash.  I used the Copic air gun to get the shading around the image and on the sentiment, and added liquid pearls and stickler glitter as well, for the sash and flowers.

Cheery cherries

 

The image is from Flourishes, coloured with Copics.  The rhinestone edging is from the fabric store--I think it's meant to be edging for costumes or formal wear, but works on a card too!

This card is made for the Flourishes new release colour challenge: http://flourishes.org/2013/08/all-about-color-august-release-challenge/

Bearded iris

I've created yet another card using the colour challenge from Flourishes, I just love this colour combo, so elegant and eye catching.  

The image is from Flourishes, coloured with Copics.  White card stock is Neenah, as there was a lot of blending needed for the iris.

This card is made for the Flourishes new release colour challenge: http://flourishes.org/2013/08/all-about-color-august-release-challenge/

Another colour challenge

And another card, featuring the same Flourishes image and colours, however with a bit more layering.

This card is made for the Flourishes new release colour challenge: http://flourishes.org/2013/08/all-about-color-august-release-challenge/

Flourishes colour challenge

Happy Sunday!  I hope you all have been having a great weekend.  I've got a pretty card featuring a rose image from Flourishes.

This card is made for the Flourishes new release colour challenge: http://flourishes.org/2013/08/all-about-color-august-release-challenge/

Musical Christmas

Background music was stamped from Hero Arts stamp using Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink, with accent Flourishes added to the background, the flourish being a Stamping Up rubber stamp.  Main image is Flourishes from the Petals and Peace set.  All colouring with Copics, the base paper is staples but I've used Neenah for the main image since in blends so easily with the Copics.

Challenges:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - make your own background

ABC Christmas Challenge - P is for .... (Petals and Peace, name of stamp set)

Crafts and me challenges - anything goes

Just for fun - anything goes

Addicted to stamps - make your mark (use markers)
Hobby House Challenge - Christmas

Hey Sugar

Background showing ladle and "Hey Sugar" sentiment were stamped using Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink, which was also used to sponge on the edges.  Background images and apron are from the Fresh Baked set by Flourishes, sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms.  Apron was stamped on patterned paper then hand cut and adhered using pop up dots. Accents on apron were coloured with Copics.

Challenges:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - make your own background

Crafts and me challenges - anything goes

Just for fun - anything goes

Focus in Maki

Working away on Thank you cards for my blog, I CASED a card made by Maki as shown on the Flourishes website.  It is fun to copy the template from someone else as it takes me out of my normal boring habits :-).

All Colouring is with Copics.  Distressing done with scissor and Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Inc.

Challenges:

Flourishes, Focus on Maki

Paper Crafting Journey - Distressed

Challenges 4 everybody - anything goes

Digi Galore - anything goes
Addicted to Stamps - use your markers