Colour Dare #570 - Four Square

Our Colour Dare Challenge for #570 is a Four Square challenge. You need to use 3 of the colours - Journey, Glacier, Mink and Ballerina Plus.... Black, white, neutrals AND Metallics are free to use. When you are creating for more than one challenge please make sure your project meets our requirement. Most importantly - have fun!  Go to the link for Colour Dare #568 and add your entry. When you submit your entry you must provide a link to your post, not just to your blog in general. There are LOTS of ways to enter either a Blog Post or post to an online gallery (Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram etc), more details on the Colour Dare Blog post (see link above).

I was looking for inspiration so I grabbed this weeks sketch challenge from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 546. Its perfect for a four colour challenge as there are four colours on the sketch. 

So I decided to grab out Journey Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, Mink Cardstock and 

Ballerina Cardstock. 

For the little dots shown on the sketch I decided to use Card Front Stencil Pack 2 which is for the centre's of the flowers but it makes great bubble splotches. 

I used  Ballerina Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad with my Blending Brushes. I went back and did more after I placed the cardstock on as I hadn't gone wide enough with the ballerina ink dots. 

I cut a strip 4 inches long by 3/4 inches wide in each of the cardstock colours and tore the edges to give that ruffled edge. 

Then I stamped the Owl from the cutest Stamp of the Month and the sentiment. 

From Owl of Us—October Stamp of the Month + Thin Cuts = its the first time we've had a thin cut as part of a SOTM. 

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set valued at $35.50 for just $9—or you can get it for FREE as a VIP Customer! This month’s stamp set is also available with a set of coordinating Thin Cuts. The From Owl of Us Stamp + Thin Cuts is valued at $67.50, but you but you can purchase it for just $41 when you qualify for the discounted stamp set—or for $32 as a VIP Customer! Qualify for this special pricing by placing an order of $80 or more in Close To My Heart products. This month’s set is only available 1–31 October.

I decided to paint with inks and my Medium Round Waterbrush

To paint with my inks I either use the lid of the ink or like shown above drop it onto the 

All-purpose Mat and paint from there. 

Journey Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad was what I used to paint the owls hat trim and pompom and scarf, then Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad  for the owls eye and hat, Ballerina Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad for the beak and feet and the top of his head - then I painted over it and his body and face with Mink Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad.

For the edges of my card I sponged with Ballerina ink and inked by running it along the ink pad plus the Thanks sentiment had the pink sponging and inked edges. I found a pre-embossed with brick wall look (retired folder) in mink cardstock card front and stuck that down. Then I put a retired twine in the criss-cross shape and stuck it all up on 3D foam tape. 

Then I heat set my owl to dry it with my heat gun. 

Then I cut him out with my big shot embossing/cutting machine. 

I stuck my owl on with 3D foam too. Its so cute!

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project. Hope you can join in the Colour My Heart Colour Dare Challenge #570. I'm really interested to hear what you think about my project, so I'd love you to leave a comment. See you again soon, subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a challenge.

If you don't have a Close to My Heart Consultant (and you're in Australia) feel free to contact me either on this blog or via my website HERE.

Vandra Stenton, Close to My Heart Consultant, Perth Western Australia

www.vandra.closetomyheart.com.au

Colour Dare #558 Tic-Tac-Toe

Our Colour Dare Challenge for #558 is a Tic-Tac-Toe board. You need to use at least 3 of the colours from the above picture in Row, Column or diagonal). Plus.... Black, white, neutrals free to use. When you are creating for more than one challenge please make sure your project meets our requirement. Most importantly - have fun!  Go to the link for Colour Dare #558 and add your entry. When you submit your entry you must provide a link to your post, not just to your blog in general. There are LOTS of ways to enter either a Blog Post or post to an online gallery (Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram etc), more details on the Colour Dare Blog post (see link above).

I thought I better choose my favourite colours in this tic-tac-toe- so I chose Row 3: Lagoon, Raspberry and Mink.. I needed a design so I pulled up Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for this week Sketch 534 and thought I would create a card with this. *Click HERE for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge

with the Sketch I decided to use Raspberry Cardstock to match with the red strip at the top. Then I got the Lagoon Cardstock for the bottom strip. I grabbed a largish scrap of Mink Cardstock and cut a banner and stamped with Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad

with my favourite Stamp set from the Annual Catalogue that is just about to retire For All Occasions Stamp Set (I will be sad when our current catalogue goes).

For the sketch there were flowers and leaves and I had the Cape Cod Embellishments

that I had won at a Consultant Crafternoon. They look perfect for the sketch. 

To finish as per the sketch I added white dots from my stash that are similar to the current 

Black & White Dots. 

A simple and easy card but I was happy with the results. I hope you like it too.  I wanted something easy because I am busy this week, doing the Close to My Heart Virtual Convention (the new annual catalogue launch and the new September/October seasonal catalogue launch). The theme is Heroes with Heart so we have been dressing up like super heroes. I am having LOTS of fun!

 Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project. Hope you can join in the Colour My Heart Colour Dare Challenge #556. I'm really interested to hear what you think about my project, so I'd love you to leave a comment. See you again soon, subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a challenge.

If you don't have a Close to My Heart Consultant (and you're in Australia) feel free to contact me either on this blog or via my website HERE.

Vandra Stenton, Close to My Heart Consultant, Perth Western Australia

www.vandra.closetomyheart.com.au

Colour Dare #555 - Four Square

 

Our Colour Dare Challenge for #555 is a Four Square (You need to use at least 3 of the colours from the above picture). Plus.... Black, white, neutral and metallics free to use. When you are creating for more than one challenge please make sure your project meets our requirement. Most importantly - have fun!  Go to the link for Colour Dare #555 and add your entry. When you submit your entry you must provide a link to your post, not just to your blog in general. There are LOTS of ways to enter either a Blog Post or post to an online gallery (Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram etc), more details on the Colour Dare Blog post (see link above).

I Chose my colours Sapphire, Candy Apple and Sage and pulled out my cardstock and inks in those colours. Then I decided I needed more creative inspiration so I checked out the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and found their latest sketch 531. Click here to get to the Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge page. 

Look below for the sketch. I picked some main elements like the frame, the diagonal lines on the top half. The banner in the middle and the 3 design elements with tails (balloons) but I decided to change them up with butterflies. The Sentiment with a larger and then smaller on the banner. These are the elements I chose to follow from the sketch as best I could. 

I pulled out my White Daisy Cardstock and cut half of it with Stitched Lattice Background Thin Cuts but it didn't have the diagonal lines so I cut Sapphire Cardstock in very thin strips (like one 8th maybe) and I stuck them on between the little flowers. I backed the White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack card with Sapphire Cardstock 5.5 x 4.25 inches. 

I created a little frame for the bottom of the card by getting a piece of white daisy cardstock at 4 inches wide and about 3 inches high... I cut about a frame about the 8th of an inch wide too on 3 sides and stuck it up under the diagonal stripes part. To cover the edge I used the banner.

I grabbed my scraps of Sage Cardstock and cut a piece that was 4.25 wide with my scissors into a banner on both edges. I adhered the banner and then trimmed the sides of top where it stuck out from the banner. Then I Stamped in Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad from two stamp sets the Celebrate from For All Occasions Stamp Set and the HAPPY BIRTHDAY from the You Deserve It All Stamp + Thin Cuts.

For my 3 balloon images I used the small Butterfly thin cut from Layered Butterflies Thin Cuts. I cut them in White Daisy Cardstock and used my Round Sponge (cut into wedges) to sponge Candy Apple Exclusive Inks™ onto the butterflies. The first one was very wet ink so it turned out a lot darker... after the first one I used a lighter hand but I did like that they have variations in their colours. 

I drew with my Black LePen™ some lines for the butterflies but I kind of covered them up. The dark red butterfly and the top lighter one were stuck with Air Touch Adhesive and the bottom butterfly was adhered with 3-D Foam Tape for that added dimension.

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project. Hope you can join in the Colour My Heart Colour Dare Challenge #555. I'm really interested to hear what you think about my project, so I'd love you to leave a comment. See you again soon, subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a challenge.

If you don't have a Close to My Heart Consultant (and you're in Australia) feel free to contact me either on this blog or via my website HERE.

Vandra Stenton, Close to My Heart Consultant, Perth Western Australia

www.vandra.closetomyheart.com.au

Colour Dare #548 Pewter plus one

 

Our Colour Dare Challenge for #548 is a Tic-Tac-Toe board using Pewter grey plus Peach OR Clover OR Sundance (pick one). Plus.... Black, white, neutral and metallics free to use. When you are creating for more than one challenge please make sure your project meets our requirement. Most importantly - have fun!  Go to the link for Colour Dare #548 and add your entry. When you submit your entry you must provide a link to your post, not just to your blog in general. There are LOTS of ways to enter either a Blog Post or post to an online gallery (Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram etc), more details on the Colour Dare Blog post (see link above).

I chose Sundance because I had this gorgeous Sundance Marble paper in the Friendly Borders Cardmaking Workshop Kit (available for MAY 2023 only) and the paper is also available in the Dream Maker Product Bundle. This is only available for a limited time for National Scrapbooking Day. Until 30th June while stocks last. So if you love this paper as much as I do, please order it quickly to avoid disappointment.  

I checked out the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge that is happening right now and its Sketch 524, so I decided to use Pewter, Sundance and this Sketch. 

Firstly I pulled out my Pewter Cardstock, Pewter Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad and 

Sundance Cardstock (Sundance marble paper from Friendly Borders Cardmaking Workshop Kit) and I pulled out all my scraps. In my scrap container I had some already embossed with an old hexagon embossing folder. Yay for texture. The lighter side of the sundance is represented below too, it looks more yellow than the dark side. 

Then because of the sketch and not using multiple colours as shown in the sketch I wanted to differentiate the banners, so I pulled out my Background Elements Stamp Set. 

I decided to use the pewter ink and different background elements from the stamp set on each of the plain cardstock banners. 

I cut a 1.5 inch strip off the sundance marble paper for the top 5.5 inches wide. Then cut parts off that for some banners in varying wides and lengths... I couldn't tell you what the dimensions are because I grabbed my scraps and some I cut what i thought was right and then cut it down when adhering it to the card base. 

I cut a narrow strip of the pewter cardstock, also a scrap so no idea the dimensions. I cut each of the banner piece but I forgot to photograph before I started stamping but you can get the idea in the pic below I did remember to take in progress. 

After I had stamped all the plain cardstock (light and dark sides) with different background elements from the stamp set with Pewter ink, I decided the hexagon embossing wasn't clear enough so I used a wedge of Round Sponge and sponged some ink across it. I also decided that one of the marble bits needed some definition so I inked the edges of it with the pewter ink. 

Friendly Borders Cardmaking Workshop Kit stamp set 

Then I stamped the "Thank you, thank you, thank you" stamp from this set in Pewter ink directly onto the marble cardstock and the most annoying thing happened. A tiny sliver of cardstock was lying on the paper and it meant the y in the second thank you didn't work. I did all sorts to try fix it. First pic below shows me attemping to stamp just the y (I masked the other bits but the O was also involved and the y looked silly... Then I masked off to get a bit on white cardstock (2nd pic below) and that looked Terrible too. 

Then I decided to cover it with a bit of Sundance Cardstock. The worst nightmare of stamping directly onto artwork. 

I was happy with how it turned out. To finish it off, as per the sketch I used some old grey embellishments which are similar to the current Grey Dots. 

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project. Hope you can join in the Colour My Heart Colour Dare Challenge #548. I'm really interested to hear what you think about my project, so I'd love you to leave a comment. See you again soon, subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a challenge.

If you don't have a Close to My Heart Consultant (and you're in Australia) feel free to contact me either on this blog or via my website HERE.

Vandra Stenton, Close to My Heart Consultant, Perth Western Australia

www.vandra.closetomyheart.com.au

Colour Dare #545 - Fancy Five

 

Our Colour Dare Challenge for #545 is a Fancy Five and you must use at least three colours (Black, white, neutral and metallics free to use). When you are creating for more than one challenge please make sure your project meets our requirement. Most importantly - have fun!  Go to the link for Colour Dare #545 and add your entry. When you submit your entry you must provide a link to your post, not just to your blog in general. There are LOTS of ways to enter either a Blog Post or post to an online gallery (Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram etc), more details on the Colour Dare Blog post (see link above).

I wanted inspiration so I grabbed the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #521 for inspiration and guess what it has 5 colour slots... PERFECT for Fancy Five. 

I pulled out all the colours Lagoon Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, 

Avocado Cardstock, Sundance Cardstock and Nectarine Cardstock and cut strips 5 inches long by 7/8th wide (which was a fraction too long, I took 1/16th off each one and it was good for spacing). When I did the calculations for 4 inches wide divided by 5 it is 0.8 but I didn't know what that equated to in fractions of inches.

I wanted to find a small and a BIG title like the Sketch. I found the cute title from the new National Scrapbooking Day Promotion called the Friendly Borders Cardmaking Workshop Kit. 

The stamp set below is what I used for the small title - the "A little birdy told me it was your birthday!". This collection is Sooo pretty it has papers that are AMAZING. 

 

I also still had the cute Easter Stamp set... Sweet Easter Stamp, on my worktable from my quick Easter tags I'd created (see Instagram or FB for pics) and I realised the little lamb with the chick on its head isn't specifically Easter looking... its a sheep with a "little birdy"... YAY this fits my title perfectly. I stamped the sheep/chick on white daisy cardstock and was sad that I hadn't splurged on the thin cut dies for this set (I figured I don't make that many Easter cards, but I hate fussy cutting and did it poorly so I ended up colouring outside the lines because it looked better than the white edge. I regretted not buying the thin cut in that moment. 

I coloured with Gold Yellow TriBlend™ Marker for the chick (to match with Sundance)... Brown Grey TriBlend™ Marker for the Sheep (a neutral) and Fair Skin TriBlend™ Marker (a neutral) for the sheep's cheeks. 

As with the sketch I wanted to use a BIG title for the second half of the sentiment so I went looking on my Evernote for all my stamp sets to find a BIG "BIRTHDAY". I found an old long deleted one in my stash (See below picture). 

A retired set called B1462 - Lovely Birthday - Occasions 

I grabbed a scrap of white cardstock and cut it to 4 inches wide. I placed the big BIRTHDAY Wishes stamp set hanging over the edge and then stamped the "A little birdy told me it was your" and masked off the little birthday (I also hung it over the block to have less ink stamped down - I did this with both stamps). I just used standard Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad

for the titles. 

I stuck it all down flat (no 3D foam) using Air Touch Adhesive.

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project. Hope you can join in the Colour My Heart Colour Dare Challenge #545. I'm really interested to hear what you think about my project, so I'd love you to leave a comment. See you again soon, subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a challenge.

If you don't have a Close to My Heart Consultant (and you're in Australia) feel free to contact me either on this blog or via my website HERE.

Vandra Stenton, Close to My Heart Consultant, Perth Western Australia

www.vandra.closetomyheart.com.au