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 #384 Greys and 2 colours of your choice

 Our Colour Dare Challenge for #384 is Greys with 2 colours of your choice. You are invited to participate in this challenge too. Go to the link for Colour Dare #384 and add your entry. 

I chose to make a card using the newest Operation Smile Stamp set called You Make Me happy. With every purchase of this stamp set, $7 USD are donated to the life saving mission of Operation Smile™. Operation Smile™ is a non-profit organisation that provides surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates in children around the world.

You Make Me happy has the sweetest animals and words. Its a must for everyone. We have had a death in our family this week so I will be sending lots of hugs to family members and friends and this was a sweet and easy card to make. I used my scissors to rough up the edges of the cardstock and added an old puffy sticker. I coloured with the TriBlend markers. 

The colours I chose were grey (Charcoal Cardstock, Brown Grey TriBlend™ Marker,) plus green and red (Light Green TriBlend™ Marker, Dark Red TriBlend™ Marker).

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project. Hope you can join in the Colour My Heart Color Dare Challenge #384 too. I'm really interested to hear what you think about my card, so I'd love you to leave a comment. See you again soon. 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

Cats and Bats and Falling For You CTMH Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to our Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop featuring this months featured packs...yes you read that correctly there are TWO packs this month. We are focusing on Workshops Your Way® Cats & Bats Scrapbooking Kit and Workshops Your Way® Falling for You Scrapbooking Kit.

If you have arrived here from Rachel Stribling - Creative Workshops By Rachel Stribling then you are in the right place. If you landed here another way, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. Follow the links, check out all the amazing ideas and eventually you'll come right back here to where you started.

We are all creating with the Cats and Bats and Falling for you, These two kits are featured by Close to My Heart in September and is available until the end of the current Seasonal Expressions Ideas Book.

I've used elements from both packs in my card projects in today's blog. I really love the black shimmer elements from the Cats & Bats Complements. 

OKAY I LOVE ANYTHING WITH SHIMMER ON IT!!

I plan to use most of these complements for my kids album pages that have NOTHING to do with Halloween. I love that a lot of the papers (almost ALL) are designed in this set to be useful for so many other projects other than simply just Halloween. There is only 1 paper sheet that is clearly ONLY Halloween the rest can but used in any project! I LOVE THEM!

This photo above is all the shimmery elements I love! Its hard to capture the shimmery beautifulness that is these complements. I've zoomed in as best I can to capture some of it. 

There were a few elements that are typical Halloween elements and I think the cute little owl that has the origami shape is a great birthday owl. It could be a good card for a male or female. 

This was my first card with the have a Hoot - the alphabet is from Cricut® Artfully Sent Collection (physical cartridge) pack. White Daisy Cardstock for the title and White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack for all the cards I made. I used Black Memento™ Ink Pad for all the black stamping in these projects. 

Then using some of the paper from both Cats & Bats and Falling for You I made this card with the  Feel So Blessed—September Stamp of the Month. This is a lovely stamp set full of thanks and gratitude and is only available to purchase in September (You can get it for only $7.50 with eligible purchase). The orange check paper from Cats & Bats goes well with the flowers and spots of the Falling for You papers. The Quote in the middle was stamped with Heather Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad. The "love this" heart is stuck on with 3-D Foam Dots.

Then I did a final simple thank you card. I've been looking for more multi-gender versions of my thank you cards because often I do them with flowers and hearts and I definitely require more masculine or 'suitable for anyone' thank yous. The black and white stripe paper is from the Cats and Bats and the spots are from Falling for You. The Thanks is stamped in Black Memento™ Ink Pad directly onto the paper and the "for everything" was stamped on White Daisy Cardstock and cut out and suck on with Thin 3-D Foam Tape for a little dimension. The star from the Cats and Bats was stuck on with Tombow® Permanent Adhesive (as well as the owl) because it is easily adhered around thin edges. 

Simple, basic, elegant with the black and white stripes. Easily replicatable and simple for beginners. 

Remember Workshops Your Way® Cats & Bats Scrapbooking Kit and Workshops Your Way® Falling for You Scrapbooking Kits are only available for a limited time. They are both lovely and I had to have them BOTH. 

Go to my website www.vandra.closetomyheart.com.au or your consultants website and order today. 

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest projects. I'm really interested to hear what you think about them, so I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop this month on on our Australasian Blog Hop which is Wendy Hopper - Expressions of the Heart.

Business Blogging - I'm a Newbie

Hi Everyone, I'm a bit excited that I've just launched my brand new blog. Its a place where I can post information about my Close to My Heart Craftroom.

I thought I'd share the latest thing I've done, using my new favourite alpha stamp set called Handwritten Print E1030. I love this alphabet stamp set and even used it tonight helping my son with his school project. I completed my page below using the Yuletide Carol Workshop on the Go G1084 and the Handwritten Print Alpha set, but I made a tiny boo boo. Can you spot the mistake? Some people have found it harder than others.

So the moral of this little story is when you are using this font beware of the "s" it looks good either way up.

I chose to leave the title the way it was instead of fixing it, to be a lesson to my fellow scrapbookers and here is my completed page. The page layout is from the Ideas Book Reflections Scrapbook Program.

Go to my website and view the latest NEW products that have only been released from 1st August. 

Also remember that the August Stamp of the Month "What a Hoot" is available for $27 or $5 with your eligible purchase of $75 or more. This is an ADORABLE Stamp set!