The Heart Desires Mid-Challenge

January 18, 2017March 15, 2017 | pinnednpenned

January is nearing the end! Have you written all your holiday thank you’s (no), New Year’s Greetings (no), belated holiday cards (no)?

And have you joined us over at THD for our 8th challenge? If, like me, you answered no to the first three questions AND to the last question, well, what are you waiting for?!

My policy is that I can send thank you’s and New Years cards up until the last week of January (must be received by 1/31), and I am really trying to make that deadline!

If you need a further push, here’s my last card in my trio created for the challenge.

See others here.

I know, there’s no red featured in our inspiration graphic (one of these kids is always doing her own thing– sorry, not sorry), but I am pulling out the snowman and have worked in the lovely ice blues in the base paper, the sequin strand, and darker hues in the washi strip inside the card.

All papers featured here are from Snow Fun which can be found in The Heart Desires Store, along with other offerings from the collection!

The sequin strand is back with that darling snowman!! I’m trying to start a trend! Tag #ppsequinstrand if you make one and share on IG!

Thanks for stopping by–now go see what the rest of the DT has created at the mid-challenge!

Other supplies: Amuse Studio Sentiment, Pinkfresh heart and washi.

THD Challenge #8

January 4, 2017March 15, 2017 | pinnednpenned

Happy New Year and welcome to The Heart Desire’s first challenge of 2017!

Could there be more perfect images and colors to represent January?

For my first card, I was inspired by the snowman and shades of blue, though you’ll note I snuck in some holiday red.

My entire card features Carta Bella’s Snow Fun papers, which Tonya has in stock. This pack of papers has so many possibilities for creating layered scenes and fun cards with or without stamping. And since the pack is not Christmas/holiday focused, it is a perfect choice for making some fun winter/non-holiday greeting cards or scrapbooking those winter moments of skiing, sledding, skating, snowman-making! I’ve used four of the designs here.

The sentiment is from Carta Bella’s Snow Fun collection as well, which comes with coordinating dies. Tonya has the other set which would be perfect on this card as well!

I’ve been creating these sequin strands lately as I ran out of my premade sequin ribbons. These are just so much more fun! Here instead of wax twine, I have used hemp.

Inside finished with some washi! Snow in January is still so much fun, but as the months go on it’s harder to be happy with it! Glad I live in a climate where I no longer need to deal with snow in April (unless I want to… in the mountains!).

Next card is more muted and captures some of the quiet blues and sparkle of the inspiration graphic.

Going back in time here! I say hello and you say goodbye! It’s how the holidays go, no?

Again, I have selected portions of Snow Fun paper to create a layered scene. This card features three different papers from the collection. This one below is perfect for making these window cards. So many possibilities! I will have another card mid-challenge from this series, so check back in a couple weeks to see who I chose for the next card!

I’ve created a shaker window for this card to represent crystal snow falling on the ice skaters.

The banner sentiment is thick vellum and curved upward for dimension. The inside is finished with some fun splotchy snow red washi to echo the red of the birds and scarf on front!

I hope you’re off to a creative new year and that you are inspired to play along with our challenge and check out this great set of papers, and entire winter collection from Carta Bella, available at the Heart Desires!

Other supplies: Pinkfresh Oh Joy rubber sticker, Amuse Studio Hello December Stamp, MFT circle windows dies

Snow Fun: THD Challenge

December 7, 2016December 5, 2016 | pinnednpenned

Are you ready for retro, for winter, for all things sparkly and kitsch? Then you are ready for The Heart Desires Challenge 7!

I have a few other cards up my sleeve for this challenge, as it’s just so darn inspiring– but aren’t they all? This card is a bit less of that kitschy mid-century vibe, but it does incorporate the Snow Fun papers by Carta Bella that will take you back to a snowy fun day in th 50’s!

I used a wood veneer tree from Richard Garay’s Lumberjack collection– a nice contrast to the cherry wood of the die cut moose, which is by Echo Park. Tonya has a fabulous die set, Buck and Doe from Gina Marie of which the Buck would have fit perfectly here.

The pink plaid is from Bloom paper collection.

The sentiment is part of the Snow Fun collection by Carta Bella. In the photo above, you can see how I have propped up and curved it on the vellum die cut.

It has been stamped with silver Delicata ink and heat embossed.

Thanks for dropping by and walking through a snowy woodland with me. Make sure to play along this month! You have until the last day of 2016! Can you believe it!

Can’t wait to see what festive creations you submit!

Happy holidays!

Birthday Buddies Back Again!

December 6, 2016January 17, 2017 | pinnednpenned

Hey Lisa! Happy Birthday girl! I hope today finds you feeling fabulous, and I sure hope to celebrate with you in person this Saturday! The birthday buddies have gathered again here and will do so in person this weekend! So much to celebrate in December!

And if you’ve got a birthday in December, well, it’s only fitting you get a birthday card that suits the season– and a sentiment that reminds you not to get too upset by the little things, like age and birthdays, and upside down trees!

Oh, Miss Utinni, what have you done? This was supposed to be Lisa’s birthday tree!!

Oh, I see how you work– you think you can just try and hide the tree… very clever. Such deeds cannot be so easily undone, Miss Utinni. Looks like the ornaments are all intact.

That’s better. At least now, Lisa can see just how lovely her ombre pink birthday tree is right-side up, even without all the ornaments.

Now, Lisa is a consumate copic colorer, so I did my best to honor her skills with my copic-colored Miss Utinni, her hat and ornaments!

Oh look at that sweet face– How can you even get mad at that? Don’t you love how the sentiment’s stars work with the striped b/w paper?

Look at those delicious ornaments, stamped with masking, copic colored and then heat embossed using Versafine Champagne ink and some sparkly embossing powder. A technique I used here in two of my favorite holiday cards (from Christmas 2013, yikes!!).

Close-up of the baubles and the ombre tree that was stamped in three different pinks, then covered with Versafine Champagne and clear embossing powder, then heat set for a shiny effect. Miss Utinni’s hat has a bit of ice-blue Stickles and was fussy cut, then adhered.

The retro papers are from Snow Fun collection by Carta Bella. The flag, cat, ornaments and sentiment are all from Avery Elle. All available at The Heart Desires.

And psssst… I may be hinting at our upcoming challenge starting 12/7!

Here’s a list of the participating birthday buddies! You’re off to Lenae, next!

Kate — You are Here!

Lenae

BIRTHDAY GIRL: Lisa

Thanks for celebrating with us today, and make sure to wish Lisa a happy birthday!

P.S. This card was indeed inspired by my naughty little grrl, Ms. Utinni, aka “We are siamese if we please…” who has pulled over my new fake tree, and has since removed every ornament from it. This Avery Elle stamp set was made for her, I am convinced of it!

Meanwhile, over at THD…

November 3, 2016November 2, 2016 | pinnednpenned

Check out my latest post over at The Heart Desires!

Here’s a sneak! See you there!

No matter how you stack it…

October 5, 2016January 17, 2017 | pinnednpenned

Fall is awesome (once you get past the fact that summer has exited stage left).

Know what else is pretty cool?

The Heart Desires Challenge #5.

Check out this witty graphic!

Reminds me of Brach’s candy peanuts. Remember those?

Love the non-traditional take on Halloween, but I typically love most things that buck the trend.

Here’s my fairly literal take, up close and personal.

I cut my pumpkins, keeping the pieces together with washi and then carefully stamped the sentiments, all from Kaisercraft, most deconstructed via stamp surgery so I could make my own sentiment. The bottom one is from a Christmas set, available at The Heart Desires.

The real deal, full size, in all its glory.

Pumpkin dies are from Carta Bella and Essentials by Ellen, cut from Crate Paper Bloom, available at The Heart Desires. Background paper is from Indigo Hills set. Rose Gold Bazzill metallic paper provides the stem and edging.

The black mini-leaves panel is stenciled and heat embossed. Love the Richard Garay Knit embossing folder. See the challenge post for links to products at The Heart Desires.

Inside finished with some coppery-rose washi that echoes the outside elements nicely.

And while you are there checking out the rest of our team’s inspiration, won’t you play along this month?

We have a few new designers and lots of eye candy. You have until 10/26 to show us what you got! So creep on over!

And creep it real, folks.

Hello Adventure

July 7, 2016December 19, 2016 | pinnednpenned

Travel over to The Heart Desires today to see my vacation mini album featuring Simple Stories and Carta Bella products! It’s a whale of a tale!

Want more mini-album? Check out my summer mini here!

See you at The Heart Desires!

Super Lucky Birthday

July 3, 2016July 3, 2016 | pinnednpenned

There’s a lot to celebrate this weekend: making it home alive from vacation, the Fourth of July, oh and Ms. Toni’s BIRTHDAY!

So looooong before I ever met Toni, I discovered her website, Frankie Helps Craft, likely back in 2013 or early 2014 (I would have to look back at my comments). I really liked her work, and her love of cats (Frankie is her boy who looks much like my Atticus), and the fact she was living nearby. It would be another year or so until she joined our PNW crafting group, and I know we are all really happy she did! In addition to the aforementioned qualities, once I got to know Toni, there was even more to like–mutual love of X-Files, her sassiness and humor! She has brought some crazy crafting stations to our gatherings and taught us some mad techniques! And now, she is Tonya’s right hand woman, working hard to keep The Heart Desires blog rolling and all of us in line! She is a great leader for the team, and so I am sending a big thank you and even bigger birthday wishes to Toni today!

Super lucky–the world and us, Toni!! She really likes nautical and we just wrapped up our nautical month over at The Heart Desires, so I integrated that into the card with non-traditional colors inspired as well by our first challenge!

Tonya has the awesome Carta Bella World embossing folder for sale, and I received it with about 50 million other goodies she sent me last month! I was anticipating a bubble mailer; I received a box that was a workout for my pathetic arms! It will take me about 50 million years to discover all that is in that box! Definitely the gift that will keep on giving– and that is why crafty friends are the best!

I love how the embossing folder looks with the Tim Holtz watercolor paper (also available from THD). I thought about watercoloring it, but really just love it clean, especially with the bold black sentiment from Julie Ebersole’s Up the Happy Stamp set.

I adorned the top with some bits and bobs; flair I made from a digital print and epoxy sticker; Avery Elle flag cut from digital paper; an old Studio Calico vellum flag; and die cut anchor from MFT. Not complete without a sequin strand!

That’s it for me. I am heading to bed with visions of the sea floating in my mind; sand still stuck between my toes; and hopes that Toni has a fabulous day!

You are off to Amy’s site to continue the hop; if you get lost, check in with our host, Lenae of Sugar Gems!

We’re Getting Nautical!

June 9, 2016June 9, 2016 | pinnednpenned

Hey everyone, it’s been slow sailing for me the past 3 weeks after being very ill with a flu that left me bed-bound for nearly a week and affected my eyes so I could not read or look at screens for many days; my eyes and brain are still giving me trouble, so I am following up on that, but am happy to say that my energy and joie de vivre have returned!

Just in time for all the activities this month over at The Heart Desires and the upcoming Coffee Lovers Hop starting next week, June 17th. Head over the The Heart Desires to see more of my card featuring Carta Bella papers and embellishments.

Shop The Heart Desires for the papers and the adorable slide frame from Crate Paper.

My card also features MFT rectangle diagonal stitch die, Savvy Stamps banner die, Studio Calico Wheel die, and an old Kelly Purkey sentiment stamped in Delicata gold on vellum.

We also have a challenge going on until June 30th, with gorg

eous graphics and options for play. I am happy to say we have some excellent entries already and still have nearly 3 weeks to go! So please play along and spread the word!

Thanks for dropping anchor with me today and I hope life is smooth sailing for you this week!

Pinned & Penned

Following the Thread

Carta Bella