Saturday, November 28, 2015

Trending Colors # 3 - Hot Pink, Gold and Black

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  We had a wonderful time with my daughter Emily, her hubby Josh and their kids Charlotte and Evan. I overdid it on dinner -- whew, so many sides, so many pies! -- but we're now enjoying leftovers, yum!!

Today, I was supposed to go to a Christmas card workshop at my friend Anita's house, but really, I just need time in my own craft room to focus on cards I need to make.  Of course, I got few done because the mess is distracting. But maybe tomorrow .... if buying a new washer and dryer doesn't interfere. There's always something, isn't there??

Here is the next card I've made to focus on "trending colors" as shown in HGTV Magazine's December 2015 issue:

The trending colors are: Hot Pink, Gold and Black.  For this card, I used Close To My Heart's "Blessings of Peace" stamp set for the dove and sentiment. I stamped the dove on White Daisy CTMH cardstock in Versamark and sprinkled it with gold embossing powder. I then embossed it by warming the powder with my heat crafting gun. The hot pink paper is from my stash, and the black/white striped is from CTMH's new La-Vie En Rose paper line. The bling is also from CTMH, as is the gold adhesive stripe across the middle (that doesn't photograph well).

These trending colors are shown in the magazine like this:

Monday, November 23, 2015

Trending Colors # 2 - Green, Navy and Light Blue

Hello, CardMonkey Followers!

I'm back today with another trending color combination that caught my eye in the December 2015 issue of HGTV Magazine.  Here is the Christmas card I made today, using the "mint green, navy and light blue" combination the magazine suggests.

And here is a picture of the pages from the HGTV Magazine that inspired this pretty combination:

My card uses Close To My Heart's (CTMH) "Festive Trees" stamp set (#B1493), along with Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Pacifica (large tree), Pear (middle) and Lagoon (right).  I also used a small pieces of blue Glitter Trim and fern Thick Twine.  The images were stamped on White Daisy CTMH paper, stitched onto Sweet Leaf cardstock and mounted with Foam Tape onto Pacifica card-stock. I also embossed the silver star atop the large tree, and applied Wink of Stella Silver glitter to the tree on the right.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Pretty Blue Holly -- with pink? Christmas Card

Often, many of those who make cards too where I get inspiration for my designs. Honestly, the answer is "everywhere I look!"  I'm active on Facebook where cardmakers post their work for "scraplifting", and there's Pinterest too. 

I also subscribe to HGTV Magazine, and I just love many of the shows on that network too.  I look to this magazine to see what is trending, as I'm an older dog who until recently never used the term "trending."  (And funny enough, my 85-year old Mom gave me my first HGTV subscription, proving once again there is no such thing as too old to be trending!)

This picture caught my eye in the December 2015 issue:


I'd never otherwise think of pairing these colors together (and grew up thinking pink and red clashed!). But using this as inspiration, I made this Christmas card:

Untraditionally, I used the holly leaf and berries stamps from The Ton Stamps to form flowers on a solid white cardstock.  I stamped using Memento ink ("London Fog" color) and colored using an assortment of Copic markers. This photo makes the berries and ribbon look red, but they're really hot pink. I dabbed the flowers using "Wink of Stella" in silver to pick up on the silver edging on the ribbon by Really Reasonable Ribbon. I matted the card on hot pink and black cardstock and mounted it onto a white A2 card. The sentiment is on the same stamp set as the holly berries and leaves, from The Ton.


Thursday, November 19, 2015

Christmas Card Class Using White Pines PML cards

Updated:  What a fun class we had on Saturday, November 21!  We're taking a holiday break over December, but will be back at the Scatter Joy Center for the Arts in January, 2016. Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year to all!
 
Three of my card class students helped each other
during another wonderful session at the Scatter Joy
Center for the Arts in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
Thank you (from left) Felicia, Pam and Anna!
 
 
Attendees of the CardMonkey's Holiday Card Class made the seven cards shown above, using Close To My Heart's White Pines Scrapbooking Program cards and White Pines paper.  All of the materials necessary to make these cards were provided to the class students. They also walked away with even more White Pines Scrapbooking Program cards, to design more cards or gift tags using the leftovers!

Don't live local to my classes?  Feel free to comment or leave a message if you're interested in buying a kit, which includes the necessary products as well as cut papers and embellishments, and instructions, to make these cards.  I can be reached at cardmonkey@comcast.net.

If you are a Close To My Heart consultant yourself and would prefer to buy your own White Pines Scrapbooking Program cards, card blanks, paper packs and twine, I will also provide the instructions and photograph for each, for a nominal fee.  Wouldn't this make a great class in December for your groups?  Just let me know how I can help.




Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Give Thanks -- for Thanksgiving!

As we head into the week in which we celebrate our gratitude, allow me to share a very personal bit of my life with you.
 
Thirty-two years ago, on Thanksgiving, I suffered a miscarriage, losing my first baby suddenly. It was heartbreaking, and for years, it was very hard for me to show my gratitude for much of anything. I'd lost hopes and dreams.  The first loss even made it hard to invest a piece of my heart into my pregnancy a year later. I was so worried! 
 
I still remembered that loss and linked it to Thanksgiving every year for more than a decade. Then in 1994, just a few months after I left my husband of 17 years, my entire feeling about Thanksgiving changed forever...
 
My husband had my daughter for visitation that Thanksgiving, and I could have been in the dumps as a result. Instead, there was a guy I had just started talking to, on the phone, for hours. We met online (yes! In 1994!! Before cyber-dating, Google, eBay, or Match.com) in September. And he wanted to know if I'd meet him for dinner on Thanksgiving Eve, our first date, our first meeting. That's John. We met, and it was kismet....we've been together ever since -- 21 years! 
 
I am forever filled with gratitude for so much! Thanksgiving is now "my" holiday. May yours next week be as stuffed.

"Cupcake Wars" at St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne PA.  My daughter Emily is pictured at left, along with the fellow members of the "Swirls and Pearls" ER Night staff.  The team took 3rd place out of 33 competitors!
 
 
I made the banner above using my Cricut Explore and a Cricut subscription for it. For the base, I used cereal box cardboard. I covered it in Close To My Heart cardstocks (Whisper and Blush), and cut the letters from Bazzill silver metallic cardstock. The banner is to decorate a table full of cupcakes at my daughter Emily's workplace -- there's "Cupcake Wars" later this week, and Emily is using my family's Carrot Cake recipe in cupcakes as one of her entries. Her team name is "Swirls and Pearls" so this banner is heavily embellished in rhinestone swirls and adhesive pearls. The banner in the middle is stamped (using CTMH's new "Jennifer's Hand" stamps) with the competition's slogan. It's all tied together with grey organza ribbon from Wild Orchid Crafts.