Sequin Heart ~ Video

Happy Valentine's Day!   I'll miss making all these heart cards after today.  Perhaps I will keep making them and turn them into Wedding/Anniversary/Love cards.  :)

As I was putting this card together I decided to film a video showing you how to create your own sequin focal point.
***Note- If you are reading this post in an email or reader, you may need to visit my blog to view the video below.

Close up view of the heart.

After I was done filming I add a sentiment using Hero Arts, Year Round Sentiments, and cut out the banner using my stitched sentiment flag die from Lil' Inker Designs.

I'm linking up with a few challenges.

CTS#64

Week 82

ctd279

Happy heart day to all of you!

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Stamps: Hardwood (SU), Year Round Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Ink (SU): Pretty In Pink, Raspberry Ripple, Smoky Slate
Accesories: Hearts Framelits (SU), Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Stitched Sentiment Flag Die (Lil' Inker Designs), Rhinestones

Song of My Heart ~ CTD278

I'm so honored to be a guest designer for Color Throwdown this week!!!  A couple of weeks ago the card I made using a cute little nurse that Julz Butler made for me was chosen as the Featured Stamper.  Clicky to see that post if you missed it.

Barbara Anders graciously asked me if I wanted to be the guest designer on February 5th and I said yes!   She didn't know she was helping me reach one of my goals for 2014.

Aren't those colors yummy?!    Color challenges often stump me, but Color Throwdown does a fabulous job of combing colors and I'm usually happy with what I come up with when I use a CTD pallet.

In case you were wondering, here are the little tags I tucked inside the front pocket.  It's hard to see but those Lil' Inker Design tags have debossed hearts on them.  I embossed them with my new Love Notes stamp set from CAS-UAL Fridays.

The inside was kept simple by using scraps I made while designing the front of the card.

I'm linking this up with the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Were they reading my mind when they put up a challenge for Have A Heart?  :)  I love this time of year where hearts can be found everywhere!

Have A Heart

Thank you  Barbara Anders and the Color Throwdown design team for allowing me to participate with you this week, and for the fabulous color pallet you give us each week.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Supplies Used
Stamps: Language of Love (SU), Love Notes (CAS-UAL Fridays),
Paper (SU): Crumb Cake, Fresh Prints DSP Stack, InColor DSP Prints, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding, Vellum, Whisper White
Accessories: Embossing Powder- Clear & White (SU), Linen Thread, Love Tags Dies (Lil' Inker Designs), Pink Pirouette Taffeta Ribbon, Pink/Red Baker's Twine, Stitched Scallop Border (LID)

Language of Love

Fresh Prints DSP Stack

Get Comfy, Rest & Get Better

My neighbor recently had surgery on her broken wrist and I wanted to send a card to cheer her up while she recovers.  The little nurse owl Julz made for me was perfect for this type of card.

Isn't that the cutest?!  When I first opened the pack of "owls"  I thought they were cards, but she put each of the critters on a dimensional so I can use them on my own projects.  Isn't that sweet?

I used two challenges for my card.  First, as usual, a sketch.  This time from Unscripted Sketches.

The second was a color challenge. I had the perfect sketch for the nurse owl, but I wasn't sure what colors to pair her with.  I turned to the Color Throwdown.  I thought the yellow would make a great "moon" for my owl and the pop of red would be perfect for the panel in the sketch.  Plus the red goes with the heart and cross in the punch art.

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The owl wasn't made using Crumb Cake, so I pulled in some Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon to tie in the lighter shade of brown.  The silver baker's twine has a light tan color to it, so I added that in too. 

This card is a bit of a departure from my usual cards, especially in the color combo, but I like how it turned out.  Hopefully my neighbor and her little daughter will enjoy it too.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Stamp: Unkown from LSS

Ink: Basic Grey

Paper: Basic Grey, Daffodil Delight, Twitterpated DSP, Whisper White

Punch Art: Courtesy of Julie Butler (aka Julz)

Misc: Circles Framelits, Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon, Silver Thread Baker's Twine

Easter Girl & 3 Challenges

From the time I was a little girl I've enjoyed coloring.  I'm not an artist, but there is something very soothing to me about coloring in the lines.  The challenge today at StampNation is to use an animal on your card, so I chose a bunny.  I used a blender pen and markers to color in this sweet girl looking at her bunny rabbit.

I used the color challenge at Color Throwdown for my color choices.  I had to add Certainly Celery for the grass though.  I just couldn't do the sky and grass the same color.  :)



After I colored in the images, I needed a sketch for it.   Usually I start with the sketch, choose my stamps, then my paper.  From the paper I choose my colors and embellishments.  This time I went a little backwards.  Retro Sketches to the rescue.  :)




The finishing touches of the 3 little buttons was certainly inspired by the sketch.  On the inside I stamped one of the greeting that came in the set, then added a leftover strip from the paper I used on the front.  It's a great way to use up those scraps!

That's 3 challenges with one card.  I would love to see what you come up with playing in these challenges.   Let me know if you do.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Stamps: Heaven Blessed (Retired SU)
Paper: Sycamore Street DSP (SAB), Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, World Spectacular DSP, (+ Retired DSP I cannot remember the name of)
Misc.: Cloudy Day Embossing Folder, Sycamore Street Buttons (SAB), Baker's Twine, Blender Pen


Blender Pen



Cloudy Day EF



Sycamore Street Ribbon & Buttons




Sycamore Street DSP



Oh Christmas Tree

Last year my favorite holiday stamp set was Christmas Lodge.  I was so excited that SU kept it as a part of their annual catalog.  This year though it has sat lonely on my shelf.  I decided to pull it out and give it some ink for today's card.

I used two challenges to help me create this card.  The first was a sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday.  It's perfect for this nice big tree.

I was trying to decide which shade of green I should use for the tree and thought a color challenge might be in order.  This time of year it's pretty easy to find a Christmas color challenge, but most of them I found were in shades of blue.  Then I clicked on Color Throwdown's site and fell in love with their color combo this week!  It is perfect!

The only snag I ran into was the bow.  I wanted to use Baker's Twine, but all my twine uses White as a base. It was too stark against the crumb cake.  I tried linen thread, but it was so similar to the crumb cake that you couldn't really see it.  So, I took out my crumb cake ink pad, a sponge dauber and the Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine.  I placed the twine on my ink pad and with the sponge dauber pressing into the twine I pulled the strand across my ink pad.  I did this several times, turning the twine to get all the sides inked.  It worked pretty well.  I did let it dry for awhile, as my ink pad is super juicy.

The sentiment is embossed with black embossing powder and all the layers a sponged with crumb cake, except the black mats.  You could leave off some of those black mats, but I really like the look of all those layers.  :)

The banner is popped up using Dimensionals.  Mostly to get it to lay across the front of the card.

I like to decorate this inside of my cards to match the front.  Instead of embossing the greeting, this time I used Black Staz-On.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Christmas Lodge
Ink: Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Versamark, Staz-On
Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Fan Fair
Misc.: Black Embossing Powder, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Hello, Lovely ~CTD202

Want to start your weekend off right?  Why not make a card or scrapbook layout?  :)  That's what I did this morning.   My husband was at work, my kids and animals were asleep, so I kept quiet by heading out to the hobby room.

I created my own background using Lacy & Lovely stamp set and the Color Throwdown challenge colors. 

My favorite part of this card is the label, and the ribbon behind it.  I think I'll be making more cards with this detail.

Check out the simple decoration for the inside. :)

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Lacy & Lovely

Apothecary Accents Framelits

Pool Party Ruffled

1/8" Taffeta Ribbon