Freshly-Made Sketches and Freshly Falling Snow...

 

Good morning!

We are enjoying temperatures above zero today.

But the white stuff is on its way...

This is one of the final cards for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. Inspiration for the water-colour panel from Heather Telford's card class.

I used Freshly-Made Sketches' design #164

After heat-embossing the Stampin' Up snowflakes on white cardstock, I added Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Evergreen Bough and Salty Ocean. Then flicked on some Perfect Pearls mist and plain ol' water. I subbed in some cascading sequins for the ribbon on the sketch.

 Hope you fit some crafting into your day,
Caroline

Caring Hearts...♥

Happy Saturday, crafty friends!

Collection for the Caring Hearts Card Drive 2014 ended yesterday.

Want to know the total number of cards I received, here in Eastern Canada?

936

Wowsers, eh?

Many of the contributors commented on how much they enjoyed making cards for such a good cause, and that they look forward to doing it again next year (yes!). Several mentioned that they held card-making "bees" with their friends. Some asked how to make sure nursing homes in their area receive cards next year. This thing just keeps on growing!

 

As a "depot" I got to admire & enjoy the beautiful designs and top-notch craftsmanship of the cards that arrived. We had contributions from across Canada (British Columbia to Nova Scotia) as well as a few from overseas (France and Australia). Amazing!

I'm going to wait to announce the winner of the prize I mentioned in THIS blog post; Vera will take another week to finish collating all the results and drawing for prizes.

Next week I'll be able to tell you about a special project we have going in Ottawa to deliver the cards to nursing homes... It has an awesome name.

Finally got a little time to craft today, and was inspired by this advertisement:

I used the stripes from the shopping bag, and a new stamp set from Close to My Heart.

Took my trusty Paper Smooches bookmark die, and some platinum embossing powder and voilà.

I love those bright colours sandwiched between the traditional red & green.

This card is being entered in this week's Card Concept challenge: use a tag.

Stay tuned for more Caring Hearts news...

Happy crafting, 

Caroline

Final Call: for the Caring Hearts Card Drive

Hey there, crafty friends.

Last couple of cards to inspire you for the final week of the Caring Hearts Card Drive 2014.

There is still time to get inky and send in your cards. Check Vera's post HERE to see how the drive is going.  I've been receiving cards from some incredible paper-crafters, from all over Canada, and one from France! We'll get into distribution mode in early December, delivering the cards to nursing homes.

The "elves" that have been coming to my weekly card workshops ask where I get all my ideas...from other people, of course! Sometimes I love a design so much I shamelessly CASE it; other times it may lead to something completely different (to quote Monty Python)...

This card was inspired by Jen Mitchell's creation, HERE. Loved the use of multiple greetings in different colours.

And this one by the ever-inventive Sandy Allnock. Here's her original:

My star isn't as big, but I had fun with the embossed monotone background.

So, still time to send in some cards, to make some seniors smile, this holiday season!

Happy crafting,
Caroline

Another card for the Caring Hearts Card Drive (post #4)

To comment on my Caring Hearts Card Drive Blog Hop

post, go HERE.

 Bringing you another cute snowman card, which I've reproduced for the Caring Hearts Card Drive, but which features Paper Smooches products, so it's going into this week's challenge:

I've been a little slow to jump on the stencil band-wagon, but I had fun with TWO of them on this card.

First, used a beautiful birch-tree stencil from Club Scrap for the background, then went over that with the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says with some embossing paste. After removing the stencil, I s sprinkled micro-glitter, which only stuck to the paste "flakes" for some serious shimmer.

The snowy slope was Paper Smooches border dies #1. The heat-embossed sentiment comes from PS Christmas Sampler, and the snow-dude and cardinal (coloured with Copics) are from Warm Hearts.

Go check out the entries at the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge, go follow the Caring Hearts Card Drive Blog Hop and for goodness sake, GO MAKE SOME CARDS for the drive!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Caring Hearts Card Drive BLOG HOP!

 Good morning, creative peeps!

Are you ready to start your Christmas crafting?

We have a treat for you this morning: inspiration from the Caring Hearts Card Drive.

 Twenty different designers and members of the paper-crafting industry have seasonal holiday projects to share over the next two days.

We hope you will hop along, and leave comments. Not only will you get some great ideas for your own holiday crafting, you will be eligible for prizes!

We also hope you will be inspired to join this year's Caring Hearts Card Drive.

You should have come from the ever delightful Savannah O'Gwynn. Love that girl's crafty mojo! For a complete list of stops, and if you want to start at the beginning of the hop, go to Vera Yates' blog.

The purpose of the Caring Hearts Card Drive, organized by Vera Yates and Jennifer McGuire, is to spread some holiday cheer. Hand-made Christmas or holiday/seasonal cards are collected and delivered to seniors living in nursing homes--little random acts of kindness to brighten lives, at what can be a very lonely time of the year.

I wanted to illustrate both a holiday card and a true Christmas card.

I just loved this Paper Smooches die the first time I saw it. City of Bethlehem sky-line! I created a night-sky with purple and pink Distress inks, liberally sprayed with some Perfect Pearls mist. The gold star was heat-embossed, then highlited with Perfect Pearls gold pigment powder. I "aged" the buildings, with some sponged ink, and back-lit them with yellow paper.  The sentiment is also from Paper Smooches.

The second card is more playful.

Mason jars are a big home decor item right now, so I used the Crystal Clear stamps and dies from Paper Smooches to create a snow-globe shaker card, with white Flower Soft as the snow, instead of glitter or sequins. The snowman image (retired Close to My Heart) is coloured with Copic markers.

Your next stop on the hop is the gifted and generous creator of Verve Stamps, Julee Tilman.

Make sure to comment as you hop; you can leave comments until midnight, CST, Saturday November 8th, 2014. Winners will be chosen randomly--there are some wonderful prizes to be had. So go be inspired,  and then get crafty for a good cause! The Caring Hearts Card Drive ends November 28th, 2014. Lots of time to get creative!

Have a great week,

Caroline

P.S. entering these in the Paper Smooches "Anything Goes" challenge.

Caring Hearts Card Drive post #3

 

Good morning, crafty friends.

Popping by with another reminder about the Caring Hearts Card Drive.

I am one of the Canadian "collectors" this year; i.e.: folks in Canada can send their cards to me, and I'll distribute them to nursing homes during December.

It is so much fun to get those packages of cards in the post! My mail-carrier and I are on a first name basis now... And some beautiful artwork! And some very generous, creative people. Janice in Alberta sent in 40 cards this week! And the furthest came from Narylène, in France.

Here in Ottawa my group of friends and I've been crafting away, too. 24 cards made on Thursday night. Thank you, Steph and L.A.  for your hard work and companionship. Here's a sample:

(card design from an idea by Dee Slater).

Awesome wreath die from Paper Wishes-cut out in two colours of PP and intertwined.

Come back Monday for a Caring Hearts Card Drive BLOG HOP with PRIZES!

Happy weekend (and remember to sleep in on Sunday!),

Caroline