Foiled Fox "Trio of Colours" challenge

Hello crafty friends!

I have a cheerful card to share today. 

My creative friend Heather Telford suggested I enter it in the Foiled Fox's current challenge, so here goes:

I used the "Doodle Garden" background stamp from Catherine Pooler, heat-set with WOW's "Silver Pearl" embossing powder onto water-colour card-stock.

Next, I wet the panel and dropped Distress inks into the various areas, picking the colour up with a water brush, and adding successive layers of colour. Picked Raspberry, Cracked Pistachio and Wild Honey were the colours used. Further spritzing with water and Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist ensured lots of blending and shine.

The waterfall card designs was inspired by a recent Youtube post by Ingrid Blackburn. You can see a video of the inside elements on my Instagram post @canadianliner.


 

Enjoy the sunshine and flowers!

Caroline

Atlantic Hearts Sketch #300

Hello there, crafty friends!

I'm back on the blog, playing along with The Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, at the invitation of my friend Michelle Stewart. It's the 300th sketch!!

Here's this week's design:

This past weekend, I've been at a scrap-booking retreat with my bestie crafty girl-friends in Wisconsin. So as I was doing lay-outs, I decided to use the sketch to create a scrapbook page, rather than a card, to demonstrate it's versatility.  Here's what I came up with:

I first flipped the sketch as it suited the companion page better.

I incorporated the title and journaling box into the layered banner elements from the left and right. I also used a chipboard CTMH "complements" piece as one of those layers (TODAY).

I used a PML card for the "80, " covering up the original printed message with a stitched circle die, and then cutting out the little 3x4 card with another circle die, to suit the sketch.

This birthday was celebrated during a holiday in England with my parents, so I included the business card from the pub where we ate. Incorporating ephemera like that is a great reminder of the event.

Lastly, I cut a 4" circle as a place-holder for the photo of the birthday girl. I may make the eventual photo a little larger so it doesn't get lost amidst the other elements of the page.

Off you go, to see some inspiration from the other team members. HERE

If anyone's interested, I will happily include more lay-outs from this trip on the blog. I found using the colour theme from just one paper pack (with extra card stock and coordinated mix-in patterned paper) helped to tie the album together. 

Happy crafting,

Great to be back in the creative "saddle," thanks Michelle!

Caroline

A Little Update on Caring Hearts Card Drive

Caring Hearts Card Drive rides again!

For all of my favorite card-makers, here is some news about this year's Caring Hearts Card Drive, from Vera Yates herself. She and some of the other volunteers have had challenges this past year, but their HEARTS are still going strong. Read on for the details...

A Little Update on Caring Hearts Card Drive

Hi peeps. I've been getting a bunch of email lately asking about Caring Hearts Card Drive. So, I thought I post here to answer everyone as well as mentioning some changes to the card drive.

Yes, I will hold the card drive again this year. This year, I am doing the card drive in honor & in memory of Sean Wilkerson. He's Christy Wilkerson's brother who passed away just this past week. If you remember, last year, Christy helped with collecting the cards for the card drive.

Sean's family requested that people do act of kindness to others in his memory, because Sean himself was a guy who did many kind things to others and I couldn't think of a better way to honor that request than by continuing this card drive in his memory.

The card drive will start in October. Not right now. This is just an update.

Now, I know many of you work in advance and I would like to mention that this year we requested that people limit the card they send to maximum 100 cards per person.

Before anyone get upset, please let me explain my reason. A couple months ago my one and only niece from my side of the family was diagnosed with Leukemia. She is only 5 years old & currently going through intensive chemo. I am planning to visit her in Singapore where she's being treated.

As you can imagine, this is devastating news for our family & we are rallying behind her to get her beat this.

Also, I have business trip that required me to go out of the country during the card drive. So, we decided to do this change to help keep things manageable and to keep my sanity. My niece well being and being with my family is my priority and yes, I have to maintain my full time job as well.

There are a lot of works behind the scene for the card drive and all my helpers are doing this voluntarily outside our full time job, etc. The only way we can continue is by making changes when necessary.

I hope you all understand. This would be our 9 years doing the card rive and I can't thank you enough for your continuous support. We have grown so much from our 1st year. From only 750 cards to over 64,000 cards.

Your contribution touch people lives whether we know them or not. Thank you for your understanding and stay tune for the card drive announcement on Oct. 1, 2018.

 "Together we can change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time. " Ron Hall

_________________________________

I hope that answers some questions, and inspires you to participate this year.

Looking forward to seeing your beautiful artwork,

Happy crafting,

Caroline  

 

Cross Canada Hop- April 2018

 Hello crafty friends!

Long time, no see.

Life has been super hectic since last autumn. 

• We moved out of our house, packing most of it into storage.
• I managed to find homes for the 6000 Christmas cards donated to the Caring Hearts Card Drive!!! Last delivery made December 21st.
• We celebrated Christmas in a rental unit. Not the same but all together.
• We moved into our new, beautiful condo.
• We unpacked.
• I've been working at three part-time jobs since January, moving offices once.

Now that spring has ALMOST sprung, I can start to get to some of those lower-down items on Maslow's hierarchy (remember Psychology 101) of which, sadly, crafting has been one...so first post of 2018. And what better theme than CELEBRATIONS :)

Welcome to our April Blog Hop featuring artwork inspired by Celebrations. To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Dominique at Fun2cre8.

I am sharing a couple of lay-outs from last summer.

Canada Day: One photo can make a statement. Keep the layout simple; mat the photo to set it off; add a few embellishments and bold sentiment. (Purchased paper and CTMH "Celebrate" die-cut, along with some hand-water-coloured die-cut leaves).

Celebrating strawberries...one of the best things about summer is fruit! Themed paper can emphasize your subject. A few hand-stamped embellishments reinforce the topic as well. (Patterned paper and die-cut letters from CTMH).

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Sheena of Kanata Newf Papercrafts.

If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle S blog, Creations with Michelle, as she has the complete blog list. (Please link this to my Deep URL)

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will be featuring artwork celebrating Relationships. So mark May 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Happy crafting,
Caroline

Card Drive Wrap-up

Hello Crafty friends, 

This year's Caring Hearts Card Drive is wrapping up for 2017. Here in Canada, we received more cards than ever! A total of almost 9000. I spent all day yesterday with some volunteers and friends, sorting and boxing up the cards for mail and hand delivery (thank you SO MUCH, Carole and the crew at Crop-a-While) . But we still have many more that need a home...  If you know of a nursing home in your area which would enjoy receiving the cards to distribute to their residents, please let me know.  It is especially meaningful if you have a connection with someone there--a family member who is a resident, or if you know someone who works at the home. We hear that the staff enjoy looking at the cards almost as much as the seniors who receive them!

Here in Ottawa, we also received some local publicity for the drive. See the story HERE. 

Thanks to all who contributed to make this year's drive such a success!

Caroline 

P.S.  What is a blog post without some eye candy?

Beautiful thank you card created by contributor LC Lamothe. And it matches my tea cozy!!

Caring Hearts Card Drive 2017

Hello my crafty friends,

It's time again for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. 

This event is now in its eighth year!!! Last year's response was overwhelming--64,000 hand-made Christmas and holiday cards donated and distributed to nursing home residents in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain.  Vera Yates, the true heart 💓 behind the drive, is willing to do it again. You can check out all the details HERE on her blog.

Briefly, the idea behind the drive is to brighten the holidays for residents of long-term care facilities by sending them signed, hand-made cards, with wishes from the creator. We all love to make beautiful things, why not let them have a heart-felt purpose; a way of paying it forward. I have had letters from some of the facilities to which we send cards, telling us how much they mean to the recipients. One gentleman, who has received cards several years in a row, asked "I wonder where my card will come from this year?" Please know your cards are cherished.

In 2016, my partner in crime, Rita Andrews in Cochrane, Alberta, and I managed to send 5700 cards to 20 different seniors' residences in ten provinces, and two of the three territories. Several more nursing homes received cards along with pet therapy visits, thanks to our partnerships with PATS in Victoria BC, Blue Ribbon Therapy Dogs in Montreal, St. John's Ambulance Dog teams in Nova Scotia and PEI, and Ottawa Therapy Dogs, here in town.  This year, being Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation, we're considering  sending our cards even further afield. Some warm winter wishes from Canadians, sent across the world ❄.  So, if you know of a nursing home, within Canada or abroad, that would like to receive Christmas cards over the holidays, please let me know, at canadian_liner@hotmail.com.

Here's a card I made today, to get things started:

Background sponged with Catherine Pooler inks, "earth" coloured with Ken Oliver Color Burst powders. Die-cut village from Ellen Hutson; banner die from Simon Says Stamp; sentiment from Lil' Inker Designs; starts are Nuovo drops.

I look forward to seeing all the wonderful creations from the generous card makers out there.

To my Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

Happy crafting,
Caroline

Cross Canada Hop--Using up the 'Stash'

 

 Hello there, crafty friends!
It's time for another Cross Canada Blog Hop.

 

The challenge this month was to create artwork whilst "using up the stash." This idea really appealed to me--we are going to be moving house next winter, "down-sizing," and I'm going to have to purge some of my crafting supplies before then...

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and visit Michelle at My Creations with Michelle. If you came from Nicky's blog then you are in the right place!

I decided to make a set of cards using some old bulk paper

 and Close To My Heart's "Wishes" card-making how-to book. 

This manual features a variety of cards in several different sizes. I used the instructions for one of the card-making workshops.

 This requires no the mental effort at all: just choose two identical sheets of patterned paper and three more solid coordinating card-stock sheets. The zip strip on the CTMH paper makes this easy; the ink colours are specified, so it was just a question of locating those colours amidst the stash of cardstock. 

The patterned paper was Kaleidoscope from a couple of years ago.

Details on how to cut up all the paper are given,

 along with diagrams and step-by-step instructions on how to assemble all those pieces of paper back together.

The card-making workshop on Page 68 makes 20 cards, two each of 10 designs. With CTMH's double-sided paper, you can choose which side to feature on any given card. I tried to limit myself to just three stamp sets for sentiments and decoration.

Further items needed include card bases for A2 size cards, ink pads, and some dies.

I also managed to use up a bunch of embellishment items, like rick-rack (from a looooong time ago), gems, sequins, etc. 

For each design, I made one card as indicated, then changed things up a bit for the second one, to demonstrate the versatility of these designs.

Let me know which is your favorite!

Card #1 is meant to be vertical, as is the card on the left. I used the stamp set C1605 Happy to Be Friends, which has many useful sentiments. The second version is landscape orientation, featuring the Happy Birthday die. I applied some yellow ink to white card stock  with a sponge dauber before cutting out the words, and inlaid them in the green layer.

Card #2  features the dotted zip-strip, some plain card stock strips, and the Hello and Thanks word dies. I cut the Thanks out of craft foam, for some added dimension. The die worked perfectly for cutting that thickness of material.

Card #3.  I added some glitter gems and old buttons. The Rustic Flowers stamp set, D1186 is the first CTMH stamp set I ever bought!

Card #4 demonstrates how you can use the same basic pieces to make completely different designs. I added a white square and purple mat to the second card, along with more of the zip-strip.

Card #5.  Adding some sponged colour behind the sentiment makes it pop, as well as tying it into the bokeh circles on the patterned paper base. I cut the small coral heart from two strips of shimmer trim stuck together onto printer paper. Do you remember those old corduroy brads?

Card #6. I LOVE the Hugs & Kisses die from Seasonal Expressions 1! It's so cheery:) Again, I added some shading to white cardstock before cutting out the die, and inlaid the pieces into the green strip, then added coordinating rick-rack. The sentiment comes from D1708 Sending Smiles available with the Cricut bundle.

Card #7 For this card, I cut down the card base to make a 4.25" square card, and embossed the pink panel with a vine embossing folder. The stitched ribbon is REALLY old, but still pretty. I stamped a cascade of flowers across the second card, using the Rustic Flowers stamps.

Card #8. Added a large stamped daisy and vellum vine die-cut, and some old glitter gems.

Card #9.  I was getting a little bored of the patterned paper, but remembered I had the 6x6 sample swatches from Kaleidoscope. I switched out a strip from another paper in the pack for the central panel, and added a die-cut heart. The left the centre of the heart blank, so I can add an appropriate sentiment later on.

 Card #10  has a cut-away front panel, with a cute slotted tab, to hold it closed. One of CTMH's velcro dots would work just as well. For the second card, I used some shimmer trim behind the Happy Birthday die this time, for added sparkle.

 
In the end, I only used up about 6 sheets of paper and some ancient embellishments... Not such a stash-buster! but I have some wonderful cards to use or give away, and I had a blast making them.

To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Sheena at Kanata Newf Papercrafts.

 

If you get lost along the way, head back to Michelle's blog, as she has the complete blog list.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see.
Thank you 😊

See you next month,

Caroline