Close to my Heart news!

I can not believe we are nearing the end of July already.  That being said, we are also nearing the end of our annual idea book.  Make sure you take a look on my website to see if there is anything you would like.  A lot of things will be retiring or changing.  paperdivas.ctmh.com.

Through the month of July if you buy 2 stamp sets you can get one free.  There are some special sets on the website that are not in the book.

I have really enjoyed using the Stamp set of the month!  Here is a picture of the set and a couple of samples!  Get yours for only $5 with a $50 order.

The flowers and pretty paper are from the Prickly Pear paper pack, that is in our seasonal idea book.

These are samples from our website!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the month!  It is beautiful here in Michigan.

Ronda

bleaching on cards

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique.  We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

From laundry, to disinfectant, to fashion, bleach is a staple in many households; but did you know you can use bleach in your card making and paper crafting? Yup, from stamping, to painting, and several techniques in between, we’re going to share our experiments with you. And if you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown
• May-World of Watercolor
• June-Basic Card Folds

Our  amazing sponsor this month is Debbie Bonczek of Close to My Heart

Please take a moment to check out the great products Close to My Heart has to offer. To visit Debbie's blog, click here.

And the awesome prize this month is, we have two this month!

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. While you are encouraged to comment at any time, only comments received by Friday, July 21, 2017 at 8:00pm (EST) will be eligible to win. The winner will be announced on Sunday, July 23, 2017 on A Piece of (my) Heart’s blog, so be sure to check her blog on Sunday the 23rd to see if you are the lucky winner.

You should  have arrived here from https://pawstoscrap.blogspot.ca/2017/07/july-2017-year-of-card-making.html

. If you're visiting  here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss out on increasing your chance of winning by commenting on  each blog.

Now for my cards.  Well I am going to admit, this was not one of my favorite techniques to try, not to say I wouldn't share this process, so someone else can give it a try.

My first card I used CTMH'S retired stamp set, D1602 a Budding friendship.  I used a light blue cardstock from StampinUp .  I first stamped the flower and stem in versamark ink and embossed the flower with a yellow powder and the stem in green. I used a small paint brush and painted the flower petals with bleach.  It turned the paper almost white.  I really did like the result of this one.  After doing the same process on the stem I then used CTMH'S water color pencils and added some color to the petals and leaves.  I layered the card with CTMH'S canary cardstock and embellished with retired sugar rush dots.  I stamped the bottom with CTMH'S retired Barn Red ink.

Now this card was a bit more challenging.  I used a random cheap black cardstock and embossed the flowers with a black glitter powder. These flowers are from the same stamp set as above.  I painted the bottom flower just once with bleach.  The top flower I painted several times with bleach using a heat gun in between until the bleach ate all the bristles off the brush. LOL!!! I popped up these flowers on my background that I stamped with CTMH'S black ink and then I added the top layer of the flower with CTMH's White Daisy ink and embossed with clear powder.  I like those better than the bleached ones.  Then I layered with black on white cardstock and trimmed in with CTMH's white shimmer trim and black sequins.

This third card was actually kind of fun.  I used CTMH'S Sorbet, Sunset and Canary ink pads and applied the ink directly from the pad and a little sponging.  I then used a q-tip  and just dotted randomly on the inked cardstock.  I really liked doing this and the possibilities are endless with this technique.  The ribbon in from CTMH'S Whismsy Fundamentals ribbon pack Z3287.  I used brown powder to emboss the flowers and stamped them in Canary and Sorbet.  I dabbed the centers with the q-tip too.  The sentiment is from CTMH's Flower Market Cricut cartridge stamp set. D1708.  I embellished it with retired sugar rush dots.

Well that's it for me and I am the last stop. I hope you enjoyed this hop!  

Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by. See you next month with another technique!

Ronda

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:  

• Sharon
• Claudia
• Kim
• Wilma
• http://cardadaychallenge.blogspot.ca/2017/07/blog-hop-bleaching-your-cards-year-of.html
• Sandy
• Jodie
• Debbie
• Ronda

scrapbooking Tucson with Prickly Pear!

Hello!  Today I am sharing Some scrapbook pages I have done using the CTMH'S Prickly Pear paper pack.  This pack is so much fun.  I love the colors.

This first one I am showing, I am going to enter in theH2H challenge "Oh the Places you'll go". http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/2017/07/oh-places-youll-go.html

Mom's beautiful Cacti!

 

My husband and his mom sitting on her porch swing and the Catalina mountains in the background.

These pictures were all taken in the back yard of my Mother in-laws house when she lived in Tucson.  I loved taking pictures back there.  She had it so nicely landscaped.  Not a rock out of place.  She had an acre lot.  The second group of pages show the outer area of here property, she didn't go back there but I loved roaming around and taking pictures.  Above is a picture of her cat, Dude.  Also my Father in-laws headstone.  I never got to meet him but wanted to add this because at one time he lived there too and did most of the landscaping.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these.  I was so happy when I found them already printed out so I could use them for this paper pack.

Ronda

Growing the garden!

How is your garden doing this year?  Mine sure is shaping up!  The raised bed we put in this year and filling it with organic soil and tons of compost from my bin and my Mom's has really paid off.  Here are a few pics to show you how it is doing!

 This tomato plant is growing out of my compost bin.  It has gotten pretty big and it is loaded with blossoms!

 These are tomato plants in the old part of the garden in earth bags and some in the ground and a random pepper plant.  One of these plants has 15 large tomatoes on it now.

 This is the new raised bed.  I planted Roma's in here and they are loaded.

 Here are some peppers in the new raised bed.  I don't know what kind they are because the birds took all the plastic labels.  But they are not doing to bad.

 My carrots are coming along quite well in the raised bed.  I am thinning them just about every other day!  I have one Brussel sprout plant.  I have never grown them before.  It is huge.

 Here are the red skin potatoes and the pole beans I am trying desperately to get going.  I keep putting seeds in every couple of weeks just so I'm sure to get some.  They seem to be taking off now.

and her are my cucumbers that I am hoping to get tons from.  I have 2 pickling plants.  My pantry is completely out, so I am hoping for a good crop.

Well there you have it for the veggie garden.  Good luck with yours and thanks for looking.

And like always, paperdivas.ctmh.com. has all your paper crafting needs.

Ronda

No worries!

Hello!  I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and are enjoying your summer!!  I know I am.  We have been going to a lot of car shows and we went to Kansas to visit our Grandkids and family!  My garden is doing really good.  I will take some pictures today and post them later on in the week.

Today I want to share some pictures of the cards and scrapbook pages I have done with the CTMH No Worries paper pack.

The scrapbook pages are from our trip we made to South Haven MI.  I am going to enter one of these in the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog!  http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/2017/07/july-2017-challenge-1-no-worries.html.  I hope you enjoy these.

Aren't these little foxes so cute???  They are from the June stamp of the month set.  I hope you enjoyed looking and my page and please follow me.

Have a great day!

Ronda