MTTC Blog Challenge no 439 starting 21 August 2020 with Clean And Simple Theme

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! My artsy-crafty heart got a bit nervous again this week because it is very hard for me to keep my layout styling clean and simple. CAS is the acronym and can be seen in lots of crafters' postings and captions. My Time To Craft challenge blog's new fortnight theme #439 is keeping it clean and simple.

When you look at my slimline Christmas card your first thought is going to be how is this clean and simple?

Again, for me, it is extremely hard to get my creative mind corralled!!!!!!! Very difficult!!! Let me reveal the card next and then I'll give my design notes further in the post.

Red, white, and green Happy Holidays slimline card=

#439 MTTC's posting:
link= http://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/challenge-439-clean-simple.html

Make sure to visit and see the fabulous restraint and brilliant interpretations of the other DT members. Take time to visit their individual blogs, too, and leave them some encouraging words. You can also read details about how to participate, deadline, bragging rights, and more at MTTC.

Design notes on creating this slimline Christmas card and some of the vendors:
a. Green cardstock base folded at top edge; business envelope width and depth; approx. 9.25" width and 4. 25" depth
b. dotted patterned paper = The Paper Studio; approx. 9.00" x 4"
c. the red cardstock panel (and the green CS) = Neenah; approx. 8. 25" x 3.25"
d. 3 washi tapes; 2 narrow ones are from Pen + Gear; the wide dark green is from My Mind's Eye [and it is now all used up...bummer]
e. row of green gems were easy to use because it is 1 full strip that I just had to lift and transfer onto the red panel
f. the green glitter foam tree sticker was easy to apply
g. the Happy Holidays round tag was leftover from a page of tags that I printed 2 weeks ago. I just had to cut it from the honeycomb cardstock the freebie tags were printed on and then I decided to dry-sponge a bit of green acrylic paint around the edge of the tag. I wanted to reinforce the green hue.
h. that's it! from start to finish the card was made in about 30 minutes. Measuring and cutting the cardstocks and papers was the time consuming part of that half hour.
i. another reason this was easy to make and not time-consuming was that all the supplies were within a foot of where I was sitting! I didn't have to go digging or searching. These items have been used for other projects recently.

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This card will be shared on Facebook:
a. my personal profile page
b. The Seasonal Cardmaker group
c. Slimline Card Obsessed group
d. Paper, Paper, Paper & Design Team Calls group

and at these other challenge blogs:
1. Merry Little Christmas challenge blog; August 2020; Always Anything Christmas Goes theme
link- https://merrylittlechristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/mlccb-25-august-anything-christmas-goes.html

2. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge blog; Anything Christmas Goes theme
link= http://thehollyandivychristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/challenge-77-anything-christmas-goes.html

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Crafting in the USA heartland,
Becca S

Design Team member:
1. MTTC; fortnightly every other Friday
2. A Place to Start; monthly starting on the 1st Monday of each month
3. Createful Heart Design; NEW for me in September; monthly

August 2020 Week 3 Theme of Under the Sea Christmas for 52 CCT Blog

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! Another week when my artsy crafty heart and supplies were having anxiety over what to do! Our DT hostess for August at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown blog is really challenging the creativity!! But apparently the other DT members have more diverse supplies than I do. I did a scrounge and found some "Treasure Map Word Stickers" from October Afternoon that got me on track for a simple card to fit the theme. Not my best work but with all the Covid stuff, I'm limiting shopping trips to essential food and household needs.

Let's see what you can do! Get your creative mojo going and participate in #31 for 2020!!!

Best Fishes, Santa! Christmas card =

Make sure to look at the other DT cards which addressed the theme much better than I did. Our August hostess wants to 'see' under the sea CREATURES celebrating Christmas...

Link for 52 CCT 31-20 =
https://52cct.blogspot.com/2020/08/august-theme-challenge.html

ID badge for DT members of 52 CCT blog=

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Some design notes about making this card:

a. October Afternoon's Treasure Map Word Stickers = rope border type sticker, the anchor and anchors away message

b. Webster Pages' Seaside Retreat image and phrase stickers = sea horses, shells, and fish

c. My Mind's Eye = pale teal blue with white dot cardstock that I've used twice

d. Darice = teal flat/one layer card base (small 4" x 5.5") that has matching envelope

e. lettering stencils, silver glitter paint pen, teal marker, tape/glue runner

f. kraft paper is just in the background to block the light while the computer printer scans....

g. the layout is based on the 52 CCT blog's August 2020 Week 1 sketch:

Note: you don't have to use the sketch layout with the theme

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other Facebook & groups where the card or this posting will be shared=

a. my Facebook profile

b. Paper, Paper, Paper & Design Team Calls group on Facebook; a sharing site for crafting bloggers


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Crafting in the USA heartland,
Becca S

Design Team member for these 3:
1. 52 CCT
2. APTS
3. MTTC

August 2020 Week 2 Color Challenge Green and Gold and Orange for 52 CCT Blog

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! Oh, my artsy crafty heart had some anxiety about this color palette for making a Christmas card!!!! If it was for summer time or autumn, I wouldn't have had problems searching in my stash but it was extremely difficult to find orange Christmas items. Our August DT hostess at 52 CCT has chosen the color trio of green, gold, and orange for this 2nd week of August 2020!!!

Couldn't find an orange ornament or orange patterned cardstock in a Christmas or winter print so I started brainstorming about a food theme and that's how I catapulted the treasure hunt and my adaptations. This was a very time-consuming card but I LOVE how it turned out; especially that touch of humor about fruitcake!!!

No Fruitcake in this Christmas card= #30-20 for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown blog

link: https://52cct.blogspot.com/2020/08/august-colour-challenge.html


more scanned and cropped pics=

Product notes and adaptations I made to create this color trio Christmas card=
a. Thanks to Bo Bunny for the green evergreen branch print cardstock, the fruit with honeycomb and spices print cardstock and the die-cuts (2 jingle bells, memories tab, and holly branch)
b. the peach cardstock card base is actually a neon orange that has scanned/bleached to look peach from Neenah
c. the dark orange cardstock mat - The Paper Studio
d. the no fruitcake tag is part of a sheet of freebies I found online; it started as a black and white multi holiday tag sheet that I printed onto Golden Honeycomb cardstock from Neenah
e. the gold glitter snowflakes started as white; my gold glitter paint pen to the rescue to transform to gold (dollar discount store)
f. the green glitter tree came as is and so did the gold glitter covered wooden pineapple; the orange slice came as plain wood so I used 3 different shades of orange markers to make it color appropriate (dollar discount store)
g. the yellow/gold jingle bell die-cut had the gold glitter pen and a black colored pencil to make sure color hues aligned with the challenge; the 2nd jingle bell was actually more of a rose gold hue to go with the Bo Bunny Christmas collection was I applied a red orange colored pencil to cover the bell portion and a black colored pencil to go over the bell opening; the holly berry branch had black colored pencil to go over the branch parts, orange to go over the berries to get more of a orange-red look instead of bright red, and then I used green glitter paint pen to edge the leaves and a combination of red and gold paint pens to edge the berries for contrast and more bling!! :)
h. the "Memories" tab was more of a beige-gold-ish hue so gold glitter paint pen for the outer edging, orange colored pencil for inside the box, and a black colored pencil to go over the word "Memories"
i. the fruit with honeycomb and spices patterned cardstock had similar coloring to the "Memories" tab so 3 different green colored pencils provided some hue contrast to the pear slices, rosemary sprigs, and apple slices; orange to those slices; several colors of pencil plus an overlay of gold glitter paint for the honeycomb and then a bright yellow gold colored pencil to go over the whole banner strip so that it would add a bit of contrast to the Gold Honeycomb cardstock used for the fruitcake tag and the other gold glitter embellishments
j. all papers and cardstocks (except the base) were edged with dark green ink

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other challenge blogs and Facebook groups were this card's photo or this posting will be found=

a. Merry Little Christmas challenge blog; August 2020; Anything Christmas Goes;
link= https://merrylittlechristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/mlccb-25-august-anything-christmas-goes.html

b. Mix It Up challenge blog; #40; Anything Goes (with an option to do embossing; I haven't)
link= https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/miucb-40-anything-goes-embossing.html

c. The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge blog; #76; Anything Christmas Goes
link= http://thehollyandivychristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/challenge-76-anything-christmas-goes.html

d. Mixed Media Creativity group in Facebook; a sharing closed group for artists and crafters that enjoy mixing it up; I've got plain and patterned cardstock; digital print-out; wooden shapes; dark green ink; some colored pencils to adapt and alter; ephemera/die-cuts; glitter foam shapes

e. Paper, Paper, Paper & Design Team Calls group in Facebook; a sharing group for crafting bloggers

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Crafting in the USA heartland,

Becca S

Design team member=
1. 52 CCT
2. A Place To Start
3. My Time To Craft

MTTC Blog Challenge no 438 Travel Theme starts 7 August 2020

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! Oh my artsy crafty heart is super excited about this travel theme card! This is for a DT commitment with My Time To Craft challenge blog and the new fortnight challenge theme is travel. Travel-related elements are probably one of the fewest topics in patterned papers or embellishments that I have. But I dug around and found some stash that is a mix of old and new.

Explore and Navigate This Beautiful Life Journey card=

Link to MTTC's #438 challenge=
#438 http://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/challenge-438-travel.html


so additional scanned cropped photos:

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Some supply and design notes:
a. my sister does not like when I put staples on a card but occasionally I like using them for adhering as well as adding some texture...
b. this time that's what I needed--adhering and texturing for 2 colors of cording
c. the top 3 word stickers are from the "Treasure Map" Word Stickers from October Afternoon [OLD]
d. The section of cardstock with the hot air balloons is from My Mind's Eye [OLD]
e. "Thinking of You" dazzle is from Paper Wishes [NEW]
f. the bottom 3 stickers are from "Seaside Retreat" phrase and word stickers sheet from Webster Pages [NEW]
g. the small size (4" x 5.5") flat card base with a matching envelope is from Darice [NEW]
h. some silver glitter paint pen around the inside edge of the hot air balloon paper

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Find this card shared at these other challenge blogs and Facebook groups:

a. Aud Sentiments #257 Anything Goes + a sentiment;
link= https://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/257-anything-goes-sentiment.html

b. Mix It Up challenge blog #40 Anything Goes (w/ option of embossing)
link= https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/miucb-40-anything-goes-embossing.html

c. Little Red Wagon challenge blog #561 Happy Days theme; [my card has a no pun intended--uplifting look to it with the hot air balloons !!!; soft to mid-tone colors; the playful banners in the patterned cardstock and even more fun with the attached cording!!]
link= http://lilredwagon.blogspot.com/2020/08/challenge-561-happy-days.html

d. Mixed Media Creativity group on Facebook; (besides cardstocks and stickers, I've used a foil sentiment 'dazzle', cording, staples)

e. Paper, Paper, Paper & Design Team Calls group on Facebook; a sharing site for crafty bloggers

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Crafting in the USA heartland,
Becca S

Design Team member for these 3:

a. MTTC
b. APTS
c. 52 CCT

Shaker Card Theme Challenge for August 2020 for A Place To Start Blog

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! Oh, I'm so glad I had a bit of creative mojo kick in to make and get this card submitted right before it goes live!!! Yikes! Yes. And the credit goes to some Webster Pages products I received several months ago that center on the topic of jewels...gems..."You are far more precious than jewels/rubies".

Friendship: You Are a Gem card for August 2020 APTS blog DT project=

Link= APTS blog's August 2020 Create a Shaker card challenge posting
https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2020/08/august-2020-challenge-create-shaker-card.html

*hopefully mine will get edited in by Chana; I had edited in just before it went live, so I must have been a few seconds too late....still check out to see what the others created!! Lots of variety in techniques and topics!!!

Some notes about the design:
a. Shaker/Object-filled pocket has lots of layers:
    i. teal with white dots cardstock is from My Mind's Eye
   ii. recycled clear film packaging was cut to the same size as the transparency and the teal print; tape runner was used to glue 3 sides as well as attach the layers together; after filling the clear film pocket then the top short edge was glued shut
  iii. white diamond print transparency is from a cut-apart sheet from Webster Pages as is the pastel colored diamond cut-apart card that is 1 of the filler items inside the pocket
b. the diamond patterned paper strip on the right side is from Webster Pages; however it came as white with purple 'facet' lines; I selected many colored pencils to fill in and try to replicate those hues seen on the cut apart card. I LOVE how this turned out!! The brownish gold sections were first colored with a light brown and then I covered with my gold glitter paint pen!
c. a clear-based Scripture sticker was placed over the top pocket layer that's the diamond transparency section.
d. odd bits and pieces from an embellishments bag that's been sitting on my craft work table this summer is the source for other items in the pocket
e. a row of 'gems' accent the card
f. the friendship cardstock message stickers are from Webster Pages
g. the mauve pink patterned cardstock is from My Mind's Eye
h. the yellow base's cardstock is from Neenah

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other challenge blogs or Facebook groups where this card or the posting will be linked=

a. Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge blog; started July 22 for 2 weeks; Anything Goes theme;
link= http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.com/2020/07/pennys-challenge-476.html

b. Mix It Up challenge blog; Anything Goes (there's an option; but I've not done it)
link= https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/08/miucb-40-anything-goes-embossing.html

c. Paper, Paper, Paper, and Design Team Calls group on Facebook; a sharing group for crafting bloggers

d. Mixed Media Creativity group on Facebook; lots of bits and pieces within the shaker pocket and also the 'crystal gems row'; lots of different cardstocks and cardstock stickers; Scripture sticker; diamond print transparency 'card'; and clear recycled packaging

e. Scripturally Inspired Creativity group on Facebook; shaker pocket has the clear backed sticker featuring verse from Proverbs

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Crafting in the USA heartland,
Becca S

Design team member for these three:
1. A Place to Start
2. 52 Christmas Card Throwdown
3. My Time To Start

August 2020 Week 1 Sketch Challenge for no 29 at 52 CCT Blog

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! Oh, my crafting mojo has gone a bit wane lately. Bleh! Blah! and Ugh! But I persevered this week to get the first of the month prompt rotation design team inspiration card made. There are only a couple of us that rotated the sketch 90 degrees. I could have easily gone the other direction but I've had this Christmas date washi tape from Carta Bella for several months and I really wanted to use it to fill that design space below the sketch's circles.

Merry Everything & Happy Always 2020 card for 52CCT 29-20=

I might be using this sketch again before August is over! Circles are suggested but you can have them as snowflakes, bells, presents, etc. This month the DT crew had several who decided to alter to presents, trees, and stockings for a few. And the space on the side shown in green, many of the crew made that a 2nd patterned paper. I decided to use a cardstock mat (4.5" x 6.5") centered on the white 5" x 7" base, so the Christmas date washi tape is my vertical space substitute. I also made that banner tag smaller and moved over as well as varying the size of my circles and their placement.

The essence of the sketch is clearly reflected in my card.

LINK= https://52cct.blogspot.com/2020/08/august-sketch-challenge.html

Below: This sketch design was selected by 52 CCT's August DT hostess Andreja M and another DT member altered it to get the sketch shown above. So look into your Christmas and/or winter holiday supply stash and see what you can do with the August sketch!

Some more design notes:
a. The Paper Studio = candy cane patterned paper and the M. E. & H. A. patterned paper; these are 12" square sheets and I was gifted 2 of each design; this was the first use of the candy cane print but I've already started using part of 1 sheet of the M.E. & H. A.
b. The Paper Studio = cardstock mat in evergreen
c. The Paper Source = white card base; flat one layer
d. 2 red patterned papers/circles are leftover scraps from 6" square pad collections but I should have grabbed the original pads and jotted down the vendors to share here...it's not like a have that many, maybe 4. It's that they have so many patterned papers within each pad that I'm afraid to give credit to the wrong company.
e. hard to tell in the scanned pics but the papers' outer edges have all been inked black
f. the turquoise blue paper is just used to blot out the printer's scanner light

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Other locations to find this card's photo or this blog posting=
a. Jingle Belles current challenge to use leftovers
link: http://jinglebellesrock.blogspot.com/2020/07/holiday-leftovers.html

b. Paper, Paper, Paper & Design Team Calls group on Facebook; a sharing site for crafting bloggers

c. Scripturally Inspired Creativity group on Facebook; this card will be shared because of many words within the large red text circle that are important themes found in the Bible= family, grateful, spirit, blessed, joy, love,

d. Mixed Media Creativity group on Facebook; I don't have that much variation on the card but there are 4 different patterned papers, 2 solid color cardstocks, the cardstock label sticker, washi tape used in 2 locations, black ink on the papers' edges, and the acrylic stars

e. Not Just Cards challenge blog; July 2020 month is still open for a few of the early days of August; Anything Goes;
link= http://notjustcardschallenges.blogspot.com/2020/07/july-challenge-please-leave-in-draft.html


The 2 additional challenge blogs' ID badges:

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Crafting in the USA heartland,
Becca S

Design Team member for:
1. 52 Christmas Card Throwdown
2. A Place To Start
3. My Time To Craft

Other cards using bits of some of the same patterned papers shown in today's featured card: