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If you {heart} Close To My Heart, then this challenge blog is for you! Please read our revised rules, above.

Monday, September 27, 2010

ABC time at H2H

Thanks to everyone who played along with last week's challenge - we hope you will join in the fun once again this week!

Random.org drew one lucky participant to be the winner of Kathy's prize package and that winner is:   #8 Laurie Wolle! Congratulations Laurie! Please email me with your address and I will forward it on to Kathy. Thank you Kathy for being a terrific sponsor! If you haven't stopped by yet, be sure to visit Kathy at Old World Designs.

This week will be another 4 for 40 week! What that means is, if we get at least 40 participants in this week's challenge, one lucky player will win a set of handcrafted cards from a member of the H2H Design Team. This week, it is none other than the uber-talented Jamia and she has a little designing tidbit to share with you:

"My idea or tip is to use your hand punches to create a designer background on your cards! On this week's card, I took my circle punch and punched out several color coordinated circles and then randomly glued them on my card base. This is such an easy and fun way to spice up any card. The color combos are endless and it looks FABULOUS on any style card. Now don't just stop at the circles, you can use butterflies, squares, cupcakes, snowflakes etc. All of my cards for the winner this week will be created using this tip!!"

Here is Jamia's card for this week's challenge:


So cute and resourceful! Gotta love that! Be sure to play along so you have a chance to win this and 3 more cards from Jamia!

Now on to this week's challenge - it's an ABC Challenge. Here is what you have to include in your project:
A= Alphabet. Use alphabet stamps, stickers, etc.... in some way on your project
B= Boy. Your project must be for a boy.
C= Chocolate. You must include the color Chocolate (or other dark brown) somewhere on your artwork.

Ready to get creative? Let's take a look at what the rest of the team created for this challenge, starting with our fabulous Guest Design Team member for September, Debbie Carriere:

Oh yeah, Debbie knew how to work this challenge! Thanks for joining us in September, Debbie - we loved having you as part of the team!








What do you think? I know these creations have got your wheels turning and we can't wait to see what you create! Tell your friends, your family and everyone you know to join in the fun! It takes 40 players to have a prize drawing this week so come on and play! You have until Sunday night at 10 pm EST. Leave your link below for a chance to win!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Sentimentally Yours Friday Five

Using sentiments as a main image can be a bit of a challenge but you all rose up and met it head on - and beautifully! Here are our five favorites for the week:


To see these projects in their entirety, click the photo.

Congratulations! All of the Friday Five winners will receive a badge they can proudly display on their blogs and they all have a chance to be the next Guest Design Team member!

Our challenge this week is a sketch - we hope you'll play along!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Ready for a sketch?

Lots of great sentiment artwork last week - thanks to everyone who played along!

Random.org chose our prize winner and it is.......#15 Sheila!  Congratulations - please email me your address and I will pass it along to our wonderful sponsor, Corinna! A big round of applause to Corinna for being our sponsor this week and don't forget, you can visit her at Stamping with a Java Junkie.

We have a new sponsor for this week - Kathy Robitaille. Here is the prize Kathy is offering:


Includes a D-size stamp set (World's Best Dad) and 4 hand crafted cards/envelopes. Thank you Kathy for being our sponsor! You can visit Kathy's blog at Old World Designs and leave her a "thank you".

Now on to this week's challenge. We are up to challenge number 25 - can you believe it? It's a sketch challenge and here's what we are working with:


We also have joining us this week our Guest DT, Debbie. She took this sketch and created something awesome - take a look:

I told you! Absolutely stunning! 

Here's the rest of the team's fantastic work:








Are you ready to work with our sketch this week? We sure hope so!! Show us what you've got! Upload your creation to your blog or other online public gallery and then come back here and leave us a link. We will be by to check out your artwork and you might just be our next prize winner or be chosen for our Friday Five!

Have a creative week!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Our Color Coordinated Friday Five!

Thanks to everyone who played along with our color challenge last week - your artwork was beautiful! We picked our favorite five based on creative, execution, following the challenge rules and overall design elements and these are our picks for the week - congratulations ladies!


There is still time to play in this week's challenge. To be eligible for a great prize and a chance to be in our next Friday Five (and maybe be chosen guest DT for October!) simply upload your card and link it here by Sunday night at 10 pm EST.

Until next time, have a creative weekend!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sentimentally Yours

Thanks to everyone who played along with our color challenge last week - your artwork was inspiring! Unfortunately, we didn't reach 40 players so there is no winner to announce for Deneen's 4 creations but there will be another chance to win something awesome this week!

Our prize sponsor this week is Corinna McGregor!


You can check out her blog at Stamping with a Java Junkie or visit her website HERE. And Corinna is playing along with our challenge this week so be sure to pop over, see what she created and leave her some love for sponsoring our challenge! Here's a peek of her artwork:


This week we are focusing on sentiments. We want to see what you can create with a sentiment (from CTMH, please) as your focal image. Here's some artwork from the DT to get your creative juices going:







Beautiful! Now let's see what you can create. You have until 10 pm EST on Sunday to post a link to your project here and be eligible for Corinna's fabulous prize! Have a wonderful - and creative - week!

Friday, September 10, 2010

1 Guest DT + 5 Fabulous Creations

Before we get to this week's Friday Five, I want to introduce you a little more to our Guest DT for September, Debbie Carriere. Here's a little about Debbie in her own words:


"Hi everyone, my name is Debbie. I live with my wonderful husband and three children just north of Boston, Massachusetts. This December we will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. We have been blessed with three happy, busy little kids – Noah age 5, Nathan age 3, and little Isabel (baby Bel) age 18 months. Before children, I was a Process Development Scientist for a pharmaceutical company. I made the choice after Noah was born to leave the work force to be home with my children. I feel very fortunate that we have been able to make this work for our family.

I started scrapbooking just after Noah was born, as well. I love the idea that I am preserving my family’s memories for my children and grandchildren. I truly believe they will be so grateful that I did. I discovered Close to My Heart in January of 2008 – it was love at first sight, and I soon signed up to be an independent consultant. I have met so many fabulous people through my business and have learned so much more than I could have imagined. I started making cards and altered projects a couple years ago and LOVE it – maybe even more than scrapbooking!!

I love to spend time outdoors – gardening, walking, biking, hiking, relaxing. I also enjoy reading and baking. My dream is to one day have an RV and a boat. I am thrilled to be a Guest DT member for Heart 2 Heart. I hope I live up to the challenge and can inspire someone."

Welcome again, Debbie! You can stop by and Debbie at her blog at Scrap My Heart Out or at her website HERE. Debbie will be joining the rest of the team for 2 challenges this month so stay tuned!

Ok now on to our Friday Five. These gals really know how to work those folds! Take a look (click the photo to go to the blog to see the whole creation)



There you have it - some pretty great folds! Congratulations to our top five! You will be receiving your badge code later today (Kate - I need your email address - please contact me at mbryt1@bex.net)

Will you be in our next Friday Five? You might be but you have to play along! Check out our color challenge for the week and submit your artwork by Sunday night at 10 EST. And we will be back Monday with another great challenge! See you then!

Monday, September 6, 2010

New Month- New Challenge- New Prize Opportunity.....

Wow we have a lot to share today so let's get right to it!

A new month means a new Guest DT and we are excited to welcome Debbie Carriere! We will learn more about Debbie later this week but I wanted to shout out a big congratulations to her today!

We are also excited to announce a new prize opportunity. This will not be an option every week but on some weeks we will be offering a 4 for 40 prize. Here's how it works:
On a 4 for 40 week, one member of the Design Team will be presenting a tip, idea, technique or other great info that they want to share with you. They will also be providing a fabulous prize - 4 custom created cards for one lucky participant! However, this will only be available if we have 40 people play along with that week's challenge. So start spreading the word and get your friends, family, customers, upline, downline, neighbors and more to play along!

Our first Design Team member is the talented Deneen and here's some great information that she is sharing with us this week:

"I've recently discovered an awesome tool that doesn't get much attention...the Blending Pen!! I have the Waterbrush and thought the Blending Pen was the same thing, just disposable. Boy, was I wrong. It's much dryer, and easier to colour with than the Waterbrush. I coloured the peacock in my Fancy Fold card with it,(see last week's sample) and highlighted the flowers in my 4 for 40 card. (You Are Beautiful is retiring  :(  it's one of my favourites!!) I love my Copics, but the Blending Pen is great when you want to match your stamped image with your ink. For instance, when you stamp a flower using Sky ink, you can add dimension by highlighting aspects of it with your Blending Pen and Sky ink (for subtle differences), or say Indian Corn Blue (for a more distinct difference). So, dust off your Blending Pen and try it again, you'll fall in love all over  :)"

And here is one of the cards Deneen will be sending one player that was created using her blending pen technique:


Stunning! And this is just one of the fabulous cards Deneen will be sending so you want to be sure to play along this week!

And just what is the challenge you ask? It's a favorite - a color challenge!


We are working with Autumn Terracotta, New England Ivy and Honey (or as close as you can get to these colors). Now let's see what the team has created for this challenge - first up, our "featured" DT member, Deneen:









Ok you have to be inspired to get creating now, right? And with a new prize opportunity, you know you have to play along! So get your creation made and posted to Mister Linky below before Sunday night at 10 pm EST. We can't wait to see what you create with our color choices this week!