December Color Challenge Using January SOTM

For the month of December, the Scrapping Buckeye Babes were challenged to use the colors Pear, Cranberry, and Hollyhock to create a papercraft. I decided to create a Valentine's Day card using the January Stamp of the Month, This Moment.

The Cranberry heart B&T is from Paper Fundamentals Enchantment Assortment.This paper is double sided. You can see the back of the paper at the bottom of the card. It has a glossy finish. And, all of the papers coordinate perfectly with the rest of the the CTMH collection.

The January Stamp of the Month will be available January 1st for $5 with a $50 purchase.

We are also offering double hostess rewards for the month, and a special mini album to celebrate National Paper Crafting Month. I will post more details about the specials on my FB page.

Ingredients: Paper Fundamentals Enchantment Assortment (Z2031), Hollyhock Cardstock (1246), Pear Cardstock (X5764), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Hollyhock Ink (Z2128), Pear Ink (Z2197), Basics Pigment Ink Pads Set (Z2503), Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799), Pink Glitter Gems (Z1807)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Christmas Card for the Husband

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I have been so busy with family holiday traditions, craft fairs, and creating a great deal of Christmas cards! 

Even though I made close to 200 cards, I hadn't had the opportunity to make an extra special one for my husband. So, I sat down this evening, and did just that. 

So, for this card, I used an overlay from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge. This overlay is meant to be used for a 10x8 mini album. For this card, I set the overlay to 4.5in. (Note: I did NOT use real dial size.)

The "All I Want For Christmas" sentiment is from the My Crush Holiday Happenings Assortment (pictured above). I used a retired stamp set to create the "is you" part.

Ingredients: My Crush Holiday Happenings Assortment (Z2062), Cricut Artbooking Cartridge (Z1906), My Crush Holiday Happenings Badge Buttons (Z2051), Sparkles Clear Flourishes Clear (Z1812), Olive Cardstock (1245), Barn Red Cardstock (X5637), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Black Ink (Z2105)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends! And, Merry Christmas!

Welcome to December!!!

Hello December! This month is packed full of great deals from Close to My Heart!

Today ONLY, to celebrate Cyber Monday, all Cricut cartridge bundles are 20% off!!! You can get yours here.

We are also unveiling our Seasonal Expressions catalog! This catalog will run along with the Annual Inspirations until March 31st.

This month marks the 10 year anniversary of our My Acrylix stamps. To celebrate, we are offering the Deal of the Decade: with any $50 purchase, you may choose any C or D sized stamp from the Annual Expressions catalog for just $10! That's a savings of up to $7.95.

And, as always there is the Stamp of the Month for only $5 with a $50 purchase! This month's stamp is Cutie Pie, and it is adorable! It is perfect for girly pages, birthday celebrations, and even thank you cards.

So, for this stamp set, I tried a new technique called Smack Down. The basics of this technique are that you will be stamping your image once, lift the stamp, and re-stamp until all of the ink is gone. Essentially, you are stamping second and third generation. I watched this video to help me with the technique. 

Here was my final project.

I combined the Cutie Pie stamp set with the Build-a-Cake stamp set to create a delicious birthday card! 

Ingredients: Chalk It Up (G1081), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Thistle Cardstock (X5769), Cutie Pie December SOTM (S1412), Build-a-Cake (D1618), Joyful Birthday (B1419), Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799), Scaredy Cat Assortment (Z3011), Flaxen Ink (Z2642), Sunset Ink (Z2191), Lagoon Ink (Z2195), Thistle Ink (Z2640)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

November Color Challenge: Smokey Plumb, Olive, and Flaxen

This month, the Scrapping Buckeye Babes were tasked with creating a project using the colors Smokey Plumb, Olive, and Flaxen. I took the opportunity to scrapbook a spread about my friends from senior year of high school. I used the Artbooking cartridge to create a fun honeycomb overlay, and then did random stamping in this month's colors using the Honeycomb stamp set.

The title was made with the Artbooking font that I edited in Cricut Craftroom to create a solid piece of text, instead of individual letters.

All of the stamped embellishments came from the Geek Is Chic stamp set.

Ingredients: Cricut Artbooking (Z1906), Honeycomb (C1537), Geek Is Chic (D1599), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Smokey Plumb Cardstock (1291), Olive Cardstock (1245), Flaxen Cardstock (X5771), Smokey Plumb Ink (Z2147), Olive Ink (Z2137), Flaxen Ink (Z2642)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Thanksgiving Turkey Fry Box

Hello again! My hand is finally on the mend, and I am back in the craftroom! This week is Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday! Growing up, my family would have a massive meal with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, and grandparents. This year, I am hosting a meal on a much smaller scale with some military friends of ours. To thank our guests for attending, I made these adorable turkey fry boxes using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. I plan to put Andes mints inside, and place them on the table.

The fry box is cut at 5.75in, and the feathers (teardrop image) are cut at 2in. The Thanksgiving stamp is from the Thanksgiving Wreath Hostess Rewards set. And, the eyes are from the August Stamp of the Month What a Hoot. To hide the feathers, I punched a 2in circle and glued it to the back.

Ingredients: Chocolate Cardstock (X5643), Barn Red Cardstock (X5637), Autumn Terracotta Cardstock (1270), Honey Cardstock (X5668), Colonial White Ink (1388), Cricut Art Philosophy (Z1686)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Six Simple Christmas Cards

I wanted to create simple Christmas cards that would make a big impact for the card club I lead at my church. Most of the ladies in my group have never stamped before, and they have really enjoyed learning. Because we wanted to make a Christmas card for all of our shut-ins and an area nursing home, I chose to make these super easy cards that can be made quickly. 

I used the Yuletide Carol paper pack and three different stamp sets (Noel, Sing Glory, and Reason for the Season), and kept the whole set monochromatic. 

Ingredients: Yuletide Carol (G1084), Colonial White Cardstock (1388), Noel (C1598), Sng Glory (Hostess Exclusive), Reason for the Season (D1614), Black Ink (Z2105), Barn Red (Z2104), New England Ivy (Z2135), Gold Shimmer Trim (Z1985), Sequins Gold Assortment (Z2012)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Waterfall Folio Albums

Hello again, Artsy Friends! Today was the first day post hand surgery that I have braved the craft room. I have been preparing for a lot of upcoming events, including a craft fair on Saturday November 8th from 9-3. I really wanted to create some more mini albums for the event, so I went back to a great layout for creating a waterfall folio album. The tutorial I used can be found here.

The first album I created, I used the Brushed paper pack with touches of the retired Chantilly paper pack.

I embellished the cover using cards from the My Crush Wilderness Assortment and Bling Gems Gold Assortment.

The inside contains a pocket on the left and the waterfall on the right.

For the waterfall, I used retired Chantilly (green) paper and created my own B&T with Honey Cardstock stamped with a flower from a Budding Friendship in canary. The strip in between is the zip tie from Brushed.

The second album I made was using the retired Sparkle and Shine paper pack.

The cover is embellished with the Sparkle and Shine Compliments and a heat embossed Classy Doily stamp.

The inside contains two pockets on the left and the waterfall on the right.

For the waterfall, I used Sparkle and Shine paper and trimmed it with silver shimmer trim.

For the pocket on the left, I added some cards from the Picture My Life Partridge and Pear pack.

I am entering these projects in this month's anything goes Take Heart Ideas.

Ingredients: Brushed Paper Pack (G1087), Honey Cardstock (X5668), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Slate Cardstock (X5930), Canary Ink (Z2643), A Budding Friendship (D1602), Classy Doily (B1424), Gold Shimmer Trim (Z1985), Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799), Bling Gems Gold Assortment (Z2023).

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Celebrate Love and the Happy Couple

Tomorrow, I am having surgery on my right hand, so this will be my last blog post for at least a week. Thanks to all of my regular followers. I appreciate the love!

For my last crafting day before my surgery, I created my first ever wedding card! Recently, I started a cardmaking group at my church. We were asked to create wedding cards for couples who marry in our church. I created this card for a happy couple due to marry at the end of this month.

I used paper from the Yuletide Carol and Seaside paper packs to create this card. I also used two of our beautiful wedding stamp sets: Celebrate Love and the Happy Couple. The cake is embossed with clear embossing powder to give it a nice shine, and then I added some bling to the center tier to give it some dimension.

The sentiment is from the Celebrate Love stamp set. I used markers to color in the flowers of the design. The sentiment is set onto a mini cluster embellishment that includes a vellum heart sticker from my stash, a small flourish, and silver shimmer trim.

For the inside of the card, I stamped a simple sentiment from the Happy Couple stamp set.

I also entered this card in this month's Take Heart Ideas challenge. 

Ingredients: Celebrate Love Stamp Set (B1459), Happy Couple Stamp Set (D1539), Yuletide Carol Paper Pack (X7187B), Seaside Paper Pack (X7192B), Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799), Bitty Sparkles (Z1263), Sparkles Clear Flourish (Z1812), Glacier Ink (Z2641), Black Ink (Z2105)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends! See you in a week!

Pastor Appreciation Month Card

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I attend a small Methodist church in Brunswick, OH that I absolutely love! I wanted to make cards for the two pastors of our church to thank them for all they do for our church community. I took the opportunity to combine this with the Scrapping Buckeye Babes Color Challenge of Cocoa, Autumn Terracotta, and Barn Red.

For this card, I sought inspiration from Close to My Heart's Make It From the Heart Volume 1. I used pattern 24.

Here's what I came up with.

The sentiment is from Thanksgiving Wreath, a hostess rewards stamp set. And, the pumpkin and leaves are from the Pathfinding Workshop on the Go stamp set.

The pattern paper is from our new Paper Fundamentals Enchantment pack. This paper is great to use as an additional B&T. And, these packs coordinate with our exclusive color palette perfectly. They are two sided. The first side is the typical pattern. The reverse side is the pattern more subtle with a glossy finish. You can see the glossy side in the Barn Red "ribbon" in the image below. 

Ingredients: Paper Fundamentals Enchantment (Z2031), Barn Red Cardstock (X5637), Cocoa Cardstock (X5642), Colonial White Cardstock (1388), Colonial White Ink (Z2168), Autumn Terracotta Ink (Z2101), Cocoa Ink (Z2114)

One last thing, I am having hand surgery this week, so I will not be updating my blog for at least a week. Thanks to everyone who follows me regularly. I will be back ASAP!

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Crisscross Card Using Pathfinding

I lead a monthly card swap with some of my heart sisters. This month, I tasked the ladies with creating a crisscross card. A crisscross card basically is a card with two crossing flaps that contains an insert for your sentiment and message. I absolutely adore the Pathfinding paper pack, and thought it would be perfect for this card. In fact, I used Pathfinding B&T paper and the cardstock that comes with it, so no extra paper was needed!

For the band around the card, I used a leaf stamp from the Thankful Heart stamp set. I used markers to color the leaf adding texture and dimension.

For the card insert, I used markers to color the pumpkin from Thankful Heart. The hearts along the bottom are from a Hostess Rewards stamp set called Happy Hexagons.

If you would like to create your own crisscross card, you can find a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.

Ingredients: Pathfinding Paper Pack (X7186B), Thankful Heart (B1463), Happy Hexagons (Hostess Rewards), Bronze Shimmer Trim (Z1849), Lagoon Ink (Z2195)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Okay, so Santa isn't coming to town for another two and half months, but I have been getting into the Christmas spirit, as you know, by making Christmas cards. Last night I was having trouble falling to sleep, because I just had this vision of a card I wanted to make. Today, I made that card.

I used cranberry cardstock to create the look of a Santa jacket. Added some sponged white daisy ink to create the look of Santa's beard. And, an embossed Santa sentiment to top it all off.

The belt and buckle are simply black cardstock and gold shimmer trim.

I can actually use the one sheet wonder pattern to create six of these cards with some scraps left over! And, it is really just a fun, playful card!

Ingredients: Cranberry Cardstock (1272), Black Cardstock (1386), Gold Shimmer Trim (Z1985), Santa Claus (C1567), White Daisy Ink (Z2163), White Embossing Powder (Z2068), Cricut Artbooking (Z1906), Craft Heater (Z555)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Pennant Frames Fun

In my house, our only decorations are photos. We have them everywhere. Photography makes great wall art that is also very personal to your individual family. Close to My Heart has a line of home decor items that are completely customizable. The My Creations Pennant Frame is a personal favorite of mine. The frame costs $8.95 and fits up to a 6x6 photo. It is easy to create with the Cricut Artbooking cartridge, which includes a pennant image completely compatible with the frame.

Here are two frames I made recently. One is appropriate to display those awesome Christmas memories.

And, one is for a true Cleveland Browns Fan. (Perfect gift for the fan in your life.)

Both of these will be on sale at my next Craft Fair. Details will be on my Facebook page.

I also entered both of these in this month's anything goes challenge for Take Heart Ideas.

Ingredients: My Creations Pennant Frame (Z1941), Yuletide Carol Paper Pack (X7187B), Barn Red Cardstock (X5637), Autumn Terracotta Cardstock (1270), Cocoa Cardstock (X5642), Chocolate Cardstock (X5643), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), My Crush Holiday Happenings Assortment (Z2062), Gold Shimmer Trim (Z1985), Yultide Carol Assortment (Z3007), Cricut Artbooking Cartridge (Z1906), Cricut Art Philosophy (Z1686)

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!