Oh Deer Christmas Cards

For Christmas cards this year, I am really behind!!! Having a second baby can do that, I suppose. I decided to go with a simple design, but with big impact. I used the Oh Deer paper pack, Complements, and Accessories, and added some bling with shimmer trim and retired Paper Fundamentals Complements.I skipped stamping this year, in order to finish quickly. I had to make 12 cards, and here's what I came up.

I am entering these cards in this week's Heart 2 Hear Oh Deer Challenge, Between the Folds Oh Deer Challenge, and Color My Heart's Color Dare #223.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news. At the end of the year, I will no longer be an active Consultant with Close to My Heart. I will still be maintaining this blog to offer tips and tricks, display my artwork, and offer instructions/ cut guides. I hope you continue to join me!

Happy scrapping, my artsy friends!

Autumn Wishes Card

Happy National Stamping Month again! Each month I design a simple card for my Home Gatherings. When I also have online gatherings, I create a video tutorial to share with the guests. For September, I created a simple card using the Autumn Wishes stamp set and Whimsy Fundamentals.

If you are interested in viewing the tutorial and playing along, you can view it here, or below.

If you would like to host your own gathering, please contact me through my website, or by commenting below. 

Measurements: 

• Standard size card base
• Chocolate Cardstock 4x5.25in
• Canary Whimsy Fundamentals 3.75x5in
• Pumpkin cut using Artbooking at 2in Real Dial Size
• Circle cut using Artbooking at 1in Real Dial Size

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Roll Tide Birthday Card

My best friend has a birthday next week. She works for the University of Alabama, so I decided to make her a Roll Tide birthday card.

I used a houndstooth embossing folder that I inked with black ink to create a fun texture. To leave room for the elephant stamp, I used the circle diffuser. I would have liked to see no ink in that circle, but as this was my first time trying these techniques together, I wasn't sure how many times to run it through my Cuttlebug. It turns out, three is too many. The elephant and sentiment are from the retired Balloon Animals SOTM set. I embellished with some houndstooth washi tape from Hobby Lobby, and some silver and red Shimmer Trim. The entire card took me maybe 20mins to make, but I think the results are lovely.

Ingredients:

• Cranberry Cardstock
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Cranberry Ink
• Black Ink
• Slate Ink
• Red Shimmer Trim
• Silver Shimmer Trim
• Circle Diffuser

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Two Simple Cards Using Paper Fundamentals

This week, my husband graduated college and had a birthday! Since these were both perfect card giving opportunities, I got crafty! I wanted to make adorable cards on the quick, so I decided to use the Paper Fundamentals for both cards. I really love Paper Fundamentals, because they can easily accent any paper pack, work together for a fun design, or stand alone.

For the first card, I used an old Paper Fundamentals sheet in Smokey Plumb (retired). I used a Spellbinders die to cut and emboss the circle, which I stamped with stars and a sentiment. The owl is cut from Cricut Create a Critter 2. I chose this color scheme, because they are the colors of Grand Canyon University, where my husband graduated. I am entering this card in Heart 2 Heart's "Four" Challenge, since college takes four years.

For his birthday card, I used Adventure Paper Fundamentals Honey Cardstock. Yellow is my husband's favorite color. I again used a Spellbinders die to cut and emboss a circle. The stamps and sentiment here are a die and stamp set from Lawn Fawn. 

Ingredients: 

• Adventure Paper Fundamentals 
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Patch of Sky
• Gypsy Ink
• Slate Ink
• Canary Ink
• Honey Ink
• Black Ink

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Two Cards, Different Themes

Hello again! Today is my son's 3rd birthday! Last night I made him a birthday card in the color scheme (Topiary, Indian Corn Blue, and Pomegranate)  of his birthday party. His party theme is PJ Masks, which is a show on Disney Junior.

Despite this show being so popular, Disney has not released any merchandise yet, so I just used the CTMH Balloon Animals (retired) stamps to create this fun card.

I also made a Get Well Soon card for my awesome cousin who has been in the hospital. For this card, I used the colors from the Color My Heart Color Dare #185 and the Atlantic Hearts Sketch #151. 

Unfortunately, there are similar cards on both page already submitted. But, I'm going to submit my anyway, since I did participate.

Supplies:

• Topiary Cardstock
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Kiss It Better Stamp Set
• Cotton Candy Ink Pad
• Glacier Ink Pad
• Sweet Leaf Ink Pad
• Pomegranate Ink Pad
• Topiary Ink Pad
• Sapphire Ink Pad
• Pear Ink Pad

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Hope Card: My 100th Post!!!

Welcome to my 100th post! I've been writing this blog for a year now, and have really enjoyed the experience. Thanks to those of you who follow along, either here, or on Pinterest. For my 100th post, I created a card for my dear friend with cancer.

So, for the card background, I used a Seaside Picture My Life Card, which I trimmed down, and rerounded the corners. These PML cards are RETIRING!!! next month. You can view all of the retiring items here. Don't miss out, because once, they're gone, they're gone!

The sentiment for this card is from Neat & Tangled. You can find it here. I stamped this using VersaMark, and embossed with silver embossing powder. It's difficult to tell from this picture, but the sentiment is shiny. 

The sparkle dots are turquoise and silver Stickles. You can buy Stickles in a lot of places. I generally get them from JoAnn Fabrics when they are on sale. I'm really not a fan of glitter, because it gets EVERYWHERE!!! So, Stickles are a great compromise. And, unlike other glitter glues, I've never had issues with Stickles getting stuck in the cap.

Ingredients:

• Seaside Picture My Life Cards
• Lagoon Cardstock
• Colonial White Cardstock
• VersaMark Ink Pad
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Silver Shimmer Trim

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Nontraditional Style Wedding Card

My super fun cousin is getting married next weekend. In an earlier post, I showed you the mini album I made her as a gift. Today I am showing you her card. My cousin's colors are a bright purple and blue. She has a really fun personality, so I wanted to make her a nontraditional, funky wedding card.

I used the Taste of Summer paper pack to create the background. This paper pack is only available until the end of this month! And, I promise it is super adorable! 

To embellish the card, I created a cluster and kept the card CASe.

For the inside, I stamped a simple sentiment, and left lots of room to write.

I am entering this card in this week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge: "Extra! Extra! Read All About It!" You can find more info about H2H by visiting their website here.

Ingredients:

• Taste of Summer Paper Pack
• Celebrate Love
• The Happy Couple
• Sparkles Clear Flourishes- Small
• Sequins Gold Assortment

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

CAS Card using Dizzy Circles

Today I have another Pinspiration card to share with you. The original for this card can be found from my Card Ideas Board on Pinterest. This month, my card swap's challenge was to choose a card on Pinterest and recreate it. I am not typically good at creating CAS designs. I tend to go for busy, layered looks, but I absolutely fell in love with this card.

I recreated this card using the Dizzy Circles stamp set, clear sparkles, and some Flaxen twine. Here is the result:

The card is an all occasions with a sentiment that reads, "Happy hello for you." The cards were pretty easy to make, but I am really happy with the result.

Ingredients:

• Dizzy Circles
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Pear Ink Pad
• Thistle Ink Pad
• Pacifica Ink Pad 
• Bitty Sparkles
• Flaxen Extra Thick Twine

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

It's Gonna Be May: National Scrapbooking Campaign

Welcome to May, scrappers! This month is National Scrapbooking Month! To celebrate, Close to My Heart has an exclusive paper pack and stamp set called Taste of the Summer! In addition, you can pick up the May Stamp of the Month for $5 with a $50 purchase.

I decided to combine the Taste of Summer Paper Pack and the May SOTM to create another card Pinspiration! You can view all of my Pinspirations by following me here.

The original design is a perfect example of a CASe card. I used Pear cardstock to mat the design. And, the peek through B&T is from the Taste of Summer pack.

I messed up this card a bit and folded one of the flaps too short, but I'm keeping it imperfect for my first attempt.

The sentiment and pennant on the card is from the May SOTM. I used a retired font stamp to create the "hi" part.

The triangle design is also using the May SOTM.

I plan to send this card to a friend I haven't seen in awhile. I think the colors are quite uplifting and fun!

Ingredients:

• Taste of Summer Paper Pack
• May SOTM
• Pear Cardstock
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Pear Ink Pad
• Gypsy Ink Pad

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Opposites Attract: Monochromatic Sympathy Card

This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is Opposites Attract. At first, I struggled with this theme, because it is so vague that you could really create anything. Should I do a layout about my left-brained husband and me, his right-brained wife? Should I create a card using the negatives of an overlay? Then it hit me. When I think of opposites, I think of Black and White. So, I borrowed some inspiration from a recent CTMH blog challenge called Color Crush to create a Black and White monochromatic sympathy card.

Sympathy cards are tough for me. I never want them to seem too drab, because the goal should be to show support and uplift the grieving. Using the Brushstrokes stamp set and the decrease in color from Black to Slate to Whisper, I have kept the card Clean and Simple, but still beautiful and elegant. 

I used the Sincere Expressions stamp set to add the "With Sympathy" sentiment. And, that was it. I chose to forego embellishments altogether. The card is probably most suited for an adult who has lost someone. This is a design I think I will use again, because it makes an impact with minimal effort. 

For more information about Heart 2 Heart Challenges please visit their blog here.

Ingredients (Click the photo to purchase your own):

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!