Santa Cards Using Sketch

My oldest son is in preschool this year. I wanted to make his teachers cards that were a little more kid friendly, since they are part of a gift from a 3yr old. I used a sketch from Heart 2 Heart Challenges to create a fun Santa card.

I created this design using the retired White Pines paper pack and a retired Santa stamp set. I added green shimmer trim and used the shimmer brush on the snowflake to add some sparkle.

For more information on Heart 2 Heart Challenges click here.

Happy scrapping, my artsy friends!

Oh Deer Scrapbook Layout

Last year, we used our traditional family Christmas pictures to announce our pregnancy with baby #2. I used the Oh Deer Workshop Your Way kit to scrapbook the day.

All of the photos are 4x6 in size, and there is certainly room to add more, if you have more photos.

For the left page, I added the page title "JOY" using the Complements. I also added an embellishment cluster with a retired stamp, and more Compliments.

For the right page, I added a similar embellishment cluster along with some journaling. The journaling card is part of the Oh Deer paper pack.

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

Happy scrapping, my artsy friends!

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!

Thanksgiving Thank You Card

This year for Thanksgiving, we are going to visit my husband's grandparents. I wanted to make a Thank You card to thank them for feeding us and housing us for a few days. Here's what I came up with.

I used a Colonial White card base, and layered Kraft paper and a retired CTMH fall, B&T paper. I also added some bronze shimmer trim to create a dividing line on the card. For the sentiment, I stamped Cocoa ink on Kraft paper using the retired Thanksgiving Wreath stamp set.

For the pumpkin and leaves, I used the retired Thankful Heart stamp set. I stamped all of the items using pigment ink and then heat embossed to give them texture. I then hand colored them all with markers. Finally, I took a quilling tool to curl the edges of the leaves.

I am entering this card in Heart 2 Heart's Get Your Kraft On Challenge.

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Superhero Birthday Card

My oldest son is in preschool this year. He just got invited to his first birthday party for a class friend! The boy will be four and LOVES superheroes. It just so happens that my son had a superhero birthday party for his 3rd birthday, and I already had the perfect stamp to use for his friend's card!

I used a CTMH White Daisy card base and the blue chevron mat is the retired Indian Blue Paper Fundamentals. The circles are several different paper brands from the local craft store that I cut using a Sizzix circle set. The superhero boy and sentiment are from My Favorite Things Super Boy set. You can't really tell from this photo, but the lightning bolt and sentiment have been highlighted with the CTMH Shimmer Brush. This brush adds just a flash of light and glitter to a specific area of your designs.

For the inside of the card I used more of the red polka dot paper to mat some White Daisy cardstock. I wanted to leave the inside blank, so my son could draw his friend a picture.

I am entering this card in the current Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge and Paru's Cardmaking November Challenge. 

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Christmas Lights Layout

Every year, my town has a beautiful Christmas lights display on the square. My son absolutely loves walking through the light tunnels. Last year, the colors were perfect for an old Doodle Bug paper pack I had in my stash. The Doodle Bug paper pack is called Winter Friends, and I have no idea how old it is. I bought it a few years ago, but I believe it was already retired at that point.

So, for this layout, I used the Cricut Create a Critter 2 cartridge to cut out these adorable penguins, polar bear.

For the both pages, I also added a fun light string stamped design using a retired Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month. Unfortunately, not as much ended up showing as I had originally intended.

This little twinkle was from the same stamp set.

Finally, I added some funky Christmas trees from the Cozy Christmas Thin Cuts Bundle. This is a stamp set that comes with the Thin Cuts! The sentiment is also from this stamp set. And, the Enamel and Glitter Duos Blue Dots also matched this paper pack perfectly!

I am entering this layout in the Heart 2 Heart Holiday Challenge, which asks for holiday designs without red or green!

Close to My Heart Ingredients:

• Glitter Duos Blue Dots
• Cozy Christmas Thin Cuts Bundle
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Black Cardstock
• Slate Cardstock
• Peacock Ink Pad

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Hawiian Birthday Card

Hello readers! September is National Stamping Month! CTMH is celebrating by offering a really adorable mini card set. You can order yours here.

I am kicking off my celebration with a Hawaiian inspired birthday card for a friend.

For the base of this card, I used a retired paper fundamentals sheet in lagoon. The pineapple was cut from the Artistry Cricut cartridge. And, the flowers are stamps from the retired Blossoming Friendship set. I used the second generation stamping method for to create the two tone look of the flowers. 

I am entering the card in the Heart 2 Heart stamping challenge.

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Santa Magic Layout

This morning, my husband pushed me into my craftroom and said he would take care of our boys. It has been a glorious morning! I used my time to create a single page layout of my son's breakfast with Santa last year.

I used the retired White Pines WOTG to create this layout. I really love this paper, and wanted to show all of it. I also really loved the complements for this set, so I used it to create three different clusters. For the top left corner, I also used the retired Twinkle and Santa Claus stamp sets.

I am entering this layout in Heart 2 Heart Challenges Magical Challenge. There is nothing more magical than Santa!

All of these products are retired. To view current products, visit my website.

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

A Kiddie Halloween

One of my absolute favorite yearly events to scrapbook is Halloween. I think part of it is that I love the colors associated with it, but it's also because we have so much fun as a family celebrating Halloween. Last year, my oldest son and I attended a Halloween party for our Early Childhood PTA. Let me tell you how adorable it is to have a costume party with toddlers. For Halloween, my son was a rocket ship and I was the Moon. I made both of our costume, and you can view them better here. For this two page layout, I mixed two retired CTMH Halloween paper packs, Scaredy Cat and Nevermore.

For the left page, I used a spiderweb cut from the Artbooking and some fussy cut stamps from the retired Little Monsters stamp set to embellish. 

I actually had this spiderweb left over from another project, so this worked as a stash buster for me, as well. I never throw out extra cuts, because I can usually find another project for them!

The thing I loved about this stamp set was that the monsters look like kids, which was perfect for this design. I hand colored the images using blending markers. 

For the right page, I cut the title from the Mini Monsters Cricut Cartridge. I think this cartridge maybe retired, which is a shame, because it's really awesome!

Here again, I mixed embellishments from the two retired paper packs.

I am entering this in this week's Between the Folds Creative Cuts Challenge, and Heart 2 Heart's Throwback Challenge.

Ingredients: Unfortunately, all of these products are retired, but you can view all current products here.

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!

Christmas Cards Using PML Cards

So, things have been super crazy with me lately. I started a new job, which has cut way down on my crafting time. Since, the first Heart 2 Heart Challenge this month was to use a product from the soon retiring Seasonal Expression, and I needed to make cards for my monthly swap, but I have had limited time, I decided to use some White Pines Picture My Life cards to create four super easy, super fast Christmas cards.

I used the same design for each card, but used a different PML card for each. The doily in the background actually is a paper doily that I trimmed, but you could use one of our Cricut cartridges to create your own background.

For the card below, I had to do some adjustments. The PML card actually has a date on it, but I didn't want that to show, so I used some of the border stickers from the Complements set to cover it.

Ingredients:

• White Pines Picture My Life Cards
• Cranberry Cardstock
• White Pines Complements
• Gold Shimmer Trim
• Red Shimmer Trim

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Mommy and Me Single Page Layout

Every year for Mother's Day, my son and I take a picture. It's amazing to watch him grow that one special day a year. We've had three Mother's Days together so far, and there is absolutely nothing I am more grateful for them him. He is my whole world. For Mother's Day 2015, I created this single page layout using the Zoe paper pack to showcase our picture.

To embellish the page, I cut a shape from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to create a layers. Then, I added a sticker from the Complements pack. I love how well the Complements can bring a page to life with ease.

I also cut this fun heart overlay using the newest CTMH Cricut cartridge Artistry. I really love this cartridge, because it has an adorable font, fun overlays, and some seriously on trend designs.

The final page element was a retired Picture My Life card that I fussy cut, and a & symbol from a Teresa Collins punch.

I had thought about adding journaling on the PML card, but I thought this was so much cuter. Overall, the page is simple, a tad girly (which is I try to get away with when I can), and full of love. I am entering this layout in Heart 2 Heart Give Thanks Challenge and Between the Folds Anything Goes Challenge.

Ingredients:

• Zoe Paper Pack
• Zoe Complements
• Holiday Tags
• Canary Ink Pad
• Slate Ink Pad
• Grey Enamel Gems

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Kaleidoscope Original Layout

Watercolors are all the rage right now, but I haven't quite embraced the trend. This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is Wonderful Watercolors, so I decided to make an orginal layout using the Kaleidoscope paper pack, which features designs that look watercolored.

I really wanted this layout to have a lot of elements without a lot of work, so I skipped the stamping and focused on using the Kaleidoscope Complements and Assortment. 

For the left page, I used lots of layers to create a bright, fun look. I even used some scraps from the shaker card I posted yesterday.

For the right page, I tried to keep a similar layered look by adding Gypsy B&T behind one of the photos.

I really love how using the Complements and Assortment can spice up the layout with so little effort.

I am also entering this layout in this week's Between the Fold's Anything Goes challenge.

Ingredients:

• Kaleidoscope Paper Pack
• Kaleidoscope Assortment
• Kaleidoscope Complements
• Gypsy Ink Pad

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!