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!

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!

All You Need Is Love

Recently, I purchased a mini stamp with the sentiment "All You Need Is Love Love Is All You Need". I specifically purchased this stamp to use for my 5th Anniversary page. In the end, this is what I came up with.

I used the retired Happy Times paper pack to create this page. For the banner, I used the Paper Fundamentals Sticker packs. The background stamp is from Penny Black.

For the other side, I dove into my stash for the yellow, foam 5, and created a small cluster with stickers, puffies, and sequins.

Ingredients: Unfortunately, all of this products are retired. For current products, please 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!

Scrapping Friends

My best friend Heather and I share the love of scrapbooking, so when she came to visit me last summer, she brought some supplies. Oddly, we had never taken pictures scrapping together before, so this time we absolutely had to. Heather and I are both minimalistically girly, so I chose the slight flowery patterns found in the retired Happy Times paper pack.

To embellish this page, I mixed a lot of different products I had hanging around (see below), but I specifically purchased the retired SOTM Life in Pictures for this page and created a cute cluster.

For the flowers in the mason jar, I colored them using the watercolor pencils. I love the look, because it is much more subtle than markers.

Since I created this layout using stuff I had been hoarding, but I hadn't used, I entered this design in the Heart 2 Heart Challenges Throwback Challenge.

Ingredients:

• Happy Times Paper Pack (Retired)
• Life in Pictures (Retired)
• Candlelight Garden (Retired)
• Noted
• Kaleidoscope Complements
• Whimsy Fundamentals Stickers
• Adventure Fundamentals Stickers
• Pear Ink
• Black Ink
• Black Momento Ink
• Thistle Ink
• Glacier Ink
• Pixie Ink
• Pixie Extra Thick Twine
• Watercolor Pencils

Happy Scrapping My Artsy Friends!

4th of July Layout

Hello there, papercrafters! So, I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I am six months pregnant with baby number 2, so my free time has been spent sleeping! I'm getting that second trimester energy burst, so while my toddler was napping today, I was scrapping!!!

So, for our 4th of July 2015, I had a lot of fireworks pictures, but sadly not so many family photos. I wanted to showcase the photos, but I really wanted to emphasis this beautiful patterned paper from the Doodlebug Patriotic Parade paper pack. To do that, I chose a layout from the Make It From the Heart Vol. 2 guidebook. I have used this pattern before, if you would like another example. 

For the left page, I used CTMH cardstock to help layer the Doodlebug design. I also added some stamping from a retired CTMH Pinwheel stamp that I cut first with the Cricut Artiste cartridge.

The Cranberry cardstock pictured above is actually part of the Paper Fundamentals Adventure pack. It's hard to see, but this side of the paper is glossy with understated tone on tone circles. The back of the paper (not pictured) has these circles in white.

For the right page, I jazzed things up with some more of the Pinwheels and some stickers included with the Doodlebug paper pack. I also added a bonus 4x4 photo in the negative space to really make this design my own.

To hold the Pinwheel designs together, I used retired CTMH brads that match this paper perfectly.

Shopping List:

• Adventure Paper Fundamentals
• Cranberry Fundamentals Assortment
• Cranberry Ink Pad
• Whisper Ink Pad
• Sapphire Ink Pad
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Cricut Artiste

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Vintage Car Birthday Spread

Hello readers! Sorry I have been MIA for the past month. There are big changes in my artsy household, including a soon to be baby! I am 20 weeks pregnant now! This pregnancy has been great, but exhausting, which has left little craft time. But, I am getting back into the game now! In fact, I went to a crop over the weekend and made lots of fun layouts, including this one!

For my husband's birthday last year, my son and I took him to a vintage car museum in Cleveland. The retired Jackson paper pack is intended to showcase outdoor adventures, but the vintage feel was perfect for our trip to the museum.

For the left page, I used some of the Jackson compliments to accent the page. I also created this vintage looking car using the Beep Beep Cricut cartridge.

For the right page, I created another vintage car using Beep Beep, and created a title using the retired Wilderness My Crush set, which matches the Jackson paper pack perfectly!

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!!!

Loads of Fun Card

My favorite paper pack from the current catalog is Urban. I love the grungy, dirty feel. It is perfect for boys, like my son. This month, my card swap is featuring this paper pack. Here is what I came up with.

So, I have these retired hinges, but haven't had a chance to use them. I thought this would be a great opportunity, because the hard metal look coordinates with the metal feel of the paper. This also makes this card interactive.

I hid a truck and splatter under the flap and topped everything off with some silver foil tape. This card has a really simplistic look, but it actually took a lot of time to complete, because there were so many small steps.

Ingredients:

• Urban Paper Pack
• Loads of Fun
• Ink Blot
• Silver Foil Tape
• Cocoa Ink Pad
• Saffron Ink Pad

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!

Welcome Autumn

Autumn is my absolute favorite season. I love the crisp weather, the beautiful colors, and the family memories we make. Today, my family and I went to Mapleside Farm in Brunswick, OH to pick apples with the local Early Childhood PTA. It was a blast!

I used the retired Pathfinding paper pack to create this completely original layout. I love this paper pack, because the colors are perfect for the season! 

I embellished the page with several different retired items from my stash. Including a stamped sentiment from the Pathfinding WOTG. I colored the wood pieces using markers to make them look like apples. I'm pretty sure they're actually pumpkins.

For the right page, I mirrored the layers from the left page, but added a lot more photos.

Again, I used embellishments from my stash for this page, opting for the Pathfinding chipboard shapes.

I am entering this in the final September challenge for Heart 2 Heart and my team's Fall Into Challenge.

Happy Scrapping, My Artsy Friends!