Exciting News....

     This is my first post as a new consultant for Close to my Heart! I finally took the plunge. After being a customer for years and years, the campaign they had last month was to good to pass up. The kit practically paid for itself so I had to take a leap of faith and try to sell what I love.

     I've been a scrapbooker since 2002. Since that time, I've seen a lot of companies and used a ton of new products. I still love lots of things, but Close to my Heart has stayed a favorite of mine. The paper kits they offer now are a tremendous value and it makes things so much easier and quicker for a scrapbooker like myself with limited time to have all of the matching necessities in one easy pouch to pull out. The kits come with a paper pack the includes 6 sheets of 12x12 double sided designer paper and 6 sheets of 12x12 cardstock, a clear stamp set, some embellishments, and a brochure that gives you measurements with ideas to make 4 12x12 layouts. All for around $30. There are some awesome add ons as well if you want. Everything is so matchy matchy.. gotta love that!

     Since I'm a demo now, I decided to make a layout using only stuff from Close to my Heart. I thought it would be hard, but I found it fairly easy. So easy in fact, almost everything I used came from one kit. 

     This layout used the Stella kit. This kit is hands down one of my favorites in the new book. The colors are so spectacular and just in time for Spring/Summer pages. My favorite time of year to scrapbook.

     I was looking through some different CTMH blogs and  one layout really stuck out to me, so I decided to recreate it. I changed mine up a bit, but the bottom layer of pennants are the same. Here is the link to the original layout http://wizardshangout.blogspot.com/2012/03/simply-sweet-1-pager.html If you have some time, you must check out her work. I am in awe of almost everyone one of her creations! She makes it look so easy.

Here is my version:

 

Supplies used:
Stella kit; Bitty Buds asst; Bitty Opaques Pearls; Twill; PomPom Trim from the Designer Ribbon pink collection; and some random CTMH stamps for the banners; Lagoon and Smoothie Inks

Love ♥

     I can finally post again! I use photobucket to host my pictures and I started having problems with it. So, no Christmas cards were posted and I made several super cute ones. But, I can start again with Valentines :)

     This card was made using an image from CTMH Childhood Portrait. I've always loved silhouette images, and this stamp set has some of the cutest. The heart was cut using my Silhouette. The pattern paper is from My Minds Eye, Lost & Found -Madison Avenue. The ribbon is from Stampin' Up. The word  Love is handwritten with a Sharpie. I never hand write on my cards or my layouts because I think it looks bad, but I wanted it to say Love and I didn't have a stamp. I also used a few sparkles that I've had for a long time from Heidi Swapp. 

     I have several more Valentine cards to make, and I hope to be able to share them. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this card. 

Finally ...

     I finally finished up the last of the Thanksgiving cards that I needed. Unfortunately, I won't get to post one of them because I already gave it away. It really rocked too ;)

     I actually used up some of my scraps on this card. I had a lot of small pieces laying around. I just started tossing them about on the card until I found an order that I liked. Here's what I came up with:

     Supplies: CTMH Dreamin' Paper; CTMH inks; CTMH ribbon; CTMH Harvest Happiness stamp

    
     I have several Christmas gifts lined up to make and lots of Christmas cards, I hope I can find time to finish everything I want to do. So, I am off to clean up my desk and put away Thanksgiving/Fall things and move on to Christmas.

Season of Friendship

     I am still working on Thanksgiving cards. I finished up two last night, but they were very similar to the one I posted yesterday so I just popped those in envelopes to mail out. Today I started on a regular A2 size card. I've been using mainly my CTMH stamps so it felt good to pull out a Stampin Up set that I love. Just a few more cards to go and just a few days left to finish them up. Wish me luck!

    Supplies: CTMH cardstock and Dreamin' PP; CTMH ribbon; Making Memories brad; SU Season of Friendship stamps; CTMH and SU inks

Harvest Happiness

     Hello~ I am in a Thanksgiving/Fall mood! I was flipping through some of my Close To My Heart papers and kits and noticed a paper pack that I haven't used yet. It's called Twitterpated. I ♥ this paper. It has awesome colors and prints. Unfortunately, I don't think you can buy it anymore :(

      I used a new stamp set called Harvest Happiness and my Cricut. This was my first time using the Cricut to cut out images and then lining up the stamps and stamping. I think it turned out great and looks super cool. I am going to search out more stamp sets that have that feature. Sure beats fussy cutting..lol That's the term I use for cutting out my images ;)

     For the leaf, I used a technique called Rock n' Roll. Most of you probably know what that is, but for those that don't, it's a simple technique used by just rocking the stamp around the edges of an ink pad to give the image more color and depth. The Honey and Barn Red made perfect colors for the fall leaf. 

Supplies: CTMH Twitterpated PP; CTMH round card; CTMH ribbon; CTMH Cricut cartridge, Art Philosophy; CTMH Honey and Barn Red inks for the leaf; SU Chocolate and Creamy Caramel inks for the nut; Twinery celery twine

     The true colors of the card can't be seen due to the picture quality.

Calendar Swap

     I've been working hard on some calendar pages for the swap I'm in. I started this swap back in 2006 with a great bunch of gals that I met online. Some are still around and still participate, sadly some have moved on, and some just don't have time for scrapbooking anymore. But, every year the calendar swap fills up and is alot of fun. This year I decided not to host, my thanks to Denise and Cindy for taking on the duties. They chose to do a calendar with a recipe included. It was quite a challenge to fit both on a 6x6 page.

     I made a pocket with a piece of pattern paper. You can't really see the sewing on the paper, but I sewed on a pocket and sewed together two hearts for a little 3D action :) I even added a bit of Stickles.

Supplies Used: Stampin Up & Bazzill Cardstock; My Minds Eye, Love nest pp; CTMH ink for the edges; Cricut Design a Calendar cartridge; Su ribbon; Stickles

     I hope the ladies enjoy these and I can't wait to see what the others send back.

Just a few presents

I've been working on a few little gifts this past week. I belong to a stamp club that meets one Friday each month. There are around 10 or so ladies that meet. It's such a great time and everyone just enjoys each other. So, I decided to make a little something for each one for the Christmas holiday.

If you scrapbook and make cards, then you know the new "in" embellishment to add is a stick pin. You can make lots of assorted pins yourself, or buy them already premade. They have some beautiful pins out there! But, where do you keep them so you can see them when you are ready for one and so you won't forget them? This is where my present idea came from.  I made pin cushions. They are so simple and I just love how they are turning out. Here are a few that I have already made. I'm still working on making several more.

Here they are all together:

Now, just a little closer:

Oh, and great news for me!! I found a way to make an inexpensive light tent box thing..... hopefully it will improve the lighting of my pictures. All of my things look so dark and drab, but in person they aren't. My next project is the light box, so let's hope I get it finished fast.