Felicity

January is National Paper Crafting Month and Close to My Heart has a great deal for you with their Felicity collection. To find out more go to http://carriez.myctmh.com/.

Jingle

This layout design came from CTMH Imagine book and the layout is called Powerful Trio. The papers are from Jingle and Creative Basic Jingle collection all CTMH. For the ornaments I used CTMH Holiday Trinkets and Ornate Ornaments stamp sets. Each ornaments is raised with foam dots and has a touch of Prisma Glitter. For the top I used Petite Perks Cheerful Season stamp set in Creme Brulee, Juniper, Olive and Tulip inks. To create the tree branches I just used an Olive color marker and in a swiping motion. The Fa La La was cut out using my Cricut.

Teachers Gifts

I needed to make 6 teacher gift between my two children so I made card boxes with 8 cards in each. I used all Close to my Heart paper and stamp sets to create these. Some of the card designs came from CTMH Wishes book. If you would like to make these boxes then check out Tresa Black's site for detailed instuction http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com/2009/05/card-box-tutorial.html.

Our Families Christmas Card

This is my families Christmas Card for this year. The Peace on Earth stamp is from CTMH 's Just for the Holidays stamp set. I have learned to go simple. My first year I made a double four panel door with die cut wreaths on each door including bows and die cut doorknob plates. I figured it had taken me about 30 minutes to make each card and I had made 50 of them. Though I had started in the summer, but never again, since most are probably long gone in to the garbage dump. I do know of a few friends who still have their card since they knew how much time went in to them. This was last years card which did not take as long but longer then this year. Let it go on the record I do enjoy making them regardless of how much time. This card I used a Cuttle bug embossing folder with CTMH Holiday Red paper and sanded it. The elf is from CTMH Merry Pursuits stamp set.

Ms. Holiday Cheer

I used CTMH Jingle paper and Ms. Holiday Cheer stamp set to create this funky card. The tree was constructed usinga Martha Stewart punch which I layered. The ornaments were made from glue dots with glitter on them and I covered the dress with Liquid Glass and then glitter and for the hat I used Liquid Applique.

Gift Card Box

I first must apologize the the Close to My Heart Consultant who I had gotten the direction from, I can no longer find the paper with her name on it. Thank you so much, this came in handy my club ladies made this last month. I hope you are able to understand my directions, it is fairly simple to construct. First make sure you are using cardstock for the outside piece that would be the diagram on the left. Second the inner piece is not made to lie flat on the inside you will be folding it so when opened it stands up, those are the directions on the right. For my snowflake I used a CTMH snowflake Dimensional Element placed on top of white cardstock then misted with twilight re-inker which was added to rubbing alcohol. The alcohol dries faster than water and will not warp your paper as water would. Then remove the snowflake

This snowman was made from painting a clay pot white and adding textured snow paint around the rim. The top is the saucer to the pot with a wooden nob glued to the top. And the ear muffs are two pompoms with Velcro on to the sides for easy opening with ribbon attaching the the two. I used this to give cookies in a few years ago to my son's teacher.

It's Snowing

We are finally getting some measurable snow here in Northwest Indiana, I pray it stays for Christmas. Snow is just an added bonus for me on Christmas. FYI this was not pictures from this year, not enough yet to make a snowman. I used all Close to My Heart products on this layout. The paper is Aspen and the snowman stamp set is All Decked Out, one of my favorite. The Dimensional Elements simple alphabet (chipboard) was inked with Twilight then I covered the tops with Liquid applique and sprinkled on Prisma Glitter before I heated it to give it the snow capped look. And by the picture you may not be able to tell but the white paper on the bottom is torn layers to make it look like snow hills. For the earmuffs I used corduroy brads.

I am making up for lost time

Since I have not posted in along time I am going to make up for it tonight. Here are some more pages from the wedding album I had made this fall. The frames below I used a cut file from Sure Cuts A Lot with my Cricut. I just love all of the amazing artist who share their files with those of us who are computer and or time challenged to make these wonderful files.

Disney

It is hard to believe it has been two weeks since we have been home from Disney. We had such a wonderful time. Though Jeff did compare me to Hitler with the pace I kept them on, one week is just not enough time, though we were exhausted and ready to come home, though I would be more then willing to leave tomorrow to go back., but I must come back to reality. We would not of been able to of gone if it was not for my Mother-in-law, which I can not thank enough for her gift. You may not be able to tell but in the Power Ranger picture there are two Red Power Rangers one is Alec. Thanks to dad who did his research before we went had read on a blog where a kid dressed in his Power Ranger costume and was asked to go in the car with them. So since, Alec already had owned a costume for Halloween we brought it along and he two was asked, the highlight of the day.

Now and Forever

For more than a month I have been working on a wedding album here are couple of pages from that album. The album is done the wedding was last weekend, this album was a challenge for me since I did not know the bride or groom and all I knew was the colors where brown and white. For those of you who are familiar with the products out there, finding patterned paper in brown and white (not off-white) is not easy. I did find a few in a Christmas Slab I had which thankfully did not look like Christmas paper to use and I had to get creative. These layouts I used CTMH Now and Forever stamp set. The first page I stamped the wedding cake in Chocolate ink on white cardstock. The frame and wording was cut from my Cricut using my Sure Cuts A lot software, the frame cut file came from Penny Duncan http://www.pennyduncancreations.com/PDC%20SVG%20Cut%20Files%20Page%20Frames.htm . The bottom scalloped boarder came from a Martha Stewart boarder punch. The other layout I used the rings from the stamp set and embossed them with white embossing powder on Chocolate cardstock. I will post more pictures later from this album.

Holiday Warmth

CTMH October's Stamp of the Month Holiday Warmth was used with paper from the Jingle pack. To color in the tree I used the waterbrush with ink from the Olive stamp pad. The ornaments were done with the Tulip marker then Liquid Glass was applied with Prisima Glitter for a little added touch. The scalloped oval was cut from a Spellbinders nestibilitie and the white boarder was from a Fiskers punch.

Spellbound

This was a card my club made this month, to create the card I used CTMH Spellbound stamp set. First with a brayer I applied Creme Brulee ink all over a piece of white cardstock. Next I placed a cut out of a moon shape with temporary adhesive along with a scrap piece of paper along the bottom third of the card so I would not accidentally ink over this part. The next step is to use the brayer and apply Lilac Mist over the parts not covered. Now remove your paper pieces and sponge on more Lilac Mist where the Creme Brulee and Lilac Mist meet so you will not have a hard line between the two colors. I then sponges on black around the edges, bottom and throughout to look like clouds. Lastly I stamped the images in Black.

Everyday Celebration

It's National Stamping Month and Close to My Heart is celebrating with their Everyday Celebration set. For more details click on the Close to My Heart picture on the right of the screen.


I would like to thank Dana Kessler for her idea of using this set to make two great layouts which I recreated myself with a few minor changes. I did need to add three sheets of Colonial White cardstock otherwise everything else came from the set including the ink. I also had scraps left over which I made four cards with. Even though this set is marketed as a card set the possibilities are endless.


Layout designs from Cherish- Simple Pleasures and Asymetric.

This is what was left after the layouts where made, including 11 cards.

Just with the small scraps I made these four and still had cards and paper left.

Sure Cuts Alot

I just have to say how much I love my Sure Cuts Alot. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about and own a Cricut you need to learn more. It is software which allows you to create your own cut files with your computer and cut with your Cricut by connecting it with a cable. You also can cut any true type font you have on your computer, which basically means almost any font you have your Cricut can cut it, no more cartridges to buy. I have not tried to make any of my own cut files (SVG) but there are many out there which are very talented and post their files on their blog for you to download for free. Which leads me to why I am posting this, I have added a blog list of some great sites which have free SVG files. If I have peaked your interest please look into to this more, I would go into more detail but I am still very new at this, but I have played with it enough to know I love it and it was worth the sixty eight dollars I spent.

Merry Monsters and Jingle

The paper is a new paper called Jingle from Close to My Heart, you will be able to order it starting September 1st. I also used a new stamp set called Merry Monsters from CTMH. The stamp set is marketed as a Halloween set of four monsters though as soon as I say this monster I knew I had to turn his head into a Santa hat. I used olive ink for him and a water brush to apply the ink, I really like the variation it gives him. The fur on the hat is done with Liquid Applique, and I followed the directions on the bottle and let the Liquid Applique dry over night before I heat set it. What this does is give it a more solid puff instead of a bunch of bubbly puffs when you heat it right away. Just all depends on the look you are wanting. Another suggestion might be to use fun flock for the fur. I also covered his eyes in liquid glass, a tip from experience is to due this after you have heated the Liquid Applique. I thought about using this monster on a card with my children's pictures with a caption saying Merry Christmas from our little Monsters, though my kids are always angels LOL.

Look what you get when you play, Shimmer Paper

I wish you could tell what I did to the pictures, but you will have to take my word for it. I was playing with CTMH Create-a-Shade Pearl paint a couple of weeks ago, see I had shimmery and metallic paper and I wanted another plain piece of cardstock to match so I decided to play around and painted on a coat of Create-a-Shade to see how it would look. Well, it did not show enough of the navy color under it so I decided to add some rubbing alcohol to see if it would make it more translucent and it did but still not quiet enough. I used rubbing alcohol because it dries quicker and will not cause your paper to warp much. My next step went to a mister bottle almost filled with alcohol and a good squirt of Create-a-Shade and shake well then mist it on to your paper and wa la I now had shimmery paper and you could still see the design. The layout above I used it on all of the paper but the stripe since it already was purchased with that look, and you can barely tell the difference. A tip though is to practice misting to get the idea of how far you want to hold the mister from the paper and you may have to let it dry and reapply more. You can add a few drops of reinker to give a different sheen. I made gold with Creme
Brulee. The stamp set I used for the card was CTMH October stamp of the month Holiday Warmth along with Baby Pink and White Daisy cardstock, silver embossing powder. A money saving tip instead of using Ranger ink mister bottles I used empty hand sanitizer misting bottles which I found near the check out at Wal-Mart, a way to go green.

Christmas Already!

Yes, I have started making Christmas Cards. A week ago I received all of the stamp of the months sets for the next four months and when I saw Novembers called Around the Block the first thing I thought of was a house covered in snow. If you like this set you will have to wait until November to purchase it. The background paper is CTMH Aspen and I used Barn Red and Crystal blue to color the house. I like to mix Prisma Glitter and Fun Flock together to achieve sparkly snow, it is adhered with Liquid Glass. The saying I printed out on the computer but I changed the RGB code so it would print out in the Crystal Blue color. I hope this inspires you to start thinking about your Christmas Cards, next month Close to My Heart's new idea book comes out and it has some wonderful new Christmas sets.

Our Little Princess

It is hard to believe another year has almost come and gone, my baby is going to be Four. Last year was a princess party and I spent some time making that cake, not quiet how I wanted it to look but not bad for my first time building a castle all by myself in a day. I mean how many people can build a castle in one day, Home Improvement takes a week with hundreds helping. This year I am going simple, it is going to be My Little Pony and it will have a boarder with a little pony toy on top, and by request from the birthday girl it will be pink. If anyone is wanting to challenge themselves and make one I will be glad to give you do and don't do tips.

It's Your Day Stamp of the Month

First I must apologize for the blurry photo, when I have sun light I may try to take another. I made this last month but forgot to post it. I used CTMH August stamp of the month called It's Your Day. The colors used are Holiday Red, Clover Meadow, and Dutch Blue, in the photo you can not tell that I used red embossing powder on the happy and birthday stamp and while the embossing powder was still tacking I added Prisma Glitter then heated it a little bit more so it would stick. I thought it came out great, though I found if you heat it too long then the glitter will have more of a holographic look then sparkly. On the cake I painted on a thin coat of Create-a - Shade paint to give it a little shimmer, though you will have to take my word for it. Lastly I was doing my part on being green the pieces of paper a glitter pieces which came from the cover of a slab I purchased and I did not want to waste any thing glitter so why not use it on a card, wa la.

Coupons

If you are ever looking for Michael's or Jo Ann Coupons then check out this site http://mycricutscrapbooking.com/, she posts her coupons there for you to print out. She currently has a coupon for 50% off at Michael's, which I have already used twice this week and whats cool is this one is good until the 17 of August. If you have Sure Cuts Alot this is also a great cite for free SVG files.

More than one way

Here I am showing more than one way to use an embossing plate or you can also use an embossing folder these ways. For both of these cards I used the Sizzix embossing plates from the Christmas collection or known as Kit #13. The card above I used the printing press technique, where I used CTMH Juniper in and a brayer to apply the ink to the plate then put it through my Cuttle Bug putting the paper on the top instead of on the bottom so it does not emboss. I finished this card with sponging on chocolate ink and using the CTMH stamp set Make It Count. The clock was stamped on plastic from the box of a child toy using StazOn Timber Brown. For the saying I cut it out with Spellbinders Nestibilities and an EK Sucess boarder punch. For the other card I embossed it on chocolate paper then sanded it showing CTMH white core. The stamp set is this months stamp of the month You've Got Flair (only available through today). I added Prisma glitter and cut out additional flowers and raised them with foam squares for added dimension. Fiskars boarder punch was also used.

More More to Adore

I used CTMH More to Adore paper for these the both cards I used Butterfly Wings which was a past stamp of the month which currently it is not available for sale. I also used Intrinsic Background stamp on the top card. For the bottom card I also used May's stamp of the month Be Yourself, I added Prisma Glitter to the wings and the dress. To color the wings I used blush in with a watercolor brush. The border punch was from Fiskers.