What Do You Keep Hunting For?

I know... I know... I've been missing again.  But today is the day my first baby boy was born 23 years ago!  I wanted to make him something special and this is not my usual "flowery" creation, but he IS a boy...lol.  This shadow box is what I made him instead of a traditional card.  It has meaning for him.. the little guy peaking out from behind the tree is their band's (Hunting For Teeth) mascot.. and I made a spear out of a piece from a bamboo blind sample and one of the arrows from some of his promotional material and liquid glass.  Their "motto" is keep hunting and to me it means just never stop living, learning, and trying new things.  I used a brayer for the sky and ground and used my old "Back to Nature" stamp set for the trees in the background and "Perfect Day" for the birds flying.  The tree is from the Heritage Cricut Cartridge and it reminded me of the tree of life a little bit which Corey has tattooed on his leg. 

We are so very proud of the young man Corey has become.  He works so hard at everything he does, yet he really knows how to play and seems to realize that in the end it's your relationships and the people in your life that are most important.  I'm many miles away from both of my boys right now and miss them terribly.  I'm thankful for all the different ways there are now to keep in touch.  Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

My New Space

I've been missing in action.  We are here in Arizona and have spent the last month setting up our new home.  Of course my new workspace has been a priority.  It's not done so I hesitate to post pics, but I've had multiple requests so here they are..lol!  I have to do a bit more decorating and organizing.  Need some accessories to hang on my Ikea rail system... Fintorp as they like to call it..lol... but I guess you get the idea.  I will post new pics when I'm done done.. but for now... drum rollllll....

Bitter Sweet

     My post today is both happy and sad.   These are shadow boxes I made for our neighbors for the last decade who have watched out for us and our house and plowed our driveway every winter.  They have been great neighbors and friends.  The horses are their family horses and I've taken pics over the years and thought they might like them to display.  I used papers from the new Dakota papers and Victory.  I think they work really well together.  I think shadow boxes are my favorite things to make because they don't take long and they make a big impact.  I love being able to be dimensional too without having to worry about everything fitting in a scrapbook and being squished.
     The sad part of my post is that this is a goodbye of sorts to our neighbors and to my friends and customers.  Some of you know and some may not that my husband and I are moving out west.  We have family out there and love the weather.  Yes, we know it's hot and even though it's a dry heat 115 degrees is HOT!  But, as my husband says, you don't have to shovel sunshine!
    Thank you to everyone for everything and we hope to have lots of visitors after we move.  I will be back to visit (Pat says not so much)...lol.  At the end of this month, we're heading out.  For those of you who would like to continue to shop with me, I will still be with Close To My Heart and try to build my business out there and you can shop from my website or contact me and I can order for you.  My contact info will be the same.  If you prefer to do business locally and/or want to have a workshop or gathering, please let me know and I have a couple really great and talented ladies I can refer you to.

Victory Card Workshop

I'm putting together a card workshop with the Victory papers.  I used a combo of the Victory WOTG and the new Make It From Your Heart book.  Because the Victory WOTG won't be available, I decided it would be best to use some of the patterns from the new book.  I couldn't help but use the stamp set that came with the WOTG because i just love that set.  But it makes a good point... get them while you can!  Since the Victory papers are still available I know it will still work and the patterns from Make It From Your Heart make it a must have! And check out the bicycle card; these stamps are from the National Stamping Month special , a double stamp set for only $5 with a qualifying purchase!  I also used Artiste and a couple of the stamp sets that go along with the new Cricut cartridge.

July Special, Perfect Pairs & Life

I've been missing in action lately.  Life has been so busy.  My oldest graduated from college; my youngest graduated from high school and we have been running non-stop.  Above is a layout I did the other day with You Rock papers.  Mostly creatively I've been working on his album and because he is away for the summer interning with a Master Chef, I've been uploading the pages from his album each day...my birthday card to him.  Not sure if I've embarassed him more than I've made him smile, but I suppose that's my job.  Hopefully I'll have more stuff to upload soon.

Also, congrats to Karen Kondrick!  She won the challenge for May and I'll be mailing her her prize soon!  Thanks to those who participated.

This month's special is for online orders only.  If you order from my website and spend $75 you will receive a free paper packet and matching embellishment.  The date you order determines which set you receive.  The schedule is listed below.  If there is a certain set you want, please be sure to order during the listed dates and contact me with questions:

Order Dates	Perfect Pair	Original Retail Value
July 1–5	Mischief Paper Packet (X7144B) and Midnight Felt Shapes (Z1462)	$15.90
July 6–10	Dreamin’ Paper Packet (X7142B) and Harvest Charms (Z1633)	$14.90
July 11–15	Fanfare Paper Packet (X7138B) and Fanfare Level 2 Assortment (Z1400)	$17.90
July 16–20	Lucky Paper Packet (X7137B) and Lucky My Stickease® Assortment (X7137C)	$17.90
July 21–25	Mayberry Paper Packet (X7136B) and Mayberry My Stickease® Assortment (X7136C)	$17.90
July 26–29	Sophia Paper Packet (X7131B) and Sophia My Stickease® Assortment (X7131C)	$17.90
July 30–31	Believe Paper Packet (X7145B) and Holiday Pockets (Z1486) OR Wonderland Paper Packet (X7146B) and Wonderland My Stickease®Assortment (X7146C)	14.90

Honoring Teachers

So, this morning my youngest had his graduation ceremony from the Culinary Program.  He has had some of the best and most caring teachers influence him and keep him focused and motivated. He was Team Leader of a Culinary Management Team that won the NYS Restaurant Association's Prostart Competition.  They went on to Nationals in Baltimore and while they did not win they won the respect of many judges.  I went along on the trip as the unofficial "official" photographer.  I knew it was something I had to do.  It was a bad time money wise and time wise, but YOLO, right?  I am so glad I went.  I had the opportunity to see the interaction between him and his teammates and his teachers and it was inspiring and made me so proud.  I wanted to thank his three teachers that were on the trip so we picked out three pics that we thought would be the most meaningful to each of them and I made these shadowboxes.  I was short on time.  Almost none of the products are Close To My Heart.. very unlike me because I LOOOVE our products.  I went to JoAnn's to buy the shadowboxes the other night and knew I better get some pre-made embellishments.  I needed mostly masculine items as two of the teachers were men, and the one for the female teacher was the ship so I really couldn't fill it with flowers.  I got mostly products from Tim Holtz and Jolee and since I'd already slipped into the abyss I decided to use paper from CM that I had bought at a rep's crop.  Each one has a key in it to signify how they were key to the kids' success and development.  My favorite product find was the Filmstrip Ribbon from Tim Holtz.  I shrunk some of the pics from the trip down to size and strung them together and placed them behind the clear filmstrip ribbon... I LOVE the look of it... I can't wait to use it on a scrapbook page.  Never fear.. tomorrow I will be back to my CTMH ways.. but it was fun to stretch my creative muscles a bit and use some different products.  BTW... I think the teachers liked them!

Challenge Me Monday #112

This week's Fantabulous Cricut Challenge was to create something for your Graduate.  My oldest graduated from college a couple weeks ago and we're celebrating this weekend.  My good friend and fellow consultant, Donna (check out her blog here), showed us this technique over the weekend with a flower card (that is beautiful...hopefully she's posted it on her blog).  I was trying to decide what to do for the card and this popped in my head... not as beautiful, but pretty cool.  The front of the card is cut along the bottom of the hat line which allows the sentiments and patterned paper to show along the bottom of the inside.  I used Art Philosophy to cut the Frame and the U R.  The stamp sets I used were You Did It and You Are.  Visit the Fantabulous Cricut Blog and see all the great posts to get inspired.

H2H Distressing Challenge

Here is another page for my son's school album.  He's graduating from High School this year.  The challenge this week for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog is to use distressing... which... if you know me... really isn't a challenge at all...lol!  I used Vintage Type for the pennants, the washers, and the tag, and Playful Alpha for the title.  A couple of the pennants were run through my cuttlebug and then distressed with Outdoor Denim.  The papers are from You Rock, an oldie but a goodie.  I knew I wanted to use this paper for his album so I made sure I had enough before it went away.  Check out all the great projects at Heart 2 Heart and play along!

H2H Polka Dots & Stripes Challenge

This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is Polka Dots & Stripes.  I decided to do stripes of polka dots on my card.  I used the Dotty papers and made another Popup Card like my previous umbrella one with a butterfly.  There are really so many different shapes you could use on the inside of these cards... balloons, trees, ornaments, flowers.  Check out all of the rest of the creations at H2H this week!  And to all of my customers who have bought Dotty, don't forget to send a pic of your Dotty creations!

Karen K Was Up To The Challenge!

Karen Kondrick is the first to submit Dotty artwork for May's challenge!  As soon as she got her Dotty papers she put this layout together.  Adorable!  Love that she used a stamp set to embellish the circles.  She cut the scallop and circle from Art Philosophy and the tag is from Graphically Speaking (another of my new favorite cartridges).  Love those pics.  Great layout, Karen and thank you so much for playing along!  Can't wait to see what everyone else is creating!

Love Is In The Air!

Have a wedding to go to today.  Made this card for the happy couple using colors that are in the wedding.  I used the Just Blooms flowers and butterfly this time instead of cutting my own.  The scallops are from Art Philosophy.  Used the Color Ready Seam Binding Ribbon but didn't color it along with some baker's twine.  Paper is from Dotty For You.  The colors are Smoothie, Sunny Yellow, Grey Flannel and Grey Wool.  "Congratulations" and the small flourish are from Limited Edition (love that set).  Have to go change and be on my way!  Have a wonderful day!

It's A Fantabulous 'Prom-enade'!

A few weeks ago I made the Top 5 at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge and was asked to be a Guest Designer for this week's challenge which was to create something using a tux/dress or prom/dance theme.  For my project I made a layout for my son's senior prom picture and used all of the above.  I used Art Philosophy for the flowers and the word "Prom"; I used Gypsy Wanderings Font for the word "senior" and the year; I used Sweethearts for the tux and the tag; Fancy Frames for the flourishy frame; and Gypsy Wanderings for the dress.  The ribbon is CTMH's Color Ready Seam Binding Ribbon colored with Lagoon Ink.  I used up some old Ocean and Breeze papers along with Grey Wool, Colonial White and Black.  This page was a labor of love and I had a lot of fun making it.  I can't wait to put the pic on it!  Also, thanks to Beckie and the rest of the Fantabulous Cricut Design Team for allowing me to join them this week.  Check out the blog and my spotlight from Sunday, and play along this week!  I can't wait to see what everyone creates!

Happy Mother's Day

My mother has been specifically instructed to not check out my blog until Monday.  She says that's just fine because she'd rather be surprised by her card (assuming it was a card I was hiding from her).  I made her this shadow box for Mother's Day and am entering it in both the Heart2Heart Challenge for this week and the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge for this week.  Both blogs had a challenge to make something for your mother.  I've been frantically working on this the last couple days because my mom lives in Arizona and I have to get it in the mail tomorrow.  Priority mail will get it there by Saturday, right?  I hope so.  If not, she'll forgive me... we are both habitually last minute so we understand each other.

I used the Olivia paper packet and the "Together" is from the stickease.  The sentiment is from Family Love.  I cut the flowers, leaves, and flourishes from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  I used various CTMH and non-CTMH bling for the centers of the flowers.  I used all of the flat flower cuts on the cartridge and cut them at all different sizes; distressed them and crinkled them and randomly put them together.  I love these flowers because they are both dimensional and easy to put on a scrapbook page.  The butterfly is from the Just Blooms collection.

With this post is an early Happy Mother's Day to all of you... you may be a mother to little ones, furry ones, and/or the men in your life...lol!  Enjoy your day because you deserve it!

Another Pyramid Card

Here is another 3-D Pyramid Card.  I just love these cards and there is so much more you can do with them besides put flowers on top, but lately I just can't make enough flowers!

H2H Flowery Challenge

This week's challenge at Heart2Heart Challenge Blog is April Showers Bring May Flowers.  We are to use flowers in our project.  This card was made with the beautiful Grace papers and this month's Stamp of the Month, Friendship Bouquet.  The ribbon is our Color Ready Seam Binding Ribbon colored with sponge dauber and Honey and Autumn Terracotta inks.  The sentiment is from Wonderful You.

Challenge Me Monday #108

This week's challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog was "On The Go".  Our project was to include a car, bike, train, plane, etc.  I used the Dotty papers again.  One of the papers has this great bicycle on it.  The cartridge I used was Art Philosophy for the banner, the decorative square and the letters "U R".  I used April's CTMH Stamp of the Month You Are for all the sentiments.  The colors are Lagoon, Sweet Leaf and Sunset.

H2H Photo Inspiration Challenge

This week's challenge for the Heart2Heart Challenge Blog is a Photo Inspiration Challenge.  What caught my eye was the polka dots and the flowers on the shower curtain as well as the colors orange and pink.  I used Sunset and the Smoothie paper from the Dotty paper pack.  I also used Grey Wool as an accent.  I used Wonderful You stamp set for the sentiment, and the bird was from the Color Ready Wooden Shapes.  I painted it with the pearl paint and then dabbed some grey ink on it and added a pearl for an eye.

H2H Stitching Challenge

Last week's Heart2Heart Challenge was to use stitching, real or faux on your project.  I have been working on my son's school album since he's graduating this year and this is one of the portrait pages.  I did some hand stitching with baker's twine on the upper left hand side of the layout and used our acrylic ruler to punch the holes.  It took some time, but I like the look of it.  I've yet to try stitching with my sewing machine....maybe someday...lol.  The colors are Outdoor Denim, Goldrush, Indian Corn Blue.  The papers are from an old retired pack.

Challenge Me Monday #107

Had a fantastic weekend in Chautauqua scrapbooking!  I made this card for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #107 April Showers.  Our project was to include something with an umbrella, clouds or rain.  The left side is the inside (I didn't attach the card front yet).  I got the instructions from a Cricut magazine to make the popup umbrella on the inside of the card.  I used Create A Critter for the umbrella; Three Birds on Parade, Art Philosophy and Everyday Popup cards.  The paper is this month's CTMH special, Dotty For You and I cut the clouds out of one of the papers from the pack.

More Dotty Fun

This layout of my son playing Broomball a few years ago was done with one of the Dotty For You papers. It was perfect for the layout and the Superhero rub-ons worked perfectly with it as well. I used my Art Philosophy alpha to cut out Corey's team name and trimmed off some of the letters to make it look more like the font on the rub-ons.

H2H Sketch Challenge

This week the Heart2Heart Blog is having a Sketch Challenge. I used a lot of things I bought a while ago, but hadn't used yet or in a long time. The paper is Mayberry. Stamp sets I used were A Tree, Bunny Love, and Over the Rainbow. Check out the Heart2Heart blog and all the great artwork and play along!

2012 National Scrapbooking Month

3D Pyramid Card

I was at a workshop last week and one of the girls there taught us how to make a 3-D Pyramid card. If you've never seen one of these, they lay flat to mail and then you can make them stand on their own. She had made these for her Christmas cards and made Santas out of them. Sooo cute! So, I decided to try one and am going to do it as a class at a crop next month. I'm entering this card in the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #106 Buttons and Bows. I used Stella papers. The flower, leaves, and flourish were cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge, and the butterfly was cut out of one of the Dotty For You papers. The sentiment is from the stamp set A Tree.

Playing With 'Dotty For You' Papers

So my Dotty For You papers came in last week and I decided my first project with them would be an Easter layout of pictures from last Easter. The colors in this paper pack are so pretty and bright they are perfect for Easter and Spring projects as well as so many others.

I also used Cricut cuts from Art Philosophy and Give A Hoot. Stamp sets were My Peeps, Word Puzzle, Say It In Style. The butterflies are from Just Blooms. I'm entering the layout in the H2H Challenge for last week to create something for Easter or Spring and in the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday #105 to create something with eggs. Please do visit both of these blogs to challenge yourself and have some fun!

My Shape Lesson

I started this card knowing I wanted to create a card using the Octagon shapes I've seen on so much artwork lately. It was for a workshop so I cut all my Octagons first... dozens... then when I went to put the card together and tried fitting these Octagons together like they are on all the great designs I've seen I couldn't make them fit. I moved them around; stared a bit; and finally I realized.... what I really wanted was Hexagons!! Well, instead of re-cutting the shapes, I decided to work with what I had and this is what I came up with. The paper is Florentine, the flourish is from the March SOTM Potential and the flowers are from Just Blooms. The stamp I used is Quick Cards Butterfly.

A Bowwow and Cruisin'

It's a new month and along with that comes a new special and Stamp of the Month! This month's special starts April 17th and continues through the end of May. It's our National Scrapbooking Month special, Dotty for You! It's a fantastic paper pack that you can get for just $5. Check out my website for more info by clicking on the "Shop With Me" link.
This card is not my original idea but I loved the combo so much I decided I had to use it. Bowwow was one of the first sets I got from the new Idea Book. I loved it. I just didn't know what to do with it... that's a lot of coloring and how would I do it and make it look good? Then I saw a card someone made using the Grey printed paper from the Cruisin' Paper Pack. Oh yeah! Stamping on printed paper! I have also seen some really nicely colored dogs where people have done some great shading, but what could be easier than just stamping on the right printed paper!? Along with the argyle print from the Cruisin' paper pack... you can't lose!

Out Like A Lion?

Well, the end of the month is here along with your chance to get the March Stamp of the Month, Potential, and to get an added bonus, a free Art Philosophy bundle, if you sign up to be a consultant. You have until tomorrow and you can take advantage of these specials by calling me or visiting my website, and the sooner the better!

This card was another we made at Donna's workshop Monday. All of the images are from the Potential set. The paper is from Stella. I colored our Color Ready Seam Binding Ribbon using sponge daubers and ink pads for a sort of tie dyed look. It is so much fun to color this ribbon in whatever color(s) match the project you are using it on!

Country Life

This is another card we did at Donna's Workshop Monday night. I used the new stamp set Country Life and this month's Stamp of the Month Potential for the flourishes. The paper is from Stella (believe it or not)and the Fleur De Lis and Corner decoration were cut from the AP cartridge and of course covered in Liquid Glass. This is my Ode to Donna who has a slight cow obsession! I'm sorry to say it will be my last workshop that I do for Donna but I'm happy to say it's because she is now a Consultant! I've been telling her for a long time she should do what I do because she is so creative and with the March sign up special she finally took the leap. Welcome to Close to My Heart, Donna! You can check out her blog HERE!

Shout Out to My Peeps

This is a card we're making at a workshop on Monday. It's one of five cards and pretty much a knock off of one in the Spring/Summer Idea Book. One of the "Peeps" is popped up with our new Adhesive Springs which adds so much movement and "bounce"! I used the colors for this month's challenge for my customers which is a color challenge. The colors are Cotton Candy, Sunny Yellow, and Pear. The printed paper is from Lucy, I used the AP cartridge to cut the scallop border and the flower. The bow in the button is baker's twine and I used the My Peeps stamp set and Universal Backgrounds to add a little texture to the flower.

Another Great Byrncliff Layout

Here is a layout from the challenge at Byrncliff that Brooke created. She did a great job including the CTMH products along with some other papers and Cricut cuts she had in her stash!

H2H Color Challenge

Last week's challenge at the Heart2Heart Challenge Blog was a color challenge. The colors to use were Sweet Leaf, Sunkiss Yellow, and Sky. My inspiration for this layout came from a layout in Cricut Magazine. The clusters in that one were flowers instead of butterflies. I used the stamp set Best Things. The butterflies are from the Art Philosophy cartridge and cut out of various paper packs and stamped papers. I used the spray pen to splash a little extra color on the background and the butterflies. I used liquid glass on some of the butterflies wings to help them lift a little.

Byrncliff Challenge

This is a page Denise Georger created with the items in the Challenge baggy at Byrncliff. Denise's papers were from the Magic paper pack... an oldie but a goody... great layout!

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #101

This week's challenge on the Fantabulous Cricut Blog was to use shamrocks or the color green on your project. The card I made is for a friend who has a new home. The inside of the Wishing You... sign says "Luck and Love". I used the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge to create the window; Give A Hoot for the squirrel and the shamrocks; Everyday Popup Cards for the flower box/flowers. I used Liquid Glass to accentuate the shamrocks and Glitz Glitter Gel to glitter the flowers and butterfly. The stamp set I used was CTMH's Word Puzzle for the butterfly and the sentiment. Check out the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and all the great artwork that has been submitted for this and other challenges.

More Challenge Art

Here are two cards from the Byrncliff challenge last weekend. The first is a card created by Linda Harber and the 2nd was created by Evelyn Gier. Thank you so much girls for participating in the challenge. Beautiful work! More to come soon....

Don't forget about the February challenge to use Rock the Block and/or the Collage Cubes in a project! You don't have to do anything with the cubes if you're not ready. Just use the Rock the Block stamp set on a piece! There's about a week left to submit your pics.

Fantastic Weekend

Had a great weekend at the semi-annual Byrncliff crop! Good food, good company, lots of fun. I gave the ladies a baggy with some printed paper, a couple small stamps, a Cricut shape, and a button. They chose 1 foot of ribbon and 1 piece of cardstock. I challenged them to create something with these items and had a drawing from all the entries. This is a card made by Lucille McMullen. Lucille also won the drawing. I'll be showcasing all the creations over the next few days. Thanks so much ladies for playing along!

CTO Challenge #52

Here is my card for the Celebrate The Occasion Challenge. We were to create a birthday card using bling. I cut the flowers from the Art Philosophy cartridge as well as the frame for the sentinment and the flourish for the flower stem.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #100

This week's Fantabulous Cricut Challenge was a color challenge. We were to use purple, turquoise and green. I used my cuttlebug to emboss the tree. The cartridges I used were Give A Hoot for the bird and flourish, and Art Philosophy for the sentiment frame. The "Soar" at the top of the card is from a future CTMH stamp of the month and the other words are from You and Me. I added some Liquid Glass, bling and ribbon from CTMH to finish it off. If you love to play with your Cricut, check out this challenge blog. Even if you don't own a Cricut, check out the fabulous artwork. You may find you "need" one..lol!

H2H Photo Inspiration Challenge

This week's challenge on the Heart2Heart Challenge Blog is a photo inspiration challenge. We were to create something using the photo above as inspiration. My first inspiration was the colors. I loved all the organic brown colors in contrast with that beautiful blue. When I started creating my card I realized the photo made me think of being at a beach house so I started feeling beachy. I struggled to not use any flowers on this card. Wanted it to be masculine. I used the new Perfect Day stamp set along with my trusty old You And Me and possibly my favorite Universal Backgrounds. The colors are Cocoa, Lagoon, Desert Sand and Bamboo with a little bit of Pacifica. Finally used some baker's twine (I've been struggling with it for some reason), new Durables Studs (self-adhesive), a wooden button, and bitty brads.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #99

Mine and Pat's 21st Anniversary is this coming Friday. Here is the card I made for him. I'm also entering it into the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog's Challenge Me Monday #99. The challenge was simply to use fabric, lace, or other trims on your project. I used ribbon on mine. The Cricut cartridge I used was Sweethearts for all the pieces on the card.