Three Amigos December Hop

Welcome back to the Three Amigos CTMH Mini-Blog Hop. We are three Close to My Heart Consultants with a love for Stamping and Scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you. Each month we are featuring a different CTMH product and create a card, layout or other project. There are only 3 stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

This month we had a color challenge.  We each chose one color.  The colors we chose were Ruby, Sunset and Buttercup.  I made an 8x8 page using pics from our trip to Convention this past Summer.  The colors were perfect.  Warm colors, warm trip, and warm fuzzies spending time with my pals.  I used the special Viva stamp set we received for attending. I mixed and matched papers from various paper packs and Washi tape.  I took the flower pic at the resort we stayed at and used two.  I cut the flower out and popped it up over the flower in the pic.

Now hop on over to Donna's blog to see her awesome card!

Sparkle & Shine

Made both of these cards with the Sparkle & Shine paper pack.  I wanted to make something with it that wasn't Christmassy so I did the birthday card for a good friend.  Then I had a few Poinsettia cuts and the sentiment stamped in my scraps so I decided to make a Christmas card as well. 

I had a hard time figuring out how to make the birthday card a little bit feminine (and not Christmassy) with the colors in the pack so I decided to replace the Ruby with Hollyhock and I love the combo.  I used two of the washi tapes from the holiday catalog and some bling.  The ribbon is the color ready seam binding ribbon colored with blush and hollyhock.

My next challenge was making the bird on the Christmas card stand out so I took a page from fellow consultant and friend Donna Davis's scrapbook and made it a completely different color from the rest of the card.  More washi tape and a little zip strip from the paper pack and a few glitter gems.  The centers of the poinsettias are cut out circles from a zip strip.

Happy Holidays to all!

Being Thankful

It's that time of year when thoughts turn to what you're thankful for.  I'm thankful for a husband that understands when I want to spend our Saturday together Skype scrapping with my friends across the country; for two wonderfully independent and loving kids; for a family that loves to spend time together; for friends who understand when I need to stop Skype scrapping to go out to dinner with my husband.   Love all of my family and friends that keep me going and make every day a great one.

Three Amigos Blog Hop November!

Welcome back to the Three Amigos CTMH Mini-Blog Hop. We are three Close to My Heart Consultants with a love for Stamping and Scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you. Each month we are featuring a different CTMH product and create a card, layout or other project. There are only 3 stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

For November our mission was to use product(s) from the Holidays From The Heart mini catalog.

I've been working so much lately on Christmas cards that I wanted to do something non-Christmas!  While there are a lot of holiday themed items in the catalog there are quite a few products that can be used for any kind of card or layout.   This layout is for a mini book I'm creating about my road trip from Buffalo to Phoenix with my  dad and mybrother's family to move them out here.  The products I used from the new catalog were both stamp sets.  The number "1" for Day 1 of our trip is from the Magical Days stamp set (you can earn free with $100 in purchases!).  Although at first glance this is a holiday stamp set, many of the numbers on the set can be used on non-holiday projects (which my good friends and fellow hoppers Susan and Donna pointed out).  I forget sometimes to look past the obvious.  I wasn't going to get this one and when they gave me that lightbulb moment I knew right away I'd want to use it for this mini book.  The other stamp set I used was Charming Chevrons (also from the holiday catalog) on the left hand side as an embellishment to my journaling page.

All my pages and most of my paper embellishments were cut from the new Artbooking cartridge.  Love that cartridge and it was so easy to cut the pages and embellishments in proper proportions.  I made an 8x8 album so I turned off my real dial size and cut everything at 8" and all the pieces were cut to fit an 8x8 album.  The best part was each of my nieces and nephew chose a paper pack and we cut pages and embellishments for them and they each made their own books.  I'll be featuring all the pages from all of our books later this month.  In the meantime; here is a peek.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Now hop over to Donna's Diary of a Scrapbook Addict Blog and see what she has created to share with you!

Happy Birthday

Still working on those old kits.. not much new here-used up old cricut cuts and such...

Christmas Cards

Frosted WOTG

This card is from the Frosted WOTG.  I did change it a bit.  I was unsure how I'd like the red and green with the frosted papers, but I do like it... it's a nice contrast.  I bought the workshop really just so I could get the stamp set that came with it, but the card designs are really nice and versatile.

Your Laughter

Another old card kit that I updated with some banners and new stamp sets and a stitched heart using the new stitching guide.  Love these colors together!

Three Amigos Blog Hop-October

Welcome back to the Three Amigos CTMH Mini-Blog Hop. We are three Close to My Heart Consultants with a love for Stamping and Scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you. Each month we will feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout or other project. There are only 3 stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

For our October "Hop" we chose the "Always Grateful" Stamp Set.

Lately I've been trying to use up some old card workshop kits I have sitting around collecting dust.  The great thing about our coordinating colors is as paper packs and embellishments come and go you can still mix and match the old with the new.  I've been trying to update each card with something current whether it's a stamp set, paper or embellishments.  The "Always Grateful" stamp set is very versatile.  I used the pine tree stamp on the first card as a background on the brayered blue piece to look like a night time winter scene.  I also updated the card by using some paper from the Frosted paper pack.  The colors on the second card were perfect for the leaved tree.  I used the foam from the stamp set to dab different autumn colors on the tree leaves before I stamped it.  I wrapped the card with Jute ribbon that I pulled apart.  I'd love to see your mix of old and new!

 Thanks so much for stopping by!  Now hop over to Donna's Diary of a Scrapbook Addict Blog and see what she has created to share with you!

Christmas Cards from Old Kits

Here are a couple Christmas cards I put together using some old workshop kits I found.  The top one I did not update at all because I liked it just the way it was.  The bottom I just added some more current bling and used the new Stitching Guide to stitch around the white circle.  The circle card was cut using Art Philosophy as well as the snowflake.    I think I'll get all of my Christmas Cards made using my old workshop kits!

Elegant Baby Cakes?

I love these colors together.  Gray is fantastic and allows so many other colors to shine.  This paper is from Baby Cakes believe it or not.  I'm not sure what took me so long to use this stamp set, but it's one of my new favorites, Fabulous You.  I used our new Washi Tape for the banners at the top-LOVE the Washi Tape!  The flowers are the Floral Accents from the new Base & Bling collection (you don't have to just use them on jewelry!).  I stamped the sentiment using the Colonial White pigment ink.  The design is from Make It From Your Heart.

Three Amigos Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Three Amigos September CTMH Mini-Blog Hop. We are three Close to My Heart Consultants with a love for Stamping and Scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you. Each month we will feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout or other project. There are only 3 stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

For our first "Hop" we chose the "Reel Life" Stamp set (B1431) which you can purchase for $9.95 on my website http://bzscrapper.ctmh.com.

I chose a card for my project.  I used Baby Cakes paper.  I stamped the "honeycomb" image, sentiment and arrows with "Reel Life".  The Rosette design was cut from Artiste and stamped using one of the sets that came with the cartridge.  Of course I added a little Washi Tape and a small amount of stitching in the top right corner.  It's always a challenge for me to create a card without flowers, but I'm really happy with this card and I think it's versatile.

 Now hop over to Donna's Diary of a Scrapbook Addict Blog and see what she has created to share with you!

Fabulous You!

So I found I had a lot of extra card kits from old workshops that needed to be put together and used.  I tried to update them a little with more current items on each one.  This one is from an old paper pack, but the stamp set is Fabulous You.  I used some Black Shimmer Trim (yes, it is self-adhesive and fantastic), Glitter Gems; Liquorice Opaques and the butterfly is from the Flutter Paper Shapes.  The flowers were cut long ago from Art Philosophy.  I used our watercolor pencils and blending pen to color in the cardinal.

More "Overlays"?

So... I'm kind of a liar...lol.  This card was not made with an overlay, however it gives the same effect.  I needed some white banners and cut a bunch of them on my Cricut.  As I was looking at the leftover page I thought it looked like an overlay.  So I added some colorful papers from Baby Cakes (great way to use up small pieces of scrap leftovers) behind the negative space and used it on this card.  I cut the paper for the rosette from the Artiste cartridge and used some of the great new bronze Shimmer Trim.  There are all kinds of ways to use the Baby Cakes paper on projects that are not for babies.  Although I'm dying to make a baby card with those cute giraffes... soon... soon....

Sentimentally Yours!

The second Heart2Heart challenge for August was to make the sentiment the focus of your project.  I had done similar cards like this using the October Stamp of the Month using the Ruby Accessory pack and wanted to recreate them using paper flowers from Art Philosophy instead of the felt flowers and some kind of natural looking twine instead of the baker's twine that came in the accessory pack.  The flowers are beautiful and love the sparkle in the baker's twine, but to make the cards in bulk you'd have to buy a lot of accessory packs.  I did put one of the pretty sparkle buttons from the accessory pack in the center of my flowers and I used red glitter gems as well.  This stamp set is so much more versatile than it appears at first glance.  Looking forward to making some fall-ish cards with the other stamp in the set.

Bon Voyage H2H Challenge

The first challenge for August at Heart2Heart was to create something that reflects your interpretation of a good journey.  The card on the right is a card I made for one of my sons to congratulate him on his new job.  Actually I have to make another because both of my sons have recently started their journeys as young adults and created opportunities for themselves. 

The paper is from Sarita.  I cut the overlay for my challenge submission from the new Artbooking cartridge.  The medallion was cut from the Artiste cartridge.  The sentiment was cut from Art Philosophy and the stamp is from one of the sets that comes with the cartridge.  I fiber I used is three strands our new Jute ribbon pulled apart.  I've been having a hard time using it because it's so thick, but love using it this way.

Artbooking Overlays

Haven't posted lately but I have been busy in my scraproom.  This is a layout I did using an overlay from the new CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge.  These overlays are so versatile and a lot of fun.  I love the way the tone on tone overlays give an embossed look to your project.  On the layout I placed a strip of the Sarita paper behind part of the overlay to let that section pop.  The layout is based on one in Make It From Your Heart Vol2.  You don't have to cover your whole project with an overlay.  You can cut them in any size and just use a portion.  I'll be uploading a few more projects done using the overlays over the next few days.  Just another great feature of the new cartridge.

H2H Hombre! I mean... Ombre

This week's challenge at Heart 2 Heart was to use the Ombre technique in a project.  I've had this Display Tray for a long time and decided to make something for my room. Ombre is to have colors or shades that blend into each other.  I created this for the wall in my scrap room.  I cut all the butterflies except for the largest from Art Philosophy.  The largest was cut from Artbooking.  I stamped on the butterflies and then spritzed them with pearl paint colored with reinkers.  The colors I used were Baby Pink, Blush, Cotton Candy, Hollyhock and Ruby.  The hardest part for me was to pick the colors that blended the best into each other.

My First Christmas Card

I'll just start with an apology.  Yes.  A Christmas Card....lol!  It will be here before you know it so I've decided no better time to start.  This was an easy one and I used some old CTMH paper and the new September Stamp of the Month Poster Tidings.  This is a great stamp set and the card was oh so easy.  I just stamped the poster image twice... once in Champagne and once in Ruby.  Then I used part of the ruby image and popped it up over the lighter one to call attention to it.  The great thing is I'll be able to use the rest of the ruby image in the same way and just highlight different sections of the stamp.  This is going to be a set you have to have. I then embellished with the Ruby Mini Medley accents.  I used up the felt poinsettias in the pack, but I can easily cut some on the Cricut with my CTMH cartridges and layer a couple and make my own when I create more.  I also used the pink glitter gems.  Also, instead of the baker's twine I will use hemp and/or the burlap ribbon and unravel it to use the separate fibers.  Can't wait to make more.  When I do I'll upload the different version.

H2H Water, Water Challenge

Last week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge was to create something inspired by water.  I have had this Under The Sea stamp set for a long time and have not been able to create anything I've been happy with until now.  I love this little sea creatures with cute sayings, but for some reason using them stumped me.  Right away I knew I wanted to use this Sarita paper because the pattern reminds me of the movement of water as well as the colors.  I colored the fish and waves with CTMH Watercolor Pencils and blended them with the Blending Pen.  The card design is from Make It From Your Heart Volume 2.  Just realized this is the last challenge of the month.  I guess I'm out of practice and I was one week behind... so I didn't quite make it to my goal but there's always August!...lol... and the good news is, it's gotten me in my scrap room.

H2H Masking Challenge

Vowed to do all of the challenges for July that Heart 2 Heart has to offer.  Here is my answer to the masking challenge from earlier in the month.  My masking was simple... I used a cutout from the Artbooking cartridge to leave white space in the middle of one of the stamps from the Distressed Backgrounds set to highlight the word Happy that I both stamped and used a cutout from Artbooking.  The cutout Happy was stamped with Geometric Backgrounds after it was cut.  The flowers were cut from Art Philosophy.  There is some Washi tape at the top along with arrows from the One Way Borders set.  Paper is Sarita (my new favorite...).  I added a few aqua Dots as well.  It wasn't what I originally set out to do, but I'm happy with the outcome.  Tomorrow I'll be working on Challenge 3.

Skype Scrappin... Again!!

So.. it's so much more fun scrapping with friends than alone.  Scrapped with Susan Fogle this morning and our goal was to create a card for the masking challenge at the Heart 2 Heart site from earlier this month.  This card is Susan's creation and submission, but I made it along with her and this is my version of her card.  Go to her Paper Managerie site and check out the original.  We used an overlay from the new Artbooking cartridge and then sponged ink in the open spaces to create this background paper.  We used the colors Sunset, Buttercup and Slate to match the Babycakes paper pack.  I used my ink to color some ribbon I had lying around (I am OUT of Color Ready Ribbon!!) to embellish it.  It didn't need to much because the design was so pretty on its own.  The "U" and "R" are also from Artbooking.  Tomorrow I'll post the card I made using the actual overlay which was also pretty with all the color overlapping from the sponging.

Sarita Layout-Color Me Happy

Ok... so... woops.  I made a mistake.  I made this layout with the Color Me Happy challenge in mind and didn't realize that was a June challenge and not July...so... here it is.  I suppose it doesn't matter because I still met the challenge and am still very happy with the result.  I made this layout using pics from a recent visit from some very good friends from back in WNY.  We visited the Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix and it was a very HOT and very beautiful day.  I used the new Make It From Your Heart Vol. 2 for the layout.  The papers are from the new Sarita paper pack (which are going to work perfectly for all the pics from their visit since they are colors that make me very happy and so did the visit).  The heart and flourish stitching were done using our new Stitching Guide.  The etched wooden pieces are from the Sarita Assortment and I colored some of the areas a little darker with a ruby marker.  The studs are from the Rosewood Mini Medley assortment.  I stamped with the Distressed Backgrounds stamp set on my chipboard letters and the new Geometric Backgrounds on the arrow that was cut from our new Cricut Cartridge "Artbooking".

Mixing and Mingling with H2H

It has been a loooooong time since I've done a Heart 2 Heart Challenge.    The 2nd July challenge was to mix and mingle at least three stamp sets and/or three paper packs.  Well... I chose AND ... and then some.  My personal added challenge was to use the August Stamp of the Month.  So here it is... I used the new Babycakes paper and cut out the "U" and the "R" from the alpha print paper; Mayberry for the patchwork squares and the scallop border I punched from our new punch; and Dotty for You is where I cut the circle from (I used our new stitching guide to poke the holes that make the circle look stitched).  Add a little August SOTM, Chocolate Affair for the cupcake; the new E-sized Framework Alphabet for the word Sweet; Distressed Backgrounds and Geometric backgrounds to add some texture to the alpha stamps and the little tiny hearts are from Tiny Typewriter... one I use so much I had to buy a second set.  I think that about does it.  My goal is to complete all the weekly challenges for this month.  Going to post another right after this one.   So I'm on my way to meeting my goal.

More Chantilly!

 

Taking a break from new products and decided to open up my Chantilly paper pack again.  One of my Directors brought some shortbread cookies into the office in this cute birdhouse box.  When it was empty I snatched it up.  The girl that sits in the cubicle next to me is always bringing in candy and puts it at the end of her cubicle and people walk by and snatch it up and I know they appreciate it, but I thought that she deserved her own little "Secret Stash" of candy so I decorated the box with Chantilly papers and lots of paper flowers and filled it with one of her faves, Butterfingers.  She loved it and I loved making it for her.  Thanks for all the treats, Diane!

Convention Bundle #2-Babycakes

So my second bundle of new stuff came last week also!  The new paper pack BabyCakes and matching Canvas Shapes Complements and the Assortment of wood-rimmed badge buttons.  Some new stamp sets; burlap ribbon, hexagon chipboard Irresistibles and our new scallop border punch!

I embellished another spinner card we made at convention using the canvas shapes and badge buttons.  Working on another card tonight using the Babycakes papers and the July SOTM... stay tuned!

More Sarita Fun

This is a card I made from the Sarita Paper Pack.  The design came from the NEW Make It From Your Heart Volume 2.  I used mostly paper and the new stamp sets In The Moment and One Way Borders.  A couple brads and one of the metal pieces from the Sarita Assortment and it's done.  No flowers on this one because it's for my son's birthday.  The "ribbon" attached to the right is from on of the strips on the paper pack.

Sarita Birthday Spin Card

 

Here is the card (and hair clip) I made using some of my new stash.  It uses the new Sarita paper pack along with some of the matching Stickease.  I stamped the paper flowers from one of our new Hostess Rewards only stamp sets, You Only Live Once.  The bow and the leopard print bling on the hair clip are from the Laughing Lola assortment.  The metal flowers are from the Base & Bling Floral Accents.  I decided to make the matching hair clip from the Sarita textiles because this is a birthday card for my 7 year old niece and I thought it would be a nice addition to the card.  Below are some detail pics.

This is the inside of the card... you can see that the circle on the front of the card will flip as you open the card so you can decorate and/or stamp both sides of the circle.  I hid my inside sentiment right behind that circle with some more circles.

The back of the spinner circle.

 

This is the hair clip.  I just clipped it onto the bottom corner of the card.  I used the Sarita textiles fabrics to create it.  There was no sewing involved-just some of our new Base & Bling adhesive dots and strips which are very strong.  The center is some twisted fabric and the petals around the outside are folded circles.  Instructions for both techniques are included in the Fabric Necklace Kit that's in the new Idea Book that goes live August 1st.

 

More to come!

Convention Booty

I received a shipment of new product yesterday.  Here is the first bundle including the new Sarita paperpack, Stickease and fabric Textiles and Sarita Assortment which contains beautiful etched wooden shapes.  Also included is one of our new Washi tapes AND Hair Clips from our great new Base & Bling line which consists of jewelry bases that you can adorn with anything including our new Base & Bling jewels; fabric or paper flowers; and really anything that your imagination can conjure!  More on the jewels later.  For now, today's goal is to add some more embellishment to a Sarita card I started at Convention and I'll upload the pic later today!

Heartfelt Birthday Wish



 

 

Here is one of the cards we created at Convention.  It uses our new Spinner Cards (the circle in the window spins around when the front of the card is opened).  On this card we anchored the circle so that it doesn't spin, but it left a nice window that peaks into the inside.  I added some flowers and various bling to the card after I got home.  The papers are from two of the new paperpacks (Laughing Lola and Pro Player) and the sentiment  is using a new stamp set (our great new "M" size Heartfelt Birthday Wish) that are all in the 2013 Fall/Winter Idea Book that goes live August 1st.

Exciting New Products are Coming!

Happy Birthday America!  Just got back along with my two great friends and fellow consultants, Donna Davis (http://comopark1886.blogspot.com/ and Susan Fogle (paper-menagerie.blogspot.com) from CTMH Convention in Disney Orlando!  So much fun and so many great new things are coming in the new 2013 Autumn/Winter Idea Book that goes live August 1st.  My favorite new product is without a doubt the new Artbooking Cricut Cartridge!  There are so many cool things on this cartridge including the ability to cut out a whole mini album with pages and embellishments with such ease.  All of the elements will be cut to the right size for the album you are making!  I'll be getting my copy soon and will be posting some of the artwork I create with it and new papers and embellishments.  In the meantime, I will post the artwork we created at Convention over the next few days.  Attending Convention has lit a firecracker under me (appropriate for today) and I'm eager to get back into my scraproom on a regular basis and get going with some workshops.  Contact me for your copy of the new Idea Book and if you'd be interested in hosting a gathering or workshop.  More great news to come!  Thanks for sticking with me!

Just finished my first Skype workshop with some of my most favorite people!  Here's the card we made using the Chantilly papers and the May SOTM, Pinwheel.  Used some of the textiles fabrics and knotted a strip and attached it. 

Thanks so much to all of the girls for joining me long distance for this workshop.  We had a lot of fun... I just wish I could have had the cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries that were served teleported to me here in Arizona!

Love Me Some Chantilly!!

Going to give my first Skype Workshop with my buds back in WNY next Sunday.  We are making a 12x12 shadow box page and a card.  This is the page... it would be much better with a pic on it, but the room my pictures are in is dark and in mid-fan/light replacement mode so it will have to wait for morning.

I used Chantilly (obviously...lol) for all the papers.  The flowers, tags, and keyhole were cut using the Cricut cartridges from CTMH, Art Philosophy and Artiste.  I cut out the paisley from the Chantilly paper.   I used Bohemian Alphabet, Universal Backgrounds and May's SOTM Pinwheel.  The tags are strung on some of the textiles fabrics that go with the Chantilly papers and held by some clothespins.  Add plenty of bling and some liquid glass and you have yourselves a shadowbox.

Can't wait to "see" my people again!

Dream Pop!

Here's a sneak peak at next month's special!