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!