Grace-ful Thank You

I love the bold colors in this card, the paper is Close to my Heart as is the cardstock stickers, stamp and embellishments. I also used Close to my Hearts Cricut Cartridge - Art Philosophy for the great layered tag in the center.

I first started by distressing the background, using the CTMH sanding paper, I distressed all the paper. It creates the great denim, rough feeling which goes with the rich fall colors of the paper.

Close to my Heart usually has coordinating cardstock weight stickers along wth other coordinating products. Here I used the coordinating cardstock stickers and Antique Copper Brads to punch the rough, mascuine feeling in the card.

Here is where the masuline feeling gets thown out the window with this great cardstock weight Heart sticker, so cute, I just couldn't resist.

And we fnish it all off with the inside of the card, a great blue (Twilight Blue), with cardstock sticker and Close to my Heart stamp in Cocoa Brown.

Sarsparilla Class Layout

On to the next one! I quite enjoy planning class for our scrapbook group, it's kinda like a puzzle, what to do here, what goes there. I also like to do different layouts for different papers, case in point, our next class I used Close to my Heart Sarsaparilla paper pack. Sarsaparilla has some great cowboy elements, I tend to like the flourished that are through out the papers.

This layout if from the CTMH layout book called Imagine. The name of the layout is Role Play and it boasts 8 photographs. I actually had a hard time finding my event that had 8+ pictures in it. But once I found it, everything fell into place. We ended up going to Evans Mountain in Colorado which, I believe, had the highest point in the Rockies that you could drive up to. This river area was near the top. I did happen to get some great pictures of our little trip and loved the way they play with the paper.

To keep with the 'natural' photos and theme I added these great twill ribbons to lighten and add some horizontal lines to the page.

I was looking for something fun to put on the page to capture the eye. I have the matching CTMH Acrylix Stamp called 'Western Flourishes' and stamps those great stamps in some of the white space.

Next I broke out the Cricut and cut a fun title from the Country Life Cartridge and chose 'Cool, Clean Water', to reflect the water in the pictures. I really like the way the layout turned out, of course after the class is done I will add some extra embellishment to make this layout uniquely mine.

Clean & Simple Challenge #185

I ended up joining some challenge sites lately to get some extra inspiration. One of them was Clean & Simple, no prizes but fun layouts, all cards so that should get me back up to my old stock level of cards as our Happy Hobby craft show wiped me out. This is the sketch:

A simple sketch but with endless possibilities, if you want to see what others have made with this sketch you can go HERE!

This is my version I put my self under the wire to make this card so with a little help from my cricut and Graphically Speaking cartridge I think it came together. I also have limited ribbon here and had to choose colors that went with my ribbon.

And of course the inside of the card can not be naked so with the leftover papers I put the rest of the sentiment on the inside!

Floral Tapestry Class

Finally ready to get back in the swing of things, after the great Happy Hobby Craft Fair, many ladies here in Yuzhno have signed up for my email list promoting classes in one craft or another, first class is from my favorite, scrapbooking,

What a great way to display pictures of your vacation, wedding, baby or life in general. This layout is about one of the most monumental days a kid can have, first day of school. Seeing as how the Yuzhno scrap booking stores are less than impressive and more expensive than my first born, I am providing all basic materials for this class, yes I still have a bunch of paper from when I was a Close to my Heart Consultant so as long as a dedicated few ladies want to learn, I have the materials. I have chosen a discontinued paper pack called Floral Tapestry, mostly because I want spring to be here, it is mid-April and there is still lots of snow on the ground but the temperatures are rising, we had to dig out the bikes this last weekend. The Layout was chosen with great care to incorporate different size pictures and/or use pictures printed with all the same size, I steered to my Magic book by Jeanette Lynton, which has awesome scrapbook recipes in it. I decided to pre-cut all the paper for this layout with minimal variations between the kits. Each person will get a 'kit' with the paper, cardstock, and any other extra pieces that are needed for this project.

We will also use Close to my Heart's Bohemian Alphabet for our titles, and all ink, blocks and stamps are shared. The other fun thing with this particular paper pack is that it originally came with multiple sheets of 'My Stickease' that coordinate with the paper pack, you can see some sticker photo turns at the top, near the title and in the next close up are some fun circles.

Lately, after I complete a layout I have been making a card or two with the leftover scraps, none is made as of yet BUT soon I will have a great little card for a birthday or something. Also the current embellishments on this page aren't quite what I like to put on my page, but they are the perfect simple accents for begginners which is what most of the class will be, so I plan on pumping up the embellishments to my satifaction, I am thinking of posting a before and after shot to see the difference. What do you think?

Tasty and Functional

I have been very busy making lots of cards and layouts so I thought it was time for a change. I found this great craft on the Cricut Message boards and had to use it. These are clothes pin magnets topped with fruit from the Preserves Cartridge and matching recipe cards.

I actually have 3 sets of these, this is just the green fruit, there is also a red one and a variety fruit set. I like the green one because it is my favorite color and all the fruits look really great, such a variety on this cartridge.

Obviously one of the apples, there are five different apples on this cartridge, each with it's own distinct design, great for any fruit related project.

One Great Kiwi, which is alot of work with all those seeds, but looks really great.

And a great pear, this is one of four pears on this cartridge and they are all very cool. You might be able to see the dots all over the fruit, I am limited to what I brought to Russia and can't get anymore papers and so on, so I had a great Close to my Heart background stamp and watermark stamped each layer of the cuts. Yes, it was a lot of work but it looks so much better than plain cardstock don't you think?

Finished off with matching Recipe cards, each design on the card was masked using the negative cutout from the fruit, a kind of stencil in with green ink, then topped off with a great flourish stamp from Close to my Heart. They are really cute and useful, I am hoping that they will make a great gift!

Just around the corner!

Here is Christmas right around the corner and I thought, cause I haven't blogged in a while, some of my favorite Christmas cards I have made. All of these cards contain Close to my Heart paper and each one so individual!

This one has some great circles on it and I used a very old paper pack, Just Chillin, I still love the colors in this palette and the retro snowflakes.

This card is made entirely from cardstock alone. I love Pink for winter, it seems soft just like snow. But the multiple shades of pink make the card for me! With real stitching around everything you just want to touch this card over and over!

This is a fun paper pack called 'Jingle' and I love the different shapes on this card. With a heat embossed 'Jingle' and stitching I constantly run my fingers across it!

I constantly get compliments on this card, maybe it's monocromatic scheme or just a bit of sparkle but everyone loves this card!
This awesome card has some of my favorite colors, Blue and Brown, not overly traditional but with white snowflakes, rhinestones, heat embossing, ribbon and stitching this card has lots of elements to play with!
I hope you liked my cards and find inspiration in them!

5 for $5 - Halloween Treat Containers

This is my first class after having our new baby daughter, but she is now 9 1/2 weeks old and it's time to get back into the swing of things. The next couple of months are going to fly by, with lots of holidays coming up, ih ave a long list of everything I would like to get done. But my first 5 for $5 this month is for Halloween, we are making treat containers. These fun little things perk up any Spooky gift giving.

this easy little bag is made with patterned paper from Close to my Heart's New Hooligans line. Fun Halloween colors and the stamp set used is called 'Beware'.

This scary popcorn cup is made with Orange Close to my Heart Cardstock, cut on the Cricut, and embellished with some creepy patterned paper. To finish this cup off we cut tags and added some ribbon.

You can't see it in the picture very well but each box we will make has been random stamped with CTMH's September stamp of the month, 'Thriller'. Great art on this stamp set. I also used glimmer mist to give each box and eerie green shine. Fun and easy to fill, the clear front let's you show what's in the box...no suprises here.

Easy to make, this bag topper can be attached to any ziploc bag and given away with lots of candy inside...what a way to dress up a boring snack bag.

Super fun Frankenstien Matchbooks, just attach your candy to the inside and give away. I first saw this great idea on Vicki Wizniuk's Blog, thanks for the inspiration Vicki!
The class is tomorrow night and I hope that this one sells out...I am also opening this up to anyone who wants to do this in the afternoon if they can.

5 for $5 Workshop - Thank You's

Lately, I believe thta there is a lost art of giving real, hold in your hand cards. Even I am guilty of giving e-cards, they are fast and some are really cute, even though I have a hundred cards I have made and can send at any time, convience is key with e-cards. So my goal this year was to stop sending e-cards and start making cards to give away. One set of cards I NEVER have enough of are 'Thank You's". I make them and send them out immediately. I like to give them to eveyone, for helping me with lunch, giving us a gift, for being nice, mostly for anyone who has gone that extra mile, I try to give a card that also goes tht extra mile, I made it for them. This month's workshop is dedicated to Thank You's. On Wednesday this week, we will be making 5 Thank You's for $5, a great price for any handmade card, seeing as how Hallmarks printed cards can range from $3 - $20, I am pretty reasonable!

I always try to give variety with my card workshops, using lots of different colors and trying interesting techniques on each of them.

This card is really fancy, with organza ribbon, cute scalloped edge and jewels.

A cool card for a male or a co-worker, this fun card has a fun design with a retro 'Thanks', this card can be assembled in under 5 minutes.

I adore the colors on this card, with a sampling of Close to my Heart's Boom-di-ada paper pack, this card is sure to please anyone. Front and center is a sweet flower Thank You for your friend.

With subtle colors and fun faux stitching, this card is an easy crowd pleaser.

This card was inspired by a fellow consultant, I call it Fairway Trees, cause it looks like the trees are on the fairway. This is an easy card to get more creative with because the Treetops (C1368), there are a variety of trees that you can choose from!
Each card is different and fun, I hope that when they take these cards home, they will be mailed out right away...why not when you have them on hand!!!

Random Stamping Class

I have been inspired lately on the CTMH Consultant Bulletin Boards with Random Stamping, so I booked a class for June 9th and we will be playing with random stamping. Some scrapbookers are afraid of stamping in this is a great way to get over that fear and create something completely unique and fits your color schemes. This post I will show you the random stamped pages for my class and in a following post I will show you what I made with each random stamped sheet!

Using this My Acrylix Stamp Set - Aspiration - C1340 and using CTMH Exclusive ink colors: Bamboo, Juniper, Hollyhock and Blush, stamped on White Daisy Cardstock.

I have a feeling that this page will end up in Thank You cards as we are expecting a little one in August and I may as well get a jump on Thank You notes.

This My Acrylix Stamp set is Flourished Blessings - D1379. I wanted to use some darker colors so we used CTMH Exclusive Inks: Cocoa, Juniper & Garden Green stamped on Vanilla Cream Cardstock. I also used another stamp technique on this page, Second Generation Stamping, you will see lighter shades of leaves in the background and instead of choosing another color I thought this would fill up the page nicely.

A great print for fall or any outdoor layout...I am not sure yet what this will turn into but I am very happy with the outcome.

The final stamp set is Discontinued but one of my favorites, My Acrylix - Adorable -D1183. This stamp has been used over and over again, I always find uses for it. I paired the stamp with Exclusive Inks: Barn Red, Sorbet, Chocolate & Creme Brulee stamped on Colonial White Cardstock for an unusual color combo.

This page looks kinda western to me so we will see where it will end up. As for my class I hope to post thier random stamped pages and I hope they are as happy with them as I was with mine.

Summer Idea Book Kick Off

So here I am writing about my Summer Idea Book Kick Off Party before it has even started, I guess I am hoping for big things. This cute monocromatic tag is the Make n Take for the day, 90% Close to my Heart products*. I choose Tulip as my Exclusive color for this tag and used Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels* and a Dimensional Elements Border (chipboard) as a mask which gives us the cool swirl in the background. Using Tulip Ink, I stamped the May Stamp of the Month and cut out the Thank You, then adhered it to the tag with 3D foam tape. I also added the Just Blooms Paper Flower and Butterfly in Tulip. Threaded White Daisy Organdy Ribbon thru the hole and tied with Tulip Embroidery Floss. To finish it off I used our Clear Sparkles and made it shine. This whole project takes 10 minutes to make and shows like you spent hours slaving over it! I hope you try this Close to my Heart project and send it to someone you are thankful for!

Vague Occasions Card Workshop

This month's card workshop is all about cards for any occasion! Sometimes we all need cards that aren't geared towards a certain event, this is that workshop. My 5 for $5 card workshop is an assembly only class with a room to be creative. Each card this workshop has a little something extra added to it to make that card unique.

This is a super simple card but I pumped it up with a cute flower to mimic the background and an adorable scalloped edge to finish it off.

This dark looking card is one of my favorites, other than loving stars, so easy to cut out, but I used some gold paint to make my stars POP! You may not be able to see it in the photo but in person, it shines.

The colors in this card draw me in and with a 3D Fleur de Lis and cute antique copper mini-brads I think this card is ready to send.

A fun card with bright colors, a perfect sentiment and cool twill across the bottom this card is sure to stay on someones mantel for quite a while.

Who doesn't want to celebrate with cupcakes? Sparkley cupcakes at that! Very simple but I love the sparkle this card gives.
I do have fun putting together these workshops but I also love seeing the creativity that others have with my pre-cut cards. I am looking forward to this next workshop, if you are interested and in the Denver-Metro Area, message me and we would love to have you join us!