Monday, September 29, 2014

Follow Your Dreams ~ Base & Bling

How about some Base & Bling today? Here is a little necklace I made for my sister-in-law. I used the square silver pendant, follow your dreams sticker from the Dreamer style sheet and feather charm. I added some length on the chain to dangle the feather and attached a navy denim polk-a-dot flower on it. Here is how the necklace was packaged using one of the cello envelopes and Washi tape.



I even stamped a sentiment on the bag that read, "for as you dream you shall become". Here is what the necklace looks like on.


If you are interested in making some fun jewelry for yourself or someone else as a gift the Base & Bling collection has everything you need. You can find the collection in the Annual Inspirations Idea Book pages 164-167. If you are interested in attending a Base & Bling Buffet and creating some jewelry with a fun group please contact me and I will set a date. These would make great Christmas gifts!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Box Cards With Animals

I have been playing around making these popular box cards. There are lots of great ideas on the web making them with various themes and creating them in different sizes also. Here are just a couple I completed using a cutting file for the Cricut Design Space. You can find it at The Non-Crafty Crafter Blog. All the work is basically done by your Cricut. You simply add the details and embellishments!

This first one uses the Pathfinding papers and a cute little fox from an older Stamp of the Month.


This box has the awesome & way cool Chalk It Up papers and again another Stamp of the month.


These are so fun to make and even cooler to receive! Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Sew it ~ Stamp it!

I wanted to share a little gift I purchased and made for my sister. She plays with fabrics, while I play with paper. I dream of us combining our talents and running a business of our own one day! She has made me and my kids phenomenal quilts and duvet covers. When she completes her hand made works of art she always puts her signature, the date, and a sentiment on the back corner.

One of my daily emails from Pick Your Plum featured some cool block stamps that could be personalized. I loved the little sewing machine and knew it would be perfect for her. She can use the stamp directly on the fabrics or can even stamp it on card stock if she wanted to attach a tag to her craft sale items.
 

I could never just give her the stamp in the plastic bag it came in! I broke it in by inking it up and stamping it on one of Close To My Heart's linen drawstring bags. I used olive ink which is one of her favorite colors. Now she has a great little bag to keep her stamp in and can easily be found in her craft room when she is ready to use it! {BTW~her sewing room is always waaaay cleaner than my scrapbooking room}



The finishing touch was a chevron pattern stamped on the bottom of the bag and some ribbon just to make it fancy! The ribbon was created by spritzing some Heidi Swapp Color Shine on some color-ready ribbon. I loved the combination of gold and chartreuse, I think it would have been too plain if I only did green. Plus its a little bit sparkly now!!


I gave my sister her little gift last weekend and she was really surprised! I can't wait to see what she uses it on!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

It's here! It's here! Cricut® Artfully Sent

The Cricut Artfully Sent cartridge is now available to purchase! Click on the video below to learn all about the newest cartridge!




See a sample page of the cards and images you can create on this new cartridge~


The collection includes~
1 - Cartridge (700 images: Cards, Envelopes, and Fonts)
3 - My Acrylix D-sized stamp sets
1 - 12" x 12" White Daisy Cardstock Pack
Recommended blocks for included stamp sets: 1" x 1" (Y1000), 1" x 3 ½" (Y1002), 3" x 3" (Y1006), 2" x 3½" (Y1009)

Featuring more than 25 different card themes and 5 different card formats to make over 400 different cards! Card styles include pop-ups, scenes, sentiments, sleeves, swing cards and pocket cards; perfect for Picture My Life scrapbooking. 

You can order the new Artfully Sent collection through me personally or by clicking on the picture below.



Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Halloween Treat Bags

My upcoming class will be featuring the Cut Above Halloween Treat Bags. An entire kit with everything you need {except the candy!} to create 10 super cute Halloween bags. They are ultra easy to assemble. You can find these bags and a Christmas/Holiday version in the new Annual Inspirations book page 159. {Z2058 $14.95}

The bags in the kit are adorable just as they come, however for this class I will show you how to dress them up a bit using some stamping, Cricut cut rosettes and glitter paper!



Sunday, September 7, 2014

A Bow on Your Skull!

Playing along with Freshly Made Sketches today, I used some older products I found while cleaning my Scrapbook room! I thought these were cute papers from Imaginisce and put my daughter to work assembling the sticker chipboard pieces. In a promise to her that I would really use them after all her hard work, I created this card. The sketch at FMS was nice and simple and allowed me to keep the card simple as well. The background paper had plenty of detail so I decided to leave the title piece simple with little embellishment. I just added a skull girl with a bow and a trick-or-treat sentiment!


Thursday, September 4, 2014

Sweet Surprise Cards

I recently did a big clean up and re-organized my scrapbook room. Once I get it all done I feel much better and am able to create again. I love finding older items I forgot I had....some of you know what I mean! I hate that I've forgotten about such wonderful products and want to put them to use rather than let them continue to be forgotten. I can only guess that this happens, because we are thrilled to see and use the new items!!

So I decided to use the older chipboard pieces from the My Originals Sweet Surprises Card Kit. This was a kit that included treat cups to fill with candy and supplied you with everything you needed to complete 3D cards with a box style envelope. Because they are such a thick card when completed I decided to use them as a gift card that I would personally hand to the recipient. Therefore, I made a to/from tag to wrap around the envelope.

For the new product, I chose some Fundamental Papers from the Whimsy and Adventure Assortment! I love these papers, they are certainly one of my favorite new items and was just the touch of pizzaz I needed for these sweet cards!

Here are all 4 cards~

 Here are each of the cards with the decorated envelope and tag~





lastly, just the tags~


The Sweet Surprises Card Kit is no longer available, but the Paper Fundamentals are. I would suggest getting them in every color, they are simply stunning! Shop online here.


Monday, September 1, 2014

30 Years of Happy & SOTM

A new month means fabulous promotions and specials! Especially considering that this month is National Stamping Month!


September is National Stamping Month, and Close To My Heart is ready to celebrate all month long! When you spend $30 on any current retail-priced stamps during the month of September, you qualify to receive the exclusive C-sized stamp set #30yearsofhappy for FREE! This special offer is part of our celebration of National Stamping Month and in honor of our on-going celebration of our founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton’s 30-year anniversary in the scrapbooking and stamping industry. The exclusive stamp set features 30 mini images and sentiments perfectly suited for 30 days of happy stamping! Plus, make sure you check out Close To My Heart’s Facebook page and Instagram during September to follow all the ways we’re celebrating #30yearsofhappy for a full 30 days!
Contact me for more details.
*Offer valid September 1–30, 2014. No tax will be charged on the free item(s). Shipping/handling is calculated based on the full retail price of the free item(s) ($13.95 USD / $15.25 CAD).

 You can also celebrate with the Stamp of the Month!




See the Current Specials tab for more information!