Share the Love ~ Hello

Have you answered the call to Share the Love this month?

Just a reminder that Close To My Heart has a special stamp set available this month only. The D-size Share the Love stamp set (CC1060) is filled with adorable icons and loveable sentiments. Not only will you be getting a high-quality, swoon-worthy stamp set by taking part in this promotion, but Close To My Heart will also donate $7 USD of the proceeds from this stamp set to Operation Smile™, an amazing organization that provides surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates for children all over the world*! Check out our social media channels all month long to see this stamp set in action, and remember to post your own artwork using the hashtag #ctmhsharethelove to help bring attention to a wonderful and worthy cause. You will see more of my own artwork on Instagram that I have not posted here on my Blog.

Here is one last card that I will share here on my Blog. Please keep in mind that time is running out to make a cute card like this one.

For my card I cut a heart overlay out of the polk-a-dot La Vie En Rose paper on my Cricut using the Artbooking cartridge. Before adhering it to my card base I did just a bit of water coloring with the Pixie ink. I stamped the little telephone in Pixie ink also then stamped in black and cut out just the rotary circle piece. I also cut the stamped cord off completely and replaced it with some black and white twine.

Order this adorable stamp set soon online here. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Instagram for more inspiration!

Make a Splash!

This little crab is making a splash on the Freshly Make Sketches Blog and the Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog this week. I have used the adorable crab from the Beach Days stamp set (D1684) for the sketch on FMS this week and used the colors for the color challenge on H2H. The colors were black, white and red so Mr. Crab was just perfect for the color scheme as were the La Vie En Rose papers. I liked that the sketch was pretty open for playing with images in the space at the upper left side of the card. I also liked the little piece of chevron paper to fill in that little peek-a-boo space in the sketch.

Be sure to check out the FMS and H2H blogs for more information! Have a fun weekend!

Polka Dot Party Animal

Can you believe that we are already half way through February? That means that we are getting closer to the deadline to purchase the Stamp of the Month at a discounted price of only $5! This is such an adorable stamp set too. I have been enjoying making cards and scrapbook pages with it.

On this card I used the iconic dog balloon image as the focus on the bold, black and white polka dot paper. This paper comes from the La Vie En Rose paper collection. A simple birthday sentiment and some yellow twine completes this party ready card!

Get the Balloon Animals stamp set for just $5 with a qualifying order. Shop online here.

Live Your Day 12x12 Calendar

Did you know that January is National Papercrafting Month? I shared with you earlier this month how Close To My Heart is celebrating with the Live Your Day Picture My Life pocket scrapbooking cards. They are perfect for adding to your Everyday Life planner, however they can be used in many more applications.

It occurred to me this past weekend how perfect these cards would be to add to a 12x12 calendar. The collection contains a black and white card for every month. They can be displayed vertical or horizontal making them perfect for many layout options. I pulled out all the monthly cards for the group and a 12x12 My Creations calendar I have been saving.

Strangely I started with a page for March. Typically I would have gone in order, but I felt like I had my idea for this month and just went with it. {I'm learning to let my sparks of ideas & passion for creativity override my O.C.D.!}

I pulled some older papers and stamps for this page, but added in some newer La Vie En Rose papers. I love the graphic black & white with pops of color!

As I was looking at my new paper collections, I came across the Penelope papers featured in the current Seasonal Expressions 1 book. I wanted to use these papers in my calendar also and thought that they would be wonderful for the month of September! This layout was inspired by one in the book. I loved the use of bright vivid yellow papers and the watercoloring on the center white cardstock. I finished this page with just a bit of embellishments from the Penelope collection and of course the Live Your Day September card.

These are just a couple pages of the calendar to give you an idea of how you can use these cards. Keep in mind that they are only available this month. Click on the Current Specials tab at the top for more information or go online here.

Say Hello To Watercolors

Close To My Heart is offering a brand new gorgeous palette of watercolors, brushes and paper to their fabulous line of products. Watercolors have fast become a trend in scrapbooking and card making lately. The colors are rich in tone and the brushes are of high quality. The watercolor paper provides the perfect base to your master piece.

At my recent Open House I spoiled my best customers with a preview of not only the new watercolor products, but also this month's Hello, Life! promotion! We made a clean and simple card using an ombre coloring technique, a little bit of some La Vie En Rose black & white papers and finally we did some stamping with the new Hello, Life! cardmaking stamp set. We had a lot of fun painting and stamping!

The ladies picked any color from the palette that they wanted to paint with. I then paired it to one of CTMH exclusive ink pads for the stamping portion.

Here is a closer look at a card done with Thistle ink and a matching purple paint!

I love when a simple project comes together beautifully and is fun to create!

You can see and purchase any of these new items now online! Happy painting! :)