Spring Wreath

Inspired by the wreath on the Annual Inspirations Idea Book I created a Spring version. My customers really liked the red and white version and wanted a class. I will be teaching them how to make this wreath on Saturday from cutting all the pieces on their Cricuts to lots of hot glue assembly!

I chose some pretty colors for my flowers of pinks and yellow. The ladies will get to choose whatever colors they wish. I could see this wreath in red, white and blue perfect for the Fourth of July!

Hopefully, I will remember to take pictures of all the completed wreaths to show you the variations! Have a great week!

I didn't forget your Birthday! {for my sweet niece, Mad Dog!}

I'm trying a new technique today using Washi tape and my Cricut machine. This is for the "new" challenge on Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog. I have incorporated this easy idea on the Freshly Made Sketch this week.

 

I used some Chantilly papers as my base and added in more color with greens, blues and pink. Instead of a square element as in the sketch I chose to do a scalloped circle from the Perfect Fit Frames. What I really want to point out is the number "9". It may look like paper in the photograph, but it is actually Washi tape that has been adhered to a chipboard number.

 

 

This is an easy and fun technique to try! Using a spare piece of white daisy cardstock, I taped strips of this darling pink polka dot Washi tape being sure to line up the spots. Depending on the shape and size you want to cut out will determine how long and how wide your strips of Washi tape will be.

 

I was simply cutting a number nine on the Art Philosophy cartridge to the determined sizing according to the chipboard package label. I loaded my cutting mat and made sure that my cutting blade was on the Washi tape surface. I set my key, size of 1 1/2" and pressed cut. It cut out the "9" perfectly. I simply peeled it from the cutting mat and adhered it to the chipboard with some liquid glue.

 You can use this technique for alphabet letters to create a title, a bracket shape for a mini album, or mix and match different colors and patterns of Washi tape before cutting it out. It's a great "new" technique and the possibilities are endless!

Wedding Card Inspiration

My cousin had his wedding last weekend. Unable to attend, I made certain to send him all my best wishes and this beautiful card! It was inspired by their fabulous wedding invitation. I kept with the same color theme and incorporated some dots & stripes.

This was the invitation I received from them in the mail so you can see the inspiration~

Sometimes I'm "Negative"!

With the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge it's good to be "negative"! On this layout, I used the "negative" image from some ticket shapes I cut on the cricut. I chose some of the gray Dotty For You papers and cut the shapes out across the bottom of my page. I trimmed it to 11x11 and adhered it to my base pages. I then stamped the sentiment in each cut-out space. Not to be wasteful...I saved the ticket shapes to continue the border across the second page as well. Pretty "thrifty" and creative! So go ahead and be "negative", I encourage you!

Teacher Appreciation

This week is teacher appreciation and my daughter wanted to give a favorite teacher a special gift. She liked the Fry Box Card set that I created for my May Cricut Club {posted on Monday}, so I made another version. She gave it to her teacher earlier in the week and she said she loved it!

Again I used the Dotty For You papers, but this time I chose the butterfly pattern and tied it all together with the A Tree stamp set and a tag to let her know that both my daughter and I appreciate her.

Celebrate the Unexpected

Today I'd like to share a card created for the Mojo Monday sketch. I love random stamping and have not done any in a while. I wanted to start with a script background stamp and knew I wanted to add a flower. I looked through all my flowers and just didn't care for any of my choices. So I thought out of the box and used a scalloped stamp to create a flower! Check it out~

I used the Enjoy stamp set for my flower creation.

First I placed the stamp on my block upside down. I stamped the solid shape in sky blue. Then I turned my stamp over on the block the correct way. Before stamping it in Lagoon I created a mask for the center with a post-it-note to block the "freshly baked" sentiment.

For the center I used a little flower from the Family Love stamp. I used this stamp in the same manner as the other creating a solid base in Sweet Leaf and then the flower in Topiary green.

Can't find the perfect stamp? Create your own!! {Ahhh, the beauty of Acrylix stamps!}

Dotty Banners

Hello! I just wanted to share some pictures with you today from my Dotty Banner workshop yesterday. The ladies were a little nervous at first creating their banners, but soon realized how great these products were, especially the coordinating Dotty For You papers! They could mix and match the papers to any banner shapes they desired. I had a selection of various embellishments to choose from and they all decided on their own "phrase" or "title". Here are just a few examples~

The Dotty For You paper kit is available until the end of May. Be sure to get this kit, you'll be so glad you did!

Cricut Club Dream Banner

My Cricut Club this month will be creating this lovely Dream banner! We will be cutting our banner pieces and letters with the Art Philosophy cartridge. They will also be using an assortment of papers from this month's promotional kit "Dotty For You"!

As you can see this banner has tons of fun details. Customers attending this class will be personalizing their own banners however they wish. They can mix and match their papers and add a various amount of embellishments to their liking! How fun is that!!

Rainbow Butterfly Art

I have been seeing lots of art with butterflies lately. There has also been a growing trend of rainbows. As a gift to my daughter, I wanted to create a piece of artwork for her bedroom that would reflect her lively and colorful personality! This is what I came up with~

All of the butterflies were cut using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. This project was easy to create and allows you to use up those scraps of cardstock. I found my frame at Walmart which had some depth {similar to a shadow box} allowing the butterfly wings to "flutter"!

Here is Birthday girl with her new colorful artwork! She was super excited about it and cleared some wall space in her room right away to hang it!

March 2012 Constant Campaign: The Philosophy of Fun

Now is a great time for your customers to join Close To My Heart because when they sign up as a new Consultant between March 1–31, they’ll receive a FREE Cricut® Art Philosophy collection! The collection’s retail price of $99 adds incredible value to the New Consultant Kit and will give hours of creative fun with the included exclusive Cricut® cartridge, three coordinating My Acrylix® D-size stamp sets, and three sheets of matching Dimensional Elements shapes. Already own the collection? Your customers can always give the free one as a gift or choose to receive $100 in select product credit** instead. Now is the time to embrace the philosophy of fun—Consultant and Cricut® fun!

*Offer available March 1—31, 2012. No additional tax is charged on the Cricut® collection when ordered during enrollment.

**Additional requirements and limitations regarding the redemption and shipping of Select Product Credit apply. Select Product Credit is added to new Consultant account following approval of enrollment.

Please contact me for more information or if you have questions.

February Cricut Club

Did you like my 3D Heart project I made yesterday for the Heart 2 Heart Love challenge? I made another one on a little bit smaller scale for my Cricut Club that's meeting this Saturday. It still has plenty space for some sweets like candy or chocolate and could be the perfect tote for a small set of 3x3 cards. The details are simple, but cute and this little heart could easily be duplicated for all of your sweethearts this Valentine's Day!

It's New! {take two}

When I first heard about our challenge this week on Heart 2 Heart, I immediately went to this new stamp that comes in the Art Philosophy Cricut Kit. I had only used a couple of the images, but not this adorable pennant yet. When I saw that another Design Team Member used the same stamp, I grabbed those Valentine Lanterns instead. I still wanted to share my card with you, because the more ideas the better, right!



Here is the stamp set. You can "clearly" see what stamp images I already used!


I used bright playful colors on a black & gray base. {Mischief paper}

I used small black button brads between the pennants and Lots of Dots irresistibles stickers sponged in black ink.

I used some sand paper on just a section of the gray cardstock to reveal the white core allowing my "birthday" sentiment to really POP!

Please be sure to check out all the fabulous artwork at Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog!

January Cricut Club

New year, new club! This year I've decided to host a Cricut Club and it's going to be so much fun! Each month we will create a different project using the new Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. I will show guests how to use the cricut machine to complete an entire project. Items will include gift sets, interactive scrapbook pages, 3D items, home decor items and card kits like our first project shown here.

This projects begins with a petal box held closed with a belly band~

Once open guests will discover 4 beautiful circle cards and envelopes~