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!

Love challenge on Heart 2 Heart

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! One of my favorite sayings is from the Moulin Rouge movie..."One of the greatest gifts in life is to love and be loved"...or something like that!! I feel blessed to have so many people in my life that I love and to feel their love in return.

I made something for this week's challenge on Heart 2 Heart for someone who is very special to me, my husband! Using the Cricut Cartridge I was able to make this 3D heart box. To cut it the largest size possible I chose the "fit to page" button and then "cut". Once the shape is cut all that's left is folding, gluing and decorating. I chose to do some big roses in the Sweetheart papers from last year. They too are cut on the Cricut machine. A little "love" pennant and shear ribbon were just the right finishing touches.



The space in the heart is plenty room for all sorts of gifts like candy, travel lotions, cologne, etc. I can't say what I'm putting in this heart, because there might be blogger spies out there and I don't want my hubby to know what he's getting!!!



Here is a close up of the roses and pennant~

Favorite Spring Stamp

With every new Idea Book I usually find a stamp set that quickly becomes my favorite. In the Spring/Summer book my pick is the Card Word Puzzle. From the moment I opened it a ton of ideas kept flooding my head. Here are the images in this stamp set.



These are the first 3 cards I created~


I stamped the flower on a solid surface and cut it out, I colored it in with watercolors, and I stamped it multiple times creating a background. This stamp has so much versatility!

Then I decided to create a few sets of cards. I put them all together using another new stamp called Crafted With Love. I placed the sentiment on a band tied with some new grey twine.

All three sets contained 4 cards each in all the same color combination of colonial white, creme brulee and grey wool!

I also stamped the back of all the cards with the Crafted With Love stamp for a personal touch.

Sweet Surprises!

There are so many wonderful new items in the new Spring/Summer Idea Book. With 6 new paper packets, fabulous My Acrylix stamps, chipboard shapes, bottle caps and colorful twine, just to name a few, are you curious what my number 1 seller so far is?

It's the My Originals Sweet Surprises Card Kit!

It's really no surprise to me though! I sold 6 kits within my first order. The kit comes with everything you need to create 10 {3D} cards that you can fill with treats! And not just candy treats, look what I did on this first card!

I was able to fill this container with several Close To My Heart embellishments. Perfect for giving to those crafter's you know or perhaps someone without a sweet tooth!


The outside of the card is decorated with chipboard dimensional elements, while the inside is decorated with printed adhesive sheets. The card bases come cut already so all you have to do is adhere your treat cup filled with goodies and decorate. White grosgrain ribbon is included along with box envelopes to fit your finished card.

Here are a few more pics of the 5 styles you'll receive~ {2 cards per style are in the kit, totaling 10 cards in all}

Check back soon as I will reveal my favorite My Acrylix stamp set in the new book!

Spring/Summer Idea Book is Here!!

During my last club meeting I gave all the ladies a sneak peek at several new goodies from the brand new Spring and Summer Idea Book. Here is just a quick peek for you. I will show more of these projects up close later in the next few weeks.


Be sure to browse the new book, see all the new products and enjoy the spectacular artwork!

Inspired By #8 {party card}

Another Inspired by challenge for you. I'm hooked on these challenges, they seem to push my creative boundaries! Here is the pic for us this week~


I really liked the graphic design and clean lines. I stuck with the same color combination, but chose to use more creams and less orange. Take a look~

I pulled out an old index card and sponged the edges to further it's aged look. To achieve the lines on the "Party" sentiment I inked the letters in black then stamped on some journaling lines of another stamp before stamping on the index card. The chipboard arrow was inked up with a stamp pad and marker. Other than the twine {twinery} all product is Close To My Heart.

Non-Traditional Valentine Colors

Over on the Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog we are invited to create a Valentine project with "Non-Traditional" Valentine colors. We typically see the red, white, and pink colors in many projects and decor for Valentine's Day! It usually looks like Cupid stormed all the stores directly after Christmas! By using some lovely whimsical papers {Florentine} and this sweet image {Childhood Portrait} you can clearly see that it is still a Valentine.

By the way...Ribbon Carousel is having a BIG giveaway! Look at this stunning carousel, isn't it fabulous?! Go to the blog to get all the details.

Rock the Block

Time is running out to get this wonderful promotion! I thought I would share my creation for anyone that is "on the fence" about purchasing the Rock the Block promo!



Not only do you get the brand new blocks with tray, but you also get this awesome "E" size stamp set.


I decided to create my blocks with some of my favorite family photo's of 2011.

I used the new Stella papers that can be found in the upcoming Spring Idea Book. This little sentiment above can be found on the border of one of the papers, as can the 'love' shown in the picture below.

I also snuck in a sentiment from a new stamp set called "Family Love", also coming soon in the Spring Idea Book. The flower that you see here is from the coordinating canvas embellishments to the Stella papers. Peel and stick canvas with bright vivid colors...GORGEOUS!

If you miss this promotion, don't worry! You can always order the blocks in the new Idea Book and use any of the beautiful paper packets and coordinating products to complete your project.

Inspired By #7

Last week I was selected as the winner of the Inspired By challenge #6, see it here. Once I saw this week's photo I was definitely inspired and had to play along.

I love the converse shoes. I can totally see my own daughter doing this for her wedding. She is a big fan of converse shoes and the color green, but they would be {lime} green!!



For my card I wanted to pick up the lovely color combo of grey and yellow, which I've been doing a lot lately in much of my card making. I wanted the white to be minimal and really just pop the green in there with a fun ribbon! This card also gives you a sneak peek and my absolute favorite new stamp called Card Word Puzzle found in the new Spring 2012 Idea Book. Hope you like it!


Be sure to visit the Inspired By Blog and play along with the challenges, it's fun and addicting!

Heart 2 Heart Inspiration Photo Challenge

This week on Heart 2 Heart challenges we want to see what inspires you from this photo. Is it the design, the textures, or the colors?



In this photo, I was intrigued by the leaves, the vintage looking tags and the crystals. Not to mention the wonderful cork texture, which I tried to actually incorporate cork, but did not succeed!

Instead of cork I did some background stamping on Kraft cardstock. Next, I knew that the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge had the perfect leaf and vine image. After it was cut out I added some Create-a-Shade paint with a bit of green re-inker in it and some glitter. It added the perfect shimmer I needed to match the photo. The tags were simple to cut also and I found little images that worked well for the design. The bird is under a clear plastic sticker which I found at a craft store a few years ago. This was the best way to incorporate that "crystal" type embellishment.


Here is another view.

All products are Close To My Heart except the clear bubble circle thingy ; ) !

Be sure to play along this week at Heart 2 Heart! Thanks for stopping by!

New Year Hike Layout

One very common resolution is to get healthy, eat better and exercise more! We started our year with this resolution in mind by taking a family hike through the beautiful desert and red rock landscape.

Another resolution for me personally is to scrapbook in a more 'timely' manner. I usually start every year with good intentions and stay caught up until summer vacation. That's when we travel and I come back with 200 or so photo's! I get a bit overwhelmed and before you know it we are heading back to school, holidays and those fall sports and hobbies that take up the weekends.

As I try to complete my 2011 album still, I'm attempting to stay current on my 2012 album. I pulled out some older papers for these photo's from our hike. They work well with the gorgeous red rocks and blue skies, making sure not to take away from the focus. Another product I used for the first time is the Make-it-Count Irresistibles Numbers. These were introduced for the first time in the Fall/Winter Idea book, but will also be available in the new Spring Book page 129. I'm a big fan of all the Irresistibles products and these are no exception. They are so simple to use, simply add whatever color ink you want and adhere to your project. In addition to the numbers they added new Persnickety Journaling Spots. You will see these soon on an upcoming project!

See how fabulous these Irresistibles Numbers look!