Holiday Frames

I love creating home décor, especially for the holidays! Close To My Heart has been offering the most beautiful selection of home décor items lately and they continue to add more ideas. One of my favorite items from the latest Idea Book is the Designed Décor Frame.

See how I framed them up for Christmas and played along with the challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week!

I hung our stockings from some shelves this year instead of the fireplace. Behind the garland and reindeer I propped the décor frames with each of our photo's above the proper stocking. We just took these pictures recently up in the snow covered mountains, but I think it would be fun to display older pictures of us when we were younger too! I created a simple banner on each frame using the Art Philosophy cartridge and some alphabet stamps.

Who knows what I will do with them next! See how the designers & guest at Heart 2 Heart got framed this week!

Rediscover Joy

During this holiday season, bring joy to those around you. Close To My Heart is offering a free download of darling tags to add to those special gifts for friends, family, neighbors or co-workers. Get creative and incorporate it in a card design like I have done here for the Mojo Monday sketch.

 

 

 

Look how cute these tags are!!

 

Download is available here until December 31st.

 

 

 

Several of the tags pair perfectly with the Season's Tweeting gift bags found in the Holiday's from the Heart gift guide! Simply print on card stock, cut them out and attach to gift, package, card or scrapbook page!

 

Frosted Evergreens

Today I am playing with The Paper Players! The theme is "Evergreen", not just the color, but the trees too! I chose to use frosted gray's and deep denim blues for my trees.

Jingle for Freshly Made Sketches

I had this idea for a card using the song lyrics from Jingle Bells. I searched all of my stamps and didn't have a single sentiment that said "jingle all the way" or even just the word "jingle"! Next best thing is to create a sentiment yourself with alphabet stamps!

Using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week, here is my card.

 

Shop Small Business Saturday!

It’s that time of  year. Time to shop for the holiday season and pickup gifts for your friends and family.  It’s important to remember that it’s the season of giving.  So why not do something special this year and give a unique handmade gift?  Support the local neighborhood or neighbor by shopping in your area or with an Independent Consultant.

Even if you don't shop with me I hope that you will support other local merchants in your community. Here are 5 reasons why you should shop Small Business Saturday.

1. The economy: small businesses will reinvest your shopping proceeds into the community.
2. Neighbors- the small business you may be helping out could be a neighbor – literally.
3. Small businesses will customize service.  Get personalized treatment from small businesses in your area that a large retailer can’t match when you shop locally on Small Business Saturday.
4. Unique gifts: get something special from friends and family you won’t find at a large retailer.  Local businesses get inventory that is specialized and a bit different from the same old thing.
5. Local Deals: you don’t need Groupon or LivingSocial to find deals in your area.  This year small businesses are more prepared than they were last year and they are also offering huge deals just like large retailers.

 Receive 10% off your entire order when you order with me directly today only. You are eligible for the Stamp of the Month when you spend $50 and when you spend $100 you not only get the Stamp of the Month for $5, but you can also receive a "star" item free from the Holidays From the Heart gift guide.

Plus, I will give away some surprise goodies to anyone that places an order and you will also earn a raffle ticket for a "big" prize for every $25 you spend!

Thanksgiving 2013

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all who visit my little Blog! I hope that you have a wonderful day enjoying time with family and friends. If you are gearing up for the Black Friday shopping battle, Good Luck!

Be sure to take advantage of my Small Business Saturday Sale. Place an order with me directly this Saturday and receive 10% off your entire order. You are eligible for the Stamp of the Month when you spend $50 and when you spend $100 you not only get the Stamp of the Month for $5, but you can also receive a "star" item free from the Holidays From the Heart gift guide.

Plus, I will give away some surprise goodies to anyone that places an order this Saturday. You can also earn a raffle ticket for a "big" prize for every $25 you spend!

Shop Small

Next Saturday, November 30th, is Small Business Saturday. After the hustle and bustle of Black Friday you will need a nice calm break! Support a small business or a local shop in your community.

Hey, guess what? I'm a small business!! I have been a consultant for Close To My Heart for almost 7 years. I have been scrapbooking and crafting for well over that. I can help you create unique handmade gifts for your friends and family this Holiday season.

You can find all sorts of ideas here on my Blog and you can shop for top quality products through the Close To My Heart Idea Book or look online here.

When you place an order directly through me on Saturday, November 30th, I will take 10% off your entire order. {shipping and tax still apply} You can call me or email me your order to take advantage of the savings. {discount cannot be applied to online orders}

Plus, if your order reaches $100 before discount, you will be eligible for a star item in the Holidays from the Heart gift guide and can purchase the stamp of the month for just $5, not to mention some little goodies crafted by me personally just for you!

Happy shopping! Thanks for your support!

Gingerbread Man Crafts

As I started creating for my recent craft fair I knew I wanted to gear it for the Holidays. Before I knew it I crafted an entire gingerbread theme! The adorable Gingerbread man is found on the new Candyland MyAcrylix stamp set. {D1557}


This first project is a magnetic photo frame. It is created using some clear acrylic cards (no longer available), papers and ribbon. They are closed with Velcro under the little gingerbread man. They can easily be opened to insert a picture and has a magnet strip on the back to attach to a refrigerator.

 

 

 

{I placed an older picture of my kiddo's in the frame for a sample at the fair.

Why do they grow so fast?!}

 



My next project is a gift card holder that can hang in your Christmas tree. The big kids love their gift cards these days, so why not package them in a fun way!

I always save my toilet paper rolls for all sorts of crafts. Simply take your empty, clean roll and smash it down in an embossing folder and run it through your embossing machine. Cut a strip of cardstock to make a belly band and decorate as you desire. Don't forget some twine to hang it!

And finally a merry banner! I love creating banners and this one was so much fun! The tags were made from a mini book in the Artbooking cartridge. I stamped them and added a title with a little mint. The best part is the smell! That's right, it's scented with a peppermint twist!

I sold a few photo frames, half of my gift card holders and I only have my sample banner left! This stamp set is really fun to play with. If you would like your own Candyland stamp set you can order directly through me or shop online here.

Sparkle & Shine Wreaths

Last Friday my group of ladies got together with me to create these curly ribbon wreaths. We used the Sparkle & Shine papers from the Holidays from the Heart gift guide. Cutting and curling the paper is a little time consuming, but we found plenty to talk and laugh about while we worked. I decided on a paper bow cut from the Artiste cartridge to finish it off. It has a small "joy" sentiment centered on a striped rosette.

Here are the ladies with their completed wreaths. Full of laughs and fun every time we get together!

Craft Fair 2013

I participated in my first ever Craft Fair yesterday. My sister, the quilter, invited me to join her at a Holiday Craft Fair at her church. We shared a space and got to hang out together all day. Business was a bit slow, but we both are newbies to this fair stuff so it was a good first experience.

Our little booth was set up in a multi-purpose room with some elementary student artwork around the walls. You can see that my sister's old saddle racks worked perfect to hang her gorgeous quilts and block a bit of the kids artwork. She is so amazingly talented!

As for me, I was able to get my crafts set out on a table that my sister covered with a printed burlap material and muslin like fabric. I displayed my crafts on a little Christmas tree {donated by an awesome friend!}, some chicken wire baskets and some wood boxes that the hubby helped me make. I thought the little red frames were perfect for displaying the prices, although there was one gentleman interested in buying them!

This table displayed all of my paper crafts. {You can see a bit of the Pampered Chef display next door. Come to find out the consultant did a party for me years ago, how crazy is that!}

I had card sets, magnetic photo frames, packages filled with gift tags, gingerbread banners, calendars and gift card holders.

I set out all of my food items on the opposite table keeping them separate from my paper crafts. I offered some peppermint cocoa kits, Holiday S'mores and cookie mix & cutter kits.

I will show some close up photo's of my projects soon! Thanks for stopping by!

Grateful Pocket Album

A great new item that you may have over looked in the Autumn Idea Book is the Kraft Pocket Album. {Z1870} For a low price of $6.95 you get a 8 page album with 18 pockets total, ready to be filled with photographs, cards, notes, receipts or recipes. I used the elegant Huntington Paper Packet {X7174B}, My Stickease {X7174C}, and Huntington Assortment {Z1881} to decorate the cover and inside pages. I chose to fill the pockets with some lovely Fall pictures from a recent trip. This was a simple project to complete and allows much creativity to create a one of a kind item!

Fall Huntington Cards

I just love the Huntington paper pack! It has such warm, rich colors and lovely patterns making it such an elegant paper. It's the perfect paper for capturing fall memories in a scrapbook or to create lovely cards which is what I did here.

This first card was created using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week.

 

 

I used some glitter paper which complimented the glitter edged leaves perfectly! Some natural hemp and an antique button were the perfect finishing touch!



I used the same glitter leaves in all the cards and incorporated other fun embellishments such as ribbon, twine, buttons, and burlap.

Grateful For You Card Set

It's been awhile since I played on Heart 2 Heart Challenges, but I could not resist sharing this lovely Fall themed card set. They capture the season beautifully and show gratitude which is the challenge on H2H!

I purchased the Laughing Lola papers in bulk with the intention to use them for Halloween. The purple was just so stunning and I thought it would be perfect for a Halloween theme. It turns out that it's great for Fall too! The file folder box to hold them all was created on the Cricut Artiste cartridge. Every card is different, but they all coordinate. I used a mix of several older stamp sets, some textured cardstocks and dollar ribbon.

Here are each of the cards~

Thank you for stopping by today! Be sure to check out the Heart 2 Heart design team artwork and remember to be grateful!

New Specials & Holiday Workshops

There are so many great specials going on this month and into December. Plus, I have fun Holiday projects planned for you and a Christmas Card Exchange event!

Holidays from the Heart

When you place an order of $100 or more in retail-priced products between October 15 and December 31, you qualify for one free "star" item from our Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide!   You'll love the sparkle, the ease, and the savings!

Picture Your Life!

 

 

Choose a free PICTURE MY LIFE Scrapbooking Program for FREE when you join my team!

 

Consider this an exclusive sneak peek into the Spring Idea Book!

 

When you purchase a Consultant Starter Kit and submit a qualifying order of $300 or more by March 31, 2014 you will receive the PICTURE MY LIFE kit of your choice for FREE.

PICTURE MY LIFE is a stunning new product from CTMH.  You can select from eight different themes - from vacation to childhood to friendship - each featuring 122 double sided cards plus 10 unique new page protector styles to capture it all.    Picture it - then capture it!

To see more details and become a consultant click here.

 

November Stamp of the Month ~ Illuminate

 

 

View more details of the Stamp of the Month on the Current Specials page. You can also find more inspiration using the stamp on my Pinterest Stamp of the Month Board here.

Holiday Workshops

 

This month I will be hosting a Kraft Pocket Album workshop. This album can be created for multiple uses, it's your choice. My album has been done with a Huntington "grateful" theme, perfect for showcasing some Fall pictures of my family. You can choose any paper packet and embellishment assortment to make your album your own. The pockets don't only hold photographs! You can use the album to capture those great Christmas cards you'll be collecting soon or how about some favorite family recipes to keep safe! I can give you more details on this workshop if you are interested and will help you make your choices.

 

Also, when attending the Christmas card exchange you can stay to create a festive Sparkle & Shine flip album. Mini album pages using some photo mats from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge and a clever Ikea frame! It's very cool, you don't want to miss out on this workshop!

 

I could be sneaking in some more projects throughout this month, so stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

Creating for Christmas

Halloween has come and gone. Before you know it we'll be eating turkey and then it's Christmas! Now is the time to start preparing and getting crafty!

Every year I host a Christmas card exchange in early December. This gives everyone a chance to gather lots of different ideas to incorporate on their own Christmas cards. This year I sent a fun little invitation for it with a silly theme.

 

 

I love the idea of using different fonts for a title. Here I chose 3 different stamp sets and even cut "Merry" from the Cricut cartridge. It's just festive and fun, hopefully it gets the ladies in the spirit for celebrating!!

 

Did I mention there will be cookies?

 

 



Halloween Treats

Yesterday you got to see some tricks! Now let's have some treats!!

This first idea came from Pinterest! I have made little S'mores packages before with just plain marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers. This is the same idea with a Halloween twist on it. I can remember when Peeps was just an Easter treat with chicks. These sugar coated marshmallows are now seen for Valentines day, Halloween and Christmas.

I wish I designed this Peeps cake. How cool is it with purple and green fondant. Check out all the ghosts and pumpkins in the scene!

{photo from Peeps.com}

Are you a Peeps fan? Do you like them fresh or do you prefer to open them and let them get stale? What holiday character would you come up with?

So while I don't do fondant, I know how to make a bundt cake....then butcher it!!!!!!!

I actually let my daughter and her friend "butcher" the cake after I spread the buttercream icing. They had fun making pools of glittery blood and then stabbing it with little candy butcher knives! The Devil's Food cake was delicious and oh, so moist!

What treats are you making for Halloween?

Halloween Tricks

Oh my goodness!! Halloween is almost here! Are you getting into your haunted spirit? We have been delighting in some seasonal fun all month long. This past weekend we really got some good scares at a haunted ghost town.

Today I'm sharing some of the Halloween Tricks we've been up to. Tomorrow I will share some treats!

My daughter has been begging to paint a little pumpkin. A friend of hers joined in on the fun. Her friend made a creepy Zombie pumpkin that was pretty cool, {sorry no pictures of the finished pumpkin} while my daughter made an adorable 3-eyed monster. Turquoise colored of course, because that's the 'cool' fashion color for Fall!

 

Next a simple project I came up with for the preschool kiddo's I teach on Wednesdays. Not every project can be super detailed like my mini albums, but I can incorporate some Cricut cuts still. They will string some yarn through the paper plate holes creating a web. Then they will assemble a wiggly eyed spider with furry, bendy legs. An easy, not too scary and cute project to take home!