Heart 2 Heart ABC Challenge

This week the Heart 2 Heart blog is having a ABC challenge.

A= Alphabet, use a Close To My Heart alphabet stamp {or two}
B= Boy, the project should be masculine for a boy or in my case young man!
C= Chocolate, eat some while you create...oh no wait, that's not it! Use the color chocolate.

I really needed to do some of my own scrapbooking so I created this layout for my son's recent march in the town parade. The design is from the new Magic book and is called "on with the show". I changed some minor elements and flipped the photo on the left from the original design. The color choice was inspired by Jeanette Lynton's Color Me Monday back in November of last year. She uses the colors chocolate, cranberry, goldrush and creme brulee. I threw in some brand new Pacifica to tie in with the photo's. I used the larger Rustic alphabet and the smaller Hodgepodge alphabet too. The "parade" is from the July Word Puzzle stamp set. The pictures are a little busy so I kept the pages neat and clean. Hope you will join in the fun at H2H this week!

Join me tomorrow when I begin my Frightful Fridays! Every Friday in the month of October I will have something haunting to share with you. Not in the mood for Tricks?... then perhaps something sweet!!

Scrap Event Display and Last Chance for Thriller!

I had lots of goodies displayed on my table at last Saturdays scrap event and card exchange. My theme was mostly fall and Halloween showcasing new items from the Autumn/Winter Idea Book. I had new papers, stamps, embellishments and upcoming projects. I will show up close pics of some of these goodies, but first I want to show items created from this months special stamp called Thriller! Tomorrow is the last day you can order it!

Here is a close up of the stamp and 2 projects that I will be teaching in October.

Back to Basics Club will be creating these cool pages. I have used the green, purple and black again with the skeleton stamp just as I did with my candles posted earlier for the Halloween Hop! The pages remind me of a kind of vintage, nostalgic Halloween. The layout of these pages also comes from the new Magic book. Plenty of room for one large photo on the left and 3~6 smaller photo's on the right side.

I will also be teaching this skeleton coffin project. Made from wood this coffin opens up to reveal space for a mini tag book. This time I used the traditional Halloween colors with some sparkle and bling.

Come back soon as I will show more of the projects on my table. Prepare for some Hooligans!

Skeleton Candles

I really enjoy decorating the house for Halloween. I created a few items for upcoming workshops using this month's Stamp of the Month called Thriller. It's a really awesome stamp set! I will have more pics of some other projects I have made, but wanted to share these candles with you today and to participate in the Halloween Hop on Tresa Black's blog.




The candles are left over from summer, but the green works perfectly with the purple and black and I also like how the tops are already a bit melted! For the skeleton I used versamark and black embossing powder on white daisy card stock. I then second generation stamped some flourishes on the card stock and then sponged purple ink everywhere except the skull faces. It really makes them pop. The entire piece of white card stock was then mounted onto black and wrapped around the candle base. Really easy and super spooky!

September Back 2 Basics and

...a paper rose tutorial... These were the projects that the ladies created after we exchanged our Sentimental cards.

I have been creating simple, fast scrapbook pages all year long. They are really all about getting down to basics and getting our scrapping done. Each month has it's own little theme. For the month of September I made the focus about HOME! Our lives are so busy, so I feel that it is important to slow down and embrace the little moments spent at home. I hope these pages will inspire us to snap some pics from around the house.



We also created a card after a short tutorial on making paper roses. I used the new Magnifique papers which are truly stunning. I absolutely loved how all the roses turned out a little bit different, proving that no two roses are the same. I also thought it was interesting that the results really reflected how each of these amazing ladies and their personalities are all unique.

{P.S. thanks for the invite to the parlor, it was yummy!}

Sentimental Card Exchange

I held a card exchange yesterday with the theme of "sentiments". The ladies that participated really came up with a variety of ideas and inspiration. They were all great, check them out~

{inside view}

Thank you again ladies for playing along!

Check back all this week as I will be showing some of the other new goodies I had on display as well as the cards we created with paper roses and the Back to Basic September pages.

Sketch Challenge {Frightful!}

I just love a sketch challenge! H2H challenge blog had a great one this week and some truly inspirational artwork from the design team as well! I've just started to decorate for Halloween around the house and have been playing with some new stamps from Close To My Heart. Here is what I came up with~

I used the new stamp Fright Night with the You Rock papers. These colors are really awesome for a Halloween theme! I dressed up my witch with a touch of onyx glitter on her hat and shoes. I finished my card with some organdy ribbons and olive buttons with black hemp.

**PS** Thanks H2H for selecting me for the Friday Five last week! I am truly honored.

Sentiments in a Pocket

Another card featuring a sentiment or two! This was an idea I thought of for my upcoming card exchange. What I like about it were the two pockets sewn into the card. Each pocket holds a tag that when pulled out reveals a little message and checklist. I thought the color combination was cute and somewhat shabby chic. I certainly can't resist the lollipop flower and pleated paper either. However, this was not my final choice, you'll see the card I ended up duplicating for the exchange soon. I am super excited to see what everyone else has created too!

Sentiments For Everyone

This weeks challenge on H2H is called Sentimentally Yours. Create a card or project with a sentiment on it. Perfect!! That just happens to also be the theme of the next card exchange I am hosting this month. The sentiments could be basically anything other than Birthday or other Holidays. They are those perfect cards for last minute mailings or just because. Here is my card for the challenge over on H2H, but not the one I've chosen to swap. {I'll keep you guessing on that!} Once I've received all the cards from those ladies that participated I will post them here, so come back for more sentiments!

Halloween Already?!?!

My son's brand new backpack tore after only 2 weeks of school! Either his books are entirely too heavy or they don't make backpacks very well! So I set out this weekend to buy him a new one. In the various stores where once all of the back to school items were arranged, now display Halloween candy and decor. Being the Halloween fan that I am, I nearly forgot that I was there for a backpack!

The decorations are fabulously spooky and the smells of pumpkins, chocolate and caramel fill the air. I've already begun creating some fun Halloween projects with new Close To My Heart products. I can't show them all yet, but here is a card I made using some new papers with an unexpected NON~Halloween stamp set!! {can you name it?}

H2H Color Challenge

This week's challenge on Heart 2 Heart Blog is a color challenge. The colors immediately screamed fall to me; Autumn Terracotta, New England Ivy and Honey. I kept my card fairly simple and clean as you can see. I used leaf stamps from the November word puzzle stamp set as well as the sentiment. The B&T paper is from Twitterpated.

More New Color Combo's!

I shuffled the eight new ink pads and came up with four more new combinations. I whipped up some cute cards to show these combo's, check it out.

This first card uses Pacifica and Sky. I did lots of "spot-on background" stamping and used a couple irresistibles products. This is a pocket card so in the next photo you will see the message on the inside.

This card uses Gypsy and Smoothie with just a bit of Garden Green thrown in.

You might need some shades for this one! This combo of Cotton Candy and Pear is bright and super fun!

Finally, these colors made me think of fall. Even though they are summer shades, using them for a fall card made the image very bright and vivid! Don't be afraid to use Sunset and Lagoon on your fall projects.

I hope you've enjoyed these color combinations and will experiment with your own creations.

New Color Combo's

Have you browsed the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book? As I stated in the previous post Close To My Heart has introduced 8 new summer colors. I made a couple of cards with combinations of these new colors and various stamps.

The first colors are Lagoon and Gypsy~

These sweet colors are Cotton Candy and Smoothie {yum} ~

The Pear really pops against the soft blue Sky~

Finally, how about the electric colors of Pacifica and Sunset~

New Idea Book is Here!!

You can browse the new Autumn/Winter Idea book by clicking on the image in the right hand column of my blog.

The BIG news this season are 8 fresh & new summer colors. They are Gypsy, Pacifica, Sunset, Cotton Candy, Lagoon, Pear, Sky and Smoothie.

I will post a couple of cards I created with combinations of these new colors.

As usual you can look forward to awesome new stamps, innovative products, gorgeous artwork and lovely new papers. Here are images of this season's new paper packs.

Magnifique~

Olivia~

Hooligans~

Mistletoe~

As you can see, there are lots of extra goodies to see in this new book and I hope to share more inspiring ideas.