It's Almost Here!

Last day of July!

What does that mean?

Last chance to get this month's fabulous promotions: Stamp of the Month, Work the Workshop Canvas Art Kit & Patriotic Stamp sets. (be sure to check the Current Specials tab at the top to see full details on these promotions.)

 What else does it mean?

That tomorrow is August 1st! It's almost here!! The new Autumn/Winter Idea Book is officially live! I have been hard at work preparing for my Open House this Saturday.

With creativity comes chaos!!

I can't wait to show you the new products and share all my creations with you. If you are unable to make it, don't worry, you can still see all the goodies right here all month long.

You can also place orders starting tomorrow! Be sure to get your order in early to me via email or by phone (not online) so you are eligible to earn prizes!

Also~ Don't forget about the Pajama Party tonight! BigPictureClasses.com

Hello Ombre'

Whether your shopping in the stores or surfing through Pinterest, you may be noticing the trend of ombre'. The challenge this week on Heart 2 Heart is to create an ombre' look on your project. For my CAS card I also included the trend of chevron. My shades of yellow make this such a happy card! The "Hello" sentiment was simply cut on the Artbooking cartridge available in just 2 days!!

Be sure to stop by Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog to see more samples of this growing trend!

Sweet Giraffe

I am still using up some of the beautiful Dream Pop papers! I love the bright, happy colors available in this paper pack. I have used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and created this darling Giraffe with the new Cricut Artbooking cartridge available in just 4 more days!! Notice the "sweet" banner also cut on this cartridge. That is just the beginning of the fun sentiments found on this new cartridge!

Pajama Party!

Close To My Heart is teaming up with Big Picture Classes again to bring you a live webcast with step-by-step instructions for making this layout using the NEW Cricut® Artbooking collection. Purchase the collection from me beginning August 1, 2013 and revolutionize the way you scrapbook!

The FREE webcast will air Wednesday, July 31 at 7:00 pm MDT.  During the presentation, you’ll learn to make several projects from a variety of sponsors, including Close To My Heart’s Artbooking layout, as our very own Kristine Widtfeldt walks you through the steps!

The Pajama Party class will be available for FREE at BigPictureClasses.com on July 31, and will be archived after the event for future viewing. If you would like to interact on the message board, participate in live chat, post to the gallery, download handouts, or enter any contests, you will need to log in to the Pajama Party “classroom” by creating a free account on the Big Picture Classes website.

If you have already created an account or if you registered for the first Pajama Party in May, you are all set! You will not need to create another account or register again.

I hope you will enjoy this sneak peek of the new Artbooking collection as Kristine Widtfeldt, Stacy Julian, and the rest of the Big Picture Classes crew make the featured project and share their tips and tricks for using the collection. I know you will be chomping at the bit to make the Artbooking layout, so take this opportunity to sit back, relax, and drool over the items, then be ready to spring into action August 1st when you can buy the collection with the rest of the supplies. Then, tune in to the archived event for step-by-step details on how to make the project. To make the project, you will want to have the following items—or similar products—on hand:

• Z1906 Cricut® Artbooking Collection***

• 1301 Bamboo Cardstock

• 1388 Colonial White Cardstock

• X5668 Honey Cardstock

• X5762 Lagoon Cardstock

• X5930 Slate Cardstock

• X5639 Sweet Leaf Cardstock

• X5666 Twilight Cardstock

• Z2160 Twilight Exclusive Inks® Pad

• Z2173 Slate Exclusive Inks® Pad

• Z1853 Aqua Dots***

• Z1799 Silver Shimmer Trim

• Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

• Z1294 Sanding Kit

***These products will be available for customers to purchase beginning August 1, 2013. I will be hosting an Open House on Saturday, August 3rd, 2013. More details will be available soon.

 

Many Thanks

Recently I mailed off a big box of cards for donation to the troops serving our country. The organization was in need of Thank You cards and Thinking of You cards. Here are just a few I did for them.

The Wedding

The youngest of my Brother-in-Law's was married yesterday evening. He is the baby of 11 children and the last to be wed! It was a beautiful wedding filled with surprises and personal touches. I made them a card based on the wedding colors of slate gray and coral orange. I used the Stickease from the For Always paper kit and added some stunning ribbon and sweet little orange flowers. Simple yet elegant!

{The wedding party}



Merry & Bright in July!

Today I am playing along with a Christmas in July challenge on The Paper Players! When my daughter saw me creating this card she said "It's too early for Christmas cards. Why do people have Christmas in July?" She really is not fond of this idea, she prefers to keep Christmas in December!! {silly girl}

I have also used a mix of patterned papers which happens to be the challenge on Heart 2 Heart this week. I love mixing and matching different papers from various kits. It really stretches the possibilities of projects when you do this. I often find it is necessary in scrapbooking, because the photographs have a mix of colors!

The papers I chose are from the kits Stella, Rockin' and Dotty for You. My "merry&bright" was cut using the new Cricut Artbooking collection available August 1st. I added some red sparkle glitz to the "bright" for some festive fun!

Birthday Hooray!

This Birthday card is happy and simple. It uses the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week. I used some Later Sk8r papers in my favorite Lagoon color. I really like this celebration sentiment from the For Always Workshop on the Go cardmaking kit. Tucked in the lower right is a fun tag of chevron ribbon.

 

Summer Frames

Back in May I purchased these wood frames in the most darling shapes. {Pick Your Plum.com}They are a naked wood and ready to be stained or painted. I figured it would be a great summer time project for my daughter and I. She has recently out grown some of the posters she had on her bedroom wall and we needed to fill in the empty space. She picked out all her own colors, bright, just like her personality!

She and I sat down to paint them all and then I sprayed on the clear lacquer finish. "Mom, make sure you're making nice paint strokes and getting even coverage!"  "Yes, dear!" :)

The next day she had her best friends over for a fun photo shoot! She decided to print the pictures in black & white since the frames were colorful enough! Dad helped her get them up on the wall and she can easily take them down to change out the pictures when she wants to.

 

 

That was a fairly simple project to keep her busy for a week this summer. Now what will we do next week?!!



Happy Fourth of July!

You may have seen the special on the patriotic stamp sets offered last month. That special is still good until the end of July. Click on the Current Specials tab at the top of this page for more details.

Here are a few cards I created to give you inspiration.

On this first card I random stamped the fireworks in the background and even included some bitty sparkles.

The Statue of Liberty needed a little TLC recently, but this card only needed a glitter banner and some stars to sparkle.

How about some twine and washi tape for this one.

 A couple of these cards were created with the intention to be donated to an organization that will make sure to deliver them to our troops. I am grateful for those willing to serve their country and ensure our freedom!

This was my son's favorite. He has a strong passion to serve in the military himself. It makes me nervous, but I will support him and undoubtedly be a proud momma!

This one was slightly aged with some cocoa ink and I love the sentiment over the blue medallion.

Sweet Bee Birthday

My card today features a sweet bumble bee buzzing by with a Birthday wish! This card was also created for three different challenges this week~

1. Mojo Monday sketch...can you believe their celebrating 300 challenges!!

2. The Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.

3. Dynamic Duos color challenge...gray & ???

A closer look at the bumble bee's glittery wings!

The sketch~

 

For the circle element in the sketch, I formed some mini honeycombs in a circular pattern!

 

For my Tic Tac Toe I chose the right column; Birthday, Yellow & Ribbon

Finally, My Close To My Heart color choices were Slate Gray and Crème Brulee, lovely & sweet!

 

Be sure to check out each of these challenge blogs for inspiration and to play along!

 

Canvas Art Workshop

Last month I gave the Workshop on the Go Canvas Art Kit a try! It was really fun to create and very simple to do. If you have ever thought about trying this project, July is the perfect time to get the kit for 50% off. {Click on the Current Specials tab at the top for more details.}

Let me show you how I did mine ~

This is everything you get in the kit. 12x12 canvas with chevron striping, sparkle flourishes, hemp baker's twine, MyAcrylix exclusive stamp set, 2 sets of chipboard pre-printed dimensional elements and instruction booklet to guide you through every step.

Other items needed to complete your canvas art not included in the kit are Cocoa Ink Pad, Liquid Glass, 3D foam tape and blocks for the stamps 1x 3 1/2, 2x2, 3x3.

First step is to decide what photo's you want to use, the suggested sizes are 5x7 and 2 1/2 x 2 1/2. Pick the color frame for them from the dimensional elements. Also choose the other embellishments and banner pieces you want to add. These will get stamped in Cocoa ink on the chipboard and allow them to dry well. I used a little bit of liquid glass to adhere my photo's to the frame. Allow these to dry well also.

I added the baker's twine around my large photo and adhered it first to the canvas as it is the biggest focal point on the frame. I used some liquid glass as well as some large glue dots to secure it to the canvas. My smaller photo frame was adhered with some 3D foam squares for added dimension. Then I just played with the banner pieces and all the other elements creating little clusters around the photographs.

It was a really fun project and seriously took me a little bit of time.

Then I discovered plenty of leftover pieces from my project. Well, I just couldn't let them go to waste!

So I created a two-page layout for some crazy pictures I took earlier in the week!

I used the left over 5x7 frame, olive green banner and some other elements to showcase how my son "tomahawks" a watermelon! {no persons or dogs were harmed in this photo shoot!}

My son has been begging me to buy a watermelon just so he could chop it up. It was all in good fun and a refreshing treat on a 110` day. Our beagle watched for awhile, then did some investigating. I don't think she liked the taste of the watermelon but enjoyed licking the cold water from it!

What do you think about creating beautiful artwork for your home, plus a layout or cards from leftovers for only $19.95? I think it's a fantastic deal and will be a great project to do indoors on a blistering hot Summer day! Place your order through me directly or online at www.amysart.ctmh.com .