Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Hey There Cupcakes!!

It's almost a new month...a whole new year?! Don't let this month's stamp Cutie Pie not make its way into your craft room. Your going to need lots of sweet Birthday cards in 2015 and this stamp set is simply perfect!

Today I have lots of inspiration to convince you that you need this Cutie Pie of a stamp set!


4 You cutie!

 For the love of cupcakes...enjoy!

Happy Birthday cupcake!

Hey there, cupcake!


Sweet retro cupcake!


Well, are you convinced that this is the cutest stamp set?! These cupcakes can be water colored with a water pen and ink pad or water color pencils. You can stamp on cardstock or patterned paper and piece them together. Finally, they can be colored in with the fabulous Shin-Han markers and then dipped in glitter or glitz to make them delicious! December 31st is the last day you can get this stamp for just $5 with a qualifying order.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Cutie Pie for Mojo Monday

I've been so busy with Christmas preparations and projects this month that I didn't have a chance to play with the Cutie Pie Stamp of the Month. With a few days remaining for Christmas break I've found some time to create some cupcakes. {Definitely less calories than the other creating/baking I've been doing the last couple of weeks!}

First, I just seasoned all the cupcake stamps and some of the sentiments. I experimented with different ways of coloring them and paper-piecing them. Then it was time to assemble a card using one of my experimental cupcakes. I turned to the sketch on Mojo Monday this morning as inspiration!

A "tall and skinny" card sketch is just perfect for a zero calorie cupcake, don't you think?!



Want to see more of these cute cupcakes? Come back tomorrow and see more creations using this adorable stamp set. Remember its only available for just a couple more days!

Friday, December 26, 2014

Hopscotch and Heartstrings

Now that all the handmade cards have been sent and Christmas presents have been unwrapped, all I have left to do is scrapbook the pictures I took. I can also start planning my Valentine and Spring projects! The new Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book is full of inspiration. Here are a couple displays I showed at my Holiday Open House.


{Hopscotch}

 {Heartstrings}

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Reason for the Season

One last post before you celebrate the Holiday with your family and friends. I originally saw these die cuts on Katy Taylor's Blog. Immediately I knew this would be a perfect Christmas gift for a couple of very special little girls! They were purchased from Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons Graphics site then cut on my Cricut Explore. Katy did such a wonderful job on her scene and even made them 3D so they stand on their own. I left mine flat, but the thought did occur to me later that I should add magnets behind them so they could be placed on a refrigerator or metal board like Close To My Heart's chalkboard.


I used a Birchbox to store all the little pieces and decorated the outside.


All of the tiny layers were tedious to assemble, but the final result is so cute!


Thank you so much for the inspiration Katy!

I hope that all of you are enjoying your Holiday and remembering the Reason for the Season!

Merry Christmas!

 


Monday, December 22, 2014

Christmas Frames

I was inspired by some framed art posted on Close To My Heart's Facebook page. It was such a simple frame with a beautiful message for this Season! I decided to make frames for my family members at our recent gathering. There was a total of 6 frames, but 3 different designs. This way no one received a frame that was like anyone else!



All of the art was stamped using the Reason for the Season stamp set. This frame in walnut had some older Pear & Partridge paper in olive green with a hint of cranberry red card stock.


Here I used a black frame for those with homes decorated in darker tones. I loved the dark blue and grey color scheme with it!


Finally, I used the walnut frame again with some red Free to be Me paper and darker cocoa card stock.


You will also notice that some of the frames featured the wise men and the others showed the nativity scene.






These frames make a great homemade gift with very little materials needed and can be done with just a little bit of your time. To me it was worth it to create a gift from my heart to those I love and cherish all year long!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Christmas Treat Bags

You'll remember back in September I showed you some Halloween treat bags that were embellished a bit more than the kit suggests. You can see the post here.

I decided to make some Christmas treat bags for small gifts. These can also be dressed up more like the Halloween bags, however with all the added things to do this time of year I kept them simple. I always give gift cards to my FedEx driver, mail carrier, bug sprayer etc. The treat bag was fun to add to just the card and envelope.{in hindsight I could have added the gift card inside the treat bag!}


Like the Halloween bags I filled some with chocolate. {rolo's and kisses}


I thought it would be appropriate to fill some with peppermint candies too! 


Don't make yourself crazy and add more stress to this time of year. Just use a kit to create some easy, simple gifts. Plus they are super cute and still handmade!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Christmas Card Display

During my Holiday Open house I had lots of cards on display. Some of the cards used some newer stamp sets and products, however many of the cards were made using the newest Cricut collection Artfully Sent. I think the ladies were inspired and got a few ideas!


Here I showed a simple bottom border card {Ho Ho Ho}, the new adorable scooter card with some gold bling and washi tape, a gorgeous deer card and peeking in the left corner a nativity scene card.


Hey look!  There's that Holiday Happenings Kraft mini book that I posted earlier!


On this display I had a couple swing cards and I also turned some PML type cards into full size Holiday cards!

Here is a close up of just a few of the cards.


This cheerful deer card is one of about 20 or so?! This was the card I designed and sent to family & friends for Christmas. The deer comes from one of the images intended to be used in a Holiday pop up card. The antlers cut beautifully even though they were so delicate and those birds were so tiny! I used some older cream paper, but down the center of the card is the gorgeous paper from the new Heartstrings collection. A tiny holiday cheer sentiment and some grosgrain ribbon finished the card perfectly. Oh! Don't forget the red glitter for the bird!


I love how this nativity scene card turned out. It was actually suppose to be cut larger, but it still came together perfectly. I kept it simple with neutral colors and a message stamped inside.


This noel card is intended to be used like a PML {Picture My Life} card for your scrapbooking pockets. However, with some layering, a velvet poinsettia and some sparkles, it becomes a traditional 5x7 greeting card.


Finally, some swing cards. These can be created fairly quickly and can be left simple or dressed up as you wish. I can't decide which one I like better...the adorable snowman or the ornamental tree?!


I hope you found some inspiration here today and will try some of these ideas for your own Christmas cards!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Holiday Happenings Mini Kraft Album

You saw my chalkboard using the Holiday Happening assortment and as promised I have a mini album to share with you today using more of the cards and badge buttons.

My base is the new My Creations Kraft Mini book found in the Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book. I decorated the entire front with some older gold dotted vellum. I then layered some papers from the Yuletide collection, cards from the Holiday assortment, gold sequin, Cricut cut holly leaves and some glittery red bling for the holly berries! Oh yeah, and a Christmas title from the sticker sheet in the Holiday assortment!!


Here is a look inside just a few of the pages. I will be able to dress them up more once I have some photo's to add.



Do you see how versatile this assortment is?! Plus, those cute little badge buttons are also available in the new Hopscotch and Heartstrings collection in the Seasonal Expressions book. You will be seeing those used on future projects! ;)

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Believe Chalkboard Decor

Take a look into my house, specifically my dining nook! Here I created a little display on a wall shelf using some handmade items. A believe banner, some ball jar snow globes and a decorated chalkboard.


While the banner and snow globes are super cute, I really want to share this festive chalkboard with you! To decorate it I used pieces from the My Crush Holiday Happenings assortment and badge buttons. I mixed some of our family pictures with the big cards, small cards and envelopes. I even turned the badge buttons into magnets as this board is not only for chalk, but magnetic as well!


Making the magnets was ridiculously easy! The adorable buttons already have adhesive on the back. I simply stuck them to these magnets that I picked at Walmart. I was a little leery of the adhesive and thought it might need reinforcement, but so far so good! No lost buttons lying on the floor beneath the shelf!

Here is a close up of the snowflake button with a large card, a small card and a picture of two cutie pies!


My Crush Holiday Happenings assortment and badge buttons do not need to be used as suggested in the Idea Book. Use them on a chalkboard, a scrapbooking page, incorporate them to make a banner or cards! Next, I will show you how I incorporated them in a brand new mini Kraft book available in the new Seasonal Expressions 1 book!



Friday, December 12, 2014

Make it Merry

I like to challenge myself to think outside of the Christmas box from time to time when creating my Christmas cards. Every once in awhile I come back to traditions though. The cards I am showing today are exactly that, traditional red and green! They are merry and a little bit bright with some shimmery fundamental papers!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Warm & Cozy with Snowhaven

The Snowhaven papers were one of those collections that I wasn't sure of right away. It was a unique color and pattern combination and had a lot of black. However, once I started working with it I really started loving it. My first experience was creating cards for my first Crate Card Club where I mixed some ideas together from the card kit to make something just a little different. You can see the card here. Then I decided to create a scrapbook layout with the papers and complements. I was very happy with the results of the color and pattern combinations after all! Plus, a little glitter, because winter says sparkly to me!




A sparkly red reindeer nose, glitzy glitter letters and fuzzy mittens. This layout is ready for some fun winter photo's, bring on the hot cocoa and warm knitted sweaters!


Tuesday, December 9, 2014

New Totes To Go!


This rolling tote is amazing! Not only is it incredibly functional, but it's super cute inside and out! The shoulder tote is a great addition to the collection or just use it as a personal tote to take along everywhere you travel!

You can order the new totes and awesome organizers online here or contact me to place your order!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Yuletide Vintage Christmas Cards

While at my annual Christmas card exchange the ladies wanted to create some cards I had on display last month. I guided them through a few of the cards and encouraged them to try different paper and complement combinations. Not every card was exactly the same. We had lots of fun mixing other papers, vellum and embellishments into the cards. We also decided that the Yuletide papers and images on the complements gave the cards a beautiful vintage Christmas feel.