Welcome Fall!

This past weekend was officially Fall! What better way to welcome this lovely season than with a cheerful sign. All of the elements for this sign were cut on the Cricut, the You Are Here cartridge and the Flower Market cartridge. {The butterfly is from the new Grateful Heart Complements.} The idea for this sign came from a talented consultant that shared her sign at Convention back in June. {Lisa Stenz, thank you!}

With several layers used on this sign it makes it quite sturdy. It can be hung on a wall if you were to add some ribbon or you can center it in a beautiful fall wreath! It has just the right dimension and the faux wood paper gives it a bit of rustic quality.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the new season and cooler weather!

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Here is another look at that cute Stamp of the Month! This time I've used the "tidings of comfort and joy" sentiment of the Just Treats stamp set. It looks great with the Oh What Fun papers and sweet little birdie complements.

I hope that you have found some inspiration for this Stamp of the Month. It will no longer be available after September so don't delay on getting this awesome stamp set!

Warm Winter Wishes

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that use the "warm winter wishes" sentiment found on the Just Treats Stamp of the Month. Both cards feature the darling little coffee/cocoa cup.

This first card uses the Seasons Mix-in paper with a cozy color combination of blue and pink, but is anchored down by a bold black and white polka dot.

This next card screams cozy Christmas wishes with the gorgeous 'Tis the Season papers and a pinecone stamp.

Did you know that you can search out more ideas using the stamp of the month on Pinterest and Instagram? Use #ctmhstampofthemonth, #ctmhsotm, or #ctmhjusttreats.

Memories in the Making ~ Happy Place layout

Are you celebrating National Stamping Month? Don't forget that Close To My Heart has an amazing special to celebrate this month called Memories in the Making. You can create a 12x12 calendar with this kit or use the Cut Above pages to fill your traditional 12x12 scrapbook. Either a completed calendar or a scrapbook album would make a wonderful gift for the upcoming holidays.

Here is a quick video to show just how easily a layout can be completed!



Shop online for all of your purchasing options. Here is a final look at all of my pages done.

Sweet Friends

I'm back with more cards featuring the Stamp of the Month, Just Treats. This time I focused on the sentiment that says; thankful for sweet friends like you.

On this first card I used the fall paper collections of Grateful Heart. I colored in the words to give more variation in the stamp itself. I threw in some Seasons Mix-in paper and a beautiful flower sticker from the Grateful Heart Complements.

For this second card I used the Boutique paper collection. The sentiment was stamped on half of a 4x6 PML card. I loved that the border had the leaves so I positioned it to the right side of the card. I used one of the decorative sticker strips from the Complements on the left. (charcoal with white dots) The card was finished with some sparkle gems and twine.

Come back soon as I will show you more cards using some of the different sentiments from this adorable set. Don't forget that you can get this stamp for only $5 with a qualifying purchase.

No Tricks Just Treats

Halloween will be here before we know it! Be sure to get the Stamp of the Month for September as it has a great sentiment that you can use on your Halloween cards. The Hello Pumpkin Paper collection works really well with the stamp set and can be combined with other spooky colors as you will see on these cards.

I used the same pattern for all 3 cards. {Make It from Your Heart Vol. 4, Pattern 10, page 24} You can simply leave your card colors as the traditional orange and black, or mix in some Lagoon and a purple (pansy or thistle works well) and you really get a pop!

Aren't those fun! Come back soon and I'll show you more cards I created with this special stamp set that you can get this month only at a discounted price of only $5!

Boutique Cardmaking

I held a class Friday making a couple of cards using the Boutique Cardmaking stamp set and papers. In my post featuring those cards I promised that I would have more cards to show you using that stamp set. My ladies got the first look and I think they really liked all the ideas I presented them. To think that one stamp set can be used in so many variations is really nice and makes you feel that you are truly stretching your dollars. Here are the other cards I made using this stamp.

On these cards you will find how I have used this stamp set with the Boutique papers, some Boutique PML cards, complements from this collection and lots of new embellishments that can be found within the pages of this new Idea Book.

I hope that you have found some inspiration here today and wish to use this stamp set in your future projects. You can order this new stamp, papers and all the other new items shown on these cards online here.

Mix-in Everything

Today I am sharing a layout that features the Seasonal Mix-in Papers. These papers are designed to seamlessly blend with all of our other paper collections featured in the Holiday Expressions Idea Book.

Two of these patterned papers are from the Mix-in collection and the other papers are from almost every other collection. Hard to believe, but there are papers from the Boutique collection, the Fall papers (Grateful Heart), Halloween papers (Hello Pumpkin), and Christmas papers (Oh What Fun). Isn't that amazing!

I used complements from the Boutique collection, some older complements for the "love you" title and a variety of sequins.

Around the circle of patterned papers I also used a brand new Stitched Borders stamp. (page 92)

I have been mixing our patterned papers for years, but having an entire packet of paper to blend with all the collections is really proving to be a lot of fun! You can get this paper packet for $6.50. It includes 6 sheets of double-sided designs. You can also get a pack of coordinating cardstocks that will work well with all of these patterned papers. Find all of them on pages 74 & 75.

Pictured above is the Seasons Mix-ins paper collection. If you haven't seen all the new paper collections I recommend that you log onto my website and view the Holiday Expressions Idea Book. Better yet, if you place an order online you can add an Idea Book to you order for free!

Boutique Card Class

This Friday I will be hosting a Boutique card class using the Boutique papers and the Boutique Cardmaking stamp set. I love the scripty sentiments, simple images and the thin border stamps contained in this set.

The cards we will be making have a clean design and will allow the participants to explore just enough of the sentiments and images that this set has to offer.

I will have more cards to show using this stamp set, but my class attendees will get the first look! Come back to see them here on my blog soon!

Beginning with Boutique

It has been over a week now that the brand new Holiday Expressions Idea Book was released. By now you had a chance to look through the pages to see all the new collections of papers, stamps, and more!

The first collection featured in the book is Boutique. This collection has gorgeous, subtle colors and beautiful, everyday complimenting images and sentiments.

A Classic Scrapbooking Workshops Your Way kit is offered in this collection as well as a Deluxe Kit that includes Texture Paste, palette knives and stencil sheets. This will take your scrapbooking to a whole new level with dimension and interest!

{Classic}

 

{Deluxe}

 

There are also so many stamp collections that coordinate fantastically with this collection. I will have to show those to you at another time as I have so many amazing projects to show you.

I will however show you one of the first projects I created with this paper collection while at Convention.

Not only does this layout use the boutique papers, it also contains a few of the papers from the Seasonal Mix-in paper packet found on pages 74 & 75 of the Idea Book. They all go together so beautifully. I wasn't sure about the little bits of yellow when I originally assembled the layout, but once I added the photo's of my daughter in her current favorite choice of yellow fashion it all really came to life!

I also loved the cluster of complements, the squares placed on a diagonal and puppy faces of course!

I will have another layout to show you how these Mix-in papers can be used with all of our paper collections. Stay tuned for that coming soon as well as several cards made using the stamp collections found within the pages of the Boutique papers. (pages 30-32)

Thanks for stopping by!

September Celebrations!

I told you earlier this week about the September special to celebrate National Stamping Month. I even made a video so that you can see how the Cut Above kits come packaged to you and how easily they can be created. You can find that video here.

This kit can be added to a 12x12 calendar or they can simply be a scrapbook layout. I even showed you how some pages coordinate well with one another and can be combined to form a two-page layout. Each page assembled as shown in the workshop guide can literally be assembled in under 15 minutes.

For some of you the pages may not have as much dimension or stamping as you wish and you can always embellish more as you see fit. For myself I found that one page in particular just was not appealing to me. I did not care for the background of the base page,so I found an easy fix and made it work for another picture....another celebration!

September is when my husband and I celebrate our wedding anniversary and this page would work wonderfully for the "Together" title. I pulled out some older whimsy fundamentals paper that had the word love all over it and that made the rest of the colors and picture come together.

If you are thinking about ordering the Making Memories special in September, keep in mind that you have multiple possibilities for each of these pages and you can make changes however you like. Most of the work is done for you, yet you have the option to pull in your own creative choices.

You can see all of the ordering options online here. Don't let this incredible offer pass you by!

Memories in the Making September Special

This month Close to my Heart has a fantastic special to help you celebrate National Stamping Month! It's called Memories in the Making and it will help you preserve your cherished memories all year long! I made a video to show you a little bit more about this special and to walk you through how simple it is to create one of the Cut Above layout pages. You can view this video and them log onto my website for more information and ordering options!

Tasty Treats ~ Stamp of the Month

Who doesn't love a great deal, especially when its such an adorable one! The Stamp of the Month for September is called Just Treats and it has a sentiment for each of the upcoming seasons. For my project I did not only want to create a themed card, but I also wanted to make a cute, little container to hold something yummy! After all the stamp is named Just Treats! 😉 {I titled this post as Tasty Treats thinking that was the name of the stamp set, it is called Just Treats! Regardless of the name, it's still the cutest stamp set ever!}

All of my cards were either inspired by those in the Holiday Expressions Idea Book or the design template was found in the Make it From the Heart Volume 4 book. All of the petite containers were made on my Cricut using the Artiste cartridge.

For my first card I used the Halloween paper collection called Hello Pumpkin.

This Fall themed card uses the Grateful Heart paper collection. I love how the grey and blue paired with the traditional fall orange color was just enough to give it that Autumn feeling!

The 'Tis the Season paper collection has some traditional red and greens, but if you bring in some of those blacks it really compliments the cocoa images. Won't this purse look adorable with some marshmallows and mini candy canes inside?!

Finally, the Oh What Fun paper collection offers a bright and cheery, tiding of comfort and joy!

All of this cuteness can be yours for only $5 with a qualifying purchase! Shop for this stamp set, new paper collections and so much more online here.

Craft with Heart {All plans available now!}

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