Summer Open House 2014

The brand new 2014-15 Annual Inspirations Idea Book will be released this week, Friday, August 1st. It is full of gorgeous new papers,  fun stamps, innovative tools and delicious embellishments!

I held my Open House to showcase just some of the fabulous new items. I called it a "Summer" Open House, because I will hold additional Open Houses later this year to truly show all the new items this book has to offer!

The new book will be available to view online this Friday and you may begin making purchases from the book then too!

{Welcome to my Open House}

 

One of the first "favorite" items is this red framed magnetic chalkboard. I love that Close To My Heart has introduced so many new home decor items. Several of these items have filled many walls and shelves throughout my home. This frame sits on a shelf in my dining room which already had red details in it so it was a perfect fit! It welcomed those ladies attending my Open House. I put some little bottle cap magnets on it just to show that it was not only a chalkboard. I'm excited to write messages on it or favorite quotes!

This is the my main table I had set up filled with lots of new goodies!

I wanted to show the new book, the 5 brand new colors {inks & paper}, a beautiful Seaside Workshop on the Go kit {it just happens to feature my own family pictures in it, woo~hoo!}, Picture My Life program and one of my absolute favorite items...the fundamental papers in the Whimsy color palette.

I showed a preview to a scrapbooking workshop using a gorgeous new paper called Brushed. This layout showcases a beautiful new stamp set and the cutest heart Washi tape in Lagoon! I also showed a level 3 layout using papers and embellishments from the Chalk It Up collection.
 

Finally I set up a display of the newest Base & Bling collections as well as a "try it" marker display. Yes, that's right, new markers and they are awesome!

I will have more detailed pictures of all these projects soon!

I also offered some handmade projects for sale. They included a mini album, 12x12 layouts and boxed card sets. I will have these posted in a "for sale" section on my Blog soon.

Be sure to stop back here at the end of the week! See the new book and be inspired by all the new products and the outstanding artwork. Want a new book in your hands? Just contact me and I'll help you with that. You can place your order for new products online here. Be sure to click on the JOIN button under my Inspiration 2014 gathering.

Celebrate with Chalk, Cake and a Sketch!

My card today is so much fun! It was truly inspired by multiple challenges that worked really well together.

Over at Heart 2 Heart challenges we are baking a cake! I only have a few stamps with cake images, but this is my favorite...cupcakes with a cherry on top! Yum!

I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. It's a clean and simple sketch and the twist this week was to have a Birthday theme!

Finally, the photo at Inspired By has the most awesome chalkboard home décor. I love the trend of chalkboard art right now and knew that with the theme and sketch it would work perfectly!

I embossed white powder on black cardstock, then smudged some White Daisy ink to appear like a chalkboard. You will also notice some bright, fun Dream Pop papers in there! {You'll have the chance to order this gorgeous paper for yourself soon!} The cupcakes and stand were colored in with alcohol markers.

You should check out all of these challenge blogs. There's so much inspiration and creativity to be found!
Thanks for stopping by! 8)

With Sympathy

I have been playing with several new products in preparation for my Open House event this weekend. One of the new stamps I purchased fits perfectly with this week's Heart 2 Heart challenge. Sympathy cards are not my favorite, but from time to time are needed for rare situations. For the H2H challenge to create a sympathy card I have used the new Words of Comfort stamp set. I also incorporated the new Love Blooms stamp where I got to play with some of our new Alcohol Markers.

This first card uses the Flirty papers and the roses were colored in with markers. I then highlighted them with the new pink Glitz Glitter Gel. It's a vibrant, bright card designed to lift the spirit of the recipient!

This card uses the same rose, but in lighter more subtle colors. I used the Clementine papers with some neutral burlap ribbon and cream pearls. I chose to use the stamps in soft colors to fill in the outline of the rose. I lightly blended the colors together with a blending pen. Simply elegant.