More of So Much Happy

Sometimes when I get out a paper collection, I just sort-of get on a role! After creating a scrapbook layout, I kept making beautiful things with this cute collection. My next endeavor were some more cards using more of those adorable Complements, cut-apart pieces and lovely papers.

This first card is kind-a cute and the second card is for a kind friend! Don't you just love this bird hitching a ride on this stretched out pooch. I just tied a balloon on and set them in some thin-cut grass! Any animal lover will appreciate receiving this card on their "Bird-day"!
 

As if this floral paper in the collection wasn't enough, I've added a bold yellow sentiment from the cut-apart papers. It is centered on an embossed circle and raised up on 3D foam. The 'friend' sentiment comes from the itty bitty alphabet stickers on the Complements sheet. Super simple to add just about any sentiment you wish. Instead of 'friend' I could have said 'nose picker'. It makes me think of that old saying, "You can pick your nose and you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friends' nose!" or Something like that!

Hope you liked these cards and had a laugh! Hope your day is filled with So Much Happy!

So Much Happy Plants and Flowers

The cut-apart paper and Complements from the So Much Happy collection are irresistibly cute. Some of the images and sentiments I used on a scrapbook layout that I posted earlier. I felt that some other images would work better for a greeting card.

I especially liked the little flower pitcher and the big leafed plant. Take a look at my simple creations.

For both of these cards I used some really old PML cards that have been in a craft organizer for some time now. I have a new thing for a pop of bright green and turquoise on a base of black and white. Especially black and white dots! To spruce up the pant I added a little mint shimmer to the blue areas. The sentiment is one of my favorites; an older stamp set, but a keeper!
 

This card uses an older PML card also, but I added in a piece of peach cardstock that has been cut using the fancy tags thin cuts. I gives the card a feeling of the pitcher sitting atop a table.

Both cards are very simple which allows the Complement pieces to be the star of the card! This collection will be available until the end of April. Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Expressions 2018 Unboxing

This year for my Open House I decided to do a grand unboxing. Rather that lay all the new products and my artwork out on display, I walked through the Idea Book and revealed new merchandise in order. My customers felt like it was Christmas morning early!

Here are all the boxed stacked up and ready to be opened!

The aftermath of boxes as product and artwork have been removed!

I will reveal all of these awesome new products and my artwork throughout the coming weeks. You will be able to view the Idea Book for yourself online starting September 1st. You can look forward to all the new products, pages of inspiration, a new stamp of the month and several monthly specials including a special bundle especially for National Stamping Month! Come back soon and often!

Prickly Pear with Cactus and a Llama

Hello! Have you been browsing the newest Idea Book? I always love turning each page back and seeing all of the newest collections and projects. I am always pleasantly surprised with the creativity and cleverness that CTMH comes up with each season. Now of course I like all of the new papers, but sometimes there is one collection that captures my interest first. In the new book it was the Prickly Pear collection and that adorable Llama stamp set.

The Prickly Pear cardmaking stamp comes with coordinating thin cuts in the Llama and Cactus shapes. This makes the cutting and stamping super easy. These cards were made in no time at all and the papers are really awesome too!

We created this Llama card at my Open House. It was a llama fun to make! Do you llama make one too?

You can get the paper collection and stamp set with thin cuts online now. Just think of the creations on both your scrapbooking pages and cards!

Last Day for Happy Times {Just the paper collections that is!}

Today is the last day to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month and the monthly special collection of Happy Times paper and exclusive stamp set. If you had your eye on this collection and saw all sorts of possibility using it in your scrapbooks or even just your card making, then you should order today!

How about a little inspiration from the Close To My Heart design team~

This paper transitions so well from scrapbooking projects to cards and much more! Here are some cards I created with the collection and a few older and newer stamp sets. They were so pretty, I decided to display them in my nook all month long. Just in case you need more inspiration!

Today is the last day! You can order online here. Remember with a qualifying purchase of $60, you can get the paper packet free!

Happy Times for Mom

I'm so glad that the Happy Times papers arrived before Mother's Day. I knew right away that they would work perfectly for Mother's Day cards! I loved the floral prints and gold paper, but found that with the different patterns each card was unique. Take a look~

Remember you can get the Happy Times paper collection for free with a $60 purchase this month only!

Now go spoil your Mom's!

Charlotte Kit Cards

I've shared a couple of layouts that can be made using the Workshops Your Way kit. Today I would like to share the cards that you can create from the kit using the online guide. They use a mixture of papers, puffies, ribbon and sentiments, but what I really love is that you get to incorporate some water coloring with all three designs!

Take a closer look~

If your not a Scrapbooker, just imagine all the beautiful cards you can create with this workshop! You can order the Charlotte Workshop Your Way here and start creating!

June Specials

As always, with the start of a new month comes brand new specials! This month will have you crushing on the go and dreaming of ice cream!

During the month of June, when you purchase any My Crush^® book and its accompanying assortment pictured in Annual Inspirations 2014–2015, you will receive the coordinating stamp set FREE! That is a savings of at least $9.95 USD / $10.95 CAD! Choose from five lovely My Crush book offerings that will provide a swoon-worthy background for your favorite memories. From family reunions to camping adventures to holiday countdowns—and much more—you will be crushing on all these books and the possibilities they provide. Every My Crush book features a hard cover with wire binding and cardstock-weight pages that are printed with eye-catching designs to form the perfect bases for your memory keeping. Additionally, each My Crush book also features unique details—from glossy print, to vellum pages, to gold foil, to ink-resistant patterns—that make displaying your personality easier than ever. Plus, once you add the artistry of the coordinating assortments featuring sticker sheets, envelopes, alphabets, cards, and journaling spots, along with your free stamp set, you will be well on your way to your own gorgeous mini book creation! This offer is only available while supplies last* and once they’re gone, these books are gone for good, so put your orders in early to get your summer romance rolling today!

More details can be found on the Current Specials tab!

Be sure to see this post when I took my crush book camping!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Also for this month~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Stamp of the Month is absolutely adorable and fun! It's called Ice Cream Dream and has darling images and one of my favorite sentiments!

You can get more details on the Current Specials tab and order the stamp of the month at a discounted price online here.

Here are just a few images of cards I made with the stamp set. You will see more projects throughout the month and be sure to check out my Stamp of the Month board on Pinterest for more ideas!

Typed Note Inspiration

Have you ordered your Stamp of the Month yet? Typed Note was one of those stamps that immediately at first glance I knew I wanted it. There is something about the vintage typewriter I really like, plus you get a variety of sentiments to go with it. Here are a few cards I created with the stamp, each is a little different.

This first card uses some older Ariana papers and a complement piece. It gives the typewriter a softer, feminine feel.

Using the older Typeset papers was a no-brainer! It works perfectly with a vintage typewriter don't you agree!

This last card is sending all it's love on some Snowhaven papers and a striped zip strip!

I hope these cards have given you lots of ideas and inspiration. Remember if you place an order of $50 or more you can add the stamp of the month for only $5. When you place your order online you can also add a daily deal! Have fun typing....I mean stamping your typing!!

First Ever Crate Card Club

Last month I introduced my customers to a new club I was starting. I call it the Crate Card Club!

This is the original photo I made for the flyer and introduction. I did an example and explanation of the club and handed out 6 colorful crates that day.

Our very first club met this past weekend and it is already a success! In fact I already gained an eighth member for our next club in January!

Here is how the club works~

Each member brings their crate filled with a sample card and all the materials for all other members to create their sample card. Each person gets a turn to be the teacher. We rotate to each member around the table until we have completed everyone's cards. In the end you create/design one card yourself and get to make 7 (depending on how many members you have that day) more cards taught by other members. They can be any occasion they desire, I only require that they use mostly Close To My Heart products.

Each member received a plastic crate that they could decorate as they desired. I gave away all the brightly colored crates so I used an older clear one that I dressed up in some black gross grain ribbon and a Base & Bling pendant.

Inside I had my designed card (inspired by the Snowhaven card making WOTG) the papers already cut, stamp set, embellishments and envelopes. I also had all the stamps we were going to use already mounted on blocks.

Here are the cards that were created from all the members~

My card

Nanette

Pat

Tommie

 

 

Barbie

Janet

Lori

What did we learn from our first get together?

1. We get to use stamp sets that we don't already own

2. We learn different styles as everyone has unique ideas

3. We learn clever and creative techniques we never tried before

4. Everyone has a different way of teaching

5. Several cards can be made in a little amount of time

6. We will have a variety of cards for many occasions

7. We laugh and have way too much fun being members of this club!!

I can't wait to meet again in January!

Also~

In conjunction with the Crate Card Club I held a Holiday Open House where I showcased some of the Autumn and Winter collections available in the Annual Expressions Idea Book. I also hosted a Base & Bling buffet and gave a sneak peek to several products that will be featured in the newest Seasonal Expressions Idea Book. Whew!!! Yes, it was a big day for me!{and that's only the half of it!}. Stick around and I will have photo's from my Open House soon!

An Artfully Sent Halloween

I am having so much fun playing with the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge. Oddly enough, I've only explored a few pages and the possibilities are endless!! Here are just a few cards I've created using the Halloween themed keys.

On this first card I created a simple front using the ghosts that were cut out from the inside of the card and the sentiment "BOO"  was actually cut from the Artbooking cartridge. It's a pretty plain front, but the star is the scene on the inside of the card.

I told you the inside was the star! How cool is this haunted scene inside? The house is popped up as you open the card along with the fence.

Not only does this cartridge cut cards, but it can also cut out the PML cards for scrapbooking. Here I cut out one of the 4x6 sentiment cards. Being frugal I saved all the cut out letters and then started rearranging them to make up other words. Finally, I decided on the word "candy" and a card was created! Isn't that what Halloween is all about?

Then I created another card with the PML sentiment card. For this I simply added some background papers and few other embellishments to the front of a 5x7 base.

Candy corn kisses is a sentiment card that is super easy to make. I mounted the entire card on white daisy card stock but only after I pieced some colors for the candy behind. I wanted the word "kisses" to stand out more, so for this I simply filled it in with a yellow marker.

Here is another border card as you saw earlier with the "candy" sentiment. This was my demo card at a recent workshop. I wanted to show how fast and easy creating one of these cards can be. It just requires some cutting on your machine, a paper piece behind, some stamping and a couple embellishments.

Once you get a hang of the simpler cuts, you can then get a little more adventurous! Here I combined two different cards to create one. I love the bold colorful sentiment on the spider web. Just a few spiders to dress it up. Even though it looks fancier, it really was not that difficult as the Cricut does all the work for you still!!

I hope you enjoyed all these Artfully Sent Halloween cards. I can't wait to create Christmas cards next!