Congrats Smarty Pants!

The theme last week on Heart 2 Heart Challenges is a "congratulations" theme! Perfect timing for all those High School and college grads! I just celebrated my nephew's graduation this past weekend. While celebrating with him and his family, we came to the realization that several of the cousins were going to be graduating back to back for at least the next 4 years! So why not make a few graduation cards to prepare and since my own daughter will be one of the graduates next year, she was my inspiration for these cards. I like to call them the Smarty Pants Series!

I made a total of 4 cards that all vary in size, but carry the same theme by using the papers from the Magical collection, the eye glasses cut on the Cricut Artistry cartridge and images stamped from the new Smarty Pants MyAcrylix stamp set.

Pretty cute collection of cards to celebrate that super smart graduate on their success! Be sure to visit the Heart 2 Heart Blog to see how others celebrated this theme!

You can order the Cricut cartridges, Magical papers and the Smarty Pants stamp set online here.

Hello H2H Sketch Challenge

It's been awhile that I've played along with Heart 2 Heart Challenges. Its a sketch challenge this week. I was able to use up some Cricut cuts I did some time ago and added the pretty Springtime Wishes flowers that were pre-cut with the thin cuts. Just a bit of white & gold ribbon and some bling in the corner and this card is complete!

Photo Booth Fun with the SOTM

I was so proud of my teenage daughter for making all the plans and doing all the work to put together her Birthday party this year. One of her ideas was to create a photo booth with props for her and some friends to play, laugh and get that perfect picture!

I knew that these photo's would be fun to scrapbook later, but it was even more fun using the Stamp of the Month; Life in Pictures. This is a great stamp set that will work for scrapbooking pages, mini albums and cards. This month you can get it for just $5 with qualifying purchase!

I just love those vintage cameras! The polaroid frame is a great base for several small pictures on a layout. See more artwork ideas and details of the Stamp of the Month offer on the Current Specials tab at the top. You can also find more ideas on Pinterest!

Wedding Love Jar

I used the Freshly Made Sketches design and the colors of a wedding invitation as inspiration for a wedding card I need this weekend. I love the soft gray & yellow colors together, plus that little Cricut cut jar is so pretty!

You can recreate this card with some Georgie papers and cuts from the Artbooking and Artistry cartridges.  Check out the FMS Blog for more ideas using this sketch!

Spring Wreaths in Many Colors

This past weekend I held my Spring Wreath Workshop. I had a total of four attendees, but Oh! Man, you should have seen all our stuff spread out across two rooms! We had Cricuts chirping, flowers being assembled and hot glue guns galore. Just about every outlet was filled! In the end the ladies created the most lovely spring wreaths in an assortment of colors. You can see my original sample wreath here.

This first wreath has yellow and dark blue flowers~

This next one has yellow with slate gray and just a pop of smoothie pink~

Look how pretty the smoothie, black and beige flowers look together~

Finally, this wreath is for the fans of purple with just a bit of black & white pattern. Gorgeous~

To think that all of these wreaths were inspired by the cover of the Annual Inspirations Idea Book. What will inspire you today?

Do Mondays Make You Crabby?

This post is for all of those that feel a little crabby on Monday's! I think for me it starts with a forced early morning wake up call, a shortened coffee time and the hustle to get ready and out the door on time!

This cute crab has been brought to you by: Beach Days My Acrylix stamp set (D1684), Cricut Artistry and Regatta Papers. {All new products found in the Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book.}

I hope this adorable crab made you smile, on this lovely day we call Monday!

September Card Club & a Surprise!

Crate Card Club made its 'mini' return this month. Not all of my members have returned yet, but we still had fun creating! Here is the card I created again and remember I told you that I had a surprise for the girls!

On my card I did some background stamping on the base of the card. I used a 'Best Day' sentiment from the Zoe WOTG kit. That was the only stamping for this card! All the other details were cut on my Cricut from mostly the Artistry cartridge and the Artbooking cartridge. I used some Fundamental Papers for a little shine and added in some new aqua shimmer trim for even more sparkle!

My surprise for the ladies is a new idea I wanted to try. A monthly add-on kit that will coordinate with my card. As much as we all love to exchange cards, I still have some scrapbooker's in my group. I love that this idea reflects the direction of Close To My Heart's Annual Inspirations Book which is to focus on memory keeping! After making cards I will show my customers the two page layout. If they like it they can add the kit to their order for $10. They will get everything they need, pre-cut and pre-stamped with instructions to create the layout for themselves. So far it is a success!

 Here are the other cards that the ladies created for our exchange. As always we had a great mix of themes and products.

 Thank you for stopping by, have a great week crafters!

Card Club Returns

Today my Crate Card Club returns. We took a little break over the Summer, but now we are ready to start back up! With all the new products from the Annual Inspiration just being released it is exciting to imagine all the possibilities. For my card I've incorporated lots of cuts from the brand new Artistry Cricut cartridge. I gave a little sneak peek of it on Instagram, but the ladies attending don't know that I have another little surprise in store for them! Here is your sneak peek too, but you will have to come back to see the surprise for yourself.

Adventure with Mini State Stamps

Have you seen the M-sized state stamps in the new Idea Book. You can find a couple examples on page103, however you can see all of the United States and the Canadian provinces and territories online. I knew immediately which states I wanted to collect first and what I would use them for!

Our family embarked on a pretty epic vacation this Summer! We traveled through three states making multiple destinations. This was also the furthest North we have ever traveled on the West coast. At the end of our almost 4 week adventure I brought back plenty of photographs to fill an entire album. From the moment I saw the new state stamps in the Idea Book I knew exactly how I wanted to design the introduction layout.

 This layout will be at the start of our Summer Vacation album. It really introduces the journey showing where we started and giving just a glimpse of the entire trip to the last destination.

I also used lots of brand new Artistry Cricut cuts which were a ton of fun to cut and add into the layout!

Just look at those cute little state stamps!

 Here is a collage of some close-ups of the stamped images throughout the layout!

 Now those adorable mini-stamps can all be contained in the mini organizer! This newest organizer is found on page 155 in the Annual Inspirations. It holds up to 28 My Acrylix M-size stamp sets or use it for those smaller embellishment packages, they fit great in here too!

I had a customer tell me that she wanted to collect all 50 of the United States stamps and if she got anything for such a purchase. Well I suppose if you got all 50, I would have to throw in a mini stamp organizer for free!!

What would you use these mini state stamps for?!! See them all online here.

Hello September!

So many crafter's have been waiting for this day! September marks the beginning of the brand new 2015-16 Annual Inspirations Idea Book. Close To My Heart has also released the Holiday Expessions mini book where you can find all sorts of inspiration for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! You will have plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming Holidays, but pace yourself with all the amazing new products featured in the annual catalog!

I have books available or you can view it online by clicking the image on the right side bar.

As if all the new books & products weren't enough....It's also National Stamping Month!

September is National Stamping Month, and this year Close To My Heart has something to help every kind of papercrafter say a big “hello” to life! 

Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix^® Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $13.95 USD / $16.50 CAD each! 

Or, for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $34.95 USD / 41.50 CAD—a savings of $6.90 USD / $8 CAD! 

Each stamp set is designed to fit with a specific type of papercrafting, whether that’s scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. However, all the stamp sets coordinate with each other and can be used together to create dynamic artwork. 

These stamp sets also coordinate with shapes from the new Cricut^® Artistry collection to help expand your artwork options even further. Remember, these stamp sets are available for one month only, so get your orders in for one stamp set—or all three—before these gorgeous stamps disappear! 

Make certain to follow Close To My Heart’s blog, Instagram, and Facebook page for artwork inspiration featuring these lively stamp sets all month long. You can post your own artwork to your social media channels using the hashtag #ctmhHelloLife.

Dates: Offer valid September 1, 2015 (9:00 am MDT)–September 30, 2015 (11:59 pm MDT).

Finally, what's a new month without a gorgeous stamp set at a discounted price. You can find all the Stamp of the Month stamp sets in the back of the Holiday Expressions Idea Book. (no longer contained in the Annual Inspirations book) Paper Garden will make your creativity bloom! Find more details on the Current Specials tab at the top or shop online here.

My Crate Card Club meets up again in just a few weeks and I also have a fun Halloween Layout class to share. September will be sensational, stay tuned for more artwork and inspiration!

Foxy Critters on Artistry

You saw the cat and dog images I cut from the Artistry cartridge the other day. Besides just family pets, you can also find some of those cute critters from the wild. Like this adorable fox I'm sharing with you today using the sketch on Freshly Made Sketches. The tree stump is also cut from this cartridge and goes perfectly with Mr. Foxy!

The Artistry collection is available now to order. In just a few days you will be able to order all the new products in the 2015-2016 Annual Inspirations Book! Don't miss out on the deals ending this month though and those items retiring from the 2014-2015 Annual Book & Seasonal Expressions.

I'll see you on the first with all new items and specials!! ;)

Cute Critters On Artistry

I was having some fun with the images I could cut from the new Artistry cartridge. I love the animals that are on the cartridge like the hedgehog and fox, but I wanted to start out with some pets. These simple cat & dog images should be called Best 'Furr'iends!

I have to mention that the "Best friends" label is also cut from the Artistry cartridge and is stamped with one of the MyAcrylix stamp sets that comes with the collection. I dry embossed some paper for the background and used an older patterned paper to create a scene. With the cartridge doing most of the cutting, this card comes together quickly!

You can purchase the regular collection or digital edition today online!