I'm back!

Honestly, I don't know what happened to September but I have a pretty good excuse for most of October. I was chillin in Hawaii with my family and 16 other friends. It's not easy to come back to the real world after the whirlwind of fun we had in Hawaii but I'll adjust eventually ;-)

I do plan on working on my crafting and my blog again so don't give up on me!

I'm still holding my holiday card workshop tomorrow for those that preregistered on time. I'll take pics of that and post them so everyone can see the fun!

Back to School

This week kind of got away from me. I had planned on doing more, posting more, etc. but it's just been a busy week :-)
I did manage to finish a couple layouts. The first being a back to school layout of the kids using the Typeset paper pack. This one is for this week's (well, now last week's...) back to school challenge found HERE.

For this layout I used:
*Tyepset Level 2 Paper Pack
*Stamp set from the Typeset Workshop on the Go kit (houndstooth pattern in corners)
*Pleated Ribbon
*Wooden buttons tied with hemp
*Foundry Pin Clips
*Retired twill ribbon
*For the two info cards I used the upcoming September Stamp Of the Month called Limited Edition. I also used the stamp sets coordinating cricut cuts and a coordinating chipboard dimensional element from the Cricut Art Philosophy collection.
*The title and the year were also cut using the Art Philosphy cartridge.
I sanded the edges of the base pages and of the photos for a more vintage look.

Ink colors used are Desert Sand and Vineyard Berry.

A couple closer pics for the details:

Heart to Heart Challenge

The challenge this week at the Heart to Heart Blog is to CASE one of the design team projects. I chose to copy Brenda's card, which you can see here.

Colors are Sorbet, Chocolate, Colonial White, and Garden Green
Stamps sets used are:
D1491-Hooray Bouquet
D1482-Love Life
C1463-Harvest Happiness
and one of the My Acrylix sets from the Cricut Art Philospohy Collection

(The background paper is from the retired pack called Notebook)

The flowers, Fleur de lis, leaves, ticket, label, and the scalloped circles were all cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

The other accents are chocolate flower buttons and chocolate striped ribbon.

I try really hard to put the best pictures I can of my work on the blog but sometimes I'm lazy with setting up my lighting and then I try to make up for it in Photoshop and it just doesn't always work out lol! So...I apologize for when my pics aren't quite up to snuff but I hope you can get what you need out of them anyway :-)

Mojo Monday 204

I love this week's sketch at the Mojo Monday Blog!



Here's my take:

*White Daisy cardstock base
*Sky Blue B&T from the Believe paper pack
*stars and clouds stamps from D1482-Love Life, stamped in grey wool and Sky inks
*Elephant and sentiment from B1391-Zoology
*Scallop circle (sweet leaf) and photo corner (grey wool) cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge*other items: button (retired) and Sweet Leaf Ribbon

Butterflies. Yes, butterflies.

People who know me well know that I'm not a fan of winged things. I don't know why, it's just how I am. I don't really like butterflies and birds in real life so I rarely use them in my creative life.
I made an exception today because I got the Flutter Just Blooms paper shapes in one of my bundles from convention and I wanted to make something with them.
Also, I was struggling all week to come up with something for this week's Heart to Heart Challenge where the theme is "Hot." Well, butterflies are kind of summery right? And summer is hot so...
Ok, so it's a stretch but I did use warm colors so we're going to say this card fits the theme! :-)

*The card base is colonial white sponged with desert sand ink.
*The mat is desert sand cardstock that I used the edge distresser on plus a little desert sand ink.
*The label shape is from the fabulous Art Philosphy Cricut Cartridge. I manipulated the shape in my gypsy to size it at 4.92x4.09 (real dial size) so it would fit nicely on a standard size card.
*I stamped the label shape with D1477-Universal Backgrounds in Bamboo ink.
*I used my paper piercer to freehand pierce a line of holes around the edge of the lablel and little circle then sponged the edges with desert sand ink.
*The flourish is from D1482-Love Life, stamped in Olive ink.
*The scallop circle is also from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, cut out of cocoa cardstock.
*The sentiment is from B1391-Zoology, stamped in Olive ink.
*The butterflies are sponged with Sunset, Creme Brulee, and a little Goldrush ink. They are adorned with Pearl Gems and adhered with liquid glass.

That's a lot of information for one little card lol! It really wasn't that complicated but I think details are helpful so I hope you like it!

Heart to Heart Challenge

The challenge this week over at the Heart to Heart Challenge blog was to create birthday projects geared toward children of any age.
I decided to do a boy card and a girl card using the new stamp set C1471-Happy Clusters
Both of these cards are based on previous Mojo Monday sketches.

The boy card has a Kraft cardstock base. The other colors are White Daisy, Chocolate, and Pacifica. The circle paper is from the Elemental paper pack and the star is from the Milepost Shapes accessory pack.




The Girl card has papers from the Sophia paper pack. The ink colors I used are Pear and Black. The wavy border is from our retired Kraft borders that I painted black. It's hard to tell but that's a little bling above the sentiment. Most girls like a little sparkle ;-)

Mojo Monday sketch

I frequently find inspiration from the Mojo Monday Blog but this is the first time I've linked up to it with my take on one of their sketches.
Here's this week's sketch:


Here's my card:
I used the new Roxie papers and colonial white cardstock.
The flower is from D1491-Hooray Bouquet stamped in Tulip
"Merci" is from D1361-Thank You stamped in Desert Sand then I used my black marker to go over the dotted circle.
The pennants are from the new Milepost shapes-LOVE these!

The tabs on the side are twill ribbon.

The pennants are secured with black brads and the flower is raised with foam tape.
Thanks for visiting my little blog!

New Video from CTMH

Since I don't have my own copy of our fabulous new Cricut cartridge yet (just ordered it yesterday), I don't have any of my own artwork to share yet. To hold you over until I do, here's another video from Close To My Heart featuring the cartridge and one of my favorite stamp sets from the new Autumn/ Winter 2011 Idea Book.

Feeling Wicked?

I am! Well, Wicked as in the August Stamp of the Month ;-) This is a really fun halloween set! Here are a few things I did with it:

The layout is based on the Typeset Workshop on the Go layout that is featured on page 19 of the new idea book. The "orange" paper is from The Dreamin' level 2 paper pack. The black and white patterned paper is from the Mischief level 2 paper pack.

I added some Lagoon touches here and there to go with my daughter's costume. Also the witch's boots are accented with liquid glass to make them shine!

Edges of this stamped image and the other accents are sponged with goldrush ink.

The moon was stamped with second generation goldrush.

Again, some lagoon on her socks, and liquid glass on the shoes and bird.

Don't look too closely at the candle, everything is a wee bit crooked and a bit off but it's still fun so here it is. I used the technique of stamping and embossing the image on tissue paper, laying it on the candle, wrapping it with wax paper then heating it with the embossing gun to make the tissue paper "melt" into the candle.

Card base is Kraft cardstock. The Goldrush paper is part of my leftovers from the Dreamin' pack used for the layout.

The scalloped circles are not the CTMH punch but very similar. Images are stamped in black then sponged with lagoon.

I also used some lagoon sparkles on the corners of the sentiment.

I love this cute black polka dot ribbon! It is retired but is still available in the "while supplies last" section of my website for a great price! Check it out HERE.

To check out more artwork created with products from the brand new Autumn/Winter Idea Book, follow along Tresa's (Fabulously Artsy) blog hop!

Heart2Heart sketch challenge

Here is this week's H2H blog challenge sketch:

This is the card I made:

Papers are from the Sweetheart My Reflections Paper Packet.

The chipboard scalloped circle and heart are from some retired CTMH Dimensional Elements packs.

Card base is made from Grey Wool cardstock-one of my favorite colors!

Stamp sets I used are all brand new and available on August 1st!

The swirly brackets are from C1474-10 Things

The "I heart you" is from D1499-Live Your Style

The flourish in the corner is from C1463-Harvest Happiness

And last, but not least, the adorable bling button is from our new Bling Assortment-Z1466

Check out what others have done with the sketch HERE.

A couple Cards

I promised some artwork on my blog so here's a start ;-)

My Acrylix stamp sets:

D1461-Ciao! (main image, postage stamp, sentiment, and coin)

D1477-Universal Backgrounds (music notes along left edge).

cardstock colors:

Barn Red, Sorbet, Kraft, and Colonial White.

Ink colors:

Barn Red, Sorbet, and Creme Brulee.

I used our Creme Brulee marker to put a little flame and glow in the lamp. I sponged a little desert sand ink on the edges of the colonial white pieces.

I tied a little piece of hemp around the stamp and adhered it to the card with some foam tape for a little pop.

That's it! Pretty simple but classy and flat enough to easily mail.

My Acrylix Stamps:

D1410-One of a Kind (stems)

D1476-Card Chatter-Sympathy (sentiment)

Cardstock: White Daisy

Ink colors: Olive, Black, and Cotton Candy

Flowers: BULK147 White Daisy Crochet Flowers (still available to purchase here in the "while supplies last" section of my website.)

Ribbon: Z270 White Daisy Grosgrain ribbon

The cotton candy pink behind the flowers was just gently sponged on in a circular motion at the top of the stems, then I adhered the flowers with liquid glass.

Before It's too late!

Before we get too excited about the new products I need to tell you about the retiring products that will only be available until July 31, 2011.

To make room for fresh, new products the following items will no longer be available to order after July:

All Level One Scrapbook Kits
Bliss Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Miracle Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Sweetheart Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Wings Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Magnifique Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Olivia Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Hooligans Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Mistletoe Level 2 Paper Packet and My Stickease
Designer ribbon – Cranberry (Z1209)
Designer ribbon – Buttercup (Z1154)
Designer ribbon – Sweet Leaf (Z1125)
Sophia Level 2 Journaling Spots (Z1357)
Mini Medley Accents – Pear (Z1339)
Mini Medley Accents – Lagoon (Z1340)
Mini Medley Accents – Outdoor Denim (Z1277)
Top Coats – Framed In (Z1211)
Rub Ons – Across the Board (Z1231)
Rub Ons – Primavera (Z1265)
Kraft Color Ready Borders (Z1377)
Red Eye Pen (3501)
Embossing Powders – Clear (Z671)
Embossing Powders – Heavenly Blue (Z647)
Embossing Powders – Pansy Purple (Z664)
Embossing Powders – Silver Pearl (Z678)
Block Buddy Set Z1289 121 Pivot Point Stapler (Z1009)
Texture Tools – Foam Tools (Z1090)
Fun Flock (Z263)
My Accents Block Organizer (Z185)
Dimensional Elements – Villa (Z1390)
Dimensional Elements – Miracle (Z1354)
Dimensional Elements – Booksmart (Z1223)
Dimensional Elements – Borders (Z1156)
Dimensional Elements – Framed Fun (Z1140)
Dimensional Elements – Plain Chipboard (Z1164)
Dimensional Elements – Stars (Z1312)
All Dimensional Elements Monograms – A – Z
All Envelope flats
3” x 3” Mini Album (Z1166)
My Creations 3 ring binder (Z1141)

The packaging and pricing structure of all the cardstock is changing as well. In the spirit of "Consume it, don't collect it," we will no longer be offering 24 packs of a single color of cardstock in all of our colors. So if there are any colors that you are sure you are going to need multiple sheets of, order them NOW!
All colors will continue to be available but they will be packaged in 12 color season packs or 3 color shade packs.

To order any of these retiring items and take advantage of the July special, Bang for Your Buck, Click Here

Exciting New Stuff!

I think the most exciting new product that will be available on August 1 in the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book has to be...

Drumroll please.....

An Exclusive Cricut® Cartridge!

And not just a cartridge, a whole collection of amazing products that coordinate with the cartridge!!!

This innovative collection brings together an exclusive Cricut® cartridge packed with versatile shapes, three coordinating My Acrylix® D-size stamp sets, and three coordinating 9" x 12" sheets of white Dimensional Elements chipboard die-cuts. Since the cartridge shapes, stamp images, and Dimensional Elements all complement each other, it’s a snap to cut a shape, stamp on it, and then layer it on a Dimensional Element to really make it pop.

This is so awesome!!! The best part....You get the entire collection for only $99!!

You can order it through my website on August 1st OR you can host a gathering or workshop in August with $250 in sales and get it for 50% off! That's not even including all the other great deals you can get in August but I'll tell you more about those later.... :-)

Check out the featured video below to learn more about this amazing collection!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new little corner of the blogosphere!

I plan to share artwork, ideas, and information about my Close to My Heart business to inspire my readers to find their inner creative diva.

Please take a moment to look around my blog to find links to current specials, awesome videos, Studio J (our digital scrapping center), and much more!

I just returned from CTMH's annual convention for consultants and I am bursting with excitment, I'm not even sure where to begin :-) Once I gather my thoughts I'll put some more posts up with the most pertinent information.

Stay tuned!