December SOTM

Don’t forget to add the December Stamp of the Month to your order of $50.00 or more. It's only $5.00, that's a $12.95 savings! But it's only good through December 31, 2015.

                                       

Thankful for Fall

Fall is the best time of year in my humble opinion. I love the weather, the trees in all their colorful glory, a wisp of wood smoke on the air, and the shorter days. It all makes me want to snuggle into my craft room and create. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too. It's kind of like Christmas without all the added stress of gift giving.  To me, once the meal is served and everyone sits back to relax I look around me and think, it doesn't get much better than this. Gathering together with family and friends, good food, good conversation, and walk in the woods to gather pine cones for Christmas decorating is just the respite I need before rushing head long into the Christmas season. 
This week I created a little album and titled it Family. I plan on using it to chronicle this fall season.

The pages aren't in order, but I wanted you to see the inside.  This is the Hip Pics album

 from CTMH. I've had it for a while and just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. The windows will hold 4" X 6" photos, but putting a paper mat in each one gives me more versatility. On the page with the arrow I wrote I'm thankful for... at the top and added a few things. I'm going to pass it around so our family and friends can add their thoughts too.
Recipe:
Hip Pics Album (Z1956)
Sangria Workshop on the Go Packet(G1097) this included the paper I used, some of the stamps, and embellishments
Mini Calendar M1050
Close to My Heart Artbooking Cricut Cartridge (Z3169) The photo frame with the leaf cut out and the arrows.
Documenting Moments/Everyday Life (D1647)  title with washi tape stamp
Serenade Cricut cartridge-The tree. 
Jackson Scrapbooking Workshop (D1650) The Good Stuff Stamp
Autumn Celebrations-The pumpkin & Happy Thanksgiving.

Challenges 

I'll be entering these fun challenges this week.

BittenbytheBug2-Fall Colors Challenge 

Little Scrap Pieces-Happy Turkey Day

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog-#264 

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Thanks/Thanksgiving 

Pumpkin Treats

I was feeling frightfully festive today. I decorated the house for Halloween and I made up some Halloween treat bags to send to my granddaughters.

2 pumpkin treat purses

I used a cut in the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge to make my pumpkin treat holders. It’s the 3D object on page 32. It’s not a pumpkin cut, but a little purse. I cut it using orange cardstock. I got the faces from the Cricut Pumpkin Carving cartridge and cut those using my Gypsy so that I could hide the pumpkin shape and just cut out the faces.

Side view

I found a cute little Pumpkin Poop Poem HERE at Christmas Organized Home.

I’ve been following this organized Christmas website for the last 3 years. Every year they help make the holidays a little easier. They start in earnest the last week in October so be sure to check them out soon.

4 and 5 year olds are perfect for this type of humor.

And of course, the 'poop'

Grandparents Day

 

Today was Grandparents Day at my granddaughters’ school. I had to work, but my husband (Papa) is retired so he got to do the honors. Since I wasn’t going to get to go, I wanted to send the girls something to let them know that even though I wasn’t there, I was thinking about them. I took the little gift box I posted about last month and created another one for my youngest granddaughter. 

 

This time I used the Sangria paper packet from CTMH. I'd already made a one page scrapbook layout using the paper and fell in love with the fall colors in this packet. I knew they would work perfectly for this project. 

 

  

Since I wasn’t sending the girls gift cards I removed the gift card platform from the little drawer and added some Tic-Tacs and Hershey’s kisses instead.

 

I wrote them a little note telling them that since I wasn’t there to give them a hug and a kiss the candy kisses would have to do. Papa presented them to the girls after chapel and he said they were a big success.

 I thought I would participate in some challenges with this project too.

Anything Goes Challenge #30 over at Silhouette Challenges since I used my Silhouette to cut out the box and easel card. 

CardzTV is having a "fun folds" challenge.

little red wagon challenge #311 'Tags', since my card is a tag peaking out of the envelope.

Scrappy Moms Stamps October Challenge is Pumpkin Patch.

Take Your Pick challenge 245 over at The Kraft Journal. I chose pumpkins, tags and die cut.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge is Autumn and since I used Cricut cartridge Everyday Paper Dolls for my Farmer I qualify.

Online Scrapbook

 A few weeks ago I went onto Close to my Heart's, Studio J website for online scrapbooking. I had never done it before and didn't know anything about it. I wasn't even sure if I would get actual pages mailed to me or if it was just an online photo album. I thought I'd better try it out so when my customers asked me about it I could give them an honest opinion. Boy, was I pleased. The most difficult thing was choosing which pictures to use. Each layout is 2 12"x 12" pages AND YES! you do get actual pages sent to you as well as .JPG files. The layouts are high quality photos. They fit perfectly in my albums and add an interesting contrast to the other pages. (The Studio J strip on the bottom is not part of the layout)

 As you can see I chose 4 different layouts, I used the Express Collection templates but was able to select my own colors and embellishments. There is something for everyone and even a blank canvas for you to create your pages from scratch. Some people just add photos and perhaps some journaling without any decoration and when they get their pages they cut the photos out and use them in traditional scrapbook pages. The quality is that good. Check out the website and see for yourself.Go to STUDIO J Online Scrapbooking Page. You will have to login, but once you do it will take you to the Studio where you can try it out and experiment with the different tools. You don't have to purchase anything until you are ready to. Your projects will be there for up to 90 days so if you don't finish at one sitting you can go back to it at a later date. Have questions? I'll be happy to answer them or find out the answer for you.
Just a quick shout out to Karen over at Little Scrap Pieces. I won her random drawing with my scarecrow gift card box. She sent me this in the mail today. Aren't Those cute ribbons? Can't wait to use them! Love the little Halloween goodies too. Thanks Karen! If you haven't been over yet stop by and check out her blog, linky parties, and fun challenges.

Box in a Box

It's almost fall y'all! It's my favorite time of year. I think it's the colors and the cooler air. This week I made a gift card box in honor of my favorite season and for a friends birthday. I used both my Silhouette Cameo and Cricut Expression machines to make all of the items I wanted to use on this project. 

 I cut my easel Gift card holder, and the box it goes in using a cut file I got from the Silhouette Store. It’s called Star Gift Card Box with Pocket Easel Card by Lori Whitlock.  She has some adorable 3-D projects if you want to check them out.  At first I was a little intimidated because of all the pieces, but it was easy to put together once I watched her video. I changed the decorative pieces up because the original project was more of a patriotic theme and I wanted something for fall. 

 That’s where my Cricut came into play. I used the Everyday Paper dolls and Autumn Celebrations cartridges to do the decorative elements. 

By using the farmer from Everyday Paper Dolls I was able to make a scarecrow. I just cut off his hands and feet, (yes it made me feel a little creepy. It was kind of like eating a gingerbread man) and cut some scraps of yellow paper for the straw. Then I drew on a scarecrow face.  I used Autumn Celebrations for the pumpkins. The larger one on the right has 5 layers and the one on the left is only one layer.  I think they work well together and add more depth. If I weren’t going to put it in the presentation box , I would add a more dimensional pumpkin or a miniature hay bale as a stop for the easel, but since I want to put it into it’s box I’m using a fiber paper rectangle for the stopper.  I also added a little green ribbon to the gift tag.

I love that this has a little slide out drawer. It even comes with a platform that holds a gift card. Of course, you wouldn't have to insert the platform if you wanted to put a little gift or some candy inside instead. There is plenty of room. The drawer measures 
4.5" x 3" x 1" deep

 The gift card holder slips neatly into the presentation box and makes it more gift like than just handing them the holder and saying, "Here". I used kraft paper card stock to make the presentation box. I thought I might decorate the box at a later date, so I put the design on the inside and left the outside a blank slate.

              A little bow holds the box shut nicely and gives it a more festive feel too.

I’m going to enter my little box in the following challenges. Stop by and check them out all the talent out there and get some great ideas! 

Little Scrap Pieces  Stop by and leave her a hello.

Die Cutting Divas Challenge #232, 3-D projects

Silhouette Challenge  Anything Goes Challenge #29

My Sheri Crafts  Challenge #165 Thinking of Fall 

Tuesday Throwdown  #261 Anything Goes 

Bitten by the Bug 2 Labor Day Challenge in honor of workers in your life. My husband farms and I used a farmer for my scare crow. That counts doesn't it?

 

National Stamping Month

September is National Stamping Month so do your part 

and help STAMP-OUT boredom!

To help you do that, Close To My Heart 

is offering all 3 of these great "Hello Life" stamp sets

this month for $13.95US/$16.50CAD individually or 

$34.95US/$41.50CAD for all 3 sets! You'll be saving $6.90US/$8.00CAD!

But wait! There's even more! 

The CTMH Stamp of the Month is just $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase.

Here are just 2 examples of what you can do with this versatile stamp set.

 Why hesitate. Shop now by selecting the JOIN button next to

September is National Stamping month orders and start shopping!

Inspiration

I received a beautiful card last week for my birthday from my daughter’s mother-in-law, Sandy. She is as much a part of our family as my son-in-law.  We are very fortunate to have Sandy in our lives and I feel blessed that my daughter has such a wonderful Christian woman to share her husband with. This is the card that Sandy made for me. 

I just love it! Not only is it pretty, but pink and purple are our granddaughter’s favorite colors which make it even more special. I also love the idea of finding messages in several places on the card instead of just the traditional ‘message goes here.’

  

I asked her if she minded if I borrowed the card design and she said she’d be delighted, so you will be seeing some similar cards in the future. 

     Where do you get your inspirations? My daughter and husband get theirs from within themselves. I think of myself as an adapter usually. I see something I like then I adapt it to my vision. Other times I’m an imitator, especially if I’m having a creative block. I’ll see a tutorial or a how-to-video that I like and make it just like it’s shown. I find that it helps my creative juices start flowing because as I work I start putting my own spin on the object or start thinking of other ways I would like to try doing it the next time. Occasionally I get a creative thought that I just can’t let go of until I’ve created or tried to create it. That is when I feel my most creative. Unfortunately, I don’t get that feeling frequently, but that’s O.K. I believe all artists go through these creative stages. So don’t doubt yourself or feel you aren’t creative because you go through these. It’s all part of the process. Very few are gifted with an artistic hand from the start. Almost everyone has to work at it. If you are happy with what when you create, that is what matters. That, is what feeds your creative soul.

One more photo

 

Bad Hair Day

As the heat rises and summer winds down I find myself extremely busy, but I finally got a chance to play around with the Zoe Workshop on the Go Kit. It’s one of the sneak previews that Close to my Heart released this month. It will be featured in the NEW catalog coming out Sept. 1^st.  The colors are so energizing. That’s one of the great things about the B&G papers in this kit. If one side doesn’t speak to you the other side is bound too. I choose the colorful green with white polka dots side for my layout and I love the paper with the small multicolored triangles. It reminds me of a quilt. 

My Artistry Cricut cartridge hasn’t come in yet so I stamped some alternate shapes using Artbooking and A Child’s Year cartridges. 

  The stamp set included in the Zoe Workshop Kit is so much fun! I used several in the layout. The note paper stamp is from the Wanderful Stamp set. And I used a couple from the Instalife-Everyday Life stamp set.

Even though my layout wasn’t about that great of a day I was able to use one of the Title stamps with a little improvising. 

 

New CTMH Products

 

It's here! The Sneak Peek of some of the scrumptious NEW items that you can buy EARLY from "Close To My Heart" during the month of August. This is just a taste of what will be premiering in the new annual catalog coming out Sept 1, 2015. 

THE MONTH OF AUGUST is Get Organized Month at CTMH. 

 Not only can you purchase these adorable organization products, if you purchase them before August 31, 2015 you will receive a bonus product!

Buy the adorable accessory roll-up & you'll receive 2 of the new CTMH Base & Bling style sheets FREE! 

ALSO

When you buy this cute marker roll-up you will receive the D-stamp set, 'Balloon Wishes' FREE!

This roll-up is perfect for carrying up to 25 of the ShinHan markers to and from crops.