On-Line Gatherings

On-Line Gatherings Now Available!

You can now have an on-line gathering for Close to My Heart! This is the perfect way for you, a Close To My Heart Hostess, to connect with friends and family everywhere! That means hostesses holding face-to-face Home Gatherings or virtual Online Gatherings can both reap the benefits of Hostess Rewards! And don't forget that October is the "Jump for Joy" campaign; until October 31 every gathering that reaches a minimum of $450 in sales, hostesses will be able to “jump” to the next level of Hostess Rewards—which means more free products and more items at 50% off! Contact me so we can get your virtual gathering started!

New Art & Soul

There is a new Art & Soul video up to watch. Go to my website and click on CMTV to watch or click on the Art & Soul along the left side of my blog here.

Felicity Layout #2

What do you think of this layout? Another fun one to work on. Aren't these little Birds cute? It is not quite finished besides needing pictures the title will go between both pages and make the flourishes blend in not look so alone on the page. I haven't decided which pictures yet so couldn't do my title.

Supplies: (all CTMH)
Felicity kit
Z 2111 Chocolate ink
Z2108 Brown Bag  ink
Z2101 Autumn Terracotta ink
 Z1206 Basic Craft buttons- (bamboo buttons)
Z1217 Metal brad assortment  (includes Antique Copper bitty brads, standard size brads and Bigger brads)
Z1096 Neutral Embroidery Floss
X5700 Basic Timeless Cardstock Combo Pack
You can order all products from my website.

Felicity Layout

Remember the CTMH special in January? It was a beautiful set of papers and Die Cut papers. I hope you got a chance to get yours.  Today I am showing you one of the layouts and will have another layout and cards over the next few days. It has been so fun working with the Die Cut papers and how far just one can go.There are a few techniques used making them all the more special. These are some of the techniques used. Stamping, stitching, bling and  distressing  Enjoy the layouts and the future projects!!

Among the stamp set were these beautiful flourishes and flowers .

Supplies: (all CTMH )
Felicity Kit
X5686 Basic Antique Cardstock Combo Pack
Z2104 Barn Red ink
Z2214 Cocoa Ink
Z1104 Clear sparkles
Z1096 Neutral Embroidery floss

You can order all products from my website

How are you doing?

How is everyone doing? Getting a lot of crafting done? I have been busy getting my house back in order after Christmas and other household chores. Boring right?!! Anyway I hope to get crafting and get some posts with my projects up soon.

Since becoming a CTMH consultant I have been busy trying to get that going to. If you want any info or want to order any of the CTMH products you see in  my projects, be sure and let me know. I would love to share my passion with you all. You can get to my website right from my blog and the link  here to.  We have a great special going on right now with a beautiful kit called Felicity.
Check it out!!You might even be one of the lucky winners of this kit too. Go here to see how to win.

I'll be back soon with some crafting to show all of you. Thanks so much for following my blog.

More Christmas Cards

I had so much fun making the Merry Elves cards that I decided to try this years kit which is these Circle Christmas cards. They are so pretty!! I enjoyed making these just as much. I can't believe how fast I can get cards made when using a kit versus by hand. I usually only make cards etc from hand but these two kits were a delight.
Now that I have a good number made I will make the rest by hand. I feel good that I have this many done already though.
If you are on my Christmas card list forget what you just saw so you are surprised when you get your card. lol

Supplies:
CTMH Around the Holidays Card Kit

Christmas Cards

Aren't these little Elves cute?!! I just love them. I wanted to get started on my Christmas cards so I wasn't doing everything at the last minute!! Know what I mean? So I bought this card kit from CTMH. I want to tell you what a fantastic kit. Everything you need is included to make 12 cards. Even the pop dots. They went together quickly and I was very pleased.

I don't usually do kits but I fell in love with this one so decided to try it. I was not disappointed.

Stay tuned for another Christmas card kit.

Supplies:
Merry Elves card kit.

It's my Mom's Birthday

My Mom lives in Minnesota and with me living in Arizona I won't be able to be with her. I will miss her but I did the next best thing and made a card that I hope she enjoys and makes her smile.

It is Fall in Minnesota so I wanted to make the card with the feel of Fall. Here in AZ we are still VERY warm so it is hard for me to think of the true Fall feeling that other states are experiencing.
I used a Retired CTMH paper pack from quite a while back but I thought it would be just perfect for my card. I added a little glitter and stamping to finish my card. I hope you like it. By the way that is waxy flax tied in knots at intervals that I placed along side the patterned paper on the front. I love working with this product because it stays however you shape it. It is very easy to work with.

Recipe:
"Wishes" card book , Top Band pattern
"Wishes" Top Band (with a few changes)
Harvest B&T paper
Barn Red C.S.
Barn red ink
Waxy Flax
Stamp sets: Happy Birthday,Annotations, Reminisce
Martha Stewart: Glitter Copper and Brownstone

Friends and Cards

A Little Bird Told Me
Boo-tiful

Myself and a few of my friends got together recently and planned on making these two cards. We wanted to make some cards that had a little different style and/or technique used. So I decided on a Circle card and a Folded Focus Card.

The products used are CTMH and the card patterns are from the CTMH card book called "Wishes". It has some wonderful patterns in it. Both cards are 4 1/2" cards. A little trick for an envelope for this size card is using CD envelopes. They fit perfectly and you can stamp around the clear window showcasing the card too.

The first one titled "A Little Bird Told Me" is a Circle card with a combination of techniques used. We did some edge distressing, stamping, and stitching. We made a chipboard Bird even!! We had a good time putting this card together. We spent all our time on this one and never made it to the "Boo" card. LOL We were having to much fun and ran out of time. We are going to get together again and make the second card but I thought I would show it here now.

The second card is titled "Boo". It is a Folded Focus Card. This technique makes a window to feature an element for this card. In my case here I wanted to make a Halloween card and use my stamp set called "Boo-tiful" Isn't that little ghost in window just to cute?! The Boo was stamped in white ink and embossed with white embossing powder on a piece of black grosgrain ribbon. I can't wait to see what the other ladies make when we get together to make this one.

I hope you enjoy them.

Bella

This layout is from all CTMH products. I thought these papers and colors went well with my Sister's wedding which took place surrounded by the beauty of nature. These pictures are from 1990 such a long..... time ago but at least I finally got them scrapped. LOL My sister and I live on the opposite sides of the USA me in Arizona and she is in Pennsylvania!! She hasn't seen this yet I sure hope she likes what I have done with some of her pictures.
Thanks for stopping by and looking.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I would love to hear from all of you.

Recipe:
All CTMH products
Bella Level 2 paper line
Buttoned Together stamp set
Swirl Stroke alphabet stamp (retired)
Foundry Tabs
Hollyhock ribbon
Inks: Olive, Hollyhock, Smokey Plum

"Fall" Title

With the fall season coming upon us I thought I would show you this piece that could be used as a Title on a layout. Isn't it pretty? It is done with CTMH products and the emboss resist technique. The Treasure Life stamp set made the beautiful spray of flowers. The title Fall was stamped using the Chocolate alphabet. The background was sponged first.

Recipe: all CTMH products
Chocolate alphabet stamp set
Treasure Life stamp set
White embossing powder
Inks: Chocolate
Vineyard Berry
Autumn Terracotta
New England Ivy
Sunflower

CTMH Sympathy Card

Here is a Sympathy card I made for a friend of my Husband who recently lost his Father. I hope it will help in some small way to know that we are here for him and are sending our prayers.

It is done with all CTMH products. I don't know if you can see it but I added clear embossing ink to the Juniper paper in dots and then applied Clear embossing powder. It gave me a background paper with a bit of a shine.

Recipe:
Wishes card Book -Top it Off card pattern
Perfect Day Paper
Sorbet CS
Stamp Sets:Cottage Floral, Friendship Blessings ,Tender Tags
Inks- Cocoa, Juniper, Sorbet
Clear embossing ink and powder
Autumn Harvest brads
Sanding kit
Distressing tool
Stylus
Hemp and Cocoa ribbon

I'm Back!!

Sorry for the long delay in putting some new entries on my blog. I have been busy with things other than crafting and I hope to have time now to get some projects done and new posts here for all of you.

I have made a card of this style before but it is so much fun to make and I needed to make a card for a good friend of mine who is having a Birthday. I decided because she is a crafter also I wanted to make an interactive card. I chose the Free Standing Card.
I used my Score Pal for all the scoring. I love that tool!!! CTMH papers and stamps were also used. This paper is from the Silhouette line. The stamp set is Life's Creations.
I hope you enjoy this card. I hope to be back with lot's more soon.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

New cards

I have been seeing this Popsicle card around the Internet and thought it was so cute!! I had to give it a try and this is what I made with my cherry stamp. The ribbon tied around the stick holds the card shut by pushing it close to the card bottom. I added glitter to the cherries too.

This card is for my Son-In-law's birthday which is today. Happy Birthday Steve!!! I'm hoping of course he doesn't see this before I can get it to him. This card was made from all CTMH products. The papers are from Good Times and Goldrush CS. The stamp is Today's Date. Colors are Goldrush, White Daisy, Twilight.

Cupcake Gift Card Holder

There is a very talented CTMH consultant Tresa Black has figured out how to make this Cupcake as a Gift card Holder

You can view her video to make one of these here

http://www.youtube.com/user/thestampgoddess

Well I fell in love with it and knew I had to try it. It is a little time consuming but rewarding at the completion of it. I plan on making some more trying different colors for the frosting etc. It sure beats giving a gift card in one of those generic paper sleeves!!!

I hope you like it as much as I do. Thanks so much Tresa!!

Wedding Card

I thought I had better get the Wedding Card made now that the Wedding date is right around the corner. So this is what I put together having given her the silhouette paper in her shower card I thought I may as welll coordinate. I used the following CTMH products, Silhouette papers, Sans small lowercase alphabet, Blush ribbon, Curly Sentiments stamp set for the quote inside the card , and White Daisy buttons from the Holiday button collection. The DMC floss that matches the Blush color is #3354 and that was what I stitched with.

Bridal Shower Card

Free Standing Pop Up Card Card with decorated envelope

I went to a Bridal Shower this weekend. It was for my daughter's husbands brother's fiancee. Now how is that for a mouth full!! Anyway I wanted to make a special and different style card for her. She is going to start into Scrapbooking and card making. So I picked this Free Standing Pop Up card style. I used CTMH silhouette papers, CTMH Stamp set Joy Forever , CTMH paper flowers, CTMH Blush polka dot ribbon and misc supplies. This is a fun card to make and it folds flat to fit in a A2 envelope. It could be made for any theme. Hope you like it.

Happy Birthday Card

Here is a Birthday card I made recently using mainly CTMH products. The Green Heart Pin was from my stash. I used the stamp set called Cupcake Sprinkles, Daydream paper amd Liquid Glass to highlight the Chocolate sprinkles.

Valentine Cards

I also was busy making Valentine Cards. Here are a couple I made. I made a Spring Card for the first one.I used I used Heidi Grace papers and CTMH stamp set, misc stamp set and Fiskars scallop scissors. I had to throw in a little glitter too!!! That is another style card I was wanting to try. When you pull it out of the envelope it Springs open. This one was sent to my little Granddaughter.
The second one I made for my Husband. The heart is hanging in a window made in the front of the card.I used hemp to frame the window opening wrapping it around a brad at each corner. I stamped words on the twill ribbon across the bottom. I also distressed the card with some sanding. I used the pink and brown to give it a little more of a masculine feel plus I love that combination. This was all CTMH products except for the chipboard letter "V". Although I covered it with CTMH papers. That V started out as a lime green letter!!! Can you believe that?? See how you can change things you have to make them work with what you are working on? This is a good way of using leftover pieces etc.

Check out these Cupcakes

I came across this post on a blog and thought I needed to share this with all of you on my blog. A very talented Tresa Black has made these and quite a few more which you can see along with this one on her blog.

Here is the link to check them out:

http://fabulouslyartsy.blogspot.com/2008/12/these-cupcakes-taste-terrible.html