December Special "Everyday Life album planer"

This was long over due... finally. Close to My Heart presents you their newest product line:

The awesome Everyday Life album planer that let's you never miss a date again. This super cute black planer with the gold embossing is the base for everything. 

This planer comes packed with dividers for each month, pockets, calendar pages, stickers and so much more.

During the month of December you can order this planer special including the coordinating Perfect Plan roller stamp as an exclusive bundle for only $29.95. This means you take advantage of a 15% discount. If you like to know more about this awesome planer, contact me or check the updates on my website.

Hurry, because this bundle is only available while supply last. Once its gone there goes your 15% rebate. You will be able to order these items individually later, but why wait when you can save some money, right? So let's go...

More Hot Chocolate Mug Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of the different mugs I made for my last craft show. Interested on how to make those or would you like to buy some? Contact me for more information and stay tuned for more craft show items to come...

Oh and I forgot to take a picture of the finally set up, but all mugs were placed in a nice clear cellophane bag and closed with some ribbon tied to a bow and a gold glimmer thread with either glitter stars or snowflakes at each end...like the cute little tea cups that are coming up...(Guess what I found on my camera? Yeah, there is one picture of my wrapped mugs...)

Magic Christmas Night "Merry Christmas"

One of my favorite Christmas card designs. We had a lot of fun in class to see how the winder wonderland emerged and how easy it is to create the snow.

I used the Close to My Heart stamp set "Always Grateful" (C1559) again. This is such a gorgeous stamp set and so versatile, if you ever need some really nice trees, get this one!

First the Christmas tree was stamped in white pigment ink four times on the "desert sand" cardstock. You have to let it dry completely before you start the next step. I used "New England" green ink from Close to My Heart to stamp the other trees...Yes only one ink. I stamped slightly off set of the white trees first. Now I inked my stamp again, stamped once between the trees and a second time (without re-inking) next to the previous one. This gives you one tree in a nice dark green and another one in a lighter version. Fill in the space until you are satisfied with the layout. I stamped "Merry Christmas" with dark brown ink.

Now lets see how the snow is done... take your white pigment ink pad and with a downward motion go over the bottom of the cardstock piece. You cover all the space that are not stamped as well as some of the tree bottoms. Add snow glitter embossing powder to is and heat set.

I mixed 3-4 drops of white shimmer paint with a little bit of water. Mix well and use a brush to spritz drops onto your cardstock. Let it dry.

All that is left now is to adhere the cardstock piece to the center of your card base. You can use foam dots or adhere it direct to the base. Add a litter glitter paper star and your card is done.

I place a nice Christmas phrase on the inside and stamped a decorative design on the outside of the envelope. 

If you are interested in purchasing this card or any other you might see on my blog, please contact me. If you like to learn how to make this and other cards yourself, sent me an email for more information.

Hot Chocolate Mug's

This is a little hot chocolate treat to give away. The paper mug is made out of the new "fern" colored (green) cardstock. I decorated it with one of the design papers of the "White Pines" (X7200B) paper pack.

A little bit glitter glue around the edges and your little treat mug is done....well almost!

I filled my mugs with a pack of hot chocolate, some marshmallows and a couple of Hershey's kisses....yummmmy

Here are a few more samples:

Craft Show Pictures

 Thanks to everyone who stopped by last Saturday to see me in Milford at the St.Mary's craft show. You all made my day very special.

Here are a few shots of my set up and all the "paper" items I created for the show. 

In the upcoming days I will show you a closer look on what I created.

Some of these items were inspired by creations of other crafty ladies, which I would like to mention here...Thanks so much Linda Parker and Jasmine Schulze for some great inspiration!

I was able to get individual pictures of almost all the items, but I was so busy from the start that I forgot to get a close up shut from the little chocolate treat boxes and the tea books I made. So for those you have to zoom in on the second picture here on the blog...

The chocolate treats are in the middle, the little star shaped formation of long blue and red boxes. Those were decorated with little penguins and Santa's.

The tea books are on the bottom right of the picture. Cute little book containing some delicious teas.

For all other items stay tuned....

Thanks again and I wish all of you a

"Happy Thanksgiving"  

Owl Greetings "Get Well"

Last one for fall and then we are for to make Christmas cards...

For this card I used a basic daisy white card base. Two strips of brown cardstock were place on the right and left side of the front of the card.

The "Wood" part....
I inked up one side of my woodgrain embossing folder and placed a piece of daisy white cardstock carefully on the inside. Close the folder and run it through the Cuttlebug machine and out comes this beauty.

To adhere the embossed paper to the base I had to use quite a bit of liquid glue to make it stick the to front (it is due to the embossing)

The letters were cut with the Cricut and also adhered with liquid glue.

The wreath is from a retired Close to my Heart stamp set. I punched out a big circle matching the size of the wreath stamp and then punched out a smaller one in the center. I stamped the wreath and colored the berries and leafs with markers. To make it look more real I followed the contour of the wreath with my scissors and adhered it with foam dots to the front.

The little owl is also from a retired set and was stamped, colored in and cut out with scissors. I tucked it behind the wreath and adhered the wings to the front.

The inside is simply decorated with some faux stitching.... Love to join my card classes or would you like to buy some of my cards? Just contact me by clicking HERE....

Witches Hat Gift Box

A little late, but never-the-less, I thought I should show the cute little witches gift box we made for Halloween.

You can change the colors and decoration and use it for birthday or even Christmas gifts...




I used our Close to My Heart Cartridge "Artiste" (Z3170) to cut the base, the little purple bag. For the hat, you need a circle with a long cutout in the middle, a simple Christmas tree (two of them) and a paper bow. 



The assemble of the hat is quite simple, but will take to long to explain here so contact me if you like to know how it works. Decorate the hat with glitter and stars and place it on the little bag....Your witch is done...or wait, you can ad eyes to the bag and it is complete.

To keep the hat from falling off, I used a paper clip or a clothes pin on the top of the bag and placed the hat over it.....

Fall Window Scene "Warm Wishes"

No fall card without pumpkins or what do you think?

To create this card I used a regular card base with a fold on the top. The green design paper is cut just a bit shorter on the right and left, leaving room for a small strip of brown cardstock. 

I adhered the brown strips first and then centered the green paper on it, flush with the top and bottom of the card.

For the window... the frame, window box and the little strip of grass were cut out with the Cricut machine.



For the window background... I used a piece of champagne cardstock from Close to My Heart and a tree from the stamp set "Always Grateful" (C1559). This set has some wonderful trees in it that are a must have!!! You will see these trees popping up in other cards coming.

For the pumpkins... two circle punches in two different sizes. Punch out three circles of each size. I overlapped two of the circles just a bit and placed the third one in the middle of them...the green on top is leftover from the grass strip.
The tree is stamped in cocoa ink and placed behind the window grid. I then adhered the grass strip behind the window box and placed it with foam dots onto the window. The pumpkins were placed and adhered in position and the window was raised with foam dots from the card base.

The sentence is stamped again in cocoa ink and on champagne cardstock. I cut the fag to it and a piece of our gold shimmer trim (Z1985) which comes with adhesive on the back.
For the inside I used some leafs and swirls to decoration.

Never tried our shimmer trim? Well you are missing out on something great. Love that is has adhesive on the back and all you have to do is cut to length and remove the backing. You can buy many more colors online on my website or if you just want to try it...I can help! I also sell the shimmer trim in 12" measurements, so let me know if you like to try it.

Contact me if you have questions, like to order or would love to join my monthly card class.
I would love to hear form you...

Stay tuned.....

Glitter Acorns " Thanks"

Uhh, I love this card too...

I used the Cricut cutting machine again and our Close to My Heart Cartridge "Art Philosophy" (Z3171) to cut out the acorns. I first cut the whole acorn from cashmere cardstock and then did a separate cut for their little hats, this time from gold glitter paper (Z3076). 

In case you have never tried our glitter paper you don't know what you missed ;-). It is sturdy, doesn't lose glitter and cuts like butter. When you place it in your trimmer make sure to place it glitter side down! This way your blade doesn't get dull. If you like to try the glitter paper, you can order the 12"x 12" pack or if you prefer a small package I have them also in sizes 6"x 12" and 6"x 6" for sale. Just contact me! Each package will contain all three colors of glitter paper that will come in the big package too.


I stamped the "thanks" phrase on a piece of daisy white cardstock and cut the flag with scissors. Next I cut a piece of cashmere cardstock a bit bigger than the phrase one and adhered it to the phrase. Now cut the flag into the second layer to match the first.

My card base is a regular daisy white card base folded on the left side. 

I run a piece of vellum through my Cuttlebug and embossed it with dots. I cut a piece of slate (grey) cardstock fitting the front of my card base. The vellum is a bit wider than the grey piece and folds around the left side. This way I had to run my adhesive only on the back of my grey carstock piece and adhered the vellum to it. The vellum will lay loose on the front. Now you can adhere the whole grey piece to the card base and there will be no adhesive seen holding the vellum in place.


Decorate the front with some gold thread, the acorns and the phrase and your card is done. For the inside I decided to use a smaller version of the acorn, a stamp short phrase and a few hand drawn lines to decorate it.

Love to explore how to create cards like this yourself? Well, come join me on a monthly base to make cards like this....Contact me for more information...

Fall Leafs "Happy Thanksgiving"

Love this fall card, how about you? 

I used our Close to My Heart Cartridge "Art Philosophy" (Z3171) and my Cricut Explore cutting machine to cut the colonial white overlay and the leafs. A little alternating was done to get the leafs without the stamps, but that's about it.

First I cut out the overlay with the nice edges and the three leafs positioned as you see them here. Next I cut the leafs out of sorbet, honey and olive cardstock. I used the same colors in ink to edge the leafs and give them a more natural fall look. I stamped the phrase in chocolate ink on the overlay. 

To assemble the card, I adhered the barn red piece of cardstock to the center of the card base. Next I centered the colonial white overlay with foam dots on the red piece. Make sure to place a few foam dots around the cut outs to keep them up.

I used liquid Tombow glue and tweezers to place the leafs back into the cutouts. Make sure before you put adhesive on the back that they are the right way up (at least the maple leaf).

A little rhinestone was placed on the front.

The inside was stamped with a "Happy Thanksgiving" phrase and a little pumpkin too. 

Would you like to create cards like this one? Well come join me for some fun time. Usually once a month we met to make 4 cards. All things will be provided for you...pre-cut and even the adhesive will be there for you if you like, otherwise bring your own. Come join the fun and contact me today for more information.

Birthday Balloons

Here another card we created in my October card class...What would be a Birthday without balloons?

For this card I pulled my Cricut cutting machine and my Close to My Heart "Artiste" (Z3170) cartridge out. 

The base on this card is folded on top and I rounded all four corners.

First I cut the purple overlay including the balloons out with the Cricut. Next I used three different polka-dot papers to cut out the balloons again. Last but not least I cut out the banner from daisy white cardstock....OK, the cutting part is done.


First we adhered the purple overlay to the card base. With the Close to My Heart cartridge you will get three stamp sets that match some of the cutouts made with the machine. Here I first used the balloon strings and stamped them in black on the purple overlay. I also stamped a banner fitting the cutout in slate (grey) ink.

Now you take your three polka-dot balloons and place them with foam dots over the cutout area on the purple overlay. 

We used gel pens to color in the letters of the phrase and adhered the banner with foam dots to the card base. A few rhinestones and silver glitter paper stars round up the card.

Naturally, we don't waste anything, so use one of the purple cutout balloons to decorate the outside of your envelope as well. I drew the string with  a thin black journaling pen.

To embellish the inside of the card, we stamped a phrase and added a few stamped balloons to it. Again, Gel pens were used to color the balloons.

Stay tuned for more cards to come ....

A flock of birds "Thinking of you"

Well, here we go I am hanging behind a little bit with our Card Class projects, but I try my best to catch up.

This was a card we did in October. Simple but so much fun. I got the idea from a make & take card we once did at Stamppeddlers down in Northville,MI. Never have been to the store? Well you should check it out. Love the ladies and there is always something new to see and learn.

OK, but back to the card... I used two different dies for this card. One is the branch you see here and the other one are the birds. The bird die cuts 6 at a time and I had to crank it through my machine a few times using different colored cardstock pieces. 

We place the branch on the colonial white cardstock base and adhered the birds with little glue dots (that was the hardest part ;-) )

We stamped our phrase in chocolate brown ink from Close to My Heart and used a sponge to create the little speckles you see here.

And naturally, there has the be something going on the inside as well.... a little phrase and a few extra birdies finishing of this card.

Stay tuned for more to come ...

Craft Show Saturday November 14th

It is Craft Show time again...

Come see me at St.Mary Our Lady of the Snows Church in Milford,MI this Saturday, November 14th from 9 am- 3 pm. Address: 1955 E Commerce Rd, Milford, MI 48381

Lots of unique vendors and items can be found at this Craft Show. I will have many new items made from paper for you. Cute little teachers, Thanksgiving or Christmas gifts and decorations.

How about these items?
- pillar candles and tea lights in unique boxes
- wine bottle gift boxes
- tea cups and hot chocolate mugs made from paper with delicious fillings
- cards for all occasions including lots of Christmas cards
- home decor items like lanterns and so much more

Come see me on Saturday and in case you can't make it, well you will miss a great opportunity, but I have you covered :-) Check back here after Saturday and see all the items available for order.

Hope to see you on Saturday and spread the word, bring a friend and have some fun.