Thank You Card

Thank you so much my blog readers for your patience with me. It has been a busy summer and even so I wanted to get so much done, time was running out on me. Does anyone else have the same problem these days? I don't know, but it seems like June was just here.

Well, speaking of June, believe it or not, I owe you still our Card Making Class projects form June. Yes, seriously....so lets get back on track and catch up with things!

Before we went on our summer break we were working one a couple of really cute cards. This "Thank You" one is one of them. 

I like the simple elements and the summery colors the best.

We used four squares, two bigger and two smaller once. A perfect project to use up some of your scraps. I picked a nice blue background for the base card.It is cut about 1/8" smaller than the base on each side. I arranged the squares so they overlap each other by a little. The "Thank You" phrase was stamped in black ink and the square was edged with some glacier ink. I lifted some squares with foam dots while others are adhered directly to the paper.

Little flowers are punched out and five are placed on the front of the card, while one goes inside and the rest on the envelope. A little button with thread is used as an extra embellishment. A few pearls and your card is done!

Don't forget to stamp the inside and decorate the envelope if possible. 

Stay tuned for more catch up projects to come...

A Year of Card Techniques ~ September Blog Hop ~ Mixed Media

Welcome to

It is month nine of our year long journey to explore different techniques and we're mixing things up this month with a few mixed media techniques and products. It's not to late to hop and comment to be entered into out prize drawing. If you missed any of the previous months, you can click on the month to be taken directly to the start of that month's hop.

January February March April May June July August 

So what is mixed media you might ask? It is as simple as it sounds: you take different techniques, materials and mix them up. Yes, that easy!

No matter if you use dry embossing, heat embossing, glitter glues, metal elements, wood pieces, ribbons and rhinestones and mix them up with card making, boxes, albums and any other display form ... any of these and more combined will be considered mixed media.

I have to admit, I was very short on time this month, but I didn't want to miss out on the hop, so pardon me for using some items that I created over the past year to show what you can do. Promised, next month will be back to new creations. 


Let's start with some card samples, shall we?



In this card for example I dry embossed vellum with some dots, added glitter papers and silver thread to the card.

The silver thread is meant to be used for sewing, but I think it is a great material for cards and other items too.

Did you know that paint can be a great mixed medium too? I mixed just a few drops of pearl shimmer paint with water and flicked them over my background paper. Not only does it create a wonderful shimmer, but it also makes for a super snow background. 
The foreground snow is made up with white pigment ink and white embossing glitter... 

 An even simpler way to create mixed media ... I used white embossing powder to create the flower background on watercolor paper and on the phrase flag.

Watercolors create the green and blue shading and little rhinestones add dimensions.

Yes, mixed media can be as simple as this! Combining two mediums...

Here are some 3-D displays for a change.

I created these wine bottle sleeves for a craft show. 

Beside the cardstock and design paper I added some wooden elements, ribbons, greens form a wreath and Christmas ornaments to decorate the sleeves. I also used some glitter glue to enhance the dots on the one design paper.

Last but not least a little decorate lantern for the season. Place a LED light inside and the stars shine.

Here I used a combination of embossed cardstock, vellum stamped with white pigment ink, glitter paper for stars (which I cut with different star dies), crochet ribbon and some linen string...





Again, sorry for the "old" examples, but mixed media really gives you a ton of opportunities to use any product you have in your stack. Create a card, a page, a photo frame, an album, boxes and on and on it goes. The possibilities and the items you can create are endless.

I hope you enjoyed our little excursion into the world of products and hopefully we could inspire you to be a little more experimental with the things you have on your desk. Enjoy crafting and as always we love to hear from you. So please leave a comment along the way and have a chance to win a gift certificate. 

Up next are the wonderful creations of Debbie!

Keep on crafting and don't forget to comment!

Have a wonderful day

Claudia

Here's today's line-up in case you get lost along the way

Theresa ~ http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com

Kim ~ http://katydidcards.com

Claudia...Your are here!

Debbie ~ http://pawstoscrap.blogspot.com 

Sharon ~ http://piece-ofheart.blogspot.com

Lisa ~ http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com

September Special - "Kindness changes everything"

National Stamping Month: Create Kindness

September Constant Campaign

Celebrate National Stamping Month this September with hand stamped cards designed to help create a little more kindness in the world. The Create Kindness card kit contains all of the supplies needed to create 24 beautiful handmade cards that you can use to brighten someone’s day! The kit can be yours for only $46.95—a 15% savings off the retail value!

Thanks to the pre-printed card bases, these cards come together in no time, leaving you more time to do something thoughtful for someone. Watch Close To My Heart’s blog,Instagram account, and Facebook page throughout the month of September to see what we’ve created with this card kit as well as the acts of kindness it has inspired! This exclusive kit will only be available in the month of September while supplies last, so make sure to get your order in early.

As a special bonus, the exclusive stamp sets and pre-printed card bases with envelopes are also available for separate purchase, but only in the month of September while supplies last!

The kit includes:

- Mini Stamp Organizer Box

- 8 Mini Stamps for outside and inside

- small black ink pad

- Acrylic block

- 24 printed card bases inclusive envelopes and decoration 

Don't miss out on this super cute special! CLICK HERE to order this set online!

Seasonal Expression Holiday Book ...It's Here!

The Close to My Heart "Seasonal Expression Holiday" book is finally here! Check out all the new and exciting paper packs, stamps and beautiful embellishments and so much more....

Click Here to see the new book online... or ...contact me for your personal copy!

For all of you that can't wait to get there hands on all the new goodies, I will place a collective order on September 2nd. If you life in the area and like to save on shipping, email me and I call you when it is ready to be picked up. Otherwise, simply go to my website ...CLICK HERE... and start shopping and all items will be send directly to your front door. Enjoy browsing and I see you soon :-)