July 31, 2019

Card Class Project May - 4/4

Here is our last project from my May card making class. Like last weeks project, this one is also a masculine card and I thought I show you a little before and after comparison. When I designed this card I looked at my finished project and didn't liked it. Well I liked it, but it felt like something was missing. So I played around a bit and then I found these different gears on one of my Close to My Heart cartridges. I cut them from silver foiled paper and added them to my prototype and long and behold, that made all the difference in the world. Don't you think so?



Materials needed for this card:
- 4 1/4"5 1/2" card base
- 1 1/4"x5 1/2" grey design paper
- 3"x5 1/2" sapphire cardstock
- 1/4"x5 1/2" goldrush cardstock strip
- 2 1/2"x2 3/4" white cardstock
- grey/white bakers twine
- a few grey/white sequins and the silver gears

Adhere the grey design paper to the left of your card base. Now adhere the sapphire cardstock to the right of the base butting up with the grey paper. Stamp poka-dots in black on the goldrush strip and adhere it over the seam of the grey and blue papers.

Stamp the background onto the white cardstock in goldrush ink, then stamp the phrase in black ink on top.  Wrap the bakers twine around the white cardstock and adhere the piece to the card, about 1/2" from the bottom and flush with right side of the card. Add your sequins and gears to decorate the card. Don't forget to stamp, doodle and decorate your inside as well.

One more design that can be found in the Close to My Heart "Make it from Your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044)". See for yourself how many wonderful ideas and inspirations are included in this book.











July 28, 2019

Christmas In July Sale


A 24-hour Christmas in July sale is coming to my Close To My Heart Consultant website. Yes, more super deals for you to snatch up, but remember the prices are only available while supplies last. Some of the items are in limited numbers available and once the sale limit is reached the price will go back to the regular amount. 
So don't wait and think to long... head over to MY WEBSITE and see what's on sale. While you are there, check out the new designed website.

The 24-hour Christmas in July sale starts on Monday, July 29 at 5:00 PM (EST) and ends at 4:59 PM (EST) on Tuesday, July 30! 
As with other sales, items featured in this sale will only be available while supplies last, so you'll want to visit the sale early!!!

July 24, 2019

Card Class Project May - 3/4



I don't know if you have the same problem I have sometime when I try to create a more masculine card. It is hard, isn't it? I mean, if you are making one for a golfer, fisher, hunter etc, yeah that's not a big deal, but a card that doesn't include flowers, butterflies or any bling??? That is hard.

So this is one of two attempts we made in this months class to create a more masculine looking card.

Materials needed:
- 4 1/4"x5 1/2" card base
- 4 1/4"x5 1/2" design paper (here stars)
- 3 1/2"x5 1/2" flaxen cardstock with scalloped edge
- 2"x5 1/2" gold striped paper
- 1/2"x5 1/2" lagoon cardstock
- 2 1/2"x1 3/4" lagoon cardstock
- 2 1/4"x1 1/2" white cardstock
- a little button and some thread


Let's start with the stamping part. Stamp the white cardstock with the button phrase in black ink. Stamp the inside phrase with lagoon and black ink.

Now cut a fin in the white cardstock piece. Make sure it doesn't cut to fare into the phrase. Now adhere the button which is hanging of a little piece of silver thread to the back side before you adhere the white car stock fin to the lagoon cardstock. Cut another fin into the lagoon paper, matching the white one. If you do it in this order you should get a nice even space around the white fin.

For the card itself, adhere the design paper (stars) to the card base. It should cover the whole front of the base. Adhere the scalloped edges cardstock to the front about 1/2" from the left side. Adhere the golden striped paper to the flaxen piece about 3/4" from the left side of the card base. Place the lagoon cardstock strip on the right side of the golden paper covering some off it. Use foam dots to adhere the fine (the button should dangle of the side). A little doodling on the inside and this card is done.

Again, if you need more ideas for card layouts, please check out the Close to My Heart Make it from your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044). You will love the ideas and instructions in it.


July 17, 2019

Card Class Project May - 2/4

This is one of my favorite designs since it uses up all these pretty little paper strips we gather while working on pages and other projects. I hate to throw those away but they keep piling up in my boxes. So what better way than to make a card out of them. This one in particular could use for so many occasions. Wedding, Birthday, Get Well, Sympathy...you name it.

Materials needed:
- card base 4 1/4"x5 1/2"
- paper strips in different designs and/or cardstock. Mine are all 5" long and the width is 1/2", 3/4", 1 1/2" and 1"
- red cardstock 1 1/2"x 4 1/4"
- white cardstock 1 1/4"x 4 1/4"
- a couple of butterflies

To create this card, simply adhere the strips in the center of your card base. I started with the 1" on the right. I made sure that the space on the top and bottom as well as the side was even. From there just ad one strip at a time.

We stamped the phrases outside and in with charcoal ink. I adhered the white cardstock to the red and raise it with foam dots to mount on the card. Decorate with butterflies and do a little doodling on the inside and this card is done.

Didn't I said it is super easy? Yes, it was and I think it is really pretty too. So get out your paper strips and start making some cards. Remember you can always use the design in vertical and horizontal fashion!
For more inspiration on card layouts and designs, check out the Close to My Heart "Make it from Your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044). A really great source for ideas and inspiration.













July 15, 2019

Special Workshop "Craft On" Everyday Life Album

Craft On Everyday Life Album Workshop

Close to My Heart has even more to offer on their 35th annual creativity celebrations. Have you seen the "Craft On" paper in the Idea Book? Well if not you are missing out on something. Click here to see the papers.

As a special until August 31st or until supplies last, Close to My Heart is introducing the Craft On Everyday Life Album Workshop. This unique album workshop features the 3-2-1 scrapbooking technique. This technique shows you how to use 3", 2", and 1" pieces of paper to build and decorate your scrapbook pages. Whether you're a scrapbooking veteran or just getting started, this simple method is a great way to jumpstart your creativity.

It's never been easier to make beautiful layouts and you'll love adding the whimsical patterns in Craft On to your scrapbook. With this specialized bundle, you get all the papers and complements you need to complete this project in one convenient place. In addition to saving with this comprehensive bundle, the purchase of this workshop kit puts you close to being eligible to get the Stamp Of The Month for just $5! You won't want to miss this opportunity to document your precious everyday moments with this workshop kit.
Make sure to order yours today and get ready to Craft On or give it as a gift to a crafty family member or friends so they too can join you.

July 10, 2019

Card Class Project May - 1/4




A little late, but I am catching up. These next 4 projects will be from my May card making class.

The paper I used with this card is from the "Feels Like Home" paper pack which sadly is no longer available...but if you living in my area or visit the crop in fall you might be able to still get some ;-). But let's start with the items needed:

Materials:
- 3 3/4"x5" Thistle cardstock
- 3 1/2"x4 3/4" Feels like Home design paper
- 1/2"x3 1/2" strip of Feels like Home design paper
- 2 1/2" circle white cardstock
- flower cut from the Close to My Heart "Flower Market" cartridge
- a few rhinestones and card base 4 1/4"x5 1/2"



First we stamped in pixie ink the background on the circle. This background stamp is from a retired set, but we have a similar one in the current Idea Book which is very close to this one. It is called "Timeless Textures" (D1852) and offers a variety of backgrounds. These sets always gets overlooked in the Idea Book, but they are super perfect to stamp a little color behind a phrase. Next we stamped our phrase with charcoal ink right over the background. The cut out flower parts are layered and adhered on top of each other.


Don't forget to stamp the inside with a phrase as well. All that is left now is to layer the papers and adhere them to the base.

Start by adhering the thistle cardstock in the center of the card front. Now center the design paper on top. Adhere the strip of design paper about 3/4" of the bottom and place the circle with foam dots on the card. Adhere the flower and decorate with rhinestones. We also did a little doodling on the inside to finish this card off.
For more inspirations on card layouts and designs, check out the Close To My Heart "Make It From Your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044)" which stores in one of our medium ring albums. An awesome book full off ideas and inspirations for all you card makers out there.

July 8, 2019

Close To My Heart “Thin Cut” Sale


A 24-hour “Thin Cuts” sale is coming your way. You can find all thin cuts available for this special sale on my website starting Monday, July 8 at 5:00pm EST and ending at 4:59 pm EST on Tuesday, July 9! This sale will include a wide selection of current and retired Thin Cuts. As with other sales, discounts will only be available while supplies last, so you’;; want to visit the sale early!

July 5, 2019

Scrapbook Friday - Layout 9


Today we are talking about preface pages. If you need them and why they sometimes make sense. First off, do you need them? No you don't. Well that was easy right? So let's move on to the next topic ;-) Not so fast, just because you don't need them doesn't mean we can't talk about them right?



I think sometimes such an intro page can be helpful to define your book and the story you want to tell. For example, out trip to Canada included Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec. Since all major cities look a bit alike it makes sense to show someone who didn't went with us on this trip which city we are visiting on the next pages.



I also often encounter a way simpler problem. I have a few more pictures left that I really want to incorporate but they don't fit into any of the pages I created. So I like to take these few pictures and create a preface page with them.



In my case I got super lucky. Thanks to an upcoming Canada Day, Cricut had some free Canada cuttings which I used here:










I used "Ruby" cardstock from Close To My Heart and cut the Canada Map in the upper left corner of my sheet. Yes, with the Cricut you can place the object just were you want it to go. I removed the cardstock from the sticky mat after the cutting was done. It left behind the cut outs which I thought make another great page.

Similar to the technique with the title letters that I explained in last week’s post, I carefully placed the map part on white cardstock and hold it in place with some washi tape. Piece by piece I took the cut outs from the sticky mat and placed them back into the frame.
This time I positioned the map in the lower right corner of the cardstock. Ones all pieces were glued down I removed the template. I cut about 1/4" on the right and bottom off and adhered it to a second sheet of white cardstock. So I used the positive and negative of this cutting to create the base for two of my preface pages.
I also cut three city titles for my pages and I picked 3-5 pictures from each city to go along with the rest. Here are the pictures uncut that I chose:





Cutting a title is easy, but I wanted a shadow for each to have them stand out from the page. The font that I picked didn't came with a shadow, but that's not a problem. I used the following technique to make my own shadows for each title. First I cut the words Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec three times. Each one from black and ruby cardstock and one more time from a white/gold paper I had left. You can see all three layers here on the first page before I adhered them together.













My plan was to layer the titles first the black, then the white and then the red. Well with a red background that title wouldn't show right? So I layered all three different. You might say "But wait, they are all cut at the same size, so how do you get a shadow effect then?". Correct, all three are cut the same size and when I adhered them together I simply moved them a bit off to the side, showing just a bit of the color underneath. I added a few detailed pictures here so you can see more clearly what I did with the titles.


All that is left now is to cut down my extra pictures and arrange them with the pages and titles. I cut the pictures to about 3"x4" more or less. I think they turned out pretty nice. What do you think? This is an easy way to structure you pages a bit and add some photos that you really like but don't fit anywhere else ;-)


Instead of creating individual preface pages, you can use this technique to create your intro page for the whole story. Take some of your favorite shots of the event you are scraping and combine them on your very first page. This way everyone looking through your book gets a glimpse of what is inside.

Well, this was a long tutorial this week but I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week....



July 3, 2019

Card Class Project June - 4/4


This is our last one from June and I had fun with this one. Close to My Heart has these super cute Floral Monogram Letters in the current Idea Book...page 115. You can purchase them all individually and they not only are great for envelopes, letters or scrapbooks, but you can do a lot more with them.

I happen to have the letter "H" (M1235) and found a smaller ABC in my stack of stamps, so why not combine them? Well that's what we did here. There is actually a "Flourishing Frame Stamp & Die" (Z4072) out to go along with the letters. Super cute and I thought I will use the frame and die to create mats for some of my 3x3 pictures on layouts.

Have a look at those letters. They are only $3.95 and I am sure you will love them as much as I do.

But back to the card. I cut a strip of peacock cardstock at 5 1/2" x 1 1/2" and adhered it to the bottom of my card front. I found gold foiled paper in my stack that was just the right contrast and I cut this piece at 5 12" x 3". When you add this to the front it will overlap the peacock just a bit. For the fin I used peacock cardstock (2" x 2 3/4") and white cardstock (1 3/4"x 2 1/2"). Two rhinestones completing this card.
For the inside I kept it simple. More stamping and a little doodling and this card is done!




July 1, 2019

The Paper Pack Seaside is Back




Bring Back My Pack—Seaside

July 1 – August 31

The Bring Back My Pack—Seaside special features a new, slimmed-down paper pack with refreshed colors and a sticker sheet, a coordinating cardstock pack, the My Acrylix® Seaside Greetings stamp set, a workshop kit with the materials for a 2-page scrapbook layout, two single pages, three standard-size cards, and three 3″ × 3″ cards. You can even save 25% when you purchase the entire Seaside Workshop kit. There are also some special perks for new Consultants and Hostesses in the Month of July! 
For more information please check my website... CLICK HERE