October Stamp of the Month Very Merry Christmas Blog Hop

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop.  I am the next stop in this blog hop following  Lisa Sargent's Blog.   We have 65 Close to My Heart Consultants participating in this month’s Stamp of the Month Blog Hop.
                                                                                                                        
The October  Stamp of the Month is entitled Very Merry Christmas (Set of 11). Here is a picture of this stamp set:

Absolutely adorable stamp set, isn't it?  There is so much you can do with this stamp set and I am going to make a point of using it over and over again.  I can see tags, cards, ornaments, gift boxes, purses and more.  Such a versatile set.  A must have!  So what did I make?

I made a fun little Christmas Ornament!  One of my downline, Lisa Streeff, is making these kind of ornaments with all different stamp sets for our Team Crop this weekend. To make this ornament, I cut the ornament shape out 8 times in Sorbet Cardstock with our new Cricut Artiste cartridge.  Then I stamped on one side of each of the cut ornament  shapes with the ornament from the Very Merry Christmas Stamp Set in Cranberry Pigment Ink.  I had a Krylon Gold Leaf pen from another project and edged each piece with that pen.   Then I thinly applied our Almost Glitz Glitter Gel onto each piece and let it dry.

After the glitter gel dried, and scored each piece down the middle and then attached them together with the decorated pieces on the outside.  Not sure if this is clear but I adhered them with 1/2 of #1 attached to the 1/2 of #2 and then the other half of #2 is attached  1/2 of #3,and so on.  When you get to #8, the second 1/2 of it is attached to the remaining 1/2 of #1.  It is attached in a circular manner and you must line it up accurately or the last pieces won't line up. Ask me how I know and don't look in my garbage! 

As far as adhesive, I started off with Bonding Memories and that worked until the last pieces did not line up and when I tried to adjust it, it was just a mess.  I had ripped paper and Bonding Memories covering my fingers.  So after washing my hands and scrubbing my fingers, I pulled out my ATG gun and it worked wonderfully.  Tombow adhesive would work as well.

 If you do not understand my directions, just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.

List of Supplies
Very Merry Christmas (S1210)
Sorbet Cardstock (X5751)
Almond Glitz Glitter Gel (Z1769)
Cricut Artiste Collection (Z1790)
Cranberry Pigment Ink
Krylon Gold Leaf Pen
Scrap Metallic Gold Ribbon

The next stop on the blog hop is the Fabulous  Jill Lucas' Blog.
                                                                                                                    
The Very Merry Christmas stamp set can be purchased for $17.95 or you can even get it for only $5 between October 1 – October 31, 2012. If you do not have a Close to My Heart Consultant, you can purchase this stamp set on my website.

My First Studio J Express Collection Layout

Can I say how excited I am that Close to My Heart's Studio J has been made even easier?  I am a recent participant to  digital scrapbooking.  I made a few layouts for Convention this year and was totally sold.  First I want to include a short video from Close to My Heart about the Studio J Express Collections.




Now I want to show you super duper cute layout that I made with the Studio J Express Collection.

Isn't this a beautiful layout?  It is from the Little Miss Express Collection in Studio J.  I was thrilled that I was able to include all the pictures I wanted to include as we started off with my adorable granddaughter painting a piece of pottery for her mother.  She is so happy.  Then she finishes super quick painting this piece pink.  She didn't want to add any other colors.  Just pink.  I found out the price (Incredibly high) of this piece and the vase that her sister was painting and told her that, no, she could not paint another piece of pottery.  The last 2 pictures were trademark Jocelyn.  THAT was the look you received when she was not happy and with her gorgeous blue eyes, it was very effective.  LOL

This layout was already set up when I logged into Studio J.  All I did was drop in the pictures, journal, and change the title.  Can you say finished in 20 minutes?  And it only cost me $6.95 for the 2 page layout.  I dare you to develop your pictures, purchase the paper and embellishments, and put together this two page layout for $6.95.

Another thing that I also like about Studio J is that as soon as I submit my order for this layout, I receive jpegs of my purchased layout absolutely free.  This way I can put together a scrapbook and share it with my family even if they live  far away.  My family gets together once a year.  I have grown kids and their families in Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee.  Now I can put together a scrapbook with Studio J, email all of the kids the scrapbook jpegs and they can get them developed themselves at their neighborhood Sam's or Costco.  Then we can all have a scrapbook of our fun times together.

There is no software to purchase or load onto your computer.  There is no cost to use Studio J.  You pay nothing until you purchase your layout.  Shipping is cheap - $4.95 for up to 50 2-pg layouts.  Ready to get started?  Click here to get started.

Close to My Heart La Belle Vie Birthday Card

It was raining on Monday and I had a down day.  I was not feeling particularly creative so I decided to go and investigate Pinterest.  I so LOVE Pinterest especially when I need some ideas.  I happily pin cards, patterns, crafts and recipes and then promptly forget to go back and look at what I pinned.

I believe that what I fill my mind with inspires my creativity.  But I needed a kick start so I went to my card bulletin board and was immediately attracted to a card I found here.  It was made by Debra Currier from www.ARTfeltImpressions.blogspot.com.  I wish that I could post a picture of the card on my blog, but I don't have permission so just click the link and you will see the card.

I needed a feminine birthday card.  I am not going to tell you who it is because I want it to be a surprise for the recipient, but it needed to be super special.  I wanted to use Close to My Heart's La Belle Vie paper because I think it is super chic.  So here is what I came up with.

This card is made with the Close to My Heart La Belle Vie paper pack (X7158B).  I stamped the rose background stamp and the bee in the corner directly on the paper.  The frame is stamped on two pieces of the patterned paper from La Belle Vie and then glued together with Bonding Memories glue (1512) to make it stronger.  I used the hatpins from the Bling Assortment (Z1466) and stuck them into a swatch of our Tulle Ribbon (Z1798) that I had gathered with a needle and thread.  The frame was pop dotted over the swatch of Tulle Ribbon.  Here is a closer view of the frame.

Not sure that you can see it in the picture but at the bottom of the frame is a pink ribbon that was stamped with the same stamp set, Jardin (D1528), that I used for all of the stamped images.  In the center of the ribbon I place a grey sparkle from our Grey  and Black Sparkle Collection (Z1754).

All of the supplies needed to make this card may be purchased here.

Swipe and Stamp with Close to My Heart

Don't you just love learning new techniques? I know that I do. Close to My Heart is being featured with a video on www.mycraftchannel.com. These videos are really short but the artwork in them is fantastic. There are a couple of layouts shown in the video that are gorgeous. So, kick your shoes off and enjoy!


 

Winner of Help Me Pick My Watermark Giveaway

I want to extend a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped me pick my watermark. It looks like the watermark with the butterfly was the most popular choice. My Husband is very happy because he said that is the one that suits me the best. I promised one lucky commenter (whom I chose using random.org) a "D" size stamp set and the lucky winner is: Dianas free moments said... I also think #2 is the better choice, the butterfly will get lost in a picture... :) So if Diana will contact me at mkgmt@aol.com, I will get your stamp set sent off to you. Thanks again for helping me choose my watermark!

Please Help Me Choose My Watermark and Win Some Blog Candy!

Sometimes blogging can be so hard!  I hate to do the housekeeping part but the final product is worth it.  The first part of my blog housekeeping was a new blog look.  That is done, though I am still tweeking it a bit.  But basically it is done and I am keeping it for at LEAST a year.

The next part was my Blog signature and I have that done as well.  Now that I love.  So pretty.

I think my last part is my watermark.  A watermark is placed on the photo of your work to prevent others for digitally "stealing" your work and claiming it as their own.  I have had my photos "stolen" and placed on other blogs and it doesn't feel good.  I never object to someone CASEing my work.  I will even supply measurements if I have time.  But please at least make your own copy of it and take your own picture.  Using mine without permission is not okay.

I have been using Picasa to edit my photos and I really do like it, but it does not allow me to truly watermark my photos.  I use the text option and add text to my photos.  I have not been good about placing this text over my photo and need to change that.  Suzanne Dean from Color Me Creative Classroom sent out an email this week informing followers to her blog that people are stealing photos from Pinterest.com.  Suzanne urged people to watermark their photos.

So I asked my grandson, Nicolas Green, to design a watermark for me.  He had me choose a font and any kind of decorations I wanted.  Never knew what a dingbat was until now.  LOL  This is what he came up with and now I cannot decide which one to use and would love your help.  Please leave me a comment and tell me which one you like.  Thanks so much!  

For helping me, I will choose a lucky commenter using random.org and send you a D sized stamp set from Close to My Heart as a thank you, so please leave your comments and help me choose a watermark to protect my artwork.  Blog candy winner will be chosen on September 15th.

Watermark #1

Watermark #2:

Close to My Heart's Scroll Album

I put together Close to My Heart's Scroll Album at my crop last Saturday.  I am so happy with this project.  It is designed to sit on a mantel or a table.  I had so much fun making this album and it was really fast to put together.

Here is a description of the album and what is in the kit.

Workshops On The Go® Scroll Album Kit

Use the materials and instructions in this kit to create a four-foot scroll album for display on a wall or unrolled to reveal memorable events and loved ones. This workshop project is ideal for creating as a group or on your own and takes approximately 1 hour to complete.

Included in the kit: 

1– My Acrylix® Scroll Album Workshop Stamp Set (C-size) 
1– 7½" Wooden Spool with 4 feet of Kraft Paper 
10 – Buttons (3 Twilight, 3 Chocolate, 4 Sunset) 
1 – Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon (1 yard) 
2 – 12" × 6" Printed Canvas Sticker Sheets 
1 – Instructional Brochure

Some basic tools you may already have, such as inks, stamp blocks, or tools are needed to complete this project.

The price of this kit is $35.95 and you can purchase it here.

These are my adorable grandkids.  The stickers are made of canvas and since they are going to be rolled onto the spool, I adhered the stickers with Liquid Glass.  I adhered the pictures with my ATG gun and they are holding great.

Don't you just love these pictures?  I am LOVING them!

Their mothers told them to pose nicely and then to act crazy!  I think that they did just that!

This album is made exactly like it says to make it in the Instruction Book and is super easy to put together.  Thanks for looking!

Bend It, Curve It, Stamp It - Clearly the Best, Stamping with Close To My Heart

Wow!  www.mycraftchannel.com is featuring Close to My Heart My Acrylix Stamps this month.  The video is very short and shows you some ways to use our stamp sets that you may not have thought about.  I really loved some of the artwork they showed.  So take a few minutes and watch this episode.

August Giveaway Winner

I am so excited to announce that my August Giveaway winner is:

Penny Harrison!!

Penny you have won   a $50 gift certificate   that you can use to buy anything you want from our new Autumn/Winter Idea Book from me.   

Thank you all for entering my Giveaway.  I will be offering another Giveaway next week, so be sure and follow my blog so that you know when to sign up for my next Giveaway.