August CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop.  This month I am following Tamytha Jenkin's Blog.   We have almost 60 Close to My Heart Consultants participating in this month’s Stamp of the Month Blog Hop.   
                                                                                                                
The August Stamp of the Month is entitled A Chocolate Affair (Set of 16). Here is a picture of this stamp set:

Now, who doesn't like chocolate?  I remember reading a sign once that said that 9 out of 10 people live chocolate ................ and the other one is LYING!  LOL

We have a family story that revolves around chocolate.  My parents are from West Virginia and Dad was stationed briefly for a school in Los Angeles right down the street from See's Candy.  He fell in love with See's Candy and when he got out of the service, he went back and got my mother and we moved to Los Angeles because of the See's Candy.  Can you believe that?  In my family we can tell who belongs and who doesn't based on their love and appreciation of chocolate.

So what did I make?  I used our Kraft Container and our new Sarita paper pack along with this wonderful stamp of the month to make a candy gift canister.  You can really fill this with a ton of candy and then once the candy is gone, you can just add more and leave it on your desk at work.

Here is my canister.

Just realized that I love cupcakes too!

 And ice cream sundaes.  Especially hot fudge ice cream sundaes.  Yum!

 Whoa! And Chocolate Covered Strawberries are incredible and good for you.  Right?

And most of all, Chocolate always understands, doesn't it?

The purple "flower" is cut with our new Cricut Artbooking Cartridge in Gypsy Cardstock.  Sorry, but I just could not resist using purple.  It really makes my chocolate stand out!

Supplies Used

A Chocolate Affair (S1308)

Cocoa Ink 

Sarita Paper Pack

Cricut Artbooking Cartridge 

3 D Foam Tape

The next stop on the blog hop is the Fabulous Nancy Womersley's Blog.

The A Chocolate Affair Stamp Set can be purchased for $17.95 or This month our promotion is called Sweeten the Deal.  When you purchase $50, you will receive this stamp set for FREE between August 1 – August 31, 2013. You can purchase this stamp set as well as any of the above supplies here:  on my website.  

I am entering my project into these challenges:
Anything but a card at Creative Moments
Coffee Break or Food at the Anything Goes Challenge
and 3D at Craft Your Passion.

La Belle Vie My Creations Star

My goodness was it hard to photograph this star.  I photographed it on my wall.  I photographed it at my crop.  Then I photographed it in my light box.  Beginning to feel like Dr. Seuss.  LOL  It still came out so dark.  One of my halogen lights went out to my light box and I ordered some new bulbs.  But I do like the detail I got in the photo of my burlap flower, so here we go.

First of all, remember that video I showed you a couple of days ago?  You can find it here.

And now I want to show you how I decorated my My Creations Star with the La Belle Vie paper pack (X7158B).

I used the My Creations Star template found here to cut the paper.  Before I adhered the paper to the star, I inked the edges and the center "creases" with our black pigment ink (Z2503).  The pigment ink pads are so easy to use for inking the edges of projects because the pad is so small.  I didn't even need a sponge dauber!

I then adhered the paper to the star with my ATG tape.  For the burlap flower I used Close to My Heart's Burlap Ribbon (Z1760) and my hot glue gun.  I will have a tutorial next week for this flower with lots of pictures so keep an eye out for it!

I embellished the burlap flower with a flower doily and a button from the Bohemian Assortment (Z1687).  I think it gives a vintage feel to my star and I am loving it!

If you do not have a Close to My Heart Consultant, I would love for you to visit my website for your scrapbooking needs.

Moonlight Halloween Wall Hanging

Woo Hoo!  It is Friday and I am looking forward to spending the weekend with my grandson, AJ.  But first I wanted to share my Halloween wall hanging that I have made for a special Birthday gathering that my friend, Adria, is having. I used the Close to My Heart 6" x 6" My Creations Memory Showcase (Z1195) as the base for my wall hanging.

Imagine your favorite Halloween photos on each of the panels of this wall hanging.  I haven't chosen mine yet, but I will.  I love hanging pictures of my kids and grandkids in my scrapbooking room.  They make me happy.

I have the hardest time getting a good picture outside of my light box, especially on a dreary day.  Unfortunately  this project will not fit into my light box.  So let me share individual pictures of each part of my wall hanging.

I made this project using the Close to My Heart Moonlight paper pack (X7161B) and the Moonlight Complements Dimensional Elements (X7161C).  The Moonlight Complements Dimensional Elements are a great deal.  You get 2 sheets of "chipboard stickers" with sentiments, bats, ghosts, witches and all kinds of scary Halloween creatures for $4.95.

I designed this wall hanging to be an easy project that a beginner could put together.  There is no stamping or inking of edges. I just love how it came together.

On the second panel I used our new Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799) to add a little pizzaz to this page.  The Spooky was cut out using the CTMH Cricut Artiste Cartridge (Z1790).  Check out my sly little kitty.  Her eyes are highlighted by Black Sparkles from our Sparkles Black and Grey Collection (Z1754).  All of my Moonlight Dimensional Elements are popped up with 3-D Foam tape to give them some added dimension.  I  just hate flat chipboard.  Popping them up also gives you a little more wiggle room for your photos.

On panel number 3, I cut the banner shape out with the Circut Artiste.  You cannot see it well, but the orange patterned paper banner is matted with black cardstock.  Check out the super cute Skull brads at the top corners of the banner.  For added Spookiness I added red sparkles from the Sparkles Red, Pink and Purple Collection (Z1326) in the skulls' eyes. The skull brads are from the Haunted Assortment (Z1741).

On the last panel, I just had to use the witch flying across the top of the page on her broomstick.  I attached the bat to the sentiment with Liquid Glass (Z679).  Liquid Glass is my all time favorite adhesive.  It is so strong and once my embellishment is glued down with the Liquid Glass it is not coming up - good choice for a wall hanging.

And one of my favorite parts of my wall hanging is this cute little banner streamer.  I used the banners in the Moonlight Dimensional Elements and adhered them with Liquid Glass to our black Baker's twine (Z1701).  Then I adhered them to the base of the Memory Showcase before I glued down the paper on the fourth panel.  I think it makes this wall hanging.

Like what you see?  Purchase the items used for this wall hanging on my website and I will email  you the instructions.  Just click here to shoot me an email  and let me know that you have purchased the items needed and I will send you the instructions.  I will send you the instructions with a minimum purchase of $9.95 (retail)  on my website. 

A Video on How to Decorate a My Creations Star

Kristine Widtfelt from Close to My Heart was on Studio 5 on October 1st.  She showed how to put together the My Creations Star (Z1803) to make a low cost seasonal decoration for your home.  I love these videos that actually show you how to put an entire project together!  If you want to make your own My Creations Star, the template for the star can be found here.  Go down to almost the bottom of the page and you will se the My Creations Star template.  In the next day or so I will post my star.

Let me link you to where you can purchase the supplies for this super cute project.  Click here.

Click here to see the video.

Close to My Heart My Creations Bracket Frame

Have you ever had a picture that you loved - just because?  It might not be anything special, but it is special to you.

Every time I go through my pictures I would run into this picture and it would just make my heart smile.  Even though it was taken years ago (1991, to be exact), I decided that I just had to have this picture on my wall.  So I pulled out one of Close to My Heart's beautiful My Creations Bracket  Frames (Z1797) and set about creating.  Here is what I came up with:

The picture I was talking about is a picture taken on our front lawn when we were stationed at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi.  It is an adorable picture of my oldest child and my youngest child.  I have two daughters who are only 11 months apart in age.  They were teenagers when we were stationed at Columbus and had lots of friends (especially boys) who would hang out in our front yard.  My youngest son was only 4 years old, but he was positive that he belonged with the teenagers so he was always on the front lawn as well.  I just love this picture so I created a special frame to hold it and now I can smile every time I see it on my wall.

I used the Florentine Paper pack and My Stickease to decorate the frame (X7153B and C).  Then I made a gorgeous Burlap Ribbon (Z1760) using this fantastic video that Mandy Leahy made that you can see here.

And then I blinged it up. I don't think that you can ever have too much bling!

I used the Rhinestone Designer Brads (Z1360) in the center of my Burlap Flower.  I cut up the Sparkles Flourishes (Z1780) and positioned it around the picture and even used some of it as the butterfly antennas.

The sparkles I used came from the Bitty Sparkles (Z1263), Sparkles Blue and Green Assortment (Z1327), Sparkles Clear Assortment (Z1752), and a Sparkle Button from the Boutique Assortment (Z1763).

A close-up of the flower and the butterfly.  Didn't it come out well?

Would you like to make one of these frames?  I am offering this as a workshop at my home on November 10th.  I will be sending out details in my late October newsletter.  But you can make this even if you cannot attend my workshop.  The cost for this workshop is $25.  I can put it in the mail to you for an additional $5. It will come fully cut and ready to put together along with the instructions on how to put it together.  All you will need is the adhesive and your picture.

If you would like to purchase a kit, please pay with the PayPal button below.  In the drop down menu, there are two options.  One is for a local purchase where you will arrange pick up and the other is where I will mail it to you at an additional cost of $5 to cover the postage.

CTMH Bracket Frame Kit

Bracket Frame Kit - Local - Will Pick Up - $25.00 USD Bracket Frame Kit - Mail - $25 + $5 Postage - $30.00 USD

If you would prefer to purchase the frame and design it yourself, you can purchase them on my website.