October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Yuletide Joy

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month 
Blog Hop! 

This month I am following {Melissa Robinson's Blog.}   We have 33 Close to My Heart Consultants participating in this month’s Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. If you lose your place while traveling through our blog hop, the complete list of participants can be found here.      

The October Stamp of the Month is entitled Yuletide Joy (S1610) (Set of 7).   Here is a picture of this stamp set:

The weather has finally cooled down and Fall is in the air.  That means it is time to start making Christmas cards.  I have lots of ideas for the Yuletide Joy.  With this card I used the elegant Oh Deer paper pack and embossed the pretty bells with gold embossing powder.

Here is my card.

I also used our new snowflakes embossing folder on the white circle behind the bells and added just a little shimmer with our Shimmer Brush.

The Yuletide Joy Stamp of the Month Stamp Set can be purchased for $17.95 or if you purchase $50 in CTMH products, you can add this stamp set to your order for an additional $5.  This stamp set is only available between October 1 – October 31, 2016. 

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I would love for you to show me a little love by leaving me a comment and then please go to our next artist, {Michelle Stewart's Blog} and see what she has made with this adorable stamp set.

You can purchase this stamp set as well as any of the supplies listed below on my website. 

Supplies Used

Gratitude with an Attitude Blog Hop

Welcome to the Gratitude with an Attitude Stampers with an Attitude Blog Hop.  This month I am following  LaJeania Hicks.  Our blog hop is a circular hop.  You just click on the link to the next blog on the bottom of this post and go visit the next blog.  If you get lost, I have all of the participating blogs near the bottom of my post.  Hope you enjoy seeing what our team has made for you.

This month our Stampers With an Attitude is  featuring artwork showing gratitude.  When our team was deciding on a theme for this month's blog hop, I really thought that I would do something with a Thanksgiving theme or fall leaves.  I just love those colors.

However, I needed to design my Christmas card workshops.  I love unusual cards and I love to make them.  I found this adorable card and tutorial a few years ago and I wanted to make it.  It is a spinner card.  But I needed a gingerbread man stamp and Close to My Heart did not make one.  Instead I made a Halloween card with a bat that slid back and forth and was pretty happy with it.

But I was still hankering to make a gingerbread man spinner card.  Imagine my joy when I saw this new Close to My Heart Stamp Set!



Candyland (D1557)





Do you see the absolutely adorable little gingerbread man!  Woo Hoo!  I am in Heaven!  And here is my card:

Do you know what my gingerbread man does?  He rolls back and forth on my card as I move the card back and forth.  This gives me such great joy.  It really is fun to play with.  I am guessing it brings the child out in me.  Anyway, for that I am grateful!

I used the Sparkle and Shine paper pack for this card.  I played and played around with the top piece and was just not satisfied with the patterned paper so I decided to make my own.  The top piece is put together with our Sparkle and Shine Washi Tape and Silver Glitter Trim.  I just love how happy and cheery it is.

Like what you see?  It is all a part of the fantastic Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide Promotion.  When you place an order of $100 or more (retail price) between October 15 and December 31 from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide and/or the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book, you qualify for one free star item from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. Youll love the sparkle, the ease, and the savings! Receive one free "star" item for each $100 in your order.

Want a mini catalog?  I can drop you one in the mail.  Just email me your address.

Now, hop on over to our next Blog hopper, the very talented, Angela Garcia and see what she has made for you to see!

If you get lost, here are the links to our participating blog hoppers.

1. Pamela O'Connor ~ http://reflectionsofmyartandsoul.com/blog
2. LaJeania Hicks ~ http://scraptilyoudrop.blogspot.com/
3. Melinda Everitt ~ http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com
4. Angela Garcia ~ http://angelascraftcloset.blogspot.com/
5. Becky McClain ~ http://beckysstudio-cards.blogspot.com
6. Sandra VanWoerden ~ http://OhMyScraps2U.blogspot.com
7. Catherine Nowak ~ http://catscrapbooking.com
8. Barbi Kelley ~ http://barbispapercreations.blogspot.com
9. Melissa Robinson ~ http://mlisrobinson.blogspot.com
10. Jen Patrick~ http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com
11. Sheila Bennett ~ http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com
12. Hilary Reynolds~http://stampcraftyreader.blogspot.com

See something you like?  Well I would love it if you would head on over to  my website and see what Close to My Heart has to offer!  I am sure that you will love our products as much as I do.

Holidays from the Heart Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holidays from the Heart Blog Hop.  This month I am following Pamela Ellison's Blog.   We have over 20 Close to My Heart Consultants participating in this Blog Hop.   Our blog hop is a circular hop.  You just click on the link to the next blog on the bottom of this post and go visit the next blog.  If you get lost, I have all of the participating blogs here.
                                                                                                                
The Holidays from the Heart is a mini 24 page catalog that comes with its own special promotion.  When you place an order of $100 or more (retail price) between October 15 and December 31 from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide and/or the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book, you qualify for one free star item from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. You'll love the sparkle, the ease, and the savings! Receive one free "star" item for each $100 in your order.  Don't you just love this paper?

I am needing to get started on my Christmas cards and am loving the bright colors of our Sparkle and Shine Paper Pack (X7176B).  I went to one of our How-To Books, Make it From Your Heart, Volume 2 (9042), Pattern 29, and started cutting my paper.  I just love the ease of our How-to Books as well as the cost of $7.95.  I always change the pattern up just a little bit to give it my personality, but it sure is nice to have a starting point when designing my cards.

Next comes the Stamp Set.  Close to My Heart just started offering Hostess Only stamp sets.  When you have a gathering or an order of $150 or over, you can use some of the Free Product Credit to buy these stamp sets at an even greater discount.  I chose to use Quick Cards - Bright All Night.  As a Hostess, you may purchase this stamp set for $4.00!

 Here is my card.

The edges are ink distressed with our Slate Ink.  The stamped image was first inked with Whisper Ink, and then using a Sponge Dauber, I added Slate Ink and Juniper Ink and then stamped the image on White Daisy Cardstock.  I used our Silver Shimmer Trim, which is self-adhesive.  The trim with the reindeer, bells and sleighs is actually the zip strip which comes off of the paper.  The red chevron beneath the White Hemp bow is our new Sparkle and Shine Washi Tape (Yes I did use Washi Tape!  LOL) And the cute metal flower comes from our Base and Bling Floral Accents (Z1883).  Everything else is just paper!

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I would love for you to leave me a comment and then please go to our next artist, Heather Schmuckal's Blog.

Just a reminder that when you place an order of $100 or more (retail price) between October 15 and December 31 from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide and/or the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book, you qualify for one free star item from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. Want the stamp set?  Then email me to set up your gathering or to place your purchase.  You can purchase any of the above supplies here:  on my website.  

Merry Monday #53 Challenge

I have been so busy lately and my crafting has suffered.  I have not taught classes or created much of anything.  The kids are off this week for Spring Break and the oldest one has stitches in his foot (Grandma went out of town, leaving the kids in Grandpa's care).  So we are stuck in the house.  Yippee!  Nothing left to do but craft!

So I started looking for a challenge to participate in and found this sketch on Always Playing with Paper.  They have a Merry Monday Challenge that I have been itching to try and so yesterday, I set up my table in the living room and got comfortable.  Here is the sketch for this challenge:

And here is my card:

For this challenge you must take the sketch and make a Christmas card.  I am learning to not be so rigid and trying to get comfortable with following the sketch in spirit and not literally.  LOL

All of the supplies are from Close to My Heart.  The paper is our recently retired Pear & Partridge.  I loved that paper!  The stamp sets used are CTMH's Holiday Cheer (B1381), Merry & Bright (C1510), and the Pear & Partridge Scrapbooking Workshop Stamp Set (C1514).

Colors used are Cocoa, Olive, Honey, and Cashmere.  I used the Close to My Heart Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out the shapes.

Oh and before I forget, here is the inside of my card:

I am also linking this to the Make it Monday Challenge - Anything Goes and the Paper Playtime Challenge - Anything Goes.

Snowman Movie Clip Christmas Card

These have got to be the cutest Snowmen that ever existed! I am really happy with my Christmas card and  I absolutely love it when a card comes out even better then I imagined it was going to be!

I started out with the three Snowmen from the stamp set, Flakey Friends C1506.  I could not decide which one to use, or rather which two not to use.  Then I remembered the Movie Clip Die Cut from our CTMH Cricut Artiste (Z1790), pg 67, Accent 2, and realized that I could use all 3 of these adorable Snowmen.

The Movie Clip Die Cut was cut from Outdoor Denim cardstock at 5" height.  I stamped the Snowmen with our black pigment ink onto Daisy White panels that I cut with the assistance of my Gypsy.  I so love the Gypsy (and I do mean love) because with the Gypsy I can cut the Movie Clip but "hide" the Movie Clip part and not cut it out.  That leaves me with just the three panels, which is actually just what I wanted.

The snowflakes are cut with Sky cardstock (pg 79, Accent 1) and with White Daisy cardstock (pg 79, Accent 1 ).  One snowflake is cut at 2 inches and the other at 1.75 inches.  I applied Stardust Glitter Glitz Gel on each of the White Daisy snowflakes as well as on the White Daisy Overlay of the tag.  The tag was cut out of Sky cardstock (Art Philosophy (Z1686), pg 50, Tag 3) with the overlay cut with the Layer on the same page.  The sentiment is stamped with Outdoor Denim Ink and is found in the stamp set, Perfect Fit - Holidays (B1412).

I wanted some more glitz showing through so applied two rows of our self-adhesive Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799) 1/4" from the top and another two rows 1/4" from the bottom.

I used glitter buttons from the Bohemian Assortment (Z1687) for the center of my snowflakes topped with an Opaque Pearl (Z1336).

I wanted clear, vibrant color for my cute little snowmen so I was excited to break open our new Alcohol Markers.  I used Sky - Light (Z2402) topped with the Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel (Z1313) for the snow, Sorbet (Z2407) for the nose, and Autumn Terracotta (Z2427) for the arms.

Sky (Z2402) and Gypsy (Z2410) were used for the snowmen on the left and middle. For the snowman on the right I used Sky (Z2402) and Gypsy - Dark (Z2410).  I used Honey - Light (Z2415) for the bird's beak in the middle panel.

I am almost ready for my Christmas Card workshop.  I would like to design two more cards.

My First Christmas Card of the Season

I know it is a little early for Christmas cards, but my ladies are chomping at the bit to get started on their cards.  This month at Close to My Heart, our October Stamp of the Month is entitled Very Merry Christmas.

I just love the ornament in this set.  It is so elegant and looks fantastic when it is stamped.  I also love that it can be cut out with the CTMH exclusive Cricut Artiste cartridge (Z1790).  Here is my first Christmas card of the season:

I used the Pear & Partridge Paper Pack (X7162B), our self adhesive Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799), the sentiment from Merry & Bright (C1510), Clear Sparkles (Z1752), Paper Piercer (Z1114), Ruler (Z1471), New England Ivy (Z2135) and Cranberry (Z2116) Inks, and Silver Cording (not CTMH).

Here is another picture I took using my iPhone  I may just quit pulling my camera out because I really like the pictures taken with this phone. The colors are deeper.

See anything you like?  Everything used (other than the silver cording) can be purchased here.  Just a reminder that the stamp set (S1210 Very Merry Christmas) used for the gorgeous ornament in the center of this card is only available until October 31st and you can get it for FREE with a $50 order!