Three Amigos December 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

This month we are using three embellishments on our projects. Lisa has been trying to get me to enter challenges for ages now, so this month I am linking my card to the Glitter & Bling challenge at Between The Folds Weekly Challenges.

This card has been dancing around in my head for a while now. Once I sat down to make it, it came together quite quickly. I knew I wanted to use the shimmery champagne ribbon from the Uptown Ribbon Pack and some Bitty Sparkles for two of my embellishments, but had a hard time deciding on a third. I finally chose the white Enamel Gems (they are included in the Grey Enamel Gems package). I cut the snowflakes from White and Sea Glass Glitter Papers using the Snowflakes Thin Cuts.

Cashmere isn't one of the coordinating colors listed with the Oh Deer! paper pack, but after trying Bamboo and Desert Sand, i found that it gave the card the feel I was looking for. Did you notice something I didn't do to my card? If you know me well, you know that I ink the edges of everything! I wanted to keep this card simple and clean, so I ditched the ink this time. I'm happy with the result!

Here's a detail shot of the shimmer and bling. I love the Glitter Paper!

Go try the challenge at Between The Folds Weekly Callenges. Let me know if you do, so I can see what you made. Before you take off, make sure you hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created this month!

Supplies Used:

X7241B Oh Deer! Paper Pack

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

X5932 Cashmere Cardstock

Z3237 White Glitter Paper

Z3240 Sea Glass Glitter Paper

Z1263 Bitty Sparkles

Z3089 Grey Enamel Gems

Z3289 Uptown Ribbon Pack

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Just a Few Projects

If you are anything like me, you look through the idea book and want to recreate the artwork inside. Close To My Heart has an amazing art department! Each Annual Inspirations Idea Book and Seasonal Expressions has a list of all of the supplies used for each piece of art. They even include Cricut cut sizes when a CTMH cartridge was used. How cool is that?!? You can find the recipes under each idea book and save the PDF file for future reference.

Today I am sharing a few projects I made in September and October, but didn't get around to sharing. Two of them are Halloween themed, but I want to show how you I made the basic designs with just a few minor changes.

I surprised some of my scrapbooking friends in September by showing up at the monthly crop. I miss that crop and all of my scrapping friends like you wouldn't believe! While I was there, we chose a card from the Idea Book to recreate. Take a look at the heart balloon card on page 15. I didn't have the Whimsy Fundamentals with me, so we made the card using Adventure Fundamentals.The only things we changed about the card are the colors and the sentiment.

You'll find this layout on page 10 of the Holiday Expressions. I happened to be looking through some photos of my oldest daughter and immediately knew this picture would be perfect for this layout design. I used the flowers from the Sugar Skull stamp set, but decided the cat and sentiment from the August SOTM were a better fit. I embossed the sentiment and hat with black embossing powder, and the cat with silver embossing powder. The cat and the hat are cut out from patterned paper included in the Jeepers Creepers paper Pack.

I made cards to mail to my girls at college this year too. The design is part of the Workshops Your Way kit. Instead of using the white card bases, I chose to make bases from Black Cardstock instead. I matted the sentiment piece in black and cut it with a banner notch. I also decorated the insides and the envelopes. They loved them, which proves they are never too old for handmade cards and a package full of candy!

I hope you try recreating some of the artwork in our idea books too!

Supplies Used:

Balloon Love card:

C1660 Happy For You

Z3253 Adventure Fundamentals

X5790 Adventure Cardstock Combo Pack

Z2805 Black Ink Pad

Z2810 Blossom Ink Pad

Z2812 Raspberry Ink Pad

Z3286 Adventure Ribbon Pack

Z3285 Flower Market Cricut Collection (Sentiment Stamp Set)

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Jeepers Creepers Layout:

D1698 Sugar Skull

S1608 Purr-fect Halloween SOTM (Retired)

X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Pack

1386 Black Cardstock

X5790 Adventure Cardstock Combo Pack

Z4009 Jeepers Creepers Assortment

Z2013 Silver Sequins

Z2457 Marigold YR24 Shin Han Marker

Z2452 Golden Yellow Y222 Shin Han Marker

Z2454 Leaf Green GY234 Shin Han Marker

Z2450 Cherry Pink R5 Shin Han Marker

Z891 Tsukineko VersaMark Pad

Z2067 Ranger Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder

Z555 Craft Heater

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Black Embossing Powder (retired)

Jeepers Creepers Cards:

Z4006 Monstrous Halloween Thin Cuts Bundle

X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Pack

1386 Black Cardstock

X5786 Tangerine Cardstock

Z2805 Black Ink Pad

Z2086 Emerald Ink Pad

Z2087 Willow Ink Pad

Z2809 Tangerine Ink Pad

Z2812 Raspberry Ink Pad

Z4010 Jeepers Creepers Washi Pack

X254 White Cards and Envelopes Value Pack

Z1979 Marvy Uchida LePen Journaling Pen

December Specials

I'm not sure what I did to bump the Black Friday sale post to today. Blogger is acting a little finicky for me this morning. Here are the specials for December.

So often it’s the little things that matter most—and what better way to celebrate the little things in life than with adorable mini albums? Whether looking for a meaningful gift idea or a treasured keepsake, these mini albums are a fast and easy option, and this month you save 30%-off the retail price of the products you need!

The December SOTM, Thoughtful Flowers is available to purchase at regular price,

or you can get it for $5 with a $50 purchase!

I'm hoping to share a card I made a little later today. My daughter still has my camera, so I'm relying on my phone camera right now.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Scrapping!

Black Friday: Surprise Stash

Love getting a great deal on crafting supplies to add to your stash? For Black Friday this year, you’ll have the opportunity to get amazing crafting supplies at an amazing price with Close To My Heart! For 24 hours only, we’ll feature themed mystery boxes filled with retired Close To My Heart products, all at a major discount! These mystery boxes will have five different price points ranging from $35 to $150, with some mystery boxes being offered at 50% off the retail value! All mystery boxes will be available beginning November 25, 2016 at 12:00 am (MST) while supplies last—so grab a box for your stash before they’re gone!

http://paper-menagerie.closetomyheart.com/ctmh/promotions/campaigns/1611-black-friday-surprise-stash.aspx

Three Amigos November 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

Our challenge for November is to create a layout with three photos. The hardest part of this layout was deciding which papers I wanted to use with my photos. After pulling out nearly every current paper I own, I finally settled on the black and white polka dot print from the Uptown Fundamentals, the birch bark print from Oh Deer!, and two zip strips from Swan Lake. The gold foil on some of the embellishments kept reflecting the light. The close up of each page will show the embellishment clusters better.

I kept my embellishments to a minimum on this layout, using Swan Lake Compliments and Grey Enamel Gems. The white space below my feature photo will contain my journaling. 

Recognize the embellishment cluster on this page? I copied it from a Swan Lake layout in the Holiday Expressions. I used Gold Glitter Paper for the word love to tie in with the gold foil accents, cutting it with the Love Thin Cuts.

Thanks for hopping by! Hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created for you.

Supplies Used:

X7212B Swan Lake Paper Pack

X7214B Oh Deer! Paper Pack

Z3263 Uptown Fundamentals

1272 White Daisy Cardstock

1386 Black Cardstock

1385 Cranberry Cardstock

Z2172 Whisper Ink

X7212C Swan Lake Compliments

Z3089 Grey Enamel Gems

Z3238 Gold Glitter Paper

Z3257 Love Thin Cuts

Three Amigos October 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

This month's challenge is to use three textures on our project. I put together a single page layout using the Swan Lake Paper Pack and added texture with the Swan Lake and All Together Complements. I incorporated a little bit of Black Glitter Paper, embossed vellum, and some white Enamel Gems from the grey assortment.

I trimmed down a Picture My Life Overlay to fit over my photo. The sentiment on the card set the theme for the layout.

I used the Hearts Thin Cuts again this month to cut the Ruby heart for my layout. The "Together" copper foil vellum piece came from the All Together Complements. I stamped the names and "#SELFIE" on vellum with copper pigment ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder. The All Together Complements also include kraft embellishments, so I used Kraft Cardstock to mat my photo.

Thanks for hopping by! Hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created for you.

Supplies Used:
B1539 Pen Pal Alphabet
D1707 Let's Go
X7212B Swan Lake Paper Pack
X7212C Swan Lake Complements
Z3267 All Together Complements
X5927 Ruby Cardstock
1385 White Daisy Cardstock
X5930 Slate Cardstock
Z1375 Kraft Cardstock
Z3236 Black Glitter Paper
Z2170 Ruby Ink
Z2172 Whisper Ink
Z3283 PML Overlays-White Frames
Z3260 Hearts Thin Cuts
Z3089 Grey Enamel Gems
Z1979 Marvy Uchida Le Pen Journaling Pen
Z2088 Ranger Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder
Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape
Other: Brilliance Cosmic Copper Pigment Ink Pad, Vellum

Three Amigos September 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

This month we are featuring three techniques on our projects. My nephew is getting married today, so I thought I would share the wedding card I made for him and his new bride. I incorporated dry embossing, heat embossing, and direct-to-paper ink distressing into my card.

The top portion of the card features our Sea Glass cardstock embossed with the Confetti Embossing Folder. I used the Shimmer Brush to add sparkle to each of the embossed dots, but the camera didn't pick up the shimmery effect. The sentiment from the Wedding Wishes stamp set is heat embossed on the wood patterned paper from the Rustic Home Fundamentals Collection. I added crochet ribbon from the Rustic Home Ribbon Pack. The hearts are cut from Sea Glass Glitter Paper using the new Hearts Thin Cuts.  I wanted the hearts to have a little dimension, so I cut three extra layers from Sea Glass cardstock and adhered them together.

I used the Mini Sea Glass Pigment Ink Pad to stamp the inside sentiment.

Thanks for hopping by! Hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created for you.

Whimsy Fundamentals Cards

One of the things I love about my CTMH sisters is their willingness to share. Kelly English-Triggs was a presenter at our convention this year, and she shared a card workshop featuring the new Whimsy and Adventure Fundamentals paper collections. I put together three of the cards using Whimsy papers. Of course, I inked all of my paper edges and decorated the inside of my cards as well.

The first card uses a drapery fold as a backdrop for flowers and a sentiment. I used the Shimmer Brush on the flowers, which were cut using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge and layered.

The second card uses three colors (Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf, and Pixie) of the same pattern. The tag for the sentiment is popped up with 3-D foam tape.

The final card uses a very subtle combination of the Glacier stripe and Glacier watercolor print papers with Whiper cardstock. 

All of the cards have sentiments from the Happy Heart stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies used:

A1192 Happy Heart

Z3255 Whimsy Fundamentals

X5751 Sorbet Cardstock

X5929 Whisper Cardstock

Z2782 Whisper Ink Pad

Z2844 Pixie Ink Pad

Z2817 Crystal Blue Ink Pad

X254 White Daisy Value Pack Cards with Envelopes

Z3029 Grey Enamel Gems

Z3095 Whisper Thick Twine

Z3169 Cricut Artbooking Collection

Z3293 Shimmer Brush-Clear

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Z2089 Memory Book Micro Glue Dots

Three Amigos August 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

Our theme of three continues this month with the challenge of using three folds on our project. I pulled out new products from the 2016-2017 Annual Inspirations Idea Book. If you haven't had the opportunity to look through the idea book yet, you're in for a treat. CTMH introduced a new Color of the Year called Sea Glass. They are right on trend, because I see this color everywhere I go.

I made an easel card with Sea Glass Cardstock as the base. You'll see the three folds in the side view below. I layered Sea Glass Glitter Paper onto White Daisy Cardstock to created the two panels for my card. The adorable cupcake and sentiment are from the new Sweet Birthday stamp set. I heat embossed the cupcake and party hat using Versamark Ink and Gold Embossing Powder. The images are water colored using our ink pads, paint brushes, and lots of water. I squeezed a bit of ink into the lid of the pad, dipped my brush into water, picked up some ink, and painted away. My little cupcake rests on a banner cut from a design included in the Whimsy Fundamentals Paper Pack.

This is the view from the side. I scored a 4.25 x 12" piece of Sea Glass Cardstock at 1.5", 3", and 6". The overall dimension of the card when folded is 4.25 x 5.5".  If you look closely, you'll see that I inked the edges of the card base, white panels, and glitter paper with the Sea Glass Mini Pigment Ink Pad. The banner and sentiment piece are inked with Smoothie Ink. The banner, cupcake, and sentiment are all popped up with Thin 3-D Foam Tape. 

Thanks for hopping by today! Be sure to hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created this month.

Supplies Used:

B1532 Sweet Birthday

Z3255 Whimsy Fundamentals Paper Pack

X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

Z3240 Sea Glass Glitter Paper

Z2507 Sea Glass Mini Pigment Ink Pad

Z2641 Glacier Ink Pad

Z2165 Juniper Ink Pad

Z2196 Smoothie Ink Pad

Z891 Versamark Ink Pad

Z2066 Ranger Princess Gold Embossing Powder

Z3188 Paintbrush Set

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Have a Purr-fect Birthday

The August Stamp of The Month, Purr-fect Halloween, is so cute! I'm not quite ready to make Halloween themed projects, but that cute cat is "purr-fect" for a birthday card.

I stamped the cat onto a scrap of Saffron patterned paper from the Florence paper pack, cut him out, and popped him up on the front of my card. His bow-tie is made out of two of the banner pieces stamped onto Ruby patterned paper and fussy cut. I added a sequin to the center of the bow-tie. The background is a PML card included in the Florence paper pack. I did a little masking for the sentiment. "Have a purr-fect" is from the SOTM set and "Birthday!" is from a new stamp set called Sweet Birthday.

Of course, I had to decorate the inside of the card too! The "#BESTBIRTHDAYEVER" sentiment is included in the Wise Guy Birthday stamp set.

I love that the cat looks like he's sitting in a bed of flowers!

Thanks for stopping by today! Come back tomorrow for the monthly Three Amigos Blog Hop!

Supplies used:

S1608 Purr-fect Halloween SOTM

B1532 Sweet Birthday

C1662 Wise Guy Birthday

X7208B Florence Paper Pack

X5778 Saffron Cardstock

Z2105 Black Ink Pad

Z2649 Peacock Ink Pad

Z2651 Saffron Ink Pad

Z2170 Ruby Ink Pad

Z3213 Florence Sequins

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

X1410 Colonial White Cards and Envelopes Value Pack

2016-2017 Annual Inspirations Idea Book is Here!

Hi there! Have you had a chance to look at the new Annual Inspirations Idea Book yet? It's full of gorgeous new Fundamentals Papers, stamp sets, ribbon (YAY!), and embellishments. Here are two cards we created at our annual convention this year using some of the new Enchantment Fundamentals papers, new All The Thanks stamp set, and Enchantment Ribbon Pack. The workshop creates 64 cards from one Fundamentals pack (8 each of 8 designs)! The cards are super easy to make, and the sentiments can be switched up as well. I will share more of the cards as the month progresses.

I added shimmer trim behind the twine on the Sapphire card to make it stand out a bit more.

The new stitched peacock ribbon is one of my faves. Oh, who am I kidding?! They are ALL my faves!

I decorated the insides too.

Thanks for stopping by today. If you have some time, check out the new idea book. You won't be disappointed!

Magical Mini Album

Studio time has been at a premium for me this month. I pulled out my Magical Paper Pack last week to make a mini album to hold a few pictures from convention. I finally finished the album this morning. I shared a similar album a couple years ago.

The base of the album is made using one sheet of 12x12 black cardstock, scored and cut. I found a Sticky Boy (the CTMH mascot) stamp at convention and decided he should adorn the cover of my album. I stamped Sticky Boy and Convention 2016 with black ink and heat embossed it with clear detail embossing powder.

This is the view when the front cover is opened. The buttons on the flaps are punched out of cardstock and sewn on with white twine to reduce the bulk.

The mini album opens up to reveal three sections. The first section is a pocket holding a journaling tag. The middle and right sections open up to reveal more photo spots.

We had so much fun at convention this year! Next year the CTMH convention will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Would you like to join the fun? Visit my website for details about joining my team and the great consultant sign up special going on until July 31st.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies used:

X7209B Magical Paper Pack

X7209C Magical Compliments

Z3214 Magical Sequins

C1676 Convention 2016 (Exclusive Stamp Set)

Z2105 Black Ink

Z2116 Cranberry Ink

Z2162 Honey Ink

Z2648 Sapphire Ink

Z891 Versamark Ink

Z2088 Ranger Super Fine Clear Embossing Powder

Z3216 White Twine

Z1263 Bitty Sparkles

Z3197 Black and Gold Ribbon

Z697 Sponge

Z1912 Corner Rounder

Z3131 Thumb Notch Punch

Z2060 3-D Foam Tape

Button Punch (Martha Stewart)

Three Amigos July 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

This month we are continuing our theme of three by using three fonts on our projects. Since the three of us recently returned from our convention at Disney World, I pulled out my Magical Paper Packet to make my project. As I flipped through my Idea Book looking for inspiration for three fonts, I stumbled upon the Beyond Awesome stamp set. The sentiment I used contains three different fonts. The design of my card was inspired by one of our convention make and take projects.

I didn't want to leave the inside of the card blank, so I pulled out the Crazy Good stamp set and added a few banners.

I stamped the "Awesome" sentiment using Sapphire Ink and then again using Cranberry Ink. I fussy cut the cranberry Awesome banner and used thin 3-D foam tape to pop it up over the sapphire stamped banner.

Thanks for hopping by today! Be sure to hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created this month.

Supplies Used:

D1661 Crazy Good

C1644 Beyond Awesome

X7209B Magical Paper Pack

Z2116 Cranberry Ink

Z2648 Sapphire Ink

Z3214 Magical Sequins

Z3024 White Shimmer Trim

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape