Fall Leaves Wishing You Well Card

Hello Inky Friends! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. We had a lot going on this summer, and I had to put a few things on hold. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and hope to share more often.

New Annual and Seasonal Idea Books launched on September 1st with lots of crafty goodness. Have you seen the new Layered Leaves Thin Cuts? Love, love, LOVE them (and pretty much all things leafy!) I decided to join the fall card bandwagon with this creation.

I was inspired by a card in an email I received from Pinterest, but must have deleted the email and can't find the pin. Sigh. Anyway, I loved the color combo and the use of the leaves, so I decided to make something with CTMH products. I pulled out cardstock in Saffron, Fern, Peacock, and two new colors, Paprika and French Vanilla. The sentiment is from a very old stamp set, Say It in Style, that returned in the core Idea Book. I love that I can use stamp sets from my collection instead of watching them collect dust. As a matter of fact, I pulled out two other "oldies" to use on this card.

I embossed the Vanilla Cream background with the retired Wood Slats embossing folder. I am in love with the new French Vanilla Cardstock! I think it might become my go to "white."  After I stamped the Paprika and Fern Leaf images from the retired Autumn Splendor stamp set, I used the same stamps to apply a bit of tone on tone texture to the open die cut leaves. You can find similar leaf images in the Hawthorn- Scrapbooking stamp set. I used Goldenrod Stickles for the flower centers, and added a small amount of Gold Embellishing Thread behind the flowers.

One last leaf on the inside finishes off the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies Used:

D1283 Say It in Style

X5958 Peacock Cardstock

X5960 Fern Cardstock

X5961 Saffron Cardstock

X6033 Paprika Cardstock

X6046 French Vanilla Cardstock

Z2849 Peacock Ink Pad

Z2850 Fern Ink Pad

Z2851 Saffron Ink Pad

Z6515 Paprika Ink Pad

Z3523 Layered Leaves Thin Cuts

Z4054 Gold Embellishing Thread

Z3560 Goldenrod Stickles

Retired Items: D1181 Autumn Splendor, D1186 Rustic Flowers, Z3248 Wood Slats Embossing Folder, Z3352 Enchantment Fundamentals

Other: Stitched Leaves Dies- Lawn Fawn

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

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!

Three Amigos September 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.

Before I begin with my hop project, I would like to thank you for being so patient with my lack of blogging since the July hop. We have been in the midst of a relocation from Western New York to Michigan. The moving van pulled up to pack my house on July 17th and left with all of my belongings, including my August hop project, on July 21st. Our WNY closing was delayed by the buyer for nearly two weeks, which put us into August and all of our belongings into storage. Sadly, my beautiful mom passed away unexpectedly in the midst of our move on July 29th. I miss her terribly every single day! This is one of my favorite pictures of Mom captured by my niece earlier this year.

The new Annual Inspirations Idea Book and Holiday Expressions went live just two days ago! If you haven't seen all of the crafty goodness yet, be sure to check them out. With the release of the AI and HE Idea books, we decided to feature new products this month. Throughout the month of September, CTMH will showcase two new paper packets, Zoe and Nevermore. I chose to make a layout using the Halloween themed Nevermore Paper Pack, Complements, and Accessories. My layout was heavily inspired by the layout on page 8 of the Holiday Expressions book. I kept the basic design of the layout and switched up some of the embellishments.

I plan to put this picture of my daughter from last year on the layout as soon as I get it printed. I might do a bit of editing first to blur the background, but haven't had the chance yet.

The new Complements include Kraft and thick plastic die-cuts as well as cardstock stickers.I used a variety of them in the top left and bottom right corners of the page.

The spider is a stamp from the new Steampunk Scoundrels set. I stamped it on Kraft cardstock with black ink to tie in with the complements I used and fussy cut it for the page.  The spider web is one of the cool thick plastic die-cuts. I hoped to use the new  Grey Enamel Gems, but discovered they were not part of my initial Idea Book order. I used our retired black and grey epoxy bubbles instead.

Thank you for stopping by today. Hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created for you.

Supplies Used:

B1503 Steampunk Scoundrels

Y1006 3x3 Block

X7198B Nevermore Paper Packet

X7198C Nevermore Complements

Z3083 Nevermore Assortment

Z1375 Kraft Cardstock

Z2105 Black Ink Pad

Z2173 Slate Ink Pad

Z1979 Marvy Uchida LePen journaling Pen

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Z1836 Nonstick Scissors

Z697 Round Sponge

Z1471 Ruler

Z3022 3L EZ Dots Adhesive

1778 Spritz Cleaner

Z1782 Stamp Scrubber

Three Amigos October 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 the Hostess Rewards Stamp Sets shown on pages 5-10 in the Annual Inspirations Idea Book. Become a hostess and earn products free or at a spectacular discount beginning once the order total reaches $150. I used the Better with a Friend stamp set featured on page 9 of the Idea Book. My Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge arrived the day I sat down to start my project, so I decided to use both for my card. 

The base of the card uses the Scene function on the "5" key cut at the recommended size. The foxes are cut from the Icon function on the same key. I cut the paper ribbon from Pathfinding paper using the Artiste cartridge.

The darkest brown from the Brown & Tan Glitter Paper was used to back the cut-out tree trunks. I tried several different patterned papers, but the glitter paper kept the focus on the two adorable foxes. I used scraps of the Pathfinding paper to back the ears, hearts, and tails, and solid cardstock behind the eyes and paws. A little Liquid Glass on the hearts and a Rosewood sparkle on the bow add to the shimmer of the glitter paper. You're probably wondering where I used the "Better with a Friend" stamp set.

The sentiment perfectly fits this card! I lined the inside of the card with more Pathfinding paper. The sentiment is layered on two mats, all of which are cut from the Artfully Sent cartridge (Icon Function, key "l", real dial size). Matting the sentiment makes it a focal point.

Everything IS better with a friend! Now hop over to my dear friend Lisa's blog to see what she created for you!

Supplies:

D1608 Better with a Friend

X7186B Pathfinding Paper Packet

Z2111 Chocolate Ink Pad

Z3017 Artfully Sent Cricut Collection

Z1790 Artiste Cricut Collection

Z1830 Brown & Tan Glitter Paper

Z1857 Rosewood Mini Medley Accents

Z679 Liquid Glass

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Three Amigos August 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 sharing projects featuring the August Stamp of the Month, What A Hoot!  If you love owls, you'll want this stamp set.  Instead of sticking with the Halloween theme of the stamp set, I decided to make a birthday card.

My card features several new products from the Annual Inspirations Idea Book that just went live on August 1st.  The Confetti Wishes paper pack is full of fun, bright colors including our new Thistle and Canary additions to the Whimsy collection.  The owl is colored in with the new ShinHan Touch Twin Markers.  I added bitty sparkles to the eyes and punched confetti dots to the belly.  The background is embossed with our new Woodgrain Embossing Folder.

My little owl friend is supposed to look like he's jumping out through the paper.  I wanted to use the Adhesive Springs to give him a little movement, but I couldn't find them for the life of me.  I used a double layer of 3-D foam tape to pop him out of the card.  The "SURPRISE!" letters are also popped up with 3-D foam tape.

The picture isn't great, but I wanted to show how I decorated the inside of the card as well.

Thanks for hopping by.  Hop on over to Lisa's Blog to see what she created for you.

Supplies:

S1408 What A Hoot!

B1416 Keyboard Alphabet

B1442 Belated Birthday

X7189B Confetti Wishes Paper Packet

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

Z2105 Black Ink Pad

Z2192 Pacifica Ink Pad

Z2640 Thistle Ink Pad

Z1996 Woodgrain Embossing Folder

Z2452 ShinHan Touch Twin Y222, Golden Yellow Marker

Z2462 ShinHan Touch Twin P282 Peony Purple Marker

Z2445 ShinHan Touch Twin YR29 Barely Beige Marker

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Z1263 Bitty Sparkles

Small Hole Punch (Fiskars)

Get Ready To Be Wowed!

The new Annual Inspriations Idea Book is here with over 250 new products!  Be sure to check it out today!

Look at the adorable August Stamp of the Month, What a Hoot!  It can be yours for only $5 with a $50 purchase.

Wait!  There's more! If you love the Picture My Life scrapbooking program, you are going to love this special.

Have fun looking at all of the great new products.  Be sure to check back on August 3rd for the Three Amigos Blog Hop!