Holiday Guide Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Guide Blog Hop! Here, you'll be taken on a holiday journey through Close To My Heart's Winter 2013 Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide.  If you get lost along the way, you'll find a full list of consultants participating in this blog hop on Melinda Everitt's blog, If You Bling It.

Thanks for coming from Maria Myers' Stamp Momma's blog.

I'm in the midst of planning and teaching several kids' classes right now. They are just loving washi tape (okay, so am I), so I decided to use the new Sparkle & Shine Washi Tape 3-Pack (Z1907) and simply cover ornaments cut out from my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge (Z1686) in various sizes. Then, I stamped images from the My Acrlyix Santa Clause Stamp Set (C1567) and popped them up with a bit of 3-D Foam Tape. This is an easy project that my youngest crafters can do as there's no right or wrong way to add washi tape!

Since my Christmas tree isn't up yet, I decided to showcase my ornaments on the Designed Decor Black Frame (Z1880) and attached them using the ruby mini painted clothes pins from the Mini-Medley Accents Ruby Collection (Z1861).

If you don't have your own copy of the Holiday Guide, contact your local consultant, request a FREE one from me here or visit my Close To My Heart website to view it online.

Now, it's time to head to Karen Fullam's Enriching Memories blog to see what amazing artwork she's created for you!

Clearly the Best: A Burst of Creativity (S02E01)

It's a chilly 52 degrees here in Northern Virginia, and I swear I just saw animals lining up two by two to avoid these torrential downpours! So, I thought this video by CTMH execs was perfect. Check it out to see how to make a burst of sunshine on your cards.



What do you do to cheer yourself up on a rainy day?

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Scandanavian Wishes

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring Scandanavian Wishes. If you've come from the talented (and hilarious) Brae Montgomery's blog, you're on the right path!

This set of 12 stamps reminds me of my sons' favorite books by Jan Brett, Gingerbread Baby and Gingerbread Friends. While I used the set to make a simple Christmas card, I can see myself making tags attached to freshly baked gingerbread cookies this December! Mmmmmmmmm!

With Close To My Heart's new Stitch Guide and Foam Mat, adding the rows of stitching has never been easier.  Now, head on over to see what fabulous creations Sheila Bennett has for you!

Laughing Lola

Laughing Lola is a fun, bold and inspiring paper pack from Close To My Heart. That snakeskin print is just my favorite, love it!!!

I did a Workshop On the Go class Monday night this week with some of my favorite gals and we definitely did lots of laughing while putting together the layouts below!

Make It From Your Heart, Volume 2, Pattern 15.

ProPlayer Scrapbooking

Two active boys means lots of red, blue and black colors zipping around my house. I'd love to scrapbook pink, frilly things, but that's just not my life, and I'm pretty lucky so I'll deal!

ProPlayer is Close To My Heart's answer to my needs for boy paper. While these photos don't do the paper justice (my good camera's in the shop!), you can see how boy oriented, gamer, and fun these patterned papers are!

The first two layouts are part of the ProPlayer Workshop on the Go. The third layout is one I put together using the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 pattern book inspired by Jeanette Lynton. I used Pattern 02. I just love CTMH's "How To" series of layouts and card patterns!

September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - Poster Tidings

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring September's SOTM, which is Poster Tidings, a set of two large stamps.  If you have come here from Helen's blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants here.

I recently renovated the top two levels of my house and have really been enjoying using my favorite CTMH products to decorate my house. I have this plate on a stand that I often write bible verses that I want to commit to memory. This month, I decided to add the Autumn sentiment and some burlap ribbon to dress up my plate.

I used CTMH pigment inks in Autumn Terracotta and Cocoa to stamp the sentiment onto a piece of Colonial White cardstock. I used a piece of B&T paper from the Huntington Paper Pack and 3-D foam tape to highlight the word art.

Now "Hop" on over to Tamra's blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the September SOTM is only available until September 30th!  Contact your CTMH Consultant to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

New Product Blog Hop - Designed Decor Colonial White Frame Featuring Huntington and Cricut Artbooking

There is so much new product to love in Close To My Heart's Fall/Winter 2013 Idea Book that I had a hard time picking just one project to focus on. And, that new Cricut Artbooking cartridge is simply to die for! I can't wait for you to play with it.

I know the other consultants participating in this blog hop feel the same way, so make sure you complete the circle and visit all 32 blogs! Thanks for hopping over from Wendy's blog.

I decided to use the new Designed Decor Colonial White Frame, the Huntington Paper Pack and the CTMH Artbooking Cricut Cartridge to create this piece of home decor:

Here's the list of supplies I used (all NEW) product from CTMH:
Designed Decor Colonial White Frame, Z1865, $26.95
Huntington Paper Packet, X7174B, $9.95
Huntington Assortment, Z1881, $5.95
Bronze Shimmer Trim, Z1849, $4.95
Jute Ribbon, Z1867, $7.95
Mini-Medley Accents Rosewood Collection, Z1857, $5.95
Mini Clothes Pins, Z1815, $3.95
Cricut Artbooking Collection, Z1906, $99

Here are the cuts I used from Artbooking:
1) To cut the mat underneath JONES, I set my Cricut to Real Dial Size, selected Photo Mat 2 and chose to cut at 3". 
2) JONES and the Colonial White shadow were also cut using the Real Dial Size, I pressed Shift and cut each letter in capitals at 1 1/2". 
3) The pinecones were cut using the flower pattern, rolled up then shaken out to be loose. I cut them at Real Dial, selected Icon, pressed and cut them at 4" and 3". Thanks Laura Petruso for telling me my wonky flowers looked like pinecones!
4) To create the honeycomb overlay, I turned OFF the Real Dial Size, selected Overlay, pressed <4> and cut it at 8". 
5) For the overlay on top of the photo of my husband and I, I turned the Real Dial Size OFF, pressed Photo Mat 1, Shift and cut at 11" using the button.
6) For the mat under my boys' photo, I turned the Real Dial Size ON, selected Photo Mat 2, and cut at 5".

Continue the hop by visiting Helen's blog next! She always shares the best tutorials so make sure you read to the bottom!