You're GREAT

This is a busy cardmaking week for me. Wedding, birthday, thank you...I've really got to get crafting!

Thank goodness for my CTMH stash of stamps, papers and Idea Books!

On my lunch break today, I wanted to take a few minutes to make a thank you card for a dear friend. I really wanted something special and was not feeling particularly creative, so I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. There are so many amazing papercrafters out there!

I really like this card by fellow CTMH Independent Consultant Pamela O'Connor and used it as my inspiration.

My thank you card uses the same placement of pennants, sentiment and bling, but I changed the dimensions of the card and didn't stitch around the border (which allowed me to create my card in less than 20 minutes).

I used the fabulous Casual Expressions stamp set (pg. 27 of the Autumn/Winter 2012 Idea Book), Stella papers (pg. 68), White Daisy Die-Cut Cards & Envelopes (pg. 123) and Bitty Sparkles (pg. 127). The ink colours are Lagoon and Cocoa.

Here's how you can create your own card:
1. Ink front of White Daisy Die-Cut card with Cocoa ink.
2. Stamp star image in Cocoa ink across the front of the card, following the curve. (Tip: start with the centre star and work out.)

3. On the inside of the card, stamp star image across bottom of card, about 1.5" from bottom (Tip: You want the top 1/2 of the star to show.)
4. Trim a 3" x 5.5" piece of Lagoon cardstock and ink edges with Cocoa ink.
5. Adhere to card, overlapping the stars.
6. Trim a 2.5" x 5" piece of Stella paper and ink edges with Cocoa ink.
7. Adhere to centre of Lagoon piece.
8. Trim two 3" x 1" pennants, one of them from Autumn Terracotta cardstock and the other from Stella paper and ink edges.
9. Ink the Thank You stamp and stamp on a scrap piece of paper, then stamp again, without re-inking, onto Autumn Terracotta pennant. Repeal to cover the pennant.
10. Trim a 1.5" x 4" pennant from Stella paper and ink edges.
11. Adhere this last pennant to left side of the card, overlapping the Lagoon cardstock and Stella paper.
12. Adhere the Autumn Terracotta pennant about midway down the big Stella pennant and low enough to hang over the stars.
13. Adhere the remaining Stella pennant next to and slightly above the Autumn Terracotta pennant.
14. Stamp the Your GREAT stamp in Lagoon ink onto a scrap piece of White Daisy carstock and cut out.
15. Adhere to card with pop dots, overlapping pennants.
16. Trim a 1" x 5.5" piece of Stella paper and ink edges.
17. Adhere to inside bottom of card, overlapping stars.
18. Adhere a Bitty Sparkle to the centre of the starts on the inside of the card as well as the card face.
19. Adhere a Bitty Sparkle to the upper left corner and two Bitty Sparkles to the bottom right corner of the Stella paper rectangle.

Happy Scrapping!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Even before I became a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant, I was a CTMH customer. Many of the products I purchased were Christmas themed. There's just something about Christmas products that makes me happy!

Now that I'm a more experienced stamper, I'm really falling in love with the variety of Christmas stamps CTMH offers.

Usually, I make one set of Christmas cards, but this year with all the awesome CTMH Christmas stamps, I'm likely going to be making several different cards in batches. Here's the first one!

This card was made using two different CTMH stamp sets: the exclusive C-size stamp set in the Workshops on the go Pear & Partridge Scrapbooking Kit (page 65 of the current Idea Book) and A Timber (from the Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book).

Here are the instructions to create this card:

1. Make a 6" x 3 1/4" card from Colonial White cardstock with the fold on the left.
2. Make a 5 3/4" x 3" panel from Sky cardstock.
3. Lightly ink edges of Sky cardstock with Chocolate distressing ink.
4. Stamp snowflake image from WOTS Pear & Partridge Scrapbooking Kit stamp set in White Daisy ink onto Sky cardstock.
5. Adhere Sky cardstock to card front.
6. Pierce holes down right side of card (through Sky cardstock) about 1/4" from the edge.
7. Using White Daisy embroidery floss, blanket stitch through the holes.
8. On a separate piece of Colonial White cardstock, stamp tree image from A Timber stamp set in Olive ink.
9. Without reinking, stamp tree image again on the right, overlapping first image.
10. Cut out stamped trees and adhere to front of Sky panel, about 1" from the bottom.
11. Stamp star/swirl image from A Timber stamp set in Slate ink across bottom of trees.
12. Stamp star image from A Timer stamp set in Cranberry ink above the darker tree.
13. Adhere a Bitty Sparkle to the Cranberry star.
14. Trim a 7" length of white ribbon and stamp Happy Holidays from A Timber stamp set in Slate ink towards the left end and trim a chevron end.
15. Fold right end of ribbon twice and secure. Adhere ribbon to Sky cardstock, above trees.
16. Add Pear Badge Button to ribbon.

Voila! A lovely holiday card!

It may seem like a lot of steps (and the stitching does add time), but you an easily make a batch of these cards in an hour or so if you do all the stamping for each element at once. For example, if you're making 20 cards, cut all the cardstock at once, stamp all the same images at once, etc.

This would also make a great cardmaking project for a girl's night with 3 or 4 friends. Each person takes on a task (i.e one person does all the snowflake stamping, one person does all the paper trimming, etc.) then the cards are assembled once the pieces are ready.

Keep watching my blog for more Christmas card ideas.

Happy Scrapping!

Join Me on Facebook!

I'm trying to give my non-scrapbooking friends and family a break by distinguishing my CTMH related posts from my personal posts on Facebook. To that end, I've created a business page on Facebook.

Like my Facebook page to keep abreast of current promotions and happenings. I'll also be posting artwork, how-to videos, tips and links of interest.

And of course, you're welcome to share! I'd love to see your artwork, using any product!

Happy Scrapping!

Capture the Date! Capture the Savings!

This month Close To My Heart has a special promotion for all of us who love stamping. When you place your $50 qualifying order and purchase the versatile November Stamp of the Month, you get an additional 50% off another stamp set!

Have you had your eye on a special alphabet stamp set but have been putting off purchasing it because of the price? With this promotion, you can get a big alphabet stamp set (regular price $29.95) for only $14.78! That's an E-size stamp set for less than the price of a D-size set. And the 50% savings applies to all regular priced stamp sets in the Autumn/Winter 2012 Idea Book and the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book. That's hundreds of stamps to choose from.

And if you're starting to think about the holidays, this is a great way to get some fabulous Close To My Heart products for yourself and a 50% discount on a stamp set to give as a gift.

Want to check out the November Stamp of the Month for yourself? Come visit me at the Admiral's Walk Clubhouse on Sunday, November 4th, from noon to 4PM. I will be there with a great selection of Close To My Heart products and a few projects made with "Capture the Date".

Happy Scrapping!

Meet me at the Clubhouse!

Get a jump start on your Christmas shopping!!

Meet me at the Admiral's Walk Clubhouse in the Port of Newcastle for a Crafty Christmas Bazaar. On Sunday, November 4th from noon to 4PM, I'll be at the Clubhouse with a bunch of great Close To My Heart products.

Come see what's in store for Christmas! From Christmas cards to decorations and ornaments to gifts, Close To My Heart everything you need to craft yourself some special, handmade Christmas magic.

I will be taking orders, booking Home Gatherings and will have gift cards available.

See you Sunday!

Avonlea Workshop on the Go Kit

I love the Avonlea papers. The mix of Avolean Teal, creams and browns is beautiful and calming. I love the shapes on the patterned papers and stamps too.

I knew I wanted to scrap something special with these beautiful papers and immediately thought of the photos I'd taken on Father's Day last year. The layout from the Avonlea Workshop on the Go Kit was perfect for these photos as well.

What I didn't realise until I began assembling the page, was I'd learn a new stamping technique!

Did you know you can use BOTH sides of an acrylic stamp? I never would have thought of it. If you have an image that's a symmetrical shape, you can stamp the reverse side of the stamp and get a "filled in" image of the shape. The Avonlea kit suggest stamping the reverse side of the doily stamp in second generation ink, then stamping the "regular" side of the stamp directly on top. The result is a perfectly shaped, tone-on-tone image.

I can't wait to try this technique with my other stamps!

Another feature I love about this kit is the velvet rub-ons. They're easy to use and add a great fuzzy texture to the page. Add a few gems and there's a lovely contrast of texture and sparkle.

Even though this kit provides enough product to complete the two double-page layouts, additional recipe box project plus some, I like these papers so much, I think I'm going to have to buy another pack!

Studio J! Try it Today!

October is a great time to try Studio J, Close To My Heart's online scrapbooking tool. This month's promotion offers a FREE Studio J double-pay layout for every 9 purchased. Buy 9 layouts, get the 10th free; buy 18 layouts, get 2 more free!

Best of all, you can try Studio J, anytime, for free. Just visit the Studio J area of my website, create an online account and start scrapping!

Studio J has streamlined the online scrapping process into 4 easy steps:

1. Start a New Project: This is the starting step. When you want to create a new page, or series of pages, click this button to begin.

2. Upload photos: Upload the photos you'd like to scrap directly to the Studio J website. The photos are stored in your project folder and are available for any projects you create in that folder. You could upload all your photos for a particular event and scrap multiple pages under the same project!

3. Select your layout: Studio J allows you to chose pre-made layout templates, give you the ability to alter them or start from scratch with your own design. It's easy to chose the perfect template with the drop down menu that sorts templates by number of photos.

4. Select your paper kit: Studio J has dozens of paper kits for you to chose from. Papers from the current Idea Book as well as papers from past Idea Books. Whatever your subject, there are multiple paper themes to chose from. And each paper kit comes with My Stickease digital stickers. The stickers include an alphabet, borders and different sized stickers. My Stickease may also include title, quotes, tags, frames and more. To make scrapping even easier and faster, Studio J will suggest paper arrangements for the template you've chose. Just select the one you like best!

Now get scrapping! You can change the papers, colours, embellishments , orientation and add text. You can add brads, ribbon, stitching and even distress the papers. Studio J makes altering your layouts easy by suggesting co-ordinating colours.

And you can do all this, make as many Studio J pages as you like, with no commitment. With no membership fees and no pre-paid access, you can use Studio J, as much as you like for free!

When you love your layouts and have decided to order, just check out, approve your layouts and place your order. Double-page layouts are only $6.95 each and come with free .jpeg files you can download within minutes of placing your order. For scrappers who only want .jpeg files, you can order those without ordering the printed pages, for only $2.95 per double-page layout.

I've said it before, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool paper crafter, but Studio J has transformed my hobby. My scrapbooks are almost up to date, I can easily share finished pages with family and friends via email or on Facebook, I'm saving time and money by working on Studio J. And there are no messy scraps to clean up afterwards!

Try it! You'll like it! I did!