December SOTM Blog Hop - Mad About You

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring the December SOTM Mad About You, a set of 14 stamps. If you have come here from Nikka'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 around. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find a complete list of participating consultants here.

There are many Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using the December Stamp of the Month and other great CTMH products on their blogs. Hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one. Here we go!

I'm part of a Stamp of the Month Swap group, and each member has been assigned a specific paper packet for each month. For December I had to use Typeset, which features Black, Juniper, Vineyard Berry, and Creme Brulee. Based on the theme of the stamp set I decided to make a rather non-traditional Valentine's Day card.

Here is my supply list:

X7139B Typeset Level 2 Paper Packet
S1112 Mad About You
1388 Colonial White Cardstock
1301 Bamboo Cardstock
X5910 Dark Red Shade Pack
Z2157 Vineyard Berry Exclusives Inks stamp pad
Z2114 Cocoa Exclusives Inks stamp pad
Z1487 Pewter Mini-Medley Accents Collection
Z1366 Metal Brad Assortment (Pewter)
Z1102 Colonial White Grosgrain
Z1617 Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

These are the cards made by my swap group. The talented ladies who made them are top row: Kimberly Deines and LeAnne Dudley; middle row: Vicki Price, and bottom row: Krista Staton and Angie Petersen.

Now "Hop" on over to Krista's blog to see her work, and be sure to visit each consultant's blog to get some great crafting inspiration and other fun ideas! Remember, this exclusive stamp set is only available until December 31st!

Black Friday Sale!

Have you been good this year and gotten your name on the Nice list?

If so, have Santa* email me an order anytime Friday, November 25^th through midnight Sunday, November 27^th for the

Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection

(or any order totaling $99 or more**)

Santa* will receive a 10% discount off his order

plus free gift wrapping and delivery from my house to under your tree!

This offer is only available through Vicki Price, Close to My Heart Independent Consultant. Valid Friday, November 25^th through midnight Sunday, November 27^th. All orders must be paid in full no later than November 28^th. Cash, check, and credit cards accepted. Not valid with online orders. *Santa can be a significant other, friend, relative, or even yourself. **$99 total before shipping and taxes.

Email me at priceofpaper@gmail.com to order!

Stocking Stuffers

I've been busy making things for an upcoming craft fair, and below you'll see what I've made so far. First up, Reindeer Noses. (Got this idea off Pinterest after a friend told me about it.)

A fellow consultant gave similar M&M favors to several of us who attended Convention at Disneyland back in July. I thought they made great stocking stuffers so I just made Christmas tags instead of Disney-themed ones.

I love Stamp on This for fun things to make for gifts, and when I was ordering 2012 calendars I came across these fun tubes. I really didn't know what I was getting until they arrived, but I knew instantly they were perfect for Kisses.

I'm hoping that these simple little gifts will sell like hotcakes at the craft fair!

Finally - A Picture of Me!

I've been waiting to get my hands on a photo of myself for a month. I did have photos of myself, of course, but I knew there was a pretty good one taken at a recent wedding, and it was the one I wanted to use right now. It's hard to get just a photo of myself because I'm usually either the one taking pictures of everyone else, or when I think of asking someone to photograph me, I'm in my Sunday comfy clothes and not looking too photogenic. I'm busy crafting this weekend, so I'll have project photos to post in the next day or two!

Card Box & Monogrammed Cards

One of my favorite pieces of artwork in the Fall/Winter Idea Book is the Christmas Cards box on page 120. I knew it was something I either wanted to copy or use for inspiration. I decided on the inspiration because I thought a card box would make a great gift and workshop project.

I also decided it was time I made something for myself, and since I'm crazy about the Sonoma papers, I chose to use them for the project. I decorated the box first because I knew it would take me longer than the cards would. The patterns in this set are so elegant that I added some of the Opaques to keep the embellishments as elegant as the papers.

Although I absolutely love the purple flowers, the crystal charm is my favorite accessory on the box. It's the perfect touch!

I purposely made the cards without too much fuss. Even though I made this set for myself, it's nice to have some cards that don't have bulky embellishments that can drive up the price of mailing them.

I couldn't decide which side of the paper I liked better, so I went with the best of both worlds - five of each!

Please feel free to contact me if you'd like cutting dimensions or a supply list so you can make this project for yourself!

Holiday Wishes

I'm so excited to get this deal for myself! This is one of the prettiest Christmas trees I've ever seen. Here are the details:

When you place a minimum order of $25 in My Acrylix® Stamp Sets* between November 1–30, you can add a new D-size Holiday Wishes stamp set for only $5! That’s a significant savings of $12.95. You may buy one Holiday Wishes stamp set for every $25 in qualifying stamp sets you purchase. As a creative bonus, many of the images in the set coordinate with our Cricut® Art Philosophy cartridge for added cutting and stamping fun!

My Sister's Birthday

My little sister had a birthday a couple weeks ago, but I didn't post what I'd made her at the time because I didn't want to take a chance that she'd see it online before she actually had it in her hot little hands.

I started with her card and the fact that she loves dragonflies. I couldn't resist using the adorable dragonfly on the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge! I also thought the Roxie paper suited her taste. I ended up with extra dragonflies in trying to figure out the perfect size, so I decided to use one on the envelope too.

As for her gift, I was at a loss as to what to make this year when I realized that she needed a place to jot down the funny things my 3-year-old niece says. I decided to make her a homemade "smash it" book.

I love making these books myself because it's a fabulous way to use up paper I've been hoarding. My sister happens to like pink, as does my niece, so I found a bunch of different pink papers to use.

I made three pocket pages for clippings, ticket stubs, etc. I decided to make a few more dragonflies so that there's one on each pocket.

I included lined paper for memories and funnies.

The remaining pages are basically layouts where she can attach small photos, receipts, and anything else she wants to keep.

I was really happy with the results, and so was she! Happy birthday, Sister!