Saturday, August 31, 2013

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - September: Poster Tidings

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we’re featuring the August set Poster Tidings, a set of 2 stamps. If you have come here from Maria Myers‘ blog, you’re in the right place! There are more than 50 independent Close to My Heart consultants sharing artwork made using the Stamp of the Month and other great Close to My Heart products. 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.

The Blog Hop is a great big circle. Start here and work your way around. If you get lost along the way you’ll find a complete list of participating consultants here. You can use this list to pick up where you left off.

Off we go!


After much thought about what I wanted to do for this month’s hop, I decided that I wanted to basically deconstruct one of the stamped images. I chose 5 colors from the Huntington color palette and stamped my selected image onto Colonial White cardstock in each of the colors (Autumn Terracotta, Olive, Barn Red, Cashmere, and Slate). Once I did that I set about cutting these word puzzles into strips.

My next step was to play with the pieces until I figured out how I wanted them to look. When I had my basic layout I switched out words in different colors to come up with the final design. I attached all the strips to the gorgeous Barn Red pattern from the Huntington paper packet and added some embellishments to finish the card.


Here’s what I used. All products are Close to My Heart:

S1309 Poster Tidings stamp set
X7174B Huntington paper packet
1388 Colonial White cardstock
Z1375 Kraft cardstock
Z2101 Autumn Terracotta Exclusive Inks
Z2137 Olive Exclusive Inks
Z2104 Barn Red Exclusive Inks
Z2175 Cashmere Exclusive Inks
Z2173 Slate Exclusive Inks
 Z1874 Trinkets Wooden Shapes
Z1837 Wooden Mini-Medley Accents



Now “Hop” on over to JudyBurger‘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! Don’t forget, this exclusive stamp set is only available through September 30th! Click here to order yours today!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Hostess Rewards: Better Than Ever!



Take advantage of the opportunities from Close To My Heart to earn Hostess Rewards stamp sets; must-have sets, just for you! Watch this video to see one of these adorable stamp sets in action and learn how to get your own.

My favorite is the Washi Wonder set. What's yours?

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Fall/Winter 2013 New Product Hop

Have you seen the fun and exciting new products in the Fall/Winter edition of the Close to My Heart Idea Book? Whether or not you have, our New Product Blog Hop is a terrific way to see a lot of that new product used in many different ways.

The hop features more than 30 independent Close to My Heart consultants and some of their latest work. If you have come here from Karen Fullam‘s blog, you’re in the right place!

The Blog Hop is a great big circle. Start here and work your way around. If you get lost along the way you’ll find a complete list of participating consultants here. You can use this list to pick up where you left off.

Off we go!

I frequently try to kill two birds with one stone when making a project for this hop. With each new catalog our local group of consultants holds what we call a Shoebox Swap. Each participant creates just one card and then cuts as many pieces as are needed for all of the participants to duplicate that card. We use some sort of container to hold all of the ink pads, stamps (already on blocks), card bases, embellishments, and all other pieces needed for our card. When we get together to swap, we pass our box to the left and then keep passing until we’ve all created each other’s cards. This last time we each came home with 10 new cards plus our own for a total of 11.

I took inspiration from one of the cards I’d noticed in the new Idea Book and decided to design my card without any patterned paper. I did, however, choose to use the color palette from the new Sarita paper pack. It includes Cotton Candy, Goldrush, Gypsy, Outdoor Denim, and Lagoon. I combined this with the fun new One-Way Borders stamp set, as well as one of the stamp sets from the new Cricut Artbooking cartridge to come up with this colorful and playful card.


To finish the card off I added a couple of the Pink Glitter Gems and a piece of the Sarita Textiles rather than using ribbon. I also added a couple pieces of our new Washi Tape.


I’m actually sharing a second project this time, which is the Designed Décor Frame Kit. I recently attended an overnight crop with my CTMH sisters and put this kit together using photos from my family’s recent trip to California.


I love this kit, but I also love that you can buy the frame separately and then use our Cricut cartridges to cut out more photo frames and banner pieces to create a whole new piece of artwork!


Now “Hop” on over to Haley Dyer’s blog to see her work, and be sure to visit each consultant’s blog to get some great crafting inspiration and other unique ideas! The current Idea Book is good through January 31, 2014.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Project Inspirations: Ombré Technique




Carlie shows you how to create the latest color trend - the Ombre Technique! You're going to want to try this on your next project.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The 2013 Autumn/Winter Idea Book is Here!

It's August 1st, and that means the release of Close to My Heart's latest Idea Book! Click here to view it online, and then contact me to get your FREE copy!