Artbooking Made Easy: Top Secret

The secret is out! We love the Cricut® Artbooking cartridge from Close To My Heart. The shapes on the top-secret--themed mini album keys are perfect for scrapbooking your big ideas and big adventures! Contact me to learn more.

Artbooking Made Easy: Nursery Rhymes

The nursery-themed keys on the Cricut® Artbooking cartridge from Close To My Heart will have you singing nursery rhymes, reliving childhood memories, and reminiscing about your baby's first years. Watch the video to see these two keys in action. Contact me to learn more.

Studio Savings - March 2014

Find out how you can purchase your Studio J™ layouts for only $5 USD/CAD $8 AUD/$10 NZD—over $2 off the regular price!—during the month of March. 

Artbooking Made Easy: Sweet Smiles

Want to make an adorable baby album for yourself or as a gift? Watch the video to see how using the Cricut® Artbooking shapes, icons, and borders to scrapbook memories of your sweet baby will have you grinning from ear to ear! Contact me if you'd like to learn more.

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - March: Happy Place

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we’re featuring the March set Happy Place, a set of 7 stamps. If you have come here Dana Kessler’s 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!

This month I was able to make one card for two projects – the Blog Hop and my team swap – as my swap assignment was to use the Stamp of the Month. The real challenge came in using the assigned paper pack, which was Skylark.

So how do you take organic patterned papers and mix them with a whimsical and cheery stamp set? You use a sentiment and some Cricut shapes, that’s how! I wanted to use the house shape from the Art Philosophy cartridge, but it was too squat to leave it as is so I used Cricut® Craft Room to elongate and change the width. 

Standard house shape

The result was three different houses in different colors. To make each of them more unique I used our awesome new embossing folders to create texture. I inked direct-to-paper with the Sweet Leaf ink pad on the white house.

Houses modified in Cricut Craft Room

Houses after embossing

I knew I needed to stamp my sentiment on something other than a rectangle to create more interest, which is why I went with an oval. I sponged the edge with Chocolate ink to add dimension between the houses (especially the white one) and the sentiment piece. The houses are attached with adhesive, but I used 3-D Foam Tape to attach the sentiment since it was already popped up due to the embossing on the houses.

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

S1403 Happy Place stamp set

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

1385 White Daisy cardstock

X5643 Chocolate cardstock

X5666 Twilight cardstock

Z2153 Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks stamp pad

Z2111 Chocolate Exclusive Inks stamp pad

Z1960 Stripe Embossing Folder

Z1926 Quatrefoil Embossing Folder

Z1806 Green & Blue Epoxy Bubbles

Z1686 Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Now “Hop” on over to Michelle Loncar’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 March 31st! Click here to order yours today!

Cloud Nine and Stella Cards

As you may remember, Close to My Heart offered a fun card kit called Cloud Nine for National Papercrafting Month in January. I recently had a chance to sit down and put my cards together (I'd cut the paper weeks ago), and while I was at it, I decided to cut a second set using different paper because I really like the card patterns. I chose the retired Stella paper packet, partially because it had two of the same colors in it (Lagoon and Sunset) as the Cloud Nine. I used my Cricut to cut additional shapes for the sentiments, and I was ready to go!

I had originally thought I'd use the same Gold Polka Dot Washi Tape that came with the Cloud Nine kit, but once I started putting the cards together I decided the Smoothie Striped Washi Tape would work better. I love how both sets came out!

1

The other thing I did was use the Cloud Nine B&T scraps to make five additional cards. I had mistakenly cut some square White Daisy card bases that were supposed to be Colonial White, so they needed used up as well. 

These cards were all so much fun to make, and I am always happy when I actually use something up and don't have extras to add to my stash!

Spring/Summer 2014 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2014 New Product Blog Hop! The new Idea Book was released on February 1st, and a group of us from the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop thought we’d treat you to some artwork featuring new stuff! 

If you have come here from Michelle Loncar’s blog, you’re in the right place! There are more than 20 independent Close to My Heart consultants participating.  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!

Funny story about this layout: It is not at all what my original idea was! I had planned to do a layout using papers from several different paper packs; however, when I sat down to pull those papers, I saw the constellation pattern in Timberline and changed my mind immediately! I knew I had the perfect photos, too.

I didn’t want to cut the constellation paper, so I looked through Make It from Your Heart Volumes 1 and 2 for a pattern that had a lot of open space. I chose #14 from Volume 2. It was just right for featuring my main patterned paper, as well as the other colors and patterns in the kit. I added just a little Buttercup to bring out the stars, and of course I had to have a gold glitter star and Teal Shimmer Trim for some pizzazz. 

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

X7182B Timberline Paper Packet

1385 White Daisy cardstock

1271 Buttercup cardstock

Z1830 Brown & Tan Glitter Paper

Z1918 Teal Shimmer Trim

Z1835 Tiny Type Epoxy Alphabet

Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection

Cricut® Craft Room

I used Cricut® Craft Room to weld the word “stars” together and to make better use of my paper. I find that I really like taking the time to use it when cutting something like stars that aren’t going to automatically fit close together.

Now “Hop” on over to Joy McHargue’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! Click here if you’d like to get your own copy of the new Idea Book! 

Artbooking Made Easy: Sugar & Spice

Add a little sass and pizzazz to your teen girl layouts using the Cricut® Artbooking cartridge from Close To My Heart! Watch the video and contact me, your Independent Consultant, to learn more.