Black Friday Sale

Hi all!


In the spirit of Black Friday, I am having a sale!  YAY!

In addition to 10% off your order, you will also be eligible for CTMH's monthly specials. 

November Stamp of the Month
Each month Close To My Heart offers a special stamp set available that month only. Customers can purchase the Stamp of the Month at full retail price, at a discount, or earn it for free as determined by their purchase total. Check out more info here.

A Little More Thanks
A Little More Thanks
When you place a minimum order of $100 US / $117.50 CAN (before shipping / handling and tax) you will receive the November Stamp of the Month set, A Little Thanks, free PLUS one bonus stamp set, size A through D, of your choosing from the 2010 Autumn/Winter Idea Book (excluding Workshops on the Go™, Stamp of the Month retail, E-size, and K-size custom stamps). It's our way of imparting A Little MORE Thanks to our great customers this season!
Notes: The minimum qualifying order can include any Close To My Heart products currently for sale (excluding Studio J®).

The 10% off sale is only running until Midnight on Friday. If you would like to place an order, please contact me by email at angievcrafts at gmail dot com or give me a call from the button on the right.

Christmas Workshop 2010

We have a time, we have a place! Christmas Workshop 2010 is here! What are we going to be making?

I WANNA GO!  When, where, how much?

The workshop will be held on Nov. 20th from Noon - 5pm at the Super 8 motel in Seatac. We will be in their meeting room there. The cost is $20 and includes everything but the glue. All paper will be pre-cut and the workshop comes with printed instructions and recipe sheets.

We will be making 6 cards, 1 gift certificate holder, 1 glass ornament, 2 paper ornaments, and 2 gift tags. We are loving the design process and may add more items.

There will also be snacks and door prizes!

Registration closes on Thursday and space is limited. Please let me know at angievcrafts at gmail dot com if you would like to join us. It is also available as a pre-stamped kit (no glass ornament) that can be shipped to your home for the same price. Payment will be due on date of registration so that we can get everything ordered and ready for you.

Now before you think Kassi and I are the best designers out there, I need to confess that we have scraplifted a few of these designs.  The gift card holder was designed by Tresa Black. The snowman card, gift tags and paper ornament were inspired by people from the CTMH consultant board (can't find the originals to reference the artist!).

Boo to you! Banner

Quick post!

I wanted to share this banner I made with you.  I am super proud of it.  I made almost everything is from scratch.

I am not going to talk about how long it took me to figure out the math to make the pennant triangles correct and then to cut them out of cardstock.  The edging on the tops of the pennants are American Crafts ribbon.

The paper used is from My Mind's Eye and is called 'Boo to you!'.  I love it.  It is technically retired but there are still a ton of places you can get it online.

 The mummy was paper pieced together using textured cardstock and CTMH White Daisy cardstock.

The letters are Tim Holtz grungeboard that is painted using a glittery acyrlic paint.

They are matted on scalloped circles cut with my new Spellbinders Nestabilities on my NEW Sizzix BigShot.  I am so in love with Nesties and my Big Shot.

 

The candy corn pieces are from a $1 necklace that I picked up at Michael's and cut apart.  I am a knitter (couldn't tell by my lack of knitting posts!) and had some fun fur yarn in the stash.  I lined the pennants with the yarn to give it a fun little look.

 

I created the little spiders with small pom-poms and scraps from the scalloped pennant edges when I used my corner rounder on strips of paper.

I created the big spider by embossing a piece of CoreDinations Black Magic paper with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I then sanded it to bring out the green core of the paper.  I used pipe cleaners for legs and paper pieced the eyes and mouth with some black rhinestones for the pupils of the eyes.

Hope you like it!

Hooligans

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and once again I am excited for it.  I want to share with you some new product that came out in our newest catalog that went live on Sept. 1!  This card features some our new colors:  Pear, Lagoon, and Gypsy!

Hooligans is one of our newest paper packs and I have to say it is so cute! CTMH has also provided cute matching felt embellishments that are just the best.

This card design is copied straight out of Keynotes, a magazine/newsletter for CTMH consultants.  I thought it was too cute not make myself.

Making this card, I was introduced to a new technique of stamping onto the head of a brad then decorating it.  It gave the card just a little more bling!

I hope you like it!

Supplies Used:
Paper pack:  Hooligans
Stamp set:  Thriller
Embellishments:  Hooligans Level 2 Felt assortment, Lagoon mini-medley, Pear mini-medley
DMC Black Embroidery Floss

Gift for mommy!

I am going to be doing rapid fire posts to get some of my backlog of projects up here.  If you have a question, please send me an email at angievcrafts at gmail dot com!

This cute easel box was inspired by a project of Christine David's I made at a recent workshop of hers.  The original was darling and when it came time to package my mom's bday present, I came up with this!

I made the box specifically for my mom to place it on her desk at work.  The box is about 1" deep and can hold paperclips, disks or can even be a place to hide her ipod.

Inside the box, I placed a card I made.  Isn't my son's scribbling of his name cute?

One cool technique I used was to glue paper circles to the back of the clear buttons.  This created buttons with some pizazz.

Supplies Used (all CTMH unless noted):
Cardstock:  CTMH Tulip and Sunflower
Inks:  Topiary, Sunflower, Tulip, Dutch Blue
Paperpack:  Animal Cookies (retired)
Stampsets:  A Little Everything (past SOTM)
Buttons:  Clear Buttons, Some from the Tulip mini-medley and sunflower ones that I had sitting around
DMC Embroidery Floss
Lots of Dots Irresistable alphabet stickers
Sunflower Brads
Liquid Glass
3D Foam Tape and Tombow adhesive

H2H Color Challenge!

So I know that my blog has been pretty silent lately.  I have been slacking hardcore.  That is not to say that I haven't been crafting though.  On the contrary, I have gotten quite a lot done recently.

I wanted to get this posted though for the Heart2Heart Challenge this week.  This week was a color challenge featuring CTMH colors Honey, Autumn Terracotta, and New England Ivy. 

I jumped on this pretty quickly since I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do.  So here is the card I made!

I used the stamp set, Flourished Blessings to stamp out the leaves and the sentiment.  I then used Autumn Terracotta and New England Ivy cardstock to mat everything with.  The bitty brads are from Autumn Harvest collection.  I felt the leaves need a little shimmer to them so I lightly misted them with some shimmer mist I mixed up for the occasion.  I created the shimmer mist using Create-a-Shade pearl paint, chocolate reinker and rubbing alcohol.    I hope you like it!

My friend Holly was over at the time and she joined in on the fun.  Here is her creation!

We stamped way too many leaves and have a ton left over!

Supplies used (all CTMH):
Cardstock:  Autumn Terracotta, New England Ivy
Inks:  Autumn Terracotta, New England Ivy, Honey, Barn Red and Chocolate
Stampset:  Flourished Blessings
Other:  Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint, Chocolate Re-inker, Rubbing alcohol, 3D Foam Tape

Blog challenge for me!

So in an effort to make myself blog more, I have setup a blog challenge for myself.  I plan to post once a day or more for the next 5 days.  I have an upcoming Home Gathering and after looking through all my stuff, I need more to show.  So hold on to your seats, I have some cute projects coming at you!

Things I plan to complete:

Rest of the layouts from the 5-in-1 workshop
August SOTM card
Heart 2 Heart challenge project
More - Don't ask me what cuz I don't know!

Stay Tuned!

Too Cute - Too Sweet Altered Canvas

Bad blogger!  I have to apologize since I haven't blogged in absolutely forever.  I have no excuse either since I have been scrapping!

This is just a quick post to show you a little project I created for my mom.  That is my absolutely adorable son, Connor, on a random day playing in the yard.  This was a gift for my mom for her to place in her office.  She loves it and it makes me happy!  I am creating another one using the same template for me.  I will give more instructions when I post that one.

Supplies used (all CTMH except canvas and CriCut cartridges):

• 12 x 12 canvas
• Create a Shade Pearl Paint
• Crystal Blue re-inker
• Caboodle Level 2 paper pack
• Tiny Tabs embellishments
• Colonial White Grosgrain ribbon
• Cricut cartridges:  Plantin Schoolbook, Lyrical Letters

4th of July - kinda late!

So I am super proud of this card.  I got it finished before the 4th but never had time to post it.  So here it is now.

The 4th of July up here in Washington is super fun.  We are allowed to set off all manner of fireworks at our homes and that is just what I do.  I love fireworks and it is one of my favorite parts of the holiday.  So when creating a card for the 4th my first thought is BOOM!!

The stripy starry background is actually clear embossed so it has a little shine on it.  It was stamped using the Spot On Backgrounds stamp set.

I had alot of fun creating this card.  The stars are CTMH Dimensional Elements: Stars.  I made them silver using a shimmer mist using Create a Shade Pearl Paint and Crystal Blue reinker and rubbing alcohol.  I then put Clear Sparkles on each of them.

The letters are stamped from the Posterboard Alphabet in Star Spangled Blue and Holiday Red.  I pop-dotted them and then added some Clear Sparkles to really bling it up.

The sentiment inside the card is from the stampset "A Little Everything" (no longer available). The stars are from Star Power.  I hope you like it!  I had hoped to post it in time for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge but never quite made it there!

Supplies Used (all CTMH):

• Cardstock:  White Daisy, Star Spangled Blue, Holiday Red
• Inks: Star Spangled Blue, Holiday Red, Versamark
• Stamp sets:  A Little Everything, Posterboard Alphabet, Star Power, Spot On Backgrounds
• Embellishments:  Clear Sparkles, Dimensional Elements: Stars
• Embossing: Clear Detail Powder
• Tools:  Tombow Adhesive, 3D Pop Dots, Glue dots

Father's Day album using Stardust Paper Pack

I wanted to share this album I made.  I am so in love with it! I kinda don't want to give it to it's intended recipient now.

Okay details on making the album:

I used about half of the CTMH Stardust Level 2 paper pack.  The album itself is chipboard that I cut using a local scrapbooking store's Accucut die cutting machine.  We sell a similar album from CTMH (I just didn't have time to order one from CTMH). 

I used alot of chipboard letters, most of them are for Tim Holtz's grungeboard collection.  I had them just sitting around so I decided to use them as they were the right size.

All the pages and paper edges were distressed using the sanding block in the CTMH Sanding kit.  The distressing looks really good on the album .  It also helps to hide where my cutting skills weren't the best on the album edges.

Pages 2, 3 and 9 use 6" card patterns from the Wishes How To program book with a little bit of fiddling to make the dimensions work with a 6" x 7" album.  The patterns are Satchel, Designer Tab, and Pieced Together respectively.  This album took me about 4 -5 hours altogether.  Much of it was spent trying to figure out to design the pages.  If I were to recreate the album, it would only take me about 2 hours to actually put it together now that I know what I am doing.

I hope you like it!  I can't wait to make another one using a different paper pack.  Look for it in the future.

Supplies Used:

• Paper:  CTMH Stardust Level 2 paper pack
• Stampset:  A Little Everything, Star Power
• Ribbon:  Unknown manufacturer
• Chipboard:  Tim Holtz Grungeboard Mixed Minis and unknown chipboard manufacturer (PLAY)
• Embellishments:  CTMH Bitty Sparkles, CTMH Basic Buttons, CTMH Dimensional Elements: Stars, Making Memories Paperie Buttons, DMC Ecru Embroidery Thread, CTMH Clear Detail Embossing Powder
• Tools:  Paper Hole Punch, CTMH Sanding Kit, CTMH Paper Piercing Kit, TomBow Adhesive, Elmer's Glue spray adhesive, Heat Gun

Roll Over - 5 in 1 Workshop

This layout is the second in a series of five from a workshop that produces 5 (yes 5!) 2 page layouts from one Level 2 paperpack (with 6 sheets for neutral cardstock for bases)!  The first layout can be found here.

It is the Sweet Symphony layout  (pg. 24) from the Imagine book!  I love this layout sketch.  It can be used for anything.   It is also one I can send you if you would like to make your own layout using this sketch.  Just email me at angievcrafts at gmail dot com!

The pictures are of my darling son and the first day we caught him in the act of rolling over.  He is a pretty sneaky baby and used to learn stuff by himself and then show off for mom and dad when the technique was perfected!

There is not much stamping on this layout and I think it is fine.  I tend to like a simpler look on my layouts.  I don't use alot of pictures or I won't use alot of embellishments.  I tend to come from a less is more place in scrapbooking. The journaling was straight from my printer onto the vellum.  I stamped Roll Over on Daisy White cardstock and cut them out with some scissors.

Supplies Used

• Animal Cookies Level 2 paper pack
• Animal Cookies StickEase
• Stampset:  Posterboard Alpha
• Vellum
• Adhesive:  Tombow and EK Success: 3D Dots

Friday Five!

My Cupcake Card got picked for the Friday Five from Heart 2 Heart Challenges!  I am so excited!  I am still in love with this card and don't think anyone is ever going to get it.  It is just going to sit around in my way on display.  Thanks to everyone who commented!

Behold the glory of CTMH My Acrylix stamps

In response to my good friend Jen's question about the stamped stitching on my last card, I thought I would post a little bit about CTMH's My Acrylix clear stamps.  One of the reasons I love CTMH so much is because of the quality of their clear stamps.

Now I have to let you know I haven't been stamping for long and have never seriously used rubber stamps before.  I have played around with them, mostly using them on multi-colored ink pads on fabulous Lisa Frank paper when I was younger, but I am not the most experienced with them.

One of the first reasons I like stamping is that it is so cost effective for me.  I have a habit of buying stickers and other embellishments to use on a project and then never use them.  Why?  Because if I use it, it is gone and I would have to buy it again to recreate that same project.  I am at heart a cardmaker and I usually make at least 2 of every card that I design because I have a habit of giving the darn things away. I then have nothing left to show at home gatherings and workshops (note 1) or to pet at night (note 2).   So back to the point, I like to make multiples of my card project.  With stickers and thickers and stuff I have to buy two of everything I want to use.  At $2 - $5 a pop for stickers, that can really add up.  Let's not even get into Alphabet stamps and such.  With stamps, I have a one time investment and then can use them again and again and again (note 3 and 4). 

Now why do I love CTMH stamps so much?  Easy!  They are so flexible, not only in texture and form but also in use!  Here is an example!  So for my project for the H2H challenge, I used the stitch stamp from the Cupcake Sprinkles set.  Pictured below in a knot:

Curved to fit on a circle card:

Or just plain ol' straight:

When I don't have a stamp with the sentiment I want?  I create my own!  I place the letters on the project how I want them (seen here on a artistic swoosh I drew with a sharpie):

Pick them up on the block:

And stamp away!

That brings me to another reason why I love CTMH My Acrylix.  I can see what I am doing.  I can see precisely where I am putting each and every stamp through the block. There is no guessing or getting out a ruler or setting up a jig.  I just ink up my stamp, eyeball it and smoosh it down. 

My last reason just has to do with quality.  Many clear stamps don't work well with dye inks.  I have a couple of clear stamps sets bought pre-ctmh that I can't use any of my dye inks on.  The ink pools on the surface even after conditioning.  Some other clear stamps aren't as deep as CTMH so that it is very easy to ruin your project by getting the block inky and smearing ink all over your project.  Last but not least, My Acrylix are a special polymer blend that is made by CTMH that holds detail better than other clear stamps.

So that is a little lesson in CTMH My Acrylix and some stamping techniques!  Can you behold the glory now too?

And Jen to answer your question, that is just a plain ol' stamp!


Notes:

1. My first workshop was rough since I gave away the finished project before the workshop and had nothing to display to give people an idea of what they were to do! 
2. Yes, I sometimes take my finished projects out and admire them all by my lonesome.  
3. Just ask my Friendship Blessings stamp set, I bought it used and have already put some serious miles on that thing.
4. Why no! I don't have a ton of embellishments and rub-ons and stickers sitting unused in a drawer!  *shifty eyes*

Supplies used:

• Ink:  Chocolate
• Stamps:  Hodgepodge Alpha and Cupcake Sprinkles

Heart 2 Heart Challenge 9 - Hey There Cupcake

Over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges, they post weekly challenges for papercrafters using CTMH products.  I have always been inspired by the wonderful cards the design team and other participants create.  I usually check out the challenges too late in the week to participate. This week I wasn't too late!  The challenge this week was to use this sketch.

I was instantly inspired after looking at some of the design teams designs and hopped straight up from my computer to go craft a card.  I considered a layout at first but I actually wanted to get a project done in time!

I knew that I wanted to use the Cherry-O paper pack because I am in love and can't stop working with the paper in this pack.  I also didn't have to even think about what stamp set to use.  I had used the Cupcake Sprinkles stamp set earlier today on another card I made and I pulled it right out.

Now I will let you in on a little of my creative process.  Just look at the pretty pictures if this doesn't interest you!   I first started out with the non-cherry paper from the paper pack.  I had a vision from the start and cherries weren't part of it.  I laid out the papers in the pack overlapping each one to get an idea of which paper would be which stripe.  (I already knew that the end piece would be chocolate cardstock).  I then cut out the stripes with 2 of each paper ( I originally was going to make 2 cards while I was at it.)  Then I started laying out the background for the card.  I first used all 4 papers but it wasn't quite gelling with me.  After calling over my husband several times for consultations (Poor him) I decided to only use two of the papers.  With that decided, I placed them on the card base using a re-positional glue stick. 

I never stick anything down permanently until I have created/stamped all the elements and dry placed them.  Many times my initial creative vision doesn't pan out quite the way it I wanted it to and this saves ALOT of paper and time recreating elements.  See that picture right there?  On the right of the unfinished card is my first attempt at the frosting and my second attempt at the cupcake liner.  After the background was decided on, I started stamping the images.  I did some plain jane stamping but the cupcake wasn't  really popping off the card.  I then got it into my head to use some SHIMMER MIST.  Yee haw!  It is really simple to create using CTMH reinker, Create a Shade Pearl Paint, and rubbing alcohol.  Mix it all together in a misting spray bottle and go to town.

While the new frosting was drying (it only takes a minute or two (that is why you use alcohol and not water)), I was looking at the background and thought it needed something.  That is when I decided to use the stitching stamp for around the edges.  When I was done with the stamping, I laid out my card again.  It was still missing something.  I really decided to go crazy with the shimmer mist.  I embossed the white lines on the cupcake  liner with clear embossing powder and then used chocolate shimmer mist on it.  It turned out well just a little too shimmery for my taste.  We aren't going to discuss how I ended up with chocolate shimmer mist all over the place while mixing it.

In the end I decided to just stamp the cupcake liner with chocolate ink and added a few Bitty Sparkles to bling it up.  I needed something to draw attention to the sentiment so I broke out my Dimensional Elements: On Target and sponged it with Tulip ink.   Once again I laid out my card with all the elements.  I needed something on the line between the cardstock and broke out the Colonial White Organdy ribbon to fulfill that need.  Now it was time to permanently adhere everything!  Right before I stuck it down, I was re-arranging all my elements and decided to flip the sketch on its side.  It was like Feng Shui for cards.  It just plain ol' looked better.  I stuck everything down using TomBow adhesive and pop dots and TA-DA finished card!

I left some stuff out like how I sponged all the edges to soften things up and give them depth but I have been too long winded anyways.  Have a question on my technique?  PLEASE leave a comment!  I live for comments!

Supplies Used:

• Paper and Cardstock:  Cherry-O Level 2 paper pack
• Stamp set:  Cupcake Sprinkles
• Inks:  Chocolate, Crystal Blue, Tulip
• Embellishments:  Bitty Sparkles, Dimensional Elements: On Target, Colonial White Organdy ribbon, Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint
• Tools:  TomBow adhesive, EK Success 3D-Dots

Big News Giveaway Candy by Make It Crafty

So I have about 40 different papercrafting blogs that I follow and read regularly for inspiration (sometimes I just flat out copy them).  One of them posted the news of this giveaway.  Following the links to the blog, I fell in love.  Zoe is a GREAT designer.  All her projects are beautiful.

Following the rules of her giveaway though, I have to pick just one project that I liked the best. 

Well it would have to be the Pop-Up card.  That thing is awesome.  The detail on it is so intricate.  I wish I could color like her!

So if you have your own crafty blog, I would recommend following the instructions and entering yourself for this totally cool blog candy.  How can you go wrong with Copics?

5-in-1 Workshop

Sorry for not posting so long.  Have no fear though as I have still been papercrafting, scrapbooking even. 
Today I would like to share a 2 page layout I have made.  This is the first in a series of five 2 page layouts using a workshop template designed by another CTMH consultant, Lara Main.  All the layouts are from the Cherish and Imagine How-To program books and are made from one paper pack with the addition of 6 pieces of cardstock for bases.

I can't say how much I absolutely love this workshop.  With the cutting instructions, you get the most out of your paper pack and have these lovely layouts that just need photos and embellishments. 

The pattern is from the Imagine book and is called Subtitles.  It can be found on page 94.  I used the Animal Cookies paper pack and StickEase with the addition of some Autumn Harvest brads.  The layout that you are seeing is not my completed layout.  I took pictures before I added the journaling in order to protect my son's privacy. 

In the large white space at the bottom, I used my CriCut to cut out his name in Clover Green cardstock and hand-wrote his birth stats around the first letter in each word.  I also put his birthday in white ink on the little heart paper in the top right corner.  The finished layout looks superb. 

I chose not to use any distressing techniques on this layout because I wanted it clean and fresh.  I love to sponge the edges of paper but it didn't fit with the subject.  I used pop dots to elevate the Stickease and some of the photos to give them a little more pop.

I didn't use any stamping techniques or even any ink in this layout so this is perfect for beginning scrappers.  You can do this layout with a minimum of supplies all you need is the paper pack, StickEase and some brads.  That is why I love Stickease!  You can use it for all your embellishing need and not worry about getting inky fingers (even though I love my inky fingers every time I papercraft). 

I can't tell you how much CTMH has improved my scrapbooking.  I took a few minutes to look at my old layouts from when I first got serious about scrapbooking.  It is a huge difference in skill and just general design aesthetic.  Don't believe me?  Check this old 1 page layout.

Supplies Used:

• Paper:  Animal Cookies Level 2 paperpack
• How To Book: Imagine
• Embellishments:  Animal Cookies Stickease, Autumn Harvest brads
• Adhesive:  TomBow, 3D Popdots (non-CTMH)