10th Anniversary Open House Extravaganza

Today I celebrated my Close To My Heart 10th anniversary with an open house. The weather didn't entirely cooperate, but several lovely ladies were able to brave the cold and sleet to attend. It was so nice to see each of them. Our dear family friend Joy brought me a surprise gift: a beautiful bouquet. Isn't she the sweetest? We've had a great 10+ years stamping and scrapping together, haven't we? :)

We had fun creating two different cards using the February stamp of the month, Piece of Cake. The first one is a standard-size card that began with our Colonial White bulk (50) cards and envelopes. It is based on the Originals pattern, "Center Charms." We sanded the Chocolate textured card stock and the Sorbet card stock. After stamping the cake image in Chocolate, we colored with markers and the ladies learned to paper piece an image. (The top layer was stamped onto a small piece of Sorbet B&T from the Caboodle paper pack, then cut out and adhered onto the image.) A brad from the Basic collection and some Sorbet ribbon finished it off.

The second card measures 3"x3". I LOVE these little bitty cards! This one uses the Topstitch paper pack and is based on the Wishes sketch called "Middle Ground." I showed how to pierce the card stock with the piercing tool to create a neat pattern. (I pierced mine from the inside out for raised bumps.) We stamped our images (see inside) and sentiment with Vineyard Berry ink and again used markers to color them in. After edge-distressing the Chocolate textured card stock and gluing the card together, we applied a bit of Liquid Applique as "frosting" and heated it up. Fun, fun!

As part of my celebration, I had TEN prizes to give away! You did not have to be present to win, but you did have to earn tickets. My daughters helped me draw the prize from the prize bowl and the winning ticket from the names, so without further ado, here they are...

*set of 10 handstamped cards and envelopes: Sue T.
*two mini stamp sets and 1" block (collection 1): Ann A.
*two mini stamp sets an 1" block (collection 2): Vickie M.
*mini stamp set, 1" block, and embellishment collection: Joy B.
*Expedition paper pack: Linda G.
*It's Your Day stamp set: Amanda H.
*Tender Tags stamp set: Sue T.
*$25 Close To My Heart shopping spree: Teresa R.
*Serendipity collection (paper pack and stamp set): Teresa R.
*Felicity collection (paper pack and stamp set): Amanda H.

Congratulations, ladies, for winning! I hope you enjoy your prizes!