H2H Challenges: ABCs

Last week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge was to use numbers in your project, so this week we're wanting to see your letters!  I needed a gift for our niece so I decided to personalize a little tin for her new bedroom makeover.

 Can you believe that this is the Georgia paper pack?  It doesn't look anything babyish at all, which is a good thing since she is now 15.  I cut her initials from the Artfully Sent CTMH/Cricut Cartridge.

 All the other elements were cut with the CTMH/Cricut Artistry cartridge.

 I used silver shimmer trim and sequins to embellish the tin.

 The slate ribbon was the last scrap of that pretty retired pattern.

 The tin include this little 3.5x3.5 card (also cut with Artistry) and a little birthday cash inside.

I think she liked it!

Embellished Frame

On Christmas Eve (literally) I took my daughters out for a quick photo shoot, ordered one-hour prints, and found a frame to decorate to give to their grandmother for Christmas.  (Nothing like waiting until the last minutes!)  All of the family members got a copy of the picture.  I had to make one for myself too while I was at it.

This isn't the best picture, but you can see that I matted the photo with a piece of the Snowhaven black B&T and then the pretty Yuletide Carol B&T.  A strip of black shimmer trim and a CTMH/Cricut Artfully Sent medallion with the date stamped from the Artfully Sent alphabet set finished it prettily.  I know the photo would have been great just in a frame, but I love the added touches.

Here is the photo that I used followed by a few outtakes from our impromptu photo shoot.

 I love these girls so much!

Color My Heart Color Dare #73: Frosted Grey and Frosted Turquoise

It is my privilege and honor to be a guest designer this week at the Color My Heart challenge blog!

 

This week's color dare, #73, is to use the wintry Frosted Grey and Frosted Turquoise found in none other than the Frosted paper pack.  Inspiration struck when I started to fold up the brown bag from my Red Lobster leftovers (Yum!  Such a treat!).  I could "kill two birds with one stone" and re-purpose this bag with the Frosted paper pack and My Stickease as a Christmas gift bag.  Here's the before shot:

And after:

I began by tearing pieces of Colonial White card stock to make my snow (and to hide the "reuse" saying on both sides of the bag).  I then added the My Stickease trees and that beautiful deer.  I also cut the mail panel 6"x9" to cover the Red Lobster logo on both sides.

Then it was time to get creative!  I cut out the Merry Christmas saying, the rosette, and the snowflakes with the CTMH/Cricut Artiste cartridge.  I cut scraps of the Frosted paper pack (plus Cashmere and Slate card stock) to create my banners.  I also added Stardust glitter glitz gel and create-a-shade pearl paint in a spray pen to make this bag shimmer.

A few close ups so that you can see the gorgeous shimmery spritz (our pearl paint mixed with water in one of our spray pens) and our retiring Stardust glitz glitter gel:

Now, here's a quick tip for you to make a perfect banner/pennant.  Begin cutting from one edge toward the center to start your banner.  Then, fold the cut piece over to the opposite side, giving you an exact match to your first cut.

Thanks, Color Dare, for inviting me to join you this week!  You've got time to play along too.

Autumn/Winter Idea Book Highlights

The ALL NEW Close To My Heart Idea Book is now "live," and it's time for me to share some of my favorites (in no particular order) from this edition.  (It is so much fun to see and play with all the new things!  We got lots of sneak peeks at Convention, so I will have more to share with you each month.)  If you'd like to browse through the Idea Book online, just click HERE, and if you don't already have a CTMH consultant, I'd be happy to hook you up with your own personal copy.

*Cricut Artbooking Cartridge/Collection

This Cricut cartridge is revolutionary!  It comes with 15 different themes preprogrammed on it.  Set your dial to the recommended size and cut away to get amazing, perfectly scaled scrapbooking page accents and overlays.  Mix it up if you're feeling adventurous!  It has 10 mini albums already to go, too (and we will be making some this fall).  Not a scrapper?  Don't worry, you can easily scale down the images to fit cards and so much more.  Plus, as with all of our Cricut cartridges, you get three exclusive coordinating stamp sets and three sheets of precut chipboard.  These collections are a steal at $99!  (I am interested in hosting Cricut classes, so please let me know if you're interested in learning more.)

*My Crush Books

The two My Crush journals are something new that you are going to love!  Even if you don't get into the whole "smash book" type journaling/scrapbooking, the additional page elements are something you are going to want to have and use.  My daughters can't wait for their books to come in!  They are going to become a fun journal of this school year- which starts for them on Tuesday.  I started back to work last Monday, so that explains why the blog has been a bit neglected.  More to come as we get back to school!

*Base & Bling

Necklaces, headbands, and rings, oh my!  CTMH has introduced a cool line of jewelry that is oh-so-much-more!  First, we have necklace, bracelet, ring, and headband metal bases that you can embellish to your hearts content.  Add some fabric flowers and our amazing Base and Bling embellishments for a trendy, unique statement piece.  Not sure the jewelry is for you?  I made a version of the necklace (above), available as a kit, and it is darling!  The embellishments are going to show up on just about everything I make (cards, scrapbooks, etc.) because they are gorgeous.

*Designed Decor

Decorate your home or office with one of our two Designed Decor frames, and then change out the featured artwork as desired.  The Colonial White frame has chicken wire to hold your lovelies; the black frame has rows of wire.  These are a fun way to display what's Close To your Heart!

*How-To Guides

Need help getting your groove on?  Make It from Your Heart, Volume 2 is now available, chock full of new scrapbook layout and card sketches.  ALL of our previous how-to publications are back in a convenient, affordable spiral-bound format.  I love these because they make it easy to be especially creative.

*Exclusive Hostess Stamps

Close To My Heart hostesses are being spoiled even more with the opportunity to purchase or earn several exclusive, hostess-only stamp sets, offered at a wonderful price.  I am looking for hostesses for upcoming classes and workshops, and hostessing is super easy (at my place OR yours), so please contact me if you'd like to learn more or would like to volunteer to get free CTMH products (inkyscrapper at gmail dot com).

Now that I've shared some of our new innovations, I'll be back in a few days to show off our gorgeous new paper collections!  No paper crafter's life would be complete with gorgeous paper!

Go Green with Heart 2 Heart Challenges!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day (which will be here before you know it), Heart 2 Heart Challenges is encouraging you to Go GREEN!  Yes, we know that you can interpret that as a color challenge OR as a recycling/upcyling/repurposing kind of challenge too.  Interpret it how you like, but remember to use some Close To My Heart products in whatever you create.

In the spirit of going green, I do not have a new project for you but am instead sharing a few "oldies but goodies" that you might have missed the first time or around (or that you just might enjoy again- I know that I sure am).  Also, we are about to undergo a major home remodel and are in the process of boxing up our house to move out so I don't have any crafty time right now.  I hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane as much as I did!


Can you tell that I love the color green? If you have questions about any of the projects, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll get back to you! 

If you haven't already seen what our fabulous Design Team made, be sure to go check them out on the H2H blog!  You can link up your project(s) there and take part in some March Madness too!

Photo Keeper "Book"

For quite a while (several years?), I've had this idea to use 6"x9" envelopes to create a "book" to hold all the lovely photographs we get from family & friends.  Generally they arrive at Christmas time, but we do sometimes get pictures in the mail at other times of the year, so I didn't want to go with a Christmas theme.  At a local discount office supply store, I found an inexpensive package of 6.5"x9.5" envelopes that I knew would be perfect for this project.  I also knew that the new For Always paper pack was just what I had been waiting for!  I used several (retired) stamp sets and ribbon for my envelope book.

The current Dynamic Duos challenge #40 is one of the gorgeous combos in the For Always paper pack: black and Lagoon.

The envelopes are in alphabetical order by last name, and I can easily add more as time and photos permit since they are held together with book rings.  I decided to write the names myself rather than print them to save time and to keep them uniform yet personal throughout the years.
Each design is pretty flat because I was afraid that too much bulk would cause trouble down the road.  I found sketches for a few of my designs from Mojo Monday #279 (even though it's too late to officially play) and an older Mojo sketch (but I've forgotten which one)...

Retrosketches #50...

and 365 Cards Day 41 Sketch...

Almost everything is from Close To My Heart (with some retired ribbon thrown in from my stash), plus random flowers and ribbon.

This "album" or book is sure to become a family heirloom as we enjoy looking at friends' and family's photos, notes, and special cards through the years.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section.  Thanks so much for looking!