Thankful Grateful Blessed

This simple cards uses strips of Evergreen to share this message.  I used Sage, Pine, & Acorn inks for the sentiments from the November stamp of the month, Thanks a Bunch.

Who would you give this card to? Leave a comment!

Thanksgiving 2022 Layout

 It’s only been almost a year, but I just got last year’s Thanksgiving photos printed and scrapbooked!

Using a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, I used the November stamp of the month, Thanks a Bunch, and the retired Harvest Wishes stamp set, along with the Daisy Alphabet stamp set.  I colored the cornucopia with colored pencils.  Evergreen was the focus of my color palette (Pine & Acorn) with the addition of Desert Rose. 

Don’t be afraid to mix and match colors & patterns!

Then & Now Layout

The newest Close To My Heart Idea Book, the November-December 2023 version, is perfect for the holidays, BUT these beautiful products are not limited to the holiday season!  I used Silver Bells, but not for Christmas, but to highlight my girls in 2007 and 2018 at the Biltmore Estate. 

When I saw this paper, I knew that I had found what I needed to preserve these sweet photos and memories of our girls.  I decided that Make It From Your Heart, Volume 6, Pattern 11, was the perfect sketch for my photos.

I used a favorite retired alphabet stamp set for my title and cut some Thin Cut hearts, circles, and foliage to accent this layout.  The pretty gold foliage on both pages are stickers from the Silver Bells collection.  I used the very pretty Silver Bells dots as embellishments across both pages.

On the right page, I decided to journal on White Daisy that I cut to fit.  I used a flip flap so that I could add two photos of the girls.  (I debated have the rear-facing photos on both pages but decided not to.)

Here is the page with the flip flap open to reveal the third photo.

Did you notice how I added thin strips of gold glitter paper and gold and silver metallic marker accents?

Don't be afraid to stretch your stash beyond their obvious uses!  Also, be sure to make connections between then and now as you tell your family's and friends' stories!

Stretch Your Stash Layout

Close To My Heart does such a great job of designing paper collections that can be used for their obvious intended purpose and stretched far beyond!  Can you believe that this Fall Break layout used Home for Christmas papers? 

That's right, the Pine and woodgrain patterned papers are both from the Home for Christmas collection!  I used Honey Butter cardstock as my base and added gold shimmer trim.  The sticker accents are from a retired fall collection (but I can't remember which at the moment).

For the page layout, I really let my pictures be my guide and decided that the strips across the bottom helped ground my photos.

Don't be afraid to mix and match collections and papers!  Just hurry to get Home for Christmas (or any of the items in the September-October Idea Book) before they're gone!

Christmas 2022 Layout

 Our Home for Christmas collection is so pretty!  Since I never seem to get my Christmas pictures in my albums in a timely manner (and I'm okay with that!), I had plenty of photos to choose from.   I chose a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol  3 (Pattern 22) to create this layout.

I wanted to show you a close up of the right page to show how I fussy cut images from the patterned paper in this collection to accent my layout.  (The other embellishments are from one of last year's retired collections that were left over and coordinated very nicely.)

Be sure to shop the Home for Christmas collection before it's gone after tomorrow!

Merry Little Christmas Cards

On p. 40 of the September-October Idea Book, Close To My Heart offers four adorable seasonal small stamp sets, two for fall and two for winter.  I used the Merry Little Christmas set with and Home for Christmas to create these two Christmas cards.

Both cards use sketches from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 6, and some simple colored pencil coloring.   The first card has few gold glitter gems, and the second one uses some red Stickles for accents.

Be sure to browse our collection of holiday stamps to get ready for the upcoming season!

Happy ‘Owlidays Card

The owls in the October stamp of the month, From Owl of Us, are so cute in their winter gear, that I had to pair one with the Home for Christmas collection.

I love that this stamp set has the option of also ordering coordinating Thin Cuts, so die cutting them makes this card even easier.  I colored the image with colored pencils.  The holiday sentiment will be stamped on the inside.

Be sure to get your wish list items from the September-October Idea Book before the end of the month!

Family Ties Layout

Since I still had family reunion pictures that I wanted to keep, I used up scraps from The Good Life collection to create this layout.

I actually used two sketches from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 6.  The left page is based on Pattern 10, a single page layout, and the right page is based on Pattern 14, a double page layout.  (The second page of Pattern 14 didn't work with my photos.)  I really like how they came together!  (It helps to have the squares cross over across the pages and to have the Mocha polka dot background with square centers on both pages.)

I used really simple embellishments: gold glitter gems and Woodgrain die-cut shapes.

Finally, here’s how I made my “brick” patterned paper with our Stencil Pack 2, blending brushes, and Scarlet plus Mocha inks.   

Please let me know if you have any questions! 

Floral Notes Thank You Card

Florals are still an option for fall with the right color palette!  This card uses the new color of the year, Journey, paired with Pumpkin.  The techniques used on this card make it so pretty (in my humble opinion!).

I stamped the focal image in Journey twice on the card front and multiple times on the 1/4"x4-1/4" White Daisy strip to create my own patterned paper.  I then used a blending brush to add Journey ink to the floral cluster on the card base.

I also stamped the floral cluster in Black on a coordinating Thin Cut (die cut) piece, then colored it in with our beautiful new Colorista by Spectrum Noir colored pencils.  I added a 1/8" piece of Journey cardstock and a 1" piece of Pumpkin cardstock and a few Journey glitter gems to finish off this thank you card.

I'm linking this card up to Double Trouble's Challenge 150, Fancy Floral(s) because of course I used florals and I didn't use patterned paper; instead stamped my own!

October’s From Owl of Us Halloween Card #2

Here's another card using October’s stamp of the month, From Owl of Us, paired with the I Want Candy collection. 

This card uses the Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 6, Pattern 29.  I used colored pencils to color the adorable own and added some I Want Candy puffy stickers as embellishments.  (The sentiment is from a favorite retired holiday stamp set.)

Be sure to grab this stamp set and paper pack before the end of the month!  (You can find everything HERE if you don't already have a CTMH Maker.)

Family Reunion Layout

We recently went to my Mom's family reunion, and I'm delighted to scrapbook these pictures and tell a few stories already!

I knew I wanted to use The Good Life collection (paired with my Autumn Blessings stamp set), and I picked Pattern 17 from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 6.  Because I had so many photos, I used the free Live Collage app to add two photos to one 4x6 template so that they would print 3"x4" each.

I kept the left page fairly simple because of all of the details on the right page.  I used two 3"x4" photo flaps to add more photos and journaling about who everyone is in the pictures.

The flip flaps are not adhered yet, but when they are, the white strip will be gone.  (The white strip protects the adhesive until you're reading to stick them in place.  I stick my flip flaps on the outside of the page protector.)  I decided to add a "hidden" journaling tag to identify more of the relationships between the people pictured that pulls up from behind the top right photo of my mom with her two sisters.

Here's what the tag looks like (with the journaling blurred because TMI).  Notice the long strip across the bottom to prevent the tag from being pulled out of the layout.  Since it's so close to the top of the page protector,  I didn't cut a slit in the actual page protector to access this tag.

Thanks for letting me share this layout with you!  Be sure to journal, journal, journal, even if it's privately added to the back of your layout of hidden with an interactive element.  Future generations will thank you!  Since I am the creator of all of our layouts, I journal from my point of view.  (Now that my daughters are older, when I make layouts for their albums, I have them journal to tell their story.  I will include some of my own thoughts at times.)

Finally, don't be afraid of your "messy" handwriting or getting everything perfect!  Your family will treasure your handwritten notes more than anything typed.  (When I have a really long story to tell, then I usually type it up instead of handwriting it.)  Give it a try!

October’s From Owl of Us Halloween Card #1

To create this cute Halloween card, I combined October’s stamp of the month, From Owl of Us, with the I Want Candy collection.

I used a fun sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 6, Pattern 25.  I love that this stamp set had the option purchase coordinating Thin Cuts!  

I made the "moon" pop with a little Mink ink distressing and lots of clear shimmer brush.  I used our new colored pencils to color the owl and branch.  Happy 'Owloween!