New Year's Cheer | November SOTM | Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

We will be featuring November's SOTM, which is New Year's Cheer. If you have come here from Michele's Blog, you are on the right path! She is my amazing & talented upline & I'm sure you enjoyed her creations this month! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. (If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog.)


This month we have 29 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one. Here we go!

New Year's Cheer

It's November, and the holiday season is about to begin. Are you ready?? I made this super fast & simple wine tag, that will make an instant gift for friends or family this holiday season. Add it to a bottle of bubbly or sparkling cider for a festive gift.

I used my new favorite, Rustic Home Fundamentals paper for the base. And the pine cone pattern from our Oh Deer! paper packet. Finally, I added a little Sea Glass glitter paper to make it pop! The star is from the Oh Deer! compliments.

These tags were so simple to put together, I will be mass producing more for the Angel Bazaar at OLPH on December 3. If you're local, come by & support my small business & our local parish church.

Thanks for stopping by!

Now "hop" on over to Donna's Blog to see her work. Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas!

And remember, the November SOTM is only available until the 30st! Click here to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

Yuletide Joy | October SOTM | Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

We will be featuring October's SOTM, which is Yuletide Joy. If you have come here from Kathy's Blog you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. (If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog.)


This month we have over 35 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one. Here we go!

Yuletide Joy

It's only October, but it's never too early to start getting ready for the holidays! I love decorating my home & office for all holidays, but especially for Christmas. I recently created a Fall home decor piece & thought I'd continue with the wreath theme, since it turned out so well.

This the season to sparkle! I used lots of glitter paper to make this wreath pop. And this color combination is my absolute favorite - it's the colors from our Oh Deer! paper packet. 

Home Decor - Noel Wreath

The Sea Glass glitter paper makes the most amazing snowflakes, don't you think?

Sea Glass glitter paper

Supplies

If you'd like to create a series of these home decor pieces for the upcoming holiday season, please contact me. It would be a great Girls Night Out project to work on! If we start this month, we could do one for Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas.

Below you can find a list of supplies I used, which can be ordered on my website 24/7.

Fern cardstock
Colonial White cardstock
Red Glitter paper
Sea Glass Glitter paper
Slate ink
Cricut Artistry cartridge
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge

Thanks for stopping by!

Now "hop" on over to Krista's Blog to see her work. Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas!

And remember, the October SOTM is only available until the 31st!  Click here to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

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New Product Review | 2016 Annual Inspirations Idea Book

2016 Annual Inspirations

The new Annual Inspirations Idea Book (catalog) has been available since the beginning of August...if you'd like to see it for yourself, simply place an order on my website & you'll get a FREE idea book in your box! Or - if you want to take a peek right now, click here for the online version.

In October, I'll be reviewing the Holiday Expressions catalog, that came out this month. I'm not one to rush the seasons...so I won't be presenting those products just yet. But stay tuned!





The Annual Inspirations idea book is filled with some awesome new products! If you're local, I'm happy to deliver one to you. If you're looking online, look for this green flag that denotes "new" items.



Here are a few of my favorites. And trust me, it's hard to pick just a "few!"

Cricut

The newest Cricut Cartridge is Flower Market. And like all our cartridges, it's nothing short of A-mazing! All the flowers you see on the idea book cover were made using it, as well as this wreath. I see many, many projects being created in my future with this cartridge!

Cricut Flower Market

For the first time, we're also featuring a digital only City Sidewalks cartridge that coordinates with our City Sidewalks, our holiday paper packet (more to come about that in my Season Expression Review next month).

Cricut City Sidewalks Digital Collection

Thin Cuts

Use these thin metal dies to quickly and easily cut shapes for embellishing your scrapbook pages and cards. Thin Cuts are packaged on their own magnetic sheet and work well with most die-cutting machines.

New Thin Cuts

Cards with New Thin Cuts

Paper & Inks

Our new Fundamental paper packets are designed to be VERSATILE. They're available for the entire year & coordinate with the seasonal paper packets that will be introduced in our Seasonal Expressions Catalog (stay tuned for my holiday product review in Oct).

Enchantment Fundamentals

Whimsy Fundamentals

Uptown Fundamentals

We have 8 new ink & cardstock colors.

New Colors

If you haven't already heard, Sea Glass is the "color of the year" - I will be featuring projects that coordinate with this color throughout the next year.

Sea Glass

Acrylic Stamps

Of course, there are also TONS of new acrylic stamp sets. Check them out here.

Autumn Wishes Stamp (B1530) 

School Kids Stamp (D1706)

Sugar Skull Stamp (D1698)

Short & Sweet Stamp (A1189)

I love sharing CTMH products & {creating from the heart} -  please contact me to learn more!

Give Thanks | Home Decor

If you haven't checked out the CTMH Artistry cartridge, you're going to love it! Like all the CTMH cartridges, it's filled with hundreds of images & a font. Did you know that we now offer digital image files for our newest cartridges?? If you have a Cricut Explore™ or Cricut Explore Air™you might like this option. But please note, they do not come with the coordinating CTMH stamps sets or cardstock.

I created this framed Gratitude artwork for a fundraiser in my community. I hope they enjoy it! I'll be hosting a workshop this fall for those interested in making it - it's a great Girls Night Out project. If you're out of town, I can provide a kit for $15 + shipping (you provide your own frame). Contact me if you're interested!

Give Thanks - Framed Home Decor

I used our new Rustic Home Fundaments for the background paper. This packet is, without a doubt, my new favorite!

I cut the oak wreath & leaves using Artistry. I set my Cricut to "fit to page" to get a 12x12 wreath.

Artistry - <Fall> key

The "Give Thanks" sentiment in the center is cut with Artistry using Ruby cardstock & gold glitter paper. I raised it using our 3-D Foam Tape.

Glitter Paper

Artbooking - <B> key

For the pumpkins I used the September SOTM; I just love the gratitude sentiment. They are stamped using our Goldrush pigment ink. 

September Stamp of the Month

I cut the pumpkin images using the Artbooking cartridge - first I cut a white one (which I stamped on) & then I cut a green one (using Fern cardstock) to paste the stamped one on to get the stem/leaves to pop.

Artbooking - <n> key

Thanks for looking. Would love to hear your feedback!

Blessed Beyond Measure | September SOTM

Fall is in the air here in the midwest; today's high was a whopping 59 degrees! As the weather gets cooler & the trees start to turn & pumpkin spice "everything" appears, I start getting into the fall mode.

The September stamp of the month is the perfect stamp for your fall cards, layouts & activities. I'm already envisioning placecards for our Thanksgiving table (stay tuned for that post next month).  As always, you can get this stamp for $5 with your $50 order on my website. Or if you'd rather just buy it outright (at full price) it's $17.95. It also coordinates with cuts on our Artbooking Cricut cartridge.

Blessed Beyond Measure

The Twist & Pop card is all the rage right now...so I decided to use my new Rustic Home Fundamentals paper to create this interactive card. It looks complicated, but it was actually quite easy! And everyone who's opened it has been blown away.

Twist & Pop card - front

Twist & Pop card - inside

Want more SOTM inspiration? Check out our consultant blog hop featuring this stamp set.

The Long Way Home | June SOTM

Last month, I had a visit from my long-time college friend & her family. She has three girls who love to do crafts, so I had some fun projects for them to do while they were here.

They each got to make cards, a journal & Picture My Life (pocket scrapbook) layout using the June stamp of the month - The Long Way Home. This stamp set is perfect for summer road trip albums!

The journals turned out really cute! 

For the Picture My Life (PML) layouts, we used the same stamp set to make our own PML cards & added a few more (retired) cards. I used my layout for photos from a recent weekend getaway. I hope the girls used there's for their SD trip photos!

We all (even Mom) had a great time staying up late & crafting together! What a fun summer it's been :)

Purr-fect Halloween | Blog Hop | August Stamp of the Month

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

We will be featuring August's SOTM, which is Purr-fect Halloween. If you have come here from Jen Rubio's Blog you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. (If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog.)

This month we have over 25 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go! And as a bonus, you're going to see a ton of NEW product from the new Annual Inspiration catalog that debuted today!

Purr-fect Halloween

Even though we're still in the midst of summer activities, it's never too soon to start planning for Fall. Halloween will be here before you know it! This Halloween inspired stamp set will get you on the right track. And if you've got a crazy cat lady in your life, you can use the set to make some adorable "Crazy Cat" cards & gifts!

August SOTM

I used my Cricut Artistry cartridge to create the black background design. And I used our silver glitter paper behind the image to make the eyes & mouths pop. The paper is our NEW Enchantment Fundamentals patterned paper packet. I love that each page is two-sided with the same pattern in a coordinating color!

Purr-Fecf Halloween Card - front

I thought my kitty need a little something, so I used liquid glass to make her eyes & hat stand out a bit more. And I added a little bow from our NEW Enchantment Ribbon pack.

Purr-fect Halloween Card - close up

I used my Eggplant ink to stamp the inside sentiment.

Purr-fect Halloween Card - inside

Supplies

I hope you enjoyed what I created for you today. Below you can find a list of supplies I used, which can be ordered on my website 24/7.

Enchantment Fundamentals
Enchantment Ribbon
Eggplant ink
Black ink
Black cardstock
silver glitter paper
silver shimmer trim
Cricut Artistry cartridge
Liquid glass

Thanks for stopping by!

Now "hop" on over to Cat's Blog to see her work. Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas!

Remember, the August SOTM is only available until the 31st!  Click here to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

Summer Celebrations

Summer is a busy time of year. The days are longer, kids are out of school, people are going on vacation & spending quality time with family. Lots of celebrations happen during the summer in our family; it's party central in June & July. 

This June marked the 50th wedding anniversary of my parents. We took an amazing trip to Alaska & Denali National Park. And when we got home, we celebrated with friends. It was a lovely party & I think my parents thoroughly enjoyed it! I did all the decorations; many using CTMH products - there was a lot of sparkle.

I made this mini album with photos from the past 5 decades, using the Kraft Mini Book, Gold glitter paper & Picture My Life (PML) "Our Story" cards (which will ALL be retiring at the end of the month, so get yours today!)

Kraft Mini Book

Gold Glitter Paper

Our Story PML cards

Our Story PML cards

I made a 50 Years of Memories banner using my Cricut cartridges, to display the 50 letters of memories from close friends & family. They were so thrilled to hear from so many folks; we created a display for the party to share the all the memories.

Banner - Cricut Art Philosophy 

And finally, I used the Cricut Artiste cartridge to make rolled flowers for the card box. They came out so beautiful! This cartridge (and 2 others) will be retiring at the end of month too. 

Rolled flowers - Cricut Artiste

Now it's time to start working on the photos albums & capture these memories. Whatever events you have this summer, I hope you're enjoying them. If I can help you create special party favors or organize your photos in pocket pages, mini albums or traditional scrapbooks I hope you'll shop my website.

Happy Summer!