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.

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!

Virtual Card Workshop

Have you checked out our Cut Above card kits? They make it faster, simpler, easier to make handmade cards for your friends & family. Kits include precut die cuts, designer card stock bases, embellishments & envelopes to make 10 cards. What a value!

Pair these card kits with your favorite M-size stamp & you've got all the materials you need.

Fiesta & Jubilee card kits

        

These 2 kits (below) will be retiring at the end of August, so order your kits while supplies last.

Beautiful Blossoms & Dapper Giraffe card kits

        

You're invited to join me for a virtual card workshop! Create beautiful cards like this from the comfort of your home. You pick the date & I'll Skype or FaceTime with you, at your convenience to put these adorable cards together. Contact me now to put a date on my calendar!

Spring Recap

Greetings Crafty Friends! I've been MIA the past few months, but I'm gearing up & hoping to launch my CTMH business in my new community soon!

This spring my husband & I moved back to our "home" in South Dakota - where all our extended family lives. What a blessing it is to be able to spend "unlimited" time with our loved ones again after being gone so many years! Over the next few weeks, I'll be blogging with a recap of the past few months & the creations I made along the way.

We started celebrating in May for Mother's Day. It's been a long time since I spent Mother's Day with my mom! The weather cooperated & we enjoyed a beautiful brunch on the deck. I used retired papers to make the pinwheels & my Cricut Artiste cartridge to cut out "Happy Mother's Day" from our gorgeous glitter paper. This cartridge (and a few others) will be retiring next month, to make way for a NEW one. Personally, Artiste is one of my favorites. You can still purchase it while supplies last.

Check out the available glitter paper colors here. Many are retiring at the end of July, so if you love them like I do, stock up now! They cut beautifully with the Cricut.

Pinwheels

Glitter Paper

Cricut Artiste

I made my Mother's Day cards using the May special, Happy Times, paper packet & stamp set. Don't you just love the gold foil accents on the paper? Unfortunately, it's no longer available on my website, but I still have one paper packet in my stash...contact me if you're interested in buying it!

Happy Times paper & stamp

Happy Times - May Special

I filled paper bags with homemade cookies for all the moms. And I used dollar store clothespins, our base & bling glass covers & shimmer trim to create these "bag clips"- the base & bling stickers & many of the shimmer trim colors are also retiring items. You can still order them until the end of the month though!

Please come by next week to see how my annual retreat in May turned out!

You've Got A Friend

At first I wasn't too keen on this stamp set…but it's growing on me! I've found mixing stamps sets on a card or layout, works nicely. I used the Eiffel Tower from the Every Day Life set (which came in last year's La Belle Vie workshop on the go kit) to coordinate with the french sentiment in the May Stamp of the Month. A few flamingo dots…a little bling…and VOILA! Do you know someone who'd love to get this card?

You've Got A Friend SOTM

This stamp set is only available in the month of May. Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5 — that’s over 70% off retail! When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing. 

Stamp of the Month - Balloon Talk

This past weekend I attended my semi-annual scrapbooking retreat on Whidbey Island. I didn't do any scrapbooking…but I got a TON of cards made. Here's one featuring the April Stamp of the Month. I used the Skylark & Balloon Ride paper packets & Flamingo Dots to accent the flower. This card gets me in the mood for spring!

Balloon Talk SOTM card

Check out my webpage for more ideas using the Balloon Talk stamp. These adorable tags are next on my list to create. They'll make great favors for my Easter Brunch!

Balloon Talk SOTM tags

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set for just $5 — that’s over 70% off retail! When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing. And remember, this stamp is only available this month so order yours today!

LOLLYDOODLE CARD WORKSHOP

Join me for my first card workshop of the year! The winter blues are over & I'm getting ready to celebrate spring with this cheerful card kit. Sentiments are all occasion, but you can customize with one of our Perfect Fit stamps.

LollyDoodle Card Workshop

Workhshop on the Go Kit

Visit my 2104 Upcoming Workshops for details.

Springing forward...a few weeks late

I created this card last month for our team swap; funny thing was - it was a shoebox swap. Meaning we were supposed to gather the supplies & let everyone assemble their own card during our meeting time. But I got ahead of myself the weekend before our meeting & made all the cards, like I usually do for swaps. My fellow consultants didn't mind that I assembled the cards for them :) But I could've saved myself a little time not having put them together! Oh well.

As it turns out, the design fits perfectly with the theme of H2H challenge a few weeks ago. But now I'm behind posting this creation to their website...better late than never, right?!

April SOTM

This card features the April Stamp of the Month - and I really {heart} this stamp set. Can't wait till Monday so I can order it :) And now that the weather has finally decided to improve around here, I'm anxious to make some more bright & cheerful creations with it. Happy Spring!

Eggs-ellent Easter Blog Hop

I have to admit, I'm a newbie to the blog "hop" concept & this is my FIRST blog hop post. We picked a good time of year to "hop" though, don't you think (wink, wink)? Welcome those of you coming over from the Evergreen Memories blog!

I've been in a creative funk lately; too much stress & too little free time, so I really had to focus to get these little gems ready for the blog hop. With Easter just around the corner, a little help from Pinterest & my creative juices were flowing :) 

I used the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge to cut these egg-shaped cards. I cut them at 5 inches & then cut a single egg shape at the same size with pattern paper from the Chantilly paper packet. I also embellished a few with the Mini Medley Wood Accents; wishing I had a few more of those on hand!

Eggsellent Cards - Cricut Artiste Cartridge

These adorable little punch art bunnies seem to be hopping around everywhere - here's my inspriation for the card I created. The CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge made cutting the shapes a snap.

Bunny - Dimensions

Bunny - Finished

Thanks for stopping by. Hop on over to Crafty Lalia next!!

Dallas, here I come!

I'm attending my first CTMH Convention this week...super excited to learn about the new Fall products   & have some creative time with my team! I learned a few months ago, that an unofficial part of convention is ad hoc card swapping with other attendees. I love swaps! So I was excited to hear about this tradition. But I was also a little apprehensive -- these ladies are PROFESSIONALS, most of them do this full time & spend hours every week being creative. So I'm a little worried that my creation won't be up to their standard? I've seen some past convention artwork & it's truly amazing. I was also concerned about volume; I've never really mass-produced anything more than a dozen...so the thought of making 20+ cards was daunting. Nonetheless, I scanned Pinterest for a week & found the inspiration  for this adorable card (thanks LeeAnn!) from our friends at Split Coast Stampers. Please see the Birthday Present tutorial for my instructions. I think it turned out well & I hope it's a hit in Dallas ;)

Stella Die Cut Cards

Join me for this card workshop using the new Colonial White Die Cut cards & the Stella Workshop on the Go.

When: Saturday, April 21 @ 2pm

Where: Lynnwood

Cost: $10 for 5 cards (includes supplies) -OR purchase the 2 items linked above to get the stamp set & additional products to make more than 5 cards & keep the exclusive stamp set.

Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 17.

Peeps - Just in time for Easter!

I'm doing card workshop next week, where my hostess has requested the Lucy papers & Easter/Spring stamps. Here are 2 cards we'll be making (inspired from the latest Idea Book). My Peeps stamp set is one of my new fans :) I hope her & her friends like it too!

Got Mojo?

A fellow consultant told me about Mojo Monday this week - here's my first submission to their challenge. Each week, they post a "sketch" on the blog & you interpret the sketch with your own twist. What do you think - do I have mojo?

March Stamp of the Month

I created this card using the stamp set called "Potential" - and I love this sentiment. It's this month's special & you can order it for only $5 with your order of $50 or more by March 31. More Info

One-button Card Creation

Last weekend I made this fun accordian card (thanks for the inspiration, Chris) for a co-worker who is going to be leaving. I used my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to make all the cuts (including the card base). And all the shapes are cut from the same button on the Cricut cartridge! Want to learn more? Contact me today.