Damask Divas January Blog Hop: Babycakes

Welcome Ladies to another super fabulous Damask Divas' Blog Hop! If you came from Lilian's Blog, you are in the right place.  If you have jumped here and just discovered our blog hop, feel free to check the list at Damask Divas Blog to find the complete list of blog hop participants.

This month we are sharing projects created using the Babycakes paper pack. I absolutely love this pack and it can be used for all kinds of things not just baby themed. I actually used the cute polka dotted B&T duos sheet to put together my 'Wicked' Halloween layout. I truly believe the sky is the limit when it comes to being creative. Don't let the idea of a themed paper pack prevent you from seeing ALL the possibilities!

My kid sister is having her first baby this March and so my Mom, sisters and I are throwing her a Jungle Themed Baby Shower. So, I've been throwing around ideas for cute invitations. Here is the first set I worked on, while I think they turned out cute, I'm not quite sold on the ideas. What do you think?

I think my favorite of the two is the second one, but like I said I am still contemplating on ideas! I love the giving the card POP by making the images stand out. It gives it a little texture! I had fun trying these cards! What fun things will you make with your Babycakes pack? Need to order a pack, go HERE and order from me today!

Supplies
Daisy White Card Base
Babycakes paper pack
'B is for Baby' stamp set
Wild Wonders stamp set
Art Philosophy: Celebration stamp set
Chocolate Ink
Cashmere Ink
Olive Ink
Gypsy Ink
Cranberry Ink

I hope you've enjoyed our Blog Hop thus far, your next stop is the Amazing Jessica's Blog! Don't forget to Get Crafty!

Christmas Card Workshop

How are all my favorite people? I hope your Holiday season is treating you well! I hosted a Christmas Card Workshop last month and I made it simple. I used the three designs from the Frosted Card Workshop and the I created this top one myself. I used Outdoor Denim cardstock for the card base, Chocolate for the roof and Brick Red for the chimney. When I had sat down to create this card, I had just purchased the Santa Clause stamp set from our Holiday Gifts From the Heart catalog. I really wanted to achieve the look of Santa creeping across the roof on Christmas Eve!

I used black, chocolate, ruby, ponderosa pine and archival white ink to create the look. I loved how it turned out, although truth be told I hated working with the archival white. It took forever to dry and it was a little harder to work with, but I still got the look I wanted and it took getting used to! I also used the Geometric Background stamp to give the roof & chimney depth!

If you have no time to design and create your own Christmas cards, well here is a very simple way to make gorgeous cards! All you have to do is buy the Frosted Card kit, Ruby, Cocoa, and Twilight ink; then you're set. It comes with instructions and diagrams to complete each card. It even goes as far as to show you how to cut each piece out in order to make the most of your sheets of paper. I loved using it and I know a lot of my customers did too!

Clearly the Best: A Countdown to Love

Looking for a way to use your Decor frame? Well, here is a super cute idea, that is so easy to do! Let your creativity flow and Get Crafty!

Why Switch?

 

Here are just some of the reasons to switch to Close To My Heart! I love working for this fabulous company and whether you want to have a job to make your own hours or you just want to buy high quality product this is the place! I am here to help you get the most out of your time and your creativity! Contact me about joining my Team or about ordering today! Click Here

Artbooking Made Easy: Christmas Layouts

 

With Christmas right around the corner, who isn't thinking about how to scrapbook their Christmas photos? Check out this fabulous video on the wide variety of layouts that can be created from just two pages in your Artbooking cartridge! Get in the spirit and start scrapbooking now!

Pocket Album

Another fabulous video that shows some super cute ways to use the Kraft Pocket Album! It can be decorated for any occasion and using so many different mediums to decorate it with! I know I say this all the time, but the sky is the limit with crafting! Don't limit yourself or your projects! I hope this gives you some fabulous ideas for a new project. It would even make a great Christmas gift! Head on over to my website HERE and purchase yours today! Don't forget to Get Crafty!

Thank Yous and Sharing Our Gratitude

I know I'm a little behind on posting about this card, with Thanksgiving having been last week, but in reality we should take the opportunity to thank those around us more often then once a year! I made this card with a Fall/Thanksgiving theme, but remember you can swap out the colors and the images to work for any time of year!

I had a lot of fun on this card, because I tried a new technique. I stamped the pumpkin in Autumn Terracotta, then I stamped some of that same ink straight on one of my stamp blocks. Using a small dab of water on the block as well, I then used a paint brush to mix a little color & the water. Then I painted the pumpkin image! I love how it turned out, granted it took a lot more time, but it looks gorgeous! When I added more color and less water I got a darker, richer color, then when I used less color & more water. I played around with the light and dark variations of the Autumn Terracotta to give my pumpkin a more realistic look.

Don't be afraid to try something new! Especially when you're papercrafting! Never be afraid of failing, because even if you try something and it doesn't turn out just like you wanted, it still might still give your project a cool look & ideas for ways to use it on other projects!

Since this project was about Thanks, I just have to say how thankful I am for having CTMH in my life and all the amazing people I have met because of it! I'm thankful for all of you who come to check out what fun new projects I have. I'm hoping to get back on schedule with posting things, the holidays have made things a little crazy around my house, as well as preparing for a Christmas Boutique this weekend! (Hurray, I'm hoping I do well!) Anyway, I'm thankful for all that I'm learning and I'm thankful for my amazing Hubby & my beautiful miracle kids! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving! Don't forget to Get Crafty!

Artbooking Made Easy: Cross-Cartridge Collaboration

I absolutely love my Cricut cartridges that come from Close To My Heart! They are kind of my Go To for cutouts! Before I started selling CTMH, I allowed myself to be limited in my projects because I never thought some things could go together or that an idea was dumb. Which was a terrible mistake! This video shows some great ways to combine cutouts from all three cartridges and they look great! Don't let tell yourself that something wouldn't look good until you've tried it! Trial and error is really a crafter's friend! Don't own the CTMH Cricut Cartridges yet? Contact me today to get them for yourself! Don't own a Cricut, but want some of the cutouts done for a project? Contact me and I can help you get the images you need! Have a great night, Ladies! And don't forget to Get Crafty!

Clearly The Best: Do the Twist

This video is fabulous, because not only do they show some super cute projects that are soooo easy to do, but it shows you how you can use our products in ways you have never thought to! If you haven't snagged yourself a set of slate twist ties, then you should head on over to my Website: HERE and pick them up today! Get started on your Holiday crafting and Get Crafty!

A Damask Happy Birthday

Ok, this card turned out so gorgeous and was so simple. I cut the card base at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 (which you really cut it at 8 1/2 x 5 1/2) in White Daisy cardstock. I then used the For Always paper pack, using the damask pattern B&T paper and the Lagoon cardstock. I used Banner Wishes from the Holiday Gift Guide and stamped it in Black & Crystal Blue.

It was really so easy and still has an elegant feel to it! I can't wait to give it away to someone who definitely deserves a Diva styled card!

Now that the end of the month is nearly here, don't forget to put in your orders if you're wanting to snag November's Stamp of the Month. You can get it for $5 when you spend $50 or more, or you can purchase it for $17.95.

Close To My Heart has put up the list of product that will be retired Spring 2014 and I'll be posting a list soon, so you can snag your favorites before they are gone!

A 'Wicked' Halloween

I had so much fun making this 12x12 2-page layout, but I can't take all the credit for the idea. I actually was flipping through my Reflections book (contains layout set ups for when you have run out of ideas!), trying to find a layout for my September Scrapbook Workshop. I found a layout that actually used the Wicked with the broom for the 'i' on it, while looking and I thought this is perfect. I then set to work locating a layout to compliment the first page.

I used cardstock in Autumn Terracotta, Olive, Black and Cashmere, as well as a sheet of B&T Duos from Babycakes! (Which just goes to show that just because B&Ts are grouped in themed sets, doesn't mean you can't use them in different themes!) I used Black, Autumn Terracotta, Olive, Gyspy, and Chocolate inks. I used Dimensional Elements Monograms made out of chipboard for 'Wicked' and tried different ideas with the ink to give them each a different look. I sponged the edges or the tops, on the 'W' I inked just like I would a stamp. I had fun trying different things. You could even color them with our markers and then sand down different spots on the letters to give it a different look. The possibilities are endless! I love having the options and seeing how the look changes by changing one thing.

I made the broomstick from a bundle of twigs I bought at Hobby Lobby and some raffia. I'll post up instructions later, so you can make your own broomstick! I also used stamps from Creepy Creatures and I used the pumpkin from Count Your Blessings. I also used Liquid Glass to enhance some of the dots on the B&T Duos page,  I think it added just the right amount of 'Bling!' Don't forget to add your journaling, you want to be able to tell the story of the photos, because you won't be around forever and your loved ones will want to know!

Blast From the Past

Check out another great Close To My Heart video and Get Crafty!

Halloween Tags

So I know I'm a little behind on posting this one up, but here they are: Halloween Tags! These were soooo easy to make and were so versatile! I actually used the first tag as an invite to my family's annual Halloween party! I used Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out the tags. I made one in a larger size and then made it smaller so they'd stack. I used the Magic Potions stamp set to decorate the fronts of the tags. I used each one, with a different shaped tag so that each invitation was unique! I then used the 'You're Invited' stamp from Art Philosophy Tags stamp set (comes with the Art Philosophy cartridge) on a piece of Cashmere cardstock that I'd placed on the back of the invite. I finished off the look with a bit of raffia tied through! (WARNING: The cardstock will rip if you are not careful when tying the raffia!)

This second tag, I kept simple, but I think it turned out so cute! I cut the tag from the Art Philosophy cartridge. This time I cut it in Autumn Terracotta cardstock and stamped the Magic Potions image in Black. I then added cute Halloween cut-outs from a Happy Haunting Cricut cartridge. I had to resize the images to fit on the tag, since they were much bigger initially. I added the piece of Cashmere and gave it a super great bone border from the Artbooking cartridge. I used this tag as a card for someone I helped out and set it with her gift! I love how it turned out and it was so easy. So if you haven't seen by now how easy it is to put together such fun tags, then give it a try yourself and pick up your own Cricut Collection today!

Congratulations Card

 I had a lot of fun with my Cricut making this card this morning. Nice thing is it took me 20-30 mins to whip together and was ready to go! Who doesn't like cards you can make in a snap? I used Olive, Black and Daisy White cardstock. I actually had intended for this card to take part in a Color Dare over at Color My Heart, but I missed the deadline by just a few minutes. Oh well, I still had fun!



The super cute cuts I used on this card came from the Art Philosophy cartridge and I think they look great! I cute the overlay in black and the base of the overlay in Olive. I even cut the card base from an image on the cartridge! The card is 5"x7". I then used the stamp from Banner Wishes to give its sentiment! I think it turned out quite nice and I loved making the inside reflect the outside!

Don't be afraid to decorate the inside to match the outside! Tie the entire look of the card together! I hope you enjoy this and if you want to stock up on supplies to make your own super cute cards, head HERE and check out my website!

Artbooking Made Easy: Freedom Layouts

With Veteran's Day nearly upon us, its a time to show our support and honor the Veterans & Soldiers in our lives! Make a card or even scrapbook a special patriotic event. With the Cricut^® Artbooking cartridge you’ll love the shapes to make patriotic layouts and cards—and for all celebratory layouts and cards after that! In this video you’ll find great ideas for using the freedom-themed keys to make sparkling titles, photo mats, overlays, and accents for more than just patriotic themes. See the featured ideas and start putting more bang into your projects!



Don't forget that this months Stamp of the Month is Illumination and it can be yours for $5 with a $50 or more purchase! Or for $17.95 until the end of November! Don't miss out on this super cute stamp set!

 

Finally don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Sign up under me between now and December 15th AND sell you minimum requirement of $300 by March 31, 2014 and you will receive the NEW Picture My Life collection FOR FREE!!! Ask me for more details!!

No Better Time Then Now To Invest in YOU!!!

I have some super Exciting News! I am super excited to announce that Close to My Heart has created a new and super fantastic incentive to being a consultant!  I absolutely LOVE my job, so I don't need much incentive here, but sometimes that little push to sign up at the right time can get you going!  I know, because I've been there!

So, how can you get $180 worth of fantastic Close to My Heart products for just $49??? 

Close To My Heart begins an incredible NEW CONSULTANT opportunity TODAY!!!  From November 1—December 15, new Consultants who enroll with either the Essentials or Master New Consultant Kit may also receive a brand-new exciting product from the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book!!!  Wowza!

What's the new product? It's the gorgeous new Picture My Life™ scrapbooking program. There are 8 fresh and stunning design themes to choose from, each one featuring 122 double-sided, designed cards in a mix of 3" x 4" and 4" x 6", plus a 12"x12" cover page to bring your album together beautifully. You also get 10 Memory Protectors™ with new formats designed just for this program and lots of your photos. It's a retail value of $24.95 but it’s FREE to qualifying new Consultants!  If you have ever thought about scrapping "Project Life" style, then THIS is for YOU!

This is such an amazing opportunity and you don't want to miss it! There is absolutely NO commitment when you sign up, just OPPORTUNITY to work your business as you wish!  :)

Contact me here or at pixiestedding@hotmail.com for all the details, and make an investment in YOU today!!!  You can also click HERE to read more on my website. 

Clearly the Best: Wacky Washi

I never really knew what Washi Tape was or all its fun uses! So, check out this video on Washi Tape and something new & fun to do with it!

Artbooking Made Easy: Festive Mini Albums

I'm so excited to give this a try now that I have the Artbooking cartridge! No one needs a better excuse to Get Crafty, especially during the Holiday season, then making a cute Holiday Mini Album! I'm planning to make one myself in the next week or so, I'll share a tutorial and maybe I'll make a video tutorial to make things interesting! I will also make kits available for purchase, so that you can make your own Mini Album! Have fun and Get Crafty! Happy Halloween, my friends!

Project Sneak Peak

This week I've started working on this really cool project and its been a lot more time consuming then I anticipated, but I think the end results are going to be wonderful! I'm excited but I'm not going to give away the surprise! Can you guess what it is?

I'll be taking tomorrow off to spend with my kids! Trick-or-treating and all! So, make sure to check back on Friday and hopefully I'll have a look at my latest project! Happy Halloween!

Trendy Trims

Another fabulous and very crafty video for you.  I plan on working on some fun projects tomorrow and I hope to get them posted up. Sorry for being so slow about this, but my first day back at it didn't go quite as well as I had hoped! I'll be back up on my feet soon! Enjoy! Get Crafty!

Clearly the Best: Connect the Dots (S02E03)

I'm sorry I didn't blog much this week. All my crafting fun had to be put on hold when my kids all got sick this last week, followed by myself and my Hubby! It was a fairly miserable and exhausting week. I hope to have tons of super fun projects to blog about this week, but I hope you'll bear with me as I work on getting back into the swing of things this week. So for now, I hope you'll enjoy watching some fun crafting!

Lace-Work Birthday Card

Today I have another super cute card that can be used for all sorts of occasions, but today I picked to make it into a Birthday card for my Sister-in-law. What actually got the idea going was the butterfly. I had this random Butterfly cut-out from when I'd been playing around with my Art Philosophy cartridge. I really wanted to use it in something cute, so I flipped through the booklet for the cartridge when I saw this lace-work piece and it clicked. The idea for this card was born! Lol, OK a little dramatic, but I really did get excited about putting these two objects together to create a card.

So I fitted the lace-work image to fit a 6"x6" card and cut it from the Olive cardstock, which I think gives it an ivy look. I then sponged the butterfly with Gypsy ink to give it this beautiful coloring and placed some fun clear sparkles on its wings. I use a small amount of liquid glass to help secure the sparkles since I've found that sometimes they don't like to stay stuck where you've placed them. Then I decided to use the same cartridge to cut out an oval shape in Autumn Terracotta, wanting to tie these beautiful outdoor colors together and add the pop of Fall. I used the Art Philosophy Celebration stamps to stamp the 'Happy Birthday', as well as the Swirls Around stamps and the You Are My Happy stamps.



I used Olive, Gypsy & Crystal Blue ink. I also decided to test an image to say 'Hey, this is made by me!' I think it has potential. It was stamped in Gypsy, then I wrote my initials and the year around it. Followed by placing small dots of liquid glass on each point. What do you think?


Want to be able to may your own fun and super cute cards or scrapbook pages? Go HERE and check out Close To My Heart products, where you can buy what I used today, as well as so much more!

Artbooking Made Easy: Everyday Layouts (S01E08)

Check out these super amazing Everyday Layouts! So gorgeous and so easy! Want to purchase your own Artbooking Cricut cartridge, go HERE to order right now!

Polka Dotted Birthday Wish

Hey All! I hope you're all finding time to be crafty as the weather starts to get colder! I had so much fun making this card and I used No Patterns for this one! A week or two ago I had cut out an entire sheet of Colonial White circles using my CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and I decided to keep the piece of cardstock that I'd cut all the circles from (you never know when it might come in handy).

I wanted to make a super fun Birthday card and so I used the leftover sheet and sponged the ink into the circles on the front of the 6"x6" card. It left an awesome pattern. Then I used some of the circle cut outs and sponged them in three different colors, the placed them over the circles on card in an alternating pattern and gave them some pop by placing 3-D Foam underneath!

I had a lot of fun making this great card and it was so easy!

Supplies I Used:
Colonial White Cardstock- 1388
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge- Z1686
Art Philosophy Celebration Stamps(Included with cartridge)
You Are My Happy Stamps (National Stamping Month Stamp set)
3-D Foam tape- Z1151
Sparkles
Inks: Black (Z2105), Olive(Z2137), Gypsy(Z2190), & Autumn Terracotta(Z2101)

Clearly the Best: A Burst of Creativity

I love how beautiful this card is and how so much of it came from paper scraps from other projects! So, I guess a good tip is: don't throw your scraps away, because you never know when they'll come into use! I hope you enjoyed this great video and now have your own fun ideas brewing for something fabulous!

Clearly the Best: Preserve with Pizazz (S02E02)

If you love Family History, check out this video on how to add some "Pizazz" to yours! I'm disconnecting for the weekend to spend time with my family! I hope you have an amazing weekend and I look forward to sharing fun new things next week!

Artbooking Made Easy (S01E05): Halloween Mini Albums

Such a super cute idea! I will be offering cute Mini Albums for sale in the next week or so! Contact me to order yours today!

Autumn Birthday Cards

I'm finding that I really love the fall colors on my projects lately! I mean I know its that time of year, but seeing such beautiful colors pop-out on the page is just gorgeous! I think I need to invest in some rich fall red color and do some cards with a little pop of that! This project I kept pretty simple, but I was pleasantly surprised by how they turned out! These cute Autumn Birthday Cards are 3"x3", so super cute and small! (I'll have to tell you how much it costs to send these tiny cards).

I decided to go with the rich beautiful Autumn Terracotta for the card base, added two 2 1/2"x 3/4" strips of Olive cardstock, one 2 1/2"x 3/4" strip the of the cute Polka Dot cardstock from Babycakes pack and 1"x3" strip of Cashmere cardstock. I also used some Colonial White round cut-outs from Art Philosophy Cartridge to stamp the little fall images.

I also used the Art Philosophy Celebration stamps for the 'Celebrate' and 'Happy Birthday.'  A Touch of Fall stamp set was where I got the cute images of the pumpkin, wheat, leaf and acorn. I absolutely love how simple these images are, but how beautiful they turned out, giving the right amount of pop! I love how these cards turned out. I used some 3-D Foam tape to pop up one of the round stamped images inside the card for a super cute surprise! I also used Black, Chocolate, Cashmere & Autumn Terracotta ink.

As a beginner cardmaker, I found that your cards don't have to be the most elaborate pieces of work to turn out absolutely gorgeous! I enjoyed playing with these stamps to make such great birthday cards! I hope the ladies I made them for love them as much as I do!

*If you are interested in getting the Touch of Fall stamp for yourself, contact me and I'll tell you how you can receive this fabulous incentive stamp!

Fall Into Artbooking & CTMH Clubs!

Fall is here and now, I'm waiting for the infamous Utah winter to come raging in without warning! The last few days have been pretty miserable, cold and rainy, and I know snow is just waiting to dump on us. Its that time of year, where doing fun and often crafty projects is a must. I mean we have cold weather coming in (in most places, but not all), the holidays with our friends & family and Christmas (who isn't delighted with homemade gifts?) Now is the time to hunker in and get our craft on! Hooray! I've never needed much reason to do some sort of crafting, but now I'm an Independent Consultant with Close To My Heart, I really have the opportunity to be crafty! I tell my Hubby, "Hey I have work to do, let me know if you need me!" and off I go or "Let me bring my stamps & stuff in, I'll make cards while we watch our show." I have a very supportive Husband, if you can't tell! With the Fall weather coming in and Winter right around the corner, I thought wouldn't it be fun to start a club where a group of us can get together and get crafty? Since I live in the middle of nowhere, what a better way to get the local ladies out of the house and have fun? So here is the info for my very Club: I would love to start a Close to My Heart monthly club.I would need 10 people to join who would be willing to purchase at least $15.00 from CTMH each month, and would get a turn at being the hostess and collecting the free product rewards. You would commit to joining for 10 months that way everyone gets a chance to be a hostess. Sound like fun?? Cold winter months are coming, why not stock up on card and scrapbook supplies. I would like to start it soon, let me know what you think. It will be a monthly gathering in my home or at the ACS Building. (If you are not local, you can enter your order on line or i can do it for you) We will do a make and take for a chance to see new product in action. We will get started in November. Feel free to invite friends, the sooner we get 10 people,the sooner we can get started! (Mind you this came straight from my Facebook page, Crafty With Pixie Stedding)

Are you interested? Contact me and we'll have a blast! I'll set up a Facebook page for the club, so everyone near & far can stay in contact. I'll post fun tips and suggestions, as well as project instructions, etc for members. I can't wait to get this going! I'm leaning toward making some cute Base & Bling hairclips as one of our first make & takes! So don't miss this opportunity!

I'll leave you tonight with a super fun video from CTMH about Fall Artbooking! You won't want to miss this!

Background Stamps

Background stamping is such a great technique and so much fun to do. I know I say this about everything, but full of so many possibilities! Its something I love about scrapbooking & papercrafting is that you can use anything to create beautiful layouts, cards and more. My sister and I were talking about one of the paper packs in Close To My Heart's Autumn/Winter catalog (Babycakes) the other day. I love this pack, because I see the possibilities that lay beyond the baby theme. In fact I used the super cute polka dotted paper on a Halloween layout and it looked great. When you look at stamps & papers, see the endless possibilities and you will go far!

Artbooking Made Easy (S01E06): Designed Décor Flip Stand Album

Looking for a new sort of papercrafting project? Watch this great video and see another great project that's so easy to make!

Crafty & Halloween!

I love Halloween! Its one of my favorite times of year! I'll admit I'm a sucker for dressing up! My kids are like my Hubby and I, and love to dress up too! It makes for a very fun month. As a CTMH Consultant, I have excuses to buy cute stamps and papers to make fun cards. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to make cards for hours each day while watching a religious conference on TV. (Its nice having an excuse to be crafty!)

I decided to work on some Birthday cards for this last month (I'm so bad and behind) and some for this month. I'll just show you the cute Halloween ones I made this time around, but be on the lookout for more later!

Cards are so much fun to make, because there are infinite possibilities. No two people think alike and therefore create alike.

 I used a pattern from CTMH's Originals book for cardmaking. Picking a pattern can be an important step, but once you've decided you can do anything with that. I used a sheet of Colonial White cardstock cut into a 6"x6" card and sponged it with Autumn Terracotta ink to give it a bit more color, but still keeping it soft.

I find it makes doing a project a lot easier if you pre-cut all the papers you need, that way you can put it together quickly and efficiently! I used a 6"x2" strip of Cashmere cardstock, 5"x3" piece of Babycakes paper (I used the side with the letters on it), 4 3/4" x2 3/4" of Autumn Terracotta cardstock and a strip of paper from the top of the dotted sheet of paper from Babycakes pack.

  I used stamp sets: Creepy Creatures (C1522) and Heartfelt Birthday Wish (M1033). Other supplies I used 3-D Foam tape, Black, Chocolate, Autumn Terracotta and Cashmere ink. I used a fun technique where I stamped the images I wanted twice on separate sheets of paper (as in the skeleton), then I cut out the pieces I wanted to use to pop on the image. I cut the head, the ribs, the pelvis and his cane, then using 3-D Foam tape I stuck those pieces on top of the other image to create a great pop out!

I also used the foam tape to make the moon, bat and star images stand out on the inside. Tying together the inside with the outside of the card! I had so much fun trying new things.


My second card was a lot more simple, but still so much fun and looks great!  I used 5 1/2"x4 1/2" Autumn Terracotta card, 4 1/2"x1 1/2" Polka dot paper from Babycakes, 3"x3" Colonial White cardstock, and 3"x4" Olive Cardstock.

 I used Creepy Creatures stamp set again (I love how cute these little creatures are!) and Heartfelt Birthday Wish stamp set. I also used Black & Autumn Terracotta ink, 3-D Foam tape and liquid glass. The front side of the card base was stamped over in a cute pattern with rats, bats and moons in the same color of ink as the paper giving a subtle patterned paper. I used the liquid glass to pop out the look of the orange polka dots, such a fun technique. Cute Mr. Vampire has the fabulous pop out look, just like on the first card. I kept the inside simpler, but still cute! What a fun set of cards to give for October birthdays!

Tools of the Trade

Base & Bling Fabric Necklace Kit

 

Check out this really cool and unique kit that Close To My Heart sells! I have to admit it looks so simple, even I want to give it a try! ;)

Snowflakes & Butterflies

 Hello My Crafty Friends! Welcome to October! I'm super excited to see what new and wonderful things I can create & do this month. October 1st marked the beginning of Close To My Heart's new quarter and beginning of the earning period for our new Incentive Trip: Hawaii! I've made some goals so that I can earn this trip! I hope you will all want to help me out! I also am about $600 short of beginners goal to sell $1200 in the first 90 days. I get free product and points toward my Incentive trip by making this goal, which gives me more fabulous items for super fun projects and kits! So, my first goal for the new quarter is to sell at least $600 worth of product and to hold to Home Gatherings this month. I will have some incentives available for those who set up Gatherings and put in orders; more details to follow!

Now on to this simple easy and super cute set of projects I've made as Hostess gifts (so book your Gathering with me to receive yours)! 

This first one I started with a sheet of Colonial White cardstock and used my Cricut & the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut a super cute card with the snowflake image. I loved it and thought it was perfect for the upcoming Holidays. I used a bit of natural rafia to tie a cute bow through the snowflake. Now if you're wanting to add some more color to your card, then use some of our alcohol-based markers and color in the rafia to add some pop of color. Next I sponged some Crystal Blue ink onto a small square of cardstock, which I then trimmed to fit on the backside of the front of the card and glued it into place. This pop of color behind your snowflake cutout gives the card some character! And finally I placed a super cute snowman and the phrase, from the Flakey Friends stamp set, on a clear block and stamped the images using Crystal Blue! Wa-la you have a simple and cute Holiday card!

 Here is the second card, also cut from Colonial White cardstock using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I used the same techniques for this as the first card. I used Gypsy ink to sponge on the cardstock behind the butterfly and stamped A True Thank You on front. The inside I used the butterfly and phrase from You Are My Happy stamp set (September's National Stamping Month set).

To give the butterfly its two toned coloring, while using our alcohol-based markers is the easiest option, I actually used q-tips to apply the colors I wanted. I used Olive ink for the phrase. To finish the card off, I glued the rafia bow to the front using Liquid Glass (this has so many uses)!

I hope you enjoyed learning these how to make these super cute cards.

Items Used
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (Z1686)- $99
You Are My Happy (National Stamping Month stamp)
Flakey Friends stamp set (C1506)- $13.95
A True Thank You stamp ( M1029)- $2.95
Gypsy Ink (Z2190)- $5.25
Olive Ink (Z2137)-$5.25
Crystal Blue Ink (Z2160)- $5.25
Colonial White cardstock (1388)- $9.50

Want to explore and see what other fun products we have available? Click HERE to check out my website.

Damask Divas October Blog Hop: Laughing Lola

 

Welcome! I'm super excited to participate in my first Damask Divas Blog Hop!  This month you can see just a small portion of cute & fabulous things you can do with your Laughing Lola paper pack. If you came from Kat Purty's Blog, you are in the right place.  If you have jumped here and just discovered our blog hop, feel free to check the list at Damask Divas Blog to find the complete list of blog hop participants.

 I honestly wasn't sure where to begin with this Blog Hop project, but I finally decided I wanted to try a card with a pocket on it. So I picked a fun patterned paper from...you guessed Laughing Lola, for the main card! I kept it simple, but fun.

 

As you can see I was very daring with my mixing and matching of patterns, but I think it works well together. I made sure to add some Laughing Lola bling and a bow paper clip to give it flair! Embellishments don't have to be overly fancy, what counts is that whatever you choose works for what you need/want!

I loved adding the cute bookmark at the end that just slips in the front pocket. Now that I look at it I think I want to go back and add a cute poem or saying about celebrating, or even about cupcakes! I'll post up picks once I find something that fits perfectly with my fun card. Somebody is sure going to get a fun card!

I used the following items to complete this Super Fun Card:

X7170B Laughing Lola paper pack
Z1854 Laughing Lola Assortment
X7170C Laughing Lola Complements Dimensional Elements
D1559 Geometric Backgrounds
Cricut Art Philosophy
Z2190 Gypsy Ink Pad
44751 Black Ink Pad
Colonial White paper
Sponge

Hurray, you made it to the end of this month's hop.  We hope you picked up some great new ideas from all our fabulous blogs this month! Before you get too busy making your wish lists from all of this amazing inspiration, be sure to enter the Rafflecopter drawing on the Damask Divas Blog for your chance to win some great goodies! Thanks so much for hopping with us--now go get your crafty on!

Artbooking Made Easy (S01E03): Summer Mini-Albums

So cute! Check out this fun way to display your summer photos! Want to buy your own Artbooking cartridge? Head over to my website, join a Gathering and order your cartridge now! HERE

Create with Cricut® Collections

I love my Cricut and I love having a Close To My Heart cartridge to work with! The possibilities are endless! You can order a set (or even two) from my website Here! $99 gets a cartridge with 700 images, three sets of D sized stamps and three sheets of corresponding chipboard cutouts, perfect for any card, scrapbook or other fun Crafty project you might have!

Artbooking Made Easy (S01E04): Spooky Halloween Layouts

Who doesn't love Halloween? Its one of my favorite holidays and I love the idea of putting together such cute scrapbook layouts to play with. So many endless possibilities! Want to purchase Artbooking for your Cricut? Go Here and order from my Close To My Heart website!

First Projects

All I've wanted to do since I joined the Close To My Heart Family is CRAFT! And craft and craft some more! Of course I've had to wait for my supplies to arrive and once they've gotten here, I wish I'd ordered more! Can you blame me? One weekend I came home to find four Close To My Heart packages on my front porch, my first thought was 'Christmas!'

Now that I have some great products to work with I can enjoy some crafting time, when my four children under 5 yrs old allow me to that is! LOL! So here are just a couple of the projects I've worked on the last couple of weeks!

 This was one of the first I put together. Its so simple, but super cute! I used Colonial White paper stamped with snowflakes from the Flakey Friends stamp set. Topped with snowflake paper from the Frosted paper pack and a square of Champagne paper stamped with Santa's Greeting stamp. Add a clear sparkle and stamp a sweet message inside (also from Flakey Friends), and ta-da you have a super cute mini card!

The inside of the my cute winter mini card!

 The card is just as simple and super fun! With one of the three cute Snowmen from the Flakey Friends set, a strip of snowflake paper from Frosted and some clear sparkles, makes a fantastic card for this Holiday Season!

 Whoever said that card making had to be complicated to produce super cute cards, was lying! Ladies, why not start this Holiday Season by making your very own Christmas cards? Head over to my website Here to order your very own Holiday stamp sets and start making your very own Seasons Greetings cards!