October Damask Divas Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Damask Divas Blog hop--Halloween Style!

If you found your way here from Diana's Free Moments, then you are on the right path!   If not, you can check out the entire blog hop order on the Damask Divas Blog.  This hop and its links will be live beginning Monday, October 1st, so if you are here a bit early, be sure to tune in then so you can see ALL of the great creations and try for some blog candy!

This month we are featuring projects made with the spookified Moonlight Paper Packet.  Now, I am not a huge fan of Halloween, but I do like the cutesie (read, non-horror!) stuff--and I LOVE candy corn!  I knew right away what I would be doing for my project.  Here is my Cute Candy Corn Keeper:

This project was super-fun to design.  I used the adorable little container cut on page 54 of the Cricut Artiste Handbook.  It is on the 3D Object key and cut at 2.5 inches.  This 3D shape assembles quite easily with a little adhesive.  I decided to use the Olive Baker's Twine in the Baker's Twine Harvest Assortment to hold the flaps down--this is my kind of sewing, lol.  The little tag that says "beware" is meant to keep people (read, my children) out of my candy, lol.  I found this on the strip of paper down the side of our B&T Duos.  These are called Zip Strips and are included on each B&T paper we offer.  I just trimmed it down to size and inked the edges with Olive Ink.

Now, for my candy corn embellishment!  I cut a small 1 inch triangle using my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge and colored it with my Autumn Terracotta Light and Creme Brulee Alcohol Ink Markers.  Super-easy to make and adorable to boot!  I added two small black sparkles to the bottom edge of my container from the Sparkles Round Black and Grey Assortment.

Now, we both know that a beware sign alone was not going to keep little fingers out of my candy, so I had to make another sign as back-up.  ;)  I cut out a spider web from Artiste on page 76 at 2.5 inches on black cardstock. Then I cut the rosette on the same  green pattern B&T paper as the bowl at 1 inch on page 77.  Please note that you have to make two of these cuts to assemble an entire rosette.  There are instructions included in the assembly booklet as well.  I find that Liquid Glass works really well for holding the rosettes together permanently.  After attaching the ends of the rosette together and letting it dry, I squirt a big dollop of  Liquid Glass on a 1 inch circle of cardstock or paper and then flatten the rosette centered on the circle on my kraft mat to dry.  Placing a heavy object on top of this until it is dry will free up your hands.  (Here you can see the circle of paper between the rosette and the web.)

When that was completely dry, I used more Liquid Glass to attach the web to the backside of my rosette.   Finally, I cut out the word "BOO" at 1 inch on page 77 of Artiste also, and I adhered it ever so carefully with my tweezers and (yep, you guessed it) more Liquid Glass--this stuff is worth it's weight in gold, you guys.  We sell it for only $6.95 for a 2 oz. bottle, and I am on my same bottle from over six months ago.  I became a consultant in March, and have used it tons--and am down to about an inch left in the bottle.  It really goes a LOOOOONG way!  I highly recommend it for so many uses!

OK, so I made another project too!  It is so easy to make these with all the cuts on Artiste, so I could not resist.  Really quickly, though since I have rambled on quite a bit--here is my Moonlight Paper snake skin purse, lol!

All three cuts I used, the purse, feather and spider web border are on the Artiste Cartridge!  I also used our baker's twine, Tulle Ribbon, and Bling Assortment.  You can make a simple candy gift bag like this and add your own bling to decorate it--just try it!  You will see how easy it is.  :)

Thanks so very much for hopping along with us, and I hope you weren't too spooked by my projects!

Sheri Ann Henderson at Crafts With Nana is your next stop.  If you ever get lost, just go back to Damask Divas to look at the map (list.)  AND don't forget to fill out the form on the Damask Divas October Blog Hop post in order to be entered for your chance to win some blog candy too!  

All Good Things Come to an End...

...and this is my final triple-stamped card to show you for this round.  No worries, though, I will be back at it again soon!  I am just moving ahead with another project this weekend.  ;)

This one is a Christmas card.  I was not quite ready to jump head-first into making cards for Christmas yet, so I decided to just dabble with just this one.

I used White Daisy and Cranberry Cardstock, the Merry and Bright My Acrylix Stamp set, Cranberry, Olive, and Black Dye Ink Pads, and the Cashmere Pigment Ink Mini.  I cannot wait to get my hands on more of these Pigment Inks!  

Thanks for coming along this week to learn a bit about the triple-stamping method!  Remember, my next Card Workshop will feature this type of card!  :)  Check out the Workshops and Events Tab at the top of my blog for more details. 

ALSO!!!  This month is rapidly coming to an end, and so is your chance at my giveaway!  You can check out the details on my blog HERE.   Have a GREAT weekend, and I will be back soon!

Encore, Encore!

You guessed it!  Another triple stamping technique card is on the way.  Listen, these are so crazy-easy and fun that I am surprised I didn't end up with more!  ;)

This one is a fun Halloween card.

Sorry if spiders aren't your thing, (#Bethiehatesspiders), but my spidey sense told me these webs were meant to be used for this technique, so I had to listen!  I used the awesome Spellbound My Acrylix stamps, Black Ink Pad, and Sunset/White Daisy CS for this one--that's it!  How much more fun and easy can it possibly get?  Hope you like this one as much as I do.  Just one left to show you this week!  What will it be?  Tune in Friday to find out!

In case you missed my earlier posts, HERE is the Youtube Tutorial by Dawn where I learned to make these cards.

Three-peat Repeat

Yep, I told you on Friday's post that I had more of these to show you, so let's start this Monday off right!  This one has a wonderful fall theme to welcome in the cooler weather.  We will be doing a similar card at my next card workshop! 

I used Goldrush and Olive Dye based ink pads, and the new Desert Sand Mini Pigment Ink.  The pigment ink stays wet longer so I was able to add clear embossing powder and use my heating tool to give it the shine you see below. 

I love the colors of fall!  Which seasonal colors are your favorites?

Three-peat Stamping!

Thank you for coming in to take a peek at my latest post!  All the girls (and guy!) over on one of my Close to My Heart Facebook groups are trying out this amazingly simple yet powerful stamping technique called triple stamping.  You can see how to do it HERE in this YouTube video by Dawn.  Thank you for the great tutorial, Dawn!  It is a great way to make a beautiful card using only stamping to get a lot of bang for your buck.   I like to call it Three-peat Stamping, myself....any former Bulls fans out there?  Do you remember the day?  Sigh...but I digress.  :)

Here is my first attempt:

I really wanted to use the Pirouette stamp for this to see how it would look.  I really like the effect, but let me tell you, I need more practice with this stamp because it is large!  Large, and solid, lol.  It left some blank spaces to fill in with a black marker, but that really wasn't too difficult to fix up.  I also must have been a little crooked, because my sentiment is running downhill, lol.  Ooops!  See, bloggers make mistakes too!   I admit, I was in a hurry to see how it would look.  Lesson learned!  Slow down and get it right.  Now I know I like the look, so I will definitely make more of these!  ;)

I made a total of SIX different cards like this tonight!  I will post others in the days to come, but here are two more right now:

For both of these cards I used the Pemberley Workshop Stamp set from the previous Idea Book.  I used the Pemberley Paper Packet which is still available to try a pattern paper as the mat on the first card.  I like the effect, but I LOVE how the darker, solid mat makes it POP!

Which one do you prefer?  I would love to know!

Remember, I am having a giveaway for anyone who orders on my website through my Card Workshop Gathering and helps me reach my goal this month!  I am soooooo close!!!  Read about it HERE!

Meet My Goal Giveaway!!!

Hello again, it has been a crazy week.  I just realized that I am only $50 and some change shy of my sales goal this month!!!  Also, they just released some more awesome items in the While Supplies Last section of my website!  HERE is a link to go see...but WAIT!  I am having a giveaway!   If I reach my goal (remember I am only $50 and change away), then anyone who places an order from my website (even for clearance items!) and joins the Card Workshop Gathering on the home page for the rest of this month, will be entered to win one of the following stamp sets of their choice!  (If the home page says "LEAVE" after the Card Workshop Gathering you are already joined and good to go!)

Perfect Fit Frames $17.95 value

 Casual Expressions $17.95 value

Love Blooms $13.95 value

So, what are you waiting for?   You can place your order HERE until September 30th to be entered to win!  Let's help each other out!  Good luck!   :D

Mojo Monday 259

Even though I got my Mojo on yesterday to play along with Mojo Monday 259, I ran out before I could post it to my blog, lol.  I absolutely love this sketch, it is so much fun!  This is another one of those cards that just came together somehow--I was making a 3D pumpkin with the new Artiste Cartridge right before I saw the fabulous sketch, and it took off from there!  ;)

Can you find the pumpkin in the photo?  ;)  This is part of one of the cuts from the 3D Pumpkin cut at 4 inches on page 78 of the Artiste Handbook.  I was in a texture driven mood, so there is a lot to point out in this one.  First of all, here is the sketch:

I have been very blingy lately, so knew right away that a button from the BLING ASSORTMENT would find it's way into the mix.  It really did make the perfect center for my flower from the JUST BLOOMS™ FLORET PAPER SHAPES.  The leaf is also from this same assortment.

Buttons!  I wanted to add some too, so used a couple from the Buttons GREEN ASSORTMENT.
Hemp tied to the center of the buttons added another element of texture, and I loved the twisty-ness with my pumpkin theme.  The large family sentiment from the AUTUMN LANE ASSORTMENT was begging me to add it, so I caved in--the results are just what I wanted.

Next up, a little heat embossing.  I wanted to compliment my Bling with some silver.  Plus--don't you just love watching the powder turn all shiny with the heating tool?  I do!  Any excuse to use it works for me! I used the new Mimi (lol...I mean mini) Pigment Ink in Whisper, the swirly stamp from Harvest Happiness My Acrylix Set, and then our Silver Embossing Powder.  The new Pigment Inks stay wet longer so you can use them easily in this way. 

Now, we have come full circle back to the part of the card that started it all--the pumpkin.  I used the Musical Flourish Cuttlebug embossing folder by Provo Craft on the shape after cutting the Goldrush Cardstock on my cricut.  Then I sanded it down to let some of the white core pop.  I love how all of our Close to My Heart papers have a solid white core!  I hand-cut a piece of Cocoa Cardstock to mat the pumpkin shape and used my white gel pen to add some dots.  The green strip you see in the middle of the card is Topiary Cardstock that I used my paper distresser on to rough up the edges.

Thanks for stopping in to see my latest Mojo Monday creation!  You can play along too--I highly recommend it!

Make it on Monday

Hi everyone!  I am trying to start posting more regularly, but this unpredictable thing called "life" keeps on happening, lol.  It happened last week and it will happen this week, so guess we better just all settle in for the ride.  ;)

Here is a cutie-pie little 3 x 4 inch Kraft card that is super-easy to make with the Close to My Heart So Grateful My Acrylix stamp set.  I LOVE the beautiful script words on the pumpkin.  Now this looks tricky, but it isn't.  The pumpkin is actually made up of two stamps, one on top of the other.  Since our blocks are see-through, there is no guesswork, and it looks fantastic each time!  I did the base stamp in Autumn Terracotta and the word layer in Cocoa.

I popped the big orange gourd up on foam tape for a little dimension, while stamping the leaves in Olive directly on the Colonial White cardstock mat.

I decided to pop the stem up as well.  This swirly vine turned out so beautiful that I wish I could say I meant to do it that way, but I didn't!  I accidentally had a blank spot where there should have been ink, so stamped a second time over the image--and this is what turned out!  I love it! 

You can make this card so easily yourself with just a few supplies!  Comment with a link to your post to show me if you try one!  ;)  Happy Monday, and God bless your week!

My Mojo Moment

Right before I turned in last night, one of my Damask Diva teammates alerted me to the fact that I was a winner in the Mojo Monday 258 sketch challenge.  I think I actually went to be with a smile frozen on my face even though my nose would not let me breathe, lol.    I am extremely humbled to have been chosen and think there are so many more deserving cards that were entered. 

A great big, huge thank you to the girls over at Mojo Monday for the amazing compliment.  I have no idea how I will choose which stamp set to claim as my prize.   Also, a ginormous thank you to all of you who support me in whatever way you do, from my upline, Mandy, to my Diva teammates, to my customers who fill my workshops, to my blog posters who keep my self esteem bucket filled--you are all appreciated immensely.  I love what I do right now, and pray that God continues to let me do it to the best of my ability as long as I can.  Each day I get a bible verse in my email from KLOVE.com, and this morning, this is what it said:   

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
~ Philippians 2:13


I pray each day that what I am doing is pleasing to Him.  Maybe this is a sign that it does.  :)


Now, I have a quick project that I made up last night for a special little friend of mine who is celebrating her birthday today.  Her eyes lit up this morning when I pinned it on her, so I was smiling all over again.  ;)

A couple of other Damask Divas have made these recently, and I could not resist the urge to as well.  I used one of the rosettes, a doily, and the "Birthday Girl" sentiment from the Artiste Cartridge.  Next, I just added some bling and used my trusty Liquid Glass to attach it to the button pin.  Happy, happy birthday D!!!

You can see the other birthday badges here:

My Passion for Scrapbooking

Diana's Free Moments 

Thank you, as always, for stopping in!

 
 

And the Winner IS...

ALRIGHTY, then!  It has been a super-dee-duper busy day, which is why I didn't say what time I would post the winner of my blog, lol.  But my Card Workshop is over, and I have placed all the entries into my little tub.

AND


THE


WINNER


IS........



Larmabee!!!!!  Please contact me so that I can get your mailing information, because you have a brand new August Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart coming to you!

Congratulations, Larmabee!  Thanks ever so much for coming over to visit my blog!  Thank you to everyone who played along--I appreciate each and every one of you who stops in for a read now and again. 

I mentioned my card workshop at the beginning of this post.  We made some beautiful thank you cards that I designed from the Avonlea Card Workshop on the Go from Close to My Heart.  THEN I had all the girls design their OWN card with the supplies!  Look how they turned out!!!  (There were six, but one person sneaked out early, lol!)  Absolutely a wonderful group of women that I am honored to have over at my home each month!  Thank you ladies!  :)

(I know it goes over to the right, but I HAD to show it big enough since these are so spectacular!!!)

100 Followers Giveaway!!!

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you!!!  That didn't take long, lol!!!  Since I am up to 100 followers on both my Facebook Page and my Blog, I am giving away my first blog candy EVER!!!  I have one quick card to share with you, and then I will share details for my GIVEAWAY!!!  Woo hoooooo!

This is the card for the Peachy Keen Challenge this week.  I designed this card using my awesome Everyday Character Face Parts (PK-493) to stamp the adorable face.  I LOVE candy corn, and I personally think this is tooooo adorable, so I will probably make many of these!  I also used the following Close to My Heart products:

Art Philosophy Cartridge
Kraft, Colonial White and Autumn Terracotta Cardstock
Moonlight Paper Pack
Archival Black Ink Pad
Autumn Terracotta and Creme Brulee (dark) Alcohol Markers
Casual Expressions My Acrylix Stamp Set
Licorice Assortment Opaques


****GIVEAWAY DETAILS****

Who's ready for me to give away my first blog candy???  Mimi is!!!  In celebration of my 100th follower (thank you, Lalia),  I am giving away the August Stamp of the Month, Baroque Boarders! 

You can't order it any more, but you can win it here!  All you have to do to enter is 1.  leave a comment here on this post telling me what your favorite Halloween candy is, and 2.  become or remain my follower, lol, that sounds hilarious!  You can get another entry by liking my FB page here!  I will be putting everyone's name(s) in a container to draw one winner on Friday, so be sure to leave your comment by 12 noon Central time on Friday the 7th!  I can't wait!!!

Mojo Monday 257

Hi everyone!  Hope you had a most excellent day of rest yesterday.  Me, not so much, but that happens when you have kids, lol.  Especially when you have kids that want to go to the mall.  To hunt for a homecoming dress.  And you try on hundreds and still come home empty handed.  After three hours of torture.  Are you feeling me yet???  On a high note, I did figure out how to use my smart phone to pull up store coupons during all my waiting time, lol!  Yay, me!  ;)

 AND now back to my Mojo. Mojo 257 to be exact.

Well, I was not quite sure where to go with this gorgeous sketch from Mojo Monday, so I decided on a theme first.  Halloween.  Yep--my most feared and dreaded "holiday" of the year.  I am a cutsie decor kind of gal, and being frightened is not something I torture myself with intentionally (unlike dress shopping, HA!)  SO Halloween is kind of hard for me to wrap my creative juices around.  I did manage to snag one cute set of our Close to My Heart Stamps for Halloween because I wanted to TRY to make something for the occasion.  This My Acrylix set from the Spellbound Cricut Workshop on the Go.  Since this is a Mojo entry, I also allowed myself to use my retired Hooligans papers and went to work.  I really did surprise myself with this mix of this year's and last year's Halloween products...and made a fantastic card for my nieces.

Oh yes, would you believe I even used spiders?!  I can handle them a lot better than monsters any day.  These are even kind of cute.  I stamped them and cut them out with my handy dandy, precision point scissors.  (Okay, so who thought I was going to say, "notebook?"  Blues Clues really was a classic!)  

This spider web is stamped in White Daisy on Black Cardstock and then heat embossed with the clear embossing powder.  Do you see the Glitter Glitz dew drops on the green web?   How adorable is the notebook paper cut from the Artiste Cartridge???  Oh, yes, it is on there along with both of the web shapes!  You honestly cannot believe all the cuts you have at your fingertips on it!

Some of you might need to sit down for this next little reveal.  The sentiment, "Happy Halloween," and the web that I stamped on the white strip were both from the same acrylic stamp--I cut it apart to use them separately!  Are you cringing?  Sorry, I knew that this is how I wanted to keep them though, and a really didn't want to mask it all off, so I went ahead and clipped!  ;)  Here is a link to the set on my website:  Spellbound

Current CTMH products that I used:

Spellbound Workshop on the Go My Acrylix
Glitter Glitz
Black Ink Pad
White Daisy and Black Cardstock
Artiste Cartridge

NOW, you might want to jump up and down to cheer for this announcement.  I am ONE FOLLOWER away from my 100th follower here on my blog!!!  I am already over 100 on my FB page, so when this one hits the big one, oh, oh, get ready for a giveaway!!!!  So exciting!!!!  Send your crafty friends on over to play!  :)

It's Your Day CTMH Consultant Blog Hop!

Good morning and welcome to our National Stamping Month Blog Hop!  This is my SECOND blog hop this weekend!  It was an accidental double sign-up, but I did not want to pass up the chance to take part in this one, so I decided to go ahead with both of them.  If you are looking for the Damask Divas Blog Hop, then click HERE!

This hop is for the awesome new Close to My Heart stamp set for National Stamping Month called "It's Your Day."  If you came here from   Lori B's Blog, then you are in the right place!  If not, you can start at the beginning of the hop HERE at Lucy's blog or continue on from here until you make the loop!  :)

We also are happy to announce that one of our consultants, Maria Woodworth, of Maria's Paper Craft Place is offering blog candy. To be eligible to win, please be sure to leave a comment on each blog post and become a follower of her blog. Thanks so much Maria!

At Close to My Heart, we want to celebrate the everyday moments in our lives.  Close to My Heart is doing that by offering an amazing exclusive double-stamp set called “It’s Your Day”.  This is two D-size stamp sets in one!!  This amazing set has nearly 50 images designed to inspire you to capture your life one day at a time.   There are trendy chevron backgrounds, classic images, as well as versatile phrases.  You can get your own stamp set for only $5 with a qualifying order of $35.  This stamp set has a value of $35.90!

We're so excited to be doing this hop, and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects, so enjoy!

I really wanted to do something different with my set this time, so that meant no cards or layouts.  I also wanted to use a project from the Artiste Cricut Collection that I had not tried yet, so this is what I created!  Don't you think it would make a perfect centerpiece for a baby shower or even a bouquet to welcome a new little baby girl?  I could not find any candies in this color scheme, so used the tootsie rolls to fill the base that I already had on hand.

I used the <Accent 1> cut on page 55 of the Artiste Handbook to make the flowers.  They are cut at 6, 5, or 4 inches each.  The base is a little flower pot type container that is featured in the <3D Object> on page 54.  This is cut at 2.5 inches. 

This Hello Life stamp is one of my faves in the set.  I stamped the petals with the chevron border stamp and the dots stamp to create some interest.  They were so much fun to decorate! A good dollop of Liquid Glass secured them to the sucker sticks.

 This chevron butterfly is going to be used quite a bit, I have a feeling!

I did use a couple of brads and the Baby Pink Cardstock that are no longer available because they were just perfect for the variety I needed in this project.  It always feels good to dig in your stash and find just the thing you need!  :)  I absolutely love the little heart shaped "leaf" on the stem below. 

A little shimmer trim and a bling button to girlie up the base.

Here is a complete list of current Close to My Heart Supplies that I used:

Cricut Artiste Collection
Blush, Hollyhock, and White Daisy Cardstock
Blush and Hollyhock Exclusive Ink Pads
Shimmer Trim!
Glitz Stardust Glitter Gel
Baker's Twine Neutral Assortment
Sparkles Red, Pink, and Purple Assortment
Bling Button

Now you are hopping over to see Deanne's amazing creation!  Happy hoppin'!

Here is a list of the talented Close to My Heart Consultants in our hop!  Thank you, Lucy, for putting it all together!  :)

1.  Lucy ~ http://www.love2createitall.com/
2.  Darla ~ http://www.stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.com/
3.  Lori B. ~ http://savingmine.blogspot.com/
4.  Amie ~ you are here!
5.  Deanne J. ~ http://deannestamps.blogspot.com/
6.  Jennifer Kramer ~ http://4heartsscrapbooking.blogspot.com/
7.  Carolyn ~ http://www.nuts4scrappin.blogspot.com/
8.  Bethany ~ http://stampingathome.blogspot.com/
9.  Eva Friesen ~ http://loveofcreating.blogspot.com/
10.  Maria Woodworth ~ http://mariawoodworth.blogspot.com/
11.  Julia Hammond ~ http://youcancreatectmh.blogspot.com/