Oooooooh My October and A Halloween BFF Layout

Oh. My. October.

Cubs. Baseball. NLDS. WINNING! More Cubs. NLCS. There's always LAST year! Frozen shoulder. Physical Therapy. At home PT. Crafty Souls All Day Craft-A-Thon! Rain, rain, rain. Water. In my craft cave. Cry, cry, cry. HELP!!!

Sooooo, yeah.  I've been a bit MIA from my blogging lately again.  While I am totally okie dokie with that fact, I DO want to be sharing (and actually CRAFTING with my toys!)  I actually have a few projects to share that I made before the madness began, thank goodness. You may have seen some sneaky peeks of this one over on my Instagram account.

I created this layout directly from the Holiday Expressions Idea book, page 18.  I adored it when I first laid eyes on it, and decided to give my hostess club members a treat with their Bats and Cats Workshop Your Way!

The Best Friends Forever My Acrylix stamp set was used to create the random (or not so random) stamped paper strip on the right of the layout.  I stamped two full sheets to use on our layouts!  SO worth the effort!

Have you ever re-created a layout from the Close to My Heart Idea Books?  :)

Just a few more days to grab this one!  :)

Sorry for the lack of links today--my Close to My Heart website is down for maintenance!  I'll get them up ASAP...which means after Parent Teacher Conferences tonight, lol!  ;)

Happy Bearthday with Punny Pals!

Today my baby is 14.  Ok, I said it out loud.  Or typed it, rather.  I guess now I have to ACCEPT it, lol.  I used the Jennifer's Hand Alphabet and Punny Pals My Acrylics Stamp to create a card to match her current interest--pandas!

You can get the Thin Cuts to match the Punny Pals this month only as part of the Share A Smile  fundraiser for Operation Smile! Round up your October order to donate even more, and you could win a NEW stamp set as a preview from the NEXT Idea Book!!!

I used a few other CTMH products for this card, and a GREAT Lawn Fawn grassy hill die and Polka dot paper.   

Can you see his little beady eyes made out of Black Dots?

I created the stalks of bamboo using Toffee CS (a mix of both the regular shade and the reverse side that is a tad lighter), my Mahogany ShinHan marker, and the super-cute Thin Cuts--Ribbon Border die.

Hope my Cubbies can pull off the win today to top off her birthday!  :)

Card Kit

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

It's that time of year again!  Every time World Cardmaking Day rolls around, I like to think that I will drop everything and make cards all day, but alas, we need clean clothes and groceries again, lol.  I'm sure I will get something made even if it's during the Cubs game tonight...ok, so maybe tomorrow!  ;)

I made this beautiful card using the same easy easel card as the turkey Thanksgiving place cards I shared on an earlier post.  I just adore this easy design!

I used the Basic Fundamentals, Espresso and Heather CS and inks, and Falling for You Paper Suite along with a retired gold foil dot paper, Gold Foil Paper, the Thin Cuts Leaf, and the Falling for You Cardmaking stamp and die set from Close to My Heart.

Love those Gold Gems!

 Here is the card when unfolded...

Finally, here are the super easy directions to create this card using a standard size A2 or 5.5 x 4.25 card base!

Share a Smile with Close to My Heart and Operation Smile!

Have you heard about Operation Smile?

Close to My Heart has partnered with Operation Smile over the years to provide free, life-changing operations to children around the globe.  Each year, they have offered several special products for consultants and customers to purchase and raise funds for this amazing organization from special stamp sets to T-shirts.

I am excited to share with you that in October, Close to My Heart has added a special Share a Smile Card Kit with exclusive Thin Cuts to match the current Operation Smile Stamp set, Punny Pals!

The kit is an unbelievable savings! It is just $39.95 (with a retail value of $48.69!)

Share A Smile Card Kit (stamp sold separately)

The stamp set is still available separately...

 As well as the thin cuts...

 And extra card bases and envelopes!

You can purchase the kit, or individual pieces all month to support Operation Smile while supplies last!

But that's not all!  Every time you place an order, you can round your order up to the nearest dollar, giving the extra as a donation to Operation Smile™. During October, your round-up donation will go even further, because Close To My Heart will be matching all round-up donations, up to $10,000 USD!

Guess what???  There's MORE!!!  When you participate in our Share a Smile promotion by purchasing any of these special items or rounding up your order in support of Operation Smile™ you will automatically qualify for a chance to win a not-yet-released stamp set from our upcoming 2018 Seasonal Expressions 1 idea book! We’ll be choosing winners throughout the month of October, so any time you place an order, you can be a winner!

I am so excited to get mine and post some projects for you to see, so come on back later this month!