Hopping with Gratitude and Sangria

Welcome to the very first blog hop from the Blog Hops with Heart Team!  Today we wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving doing whatever you do with the ones you love.

I am so thankful to be hopping today with these FABULOUS ladies!  You are all in for quite a treat, so follow the links from one blog to the next (it runs in a circle, so it doesn't matter where you jumped in to join us.)   ENJOY!

My creation is a little peek at a bigger project that I have been working on for a few months.  I am personalizing a retired perpetual calendar that Close to My Heart used to carry.  The gift was "due" to the birthday girl in July...but thank goodness the recipient knows me VERY well and is willing to overlook the slight delay!  (Thanks, sis!)  ;)

This calendar is something that I wish we carried in our catalog ALL the time!  I think it makes a wonderful gift.

The Sangria Collection from Close to My Heart was the perfect choice to brighten the month of November.  Every one of the papers I used is included in the Paper Packet, including that bottom strip that is actually a Zip strip on the papers.  The autumn hues worked so well with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves dies!  I have linked up with the In with the Old Challenge over at Lawnscaping Challenges since I had to dust those babies off to use them!

In order to add a bit of shine to the month, I also used a strip of Gold Glitter Paper and one of the clear overlays in the Picture My Life Gold and Silver Kit.

The beautiful script sentiment is stamped in Cocoa Ink and found on the Always Grateful My Acrylix.

Finally, I added a few embellies from the Sangria Assortment and Gold Bling Gems.

I hope I was able to help show off these gorgeous hues!  Thanks so much for hopping in today.  You are now off to our next blogger, Kelly, at Papercrafting with Kelly Janes!

Here is the complete blog hop line-up in case you get lost along the way:

Amie (that's ME!)

Kelly

Becca

Shelly

Stephanie

Amy

Babycakes and Mojo Monday Get Together for Thanksgiving

Hi everyone!  We have a super new challenge for you at Color My Heart this week!

Grab your Sunset and Buttercup Close to My Heart colors (or similar if you don't have them) and get creating with the Autumn hues of Babycakes!   The neutrals in this great paper packet are Chocolate, Slate, and Colonial White, so I went with those as well.

This color combo was particularly difficult for me at first, because I have been in Christmas creativity mode since Halloween!  I used a tried and true method of getting inspired by looking for a sketch...and chose this week's Mojo Monday 318.

I have wanted an excuse to use this gorgeous reindeer image from the Close to My Heart Artbooking Collection on a creation, and the time was NOW!  That not only helped me keep my Christmas connection, but also became a great way to highlight one of my favorite new products--the wood grain washi tape included in the Party Washi Tape 3-pack featured in our new Holidays from the Heart Brochure!  :)

I simply placed strip after strip of the washi over a piece of Colonial White CS and folded the ends over.  I then adhered it to my cardbase with my foam tape.  I now had the perfect foundation.

I pulled out a retired stamp set, Autumn Splendor, to make two leaves using Buttercup, Sunset, and Chocolate Inks.  That hauntingly barren tree in the background is a second generation Slate ink image from the Always Grateful My Acrylix.

Again, for a hint of Christmas coming, I added a silver jingle bell to the Verve Ribbon at the top of the tag feature.  I simply could not resist adding a sparkle star from the Sparkle Holiday Shapes.  These are a limited time item, so grab them soon if you want some!  My apologies in advance if I take them ALL!  ;)

Finally, I needed a sentiment.  The font from the Perfect Fit Thanksgiving My Acrylix is stunning to say the very least.  I thought it would be perfect to tie the Autumn/Winter themes together.  Thanksgiving has always meant Fall's last hurrah around here, ushering in the Winter holidays.

I am really pleased that I didn't freeze up when I was not sure which direction to go with this particular challenge.  Do you ever use sketches to get your creative juices flowing?  If not, give it a try!   It can take you from "huh?" to "YES!" in no time at all!  :)

Come and play along with us this week and link up with the Color My Heart Color Dare...you could win a badge to proudly display on your blog!  You can't win if you don't play!  ;)

You can read the rules HERE if you need a refresher.   :)

Want to earn FREE Close to My Heart products like these?  Join my Rewards Club today and get a chance to win your choice of our three Cricut Collections!  Click HERE for details!

Going Au Naturale at Heart 2 Heart with the Close to My Heart Kraft Container

Hi everyone!  I probably say this a lot, but isn't the time just FLYING by?  It is already Team Sunset's turn to wow you with our projects and get your creative juices flowing for the first Heart 2 Heart Challenge for the month of October!!!

After a good, hearty giggle among the DT members, the "Au Naturale" theme for this month took my mind to mother nature and all things Kraft.  Very soon I was raking my way down the leafy path of creating something for Thanksgiving with the My Creations Kraft Container.  I would like to share with you my Blessings Bank.

I used the Close to My Heart Always Grateful My Acrylix Stamp Set to make the tree shape and the "always grateful" bands along the top and bottom of the container.  I stamped the leaves in first and second generation Goldrush, Autumn Terracotta, and Ruby Inks with the "leaves" stamp from the Cityscape My Acrylix.

Both the shape that the tree is stamped on and the background woodgrain shape are cut from the Cricut Artiste Cartridge exclusively from Close to My Heart.  The gorgeous little woodgrain is a  pattern in the Universal Backgrounds My Acrylix set.  I simply stamped it in Chocolate Ink on Chocolate CS.

The Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain ribbon encircles the container behind the focal shapes.  Mocha Opaques stud the wood and trim pieces.

I wanted the lid to be very basic with minimal decoration to get in the way of opening and closing the Bank.  Each day in November, I want my family to write one blessing on a leaf I cut with the Artiste Cartridge and "deposit" it inside.  In the future, when we might not be feeling very blessed, we can "make a withdrawal" and read them to remind ourselves how many things we have to thank God for each day that we tend to take for granted.  :)

I thought this sentiment from the Always Grateful stamps was JUST the perfect one for the lid...

Gratitude...may you always know your blessings!

We would feel SO blessed if you would make up your own project for our theme, Au Naturale, and link up with us over at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog!  You have the entire month of October to play along.  God bless YOU until we meet back here again!  :)

Since today is the last day of September and National Stamping Month, don't forget to order the September Stamp of the Month:

and the Triple Stamp Set, You Are My Happy!

TODAY is the LAST day to get them!!!

Masking Meets Mojo 301

Hi everyone!  I have been playing with some new CTMH supplies this week and giving a few sneak peeks at the Autum/Winter products from Close to My Heart.  Are you ready to see some more?  Super!  :)

Today I am linking up to the Masking July Challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges and the Mojo Monday 301 sketch.  I used the brand spanking new C1559 Always Grateful My Acrylix set that will be available starting August 1st on my website! 

Here is the Mojo sketch (which I turned on it's side.)

I usually follow a sketch pretty much to the "T."  I must have been in an ornery mood yesterday though, because I translated the two parallel rectangles in a bit of a different layout because, quite frankly,  I just didn't want them staggered. That is the beauty of a sketch, though, and Mojo Monday always has fantastic sketches!  :)

I used the Love Doily My Acrylix for the beautiful Ruby colored rounded shape.  See that button bling?  It is from the soon to be released Rosewood Mini-Medley Accents from CTMH.  I adore the hint of rose in the metals and bling in this set!  

This sentiment box that I matted with our super-sparkly Black Glitter Paper is where my masking technique comes into play.  The words "always thankful" don't look like this without a bit of manipulating.  Let me show you how I did it.  

First, I stamped this image from the Buzz and Bumble Scrapbook WOTG (retired) onto White Daisy CS.

Next, I carefully cut out the "YOU are my HAPPY" sentiment.

I placed that cut-out sentiment on the CS I want to use for my card, lined up the words from the image, and stamped it right on top.  You can only do this with clear acrylic stamps and that is one reason why I LOVE Close to My Heart's!

It didn't come out totally clean since the words were so close to the skinny lines, so I decided to try it a second way.

For this second masking technique, I placed the paper ONTO the stamp itself before inking.

Then I inked it all up carefully, removed the CS mask, and stamped again.  This time it was a clearer image, and I had just a tiny dot of black to fill in.  :)

Finally, I used the "always grateful" sentiment to go in the middle of that image.  Here it is on the carrier sheet. 

You can see it is all in one line on the actual stamp.  I wanted it to fill the space on the image I had already stamped, so I used another masking technique.  This one is super easy.  I simply inked up one word at a time to stamp.  You must be careful to remove all the ink from the stamp in between for this method.  ;)

Sometimes, you can even accidentally try masking like I did with this foam square backing!  LOL!!!  This happens to me all the time when I don't clean up in between projects! 

Have you ever tried masking?  Why not give it a shot?  There are a lot of examples of great masking techniques over at H2H right now, so have a look and give it a try!  You have all month to link your project up with us over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges.  You could win Top Chick for participating!  :)