A Special Little Thank You

I had my first Close to My Heart Gathering in a looooong time on Saturday, and oh my goodness, was it a wake up!  I forgot how easy it was to go on and on and on and on and on...(I think you get it) about the fantastic quality of the products I use and sell.  Thanks so much for opening your home, and Facebook page, Heather!

We made a cute little thank you card with one of the Hostess Rewards Stamp sets to kick things off...

We used the Confetti Wishes Paper Packet along with the Cuddly Salutations My Acrylix.  The sentiment is stamped on a simple shape from the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection and a couple little Purple Glitter Gems (retiring next month, gasp) finish it off nicely indeed.  It always makes me smile when my customers and guests like my designs, and this one was a hit!  :)

Don't forget!  You don't have to be a hostess to earn the Hostess Rewards Stamps this month!  Just purchase $25 in My Acrylix stamps in July and you can choose ANY of them for just $5 more!!!

Card Workshop Wrap-Up on Wednesday!

Whew!  I wanted to give you guys a quick peek at what the lovely ladies at my private card workshop this past week cooked up.  I knew that most of them were beginner stampers, so I wanted to keep things pretty straightforward.  Here is one of the simple cards I taught them to make...

This card has simple stamping and very easy step by step directions to follow, nothing complicated. It features the fun Confetti Wishes Paper Packet and the Happy Everything My Acrylix Stamp set, both from Close to My Heart.  I also added some fun white enamel stars.

Well, would you believe those "beginners" came up with THESE???

Aren't they fantastic!?  It was certainly a pleasure to have them over to my Craft Cave to play!  :)

June ONLY!

FREE stamp with purchase!

Ice Cream Dreaming on Monday!

I had a really quick idea for a card that turned out kind of not so quick, lol.

I used the sentiment in the Close to My Heart June 2015 Stamp of the Month to make this birthday card...

The Puddle Pad technique is such a fun way to add a lot of colors to your stamping.  Just drop your ink colors onto a baby wipe and let them blend together a bit.  Be sure to use dark enough colors to allow the image to be show up well enough.  I had to revise my colors after my first attempt with this one...

See how the pink ink needed to be darker?  Easy peasy to fix though, just add more ink!  :)

The "tablecloth" below my cake is from the Confetti Wishes Paper Packet.  I stamped the twisty candles from the Blossom Workshop on the Go Cardmaking Kit in different colors that I used in my Puddle Pad...Gypsy, Thistle, Pear, and Lagoon.


A little snip on the top corners with my Corner Rounder gives it a "cake" look.

The Purple Shimmer Trim makes a lovely platter, no?

Sticky Boy Framed!

So, I pulled out my March 2015 Stamp of the Month to have one more go-round before the month ended.  AM I GLAD I DID!!!

As I took a second look at the cute frame images in this set, I couldn't help but think of my Sticky Boy in a frame!  Love how it ended up when I popped it up on the thin foam tape...

LOVE the look of the soon to be released Extra Thick Twine in Thistle at the top.

His round balloon looked GREAT in the different patterns of the Confetti Wishes Paper Packet...and again I used the twirly strings from the SOTM on them...

The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Joyful Birthday My Acrylix.

Be sure to pick up your Stamp of the Month before March is over...because just like the name implies, once the month disappears, so does the stamp!  :)

You could even win the March Madness Mystery Hostess giveaway I am having RIGHT NOW!!!
Read all about it here!

Sticky Boy and the CTMH March Stamp of the Month Choose Happy

March is here, but where, OH, where is spring?  Here in the Midwest, well, actually, pretty much all over the USA, winter has a tight grip on us.  Thankfully, that hasn't stopped our fantastic Stamp of the Month program at Close to My Heart!  :)

I recently received a fantastic gift from my upline, Mandy--a limited edition Sticky Boy stamp!  She received them as a sales incentive promotion, and was excited to pass the duplicate Sticky Boys along to us.  The wonderful ladies on the Damask Divas Team nominated several teammates to receive him, and I was one!  I was so excited when he arrived!  Thanks, you guys!

I inked him up along with the new Choose Happy Stamp of the Month and made a special kind of shaker card...

There is a window in the card front that lets the sentiment inside the card show through!  This was very easy, so if you can get through this picture-heavy post, you will be all set to try one yourself!

First, I used my stitched circle dies from MCT to create all the circle cuts.  If you are using a pattern paper on the front of the card, attach it before you cut the circle.  Also, cut the circle in the CS that will cover the inside of your card to hide the acetate (but don't attach this one yet.)  Attach a rectangle of acetate packaging (mine is from cricut cartridges, lol) over the circle on the card front AFTER you stamp your sentiment through it for placement. I used my ATG to attach all my acetate and it worked perfectly.

You will need a ring of CS cut with the INNER circle the same diameter as the one on the card.  The acetate circle will be the same size as the larger circle of the ring in diameter.

Attach the acetate circle to the ring.  Then back the acetate side with foam tape to give your sequins space to move around.

My sequins from a Lawn Fawn package matched the colors for my card perfectly!  I lay them on the front of my card on the acetate circle and covered them with this circle... 

Finally, cover the inside of your card front with the CS to hide the acetate...I used Crystal Blue to match the ring of CS on the front.

Now you can finish decorating the front of your card!  :) 

Fussy cutting Sticky Boy...did you know he has his own FB Page?

Up in the top corner I stamped and cut out two balloons.  Then I used a swirly stamp from Choose Happy to make the balloon string.  I drew the second one in to match the swirly style...

I HAD to use the Purple Glitter Paper to make one of the balloons--I just stamped the BACK side of the paper.

I stamped Sticky Boy on the back-side of the Confetti Wishes pattern to give him a striped balloon.  Then I stamped him again on Crystal Blue SC to add that adorbs party hat.  Then I colored in the dots with the Marine Blue ShinHan Touch Twin Marker.  A little bit of bling from the Purple Glitter Gems finished it off nicely.

Finally, a strip of Silver Shimmer Trim and a few rows of the scallopy edge stamp from Choose Happy in Thistle, Crystal Blue, and Pacifica, and it was finished!  :)

Remember, the Stamp of the Month I used here is only around for ONE month to order, so don't wait for the snow to disappear, lol!  :)

Get the March Stamp of the Month for just $5!

Make A Wish!

I am toasting the final minutes of having only one teenager in the house as I type this post...oh my word, how did that happen?

My fashionista birthday girl wants a room make-over for her birthday ( I guess rainbows and unicorns are SO 12-years-old), so with this in mind I used the perfect little My Acrylix stamp duo for the sentiment on her card, Wish and Doodled Designs...

I seriously threw this card together in under 20 minutes...a record for me indeed.  I actually had some of the products out already from another creation I have to show you tomorrow.  I used the Confetti Wishes Paper Packet, Thistle, Pixie, and Black Exclusive Inks, NEW White Shimmer Trim (I just heard someone faint...I know how you feel!), Sparkles, and the fantastic NEW Junebug Puffies.

Guess what!  If you ordered each of the products I used to make this card, you would not only be able to get a SWEET deal on the Stamp of the Month for just $5...BUT you would also qualify to purchase size C and D stamps for just $10 each!  That is a $12.95 savings on the SOTM, and another $3.95-$7.95 savings on EACH other My Acrylix you decide to get...as many as you like!  Check it out soon because the Deal of the Decade will be gone with 2014!  You might want to scroll down to see what ELSE you get as well!  ;)

Makeover Monday is Wonderful Again!

Alright, it has been a little while, but remember this little 3x3 card?

Scaredy Cat

I used the Scaredy Cat Paper Packet, Gold Shimmer Trim, Timely Tidings My Acrylix, and Your Own Kind of Wonderful My Acrylix stamp set from Close to My Heart. I also used my ShinHan Alcohol Markers to color in the white embossed butterfly.

Well, I made this pretty little butterfly over with THREE more paper packets and lots of shimmer trim colors to make a nifty little set!  Take a look!  :)

Brushed Paper Packet in pink

Confetti Wishes

Chalk It Up

I was in such a creative flurry that I kind of changed up the design a bit, but that is nothing new, believe me!  I think I like them both, anyway!  :)

See it HERE on my website!

Get your FREE stamp here with purchase!

Mojo Monday Makes Me Happy!

I literally have just 20 minutes to write this post before the linky closes for Mojo Monday 361, so lets get this show on the road!  Here is the sketch for this week...

I used Close to My Heart's Confetti Wishes Paper Packet so I could join in with my friends at Color My Heart this week too! 

For some reason, this idea just popped right into my head when I saw the circle in the sketch...

The "yum" and the flame are both little stamps found on the special #30yearsofhappy My Acrylix that is FREE this month from Close to My Heart!

I used Thistle Exclusive Ink for the yummy cherry...and surrounded it with the same color Purple Glitter Paper! 

I also used some silver embossing powder to make the "foil" wrapper for my cupcake!  :)

I used one of my scraps for the inside...

Whew!  I think we made it!  See you soon!  Stop over at Simon Says Stamp for their Stamptember challenges!

Get the limited edition Stamp of the Month HERE!

National Stamping Month #30yearsofhappy Blog Hop!

Welcome to our hop!

If you arrived from Haley's Blog, then you are on the right path!  This hop is a big circle, so keep on going!  You can find the entire line-up of talented Close to My Heart Consultants on Melinda's Blog.

September is National Stamping month!  We are celebrating over at Close to My Heart with a very special new My Acrylix set that you can't buy...but you CAN get it for FREE!  Take a peek at what I did with #30yearsofhappy...

I combined the HAPPY papers of Confetti Wishes with my very own pattern paper made with one of the little stamps!  I made sure to stamp the pattern on an area bigger than I needed so that I could trim out the piece of CS just how I liked it...

It was really easy to trim out the Happy Birthday sentiment from the pattern paper.  Then I placed it upside down on the backside of the teal glitter paper to draw an outline to fit as a mat...

Popped it up with foam tape for some great dimension...

And I even trimmed out some other images from the paper to decorate the inside!  :)

 Now you are off to Priscilla's Blog for quite a treat!  Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Remember, you can't buy this special My Acrylix set...you can only get it for FREE in September.  Just purchase $30 dollars worth of CTMH stamps on my website, and #30yearsofhappy (a $13.95 value) is all yours!

Get it Free HERE!!!