On the Mend at Lawnscaping Challenges

Hi everyone!

There are SO many great crafty bloggers out there that I love to follow when I have the chance.  Many of them are design team members for some fabulous paper crafting products.  Over at the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog they want us to use a DT member as inspiration for our project, so I just HAD to play along!

My inspiration piece comes from Elise C. at Whimsipost.  HERE is a link to her creation..

I love the use of pattern paper in stamping, but hardly use the technique.  It was time to remedy that!  I used my Lawn Fawn On the Mend stamp set to make this card for my Aunt who was facing a mastectomy.

I used my Close to My Heart Chantilly Paper for the green turtle and a retired Flirty pattern for the ice pack.  I just stamped them in black on those papers and trimmed them out.  Then I stamped him on the white card base and put him together like a puzzle!  :)  The cute frame around this fella is from MCT.  I like playing with the white on white look lately.

Elise used one of my favorite embellishments on her card--sequins!  Guess I just HAD to add some as well, hee, hee.  Not sure what brand these are anymore, but I love the colors.  

 Such a cute little sentiment to lift somebody's spirits!

Thank you, Elise for all the CAS inspiration on your awesome blog!  Can't wait to see more!   :)

Don't forget about the two amazing specials going on with Close to My Heart this month!  Time is running out! 

See the Stamp of the Month for just $5 with a $50 purchase HERE.

Or the Cloud Nine Cardmaking kit with THREE full size NEW products for just $15 with a $35 purchase HERE!

Throwback Thursday: Meet Me in St. Louie

I am absolutely stunned that it has been almost a year since I traveled to St. Louis for the Close to My Heart Regional Celebration.  The memories are still so fresh, and it really hammered home how amazing it is to represent this fantastic company.  Maybe it is because of all the fabulous new friendships I made during the trip?  :)  What better way to celebrate, than to finally finish one of the projects we got to take part in?  Sure wish I had planned it that way!  ;)

Remember that I promised to show you some cards that mix and match patterns from different paper packets?  Cards 2 and 4 below do just that!  Here are the four cards that feature the retired Close to My Heart papers from Avonlea, Flirty, Dakota, and Scholastic.  They all use images from the Casual Expressions My Acylix and the wonderful Burlap Ribbon.

Clementine Paper Packet

Scholastic and Dakota Paper Packets

Flirty Paper Packet

Avonlea and Dakota Paper Packet

So, tell me, do YOU like to stay current with all the new products and ideas from Close to My Heart?  Do you like to be the first to get your hands on newly released items, like our amazing Cricut cartridges?  Would YOU like to travel to a Regional Celebration or even CONVENTION in Disneyland next summer?

Guess what I am doing today?  As a consultant, I am pre-ordering the FABULOUS new products in our soon to be released Holiday Gift Guide!!!!  Guess what else?  I am getting them at a discount!!!  You can do the same thing when you join my team!  Do you need to rediscover YOUR creative side?  That is just what happened to me when I signed up to be a hobbyist a year and a half ago!  Little did I know how my business would grow in the months to come!  ;)  Click HERE to find out more about joining Team Been There, Blinged That, and invest in YOURSELF. 

A Little Family Project

Hello, Blogosphere!  Today I wanted to share a little SECRET project that I am working on.  My hubby's Grandmother will be the big 9-0 this summer and we are planning a big shindig!  I wanted to come up with a little something to give her for this milestone birthday.  I decided to make her a book about the family using the Close to My Heart My Creations Bookmark Album.  Don't worry, I don't think she reads my blog, lol!

I recently completed the cover and would love to share it with you.  Here it is...

What do you think?  I thought that the Avonlea paper was the perfect look I wanted for a classic family heritage feel.  What better representation of family than the timeless tree symbol.  I hand cut this one and pieced it carefully to the front.  The trunk is formed with one of the B&T Duos in the Dakota Paper Packet.  The greenery of the tree is made with B&T Duos from both the retiring Flirty Paper Packet and the Pear and Partridge Paper Packet.

This flap is held shut with a magnetic closure.  When you open it up, this is what it looks like underneath.

Why yes, those ARE Jamberry nail sheilds!  ;)  I have been trying them out lately.  I added a strip of Shimmer Trim here because it really needed some sparkle at this point.  

How cute is this little guy?  He is stamped from the Whooo's Your Valentine Kit My Acrylics stamp set.  You can only get this kit while it lasts!  The deal ends when supplies run out or on January 31st whichever comes first!  My sources tell me there is only 15% left!  Let me know ASAP if you want to get this fantastic kit for only $10!!!  Details HERE!

I am super-excited about this process and will definitely be sharing more of this project as it progresses, so stay tuned!  Now go leave some glitter in your path!  :)

Damask Divas November Blog Hop -- Flirty

Hello!  The first of the month means one thing around these parts--the Damask Divas Blog Hop!  This month, we are featuring the Flirty Paper Packet.  This gorgeous combination of raspberry, orange, gold, and green is wonderful for scrapbook pages from spring flowers to fall leaves.  It also proved to be perfect for home decor projects.

If you came from Stephanie's blog, then you are in the right place!  If not, you can start at the beginning at the Damask Divas Blog.

It is such a relief to finally post my project.  I have been waiting patiently because I had it finished WAYYYY ahead of time.  I could just not keep my hands off this gorgeous Bracket Frame--so I didn't!  Here it is, FINALLY!

When I first saw the colors in the Flirty Paper Packet, my mind conjured up images of the 70's.  I was just a kid back then, but I can distinctly remember avocado colored appliances and tupperware, orange shag carpet, and Mustard colored tweed chairs.  Tell me it was just a bad dream!  HA!  It really happened, and so the perfect picture for me to decorate this frame for was one from that decade.  This pic is of my dear sis and I making faces in my Grandma's Texas backyard.   That's right, ya'll--I am part Native Texan!  ;)

Back to the present! Let's start at the top.  I used Close to My Heart's Rhinestone Sparkle Brads to anchor each side of this "sisters" banner at the corner of my frame.  The banner comprises several different products.  The very Autumnal Orange Flirty B&T Paper backs the triangles of Burlap Ribbon.  I attached them all to a strand of embroidery floss with liquid glass.  Then I pulled out my new Pixie Glitter Alphabet stickers for the first time.  Sigh.  This is a first cousin to my FAVORITE product--Shimmer Trim!  I outlined the letters with a black sharpie to make them pop from the light background. 

This bottom corner is decked out in Fabulous Flirtyness.  I cut out a couple of beautiful flowers from one of the papers and added some layers with foam tape.  These are backed by strategically trimmed Sparkles Flourishes.   One of the flowers is embellished with a large sparkle from the Sparkles Brown and Tan Assortment.  Then I inserted two pins from the Autumn Lane Assortment into the foam that backs the flowers.  Perfect!  This organdy ribbon is an older product that I was able to get my mitts on for this project.  I really try not to use retired product for my hop projects, but just look at it!  Sorry!

You can see the different textures I have going on in this pic.  I used my paper distresser and foam tape to add visual interest and dimension.  The Flirty Raspberry paper is matting the photo.  I used the large rose stamp in the Love Blooms My Acrylix Stamp Set to random stamp the pattern in New England Ivy.

This frame came together so well with our coordinating products.  That is one of my favorite things about our papers and inks--they are all coordinated!  It is such a joy to grab a B&T paper packet knowing that everything I need to create a paper project is right inside!  Instead of spending my time searching for papers that work well together, I got to concentrate on the creation of my fabulous frame!  LOVE it!

Well, you made it to the end of this month's hop.  We hope you had as much fun browsing our creations as we had making them!  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 blog candy from our very own Diva, Gloria Shirr!  Thanks so much for hopping with us--now go get your crafty on!