Retiring My Acrylix Stamps from Close to My Heart

Going, going, GONE!  Here is a little look at some of my favorite My Acrylix stamps that will no longer be available from Close to My Heart after July 31st.  If any of these are on your wish list, you will want to pick them up before the month is over!

Remarkable Wreath

Cityscape

The Laughing Lola Papers and Embellishments shown here are retiring too!

Words of Comfort

Glory to God

Merry and Bright

Click on any of the stamps set names under the pictures to take you to my website.  :)

Damask Divas Ivy Lane Blog Hop!

 Hello, my crafty peeps!  Welcome back for another edition of the Damask Divas Blog Hop!  This time, we are debuting the BRAND NEW Ivy Lane Paper Packet! Our entire hop goes live on February 1st, so all of the links will be working by then--please bear with us as we get the kinks out and help our newest Divas get the hang of this thing!  :)

If you came from Jessica's blog, then you are on the right path!  If not, feel free to start at the beginning over at the Damask Divas Blog where you can see the entire line-up of Divas participating!  :)

Since February is a month of love at our home for a variety of reasons (V-day and two anniversaries!), I wanted to focus on that for my theme.  I had never made the mailbox from the Close to My Heart Cricut Artiste Collection, so I figured it was about time!

This amazing paper project is found on page 51 of the Artiste handbook.  I LOVE how they color coordinated the parts in the pictures so you know just what you are cutting with each step.  It really makes choosing your papers a breeze!  Then, it even shows you how to put it together in the Assembly Guide.  Thank goodness, because I did NOT do it the right way at first!  ;)

I used Cocoa CS that is included in the Ivy Lane Workshop on the Go Cardmaking Kit for the main body of my mailbox.  The trim was cut on Kraft CS.

These gorgeous 3D flowers were JUST the thing to decorate my mailbox.  I used Kraft CS, Hollyhock CS from the Cardmaking Kit, and the double sided pattern paper included as well--one side for the leaves and the other for the flowers.  :)  These beautiful cuts are also found on Artiste...the leaf is right underneath the flower.

I attached a great little love banner that is found on the Remarkable Wreath My Acrylix.  This has long been one of my favorite stamp sets from CTMH, and I even bought it BEFORE I became an independent consultant.  I stamped it in Cocoa Ink and blinged the ends of the banner up a bit with a couple of the smallest gems in the Sparkles Brown and Tan Assortment.

Back to those flowers for a moment...I inked the edges with my Sweet Leaf Exclusive Ink Pad and dauber.  Then I folded them along a faux vein to give them some depth.

See the bit of glimmer on those inked edges?  I used my Wink of Stella glitter pen to easily add the pretty sparkle.  Super-easy and quick, PLUS I love the effect on the flowers!   I attached them to the mailbox with Liquid Glass--THE BEST go-to adhesive for bulky embellishments! 

Here is one product you won't find anywhere else in the NEW Spring and Summer Idea Book--GOLD Shimmer Trim!!!  It is exclusively available in the Ivy Lane Workshop on the Go Cardmaking Kit!  Let's just say it was on my FIRST order!  ;)  It matched really well with these Rolos candies that I decorated with a simple 3/4 inch scallop punch.  These were PERFECT to fill my mailbox!  I used the Almond Hershey Kisses that are wrapped in gold for another version of this box (and my friend adored it, BTW!)

I hope you found some mojo to take with you from my blog today! 

Your next stop is Brenda's blog!  Have a great time browsing all the fabulous creations on the rest of the hop, and never let ANYONE steal your sparkle!  :)

February Stamp of the Month!

Embossing is BOSS!!

Roomies in St. Louie

OK, still LOTS more to share about my weekend with Close to My Heart in St. Louis, so here we go!  I heard it was a tradition to make gifts for your roommate(s) at these events, so I wanted to make something super-special for my first time.  Here is what I came up with:

I made a cover for a small notebook to use for writing down all the great tidbits of info we would learn during our sessions.  It was a process to figure out exactly what it would look like, but I KNEW that I would be using the stamp of the US map from the Adventure USA My Acrylix set!  So fun!!!  I also found out that I pretty much stink at stamping letters in a straight line, lol!!!   I made one set for each of my roommates with each girl's first initial on it along with the gift box to hold a matching pen and emery board/paper distresser.  :)

Now, MY roomie, Dana, made this ultra-fantabulous burlap flower for me!  It came in a sweet little treat box.  I popped it on my tool tote so I would have it with me everywhere!  Isn't it fabulous?  I hope she hurries along with that tutorial she said she might make on how to do it!  *wink, wink, Dana!*

 

THEN, she even had the cutest little pen and notebook set for me!  She had received one from our upline, Mandy Leahy, at Convention and had made one for me off the pattern!  I was super-happy to have one in beautiful Pemberley paper. 

Finally, Shelly was such a sweetheart to give me this wonderful set of cards she had made for a long ago blog post.  I had really admired them at the time--and she brought them for me!!!  I was so excited!  She really made some creative use of the Remarkable Wreath My Acrylix set with a variety of different paper packs.  Love.  Them.  You can see her post HERE.

Tune in tomorrow for Day One of the Regional and MONICA!  :)  (cliffhanger, I know!)