Duck, Duck, Georgie!

Oh my word, I LOVE making up blog post titles!!!  ;)

OK, so this layout is perfect to share as we prep for Easter.  My kiddo's college has pet dorms, can you even imagine?   Well, this little fellow is such a cutie pie!  I used my Close to My Heart Georgie Paper Packet along with the Whisper color Paper Fundamentals pattern to create this layout...

I added some bling with the Silver Shimmer Trim and Silver Foil Tape running alongside the Zip Strip from the top of one of the Georgie papers...

Don't the white photo mats make the pics POP against the background?

WAIT A MINUTE!!!  You MUST go over to my FB page or Instagram RIGHT NOW to see some sneak peeks of what's coming soooooooon to a Seasonal Expressions 2 Catalog near YOU!!!

Don't forget that March Madness means Buy 2 get 1 FREE stamps over on my website!!!

CTMH Perpetual Calendar: December

Happy Friday!!!

Today is just a half day at school, and it sure is a good thing because the kiddos are bouncing off the walls!!!  It is also crunch day for me and the fam as we get ready for our own Christmas celebrations!

I showed you the Perpetual calendar I was making for my sis last month HERE, so let's move on to the next month, December....

It sure is amazing what a little heat embossing can do!

I used several Close to My Heart products for this one, so here is a complete list:

White Pines Paper Packet
Peacock and White Daisy CS
Cricut Artistry Collection
Holly Jolly Christmas My Acrylix Stamp Set
Juniper Exclusive Ink (Dye)
Red Sparkle Gems
Silver Sequins
Silver Shimmer Trim
Ranger Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder 

Non-CTMH:
MCT Snowflake Die

Thanks for stopping in today, and come back again soon!  :)

December Stamp of the Month--THIS month ONLY!

Get the Planner Bundle on sale HERE!

Everything Christmas Gift Card Holder

Ready for the great news???  I have finally scheduled my Everything Christmas Workshop!  Come to my craft cave in less than two weeks on Saturday, November 14th at 6:00pm (eat a bit of dinner first!)  For just $15 we will make four cards and a set of gift tags. 

I will also have a very special cash and carry Base and Bling Buffet set up for you to create the perfect jewels to give as a gift!

So are you ready to see what we will make?  Here we go! 

Card number one for my Everything Christmas Workshop is a versatile gift card holder featuring the La Vie En Rose Paper Packet!

This is one of my favorite cuts on the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  I use it quite a bit--and even at a workshop or two!  :)  The stamped image can be found on the new seasonal Holly Jolly Christmas My Acrylix set.  I used a few of my favorite blingy products: Silver Embossing Powder, Bitty Sparkles, and Silver Shimmer Trim!  :)

Thanks for popping in today!  Please RSVP for my workshop by FRIDAY!!!  Yep, I said Friday--the 6th...this week!  ;)

November brings a NEW exclusive stamp set!

Guest Designer for Atlantic Hearts!

Hi everyone!  I am so excited to be the guest designer at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge today!  :)

I LOVE following some of my amazing Close to My Heart consultant friends to see what they are up to with both new and old products.  It is a GREAT way to get inspired.  (It is also a crazy way to find out you and your friends have the SAME creative ideas sometimes, which you will notice if you played along last week!)

Here is this week's sketch to play along with...

Now, here is my sweet creation with the current Stamp of the Month, Home for the Holidays!

I am ALWAYS ready to warm up my new Cricut Explore, and this stamp set coordinates with the Art Philosophy Collection!  I cut the postage stamp and frame both at the size listed on the carrier sheet that comes with our My Acrylix stamps.  :)

This sugar bear is full of the spirit of the season.  I used a sentiment from the Hostess ONLY Rewards Set called Sweet As Sugar...

I think this makes such a great addition to the candies in the Stamp of the Month!  It is truly a must-have!

This year, I am enjoying the cool color combo from the Snowhaven Paper Packet for winter creations.  I am also STILL loving the sparkle in the Close to My Heart Glitter Paper and Shimmer Trim that I used to add little accents...

I added a little interest to the inside of the card with a simple image from the front...

Guess what!?  I found another sentiment on YET ANOTHER fantastic Hostess ONLY Rewards Stamp for this one!

It is called Happy Hexagons, and you can ONLY get one by hosting an in-home or online gathering, by placing your order of $150 or more with me, OR by joining my Rewards Club!  Contact me today so you can get your hands on these fantastic products and join in on all the fun over at Atlantic Hearts!  :)

BIG thanks to Michelle for asking me to join them this week!  :)

Don't wait to get your own Stamp of the Month for October...you only have three more days!  ;)

Home for the Holidays

Makeover Monday!

Hi everyone!  I have a super-quick Makeover Monday for you today.

I had a craft Bazaar over the weekend, and wanted to show you the winter themed post-it-note holder I made.  I used some retired Wonderland (swoon) paper and the Make It Merry (on Monday!) My Acrylix stamp set.

These are really easy to make, I tell you!  A MUST try!  HERE is my original post with the direction.

Have a fantastic week, my friends!  :)  Go get your sparkle on!

Home for the Holidays is only here in October!

Always Wear Your Invisible Crown

Alright, how many of you have bought a stamp set or an entire kit just for ONE thing or just ONE stamp?  COME on, admit it!!!

I know I have, and I am FINALLY getting around to using it, lol!  The Lollydoodle Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking Kit is AWESOME!  I initially fell in love with it for ONE reason--the sentiment I used for this card!

Now, I planned on using this for scrapbook pages FOR SURE since I have two princesses and PLENTY of pics to scrap.  BUT I thought it would make a great little encouraging card as well!  :)  I stamped it in Whisper Exclusive Ink.

I had tons of little paper scraps lying around on my table from soooooo many projects that I had yet to clean up.  As I finally tackled the mess, I realized these just needed a tiny trim to fit together in a cute little cluster!  They are scraps from three retiring patterned papers from Close to My Heart including Skylark, Lollydoodle, and Balloon Ride.  These are going fast so grab them quickly if you are waiting to get them! I am going to tell you that if you like making cards with flowers on them, you MIGHT want to have some Skylark lying around to use with one of the new products coming in the Annual Inspirations Idea Book.  ;)

OK, so I knew I wanted to put this crown on my card.  Inside?  Outside?  And then it hit me!   BOTH!

I used Versamark Ink to stamp the image and then sprinkled it with clear embossing powder.  See how the crown fits just inside the little window?  I actually was able to bend in the sides of the crown to make it fit before I stamped it since the acrylic stamps are so easily manipulated.  A little heat with my heating tool makes it almost invisible except for the shine!  Starting in August, Close to My Heart will have embossing powders BACK in our Annual Inspirations Idea Book!  :)

A strip of Silver Shimmer Trim, a few sequins from the Lollydoodle Cardmaking Kit, and Black and Grey Sparkles completed my theme.  Here is another look at the entire card with the crown not in the shadows...

I am so glad you popped in today!  Have a fantastic weekend!  :)

Counting Down to Graduation with Ariana and Artbooking

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating a special mother in your life.  Time to turn things over to celebrating a fabulous daughter in my life this week!  My oldest is graduating, and it totally sneaked up on me...

Reminiscing is something that I can easily do with this sweet mini-album I made with my Cricut Artbooking Cartridge on my Expression Machine.  Here are a few more looks inside!

I don't think the Polaroid trend will ever leave my pages...I just love the look!  This particular cut is a great way to use the Close to My Heart Glitter Paper.  Again, one of my go-to products, I just love how these Marquee White Enamel Shapes POP off the Outdoor Denim CS.

I completely adore this combination of stripes and floral in the Ariana Paper Packet!

The beautiful patterns and blooms are wonderful to use in conjunction with vellum and sparkles to make it even more feminine.  I added these Bitty Sparkles to the chipboard flower from the Ariana Complements--see what a difference just a little bit of embellishment can make?  The tiny little bows in the Ariana Assortment are also perfect!

Simple pages in mini-albums are a quick way to add photos without taking a big chunk of time out of your scrapping.  I used just a bit of Silver Shimmer Trim and an Artbooking cut to dress this one up.

I just love this trio from Junior High! 

I made more simple embellishments using patterned papers, Enamel Shapes, and Shimmer Trim.  :) 

Why does it seem like time is flying JUST as fast as the pages in this album are turning?  I will show you more later this week!  :)

Damask Divas Balloon Ride Blog Hop!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to the Damask Divas Blog Hop!  This month, we are showing you projects we created using the Balloon Ride Paper Packer from Close to My Heart.  The hop officially starts on May 1st, so bear with us until our links are all ready to go--thanks so much!

If you came from Melissa's Blog, then you are on the right path!  If not, you can start from the beginning at Mandy's Blog right HERE, and see a complete list of all the Divas hopping over at the Damask Divas Blog!  :)

For the hop today, I made a set of cards using Balloon Ride and the beautiful Polka-Dot Vellum from the NEW Free to Be Me Paper Packet available only in May for National Scrapbooking Month!

The soft, muted colors in Balloon Ride are lovely for a set of cards!  When I saw the sentiments on the NEW May Stamp of the Month, You've Got A Friend, I just knew they would go together like peaches and cream!  ;)  Here is a look at the entire Stamp set...

The paper that features the hot air balloons really coordinated perfectly with this sentiment below...

Check this out...the gold polka-dots on the vellum are SILVER on the reverse side!!!  (Thank you, Stephanie, for enlightening me!)  BOTH the metallic hues go well with the colors in this particular paper, so I used them both.

The little flag embellishments I added to each sentiment box are made from Silver or Bronze Shimmer Trim and the Zip Strips from Balloon Ride.  What are those, you ask?  Well, Close to My Heart has a unique half inch strip attached to the side of their 12 x 12 patterned papers called a Zip Strip.  They coordinate with all the papers and are a fantastic bonus embellishment!  Just use your paper trimmer to easily cut it off to use--there are no annoying perforations to deal with at all.  :)

Please tell me that the sentiment below makes you sing the song from Toy Story too...because I just cannot stop!

Now, this next sentiment shows the OTHER reason these two products worked so well together--the french theme of this blue patterned paper!  See the Eiffel Tower peeking out?

There you go!  I just love how Close to My Heart makes so many coordinating products like these--they really think of EVERYTHING!  If you are in a rush to get on through the blog hop, then your next stop is Jamie's Blog!  I bet you can't wait to see what this Diva cooked up!  :)

SOOOO, if you are still with me here...you might be wondering about the REST of that Free to Be Me Paper Packet?  Oui?  Take a look!

This last pic shows the two vellum prints with the reverse side of the gold! 

There they are!  The 12 x 12 papers include six double-sided patterned papers, six double-sided solid cardstock with an embossed resist pattern on one side, AND two gorgeous sheets of vellum!  It will only be available for the month of May for our National Scrapbooking Month celebration, so don't wait!  You get all of the paper and cardstock (an $11.95 value) for just $5 with a $50 purchase!  Visit my online store HERE to shop for it now!  I will be showing you more great projects with these colorful papers this month, so tune in again soon!  :)

Unicorn Dreams Add Sparkle to Your Day!

Hello!  This post is super late because I have a workshop this evening that I was prepping for last night--and then got inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches!  I put everything else on hold, and found my sparkle back in my craft cave.  :)

I always loved unicorns as a child...and their magic seems to reappear easily!

This was exactly what I needed today!  This stamp set I used is a Hostess EXCLUSIVE.  You can only get this one by hosting a gathering of your own OR joining my Rewards Club!   The sentiments are so FUN on this set!  Contact me if you would like to add this one to your stash, and I will help you earn it along with other awesome products.  :)

 I had great success using a rainbow of colors with this star studded stamp.  I curved it on my acrylic block to form the spray of stars--easy to do with the Close to My Heart My Acrylix stamps!  I inked it by carefully adding the colors from lightest to darkest in Blush, Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Crystal Blue, and Gypsy.  The unicorn is stamped in Whisper and has a strip of shimmer trim that I carefully placed over his horn.

I added some anonymous sequins from my stash as well as a few from Lawn Fawn and Studio Calico.

I am not only pleased with how this turned out, but also extremely glad to have found some sparkle again...I will be spreading some today!  Thanks so much for taking the time to stop in! I am off to finish prepping for tonight, lol!  ;)