The simple things

Here is a quick card thank you card. I find that you can just never have to many of these. I try to have them on hand along with birthday cards.

This year one of my goals was to send out more cards and I did. I wish I would have sent more but I am a work in progress right?

Sometimes when I make cards I like to do lots of layers, lots of fancy cuts and lots of embellishments and sometimes I do simple.

Simple works -

Simple can be good

To quote on of my favorite songs by Jim Brickman with a great message:

The sun, the moon, the stars, the beating of two hearts
How I love the simple things, the simple things just are

I hope you enjoy the simple things in life and have a very Happy Week with your friends and family!

Supplies*:

Cardstock - Autumn Terracotta (1270), Chocolate (X5643), Colonial White (1388)
Ink - Olive (Z2137), Chocolate (Z2111)Stamp Sets - Thanksgiving Wreath (B1454)
Pattern Paper - Pathfinding (X7186B)
Embellishments - Sparkles Brown & Tan Assortment (Z1753)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Who's the boss?

Not me...that is why I made a card for my for my super awesome boss. I definitely hit the jackpot there. I have had a few not so great ones but most of the time I have been lucky and have had good ones. I am going to go out on a limb and say it is because I am a super duper employee.

Anyway I am the boss of my craft which means I do what I want when I am paper crafting. I can color outside the line and break the "rules" if I want to.

Can you spot what I did on this card?

If you noticed that my boarder stamp is the same wreath I have been using then yes you guess it! I cut my stamp up. Say what?

I was very careful and trimmed between the image and then I made it a boarder.

I will admit I was a little nervous in all my many stamping years I have never cut a stamp before but I really wanted to use this as a boarder so I just did it.

Love it.

I also did something else a little different on this card. I had an emergency with my olive cardstock as in I ran out! Wha wha what? How could this be it is one of my favorite colors anyway and what with it being fall and all...what is a girl to do?

Make my own

 

 

I think it turned out pretty good. I also like to do this if I just need a little big of color or a brushed look.

Supplies*:

Cardstock - Champaign (x5931), Barn Red (X56372), Colonial White (1388)
Ink - Black (Z2105) Olive (Z2137)Stamp Sets - Thanksgiving Wreath (B1454), Pennant Alphabet (E1018) retired
Pattern Paper - Pathfinding (X7186B)
Embellishments - Opaques Mocha (Z1333) *All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

 

Back to my roots

So earlier this month it was World Cardmaking Day. Did you make any cards? I did! I made a few cards and a Christmas present. I am not quite ready to share that yet but I will share the cards. Once I was done I realized I did not use any pattern paper...what? I guess I just went back to my roots for the day. Once upon a time I was a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, that seems like a million years ago. Anyway when I was with them I never ever used pattern paper it almost seemed like I was cheating on the rubber. Haha, now these days you see Stampin' Up! Demos using pattern paper in their designs but that just shows you how the crafting world has changed.

Anyway the cards...

As I was playing with the marvelous hostess only stamp set Thanksgiving Wreath I was just itching to do some random stamping and create my own back ground...so I did.

Oooooohhhhh....ahhhhh random stamping super fun!

The secret to random stamping - stamp in triangles and turn the image a 1/4" every time. I learned that from my friend Patti (Stamping Yoda) who used to be my SU Demo. We are still great friends 10 years later...just another reason I LOVE papercrafting.

 

What do you think? I also did a nifty little paper sanding trick since our paper is white core. I scored those lines at a 1/2" and then sanded over them. Perdy!

Ok now onto card #2 I just really love this tree in Artbooking and so I made several and then I had a lot of tree's and a lot of leaves. (gift hint: I used a bunch there too) Anyway I wanted to try the tree without the outline and here is what I came up with.

I actually glued those into each spot using the outline of the tree and then I just removed it. I pieced the background together first, the grass, sky, and clouds.

Finally I added this little thanks I think it looks a little like it is hanging on the tree, if it were a little bigger it might look like it was carved on there.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane and if you stamped on World Cardmaking Day I would love to see what you came up with.

Supplies*:

Cardstock - Campaign (X5931), Cocoa (X5642), White Daisy (1385), Olive (1245), Autumn Terracotta (1270) Barn Red (X5637), Lagoon (X5762), Goldrush (1243)
Ink - Olive (Z2137), Barn Red (Z2104), Autumn Terracotta (Z2101), Goldrush (Z2123)Stamp Sets - Thanksgiving Wreath (B1454)Embellishments - Sparkles Brown & Tan Assortment (Z1753), Olive BradOther - Artiste (Z1790), Artbooking (Z1906)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Thanks

You can never have to many thank you cards can you? Life has been throwing me a ton of curve balls lately and so I have had to rely on others and will have continue to do so for the near future so I will be sending out some of these babies.

Anyway let's find our way back to the right path...haha did you see what I did there? Find our path...pathfinding lol. 

I got this gorgeous Pathfinding paper a few days ago and have been trying to decide what to do with it. I just love the colors: Champagne, Chocolate, Autumn Terracotta, Olive, Goldrush, Lagoon...and the beautiful new Glacier!

Last night I came u with this card. What do you think?

Isn't is adorbs? I had a ton of fun coloring the leaves. I used a little barn red and then the autumn terracotta and then olive to topped them off with some liquid glass. I decided to mount the wreath onto a rosette. I have always loved these but hated how they always popped up after a while but then I saw this tip somewhere: put a dab of hot glue on a circle and stick the rosette down into that. You do need to cover up the middle so you can't see the glue and I usually do that with a button or something. In fact I did try to add a button here but I just couldn't get it to look right so I did the little banner instead.

Isn't this stamp set so pretty? It is called Thanksgiving Wreath it is a special hostess set. The only way to get one is to host a party and be a hostess with the mostess. Did you know you can even host a long distance party if you are not close to Jessica? You can!!! Reach out to Jessica here to set up your own online gathering.

Supplies*:

Cardstock - Campaign (x5931), Cocoa (X5642), Colonial White (1388)
Ink - Cocoa (Z2144), Olive (Z2137), Barn Red (Z2104), Autumn Terracotta  (Z2101)
Stamp Sets - Thanksgiving Wreath (B1454)
Pattern Paper - Pathfinding (X7186B)
Embellishments - Sparkles Brown & Tan Assortment (Z1753)
Other - Liquid Glass (Z679), Artiste (z1790)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Non Halloween Trio with Halloween Paper

I thought I would show you that you don't always have to use your CTMH kits the way that they were untended. For example Scaredy Cat is Halloween paper. I have been making some really fun cards with it but not everyone celebrates Halloween or maybe you just are not really into Halloween. So what can you do? How can you use this adorable paper anyway? Well our paper is double sided so you can use this adorable paper in all sorts of other projects. Here are a few that I came up with.

My little trio - I plan on using them for gift bags.

A baby card: I random stamped the little flower. I also stamped the little baby stamp 3 times once in black and twice in pear. Then I layered it. I also used the Zip Strip for my pattern paper on this card. I love the way it turned out.

A birthday card: I took our ruler and used the top of it to make a little stitch pattern then connected the dots. Looks like I drug out the sewing machine but nope just a black marker.

A just because card: I stamped that cute little camera 3 times and cut out the base and the lens. Then I colored in the Gold Gem to make it orange. I used my Copics but you can use your ShinHan Twin Touch marker for a better match to the CTMH cardstock.

I love little 3 x 3 cards they are quick and they are so fun to make. I hope you enjoyed this little set and came up with some ideas on different ways to use your paper.

Supplies*:

Cardstock - Colonial White (1388), Sunset (X5758), Black (1386), Slate (X5930), Pear (X5764)

Ink - Black (Z2105), Pear (Z2197), Cotton Candy (Z2193), Lagoon (Z2195), Sunset (Z2191)

Stamp Sets - Artiste Birthday (D1529), Sightseer (C1534), New Arrival (C1501), and retired set Bowl of Cherries
Pattern Paper - Scaredy Cat (X7185B)

Embellishments - Gold Bling Gems (Z2023), Grey Epoxy Bubbles (Z1935)  How to book - Originals Card Confidence Program (9042) Bandwidth , Short Accent , Fun Flap

Other - Ruler (Z1471)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Trick or Treat

Smell my feet...give me something good to eat...

Kids they are really just there for the candy and so this card says...

I have been eyeballing this shape on the Art Philosophy cartridge and when I saw this moon with the bats I started tossing around some ideas in my head.

 

I love the way it turned out. Just a fun playful card with a surprise inside!

What do you think? A little scene on the inside and the message goes on the left hand side instead of the right.

Something fun, something different, something new. Enjoy...and if you go trick or treating with the young ones enjoy their candy too!

Supplies*:
Cardstock - Colonial White (1388), Slate (X5930), Sunset (X5758)
Pattern Paper - Scaredy Cat (X7185B)
Complements - Scaredy Cat (X7185C)
Cricut Cartridge - Art Philosophy (Z1686)
Embellishments - Black Brads
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Spoooooooooky

Are you scared? Don't be it is a cute kind of Spooky!

I have been wanting to try a tone on tone card for a while now. I always see people do it and then either forget about it or don't think I can pull it off.  Now that I pulled it together and tried it I know I will be trying it again! I really like how it came out.

I took an overlay from the Artbooking cartridge and cut it down to fit on my 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" standard card base. I cut it at 5 3/4" originally I was thinking I might do a sqare card but decided against it. I made spooky 7 1/2" because at 5 3/4" it was a little smaller than I wanted it. Don't forget on the Artbooking cartridge everything is meant to go together that is why it is set so large. I could have also set the real dial size to 1 1/2".  Then I added the little tag flag in the corner and fancy...and boy do I mean fancy cut the spider out. Wala...this card came together in a snap.

Here is the inside.

I will leave you with a little closer up view of the front of the card. I hope you have a great day! Get out there and make some spooky cards of your own!

Supplies*:Cardstock - White Daisy (1385)
Pattern Paper - Scaredy Cat (X7185B)
Complements - Scaredy Cat (X7185C)Cricut Cartridge - Artbooking (Z1686)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Limited Supplies - Halloween

You know one of my favorite things about Close to my Heart is how everything coordinates together! This makes my life simpler when I am trying to create a quick card however it can also make your life simpler if you are just getting started and have limited supplies. The card below have very little stamping and I only used Black Ink on that little Happy stamp.

Now I love a card that has a quilted pattern I have been doing cards like this forever and it is a great way to use up your scraps! Well I thought it would be super fun to use the word Halloween from the Complements.

The inspiration from the card came from Pattern 21 of Make it from the Heart but if you look at that pattern you can see that I changed it up. They had 12 little squares and I only have 9. Don't be afraid to just use the pattern for a starting point, make it your own. I do the same thing when I get card ideas from the Annual Inspirations book. You might also notice that I changed some of the letters around from the complements. Since Halloween has two L's and two E's I changed it up so that I would have the orange on each line, I feel like that is more pleasing to the eye.

I always like to finish out my cards by bringing in some of the same elements from the front of the card, here I brought in that same background paper and added that spider web. The spider web can be found on page 76 of the Artiste cartridge.

Supplies*:
Cardstock - Black (1386), Cashmere (X5932)
Pattern Paper - Scaredy Cat (X7185B)
Complements - Scaredy Cat (X7185C)
Ink - Black (Z2105)
Cricut Cartridge - Artiste (Z1790)
Inspiration - Make it from your Heart Vol 2 - pattern 21 (9042)
Embellishments - Black Waxy Flax (retired), Sparkles Assortment brown & tan (Z1753) 
Other -  Tag (I have a cut basket when I use my cricut I toss what I don't use in there)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Boo...

Summer is almost over! I still can't believe it. I hope everyone had a great time. We had a mild summer in these parts. I am thinking it is going to be a cold winter...again. I am just hoping it doesn't snow on Halloween. It has happened here and there several times in the Midwest. Speaking of Halloween, I have a little card share for you.

I don't know why but I always love to make Halloween cards. Now if I can just remember to MAIL them out!

I popped up these bats.

Here is the inside...I love to coordinate. A long time ago someone asked me why I do this as it wasted paper but I never thought it wasted paper I always thought it completed the card and tied it all together.

Here is another angle. Did you notice this ribbon?


TIP: It was actually a white stripe but I took the new markers and colored it in to match. You can also color gems and other embellishments and make them match what you are working on. You might have to layer colors to get a good match.

Supplies*:
Cardstock - Black (1386), Sunset (X5758), White Daisy (1385)
Pattern Paper - Scaredy Cat  (X7185B)
Complements - Scaredy Cat (X7185C)
Stamp Set - Tag the Occasion (B1362) - retired 
ShinHan Touch Twin Markers - Light Orange (Z2455),
 Extras - Tag (I have a cut basket when I use my cricut I toss what I don't use in there), Black/White striped ribbon from a retired black mini medley kit.
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find these Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Back to School

We went back to school this week. I thought I would make this cute card for my little one to celebrate. She is still young enough where back to school is still super duper!

As I was trying to get some inspiration for this card I was flipping though old idea books and came across one from the Autumn/Winter 2013/2014 Idea Book on page 104. Even though I am thinking about back to school and it is a wood grain I liked it. I started thinking and playing around with ideas and here is what I came up with.

I really liked the idea of an overlay and I was originally going to stick with the wood-grain since pencils and desks are wood and apples grow on trees...anyway I decided the alpha was more school like so I went with that. Glad I did cause it is perfect for what I was going for!

The overlay, the apple, the folder and all the text came from the CTMH Artbooking cartridge. See it isn't just for scrapbook pages.

This card actually has no stamping on it. It is rare that I make cards like that but I enjoy doing something a little different now and then.

I actually cut the apple out twice once in Pear (ha) and once in Ruby. I cut off the leaf and colored the stem with some colored pencils. I layered the apple and popped it up.

Here you can see the close of up the little file folder. I originally planned to put something inside but I really couldn't come up with any ideas so I sealed it shut...besides it says right there that it is Top Secret!

You have a better view of the apple here. Oh yes I also added some highlights to it as well.
















I almost always finish up the insides of my cards. This time I added a second little apple and cut out the words First day.

I did the same thing to this apple and tucked it under the words. I also trimmed this arrow so that it functioned as a paperclip. Never be afraid to change up the images or cut them apart.


















Enjoy

Supplies*:Cardstock - Champagne (X5931), Black (1386), Lagoon (X5762), Ruby (X5927), Pear (X5764)
Pattern Paper - Chalk It Up (X7184B)
Cricut Cartridges - Artbooking (Z1906)
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.
You can find all of these awesome Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Super Awesome card share

Today I have another card share for you using Chalk It Up, I really love this paper pack is is super super cute!!! I used a basic pattern from Make it From the Heart Vol. II and this card came together super fast.

Tip: CTMH has a 1/2" strip of paper, I call them zip strips, at the top of each B&T Duos (Background and Texture Paper) sheet these are perfect for adding a little something extra to your card. I used it twice on this card first as a little divider between the B&T and the Sorbet Cardstock. I also used it again as my sentiment.

I also added a pop dot to the black tag and only put adhesive at the top of the Lagoon tags that way I can roll them up a little with my finger giving them a little added dimension.

Here is another view so you can check out these adorable little Chalk It Up Assortments

Supplies*:
Cardstock - White Daisy (1385), Black (1386), Sorbet (X5751), Lagoon (X5762)
Pattern Paper - Chalk It Up (X7184B)
Inks - Black (Z2105)
Stamps - Art Philosophy
Cricut Cartridges - Art Philosophy (Z1686)
Embellishments - Chalk It Up Assortment (Z3009), Black Bakers Twine
Other - Make it From the Heart Vol. II (9042) - pattern 23
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find all of these awesome Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

For your SuperStar Teacher!

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great day. Today is a great day for me...it is the day I share my first project for the Craftin' and Stampin' Design Team. Whoo hooo...fun fun fun. 

I have a fun little card that is perfect back to school teacher card.  I made this fun little card using the new Chalk It Up paper. Now this can be a thank you now starting off the year or you can hold it back for Teacher Appreciation week, the end of the year...or use it if you your sweet little child has done something super naughty and you need to butter him/her (the teacher) up. {wink}{wink} Just kidding on that last one.
























Isn't this paper just sooooo cute? I love it and it is super versatile. Wait until you see the rest of my projects I have in store for you later this month.

Here is a close up of the details of the card. I actually cut the square image twice and stamped one in Lagoon and one in Black. Then I cut the black on out and put it on top of the lagoon. I also cut that overlay in the middle down to size.
























Tip: Did you know that you can get 3 cards out of a 12" x 12" sheet of paper if you fold down from the top and make your cards 5 1/2" x 4" and no one ever notices that your card is a 1/4" smaller OR you can do what I did and add a little fun boarder along the side to make it the standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card. This also comes in handy if you want to hang a banner  or another shape over the side of your card and still fit into the envelope.


















Have you seen the gorgeous new Close to my Heart Annual Inspirations Catalog yet? Click here and go take a look!!

Supplies*:
Cardstock - White Daisy (1385), Black (1386), Slate (X5930), Lagoon (X5762)
Pattern Paper - Chalk It Up (X7184B)
Inks - Black (Z2105), Slate (Z2173), Lagoon (Z2195)
Stamps - Art Philosophy, Oodles of Doodles (B1449)
Cricut Cartridges - Art Philosophy (Z1686), Artiste (Z1790)
Embellishments - Chalk It Up Assortment (Z3009)
Other - Make it From the Heart Vol. II (9042) - pattern 26
*All supplies are from Close to my Heart unless otherwise noted.

You can find all of these awesome Close to my Heart products at Jessica's CTMH store. Don't forget to check out the rest of the design teams blogs throughout the week. You can find a link in the sidebar.

Sneak Peek and a Party

Hello everyone - guess what today is? It is the first day that you can see the new CTMH Annual Inspirations on line....wow! I just finished looking and am really looking forward to going to Jessica's live U-Stream Open House tonight at 7pm EST. You can go too... right here I am sure it will be a great time. If you ever watch her You Tube channel you know she is just giddy for CTMH and her excitement is contagious.

In a few short days you will see my very first project for the design team but here is a sneak peek for you.