Halloween Inspiration!

Tomorrow is Halloween! It's my favorite holiday! Therefore, I thought for my blog post this week that I would post Halloween cards and projects I have done in the past few years. All of this artwork was done for my annual Open Houses, so you may have seen them before (I always post the artwork after the Open House). However, I thought it was worth a second look! (Note: Because some of this artwork is a few years old, the supplies used to complete them may not presently be available.) Let's get inspired!

From Open House 2010:

From Open House 2011:

From Open House 2012:

(The above projects were created using the Cricut "Artiste" cartridge - still available!!)

Oh, I just LOVE Halloween! I've got to get on some cool NEW projects to show you! Trick or Treat!

Up, Up, and Away!

I received my Close To My Heart order the other day, which included products from the new “Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide”. My “star” item (the item that I got for FREE with a $100 order) was a stamp set called “Lifting Spirits”:

I love the stamps, but off the top of my head, I couldn’t think of what to do with them. So I asked my 9-year-old daughter if she could sketch me a card that uses the images in the set. This is what she came up with:

Now that you’ve seen the inspiration behind the card, let’s see how I went about creating it. What I’d like to show you with this card is the technique of masking. This stamp set has some really cute cloud images in it, which I wanted to make sure I used. But rather than space them out on the front of my card, I wanted to create a layered effect, where one or more clouds appeared to be in front of or behind others. You can do this by masking.

Here’s how: Start by stamping the clouds you want to be IN FRONT. Stamp that image again on a thin piece of scrap paper (I use Post It notes). Cut the scrap-paper image out. (Note: depending on where you are stamping your remaining clouds, you may want to cut out multiple “scrap” images, as I did below.) Put a small amount of removable adhesive onto the back of your trimmed-out image(s) and stick them directly on top of your original stamped image(s). Once you’ve done that, you can stamp the next cloud or clouds right on top of the “masked” ones:

Remove the masks, and here is what you’ll have:

I wanted to go one step further and put another cloud behind all of these, so I re-used my first two masks and created a third for the new cloud. Then I stamped again:

Here’s the final cloud cluster:

I love the dimension this technique creates! So, remember the original sketch? Here is the finished card:

I think it came out great! The color on the balloon was done by simply stamping the balloon image in black on the card, then stamping it again on two different patterned papers. Cut the pieces that you'd like from the patterned paper, and adhere to the original stamped image on the card. I used the "Chantilly" paper pack for mine. I also stamped and cut out several of the tiny cloud images and adhered them, along with the banner, with 3D foam tape. I love it. A great, big thanks to my daughter for the wonderful sketch!

If you'd like to pick up this great stamp set, or any of the fabulous NEW PRODUCTS from the "Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide", please contact me at aafaa@charter.net - or SHOP ONLINE at funforyou.ctmh.com. Let your imagination soar!

The Fun Way With One-Way!

On page 27 of the Close To My Heart Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book, there is a really cool stamp set called "One-Way Borders". I love both border and background stamps, but I knew I had to have this set when I saw the fantastic artwork pictured above it in the Idea Book. Once I received my "One-Way Borders", I got straight to work recreating those fun cards. Here are the cards as pictured in the Idea Book:

Aren't they cute & trendy? I couldn't wait to make my own! Of course, there are some cool cuts thrown in there from the Cricut "Artbooking" cartridge. Let's start with the "hello world" card. I decided that I wanted to change mine up a little bit and make it an autumn-themed card, so I went with "Give Thanks":

I used patterned paper from the "Surf's Up" paper pack, and two different colors of Baker's Twine on the side. The colors are Goldrush, Sweet Leaf, and Outdoor Denim. Size - 4.25" x 4.25"

Next is the "Text Me, OK?" card. That speech bubble is actually part of a stamp set...that I don't have. So, I found a speech bubble on the "Artbooking" cartridge to use instead. I backed in with a scrap piece of cardstock so you wouldn't be able to see through the letters. I did the same thing for the arrow cut into the frame, then I filled the space with Stickles glitter gel. Colors - Gypsy, Lagoon & Outdoor Denim. Size - 4.25" x 5.5".

Lastly, I created a "Wishing You Well" card using Outdoor Denim cardstock for the base, and patterned paper from the Chantilly Paper Pack. Size - 2.5" x 3.5". I also used some Sunset cardstock and a piece of our brand new Sparkle & Shine Washi Tape - available for a LIMITED TIME in a set of three different designs from the NEW Holiday Guide:

This was fun! I love recreating stuff that I see & love - even if I don't have the exact same materials that were used in the original. I'd love to see your recreated cards or scrapbook layouts from the new Idea Book!

What Do You Do With That?

Have you ever been browsing your favorite store, seen something that looked really cool, purchased it, then put it in a drawer or closet never to be seen again? Yeah, I've got plenty of that stuff - in my craft room. Tons of cool, fun stuff that I just had to have, but have never used. Well, today I decided that I was going to do something about that. Today I brought out something I bought years ago, and never used - a box of Melissa Frances™ Mica Flakes.

What the heck do you do with that? Well, they're shiny, so they would be a great way to add some flash & bling to a project. My first thought was of the stamp set that comes with the "Laughing Lola" Card-making Kit from Close To My Heart. I just love that starburst background stamp, and I thought it would be cool to bling-up those rays. My first step was to stamp the image. I chose to stamp in white ink on black paper (figuring that flakes would show up better on a dark color).

Next, I applied Liquid Glass to the outsides of the rays (I knew I would be covering up the middle, so I didn't bother putting anything there).

Then I sprinkled the Mica Flakes onto the glue - just like glitter. I found, however, that when I did this and shook off the excess, the mica flakes were so big that the space between the rays got covered up. Hmmmm. I guess this was not the best image to work with when using the mica flakes.

Soooo...I decided to go a different route and use the mica as some sparkly snow. I pulled out my favorite "Flakey Friends" stamp set, stamped one of the snowmen, and applied the Liquid Glass and mica to the "snow".

This worked much better! I finished the scene off by adding some Stickles™ to the snowflakes (adding several of my own).

How fun! I went back to my original stamped image from "Laughing Lola" and "weeded" through the spaces in between the rays with a paper piercer. This ended up working pretty well for clearing out the spaces (except on the sides - the spaces there were just too thin to bother), so I finished the rays and this is the final card:

Flashy, huh? So the Mica Flakes experiment was a success. Just remember that if you are using them, they are much bigger than glitter, micro beads, or most anything else you would sprinkle onto your projects...just something to keep in mind when planning how to use them.

Big Picture Classes Pajama Party Project!

You may or may not know that Big Picture Classes hosted another online "Pajama Party" on September 26th. The past two Pajama Parties have had featured projects from Close To My Heart (one of which was the "Just Because" container that I keep drawing my challenges out of), however, this month, the featured project was sponsored by Studio Calico. The project uses a kit called "Project Life", which you can STILL purchase at a SUBSTANTIAL discount HERE by using the code SeptemberPJParty at checkout (Only $10 plus shipping until October10th). I highly recommend it, though you can be the judge once you've seen the project!

I began, of course, by ordering the kit. It comes in an adorable, magnetic-closure box. Here is what is inside:

LOTS of journaling cards in 4" x 6" and 3" x 4" sizes, alphabet stickers, a small acrylic stamp set, and more. Now, here's the fun part - what we did with it! There were three pages to the online project. Here is the first page:

The project is "a look back on 2013", with an "empty" spot for a Fall 2013 pic (mine has already been filled on page 3). Two things of note: 1) The tan border around the edge is just the table I took the photo on - it is not part of the page. 2) Evidently, "Project Life" is designed to go inside special photo pocket pages, which I did not have. Therefore, I just adhered all of the pieces to a 12" x 12" piece of white cardstock. Now I can just slip the pages into my regular Memory Protectors.


The great thing about this project is that they give you a "prep" worksheet which gives you all of the writing prompts and photo suggestions that you will need to complete the project. Once those prompts were filled out and the photos printed, the project was a cinch! (I'll give the links for the worksheet and the project instructions at the end of this post.) Here's page 2:

It's funny because I didn't have a few of the photos I needed to complete the project, so I made my family take part in a few impromptu photo sessions! One of them was the "breakfast from Dunkin's" pic, and the other was the "foot" pic (middle row, far right). This was one of the suggested photos from the prep sheet, so we went out to the backyard and took it - and I LOVE it! How adorable! I recommend everyone taking this pic whether they complete this project or not! And...page 3:

This is the "winter/spring/summer/fall" layout. I added a few of my own embellishments, like some bling I had lying around waiting to be used, and a couple of alphabet stamp sets in order to stamp "Holiday 2012" on the heart card. Everything else came from the kit. It was a breeze to put together, and I just LOVE the way it came out.
As promised, here are the links for the worksheets:


Prep Worksheets: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwyFxaosgJeYbHZBa2MtUnFHdkU/edit?usp=sharing
Project Instructions: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwyFxaosgJeYNkhGT0E3d0xiT2M/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you get your "Project Life" Kit for only $10, as I did. And I hope you have as much fun putting it together!