Live Beautifully

National Scrapbooking Month is quickly coming to a close, and with it, the "Live Beautifully" Paper Pack, Stamp Set, Cut Above^® Layout Kit, and Album Bundles. The paper in the "Live Beautifully" paper pack is so rich and versatile - of course I had to use it for cards! Lucky for me, Jacquie Paech, a fellow CTMH Consultant, shared a card workshop with us that makes 10 different card designs from this paper pack! I LOVE it! So I made them all - with a few tweeks here and there, due to my not having the exact same supplies that she did. First, let me show you the Exclusive paper pack and stamp set that is only available for TWO MORE DAYS (provided it doesn't sell out)!

"Live Beautifully" Paper Packet (Item #CC1212B): 16 – 12” × 12” sheets (2 each of 6 double-sided designs and 2 each of 2 single-sided gold foil designs) - $14.95

My Acrylix® "Live Beautifully" Stamp Set (Item #CC1212C) - Eight images - $17.95

There's no qualifying purchase to make - you can simply purchase these items online right from my website! Now, here are the cards:

Beautiful, right?! A couple of the cards use the Quatrefoil Embossing Folder, and the "Happy Birthday" was cut with the Cricut "Artbooking" Cartridge. "A Heartfelt Thank You" is a sentiment from the "Happy Heart" stamp set. I also used Glacier cardstock and ink when the instructions called for Sea Glass - I found that it matched really well. Notice how some of the papers are printed in gold foil? They are so pretty!

I had a lot of fun making these cards - and I still have SO MUCH paper left! I can't wait to dive into my Cut Above Scrapbook Layout Kit with makes 5 2-page layouts that are absolutely gorgeous! I hope that you get yours before it's too late! Live beautifully!

Elegant Mini Albums

"Artbooking Made Easy" is a wonderful series from Close To My Heart, created for your viewing pleasure in order to make using our "Artbooking" Cricut cartridge, well...easy! Kristine Widtfeldt is my favorite CTMH personality (sorry Monica!), and in this video, she shows you two of the many mini albums you can create with the "Artbooking" cartridge - and a helpful hint at the end! Sit back, watch and enjoy...then imagine the possibilities.....

So Many Possibilities!

I recently took part in a Craft & Vendor Fair here in Uxbridge, and it was a lot of fun. One of the projects that I really wanted to have for the fair were completed pages to put inside of my “My Creations™ Kraft 3-Ring Album”. Lucky for me, Close To My Heart’s “Artbooking” Cricut cartridge has several 8” x 8” mini albums on it, which fit perfectly inside the Kraft Album.

I had a lot of pictures from our trip to England, back in 2000, that I never did an album for. So I knew I’d need a lot of pages. Because of this, I did not stick to just one album on the “Artbooking” cartridge – I used pages, overlays, icons, and titles from the “Travel Mini Album”, the “Snapshot Mini Album”, and the “Inspiration Mini Album” – all 8” x 8”.

Being that most of my photos had an overall grey look to them, I decided to stay very simple and neutral with my paper choices for the album pages. I used Whisper and Slate as my base colors, and Ruby for a pop of color. That’s it – all cardstock – no patterned paper. I did use CTMH’s new “Embossing Folder – Quatrefoil” on some of the pieces, though, to add subtle texture and pattern.

What I love is the variety of pages throughout the album. Some of the pages are only half-pages, some have fun borders and die-cuts, some folded up to be pocket pages – it’s so fun & interactive! So without further ado, here is the final product:

Let's start with the cover - I used the “Embossing Folder – Quatrefoil” on the Ruby strip to the left. Cool how you can do a long strip like that, right? The embossing folders have a slit in the top of them so you can move your paper through and continue to emboss longer strips of paper. A very unique feature!

First page - a cool "travel" overlay in Slate (and I saved all of the cute shapes that came out of that for future use!).

There is another Slate overlay used later on in the album - the chevron. I saved all of the strips that were cut out of that overlay and used them as accents throughout the book. Don't you just love that "speech-bubble" page?!

I just love all of the fun icons and titles there are to use...

Another half-page on the right...

Ah - there's the chevron overlay! Whew - Hugh Grant is so handsome!

The word "pocket" and the arrow are not actually part of the album - I put them in the photo so you would know that that page is a pocket page! The border I made from a strip of our chevron Washi Tape and a strip from the chevron overlay.

The reverse side of the pocket page has another pocket attached (again with the Quatrefoil embossing). Love the "Today" border!

Pages of all shapes and sizes....

Almost done...

Complete! Fun, right?! I am so glad that I was finally able to get these pictures into an album - in hardly any time at all!


Ok, now that you've seen the album and just some of what the "Artbooking" cartridge can do, would you like to know how to get your own "Artbooking" (or "Art Philosophy" or "Artiste") cartridge for FREE? If not, you can stop reading here. But if so - READ ON!

Every piece, save the mats behind the photos, was cut from the “Artbooking” Cricut cartridge. Wouldn’t it be incredible to have it for yourself?! You can have the “Artbooking” cartridge AND three D-size coordinating stamp sets AND three coordinating sheets of Dimensional Elements for the incredible low price of $99...OR, you could get it for FREE. That’s right – FREE. How? Become a CTMH Consultant in the month of April and get your choice of one of our three incredible Cricut Collections for FREE. Is this special for you? YES! Here’s why…

It’s a super sweet deal! Over $400 in fabulous CTMH products for only $99. A New Consultant Kit is $99. It comes with about $309 in new CTMH products in it. Right now you get to add a free Cricut Collection, which gives you over $400 in fabulous products!

You can get it ALL FREE! That’s right. When you have $1200 in sales in your first three months, you get the cost of your kit back. That means you end up getting the $400 in products for FREE when you get that $99 kit cost back. It’s easy to hit that $1200 goal and I’m here to help you along the way.

You get to be part of my team! I have a very supportive team that shares creative and business ideas to help each other be successful and have fun. In fact, we just completed a CTMH challenge, making us one of only 20 teams in the company to complete the goal. It’s awesome. I love being part of the Creative Hearts Team.

CTMH is amazing! CTMH has fantastic training, support materials, and remains an innovative leader in the scrapbooking and paper-crafting industries.  As a Consultant, you receive a discount on all of your personal purchases. You are also provided with a free website to use with your business and provide online shopping to your customers. CTMH is celebrating 30 years of being in business, they are completely debt free, and able to move forward as a very healthy company.

It’s FUN, FLEXIBLE, and FULL OF POSSIBILITIES! Becoming a CTMH Consultant is one of the best choices I have ever made. I have so much fun creating, learning new things, and sharing it with other people. I have the flexibility to set my own schedule around the other things that are important to me, instead of fitting family and life around my work. I have been able to travel and do so many other things thanks to all of the possibilities I have with my CTMH business.

Jump onto my website NOW to take advantage of this incredible deal – before it’s gone! I look forward to "working" with you!

I Can Do That!

I am excited because I got a bunch of new (well, new to me) "special issues" of Paper Crafts Magazine for Christmas. I LOVE looking at cards and getting new ideas. I especially love it when I come across a card, and right away think to myself, "I can do that!" It doesn't happen as often as you think! So today I am going to walk you through how I recreated a card I saw on page 103 of the Paper Crafts special issue, "Handmade Cards", designed by Heather Campbell. Here is the original card:

The chevron patterned paper that Heather used on the right-side of her card screamed "washi tape" to me. Since I just happen to have some gorgeous, 1"-wide, Juniper washi tape from Close To My Heart, I knew I had to use it to make this card. So I gathered my supplies:

I didn't have a hexagon background or the yellow "dots", so I used a background stamp from my "All The Details" stamp set and Durables Artisan Studs instead. As you can see, I have already trimmed my Whisper cardstock to 1/4" smaller than my card base (for a 1/8" border all the way around), and rounded the top left corner. Next, I wrapped a strip of Juniper washi tape around the right edge of the Whisper cardstock:

I just love how this looks! Admittedly, I should have stamped the background before putting the washi tape on (my bad), but this was easily remedied by using a sticky-note to cover the tape that I would have stamped behind. I stamped my background in second-generation Juniper ink (I felt that first-generation would have been too overpowering). Stamping an image in second-generation simply means that before stamping your image onto your project, you first stamp once onto a piece of scrap paper, then onto your project. This gives you a lighter, more subtle impression:

Next, I cut my sentiment on the Cricut using CTMH's "Artbooking" cartridge. I found a cute "Hello" on page 59 of the booklet. Since the "hello" in the original card is wood, I decided to cut my sentiment multiple times so that I could glue them all on top of one another to create depth. I cut it five times:

Once I glued them all together, it had a little bit of substance:

Now it was just a matter of putting everything together:

I used a thin, black pen to run along the outline of "Hello" to make it "pop" a bit more. I also trimmed off the period that was at the end.


I hope this inspires you to recreate something you see - in a magazine, online, on Pinterest, or anywhere! Just remember - you can do that!

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!

Just Because - Challenge 7

Well, I actually managed to get this posted on Wednesday - yea! It's almost over, but it is still Wednesday! Ha! The challenge I drew from my "Just Because" Kraft Container was this today: "Journal on this topic: Do you know the reason you were given your name? If so, write about that and put it on a layout with a self-portrait." Well, I had to call up my mom and ask her how I got my name. I knew the part about being French, but I had no idea I was originally going to be "Monique"! (Evidently, my dad did not like that name at all.) Isn't it funny the everyday things we take for granted - things as simple as our names. Do you know how you got your name? If you don't, you should find out, if you can! And if you do know it, or when you find out, at least write it down, if not create a layout about it. Someday, your kids and their kids will thank you for it!

Here's the layout I created using a pattern right out of Close To My Heart's "Make It from Your Heart - Volume 1" and the "For Always" paper pack - my favorite! The title was cut from the "Artbooking" Cricut cartridge, using Cricut Craft Room to "weld" the letters together:

I encourage you to do a similar layout for your scrapbooks!

Cardmaking With Artbooking

This past Sunday, I held one of my Close To My Heart monthly card-making workshops at my home. I had three lovely ladies join me for a few hours of fun, laughs, and papercrafting. Since none of these ladies had seen the latest and greatest from the Autumn-Winter 2013 Idea Book, I decided to focus the workshop on the new Cricut “Artbooking” Collection. Now the “Artbooking” cartridge is heralded to be a scrapbooker’s dream (and it’s true, it is), but that in no way means that it isn’t a dream for card-makers as well! Let’s take a look at the four cards that we made this past weekend:

This first card uses two different cuts from “Artbooking” – a sunburst overlay, and a title – “fun & sun”. These are the images in the handbook:

 

There are two very important things to mention at this point. One is that because of the way this cartridge is programmed, if you want to cut an image at a specific size, you have to set the dial size, then press the “Real Dial Size” button. If you don’t, your image will print in proportion to the original page size that it was set to. For example, you’ll notice that the size of the album that both the “fun & sun” title and the sunburst overlay are associated with is 7”. When you set your dial size to 7” and cut the “fun & sun” title, it cuts to the size a title would be on that 7” page (i.e. – smaller than 7”). Therefore, if you set your dial size to, say, 2.5” (the actual size you’d like your title), and cut the image, it will cut proportional to 2.5” – much smaller than you want! Simply hit the “Real Dial Size” button before cutting, and you will get the size you expected. This rule holds true if you are cutting a shape for a coordinating stamp set as well.

The second thing to note is that in making “Artbooking” your best card-making friend, you will want to hook yourself up with the Cricut Craft Room (download it for free HERE). With CCR, you can select images from the cartridges you have and resize them to whatever you want (you can do so much more, of course, but for our purposes, resizing will do for now). The sunburst overlay was a bit longer than my 5.5” card, so I simply set the measurements to 5.5” x 4.25” and cut, for an exact fit for my card front. In doing so, the sunburst center became less of a circle and more of a skewed oval – but that was ok, because I was able to skew, rotate, and resize a circle image to fit that space just how I wanted.
 

This next card is sort of a re-do of a card design that’s included in the “Workshops on the Go Laughing Lola Cardmaking Kit”. It uses the stamp set that comes with the kit, however, I switched up the papers, since I didn’t have more “Laughing Lola”.

 

This card uses a snowflake overlay from the “Artbooking” cartridge, shown here:

 

Again, I re-sized the image in Cricut Craft Room to fit the card. The nutcracker image comes from the “Candyland” stamp set, and the patterned paper is from the “Frosted” pack, both of which are new in the Autumn-Winter Idea Book.

 

And last, but certainly not least, we put together this cool card using the notebook paper cut from “Artbooking”, and a couple of the stamp sets that come in the “Artbooking” collection. The “Washi Tape” is actually stamped as well – those images come from the Hostess Exclusive “Washi Wonder” stamp set. The notebook cut is shown here:

 

Oh what fun we had! I hope you can join me for my next workshop!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

Oh my gosh! It's finally here! The first episode of Close To My Heart's new video series, "Artbooking Made Easy" is now online - yippee! For those of you who don't know, "Artbooking" is the name of CTMH's newest - and most incredible - Cricut Collection. I hope you will watch this video (the first in a series of 32 from now until next April!) and discover what it's all about! (Click this link for the video:) "ARTBOOKING MADE EASY"

Facebook Artwork

Hello Friends!

It has occurred to me that some of you may follow my blog and not follow me on Facebook, and vice versa. So for those of you who may not have seen the artwork I have been posting lately to my Facebook Page, I decided I would post it here (this way I can also pin it to my Pinterest Board!) If anyone has any questions as to what products were used for any of the artwork, please contact me and I will be happy to let you know - or just head on over to my Facebook Page and check them out there! Enjoy!