Holiday Open House Artwork - Part 3

Here we are again for more inspiration! Today I will be showing you half of the winter/Christmas art - I say half because there are nine of them, so I figure I will break it into two parts for you. And, again, all supplies are from Close To My Heart. OK, here we go:

 

Ooo, isn't this card pretty? It was made with the Magnifique paper pack, Dimensional Elements - "Flurry", and the "Captured Moments" stamp set. The image and snowflake were silver embossed.

 

This ornament was also created with the Magnifique paper pack, Dimensional Elements - "Flurry", and Dimensional Elements - "Ornaments", along with silver embossing.

This card was made with the Mistletoe paper pack, the "Snow Days" stamp set, and the Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment. One more...

This is one of my favorites! It uses the Mistletoe paper pack, the "I Believe" stamp set, Designer Ribbon Rounds - Cranberry, and My Creations "A-door-ables". The square with the reindeer on it opens up to reveal a sentiment. It's so cute!

Well, that's all for today! Tomorrow I will post the last of it. Make sure to leave your comments as to which piece you like best and why for your chance at winning a free gift!

Until tomorrow - Happy Stampin'!

Holiday Open House Artwork - Part 2

OK - here's another chance to let me know what you like and why you like it! It's Part 2 of my Holiday Open House artwork! As in yesterday's post, I will follow each photo with a brief description of what was used to create it. All supplies are Close To My Heart. Let's do the "general" set today. Here's the first:

 

I just love this card in its simplicity! It uses the new Magnifique Level 2 Paper Pack, and the "A Sip" stamp set. Next:

This peacock is so lovely with its sparkling Sparkles - Blue & Green Collection! The paper is Magnifique, and the stamp set is "Circle of Love".

The Magnifique paper pack is used again here, as well as the "One of a Kind" stamp set and Glitter Glitz.

You may have already seen this adorable card, because it was the sample I used for "I'm Distressed!" Part 1. It uses the "Harmony" stamp set and plain, old cardstock.

This last one for today also uses the "Harmony" stamp set. It also uses the new Mistletoe Level 2 Paper Pack - isn't it gorgeous?!

I hope you are getting inspired by this artwork! I know that it's inspired me to do more! Come back tomorrow for Part 3 - winter & Christmas!

Be inspired!

Holiday Open House Artwork - Part 1

I have a ton of stuff to show you, so I thought I would break it down into a few different posts. Let's start with Halloween and fall. I will post the photo, then a short list of the prominent supplies used to create them. All supplies are Close To My Heart. Here's the first one:

How cute! This card uses the new Hooligans Level 2 paper pack, 4 1/2" Clear Cards, Licorice Opaques, and "The Boo Crew" stamp set. Next:

This time we have a regular 4 1/2" Circle Card, Hooligans paper, "The Boo Crew" stamp set, and the Hooligans Level 2 Assortment (the felt stickers). Then:

A 5" x 7" card using Hooligans paper, "The Boo Crew" and "Party Animal" stamp sets, Licorice Opaques, and "Rustic Alphabet" (for the "BOO"). Let's move on to some September Stamp of the Month artwork:

Isn't this a cool card? It uses the September SOTM, "Thriller", as well as the Hooligans Paper Pack. The following is a scrapbook page that uses one of the new layouts from the "Magic" Scrapbooking Program:

This also uses the "Thriller" stamp set and Hooligans Paper Pack. The 5" x 7" box in the upper left corner opens up to reveal eight more photos! Here it is fully opened:

It's really cool. Finally, I have a card made with the stamp set, "In the Month of September":

Isn't that pretty? Which project is your favorite so far and why? Post a comment in the comments section and you could be randomly chosen to receive a free gift! There's much more artwork to come, so check back tomorrow!

Until then, Happy Stampin'!

Sticky Boy!

I know I said that my Open House artwork would be in my next post, but I just listened to a conference call from Close To My Heart which mentions "Sticky Boy", and I just had to share the story (and the video!). No, I'm not talking about my son after having had an ice cream cone. I'm talking about the elusive, and totally adorable, Close To My Heart "mascot", Sticky Boy! Evidently, this image used to be part of a CTMH stamp set called "What's Up". Long after it was retired, "Sticky Boy", as he became known, returned as the My Acrylix "test subject". Please go to the following link to view the hilarious testing video of Sticky Boy and My Acrylix stamps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrfRjEOncBw.

Since his resurrection in 2004 with the introduction of My Acrylix stamp sets, it has been a fun and very competitive tradition to search for Sticky Boy stamps during the course of Close To My Heart events - particularly Convention. I had attended 3 Conventions without finding a single one. Then this year, I ended up finding two! It's like a right-of-passage to find one of these babies - it was so exciting! (It's the little things, you know?) Here are my prized Sticky Boys:

Speaking of PRIZES, watch for an upcoming post where you can get a prize of your own - and it's SO easy! But, next up will be that Open House artwork I promised you...it's taken me a little longer than I thought to photograph it all! But that's next!

Until then, Happy National Stamping Month! Keep on Stampin'!

I'm Distressed! Part 4

In this final installment on distressing, I will be showing you edge distressing. You can do this technique with a pair of scissors, or a special "edge distresser" tool. An edge distressing tool is usually round and looks like a flower - only with little razor blades between the petals. In order to edge distress, you scrape the edge of your tool or scissors along the edge of your paper. Let's see how it works.

This is a picture of a very nice card without edge distressing:

Now, this is perfectly beautiful the way it is, however if you are a fan of shabby chic or grunge, then you might want to "rough it up" a little. As I mentioned, the technique involves running the edge of your scissors or edge distresser along the edge of your paper:

What it basically does is shred the edges of your paper - tearing them up a bit. It can be a bit messy with little bits of paper falling everywhere. Keep scraping along each edge of your paper:

 Continue this process for each piece on the card:

Now that you've really roughed-up the edges of all the papers, assemble your card. Now it looks like this:

It definitely adds some texture to the project! For a variation, you can ink the edges after you've distressed them, but I personally like the white edge (of course this only works with cardstock/paper with a white core).

I hope you have enjoyed being Distressed! Next time, I will be sharing my Holiday Open House artwork with you! You'll get to see lots of gorgeous examples of what you can do with the brand new products in Close To My Heart's new Autumn/Winter Idea Book! So stay tuned!

Until then, Happy Stamping!

It's Magnifique!

I must take a brief break in the "I'm Distressed" series to let you know about Close To My Heart's Workshops On The Go. This is not a new program to CTMH, just new to me! And it's been updated, revamped and improved, so I have decided to give it a try - and I LOVE it! I love it because in the Workshop On The Go (WOTG) Kit, I get a FULL My Reflections Level 2 Paper Pack, an Exclusively designed stamp set that I can't get anywhere else, a FULL package of accents (not just the ones I'll need), and a full-color Workshop Guide that shows me how to create a two-page scrapbook layout AND six gorgeous cards! How cool is that?!

This month's Kit features the brand-new paper pack - "Magnifique". The colors and patterns of this paper are gorgeous, and you'll love the wonderful stamp set that comes with it! You can contact me to order this kit to do at home, or you can join me at my home on Sunday, September 26th from 1-4pm, where we will be creating these beautiful items together! But you must hurry! In order for me to have the kits in time for the workshop on the 26th, I have to have payment by THIS FRIDAY, September 10th. The cost of the kit, including S&H and tax, is $34.20. Here are the images of what we will be making:

Aren't they gorgeous?! I hope you can join us! Contact me directly at aafaa@charter.net or visit my website anytime to order online at http://funforyou.myctmh.com!

Tune in next time for our next installment of "I'm Distressed!" Until then, Happy Scrappin'!

I'm Distressed! Part 3

Here, in our third installment of "I'm Distressed!", I will be talking about sanding. We're not going to the beach, though. Instead, we're going into the toolbox down in the basement or in the garage and digging out some sandpaper. Sanding is one of the coolest ways to distress your paper - but only if your cardstock has a white core (see last post for that discussion). You can sand a cardstock to your heart's content that is the same color all the way through, but you probably won't see any difference.

In this post, I am going to show you a sort of faux leather technique, coupled with sanding - to really pack a punch! First, let's take a look at a card before we punch it up:

It's cute, right? Well, let's see what a little texture will do for it. First, let's take the gray cardstock background and cut it about 1/2" larger in both directions than we are going to need it. That's because the technique I'm going to show you is going to shrink the cardstock a little. After you've done that, either spritz it with water (both sides) or just run it under the faucet water for a second. You don't want it too wet, or it will rip when you do the next step.

Next, crumple the cardstock up into a ball. You can crumple it a little, or keep uncrumpling it and re-crumpling it until you get as many wrinkles as you want. But be careful - the more you crumple, the more likely it is that your paper will tear.

After you're done crumpling, uncrumple the cardstock and lay it out flat to dry.

Wow, this looks pretty cool already, right? Well, once it's dry, you're going to grab that sandpaper we mentioned earlier and lightly rub it over the surface of the cardstock. Use a medium-grain sandpaper for the best results. A rough grain will just hack up your paper, and we really don't want to do that - we just want to take some of the color away from the raised ridges.

When you're done, your cardstock should look something like this:

Now it's ready for our card! Make sure you trim the piece to the size of the front of your card (depending on how much it shrunk, you may not have to do this at all), and assemble. What a difference!

The added texture adds so much interest to the card, not to mention resembling the actual skin of an elephant! Think how cool this technique would be on a scrapbook page about the mountains or rock climbing! See what cool uses you can come up with - I'd love to see them!

Until next time - Happy Sanding!