A Fancy Valentine

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I'm going to show you a cool technique that is featured in the new Close To My Heart Spring-Summer 2012 Idea Book. The example they use in the book is with trees, but since it's Valentine season, I thought I would use the same technique with a heart. You can try it with any shape you'd like! Here's what you need to do:

First, you'll want to create your card base and cut a shape out of the front for a "window". I used my "Art Philosophy" Cricut cartridge to cut a card with a heart-shaped window. The "Art Philosophy" cartridge has many different cards on it that you can cut this way (BIG time-saver!).

Next, I used "Art Philosophy" again to cut a flower background from Blush cardstock. This shape should be the same size or smaller than the front of your card. There are also several different backgrounds/"doilies" to choose from on the "Art Philosophy" cartridge.

Three - Choose a contrasting-colored cardstock to mount your background to. It should be only slightly smaller than the front of your card. I used Tulip cardstock for mine.

After gluing your background shape to the contrasting cardstock piece, you're going to adhere the whole thing to the inside-front cover of your card, so that the design faces out, and shows through the window in the front of the card. (NOTE: If you are going to ink around the edges of your cut "window", or stamp on the front of your card, do so BEFORE adhering the background to the inside-front of the card.)

After that, it's just a matter of embellishing! I inked the edges of the heart with Tulip Ink. I used heart stamps from the "Card Chatter - Love" stamp set on the white cardstock with Baby Pink and Blush ink. Then I cut the scalloped circle (from the "Art Philosophy" cartridge) from Tulip cardstock and painted it with a light coating of Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint. I adhered it to the front and placed a pearl Opaque inside each of the holes. Lastly, I tied white organza ribbon with red ricrac around the front of the card (hint: make a slice in the fold of the card where you want the ribbon to be and thread it through to go around the front). And...voila! A gorgeous card for your Valentine! Try out different window shapes, colors, and backgrounds to see what you can come up with! Happy Valentine's Day!

OK people - listen up. Close To My Heart has a lot of really cool and incredible promotions, but this one takes the cake! "Five for Free" is an opportunity for you to get TEN Studio J Layouts for the price of FIVE! That's right - for each Studio J 5-Pack that you purchase in February, you will get a second 5-Pack for FREE! That works out to just $2.75 per page - with FREE SHIPPING!  Think of the gorgeous layouts you could create - and get caught up on! And imagine what an incredible and thoughtful gift this would make! Buy one for yourself, and give the other to a friend or family member! At just $55 for the 5-Pack (or in this case, 10-Pack!), even current Members will save with "Five for Free"! Call, email me, or order ONLINE today to be sure you get yours!

Here is a sampling of the layouts I completed a few days ago using Studio J:

These were photos from our Disney cruise in November.

This was the room we stayed in when we went to Hartford, CT for the Lego Kids Fest in early December. I just LOVE how this layout came out - the paper colors compliment the photos so perfectly!

This is my favorite Christmas layout from this year - and it wasn't even Christmas! I love the contrast between the white background and the brown paper and ribbon. Mmmm...makes me feel warm & fuzzy just looking at it.

Studio J 5-packs are the perfect way to try Studio J for the first time. Try it out, fall in love, then come back & purchase a membership so you can get 50% off the price of your layouts, PLUS access to Members-ONLY kits and patterns. Have fun!

Close To My Heart February Stamp of the Month

Wow! February already! I always love the beginning of a new month, because that means all new stuff from Close To My Heart - including a new Stamp of the Month!

With this great stamp set, you can finally make cards that are from more people than just you! I had fun making three different cards with this set - and using three BRAND NEW Paper Packs from the JUST RELEASED Spring-Summer 2012 Idea Book! Check them out:

 This card uses the new "Florentine" paper pack. What a great card (valentine!) for a mom, dad, grandparents, or anyone from the kids - the three blue hearts are tucked behind the blue square, which I made into a pocket to hold them. How cute would it be if the kids had a short message on the back of each one! I love it.

This card uses the NEW "Lucy" paper pack, along with its coordinating "Complements Glittery Rub-ons". In the center of the flower rub-on, I placed a self-adhesive glitter flower from the NEW "Bitty Buds Assortment" (it's adorable!!)

This last card uses the NEW "Pemberley" paper pack. The large star was cut from the "Art Philosophy" Cricut cartridge, then stamped with a stamp from the "Diverse Backgrounds" set (I love background stamps).

Those were fun! Keep watching for more artwork using BRAND NEW PRODUCTS from the Spring-Summer 2012 Idea Book, along with more incredible specials and deals this month ONLY! Happy February!

Have you ever Made a Miracle?

We can make miracles happen. Please watch the video below to find out how:



Everyone is invited to join in the Make a Miracle Challenge by helping raise funds to provide reconstructive surgeries for children around the world through Operation Smile®. It takes as little as $240 to help provide a surgery and change a young life for the better. Between January 1 and March 31, the Close To My Heart Consultant who raises the most in donations will have the opportunity to go on an Operation Smile international mission. Learn more at www.closetomyheart.com.

Thank you for your support.

Just One Week Left to "Rock the Block"!

Some of you have seen this kit live & in person. Some of you have seen the blocks that I created with this kit and photos from our Disney Cruise. Some of you had wonderful visions of creating one-of-a-kind gifts for Mother's and Father's Day, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and new babies (what wonderful ideas!). But some of you have yet to take advantage of this incredible offer!! Let me quickly recap what the offer is: When you place a minimum order of just $25 from the Autumn-Winter 2011 Idea Book, you can purchase the My Creations Collage Cubes (not available until the Spring-Summer 2012 Idea Book!) AND the Exclusive, won't-be-sold-again-anywhere, E-size "Rock the Block" stamp set (pictured above) for ONLY $15! That's a savings of almost $30! The stamps are incredibly fun and easy to use with the blocks, but you'll find yourself wanting to use these delightful sentiments, backgrounds and images for all of your projects! But it's only available until January 31st!!

If you don't have yours yet, you can order IMMEDIATELY ONLINE at http://funforyou.myctmh.com (once you've placed $25 in product in your cart and go to move to the next step, you will be asked if you'd like to add the "Rock the Block" special), or email me to place your order at aafaa@charter.net. Don't miss out on this one - you're going to LOVE it!

And Last, But Not Least...

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season - I can't believe it's come and gone already. Well, now that the hustle and bustle of the end of the year has past, it's time to show you the last of my Open House artwork from...September! Yikes! Yes, I should have had this posted long before now, but things get pretty busy in December! In addition, make sure you read to the end for a special offer from Close To My Heart that will help you get all of your holiday photos into scrapbooks in no time at all!

First off, these are the tags we made for the Make & Take. Each piece was cut using the "Art Philosophy" Cricut cartridge from Close To My Heart. The stamps are from the "December 25th" stamp set. So incredible quick & easy with just a little bling added with "Sparkles" for visual & textural interest. Notice how non-traditional colors were chosen as well. Don't be afraid to mix it up a bit!

This is such a fun card that showcases the "Glitz Glitter Gel - Red" (used to highlight the berries and the ornament by Santa's pompom). The images are from the "St. Nick" stamp set. I just love creating my own unique background papers, don't you?

This next set of five cards was the bonus Workshop On The Go project from the "Wonderland" collection. In the Idea Book, these cards were done with the stamp set and accessories that come with the WOTG kit - however, I only had the paper, so I used the "Snowflakes" stamp set and the "Bling Assortment" (as well as some Sparkles) to complete my cards. I think you'll agree they're just as nice - and they were so much fun to do. They were made easy by the use of the "White Daisy Die-cut Cards" that have a bracket edge already cut into the front for you.

This last one is my favorite - I always loved the "A Sip" stamp set! And those dots on the cup that look like I put bling there, are actually the dots from the patterned paper that I stamped the image onto (same as the thin strip behind it) showing through. I stamped the image with Cocoa ink onto the patterned paper then cut it out. The stick pin from the Bling Assortment made the perfect stirrer!

Well, that, my friends, is the last of the Open House artwork! Yea! I have a couple of nice cards to show you from my recent Holiday Party/workshop...but I'll save those for the next post. Oh! I can't forget to tell you about the CTMH special! For this month ONLY, Studio J Members receive one printed layout for FREE with every 9 they buy! It's the "Perfect 10" promotion! What a Perfect way to get all of those holiday photos into scrapbooks! Feeling a little buried beneath your photos? Feeling a little behind in your scrapbooking? Studio J is the PERFECT way to get caught up - or at least get a good chunk done! If you haven't checked it out, go directly to: MY WEBSITE where you'll have three options - sign in, create an account, or just "try it" without creating an account. Any way you choose, there's no cost or obligation - just fun! You can always purchase the layouts you create, but Members get a 50% discount AND Free Shipping! Contact me TODAY for more info, or order your Membership online directly from my website!

Thanks & Happy New Year!

Close To My Heart "Rocks The Block"!

January is National Papercrafting Month, and Close To My Heart is starting the celebration early - MONDAY, December 19th! Introducing "Rock The Block" - an EXCLUSIVE set that includes a brand new product to be released in the Spring-Summer 2012 Idea Book - the "My Creations Collage Cubes", PLUS an Exclusive E-sized stamp set that you won't be able to purchase anywhere else, or at any other time!

Here's the best part - place a minimum order of only $25 from the Autumn-Winter 2011 Idea Book between December 19th and January 31st, and get this set of My Creations Collage Cubes and the Exclusive "Rock The Block" E-sized Stamp Set for just $15.00!! That's right - a $44.90 value for only $15! Whats MORE, you can get a set for $15 with EACH $25 purchase!! So, if you buy $50 worth of CTMH product from the Autumn-Winter 2011 Idea Book, you can purchase TWO "Rock The Block" sets at $15 each! Fantastic!! I completed my Collage Cubes using photos from our Disney Cruise, and it is awesome! Here is what I did:  Side 1 using 2" x 2" photos:

Side 2 using one 4" x 4" photo:

Side 3 using one 6" x 4" photo:

Side 4 using one 4" x 6" photo:

Side 5 using one 6" x 4" photo:

And side 6 using one 6" x 6" photo:

I had so much fun putting this together - and it was so easy because each block face is 2" x 2". There was no guesswork - and the stamps in the stamp set were fantastic. I know you will have as much fun creating yours! They make such fun gifts for birthdays, Mother's & Father's Day, anniversaries - any occasion at all! Contact me TODAY to get yours before it's too late!