Annual Close To My Heart Stamping & Scrapbooking Open House!

Each year, when the new Close To My Heart Autumn-Winter Idea Book comes out, I hold an Open House so that everyone can get a first-hand look at new products and the new Idea Book.You're not going to want to miss this!

Date:  Sunday, September 11th, 2011
Time:  1 - 4 pm
Place:  3 Willard Drive, Uxbridge, MA 01569
PLEASE RSVP TO:  (508) 278-9392 or aafaa@charter.net

Idea Books, new products, free gifts...oh my! Yes, it's Open House time once again! You'll be able to get your hands on the Brand New Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book, as well as see plenty of the New Products! There will be artwork to inspire you - including albums created with Studio J! Come and create your own artwork to take home with a Make & Take! Hear about all of the new changes for Close To My Heart! Earn tickets for a chance to win a $20 Gift Certificate! Take home gorgeous artwork and help Operation Smile at the same time with the Artwork Raffle! Best of all, get a few moments (hours!) to chillax, socialize with friends, enjoy light refreshments, and have fun! I can't wait to see you there!

August's Stamp of the Month!

Wicked! Yes, this stamp set is truly "Wicked", hence the name of this month's Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart. The BRAND NEW Autumn-Winter 2011 Idea Book is out, and there have been a lot of changes! One of which is the SOTM Program! Now, whenever you purchase $50 worth of CTMH product, you can add the SOTM to your order for JUST $5.00!! You can also purchase the SOTM on it's own for just $17.95. Another change is that now each SOTM will come with a full-color insert depicting projects that you can create using that set - AND the instructions, cutting guides, and helpful hints will be online for you to reference for one full year from the month of issue. So you will have until August 2012 to get the instructions for this SOTM's projects. How cool! Here are the images in the stamp set:

I did not have the supplies to make the box featured in this month's SOTM set, but I did make the other two cards (with some substitutions for the metal accents that I didn't have on hand)! Here they are:

This is an adorable 2.5" x 3.5" card! And the other:

This is a 4.25" x 5.5" card. I just love the honeycomb pattern stamp that comes with this set! The paper is from the "Mischief" collection.

Well, it's time for me to get back to my Open House artwork! It may be a few weeks before you hear from me again, but after that, I will have TONS of artwork for you to see! Hopefully you'll be able to see it in person at the Open House! Come one, come all! Take care!

Fun Cards - Last Set!

Wow, how time flies! Thank you for being so patient with me while waiting for me to post this last set of cards! I have been engrossed in producing artwork for my Annual Stamping & Scrapbooking Open House next month! So now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! Here are the last four cards in the Bazzill Card Kit series:

Pinwheels are so fun and easy to make! They are especially cool with double-sided paper!

Don't you just LOVE this ribbon flower?! If you've been keeping track of my blog posts, you will recognize this card from the post I did on how to create these darling embellishments! How fun!

I think it's so cool how the paper flower matches the color of the background cardstock exactly! It was also fun to add the stitching at the bottom for extra texture and dimension.

What a cute way to use up all those extra paper scraps we just can't throw away! You could add even more stitching if you wanted to make it look even more "quilty" (yeah, I just made that word up).

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this card-inspiration series! Next up - two adorable cards created with this month's Stamp of the Month set from Close To My Heart! Don't miss it - there's only 10 more days to order it!!!

Fun Cards - Part 3

OK - it's time for the next installment of inspiration! Sorry I've made you wait - I was enjoying a week-long vacation last week! It was wonderful! Here are the next four cards from the Bazzill Card Kit:

Isn't it so cute how the green polka-dot ribbon was used to make the stem & leaves for that spiral flower? And I just love the black/white/yellow color combo on that second card. It may not be something we think of doing very often, but combining black & white with just one other accent color can be a very simple, yet striking, color option. Try this on your next project and enjoy the results!

Only one more set of cards to go to complete the set! Come back soon to check them out!

Fun Cards - Part 2!

OK! It's time for four more fun & fantastic cards from the Bazzill Card Kit I completed! Be inspired....

My gosh - don't you just LOVE the bling?! How about those cherries?! Adorable! And I absolutely love the giant polka-dot brad in the center of that orange flower. The designs of these cards are so easy to duplicate - I think I'll have a post where I show you cards I made by "scraplifting" these designs! I would love to see yours as well! Until next set - stay cool!

Secrets of Suede - from Jeanette Lynton!

Don't worry - I have not forgotten about the next batch of Bazzill Card Kit cards to show you! But before that, I really wanted to share this link to Close To My Heart founder & CEO, Jeanette Lynton's, blog. She shares a REALLY cool technique that I think you're going to love! I can't wait to try it myself! Here is the link - go check it out!  http://www.jeanettelynton.com/2011/07/weeks-of-wonder-secrets-of-suede.html

Fun Cards - Part 1!

I had mentioned in a previous post that I took a card class at a local scrapbook store last month. We made 16 cards from a Bazzill Card Kit, and they were all adorable! I'd like to share them with you, since they are great examples of fun cards you can make with your own supplies! However, because there are so many of them, I am going to split them up into four different posts (I swear I won't make you wait too long between each one!!). So without further ado, here are the first four cards:

Aren't they great?! I love how every one of them has bling! I just love the colors as well - they're so uplifting and cheerful! I would love to see what you come up with using these cards as inspiration! Come back real soon to see the next four cards in the kit!