Open House Artwork - Part 3

Oooo, these cards just keep getting better and better! I had so much fun making them, too! Well, let's not waste any time, and just get to it!

Oh, how cute is this?! It's a 3" x 3" card - perfect for putting in the kids' lunches for a mid-morning ego boost! And so easy to make thanks to the new Close To My Heart Cricut "Art Philosophy" Collection! Stamps included in the Collection, as well as many other stamp sets throughout the Autumn-Winter 2011 Idea Book, are designed to perfectly coordinate with cuts made from the Cricut cartdridge! No more tedious cuts with the scissors! This card also uses the new "Blue Ribbon" stamp set and the new "Typeset" paper pack (my favorite new paper pack).

Here's another card using the "Typeset" paper and "Blue Ribbon" stamp set. This card also uses the new White Daisy Die-Cut Cards, which have the bracket edge already cut for you! Love that! You will see an entire set of cards using the Die-Cut bases in a later post (there are some cool Kraft Die-Cut Cards, too!).

Ah, yes, "Typeset" paper again (I told you it was my favorite!), along with a cut/stamped image from the "Art Philosophy" Collection.

Mmmmm, I could really go for a cupcake right now! This cupcake was cut from the "Art Philosophy" Collection twice - once in pink, and once in tan. Then the coordinating cupcake stamp was stamped with pink ink on the pink cut and tan ink on the tan cut. I cut the top off of the tan piece and layered it on top of the pink piece for a yummy-looking cupcake (I also gave it some sparkle with a few dots of Glitter Glitz).

This is an adorable treat/mini gift bag! All the cuts (including the bag!) were done with "Art Philosophy". Don't you just love the 3-D flower accent?! The cartridge is so versatile!

And lastly, the snowflake card. The entire snowflake background is one cut from the "Art Philosophy" cartridge. Amazing, isn't it? There are several doilies and backgrounds you can cut with the cartridge. After getting all the little paper pieces out of the design (whew!), I painted it, first with white, then with CTMH's Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint. It really gives it a nice shimmer! I then "blinged it up" with Clear Sparkles and a simple sentiment. Beautiful!

Well, I hope this has been another inspirational installment of artwork to get your creative juices flowing! There's still a LOT more to see, so keep coming back to check it out!



                     

Open House Artwork - Part 2

Yea! It's time for more artwork inspiration! the three cards I am going to post today were done with this month's National Stamping Month Special - the "Pair-A-Phrase" Double Stamp Set! Have you seen this set yet? It is absolutely adorable! Here, take a look for yourself:

Tell me these aren't the cutest stamp sets! And the best part about them is that they are FREE with a $75 Close To My Heart order! That's a savings of $35.90! PLUS, you will also qualify to purchase the September Stamp of the Month for just $5!! That's an additional savings of $12.95!! WOW! September is a great month for stamping!

There are three cards pictured on the "Pair-A-Phrase" flyer - I decided to do these for my Open House so as not to reinvent the wheel. However, if you're dying to see more artwork done with the "Pair-A-Phrase" sets, head on over to CTMH's Facebook page! They've been posting cards done with these sets all month long, so check them out at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150272520471123.334145.101779776122&type=1. These are fantastic cards! In addition, here's mine!

This is a cute one! It uses the "Wonderland" paper pack. Brrr...frosty!

I absolutely love the bike in this set! It's so darn cute! The patterned paper is from the "Typeset" paper pack.

OK, these images just keep getting cuter and cuter! And I just LOVE circle cards - they make me happy!

I hope you grab the opportunity to get these great stamp sets for free this month! And I hope you have as much fun as I did creating fun artwork with them! More Open House artwork coming your way next time!

Open House Artwork - Part 1

Well hello everyone!

Thank you for being so patient with me while I spent the last few weeks preparing for my annual Close To My Heart Open House. It was a lot of fun, and I just loved using all the new products from CTMH to create incredible artwork (if I do say so myself)! Close To My Heart really does make it so easy to look good!

At the wonderful suggestion of my husband, I created a video of my Open House setup so that those of you who could not attend could get a feel for it...however, the video is too large to post here. So, you'll just have to be content with viewing the artwork piece by piece (you get to see it better this way, anyway!). There is a TON of it, though, so I will have to bring it to you in multiple posts (more to look forward to!). I think I'll start with the Halloween pieces that I did, since that holiday is coming up first. Many of the pieces you will see on the cards and scrapbook layout were cut from the new "Art Philosophy" Cricut Cartridge from CTMH. I had such a great time exploring this new cartridge! Here are the pieces:

This card uses the "Captured Moments" stamp set and the "Mischief" Level 2 Paper Pack. Love it!

This card uses the same as above, along with the new White Daisy Die-Cut Cards & Envelopes.

This is my absolute favorite card! I love the creepy background paper (from the "Mischief" pack), the pleated paper "ribbon" below the candelabra, the 3-D flowers created with the Cricut "Art Philosophy" Cartridge, and that absolutely stunning black candelabra "Felt Shape" (brand new!). Love it, love it, love it!

This is the left-hand page of a two-page spread, created from the "Mischief Workshop on the Go". The WOTG includes the new Felt Shapes and an Exclusive C-size stamp set, along with the "Mischief" paper pack.

Here is the right-hand page. The word "NIGHT" was cut using the font on the "Art Philosophy" cartridge. And here's what the spread looks like together:

Very cool! I can't wait for Halloween so I can have some pictures to put on this!!

Well, that's all I have for Halloween artwork! Come back real soon to view more Open House art - you're gonna love it!

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!