Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A Fond Farewell

Several weeks ago Lynette McAsh broke the news that Sweet Pea Stamps would be closing, and as any of you who have followed me know that they are my favorite. They will be sorely missed, but I think that the amazing images will live on for a long time on the blogs and in the hearts of many. So the facebook fan group has organized a big "Farewell Blog Hop". If you following along, then you are on your 3rd stop, so I hope I don't disappoint!

I couldn't decide which of the 60 or so Sweet Pea images I own to share with you for this event, but I narrowed it down to a seasonal image and one that I just love to colour... The first is Katerina Koutiotis' "Hope for the Holidays",  I am pretty sure the 2nd one is Rachel Anderson though I don't know the name. Both of my images are coloured with Copics.

This first image utilizes a bunch of the Close to My Heart White Pines scraps that I had out on my workspace (yeah still working on Operation Use Some Scraps)


The 2nd card I have uses some old Prima Firefly paper, some Viva Pearl Pens, a few tulips I  found and a Heartfelt Creations build a flower that I dusted with "Wink of Stella" (which may be the greatest scrapbook creation this year). Obviously I wanted to throw  some glitter ritz on the gorgeous fairy to show things out in style.


I will miss Sweet Pea, and I have been loading up on digis the past few days, so I encourage you to do the same thing! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your trip around the blog world, you are off to see Suzi next  http://suzannebakermckenzie.blogspot.com!!

Here is the complete Blog list!!

1, http://sweetpearubberstamps.blogspot.com  (You already did this)
2. Holley's Blog http://holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com (This too)
3. Colleen Dewis http://stressedisjustdessertsbackwards.blogspot.ca/ (you are here now silly)
5. Cindy van Oorschot http://cmvanoorschot.blogspot.ca
10. Olivia Rivera-Marmara http://www.ormcraftynights.blogspot.com
11. Winnie A Ludvigsen http://norwayscrapper.blogspot.no/
12. Tera Thelma Borer- Fujan http://www.stampqueen.blogspot.com
16. Samantha Aguilera http://designsbysammy.blogspot.com/
17. Angelique Engeldesignsscrap http://engeldesignsscrap.blogspot.nl/
20. Hilde Larsen http://tindaloo.blogspot.com
25.   Ria ZonneStraaltje http://dragonmagicscrapkaarten.blogspot.nl/
29. Christina Gudgeon http://craftieangel.blogspot.com.au/
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Do you LOVE Planners?!? How about one that doubles as a scrapbook?!?!

Well, as you may or may not know, Close To My Heart will be launching the next "Seasonal Expressions 1" Mini-Catalog in January. As a fantastic sneak preview, December is all about the PLANNER which are SO hot right now. But this planner is extra special because it not only is going to be super fun to decorate but it will also be perfect as a scrapbook for the everyday. Just add in pictures, mementos and your handwritten thoughts in and BOOM! Scrapbook done. If you want to check out Monica walking you through all the cool features, you can also check out this video . It almost makes me want to try to get organized!!

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Monday, November 23, 2015

Stamp a Stack of Holidays!!

So I have only now realized that none of the posts I though I had scheduled to go up during my exams didn't go up! So my apologies for not being on the ball catching that. But the good news is I am all finished my comprehensive exams, just waiting to do the oral defense.

This Saturday I am teaching a fun card class of 6 designs, making 4 of each design for $50. I posted it a little late, so it may just be me and one other person, but that is ok. If you would like to join us, let me know!! They are a fun combination of the great Close to My Heart stamps, papers, and of course some of the fun Cricut items. I even incorporated a little bit of the new water colour to make one of the backgrounds. I mean, how cute are the penguins?!?



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Thursday, August 27, 2015

Party Time!!!

Well the other day was my birthday, and later this week is one of my girlfriend's 50th so we had a little celebration on the weekend, at the yacht club. We had a lovely time, but I obviously needed to get crafty for some of the decor items! She wanted things simple, but her colours were pink, purple and white (you can see why we are friends with those colour choices!!) so I pulled out some of the hopscotch and celebration papers that I had. I cut each one in half so the piece was 6 by 8 inches, then I cut a dart in, and punched some holes.

I cut out the letters and accents using the Cricut "Artbooking" Collection. I inked up the edges with Glacier to make them stand out on the busy papers, and then added some of the fun self sticking sequins for bling. I strung the whole thing on Pixie Extra Thick Twine, and hung up with some washi tape so there wasn't any damage to the walls. Sorry that the pictures aren't super, but I forgot to take some before I left the house.



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Sunday, August 23, 2015

Operation: Use Some Scraps

I know that you have a stack of pieces of paper that you always think "It is too big to throw out, I will hang onto it" but then every time you start a new projects, out comes a shiny new piece of paper. I have challenged myself to use up some of those scraps because it is almost time to start on holiday cards, and I still am moving around scraps from last years creations! So today I am featuring cards based on scraps.

As you can imagine, many of the pieces on my desk are Close to My Heart, so I wanted to keep showing off the products. My cards feature the July Stamp of the Month (no longer available unfortunately, but I love it!!), some pieces of Hopscotch (a retired paper pack), and some Lollydoodle (from the first Expressions Catalog). As you can see, things on my desk are a hot mess but I guess the mess is part of my process... at least that is what I keep telling dear hubby!!

I saw a similar fold in a magazine, and loved the idea of using some scraps behind the folds to add some interest and to showcase both sides of our awesome papers. The cardstock is glacier, and I actually had some on my desk ready to go. I used some flamingo dots, shimmer trim and some pixie thick twine, then used 3d tape and some glossy accents to really make the ice cream cones shine. I pulled out the water colour pencils for the ice cream accents too, so blending pen fun!


Even with all this, I still think that my sentiment is my favorite part of this card. I used some sponges to make it rainbow, and huffed my breath on our inks to make them nice and juicy for stamping
 

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Thursday, August 20, 2015

Getting Ready for a NEW CATALOG!!!

Well Gang,

We are getting VERY close to the launch of the new Catty on September 1st, so today I thought I would share with you the cards we made for a gathering the other night. One is made with the outgoing "Blossom" paper pack and the super fun "Operation Smile Happy Everything" Stamp Set. I also used some Lagoon Thick Twine, our water brush, our dot embossing folder and some sponges to get the rainbow letters.

Fun fact: If you don't have a die cutting machine to emboss you can use a ROLLING PIN to emboss. For real

  The next card is to give you a SNEAK PEAK of Zoe, one of the new papers coming out (the polka dot is the front, and the blue hounds tooth is the back, although you can't see much of it. I have also used the gorgeous new Coral Shimmer Trim, Paper Birds Hostess Rewards set, and the Basics Fundamentals Whisper paper. I then did my normal inking, and a little sponging to make that gorgeous butterfly POP.

You should also check out all the other fun posts that the Braer's are doing today!! Check out these fantastic links below 

1. Brae Montgomery-http://wp.me/p4htXJ-FF
8. Nicky Scott - http://wp.me/p51mrp-Qc
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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Getting Close to Last Chance.... And August Specials

Well Gang,

The end of the CTMH Catty and summer supplement is getting really close... like 2 weeks away! That means that there are lots of items retiring and will never be seen again. Do you have some favorites that you need to stock up on? I know that I have been going through Blossom paper like a crazy woman, so I will be stocking up.

I know you will all love the new catty though, but I did want to show you the versatility of one of our current "Cut Above" precut kits to tempt you. These 4 cards use just the Cute above "Thank You Card Kit" (z2063), and "You Mean the World To Me" (B1467) Stamp set. Then I used some White Daisy and Sorbet ink. These 4 cards are all different and literally took me 5 minutes to make. It doesn't get easier than that and who wouldn't want to receive one of these?



Don't forget about our August Specials either! Let's get everyone organized AND get some bonus products. You can check out the Marker Roll Up or the Accessory Roll Up online but seriously how cute are these?!?


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Sunday, August 16, 2015

Super Delayed Getting Back on the Bus Post

Hi Friends,

Well my New's Year's Resolution 2014 was to be more active on my blog... can you see how that didn't happen? I have decided that Close to My Heart and sharing my love of crafting it is important to me, so I need to make my business a priority and keeping an active blog is part of that. Here is here is the saddest part... it isn't like I haven't been crafting, I just haven't taken the 10 minutes every few days that it takes to post some of the fun stuff I have created online! So I now have an appointment with myself for each week to take an hour and show off what I am working on.

So for today here is a quick one... I am doing a Charity Card Class in an hour using the "Fruits of Summer" pieces I had left over from my last Card Workshop and we are making 6 different designs. How fun are these?






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