Quarter Auction

If you've never been to a Quarter Auction you are missing out on a fun time and a chance to bid on fabulous items at a fraction of the cost. I will be participating in Quarter Auction coming up soon. See the flyer here. I hope to see you there!

Sunday, December 9th 2011

Doors Open at 1 p.m.
Wescosville Fire Company
958 Brookside Rd
Allentown, PA 18106

Holiday Dough

Here is another way to give a gift a money. This is not my creation I saw this idea last year from a Close To My Heart consultant. The poem says:

Gingerbread men with yummy icing,

Are oh so good and extremely enticing.
I set out to make you a dozen or two,
But time ran out, so now what to do?
So instead of the cookies I tied with a bow,
You’re own personal serving of holiday dough!

Money Holder

My niece and nephews are between the ages of 12 - 20, and at that age it's money they get for birthdays and Christmas! However, I'm always looking for ways to make the gift more special. My brother Sean asked if I had money cards for his gift of cash. I came across this tutorial for making a money card.   

Supplies:

Pattern paper from Jingle Level 2 Paper Packet (CTMH)

Cardstock - Tulip, Juniper, Creme Brulee and White Daisy (CTMH)

Stamp Set - Tag the Occasion (CTMH)

Punches - Circle (CTMH), Border (Fiskars), Scallop (SU) 





Amore, Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow my parents are celebrating 46 years of marriage! I used Amore, the December Stamp of the Month to create this card for them. This set is perfect for Valentine's Day, Wedding and Anniversary layouts or cards. It's only available for this month so grab yours today!

Cruise Layouts

My brother Sean took a cruise almost 4 years ago. He gave me digital pictures to scrapbook and I never got around to it. This year I decided to complete it with Studio J and give it to him for Christmas. Since I'm 99.99% sure he never visits my blog here are some of the layouts:

Paper Flower Tutorial

Wow! I never posted twice in the same day, but I had someone ask how I made the flowers from yesterday's post. I've tried many times to make the spiral rolled rosette flowers to no avail. So I was happy to find Beate Johns' tutorial on this flower. You can view it here. I used cardstock instead of the grunge paper. It worked wonderfully! When I assembled my flower I used a punched circle of cardstock and affixed each layer with Liquid Glass instead of wire. I hope you have success making these beautiful dimensional flowers too!

Sleigh Ride Card



Recipe:

Mistletoe Level 2 Paper Packet

Card Chatter - Christmas Stamp Set

New England Ivy Ink Pad

Chirstmas Cards Cricut Cartridge

Mix and Mingle Wall Hanging

A few weeks ago I saw a blog post that used  the Mix and Mingle Album as a wall hanging. I was inspired to make my own. My friend and fellow Close To My Heart Consultant, Jean received this wall hanging today during our Christmas party.

You're getting a sneak peek at Close To My Heart product available in January!

Decorated Tin with Candy

One blog I visit frequently is Becky Roberts. She makes great tutorials. I bought her 12 Days of Christmas package in 2008. You can see her project idea I used here. Now finally two years later I'm using the tutorial and the tins I bought from Papertrey Ink! I have a Christmas party this weekend with my Close To My Heart consultant friends. We exchange "big" gifts, but I wanted to make a little something for everyone. I think these will do nicely!

Shop From the Heart Event



A Baby Card

I found out today that a parent of one of our students had a baby. The staff wants to send a card so I volunteered to make one. I pulled out the Cricut Simply Charmed cartridge (same as the bride from yesterday's post). The Close To My Heart cardstock colors I used are Baby Pink, Blush, Taffy, and Black. I added sticker from the Topstitch collection and pewter brads. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink, Inside & Out Baby.

Card with a Gift Card!

Tresa Black is a very talented Close To My Heart Consultant who came up with this project. You can see her blog post here.

This is my version:

Gift cards aren't just for Christmas. My second cousin is getting married and her shower is Saturday. So here is a different version. The bride is cut on the Cricut with a new cartridge a bought Simply Charmed. I love it!

Time for the Countdown!

My upline, Joyce saw a version of this countdown posted on the Close To My Heart artwork website for consultants. I'm not sure who the first consultant was to make it, but I'm glad she shared her work. Joyce asked me to bring my Bind-It-All so we could make these at a unit meeting. This is going to go on my desk at school and my students will take turns flipping the numbers!

Close To My Heart Materials List:

Mistletoe Level 1 Paper Pack

Colonial White Cardstock

Friendship Alphabet Small (for letters)

Friendship Alphabet Large (for numbers)

Cranberry Ink

New England Ivy Ink

Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment

Other:

Coasters

Bind-It-All

Sympathy Cards

Sadly, an acquaintance of my mom's lost her battle with cancer on Friday. My mom needed two sympathy cards for her sisters. I had been working with the Close To My Hearts' Olivia paper packet and still had Cricut flowers made. The sentiment "With Heartfelt Sympathy" is from a Stampin' Up set I own.

Washer Pendant

Take a washer, apply patterned paper and liquid glass. Now you have a beautiful pendant. I've seen a few consultants post pictures of their jewelry creations recently. I wanted to make one but never made the time. Then a two weeks ago at my uplines' team meeting I made one. Not bad for my first attempt. I picked up a dozen washers at the hardware store to make more. I'm thinking these will make excellent Christmas gifts!

The Present

I love this sentiment from The Present stamp set. I'm using the beautiful Olivia paper since it matches the autumn colors I see out my window! Recently, I've seen a few tutorials on how to make paper flowers, but since I own a Cricut I decided that was the best way for me. I cut several sizes of the same image, inked the edges, layered and added a brad! I made several and will be using them with my next project.   

Happy Fall

I love things about all of the seasons, but autumn is probably my favorite! The card base is a clear card that Close To My Heart sells. I used an embossing folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug. I saw other consultants using this technique and I just had to try it. I like this technique and made a Christmas card that I will share another day.

Did you know that Close To My Heart has a monthly TV show? It's called Art and Soul. You can find it on my website. This month features the tissue stamping technique. I used that technique to create the multicolor leaves on my card. Go to my website and check it out! New episodes air the third Tuesday of the month.

November Stamp of the Month

The two kinds of cards I make and send the most are birthday and thank you. So I like a variety of stamps to use for these occasions. I love, love November's Stamp of the Month, A Little Thanks. Here are some cards I made using the stamp set and Magnifique paper.

Happy Halloween!

I have so many nugget tins that I decided to use them for Halloween this year. I bought pumpkin light up necklaces for my class and made a quick card using Hooligans paper and the felt monster sticker assortment. For trick-or-treaters coming to our house the tins are filled with candy treats!

Another Studio J Layout

Don't waste your time and money taking your camera's memory card to the store and printing photos. Use Studio J instead. For about the same cost you can create a beautiful two page layout in minutes. I'd love to show you how. Contact me for more information.

This is another layout I created with Studio J. These pictures are my brother's family. I'll be framing them for my brother and sister-in-law for a Christmas present.

Studio J Layout

The last time my entire family had a photo sitting my 18 year old niece was a baby in arms. That picture was hanging in the living room until I had a contractor repaint for my parents' Christmas present two years ago. This year's present is updated photos and framed prints. A few weeks ago my friend Randi took the photos. I purchased 13 x 19 paper for my Canon Pro9000 printer. Now all I need is frames! In the meantime I uploaded the photos to Studio J and created layouts. This layout is for my album.

October Stamp of the Month Layout

This layout design is from Magic, Close To My Heart's newest how-to-book. In August I attended an event for consultants to work on Stamp of the Month artwork. It was hosted by my sideline, Krista. Recently her layout was picked as a winner by the corporate office of Close To My Heart. YAY! 

I love Krista's idea of using the stamped candy cane images in the title. First stamp your title. Then stamp and cut out the candy canes from the Stamp of the Month set. Next line up where you want the candy canes to be "hooked" and cut slits on both sides of the letter with a craft knife. Last slide the candy canes through the slits.

October Stamp of the Month Cards

Share the Magic is the perfect stamp set for the Holiday cards, layouts, and packaging. Remember it's only available for this month, and you can earn it for free!

Liquid Applique was used for Santa's beard and Fun Flock was applied to his suit. 

A string of Christmas lights on Rudolph are accented with liquid glass. I think his nose needs some too!

The Frosty card showcases a brad from Close To My Heart's new Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment. I used my Gelly Roll Glitter Pen but I think it's too subtle. Maybe I should go over it with Prisma Glitter or Stickles glitter glue.

Ice Crystals

I had to get the stamp set with the name Crystal in it! This was the third card that I prepared for the Christmas Card Extravaganza a few weeks ago. The design had gone through a couple of changes along the way. I settled on the "framed" feeling for the sentiment days before the event. I love how changing the inside greeting this could be more than a Christmas card. You could use it for a seasonal thank you, thinking of you, or birthday card. Here is the first version of the card with the color scheme.



Everlasting

I was so excited to see Everlasting in the Fall / Winter Idea Book. I will be using the scripture sentiment often for cards. Included is one of my father's favorite verses from the book of Isiah. If you attended the Christmas Card Extravaganza on Saturday this was the second card I taught. This cards is a quick and economical card to mass produce and will probably be the card I send out to family and friends this year!

Card base- 5.5" X 8.5", scored at 4.25" and folded in half
Mistletoe Patterned Paper - 5.25" X 3.75"
Cranberry Piece - 5.25" X 1" (scallop punch or use corner rounder)

Captured Moments

When a Close To My Heart's New Idea Book and Catalog is released I glance once and make my must have list. Then I spend the next few months getting the products I love. With this catalog I had the opportunity to buy things in bundles since I attended convention in July. So I get thing in bundles I wouldn't normally buy. One of those stamps sets this time around was Captured Moments. However, this is now a favorite. Funny how that happens! 

These cards are inspired by the "picture window" design over at Stamp TV. The first card was a project for today's Christmas Card Extravaganza Event. I put together a picture tutorial for sponging the background. It's super easy and looks fabulous in real life! No matter which card card you choose to do here are the paper measurements.

Card base- 5.5" X 8.5", scored at 4.25" and folded in half 

First layer (Pacifica) - 5.25" X 4"
Second layer (Embossed White Daisy) - 5" X 3.75"
Window layer (Pacifica) - 3.75" X 3.25"
White stamped window layer - 3.5" X 3"

Picture Tutorial for Sponging the Background

Flip Flap Scrapbook Pages

Here is a two-page layout of 19 photos. What? You say you only see 8? Well there really are 19. It's a "lift the flap" scrapbook page! I love the new Flip Flaps form Close To My Heart.

Here is the left page opened.

Here is the right page opened.

Pretty Peacock

On Labor Day I scrapbooked. It was so much fun. I've been wanting to use the Blue and Green Sparkle Assortment to embellish the peacock paper from Magnifique since I saw an example at Convention. I love the way this looks, so much better in real life. This is the cover page for my album of pictures for convention. I decided to dedicate an album to all the events and conventions I attend from here on out.

  
I'll post the other pages soon. They use Close To My Hearts new Flip Flaps 12" Assortment.

First Day of School

Tomorrow is my first day of school! I made these special treats to give to my "Best #1 Teacher" Coworkers.

My upline made these for her open house. When I saw them I knew I had to make them for my coworkers. Originally the idea was published in Creating Keepsakes Magazine. Another Close To My Heart consultant made them and posted directions that my upline shared with me. What a crafting community to which we belong! Here is what you need:

3 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of yellow cardstock, score every 1/2"

3 1/2" x 3/8" piece of pink cardstock, score every 1/2"

3 1/2"x 3/8" piece of foil

1" pink circle

1 1/2" white circle with stamped sentiment

Ribbon or Waxy Flax

Candy: Rolo and a Hershey Kiss

I used Glue Dots and my ATG tape gun to put it all together.