Learning Design Space

I've been learning more about Cricut Explore and Design Space. I've known about the print and cut feature, but I just discovered patterns! Until Yesterday,  I had no clue that some image sets / cartridges have patterns, or that you could upload digital paper jpg files you have! I love this feature! For these cards I used Lori's Garden, which is part of the subscription. Everything except the the ribbon and card base was a print and cut item.

Sympathy Card using FFS Cut File

I've been using my Cricut Explore a lot recently. When I had the need for a sympathy card I decided to use a window card from one of Close To My Heart's Cricut Collections and flowers from Fred She Said's Cutting File - Build a Floral Spray SET 1 (SVGs work with Design Space / Cricut Explore).

Dancing Penguin

I love this Dancing Penguin Digi Stamp from Fred She Said. I used my print and cut feature in Cricut's Design Space and then used an image from Joys of the Season to do the snow globe shaped card. The finishing touches are a bow from Close To My Heart and sparkle from Wink of Stella!

Joyful Stars December 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars December 2015 Blog Hop! This hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Nancy's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you're back to the blog that you started on to make sure you see all the fabulous projects.

My project is a gift card holder. Kirsten Desorcy, a fellow CTMH consultant, shared cutting dimensions for these adorable gift card holders. I took those dimensions and created a Design Studio project. She included a belly band, but for my cards I used Hook & Loop Dots to keep them closed.

I'll be making a few of these with the White Pines paper and coordinating embellishments for Christmas this year. December is also an anniversary month in my family. My parents are celebrating 51 years on December 22! Here is a version using La Vie En Rose paper and coordinating embellishments. 

Thanks for hopping along this month. Your next stop is Andrea's blog. Just in case you get lost or experience a technical difficulty, you might want to keep Joyce's blog open in a separate tab, as she has a full list of participants.

The Joyful Stars Blog Hoppers at a recent event

Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking & Cyber Sale

Here is one more layout I completed with the Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking Workshop. Today is the last day to get this special and workshop directions. Even of you aren't shopping for the November special grab the workshop directions to use with whatever supplies you have!

CTMH's Cyberweek Sale: From 11:00 am Monday, November 30 through 6:00 pm Friday, December 4, select items—including our Cricut® Artfully Sent collection will be an incredible 25% off retail price! All items will be available in a special shopping category on my web site: crystal.ctmh.com

Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking Layout 2

This holiday weekend I've been working on scrapbooking some highlights of 2015 using Close To My Heart's Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking workshop. This is a sepcial for the month of November so grab the workshop direction and supplies before November is over!

These are pictures from August 2015. I went on a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. One night we went to Barefoot Landing and the T.I.G.E.R.S. Preservation Stations. It was so cool! I have some journaling to add, but this layout is just about finished!

Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking Layout 1

This holiday weekend I've been working on scrapbooking some highlights of 2015 using Close To My Heart's Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking workshop. This is a sepcial for the month of November so grab the workshop direction and supplies before November is over!

These are pictures from January 2, 2015. I went to Winterthur to see the costumes of Downton Abbey exhibit and Holiday tour of the mansion. It was an awesome trip to start the year! I just need to add some journaling and this layout is done!

Joyful Stars November 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars November 2015 Blog Hop! This hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Krista's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you're back to the blog that you started on to make sure you see all the fabulous projects.

I have a scrapbook layout to share this month. I'm working on vacation pictures, and I love the ability to make my own color combination with Close To My Heart's Fundamentals Line. I used Sunset and Honey paper from the Adventure Collection and embellishments from the Pomegranate Assortment. I used leftover Eggplant paper from the Sangria paper packet too. This is one of the five layouts from this month's Simply Fundamental Scrapbook Workshop. Grab the workshop even if you aren't purchasing this month's special, because it will work with any Close To My Heart supplies you already have too. Although I do think this month's campaign Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking  is pretty awesome, and I'm eagerly awaiting my goodies to arrive this week!

I did use some retired product (Stickease sticker and Picture My Life card) and wanted to remind you to keep an eye out on the While Supplies Last. You can find some summer themed cards and embellishments there if you are like me and still working on that season!

Thanks for hopping along this month. Your next stop is Nancy's blog. Just in case you get lost or experience a technical difficulty, you might want to keep Joyce's blog open in a separate tab, as she has a full list of participants.

Joyful Stars October 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars October 2015 Blog Hop! This hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Joyce's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you're back to the blog that you started on to make sure you see all the fabulous projects.

Harvest Happiness Bendy Card
Design Space Cricut Bendy Card File (created with Art Philosophy and Artiste)
Sangria Paper Pack
Sangria Assortment
Harvest Happiness Stamp Set (compatible with Art Philosophy)
Poppy Ink
Sunset Ink
Saffron Ink
Cocoa Ink
Bronze Shimmer Trim
Gold Sequins

Thanks for hopping along this month. Your next stop is Nancy's blog. Just in case you get lost or experience a technical difficulty, you might want to keep Joyce's blog open in a separate tab, as she has a full list of participants.

Christmas Card Making Day

One of the cards I prepared and taught

This weekend was the annual Christmas Card Making Day. I prepared and taught two card designs. It was a lot of fun, and I hope everyone that attended left inspired to create handmade cards this holiday season.

The other card I prepared and taught

A card Liz taught

Liz's second card...love the foil trim

A card by Joyce...mine is without the sentiment

Swing card by Joyce

A card Stacey taught...think I need this stamp set

Love that Stacey did a New Year's card

Christmas 2015 Picture My Life Album

Joyful Stars Team from left: Krista, Stephanie, me, Joyce (our CTMH mom!), and Jean

Close To My Heart corporate office held a training event "Making Connections" in Lancaster, PA this past Friday. Any time I get to spend with my CTMH family is uplifting and inspiring. We received many goodies to create fabulous projects.

 One of the items was the White Pines Picture My Life Cards. We were given additional materials to create an introduction page and sample album pages. What I love about these cards is they act as a countdown for Christmas with cards for December 1 - 25. The day after the event as I was putting away my supplies I saw a Ruby Album I had and thought it would be perfect for this album. In about 3 hours I had this album put together. Now I'm looking forward to documenting my December activities this year, since all I need to do is add pictures!

Joyful Stars September 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars September 2015 Blog Hop! This hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Andrea's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you're back to the blog that you started on to make sure you see all the fabulous projects.

My project is a card featuring the September Stamp of the Month: Paper Garden. The image was stamped in Whisper Ink on Watercolor Paper. Then I used the new Watercolors to paint! The colors of paint I choose work wonderful with Sangria Paper Pack. I kept the embellishments simple with Poppy Thick Twine and a flower from the Sangria Assortment.

Thanks for hopping along this month. Your next stop is Marie's blog. Just in case you get lost or experience a technical difficulty, you might want to keep Joyce's blog open in a separate tab, as she has a full list of participants.

First Day of School Teacher Gift

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the staff and students at our school. I thought a little treat for my coworkers would be a nice thing. I stumbled upon this printable tag from Thirty Handmade Days and loved the reference from the popular children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

I happened to have the Poppy Thick Twine handy while making these. I love this new color from Close To My Heart, and it worked perfectly to attach the tags.

FSS Scribbled Rose Card

Fred She Said's Scribbled Rose Digi Stamp is the focus of this card. This image was cut out using the print and cut feature with the Cricut Explore. It did an amazing job cutting out the thin stem.

To complete the card I used a scrap of pattern paper from Stampin Up and a Martha Stewart border punch. I haven't used punches in years!

Mini Candy Bar Holder

Today's project is a mini candy bar holder. Check it out when opened!

I came across the directions and video tutorial for these several years ago and made them at Christmas time, check out that post here. Lately I've been creating projects in Design Space and using my Cricut Explore. I wondered if I could recreate this project to make it faster, simpler, easier. After tweaking it a bit, here it is! To cut it you will need the Close To My Heart Cricut cartridges linked up to your account. I believe I used shapes from Artiste only, but I'm not sure, sorry.

Supplies
Artiste Cricut Collection
Design Space and Cricut Explore
Confetti Wishes Paper Pack (Currently on back ordered list and retiring soon!)
Adhesive
Hook and Loop Dots
ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Marine Blue Marker (To color white ribbon from my stash)
Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen
Happy Birthday stamped image is from a retired Stamp of the Month

Roses from Artfully Sent

Just a quick card today using Artfully Sent.

Supplies:
Cricut® Artfully Sent Collection
Adventure Cardstock Combo Pack ( I used Cotton Candy and Hollyhock)
Pink Glitter Gems

FSS Marigolds and Morpho Card

Marigolds and Morpho is one of my favorite images from Fred She Said Designs. You can get these digi stamps outlined for you to color or precolored. I used precolored on my card.

Joyful Stars July 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars July Blog Hop! This hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Nancy's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you're back to the blog that you started on to make sure you see all the fabulous projects.


Close To My Heart's Annual Convention is happening right now. At convention it's tradition for roommates to exchange gifts. My BFF Jolene and I decided not to attend convention, but we are at a local retreat and decided to exchange roomie gifts! I made Jolene a Picture My Life Mini Album. I got the idea from a Cricut Design Space Make It Now project. I had to resize the images to fit the 3" x 4" cards in the Picture My Life collection. Here are some of the pages.

I also resized the images to fit the 4" x 6" cards and made this mini album.

If you have a subscription to the Design Space image library you can cut these projects. Here are the links!
3" x 4" Picture My Life Mini Album
4" x 6" Picture My Life Mini Album (Note: The dark gray piece says it needs a 12 x 24 mat. I cut on 12 x 12 and it was fine. Once you assemble and decorate you won't see the part that is "cut off'.")

The pink pieces in each project are sized for the using paper to decorate the cover flap. If you don't want to cut it just hide that piece.

Our current Picture My Life cards are retiring August 31 and some collections are already unavailable. Contact your consultant to purchase your favorite collection before it is gone!

Thanks for hopping along this month. Your next stop is Andrea's blog. Just in case you get lost or experience a technical difficulty, you might want to keep Joyce's blog open in a separate tab, as she has a full list of participants.