October Specials

October is my favorite month of the year.  The weather is beautiful, the trees are changing colors, apples are plentiful, pumpkin patches and fall festivals are tons of fun...what's not to love!  An added bonus is that I celebrate both my birthday and anniversary this month too!  I wish it could be October all year long :-)

Unfortunately, October only lasts for 31 days and we move into November, then December.  Close to my Heart is preparing us for those upcoming months by offering a Holiday themed Stamp of the Month for October.  This way, you will have your Holiday stamps in plenty of time to create tags, cards and layouts for December!  This stamp set is only available for purchase from Oct. 1-31!  The set can be purchased for $17.95, or only $5 with any $50 purchase.   

These images can be stamped alone or stamped onto coordinating Cricut shapes cut from CTMH's Art Philosophy cartridge.  Here are a few examples of the Home for the Holidays stamp set in action.

Once you've already earned your Stamp of the Month by spending $50, you will also get a free roll of chevron ribbon shipped with your order!  Such a fun added bonus for October!  Visit my website to place your order and take advantage of these great offers only available in October!!

October Workshop - Halloween Banner

Join me this month as we make a Halloween Banner to display the fun costumes you and/or your family have donned over the years! Your finished banner will include 8 decorated flags hung on 2 yards of black and white striped ribbon. 

This workshop will be held on Thursday, October 23rd at 7:30 PM.   All materials will be pre-cut and ready to assemble.  All you need to bring is eight 4"x4" pictures!  Light refreshments will be provided. 

Space is limited, so purchase your kit today to reserve your spot!  The RSVP and payment deadline is Monday, October 13th.  You will receive a confirmation e-mail within 48 hours of your payment.  The cost to create this Halloween banner is $15.  Additional flags (as well as 6 extra inches of ribbon) can be purchased for $2 each.  Please make a note when checking out as to how many extra flags you'd like to make.  Payment for these extra flags can be made at the workshop.

Not local to the area, contact me to purchase the kit (with an added fee for S & H) so you can create your own version at home!  All images will be pre-cut, pre-stamped and ready to assemble.  I am happy to help you out via e-mail or phone with any questions you may have.

September Specials

I know the month of September is almost over, but there are still a couple of days left!  CTMH has some great deals for this month!

The Stamp of the Month for September is Family is Forever.  This stamp set is valued at $17.95, but is yours for only $5 with any $50 purchase. 

Here are a couple projects made with this stamp set.

Also in September, if you purchase $30 worth of stamps, you get this special stamp set to commemorate 30 years of stamping with CTMH as well as National Stamping Month!  This set has 30 mini stamps that are great for accenting all kinds of creations!  There are only 3 more days to take advantage of this offer - a FREE stamp set!

Visit my website if you'd like to place an order and get your September specials!

My Amazing Summer!

Wow!  It has been over 3 months since I last posted on my blog!!!!  Honestly, I have just been enjoying life with my family and friends.  We had an amazing summer!  Unfortunately, my blog and business got pushed to the back burner while I was gallivanting around the world!  But, life has calmed down, the kids are back in school, and I'm pushing full steam ahead with my crafting!  So be prepared to see a lot more from me.....starting NOW!

I LOVE taking pictures, so I thought I'd share a few photos from my summer.  Though I took thousands of pictures this summer, I narrowed it down to just these (a very hard task)!

We started out the summer by heading to Park City, Utah.  My husband and I ran as part of the Ragnar Relay.  There are 12 people on a team, and we take turns running for a day and half to finish the ~200 course.  This is my second Ragnar, and my husband's third.  While the sights of Utah are breathtaking, it was hard work running through the Wasatch Back Mountains!  Here are a couple of my favorites from that trip.

 

While there, we visited the Olympic Training Park.  This was a fascinating show featuring the Aerial ski jumpers! 

When we got back from Utah, my niece and nephew came to stay with us for the week leading up to 4th of July.  It was so fun watching all the kids play together and enjoying cousin time!  

Next, a few friends and I took a quick girls weekend trip up to New York!  We stayed in Times Square, saw Chicago on Broadway, and visited many of the city sights.  My favorite thing (my first time doing this in NYC) was a Sunset Boat Cruise.  I only had my phone, so I don't have any great pictures.  However, here are a few of my favorites!

In mid-July, we headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week at the beach with more family!  We always stay in the 4x4 area (you have to drive on the beach to get to your house) because it is so much more serene and peaceful!  Plus, the wild horses are constantly wandering around your house!  This was a magnificent treat for my horse-loving daughter!

 

 

 

At the end of July, we flew off to Paris and Ireland for my first EVER European trip!  Words cannot describe how amazing it was.  Our Paris trip was really just a one-day layover, but long enough to explore some highlights of the city and to witness our friends get engaged on the Eiffel Tower!

 

 Sunset over Paris from the Eiffel Tower!

 While in Dublin, why not run a half marathon :-)

  No trip to Ireland should be complete without a Rainbow!

 Cliffs of Moher, on a perfectly, rainy Irish day!

 Our road trip through the countryside showed us lots of sheep and ruins (not always together).

 Bicycling adventure through Killarney National Park!

The beautiful Ashford Castle!

 You can't get more picture perfect than this!

 Connemara County - In my opinion, this was the most beautiful day of driving!

 Adare Manor

Shortly after our return to reality, my daughter celebrated her 8th Birthday with her first Sleepover party! I believe it was everything she imagined it would be!

We finished off the summer with our annual family camping trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Then the kids started back up in school!  It was a whirlwind of a summer, but I wouldn't change a thing!

However, I am happy to get back into doing something else that I love.....crafting!!!!  Just imagine how many scrapbook pages I have planned for all these beautiful pictures ;-)

June Workshop - U.S.A. Banner

Join me this month as we make a Patriotic U.S.A. banner just in time for Fourth of July! Your finished banner will include 5 decorated flags hung on 72" of red, white and blue twine. 

The medallions and stars are 3-dimensional giving depth to the banner. 

This workshop will be held on Thursday, June 19th at 7:30 PM.   All materials will be precut and ready to assemble.  Light refreshments will be provided. 

Space is limited, so purchase your kit today to reserve your spot!  The RSVP and payment deadline is June 17th.  You will receive a confirmation e-mail within 48 hours of your payment.  The cost to create this Patriotic banner is $10.

 

Not local to the area, contact me to purchase the kit (with an added fee for S & H) so you can create your own version at home!  All images will be pre-cut and ready to assemble.  I am happy to help you out via e-mail or phone with any questions you may have.

ABC Blog Hop - Letter "K"

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

For this hop we will be featuring the letter K. This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment. Whatever the crafter has chosen as their K element will be featured in their post.

If you have just hopped onto my blog, please start at the beginning at Linda's blog ~ Scrappy Therapy.  If you came from Catherine Nowak at Catscrapbooking, then you're on the right track!

For my "K" creation, I decided to focus on Kraft.  There are two elements in my design using that designation - Kraft Cardstock and Keyboard Kraft Alphabet Stickers. 

When I first saw the Skylark Paper Pack, the colors brought to mind our beach pictures from 2 years ago.  I took the layout design on p. 21 of Close to my Heart's Spring/Summer Idea Book & Catalog, and changed a few elements around to make it my own. I also used Pattern 15 from my Make It From Your Heart Book, Volume 2 to design a corresponding page (since the original in the IB was only a single page layout).  All paper and stamp sets used in this layout are from the Skylark Workshop on the Go kit.

Other than the beautiful colors of Skylark, one my favorite elements on this page is the teal shimmer trim.  This stuff is phenomenal to add sparkle to any creation!  It is adhesive on the bottom side, and full of sparkles on the top!  CTMH offers shimmer trim in 6 different colors!

My other favorite element is the Irresistibles triangles.  The Irresistible line is so versatile and adds great dimension to any project.  They are a sturdy white chipboard shape with a resist pattern on them.  I used my Lagoon Ink Pad (or you could you markers too) and just rubbed it over the top.  The ink soaks into the non-glossy surfaces of the shape, but does not absorb into the glossy pattern.  I just used a tissue to wipe any excess ink off the glossy portions.  This is such an easy way to get custom embellishments to fit your layout colors.

If you are familiar with CTMH's products, you may be wondering where I got triangles from.  There are two offerings in the Irresistibles line - hexagons and frames.  I took the square center out of the frames and cut them into quarters (diagonally) to form 4 triangles per square.  If you look closely at the image, you can see the glossy resist patterns on each section (left two rows are the polka dots, middle two are the houndstooth and the right two rows are the stripes).

The Keyboard Kraft Alphabet stickers allowed me to easily add the date to my layout.  I finished off this section with the heart stamp from the Skylark Workshop on the Go Stamp Set.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed my "K" creation.  Here is a list of Close to my Heart supplies used for this card:
Z1825 - Keyboard Kraft Alphabet
Z1918 - Teal Shimmer Trim
G1072 - Workshops on the Go Skylark Scrapbooking Kit
Z1843 - Irresistibles Frames
Z1686 - Cricut Art Philosophy Collection
Z2114 - Cocoa Ink
Z2195 - Lagoon Ink
Z2153 - Sweet Leaf Ink
Z1151 - Foam Tape

All items can be purchased through my CTMH website.

Next stop is Renee Musgrave at Renee's Creative Queens.  In case you get lost along the way…go to Scrappy Therapy for a complete list of participants

Using up Scraps!

One thing that most Paper crafters have in common is we own WAY too much paper!  I certainly am guilty of buying paper much faster than I use it.  It's just all so pretty, and I know one day I will find the perfect craft for it!

 

When I do open a pack of paper and use part of it for a craft, there are always little scraps left.  As you can probably tell, I am very attached to all of my paper.   Unless the scraps are teeny pieces, they go into my "scrap bag".....which is also growing exponentially!  I needed to make a couple thank you cards for clients of mine, so I decided to see if I could slim down my scrap bag a bit!

 

Most of the scraps I selected are leftover from a workshop I had before Christmas (using the retired CTMH Sparkle & Shine Paper Pack).  I decided to add the Gypsy (purple) pieces as well for a fun pop of color.  The slate cardstock is for the base of the card.

Here is my creation!  The only other thing I added was a strip of silver shimmer trim to add some sparkle to the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  Let me know if you've got other fun ideas for using up scraps.

Close to My Heart Supplies Used:
X254 - White Value Pack Cards & Envelopes
Z1799 - Silver Shimmer Trim
Z1151 - Foam Tape
B1438 - Banner Wishes Stamp Set
Z2173 - Slate Exculsive Inks Stamp Pad
D1482 - Love Life Stamp Set
Retired Sparkle & Shine Paper Pack
CTMH Cardstock - Slate, Gypsy, Juniper

All items can be purchased through my CTMH website.