Month: June 2014

CTMH Cricut Cartridges

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Die Cuts, Paper Crafting, Stamping8 Comments

Welcome back

Cricut cartridges

Since I have started with Close to My Heart I have relished the chance to do lots of different papercrafts.  I have purchased all three Cricut cartridges and I am constantly looking at the booklets that come with the cartridges to do different things.  The Artiste cartridge is great for doing 3 dimensional items such as rolled flowers and lots of different boxes along with an impressive range of embellishments, the Art Philosophy is great for tags and labels while the Artbooking is a very versatile cartridge that does lots of overlays as well as lots of different embellishments for both scrapbooking and cardmaking.  I have used metal dies in the past but rarely use them now as while you can get a clean and crisp image with them you are limited to the size of the die.  With the Cricut machine I can cut each image at whatever size I want plus each cartridge comes with about 700 images, three stamp sets to coordinate with them and dimensional elements to add that little something special to a card or layout.   With all these images on the three cartridges I have not even thought about buying other cartridges.

From the Artiste cartridge I have  made these note boxes from page 65 of the booklet.  They have been cut from Cotton Candy and Buttercup cardstock at 4 1/4″.  (If you love the Buttercup cardstock it is on the retiring list so be in quick to order it).  It is a beautiful colour.  The flowers are cut from the Artiste cartridge as well and the leaves from the Art Philosophy cartridge.

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Here is a close up of using the piercing tool to create a pattern on the edge.

DSCF1465Here is some small cards made out of the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I have cut them all out at 3″ to fit the 3″ envelopes available from CTMH as a bulk order.  You can see with these cards how it it so easy to cut different sizes for the tags to layer on top of the cards.  I have used 4 different shapes for the cards.

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I love how the stamp sets coordinate with cartridges.  I have used the stamp sets that come with the cartridges.

Finally here are a couple of examples from the Artbooking cartridge.  I have cut the overlay at 2 1/2″ and it made a nice background to layer the tags from the Art Philosophy cartridge.

DSCF1451This is a sneak peak of my next post for the Paper Trail Blog Hop featuring the Balloon Ride papers.  I have cut an overlay as well as the titles from the ArtBooking cartridge.  This is such an amazing cartridge and I use it all the time.  I have placed small strips of different coloured cardstock behind the overlay to make this colourful addition to the overlay.

DSCF1309Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Pear, Sherbet, Sky Blue, Creme Brulee, Saddle, Cashmere, Cotton Candy, Buttercup, Hollyhock

Papers – Lollydoodle, Balloon Ride

Inks – Cotton Candy, Pear, Desert Sand, Topiary

Stamps – Distressed Backgrounds,

Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy, Artbooking

Flamingo dots

Topiary ribbon

Brad from the Embellishment

Bakers Twine

Liquid Glass

Pink polka dot washi tape

Brads from the Extraordinary Embellishments pack for $30 when you spend $75

If you would like to order any of these products please visit my shop here.

Have a great week and I will be back next week with another creation.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

CTMH White on white card

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Marianne Creatables15 Comments

Hello there

Just a very quick post today to show you my latest card.  I have had this in my mind for a while and had to get it out.  This is similar to what I was doing prior to starting up with Close to My Heart and could be suitable for any occasion – including bereavements.   I love white on white and here I have combined texture from three different embossing folders from CTMH – Stripes, Damask and Dots.  I had cut out the shapes using the Art Philosophy cartridge and then run them through my Cuttlebug.  I am so pleased how they turned out.  The flower is made from rolling a rose cut from the Artiste cartridge at 3″ and the other petals are cut from Art Philosophy at 3″ and 2 1/2″ (I think – I had cut them out a while ago).  The leaves are from Artiste as is the tag.  The sentiment has come from the Just For You stamp set while  I have finished it off with a couple of black sparkles.

DSCF1467I hope that you like this card.

Happy crafting

Patricia

 

Going all boxy with CTMH

On By patriciamanhireIn Close to My Heart, Crafts4 Comments

Welcome back

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This week I have been having some fun decorating kraft ring boxes that are available at the moment from Close to My Heart.  The retiring list has come out and these boxes are on the list so get in quick if you want any as they are only available while stock lasts.  I have also used products from 2 of the gift collections that are available for this month only when you spend $75 or more this month to celebrate Close to My Heart’s 30th anniversary.

I loved the way the boxes were decorated in the current Ideas Book and here is my version of the ring box from the catalogue.  I have used a combination of Ariana papers with the zip strip from the Ivy Lane range.  I have stamped the box on the side of the lids with the lovely plaid stamp from the Fabulous You stamp set with Olive ink.  I then stamped one of the bird images onto the green paper again with Olive ink.  I then stamped three separate images on some spare Colonial White cardstock and then trimmed out the flowers, distressed them with some Cashmere ink and then layered them onto the top of the stamped image.  I finished off with some pink glitter gems and a ribbon bow from the Ariana assortments.

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This is another box using Ariana papers .  Once again I have stamped the side of the lid with the plaid stamp again in Olive ink.  I have then used the lovely green papers for the base of the box and the top.  The butterfly is cut out of the beautiful floral paper from Ariana using the Artbooking cartridge and I have also cut the overlay out of Ariana Coral cardstock and placed it over the base cut.  I have adhered the butterfly to the top of the lid with liquid glass so it shouldn’t come of in a hurry.  I then finished off with some pink glitter gems.  I really needed a bit of pink around the base so I used the zip strip from the same B&T papers to complement the butterfly.

 

 

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I love the simplicity of the next box.  I have used the lovely Skylark papers and decorated the box with a combination of them and finished off with a zip strip around the side of the lid.  I have stamped one of the chevrons with Sweet Leaf ink  from the Charming Chevron stamp set and finished it off with a bit of bling from the Sparkle Chevron shapes.  I finished off with some ribbon I have just received from the Delightful Ribbon and Trim Collection .  The ribbon is lovely and cream and fits in well with this colour scheme.  It can be dyed any colour as well so I will be getting some re-inkers to do this.  I have topped of with a flower from the Skylark assortments.

 

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This is another quick and easy decorated box.  I have used the blue papers from the Skylark range.  I have also teamed it with the flowers from the floral Ariana papers and the blues of this flower matched really well.  I have fussy cut this flower out from the paper and then cut out the middle of another flower and then layered it on top of the base flower with some foam tape.  I then put a bow made out of white bakers twine and topped off with an aqua dot.

 

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The final box has been made using papers from the Balloon ride papers.  The flowers are from the Extraordinary Embellishments Collection which went really well with the Balloon Ride colours and I have used a brad that also came with the collection to adhere the flowers together and then used liquid glass to adhere the flower to the box.
DSCF1426For all these boxes I have used liquid glass to adhere the paper and cardstock to the box.  It sets very quickly and doesn’t come off in a hurry and I use it all the time.  Plus it is only $12.50 to buy and lasts so long.

Materials used:

Cardstock, White Daisy, Colonial White, Lagoon, Saddle, Ariana Coral

Papers – Skylark, Balloon Ride, Ariana, Ivy Lane

Inks – Olive, Sweet Leaf, Cashmere

Stamps – Charming Chevrons, Fabulous You

Artbooking Cartridge

Liquid Glass

Colour-ready Seam Binding Ribbon

Skylark assortment

Ariana assortment

Brads

Just Blooms Floret paper shapes

Pink Glitter gems 

Aqua dots

White Bakers Twine

Sparkle Chevron shapes

As I said at the start the Retiring List is now out and available on my website here.  Items are available on a strictly while stocks last basis and if there is anything you would like please feel free to contact me.

Have a good week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

 

CTMH

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Cricut, Paper Crafting6 Comments

Welcome back.

Welcome to my new followers and I hope that you enjoy reading my weekly blog showcasing the wonderful CTMH products.

I have realised that I have missed a couple of milestones.  One is that my post on the pennant frames made the top 10 for the Heart 2 Heart Challenges in May.  I was thrilled to see my name and image on the honour board and when my life settles a little I will try and enter more challenges.

The other milestone I missed was that I have now written over 200 blog posts.  I have now been blogging nearly two years and while sometimes it can be a chore it is also challenging me to do different and interesting every week to help inspire others to be more creative.

Today I will show cards that I have made for a craft fair I went to last weekend.  I wanted to show the range of papers available and I heard some lovely comments about how beautiful my cards were.

(I do apologise for the quality of the photos but it was getting dark when I took these photos).

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This card has been made using the Jubilee paper and the SOTM set which was featured in last weeks blog hop – ‘Karboom’.   As I said last week these papers and stamps were meant to be together and this card would be great for a masculine card.  I have finished off with a dimensional star which has been distressed with Cashmere ink and then I have topped off with a blue epoxy bubble.  Finally the blue epoxy bubbles help to anchor the ‘celebrate’ sentiment onto the card.

DSCF1419This card is another masculine card using the Timberline papers and these papers work so well together with the Bamboo cardstock that has been embossed with the stripe embossing folder from CTMH.  I love using the  Perfect Fit – Frames 2 and the Holiday Tags stamp sets and here I have used foam tape to raise the Happy Father’s Day image on the frame.

DSCF1417I love the simplicity of this card and I have used the paper and colours from the Balloon Ride papers.  This card is a sneak peak of what I have been up to with the Balloon Ride papers for another blog hop at the beginning of next month.  Again I have used the stripe embossing folder to emboss the centre panel and have done a variation of my favourite card pattern from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 for a change.  I have used Frame Flair stamps and the Happy Birthday is from the Cursive Birthday stamp set.

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This Skylark card was easy to do as I used the beautiful papers to their full effect.  I have used the corner of one of the B&Ts which already had a lovely pattern with ribbons and stamping.  I have added a couple of extra pennant ribbons with one one made from the other side of this paper and a piece of teal shimmer trim.  The aqua dots work so well with Skylark as well.  I have stamped the corner with the corner stamp from the Believe in Yourself stamp set with Lagoon ink.  I then stamped the Believe in Yourself sentiment from the same stamp set onto White Daisy cardstock which has been matted with Lagoon cardstock.  I have then finished off with a teal resin flower from the Skylark assortments.

 

 

 

 

DSCF1415This card has been made using the Ivy Lane papers and this time I have done the pattern from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 book and used the zip strip for the band.  I love the Frame Flair stamp set as the stamps are so versatile for different uses.  Here I have layered the image with a circle cut out from Pear cardstock and then layered it with a circle from the Perfect-Fit Birthday stamp set and then I have cut the flower from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  The flower has made by cutting three different sizes and then I have sponged the edges with Hollyhock ink and finished off with a flower from the Ivy Lane assortments.

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I think this is my favourite paper pack out of all the new seasons papers.  The Ariana papers have a very vintage feel and look great distressed with Cashmere ink.  This is what I have done here with the papers, sentiment and the butterfly.  The butterfly has been cut using the Artbooking cartridge and I have layered the patterned lower image with the Ariana Coral cardstock (which is only available with this paper pack)  and finished off with the sparkles from the Sparkle – Flourishes set.
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Finally here is the Lollydoodle papers.  I love pink and it is so easy to make cards with this paper packet.  Here I have used the Charming Chevrons stamp set and stamped the images using Cotton Candy ink and then trimmed the chevrons out with scissors and then I have finished them with the coordinating sparkle shapes.  I have used the Frame Flair stamp and then layered the smaller image from the Cricut Art Philosophy Tags stamp set.  This stamp is great as you can chose who you give this card too.  I have used a Flamingo dot to the top of the tag.  I love combining different patterns and shapes and stretching the rules with patterns and shapes.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, White Daisy, Pear, Cashmere, Saddle, Twilight,  Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo, Lagoon

Papers – Ivy Lane, Jubilee, Timberline, Lollydoodle, Ariana, Ballon Ride, Skylark

Inks – Saddle, Twilight, Chocolate, Ponderosa Pine, Cotton Candy, Hollyhock, Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim, Lagoon

Stamp sets – Holiday Tags, Cursive Birthday, Perfect-Fit Birthdays, Perfect Fit – Frames 2, Cricut Art Philosophy Tags, Karboom, Charming Chevrons, Believe In Yourself

Cricut Cartridges – Art Philosophy, Artbooking

Embossing Folders – stripe

Accessories – Flaming Dots, Blue and Green Epoxy bubbles, Sparkles – Flourishes Small, Ivy Lane assortments, Black and Grey sparkles, Sparkle Chevron Shapes, Triangle Studs,

I can’t believe how quickly time is flying and in less than 2 months CTMH will be releasing their new Idea Book.  Most of these papers  and patterns will no longer be available so if you would like to purchase some you will need to be in quick.  Click on any of the highlighted links to go straight to my website where you can browse through all the products that are available.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

I have just realised that I have balanced the cards with a good mix of masculine and feminine cards which is really pleasing.  I hope that you have enjoyed these and I will now have to put my creative cap on for next week’s blog.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Paper Trail Blog Hop – Jubilee

On By patriciamanhireIn Close to My Heart, Die Cuts, Paper Crafting, Scrapbooking, Stamping12 Comments

Welcome to another Paper Trail Blog Hop and this month the focus is on the Jubilee papers.

If you have come from Connie’s blog,  you are in the right place and if you have just popped in to visit then feel free to have a good browse.  The blog hop is circular so once you have visited everyone you will end up where you have started.

I have found this paper range very challenging because it really encapsulates America to me and not so much New Zealand.  The papers are beautiful and as usual with Close to My Heart papers there is a wide range of colours and patterns for all occasions. For this layout I have picked out the beautiful green toned papers as these colours and patterns did remind me a little of New Zealand and the photos I have chosen went well with the blues and reds of the cardstock.

For this layout I have used the Bottom Border – Triple Combination from the Reflections Scrapbooking Programme book.  I love this pattern and use it a lot as it is great for both landscape and portrait photos which I have shown here.  One side is completed with using landscape photos and the other side with portrait photos and I have used different elements for the triple combination.

CTMH Jubilee layout

I have used my Artbooking Cricut cartridges to cut out the photo frames from Indian Corn Blue for the photos.  This was quite important as both the photos and the background paper are really busy and I needed a solid colour to make the photos stand out more.  This cartridge is great and easy to use and I don’t know what I would do without it now.  I adhered the frames to the photos and then onto the background paper.  I also placed some blue patterned papers to cover the bottom of the portrait photos and also tie in with the patterned paper on the other side.

I have used a combination of zip strips and patterned paper to edge the panels of Cranberry cardstock.  These have been distressed with Cashmere ink and then placed on the background paper.

I have discovered dimensional elements and how they can add something a little extra to my work.  You can stamp them, distress them, paint them, cover them with paper and much more.  Here I have used the dimensional elements that match with the Artbooking cartridge set and stamped them using both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue inks.  The arrows have been finished off using blue epoxy bubbles.  The rosette dimensional element has been stamped using the stamp set from the Artiste Cricut cartridge bundle using Outdoor Denim ink.

CTMH Jubilee layout

To add some interest to the page I have embossed some Indian Corn Blue cardstock with the Quatrafoil embossing folder and distressed it with Cashmere ink.  I then cut the pinwheels out of the Artiste Cricut cartridge and stamped them with Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue inks and then topped it off with a blue epoxy bubble.

This page features my son doing demonstration of Taiha – this is a wooden spear type weapon that Maori men train very hard to use in warfare.  A Maori Kaumatua (respected elder) came to the school and taught the children how to wield this weapon.  The children also had moko printed on their faces to make them look more fierce.  The sentiment ‘Sweet As’ has come from the New Zealand Greetings stamp set and is a very popular one in New Zealand.  Also to keep with the theme of New Zealand I have added a stamped kiwi and some leaves that have been stamped using Topiary ink and fussy cut out and then distressed with Cashmere ink and then placed on the page.

This other page features my son dancing around the maypole.  They were having a cultural day and doing different dances and traditions from different cultures.  I have used the Pinwheel SOTM from last year to keep with the motif of movement and stamped with both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue which incidentally picked up the colours of the clothes the children are wearing.  The pinwheels have been adhered to Indian Corn Blue cardstock that has been embossed using the Quatrefoil embossing folder and distressed with Cashmere ink.

I have cut the journalling tag out of Colonial White cardstock using the Artbooking Cricut cartridge and stamped with the coordinating stamp set in Cocoa.  I then distressed with Cashmere ink and completed the journalling.   I love this little tag as the ruled lines make it so easy to write the journalling neatly.

To complete the layout I have stamped onto the dimensional elements using the coordinating stamp sets from the Artbooking cartridge and distressed them with Cashmere ink and placed them on the layout.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Cranberry, Indian Corn Blue, 

Paper pack – Jubilee

Inks – Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry, Cocoa, Cashmere

Stamps – New Zealand Greetings, Pinwheel SOTM (NLA), Artbookimg

Cricut Cartridges – Artbooking, Artiste

Embossing folder – Quatrefoil

Blue and Green Epoxy bubbles

Dimensional Elements

I hope you have enjoyed your visit here and seen how much fun the Jubilee papers are.  Now hop on over to Karen’s blog here to check out her fabulous creations.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Australasian CTMH SOTM Blog Hop – ‘Kaboom’

On By patriciamanhireIn Close to My Heart, Cricut, Paper Crafting, Scrapbooking, Stamping6 Comments

Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Monika’s Blog A Glitter of Sprinke then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

Today I would like to share with you a layout which features June Stamp of the Month ‘Kaboom’   available exclusively throughout June for $29 or for just $5 when you spend $75

The Jubilee range of papers go so well with the ‘Kaboom’ stamp set especially as the ticket image actually says ‘Admit One to a Real Jubilee’ I have got my inspiration from the WOTG for Jubilee but then added my own twist.  I loved how the patterned paper edged the layout and I have copied it here but I have used the kraft cardstock as base instead of the blue cardstock base.

I have then used the big star burst and one of the smaller star burst stamps and stamped the background with Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry and Honey randomly.  (I have got this idea from another CTMH consultant on Facebook).

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I have basically followed the Front & Centre – Accent Band pattern in the Reflections Scrapbook Programme with a band along the centre.  I love these books as they give all the instructions on cutting the pieces as well as showing alternatives to suit your photos.

 

CTMH Jubilee layout using the June SOTM set - KaboomFor the centre band I have used Indian Corn Blue and Cranberry cardstock.  I then matted the photos with Indian Corn Blue cardstock and placed them on the above and below the centre band.  I have been wanting to do the cute owl in the Artbooking Cricut cartridge for ages and thought it would go great with the school theme.

CTMH Jubilee layout

The owl has been cut out using Slate as the base of the cut, Cashmere for the top layer and then I have laid it all on Cocoa cardstock and trimmed the cardstock around the owl.  The tree branch has been cut using Olive cardstock and the leaves from Topiary. The apples have been cut out of Cranberry cardstock and distressed with Cranberry ink.  All cut pieces have been distressed with Cashmere ink.

CTMH Jubilee layout

I have also used the Artbooking Cricut cartridge to cut the title on the left ‘think, grow, learn’ out of Topiary cardstock as well.  The letters on the right layout is from Art Philosophy and I have cut them out Topiary.  Again they have been distressed with Cashmere ink.

CTMH Jubilee layout

To embellish the layouts I have stamped the movie ticket image several times to make the two tickets.  The first ticket I stamped the image with Cocoa ink on Colonial White cardstock and trimmed it with scissors.  I then stamped the same image with Indian Corn Blue on Colonial White cardstock and I then trimmed the middle part out and adhered it to the first image.  The second ticket was created by stamping the image with Cocoa onto Indian Corn Blue and then fussy cut out.  I then stamped the image with Cranberry onto Colonial White cardstock and trimmed out the middle and adhered it onto the the blue ticket.  I then placed them over the ticket image already on the paper to create some dimension.  The ‘fun’ image has also come from the ‘Kaboom‘ stamp set and I have stamped this with Indian Corn Blue ink onto a round dimensional element and then distressed with Cashmere ink.  This was then placed over the tickets.

The ‘Lets Celebrate’  image has been stamped with Cocoa ink on Colonial White cardstock.  I then stamped the same image with Cranberry ink   on Colonial White cardstock and just trimmed the ribbon and then adhered it onto the original image.  I then placed it over the corner of the top photo.

The gingham button has been created by gluing the paper onto a dimensional element using the Bonding Memories glue.  I trimmed around the edge and then used a sanding tool to sand the inside to reveal the star shape.  I then glued some Cranberry cardstock underneath and then trimmed closely.  To finish off I have distressed again with Cashmere ink.

The mini starbursts have been cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge using varying  sizes.  The small size was ideal for the mini starburst image and I have stamped several using Honey, Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue ink.  I have distressed them all and then added them randomly throughout the layout.

The ‘What a Blast’ image has been stamped using both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue Ink onto the medium sized cuts and edged with the same colour ink before placing over another slightly larger cut which had already been distressed with Cashmere ink.  This created an illusion of a dimensional element and went well with the layout.

I have actually finished the journalling as well by using a hidden tag under the last photo.  Normally, I find the journalling the most difficult part but for this layout it was quite easy as the photos were really fun and I can remember it like it was yesterday (in reality it was too many years ago to count!).  I have cut the tag from the same page that I have cut the ticket shape from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge so there is some continuity within the layout.  I have distressed again with Cashmere ink and wrote the journalling with a marker.  I have cut strips of gingham paper to make some tags and then placed the tag behind the photo.  This is a great way to put journalling on a page without disrupting the layout.

Finally I have placed some strips of patterned paper and dove tailed them for some added colour.

This was a fun layout to do as the photos were interesting and the ‘Kaboom‘ stamp set and Jubilee papers went so well with the colours and theme of the photos.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry, Kraft, Colonial White, Olive, Topiary, Slate, Cashmere

Paper – Jubilee

Inks – Cranberry, Indian Corn Blue, Cashmere, Honey

Cricut Cartridges – Artbooking, Art Philosophy

Dimensional Elements

Reflections Scrapbook Programme

‘Kaboom‘  is only available until 30 June  from your CTMH consultant and if you would like to purchase it please visit my website here.  I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Shaunna’s Blog Passionate About Pages

Happy Crafting

Patricia