Today for Inspiration Wednesday for Heartfelt Creations I have two projects in two posts. First up is this umbrella that I have created using an SVG file from svgcuts.com.
Materials Used:
HCD1-7170 Lush Lilac Die
HCD1-7171 Lush Lilac & Umbrella Die
HCD1-7172 Lush Lilac Scroll & Cage Die
HCPC-3816 Lush Lilac Cling Stamp
HCPC-3817 Lush Lilac & Umbrella Cling Stamp Set
HCPC-3818 Lush Lilac Scroll & Notes Cling Stamp Set
Die cut the umbrella using the SVG file on the machine using the American Crafts purple cardstock and the patterned paper. Assemble according to the instructions. An extra layer was added for more strength to the umbrella handle.
Stamp two large lilac spray image from the HCPC-3818 Lush Lilac Scroll & Notes Cling Stamp Set in Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock. Sponge the leaves with Bamboo Leaves inks and use the Dove Blender pen to colour the flowers with the Purple and Lavender inks and die cut with the coordinating dies. Shape lightly and adhere to the back of the umbrella on either side of the handle.
Stamp several small lilac spray images from the HCPC-3816 Lush Lilac Cling Stamp set in Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock. Sponge the leaves with Bamboo Leaves inks and use the Dove Blender pen to colour the flowers with the Purple and Lavender inks and die cut with the coordinating dies. Adhere to the umbrella handle (leaving room for the ribbon bow) and around the larger lilac spray images on the back of the umbrella.
Stamp three large lilac spray images from the HCPC-3817 Lush Lilac & Umbrella Cling Stamp Set in Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock. Sponge the leaves with Bamboo Leaves and colour the flowers with Purple and Lavender inks with the Dove Blender Pen. Die cut with the coordinating dies, shape and adhere to the top of the front of the umbrella as shown.
Stamp the lilacs from the HCPC-3816 Lush Lilac Cling Stamp in Purple ink, sponge with the Purple ink and die cut with the corresponding die. Shape the lilacs with the HCFB1-466 Lush Lilac Mold kit and adhere the lilacs to large sprays on the front of the umbrella, the long and small lilac sprays on the inside of the umbrella and up the umbrella handle. Add Crystal Clear glitter to the lilacs with Glue Gloss
Cut the tags from the patterned paper and adhere to the umbrella handle with twine. To finish make a double bow with organza and purple ribbon using the bow maker and adhere to the handle as shown. Add pearls around the front as shown.
This week I have been busy making Christmas goodies for Gift Hutt. I have nearly sold out of my gift voucher cards and thought I would make some more using some different techniques. I had a look on Pinterest and found this idea using the Stampin Up top note die on this site here. They were very quick and easy to do.
I have been going through my supplies to do a de-stash and found a packet of Kaisercraft Leaf and Twig papers that coordinated really well with White Pines, Fern and Ruby cardstock. So I have made some card holders and also some Christmas sweet treats with them. I have had the little stamp set for many years and it is so cute. Unfortunately, the shop that I bought it from has just closed down. I have used the CTMH blender pen to colour in the images for a bit of colour.
Here are the sweet treats inspired by a CTMH consultant Karen Campbell Leach using the Art Philosophy cartridge. These were also quick to make and I have used a combination of White Pines and the Kaisercraft Leaf and Twig papers.
Materials used:
Cardstock – Ruby, Topiary, Fern, Kraft (CTMH)
Papers CTMH White Pines, Kaisercraft Leaf and Twig
Ink – Desert Sand, Black, Fern, Ruby (CTMH)
Stamps – Hastings Rubber Stamps Not a Peep – (NLA)
It has been a very difficult couple of weeks with all the terrorist attacks in Paris, Mali, Egypt and other areas. My thoughts go out to all those that have been affected by the terrorist attack and I hope these photos on this layout reminds people of the beauty in the world.
It was very poignant for me as I had just been going over photos that my daughter had taken when she went on a trip to Europe a couple of years ago. I did a card a few weeks ago featuring a French themed Nevermore card to practice for making this layout. My daughter has taken some amazing photos of Paris and the Eiffel Tower and Paris at night and they deserved to be showcased. The chandelier and flourish under the Eiffel Tower was cut from the Artiste cartridge and the Artbooking cartridge respectively, and then I stamped them with versamark ink and heat embossed with silver Ranger embossing powder. The chandelier was finished with some clear sparkles. I used Cricut Craftroom to size the Eiffel Tower to fit onto the layout and the flourish square is cut from the Artiste cartridge (page 60) with the centre kept for the frame. I didn’t have enough photos for the 5th square so I cut a bird cage from a Couture Creations die to complete the French theme. I am happy with this and got some more Paris photos to scrap at some stage.
This week I have been carded out as well as still waiting for my order to arrive so I thought I would look at some UFOs – Un Finished Objects. A couple of months ago I bought the gorgeous A Taste of Summer paper pack that was part of the National Scrapbooking month as well as the coordinating stamp set. I found some photos from when my children were young and the colours matched the papers very well and started to do the layouts and then got side tracked. So today I got them out and finished them. I did 4 layouts today but ran out of sunlight to take photos of them all, but I was very pleased to be able to put them in my album. I have used the Reflections How To Book for my inspiration.
I have cut all the titles out from the Artbooking Cricut cartidge and all the fruit has been stamped and fussy cut out.
I have used the Charming Chevrons stamp set and added a bit of sparkle with the coordinating sparkles chevron shapes which is no longer available. The title has been cut from both Sunset cardstock and White Daisy cardstock to help it stand out from the background paper.
The camera has been cut using the new Artistry cartridge in Slate and Hollyhock cardstock. I have also used the new Artistry cartridge to cut the Smile and Enjoy sentiments. These cuts are quite different in that the cuts are designed to go inside the frames so I have cut out the inners with White Daisy cardstock and stamped the frame image on the pink patterned paper and then fussy cut them out. My daughter was wearing a dress that I had made using strawberry covered fabric which tied in really well with the papers.
Hello and welcome aboard our CTMH Australasian Blog Hop featuring the beautiful Zoe Reflections range of papers and embellishments. If you have arrived here from Maz’s Blog, Inky Fingers 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 project that I have made using the new Zoe paper range. This is gorgeous paper that is so perfect for scrapbooking but I wanted to do something different with it so I have made a calendar book to put in all the birthdays throughout the year so you will never forget a birthday again. I first made one of these many years ago when I started some classes and they are simple to do even if you have no Cricut machine.
To start I cut 14 sheets of cardstock at 8 1/4″ x 11 1/2″. I have used Slate, Whisper, Glacier, Sorbet and Canary cardstock to match the papers on the papers. For the front I have used the sorbet coloured papers from the Whimsy Fundamentals paper pack. I then scored down the centre of the longer side at 5 3/4″ and folded it in half. I then used my trimmer to cut down the centre for 3″. I then used my CTMH Versamat and lined up to cut diagonally from the bottom of the cut to 3″ on the side.
I then had some fun decorating with the Zoe papers. Once I had done that I then used double sided tape at the bottom of the page to create a pocket to stop papers and cards falling through the bottom.
Here are the pages ready for binding.
I went to my local copy place and got the booklet spiral bound as I don’t have my own binder. The binding makes it much stronger than if I had just used some rings.
I then finished embellishing the pages. For the left sides of the pages I have cut a piece of White Daisy cardstock and stamped the lines with the lines stamp from the Year >>Noted stamp set which is no longer available. I didn’t have the time to stamp the months at the top so I trimmed the words from the zip strip and adhered them to the top. I used my new Artistry cartridge to cut the flowers (3 1/2″) out of Sorbet cardstock for the page and also for the front page from page 12 . I also cut the other flowers (1″) from the same page for creating some continuity throughout the book.
I also made some coordinating cards to go into each pocket and used this month’s SOTM set Framed for the sentiments and this time I cut the shapes out with the Artistry cartridge. I have tried to do a mix of feminine and masculine cards.
Here are the finished pages:
And here is the front of the book:
There is now no excuse to forget a birthday! This book would be great to keep special mementos as well as cards for birthdays throughout the year and would make a fantastic gift to give someone.
The Zoe papers are available now for you to purchase and is available from your CTMH consultant here. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Vandra’s blog, Vandra’s Virtual Craftroom.
Hello and welcome aboard ourStamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Meryl’s blog Mez’s Craft Room, 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 several cards and a special project which features the August Stamp of the Month Framed available exclusively throughout August for $33 or for just $5 when you spend $75. This stamp set is a MUST HAVE for cardmakers. The frames are wonderful and easy to cut out if you have no Cricut machine and the sentiments fit every occasion you can think of. However, if you are lucky to have the new Artistry cartridge then you can use that to cut the frames out.
Before moving onto the cards I would like to share a little box that have made using the Artiste cartridge and the paper fundamentals (whimsy). I have cut the flower out using a combination of Artiste and Art Philosophy cartridges and placed it on the front and added a little framed tag for a special box. It didn’t take very long at all once I had it all the pieces together. I finished with a little heart from the Stuck on You Puffies – on the while supplies last list.
I really enjoy using contrasting colours and this card uses Lagoon and Sorbet colours together which picks up the colours of the flowers in the patterned paper from the Blossom Reflections pack.
I am going to miss the Seaside papers as they are wonderful for masculine cards. Here I have used one of the stickers from the Complements pack.
For this card I have cut out the flowers and leave from the patterned paper and layered them on the card.
I love the Yuletide Carol papers as they are so traditional for Christmas and the complements are beautiful as well. For these Christmas cards I have used gold embossing to add to the traditional feel to the cards. (Unfortunately, a lot of other people thought the same and the papers and complements are now sold out!)
I have looked at this little bird for a long time on the Art Philosophy cartridge and finally used it with this card to add a whimsical accent to the card.
This paper does not need a lot of embellishments and the small sticker and the frame with the sentiment just adds j the finishing touches to this card.
Framed is only available until 30 August from your CTMH consultant here. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Lauren’s Blog, CTMH Craftings.
I am getting low on get well cards at Gift Hutt so I got down to work to make these lovely cards. I am finding that I am using my Artfully Sent cartridge more and more for unique and individual cards and I particularly love the lattice sleeve cards to create backgrounds for my embellishments.
For these cards I have used all four CTMH cartridges – Artfully Sent, Art Philosophy, Artiste and Artbooking. I love using Cricut Craftroom to put all the images together to help make it easier to cut the images out. I have used the sleeve from page 16 of the booklet and cut them at 4″ x 5 1/2″ and I have backed the lattice with Glacier cardstock for a lovely soft combination.
The frame has been cut from the Artbooking cartridge page 47 using White Daisy cardstock at 4″. For the first card I cut the centre out but then I had a ‘doh’ moment and used the hide/contour function to cut the full background image out for the second card.
The flowers are what I have left from previous projects. The flowers are cut from both the Artiste cartridge – page 54 in the booklet and the Art Philosophy cartridge – page 50 of the booklet. To see how I have made these flowers please click here. I have coloured the centres of the flowers in Canary ink and sponged the edges in Pixie ink.
The leaves have been cut in Pear cardstock from the Artiste page 54 – I am sorry I cut these some time ago and can’t remember what size I cut them out (possibly about 1 1/2″)
It is that time of the year for a new Annual Inspirations book to be released with a lot of new products and to make room for these new products there are a large number of current products retiring. Please check out my website here for a list of retiring products and get in quick before they disappear. There is also more products on the ‘while supplies last’ button.
It is a very short post tonight following on my last post on white on white cards. I really like the simplicity of white on white for sympathy cards and here I have combined embossing with rolled roses from the Artiste cartridge and leaves from the Art Philosophy cartridge. I love using the frames from the Artfully Sent cartridge and here I have used the Silver embossing powder for extra elegance.
These cards have been teamed with the box envelope that I designed here and are now for sale at Gift Hutt.
These cards are very quick and easy to make and would suit a wedding card as well with an appropriate sentiment.
These products are available from my website here – and don’t forget to check out the new items that are now on special in the While Supplies last button as well as all the products that will be retiring at the end of August.
This week I will be featuring a layout that I have done with the gorgeous bright and vibrant papers A Taste of Summer that are part of the National Scrapbooking Month from CTMH. We are just going into autumn in New Zealand and these papers are a lovely reminder that spring and summer are just a few months away.
At the last minute CTMH added a stamp set to match which has added to the fun.
Here is a layout that I have done for my workshop that will be at Gift Hutt on Sunday 31 May.
For this clean and fresh layout I have used pattern 11 from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 1 book. I love how the Thistle and yellow Canary works so well together and the lemons go so well with all the colours. The lemons have been stamped with Canary ink and then rolled around the edges with Sweet Leaf ink. The leaves have been cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge in New England Ivy cardstock and I have crumpled them a little to make them look like leaves from a lemon tree. The title has been cut from the Artbooking cartridge in Canary and shaded with Slate cardstock. I have used strips of Paper Fundamentals thistle coloured paper to anchor the two pages together. I love the journalling stamp from the Artbooking cartridge and have added it here to balance the layout.
We will also be doing three cards and I have had a request to teach how to do the Bokeh technique which is very popular with the CTMH consultants at the moment. This technique replicates the background created in photography when focusing on an object. It is easy to do and the hardest part is working out which colours to use. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube on how to do this technique.
Here is another card that I have done using the same colours as the first card. This time I have stamped the flowers from the Happy Autumn stamp set in Desert Sand ink onto the background and then trimmed the cards to make the three panels from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 book pattern 28. I have backed the panels with Sweet Leaf cardstock and used the Flaxen coloured paper from the Paper Fundamentals for the trim across the card. The tags are stamped in Flaxen ink using the Holiday Tags and Perfect Fit – Frames 2 stamp sets. I have finished off with a Flaxen coloured butterfly from the Junebug Puffies which is still available on the While Supplies Last tab.
I was reading in a blog the other day that Close to My Heart (CTMH) seemed to be more about scrapbooking than anything else and I just wanted to say that CTMH is much much more than that. Close to My Heart provides a huge range of products for all your papercrafting needs, including cardmaking, 3 dimensional projects, home decor items as well as the traditional scrapbooking. I have been papercrafting for 20+ years and I have personally found the CTMH products to be superior to anything that I have used in the past. The quality is excellent and the company are great to work for. How many companies would make page protectors to fit another company’s albums! CTMH did just that to help ease the previous Creative Memories Consultants transition from CM to CTMH. Plus they have created stamp sets specifically for the Australasian market. And they have just created a new stamp set to go with a fabulous new paper pack they are releasing next month after a suggestion from a consultant.
Since I have been with CTMH my paper crafting has gone to a whole new level and I have been able to stretch and challenge myself to do a lot more projects that I would never have thought I could do. The support and inspiration from the other CTMH consultants has been amazing as well. It really has become a big international family with consultants sharing and supporting from Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Here are the reasons why I love CTMH
Stamps – There are over 100 different stamp sets for all sorts of different occasions. CTMH stamps are clear acrylic stamps that come in a little package for easy storage. I have always preferred clear stamps as I like to see where I am stamping. However, the ones I have used previously were good for only a couple of uses and then they warped and lost their stickiness. I loved the images but couldn’t use them! Plus the prices are excellent value for money with prices ranging from $6 to $33 (NZ$). And there is also the SOTM set which is available for just $5 when you spend $75.
Papers – the papers are gorgeous and beautiful to work with. They mix and match so well and the paper packs with coordinating cardstock are excellent value for money at just NZ$18 per packet. Enough for 2 double page layouts and lots of cards. I also love the fact that they cater for masculine themes really well as those are hard to find.
Cardstock – there are 40 different colours to choose from and you can buy them in packs of single colours or in a colour range. They work well together across the colour spectrum and I like the white core as it gives other ways to add more dimension to your projects. Plus this adds to the uniformity of colour throughout the packs. and they are easy to manipulate and roll into flowers.
Inks – there are inks to match all the cardstock colours. I have found the ink pads to be lovely and juicy and give a good impression every time. And there is NO smudging unless my hands are hot and sticky. I have used other products and have got frustrated with the smudging. I am not sure how these inks would go on other cardstock as they are designed to work with the CTMH cardstock and I no longer have other products to use to see what they would be like.
WOTG and How To Books – I am more of a cardmaker than a scrapbooker and I LOVE LOVE LOVE these WOTGs and books. These are great to get me inspired when I have a creative block and they are easy for newbies to scrapbooking and cardmaking to use. My books are well-thumbed and I have used them heaps.
Embellishments – CTMH provides a range of embellishments to match the papers, stamps and cardstock. There is a selection of ribbons, bling, sequins, washi tape, bakers twine and shimmer trims. I have found over the years that it is easy to hoard a lot of different embellishments and it is good having a smaller range that works on a wide range of products. Plus there are a lot of cheap imports coming into the country and CTMH are unable to compete with them and they should compete with them. I almost exclusively use CTMH products but occasionally I will add a non-CTMH product. I really don’t need anything else.
Designer Creations and Design Creations – there are a range of boxes, bags albums and frames for you to decorate with and make great gifts for friends and families.
Cricut Cartridges – I don’t know what I would do without my Cricut cartridges. Just about every time I sit down to craft I turn my computer on and get into Cricut Craftroom to make something for my projects. I love the fact that you can size the images to fit and you are not limited to the size of a die. Plus I was always losing my dies on my desk. I was told at the start of my CTMH journey that you will only need these cartridges and they were right. I haven’t needed to really look at any of the hundreds of other cartridges that are available as I have all that I need.
There are other products available such as the Picture Your Life and Base and Bling to add more variety to your crafting. These products can be used on their own or incorporated into your other projects such as scrapbooking and cardmaking.
Here are a couple of cards and some decorated boxes using CTMH products to show how versatile they are.
These cards have been made with the new Blossom papers from the new Seasonal Expressions 2 catalogue. These were very quick and easy to make using the beautiful papers and the coordinating stamp set Shower Flowers. I have used stamped the images and then fussy cut them out to layer them to make the flowers. Isn’t that zip strip gorgeous and just finishes off the cards so well.
With this card I have stamped the leaves with Glacier ink first on the base card and then layered the flowers on top. The sentiments are from the Happy to Be Friends stamp set from the last Seasonal Expressions catalogue. This stamp set is still available for about a year before it is retired.
And just to show that CTMH is not limited to cardmaking and scrapbooking I have decorated a couple of kraft boxes from the local discount store. I have some baby clothing for sale at Gift Hutt and thought I might make some boxes to do up to make gift boxes for baby showers or for a new arrival. A lovely aqua baby cardigan had just come in and I immediately thought of the Blossom papers and they were a perfect match.
Here is the baby gift box. I have cut the lace heart from the Artiste cartridge and used the Cricut Craftroom to manipulate the size to fit the shape of the lit. I traced the lid onto a piece of paper and then cut it out with scissors to get the base shape. The bow is cut from the Artiste cartridge.
And here is the contents – including the cardigan and a very cute handcrafted soap moulded into a baby basket. I have got cards to match this at Gift Hutt and the ribbon was purchased through Gift Hutt. This gift basket would be great to keep all the little mementos that we collect when we have babies – like the first booties, tooth, hair cut etc.
With Mother’s Day coming up I have done a gift basket for filling with lots of goodies from Gift Hutt.
As you can see there is so much more to CTMH than cardmaking and scrapbooking. Almost all the products I have used are from CTMH and can be purchased from here.
These views expressed here are my personal opinion only.
