Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Simone’s Blog Scrappy Matters, 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 this layout and a couple of cards that I have made which features June Stamp of the Month Ice Cream Dream available exclusively throughout June for NZ$33 or for just NZ $5 when you spend NZ$75.
The Confetti Wishes papers work so well with this stamp set and I had fun with colouring in with my ShinHan Touch Twin markers. The pattern is from the Make it From Your Heart Volume 2 book pattern 14. I coloured all the images on separate cardstock and then fussy cut them all out and placed them on on the layout. The sentiment is also great for colouring in as well and the colours of the markers went so well with the colours of the papers.
I apologise for the quality of card photos – I had a flat battery on my camera and had to use my phone and I couldn’t get too close without a shadow.
I used my Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the scalloped circles to highlight the sundae and dog. The sentiment on the top card has been cut out of the Confetti Wishes paper which was a very quick and easy way to put the sentiment on a card. Once again I have used the fabulous pattern 28 from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2.
Can you see that I have used the end of the dove tailed banner on the layout and it just finished the next card off. I don’t like throwing anything away that I could possibly use again. I love the Blossom paper and the blue patterned paper is so versatile to go with a lot of other papers in the catalogue and here I have cut the celebrate wording and candles and placed it over the blue paper and it gave a nice soft background for the bright vibrant colours of the rest of the card. I have coloured the silver sequins with the Peony Purple ShinHan Touch Twin marker to coordinate the colours to match.
Ice Cream Dream is only available until 30 June from your CTMH consultant. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Georgia’s Blog Georgia Creates.
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 have run out of wedding anniversary cards at Gift Hutt and had some fun today making some more – plus I got carried away and made a couple of wedding cards. I am really starting to get into the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge and doing more with it.
This first card has been cut at 7″ (although I had to resize it a little on Cricut Craft Room) using the gorgeous Blossom papers using the sentiment key on page 35. I just can’t get enough of this paper and the matching stamp set Shower Flowers and had some fun stamping and cutting flowers out to put on the card. I have finished the card with some clear sparkles and a couple of little butterflies from the Junebug Puffies which are still available under while supplies last.
These cards are so easy to make and this one is based on a pattern from CTMH Head Office and I have changed it to an anniversary card and added some aqua dots. The card has been cut from the Blossom floral B&T papers at 4 1/2″ Shift+sentiment <w> (pg 12).
I still have some remnants of the lovely Skylark papers and this corner of the paper was perfect for an anniversary card. I just added some extra ribbons with Glacier cardstock and a strip of Teal shimmer trim and some aqua dots.
This card was made using a cut from the the Art Philosophy cartridge which I resized in CCR to fit the base card. I then used the Hide/Contour function to just cut out the oval in White Daisy cardstock for the centre. I stamped the sentiment first and then embossed with the Dots embossing folder. To finish off I have used some of the Blossom complements flowers and a a little Junebug Puffy butterfly.
This card has been made using a pocket card cut from the Artfully Sent cartridge. I have cut this card using the CCR to size to fit the 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card out of Pixie cardstock and then placed it over the heart papers from the Whimsy Fundamental papers. It fitted perfectly. I used a pre-cut heart (sorry I can’t remember the size but I think it might have been 2″) and stamped the lovely heart stamp from the Hostess stamp set Paper Bird. I added the sentiment from the Artfully Sent Just to Say stamp set in Black ink. To finish I added a Pixie extra thick twine bow. I have found using glue dots very effective in adhering the twine onto the cards. Much quicker and easier than using liquid glass.
Finally I did my first pop up card from page 35 and was very happy with the outcome. I cut the base card at 7″ in Glacier cardstock after making some minor adjustments in CCR. I am finding I use CCR all the time to do my die cutting as it is easy to size and layer my cuts. The ‘pop up’ has been cut from the blue base paper from the B&T papers. I then cut the icons from Lagoon cardstock and added them to the card. The sentiment, Mr & Mrs, on the front has been cut from the Artiste cartridge page 61. I have stamped the sentiment from the Happy Couple stamp set on a cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge (page 25) that I had cut a while ago and I can’t remember the size sorry.
Yes it is that time again for another blog post and this week I have been making some cards with the Hostess stamp set Paper Bird. This is such a beautiful stamp set and is only $13 NZ when you book a gathering and earn some credits.
I have made three cards that feature the different shapes available. First up are a couple of cards using the butterfly image.
For this card I have cut the card using the Artfully Sent cartridge at 5″ x 7″ on page 13. I have then lined the card with the lovely Blossom papers and then added a trim from the underside of the paper and the gorgeous zip strip and finished with a small strip of White Daisy cardstock with the sentiment smile on it.
The cage has been cut out using the icon>shift function on the same page and then I have used Cricut Craftroom to manipulate the background from the Scene>shift to fit onto the cage. I have cut the cage and bird from Kraft cardstock and the background in Flaxen cardstock. The cage has been sponged with a combination of Honey and Desert Sand inks to make it look like bronze. The bird has been sponged with Desert Sand ink. I have lightly sponged the Flaxen cardstock with Desert Sand Ink as well
I love the simplicity of this card. I have used the rock and roll technique using a combination of Glacier/Lagoon and Smoothie/Sorbet inks for all the butterflies. I have stamped the same colours on a piece of White Daisy cardstock and then placed the fussy cut butterflies on top. I love the Sorbet coloured paper from the Paper Fundamentals pack and used small trims on the edges for balancing the card.
I cut the branch and leaves out using the Artbooking cartridge page 84 and again used CCR to size it to fit the card. I cut extra leaves to add to the branch. The leaves in the beak have been stamped using the leaves from the Shower Flowers stamp set with Topiary ink and the sentiment is from the Flowers for Mum stamp set again stamped in Topiary. I have not used papers from the Pathfinding pack before as I find it difficult working with browns and greens (long story!) but the lovely patterned paper fitted really well here. I think this is quite appropriate for a Mother’s Day card.
Finally I have used the heart stamp here along with the little heart stamp from the Snowhaven Cardmaking Workshop on the Go kit for a card that is more my usual style. I love using the extra thick twine and have almost gone through the Glacier colour already. The pattern is from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 book and is such a useful pattern to use.
The Paper Bird stamp set is only available if you are a hostess for a gathering and if you would like to get this stamp set please feel free to contact me to discuss having a gathering.
Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Doris Taylor’s blog, Creative Inspirations 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 this layout which features May Stamp of the Month Just Sayin’ available exclusively throughout May for NZ$33 or for just NZ$5 when you spend NZ$75.
This stamp set is going to be a great addition to scrapbooking with lots of sentiments to add interest to your layouts. I have still been going through my son’s school photos and this stamp set has been a very useful addition to add some interest to this album. I have used the Chalk It Up paper range as this is so appropriate for school photos. The colours also match up with the photos really well to create a harmonious layout.
This stamp set has a range of sentiments as well as some patterns and here I have used both. I made a banner using the triangle stamp and some Extra Thick Flaxen twine and then stamped some ribbons in coordinating inks – Flaxen, Sorbet and Lagoon. The sentiments have been stamped in the same coloured inks and I have used them to balance the layout.
Patterned papers and their coordinating embellishments come and go but stamp sets will always be there and can be used in whatever colour to match at any time so this stamp set is really useful for the long term.
Just Sayin’ is only available until 31 May from your CTMH consultant here. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, the talented Maz’s blog Inky Fingers.
I have cut the background image from the blue floral patterned paper using Accent 4 page 46 of the Artiste Cricut cartridge and used the hide/contour button to remove the centre cuts. This was then cut in half to put on both sides of the double layout. I love the combination of Kraft cardstock with the blue from the Glacier cardstock and blue patterned paper and this layout was very quick to put together. I then glued some Glacier extra thick twine along the bottom of the blue patterned paper. The ‘love’ sentiment has been cut from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge in Sorbet and then lined with Slate cardstock for a dimensional look. I had some fun stamping flowers from the Shower Flowers stamp set which I have stamped on White Daisy and Glacier cardstock for variety and also to try and tone in with the background paper. I finished off with some of the new Coral Reef sequins and a small Glacier twine bow.
This layout would be suitable for a Mother’s Day or baby layout.
This card has been based on the pattern No 29 from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 1 book. I love embossing and this Flowers for Mum stamp set just begs to be embossed. The larger lower has been stamped with Blush ink (NLA) and the smaller flowers have been stamped with Glacier ink and then I have used the coordinating stamp to emboss with silver. I actually prefer it when I haven’t quite matched the stamps as it seems to give the flowers more dimension The small flowers in the sentiment stamp have been coloured in with the ShinHan Touch Twin marker Tender Pink. I have matted the Glacier cardstock with some Blush cardstock to match the flowers. The Blush worked in well with the beautiful striped zip strip.
Finally – I have been doing more boxes and thought I would show you what I have done with some Base and Bling. I haven’t done a lot with the Base and Bling as there is a lot of people making jewellery around where I live so I thought I would do something different with it. I cut a flower from the floral paper and then layered it with another sorbet coloured flower and then glued the glass cover on it. I then attached it to the box with the Glacier extra thick twine. This would make a lovely box to put jewellery in to give as a gift.
Just a very quick post today as I really should be working on my new website for Gift Hutt, but I am now in a routine with this blog.
Here are a couple more boxes that I have made as gift baskets to sell in Gift Hutt. One of the new arrivals into the shop was this lovely bright orange bib and I instantly thought of Scaredy Cat papers and also the lovely foxes on the Artfully Sent cartridge.
The Seaside papers in combination with some Blossom papers also make a lovely baby themed box. Here I have used the gorgeous spotted papers and distressed them with some Desert sand ink to make it look aged, and I have then added a strip and ribbon from the new Blossom range to make it look like a gift box. Again I have added a tag tied with the lovely Glacier extra thick twine. The pram has been cut using a Memory Box die that I have had for some time.
Here is the box with a bib in it and I added a green car soap in later when I took it into the shop
Non CTMH – Memory Box die – Pram, Boxes from local discount store
I am so happy how these have turned out and plan to do some more boxes for Mothers Day.
All products from CTMH can be purchased from my website here. The completed boxes and contents are available for sale at Gift Hutt – a new website is still being built and I am hoping it will be live in the next week when I can get this post done!
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.
Today I have made some cards with this beautiful stamp set Flowers for Mum from the Seasonals Expressions 1 catalogue. The catalogue is now retired but the stamp sets will be available for a while on my website here. This stamp set comes with ‘Mum’ and ‘Mom’ versions which is so thoughtful of CTMH to do to cater for the two different markets. I love the flowers on this and thought I might try something different with stamping techniques.
I have stamped the base image with sorbet ink and then using the outline image I have then stamped with Ranger gold embossing powder and heat set it. I then stamped the centre again with the versamark and gold embossing powder after colouring the centre in with the Shinhan Touch Twin Golden Yellow marker. To finish I used liquid glass for a lovely shiny effect. I then fussy cut out the image. As I said I was really pleased with the outcome.
Here are some cards that I have made using these images. I have used the sorbet coloured paper from the Whimsy Paper Fundamentals pack as it worked well with the colour schemes. the photo has picked up the beautiful texture of the paper. I love these leaves from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge and use them all the time with my projects.
For this card I also did the same technique with the little blue flowers using the glacier ink, and used small strips of Blossom paper to link the blue to the card as a whole.
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I am very happy with these clean and simple cards.
I have used the Happy to Be Friends stamp set for the sentiments. I love this stamp set as it is so useful for lots of different projects. I needed to make some more general birthday cards for Gift Hutt so these were very useful.
These products are available for purchase on my website here.
Also this month CTMH has a special deal where you can buy any priced item and then purchase a mystery bag valued anywhere between $75 and $250. These bags contain twice the value of products with a mix of new and retired products. Everyday has a different deal so check in everyday to see what is new.
