Tag: Close to My Heart Australasia

CTMH Wedding Cards

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Stamping12 Comments

Welcome to my new followers and I hope that you enjoy all my creative endeavours and that you are inspired to stretch and challenge yourself to create your own artwork.

Today I would like to feature some wedding cards that have been inspired by Pinterest but I have given them my own twist.  I loved this card design and was determined to make one but I couldn’t find a subtle enough background paper and then I remembered a blog post Make It From Your Heart – the CTMH blog, on how to do backgrounds with ink and using the all purpose mat creating a wonderful one of a kind paper.  You can see the step by step instructions here.  However, I have taken it one step further and used some pearl paint to create a lovely pearlescent finish and I was so pleased with the result that I did quite a number of colours and mixtures and you will see the results over the next few weeks.  I have put a little blob of paint in the small spray bottles available from my website and sprayed the paint on top of the ink to make it bubble and then placed the paper over the ink.

Here are some that I have done with Pixie and Flaxen inks.  The colours do not really come up well in the photo but looked beautiful with the mix of the lovely pink and the flaxen came up looking like antique gold.2015-01-13 07.48.18

 

 

Here is a photo that shows the shine in the card.

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The card did not take long to dry and I did use a heavy book to flatten the card ready to make some cards.

Anyway here is the first card I have made using just Glacier ink.  I have always loved this pattern when I first saw it on Pinterest and as I said I didn’t feel that the papers I had were suitable for what I was trying to achieve in a ‘bathroom’  I was rapt at how the Glacier colours looked like marble with the pearlescent finish and the white shimmer trim finished it off perfectly along with the silver embossing of the tag from the Cricut Artfully Sent Curlicue stamp set.  This card was really quick and easy to make once everything had been assembled.  I also used some Opaques – licorice which is no longer available.

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This inspired me to move on with a different pattern from Pinterest – this time using embossing folders to make wedding cake cards.  The Pixie and Flaxen background cardstock made a wonderful backdrop to the wedding cake and I have mixed up the cards with a combination of Pixie and White Daisy cardstock and silver accents with clear sparkles to highlight the flowers.  The flowers have been cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and I have shaped them a little before putting them on the card.  The rose has been made using the same technique as my last blog post here.  The sentiments for the cards as well as the bridal couple and wedding bells are from The Happy Couple wedding stamp set.  I have used the versamark pad and silver embossing powder to stamp them and fussy cut out the shapes. The ribbon is the Seam Binding Ribbon which is no longer available.

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This lace border has been cut using a Martha Stewart punch – my only non-CTMH tool that I have used as that lace border fitted in well with the theme.

For the card with a flower on it I have made a box envelope to hold the card in so it won’t get so squashed.  If you are interested in the dimensions please let me know and I will put up a post with the instructions in the next few days.

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Materials used:

Cardstock – Glacier, White Cardstock, Pixie

Stamps – Artfully Sent Curlicue Frames, The Happy Couple

Inks – Versamark, Pixie, Flaxen, Glacier

Seam ribbon

White Shimmer Trim

Clear bitty sparkles

Silver embossing powder

Embossing folders – Quatrefoil, Dots and Scallop (new)

Seam Binding Ribbon (NLA)

Opaques – Licorice (NLA)

I will be showcasing more of this background technique for my next blog post, which is a blog hop featuring the February SOTM set which is the lovely and versatile stamp set A Happy Hello.

Have a good week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

You’re the Bomb Operation Smile Blog Hop

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart21 Comments

Hello and welcome aboard our You’re the Bomb Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. 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.

Operation Smile is a private,  not for profit organisation providing reconstructive surgery to children and young adults born in developing countries.  Close To My Heart is partnered with Operation Smile®, an organization that provides free, life-changing surgery that repairs smiles and reshapes lives, one child at a time. Since 2008, Close To My Heart has provided support to change the lives of over 1,500 children and their families.  For more information about Operation Smile please visit www.operationsmile.org

On 1st December Close to My Heart Consultants released our Seasonal Expressions Idea Book. On the back page of this Idea book you will find the C- sized, You’re the bomb stamp set. By purchasing this set at full retail price  of $25 you can help change the life of a child as CTMH will donate $US3 from your purchase to Operation smile.  This special is available until the 31 March so be in quick to get this stamp set and make your donation to this very worthy cause.

Today we will be sharing some inspiration using “You’re the Bomb“. We hope you will be compelled to purchase this set and in so doing, contribute to the life changing work of operation smile.

The blog hop is a loop with about 11 participants so follow along and you will end up right back here. If you get lost there is a list of participants on Mandy’s Blog here.

I would like to share with you some cards that I have made with this stamp set.  I struggled with some inspiration so looked at the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book to get started.

I love the simplicity of the card that is used for the book and took that and changed it a little with different papers and embellishments.  I have used Heartstrings and Hopscotch papers and mixed them up as well as using different coloured inks to stamp.  The hearts are from the This Moment stamp set and I have used a combination of stamping and fussy cutting as well as first and generation stamping.  Sometimes less is more and I would like to thank the CTMH art department for the inspiration.CTMH You're the Bomb and Heartstrings CTMH You're the Bomb and Hopscotch CTMH You're the Bomb stamp set

Then I was able to stretch out with the Hopscotch paper and use different embellishments.  I love the look of faux stitching on the sentiment and how it makes it stand out more.  I used the  Marvy Uchida LePen Journalling pen that is available from CTMH.  It has a lovely fine nib and lasts a long time.  I don’t normally cut the corners on my cards but this card worked really well with this finish.

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This card has been inspired by the card in the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book and I have changed it to fit the You’re the Bomb stamp set and added the new Extra Thick Pixie Twine.  I have also used the new thinner foam tape to add some dimension with the sentiments.

DSCF2277Thanks for joining me on this journey, the “You’re the Bomb” stamp set is available from your CTMH consultant here and $3USD from every purchase will go directly to Operation Smile.
To continue your journey, hop over to see what Mandy has created on her blog, Hall of Indulgence and see what fabulous ideas she has come up with.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Colonial White, Cotton Candy, Glacier, Flaxen, Ruby

Paper – Heartstrings, Hopscotch

Stamps – You’re the Bomb, This Moment

Inks – Glacier, Sorbet, Flaxen, Ruby, Lagoon

Extra Thick Twine – Pixie

Gold Sequins

Flamingo Dots

Marvy Uchida LePen Journalling pen

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

A Mix of Colours and techniqes from CTMH

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Stamping19 Comments

Welcome back

Many thanks for all the lovely comments and likes for my last post.

I love the stamp sets in the new Seasonal Expressions and in particular I  love the A Thing Well Done which is a hostess stamp set (this month if you would like a gathering there is a special deal for you).  I just love the butterfly in this stamp set and also the card that is accompanying the stamp set in the book.  I haven’t got the same embossing folder and that is on my wish list to get.  The butterflies have been stamped with Flaxen, Sorbet and Outdoor Denim inks.  The background stamp has been stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Silver embossing powder.  I have then sponged Sorbet ink over the top and tried to graduate the colour up the panel.

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This really inspired me to go further with some more cards.  The colours that I used in that project inspired me to do some cards with the same colour scheme – Creme Brulee and Sorbet.  (Creme Brulee is no longer available and I am using up my scraps).  This stamp set is from the Happy Autumn stamp set and it is great to put the stamps together to make a lovely picture. I have used the rock and roll technique for the flowers and leaves.  I am not sure about putting a sentiment on the card as I had someone come into Gift Hutt the other day asking for a plain card without a sentiment.  However, I think that I might look at putting on on the bottom right corner.  I have used my favourite pattern again from Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 pattern 28 and embossed the panels with the Dots and Chevron embossing folders.

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That card then led me on to this card.  Another really lovely stamp set in the Seasonal Expressions catalogue is the Armour stamp set.  I have done a couple of cards with this stamp set and will feature them in a later blog post.  For this card I have used the background writing stamp and stamped with Bamboo ink onto Colonial White cardstock and then sponged with Bamboo ink for a lovely antique look.  I don’t normally mix the Colonial White with White Daisy cardstock but this has turned out great.  I can see myself using this stamp a lot and have some ideas for it  – so watch this space.  This has been matted with Flaxen and Sorbet cardstocks.  The stamps for the flowers are also from the Happy Autumn stamp set and again I have used the rock and roll technique using Sorbet and Creme Brulee inks for the flowers and Flaxen and Olive inks for the leaves.  These have been fussy cut out and I have used foam tape for some dimension.  I still had some Olive bakers twine which finished off the card nicely.  I won’t be putting a sentiment on this card.
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Finally I did this card again using a combination of the Happy Autumn and Amour stamp sets.  I have used the script background stamp technique for the small panels which are 1 3/4″ x 2″ each and then stamped the small flowers on top with Olive ink.  (this has been inspired by a card on Pinterest, except that I have added my own twist).  I have matted each panel with Cocoa and then onto Flaxen cardstock which has been cut at 4″ x 5 1/4″ .  I placed a trim of Cocoa cardstock in the middle and then tied some Olive bakers twine.  The sentiment is from the Just to Say Artfully Sent stamp set and I have matted it with the Cocoa and Flaxen cardstock.

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Edited – I have just entered this card in the Atlantic Hearts Challenge Blog – check it out here.

Finally here is a sneak peak at my next blog post where I will put a tutorial up to show how I have made the roses.

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I have used the script stamp on the roses as well as the on the back ground but more about that next post.  So be sure to pop back to check it out.

Materials used:

Cardstock, Creme Brulee (NLA), Sorbet, White Daisy, Colonial White, Cocoa, Flaxen, Outdoor Denim

Inks – Flaxen, Cocoa, Desert Sand, Bamboo, Creme Brulee (NLA), Outdoor Denim, Versamark

Stamp sets – Armour, Happy Autum, Cricut Artfully Sent Curlicue Frames, Artfully Sent Just to Say, A Thing Well Done

Embossing Folders – Chevron, Dots, Quatrefoil

Bakers Twine – Olive (NLA)

Chevron Punch

Foam Tape

Silver Embossing powder

Sponge Daubers

These cards will be available for sale at Gift Hutt.

Have a Good Week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Quick and Easy Masculine Cards

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome to my new followers and I hope that I inspire you with my creative endeavours.

Today I am taking a break from Christmas ideas and thought I would show you some very quick and easy cards using the Seaside papers, the Seaside Greetings  and the Treasure Friendship stamp set.  I love the understated colours of the Seaside papers and the rustic maritime feel to the papers and how the stamp sets coordinate so perfectly with the papers.

My first card was extremely quick and easy to do.  I just used a combination of the papers – the rustic stripe and the knot paper and then a strip of the blue spots,and then just added the square durable studs and a birthday greeting in Desert Sand ink.   The knot paper looks like a rope when using a thin strip on each end of a strip of coordinating paper.   How simple is that and I am sure any man would love to get this card!CTMH Quick and easy Seaside masculine card

My next card was another one based on my favourite pattern from Make if From Your Heart Volume 2 pattern 28.  This time I have used the blue spotted paper and for the centre strip I have used the Glacier coloured Whimsy Paper Fundamentals paper – which is a shiny and stunning patterned paper and it coordinated well with the green Pear cardstock and the stripped paper strip with the Teal shimmer trim.

CTMH Seaside masculine cardAs I finished this card I put it aside and then glanced round to find the sun shining on the card and the Paper Fundamentals paper literally gleamed in the sun.  I have tried to capture the effect but you really need to buy this paper to really get the full effect.  Straight on the paper looks just like patterned paper, but here you can see the quatrefoil pattern really glow.

CTMH Seaside and Paper Fundamentals cardMy final card I looked at doing a similar card to what I had done earlier in the year here, but this time stretching myself to use the Sorbet colour instead of the usual greens and blues.  I stamped the shells with Sorbet and Desert Sand inks and fussy cut them out and placed them on the lovely marine paper background.  Again I have used the same Paper Fundamentals paper for the top part and then placed the orange zip strip across.  I stamped the sentiment in Sorbet ink on Colonial White cardstock and then matted with Glacier and Sorbet cardstock.  I think the colours work really well together and it is good for me to challenge myself to work different colours and combinations.

CTMH Seaside seashells cardI must admit Close to My Heart make it so easy to mix and match totally different colours with their Reflections range so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Pear, Glacier

Papers – Seaside B&Ts, Whimsy Paper Fundamentals

Inks – Sorbet, Desert Sand, Pear

Stamps – Treasure Friendship, Seaside Greetings

Square Durables Studs

Green and Blue Epoxy Bubbles

Teal shimmer trim

As you can see the list of ingredients is very small and all materials are available on my website here.  The finished cards are available for sale at Gift Hutt.

Have a good week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

 

 

 

Great Gift Ideas from CTMH

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Cricut, Paper Crafting7 Comments

Welcome back.

I have been really busy with making lots of cards, tags and general gift items to sell at Gift Hutt.  I have been seeing a lot on Facebook where people have gone to YouTube for inspiration to make boxes and general gift basket type items and I thought I would have a look through the CTMH Cricut cartridges and see what I can come up with. The Artiste cartridge came up trumps with a purse box and I could also coordinate cards and envelopes to match the edging.  I was able to get 5 little cards and envelopes to fit into each purse to make a fabulous Christmas or birthday gift.

CTMH Brushed flower purse.CTMH Purse with cardsCTMH - inside the purse

 

 

 

The purse, envelopes and cards are all found on page 31 of the Artiste booklet.  The purse was cut at 3.6″ and just fitted onto the 12 x 12 mat.  I cut one out with Pixie and the other out with Cotton Candy cardstock.  I then used Cricut Craftroom to size the envelopes and cards to match – unfortunately I cannot give exact measurements as it took a bit of manipulation to get the sizes to match.  I now use CCR all the time as it is easier to use the layers to check the sizes and these came out perfect on the first cut.

For the Pixie purse I have then traced the shape of the areas I wanted covered with the diamond patterned paper from the Brushed Reflections range and then cut them out and glued them onto the purse with liquid glass and trimmed any excess with sharp scissors.  I have added strips of pink and the new white shimmer trim onto the front and then placed the vellum flowers from the Brushed Complements onto a piece of scrap White Daisy cardstock and then fussy cut it out and glued it onto the front with liquid glass and topped the flowers off with silver sequins.  For the flap I have used the diamond patterned paper and this time change it the other way and cut a small trim of 3/4″ and then placed a strip of the white shimmer trim over it and placed it on the flap and then trimmed the ends to match the flap.  I have placed a flower from the Brushed Assortment pack on the front and used one of the small hook & loop dots available from CTMH to help hold the purse together.  Finally I have cut a strip of matching cardstock size 6/8″ x 10 inches and glued the edges to the inside of the purse for a small strap handle.

The Cotton Candy purse has a strip of patterned paper – 1″ wide then trimmed with Cotton Candy cardstock 3/4″ wide and then finished off with a strip of white shimmer tape and then placed along the bottom of the purse on the front and two sides.  I then used the A Budding Friendship stamp set and stamped 4 of the small flowers with Cotton Candy ink and overstamped the edges with the edge stamp in Black ink.  These are great little stamps as they end up looking like a watercolour and ink image and there is no need to be really fussy with the outcome.  I have done the same using the small leaf stamps in Pear ink.  I then arranged three flowers over the trim and coordinated the leaves around the flowers.  I have used liquid glass again as I have found that over time the glue tends to melt – particularly in my warm and sunny Gift Hutt.  For the flap I happened to have a spare envelope that I tore as I was getting it off the mat and it fitted perfectly on the flap and I trimmed it down to fit the flap, and I have just used the white shimmer trim as a strip to tie in with the rest of the purse.  I then glued another flower and set of leaves in the centre of the trim.  To finish the flowers I have place silver sequins and pink glitter gems to add a little bling.

As I said the cards and envelopes came from the same page and I have used CCR to size them.  I have kept the cards simple using the Brushed papers and the stamp from the Fabulous You stamp set and

CTMH small brushed card and envelope

 

The shapes for the sentiment have been cut out using the Art Philosophy cartridge and again I have used CCR to ensure that the White Daisy shape matches with the larger patterned paper shape as I have found that cutting two shapes only 1/4″ difference will not exactly match up on all sides.  To coordinate with both purses I have again made the trims from patterned paper, coordinating cardstock and white shimmer trim – can you tell how much I love this new trim!  This is now available from the new Seasonal Inspirations catalague just out today.

CTMH Brushed envelopes

The envelopes were very easy to assemble and I have just added a small amount of double sided tape to use when giving the card to someone.

Both these purses will be available for purchase at Gift Hutt for $15 each.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Pixie, Cotton Candy, White Daisy

Paper – Brushed B&Ts

Brushed Assortments

Brushed Complements

Stamps – Fabulous You, A Budding Friendship

Inks – Cotton Candy, Black

White Shimmer trim

Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy

Liquid Glass

Hook & Loop Dots

Silver sequins

Pink Glitter gems

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

CTMH Australasian SOTM Blog Hop – Cutie Pie

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, CTMH SOTM, Scrapbooking18 Comments

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Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Doris Taylor 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.

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Today I would like to share with you a scrapbook layout and of course some cards which features the December SOTM Cutie Pie  which is available exclusively throughout December for $33 or for just $5 when you spend $75.

I was really looking forward to getting this stamp set as I had the perfect photos to do a scrapbook layout with them.  I have some photos from when my family went to the Sweet Pea cafe for a High Tea and was waiting for the opportunity for scrap them.  I have ordered my photos from Studio J while they were on special last month at just $5 per layout.  I was able to order a mix of sizes and then sorted out my layout to match the photo sizes.  Studio J doesn’t just do scrapbook layouts – you can also do photos and you can get them in lots of different sizes from 2 x 2, 3 x 3, 3 x 4, 4 x 4, 6 x 4 , 5 x 7 and larger photos in a 12 x 12 page and just cut them up when you get them for your layouts.

 

For this layout I have used the pattern 10 from the Make it From Your Heart Volume 2.  I love the How To books from CTMH as they make it so easy to get stunning layouts without too much effort.   After all why invent the wheel again.

CTMH SOTM Dec 2014 Cutie Pie layout

 

I have used the Brushed paper pack and I am getting low on supplies now so had to do a little juggling but I am happy with the finish.  I have gone with Juniper and Pear accents to cut down on the pinkiness of the overall layout.

The cute cupcakes screamed paper piecing so I have stamped the base image on Cotton Candy cardstock and then again on the yellow flowers on the large flower patterned paper and just cut out the cupcake wrapper and then stamped again on the pink diamond paper and cut just the frosting out and then adhered the shapes on the base cardstock.  These images were really easy to fussy cut out and because of the double layers I did not need to use foam tape to add dimension.  I have topped the cupcakes with a clear sparkle coloured in with Carmine Shinhan Touch Twin markers to coordinate and add a touch of bling to the overall layout.

CTMH SOTM Dec 2014 Cutie Pie

 

On the other side I have stamped the lace doily image from the Sweet and Lovely Artbooking Cricut Bundle, which worked in really well with the cupcakes and overall theme, with versamark ink onto a precut shape from the Artbooking cartridge in Cotton Candy cardstock and embossed in white embossing powder.  I love the effect of the lace doily and it just fitted well with the overall theme of High Tea.  The ‘sweet’ stamp has come from the same stamp set and I have stamped three images in Juniper, Canary and Cotton Candy inks and then fussy cut them out.

 

CTMH SOTM Dec 2014 close up of layout

 

I will probably tweak this a little once I get my photos and may add some of the new Pixie Extra Thick twine that has just been released with the new Seasonals Catalogue out today.

 

After finishing the layout I had to make a card using the same lace doily and this time I have cut it in half to create the effect of a lace tablecoth and then paper pieced another cupcake and the cake plate to add onto it.  I have used the Damask embossing folder to create a textured table cloth and paired the table cloth with the pink diamond paper.  I have used the zip strip as a border and placed a piece of the beautiful new white shimmer trim for some extra bling.  Again I have topped the cupcake with a coloured sparkle.  I love this little sentiment which is guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone.

 

CTMH SOTM Dec 2014 Cutie Pie card

 

 

For this card I have used my favourite pattern from the MIFYH Volume 2 pattern 28 and this time I have trimmed the yellow flower paper with Cotton Candy cardstock and some more white shimmer trim and then used my scallop edge punch on the green trim to place at the top.  It now looks like curtains in a wind0w (my imagination is working overtime).

CTMH SOTM Dec 2014 Cutie Pie card no 2

 

Finally I have used the same pattern and turned the card into a portrait card (I know the measurements off by heart now!).  This paper is gorgeous and goes from yellow to a deep pink with a bubble effect.  This time the trim has been made using Canary and Cotton Candy cardstock with the white shimmer trim.  The cake dish has been stamped directly onto the White Daisy cardstock and the cupcake has been paper pieced with the pink diamond paper.  I have popped this cupcake with the new thinner foam tape which is lovely as it is a more subtle dimension.  I have just realised that I need to put a pink sparkle on the top and will do that tomorrow.  I love putting the sequins on to lift the card a little with some bling.

 

CTMH SOTM Cutie Pie card

Cutie Pie  is only available until the 31st December from your CTMH consultant here.  I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop,  Anne’s Blog, Mummy you made this?

Materials Used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Juniper, Canary, Cotton Candy, Pear

Paper – Brushed B&T Duos

Stamps – Cutie Pie, Sweet & Lovely Cricut Bundle Artbooking

Inks – Black, Juniper, Cotton Candy, Canary, Versamark

White Shimmer Trim

Cricut Cartridge – Artbooking, Art Philosophy

Embossing Folder – Damask

Scallop edge punch

White Embossing powder

Clear Sparkles

Silver Sequins assortment

Shinhan Touch Twin marker – carmine

Have a good week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

 

Close to My Heart Artfully Sent Christmas Card

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Christmas Cards, Close to My Heart, Cricut, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome back

I have been very busy doing more Christmas cards and lots of other goodies for Gift Hutt.  Today  I would like to show you a card made using the new Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge.  I have been having problems using Cricut Craftroom so had not been able to do much for a couple of weeks, but finally yesterday I was able to cut again.  I am still getting used to the new cartridge and  I have seen some amazing pieces of artwork on various Facebook groups I belong to.

For this card I have cut out the scene card on page 47 of the booklet at 7″ out of Glacier cardstock.  I then cut out a piece of White Daisy cardstock at 4 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ to use for the scene.  This is the first time I have sponged a background and it is not perfect but still gives an idea of creating the scene.  There are a number of different videos on YouTube if you would like instructions on how to do this.  To create the snow hills I have used scrap cardstock shaped to create the hills and I have used a combination of Glacier and Indian Corn Blue inks for the snow and added some Outdoor Denim for extra depth around the moon.  To make the moon I cut out a circle from a post it not at 1 1/2″ and used that to sponge the colours around to create the moon.  I softened the moon by sponging lightly over with Glacier ink.  I then stamped the Santa Claus from the Santa Claus Holiday stamp set with Slate ink to create the depth of the image.

CTMH Artfully Sent Christmas CardThe trees were cut out of New England Ivy cardstock using the Artbooking Cricut cartidge. I wrinkled the trees a little to create some dimension and then I used some white liquid applique on the trees for a snow effect (available on special while stocks last).  The deer and cute little bird has been cut from the Artfully Sent cartridge in Chocolate cardstock and I ripped a piece of green paper from the Yuletide Carol paper pack for the effect of grass in the foreground and the ripped edge has come up looking like snow. (Unfortuanately, CTMH do not provide glitter for sale as some prisma glitter over the applique would have just finished the project of so well – extra sparkle would have been good.)

Here is a close up view of the scene I have created:

CTMH Artfully Sent Christmas Card scene

I stamped the sentiment from the Holiday Cheer stamp set using Glacier ink on White Daisy cardstock and matted it with New England Ivy cardstock and placed it on the front.  I then placed white enamel stars for a snow effect on the front.

My technique could do with some practice but I am still happy at how the card has turned out for my first effort.  And the good news is that CTMH  provide 5″ x 7″ envelopes to match so this card will be for sale at Gift Hutt and would make a very special card to give someone.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Glacier, New England Ivy, Chocolate, 

Paper – Yuletide Carol

Inks – Glacier, Slate, Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim

Cricut Cartridges – Artfully Sent, Artbooking

Stamps – Holiday Cheer, Santa Claus Holiday

White enamel stars

I have some more Christmas ideas coming up and will post them over the next week.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

CTMH Austalasian SOTM Blog Hop – ‘It’s the Little Things’

On By patriciamanhireIn CTMH SOTM, Stamping46 Comments

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Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Jenny’s blog – The Creative Heart 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 my creations which features the November Stamp of the Month ‘It’s the Little Things’  available exclusively throughout November for $33 or just $5 when you spend $75.


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I love this whimsical stamp set as it is so versatile for all sorts of projects and today I have done a card and a box featuring the flowers.

CTMH Artfully Sent Card with Nov. SOTM It's the Little Things

This card has been cut using the Artfully Sent cartridge in the shape of a cage and there is a matching card liner to coordinate featuring a bird so that it looks like the bird is in the cage.  I have stamped the flowers and leaves and fussy cut them all out.  This stamp set is great for those that do not have a Cricut machine to cut shapes to fit the stamps.    There are all sorts of flowers that are great for layering but here I have made them single flowers to create a garland of flowers draping over the bird cage with just a peep of the bird in the cage.  I love tone on tone stamping and have used Thistle ink on Thistle cardstock and Glacier ink on Glacier cardstock.

Here is the inside of the card:

CTMH Artuflly Sent card with Nov SOTM It' the Little Things inner

The second project has been inspired by the Annual Inspiration book.  I am really enjoying making three dimensional objects with the Artiste cartridge and the Paper Fundamentals papers combine really well with making boxes.

CTMH Nov SOTM Its the Little Things

I have used the Sorbet  coloured paper fundamentals paper and created the box out of page  44 of the Artiste booklet.  I then used the Artfully Sent cartridge and cut the pocket card from page 20 and then placed flowers and leaves on the front and finished the front with the ‘Just for You’ sentiment.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Glacier, Colonial White, Thistle, Cocoa, White Daisy, Sorbet, Sweet Leaf, Canary

Paper – Paper Fundamentals Whimsy pack

Inks – Thistle, Glacier, Canary, Sorbet, Pear, Sweet Leaf,

Embossing Folder – Dots

Sparkles

It’s the Little Things is only available until 30 November from your CTMH consultant. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop,  Denise’s Blog, Scrap Stamp Share.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Double Pocket cards

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Stamping11 Comments

Welcome back for another installment featuring Close to My Heart products. This week I will be featuring a double pocket card which is a lot easier than it looks and is a great way to show of the fabulous papers from CTMH.  I have got the instructions from Splitcoaststampers here. I have done 4 different cards with different embellishments and here they are: DSCF1468 - Copy The beautiful patterned paper from Ariana and Ivy Lane were perfect for these double pocket cards as they had a great contrast with the green and the floral patterns.  I have cut out the tags using the Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped using the journalling stamp from the Artbooking Cricut Cartridge set.  I love that stamp as it makes a lovely journalling box with nice wide lines to write in.  The tags have been distressed with Cashmere ink to add to the vintage feel of the papers. Here are some close ups of the cards: DSCF1474 DSCF1473 - Copy DSCF1471 - CopyDSCF1470 - CopyI have used a variety of tags and embellishments for the front of the cards.  I have used some of the products that were available last month  in the special 30th anniversary bundles as well as some of the current products. Materials used: Cardstock – Colonial White, Ariana Coral Papers – Ariana, Ivy Lane Stamps – Artbooking Cricut stamp set, Frame Flair, Fabulous You, Art Philosophy Cricut Collection Inks – Cocoa, Cashmere, Hollyhock Cricut cartridges – Artbooking, Artiste, Art Philosophy Mini-medley accents – rosewood collection Mini-medley accents – antiqued gold Durables  – round antiqued gold, pewter Ariana Assortments Topiary ribbon Sparkles – clear assortment Bitty Sparkles Foam tape I hope that you have fun making these cards as well.  They look complicated but are actually very simple to use. Have a great week. Happy Crafting Patricia

Australasian CTMH SOTM Blog Hop – Circus Alphabet

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Stamping4 Comments

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

This month’s SOTM set is the Circus Alphabet set.    In the past I have never used alphabet stamps so this has been great to challenge me.  But they are easy to use in a number of different ways.   In today’s blog there are a number of different projects that I have used the Circus Alphabet set to show how versatile these stamps are.

Alphabet stamps suit baby cards so well with spelling out the words baby, boy and girl easily.  First up is a baby girl card that I have done with the Lollydoodle papers.  I have trimmed the edge of the front card by 1 1/4″ and then used the scallop edge punch to create some interest.  I then trimmed the card with a combination of papers from the Lollydoodle range.  The sentiment is from the Cricut Artiste cartridge and the crib is from the B is For Baby stamp set.  The sparkles have been coloured with Cotton Candy alcohol markers to match the colour scheme.

CTMH Lollydoodle baby card.For the blocks with the letters I have cut out 3 pieces of 1 1/4″ White Daisy cardstock and then I stamped the letters using Cotton Candy and Pear inks.  I have used the Pear and Cotton Candy alcohol markers to draw a line around the edges of the blocks.  I have tried to make these look like children’s building blocks.

 

 

CTMH Lollydoodle baby cardHere is a baby boy card using a building block card technique from Splitcoaststampers here.  I have seen a couple of these cards and they are great for baby cards and the lovely blue striped paper from the Ariana paper range is perfect for a boy’s card.  Once again I have used the stamp set B is For Baby and fussy cut the images of the pram, crib and rattle.  Sparkles have been added to give a little bling.

DSCF1499-001

 

 

Here is a close up of the blocks.

Here is another card similar to what I have done in the past using the pattern from the Make It FromCTMH SOTM - Circus AlphabetHere is another card similar to what I have done in the past from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 1 pattern 19.  As you can see I love this paper and also the scallop punch to add a little  – well punch…  I am not sure it is finished yet so I will keep looking at it, and if I change it I will post it here.

DSCF1496-001Finally I have made some tea bag dispenser box using Ariana papers and have stamped the word TEA on the back of it.  This is another really easy project to do and once again I have got the pattern from Splitcoaststampers here.  I must admit I found the instructions for the decorative layers quite complicated and ended up using my method of matting of decreasing by 1/4″ each side to simplify what I was doing.  I have distressed everything including the rosette with Cashmere ink to give it a lovely vintage look.

DSCF1441

 

Here is the back of the box with the words from the stamp set.

DSCF1444

 

 

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Outdoor Denim, Colonial White, Pear, Pink glitter cardstock

Papers – Ariana, Lollydoodle

Stamp sets – Circus Alphabet, B is for Baby,  Frame Flair

Inks – Cotton Candy, Pear, Outdoor Denim, Cashmere

Cricut cartidges – Artiste, Art Philosophy

Alcohol markers – Cotton Candy, Pear

Sparkles – Bitty and regular

Green epoxy bubbles

Mini medley – rosewood collection

Topiary chevron ribbon

Outdoor Denim bakers twine

Scallop punch

 

This gorgeous stamp set is available for the month of July only from your CTMH consultant here.   I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop,  Denise’s blog, Stamp, Stamp, share.

Have a great month playing with this stamp set.

Happy Crafting

Patricia