Skylark Wedding Cards

On March 24, 2014March 24, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Stamping10 Comments

Welcome back

I do apologise for missing last week’s post but I have had some family issues to deal with, and while they have settled down there is still going to be some problems to work through.

For this post I have been playing around with the last of my Skylark papers and have made some wedding cards. I am really enjoying using a different combination of colours and papers to what I normally use. Here I have used Lagoon and the beautiful Teal shimmer trim to create a pop of colour with the Skylark papers.

For this card I have used the pattern out of the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 page 46 and used a cut from the Artbooking cartridge (page 48) in Lagoon cardstock for the centre panel which fitted in well. I love using the Perfect Fit – Frames 2 for an accent and the little wedding couple from The Happy Couple stamp set fits perfectly in the middle. The congrats stamp is from the Cricut Artiste Collection Kudos. And I have finished the card with a flower from the Skylark Assortments.

For this card I have again used the Quatrefoil embossing folder to add some interest to the plain cardstock. I love how the papes from Skylark are great for cards as well as for scrapbook layouts and here I have trimmed the corner of the 12 x 12 paper to fit the card base. I have added an extra pennant topped with a blue epoxy bubble and the sentiment is from The Happy Couple stamp set. A very simple yet elegant card.

Again for this card I have manage to trim the patterned paper to fit the card and keep the lovely bird which ties in well with the striped lagoon paper for the bottom of the card. I have cut the lovely ribbon out with the Artbooking Cricut cartridge. I the stamp is from The Happy Couple stamp set. I have finished off with a couple of epoxy bubbles and the Teal shimmer trim.

This card was very quick and easy with the Cricut Artbooking cartridge. I have cut the same image but for a portrait card instead and teamed it with the Lagoon striped paper from Skylark pack and the Teal shimmer trim and just placed a simple sentiment on it matted with Lagoon cardstock. Another simple, yet elegant card.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Lagoon

Paper – Skylark Paper Pack

Ink – Lagoon

Skylark assortment

Green and Blue Epoxy bubbles

Stamps – Cricut Artiste Collection, Kudos (only available as part of the Artiste Cricut Collection, The Happy Couple, Perfect Fit – Frames 2

Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy and Artbooking

These cards will be available for sale at Craft Hutt, so if you live in Wellington do pop in and say hello and have a look at all the wonderful arts and crafts for sale.

I am going to be busy over the next few days as I have the Australasian CTMH SOTM hop coming up and I have also been invited to another blog hop featuring papers from CTMH.

I hope you all have a good week.

Happy Crafting.

Patricia

CTMH Valentine’s Day cards

On February 9, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Die Cuts, Paper Crafting, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome back.

I have been busy making Valentine’s Day cards and decorations for selling at Craft Hutt and this time I have kept to the traditional colours of red, pink and white for making them. I have kept them very simple and used the last of the Sparkle and Shine candy stripped papers and Ruby cardstock. My Cricut machine had a good workout and I am happy with the way they have come out.

The materials used are:

Cardstock – Ruby, White Daisy

Paper – Sparkle an Shine B&T Duos

Ink – Ruby

Cricut Cartridge – Artiste, Artbooking

Stamps set – Holiday Tags (D1560)

Bakers twine – Harvest collection

Clear Sparkles

Ruby marker

Scallop punch

Cuttlebug – Swiss Dots,

Here are some decorations that I have made with roses using the Cricut Artiste cartridge and some polystyrene shapes from the local bargain store.

The flowers are cut out using the flower from page 54, Accent 1 cut at 2.5″. These have been rolled using the great quilling tool from CTMH and glued together using the amazing liquid glass and then a hot glue gun was used to stick them onto the heart shapes. I then used some organza ribbon from my stash to finish them off with a bow and also to have something to hang them with.the mar

The materials I have used for these are:

Purchased polystyrene heart shapes

Cardstock – Ruby, Cotton Candy

Cricut Cartridge – Artiste

Liquid glue

Hot glue gun

Ribbon from my stash

I hope that you all have a good week and keep safe from all the bizarre weather conditions around the world.

Happy crafting

Patricia

A Sad Farewell to Chantilly by Close to My Heart

On January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Paper Crafting, Scrapbooking6 Comments

Welcome back

Firstly I would like to apologise for not following other blogs and commenting on them as much as I would like but I have been very busy. Earlier last year I told you about setting up Make Shift, well that unfortunately has popped down, so I have started up my own shop called Craft Hutt. This is also an art and craft collective that focuses on selling hand crafted NZ made goodies. Craft Hutt is still in it’s infancy so needs a lot of TLC to get established and I have been quite busy with manning the shop plus doing all my own crafting. Once things settle down I will be keeping up with all that is happening around the world. In the meantime check us out on Facebook.com/CraftHutt for all the latest news and information.

For this weeks post I have been doing some layouts using the last of my beautiful Chantilly papers. This lovely paper is no longer available, but I am eagerly awaiting a delivery of the gorgeous new papers coming in the next catalogue. I love using the Made it From Your Heart books Volumes 1 and 2 as it is quick and easy to make a fabulous 2 page layout. All you need to do is sort out your photos. I have left the photo mats blank as I am uncomfortable about putting photos of my family on the internet.

For this layout I have used the recipe from page 12 of the Volume 2 book. This layout was also featured in the Laughing Lola WOTG and I love it as it is so easy to use either landscape or portrait photos. I have distressed all the edges except for the white photo mats with Desert Sand ink and the flowers and leaves are from the Cricut Artiste and Art Philosophy cartridges. I still have space to do some titles and I can use one of the photo mats for journalling as well. I love the simplicity of the colour scheme, especially with the little pop of pink with the Hollyhock cardstock.

For this layout I have used the recipe from page 24 of the Volume 2 book. I have cut out some flowers and birds from the patterned paper and adhered them to the page and also used the Just for You (B1398) stamp set to make a flower embellishment. The journalling shape has been cut out using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. For this layout I have not distressed the edges to keep it crisp and clean. As you can see there is still some finishing to do with titles etc but that can wait until the photos are in place first.

These layouts did not take very long and yet are very effective.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Hollyhock, Twilight, Pear, Colonial White, White Daisy, Buttercup, Topiary, Desert Sand

Ink – Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand, Buttercup, Pear, Cotton Candy

Chantilly paper pack

Chantilly complements

Cricut Cartridge – Artiste, Art Philosophy

Stamp set – Just for You (B1398)

As I said before I am looking forward to getting my next order with a whole lot of new products from the next catalogue. I am hoping to participate in a couple of blog hops to showcase the new items so watch this space…

I would like to remind people that there is only a few days left for purchasing any retiring items so please don’t delay and order your items now as these are available while stocks last only.

Have a good week and Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Gift Card Holders

On December 15, 2013December 15, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Children, Christmas, Christmas Cards, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Die Cuts, Holidays, Paper Crafting10 Comments

Hello everyone

Gosh Christmas is just around the corner and I still have not completed my Christmas shopping. Life has just got in the way over the last couple of weeks. However, I will get it all done by the big day.

For those who do not know what to get for people a gift voucher is a great option and then the recipients are able to take advantage of the sales post Christmas. Close to My Heart Cricut cartridges have the answer for how to present these vouchers with a cool gift card holder. My inspiration for these cards came from Pinterest and in particular from this blog Busy with the Cricky where Susan has done some lovely cards and given instructions on how to make them.

For my cards I have used the Artiste cartridge and I have cut the the card from page 59 in the booklet and cut them at 5″ which gave me two cards per 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock. Then using patterned paper I cut another card at 4.75″. To finish off I cut a piece of white daisy cardstock at 4.5″ to place in the middle of the card for a sentiment and for people to write on. The two smaller pieces had the centre cut out and I was able to mat the patterned paper onto the cardstock easily.

Here are my versions:

Here are some close ups of the cards. One or two photos may be a bit blurry so I apologise for that.

And I have kept the inside of the cards fairly simple to enable people to write on them. Sorry I have just realised that I missed taking a photo of the little section to put the voucher in but you can just see a little part of it in the photo below. I will try and rectify this in the next week to really show you how neat this little card is.

I have mainly used the stamp set from the Seasons Tweeting Gift Bag kit from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. This little owl is so cute and I love the different sentiments that go with them.

Here is a list of the materials I have used:

Cardstock – Ruby, Juniper, Daisy White

Patterned paper – Sparkle and Shine paper packet

Stamps -Seasons Tweeting Gift Bag kit, Scandinavian Wishes, Sparkle and Shine Workshop on the Go Stamp set

Inks – Slate, Ruby, Juniper

White Bakers Twine

Clear Sparkles

Artiste Cricut Cartridge – rosette from page 55 cut at 1″, bows from page 55 and cut at 1/2″ and 1″.

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge – Holly leaf from page 46 cut at 1″ and the rose from page 69 and cut at 3″

As you can see I am loving my Cricut and there is so much more to do yet. I have just barely scratched the surface with all the cool things to do on it and I still have to get the Art Booking cartridge. I think I am going to be very busy and it will keep me out of mischief I am sure lol.

The products from the Holiday from the Heart Gift Guide are still available until the end of December and if you spend over $150 you can choose one starred item for free. Just by buying a Cricut Cartridge you would qualify for this special offer so visit my shop now and have a browse.

I hope you all have a great week and I will now have to see what I can come up with for my last blog post before Christmas.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

A Girly Card

On December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts, Stamping15 Comments

Welcome back.

I am sorry to be a day late for this post but I was called away to a family emergency and then I have ended up with a cold and chest infection. Just great having a fever when the weather is starting to get very warm! Enough about me, I hope that you have all had a good week and not getting too stressed with Christmas just around the corner. I know that I said that this week there would be a blog hop but, unfortunately, that has been delayed until next weekend. I can’t wait to show you what I have created.

Today, as a break from Christmas, I thought I w0uld post a card that I have made for my niece’s 18th birthday using my Cricut machine. I was late sending it but she has received it now and I can finally publish it.

For this card I have used the Artiste and Art Philosophy cartridges and Chantilly papers. The dress and stand were made using the Artiste cartridge while the numbers were cut using the Art Philosophy cartridges. I have used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder to create the textured white card which is matted on Cotton Candy cardstock. To make the pink sparkles I have used my Cotton Candy alcohol markers on clear sparkles to make the sparkles pink and match my card.

Materials used are all Close to My Heart or otherwise stated:

Cotton Candy cardstock

White Daisy cardstock

Chocolate cardstock

Cuttlebug embossing folder – Swiss Dots

Artiste Cricut cartridge

Art Philosophy cartridge

Clear sparkles

Cotton Candy alcohol markers

Stamp Set – Card Chatter Birthday D1475

I hope you like my humble offering today and I promise you that I will have the blog hop next weekend.

Have a great week

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Christmas Cards and Treats

On November 24, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Christmas, Christmas Cards, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts, Holidays, Stamping4 Comments

Welcome back.

Well it is that time of the week for another blog post. This time I am just going to show some Christmas cards and party favours that I have been making while I have been working on a big project for our next blog hop on the 1st November focusing on the December Stamp of the Month – Special Care.

I am loving the papers from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. They are so beautiful and the colours coordinate so well. I have also done some layouts using the WOTG Sparkle and Shine kit and once I have printed some more photos I will post them on here. I am so pleased with how they turned out as I have used the recipes in the Make it from the Heart series of books. This has made it a lot easier to get good layouts and then I could concentrate on coordinating papers and embellishments to finish off the pages.

Back to the cards. This card recipe is rapidly becoming one of my favourite designs. It is from the Make It from the Heart Volume 1 which is a great source of recipes for both scrapbook layouts and cards and is sooo cheap for quick inspiration (just $12 per book!). So quick and easy to mix and match colours and papers and these patterns go so well together. I have also used different stamp sets and I was really pleased how they turned out and actually did this card in a class last week and they turned out well. I had pre-cut everything and the Cricut has come in so handy – I have used the Artiste cartridge here.

The stamp sets I have used are: Perfect-Fit Birthday Occasions, Perfect-Fit – Frames 2 Occasions and Magical Days Holiday from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide.

I have never really used alphabet stamps before so I am pleased this has turned out well. This is another simple card that did not need special equipment to make – just a good accurate trimmer like the Fiskars Surecut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer that is available from my shop. (Just as an aside I have been doing a lot of cutting and had to get some more blades quickly, and I won’t be doing that again as the blades were more expensive at the local Warehouse Stationary than what I can pay retail through Close to My Heart!). I am using bakers twine more often now and the sparkles add the shine to the card.

The stamp sets I have used are: Urban Alphabet, Scandanavian Wishes – November SOTM.

For this card I have been inspired by a card by a fellow CTMH consultant, Wanda, and here is my take on it. I have used my Cricut (Art Philosophy) to cut out the frame and the holly leaves, berries and the flame. The holly leaves have been embossed by hand to give some shape to the leaves and the edges were distressed with Topiary ink (I have used Olive cardstock). The berries were cut out of Ruby cardstock and I have used my Liquid Glass to create some dimension and make them stand out. The flame was cut using a petal shape and I have stamped the candle on the base of the petal.

The stamp sets I have used are: Scandanavian Wishes (October SOTM) and Illuminate (November SOTM – available for $5 if you spend over $75 – be in quick though as this will no longer be available after the end of the month).

Finally here some party favours that I have made from the Artiste and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridges. I have put little chocolate bars inside them and used them as little thank you gifts for the ladies attending my classes at the Upper Hutt Library.

The stamp sets I have used here are: Banner Wishes Occasions and Santa Claus Holiday – both from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide.

Just a reminder that you can choose one ‘star’ product free for every $150 you spend in both the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide or the 2013 Product Launch Guide. This great deal is available through until the 31st December 2013 or until stocks last.

Please feel free to click on the links to my website to go shopping for any of these products or contact me for further information.

My next blog post will feature the December SOTM – Special Care. I can’t wait to show you what I have been up to.

In the meantime have a great week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Christmas is Coming!

On November 4, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Christmas, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts, Holidays, Stamping12 Comments

Welcome back.

Today I am doing something completely different from my usual cards and/or scrapbook layouts. Christmas is not too far away and I have been inspired by the lovely ornaments featured in the Product Launch Guide from Close to My Heart on page 44 (Aus/NZ version).

For my ornaments I have used last month’s Stamp of the Month set Scandinavian Wishes heart image and lots of different colour inks. Here is my efforts:

They are really easy to do and the hardest part was picking colours to stamp with. Here is a quick tutorial for you to make your own.

1) Using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge cut out the heart shapes at 2 inches. I have used the fill option to fill the entire sheet and cut out 25 hearts.

2) Stamp the heart image on four shapes.

3) I used my Fiskars trimmer scoring blade (but you can use a ruler and scoring blade or whatever you have available) score down the middle of the heart and then fold the heart in half with the stamped image towards the middle.

4) On one half of a heart use a good strong glue – I have used CTMH Bonding Memories glue which bonds really quickly and then put the 2nd heart onto it and try to get it matching as much as you can.

5) Glue the other half of the heart and place the third heart onto the ornament.

6) Glue the last two sides and place the final heart onto it and making sure that you get it as close as possible to the centre of the hearts.

7) Using a piercing tool pierce a hole at the top of the hearts and then using a needle thread your string through (I have used bakers twine) and tie a knot at the base of the heart and one at the end of the twine to enable you to hang your ornament on your Christmas tree.

Voila a Christmas tree ornament!

It is so easy and I hope that you can give it a go as well.

Materials used:

Colonial White cardstock

Pacifica ink

Stamp of the Month set – Scandinavian Wishes

Baker’s twine

Bonding Memories Glue

Piercing tool

Needle

Scissors

Next week will be our next Australasian blog hop featuring this month’s Stamp of the Month Set – ‘Illuminate’. I can’t wait to see what everyone has done with this stamp set.

Have a good week and see you next weekend.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Exciting News!

On September 20, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts17 Comments

Hello there

Today I am really excited to announce that I have won a challenge through diecutcrazymag.com. The challenge was for any papercraft project which included die cut flowers. I had a couple of cards that I had done and emailed them off thinking nothing more of it until I got an email from Stephanie Shock from diecutcrazymag.com to say that I had won. Imagine my surprise and it really didn’t sink in until today when I received my prize which was a Sizzix Susan’s Garden Tool Kit – thanks so much Die Cut Crazy. I am going to get a lot of use out of this set. It looks great.

I think this is the winning card that I sent in:

I have also been asked to contribute to a magalogue for Kalsbeek Crafts which I was really excited about. They are looking at putting my cream on cream and white on white cards in their magalogue (a cross between a catalogue and magazine) with instructions on how to complete the cards. Thank you Toni for asking me to contribute. You have been great to deal with and your service has been nothing short of fantastic.

This has all happened prior to my joining up to Close to My Heart (CTMH). Due to the terms and conditions of my contract with CTMH I will only be using CTMH products from now on. I will be using a Cricut machine and the wonderful cartridges from CTMH to make more cards, scrapbook layouts and great 3D items. I am really looking forward to these new products and what I can create from them.

Have a good day.

Happy crafting

Patricia

The Final Countdown to Close to My Heart New Zealand

On August 10, 2013August 10, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Greetings, Scrapbooking3 Comments

Hello

I would like to welcome all my new followers to my blog and I hope that you enjoy coming on my creative journey with me. I would also like to thank those who take the time to read my posts and also leave comments as well. I really appreciate the feed back that I am getting.

I was very excited to receive an email this morning from Close to My Heart informing me that we are very close to the launch in New Zealand – the first week in September to be precise. I can’t wait to start and am starting to de-stash in order to have space and money for my new CTMH products. The Cricut cartridges look so awesome and I am very impressed with the cards and scrapbook layouts that are coming through from the Australian consultants.

In the meantime I have been doing some scrapbooking and cards. I am getting through my son’s album and I am now up to his 3rd birthday. I have used the It’s a Boy stack pack to complete his second year and I am waiting for the cricut cartridges to make some titles to complete them and then I will post a few pictures on here. I love the colours of this stack pack and they went very well with the photos of James. I am looking at doing his next album using the Pro-player WOTG kit. The colours are great and I love the coordinating stamps and shapes that go with it. It is more appropriate for an older boy as well.

I have also made some more cards for Make Shift. I haven’t done many get well cards so I have made these using up some of my stash and am pleased how they have turned out. I am a little disappointed in my Chloe die from Memory Box though. The cut shape doesn’t seem to pop out quite as easily as my other dies. I will keep persevering with it and see how it goes. Anyway, here are the cards:

Materials used are:

Fiskars flower punch

Memory Box die – Chloe

Cuttlebug embossing folder – Swiss dots

Stampendous Get Well Stamp

Kaisercraft greeting stamp

Red and Yellow scrap cardstock

Stampin’Up ink – Real Red

Bling from the local $2 store

Marianne Creatables flower and leaf set – sorry I seemed to have mislaid the name of this die.

Coloured paper from my stash

I am pleased with the colour combinations and the simplicity of these cards and I hope that you like them too.

Have a good weekend everyone and Happy Crafting.

A whole new world coming to New Zealand with Close to My Heart (patriciamanhire.wordpress.com)
Cool cards for those difficult to please teenagers (patriciamanhire.wordpress.com)
Special cards for the Special person (patriciamanhire.wordpress.com)

A whole new world coming to New Zealand with Close to My Heart

On July 15, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Creative Memories9 Comments

Welcome

I have just been to the Close to My Heart Opportunity Event in Auckland last week and I am very excited about this opportunity. The career pathway looks great and the products will allow people to be a lot more creative. I have put a Cricut Expressions 2 on layby and can’t wait to get the cartridges from CTMH to play with. They look so cool and it will be nice to be able to make my own embellishments to match my scrapbook layouts and cards. I am also looking to the three dimensional elements on the cartridge and will be looking at doing some workshops at Make Shift when Make Shift gets established. The other thing that is really cool is that I can just do parties online as well as doing parties with people.

We had a little play with some inks, papers and cute glitter embellishments and the papers and cardstock are lovely. It took a while to work out how to use the ink pads, but I have got it sussed now. The stamps are great and easy to use and I will be looking at building up my CTMH stamp kits. I am also looking forward to playing with the alcohol markers as well.

Just as well I have joined a de-stash Facebook site to start clearing out some of my old stock to make room for Close to My Heart.

In the meantime I have got back to basics and will be teaching heat embossing at my card making class tomorrow at the Upper Hutt Library. When I first started doing cards too many years ago to remember I started with heat embossing and I still have my heat tool as well (which is starting to get a little sick and I will finally get a new one once I sign up with CTMH). I remember a lot of hit and misses then, but I have discovered using a embossing buddy (a kind of chalk in a bag) that helps with keeping the card clean and my endeavours are much more successful now. Here are a few of the cards I have made with heat embossing:

I found some papers that I bought years ago as a 6 x 6 paper pack at The Warehouse and they matched perfectly with the pink cardstock from Stampin‘Up. I also like the combination of gold and pink and the result is some very retro looking cards, but some people still like these classic cards so I will be putting them in Make Shift as well. I have coloured the images using a watercolour pen and Stampin’Up inks. I have also used my artist quality paints in the past with good effect as well.

The materials I have used here are:

Stampin’Up Cardstock – pink

Stampin’Up ribbon – Light Pink

Stampin’Up inks – Old Olive, Artichoke, Regal Rose, So Saffron, More Mustard

Kaisercraft stamps

Kaisercraft rhinestones

Peelcraft stickers

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – ovals

Creative Memories Border Maker – Twinkle Chain Cartridge

Cuttlebug and embossing folders – Swiss Dots and Edges

Cuttlebug Die – Whimsy

For the heat embossing I have used a versamark ink pad and the powder is Ultra Detail Embossing Powder – gold.

I hope the ladies tomorrow get inspired to branch out and do more with their stamps and inks.

I am now going to look at doing some digital scrapbooking to get put onto canvases for Make Shift to sell.

Happy crafting

Patricia

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Patricia's Creative Corner

Tag: Cricut

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