Xmas Dreaming

We have a new song up on the playlist for you at Scrap it With a Song this week!  It is the timeless "Dreaming of a White Christmas" by Bing Crosby!

My creation is a layout of my son when he was about 21 months old.  We were hanging out in the playroom/family room and he just curled up in a corner, layed his head on a little foam chair & fell asleep!  There is nothing sweeter than seeing your babies sleep!

The paper is pretty busy, so I kept my embellishments to a minimum, just adding some gems to the snowflake centers.

The paper is a retired CTMH pack called Jingle - - one of my all time favourite winter packs because of the non-traditional colors!   The alphas are AC Thickers.

Hope this song inspires you as well!  Link up your card, layout or other project by December 31st over at the SIWAS blog to be entered in this month's draw for a really FANTASTIC prize - THREE holiday paper collections!!

Warm Wishes

It's never too early to get started on the Christmas cards!!

Linking up to the following challenges:
Sweet Spot Sketch #108
Christmas Card Challenges Week #25 - Inspiration Photo
Canadian Stamp Talk Yahoo Group Challenge #2

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):
Jingle Creative Basics Paper (retired)
Share the Magic stamp set (previous SOTM - retired)
Just for the Holidays stamp set
Licorice Opaque Gems
Cardstock: White Daisy, Black, Juniper
Ink: Archival Black, Juniper, Sunset, Blush

CTMH Christmas Card Extravaganza!

I've been super busy planning and creating in preparation for this year's Christmas Card workshops!
Here are the results:

A great selection of holiday cards!  Some are cased from fellow CTMH consultants, some are inspired by CTMH Idea Book artwork, others are designed by me!  Lots of variety, something for everyone!  Different techniques on every card!

I will be running a series of "Christmas Card Extravaganza" workshops at my home in Calgary in late November and early December!  Work at your own pace - make as many cards as you want, and you pick the designs you want! 
Not in the Calgary area or unable to attend?  I'm also offering these cards in take-home workshop kits - precut and prestamped! 

Details of cost, registration, dates and times of these workshops and take-home workshop kits can be found HERE.

Here are the close-ups of the cards (all materials used are Close to My Heart (CTMH)):

CASE'd from Carol Labuski

Materials Used:

Mistletoe Level 2 Paper Pack

St. Nick acrylic stamp set

Peace on Earth acrylic stamp set

Cranberry Grosgrain

Colonial White Brad

Cardstock: New England Ivy, Colonial White

CASE'd from Corinna McGregor

Materials Used:

Festive Frills acrylic stamp set

Glimmer ribbon from the Mistletoe Creative Basics

Opaques Pearls

Cardstock: Ponderosa Pine, Desert Sand, Colonial White

CASE'd from Susan Daniels

Materials Used:

Share the Magic acrylic stamp set (October 2010 Stamp of the Month)

Christmas Melodies acrylic stamp set

Black Grosgrain ribbon

Cardstock: Black, White Daisy

CASE'd from Corinna McGregor

Materials Used:

Mistletoe Level 2 Paper Pack

Snow Days acrylic stamp set

Glitz Glitter Gel

Licorice opaques

Cardstock: Colonial White, Cranberry

Designed by Carla Ironside

Materials Used:

Aspen Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)

Father Christmas acrylic stamp set

Clear Sparkle

Cardstock: Creme Brulee, Outdoor Denim

CASE'd from Lisa Stenz

Materials Used:

Jingle Borders acrylic stamp set

Peace on Earth acrylic stamp set

Holiday Trinkets acrylic stamp set

Foam Tape

Liquid Glass

Cardstock: White Daisy, Chocolate, Baby Pink

Designed by Carla Ironside

Materials Used:

Share the Magic acrylic stamp set (October 2010 Stamp of the Month)

5/8" White Daisy Organdy Ribbon

Clear Sparkle

White Embossing Powder

Cardstock: Crystal Blue, White Daisy, Petal, Sweet Leaf

 Inspired by the CTMH Idea Book

Materials Used:

Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack

Holiday Trinkets acrylic stamp set

Holiday Buttons

Cardstock: Olive, Smokey Plum, Colonial White

Ribbon (from my stash - not CTMH)

Inspired by the CTMH Idea Book

Materials Used:

Aspen Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)

Evergreen acrylic stamp set

Red Sparkles

Dimensional Elements Stars in DE Flurry

Cardstock: Juniper, Colonial White, Creme Brulee

Designed by Carla Ironside

Materials Used:

Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack

Jingle Creative Basics (retired)

Just for the Holidays acrylic stamp set

Peace on Earth acrylic stamp set

White Daisy Grosgrain

Bitty Sparkles

Black Eyelets

Cardstock: Black, White Daisy

Designed by Carla Ironside

Materials Used:

Passages Level 2 Paper Pack

I Believe acrylic stamp set

Peace on Earth acrylic stamp set

Red Sparkle

Cocoa Grosgrain

Cardstock: Cocoa, Colonial White

Designed by Carla Ironside

Materials Used:

Colonial White Circle Card Base

Magnifique Level 2 Paper Pack

Share the Magic acrylic stamp set (October 2010 Stamp of the Month)

A Timber acrylic stamp set

Chocolate Brads

Glitz Glitter Gel

Cardstock: Chocolate, Colonial White

CASE'd from Kelly English Triggs

Materials Used:

Tannenbaum acrylic stamp set

Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon

Cranberry Brads

Cardstock: Cranberry, New England Ivy, Colonial White

CASE'd from Kelly English Triggs

Materials Used:

Mistletoe Creative Basics (paper and ribbon)

Adornable acrylic stamp set

Holiday Trinkets acrylic stamp set

Cardstock: Cranberry, Colonial White

Fabulous, right?!?!  Which ones are your favourites?  Or do you want to make one of each? If you are in the Calgary area - I hope you'll join me to make Christmas cards this year!!  Bring a friend for a fun ladies night out!   Get all the workshop details HERE and contact me today to register - spaces are limited!!

Jingle Holiday Card Box

Another use for the CTMH Memory Keeper Box for you today!
I incorporated the Moxie Fab Challenge to use 'Perfectly Placed Pleats' on my project!

The box can be used to hold either cards you have received, or cards you have made or bought to be sent!

A close up of my pleats and of the bitty sparkles in the snowflakes!

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):
Memory Keeper Box
Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
Dimensional Elements Monograms (C,A,R,D,S)
Bitty Sparkles
Adorn-able acrylic stamp set
Festive Frills acrylic stamp set
White Daisy Organdy Ribbon
Cranberry Ribbon
Pewter brad from the Mistletoe Accents
Cardstock: Black
Ink: Tulip, Black

CTMH Jingle and Noel

A very clean and simple card that I created this week using the CPS Sketch 180 as my inspiration (I think the clean & simple design lends itself nicely to the very busy pattern on the paper!):

Materials Used (All Close to My Heart):

Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack

Holiday Jingle Acrylic Stamp Set

Ribbon from the Animal Cookies Creative Basics Pack

Ink: Tulip

Cardstock: Olive

Is it Christmas Card season?

Yahoo!! New artwork from me!   We were on holidays at the lake last week - so it felt great to get back into the craft room last night.  Not sure why - but I was in the mood for some Christmas cards.  Probably a good thing to get started now so that I'll possibly be done all the cards I need by Christmas. 

So - here it is - my first Christmas card of the 2010 season . . . you can't tell in the photo - but the snowflake and the stars all have glitter.

Challenges that inspired me:
Sketch is from the Sweet Stop #69
Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge for this week - to use a border punch
Wee Memories Challenge #18 - Buttons, Brads & Bling

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack

Holiday Jingle Acrylic Stamp Set

Cranberry Ribbon Rounds

Twilight Corduroy Brad from the Winter Mini Medley Accents

Glitz Glitter Gel

Cardstock: White Daisy, Black, Twilight

Ink: Twilight, Tulip

CTMH Jingle & Mojo Monday #118

A few last Christmas cards to make . . . this one is for my daughter's Grade 1 teacher!  I made this to accompany a 'group gift' that several families will be giving her this week. 
Love this week's sketch at Mojo Monday!

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart, except as noted):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
• Christmas Melodies Acrylic Stamp Set
• Classmate Alphabet Acrylic Stamp Set
• Heartfelt Wonder Die Cuts
• Brads - Essential Assortment
• Brads - Spring Blossom Assortment
• Cardstock: Tulip, Black, White Daisy
• Ink: Olive, Tulip, Black
• Other:  Olive Ribbon from my stash, Foam tape, Glue Dots

Thanks for stopping by!!

Quick & Easy Card with CTMH Jingle

If you have just a few more cards to whip up for the people on your list - here is a quick & easy one for you!

This card was inspired by Melissa Inman.  The 'hustle & bustle' of the season is starting to descend upon me!! I seem to have so much I need to do before Christmas Day the days are just rushing by!  So I looked for a simple card design to put together those last few cards I need.  My finished card measures 6x6 inches and the four squares of patterned paper are 2.75" x 2.75" each.   I inked the edges of my papers in black ink.  Add a sentiment & a festive embellishment & you are done!  (You can't really tell in the photo - but the letters "i" are both dotted with bitty sparkles!)

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
• Wonderful Season Acrylic Stamp Set
• Heartfelt Wonder Die Cuts
• Twinkle Brads Jolly Assortment
• Clear Sparkles
• Foam Tape
• Cardstock: Blush & White Daisy
• Ink: Tulip & Black

Hope everyone is enjoying the season, despite all the 'hustle & bustle'!  My posts here will be a little sporadic over the next few weeks as we spend the holidays with our family & friends . . . but I promise to be back to regular posts once January comes around!

CTMH Jingle & Mojo Monday #116

Circle elements are always a challenge for me (for some reason I'm a 'straight-line' kind of girl!) - - but I decided to push myself to give this one a try anyway . . .

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
• Holiday Trinkets Acrylic Stamp Set
• Heartfelt Wonder Die Cuts
• Clear Sparkles
• Twinkle Brads Jolly Assortment
• Designer Ribbon Rounds Ricrac Collection
• Cardstock: Creme Brulee, Twilight, Tulip, White Daisy
• Ink: Twilight

CTMH Jingle Peek-a-boo Treat Box

I saw this template a few weeks ago on Project Tuesday. You can find the link to the instructions there! A cute little box for gift giving! I filled mine with white scotch mints . . . one of my favourites! My box is pretty plain (because I don't have much time to play today) - but you could embellish these up as much as you wish!

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
• Holiday Hoopla Acrylic Stamp Set
• Twinkle Brads Jolly Assortment
• Cardstock & Ink - Tulip
• (I used a Martha Stewart punch for the scalloped circle)

CTMH Jingle Creative Basics Candy Cane Card

Another card for my upcoming card workshops. This one was inspired by the amazingly talented Bren Yule.

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart, except as noted):

• Jingle Creative Basics Collection
• Holiday Hoopla Acrylic Stamp Set
• White Daisy RicRac from the Ricrac Collection
• Inks: Tulip & Juniper
• Cardstock: Juniper & White Daisy
• Scalloped Circle & Lace Punch are both Martha Stewart
• I made the candy cane by drawing it freehand (and creating a cardstock template to make it easy to replicate).

CTMH November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop for November! We have many talented consultants participating this month - - which means tons of fabulous artwork ideas to inspire you! This month we are showcasing the very cute "Around the Block" stamp set - a set of 26 images! Enjoy!

This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

My project this month is a holiday card. The finished card size is 5" x 7". I created the house using the paper piecing technique. I added 'snow' using Liquid Applique on and around the house to give my scene a 'wintery' feel. If you haven't tried Liquid Applique before, you'll definitely want to add a tube of it to your papercrafting tool box. It is puff paint that you simply apply using a squeeze tip applicator and then heat using a craft heater. How fun & easy is that?!? Great for snow, clouds or icing on a cupcake! You can even color it using the ink from your stamp pad re-inkers!

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• "Around the Block" Acrylic Stamp Set - November Stamp of the Month
• More to Adore Level 2 Paper Pack
• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
• Holiday Commentary Acrylic Stamp Set
• Liquid Applique
• Inks: Chocolate, Juniper
• Cardstock: White Daisy, Chocolate

Thanks for stopping by! Now hop on over to Cindy's Blog for more inspiration with this stamp set!

And if you get lost somewhere along the hop or come across a broken link, feel free to refer to the complete list of November's Blog Hop Participants Here.

CTMH Jingle & Mojo Monday #103

Here is my card for this week's Mojo Monday sketch!

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart, except as noted):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
• Holiday Jingle Acrylic Stamp Set
• White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon
• Cardstock: Tulip, Twilight, White Daisy
• Inks: Twilight
• Foam Squares
• Other: Snowflake Brads from Michaels

CTMH New Product Sneak Peek Blog Hop Fall/Winter 2009

Welcome to our Close to my Heart New Product Sneak Peak Blog Hop!

30 Fabulous Close to my Heart Consultants are celebrating the upcoming release of the Autumn/Winter 2009 Idea Book by giving you a Sneak Peek of some of the great products available in the new Idea Book starting September 1st!

If you have come here from Dawn Heuft's blog, you are on the right path! If this is your first stop, you may want to go back to Erin's Blog and start from the beginning!

This is simple do to- just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!
My first project is a layout featuring our new Twitterpated Paper and our new Basic Collection of Craft Buttons! Buttons are one of my favourite embellishments, for cards or layouts. This brand new Basic Collection includes fabulous chunky buttons in Colonial White, Bamboo, Chocolate & Cocoa! Try using them to punctuate your titles, or for a special border, to anchor your tags or journalling pieces, and for the center of a flower. So versatile! (You can click to enlarge these photos):

Close Up of each Page:

The layout design is from our How To Program Book "Cherish", and is titled "Then & Now". Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Twitterpated Level 2 Paper Pack (available September 1st)
• Basic Craft Button Assortment, featuring Colonial White, Bamboo, Cocoa and Chocolate buttons (available September 1st)
• Best Wishes Acrylic Stamp Set (corner flourishes)
• Picture Perfect Acrylic Stamp Set (Captured Moments sentiment)
• Dimensional Elements (chipboard) - Simple Alphabet Lowercase
• Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon
• Colonial White Waxy Flax
• Chocolate Embroidery Floss from our Neutral Assortment
• Just Blooms Flowers - the White Daisy and Big Pinks assortments
• Clear Sparkles
• Cardstock: Colonial White & Chocolate
• Inks: Chocolate & Sorbet

My second project is a card using our new Jingle paper and our Holiday Jingle & Holiday Trinkets My Acrylix Stamp Sets! I absolutely love the Christmas paper & stamps in this new catalogue - - so fun!! This card is quick & easy - perfect for bulk Christmas card making!!

Card design is CPS Sketch #130.

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack (available September 1st
• Holiday Jingle Acrylic Stamp Set (sentiment)(available September 1st)
• Holiday Trinkets Acrylic Stamp Set (snowflakes)(available September 1st)
• Cardstock: White Daisy & Twilight
• Inks: Twilight & Tulip

Now "Hop" on over to Dawn's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and see the great new Paper Packs and My Acrylix Stamp Sets, as well as some fabulous new embellishments! Remember, the Autumn/Winter 2009 Idea Book goes LIVE on September 1st! Be sure to check back on the 1st to your Consultant's blog or website or visit me on my Website to view the Online Idea Book!
**Link not working? Missed a Blog? Visit my post Here to see a full listing of all of this Hop's Participants!

For more blog-hopping fun, be sure to check back here again on my blog on September 1st! I'll be participating in the CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring tons of great artwork using our September Stamp of the Month "Treasures".

CTMH Jingle & Sparkle's Christmas Challenge #38

Played with some of my new fall paper and stamps!! Available in the new catty on Sep 1st!
Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge this week was to use the Taylored Expressions Sketch #77 for your Christmas card.

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack (available online/in the new catalogue on September 1st)
• Holiday Trinkets Acrylic Stamp Set (also available September 1st)
• December Word Puzzle Acrylic Stamp Set (Retiring on December 31st - get yours now!)
• Crotcheted Ribbon from the Designer Ribbon Rounds Colonial White Collection
• Cardstock: New England Ivy, Colonial White
• Inks: New England Ivy, Tulip
• Other: Clear Sparkles & Foam Squares

Do you want to see more of the great new Fall/Winter 2009 products? Be sure to check back tomorrow for the CTMH Consultant New Product Blog Hop! Lots of great artwork with some of the many new products you'll find in the new Fall/Winter Idea Book! You'll be able to view the catalogue online Here on September 1st. If you'd like a copy of your own, be sure to send me an email, and I'll be sure to get you one!