Spring All Occasion Card Workshop

I'm hosting an all-occasion card workshop next Monday night - June 27th at my place at 7:30pm! 
The workshop is create at your own pace, make as many cards as you would like for just $1.50 each & you choose which cards to make.  I'll have 10-12 different designs for you to choose from.    You can change up the sentiments to meet your needs and you'll leave with a great assortment!

Here is a peek at a few of the cards you'll be able to choose from:

I still have room for a few more attendees, so if you'd like to join us - send me an email ASAP at csironside@shaw.ca so that I can make sure to have enough supplies ready to go!

Unforgettable Birthday

Another great sketch this week over at Random Acts of Creativity:

Here is my take on it:

I incorporated a few blog challenges into this one:
Birthday Sundaes - Anything Goes Birthday Card
Paper Sundaes - Texture (I used textured cardstock, a textured button, and of course that big blossom!)
Paper Cutz - Buttons & Bows
Scrap Tiffany - Stamp, Stamp, Stamp!

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):
Unforgettable Paper Pack (retired)
Happy Birthday Stamp Set (retired)
Blessed Stamp Set (April 2011 stamp of the month)
Big Pinks paper blossoms
Basic Buttons
Colonial White Waxy Flax
Kraft Color Ready Borders
Ink: Juniper, Cocoa
Cardstock: Kraft, Textured Cocoa

Convention Swap Items Part #2

A few more cards I received at Convention from fellow swappers:

Love this gorgeous card using the now retired Notebook paper by Kerri Wint:

And a gorgeous Thank You card using Perfect Day and some amazing stamping, as well as glitter mist from the very talented Haley Dyer:

A gorgeous easel card using Veranda made by Sheri Johnson:

A very creative envelope card from Brenda Rutt using the recently retired Unforgettable paper pack:

And a cute little random stamped card using Topstitch from my fellow Canadian and blogging friend Krista Ritskes:

My CTMH Convention Swap Cards

One of the best things about Convention is meeting so many great people.  (There were 1500+ consultants at this year's event!!)  And one way to do that is to 'swap' cards!  Not business cards, though - - this is a Scrapbooking & Stamping Company after all.  It is optional (but a bit of a tradition at Convention) to trade handmade cards (made with CTMH products, of course). 

I made two different cards to swap in Washington DC (and made about 75 cards total!!!)

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

A Tweet Acrylic Stamp Set

Thank You Acrylic Stamp Set

Twitterpated Level 2 Paper Pack

Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon

Antiqued Copper Bitty Brad

Foam Tape

Cardstock: Crystal Blue, Chocolate & Colonial White

Inks: Crystal Blue & Chocolate

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

Unforgettable Level 2 Paper Pack

Happy Birthday Acrylic Stamp Set

Botanical Borders Acrylic Stamp Set

Dimensional Elements - Perennials

Basic Craft Buttons

Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon

Inks: Cocoa & Juniper

Cardstock: Colonial White, Juniper

Evidence of a few late nights the week before convention:

Thanks to all the ladies (and one man!!) who swapped with me! I had so much fun!  Watch for a blog post coming soon with some of the favourite swap cards I received in return!!

CTMH Convention & my Roomie Gifts

Well - Convention is coming to a close - we have the Closing Dinner & Banquet tonight & then it will be time to head home tomorrow!! We've had so much fun & have had so much packed into the last 4 days that it has gone soooo fast!!    Can't wait to come home & share with my customers and team and blog readers . . . SO MANY IDEAS!!

In the meantime - a little artwork to share - these are notebooks I made for my roomies here at Convention! 

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart, except for the notebooks themselves, which I purchased at a dollar store):

Perfect Day Level 2 Paper Pack

Unforgettable Level 2 Paper Pack

Antiqued Copper Mini Medley Accents

Dimensional Elements Monograms - A

Dimensional Elements Monograms - B

Cardstock: Cocoa, Sorbet, Juniper and Tulip

Organdy Ribbon with Satin Edges

Cocoa ink (for distressing all edges)

Liquid Glass (to attach the monograms to ensure they will NOT fall off!)

I'm off now to get ready for dinner!!  Will post more soon!!

CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop for April

Glad you could join us for this month's Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We have dozens of talented consulants who are sharing their creations with the April Stamp of the Month set "Flower Pot", a set of 16 acrylic stamps.

To continue along the hop, just follow the link at the end of each post to go to the next site. We hope that following the hop will give you lots of inspiration and ideas for using your "Flower Pot" stamp set, as well as the many other great CTMH products you'll see in each post.

My creation today is a Mothers' Day Card.  I created the flower border using a flower cluster in the stamp set.  The sentiment is also from this great set!   The card design is "Three is the Charm" from the CTMH Originals Card Confidence Program book.

To add some extra dimension to my card - I used foam tape behind the "MOM" letters, as well as under the flower border. I also added liquid glass to the centers of each flower in the border. For the sentiment - I created a shadow effect by stamping the image in the Tulip ink, and then re-stamping it slightly off the original image using Chocolate ink.  I coloured the flower border using my ink pads and blending pen.

Here is a close-up of the card profile and layers:

Materials Used (All Close to My Heart):
April Stamp of the Month "Flower Pot"
Posterboard Alphabet Acrylic Stamp Set
Unforgettable Level 2 Paper Pack
Spring Blossoms paper flowers
Winter Cozy Craft Buttons
Chocolate Waxy Flax
Liquid Glass
Foam Tape
Cardstock: Chocolate (textured), Tulip, Vanilla Cream
Ink: Tulip, Chocolate, Garden Green, Blush
 
Thanks for stopping in!  Ready to see more? Keep hopping to Debra's Blog to see what she's sharing today!!

If you get lost along the hopping trail, or come across a broken link, please feel free to refer to the entire list of this month's hop participants Here.

CTMH Unforgettable & Clean and Simple #82

Check out the fabulous sketch over at Clean & Simple Stamping this week!

Here is my card:

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

Unforgettable Level 2 Paper Pack

Happy Birthday Acrylic Stamp Set

Friendship Word Puzzle Acrylic Stamp Set

Ink: Vineyard Berry

Cardstock: White Daisy

Other: Vineyard Berry Ribbon from the Emporium Creative Basics Collection

CTMH Unforgettable Tri-Shutter Card

I have seen so many of these 'tri-shutter' cards on some of my favourite blogs lately - that I just had to give one a try. I used this Tutorial.
Here is what I came up with . . .

Here is the front in a little more detail (I used the current Close to My Heart Connections Club reward, our self adhesive pearl embellishments, as a center for the larger blush flowers):

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Unforgettable Level 2 Paper Packet
• Aspiration Acrylic Stamp Set
• Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon
• Fancy Cuts Borders
• Cardstock: Cocoa, Colonial White
• Inks: Cocoa, Sorbet, Blush
• Connections Club Pearl Embellishments (free with qualifying purchases)

CTMH Unforgettable True Friend Card

Brand new challenge blog for you to check out - - Get Sketchy!! My favourite challenges are always the sketches - so I was excited to find this one!

Here is my take on their sketch for this week:

Materials Used (all Close to My Heart):

• Juniper leafy paper from Unforgettable Level 2 Paper Pack
• Plaid and polka dot papers from the Key to My Heart Paper Pack (promotional item - not available to order)
• Friendship Word Puzzle Acrylic Stamp Set (one of my favourites!!)
• Colonial White Ric Rac from the Designer Ribbon Rounds Colonial White Collection
• Chipboard flower from the Dimensional Elements Perennials Collection
• Cardstock: Sorbet & Colonial White (both included in Unforgettable Paper Pack, and Tulip
• Inks: Tulip & Sorbet