New Paper Pack: Chalk It Up

I was so excited to get ahold of this new paper pack and start creating a layout for my new club starting soon. The Chalk It Up paper pack is perfect for back to school pictures, but the challenge I had was creating a layout for a boy that wasn't too plain, yet didn't become feminine as I started embellishing it. 

To keep this layout simple and duplicatible for my club members, I used Pattern 07 from Make It From Your Heart, the Chalk It Up Paper Packet, Chalk It Up Complements, and Chalk It Up Assortment. 

If you have any questions, please let me know. And let me know what you think of this layout. 

It's a Banner Day...

Looking for a card suitable for any celebration - a birthday, a graduation, a promotion, a weight loss, or any other occassion? That's exactly why I came up with this card. It's made using the Big Top stamp set, Jubilee paper pack, red shimmer trim, pink glitter gems, and Harvest Bakers Twine.

Balloon Ride Paper Pack

If you're looking for a versatile unisex paper pack, you'll love the new Balloon Ride paper pack as much as I do. This is a masculine valentine card I designed for my customers to create at my open house. I love the foxes shown here from the February Stamp of the Month set:

This card was made a little more feminine by showcasing the new Give a Lift stamp set. This is a great stamp set for anyone who loves to color as this card showcases our watercolor pencils and blending pen. 

Another unisex card was made by using the Banner Wishes stamp set and adding bronze shimmer trim. 

This is another very simple, masculine card that requires no stamping. Instead, I used the Artbooking Cricut cartridge to cut the you + me image. For an extra handsome touch, I used wood grain washi tape. 

And another very simple, unisex card featured the new Good Job stamp set. Just a touch of watercolor pencils and blending pen give the stamped image a touch of color without the need for additional embellishments. 

NEW Picture My Life -Skylark Collection

Close to my Heart just released a new scrapbooking program called Picture My Life. This program is for anyone who loves the look af beautiful scrapbook layouts to preserve their memories, but is intimidated by the thought of learning how to create layouts, doesn't have the time for traditional scrapbooking, or is looking for a more cost- and time-effective way to get their pictures scrapbooked. There are 8 different kits to choose from to fit any color choice or theme to preserve your photos. Each kit comes with 10 12"x12" page protectors in various designs to fit your 4"x6" photos, 3"x4" photos, and various cards of those sizes. The kit also includes beautifully printed cards for titling your page, journaling your story, or adding embellishments to dress up your page - 122 double-sided cards per kits. It also includes one 12"x12" printed title page for your book.

I used the Skylark Picture My Life Kit here because I liked how the neutral blues, greens, and browns coordinated with these pictures I took of my daughter feeding animals at a farm near our house.

As you can see in this first page, I used a 4"x6" journaling card to tell the story for my photos, and another 4"x6" card to signify the date and location the pictured were taken. The corners of all the cards in the Picture My Life kits are rounded, so I use my corner rounder to punch rounded corners on all the photos I use with these kits. This first picture is 4"x6", and fits perfectly in the 4"x6" photo slot. I trimmed the three photos on the bottom with my paper trimmer to fit the 3"x4" slots in the page protector.

The bottom two cards on this page were cut from our plain cardstock and altered for artistic interest. The card on the bottom left was cut 3"x4" from white daisy cardstock and dry embossed using the striped embossing folder. To add color to this piece, I just used a crayon, with the label removed, and swiped along the raised edges to accent the sriped pattern. The 3"x4" card on the bottom right is cut from Twilight cardstock, embossed with the Dot Embossing Folder, and lightly rubbed with sandpaper to expose the white core of the cardstock to accent the polka dot pattern.

 

This next picture is a 2-page layout using Picture My Life. You can see I used a lot more pictures and cards of both 4"x6" size and also 3"x4" size.

This is a close up of the left page of the 2-page layout. You can see that I used a few extra items on this page. I made a card using a stamped image that I colored in with watercolor pencils. I also cropped a couple of my pictures to 3 3/4"x 3 3/4" and attached them to 4"x6" cards using adhesive and woodgrain washi tape. I also added some cards I made from cardstock and embossed using our Quatrefoil, Damask, and Dot Embossing folders.

This last page is mostly pictures, plus one card from the Picture My Life Skylark Kit, and one card I made with cardstock and the Chevron embossing folder.

As you can see, these new kits are so versatile, simple and fun to use. They are great for the traditional scrapbooker looking to quickly catch up on a few layouts or for someone new to scrapbooking who's looking for a way to preserve and display their photos in a simple and fast way.

If you gave any questions at all regarding these pages, please comment below. All supplies can be purchase through my website. Thanks for looking - I know you'll love Picture My Life!

Hoppy Birthday!

How cute is this?!? When I first saw that we could order the stamp sets Close to my Heart made exclusively for our new Aussie consultants, I knew I just had to order this one. 

I had a blast making this super feminine celebration card for my fiance's aunt. Using the new Lollydoodle paper pack, watercolor pencils, Honey Triangles washi tape, flamingo dots, purple glitter gems, purple shimmer trim, and Liquid Glass made this cute little kangaroo come to life.

 

If you have any questions about how I created any part of this card, please ask me in the comments below. All supplies can be ordered from my website. Thank you for looking - and have a Hoppy Day!

Easter Layout Featuring Lollydoodle

I had so much fun creating this layout from some old pictures I found of my daughter. I used Pattern 16 from Make It From Your Heart: Volume 2. I love how the bright pastel colors in the Lollydoodle paper pack compliment the colors of the grass and the dress in the pictures.

 

This is a close up shot of the left side of the layout. I used the Artiste Cricut cartridge to cut the title, and the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the egg shapes from the patterned paper.

This is a close up of the right page of the layout. Visit my website to order any of the supplies used to make this layout.

Wild About Love: CTMH's February 2014 Stamp of the Month

I'm counting down the days till I can reveal the newest products in our Spring/Summer Idea Book. If anyone's keeping track, there are 10 more days! In preparation for my open house, I made this card to show how adorable this stamp set is...

I kept my supplies simple by using chocolate and colonial white cardstock, chocolate and cranberry inks, wood grain washi tape, red shimmer trim, and the February stamp of the month: Wild About Love.

On the inside of the card, I used the masking technique to stamp the "I love you" sentiment in chocolate and cranberry inks:

1. I placed a post-it note on the bottom right corner of the inside of the card.

2. I stamped the "I love you" sentiment on the post-it note (it doesn't matter what color ink you use on this step).

3. I cut out the word "love" from the post-it. I now had a mask. 

4. I then stamped the image in chocolate ink over my mask being very careful to align the stamp accurately. 

5. I then removed the post-it note mask revealing the "love". 

6. I then used a piece of washi tape to cover over my "love". Washi tape is wonderful for this step because it allows you to see through it and it's easily removable without damaging the cardstock or stamped image under it. 

7. I then stamped the image in cranberry directly over the washi tape. 

8. After I removed the washi tape, I was left with this - the perfect 2-color image!

I would love to see what you create with the masking technique - or the Wild About Love stamp set. This set is available February 1-28 for $17.95 - or for only $5 with any $50 purchase from stampsnstuff.ctmh.com.