Poo Emoji Card "Oh C..."

Yesterday morning I saw a trailer for "The Emoji Movie" that's coming out this summer.  Of course Poo is one of the characters in it.

I've known that the Artistry Cricut Cartridge has a shape that looks an awful like Poo so I hopped on Cricut Design Space, pulled up the Hot Chocolate cup (with whipped cream that looks like Poo) and went to work.

Now I've been trying to not say C-R-A-P so much lately so that's NOT what the inside of the card says.  

The outside of the card is stamped with the Ink Blot stamp in Tangerine.  It's a little more "pretty" looking in real life than I'm seeing it on my monitor.  This stamp is disappearing after a fun 2 years with CTMH as of July 31.  Grab it now!  

The inside of the card uses our Retired Sugar Rush paper and stamp. But GUESS WHAT???

There's still more of the Sugar Rush Stamp & Thin Cuts left in stock.  104 of them left as a few minutes ago.  Go... now!

Oh Cupcake!  

Donut know how I forgot your birthday!  

All of this card was created using the CTMH Artistry Cricut Bundle except for the cupcake wrapper which is from Art Philosophy.  I welded and designed it in Cricut Design Space 3 (beta).  This new update is fantastic for working with fonts.  

So go!  

Grab your Sugar Rush Stamp Set & Thin Cuts now.  My son thinks these dies are the coolest ever because one is shaped like a Pokeball from Pokemon!

When you place an order , you can opt in to receive a FREE Seasonal Expressions 2 Catalog.  There's tons of amazing goodness coming!  If I don't post here, you'll see it on my Instagram or Facebook Page.  

With joy in my heart and coffee in my cup, have a wonderful day!

Wise Guy Birthday Card

Here's a fun birthday card I created using the new Wise Guy Birthday stamp.  I love this set because it's a little snarky and not the sweet and sappy birthday stamp set.

See my earlier card that read "Birthday Wishes to the smartest person I know.... BESIDES ME."

I paired it up with some of the retired Magical papers & sequins that we had this summer make a great card to give to a guy of any age.  

The party hat is on the Artistry Cricut cartridge and is also a stamp in this set. In this case, I just cut the shape from Sapphire and the Honey B&T paper.

Don't forget!  This stamp is also available in Spanish & French.  

If you love this card, let me know I've make up a few pre-stamped kits of this card to use up my scraps.  I'll be selling them in the coming months! 

Hello & Thanks Thin Cuts

I'm loving the new Hello & Thanks Thin Cuts from the new Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations.

I created this card for the August Crafty Kits.  See the whole kit here.

They cut our glitter paper so well.  The Cricut does a beautiful job too, but I like being in control of how my glitter paper is cut and then I can use the negative piece in another project.  

What are thin cuts?
They are thin metal dies to cut paper, glitter paper and other thin materials with a Cuttlebug or Big Shot.  Other companies call them Thinlets.  Close To My Heart calls them Thin Cuts.

We also have a set of stars, hearts and a few words for scrapbooking as well as dies that coordinate with our stamp sets.  You can see them on page 79 of our new Annual Inspirations Idea Book & Catalog.

Now that we've talked about the new, let me remind me of the "no-so old".
I used the Florence papers from the Seasonal Expressions 2 mini-catalog that is ending this month.
Hint:  Grab this paper before it's gone!

The white floral piece is a pattern from one of the Picture My Life cards.  It's just a 4x6 piece, but cut in narrow strips, a little will go a long way!

Don't forget, this card and stamp set is available to order in my Virtual Kit until 8/28/2016.

Hello Adventure Fundamentals

Here's a lively birthday card! 

This was one of the very first stamp sets I saw in this new Idea Book.  I knew I had to have it. There's this great sentiment that says, "Birthday Wishes to the smartest person I know.... BESIDES ME."  

CTMH has had numerous build-a-cake stamp sets over the years but this is the FIRST one that's Cricut Compatible.  That was another excellent reason for me to grab it too.  It's called Wise Guy Birthday, not Wise Girl... what's up with that?  

Wise Guy Birthday is also available in Spanish and French!  

French.  Check out all 7 French sets here.  

and Spanish. Check out all 7 Spanish sets here.  

I used the delicious new Raspberry cardstock to complement the Adventure Fundamentals paper.  Isn't it fun and bright?  We also have new black glitter paper pack. All of our glitter paper contain 3 sheets of the SAME color!  It's going to be wonderful for big projects, Christmas cards and layouts.  

Sea Glass cardstock made its way into this card as well.  It's the new black.  Or the new gray.  Or the new 2016 Color of the Year.  Anyway you label it, it's wonderful!  

You'll be seeing a LOT more of this set as it's on my schedule for a card kit in early October!  

Don't forget, if you love the new Fundamentals papers, order Whimsy, Enchantment & Adventure packs this month and get one of Basics packs for FREE!  

August Crafty Kit!

Announcing the August Virtual Card Kit!


This month's Hot Cuppa Crafty kit features the Beyond Awesome stamp set from the Seasonal Expressions catalog that's available through the end of the month.
You'll receive pre-cut papers, card bases, envelopes and embellishments to create these 4 cards as well as the BEYOND AWESOME C1644 stamp set .

You'll see a little of everything!
The top Sapphire blue card features a bit of our Magical Papers as well as our Grey & White enamel gems.

On the left is Florence with a brand new Thin Cut dies Hello & Thanks in Gold Glitter paper.  Glitter paper is a breeze to cut with our dies.  You're going to get "hello" pre-cut in your kit.  If you want the dies, you can add them on to your kit order below.

The floral tag card is from our 2015 Adventure Fundamentals pack, using Pear and black ink.

The right card is using our retired Later Sk8r Picture My Life cards that were retired a year ago.  I have tons left over from a workshop.  Let's put it this way, if you need some, let me know!

To get your BEYOND AWESOME kits (with stamp set)

• Be a US resident because I can only ship CTMH products within the US.  If you'd like the instructions to my kits, contact me for more details.  
• Order your card kit by August 28, 2016 or place a $50* order on my website to get the card portion for free!  (See info below)
• Kits will ship no later than 9/12.  
• If you ordered last month's kit, you're eligible for free shipping!  You know who you are.  Please check your inboxes for a link to order for free shipping.  

Beyond Awesome Card Kit  ($25 + $4 shipping)

Card Kit Add-On's (cannot be ordered without the kit).  They include tax and shipping.
Hello & Thanks Thin Cuts $13
Sapphire or Cranberry Stamp Pads (hopefully the new design) $8.75

Email me to request a kit and/or any extra kit-add on's.  I'll respond and send you a PayPal invoice for your total.

This is a brand-new no-commitment club.  When you order this month's kit, you'll be eligible for FREE shipping on the September card kit.

If you'd like to receive updates about this Virtual Card Workshop directly in your inbox sign up for my newsletter.  It's only sent 1-2 times a month.

Need more more supplies?  You may earn this card kit for free!  See more on the FAQ.

You also have 1 more week to order the July Crafty Kit.  Hop on over here to check it out.  You can request both kits via email so there's just one transaction!  

V Pleated Card with Happy Times paper

Hello friends!  Have you had a good National Scrapbooking Month?
There's only 2 more days left and I have an adorable card that you'll want to make after seeing it!

I made this card last night for a friend and my friends on Facebook asked me "how did you do this?"  So here's a video of assembling this card.  My card is based on a tutorial by Linda Bauwin that you can see here.  

The flower and leaves are cut with our most recent Cricut Collection:  Artistry!  

Here's the file for the Cricut Explore 

The flower is on handbook pg 11, Keypad:  Q :  Icon-1  @ 2"

The branch is on handbook pg 31, Keypad:  z:Icon-1n @2"  I removed the stem after it was cut.

Here's the Cricut Explore file to cut the pleats.  It was created with the built-in shapes that are part of Design Space.  

Here's the manual dimensions:

B&T patterned paper 11” x 2.75” (or 3" tall)

Score every ½" & 1" inches starting at 1½”

1.5", 2", 3", 3.5", 4.5", 5", 6". 6.5", 7.5", 8", 9" & 9.5”

Note:  I designed this file so 4 pieces could be cut on the Cricut Explore from 1 sheet of 12x12 paper.  That's why it is 2.75" tall.  If you're using a paper trimmer and scoring board and want to make 4 cards at one time, you can score the whole sheet of paper and then cut the strips at 3".  This will save you a bit of time because you're only scoring 1 time for 4 cards.  I'd only do this after making a prototype.  :) 

After scoring, flip the paper over and measure up the side of the edge 1.5" from the bottom.  Make a mark on both sides.  Now find the center 2 score marks at 5 & 6" and mark them..  You'll cut diagonally from the mark on the left edge to the 5" mark and from the right side to the 6" mark.  You can lightly draw a line with a pencil if needed but you'll need to erase them so they don't show.  

I started in the middle at the 5" score mark and folded inward (valley fold) and then outward, (mountain fold) working my way to the end of the paper.  Then I repeated the folding from the middle going the other way.  

This card was made with the 2016 National Scrapbooking Month Happy Times paper.  It's only available in the month of May 2016.  If this link isn't working, the paper's not available!

Now the best part:  This paper is FREE with at $60 purchase.  Or you can get it for $14.95, no strings attached besides shipping!  

If Happy Times paper is sold out, here's some other ideas for this card

La Vie En Rose

Florence (New!)

Georgie would be adorable for a baby!   Look at those elephants

Kaleidoscope 

Sangria  I'm thinking the bottom left one would look amazing!  

Happy Spring Banner

So ADORABLE!!!
Have you seen the Banner in a Jar post on the CTMH Make It From Your Heart blog post from Monday?  If not, keep reading or hop on over to the blog then come back!

This is a banner in a jar to either give to a friend or make for yourself.   You can give it as an easy to assemble gift or make it yourself.

It's so adorable, I'm having a workshop for it.  No jar required!

from http://blog.closetomyheart.com/

Workshop & Kits!

I designed my own banner inspired by the one above in Cricut Design Space for my Cricut Explore.  If you have the Artiste & Artistry Cricut Cartridges, you can receive my files for free with any $10 purchase from my website.  

My banner with paper embellishments $12 for a single & $20 for two banners.

Single Kit $12  super cute and easy to assemble.  All accents are paper.

- pre-cut banner & shapes from the Penelope Paper Pack

-Playful Puffies (1 full pack)

-Thistle Extra Thick Twine (2 yards)

-4mm Clear Sparkles (36)

2 Banner Kit $20

-2 pre-cut banner & words with Cricut Cut Embellishments

-Playful Puffies (1 full pack *shared for 2 projects)

-Thistle Extra Thick Twine (4 yards)

-4mm Clear Sparkles (72)

If you'd like to make the CTMH banner, I can add a package of Penelope Complements for $8.

To order your kit, contact me or leave me a comment and I'll send you a PayPal invoice.  To ship a kit, I'll add $3 to cover shipping.  

Kit orders received by March 23 will be available to pick up or create at my banner workshop April 1st at 7pm.  If ordering after March 23rd, kits will be ordered and shipped in approximately 10 days after I receive your payment.  

Local Workshop on April 1 (no foolin'!)

Come & create your banner on Friday, April 1 at 7pm.  This is a great mother-daughter project.  When you RSVP let me know how many people are coming so I can plan seating.
RSVP with payment needed by 3/23 to ensure supplies for your it are available.

DIY workshop
Make a purchase from my website of $10+ and I'll email the Cricut Design Space files & photos for this banners to you as a thank you! *You will need the Artbooking & Artiste Cricut Cartridges to use this file.

While there's no stamping on this banner, don't forget about Stamaganza!  Buy 2 stamp sets and get one free, only in the month of March!  We are RETIRING a record number of stamps this year.  This event is a great way to get them before they're gone!

Christmas tag workshop

Lets create some adorable tags for Christmas!  

I'd love to host this workshop in your home in the month of November or early December with your friends.  Each set of 12 tags (2 of each) is just $5.  Everything is pre-cutb .  Just add adhesive!  

My 1st workshop featuring this kit will be Saturday, November 14th at 1pm.  

Please RSVP no later than noon on Friday if you want to attend.  

I plan to have at least one more workshop in the next 4 weeks as well.  I just haven't picked a date.

Let me know in the comments if you're interested in attending an upcoming workshop.  

Want a kit in the mail?  (US addresses only.) I can ship pre-stamped ready to assemble kits.  A handout will be emailed to you to help you assemble them.

This tag workshop was for 2015.  Click here to see and order the 2016 kit.  

Don't wait!  Nearly all the paper I have for these kits are retired.   When I run out, I'll change the design (the tea cup & latte cup wrapper will be the first ones to be changed).

Want to create your own tag workshop?

You'll need CTMH Cricut Cartridges Artiste, Artbooking, Artfully Sent and Artistry.

**Purchase link has been disabled**

I also want to thank my upline Michele Rowley for her inspiration on this tag workshop.  She helped me get started on this kit yesterday and she designed the JOY and nativity tags.  Thank you Michele!

Happy World Card Making Day

Hello friends!  It's a beautiful fall day here and I'll be having some friends over tonight to make cards & the last Seasonal Sampler.

Here's one of the cards I made this morning for tonight's workshop using the Sangria papers and Sangria Assortment.

I created this with the leftover scraps from the Sangria samplers.  Even the Cricut shapes took up "leftover" paper from my sampler.  This pumpkin was used on the sampler.  I just resized it for the card.  

This card sketch is one of my favorites from the Make It From Your Heart Vol 2 Card & layout how-to book from Close to My Heart.  It's one of 12 great card sketches that includes the dimensions of each part of the card.  That's my favorite part!  

Sangria Seasonal Sampler

I think I saved the best for last, don't you?

No, I haven't been keeping this paper tucked away for a year, it's new!  This sampler features our brand new Sangria papers & assortment from the new 2015 Annual Inspirations catalog.

This features 3 SUPER EASY 3D flowers from our very 1st Cricut Bundle, Art Philosophy along with shapes from Artbooking and the brand new Artistry Cricut cartridge.  

My last workshop will be on Saturday 10/3 @ 7pm  

Click here to order a pre-cut ready to assemble kit to create on your own or at the workshop

The kit will also include 2 coordinating cards.

Want to make one on your own and have the Cricut Cartridges?  

Place an order on my website for $20 and I'll send you the Cricut Design Space Link and a project guide.  This project can also be easily created on the Cricut Expression.  

Items used:

Sangria Paper X7199B

Sangria Assortment Z3084

Quatrefoil Embossing Folder

Pomegranate Exclusive Inks

Adventure Cardstock

Neutrals Cardstock

Cricut Bundles:  

Art Philosophy

Artbooking

Artistry - New!

This completes a full year of seasonal samplers.  We started in October 2014 with Halloween and we're ending in ((late)) September with Autumn.

Check out all of my previous seasonal samplers here.

I have a limited amount of supplies on hand for some of last year's kits. 

Last workshop from the 2014 Annual Expressions

So many mixed emotions!   I've loved theses papers but I'm so excited to feature the all new 2015 Annual Inspirations too!   

This week's card workshops will be feature these 3 cards PLUS 3 more of the same with different papers.  (Jackson, Blossom & Pathfinding)

I have absolutely loved using Brushed (left card) and Confetti Wishes (right card) this last year.  

The latte cup card is from the new Zoe papers and from the new Artistry Cricut cartridge that are already available.    

It's not too late to request a virtual, pre-stamped kit or sign up to attend.  Please contact me no later than noon on Wednesday to RSVP.    Cost is $15 for the workshop or $18.50 for a pre-stamped kit shipped directly to you next week (within US).  Leave a comment below to RSVP.  All comments are moderated and I will not publish comments if you leave me your email address in the message.

I cannot take hardly any of the credit for these cards.  The floral card was designed by Dawn Montagano, the latte cup is everywhere because it's a shape on the new Artistry cartridge... but I used my wonderful upline Michele Rowley's card for my inspiration and the last card was inspired by many many cards that have banners that I've spotted on Pinterest (not just 1 card).

Stay tuned!  I'll be doing more of these virtual card kits in the coming year.  I'm looking forward to sharing my designs with you.

Best Friends

Do you ever scraplift?  

I created this card over the weekend using the early release products.  

I love the dogs and cats on the cartridge.  I also appreciate that there's 3 of each.  Not all dogs look the same!  

The "Best Friends" stamp is from the Artistry Cricut Collection so when you purchase the collection, you'll have everything you need to start creating a card like this.

Zoe papers, Coral Shimmer Trim & Artistry Cricut Collection.  

Back to scrap-lifting.  I used this beautiful card from the current catalog as my inspiration.  

This card design is actually Design #26 from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2.  This is a how-to booklet that gives you the cutting guide for card and scrapbook layouts.  It gives me the structure.  After that's it the fun part of embellishing!

What have you scraplifted lately?

Enjoy Artistry!

Here's my first card from the new CTMH Cricut Bundle 'Artistry'

This cartridge isn't fancy.  Instead it's amazing.  

No 3D flowers.  But gorgeous layered flowers

No 3D boxes.  But it has a mason jar on pg 2 that is lovely.

No 3D cards but hundreds of items to make a card

No scrapbook layouts but tons of titles, icons, borders and backgrounds.

And of course a coffee cup, latte cup on page 5 and items for tea on later pages.  

There's 700 shapes, many of which are layered making 442 grouped images in Cricut Design Space.

And a font that can be shadowed with a bold setting, normal or handwritten with a pen.  

CTMH has released the shape index so you can see everything that's part of the cartridge.  

And it's available as a Digital Cartridge for Explore users in Cricut Design Space for a $20 savings.  

A code will be shipped with the cardstock & 3 exclusive stamp sets.  

Are you excited about this cartridge? 

I have more artwork to show you!