Mother's Day Part 1

Mother's Day is just around the corner (wasn't it just Easter?) and I have a few cards to share that will be for sale at Beautiful Blooms by Jen in Sylvania, OH. If you're in the area, you simply cannot get more gorgeous flowers anywhere!

This card is the only non-stamped card in the bunch. The heart, tags and letter die cuts are all from Papertrey Ink.

 

This one features a vintage sewing machine image from Close To My Heart. The image was stamped on a piece that was die cut and has a delicate pierced edge. The paper has a little stitched look along the edges as does the ribbon. For the seamstress Mom - that would be mine!!

 

More to share in a few days. What do you have planned for Mother's Day?

 

Easter Cards

When it's the Tuesday before Easter, you get to crafting so cards can get in the mail and to people by Easter! So that's what I did the other day - a little card creating. Here are the results:

Obviously the same image (Impression Obsession) on these 2 cards - just a little variance in coloring and finishing. I love this image - so unique! These are going to my Mom and Aunt.

This one is so cute in person and there's even a little glitter around the edges of the "peeps" (Close To My Heart) to mimic the sugar. Ah, sugar-induced Easter coma - looking forward to it! Are you a Peeps person? I love them super fresh, hubby likes them stale. This card is for my daughter and son-in-law.

And of course I can't forget a special little somebunny! He's too little for the candy this year but he'll enjoy some sweet potatoes at dinner and maybe just a lick of frosting from the cake I'm making for dessert. Yes, candy and cake - look out scale, I'm gonna blow it this Sunday! (Bunny from Papertrey Ink, eggs from Close To My Heart).

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend and remember the greatest gift we all received through the death and resurrection of God's Son, Jesus.
See you again soon!

Have a Wicked Halloween

Time is running out to get ready for Halloween so I whipped up another card tonight to share with you. I only send out a couple of cards for Halloween (it's not a big holiday in my house now that my kids are all grown) so I don't usually post too many spooky goodies to share. But watch out because my Christmas stamping finger is twitching to get busy with red and green goodies!! 

Here is tonight's "wicked" Halloween greeting:

This image and sentiment are from a previous Close To My Heart stamp of the month set. I love having a large image to work with - and solid so no coloring!  I stamped the witch on a piece from a book, mounted it to an orangy damask printed paper (from PTI) and edged it with a punched printed paper (not sure the source). A little ribbon (also PTI) finishes up this quick card - ready for the mail.

That's it for me tonight. If you want to see what else I've been up to lately, check out my other blogs, listed at the top of this page, including my new review on the iPhone 5 at Are You on the Fence. Have a great Friday!

Heartfelt Sympathy

I had some extra stamping time this weekend so I'm playing along with my wonderful Team A over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges where our challenge this week is to create a sympathy card.

This is one of those themes that no one enjoys creating for but recipients appreciate so much. My motto when creating a sympathy card is to keep it simple and let your sincere words take center stage.

I used the Close To My Heart set Live Inspired for this card. Unfortunately, I didn't check first and I think this set is now retired :( Sorry!

I stamped the corner image onto kraft cardstock with a kraft colored ink (not CTMH) and the bird with the same ink onto cream cardstock. I die cut the opening in the front of the card and also impressed the card front using an impression plate that features music notes - if you click the picture, a larger image will pop up and you might be able to see that detail a bit better. The seam binding ribbon (from CTMH) was lightly sponged with the same kraft ink and then tied into a simple bow.  On the inside of the card, the piece with the bird is actually a complete strip of cardstock that goes from side to side. This gives a great space to write a message without writing on the kraft cardstock, which might be harder to see and read.

I hope you will take a minute to see what beautiful cards the rest of the team created for this challenge and then play along! I'll be back soon with more goodies - stay tuned!

We're celebrating Dad!

At Heart to Heart Challenges this week we are celebrating the men in our lives, mainly our Dad! Father's Day is this coming Sunday so now's the time to get a card off in the mail to your favorite Father!

A lot of the Design Team at H2H went with the super-hero look (check out their awesome artwork at the H2H blog) but I know what my hubby wants - not to have superpowers but rather to enjoy a day doing a whole lot of nothing!

I used the Pemberly paper pack and the stamp sets Say it in Style and Trees and Things to create this relaxing scene. Trees and Things is a great set because there are so many little images that you can add to the trees such as a tire swing, a squirrel, birds, a ladder, apples and more. But the hammock looked like the perfect fit for wishing Dad a wonderful Father's Day!

I hope you'll join us this week and show us what you create for Dad. Just be sure to include products from Close To My Heart (our #1 challenge "rule"). And check out the info about applying for our next Design Team while you're there (open to CTMH consultants only).

Haver a wonderful week and I'll be back again soon!

May Flowers

We are talking flowers this week at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. I wanted to try something a little different by using a non-flower stamp to create a flower. The result is a little more like a stylized shape than a flower but I'm going with it! Not all flowers have to have detailed petals, right?

Here's my rainbow card:

The "flower" was created using the heart stamp in one of the sets that is in the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut bundle. I used a rainbow of inks and cardstocks as I wanted something bright and colorful and I think I was successful in that quest!

I hope you'll stop by and check out what the rest of the Design Team at H2H created (their artwork includes some really gorgeous flowers - that look like flowers! LOL) And then play along! Just be sure to use Close To My Heart products in your project!

 See you again soon!

Easter/Spring challenge

I'm a little late joining the Easter/Spring party over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges but not too late for Easter! The theme of the challenge is, of course, Easter and/or spring and I can't wait to see what you create!

REMINDER: You must use at least some Close To My Heart products in order to play along with our challenges!

I used the super cute My Peeps stamp set to create a card bound for my mother-in-law in Texas -

She recently hosted my husband on his trip to Texas so this is a double duty card - Easter and Thank you!

I stamped the egg border a few times down a piece of kraft cardstock and once on a piece of cream. Then I punched out a section so I could highlight one egg which I colored with Copics. The sentiment was stamped with an alphabet from JustRite. Simple and flat for mailing!

I hope you will join us at H2H this week. And be sure to check out my NEW CTMH website where you can now buy from the comfort of your home and get some great deals too!!!  The website is located here: http://mbryt1.ctmh.com. Be sure to check out the While Supplies Last section for some really great specials on soon to be retired items.

Be back soon with more Easter fun!

Spring is just around the corner!

Not that you can tell by the looks of things in my neck of the woods today (we finally got some snow, about 3". That's more than we had all winter, I think!) but Spring is right around the corner and we're celebrating with a pastel-y color challenge at Heart 2 Heart this week. Our colors are Sunkiss Yellow, Sky (light blue) and Sweet Leaf (medium green). If you don't have the exact colors, you can still play along - just use something close.

Here's my card for the challenge:

I sponged the three ink colors across a piece of White Daisy cardstock to create the background for the gorgeous butterfly image. All products are from Close To My Heart.

I hope you'll pop by H2H and see what the rest of the Design Team created with these colors and then play along! Just be sure to use Close To My Heart products in your artwork. Have a good Monday!

Have a little heart with Heart 2 Heart

It's almost time for Valentine's Day so we are celebrating love at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. We want to see what you create for someone you love and then link up at the challenge blog.

Here is one of the Valentine's cards I created for one of my family members - probably my son. Just frilly enough to be Valentine-y but not over the top.

I used the December Stamp of the Month (Mad about You) from Close To My Heart and two pink inks - Cotton Candy and Blush. I stamped the "circle-ish" image along the right side creating a geometric border of sorts. I also stamped three hearts that were cut with the Cricut and added them to the card front after tying some pink floss along the front of the card also. The words were added in black so they stood out. Simple but I like the results :)

I am also entering this card in the Color Throwdown challenge where the colors are Black, White and a bright pink.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll join us at Heart 2 Heart this week!

Inspiration challenge at H2H

This week at H2H, we're getting our artwork inspiration from the following photo:

Take a look - what inspires you from the photo? The colors? The tags, the crystals, the leaves? I took my cue from the tags and the cork-looking background to create a Valentine's card:

I started with a piece of a kraft cardstock and I sponged a little Brown Bag, Chocolate and White Daisy inks all over it to give the piece some "texture". I then created a couple of simple tags. The ones with the letters I and U were made by first cutting the letters using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and then cutting the cardstock around the letters into strips that could be turned into a banner type tag. The tag in the center with the heart was a purchased tag that I simply added the heart to (also cut with Cricut - once sized at 2 1/4 in Cranberry cardstock for the mat and again at 2" in cream, which was then stamped with the heart image in Cranberry).

I added some baker's twine to the center tag and a few red sparkles finishes up my card. Easy but effective and now I have one card ready for Feb. 14th!

I hope you'll join us at Heart 2 Heart and play along with our inspiration photo. Just be sure to have Close To My Heart products on hand!

Have a good week! I'll be back again soon!

NEW H2H challenge

Heart 2 Heart Challenges is back for a year full of fun challenges and we're kicking off the year with a NEW challenge. We want you to grab one of your CTMH stamps that you haven't used before and get it inky! Here's the card I created using one of the stamp sets from the Cricut Art Philosophy bundle:

I grabbed the Dreamin' paper pack for the bottom section of the card. Love the little dot border edge! On the flip side of this is the CTMH logo and paper information but I love how Close To My Heart utilized every bit of space and gave us a fun border on the reverse to use - no waste with this paper! I also cut three stars using the Cricut AP cartridge, stamped the star image on the cut-outs and then layered them over a stamped label-type image. There is a pattern to cut out the label with the Cricut as well but this worked just perfectly for this clean and simple card.

I hope you will come join in the challenge at H2H this week. Be sure to have Close To My Heart stamps on hand in order to play along!

After Christmas CTMH SALE!

Save 15% on your total purchase from the Fall/Winter Close To My Heart Idea Book when your order is placed by Friday Dec. 30th at midnight. OFFER GOOD THROUGH ME ONLY.

In addition to the savings, you could be eligible for the Rock the Block promotion:

Any order of $25 or more qualifies you for the promotion. For just $15, Rock the Block includes an exclusive E-sized stamp set and the My Creations Collage Cubes (seen above).

Don't delay - contact me right away to get your order placed! To see the products in the current Idea Book, visit www.closetomyheart.com

H2H Virtual Holiday Card Exchange

Today starts the last challenge of the year with Heart 2 Heart as we are all taking a much deserved break for the holidays. The challenge is to create and post a holiday card of any kind wishing everyone who stops at your blog a very Merry __________ (fill in the blank).

Here is my card, with warm wishes for all of my online stamping friends:

I grabbed my Bundled Buddies set and stamped the trees with White Daisy ink on kraft cardstock to create my background. The animals were stamped with brown ink onto kraft, colored with Copics and cut out. I added a couple of lines of machine stitching to the background to ground my trees and then added the cutie patootie animals with some foam tape for dimension. The simple sentiment was stamped in the lower corner and everything was mounted to a Moonstruck (or it might be Outdoor Denim) base.

I hope you will have a chance to play along with us and post a holiday card you've created using Close To My Heart products. This challenge will remain open until the end of the year and we will be back Jan. 9th with a whole new year full of challenges! Be sure to check out our DT call over at the H2H blog too!

Merry Christmas!

Sketch week at H2H

It's sketch week at Heart 2 Heart Challenges and it's a simple one to play along with! Here is my take featuring the cutie-patootie owl from the Bundled Buddies set:

I wanted something for the holidays but also wanted to keep the card somewhat rustic to go along with the owl. So I chose some paper from the Daydreamer pack that was just perfect and colored the owl's scarf to match. A little light blue velvet ribbon "fancies" the simple card up and adds that warm touch.

Wanna check out the sketch and play along? Head over to H2H and jump in. Be sure to use CTMH products and leave us your link. Have a good week and be sure to tune in later this week for more holiday cards to share!

Time for a new challenge at H2H!

Our theme this week at the Heart 2 Heart Challenges blog is to create something with the theme of time. Now this can be clocks, or can be a sentiment that says something about time....think outside the box and see what you can come up with! Here is my take on the theme:

I used a sentiment from a recent CTMH promotion stamp set as my "time" element. The tree is (as you can see) made from all random buttons. The paper is from the Daydreamer pack - love the shimmer of this paper!! I punched a border on the bottom and added everything to a white card base. Quick, easy and ca-ute!

I hope you'll play along with us this week! Think time!

Jar full of gratitude

I had a little stamping time the other day and came up with this:

I cut out a piece of acetate following the lines of the stamped jar and adhered it to the stamped jar with one piece of adhesive under the Thankful for... tag. The slips of paper in the jar were then adhered to the jar base so they wouldn't fall out from the edges where the acetate wasn't attached. Does that make any sense? It sounds easy to explain in my head anyhow :)

I am linking this card up at Papertrey Playhouse for their current Fall themed challenge.

Thanks for visiting~

Supplies:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, CTMH
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Friendship Jar, Tranquility Trilogy
Ink: Close To My Heart
DP: Papertrey Ink
Punch: EK Success
Sparkles: Taylored Expressions

Admit One

Good morning! Sorry I have been absent for awhile - I promise to start posting more often. I just need to find a little more time to get into the stamp room!! Helping my son with school stuff this semester has been almost a second part-time job!!

Anyhow, enough of that - let's get to some artwork!

Our challenge this week at Heart 2 Heart is all about numbers! All projects submitted must include at least one number on it. Here is my party invite:

Can you tell I am hooked on the new Cricut cartridge from Close To My Heart?? Here is how I made this little (3x4) card:

I started with the sentiment It's a Party! stamp from one of the sets that came with the Cricut bundle. I stamped it repeatedly on the diagonal on my card base in Autumn Terracotta. The tag was cut on the Cricut and stamped with one of the images in the September Stamp of the Month (ask me how you can get yours!!) in New England Ivy ink. The "ticket" was cut on the Cricut as well as the number "1". I stamped the "admit one" and hand cut it out. Finally, before assembling everything, I stamped a 2nd generation image of the packages from the set Jingle Borders. Then I layered everything together onto the tag, added a little piece of ribbon and mounted it to the card with foam tape. Lots of fun little layers! (All products from CTMH)

I hope you'll join us and create something with numbers this week. Be sure to use Close To My Heart products!!

Cricut fun!

As you know, I'm a consultant with Close To My Heart but I haven't been a very active consultant in the past year or so. Unless you count my work with the H2H blog - that keeps me pretty busy. But I haven't been selling a lot lately and have been buying products for myself mostly.

But now I have to tell you about the coolest product EVER from Close To My Heart - the Art Philosophy Cricut bundle!! Oh, you are going to need this, Cricut lovers!!  Here's some info from the CTMH website and then I'll show you a little something I made -

"We’re delighted to introduce the exclusive Close To My Heart Cricut^® Art Philosophy collection! We’ve worked with Provo Craft^* to bring you a Cricut^® cartridge filled with 700 shapes hand-selected by company founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton. Simply insert the cartridge into your Cricut^® machine (sold at retail stores) and you’re ready to cut any of the shapes with the touch of a button! Choose from stunning rosettes, unique gift boxes, elegant doilies, crafty banners, and more. The exclusive images are incredibly versatile, and many are designed to be used with specific My Acrylix^® stamps for real eye-popping power!"

And that's not all - many of the shapes you can cut with this cartridge have matching stamp sets as well!! So it's easy to cut, stamp, assemble and voila! Instant creations!! (well not exactly instant but pretty darn quick!)

You can read more about what is included in the bundle pack here (you get chipboard and stamps and the cartridge - oh my!)

Here is what I created this evening:

Everything was cut on the Cricut and the only stamping is the words I stamped on the tag layer. These are 4 separate word stamps I aligned on one block and then stamped repeatedly on the layer for a fun printed panel.

The tree is two Cricut cut layers although I could have opted to stamp the tree as well as one of the stamp sets in the bundle includes a tree stamp that fits this cut shape. LOVE! I added a little bling and all done! Now to use this as a tag, or add to a card front....? 

If you want to learn more about the Art Philosophy Cricut bundle from Close To My Heart, drop me an email - you won't be sorry!!

Unscripted for Fall

I have seen very little of my stamping room lately as I have been helping out the college student in the house with typing papers and what not. And there's been a lot of what not this semester! But I did manage to get a little fun time in the other day and created this for Unscripted Sketches:

I was in a Fall mood so chose some nice warm autumny colors. Stamps are from Papertrey Ink, cardstock from Close To My Heart. I hope you will check out the sketch this was based on over at Unscripted Sketches and then play along! We would love to see your interpretation of the sketch!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Creative Vision blog hop for October. And don't forget, there is always something new at Are You on the Fence? to check out - this time, it's a post from Leia, my furbaby. Yes, indeedy.

See you soon  - and Happy World Card Making Day!

Heading back to class

Today my son starts his 4th year of college and I know many kids are either already back in school or heading there soon, so this week at Heart 2 Heart Challenges we are creating Back to School artwork.

I went a little non-traditional and created a card for a young lady just heading into college....

I used the Sophie papers because I simply loved all the words of wisdom printed on this paper. I also stamped the arrow from Fill in the Blank, cut it out and used it to point to a great saying : The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". That's what higher education is all about! Dreaming of the future....and working toward higher goals. Anyhow, I stamped the girl from an older set, Be Yourself, and finished everything off with a clip tied with a pink ribbon.

I hope you will play along with us this week at H2H and show us your Back to School project. Be sure to use Close To My Heart products - we love CTMH at Heart 2 Heart!

Until next time - happy creating!