Verve Diva Dare

As we are closing in on the end of the year, over at the Verve

blog they have come up with a great Diva Dare to end

the new year. The Dare is called "Playing Favorites."

You either post your favorite Verve creations from 2013 or make

a new creation using your favorite Verve products!

I chose to pick two of my very favorite cards I made this past year!

Both use Verve stamps

Card one using Birthday Bots:

Original posting here

Second using Happy Anniversary plain Jane:

Original posting here

Close To My Heart Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book!

Merry early Christmas to me!! I just received a big box

of the brand new Spring/Summer 2014 Close To My Heart Idea Books

on my front steps this morning:

New catalogs!! These catalogs are only sent out to 

consultants so to get your own, you need to go through a consultant.

The online version won't be available until February 1st as that

is when the new products will be available for purchase!

Want to know how to get your hands on one of these babies?! I will have

a limited amount that will be up for sale  after January 1st (click here) or between 

January 1st and February 1st, if you spend $50 or more on my Close To My Heart

page I will send you one for FREE! That's right, free! 

Twisted Tuesday #66

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Hope y'all are having a 

great holiday time hopefully spent with family!

Are you ready for another Twisted Tuesday challenge??

Well here it is!

New Beginnings

The Challenge:

Show us something crafty new to you, either bought, or received as gift

The Twist:

Make your creation something new or the beginning of something

(marriage, baby, new house, ect...)

My creation:

Supplies: All Close To My Heart

For Always paper pack

The happy Couple stamp set

Ruby Shimmer Trim

Black and Ruby ink

Edge distresser, sponge

Scrapbooking with Studio J: part 5

Today I am sharing my last project with Studio J... for now

anyways lol! If you haven't read my first post about Studio J, please

click here and read it first! I just love how

beautifully these come out! And how unbelievably simple

it is to do! With no software to buy or even download! Not to mention

you can create your layouts for free and they are saved for up to 

one year so you can decide to purchase whenever you want!

(Please note these are photos of my layouts so the quality

isn't near as good as the real thing...)

  

Shop with me Here!!

Scrapbooking with Studio J: part 4

I hope y'all are enjoying my Studio J projects! They were

so fun and easy! As you can probably tell, I'm not much of a 

scrapbooker, I'm a cardmaker. Scrapbooking is difficult for me

but not so with Close To My Heart's online scrapbooking, Studio J!

If you missed my first Studio J post, please go here and read it first!

(Please note my layouts were photographed so it

diminishes the quality from the original image... aka

they look so much better in person!!)

  

Shop with me Here!!

Sketch N Scrap card #16

Good morning Sketch N Scrap fans! Hope y'all are having

a fabulous week! Ready for Christmas yet?! I am! Or at least

to have the day off! Working in surgery during the last month of

the year mean lots of overtime! I'm thankful for the extra

pay, but I'm tired at the same time! 

Here's the new sketch:

My take:

Supplies used:

Sparkle and Shine paper from CTMH

Scandinavian Wishes and Perfect fit Holidays stamps from CTMH

Sparkles stickon gems from CTMH

misc button and twine

Shop Close To My Heart Here!!

Scrapbooking with Studio J: part 3

If you have not seen my first post about Studio J, please

click here to read it first! I have another great layout to share

today! This one was from my honeymoon!

I do need to stress to y'all if using Studio J, please proofread!

Studio J does a good job of hounding you when checking out to make

sure you proofread, but of course I didn't and clicked yes I did

and I mis-spelt 'Honeymoon' oh well... lol

(Please not these are photographs of my layouts so the

quality is a bit diminished from the real thing) 

Shop with me Here!!

Scrapbooking with Studio J: part 2

If you have not seen my first post on Studio J,

please click here and read it first!

Here I am just sharing the second layout I made using

Close To My Heart's fabulous online-scrapbooking!

(Note that these are photos of layouts so quality

is a bit diminished) 

  

Shop with me Here!!

Scrapbooking with Studio J: part 1

So I'm sure there are plenty of you out there that are not

scrapbookers. Maybe not even papercrafters, or even crafty

for that matter. I'm also pretty sure y'all have friends

that make those pretty little scrapbooks and think to yourself

that would be a pretty cool thing to make but in the words of Sweet Brown,

"Ain't nobody got time fir that!"

Well you are in luck! Close To My Heart has a great thing

called Studio J Online Scrapbooking. 

There are many ways to use it and all you need is

a computer, the internet, and some digital photos. There 

is no software to buy or even download. You can make an

account with CTMH by clicking here. 

With Studio J you can go the simple route by picking a paper pack

that goes the best with your photos and then choosing 

from the available layouts what you like best, or you can search 

through layouts and pick from there, or you can make up your own!

What does is cost you ask? Nothing to create your pages and

they are saved for a year! Once you decide that you

want them in print, just buy a 5-pack card for only $39.95 

and that gets you 10 pages printed and shipped!!

Here are the first two pages I did on Studio J. They are fabulous

in person! I was shocked by the quality!:

(Note that I took pictures of these, they are much prettier in person!)

Keep checking in as I will be posting more Studio J layouts!

Twisted Tuesday #65 with CTMH

Hello friends! Sorry this has taken me so long to post...

and sorry I haven't posted much this last month, just been so

busy! There is a fabulous challenge going on over at

Twisted Tuesday and I hope you'll join us!

Cutting Corners

The Challenge:

Fussy cut something on your project

The Twist:

Do something fancy with some corners on your project.

Use a corner rounder, ticket punch, or some nifty border punch.

For my card I used paper from the Sarita pack from 

Close To My Heart. I also used the hostess rewards stamp set

The Party is On which I stamped in Lagoon and Outdoor Denim ink.

I rounded the corners with a Marvy corner punch. The banner

that I fussy cut I popped up on pop-dots.

Shop with me HERE!!

Sketch N Scrap card #15

Good morning Sketch N Scrap fans! Wow it's December already!

So hard to believe! This year has flown by! Well I hope

y'all will be having as good of weekend as I will be!

I leave today to go to a scrap retreat with some ladies in Texas!

We will be there until Sunday! So excited to spend the whole

weekend making cards and such!

Anyways Kelly has given us another great sketch

for the first part of December:

Here is my take:

Products used: All Close to My Heart

Frosted paper pack

October SOTM Scandinavian Wishes

Whisper ink

Assorted Sparkles

Twisted Tuesday #64

Good morning Twisted Tuesday friends!

Happy almost Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has

something wonderful planned with friends and family!

We are going to my grandparents house this year!

I'm happy because we used to do that every year but

haven't the past 2 years so it'll be nice to be there for my

favorite holiday again! Don't forget to thank God for

all the good things he's given you! Well we should do that 

everyday but especially this holiday week! Now onto the challenge!

Autumn Thankfulness

The Challenge:

Fall/autumn themed

The Twist:

make it Thank you themed

My creation:

Supplies:

Paper Studio paper

CTMH Always Grateful stamp set

CTMH barn red ink, MFT kraft ink

Darice honeycomb embossing folder

jute, brown button

Sketch N Scrap card #14

Good morning Sketch N Scrap fans! 

Y'all all ready for Thanksgiving?? I am! Can't wait to

have a long weekend and see some family! 

We have another great sketch from Sketch N Scrap for

y'all this week! Here it is:

Here is my take:

Supplies:

Paper and stickers from Paper Studio

Stamp from Verve

Ink from CTMH

Twisted Tuesday #63

Good morning Twisted Tuesday friends!

Wow did we have a lot of entries for out Free-for-All

challenge over the last 2 weeks! Well as usual there is

another great challenge for y'all this week!

Pop Dots and Polka Dots!

Challenge:

Use pop dots, dimensions, or foam tape

on your creation.

Twist:

Have polka dots on your creation.

My creation:

Supplies:

CTMH Babycakes paper pack

Inkadinkadoo stamp

Stazon Timber Brown ink

Colored pencils

Sketch N Scrap card #13

Good morning everyone! Hope y'all had a good Monday!

It's getting closer to Thanksgiving weekend! My favorite

holiday! I just love getting together with family

and good food! Best thing ever! I am so grateful for

the wonderful family and friends God has blessed

me with! Don't know where I'd be without them!

Ready for another great sketch from Sketch N Scrap?!

My card for this weeks sketch is yet another card using

CTMH Always Grateful set (see I said y'all would get tired

of seeing this set lol) I can't help it! Love the trees and

the wonderful thankful/grateful sentiments!

Sketch #13 (due Nov. 30th):

My take:

Supplies:

Paper Studio paper

CTMH stamp set

CTMH ink in Olive, MFT ink in kraft

creme embroidery floss

A few Fall Cards

Good Monday afternoon friends! Hope y'all had a fabulous weekend!

I know I sure did! Apparently Michaels is having an 80% off 

fall stuff sale and my mother went and bought me some fall paper

and embellishments! She's awesome! So I thought I'd share some cards

I made using my new supplies!

First card I followed the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

Paper and Flowers: Recollections

Stamp and Ink: CTMH

Second card I followed the sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday:

Paper and gem leaf: Recollections

Glitter leaves: MAMBI

Ink and Stamp: CTMH

Third card I followed the Sketch from Mojo Monday:

Paper: Recollections

Leaves: MAMBI

Ink, Stamp, and shimmer trim: CTMH

Twisted Tuesday #62

Good morning Twisted Tuesday fans!

We had a lot of great entries for our Celebrate Naturally

challenge! Can't wait to see what y'all do this week!

And being the 5th Tuesday of the month, you know

what that means?!

This week's challenge:

Anything Goes!!

That's right! Go crazy people! Do anything you want!

My creation for this challenge:

Supplies: All from CTMH:

ProPlayer paper pack

A True Thank You stamp

Ruby and pacifica ink

Metal badge from ProPlayer assortment

Sketch N Scrap Holiday Blog Hop!

Good morning Sketch N Scrap friends!

Hope you are liking our daily Holiday Hop so far!

For my holiday, I actually chose two...

I have made cards for both Mother's Day and Father's Day!

My Father's Day card:

Supplies:

CTMH ProPlayer paper pack

SU! sentiment stamp

CTMH Slate ink

CTMH Ruby Chevron ribbon

CTMH metal badges from ProPlayer assortment

My Mother's Day card:

Supplies:

CTMH Sarita paper pack

Verve sentiment stamp

CTMH flower stamp from NSM special

CTMH one-way borders stamp set

CTMH gypsy and outdoor denim ink

CTMH Outdoor denim chevron ribbon

Sketch N Scrap card #12

Good Sunday morning everyone! Hope y'all have had

a good weekend so far! Thought I pop-in right

quick before heading off to church to share the new

sketch over at Sketch N Scrap!

Sketch #12 (due Oct. 31st):

My take:

Supplies:

Fancy Pants paper

Verve stamp, CTMH black ink

Stick-on jewels

CTMH Sparkle and Shine and Freshly Made Sketches

Good morning friends! Hope y'all are having a great weekend so far!

Today is my mom's birthday so we will be having a party tonight!
Our Texas family has come up for the weekend which makes me happy!

I'd thought I'd share a card right quick before I head off to finish
the cupcakes I made! I made this card using this weeks sketch from
Freshly Made Sketches and I used all new Close To My Heart products!
I used the new Sparkle and Shine paper pack and stamps from Perfect Fit Holidays
and  the October Stamp of the Month! The SOTM is only available this month for
the regular price of $17.95 or only $5 if you spend $50! It's such a
great set! You can't really tell but I stamped a snowflake background in Juniper ink
on a piece of juniper cardstock. I stamped the Heart in ruby and the sentiment
in juniper ink. I also added some ruby shimmer trim and Sparkles for some bling!

Come shop with me Here!!

sketch:

CTMH Frosted and Sketch N Stash

Good Thursday afternoon friends! It's almost the weekend!

I made a few cards last night and thought I'd share one

with y'all this afternoon...

For this card I used the sketch over at Sketch N Stash.

I used all Close To My Heart products for this card.

I used the Frosted paper pack along with some colonial white cs.

I stamped the wreath from Remarkable Wreath is slate ink and the 

berries that go with the wreath in ruby and then dotted them all with

some liquid glass to give them some shine and dimension. I stamped the

bow in juniper ink. I then got out Perfect Fit Holidays and stamped the 

fancy circle in champagne ink and the sentiment in slate.

I added some silver shimmer trim for some bling.

Shop with me Here!!

Sketch:

Twisted Tuesday #61

Good morning Twisted Tuesday friends!

Wow half through October already! Where does

the time go?! We had some fabulous entries for last week's

Heavy metal challenge! Can't wait to see what y'all come 

up with this week!

Celebrate Naturally!

The challenge:

Make your card/project a celebration theme.

The twist:

Use some natural element in your creation.

(hemp, jute, leaves, twigs, wood embellishments...)

My creation:

Supplies:

CTMH Laughing Lola paper

CTMH Laughing Lola WOTG stamp set

CTMH Birthday Chatter stamp set

CTMH ink in black

Jute, misc buttons

Mojo Monday and Twist of Faith

Good morning friends! Happy Friday! Hope everyone has

fun and fabulous plans for the weekend! Before I get to

my card for this morning I have some exciting news

I want to share! I got a new job!! :-) I am super pumped! 

A great pay raise, better (and cheaper) benefits, and get this,

It's ONE MILE from my house! I can walk or ride my bike!!

I will be working strictly in surgery which is great because I love surgery!

Oh and it's M-F with 6 paid holidays a year!! 

Now onto my card... I used the sketch from Mojo Monday and

am also entering into this week's challenge at Twist of Faith

which is fall colors. I also CASE'd this card from my friend Vickie, hers is here.

For this card I used CTMH Huntington paper, Darice embossing folder,

brown seem binding, and a paper doily I sponged with goldrush ink.

The sentiment I stamped in olive is from the Always Grateful stamp set.

Original sketch:

Fun with CTMH One-way Borders stamps!

Good morning y'all! It's getting closer to the weekend!

Hope y'all are having a great week! I thought I'd share two

cards this morning that I made using CTMH products.

For my more feminine Thanks card I used a lagoon cardstock

base size 4.5 x 6.25 with a mat in gypsy and a background 

base of white daisy. I stamped various borders from 

the One-Way Borders stamp set in gypsy, lagoon, goldrush,

and whisper inks. Then for the sentiment I used the alphabet from

the September National Stamping Month promo. I stamped

it in Versamark on daisy white cardstock then embossed 

with clear embossing powder. I then used a bit of my sponge

and rubbed in circles over my paper with lagoon ink. 

This technique is called emboss resist. I set this on a piece of goldrush 

cardstock, then popped up on pop dots. I finished up with a bit

of Silver Shimmer Trim for some sparkle.

For my masculine version I used the same techniques. The cardstock

I used was ruby, slate and white. The inks I used were

ruby, pacifica, and slate. I emboss resisted in pacifica ink.

I finished off this one with a bit of Ruby Chevron Ribbon.

Come shop with me here!

Using up the rest of my CTMH Laughing Lola pack

Good afternoon y'all! Hope your having a great week so far!

Some of you may know that this past Saturday

was World Cardmaking day! So of course I had to 

participate in some sort of card challenge so I thought 

I'd like to share my favorite card I made for the 4 part

challenge. The challenge for this card was to use the provided

sketch and either use chipboard, use an uncommon sentiment or

make a masculine card with a feminine embellishment or all three.

I chose the first 2. 

For my card I used some left over bits of  Laughing Lola paper

that I had. I second generation stamped two different paisleys

from Paisley Perfect stamp set in slate and lagoon inks to made 

the sentiment background. The sentiment I stamped in black is from the 

September National Stamping Month promo. The arrows and flower

are chipboard pieces from the Laughing Lola Compliments. To add

a little sparkle I used some Black Shimmer Trim and two different

sizes from the Sparkles Clear Assortment.

Come shop with me here!

Brandi is having a giveaway!

My friend and fellow Sketch N Scrap designer Brandi Matos 

is having a giveaway on her blog:

Lucky Flutterby Creations

Stop by and check out her simple rules to join in!

Sketch N Scrap card #11

Good Saturday morning Sketch N Scrap friends!

Hope y'all are having a fabulous weekend and gearing

up for some good fall weather! We have another

great sketch to get your creating juices flowing

this weekend! There is so much you can do with this

sketch! I thought about doing little tags like Kelly did on the

sketch but then of course I looked at my new CTMH Always Grateful

stamp set and thought I had to use the trees! Y'all are going to

get tired of  me using this stamp set... I can't help it, I love it!

Sketch #11 (due Oct. 31st):

My take:

I had fun with these trees! I stamped the evergreens second generation

 in olive. (means after I inked the image I lightly stamped it

on a piece is scratch paper first them stamped it on my piece of

paper so the image looks lighter) The tree in the middle I inked the

image in Goldrush then used a piece of sponge and added some

Barn Red to it to look more fall-ish...

Supplies:

Paper Studio paper

CTMH Always Grateful stamp set

CTMH ink in Olive, Goldrush, and Red Barn

CTMH bronze Shimmer Trim

CTMH Huntington and Always Grateful

Good morning friends! It's Friday! Whoop Whoop! 

Think it'll be a good weekend of cool temps, laundry, and crafting!

Oh and I guess cleaning house since the hubs and I are hosting

Bible study on Monday night... Suppose it's a good thing

since it'll make me have to clean house!

I have a cute little card for y'all this morning! I used the 

CTMH Huntington paper pack for this card. I just love these beautiful

colors! The base is redbarn cardstock cut to a 5.25 square. The olive

piece is embossed using a Darice honeycomb folder. I also added

some CTMH Bronze Shimmer Trim. I used the stamp set Always Grateful.

First I stamped the tree and sponged redbarn and goldrush inks over

my stamped image to give the illusion of leaves. I stamped the sentiment

in Olive and the little pumpkin in goldrush (it is from the Autumn/winter

petite perks set only available through a CTMH consultant) Be on the

look-out for a give-away I will be doing with this little set!

Click HERE to shop with me!