October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hello October!!  Hello Fall!  Hello cooler temps???  Ok - where are you?  Today's high - 89 degrees....urg!  I have to go into the stores to get the 'cooler' temps- Target is always freezing cold!!  But regardless, the Holiday season has arrived and this month Close to My Heart's stamp of the Month is S1310 Scandinavian Wishes!

If you have been hopping with us then you have arrived from Kim's blog here and checked out her card and tags!

If you get lost along the way you can always go back to Kathleen's blog for the complete list here.

When I think of Scandinavia I think of my dear mother-in-law who was Swedish. She was born in the U.S. to Swedish  immigrants and grew up in Western New York on a dairy farm.  At Christmas she always had plenty of Dala Horses.  The Dala horse or Dalahast in Swedish is originally from the province of Dalarna in Sweden.   It's a piece of wood carved in the shape of a horse and traditionally painted different provincial patterns.  My oldest son inherited his grandmother's collection.  I also think of different colors then the ones featured in the design post by CTMH here....

To me the colors should be red, white and straw.  Similar to what you see on this Christmas tree.  If you need additional visuals to keep up with me, just visit Ikea in the next couple of months! 

So I decided to create some authentic (?) Scandinavian ornaments!  My color choices are Ruby,White Daisy and Cashmere.  The Cricut cuts are from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.

The trivets are from my mother-in-law's home and I kept them as a legacy to this sweet, dear lady...

Now it is on to Maureen's blog here  where you can view her unbelieveable  winter layout! 


Adeline

Crazy month!!

My oh my!...What a wild and crazy month...  OK - I am NOT Bill Murray but it sounded sooo good!!

SO much to do.... SO much to get ready for...  and so much F-U-N!!!

If you are not following my sewing blog... you need to check it out here...  I have been busy with BOTH of my hobbies.. sewing AND scrapbooking or is it stamping and sewing??  whatever....

Regardless...  we had a fabulous day yesterday (9/28)  at Higgins Hall with the "Krop for Kids Scrapbook" event!

Here is a view from my booth ...what a terrific bunch of ladies!

Ok - now the other side of the booth - yep -that's me!!

My 'Make-n-Take' project was this 12 x 12 " page layout .. an excellent example of the current trend in scrapbooking...

Wow - look at all of the 'cute' stuff....

Cricut Art Philosophy, Artiste AND Artbooking!  sooooo ...many cartridges to choose from...  WOW - look at the door prize drawing...    Congratulations to Jennifer S from Zephyrhills,Fl. for winning my door prize!!

These two are always dressed to the "9's"!!!  Luv ya - Monica and Francis!

How about this group??!!!!!

  Can you say ....AWESOME!!!

What a wonderful time I had on a Saturday!!

September SOTM Poster Tidings

Imagine having a video to show you how to creatively use this stamp set?  Well it is here!  Check out this video from corp! 

The 'Tomaino Patch' ladies really rock!  Here are the cards from this month's Stamp of the Month swap!

Their challenge colors were anything from the Huntington paper pack OR the colors Ruby, Slate and Juniper....

So Gloria started with the challenge colors...

Norma's card swap was actually the first one I received and she is amazing with all of her creativity!

The girls did a fantastic job this time - don't you think??

Nancy bumped it up a notch by adding strips of the Huntington paper pack...

I had to add to the mix by going back to the colors of Ruby, Slate and Juniper!

  

Then Rebecca jumped it with her card....

Now aren't you  inspired?? Of course if you missed my layout earlier that I created,   here it is....

enjoy!!!

Close to My Heart SOTM Blog Hop

Yeah, yippee, joy!!......  and many other adjectives to celebrate the arrival of September!  Cooler weather is coming my way, Halloween decorations have arrived and somewhere the leaves are turning..

If you have hopping along, then you have arrived from Wanda's blog here and you are in awe with all of the amazing artwork with two little 'ole stamps!

This small stamp set is a basic set BUT it can be used in so many ways!

I decided to create a basic one page layout and I wanted to add some color in my word strip but hmmm... no masking for me...  SO I create different color words strips and added them to the original design.

I must admit that this page was quick and easy because I was running out of time! I pulled out my Huntington paper pack and the layout came together very quickly!

Supplies:

S1309 Poster Tidings

X7174B Huntington paper pack - including zip strip

X7174C Huntington My Stickease

Z1881 Huntington Assortment

Inks colors included Chocolate, Olive, Honey, Goldrush and Autumn Terracotta

Now it is time to hop on over to Sheila's blog here and check out her artwork!

Enjoy!

Artbooking in August Week #4

Where or where did August go???? Welcome to the last Monday in August as we celebrate this creative and artistic adventure!  If you have been following the party, then you know over 35 Close to My Heart consultants have been participating in the "Artbooking in August" Blog Hop!  

 Each Monday in August, these ladies were asked to post artwork to their blogs and they did a phenomenal job, I must admit!!

Their challenge was to create 4 different projects using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge and any CTMH paper pack.   Their mission was to design each of the following:

1. 2 page layout
2. Card
3. Mini Book
4. Home decor or giftable item 

They were able to choose what to make and when to post it. AND if they wanted to add stamps to their designs, that was o.k.  The designs they posted were beyond my wildest dreams and I was so impressed with all of their creativity!

So sadly I am posting today that this is the LAST Monday in August for the "Artbooking in August " Blog hop.  I hope all of you enjoyed it as much as I did!  If you joined us today, then click on my Pinterest board here... and view all of the previous posted artwork.

If you get lost along the way you can always go back to my blog post here which features all of the bloggers and their indivdual artwork. 

If you have been hopping with us, then you have arrived from Gina Brandstetter's blog here.  Isn't her artwork gorgeous???

So you ordered the the WOTG July Constant campaign G1062 Canvas Art Kit and have no idea WHAT to do with it?!!!

Well I have a solution....create a photo collage using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge!

I used the overlay cut from the winter page in the Artbooking cartridge....

I cut the base page at 11.5" square to make the frame from page 61.  Then I created the word "Family" using the font and CCR to accent my photos.  ( There is another design coming this week using the negative space from my "Family" word) 

I added the heart mini banner and the rectangles of color to the layout.The rest of the artwork are from the Dimensional Elements included in the canvas kit.

                           

I just want to tell you that this was an EASY picture frame to create and it will look terrific on my family room wall...(p.s. photo of the wall coming later this week...)

If you have been following my blog then you know I created the base using the Cricut Craft Room!.  Here is the picture of the CCR file - I added a few elements and then after I cut it out, I did not use them!  But I know you are a bunch of creative ladies and will adapt the file to your needs!

If you are interested in the CCR file then you can download it here!  I used a few papers from the Huntington paper pack and then accents from the kit, but you can use any of our products to match your decor!

Now it is off to Terry Ann Diak's blog here where you can view her awesome artwork!

enjoy!!

Artbooking in August Week 3

Wow - this month is flying by!  Welcome to the third week of the Artbooking in August Blog Hop!  The last two weeks over 30 consultants have dazzled us with their creativity!  If you have been following our blog hop, then you know the ladies were presented with a challenge to create!

Their challenge was to create 4 different projects using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge and any CTMH paper pack.  Their mission was to design each of the following:

1. 2 page layout 
2. Card
3. Mini Book 
4. Home decor or 'giftable' item 

They were able to choose what to make and when to post it. AND if they wanted to add stamps to their designs, that was OK.  This week they will add another great design to the challenge and I am anxious to see what everyone has created!

Remember this is a circular blog hop and if you get lost or confused along the way, the list is posted on my blog here.

If you are hopping with us then you have arrived from Gina Brandsetter's blog here

Today my design is a Halloween mini-book using the following pages from the Cricut Artbooking handout.

I messed up a bit and cut the pages at 8" instead of the recommended 6" -oops! But I rather like the larger size of the mini book....

pg 54

pg. 55

I created the title in the CCR by welding both the Halloween title from this page 

...using the shift function to get the title.  and the text from Artbooking....  do check out the dl I have included below...

I added some photos from my stash to create a mini book of memories...

Our costume for the JFD Halloween party - Hanz and Franz!    How easy was this costume?!

Many years of Halloween fun to remember the best of times..

all rolled up into one little mini- book!  If you would like the CCR file for a few of the cuts that I have included you can download them here...

Now it is time to hop onto Terry Ann Diack blog's here  where I am sure you will fine some absolutely awesome artwork!!