12 Days Of Christmas: Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the Kraft-y Hearts 12 Days Blog Share! Lynn Darda and I are having so much fun sharing some of our holiday creations with everyone. Hope you're enjoying it too!
Here's my project for today:


This card was also made using the Pear & Partridge Card Kit workshop from Close To My Heart. The stamp set is perfect for the holiday season! I used Cocoa, Olive and Cranberry Exclusive ink for the stamping, and added some dimensional adhesive to pop the sentiment up just a bit.

Here's a close-up:

The camera doesn't pick it up that well, but the red gems that are included with this kit have a glittery look. It's like having a huge, gorgeous dot of Red Glitz Glitter Gel without having to wait for it to dry! LOVE THAT!

Hope you enjoyed today's card. Don't forget to stop by Lynn's Bungalow to see the gorgeous project she has for today.

Just a Little Reminder

Hi All! Happy Monday!

I don't know about your house, but in mine September seems to be flying by at a break-neck speed! So before it got away from me (and you), I wanted to post a little reminder about our fantastic stamp set released for National Stamping Month: the exclusive My Acrylix® It’s Your Day double stamp set. This set is just $5 when you place a minimum order of $35 in full retail products through September 30. (That's just 13 more days, folks!) This is such an incredible deal, you really don't want to miss it! 

You’ll love this double set—two D-size sets in one envelope—with nearly 50 trendy images that make it easy to scrap your days, weeks and months, as well as create personalized little notes to inspire those around you. With a retail value of $35.90, this set drastically increases the value of your qualifying purchase.

It's Your Day is one of the most versatile sets CTMH has come up with, but it won't be available much longer. Be sure to place your qualifying order BEFORE 30 September 2012. 

"It's Your Day" To Celebrate Stamping!

September is national stamping month! To celebrate, Close to My Heart is offering a special double stamp set called "It's Your Day" for $5 with a $35 purchase. Here's a little video that showcases this awesome set.

This is an incredibly versatile little stamp set. Perfect for Project Life pages, greeting cards, and so much more.  If you're interested, come and visit my CTMH site to take a look!

Wild West or Little House on The Prairie...

I just can't decide which better encapsulates the new Clementine collection. Where Dakota evokes images of dusty rodeos, Clementine has more of a quilt and bonnet feel. In fact the quilt is the inspiration behind today's card.




The card base is a standard A2 cut from Pacifica cardstocked and inked around the edges with a little desert sand.

The quilt blocks are cut at 1 1/2, 1 1/4, and 1-inch, and inked with a little desert sand as well. The centers of the blocks are buttons from our Basic Assortment with 5mm light tan opaques in the center from the Mocha collection.




The sentiment is from...you guessed it..."It's Your Day" and stamped in desert sand ink on Colonial White cardstock. (This set is so versatile, you really don't want to miss it!) I mounted the sentiment on a small piece of patterned paper, added some 4mm light tan opaques, and popped it up with foam tape.

I cut a piece of paper 6-inches by a 1/2-inch and folded it to mimic ribbon for a little extra visual interest, and added a couple of 2 1/2mm opaques to tie it all together.

So I don't know if this collection is more Laura Ingalls or Annie Oakley, but whichever it is, it's beautiful. To see it all, click here.



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Truly Amazing

The wild west is back! Yep it's time to dig out those prairie skirts circa 1981, grab your Stetson and get crafting! Close To My Heart has released two new western-themed paper collections. Today's card features the Dakota collection.




This collection includes weathered wood grains, bandana paisley prints, stripes, and houndstooth in stunning rich reds and blues.

For the main sentiment, I used stamps from the April 2012 Stamp Of The Month. The background and "You Are Truly" banner are stamped in slate ink (the background is a second generation stamping). "Amazing" is from the same stamp set and is double-stamped in barn red. All the stamping was done on Colonial White cardstock. I mounted "Amazing" on a banner made from the blue bandana paper and popped it up with foam tape.
Here's a close-up:




The second sentiment, "true story," is stamped on Colonial White cardstock in sky blue ink. I then double matted it on two pattern papers and added a couple of antiqued copper brads for a little flair. The stamp is from the "It's Your Day" double stamp set.
Here's a close-up:




Hope you enjoyed a quick look at Dakota. Now put on your happy boots and get out there and create somethin'! (Just so you know, I'm resisting adding y'all at the end....)




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One More from the Avonlea Collection

Here is one more example of the beauty of Avonlea.



Honestly, this might be my favorite line of all. Then again, it's really too hard to choose! For this card, I took a more formal approach. Again, it's a standard A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) card base cut from Colonial White cardstock. I used our NEW Exclusive Inks slate ink for the sentiment.

The flower was inspired by an example shown in the new Idea Book on page 49. (Kids, this book is so much more than a catalog!) I think it's a great example of "beautiful whimsy."

The petals on the flower are made from a series of hearts that have been folded in half and adhered to a small circle using glue dots. (Liquid glass would also work well.) The button in the middle is from the Bohemian Assortment embellishment collection. I decided that I wanted the matching thread look, so I cut a sliver of Avonlea teal cardstock and threaded it through the button holes. I then attached the button and "thread" to the middle of the flower. Simple but elegant.

Here is a close-up:




I hope this inspires you to go make some beautiful whimsy of your own!




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Avonlea meets the Hexagon Trend

My friend Lynn and I are exchanging cards so that we have more creative examples from the new Close To My Heart lines to share with you. I thought I would post some of the cards I made over the next few days just to give you an idea of how beautiful and versatile the new lines really are.


With today's card, I used paper from the Avonlea B&T paper pack and a long-retired hexagon punch. The hexagon shapes allowed me to showcase all the beautiful patterns and colors this paper pack has to offer. Aren't they gorgeous? (A simple, but effective design!)

The green and teal cardstocks are unique to the Avonlea collection. However, our Exclusive inks in olive (used here), desert sand and chocolate (both used on the Avonlea layout posted here) work well with this entire collection including the unique color-trend colors.




Here is a close-up of the sentiment stamped in olive ink. The background is second generation stamping using a stamp from the Avonlea Workshop On The Go exclusive set. "Hi!" is from the "It's Your Day" double stamp set that will be available between 15 August and 30 September in celebration of National Stamping Month. ("It's Your Day" can be purchased for $5 with any $35 order during that time period!)

The base of the card is a standard 5 1/2-inches by 4 1/4-inches, and was cut from a 12x12 sheet of our Kraft cardstock. The sentiment is stamped on colonial white cardstock, and popped up slightly using glue dots.

I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to post any questions or comments. If you want to take a look at Avonlea, just click on "Shop With Me" to the right.




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A Layout from Avonlea

I wanted to share a layout I did from the new Avonlea Workshop On The Go. This kit has an amazing amount of supplies in it. Over the next few days, I'll be posting all the projects I was able to do with it. The layout shown here is the main layout for the kit.

Because I'm new to this, I didn't have all the recommended ink colors or alphabet stamps. Rather than ordering those, I wanted to see what I could do with what I had. I think it worked out pretty well.

Here are the pages separately:

I used desert sand ink for the title and a mixture of desert sand and chocolate  for "so happy together." The kit instructions calls for olive and chocolate inks on the stamped images, but I substituted desert sand for olive, and really liked the effect. The alphabet set that is used in the kit example was the keepsake alphabet. I don't have that set yet, so I substituted the glamour lowercase alphabet.

One of the things I really enjoyed about using this kit was the multiple stamping techniques it employs, such as reverse and second generation stamping. You can see both techniques here:

These stamps were reversed (that is the side that usually clings to the acrylic block was used as the image and then stamped to the page on the second generation (that is after the ink has been stamped of once on a scrap page). I then cleaned the stamp and placed it back on the block in its with the reverse side down as usual and stamped over the reversed image. It softens the image a bit, I think.

The kit comes with a package of opaque mocha adhesive gems that look gorgeous scattered across the page randomly.  The stamped images and "so happy together" are part of the exclusive stamp set that also comes with the workshop. Four of the images coordinate with the new Artiste cartridge as well.

I also enjoyed using the parlor velvet rub-ons. I had never used them before and I think they add a nice touch to the layout.

The slate gray is a little light for the base cardstock, so the instructions suggest outlining the rub-ons in chocolate ink. It really does give them extra pop.

I substituted desert sand in for the chocolate in called for in the title. In order to make it stand out a little more, I gave the stamp a shadow. (I'm sure the technique has a name, but I can't seem to find it.)

I stamped the each word directly to the page and then did a second generation stamp a little below and to the right of it. (That's the nice thing about clear stamps. You can do techniques like this because you can see through the stamp for placement. It's much harder to do with rubber stamps, though not impossible.)

So what do you think?

I hope you enjoyed this, and are inspired to get out there and get those pictures on some pages for everyone to see!