Blossoms for Mom

I can't seem to get enough of the Blossom paper. 

I paired it with the Flowers for Mom set to make a couple of precious Mother's Day cards!

Flowers for Mom coordinates with Artfully Sent for the sentiment layers. 

I stamped the MOM image in black and then used my watercolor pencils to color it in. Each card was embellished with stamped and colored blossoms from the same set.

On this card I used a Picture My Life sized card cut from White Daisy from the Artfully Sent cartridge (p.32).  The lacey flowers allowed the Blossom paper to show through beautifully. 

I just recently picked up some coordinating Recollections ribbons in a perfect sweet apricot shade!

One the second card, I used a strip of Lagoon, dry-embossed with the Damask embossing folder. I added a Recollections mini doily in the background for a feminine touch.

Flowers and lace are perfect for Mom!

I hope you enjoy these and I hope my moms do, too!

Fast and Furious Baby Shower

The final design...drum roll please...

The invitation that Grandma and I selected uses CTMH cardstock in Outdoor Denim, White Daisy,  and Pear, as well as some DCWV "Baby Boy" patterned paper. 

We stamped the truck (Fast and Furious set) in Outdoor Denim ink, heat-embossed them with clear powder, and I fussy-cut them. Then Grandma stamped the tire tread in Outdoor Denim ink on the patterned paper. We heat-embossed "shower" in Outdoor Denim also using clear embossing powder. In the meantime, I dry-embossed the pear cardstock with a steel plate embossing folder and trimmed them to size. We cut the baby boy from Outdoor Denim cardstock on the Cricut. 

To get 50 cards made, Aunt & Gma also joined our assembly line! Auntie started the layers with Outdoor Denim. We cut the White Daisy and Pear gears using the Artiste cartridge. The Outdoor Denim 2"circle was hand-punched and G-G assembled them with the gears and a brad as an accent!

We are a great team! The invitations came out great!

Lollydoodle Owls and more

I made these cards on February 9th. I was having a blast with my Lollydoodle paper. But 12 weeks on a real-life job OT project interrupted my fun, so you get to see them now!

I really had a great time making these. The photos do not do them justice. The browns and grays and pink and greens go so well together!

The first card uses Banner Wishes, which will still be available in the new catalog.  I stamped it with Versamark and used Brown Embossing Powder.

I also used the Chevron Embossing Folder on Slate paper behind the sentiment.

I used Embossing Folders in an ancient Sizzix, and had to cut 1/4" off each side. But they work great!

The Ribbon is contrabrand Stampin'Up, but the color worked well, so, it made a cute card!

Lollydoodle with SU (gasp) owl!!! SO CUTE!

I used the Lollydoodle paper with a little punched SU owl sent by a good stamping friend, and this card also came out fabulously!

I used the zip strip with leaves on the card, and a white gel pen to accent the layer I cut from slate paper using my Artiste Cricut Cartridge. I LOVE that cartridge!!!

The sentiment is from the June13 SOTM, A Flowering Bunch. I tend to use it a lot. I think it's just the right size.  

After all of that fun, I started cutting owls from my Lollydoodle paper using the exclusive CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge. I made several parts and pieces and laid out a few different adorable owls for future cards.

Lollydoodle Owls using the exclusive CTMH Artiste cartridge!

Lollydoodle Owl Card

Here is ONE of the cards.  And after that, my friends, is when REAL LIFE stepped in and I worked 80 hours a week for the next 12 weeks.  

Since then, I have been catching up on life events, you know, like cleaning, yardwork, and paying the taxes - YES, we filed an extension...and just trying to recuperate in general.  I have one more little project this summer, and then I am taking a FULL week off to STAMP MY HEART out.  

It's great that it will happen when the new Annual Inspirations catalog is out!

Until then, I will be playing with limited time, so, thank for looking and see you soon!

MOJO327

I've been working on the pieces for Valentine's cards...so I was pleased to see this week's sketch! Love starting a New Year project with a MOJO MONDAY sketch!

I wanted to combine my January SOTM, Cross-Stitch Wishes, with some fancy Artiste die-cuts...and I think it turned out okay. Using up some of my FAV Chantilly papers. (Still available through January)

My awesome DH/Santa got me a 12" Cricut E2,  so now I can cut smaller than 1", and also cut shapes in 1/4" increments.  

Sunday night I started cutting pieces while DH was watching tv. 

I used the heart shapes from page 51 at 1" and 1-1/4". Then cut borders at 3/4", which makes them just a bit shorter than 6", but I only used a small piece. 

So when I checked the new Mojo sketch, I was ready to go and started pulling it together. I think I would layer my patterned papers with solids next time, though.  

I added a stamped Valentine sentiment from the Holiday Tags set, and though you can't see it, the Love stamp is heat-embossed with detailed clear embossing powder. It gives it a bit of dimension. As always I added some ribbon, and a little glitter glue. As I continue to look at it,  it's starting to look too busy. Maybe it will grow on me. 

Check out other great Mojo Monday cards on their blog!

Thank you for stopping by!  Have a great week!

New Year of Papercrafts

Artbooking Beauty

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season with family as well as having time for some fun papercrafting.

Papercrafting fills my need for creativity.  What I love most about papercrafting is giving homemade items to my friends and family -- whether it's a homemade tag on a gift, a greeting card with my special touch, or a book of scrapbooking pages made specially for a loved one.

My BIG Christmas present this year was a Cricut Expression 2. Now I can die cut my heart out...and use my exclusive CTMH Cricut Cartridges to their full extent for projects like the mini-book shown. The sweet hugs mini-book uses the newest cartridge, Artbooking. I have yet to explore the vast possibilities in the 700+ images available.

Thank you for letting me share my love of stamping with you through Close to My Heart projects this past year, and I hope you will share your projects with me here or on my Facebook page.

Happy crafting in this new year!
-- Dawn

Catching Up from August

I've been on a "work break" -- see my Cards & Craft Garden Blog for details -- mostly working massive OT on a project and catching up with life afterwards.  No time to stamp when I'm working 80 hours.

Best laid plans for a girls weekend was going to feature CTMH workshops...which went awry with a sick niece.  While she was in the hospital the girls lugged all of the necessary card making stuff up there and we made many cards while entertaining. She had a couch and small table so we had plenty of room. We used materials from the CTMH Workshop on the Go Frosted Cardmaking Kit for this one! 

SWEET Card!

The other week, I posted my work desk picture with assorted fruits and some pretty pink Chantilly paper spread out across it. I couldn't show the card I was planning because I was going to submit it to Take Ten magazine. But before I put it in the mail I took another look at it and realized that it wasn't quite good enough. I had some stray embossing powder all over the front that I didn't catch.
I used the design challenge that was in the Summer 2013 Take Ten magazine.
The main layer is the sweetest Chantilly pink. I stamped and embossed the sentiment from the CTMH Sweet Life set right on that layer.
I used the Cricut Artiste cartridge to cut the CTMH cotton candy pink border, and fussy-cut one edge of a Buttercup strip to layer underneath it. On the other edge I used a petite scallop border punch.
I had colored the fruits from the Sweet Life set several days prior and I used a round punch to frame the cherries and inked the edges with cotton candy pink. The ruby cardstock shape was also cut on my Cricut using the Artiste cartridge. A couple of coordinating ribbons - one for a border and one for a bow - finished the card.

Cheery Mojo300

The other day I posted that sometimes I take a long time to make cards. Well, this one fought me for two and a half hours, even after I gave up and decided to use a Mojo sketch.

I paired the July stamp of the month (shown on another tab), Sweet Life with Chantilly papers...and the resulting card might have been worth the wait :)
It's pretty sweet :)

I dry embossed the Ruby background then layered Chantilly papers on top of whisper card stock. The ruby and cotton candy die cut circles were made on my Cricut using the Artiste cartridge. I actually cut those last Wednesday, as shown on the WOYWW#213 post. 

It's been so quiet because I took a card break due to the 4th of July holiday. We watched my husband's great grandson who is 11 months old, spent some time with some friends and saw my sister and her family. 

So it was a very good holiday, ending on a fun, crafting evening!

Here's the MOJO300 Sketch for reference:


Thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW #213

This morning before work I reviewed some of the "fruits" of my labors...LOL.

Today is WOYWW stands for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Hosted by Julia of Stamping Ground.

I had heat-embossed several fruits from the CTMH Sweet Life set last weekend and took them to our property to work on during quiet time. That turned out to be while drinking coffee with DH on Sunday morning :).

I colored them with colored pencils and blending pens and fussy-cut several.
Then I used one for my MojoMonday #300 card. The rest are ready for play...scattered about the table.

I don't have an actual card made, but I have an idea I think I will be submitting to a magazine, so I can't share it YET.
As I looked at the fruits, I was trying different layers, and ended up moving to my Cricut table to cut some layers. I will show my messy Cricut area instead of a card! A workdesk bonus!!!



Crafty Cricut Area

I am fortunate because my DH set up an area in the basement for me to craft my heart out...and I NEVER have to put anything away...well, til I have all the surfaces covered and can't find room to work - LOL!

Today I used my Artiste cartridge, and some CTMH cardstock in cotton candy and ruby, which will pair well with the Chantilly patterned paper.

Thanks for looking at my creative process today....I should have quite a few cards made over this long upcoming holiday weekend! And they won't all be fruity :)

Maybe someday I will be brave enough to show my VERY messy stamping/embossing table! 
Have a great week and for the US desktoppers have a safe and happy 4th of July holiday!



Stars and Gears and Pinwheels, Oh, My!

If you have not used your Cricut to its full advantage, read this post!!

I was creating cards and playing with the Later Sk8r paper and my Cricut Artiste Cartridge. 

I am thinking that the Artiste Collection was a GREAT investment.  

I have never been so happy to pull all the pieces of a set together. Usually I am frustrated because I want an embellishment or a matching shape. And my cards are definitely showing the improvement!

The 700+ shapes in the Artiste Cartridge don't stop at the gears, either...I have made matching stars and sentiment frames as well as pinwheels galore...

What is so neat is that MANY of the CTMH sets have stamps that coordinate with the Artiste cartridge. It has taken my card-making to a whole new dimension and I am LOVING it!

3 stamp sets @ 17.95 = 53.85
3 Dimensional Shapes @ 4.95 = 14.87
Cartridge @ 56.95 = 56.95

These items total separately to roughly $125 - but the set is ONLY $99!

That's roughly a 15% discount. 

I have other Cricut cartridges, but I can do so much with this one, I haven't even explored all the things I can do with it! It has more combinations and patterns than most cartridges.  

I am just having so much fun, and I'm making sure that I have as many coordinating CTMH My Acrylix stamp sets as possible to take full advantage of this great cartridge!

Get it here:   dawnfrancis.ctmh.com   or go to this link: Cricut® Artiste Collection  - Z1790

If you contact me before purchasong, we can select a free thank you gift for you!

Whale of a Journey

CTMH New Baby

I spent the weekend working on a special order for a set of Thank You cards. It was quite a journey of creativity. SO this will be a LONG blog - LOL!

The request was to include whales, navy and lime green, so I made 3 samples to play with the stamp first.

The adorable whale is from the CTMH New Baby set. 

CARD #1

It was difficult finding a good patterned paper for navy and lime -- WITHOUT using Later Sk8r for a change :). I settled for a Nice stripe from the DCWV My Sunshine stack.  My DH showed me how to make an angled cut with my paper trimmer. [give me a comment if you would like to see a tutorial]

First Try

I heat-embossed the whale on a tag cut with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. 

The background paper is dry embossed and I layered 2 borders on the side.  The sentiment is from the For A Friend stamp set.

CTMH For A Friend

I liked including a nautical looking ribbon, (Michael's package of Navy Melodies & Lace ribbons) but something was just lacking. Mr. Whale was floating all by himself, and I didn't care for the scalloped borders -- even though they suggested water. 
CARD #2

2nd Sample

Frustrated by my sad 1st attempt, I searched splitcoaststampers for whales. This card is a straight up CASE from Hazel.  [Thanks, Hazel!] 
(http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2310200?&si=Hazeltje)


I used a rick-rack stamp from a Hot off the Press set, Stamped Stitches, in Juniper Exclusive Ink as my water. 

The sentiment is from a stamp set bundled with the exclusive CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge. Word Balloons, but I actually <gasp> cut the word out of the balloon to use it independently.

Mr. Whale is heat-embossed with Blue embossing powder and colored with a gray watercolor pencil and a blending pen.

It was way cute, but I had NOT successfully used Navy and Lime Green -- it was only hinted at in the striped paper. 

CARD #3

3rd Time's a Charm

I had a TON of triangles from my angled cutting that only produced 3 straight strips...so what could I do with them? This time, I changed the background paper to Outdoor Denim to get a strong navy "anchor" to the design. (LOL). I dry-embossed it with a chevron embossing folder.

I used a piece of Later Sk8r -- couldn't resist, it's a great lime color -- as the background for stamping Mr. Whale, and heat-embossed and fussy-cut several.

I then used the same rick-rack stamp to create the water, but added one row in Pear ink. I stamped just Mr. Whale's head and spout in Versamark on White Daisy cardstock and heat-embossed it in blue so I could position the cut-out whale on top of it. The whale scene is layered on Pear cardstock with punched rounded edges.

 Mr. Whale looked lonely, so I added a cloud -- which I cut at 1" from Pear cardstock using the Artiste Cartridge, and gave some surface touch-up using one of the stamps in Distressed Backgrounds with Outdoor Denim ink. Then, I realized that you can't just have a cloud -- how about a sun?  The shape that coordinates with the April Stamp of the Month, My Sunshine, can be cut at 1" to make a tiny little sun outline -- PERFECT!!!  I cut it in half to get the most out of my 8 little suns.


The banner sentiment is from the Word Balloons set, layered with Pear cardstock. But, again, it looked lonely.  

Back to the New Baby set, and it has an adorable starfish. I heat-embossed several, colored them with watercolor pencils in lime green, and fussy-cut them all. (they are very small)

The finished set!

I moved the positioning of the nautical knot, and was VERY pleased with the results.

It seems my biggest challenge is to make clean and simple cards -- they always seem to need more to me. Although I LOVED the CASE on my second example, it just seems plain. I just want to add more...

All that was left was to assemble 10 of them.  While doing so, I had an adhesive FAIL, which forced a LOT of re-work. 

So stay tuned for more information about adhesives!

Thank you for stopping by and staying long enough to read this Moby Dick of a tale.

....and I do not even OWN the CTMH pun stamp set...wonder why?


I also entered this in the SplitCoastStampers TLC435 Angled Background Challenge.

Skating Through June

I tried a free-form shape first -- 

just rolling with it!

Yes, I know...more Later Sk8r cards.  But they are SOOO awesome & gnarly - LOL! 

[Did I mention that I was sick over the Memorial Day holiday and made over 20 cards using this paper?  I was supposed to be grounded to the couch, but ended up sitting at the kitchen table. After a few trips back and forth to my craft area, I had the entire kitchen table covered. It was fun, but I didn't want to over load my blog with Lagoon & Pear cards all at once. So I tried to intersperse them with other card posts!]

These 3 cards all use the CTMH Later Sk8tr Workshop on the Go stamp set as the main focal point. 

The Gray and Navy card also uses the Perfect Fit-Birthday stamp set and Recollections silver chevron washi tape. It's actually my VERY FIRST washi tape usage.  I think it satisfies my need for ribbon when creating a masculine themed card.

This is one of my favorites.

I used my Spellbinder's Wonky Rectangles to highlight the skateboarder, using Pear cardstock and the Later Sk8r paper from the paper pack. 

The circles are leftover holes from Lagoon gears I die cut for my previously showcased gear cards. 

The AWESOME sentiment (LOL!)  is from the paper's zip strip. I just cut it into a pennant/banner shape.

Both stamps are in the Later Sk8r Workshop to Go package. I didn't use any discipline in creating these cards, but my next WOTG project will use ONLY the paper in the package, and we'll see how many cards that will make!

The third Skateboarder card uses a lot of different elements. I distressed the white card base with Outdoor Denim exclusive inks pad, and created several layers, using Slate and Later Sk8r papers. 

The Gears were cut during my extended Cricut Artiste cutting session, from Pear and Outdoor Denim cardstock and I just layered them up here. 

The sentiment is from the Perfect Fit-Birthday stamp set. I am finding that set VERY useful. 

I will just add that the double dark gray ribbon is some **GASP** Stampin' Up ribbon I had in my stash.

These masculine cards will make my entire summer's worth of grandson/nephew/son/brother-in-laws and brother's celebrations go smoothly, so I was glad I had the chance to make all of these great cards!

Thanks for stopping by!

June SOTM

A FLOWERING BUNCH!

Finally....I had some moments to make a new card with the June Stamp of the Month, A Flowering Bunch!  I had used the Thanks sentiment as a preview in May, so I think it's card #3. YAY!

I used the Mojo Monday Sketch #297...but I try not to focus on the samples, and modify it for myself.  Instead, apparently I used the same elements EVERYONE did.  A flower for the central motif.  

But, it's cute as a button (which is a Chantilly fabric covered button, by the way), so I kinda like it :).

The Mojo297 Sketch is:

I adore the Chantilly paper...so it's really no surprise! I even used the Zip Strip off the Chantilly paper for the sentiment.

The Flower is stamped in Cotton Candy Exclusive Ink on a die cut which was cut to size using the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  I added some glitter gel to the flower to make it pop!







Thanks for looking!

You can get the SOTM for $5 with a $50 qualifying purchase!  Click the Stamp of the Month tab for further information!

Dream Pop Father's Day Card

This card is one of the last Dream Pop cards I will post for the May Dream Pop Campaign. 

It's a Father's Day Card, using the Perfect Fit-Frames 2 on a die cut made with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. The Dad stamp is Studio G, stamped with Outdoor Denim ink.

I used Versamark Ink and Silver Embossing Powder on the stamped frame.    I LOVE being able to stamp the die cuts and the shapes match exactly to the stamps. That's just as much fun as using Spellbinders. :)

The green Dream Pop paper has a glossy raised diamond cut pattern that pairs nicely with the green and gray tree patterned paper. I added grey Baker's Twine (also available from CTMH) and it is ready!

  
 
 UPDATE:   
I decided it was too plain...so I 'boy bling"-ed it up! (Square blingies from Michael's are apparently "boy bling" LOL! 
 
What do you think?
I like it MUCH better!


Thanks for looking!

Later Sk8r Cards

Just playin' with my CTMH Later Sk8r paper...I need enough "man cards" to get through the summer. 

I have a lot of birthdays coming up....let's see, 1 son, 1 brother, 3 grandsons, 1 dad, 1 hubby, 1 great-grandson, 3 nephews...and that's just til September. LOL.  

11 cards. Whew. 

I cut a bunch of different sized gears using the Artiste Cartridge, and stamped the matching ones in Lagoon ink, using the stamps from the MyAcrylix In Gear set. The little dots from the centers make great embellishments.

The Birthday sentiment is from Perfect Fit-Birthday.
and this paper is just GREAT for masculine cards! 
 

I'd better get back to work, but wanted to share!

Later Sk8r Birthday

Later Sk8r Birthday

Made this great card yesterday! 
I pinned the idea for this card from Bethany Rielage, and then CASE'd it. A link to her blog is included below so that she receives the credit.

I used the following materials:

Paper:  Later Sk8r, Lagoon, Pear, Outdoor Denim, White Daisy (all available in the Later Sk8r paper pack)
Stamp:  Perfect Fit-Birthday
Ink:  Lagoon, Outdoor Denim
Cricut:  Artiste Cartridge 

I inked the card base made of White Daisy with Outdoor Denim ink by pressing the card edges on the ink pad. Then layered lagoon and inked white daisy onto the card. I cut a stack of gears at 2" and 2-1/2" from the patterned papers, and just played with the right combination til it looked "right".

The circle stack sizes start with 1" circle stamped with a birthday sentiment onto White Daisy, a Pear 1-1/4" gear, circles from 1-1/4", 1-1/2", 1-3/4", and a 2" gear cut from Lagoon.

The Artiste cartridge makes shapes so easy...and I have not even begun to explore the possibilities. Look at those gears! I could never have cut those out, and it was so fast. Much easier than separate dies. Although it's a big price tag, the collection gives you 3 stamp sets and some dimensional shapes, so it's comparable to buying all of the items at a discount.

Bethany's blog: 

http://stampingathome.blogspot.com/2013/02/mojo-monday-281-later-sk8r.html

I LOVE her card!  And I love mine, too :).  Thank you for the inspiration!