Monday, August 29, 2016

Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop - Uptown & All About the Gold Fundamentals

Welcome to the Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop!!! Thanks for joining us today! All of August and September, we are showing products from the new Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations catalog. I hope you enjoy this little peek at our creations.

This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the wonderful artwork incorporating the week's theme, by clicking the next or previous buttons at the end of this post. If you are coming from XXX's Blog, you are on the right track!

This week we are highlighting  the "Uptown" and "All about the Gold" Fundamentals. 

The "All About the Gold" Fundamentals is an amazing set of 6 see-through overlays with gold foil designs. They make a great contrast to the black and white of the Uptown set. When you turn them over, they show silver through the plastic, and that makes a nice complement to either the black or the whisper side of the Uptown papers. 


The "Uptown" Fundamentals are some great basics to have in your stash. Three in black and white on one side, and Whisper and white on the other, and one in gold foil and white stripe. There are also two vellums in the pack; one with a subtle white diagonal, and the other with a gold confetti pattern (when you turn it over, it looks silver). You get two of each pattern for 12 sheets in the pack.

 I created a simple Thank You card with the Uptown paper pack using the My Acrylix "All the Thanks" stamp set. Another great basic to have on hand. Four different, simple Thank Yous, perfect for any occasion, from gifts, to thanking someone for house-sitting.

I made this card as an idea for use as a thank you after a long visit. I used the whisper side of the word background paper, then used the journaling pen to fill in two of the words, to make them stand out. It took a steady hand, and patience. :)



The products used to make this card:
White Cards and Envelopes, value pack (50) - X254 - $14.95
Black cardstock - 24 sheet pack - 1386 - $14.50
Uptown Fundamentals - Z3263 - $14.95
All the Thanks My Acrylix stamps - B1536 - $9.95
Journaling Pen - Z1979 - $3.25

Thank you for joining us on the blog hop!
If you would like to know more about the special this month at Close to My Heart, please continue to scroll down. If you would like to continue on, please use the buttons below to continue on the Just Crazy Blessed Blog Hop. I hope you enjoy what Janna has to share next!


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There's only a few more days to get the Basically the Best Deal on Close to My Heart's New Fundamentals Paper Packs - 

If you take advantage of the above deal, you qualify for the Stamp of the Month, Purrfect Halloween, for only $5

Monday, August 8, 2016

Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop - Whimsy Fundamentals

Welcome to the Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop!!! Thanks for joining us today! All of August and September, we are showing products from the new Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations catalog. I hope you enjoy this little peek at our new goodies.

This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the wonderful artwork incorporating the week's theme, by clicking the next or previous buttons at the end of this post. If you are coming from Danielle's Blog, you are on the right track!

This week we are highlighting the Whimsy Fundamentals, and once I started playing with them, I just couldn't stop. I love the sherbet colors of this paper pack. It's bright and cheerful, and can be used so many ways, from Birthdays to Baby and Wedding showers. I paired this fresh paper with the Birthday Sparkles Stamp set (Paper and Stamp set images shown below the card pictures) and made 4 different Birthday cards. Because… always need Birthday cards on hand, right? 


This first card is really simple, but got raves from my "review board". Tone on tone with Smoothie card stock backing a bit of White Daisy with the image on it. I used a blending pen to grab a bit of Smoothie Ink and fill in the "You", and finished off the card with some White and Gold Ribbon.


For this card, I used the 'sparkles' stamp that comes with the set to stamp a texture all over a piece of Sorbet card stock,  then layered it with Juniper card stock and the green dotted paper from the Whimsy Fundamentals. A piece of Glacier behind the White Daisy with the greeting embellished with a few Bitsy Sparkles and it's done.

I really liked the pattern going on here, and wanted to use all four colors in a card. This is two papers with both sides showing. I added a piece of Juniper card stock and Black Shimmer Trim, and along the bottom, the soft Canary Stripe.


I had really been eyeing a paper in the pack that looks like all over watercolor. It's SO pretty! There are 4 colors of this; Sweet Leaf, Crystal Blue, Canary, and Smoothie. I finally was inspired by the blue. I created the clouds and the balloons using images from the CTMH Cricut Artistry cartridge, in White Daisy, Sweet Leaf, Smoothie Stripe, and Canary Stripe. I used Canary card stock behind the sentiment on White Daisy. I raised the balloons and sentiment with Thin Foam Mounting Tape.

There are more papers in the Whimsy Fundamentals that I haven't gotten to yet, but will soon, I am sure. There is SO much in the new catalog, there aren't enough hours in the day...

Look at ALL the paper you get in just ONE pack! Two Sheets EACH of these double-sided patterns!


Thank you for joining us on the blog hop!
If you would like to know more about the products I used in my creations above, please continue to scroll down. If you would like to continue on, please use the buttons below to continue on the Just Crazy Blessed Blog Hop. I hope you enjoy what Michelle at My Flights of Fancy has to share next!


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Close to My Heart Products used in cards pictured above (and links to them):
Whimsy Fundamentals Paper pack - Z3255 - $19.95
Whimsy Card Stock Combo pack - X5940 - $14.50
Birthday Sparkles B-Stamp Set - B1537 - $9.95
White Cards/Envelopes Value Pack (50) - X254 - $14.50
Bitty Sparkles - Z1263 - $2.95
Black Shimmer Trim - Z1809 - $4.95
White and Gold Ribbon - Z3189 - $5.95
Exclusives Ink in colors below - $6.95 (until the end of August)
Black, Smoothie, Sweet Leafe, Canary (colors used for distress edging)
If you have any questions about these products, or would like more information about becoming a Close to My Heart consultant, please let me know and I will contact you within 24 hours. Thank you for stopping by.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Happy New Year! (Close to My Heart Style)

I can't believe it's AUGUST already! 
On one hand, I have been looking forward to it, because I have family visiting in a couple weeks (YAY!), and this is a relatively slow time at work. AND, the new Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations catalog is released! (squeals of joy are heard around the world!)

The new Fundamentals Paper packs are wonderful, the colors (look at the Adventure Combo) are so vibrant, well, I run out of superlatives when I try to describe the changes. I'll be showing these things in posts to come.

On the other hand... summer is practically over, back to school sales have already started, the last of the summer tourists have poured into Maine, and there's only one month left to the Spring/Summer Seasonal Expressions mini catalog.
This little booklet is filled with some amazing paper packs and stamp sets. I will be sorry to see them go (and glad I have them in my stash to use later - might be hoarding the paper for a while though, lol).

I've been itching to create with the Florence paper pack. This is a vibrant, boho sort of theme. Floral, rich tones, I just love it! So far, I have created 6 scrapbook pages, and 5 cards. I still have TONS of paper and most of the PML cards left, and still not sure what all I will do with it. Probably more cards, I love cards. So here are the pictures:


I experimented with wavy line doodles around my photo place holders. I don't think I will do that again. :) They do not seem to photograph well. (The straight line doodles look nicer in general and more consistent.)


The "Brilliant" and the little rose gold embossed heart (hard to see the metallic embossing in this photo), are from the Florence Complements Assortment. It's also hard to see in this photo the pretty Rose Gold foil tape. All the embellishments I used come in the Florence Workshops Your Way Kit.


"Genuine", another word from the Complements Assortment. You can also see a couple of the Florence Sequins up in the corner, they are in really rich tones for sequins!


More of the Complements package, Little flowers, and word pointers, There are those sequins again!

I hear you - Enough with the peeks already! Let's see the full pages!

The picture does not do the color justice - I have GOT to get a better spot to take photos, I apologize. But at least you get a look at the layout scheme. The layout itself is from one of Close to My Heart's wonderful pattern books. "Make if From Your Heart" Volumes 1 & 2 offer some great scrapbook layout and card patterns guide you into using their papers and embellishments. With all the measurements, and photos of finished page options as well.

Another layout from one of the Make it From Your Heart books. On both of the above layouts, I have altered the original layout pattern to add more photos, more journaling boxes. I haven't finished adding embellishments from the Florence Complements Assortment,sometimes I find that hard to do without the photos in place first.

I'll post the cards and third layout in a week or two. We are smack in the middle of repainting/reflooring part of our house, and doing all the furniture moving and DIY work while working full time etc, etc... well - we put it off only due to a humidity wave, but with family visit impending, it can no longer wait (the guest room is filled with furnishings).

The Products I used in my layouts (some not shown yet):
Workshops Your Way Florence Scrapbooking Kit - G1107 - $26.95
Whisper Cardstock, 2 sheets - X5929 - $14.50 (24 sheets) (always good to have on hand)
                                            - or X5933 Basics Combo $14.50  (2 sheets each color)


Future projects will also include:
White Daisy Cards & Envelopes Value Pack - X254 - $14.50 (50 Cards/Envelopes)

If you would like to order these or other products, please visit my Close to My Heart Online Business Address (OBA). Be sure you log in, or create an account, your shopping will be much easier, and you can save your shopping cart if you need to come back later and finish your order. You will also get the monthly email newsletter from Close to My Heart (if you choose to).

Lastly for today, the Stamp of the Month! Can't forget that. August's SoTM is SO cute! It's aimed at Halloween, but I'm already seeing other ways to use it. It's called "Purr-fect Halloween." And yes, it's cat themed.


The Stamp of the Month is an Exclusive D-sized set, available Only this month. You can purchase it for $17.95 (usd), or you can get it for $5 with a purchase of $50 in other Close to My Heart products.

If you've read this far, thank you for your time and support! I appreciate it and am blessed by you.