Christmas is n the Air!

It is December, 2016.  We have eaten out Thanksgiving dinner, pies, turkey and other goodies.  With Close To My Heart, we are having a special monthly sale with all you need to create a project journal.

I have finished an advent calendar to my great grandchildren.  I used scraps of Christmas paper, glittery modge Podge and some beads.

This is the final project.  I have opened the middle 5 drawers just to let you see what it is like with each one.

Here is a closer look at the front.

This is the top.  I fan folded a 1/2 a sheet of paper, added a card and some flowers.

And here it is again.  What you can't see is the sparkle!  OMG!!!  That modge podge is full of glitter for your gifts.  Let me know your thoughts.

Riding a bicycle....

Here is a card I recently created.  The colors just popped out at me.  It was made for a friend who had recently injured her knee.  I hope you like this one.

Let me know what you think.  There is always room for improvement.

Something a little different

Tonight I had friends over for some cropping fun.   We all were doing things a little out of our comfort level.  Having surfed Pinterest for a while now, I decided to try putting a couple different ideas together.   This is what I came up with

I have made several cards with 4 squares on it and worked around that.  I have made some cards with a diamond shape on it and I have made several flower cards.  This card is a combination of both Close to my Heart and Stampin Up items.  The four small squares are made with Close to My Heart papers.  The flower in the center is a stamp set I just bought from Stampin Up...and it was cut out with the punch that matches the stamp set.  The flowers (4 of them) were Stamped on CTMH white daisy cardstock with Watermelon ink, then colored with grey alcohol ink pen.  The background paper is cut the the catalog cover on the special catalog.  I am surprised how well I like this card.

What is your opinion?  Leave a comment and let me know.  Thanks.

Canvas frame for Baby pictures

As I mentioned previously, my friend is having a set of twins and she had her baby shower.  I made some Glass Block Banks for each baby.

I also made a set of pink and blue canvas frames, one for each baby.  The papers are matching, just the color is different. 

 

I just loved these papers.  I used a blue/pink paper with small dots as the background.  There was striped paper, that I cut with a scallop cutter (Creative Memories from years ago.)  Instead of adhering it to the top, I put it on the bottom of the canvas.  Using my Cricut, Fancy Frames, I cut out 2 frames in an ivory paper, and layered it on top of a solid blue/pink piece of cardstock.  

Included in the paper pack, was a sheet of large animals... elephants, kangaroos, and giraffes.  I hand cut a set of 3 different animals for each canvas, placing the animals on the bottom.   Something else was needed, so I found another piece of cardstock with small various colored elephants, and cut out a picture and frame for a wallet sized picture.  

All that was left to do was add the names Sabrina and Liam on the appropriate canvas, and add a couple of bows.  Now all that is left to do is to wrap these items up and give them to Mom and babies.  I hope you enjoyed these.

Baby shower gifts

I have a friend who has been trying forever, it seems, to have a baby.  Last fall, she told us that she was pregnant...and with twins!   Marcie is a great teacher, and she loves kids.  I am so happy for her.  I know that both her mother and mother-in-law are anxious for little grand babies.  It seems like Marcie told us the news just yesterday.

Speed up time, and suddenly it is getting closer to have those little people show up.  They now had names....Liam for the little boy and Sabrina for the little girl.  (How adorable)  Both mom and Marcie's mother-in-law threw a BIG baby shower.  What to make?  I pondered over this for a while, then came up with the idea of glass block baby banks.  Later I thought about making 10x20 inch canvas frames for  baby pictures.  Today I will tell you about the glass block banks, and then tomorrow, about the frames.

This is what I came up with

Aren't they cute?  I took 8" blocks that I got from Michael's and cleaned them to get rid of the papers, glues, and fingerprints.  Using my Cricut machine I cut out things I thought would be appropriate for a little boy and for a little girl.  

Going with the theme..."Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of."  I cut out vinyl, some worms...a sailboat, an airplane, a car, and a train.  This was my first time to use vinyl for something as big as this, and I like how it looked.  Using transfer tape and a scrapper, the cut outs went right on the glass block with hardly any bubbles.  Removing the bubbles weren't that hard.  

For Sabrina...we all know that "Sugar and Spice, and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of."  I used a ladybug, sand castle, flower, teddy bear, butterflies, and the word sweet. Once again I used the vinyl and applied them on the glass block.  I tied wide ribbon around the block and the opening is on the top.   Money was added through the top opening, then closed to keep it safe.  I think Marcy will like these.  Now that I have made some, I want to make more!

| Card in a Box Tutorial

I really love making this card. It was posted on a CTMH website. I have made something similar.

  It is 

kind of difficult to see, but it says lets hang out and has a monkey, banana, and palm trees.  This was for a birthday card for my great granddaughter.  She love it.

Time to Explore my CTMH Artfully Sent cartridge

Close to My Heart has 4 Cricut cartridges that are available for purchase....Art Philosophy, Artiste, Artbooking and Artfully Sent.  Art Philosophy has many shapes available you can use.  This is probably the most often used when it comes to adding frames, shapes, and such to your cards or layouts.  Artiste has cards you can make...lots of cards.  Artbooking is more for the scrapbooker, offering different types of layouts and such to create for your scrapbook pages.  Artfully Sent is the newest cartridge.  Here you can find fancy cards, pop out cards, and things like this.  Over the next couple of weeks I want to try my hand at making some of these cards.  They look fairly easy to do.

Here is a video that Close to My Heart made, to give you an idea of what you can expect.  I hope you enjoy it and get excited like I did.  If you would like you purchase one of these cartridges, let me know, or you can order it from my website at conniecreates.ctmh.com.

  

A Special Card for a Special Lady

Mom's birthday is coming up soon, and I decided that she needed a special card.  She will be 85 this year.  She insists that there be no party or gathering, nothing special.  She just wants and ordinary day, spending time with family who live nearby.  We will honor her request, but I needed to make a special card for her.  I used Spellbinders die cuts to create this card for her.  I layered 3 different shades of pink paper, added some pearls and a sentiment and here it is.  I hope you like what you see.  I know Mom will enjoy it.  

Hello everyone.  I have been absent for a while due to a variety of things, but mostly my back and legs.  I have been seeing a pain specialist, and I think he has found part of the problem.  Suffice it to say that I had 4 injections in my back, and will be getting another 4 next week.  After several years of pain when walking...I have gotten some relief and will be getting more I hope.  But enough of that.

The Cricut Design Team has not been doing much of anything for the past few month.  The owner has been having some medical problems of her own, but we are going to start up again, so look for some of those posts.

There is a Design Team call over at Cherry Lynn Designs and I thought I would apply.  I know my blog hasn't been up to date, but that was due to my physical problems.  I am back working with the blog again, so you can once again expect regular updates.

This is my entry for the design team.

I know they would have preferred the use of their die cuts, but I didn't have any.  Instead I used Spellbinders, Card Creator series, Tranquil Moments.  I really like how this card came out.  I used the outside lacy design for the card background, in CTMH paper, Bamboo.  The second die cut was the middle lacy frame, using CTMH Ponderosa Pine.  The center die cut was cut out in Bamboo once again. 

I stamped with a small stamp set, Thinking of you.  It fit perfectly on this smaller die cut.  I cut apart some bling, placing it around the edge of the Ponderosa Pine die cut.  Finally I added some Ranger glitter glue, Tiara, in some of the open lacy areas.  This was the final tough to the card.  It is  now ready to send to one of my friends.  I hope you like it. 

Did you know that there are several Close To My Heart stamp designs that will be retiring at the end of the month?  These sets were last featured in the Spring/Summer 2014 idea book and will no longer be available to order after January 31, 2015.  If you are interested in purchasing any of them, you must do so this month.  Email or call to place your order with me, or go to www.conniecreates.ctmh 

National Papercrafting Month

There is a BLOG HOP  to various consultants sites to see everything we could think of to create with this kit!  When you purchase $50 in qualifying products in January, you’ve earned the Year >> Noted Kit for only $5.00 from your independent consultant or from me at conniecreates.ctmh.com.  But before you do, make sure you add on the KRAFT Mini Album for $5 too!  You’ll love this great gift idea to use with this special kit or for something else.



To see what everyone is creating, start the blog hop here, with Lynn Como  or you can see the entire list of bloggers at this location here

In addition, you can purchase the January Stamp of the Month for $5.