Gift Tags for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back for another installment of the Close To My Heart Featured Products Blog Hop, where this time we are bringing you lots of fun gift tags ideas.  If you came here from Donna's blog you are in the right place but as always, hops are circular things so you are welcome to jump in anywhere along the way and make the rounds.  I have included a complete list of this week's participants in case you get lost along the way.  Let's get started!

I've been dying to make this first tag ever since I got my Oh! Deer paper kit.  I cut this tag at 4" height using my Cricut and the retired Art Philosophy cartridge.  I used the Artistry cartridge to cut this deer at 2.75" using Desert Sand for the head and Cocoa for the base, which are both colors used in the Oh! Deer kit, and I sponged the edges of the deer head in Desert Sand.  I didn't have any red glitter paper for the sparkly red nose so I went with a hole punching tool and a bit of red shimmer trim but I imagine you could also make do with red enamel gem for a more 3-D effect.  To finish this tag, I cut a 3/4" strip of Sea Glass cardstock, stamped it in Cocoa ink with the to/from found in the Perfect Presents stamp set, and I used a bit of the white and gold twine for the loop on the tag.  So easy but so much fun!

Now it's time to send you off to see what Lauren has for you.  One quick note, we will be taking a break for the month of December to enjoy the holidays with our families but we will be back on Wednesday, 1/4/17, to bring you our projects with the January Stamp of the Month, which is really lovely so you won't want to miss it.

Thanks for stopping by and happy holidays!  ~~  Annette


Complete list of participants:

1.  Annette Clark (here)

2.  Lauren Moore

3.  Janna Gray

4.  Donna Digby

Wise Guy Birthday Meets Confetti Wishes

As soon as I saw the Wise Guy Birthday stamp set, I showed it to my husband and we were both in agreement this would be perfect for my daughter's birthday this year.  My daughter and I are so similar, she began to see it as a bit of a competition and all through school her biggest goal was to beat my GPA and ACT test scores (even though I told her to set her sights higher than that, lol).  At any rate, I paired that stamp set with this card base from the retired Artfully sent Cricut cartridge and the hat base from the Artistry cartridge, and the super fun (but also retired) Confetti wishes paper kit.

Luckily, my daughter is a good sport and she laughed out loud and then we had a good chuckle and some fun reminiscing together over some birthday cake.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.  

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

New Year's Countdown for AHSC #188

Hello and welcome back, crafty friends!  I have been waiting for this sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge to roll around, I fell in love with it the first time I got a sneak preview.  Of course, that just means I've changed my mind several times but this week the holidays are on my mind and so I went in the direction of making a card for New Year's Eve.




details:  I started with a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" base, placed gold foil tape around the edges, and then made a 4 x 5 1/4" panel from the Oh! Deer paper kit.  I used a metallic gold ink from Color Box and the New Year's Eve Subway art stamp from Stampabilities on black cardstock for the bottom panel, which I adhered to a slightly larger piece of gold glitter paper.  I used the same gold ink and the November Stamp of the Month "New Year's Cheer" to make the champagne glasses and a bit of the metallic silver ink from Color Box and another stamp from the SOTM to make the bubbles.  The "cheers" at the top of this panel is also from the SOTM set and it was stamped in black Memento ink, which I also used to sponge the edges of the panel for a little extra definition.  I used the retired Basic Fundamentals stickers and black cardstock for the 2017 tab, and 3 graduated heart stickers from the retired gold Fundamental Assortment.  I originally thought to actually use this as a card to send out but the more I look at it, I'm really starting to see it as part of a layout since this New Year's Eve also happens to be my 30th anniversary with my husband...  we just have to figure out what are plans will be!

I hope you are able to find time this week to work with this sketch, there are endless possibilities.  As always, you have until 10 pm Central time on Sunday, 12/4/16, to link your projects here, or to at least check out what the rest of the design team and this week's participants came up with.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Glitter and Bling for Between The Folds Challenge

Hello again and welcome back!  This week at the Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge our theme is Glitter and Bling...  my favorite kind!

For my project, I used this Sea Glass and silver striped card base from the Fiesta Cut Above card kit (available only while supplies last), a 2 3/4 x 5 1/2" piece of black cardstock, and silver foil tape to make up the card.  I used the Snowflakes Thin Cuts with silver glitter paper to create this trio of snowflakes.  To further embellish them, I placed the retired Bitty Sparkles in the diamond cut outs and a Clear Sparkle in the centers after I had colored them with the Turquoise Blue alcohol marker.  Simple but bold, don't you think?

That's all I have for you today.  Don't forget that you have until 11 pm Central Time on Monday, 12/5/16, to link your glitter and bling projects here.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Cricut Cartridges for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hopc

Hello and welcome back for another installment of the Close To My Heart Featured Products Blog Hop, where this week we are bringing you projects made with CTMH's exclusive Cricut Cartridges.  If you arrived here from Janna's blog you are in the right place, but as always, hops are circular things so you are welcome to jump in anywhere along the way and simply follow  the links until you've made the rounds.  I have included a complete list of participants at the end of this page just in case you get lost.

Currently there are 5 to choose from:  Artistry, Artbooking, Flower Market (physical and digital), City Sidewalks (digital only), and Artfully Sent (available only while supplies last).  I love images from each of them, but I chose to bring you a holiday themed decor project from the Artistry cartridge.

My stash of retired CTMH products is getting a little out of hand, so I wanted to make a fun piece using some of my favorite papers from years past.  I started out by usingn Cricut Design Space so I could customize the image just a bit by contouring (basically hiding) the leaf cutouts in the lighter green base layer, which was cut at 10.27" on a paper from the LONG retired Believe kit.  I then used the same measurement and cut another wreath image at the same size without contouring, using the Topiary piece of the earlier version of our Fundamentals (the ones that featured a white toned pattern on one side and a glossy same-color pattern on the flip side).  I then inserted a circle shape from DS and sized it so it would cover the holly berries (1/2" worked for me) and I cut most of them from the glossy side of the older Cranberry Fundamentals and about one-third of the circles from the flip side.  To create the sentiment, which was also from the Artistry cartridge, I sized the image at 1.93" height in the red patterned paper from the Believe kit and then I used the glossy side of the old Sweet Leaf Fundamental to layer "Christmas" on it.  I had thought I might cut a 3-D bow from the retired Artiste cartridge but once I had everything put together, I decided I liked the clean and simple look so I left it as it is.

And that is all there is to my project today.  Now I get to send you on over to Corinna's blog so she can further inspire you.  I hope you will join us again on November 30th when we will be showcasing a variety of seasonal gift tags created from our favorite CTMH Cricut cartridges and our My Acrylix stamp sets.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Complete list of participants:

1.  Lauren Moore

2.  Janna Gray

3.  Annette Clark (here)

4.  Corinna Murphy

"Unforgettable" Card for AHSC #186

Hello, crafty friends!  I'm having so much with this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  Isn't this a great one?  So many possibilities, but here's the one I want to share with you today:










I started by playing around with various border stamps and paper combinations and while I was certainly having fun, nothing quite did it for me so I dug into some of my retired CTMH papers and came up with this beauty called "Unforgettable."  I loved the colors but really put it over the top for me was this lovely sentiment in the kit's compliments/sticker pack.  So everything you see came from that kit, and for the vertical strip down the middle I fussy cut this border piece that was already printed in a wavy pattern and sponged the edges with Cocoa to make the piece stand out a little better against the pink patterned paper it sits on.  I had planned on this being a birthday card for my best friend of 32 years but then it occurred to me how this would be the *perfect* Thanksgiving card for a woman in our community who was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer earlier this year but just got her miracle, after multiple rounds of chemo she had surgery and was just deemed cancer free!  She will need to have a couple more chemo treatments to be safe, but she and all who know and love her have much to be grateful for this year.

Thanks for stopping by and please take time to check out all the projects using this week's sketch.  Hopefully you can find a little craft time this week and can share your project, too, you have until 10 pm Central time on Sunday, 11/20/16, to add your creations here.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

City Sidewalks for BTF #34

This week's challenge at the Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge is the City Sidewalks paper kit of it's color palette.

I chose to use the green and red patterned papers from the City Sidewalks kit with my favorite pattern from page 46 of the Make It From Your Heart Vol. 2 pattern book.  I used this striped paper from the same kit to back the sentiment and bell image, both of which are from the Yuletide Joy set and stamped in Memento ink.  I used the Vivid Green, Leaf Green, and Carmine ShinHan markers.

We would love to see your creations featuring the City Sidewalks paper or its colors.  You have until Monday, 11/21/16, at 11:55 pm Central time to link your projects here.

Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

City Sidewalks for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back for another installment of the Close To  My Heart Featured Products Blog Hop.  This time out we are bringing you projects featuring the City Sidewalks collection, which includes both a paper kit and an exclusive Cricut cartridge.  If you came here from Donna's blog you are in the right place but, as always, hops are circular things so you can jump in anywhere along the way and just make the rounds, plus there is a complete list of participants at the end of this post.

My project is inspired this a set of Christmas gift tags shared by the talented Annette Green, which features 5" gift tags cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  You cut several bases and then you cut your patterned paper in the same shape and size and cut it at designated intervals and mix and match and then embellish.  I have also sized a box and sliding cover/lid from the Artiste cartridge to use as a tag holder so that if I can get these to come out as nicely as I hope, I will offer them as a mother/daughter workshop later this month.

These are the papers I chose to work with, based on the dimensions Annette Green used.  Be careful when using the Christmas tree print, it is directional so I wasn't able to use the top of that print but I was able to turn the rectangle around and still use it.
Another help hint, these go much quicker if you have one of the Xyron adhesive machines, so I ran my tag bases through and then started layering my individual pieces to your liking.  I found I needed the piece Annette G. marked as scrap but I chose to use a zip strip in its place to add some interest, the only difference being I had about 1/16" at the end of that tag I had to manually trim down.

And here is the box and lid once assembled.  I cut the base of the box out of white CS and used Cranberry for the lid to save on my patterned paper (and keep the cost of the class as low as possible if I use these for a class).

I'm still working on my embellishments so that's all I have for now, but I plan on using a mix of stamps with both Cricut and Thin Cuts, so I will continue to post the finished tags throughout the month as I continue to play around with them.  I hope you enjoyed them and are inspired to create some of your own.  Now it's on to Lauren's blog to see what she has in store for you.  Be sure to leave some comments for my very talented fellow hoppers, especially Lauren and her husband as she is under the weather and he finished up her post so she could still participate and we could still enjoy her creativity.

Don't forget to stop back in 2 weeks on 11/16/16 when our theme will be CTMH's exclusive Cricut Cartridges.  With 4 to choose from, including the new Flower Market and City Sidewalks, there should be no shortage of inspiration!     Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

1.  Lauren Moore

2.  Janna Gray

3.  Corinna Murphy

4.  Donna Digby

5.  Annette Clark  (here)

First Christmas Card of the Season for AHSC #184

Hello again, crafty friends!  Michelle Stewart has brought us another fabulous sketch to work with this week at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #184.

details:  I used a distressed piece of Cocoa cardstock for a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" base and the Whisper woodgrain patterned paper from the Oh Deer! paper pack for the next layer.  All the banners are either zip strips or 1/2" strips cut from papers from the same kit, and the center star with the sentiment and both the smaller stars in the corner are from the Oh Deer! complements.  For the smaller stamped sentiment in the upper left corner, I used Cocoa ink and the retired Card Word Puzzle set.

This is such a fun sketch to work with, you will definitely want to check out all the projects from the rest of the design team and participants.  I hope you will find some time to create your own take on this sketch and share it with us.  Remember, you have until 10 pm on Sunday evening, 11/6/16, to link your projects here.