Zoe Australasian Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our Close To My Heart Australasian Zoe Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Designs by Marguerite, then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

Zoe is a fresh and fabulous new Paper Collection created by Close To My Heart released this month.  The range includes the Zoe Paper Packet, Zoe Workshops on the Go Scrapbooking Kit, Zoe Assortment and Zoe Complements which work on their own, or together, to create stunning colour coordinated scrapbook, card making and off-the page projects quickly and easily.

Today, I would like to share with you a Double Z-Fold Card that I have made featuring  paper from the new Zoe Paper Packet.  The Paper Packet includes 6 sheets of double-side B&T (Background and Texture) Paper and 6 sheets of coordinating Cardstock.  The colours featured in the Zoe Paper Packet include Sweet Leaf, Canary, Glacier, Slate, Sorbet, Whisper and White Daisy.  

I selected the stamp set Shower Flowers to use on this card because I think it goes beautifully with Zoe's fresh, fun colours.  I chose ink colours from the Whimsy Colour Family to coordinate with the Zoe colour palette, stamping the flowers in Thistle, Pixie, Crystal Blue, Sorbet and Canary.  I used Sweet Leaf to stamp the leaves and I stamped the middle of the flowers with Cocoa.  I think the colours work together nicely to create a card filled with floral sweetness!  

The decorative branches were stamped straight onto the White Daisy Cardstock using Sweet Leaf.  The flowers were stamped on scrap White Daisy Cardstock, then cut out using my amazing Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors and adhered using tape runner, Thin 3-D Foam Tape and 3-D Foam Tape to create a variety of layers to adorn the front of the card. 

The base of the card was created using a 6" x 12" piece of White Daisy Cardstock scored at 2", 4", 8" and 10".  I used my Bone Folder to create crisp folds along these score lines and then adhered Zoe B&T Paper and Glacier Cardstock to the 5 panels (see below for measurements).  

I wanted the inside to be as sweet as the outside, so I stamped the leaves directly on the White Glacier Cardstock and then cut and adhered the flower images using tape runner and Thin 3-D Tape before adhering it to the centre panel.  

I used the following ingredients to create this Double Z-fold card:

C1612 Shower Flowers stamp set

12” x 6” White Daisy Cardstock

Cut two- 1 13/16” x 5 13/16” Zoe B&T Paper (Glacier Houndstooth side)

Cut two- 1 7/8” x 5 13/16” Zoe B&T Paper (Sorbet Dots side)

3 7/8” x 5 13/16” Glacier Cardstock (inside middle panel)

3 1/4” x 5 1/4” White Daisy Cardstock (inside middle panel)

3” x 4 1/4” Glacier Cardstock (front)

2 3/4” x 4” White Daisy Cardstock (front)

3" x 6” White Daisy cardstock (scrap for stamping flowers)

Thistle Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Canary Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Sorbet Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Pixie Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Crystal Blue Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Cocoa Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors

Thin 3-D Foam Tape

3-D Foam Tape

All of the Zoe products are available to order from your Close To My Heart Consultant right now and are featured in the 2015-2016 Annual Inspirations Idea Book launching on the 1st of September.  

 

Thank you for visiting my Blog to check out my Double Z-fold Card featuring the gorgeous Zoe papers.  I would love it if you would leave a comment below before you hop to the next stop on our Zoe Australasian Blog Hop, Shaunna's Blog Passionate About Pages to see more creative ways to use the Zoe Paper Collection.

Until next time!

Warmest Crafting Wishes,
Denise :)

Zoe Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our Close To My Heart Zoe Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Tammy Brown's Blog, The Country Stamper's Studio, then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

Zoe is a fresh new Paper Collection created by Close To My Heart and released this month.  The range includes the Zoe Paper Packet, Zoe Workshops on the Go Scrapbooking Kit, Zoe Assortment and Zoe Complements which work together to create stunning colour coordinated scrapbook, card making and off-the page projects quickly and easily.

I've been having rather a lot of fun creating these two gorgeous page layouts from the Zoe WotG Scrapbooking Kit over the weekend.  They came together quickly and look so wonderful when they are completed.  I can't wait to find the perfect photos for these pages.  When I had finished my pages from the Zoe WotG kit, as is always the case, I had lots of leftover paper, cardstock and embellishments and I decided that I wanted to use some of them for my Zoe Blog Hop project.

Now don't get me wrong, I love making fancy cards as much as the next crafter.  If you scroll through my blog, you'll see some of the more creative ones that I've made recently.  I love step cards, cards in a box, starburst cards, z-fold, gatefold and never ending cards.  I love cards with bling, embossing, twine and ribbon.  But sometimes, I just want to make quick, no-fuss, easy-peasy cards that don't take all afternoon to create.  

Allow me to introduce you to my quick card concept that I call "Five-in-Five".  Yes that's right, you can make these 5 basic cards in about 5 minutes.  They each follow the same layout, but feature different paper, cardstock and stamp combinations for a bit of variety.

I started with 2" x 5 1/2" strips of Zoe B&T Paper and 2 3/4" x 5 1/2" strips of coordinating Cardstock.  I used my Scallop Border Maker and quickly scalloped down both sides of the Cardstock strips.  I then adhered the Zoe paper strips down the middle, leaving an even amount of Cardstock on either side.  I stuck these straight onto our white card bases 1/2" from the bottom of the card.

While I was cutting and scalloping, I had my Cricut cutting some 2" circles from White Daisy Cardstock and some 2.5" Scallop Circles from Sorbet, Canary, Sweet Leaf, Slate and Glacier Cardstock.  These are created from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (see pages 21 and 41).  

I then grabbed some of my favourite mini stamps and my Slate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad and stamped a variety of sentiments onto the 2" White Daisy Circles.  I adhered the sentiments to the Scallop Circles and then popped them onto the card with some 3-D Foam Tape. 

And here they are!  My quick and easy "Five-in-Five" cards: 

Once you have this basic card design, feel free to dress it up using bling, twine, ribbon or even some Cricut-cut shapes if you wish.  Here is an example of one of the cards with a little bit of "fancy" added to it.

The ingredients I used to create this "Five-in-Five" card project include:

Zoe Workshops on the Go Scrapbooking Kit (I used some of my leftovers after I had completed the 2 layouts)
Art Philosophy Cricut Collection
4 1/4" x 5 1/2" White Cards and Envelopes (Value Pack)
Canary Cardstock
Sweet Leaf Cardstock
M1054 xoxo mini stamp
M1046 Guiding Heart mini stamp
B1419 Joyful Birthday stamp set
B1467 You Mean the World to Me stamp set
Slate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
Scallop Border Maker
SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer
Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors
3-D Foam Tape

All of the Zoe products are available to order from your Close To My Heart Consultant right now and are featured in the 2015-2016 Annual Inspirations Idea Book launching on the 1st of September.

Thank you for visiting my Blog to check out my "Five-in-Five" cards featuring the gorgeous Zoe papers.  I would love it if you would leave a comment below before you hop to the next stop on our Zoe Blog Hop, Scrapbook y Mas to see more creative ways to use the Zoe Paper Collection.

Until next time!

Warmest Crafting Wishes,
Denise :)

Framed- CTMH August Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our Close To My Heart August 2015 Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Jenny Gilbert's Blog The Creative Heart, then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

Today, I would like to share with you a set of Herringbone Cards I have made that feature the August Stamp of the Month, Framed.  I think that this stamp set is truly a card maker's best friend. It has oodles of sentiments and the cutest frames that are just perfect for adorning the front and inside of cards designed for a multitude of occasions throughout the year.  I just couldn't wait to try it out!  This stamp set is available only in August 2015 for $27, or for just $5 when you spend $75 or more. 

With only one month to go until the launch of the gorgeous new paper collections featured in the new 2015-2016 Annual Inspirations and Holiday Expressions Idea Books, and with the early release of the Zoe Paper Collection today (YAY!!!), I am in scrap-mode! What that means is that I am madly using up every last scrap of paper from my existing Paper Packets to make way for the new!  

I don't know about you, but I can't bear to throw away any of our gorgeous paper, no matter how small.  If you are like me, then don't despair! I find that there are certain card designs that are just perfect for people like us!  One of my favourites is the Herringbone design.  I first saw this design featured on a beautiful card and scrapbook page created by the very talented Christine (Chris) Woodward (her Blog Woodies Creations is well worth a visit).  Ever since then, I have been in love with this simple, but effective way to use up scraps and create beautiful cards at the same time!

For this set of cards, I went to my Brushed Paper Packet (only available until the end of August) and tipped out the remaining pieces of paper left over from numerous creative scrapbooking and cardmaking projects.  It really is amazing how far these Paper Packets can stretch, isn't it?  

Preparing for these cards was easy! I got out my SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer and cut all of the remaining paper and cardstock from the Paper Packet into 1/2 inch strips.  

Next, I cut a piece of White Daisy Cardstock measuring 3 3/4" x 5" as the base for creating the Herringbone design.  I took one of the strips of Brushed paper and adhered it to the cardstock diagonally from one side to the other, trimming both ends.

I then adhered another strip extending from the centre to the top of the card and another strip from the centre to the bottom of the card and trimmed both ends.  

This is the basic set-up for the Herringbone design.  It creates four "quadrants" that are then filled with more strips of the paper and coordinating cardstock.  Filling in the quadrants is easy!  I just apply adhesive to the back of a strip, position it snugly beside the previous strip and press down to secure it on the base until all of the cardstock is covered.  You'll notice that the quadrants diagonally opposite each other have the strips running the same way, but a different way to the quadrant beside them.

When I had filled all four quadrants with 1/2" strips, I trimmed around all of the edges with my Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors.  These are just perfect for this job as they are super sharp, cut close to the edge and are incredibly precise.

I repeated this process to create 6 Herringbone designs altogether.  

Next, I mounted the Herringbone designs onto Cranberry Cardstock mats measuring 4" x 5 1/4".  As Cranberry is one of the coordinating colours for Brushed, but not actually used in a big way in any of the Herringbone designs I created, I thought it would be perfect and I was very happy with the way the colour framed the designs and really made them pop!

I then adhered these to the front of of white cards from our 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" White Cards and Envelopes Value Pack

After that, I went all stamp happy with the August Stamp of the Month, stamping multiple frames and sentiments, mixing and matching with my Black and Cranberry Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads.

Once again, I used my amazing Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors to cut around each of the frames.  Adhered them to Cranberry Cardstock, cut around them again and mounted them on the front of the cards with 3-D Foam Tape.

Next I went to my rolled roses stash and picked out some roses made from coordinating cardstock colours (Hollyhock, Canary, Cranberry) and adhered them to the front of the cards using Mini Glue Dots. I thought they added a little bit of "something special" to each of the cards.  

So finally, here are my completed Herringbone cards.  Ta Da!

What do you think?  I am always amazed at how gorgeous the finished card looks.  This is such a quick card to create and most importantly, is the perfect way to use up all of your paper scraps.

Ingredients used to create this project:

Framed- August Stamp of the Month
Brushed Paper Packet (scraps cut into 1/2" strips)
White Cards and Envelopes, Value Pack
3 3/4" x 5" White Daisy Cardstock
4" x 5 1/4" Cranberry Cardstock
Black Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
Cranberry Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer
Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors
Cricut Art Philosophy Collection (for cutting the roses)
Cricut Artiste Collection (for cutting the roses)
Quilling Tool (for rolling the roses)
Liquid Glass (for adhering the roses)
Memory Book Mini Glue Dots
3-D Foam Tape

And just because I couldn't resist, here are two more cards featuring the Herringbone design and the August Stamp of the Month, created from my Yuletide Carol paper scraps.  

Thank you for visiting my Blog to check out my special project featuring the August Stamp of the Month, Framed   I would love it if you could leave a comment below before you hop to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop, Mandy Hall's Hall of Indulgence to see more creative ways to use the August Stamp of the Month.

Remember, the August Stamp of the Month, Framed is only available throughout August 2015 from your Close To My Heart Independent Consultant for $27, or for just $5 when you spend $75 or more.  

Warmest crafting wishes,

Denise :)