Share the Love Australasian Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our Close To My Heart Share the Love Australasian Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Shaunna Ricahrds' Passionate About Pages, 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. 

You can share the love this February by purchasing the exclusive My Acrylix^® Share the Love D-size stamp set (CC1060). Filled with adorable icons and loveable sentiments, this stamp set will be a beautiful addition to your collection—but there is more to this stamp set than meets the eye! Not only will you be getting a high-quality, swoon-worthy stamp set by taking part in this promotion, but Close To My Heart will also donate $7 USD of the proceeds from this stamp set to Operation Smile™, an amazing organisation that provides life-saving surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates for children all over the world!

This week, I have used this adorable stamp set to create three super-quick cards!

For this first card, I adhered a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of La Vie En Rose B&T Paper (black and white side) to a White Card. I then created an Ombré Wash on Watercolour Paper using my CTMH Watercolour Paints. This technique is currently all-the-rage in paper crafting.  According to Wikipedia, 'Ombré describes the gradual blending of one color hue to another, usually moving tints and shades from light to dark' but in this case I went from a dark red, to a lighter red by adding more water to my paint as I moved down the paper.  I'm still perfecting this technique, but I think it creates quite an interesting background for the stamped image of the typewriter.  I stamped the typewriter in Black Memento Ink and the sentiment in Ruby, before cutting it out and adhering it to the Ombré washed paper (when it was dry), adhering it with 3-D Foam Tape. The sentiment at the bottom right of the card has been cut from a Zip Strip at the top of the La Vie En Rose B&T Paper and dovetailed on either end.

If you'd like to find out more about how to create this effective Ombré watercolour technique, i suggest that you watch a great video called Watercolour Cards: Ombré  Technique by CTMH Consultant Katherine Skipper.  

I used up some leftover strips of Kaleidoscope B&T Paper and Cardstock to create the second card. The telephone icon and the sentiments have been stamped on White Daisy Cardstock before being cut out with my Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors, clustered together and adhered using 3-D and Thin 3-D Foam Tape.  I used ink colours Gypsy, Sunset and Pacifica for the sentiments as they are part of the Kaleidoscope colour palette.  This was certainly a very quick and easy card to create.

For my final card, I used a simple background stamping technique, stamping the cute camera icon over and over again on a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of White Daisy Cardstock using Black Memento Ink.  Don't you just love how the stamped images nestle so beautifully together to create this striking background?  

I then mounted the White Daisy Cardstock onto a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Sunset Fundamentals Paper and adhered it to a White Card Base.  After stamping the "you make me smile" sentiment in Sunset ink (to coordinate with the mat), I cut it out with my Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors and adhered it to the card front using 3-D Foam Tape.  This is literally a five-minute card that is so fun to create.  I can imagine a whole set of these in rainbow colours!

Thank you for visiting my Blog to check out my card projects featuring the exclusive stamp set Share The Love.  I would love it if you would leave a comment below before you hop to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop, Mez's Craft Room, to see how Meryl has used this stamp set to create her own special project.

Remember, the Share the Love stamp set is only available throughout February 2016 from your Close To My Heart Independent Consultant, so get yours today for only $27.00 before  this adorable stamp set is gone!

Warmest crafting wishes,

Denise :)

Charlotte Australasian Blog Hop

 

Hello and welcome aboard our Close To My Heart Charlotte Australasian Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from  Shaunna Richards' Passionate About Pages, 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. 

Charlotte is a pretty paper collection created by Close To My Heart and is featured in the new 2016 Seasonal Expressions Idea Book.  The Charlotte range includes the Charlotte Paper Packet, Charlotte Workshops Your Way Scrapbooking Kit, Charlotte Complements, Black and Gold Ribbon and Treasured Puffies, which work on their own, or together, to create stunning colour-coordinated page layouts, cards and off-the page projects quickly and easily.

Today, I would like to share with you three cards that I have created featuring the new Charlotte Paper Packet.  This gorgeous Paper Packet includes 10 sheets of double-side B&T (Background and Texture) Paper and 2 sheets of cut-apart PML Cards.  The colours featured in the Charlotte Paper Packet include Black, Champagne, Slate, Sorbet, White Daisy and Whisper.

My first card uses up some of the cute little Chipboard Die-Cuts and Stickers from the Charlotte Complements that were left over after I had made the scrapbook pages and cards from the Charlotte Workshops Your Way Scrapbooking Kit.  I started with a 2" Daisy White Circle and stamped the "Best Wishes" sentiment from the Springtime Wishes stamp set in black in the centre of the circle   Then I stuck the Die-Cuts and Stickers around the outside of the circle before adhering a little Black and Gold Ribbon bow using Glue Dots.  This created a wreath of sorts and I added it to a card base decorated with Sorbet Cardstock and Charlotte B&T Paper.  You can see a similar idea to this on page 9 of the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book using the Springtime Wishes stamp set that you will just love!

My second card features flowers and leaves from the Springtime Wishes stamp set. I have stamped them directly onto Cardstock (Sorbet, Champagne and Pear) and then cut them out using our fabulous Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts (oh my goodness these Thin Cuts save SO MUCH time!). I have arranged them on a card base decorated with Sorbet and Black Cardstock and pretty B&T Papers from the Charlotte Paper Packet.  I completed the card by adding small Gold Sequins to 3 of the flower centres.

My final card features a similar colour scheme and design as card 2.  I quite like the simplicity of the card and the way that the B&T Paper creates an interesting and colourful background that doesn't need too much extra added to it to make it work.  Once again I have stamped directly onto the Cardstock and cut out the stamped shapes using the Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts.  This really is a very quick and easy way to add bold splashes of colour to a card design.

Ingredients used in these cards:

Charlotte Paper Packet
Charlotte Complements
Springtime Wishes stamp set
Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
Sorbet Cardstock
Black Cardstock
White Daisy Cardstock
Champagne Cardstock
Pear Cardstock
Black and Gold Ribbon
Gold Sequins
Thin 3-D Foam Tape
3-D Foam Tape
3L E-Z Dots Adhesive
Glue Dots

Thank you for visiting my Blog to check out my cards featuring the gorgeous paper from the Charlotte Paper Packet.  I would love it if you would leave a comment below before you hop to the next stop on our Charlotte Australasian Blog Hop, Mez's Craft Room to see more creative ways to use the Charlotte Collection.

Remember, you can purchase any of the gorgeous Charlotte products from your CTMH Independent Consultant.  

Until next time!

Warmest crafting wishes,

Denise :)

Balloon Animals Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our Close To My Heart February 2016 Balloon Animals Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Lauren Moore's CTMH Craftings, 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 few projects that I have created featuring the February Stamp of the Month, Balloon Animals. This stamp set is available only in February 2016 for $27, or for just $7.50 when you spend $75 or more. 

Could this Balloon Animals stamp set be more adorable? Seriously! It is such a fun, super-cute stamp set that is just perfect for birthday cards, page layouts and of course, for decorating your Planner!  It features 6 balloon animals, 5 sentiments, a little frame for your sentiments as well as some fun dots to decorate your pages and cards! 

I could not wait to start creating with this darling stamp set. I began by looking for inspiration on page 42 of the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book. I just loved the cute page and card created by the CTMH Art Department featuring the Balloon Animals (scroll down to see them at the bottom of this post), so I decided to replicate the page (with some artistic license)!

You'll notice that in my version I have used Crystal Blue Cardstock as the base (instead of Glacier), a strip of Georgie B&T Paper down the side of the page (instead of Penelope) and I have added some Thick Twine to the balloons for a little bit of extra texture as well as doodling around my title and photo mat.  This page really is so fun and easy to recreate.  The title is cut at 1" (relative size) from Poppy Cardstock using the Artistry Cricut Cartridge and is stuck down using our awesome Bonding Memories Glue Pen, which is just perfect for adhering little letters like these.

I also decided to add a second page to create a double-page layout as that is how I like to scrapbook (I very rarely use just a single page layout in my albums).  To make the second page, I cut a sheet of Georgie B&T Paper down to 11.5" x 11.5" and mounted it on a sheet of Crystal Blue Cardstock and then added 4 pieces of 4.5" x 6.5" White Daisy Cardstock for photo mats (so that I can add 4 standard-size photos to this second page later).  A bit of doodling, another cute Balloon Animal adhered to the page with 3-D Foam Tape and some more White Enamel Stars, and this super-fast page was complete! I like the simplicity of this page against the decorative look of the first page- I think they work well together. What do you think?

Other products used to create this page include Adventure and Enchantment Fundamental Stickers, White Shimmer Trim and Penelope Complements. 

So while I was at it, I decided I would also have a go at re-creating the cute card from page 42 of the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book.  Below, you can see my version:

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I have pretty much replicated it exactly as it appears in the Idea Book.  I thought that stamping those little dots across the front of the card to create the striped background was going to be really tedious, but it was actually a lot easier, faster and so much more fun than I thought it would be!  The dots make a huge difference to the finished card too. I loved it so much, I decided (well actually it was Perrin's idea to be honest) to create a landscape version of the same design.

I changed up some of the papers and colours from the original card design (don't you just love that cute Thistle Balloon Elephant) to create this version of the card.  

So by now I was on a roll. Can you tell that I LOVE creating projects based on ideas from our Idea Books!  The card from page 19 of the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book was the inspiration for the next card design. 

I swapped out the spotted Penelope B&T Paper for this striped paper from the Penelope Paper Packet and added a Balloon Horse stamped in Pear, the Happy Birthday sentiment as well a cute heart from the Penelope Complements to complete this card.

Then I remembered how much I love using up scraps, so I found my few Penelope leftovers from the Penelope Workshops Your Way Scrapbooking Kit and created the following two card designs, basing them loosely on the card design above.

So a few Penelope B&T Paper strips of varying widths cut to 4.25" in length, a Balloon Horse stamped in Crystal Blue ink, the It's Your Day sentiment as well as some White Enamel Stars and this card came together in about 5 minutes.  The card below came together really quickly as well.

For the final card design below, I used the cute Penelope flowery PML Card from the Penelope Workshops Your Way Scrapbooking Kit as the central focus and designed the entire card around it! 

I cut the PML Card down and adhered to it in 3-D Foam Tape a Balloon Elephant stamped in Thistle.  I then assembled the card using a dovetailed strip of stripy Penelope B&T Paper, the Let's Celebrate sentiment on White Daisy Cardstock and a cute heart from the Penelope Complements.  Not a complicated card my any means, but I am so happy with how cute and colourful it looks!

I hope you can tell how much fun I had creating with this gorgeous new stamp set.  Thank you for visiting my Blog to check out my special page layout and cards featuring the February Stamp of the Month, Balloon Animals.  I would love it if you could leave a comment below before you hop to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop, Doris Taylor's Creative Inspirations.

Remember, the February Stamp of the Month, Balloon Animals is only available throughout February 2016 from your Close To My Heart Independent Consultant for $27, or for just $7.50 when you spend $75 or more.

  

Warmest crafting wishes,

Denise :)