Honor Our Veterans!

Today I give honor to all the men and women who fought for FREEDOM for this great country of ours! 

From the depths of my heart I thank you for your great sacrifices.  God bless you all.  May He keep you safe and for those who are not with their family this day, may he deliver you safely back to their arms!

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Thanksgiving will soon be here, can you believe it?  And it is time for the November SOTM blog hop!  This month the featured stamp of the month is S1211 Capture the Date, a set of 72 calendaring images!  Below are the images in this stamp set that is available only thru November 30th.  Click to see details.

If you have come here from Jean McNulty's blog, you are on the right path!  I am the first stop for this month's hop! You can find a list of all the participants (in case you get lost) here: http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/p/sotm-blog-hop-list.html  This month we have almost 70 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this set. The hop is simple to follow - just click on the link provided in the post to move to the next blog!

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My item is a Round 4-1/2" size card made with the new Pear and Partridge Workshop on the Go (WOTG) Papers.  Below is my card:

And here is a closer look so you can see some of the glitz:

Papers: G1052 Pear and Partridge WOTG papers, Colonial White, Cranberry, New England Ivy cardstocks

Stamps:  S1211 Capture the Date; Pear and Partridge WOTG Stamp Set
Ink:   Cranberry, New England Ivy, Olive Exclusive Inks; StazOn Black Ink

Embellishments:  Green Glitz Glitter Gel, Red Glitz Glitter Gel, z1764 Just Blooms Florette Paper Shapes; z1780 Wrangler Assortment; z1751 Baker's Twine Harvest Assortment; Clear Embossing Powder

Time to hop on over to Helen Onulak's Blog to see her beautiful eye candy! Be sure to visit all the Consultants' Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available thru November 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for $5!

Happy hopping!

Dimensional Element Christmas Ornaments

Is it that time of the year already?  Well, most years it's almost Thanksgiving before I get some of the Christmas crafts underway, but I promised myself that at least every other post should be something to do with the holidays!  The Partridge & Pear Workshop on the Go has a bonus project--Dimensional Elements Christmas Ornaments.  I like to change these projects into workshops, so I try to find a way to use the bulk papers and embellishments to make it a workshop.  So, my projects are a bit different than the ones in the bonus project.  Sometimes, it's just because I didn't read the directions and turned up with something a bit different but looked at how I could make it work.  So, below are the ornaments that we will make in my upcoming workshop this weekend.

I think making ornaments is fun!  Look for more Christmas projects soon!

More Workshop Fun

Recently in my last workshop we made adorable Mini Albums with LaBelle Vie Papers.  The real purpose behind the workshop was to teach using the Cricut die cutting machine.  Several years ago, I bought a Pazzles Inspiration die cutting machine (which I LOVE).  That was before Close To My Heart came out with their own Cricut cartridges.  It took me over a year to actually not be afraid to use it (since I had never seen one used).  After CTMH came out with the new cartridge, I bought a little Cricut Create (for $74 which was being discontinued at our local Wal-mart).  Now I use both die cutting machines because I no longer have to hand cut out anything!

As a matter of fact, the super nice thing about the Close To My Heart Stamp sets is that I can scan in the printed acetate sheet the stamps are attached to and create a .pdf file.  Then I turn that into a cutting file for my Pazzles Inspirations die cutting machine.  Wow, I really never have to cut out anything again!

Now, onto the Mini Album.  I started out with these chip board (Dimensional Elements) mini  album pages Z1791 (click to see on my shopping site):

In the mini album I used the LaBelle Vie Exclusive stamp set from the Workshop on the Go:

Here is the Outside Front Cover:

Inside Front Cover and Page 1:

Page 2 & 3:

Page 4 & 5:

Page 6 & Inside Back Cover:

Back Cover:

You can find the Instructions and Cutting Guide here.  In your Cricut Artiste cartridge, all of the mini album pages are on page 60 of your book.

My Mini Album is not quite the same as the Workshop on the Go kit.  I used some old retired papers.  The great thing about the instructions is that you always have room to add your own touches.  So have fun with these instructions.

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  This month the featured stamp of the month is S1210 Very Merry Christmas, a set of 11 holiday!  Below are the images in this stamp set that is available only thru October 31st. 

If you have come here from Helen Onulak's blog you are on the right path! You can find a list of all the participants (in case you get lost) here: http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/p/sotm-blog-hop-list.html  This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this set. The hop is simple to follow - just click on the link provided in the post to move to the next blog!

* * *

My item is a 5-3/4" x 5-3/4" card made with the new Avonlea Workshop on the Go (WOTG) Papers which features some exclusive cardstock colors only available in the kit. I wanted to use a kit that was different than the usual Christmas colors. Below is my card:

And here is a closer look at the dimensional items of it:

Papers: Avonlea WOTG papers; Avonlea White, Smokey Plum, Avonlea Teal cardstocks
Stamps:  S1210 Very Merry Christmas
Ink:   Smokey Plum pigment pad, True Teal (retired) Exclusive Inks
Embellishments:  Pearl Opaques, Just Blooms
Other:  CTMH 2" Scallop Punch; Artiste Cartridge; 1" circle punch; Spellbinder Scallop Square Die Cut;  Border Ribbon Punch.

Time to hop on over to Nancy Brown's Blog to see her beautiful eye candy! Be sure to visit all the Consultants' Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available thru October 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for $5!

Happy hopping!

Clearly The Best

Close To My Heart is excited to be working with My Craft Channel , an online craft TV network, to create a new video series called Clearly the Best. Each video will show stamping techniques demonstrating the creative flexibility and perfect placement possible with our clear stamps. When you sign up for free at http://www.mycraftchannel.com, you’ll receive email notifications every time a new video in the Clearly the Best video series is released. That way, you'll be sure to catch every episode! Sign up today.

In this first episode,  discover the ease of creating new designs from stamp sets you already own. Personalize by using this new stamping technique. The versatility of clear My Acrylix® stamps makes it simple to bend, curve, and mix and match stamps to produce a completely unique design!



Lots of great ideas here!  Happy Stamping!

Make & Takes for Open House

At the end of August I held a little open house and had a couple of projects that were make and takes.  One project features the new Cricut Artiste Cartridge.  This is another cartridge that has over 700 images.  However, this amazing cartridge has some many cool things built into it so that you no longer have to figure out how large or small related pieces should be cut. The cartridge will cut all pieces of a project to the appropriate size once you have set the dial on your cricut.  This just amazes me!

Here are the projects:  a 4.5" x 4.5" card and a cute little gift box.  You can click on pictures for details.

Supplies for the little gift box:

Papers: Wonderland WOTG papers, Colonial White cardstock
Stamps:  One of the 3 D-size stamps sets that come with the Artiste cartridge

Inks:  Chocolate Exclusive Inks

Embellishments:  Pearl opaque gems
Other:  Cricut Artiste Cartridge

Same paper and supplies are used on both cards.  The only difference is the front and backs of Moonlight B&T papers are reversed.

Supplies for both cards:

Papers: Moonlight WOTG papers, Colonial White, Smokey Plum cardstock
Stamps: C1522 Creepy Creatures
Inks: Smokey Plum, Black, Goldrush, Sorbet Exclusive Inks
Embellishments: Black Mini-Medley Collection

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day holiday!