It's an Art Philosophy Blog Hop!

I originally entered this in the Challenge Me Monday challenge at Fantabulous Cricut blogsite. I've been too busy to create anything new so I'm also posting this for the CTMH Art Philosophy blog hop. The challenge here is to use something from the Art Philosophy cartridge in creating your project and it is hosted by Lisa Stenz, a wonderfully talented CTMH consultant. You can find Lisa's Creative Corner blogsite here.
Thanks to fellow CTMH consultant Susan Koeferl who posted on our bulletin board and recommended this great blogsite that features Cricut made projects. You can check it out here. They have something special going on everyday there! "Holiday cards" is the theme for this week's Challenge Me Monday challenge. I made 2 cards, each with Close To My Heart products and their exclusive Art Philosophy cricut cartridge. The first card used Cranberry CS and ink, A1115 A Holiday stamp set, Bliss paper and holographic paper (non ctmh). The Art Philosophy cartridge was used to cut the scalloped oval and scalloped oval with trees cut out. They can be found on page 52 of the Art Philosophy booklet and the measurements I used were 2.25 for the top layer which was decorative layer shift button. The background oval was cut at 2.75.

The second card is very similar but I changed the color of the papers, ink and greeting. The new colors are Holiday Red and Topiary CS. The greeting is from B1381 Holiday Cheer. I used Bonding Memories Glue Pen and Prisma glitter to make the outside edge sparkle. (My first attempt was to glitter the entire green oval but then the pop up dots would not stick so I glittered only the outside edge so I the top layer would stay attached!)

These cards were easy to do and fun to make. It took me way longer to write this blog about them than to create them! Which one do you like better?

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holidays are a hectic time yet so enjoyable! I've made some thanksgiving cards and treat holders but haven't had the time to post them as I was busy preparing for company. These are the ways I've used the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge to make the colorful turkeys. Thanks to fellow CTMH consultant Connie Saulsbury for sharing the directions for these cute turkeys. Visit her blog here for details. I made a big batch of them, some of which I made cards with but the majority of them I attached an easel stand to the back and put them in with customer orders that I delivered last week. Everyone loved them! Here are some photos:

Yesterday I used my new Gypsy to figure the size to make the treat holder from page 22 of the Art Philosophy cricut booklet. (Font Layer shift) It was a lot of fun to just look at it on the screen and then connect it to the expression machine and just cut it. I measured an Andes Mint at 1 x 1.25 and played with the size on the gypsy. The first one I cut was the correct size and fit 2 Andes mints. (I think it would be 4.5" without using the gypsy). I used old B sized wooden CTMH stamps to decorate and closed the treat box with raffia. I made 12 of these and put them at each guest's place setting. They were a big hit!

I plan to do the same thing with Christmas papers next month. Thanks for visiting my blog and happy holidays to all!

:) Marie

November Constant Campaign--Holiday Wishes and Clean and Simple Sketch Challenge

Close To My Heart is offering a fantastic holiday stamp set called "Holiday Wishes" for just $5.00 (valued at $17.95) with a purchase of $25 in acrylic stamps during November 2011. I received mine yesterday and had a blast making these cards today. There are coordinating Art Philosophy cricut cuts to match these stamps. These are the stamps that come in the set and I managed to use every one of them in these 4 cards. All products used are from Close To My Heart.

This first card is based on the Clean and Simple Stamping Sketch FTL164 which can be found here.It features "Believe" paper, Topiary and Holiday Red CS and Topiary Ink. Lines were embossed on the Holiday Red CS and then distressed with a sanding block. The star and banner were cut on the cricut with CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.

The next card features "Wonderland" paper, Twilight CS, and Blue and Green Sparkles. After stamping with Twilight Ink, the images were stamped in Versamark and then clear embossed with Polysparkle Tinsel Embossing Powder (CTMH retired).

The tree in this card was stamped in Sweet Leaf Ink on Sweet Leaf CS. The birds were colored with a Tulip marker. The same image was then stamped in Versamark and embossed with Polysparkle Tinsel and then Topiary Ink was rubbed across the tree. The background paper is CTMH "Mistletoe" (retired).

The final card features Vineyard Berry CS and Ink. Bronze glitter gel was applied at the top of each stocking and Stardust glitter gel was used on the angel halos and wings.