Napkin Rings from Toilet Paper Tubes--H2H Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Challenge

Here is a really simple way to create your own napkin rings. Just cut a strip of patterned paper and glue to 1/2 of a toilet paper tube. I used CTMH Paper Garden (retired) and Bonding Memories Glue.

You can check out what others have created to participate in this challenge here.

Have fun! Marie

Hope for Japan and Card Chatter--Sympathy

These cards are being submitted to the Hope for Japan Blog Hop which can be found here. Thank you Leanne Dudley for hosting this blog hop!
Close To My Heart is donating all proceeds from the sale of this stamp set for the Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts and it is specially priced at just $5.00! The stamp set looks like this:

The first card uses Sunflower, Autumn Terracotta and Colonial White cardstocks with Chocolate and Autumn Terracotta Inks. (Through digital image manipulation the outer border appears to have a bluish tint but the base layer is actually Colonial White.)

The second card uses Sky, Hydrangea (retired but I still love this color!) and White Daisy cardstocks with Hydrangea ink. (There is actually a 1/4" white border around this card which may be difficult to see).

The greetings came from D1476 Card Chatter Sympathy which has become one of my favorite greeting sets--for much more than Sympathy cards!

Thanks for stopping by to visit my blog! Have a great week of creativity!
Marie

New Products from CTMH Linky Party Blog Hop

Thank you Tresa  for setting up this Linky party for Close To My Heart consultants to share products from the new catalog which goes live next week! I have been involved with rubber stamp art for 20 years and have accumulated quite a few stamps (mostly CTMH!) and the new stamps I appreciate the most are stamps with messages which can be used on the front or inside the cards. Card Chatter--Birthday is a new stamp set which is very versatile.

This card  was made with this set:

The greeting was stamped with Cranberry Ink onto Sunny Yellow cardstock.  The patterned paper is from the new Fanfare collection. An Outdoor Denim brad attached white grosgrain ribbon on the side.  It was easy to do--especially since I followed a pattern called "Small Wonder" from the Wishes card making book!  This book is a wonderful resource!

Other greetings in the new Card Chatter--Birthday set are pictured below:

Now it is time for you to check out other new product ideas

CTMH January Stamp of the Month and H2H Challenge

The theme of this week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is cards featuring animals or insects.  The CTMH January Stamp of the Month "Find Your Style" features a bird, butterfly, dress form and shoe with a friendship greeting and the words Love, Soar, Friend and Beautiful.  Here is my entry for the Heart 2 Heart challenge this week:

The bird is black embossed onto a piece of gold holographic gift bag paper (it was broken and I had to find another use for the pretty paper!) The ovals were made with the Coluzzle knife and template.  They are mounted onto Wings paper.  Soar was stamped in Black ink onto Twilight CS.

I also had fun playing with the Shoe stamp and a variety of colors:

The above card features Twilight, Hollyhock, Black and white cardstocks.  The greeting is stamped with Hollyhock ink and trimmed with an old Fiskars scissors called Bowtie.  Licorice Opaques Adhesive Gems adorn the shoe and paper.

In the next card, the shoe was stamped all over Sky CS with Pacifica Ink:

Pacifica, Pear and Holiday Red cardstocks were also used. Red sparkles adorn the shoes and horizontal trim.  Thanks for checking out my latest creations.  Feel free to leave comments. :)

You can check out what other CTMH consultants have done with the January Stamp of the Month set here:

Clean and Simple Challenge FTL 123

This is the first time that I am participating in this challenge.  I was drawn to the simplicity of the design and have 2 entries to share.

All products are from Close To My Heart^®.  The cardstock base is Juniper.  The butterfly paper stripe is from the new Wings Paper Pack.  The maroon paper stripe is Vineyard Berry CS. The rose flower is from a new set called Rosy Regards B1369.  It is a 2 step stamp.  The solid part of the rose was stamped with Blush ink onto Blush CS.  The outline stamp was stamped with Vineyard Berry Ink.  The sympathy greeting is from a new set called Card Chatter--Sympathy D1476 and was stamped with Vineyard Berry Ink. (This set won't be available until the new catalog goes live on February 1.)

 This second card uses Amethyst CS and Purple Pansy Ink. The flower and greeting are both from the new CTMH set called Dreams Come True D1470. The holographic stripe is from a gift bag that fell apart and I just had to find a way to use it!  Here is the sketch provided by Clean and Simple:

It was fun to create these cards using this sketch--why not try it yourself? 

Rosy Regards in Mojo Monday Challenge # 173

I am really enjoying Close To My Heart's new stamp set B1368 Rosy Regards.  This is the third challenge in 2 days that I've chosen to use it in!  It features 2 step stamping which really gives the card a nice dimensional look without having to color.  This is what is included in this new stamp set:

This week's Mojo Monday sketch looks like this:

My card was made with Juniper & Colonial White as the Cardstock bases.  I stamped the solid part of the rose with Blush Ink on Blush Cardstock and then stamped the outline stamp in Vineyard Berry Ink.  The leaves were outline stamped with New England Ivy ink onto New England Ivy cardstock.  The rose was placed over a Nestabilities diecut called Labels 4 and the edges were sponged with Vineyard Berry Ink.  The patterned paper is the new Creative Basics paper called Wings which will be available to customers starting on February 1. (One of the perks of being a consultant is getting the new products a month earlier!)  Maroon buttons with Cream Opaque adhesives were used as embellishments.  The word "Love" is from the January Stamp of the Month set called Find Your Style.  Liquid Glass was applied over the rose as the finishing touch.  Hope you like it!

Card Pattern Sketch Challenge 97 and H2H Color Challenge

Happy New Year Everyone!  The holidays were a very busy time for me and it feels good to getting back to creating.  I'm enjoying the new Close To My Heart stamps that I've just purchased.  The following card meets 2 challenges--Card Pattern Sketch Challenge 97 and the Heart to Heart Color Challenge also.  For the H2H challenge we were to use Sky, Pear and Colonial White with an accent of Sorbet if desired.

  

The stamp set is B1369 Rosy Regards which is featured in the January Inspirations brochure and in the new catalog.   All pieces were sponged with Sorbet Ink also. CTMH Glitz Glitter Gel gives the rose some additional sparkle.  The word "Love" is from the January Stamp of the Month D1452 Find Your Style.

Thanks for taking a look. I always enjoy reading your comments.

Creative Basics Mistletoe and Card Patterns Sketch 90

I enjoy creating cards using a sketch pattern and this one came pretty easily to me.

I used a 3/4" paper punch to stamp out ornaments from the Creative Basics Mistletoe patterned paper from Close To My Heart and glued them onto a cranberry CS strip.  The same ornament paper was glued onto cranberry CS and then punched with a square scallop punch.  The greeting from D1324 Christmas Melodies was stamped in Cranberry Ink on Garden Green CS.  The cardfront was texturized with a scrunched up piece of plastic wrap and Garden Green Ink. It was pretty simple and fun to do!  You can join in on the challenge here.

November Stamp of the Month and Card Pattern Sketch #89

I've had a lot of fun lately playing with Close To My Heart's November Stamp of the Month called "A Little Thanks".  The stamp set is pictured here:

It is a very versatile set which is only available during November 2010.  The price depends upon how much other CTMH product you purchase and can range from $22.95 to FREE with a $100 purchase.  In addition Close To My Heart is extending thanks to those customers who spend $100 and offering a stamp set of their choice for FREE also.  You can get 2 stamp sets for FREE this month.  It is a very good deal! You can check out the catalog through my website.

Here are some cards that I've made from this set.  The first one follows Card Patterns Sketch 89:

I used Olivia papers, Barn Red CS, Barn Red Ink and Autumn Terracotta brads.  (The flowers were made with a Martha Stewart punch.) It was very quick to do.

The next card uses Sunset Ink, Barn Red Ink and CS and some gold edged ribbon.

The third card features Splendor paper, Moonstruck CS, Topiary CS and Goldrush Ink.  Cream opaques sit on top of the green buttons.

The next card features Magnifique papers and Pacifica Ink:

The last of these cards features paper from the Creative Basics Mistletoe Collection.and Cranberry Ink.  (The flourished square frame is a Martha Stewart punch.).

Thanks for visiting my blogsite!

Happy Halloween!

These cards were so much fun to make!  I couldn't decide which one to enter in the H2H challenge this week so I'm posting all of my 2010 Halloween cards here. All of these cards were made with Close To My Heart "Thriller" stamp set which was the September Stamp of the Month set.  The first card uses Grey Wool and Vineyard Berry Ink.  The skull was stamped on white with Versamark ink and then chalked with vineyard berry chalk.

The second card has a clear window.  The outside frame was stamped using black Stazon ink on a piece of Xyron laminate.  The inside was stamped in Grey Flannel Ink and the pumpkin colored in with Sunset Marker.  The polka dot print is from the Olivia Level 2 Paper Set. The Happy Haunting greeting was stamped with Gypsy Ink.

The next card features a Clear Card and a bleaching technique to achieve the white skull face.  First a piece of white paper was brayered with Pear Ink and then embossed with Black embossing powder.  I used a Q-tip and some bleach to remove the green color from the skull face.  This element was then sponged with black ink. This is mounted on the outside of the clear card while the randomly stamped images and eyeball ribbon trim are on the inside of the card.  Red sparkles and cream opaques accent the card.

The final card uses Pear, Sunset and Pansy Purple Inks and Pansy Purple embossing powder.  I sponged white photo mounting corners with Pansy Purple Ink to frame the skull.  Pansy Purple and Sunset cardstock paper was used. The green polka dot print is from the Olivia Paper Set.

Wishing you all a spooky and spectacular Halloween filled with lots of fun! 

Ruffled Lace, Clear Sparkles and a Clear Button for Card Pattern Sketch 87

I enjoy challenging myself to create cards to share on various stamping related blogsites. I have learned so much from others and I'm glad that I have the opportunity to pass on some good ideas.  This week the Card Pattern Sketch 87 looks like this:

My interpretation looks like this:

There is a fan looking corner stamp in the CTMH Triple Play stamp set which was stamped twice to make the half circle.  I stamped with Pacifica Ink on Lagoon cardstock (LOVE these 2 new colors!).   I also stamped on a small piece of Lagoon CS and used a circle punch to cut it out and attached it to the clear button using CTMH Bonding Memories Glue Pen which dries clear.  I looked through my shoebox full of ribbon and found this white irridescent ruffled lace which I attached using my sewing machine to Pacifica cardstock. Then I glued the Pacifica CS onto a White Daisy folded card. Last I took out my set of clear adhesive sparkles and stuck them on the card.  (When I went to photograph this card the sparkles appeared uneven and too bright so I used my scanner which created the shadow on the top left corner.)  Do you think I have too many sparkles or not enough?  Your comments are always appreciated.  Thanks for stopping by!

Card Pattern Challenge Sketch 86

This is the first time I am participating in the Card Pattern weekly challenge.  We were invited to make a card using the following sketch:

Here is my entry:

 All products are from Close To My Heart.  I used Magnifique patterned paper, Lagoon and Pacifica cardstock on Colonial White paper.  The thank you greeting is from C1220 You're Special set.  I used Lagoon Ink and then stamped again with Versamark Ink and embossed with Polysparkle Tinsel (retired CTMH product.).  The three elements on the lower right corner were made with a pencil eraser tip stamped in lagoon and then again with versamark and embossed with Polysparkle Tinsel.  Don't they look like real sparkle brads?

Flourished Blessings with Clear Embossing Technique

Here are two cards that I made using a clear embossing technique over Splendor paper.  First I stamped the leaf image (D1379 Flourished Blessings) onto the patterned paper with Versamark Ink.  Next I applied CTMH Clear Embossing Powder and heat set with our craft heater. After that I used a sponge dauber with either Chocolate stamp pad or Topiary stamp pad to rub ink into the grooves of the stamped image and around the stamped image to provide contrast from the original paper print which shows in the leaf image.  The first card uses Colonial White as the base with Goldrush and Pansy Purple cardstock and Chocolate ink.  The second card uses Colonial White as the base with Garden Green and Autumn Terracotta cardstock and Topiary Ink.  Close To My Heart has such beautiful patterned papers that this technique can be used with--let your imagination run free with this easy yet stunning technique!

Super Simple Birthday Card

Here is a very simple birthday card to make using our fabulous new Magnifique papers. Use a .5" of Pacifica CS and glue it .25" from the left side vertically.  Cut a 3.25" of striped paper and overlap the Pacifica stripe. Cut a .75" strip of patterned paper and glue it horizontally across card front about 1.5" from the top. Stamp "Happy Birthday" from D1187 For Every Occasion stamp set onto Lagoon CS with Pacifica Ink. Use your favorite tool to cut into an oval shape. (I used the Coluzzle cutting system). Sponge the edge with White Daisy ink and glue it onto the card centered over the horizontal stripe. How easy was that?





Halloween Treat with Matchbook Cover

Here is a cute way to use your stamps for Halloween.  Make a matchbook cover and staple your candy bag inside it.  It is really quick and simple to do.  Cut a piece of cardstock [Sunflower is used here] 3" by 9.25.  Score it at .75", 4.75" and 5.25".  Then stamp an image on the front and back and perhaps the top spine and bottom flap.  I used CTMH September Stamp of the Month, "Thriller." I double stamped the skull image slightly off to give it an eerie appearance.  I used Cotton Candy Ink and Gypsy Ink.  When the stamping is done, staple a bag of snack size candy to the inside--I used M & M's here.  As a business promotion, you could even place your business card inside to show your neighbors where they could learn to do this also.