Inspired by Cupcake Inspirations Photo

I'm entering this card into 3 challenges this week:  Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 181,  Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps--1,2,3 Recipe (1 ribbon, 2 dry embossed elements and 3 diecuts; Crafty Friends Challenge #8--Dry Embossing.  Other than the 2 Cuttlebug embossing folders all ingredients used are by Close To My Heart and can be ordered through my website here.

 

It was inspired by this photo from Cupcake Inspirations:

 

 

 

CTMH Supplies used:

     Sky CS

     Pacifica CS

     Lagoon CS

     Casual Expressions Occasions Stamp Set

     Artiste cricut cartridge--feather--page 78 at 3.75"; ovals from pg.36 at 1.25" and 1.5"

     Lagoon Ink

     Versamark Ink

     Clear Embossing Powder

     Silver Metallic Pen

     Silver Shimmer Trim

 

Thanks for stopping by!   I invite you to check out this blog post for information about a giveaway I'm offering in celebration of my 100th blog post.



Pear and Partridge for Freshly Made Sketch #55

This holiday card was made with the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge, papers and glitter gels. I cut 4 trees from page 52 at 1.75",  folded 3 of them in half and glued them together on the 4th tree as a base. This was mounted over a 2" Bamboo CS circle. The vertical stripe is Cranberry CS and the green horizontal stripe is the reverse side of the Pear and Partridge paper. The red ornaments on the tree were made with Red Glitter Gel and the base paper was dotted with Stardust Glitter Gel. All of these supplies can be obtained through my website.

 

 

Here is the sketch:

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I invite you to check out this blog post for information about a giveaway I'm offering in celebration of my 100th blog post.

 

 

100th Blog Post Giveaway!

This is my 100^th blog post and I’m celebrating by offering FREE Close To My Heart supplies!  Thank you to all my readers, followers and commenters.  Here is what one lucky winner will receive:

You and Me stamp set (special promotion no longer available—NEW—never used)

Mocha Opaques Adhesive Gems

1 yd. Dark Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon

Some  paper surprises  too!

 

Here are a couple of cards I created with this very versatile set:

 

 

 

How to Enter:

1.     Become a Follower of my blog AND leave me a comment telling me you are participating in this giveaway. (You could also tell me that you like my artwork, what your favorite post is etc....)

2.     Grab the code for my button and install it on your sidebar (In blogger, copy the code, go to layout, “Add a Gadget”, go to HTML/Java Script, paste the code and it will be installed on your sidebar. If you're on Wordpress, copy and paste it into a Text widget.) OR copy the direct  link to this post in one of your posts letting others  know about my giveaway. Link is:  http://njstampingqueen.blogspot.com/2012/10/100th-blog-post-giveaway.html

3.       The deadline for entering is Sunday, Oct. 21 at 11PM ET.

4.     Keep reading my blog for the winner announcement on Oct. 22, 2012.

Good luck everyone and thanks for reading my blog!

Mojo Monday 261 with Clementine and Friday Favorite Things Linky Party

I made these cards for Mojo Monday 261 and am entering it in Wendy Coffman's Friday Favorite Things Linky Party .  Other than the ribbons above the scalloped circles all supplies are from Close To My Heart.  Card #1 uses Clementine patterned paper, Desert Sand CS, Creme Brulee CS, Twilight CS banner, Sorbet CS for vertical stripe and Silver Shimmer Trim which was colored with a Honey marker (How fun is that to be able to color this ribbon with CTMH alcohol markers?!!!).  The scalloped circles were cut using the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge and the birthday greeting is from Salutation Seals and was stamped in Twilight Ink on Colonial White CS.

 

Here is the sketch from Mojo Monday 261:

 

 

Here is card #2 which uses Chocolate CS and Creme Brulee CS and the zip strip from the Clementine paper over Creme Brulee CS for the vertical stripe.

 

 





 

Which of these two cards do you like better?  Does one look more masculine or feminine than the other?

 

Keep reading my blog--a Giveaway of some sort--details with my next post!

I will be celebrating my 100th post as a blogger with my next post! I am planning some type of giveaway but am open to hearing your suggestions too. What kind of requirements should I have to be eligible to win? Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions for me. (this is post #99 already!)

 

Here is the link for that 100th blog post!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful week filled with creativity and fun!

:) Marie



Leaf Themed Card for Numerous Challenges

I spent a lot of time deciding on how many stamp challenges I could fit this card into as is the challenge at pile it on #40.  This is a new challenge for me along with some of the others ones I've chosen to enter this week.

Challenges:
pile it on #40--card made for a child (I think the smiley face on the maple leaf qualifies for this)
My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #70  Falling Leaf
Friday Mashup! -- Fall leaves with Twine
Frosted Design Fabulous Friday -- Something Embossed
Dynamic Duos -- Cherry Cobler and choice of other color
Cupcake Inspirations --photo of leaf topped cupcakes as inspiration

Here is my card:

 

 

 

The leaves were cut with the Close To My Heart Artiste Cricut cartridge (pg.78 at 2" and 1.75") and the acorn and oval were cut using the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge (acorn pg.36 at 1.25" and oval2 from page 32 at 1.25".)  Papers are CTMH Colonial White background, Cranberry (Cherry Cobbler substitute for Dynamic Duos), Honey and Kraft.  I used the Swiss Dots cuttlebug embossing folder to texturize the oak leaves and acorn and the Spots and Dots folder to dry emboss the kraft stripe.  A deckle edge scissor was used to trim the cranberry stripe.  The greeting stamped in Cranberry ink is from Hooray Bouquet and the smile face stamp is from a very old wood CTMH set called Scrapbook Kids.

Keep reading my blog--a Giveaway of some sort--details to come soon!

I will be celebrating my 100th post as a blogger soon. I am planning some type of giveaway but am open to hearing your suggestions too. What kind of requirements should I have to be eligible to win? Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions for me. (this is post #98 already!)

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful week filled with creativity and fun!

:) Marie

Personalized Birthday Card for Freshly Made Sketches #54

My good friend Linda is celebrating a big birthday today!  I used the Freshly Made Sketch #54 to create this one of a kind card.  It features Pemberly patterned paper, Bohemian alphabet, Indian Corn Blue Ink, Artiste cricut cartridge, Sky CS, Silver Shimmer Trim, 3D Foam Dots and Outdoor Denim Light Marker--all available through Close To My Heart and my website.   I used the marker to outline the shape to provide more contrast and make it pop up from the card. The "TH" is from a retired stamp set called Friendship Alphabet. The Artiste cut shape was found on page 33--Accent 2 cut at 3". The card measures 5" x 6.5".

 

 

The Freshly Made Sketch #54 that inspired me:

 

 

 

 

Keep reading my blog--a Giveaway of some sort--details to come soon! 

I will be celebrating my 100th post as a blogger soon. I am planning some type of giveaway but am open to hearing your suggestions too. What kind of requirements should I have to be eligible to win? Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions for me.  (this is post #97 already!)

 

Thanks for stopping by today and a very happy birthday to Linda!

Transportation Theme at Exploring Cricut and My Time to Craft

Here is my entry for this week's Exploring Cricut challenge called Planes, Trains and Automobiles and for My Time to Craft #190.  My favorite cartridge is Close To My Heart Artiste which doesn't have those vehicles so I chose a hot air balloon which it does have. The "Oh Happy Day" banner is also one of the coordinating stamps that come with the Artiste Cricut Collection and the "Birthday Greetings" stamp is from Just a Number which has a wonderful assortment of sayings that can be used inside a card also. The greeting was first stamped in Versamark and then stamped in Ruby ink and then Clear Embossing Powder was applied with a heat tool.  The sky paper is very old computer paper which I thought would fit as an appropriate backdrop for the hot air balloon.  The base of the card is Desert Sand CS and the balloon was made with Ruby CS and Elemental paper pack.  I used Silver Shimmer Trim (which is also adhesive) between the sky and base of the card.  A couple of small strands of black baker's twine attach the balloon to the basket.

 

 

Thanks for taking a look at my card! 

 

I will be celebrating my 100th post as a blogger soon.  I am planning some type of giveaway but am open to hearing your suggestions too. What kind of requirements should I have to be eligible to win?  Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions for me.  (I think this is post #97 already!)

Freshly Made Sketch #53 Entry #2

If you haven't seen my previous post this week's Freshly Made Sketch #53 is here:

 

 

Card #2 is 6" square. The alternating stripes are from the Zip Strip of the Clementine pack and strips from the Florentine paper pack. The stripes were placed on a Creme Brulee background over black CS. The bottom layer is Clementine paper. Black Baker's Twine was placed under the black 3" circle. the greeting is Happy Birthday from 4 My Friend.



The circles were cut from CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge and the greeting was embossed with Black embossing powder.

I can't decide which one I like better. Which one do you like better? Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog post!
Happy Creating!
:) Marie

Freshly Made Sketch #53 Entry #1

When I first saw this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches I didn't really like it, but I have to admit that it has really grown on me--so much so that I decided to try 2 different cards with it.  All materials are Close To My Heart except the cuttlebug embossing folder "Divine Swirls" in card #1.

Here is the sketch:

 

 

 

Card #1 is 5.5" square.  It uses 1/2" strips of CTMH rainbow colors: Cranberry, Sunset, Honey, Topiary, Pacifica, Gypsy and Pansy Purple cardstocks over a White Daisy base which was embossed with the above mentioned cuttlebug folder.  To pop it up a bit it was placed on black cardstock.  The Thanks greeting was embossed with with black embossing powder.  Since the swirls around the word Thanks look almost circular I did not place it on a circle as in the sketch.

 

 

 

 

Starburst Card for Friday Mashup

Two posts in one day!  How did that happen?  I wanted to try this Starburst Technique to enter the Friday Mashup Challenge and the deadline was 2 hours away so I had to do it today.  I used Miracle papers (retired CTMH), Silver Embossing Powder, Versamark Ink, Silver Shimmer Trim, Twilight CS and A1125 Thanks--all from Close To My Heart.  I found the directions to make this card here.

 

Please excuse the flash photography--it was dark outside when I got the inspiration to make this card and I wanted to post it right away.  I will be approaching my 100th post in a few weeks and would welcome suggestions on how to commemorate it on my blog.  I would love to read your comments.....

 

Happy creating!

:) Marie

All White Except a Stamped Image!

My Time to Craft's challenge this week is to make an all white card except for the image.  This idea really appealed to me so I cut many layers with my CTMH Artiste cricut cartridge. I used the Card function from page 63 to cut the flourished square at 2", 2.5", 3.0" and the negative piece that was cut at 3.5".  The featured stamp is from the new Casual Expressions Occasions set--a very versatile set!  (Most of the stamps in this set have a corresponding cricut Artiste cut.)  I first put my stamp in Versamark ink and then into Crystal Blue ink and then sprinkled clear embossing powder and heat set to give it a shiny appearance.  I also used a stylus to score the paper at 1/2" and 5/8" from each edge.  The top two layers are popped up with 3D mounting tape.  This is my first time entering this challenge and using the new Artiste cartridge made it so easy and fun to do! 

 

 

Thanks for visiting my blog today--what do you think of my new self made blog button (top right side)? Feel free to copy the code and put it on your blog to easily find me again.
Happy Creating!
:) Marie

Freshly Made Sketches 1st Anniversary Choice and Heart2Heart Challenge Go Big!

Congratulations to Freshly Made Sketches for providing inspiration for us for a full year!  I only recently started playing along and I really enjoy their clean sketches.  I'm also entering this card into the Heart2Heart challenge to make a card bigger than A2 size. My card is 5 x 6.5 which made it easier to showcase Close To My Heart's new Rosette Ribbon.  The papers are from CTMH--Lucy patterned paper and Grey Wool CS (both recently retired).  The greeting is from a very versatile new stamp set called Casual Expressions.  Although it may be difficult to see in this picture the greeting I chose says "You're Appreciated". I used Cotton Candy and Topiary markers to color in the accents on either side of the greeting.

Here is the card:

Here is the Freshly Made Sketch #18:

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my artwork.  Feel free to leave a comment--they always make me smile!

Freshly Made Sketch #51 Numbered Birthday Card

I am really enjoying Freshly Made Sketches designs because  I like the clean lines and simplicity of them.  When I need to make a special card (like the one below) they are easy to follow.  Kudos to their designers!  This card uses all Close To My Heart products: Pemberly paper, Sunset CS, Honey and White Daisy.  Since we are allowed to use any shape for the focal element I wanted to embellish it by using a fancy cricut cut from the new CTMH Artiste collection.  This is a 5" by 6.5" card. The medallion was found on page 42 of the Artiste handbook--letter W accent 4 cut at 3.25".  The Sunset base is 3.5".  The numbers and Honey circle were cut at 1.75".  I applied Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel. and Durable Studs as the final accents.  This card came together very quickly and I love how it turned out! 

My card:

The sketch:

Color Dare #14-- Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue and Crystal Blue

The challenge at Color My Heart Color Dare this week is to make a card (or other paper project) using the Close To My Heart colors of  Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue and Crystal Blue.  I have to say that I struggled with this one for a while.  I like how the first 2 colors look together but I was have trouble  adding Crystal Blue to them comfortably until I remembered the striped pattern from the Miracle papers.  The greeting is from "A Little Thanks".  Here is what I came up with:

 

The bow was cut from the new CTMH Artiste cartridge--page 55 Accent #3 cut at 1".  I'm glad that I finally got to try this little cute paper bow which was so easy to cut and assemble.  Thanks for stopping by!  I wonder what wonderful colors Sarah will have for us to play with next week?!  Please consider playing along in this color challenge.

Clean and Simple Stamping FTL205 with Baroque Borders

When I saw this sketch I knew that I wanted to use one of the corner stamps from Close To My Heart's August Stamp of the Month called Baroque Borders.  I used Twilight as the base, Outdoor Denim as the middle layer and Sweet Leaf as the top layer.  The corner stamp was stamped with Twilight ink and the greeting was stamped in Outdoor Denim.  I really like how these colors work together.  The greeting is from D1476 Card Chatter--Sympathy which is a very versatile set of 15 greetings.

My card:

 

The sketch:

 

I'm still seeking 2 more players to receive a free handmade gift by me.  Check out the details here. Thanks for stopping by!