Having fun making holiday cards!

Now that we have enjoyed Thanksgiving with family and friends, it's time to prepare for the winter holidays!! We celebrate Christmas at our house and I love to send out handmade holiday greeting cards. Here are a few I have been working on.

CTMH has a great Christmas card kit this year. The Pear and Partridge card making kit contains almost everything you need to make 15 cards (5 each of three designs).  It includes 15 card bases and envelopes, pattered and solid cardstock, a stamp set, ribbon, red glitter gems, and a full-color instructional brochure. Here is one of the cards I completed from the kit.

And here is a photo of the complete kit.

This second card, is one of my own designs. I used the Christmas Love stamp set. I love the wonderful sentiments and the beautiful fonts.

This last card is less traditional. I used tulip pink and juniper green and the super cute reindeer stamp (sorry - it's retired). For a bit of bling, I added the new silver shimmer trim from CTMH and some bitty sparkle gems.  The "Happy Holidays" stamp is also from the Christmas Love stamp set.

I hope you have loads of fun preparing for the holidays. And don't forget you can shop my Close To My Heart web site for great gifts for the paper crafting friends in your life! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

November Special - Capture the Savings!

Now that holiday shopping is in full swing, I wanted to let you know about the November Close To My Heart special "Capture the Savings"! Get a stamp set of your choice 50% off with a qualifying purchase!

I know you love a good deal, especially on quality products like Close To My Heart’s My Acrylix^® stamp sets. If you’ve been keeping your eye on a particular set or two, then now is the perfect time to act! During November, you can get 50% off your favorite stamp set in the Idea Book. Here’s how:

You already know about the Stamp of the Month program, where you can buy an exclusive D-size stamp set for just $5 with your $50 qualifying order. This month, when you qualify for and purchase the November Stamp of the Month set, Capture the Date, you get an additional bonus of 50% off any other stamp set in the Idea Book! This deal excludes those sets sold as part of Workshops on the Go^® kits or our Cricut^® collections, but that still leaves you over one hundred options to choose from!

When you see how versatile and exciting the November Stamp of the Month set is, you will see how this offer rewards you for getting something you already know you want! So head over to my web site to read more about this deal and start shopping.

Elegant anniversary cards

I needed to mail out three anniversary cards last month, so I used the left over supplies from my last scrapbooking project to create these lovely cards. This first card is a nice combination of large and small patterned papers. The stickers layer nicely and the bling adds a touch of elegance.

Supplies used:

Bliss Paper Packet

Colonial White, Chocolate & Grey Flannel card stock

Chocolate ink

Bliss Stickease

Bitty Sparkles

Sparkles - Black & Grey assortment

I reversed the patterned paper layers on this one and added some organza ribbon as a nice finishing touch.

Supplies used:
Bliss Paper Packet
Grey Flannel card stock
Chocolate ink
Bliss Stickease
Bitty Sparkles
Colonial White organza ribbon

On this last card, I used a border punch to add some texture to the card. The center of the flower is topped off with a grey sparkle for a bit of shine.

Supplies used:

Bliss Paper Packet

Colonial White, Chocolate & Grey Flannel card stock

Chocolate ink

Bliss Stickease

Sparkles - Black & Grey assortment

"Sweet Moments" stamp C1435 

To see the latest Close To My Heart papers, stamps, inks, and embellishments, please visit my web site. Enjoy!

One more wedding layout!!

Okay, one last wedding layout. I promise I will move on to scrapbooking vacation photos or something else after this!! My beautiful niece, Allison, was married in December 2009 so it is about time I scrapped the photos! I knew the CTMH Bliss paper packet would be perfect for these layouts. The brown, gray, and soft cream colors are an elegant complement to the lovely wedding photos.

Click to enlarge photo
Supplies used:
Bliss Paper Packet and Stickease
Chocolate, Grey Flannel, & Colonial White card stock 
Chocolate ink
Foundry Flourishes metal accents - photo corners & flowers
Paper flowers
Shimmer & Antiques Copper brads
Journaling card (Making Memories)
Top Coats Framed In - photo overlay

For these less formal photos, I added Twilight card stock to this layout. I love the pop of color.

Click to enlarge photo
Supplies used:

Bliss Paper Packet

Chocolate, Twilight, Grey Flannel card stock

Chocolate & Twilight ink

Foundry Flourishes metal accents - flowers, mini frame
Glitter and Antiqued Copper embossed brads

Paper  and suede  (Maya Road) flowers

Journaling cards (Making Memories)

"Mr & Mrs" stamp from the Love Always set D1337

Fall color cards!

In a previous post, I highlighted how CTMH paper packets can be extremely versatile. These cards show how you can use one set of papers and change the look and feel just by switching to a different focal color.

I used the traditional fall color palette in this first card. The red, orange and yellow colors all evoke the feeling of fall.

Supplied used:
Olivia Paper Packet X7128B
Bard Red, Sunset, Desert Sand, Colonial White cards stock
Barn Red, Sunset, Chocolate Ink Stamp Pads
"the colors of autumn" stamp from the Grateful Hearts stamp set C1372
Tree stamp from the Four Seasons stamp set B1319
Border stamp from the Harvest Happiness Seasons & Nature stamp set C1463
Autumn Flower Soft
Liquid Glass Z679
Orange brads from Sunset Mini Medley Z1338

By adding green to this card, it brightens up the colors, but still works for fall.

Supplied used:

Olivia Paper Packet X7128B

Bard Red and Desert Sand cards stock

Barn Red, Desert Sand, Pear Ink Stamp Pads

Sentiment, corner border, and stem stamps from The Present stamp set D1436

Just Blooms Paradise Paper Flowers Z1710

Shimmer Designer Brads Z1349

Pink is the wild card fall color!! Combined with the dark red and tan, this card shows you can use non-traditional colors any time of year!

Supplies used:

Olivia Paper Packet Z7128B

Bard Red, Desert Sand, Smoothie, Colonial White card stock

Bard Red and Desert Sand Ink Stamp Pads

Leaf and sentiments from the Timeless stamp set B1355

Burlap ribbon Z1760

Mocha Opaques Adhesive Gems Z1333