A Sneaky Little Preview

I have been struggling to sleep ever since returning from the Close To My Heart Annual Convention in the USA. I was so inspired by my fellow consultants and now have millions & millions of ideas buzzing around in my head! I've also found it difficult to contain my excitement about all the new products being released on the 1st August - and today that excitement has burst it's bubble LOL! - well just enough to give you a "sneak peek" of some of my favourites - old & new combined together.

I'm a huge fan of the Picture My Life Scrapbooking Program a product jam packed with 122 double sided cards in 2 sizes -  3" x 4" and 4" x 6" and while they are a fabulous embellishment for this slip in style of album making, I also LOVE creating cards with them - even altering the size to showcase a particular design element or sentiment...but my biggest "Ah Hah" moment at Convention was when the amazing Extravaganza Teachers suggested altering the My Crush Books and treating the pages as decorative papers....Oh My! a whole new world suddenly appeared. This card uses papers from one of our original Crush Books and one of the new ones, to be released in just 4 short days!! I love how well they co-ordinate together. I'm a "tool collector" and as you can see I used my trusty Corner Rounder and Scallop Border Punch to create this card...and I am thrilled to say "watch this space" as I will have 2 new Border Punches to introduce to you in the coming days....they make very cool borders too!!....and how sweet are the metal flowers I used to embellish this card?? - I can see plenty of these flowers coming my way in future orders!! Stay tuned for further information on these ( and so much more!! ) in the coming days....and remember time has almost run-out to order your favourite products from the Feb - July 2014 Ideas Book, if there is anything you can't live without?? - you are best to visit my Online Shop Today!!
 

July Stamp of the Month

Time is running out to purchase this month's fun, funky and very frivolous Stamp of the Month set called Circus Alphabet...and you can add it to your stamp collection for only $5 with a purchase of $75 or more from my Online Shop. Simply tally up your purchases in the shopping cart and you will be prompted to add it when you check out - how easy is that??

It comes as no secret that I love to colour in... place some water colour pencils, alcohol markers or ink & a paintbrush in my hand and I retreat off into my "happy place". That being said, I knew my crafty friends would predict that I would be stamping and colouring to my heart's content with this stamp set...and they would have been correct. This is such a fun set to add colour and life to, but like all Close To My Heart stamp sets they offer so much more versatility than you initially see...and sometimes keeping things really simple with a little black ink can have just as much impact as a whole palette of colour. I decided to go down this path and create a simple but classy card of love with this month's Stamp of the Month - I still kept a bit of predictability about myself and reached for some lovely tones of pink to piece it all together.

I photographed this card with a flash so that I could highlight the "glossy accents" in the Paper Fundamentals Assortment - love, love, love this paper pack 20 double-sided 12 x 12 sheets - one side has a high gloss resist pattern and the other a great matt finish. You might also notice a fine strip of black glitter paper? this is from the Black & Grey Glitter pack - be sure to check out all Close To My Heart's Speciality Papers there is certainly something there for everyone. Another of my favourite products ( & quite possibly my all time favourite ) is the Micro-Tip Scissors and they came in very handy for cutting the leaf shapes from the Ariana Complements - the leaves added a nice bit of dimension to my card and were the perfect compliment for the flowers. The flowers and heart shapes were all cut from the Cricut Artiste Collection and if you are a fan of our Cricut collections - I will have a nice surprise for you next month...make sure you stay tuned! The faux stitching was created using the Black Marvy Pen and I think it was just the right finishing touch.

A number of the products used to create this card will be retiring over the next couple of weeks. This is the list that will be going, going, gone!! If your favourites are on this list??.... stock-up while you can, with an order at my  Online Shop...remember all orders totalling $75 or more will qualify you to purchase the Circus Alphabet for only $5. If you have questions regarding this list, please email  me ...lotfam@iinet.net.au.... happy to help.

The Artistic Adventure

I have only been here 24 hours and already I am having fun, fun and even more FUN! Before I left I spent a few days making cards for swaps, thank you gifts for my mentors and little Mickey Mouse business card holders to exchange with all my new US and Canadian friends. Here is a little peek at what I made to swap.... 65 different versions of this card using Embossing Folders, Washi Tape, Shimmer Trim, Re-Inkers, Spray Pens and a whole lot More!!

Then some Thank You gift tags for my bags of Aussie goodies - Tim Tams, Caramello Koalas and Furry Friend chocolates...tied on with Bakers Twine.

I also made a few extra Aussie inspired gift tags using the Australian Thanks stamp set and Watercolour Pencils.....I will attach these to the little packs of Tim Tams packed in my suitcase! The Mickey ears & Walt Disney quote is actually sitting in a pocket and tucked into the back is my business card....these were fun to make and I hope the recipients like them.
 

...as my schedule is very busy over the next few days and of course I have Disneyland to explore I may not get to blog again until the end of the week....but stay tuned as I will update you on this Artistic Adventure as soon as I can.

A Sketch With A Kaboom!

Time is fast running out to purchase this month's Stamp of the Month (Kaboom)...and you can add it to your collection for only $5 with a purchase of $75 or more from my Online Shop. Simply tally up your purchases in your shopping cart and you will be prompted to add it when you check out - easy peasy!!

I love using this set to make random stamping backgrounds - it certainly gives flat cardstock so much more depth and texture.

...it is a little difficult to see in this photograph but I added a small Clear Sparkle to the top of the "fire cracker" image to give it a little pizazz!  The card design was taken from one of my own favourite sketch patterns....this sketch never fails me and can take on such a different look depending on what products and theme you choose.

 

 

While time is running out to purchase the June Stamp of the Month there are also a number of other wonderful Close To My Heart products that will be retiring over the next couple of months.... going, going, gone!! You can find the full list of retiring products here ...if your favourites are on this list??.... stock-up while you can... with an order at my Online Shop ( and remember if they tally up to $75 or more you qualify to purchase this Kaboom set of stamps for only $5 )....and stay tuned for all the new and exciting craft goodies to be introduced from the 1st August....and some special fun posts and messages coming to you live over the next few days from the 2014 Close To My Heart Annual Convention......yes!! I am heading to Disneyland for an amazing Artistic Adventure - I will report back soon!!

 

 

 

Sweet and Simple

Some of my favourite card creations are often the most simple in design - limited colour choice, a single stamped image and minimal embellishment - quick, easy and just as sweet! I thought I would share a couple with you that have been a real hit at my card making classes.

Although Juniper Cardstock was my base colour  for this card, I decided to use Twilight Ink to stamp my image, being just a little more intense in tone it helped the sentiment to "pop". Twilight Ink is one of my favourite colours. However, it is currently on the Close To My Heart list of retiring ink colours. If it is one of your favourite colours too?? - you only have a couple of months left to stock up on the Cardstock and Re-inker. You can place an order, any time of day or night at my Online Shop. There are 5 different colours retiring from the Whimsy Colour Palette  - Blush, Buttercup, Twilight, Crème Brulee and Sky....and you may like to consider stocking up on Re-inkers if you have stamp pads in all or any of these colours. If you would like me to forward you a complete list of retiring products simply send me a message and I will pass it on...and come the 1st August Close To My Heart will have an amazing 250 "new" products to introduce to you - I'm very excited by that news!!

This card is also very simple in design but adding a few little feature components such as the Scallop Border, the Triangle Studs and creating striped banners with the Aussie Praises Stamp Set helps to give it that "finishing touch"....and the Clear Sparkles used in the centre of the coloured flower is the "icing on the cake"!

Card making is a whole lot of FUN! If you would like to commence a journey into this form of paper crafting? I am more than happy to provide you with pre-cut card kits (where you can produce cards such as these) or gather a group of friends together and I'll bring a card making class to you....contact me at lotfam@iinet.net.au for more information....I'd love to "show you how"!

Flower Tutorial

I did promise in a previous post that I would share some paper craft tutorials in response to a number of email requests....and here, today is the first of these tutorials. We have been making these floral creations in my card making classes recently and the participants are finding them very addictive and lots of fun. I hope you enjoy making them too!

 

...as you are creating your flower, you will notice changes in the Cardstock - once wet the paper fibres open up and the Cardstock becomes a little "fluffy" and when it dries it becomes very firm and stiff  - it's a bit like magic!

 

Don't be afraid to experiment with different Ink colours and flower shapes. The Close To My Heart Cricut Collections have some wonderful flower shapes to choose from... explore the contents of each cartridge and you will soon find yourself creating your very own garden of floral treasures.You can even make some three dimensional leaves using the same technique - first score some lines into the leaf shape using a Bone Folder then randomly add different shades of green ink with your daubers. These are a few more combinations that may inspire you....remember the more shapes you use, the fuller your flower will be....and the Base & Bling Jewels are the perfect finishing touch for the centre of your flowers.

 

 

 I'd love my monthly card kit ladies to leave a comment below and let me know how you went creating the flower for this month's friendship card.....just click on the comment link under my signature - have a great weekend building your flower gardens!



Celebrating with a "Kaboom"

Today is wet, dark and miserable -  very much what you would expect for the first day of Winter!...however, I am going to celebrate June with a bright, cheery KABOOM! and introduce you to this month's Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart. This stamp set is jammed packed with 16 images that will add a sparkle to any project - exceptional value at only $5 when you place a $75 order with me or in my online shop.

I decided to combine these images with some of my favourite Aussie Themed stamp sets  and create cards for a variety of different celebrations. The images depicting bursts of fireworks are ideal for random stamping techniques and I love creating my own unique paper patterns this way.

I carried the random stamping technique through to the paper pieced balloons too and I like how well it all co-ordinates....and seeing I was on such a roll random stamping my cardstock, I went ahead and used it as a feature for my "job well done" card.

It was so much fun to create this card and combine some modern day slang with some good old fashioned Aussie colloquialism - such high praise for the recipient!! The jagged circle shapes were cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge layered together and added to the card with 3D Foam Tape to add some height & dimension. The sentiment arrangement was trimmed with a scallop edge using the Scallop Border Punch ...which truly is one of my all time favourite tools!

I am starting to get very excited about my trip to the USA this month, where I will be attending the Close To My Heart annual convention. I can't wait to meet all my new found crafting buddies/colleagues and celebrate everything Close To My Heart with them. I will also get to celebrate the 4th July while I am there, so it seemed appropriate to create a card for this special holiday.

I kept to the Red, White and Blue theme and added a little depth and texture to the card using the Dot Embossing Folder on the white cardstock...and as you can see, there is even more random stamping on my little pennant flags. The flags were cut and created using those awesome little micro-tip scissors.

I'd love to show you these cards and some of my other creations using this month's Stamp of the Month - please feel free to contact me and we can organise a stamping "play-date"!

I have had a number of emails requesting tutorials and " the how to" for my paper flower creations and the pocket fold gift card card  - you will be happy to know, I am working of this and hope to have the first of these tutorials posted here within the next week...thank you for your patience :)