March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop- Happy Place

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop for March 2014- Happy Place

If you have come here from Haley's Blog, you're on the right path. 

How FUN is this stamp set???  It's all about HOME, FAMILY and LOVE for me :)  

Today I wanted to do something a little bit different.  I know you'll see tons of adorable art using the little dolls in this stamp set.  I decided to focus on HOME.  My home is truly my happy place :)

Here is a canvas of my home :)

I used a 9x12 canvas that I found at a local craft store.

I got started by cutting out the house image on Art Philosophy, using the layers in black and colonial white. I cut it at "fit to page" or 7 3/4".   I cut and embossed barn red cardstock to look like brick.  I used the Stripe Embossing Folder, and ran it through both directions to give it a checkered & weathered look.  I added some Black Shimmer Trim to the roof line as well as next to the windows to look like shutters.  

I cut the tree from Artbooking, in layers of Kraft paper and Green Glitter Paper.  

Finally, I cut some clouds in sizes varying from 1" to 2 1/2" from Artiste.  I laid them on the canvas, then sponged around them using Sky Pigment Ink.  I stamped "Home is our happy place" using Barn Red Pigment ink, and "What I love most about my home..." in barn red ink.  I finished it off by sponging a fence in Cocoa Pigment Ink on the sides of the house.  

This is now proudly displayed in my living room :)



The next amazing CTMH Consultant on our hop list is Krista. Take a look at what she's created for us this month!

  

When you place an order of $50 or more during the month of March you’ll receive the Stamp of the Month set for only $5

Artbooking Made Easy- Top Secret

I cannot say enough about ARTBOOKING!  This cartridge is A-MAY-ZING!  

The shapes on the top-secret--themed mini album keys are perfect for scrapbooking your big ideas and big adventures!

Check out this incredible layout that CTMH Corp created:

 

 

How about this super fun mini album:

Take a look at the Artbooking Made Easy video- learn how YOU can create your own!

Do YOU have CTMH's Artbooking yet???  

You can pick it up HERE!

Family Bracket Frame

Every year, my hubs' baseball team has a HUGE fundraiser dinner!  This year, I decided to create a bracket frame to donate to the silent auction.  

I used For Always paper to cover the frame.  Then I cut out several rolled flowers from Ruby cardstock from Art Philosophy.  I cut "Together"  and "family" from Artbooking.  I added Black Flourish Sparkles to the frame as well.  The hanger is from our retired Black Tulle. 

Detail:  I added Silver Glitter Glitz to the flower edges, and in the center of some of the flowers.  I also added some bling in the center of other flowers. 
I cut "family" 6 times, adhering them all together to make a thicker title. 
You can see some of the black flourish sparkles here as well. 

Any guesses how much it sold for????? 

Challenges entered:
H2H Flourish

H2H is going Shabby Chic

It's Shabby Chic week over at H2H challenges!  

When this challenge was first proposed, I was stumped by the theme.  However, I have seen some amazing artwork with the new Ariana paper pack, and after a while it started to scream shabby chic to me. 

So I created a layout based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.  I used the floral paper from Ariana, along with Ariana Coral, Crystal Blue and Ariana Grey cardstocks, as well as Pink Glitter Paper. 

I cut a large doily shape using Artbooking in Crystal blue, then trimmed the outer layer to put towards the top of the layout, while the inner layer went on the right side.  With the grey cardstock, I ran it through my Cuttlebug using our new Damask Embossing Folder, then lightly sanded it allowing some of the white core to show through.  I cut Easter using Artbooking as well in the Pink Glitter Paper.  I lightly distressed the edges of the papers with scissors, and added some Colonial White Rosette Ribbon (retired) and Pink Glitter Gems to finish it off. 

Some detail:

Be sure to play along at H2H challenges this week!  I'd love to see your shabby chic work!

A Year of Artbooking- Layout Kits

How would you like to create a fabulous album, full of beautifully created layouts from the CTMH Artbooking collection???  

I am excited to present you with A Year of Artbooking!!!

Every other month, in 2014, I will have TWO layout kits available to purchase.  These layouts have all been created using Artbooking, some will be original creations, some inspired by CTMH's Artbooking is Easy series, and some created by CTMH. 

At the end of 2014, you will have an album full of Artbooking Layouts!  As a bonus.... anyone who purchases ALL of the kits in 2014, will get an album of their choice at 1/2 price at the end of the year :) 

Are you ready for A Year of Artbooking #1?????

Cover Page (Capture the details)

Layout #1 (Together)

I have 4 kits in stock, please allow up to 2 weeks for layouts to ship to you (after those first 4, of course)

Choose one:

Layouts - NO stamping $20.00 USD    Layouts- WITH stamping $24.00 USD

If you have any questions, please email me at roxybonds at gmail.com

Tips & Tricks for EMBOSSING

Are you LOVING our new Embossing folders???  

 

 

 

Take a look at this awesome video by Jill with CTMH for some tips and tricks to using the embossing folders:

Don't forget to pick up your Embossing folders this month:

 

*Buy 2 Cardstock packs- single color or color combo packs- get A  F R E E  EMBOSSING FOLDER!

*See cardstock here:http://roxybonds.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=22

*5 new embossing folder designs—dot, chevron, quatrefoil, damask, or stripe.
*Every 2 packs of cardstock you purchase qualify you for an additional embossing folder.

*ORDER NOW- these are WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!

About the Embossing Folders:
7" × 5" clear plastic, patterned embossing folder for use with an embossing machine. Pattern is repeatable for larger papers.

Can I just purchase an embossing folder???  OF COURSE YOU CAN!

Why is this a special with the cardstock??  Well, we think our cardstock is fabulous!  It is white-core, which is PERFECT for embossing.  When embossed, you can sand it, bringing out the white in a pattern.  Our cardstock is the perfect match to embossing folders!


Dots:

Chevron:

 

Quartrefoil:

Damask:



Stripe:

What does the fox say? Valentine

I'm telling you, each time I see one of the fox stamps from February's Stamp of the Month:  Wild About Love, I start singing that silly song!!!

Well this past weekend, I had 11 cute kiddos singing it with me!!!! 

My Kids Kraft Klass created this card:

And the inside:

Supplies:
Sparkle & Shine Papers (Retired)
Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment
Red Shimmer Trim
Black Ink
Wild About Love

Hearts, Hearts, Hearts

This week over at Heart2Heart, it's all about HEARTS!!!!

Since it's Valentine's week, I'm going to show you a couple of cute projects I created for my latest Kids Kraft Klass!  This one had 11 (ELEVEN) kids at it, ages 4-11.  What a BLAST it was!  

First, I had the kids create this HEART wreath!  I used a tutorial from THIS blog, and it was really easy for the kids to make.  The hardest part was stapling all the hearts together (meaning, hard for some to actually push the stapler all the way down!)  

I used a variety of papers to create this wreath, including Laughing Lola, Lollydoodle, Sarita, Timberline (these 4 are current), Dream Pop, For Always, Footloose, Lucy,  & Chantilly (all retired). 

Though the tutorial says to use glue dots.... 11 kids x 9 hearts = way too many glue dots!  So we stapled the papers to make the heart shape & stapled them together.  

 

Stop by tomorrow to see what else we created!

Be sure to hop on over to Heart2Heart to see what all the other DT came up with for HEART week! 

Also linking to:
The Pink Elephant- Valentine's Day Theme
Tip Junkie- Handmade projects

Embossing Folders are HERE!

Close To My Heart's Embossing Folders are HERE!  AND there's a spectacular deal on them for the month of February!

FEBRUARY SPECIAL:

Embossing is Boss!

Offer valid February 1–28, 2014.

 

*Buy 2 Cardstock packs- single color or color combo packs- get A  F R E E  EMBOSSING FOLDER!

*See cardstock here:http://roxybonds.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=22

*5 new embossing folder designs—dot, chevron, quatrefoil, damask, or stripe.
*Every 2 packs of cardstock you purchase qualify you for an additional embossing folder.

*ORDER NOW- these are WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!

About the Embossing Folders:
7" × 5" clear plastic, patterned embossing folder for use with an embossing machine. Pattern is repeatable for larger papers.

Can I just purchase an embossing folder???  OF COURSE YOU CAN!

Why is this a special with the cardstock??  Well, we think our cardstock is fabulous!  It is white-core, which is PERFECT for embossing.  When embossed, you can sand it, bringing out the white in a pattern.  Our cardstock is the perfect match to embossing folders!


Dots:

Chevron:

 

Quartrefoil:

Damask:



Stripe: