That was easy

Now I have the voice from the easy button going through my head.  But the sketch at Card Positioning Systems was very simple.  So in a quick few minutes, with no stamping and nothing complicated, I made this cute card.  Who says you have to make a complicated card to make a nice card???  Not me.

Papers:  DCWV Holiday Collection The Christmas Stack, CTMH cardstock Topiary and Holiday Red
Ribbon:  Michael's
Brad:  Creative Imaginations
Tools and Techniques:  3-D Mounting Foam

I guess that means one more for Sparkle's Christmas card challenge as well!

Mojo Christmas cards

Woohoo, today is (I think) only the second time I've actually made the Mojo Monday card on Monday.  I might even be one of the first 50 to post my card.  I made two, so that ups my Christmas card total by two.  I really think I will have my Christmas cards done by December 1st (Thank You Sparkle for the Christmas card challenge).  This card follows Mojo Monday sketch 112. 

Paper:  DCWV Holiday Collection The Christmas Stack, CTMH cardstock Topiary and Tulip

Inks:  CTMH Topiary, Versamark

Stamps:  CTMH Just for the Holidays

Ribbon:  Michael's

Tools and Techniques:  Nestabilities Circle and Classic Scalloped Circle Small, CTMH 1/4" long reach punch, heat embossing, 3-D Mounting squares

All Boxed Up Card set

I found a great template for a card box from Lauren Meader at Papertrey Ink. You can purchase the template here. I made a set of assorted cards following the September '09 PageMaps sketches. This is a fun and quick (and useful) gift to make.

Paper: CTMH Emporium, CTMH Cardstock

Inks: CTMH
Stamps: CTMH Thank You, CTMH Many Thanks, CTMH Connections, CTMH Treetops

Ribbon: CTMH Cocoa, Vineyard Berry (from Emporium Creative Basics) and White Daisy Ricrac

Tools and Techniques: Fiskars Threading Water punch, Marvy Uchida circle and scalloped circle punch.

It's a Stampaganza!

Whether you're a long-time fan of stamps or are just venturing into this fun hobby, now is the perfect time to grab some My Acrylix® decorative stamp sets! From November 3–30, 2009, when you purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, and/or E only) at full retail price you will receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value)— a savings of up to $22.95! Choose from any stamp set offered in any 2009 Idea Book or the current Product Review.

Take advantage of this month’s great offer to add to your assortment of these innovative stamps. Don't forget to check out the section for retiring stamps on my website, so you can get your favorite stamp before it retires December 31st!

What are the details you ask??

- This special is available from 9 a.m. MST on November 3rd through November 30th 2009.

- You may choose your FREE set from any current stamp set we sell (excluding E-size, customizable (K), Art & Soul®, Workshops on the Go™ and Stamp of the Month) that is of equal or lesser value than the LOWEST PRICED set that you purchase.

- The full retail value of the FREE stamp set can vary up to $22.95.

- No tax is charged on FREE stamp sets. For Gathering and Individual orders, shipping/handling is always charged based on the full retail value of the item. For EZ Invite and MyCTMH orders, shipping/handling is charged based on the weight of the item.

- You will receive your choice of a free stamp set after every two sets you purchase at full retail price. The free sets will ALWAYS* be the smallest sized sets in your order. For example, if you plan to get four D-sized sets and 2 B-sized sets, the two B-sized sets will be the free sets. (*I'm all about the customer service. Email me to make your order the best it can be for YOU.)

Check out my website to view the catalog. You can place your order online or by email.

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! If you just arrived from Kristie's blog, you are on the right path.


This month there are over 60 Close To My Heart consultants participating. We are featuring the November Stamp of the Month, Around the Block, a set of 26 stamps. Take your time enjoying all of the wonderful artwork for display that has been created using this fun stamp set. I know I can't wait, because someone always makes something totally outside the box, and I always look forward to finding that item.

I made a gift card holder using this set. It is a 3X6 inch card, but instead of opening, the house slides up to reveal the gift card inside.








The card base was made from a 3 X 12 inch piece of cardstock, scored at 6 inches and folded like a top-fold card. The Jingle Creative Basics paper was adhered to the front.




Next, I created the houses by stamping in Versamark on chocolate cardstock and embossing with white embossing powder. I made one complete house, one roof, and one roofless house. The pieces were cut out, leaving tabs at the bottom of the complete house. After cutting out the pieces, I sponged them with Chocolate ink. The roofless house was adhered to the front of the card. I then used the top of the house as a guide to cut through the front of the card (extending a little bit beyond the edge of the house, which is necessary so the house will slide with the gift card attached). Next I adhered a piece of Juniper grosgrain ribbon (from the Jingle Creative Basics) to the back of the complete house, making a loop at the top and wrapping about 1/2 inch of the ribbon onto the front of the house at the bottom. Then the house was slid through the slit in the front of the card. After sliding the house up all the way to determine whether I needed to trim the height of the tabs, I mounted the roof piece to the sliding house using 3-D Mounting Foam. One more function check, and then I sealed the edges of the card shut with adhesive (being careful to keep the adhesive out of the path of travel for the tabs on the sliding house). Pull up the house, and mount the gift card using glue dots. You may want to check how well your house slides with the gift card attached before sealing the card base. If it is too tight. simply extend your slit a little bit more.



Fully extended, without gift card attached.


Remember, Around the Block is only available November 1st-30th. If you would like to find out how to get this stamp set at a discount or maybe even FREE, contact your Close To My Heart consultant, or check out my website.


Now hop on over to Adeline's blog to see her wonderful creation!


If you find any broken links along the way, Jena has the complete list on her blog.

A Season That Sparkles

As I was clicking links on blogs this past weekend, I happened upon Flourishes. They had a post with the cutest card that had a chair that had been fabric-pieced. Very cool. So I kept reading and saw the Season That Sparkles challenge. Woohoo, an excuse to pull out my box-o-bling (yes, I really do have a box-o-bling. It is GOLD! It is a box I saved from my chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies that I brought back from Big Island Candies when I went to Hawaii. One day I will even cut a title for it on my Silhouette. And decorate it with more BLING! Oops, sorry, I went off on a tangent again.) and get SPARKLE-Y!


I decided to go ahead a try out the tri-shutter card I have been seeing so many of lately. Not too difficult, but the tutorial I found had a few of the measurements off. As long as I remember that for the next time, I'm good. The completed card is standard A2 size.






Papers: CTMH cardstock, CTMH Jingle Creative Basics
Inks: CTMH Chocolate, Juniper, Olive, Tulip
Stamp sets: CTMH Heartfelt Christmas, CTMH Card Chatter-Christmas
Tools and Techniques: Nestabilities Classic Oval Large, Martha Stewart Snowflake punches, CTMH Sparkles (there are 24 of those tiny things floating around the Christmas tree), Stampendous! Crystal Snow glitter in White (which was applied by running the snowflakes through my Xyron, then pouring the glitter over the adhesive--it doesn't tend to fall off using this technique)



Card open



Close up of the tree. There are 24 tiny little sparkles on there.



Close up of some of the snowflakes. The glitter doesn't photograph well, but it is definitely there.



View of the open card from above.

Christmas Stickease

Well, so much for homework. I procrastinated just a little bit more to make this card. I followed the Mojo Monday sketch 107 for this Christmas card. I was troubled to find (after planning the card in my head before dragging everything over to the table) that I was out of Ponderosa Pine cardstock. So I improvised by using the back side of the polka-dotted paper from the Holiday Creative Basics pack (which is from before CTMH put patterns on both sides of the Background and Texture [B&T] paper). And I did NO stamping on this card (although I did use my stamp pads for ink distressing). The image on the scalloped circle and the patterned piece across the width of the card are both from the Everlasting My Stickease pack.