Card Cafe: Swing Cards

Card Cafe, Thursday November 15th 7:00 p.m.

Swing cards!  All in one key, that is the "S" key on the Artiste Cricut collection! 

This set of 9 cards has nine different "cutouts" that "swing" when the card is opened.  And, the Art Philosophy cartridge has matching shapes to add to the card for easy card making.  And, then just to send you a bit over the top, the "Perfect Fit Frames" stamp set of 4, D1527, also coordinates with the swing cards when they are cut at 5 1/2 inches.  So easy and so much variety!  I love how CTMH does that for me!

Here are a couple of cards, cut on the Cricut and then assembled with accent papers and stamps. So much fun to create. Join me to make a variety of styles, 5 for $15. RSVP by Tuesday November 13th. Located at the Rowley residence.

Alcohol Marker Madness

Close to my Heart introduced its new line of alcohol markers this past summer and although I have been a bit slow to try them, I can say, I love them.  Coloring can be very therapeutic and child-like but with regular markers I felt like I couldn’t get that even color that the “artist” in me wanted.  Well, now I have a solution.  Take a look at some of the artwork I have done in my playtime and then the video that shows more details how to use the markers. 

Swing card with “Pun Fun” Cupcake colored with Honey and Cotton Candy markers. 

You can see the highlighted “sprinkles” on the cupcake, done with the alcohol blending pen.  This is different from our regular blending pen used with dye based inks.

This “experiment” was inspired by the talented Lisa Stenz.  I heat embossed the flowers on Cotton Candy paper and then colored with Cotton Candy markers.  You can see that the lower left is colored and the other two are not.  The card below shows them all colored. 


Here’s the markers, Cotton Candy, Cotton Candy light, and blending pen. 

How did they do that?

Add texture, distressing, movement, and motion to your projects by stamp swiping—a technique that will change the way you stamp.  The key is to use a solid stamp and a bit of swiping!  Watch this video for details. 

How did they do that?

Have you ever looked at a stamped item and wondered how they got the stamped image over the bump or around the corner?  CTMH shows you how on this video. 

New Colors for Close to My Heart

CTMH introduced a new line of 40 colors, 10 in each color palette, as well as Seasonal Shades.  Find out all about how these colors freshen your artwork and creativity in the video below. 

Seeing Stars!

I have one of these stars and I am very excited to decorate it!  I think I am going to need to get more cause I have so many different ideas! 
Take a look at the ideas from Close to My Heart!  Which one will you create?



And don’t forget to visit Jeanette’s blog and you could win a star for yourself!

LOVE banner

One of my favorite things to make right now are banners.  I love the look of them hanging in different places, expressing different sentiments, and just changing the feeling of the room where they are displayed. 

Well, I made one for my niece and I LOVE how it turned out too!

I used the My Creations Banner as the background and adhered burlap to each piece.  Then I cut the letters the size I wanted on the Cricut and used the “negative” as a stencil.  I then used our Create a Shade pearl paint to stencil in the letters.  This took a couple of coats to get it to look as solid as I wanted.  After they dried, I added our Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon that I had pleated to the top edge.  Finally, I tied it all together with Natural Hemp. 

Did you know that you can add reinker to the Create a Shade pearl paint to make it any color you want?  You can also use the reinker to dye the Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon.  The color coordination possibilities are endless.

The banner looked great hanging over the drink table at the shower. (But I forgot to take a photo of it!)

Beware: October Card Cafe

Card Cafe Thursday, October 18 7:00 p.m.

BEWARE! We will be using the Moonlight paper packet with the Workshop on the Go Stamp sets to make some delightfully frightening cards. Five cards for $15. 7:00 p.m. at the Rowley Residence. Bring a friend and you both create for half price! RSVP by October 11th

More party decorations

If you have been following along the past couple of posts, I have been sharing party/shower planning ideas that I used recently for a bridal shower. 
Here are some additional decorations I created with the Artiste Cricut Cartridge. 

I took a string of white lights and decorated them in the theme colors.  I tied dark purple tulle in between the lights and then “covered” the lights with a small doily shape cut using the Artiste Cricut cartridge.  I used a craft knife to cut an “X” in the middle of each doily and then pushed the light through.  I also used the Glitz Glitter Gel to add a little sparkle. 

This shows the detail of the individual light and cut. 

Again, I used the Artiste Cartridge and made small boxes, and then cut a different doily shape and layered the colors with the monogram stamp.  Did you know these monogram stamps are only $2.95 and they can be used in so many different ways.  I am looking forward to creating some personalized stationery with them soon. 
I have one more post to show from my shower decorations.  I would love to hear about how you use the Cricut to decorate for an event!

The Bridal Shower

My niece got married last week and the week before I was honored to host a bridal shower for her.  It was so much fun to make my Pinterest ideas come alive with Close to My Heart products.
Her colors were a dark purple, light purple and yellow…or in CTMH lingo, pansy purple, amethyst and buttercup! 
I made this monogram using the paper flowers cut at 2 and 3 inches on the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  I then inked the edges, rolled them and secured them to the base with liquid glass and filled the center with with the glitz glitter gel.  I got the frame and the thrift store and it was already nicely “antiqued”.  I glued burlap to chip board and a large “E” template to the burlap, cut in the same color.  I then used hot glue to attach the individual roses. I loved how it turned out and so did she! 


More party, or in this case, shower decorations to follow.