This week's Heart2Heart Challenge

This week's challenge is a color one. Use Autumn Terracotta, Bamboo and Juniper in your project. That was a little bit harder for me. I tend to take the "safe" route when it comes to colors and I usually go to the same ones over and over. This is great, gets me out of my rut. In this standard sized card, I used two stamp sets: D1191 Friendship Blessings and D1306 Treasure Life. I used Autumn Terracota and Juniper Ink and Juniper Card Stock. I had some retired Bamboo Brads I used in the middle of the flowers. The leaves are cut with the Art Philosophy Cartridge. It's different, but it's growning on me. Go on over to Heart2Heart
to see more projects using this color combination.

November Special starts NOW!

Get this fantastic stamp set for just $5 when you purchase $25 worth of stamps. This offer starts now and goes till the end of November. Notice the images can be used with the Art Philosophy cartridge also. Contact me now so schedule a gathering or to place an order.

Just in time for holiday pages and cards. You don't have to wait for November!

Inspiration

I get my inspiration for cards from a lot of places. The Close To My Heart Consultants that have blogs out there and share their artwork on our Bulletin Board are fantastic artists. Magazines and even cards that people send me can inspire. CTMH sells books with wonderful card patterns to get you going. And there are so many challenges on the internet, I can't keep up with all of them. Over at Heart2Heart, Mary has challenged us to use a halloween or autumn theme. The inspiration for this card came from an old magazine that I found in my closet. You never know what you might find.

I used fall colors : Autumn Terracotta, Sunflower, Goldrush, Chocolate and Desert Sand. There is a Filigree Charm in the center of the flower and the sentiment is from D1283 Say it in Style. The petals and leaves are cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge and the Cricut.

Something for My Ghoul Fiends

I made this 5x7 card last night using the September Stamp of the Month. I haven't made a 5x7 for a long time, but it's fun to do. It works so well with bigger images. And this witch from that set is to die for. She is intricate and quite sophisticated. I don't know what that has to do with 5x7, I'm just sayin'. I used the card pattern from Wishes called Bullseye found on page 33. It's a very simple card, really: Mischief Paper Pack, Colonial White and Sunset Cardstock, Black and Honey Ink and Black Brads. I hope to make more.

Have you been following Jeanette Lynton's blog this month? She is doing a "Shape a Day" and featuring the Cricut and Art Philosophy. Here is an example of today's post. Isn't that cute? Go check out her blog www.jeanettelynton.com for all of the shapes she has posted so far. So many ideas and possiblities.

Again with the Blue?

Ok, this will be the last one for a while. Wonderland Paper Pack, Grey Flannel, White Daisy and Crystal Blue cardstock and a button from the Bling Assortment make this card. I used Chocolate and Crystal Blue ink and a retired stampset for the saying. The Cricut and Art Philosophy cartridge created the snowflake. The design is Gallery from Wishes, page 119. Thanks for looking.

I've Got the Blues

I can't get enought of the new Wonderland Paper Pack. Here are a couple of cards using that pack with Crystal Blue, Heavenly Blue, Chocolate and Grey Flannel cardstock. The card base is White Daisy as well as the piece I stamped the images on. I used the "joy" from Christmas Love D1492 and the ornament and words from the Holiday Cheer stamp set, B1381. I ran the Crystal Blue cardstock through my Cuttlebug. Silver Brads and a Sparkle finish the cards. The design came from Wishes, Collage, page 97.

The Other Two

Here are the other two cards from the card workshop I held Sunday. These were made using the Wonderland Paper Pack.

Colors used are Crystal Blue, Heavenly Blue, White Daisy and Grey Flannel. I ran the Grey Flannel through the Cuttlebug first. I used the Stamp of the Month, Holiday Magic for the stocking and a Pop Dot underneath. I used Chocolate and Crystal Blue ink. There are Mocha Opaques on the Heavenly Blue cardstock. The design is from the Wishes Card Confidence Program. It's called Sentiment Secured, page 78.

This card is from Wishes also. On the Edge, page 53. The paper is from Wonderland, the snowman is from All Decked Out D1308 and Happy Holidays is Say it in Style D1283. Colors used are Grey Flannel, White Daisy and Crystal Blue. Inks are Black, Twilight and Grey Wool. There is a Bling Button and a piece of White Daisy Waxy Flax.

Christmas Card Workshop

Here are three of the five cards we made today at my 20 card workshop. The ladies each made 4 cards of the five designs. I hope they enjoyed themselves!

The design for this card is straight out of the Fall/Winter Catalog. The stamp sets used were Holiday Cheer, B1381 and A Holiday A1115. The colors here are Cranberry, Olive, Chocolate and White Daisy. Happy Holiday and the holly pieces were cut using the Cricut. I also cut the card bases with the Cricut. How easy was that! I added a Clear Sparkle and a piece of ribbon and voila....a card to send this December.

The inspiration for this card is from a very talented consultant, Vicki Wizniuk. She is so creative and has such a good eye for design. I used the Believe Paper Pack, Sky and White Daisy Cardstock, Garden Green and Black ink, a Clear Button and Black Waxy Flax. I used D1492 Christmas Love to stamp the tree. The circle and scalloped circle were cut using the Cricut. I put a little Glitz Glitter Gel on the tree.

This card is one I created using the Heart 2 Heart Challenge a couple of weeks ago. I used the current stamp of the month Holiday Magic, Believe Paper Pack, Black, Topiary, Sweet Leaf and White Daisy card stock. There is a little bling in the corner of this card. I will post the other two cards tomorrow.

Holiday Magic with Heavenly Blue and Amethyst

I'm a little stuck on the style of cards I am making lately, but here is one made with a round card cut from Art Philosophy. I cut the Heavenly Blue and Amethyst with the Cricut and the black circle with my Coluzzle. The stocking is stamped with Heavenly Blue and Stardust Glitz Glitter
Gel is on the cuff to give it a bit of sparkle. I found a "very" retired piece of B&T to add to the card front as well as White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon. A couple of Clear Sparkles finish the card. This card is a 4.5 inch circle. It fits nicely in a invitation size envelope. Try a circle card, a little bit of the unexpected.

Bring on the Bling!

Watch this video and get inspired with Close To My Heart products!

Art Philosopy and Dreamin

I think I am getting the hang of the Cricut and using Art Philosophy. As you know the Cricut is new to me, I always considered myself the Cutting Queen. See how you can stamp on the leaves? I might just become the Cricut Queen, wait and see.

This is an 8x3.5 card I made using the Dreamin Paper Pack, Heavenly Blue, Chocolate, Colonial White and Goldrush cardstock and ribbon from the Cocoa Collection. Inks used were Honey, Chocolate and Goldrush. I added a Wooden Button and a little piece of Hemp. The stamp set used for the words and leaves came from the Art Philosophy Collection. Aren't those great colors together?

October Stamp of the Month

I really love the new October Stamp of the Month, Holiday Magic S1110. So festive. I'm a sucker for print on solid stamps. Here I used Holiday Red, Topiary, Black and Sweet Leaf cardstock. It almost looks pink in this picture. I used the plaid from the Believe paper pack and black button brads. This is another Mojo Monday design. It came out awhile ago, #133. Does this get you in the mood to make Christmas cards?

So Grateful

This little card was made using B1395 So Grateful along with a few other stampsets. The clock is from the September Stamp of the Month, the October words are from the November Stamp of the Month, the top words are from Par-a-Phrase, and the sun is from C1454 Horizon. Inks used are black, Autumn Terracotta, Olive, Barn Red and Goldrush. I used Colonial White, Autumn Terracotta and Black cardstock. The technique is Retiform and the pumpkin is pop dotted.

Heart 2 Heart Challenge with Believe

Here is my attempt at the Heart2Heart challenge for this week. I used Holiday Magic, with Black, Topiary, Sweet Leaf and White Daisy cardstock. The stripe is from the Believe paper pack. I added a little bling in the corner of the card. Go on over to http://www.heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/ for more inspiration.

Wow, I got an award!

This is absolutely wonderful. What an honor. I received this award from Krista over at Simply Creating. Be sure to check out her blog.

This is a different kind of blog award in the respect that it recognizes inspiring blogs with less than 200 followers. This way some very worthy, but often over looked blogs benefit from some extra exposure...which is something every blogger can use!

Liebster is the German word for "beloved" or "favorite". So it is now my turn to give this award to 5 of my favorite blogs who have less than 200 followers. So be sure to check out the blogs listed below and congratulate them by leaving them some blog love in the form of a comment and becoming a Follower if you find them to be as inspiring as I do!

Lori at http://clearlyfromtheheart.blogspot.com/

Debra at http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com/

Haley at http://inkyscrapper.blogspot.com/

Karen at http://kdaycreations.blogspot.com/

Jen at http://www.jenrubio.blogspot.com/

These ladies are so willing to share their ideas and talent. I really appreciate that so much!

As you all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Katie and I attended the Survivor Island Brunch on Saturday and had a wonderful time. It was the 17th annual and there were hundreds of women there. It was my first one of course, so it was a little emotional for me, but I can't wait to do it again next year. The entertainment was super, even had prizes (and very, very nice ones too) and a great meal. It was put on by Special Friends Celebrations and they did a great job. One of my doctors was the MC and several doctors have outstanding singing voices. So glad I was invited.