Graduation Time is Here!

It's that time of year again!  As parents, teachers, and family friends, we are reminded of the passing of time as our young ones graduate and move on to the next stage of their lives.  This is a card that I made for my neighbors' daughter.  I asked her sister what colors she liked and what her style was.  She told me yellow, black, gray, modern and a little edgy.  So this is what I came up with using the CTMH paper "For Always," CTMH stamp sets "You Did It," "Congrats Graduate," and "Framed Moments," ribbon and brad from my stash.

And because I know all graduates get gifts and will need to write thank-you notes, I also made her a set of cards like these two.  The first card uses the Cricut Art Philosophy stamp set Z1686 that comes with your Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  Let your Cricut do the cutting, and then stamp the cute ticket sentiment on top!  (Washi tapes and brads from my stash).

The second card uses a retired stamp set "Thank You," the "For Always" paper, and some black tulle from my stash.

You can order Close To My Heart products directly from my website HERE.  For retired products, your best bet is probably Ebay, but if you don't find something there that you are looking for, LMK and I can always reach out to my fellow CTMH consultants to see if anyone has what you are looking for.

Thanks for looking!  Comments are appreciated!

The Incredible Adventures of Spenser the Cat

Late last night I heard strange noises coming from the other side of the desk in my craft room.  When I peeked around the corner to see what it was, I discovered a large furry monster in the bookshelf.

The monster dug around until he found what he was looking for in the very back of the basket--the plastic rings that are the core for rolls of scotch tape and ATG tape.

He then proceded to pull said items out of their little mesh bag and scatter them all over my craft room.

When he tired of playing, he pulled the dishpan out of the shelf and settled down for a nap.

Mother's Day Cards

Here are two Mother's Day cards that I just finished.  The main stamp is from Northwoods Rubber Stamps, and the sentiment is a retired Close To My Heart stamp.  The first one is colored with Tombow watercolor markers:

Next I made one using Copic markers:

IRL the colors are a little brighter on the one made with Copics, but they both came out nicely.  My best discovery with these cards was Ranger Speciality Stamping Paper--it produced such a clear dark image.  The downside of that paper is that neither type of marker blended particularly well.  Here is a side view where you can see that the butterflies are popped up a bit:

Thanks for looking!  Comments are appreciated!

Vogue Girl

Hi, Friends!  So after almost two and a half years, I have decided to resurrect my blog as an opportunity to share my artwork and craft with you again.  I recently spent a wonderful weekend in Huntersville, NC at Donna Downey's Inspired Artist Workshop.  I met a bunch of wonderful, creative people and got to play with lots of new artsy stuff and get messy at Donna's studio.  Here is one of the techniques she taught us about how to draw/paint faces.

First, find a face that you want to draw.  Mine is an advertisement from French Vogue magazine:

Next, prepare your surface.  I used a manilla folder, and I gessoed over the first image that I traced there--ironically it was another face with fingers in the mouth too.  I just like this one better.  So, yes, you need to prep your surface with gesso or another primer suitable for your medium.  Then use a piece of graphite paper (like carbon paper, but leaves pencil-like marks) between your surface and your image.  Trace the outlines of your image--I used the hard end of a small paintbrush to just get her outline on my surface.  Here is what it looks like now:

Really ugly, right?  Amazing what make-up can do!  lol.  Now, all you have to do is color.  I used acrylic paint for everything.  It's clear that I do not know how to blend color yet, but I kind of like her chunky.  What do you think?

Comments are appreciated!  Have a creative day--get messy!

Feb. SOTM Blog Hop

Hi!  And welcome to the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  This month we are featuring the February SOTM "Friendship"  which is a set of 8 stamps.  If you have come here from Mary's blog, you are on the right path!  This month we have almost 70 CTMH consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs.  Just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!  Here we go! 

This is the card I created with the SOTM using the new Sweetheart papers.  I also used CTMH pink buttons with black button brads in the middle.  The embellishment in the upper left of the card was heat embossed with the SOTM and black embossing powder.  I popped the text and embellishments with 3-D foam tape to add dimension.  What do you think?

Now hop on over to Dawn's blog to see her artwork!  Be sure to visit all the consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas!  And remember--the February SOTM is only available until February 28th.  Click HERE to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even FREE.  

Jan. SOTM Blog Hop

Hi, Stampers and Scrappers!  Welcome to the Close To My Heart
January Stamp of the Month blog hop! 
If you have come here from Sheila's blog, you are on the right path.  This month's featured stamp set is called "Find Your Style."  It is a set of 9 gorgeous girly stamps and is available NOW through Jan. 31st only!  Find out how to get yours at a discount or FREE on my website HERE.
For my card,  I chose the dress form and paired it with the stunning "Wings" paper pack.  Check it out:

Don't you just love these colors--black, sweet leaf, and vineyard berry.  I also used black embossing powder, a black button from our Mini-Medley Accents Collection, and black brads.  The flower is made with our beautiful double-sided B&T papers and it fluffs up to give this card an extra dose of amazing dimension.  Here's a shot of the fluffy flower:

To make the flower, just punch out five scalloped circles (yes, all the same size), fasten them together in the center with a brad, adhere a button on top of the brad if you wish, and crumple each layer tightly around the button/brad.  Then uncrumple carefully and voila!  A gorgeous blossom!  Now hop on over to Doreen's blog and check out her awesome creation!  But before you go, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!  Happy New Year!

Dec. SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  This month we are featuring the December SOTM "Amore."  If you have come here from Wanda's blog, you are on the right path.  This month we have more than fifty CTMH consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs.  This is simple to do--just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move on to the next one!  Here we go! 

Here is a shot of this fabulous set of 13 stamps:

And here's my 6x6 card using this set:

I used the new Close To My Heart paper packet "Olivia" with our new Mocha Opaques.  I also used cardstock in Smoothie, Bamboo, and Barn Red, as well as Barn Red ink.  Now hop on over to Beth's blog to see her work!  Be sure to visit all the consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas.  Remember, the December SOTM is only available until Dec. 31st!  Click HERE to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even FREE!