Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  This month we are featuring "Thoughtful Tidings", a set of 11 stamps.  Six of these stamps coordinate with the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  If you have come here from Teresa Scrivens blog you are on the right path!  The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way around.   If you get lost along the way, you'll find the complete list of participating consultant's HERE . Red Lines indicate stamps that coordinate with AP Cartridge This month about 60 consultants are sharing their creations using February's stamp of the month and other great Close To My Heart Products.  Following the blog hop is easy, just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!  Have fun hopping! Thoughtful Tidings is a great set for quick cards of appreciation.   I had so much fun using this set with the new Stella Level 2 Paper that I couldn't stop at just one card!

I had so much fun creating my Easter Milk Carton for the New Product Blog Hop, I wanted to make another one!  If you missed it, you can see it HERE .  The My Creations Milk Carton comes in a package of two so I had another one to play with.  This time I decided to create one for Valentine's Day.  What a cute little gift to give to someone special! I used the Spray Pen to add a spray mist to my box before I put it together.  I mixed 3 drops of Hollyhock re-inker with water and our Create A Shade Pearl Paint .  By only using 3 drops of Hollyhock, this gave me the lighter color of pink that I was looking for.   I cut out 3 sizes of Hearts <Heart1> with my Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to use as mask before I sprayed.   I added removable adhesive to the back of the hearts and placed the hearts randomly on my box. Before Spraying Here is the box after I sprayed it with the mist and the hearts removed.  You can see the masking.  Something to note... I placed the

Welcome to our New Product Blog Hop!  Are you ready for some sneak peaks from Close To My Heart's 2012 Spring/Summer Idea Book ?  The Idea Book goes live on February 1 but Consultants were able to order new product on January 1.  (That is one perk to being a CTMH consultant!) So, many of us have been working away in our craft rooms getting ready to show you some fabulous new items! If you came here from Rachel Ventura's Blog , then you are on the right track!  The hop is a circle so you can start here and hop all the way around! Following the hop is easy to do.  Just click on the link at the bottom of each post that takes you to the next blog! If you get lost along the way, you can find the complete list of participating consultants HERE . I got so many new things it was hard to decide what to showcase!  I love all the My Creations products that Close To My Heart carries.  My Creation products are chipboard and come in all types of 3D products from small albums, banners

Here is another little sneak peak of new product!   I made this fast and simple 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" card  with the new Lucy Level 2 Paper Pack (X7149B).  I have to admit, the Lucy paper was not at the top of my list for the 8 new paper packs but when I got pack I had to change my mind!  It is so pretty!  This shows only one of 6 beautiful designs included in the pack. The stamp is from the new set - Card Word Puzzle (C1494) .  I love this set!  It has 4 different flower stamps (I used two here), a butterfly, a leaf and over 50 words that you can put together to make your own original phrase!  I used "Just A Note" for this card.   I used blending pen with Cotton Candy and Pear ink to color my flower.  I added the Sweet Leaf Stitched Grosgrain ribbon and Pearl Opaque Adhesive Gems.    The card pattern is Corner Shop from Jeanette Lynton's How To Book for cards - Originals . I'm going to enter this card into 2 challenges.... Crazy 4 Challenges - Layer it

Ready for the first Riddle for my Door Prize Giveaway? RIDDLE:  What's CHOCOLATE and hold beautiful memories but you can't eat it! If you know the answer, leave me a comment! If you are correct, you will get one ticket  at my Open House on Saturday, February 11 towards a chance to win a door prize! Mark your calendar and be sure to stop by between 9am and 2pm!

It's just 7 more days until Close To My Heart's newest release of the Spring Summer Idea Book goes live!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this issue!  If you've been following my blog you've seen some sneak peaks of just a few of the products.   I'm going to be posting more sneak peaks soon!  To celebrate the release I'm hosting an Open House!  If you are local, come by and see all the new papers, accents and more!   Take a minute to make a free card with the Stella paper and check out my Cash & Carry Clearance Items !   Earn tickets for Fabulous Door Prizes!   I'll be posting riddles on my blog and my facebook page.  If you know the answer leave a comment.  Earn a ticket for each correct answer! I'll be checking daily!    Watch for my special EZinvite. Not on my mailing list? Sign up in the Newsletter Signup Box to the right. Also, January through March is MAKE A MIRACLE MONTH!   Since 2004, Close to My Heart has partnered with Operation Smile to provide fre

Black and White and no other color - not even a speck! That is the challenge over at CAS-ual Friday this week.  It is so hard to not add just a tinny whinny bit of color!  But, I remembered a new stamp I just got.  It is one of the stamps in the new Close to My Heart's 2012 Spring/Summer Idea Book which is due out February 1.  This is one of those stamps that was 'love at first sight' and from that point on I knew it was a "HAVE TO HAVE".    I've been so busy this past week, tonight was the first time I got to pull it out and give it whirl. Here is my Black and White ONLY card! Cool isn't it?  I love it!  This stamp is called " Fashionista ".   There are 4 different girls on this set and they are all Shopping Fashionistas!  I used only one girl on this card - you'll have to wait until February 1st to see all four lovely ladies!  Fashionistas should stand out, so I stamped the her on a separate sheet of cardstock and cut her ou

I've been working with the new Stella paper since Sunday.  Saturday morning I printed out several blog challenges that I hoped to get to before their deadlines came and gone.   As I finished up my layouts from the Stella Workshop On the Go kit, the sketch from the Clean & Simple challenge that was laying on my work table caught my eye.                                    For my very simple card, I used one of the zip strips from the Stella B&T papers, and the Stella Stamp (only available with purchase of the Stella WOTG kit). I first stamped the chair directly on the card with Cocoa ink.  Then I stamped the chair with Sunset ink on a scrap piece of cardstock.   I cut out the sunset chair seat and chair back and adhered to the to cocoa chair.  I decided not to add any other embellishments and kept it very simple.   I love how this card turned out.   All products are Close To My Heart. Stella Workshop on the Go Kit (G1032) will be available February 1.

I know!!  I've been missing in action the last couple of days.   I had a Special Project I've been working on that had a quick deadline.   In the meantime, I've had a box of brand new goodies from Close to My Heart that have been patiently waiting for me to play with!   Finally I was able to get into that box yesterday!   The first on my To Do List was to put together the new Workshop On The Go kit for Stella!  I LOVE this paper!   It is the paper that is used on the front of the new Idea Book!  Isn't it beautiful??? This book goes LIVE to our customers on February 1st.   I'm planning my annual Open House on February 11 to celebrate the release of this book.  So if you are local - add the date to your calendar! I'll be sending out complete details soon! In the meantime, don't forgot those products that are retiring at the end of January!  You can check those on my Retiring Items tab above.   If you place an order of $25 or more on my website this mo

This weeks challenge over at Heart 2 Heart   is to use a stamp you haven't used before or at least in a long time.  I've got several of those.  (!)  I've been wanting to make a Valentine card so I thumbed through my stamps looking for one that would work.  I don't use many of my Valentine stamps.  I pulled out my Feburary Word Puzzle stamp set. Remember those? I LOVED those word puzzle stamps!  There was a Word Puzzle stamp for every month.  I bought each month before they retired. I've got several months I've never used but keeping thinking someday I'll use them. So I'll probably always keep these stamps in my stash.  My February Word puzzle had hardly been used at all.   So this one will qualify for H2H.   Since I seemed to be in a 'retired' mode, I decided to use my retired Sweetheart paper.   This paper was in the 2011 Spring Summer Idea book.  I used the sketch from Mojo Monday to create my card. My scallop circles were cut with

This morning when I checked ColourQ's challenge the colors practically jumped off the screen at me!  I LOVE these colors and I couldn't wait to do something with them.                                                       I pulled out my Rock the Block stamp to use for my card.  This stamp is part of this month's special for National Papercrafting Month.   I put this stamp together with the sketch from Unscripted Sketches and came up with this card: I had so much fun creating this simple card.   The colors I used are Blush, Sunset, Smoothie and Grey Wool.   I stamped the flowers directly on the card.   Next I stamped "LOVE" and trimmed it out using 3D Foam tape to pop it up from the card.   I added a little bling by adding Sparkles to the flower centers and also some Bitty Sparkles to LOVE.     What a "COOL" Valentine card this could be! All Products are Close To My Heart. Here is the sketch from Unscripted Sketches:                  

This month I'm trying to do more with my Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge .   I've used it ALOT since I got it but there are several shapes that I haven't cut yet.    The colors for this card were inspired by Pal's Paper Art Challenge Blog .                                                        For my card I used Close To My Heart's colors Crystal Blue, Pacifica and Colonial White. This is a 4x4 card.  I used <Square4> Card to cut the shaped card out of Colonial White.  Next, I cut the Crystal Blue decorative layer the same size using Decorative Layer <Square 4>. I cut 3 roses from Pacifica cardstock.  I cut one at 4" and the other two at 3".  To cut the roses, I used the Font<Heart3> setting.    I added an Opaque Pearl Adhesive Gem to the center of each. My tag is another layered piece.  First, I cut a 1 1/2" <Square5> and then used the Decorative Layer setting to cut the Pacifica piece to add to the top.   "

I spent literally ALL weekend pulling my tax information together for my Close To My Heart Business. Last year I waited until the last minute and I had promised myself I wouldn't do that again.  I told myself that I would not do any creating until I finished.  I expected to spend most of Saturday on this task but it ended up taking me 2 days!  I don't know why I can't record everything monthly! If I did, I wouldn't have to spend an entire weekend doing it!  But every year it is the same thing and every year I say I'm going to be better.  Maybe this year....... The first thing I did Saturday morning was to printed out a page of challenges that I wanted to try.  I set them aside until I was free to play!  Finally, I was able to step into my craft room tonight.  Armed with two color challenges I begin pulling inks and cardstock.  The first color challenge I decided to do was from The Play Date Cafe .   I also decided to combine this with two other challenges - the sk

It's that time of year in the Close To My Heart calendar when the current Idea Book is about to end.  Boy I have REALLY enjoyed the books of 2011. The Spring Summer book came out and I just loved everything about it!  The paper, the stamps the embellishments.... Then the Autumn/Winter book was released and it BLEW me away! On February 1, the new 2012 Spring Summer Idea book will be released.  With the release of the new Idea Book, we have to make way for new products.  That means many of the stamps in the 2011 Spring Summer Idea Book will be retired.  A wonderful consultant - Tamytha Jenkins put together this slide show that shows all the retiring stamps.   If you see any 'must haves' write the number down and then visit my website and order!  They will be UNAVAILABLE after January 31! (Be sure to check out the While Supplies Last Section also!) For a complete list of retiring Papers, Kits, Accessories and Embellishments see my Retiring Items Page. Here is a BONUS

I have a list of Challenge Blogs that I check first thing each morning. Usually I check them before I leave for work. Then, I can think about them through out the day and sometimes, by the time I get home from work I'm ready to start on something.  Color Throwdown is on my list for Wednesday. When I saw the colors this morning - Black, Cranberry and Grey Wool (CTMH colors) I wasn't too inspired.                                                              After lunch I decided I had better start a list for things I needed to get at 'Wally World'.  I reached up to grab a sheet from my new notepad a co-worker gave me at Christmas.  OH WOW!  I was suddenly inspired!  Below is my list.  BTW, I decided the list wasn't long enough to warrant a trip to the Walmart - so I put it off.  Besides, I now had better things to do! And here is my card inspired by my notepad and the colors from Color Throwdown! I used the stamp set - Eclectic Edges (C1450) and Silv

The other day I decided that I would start using more of the shapes on the Art Philosphy cartridge. I envisioned a square card with the jumbled numbers shape. I pulled a piece of my Creme Brulee' cardstock and cut out a 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 shape of jumbled numbers. I had intended to add this to a 6x6 Kraft card but this is where I got stuck. I sat there looking at the numbers on the Kraft card.  I liked it but wasn't sure what to do with it.  Finally, I set it aside and decided to come back to it another day. Well today was the day! I was getting up to date on the blogs I follow and came across the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World . It was just enough 'trigger' to get my mind going.   NUMBERS!! I was already a step in the right direction. The colors in this quilt and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches  helped me finish the card. I decided to exchange the Kraft card for a White 6x6 card. Then the card started to come together quickly.   I used the Party Pennant

Looking for the January Stamp of the Month?  Click HERE . I was supposed to spend the day reorganizing and cleaning my scrap room.   But it was hard to stay focused on what I needed to do.  I did put a few things away and hung a pretty Bulletin board my daughter got me for Christmas.  I really wanted to create instead of clean.  I finally sat down and created this quick Birthday Card using this week's Mojo Monday sketch. The paper is from Elemental Level 2 paper pack (X7141B) .  My lace doily was cut from Smoothie cardstock using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (Z1686).   Shift Font Layer <Flur DeLs>  I cut it at 3 1/4".  I wanted a chocolate butterfly so I mixed Chocolate Re-inker with Pearl Create A Shade paint.  I just love that big chunky Chocolate Stripe Ribbon (Z1617) !  My birthday sentiment is from Card Chatter - Birthday (D1475).   I also used the Opaque Mocha Adhesive gems (Z1333) for my final touches. Here is the Mojo Monday sketch: