Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven

Today is the LAST DAY to order from Close To My Heart's Holiday Expression book!   Stock up now on your favorites!   Don't forget the special Everyday Life Planner BUNDLE ends today!   After today, the Planner items will be available separately.  You save by ordering the bundle! Order now at www.stampinheaven.ctmh.com

Wow... I can't believe that I've almost finished recording this year's Christmas!  It's all thanks to Close To My Heart's White Pines Picture My Life Scrapbooking and their daily photo prompts!  I didn't actually place all the pictures I took with the daily cards but it sure gave me alot to scrapbook!   I won't share ALL my pages (you'd get bored with it) but I did take a few snapshots of some of the pages so you can see how it all came together. First - I FINALLY added a picture to this page we created at our Making Connections Event back in September.  This page incorporated the White Pines Paper along with the PML cards and White Pines Compliments. Here are some of the pages:   On the page above I added my own PML card - Christmas Cheer using the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge that has lots of pocket cards. Above, the "Hope" card was cut again with the Artfully Sent Cartridge but this time I used a regular card!  I

About a week ago I was flipping through a Pier 1 catalog that I got in the mail and came across a picture of this beautiful frame.  I kept thinking about the frame and how it would make a really pretty Christmas Card. photo credit - Pier 1 Imports This frame was my inspiration for this card!  I used my Artbooking cricut cartridge and Design Space to cut the Overlay (6 1/2 x 4 1/2).  I cut the Overlay four times  -twice in White Daisy, Teal Glitter paper and Green Glitter paper.  I used the White Daisy as my base and cut apart the Teal and Green Glitter Ornaments.  I cut two White Daisy overlays so that I could use ALL of the ornaments.  So I have another card just like this only the ornaments shown here are an opposite color on the other card.  Under the overlay is a 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 White Daisy cardstock embossed the with the Confetti Stars embossing folder.  All of this is layered onto a 7 x 5 Card.  The Merry Christmas Banner was cut with the Artistry Cricut Cartridge.

Who is ready for Christmas?   Not me!!  I still have a little bit of shopping to do but not alot.  Just finding the time is difficult.  Even finding time to create has been hard!  I'm way behind on prepping my January classes but hope to make alot of progress by the end of this week! We have a workgroup lunch tomorrow and I offered to make the Christmas Card to go along with our boss's gift.  My boss LOVES bling and she loves anything the color of purple even more.  So, I thought it would be fun to create a card using the color she loves most with lots of glitter and sparkle! This was one of my favorite stamps that came out last year and it's still available this year.  It is called Make It Merry.  I stamped the scooter with black ink and again with Thistle Ink.  I used the Peony Purple ShinHan Marker to color the base of the scooter.  I cut the wheel covers and the headlights from the scooter that I had stamped in Thistle ink and adhered them on top of the sco

I wanted to send my team a bit of Holiday Cheer so I created some cute Holiday necklaces with Close To My Heart's Holiday Style Sheets and Base & Bling along with some Fern Twine.  These were a hit at my Holiday Craft Day and I thought my downline might like to have one to wear during the holiday season.  The necklaces laid on my craft table waiting for me to finish wrapping them up and getting the cards ready to mail.  While this project was on hold, one of my consultant friends messaged me a picture of some ornaments that another consultant had created using the Base & Bling!  I thought WOW! How pretty are those?!  I guess there is a good side to being a procrastinator sometimes.   I grabbed up the pendents cut all the twine off.  I wanted to make ornaments instead! I had square pendents to work with so I searched for a shape that would compliment the square shape. I found just what I needed on the Artiste Cricut Cartridge! Artiste - B&T Paper: 2 1/2" Acce

Welcome to our Stamping Techniques Blog Hop! Last month, for two days, Close To My Heart had two FREE all day classes on Creative Live! They shared some very valuable and informative information about Close To My Heart, our products and tons of fun techniques! In case you missed it, the recordings of the webcast are now available on the CreativeLive site , so you can now catch up on everything you missed! Even if you were able to watch it, feel free to tune in again and return to your favorite segments. After the CreativeLive classes, the Stamp of the Month blog hoppers thought it would be fun to showcase some of the stamping techniques that were shared in their classes! If you came from Lela's blog you are on the right track! The hop is one big circle so when you get back to the blog you started with you will know you have visited everyone! Here is my card I created using a 2nd generation random stamping technqiue. I stamped "Joy to the World" seve

For years my Christmas Scrapbook consisted of a picture of our Christmas tree.  A picture of our girls in front of the tree.  Some random pictures of the girls opening their gifts.  Every year - the same things only a year older and all the pictures were taken on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Now my girls are grown and living on their own.  This is my first year to go through the Christmas Season at home as an empty-nester.   I really enjoy the Christmas Season and this year Close To My Heart gave me an idea to do something a little different. This year Close To My Heart introduced their White Pines Picture My Life Cards.  In addition to an array of adorable journaling and title cards, this collection also includes a card for each of the first 25 days of December!  I'm going to take a picture every day to count down the days until Christmas. Below is just a sampling of cards.   One great thing about these cards, is that they have the same picture on both sides - one side is ve

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we are featuring Candlelight Garden. This is a set of 10 stamps! If you have come here from  Melissa Robinson's 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 . This stamp gave me the opportunity to really play with my watercolor paints! Before I started painting, I stamped the jar and flowers on my watercolor paper with Versamark ink and heat set it with Gold Embossing Powder.  Then I painted away!  I also stamped and embossed "Thank You" and the heart on Champagne Cardstock.  I just painted a swoosh across the heart.  The champagne shape is cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. My background paper is from the White Pines Paper Pack.   Yep - that Christmas themed paper can be used for things other than Christmas!

Shop now for 25% off select current products from  Close To My Heart!   www.stampinheaven.ctmh.com For five days only, a selection of items from Close To My Heart’s current product inventory can be yours for 25% off retail price! Get supplies you’ll need to make handcrafted gifts and cards for the holidays, including our Cricut® Artfully Sent Collection, at an amazing discount! Do you want to be a Cyberweek Sale Queen? Place an order through my Cyberweek Sale On-line Party on my website. Party will begin Monday, November 30 at 10:00am and end on Friday, December 4 at 5:00 pm. Everyone who orders through the Cyberweek Sale Party link will be entered into a drawing to win ALL of the Hostess Rewards earned through this party! YOU MUST place your order through this link to be eligible to be the Cyberweek Sale Party Queen!! Your name will be entered for every $25 you order. Drawing will be held on Friday evening at 5:30 pm. Sale e

A few weeks ago I shared two pint containers that I decorated.  (See them HERE ) Today I'm sharing the third container and providing the cutting measurements so you can create some too!   Also - be sure to check at the bottom of my post for a fun North Pole Mix recipe.  This is a family and friend favorite that is so addicting it really is hard to stop eating it!  It is so easy to make it is embarrassing!  But I'm sharing it here! Here is my Pint of Goodness that I will be filling with North Pole Mix! Supplies you will need: Pint Containers Z3137  (note- the Pint Containers will be 25% off starting 11/30!) White Pines Paper Pack X7200B Cranberry Cardstock 1272 Glacier Cardstock X5770 Colonial White Cardstock 1388 Aqua Shimmer Trim Z3083 Artistry Cricut Cartridge Z3167 Artiste Cricut Cartridge Z3170 Holly Jolly Christmas Stamp D1657 Chocolate Ink - Z2111 Glacier Ink - Z2641 Bonding Memories Glue - 1512 Directions: Cut the Chevron B&T

AWESOME CRANBERRY SAUCE!  You read that right!  Close To My Heart is going to have a week long CYBER SALE! Beginning Monday, November 30 at 10:00 am CST Close To My Heart is putting a large selection of current products on sale for 25% off!  Get supplies you’ll need to make handcrafted gifts and cards for the holidays, including our Cricut® Artfully Sent Collection , at an amazing discount! This sale will last only 5 days and ends at 5:00 pm CST on Friday, December 4.   On Monday, go to my website at www.stampinheaven.ctmh.com and select "Cyberweek Sale" under the shopping menu.   Eligible sale items will show up in this menu.  Add your items from this list to get your 25% discount.   I will come back on Monday and post the actual link on my blog. Here are just a few of the products that are 25% off! Artfully Sent Cricut Collection Colonial White Shadowbox (Also Available in Black) Design Decor Magnetic Chalkboard Scallop Border Punch Triangl

This time it is my husband's birthday!  He loves to hunt so it is only fitting that I create a card with a deer on it.  I had fun making this one.  I love it that our new Artistry Cricut Cartridge has a deer head on it!  So far, this may be this biggest deer he has seen all season! This card is all cardstock so I gave the pieces some type of texture.  I dug around and found an old texture tool I had to brush some ink onto the deer and the antlers.  Next, I used my woodgrain embossing folder on the mount behind the deer (another Artistry shape) and I used the striped embossing folder on the Outdoor Denim piece of cardstock.  The birthday banner is also cut from the Artistry cartridge.   The birthday sentiment is from Belated Birthday (B1442) which is now retired. Now that all my November birthdays are over, I guess I can start concentrating on my Christmas Shopping!!

Wow.... Time sure does fly by!!  My baby turned 21 today.  We had an early celebration last night because she has such a busy schedule!!  She is SO busy in fact, that when I asked her where she wanted to go eat for her birthday celebration (this is standard tradition in our house) she told me she just wanted a home cooked meal.   In addition to her home cooked meal and home made birthday cake - just standard chocolate with buttercream frosting - I made her this card. I loved this hexagon stamp (Hexagonal Patterns) and just had to have it.  It's been in my box since August and this was the first time I've used it!  I cut out all three sizes of hexagons and stamped them all up in lagoon, Pear, Black and Poppy.  But when I finally decided on my card design, I was down using only the smallest hexagon and just Lagoon, Pear and Black inks.   Sometimes too many choices can make things difficult!  I used my Hexagon Embossing Folder to create a background for the card. I c

During the month of October I had a challenge for my team members!  I have a few new team members that want to get their business going but sometimes it can be a little intimidating if this is new to you!  My challenge was to my team was to schedule a scrap day and invite friends and family. Their guests could bring anything they wanted to work on and just have fun!  They had to have 2 or more participate (not counting themselves) and then submit an order of $150 or more.  There were several sales levels they could achieve.   Cathy Swank earned a reward of a paper pack and compliments of her choice for meeting the 2nd level of the challenge!  Yeah Cathy!   Her paper pack and compliments are on their way.  In the meantime, I wanted to send her a special congrats from me so I created this card for her.    I used paper from our L a Vie En Rose Paper pack and a special stamp set for consultants that achieve Level 1 in Straight to The Top when they first sign up.  I accented the car

I subscribe to Scrapbook Updates in my blog feed and came across this wonderful idea.  I thought I would share it here because I know there are many crafters out there who love to create cards.  Just last night at my Christmas Card Workshop I had several ladies comment that they still have cards they made years ago at my annual workshop because they no longer send cards but they love to create them!  I have to admit.... I too have many cards that I have never sent sitting in a box. Here is a wonderful way to share your beautiful creations.... The Caring Hearts Card Drive .  This drive collects cards to deliver to nursing homes.  Your card can bring joy and holiday cheer to the elderly that are quite lonely. Just recently my own grandma had to go to a nursing home to recuperate after a car accident.  She was separated from her husband who was still in the hospital and even when he was released to the same nursing home, they were still separated.  My grandma was quite lonely even t

Sometimes it is hard to find inexpensive Christmas gifts to give during the season when you are giving gifts to a group - friends, co-workers, your children's friends, etc.   When my girls were growing up they always wanted to get their little group of friends a Christmas gifts.  When you have about 8-10 friends that can add up in a hurry!  And finding something inexpensive that isn't another Christmas notepad & Pen is hard! Well I'm here to share a fun solution to that problem!  Close to My Heart carries a very cute line of Holiday Base & Bling!   I created these fun holiday necklaces in just minutes!  Although we do sell chains, I used Fern and Poppy Thick Twine for a more festive look - and it keeps the cost down on the necklace.  The Holiday Style sheet includes 32 stickers.  The pendents, glass covers and charms are sold in packages of 3 each!  The twine comes in 10 yards.  You can purchase everything you need to create 12 necklaces including the liquid gla

Welcome to our Simply Fundamental Blog Hop!  During the month of November you can choose an Album Bundle for $71.80 USD).  See the end of my post below to see what this fabulous bundle includes! We love this deal so much, we decided to have a Simply Fundamental Blog Hop for you!  Over 25 consultants have created something to share with the Fundamental Papers.  This hop will be a lot of fun and I'm sure will inspire you! If you came from Terrie Shortsleeve's blog you are on the right track!  The hop is one big circle so when you get back to the blog you started with you will know you have visited everyone! I created a fall layout for this hop using leaves from the Close To My Heart Cricut Cartridges - Art Philosophy, Artiste and Artistry.   Some of the leaves are layered so this was a great opportunity to showcase the opposite side of the paper. The large center shape is from the new Artistry cartridge.  I just sized it to fit the paper and then I cut it in half