Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven

It's getting close to that time of year that we begin to start thinking about Christmas shopping.  I know many of you have probably already started!  Today I have a great suggestion for your tweens, pre-teens, teens, and even the grown-ups in your life that LOVE taking photos on their phones!  This past September, Close To My Heart introduced a product called Insta-Life.   This little album is perfect for preserving your favorite social media memories or really any miniature keepsakes. Add Instalife cards to the Memory Protectors™ for an extra pop of color next to your photos, or stamp on cute dates and messages using our Instalife roller stamps.  This album is available in two styles: Teal (Z3183)  and Berry (Z3182) When I went to convention back in June, I took most of my pictures with my phone.  So using this little album was a great way to keep all those fun memories!  I used the Teal album and jazzed up the front a bit with Gold Glitter paper .  I cut out the le

This past weekend I was shopping with my daughter.  She now has her own place so we were browsing the Christmas aisles at Hobby Lobby looking for Christmas decorations.   We came upon a cute framed chalkboard with a countdown calendar on it.  I told her "Oh I could do that!" I still have my Design Decor Magnetic Chalkboard.  It was currently sitting in my craft room erased clean from my last project. I couldn't wait to do this when I got home!  Here is my completed project and it didn't take that long! Note that I used chalk because I like to change out what is on my board for my business.  But, if you want something that is permanent you might consider using our Chalk Marker (Z1767).  The chalk marker is not erasable and it would give you finer lines. How do you like those squares?  Pretty straight too.  Let me tell you how I did it!  First, I created a template.  I used the  Square<4>  image from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  Using Design Spa

In February 2016 I will have been a consultant with Close To My Heart for 10 years.  WOW.... I still can't believe that much time has already passed.  You know what they say.... Time flies when you are having fun!   We have just about a week left in our October It's In the Bag Campaign.  During the month of October, you sign up to be a Close to My Heart Consultant you will get an exclusive Convention Bag for FREE along with your new consultant kit! These bags are just the coolest and they ARE exclusive because only the consultants that attended the 2015 CTMH Convention in July received this bag.   With just a little left remaining to sign up, I thought now would be a great time to share my Top 10 Reasons that you should become a CTMH consultant!   I could probably list 20 reasons -- but I will keep it short. #1 - The Kit!! Oh my word!  This is the BEST KIT EVER!!  This kit will get you started right away because you will have everything you

Close To My Heart has a new product in their Annual Inspirations that you may have overlooked.  It is the new embossing diffusers on page 122.  These nifty clear plastic plates are perfect for using with our embossing folders when you want to emboss a selected area of your project.  On the card below I used the Square Diffuser with the Dot Embossing folder.  When I ran it through my cuttlebug it left a square with no embossing. This makes a great place to stamp! Don't you love the stamp?  It was one of my immediate favorites in the Holiday Inspirations book. Spray of Joy A1174 You may be wondering how I stamped this image with the Fern and Cranberry Inks.  Here is a short visual tutorial on the masking technique that I used.   First, stamp the image on a post it note - make sure that part of the image is on the sticky part of the note!  This helps to temporarily adhere in place while you are stamping. Next I cut away the portion of the "Joy" inclu

October is a special recruiting month for Close To My Heart for several reasons.  During the month of October, all brand new consultants that sign will receive a FREE Convention bag with their new consultant kit.  I got one of these bags at convention this summer - ONLY convention attendees get these bags.  It is something that everyone can't wait to see on the opening day of General Session. Not only are these bags stylish, but they are also great for carrying everything from Idea books to everyday business essentials. But really, is it all just about the bag?  Let me tell you, it is more than a just the bag.  In February of 2016 I will be celebrating my 10 year anniversary with Close To My Heart.  Every time I think about it I'm amazed.  Am I amazed that I am still here?  No, not really.  I am amazed at how Close To My Heart has changed my life.  I really can't imagine my life without all the friendships that I have made over the past 10 years.  Not only have I mad

Recently I shared a layout I created using the Nevermore Paper for a non-Halloween themed layout. Today, I'm sharing my layouts I created using the paper for Halloween!  I no longer have trick or treaters at home but it was fun creating these layouts for my clubs. I love the compliments for the Nevermore collection.  They consist of Stickers, Kraft Die-Cut shapes and Plastic Die-Cuts as well!  These were so much fun to work with.   Since these compliments are a bit smaller than the compliments that we have had in the past, I found that the best way to use them is to cluster in groups.  It really does add dimension to your pages. Check out my 2nd layout below.  I have several groupings of clusters on this layout too.  I really like the moon and bats on the right page.   Like these layouts?  Order the products used and I will send you a free cutting guide to create BOTH of these layouts shown! PRODUCTS USED: Nevermore Paper Pa

Welcome to our Holiday Expressions Blog Hop! Our new Holiday Expressions book is a supplement to our Annual Inspirations.  The Holiday Expressions has everything you need for your Holiday papercrafting projects including fall, Halloween and Christmas stamps, papers and more!  The Holiday Expressions is also where you will find the Stamps of the Month.  This book is only good through December 31 so you don't want to wait until next year to order your favorite things! Today we are featuring artwork created with products from our new Holiday Expressions book. We have over 20 Consultants participating in this circular hop so when you get back to me, you will know you have visited all of the blogs! Be sure to leave comments! We LOVE reading comments. If you came from Haley Dyer's blog you are on the right track! If you get lost along the way you can find the entire participating hoppers HERE . Today I wanted to go 'out of the box' a little bit with our Halloween p

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we are featuring Twinkle, a set of 10 stamps! If you have come here from Jennifer Dykstra'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 . I created a pretty simple front for my card using the White Pines Paper with New England Ivy cardstock.  I cut the shape from the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and used Gold Embossing to stamp the frame and the word Peace.    For the inside of my card, I used the Christmas Tree pop out from the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge.  Before I made all the folds, I stamped the light strand, the little stars and the light bulbs with Versa Mark ink and then Gold Embossed them.  I added some gold dots from the Fundamental Assortments Gold (Z3105) to the tree.  The strip at the bottom of the card is from o