Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven

WOW..... As I type this I can't believe it's been 14 years.... 14 years of long standing friendships.  I love it that in our busy lives we have this one standing tradition that does not change - our annual Cookie Swap!!   There are 13 ladies in the swap.  The group started 14 years ago and although a few of the original members have moved on, there are about 6 or 7 of us that have continued this traditional from Year 1.  I look forward to this every year!  We each make enough cookies for everyone to take home 6 of each kind of cookie and we usually bring a few to sample.  That's alot of cookies!!  (A minimum of 78 cookies to include samples are needed to be exact!) After finding the perfect recipe (which means you need to find a recipe that makes PLENTY  - only doubling it one time if needed) the next thing to find is the container to put them in.  12 containers! Some years I've been creative, and then some years I just find a nice Christmas looking bag

I created this layout with leftover papers and compliments from the Oh Deer! WYW kit (G1116).   I used two Picture My Life cards on this layout.  I accented the PML card on the left page with additional pine cones from the compliments.  I used a kraft shape to create a dish and placed the other pine cones around it.  The other PML card on the right page is my journaling block.   Here are some close up of my compliment placements. Remember, the Oh Deer! WYW kit will only be available through the end of December! Shop my website at www.stampinheaven.ctmh.com

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we are featuring Thoughtful Flowers . This set of 14 stamps, which coordinates with the Flower Market cricut cartridge. If you have come here from Marie Flayer'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 is great for Sympathy cards.   I had a hard time choosing which flowers to color first so I stamped them ALL out and started with these small flowers.   I used my ShinHan Touch Twin markers to color and then I cut them out and layered the small grouping of flowers on top of the small flowers on the stem. I combined Oh Deer! paper and Whimsy paper for this card - a very nice combination. Remember! You can get this stamp for just $5 during the month of December when you purchase $50 in Close To My Heart Products!

Adorable mini albums for celebrating the little things you love!  So often it’s the little things that matter most—and what better way to celebrate the little things in life than with adorable mini albums? Whether looking for a meaningful gift idea or a treasured keepsake, these mini albums are a fast and easy option, and this month you save 30%-off the retail price of the products you need! The bundles are specifically designed to give you everything you need to preserve your memories in a flash. Whether you are just getting started with papercrafting or you are a seasoned scrapbooker, these mini album bundles can help you create quick and easy albums. These albums make great gift items in part because of their smaller sizes, and also because of their low price! There are three different options: If you are brand new to scrapbooking, the Blue Jean mini-album bundle and Blush mini-album bundle are great options! The smaller size of the album, cards, and overlays make

Welcome to our Flower Market Blog Hop! Today we are showcasing artwork created with Close to My Heart's newest Cricut cartridge - Flower Market!  If you came from Melinda Everitt's Blog you are on the right track!  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 wanted to document my daughter's first home purchase so I chose to use Key #19. I love the pansies!  I used our new color Pansy (of course) and Thistle to create the layered flower. The center is Lemon.  I decided to use the flower container as my journaling anchor and this time I used alternate colored layers for the Pansies.  My journaling card is from the set of Picture My Life Tabbed Journaling Cards. I wanted the door of the house to be New England Ivy.  I know I could have traced and hand cut the door but I thought this would be good p

Close To My Heart is having a  MYSTERY BOX BLACK FRIDAY SALE today!! What's in the boxes?? It’s a big surprise, but we will tell you that the mystery boxes   will be filled with retired products grouped together purposefully for certain types of crafters.  SCRAPBOOKING BUNDLES will contain products like retired My Legacy™ albums, papers, Complements, Instalife™ mini albums and cards, Picture My Life™ pocket scrapbooking cards, and assorted embellishments like mini-medley accents, washi tape, and stickers!   CARDMAKING BUNDLES will contain things like retired Cut Above™ card kits, envelopes in assorted sizes, papers, and assorted embellishments.  COMBINATION BUNDLES  will contain  a combination of products for those who love it all!  The mystery boxes will be made available in five tiers.    Some boxes may contain items included in other mystery boxes, at other price points. The price tiers are as follows: • $35 mystery boxes (on average, a $70

If you have followed me long enough, you know how much I love to turn the Picture My Life cards into cards!  This time I used two of my leftover PML cards from the City Sidewalks Paper Pack into Christmas Cards.  I combined these with leftover compliments to create some great 5x7 cards! This one was a plain framed PML card.  I matted it onto Willow and Cranberry cardstock. Next, I added the glitter "Jolly" and two presents that I had leftover from my City Sidewalks Compliments. I love this PML card with the houses on it.   All I added here was red shimmer trim and glittery silver stars.  The stars are also from leftover compliments. SIMPLE - CUTE - DONE! You get 2 sheets of PML cards in the City Sidewalks Paper pack (X7213B) It has the same image on both sides but one side is vertical and one side is horizontal!

I'm going to step away from all the Holiday posts for today.  Don't worry - there is still alot more to come!  Yesterday was my youngest daughter's birthday.   She turned 22!  I have no idea how that happened because I don't think I've gotten any older.  HA! I wanted to create a fun card for her with the new Thin Cuts and stamp set I got - Sweet Birthday. At first glance, one might think this would lean to the juvenile side of birthday stamps.  I know that is what I thought when I first saw it in the book.  I didn't order it in the beginning because I felt I had plenty juvenile birthday stamps.  When Close To My Heart released the Thin Cut for this stamp I decided to purchase it.  You know.... sometimes all we need is one small reason to justify our purchases. Yesterday, I decided to use this stamp for Kayli's birthday card and wanted to challenge myself to create a card that could be used for anyone of any age!  I really like how it turned out.  Thi

Today I wanted to share some cards I created with the Happy, Happy Christmas Bundle leftovers.   In case you don't know what the Happy, Happy Christmas Bundle is, it is Close To My Heart's November special.  You get a wonderful bundle of supplies to create a beautiful Christmas Album with 5 layouts and enough left to create additional projects.  To see all the details on this special, check out my earlier blog post HERE . After I finished all the layouts and projects with the Happy, Happy Christmas Bundle, I still had several PML cards and a few My Crush Pages left.  So I decided to create a few Christmas Cards!     I love using Picture My Life cards to create cards because they are quick and easy! Here are some of the cards I created.  I still have a few more to finish and when I do, I'll share those later. This one was so simple!  This was a 4x6 PML card so I created a 5x7 card so that I would not have to trim off any of the buildings.  I layered it onto Sla

I usually place small bowls of Christmas Candy on the tables at my Christmas Card workshop to get everyone in the spirit and also to provide a little extra energy to crank out those cards!  This year I decided to use my City Sidewalks Digital cartridge to create my center pieces of candy! I purchased red plastic rectangle boxes at the Dollar Tree and then set to work to create a little table village.  I glued two 2" x 12" pieces of Glacier cardstock together and adhered my houses, trees and car to it.  This made for easy transport because I could fold them flat and then when I set up the tables I just opened them up and slipped them around the dish. Here is a side view so you can see how the band wraps around the dish. Near the end of the workshop, I drew 8 names and people got to take them home.  They can use them like I did - as a decoration or they can use it on their scrapbook page!   

Last Saturday I held my Annual Christmas Card Workshop.  Instead of having 2 different dates, this year I rented one big room my workshop on one day.  I also added an extra option - a Card Dessert Buffet!  After the attendees were finished with their card workshop- 10 Cards created with the Oh Deer! paper and Compliments, they could then add some desserts! These were the cards created in the Oh Deer! Card workshop: I had 14 different card designs to choose from for my buffet so there were plenty of choices! Here are my dessert cards they got to choose from:   Christmas Throwback! I brought these cards back from the 2015 White Pines Cardmaking Kit I have one more card that I don't have a picture of at the moment but I'll be sharing that one soon. It was definitely a fun day and I think the desserts were an extra special treat.  I'm already looking forward to planning next year's workshop!

Welcome to our Happy, Happy Christmas Blog Hop !  This special hop features Close To My Heart's November special - Happy, Happy Christmas bundle!  The consultants participating in this blog hop will be sharing ADDITIONAL things you can create with this awesome bundle.  If you came here from  Melinda Everitt's Blog  you are on the right track!  When you get to the bottom of my post look for the next blog link to hop to the next blog!  If you get lost, you can see the entire blog list  HERE. I created all five layouts AND the additional projects with my bundle and I STILL had several My Crush pages and Picture My Life cards left.   After placing the layouts in my beautiful red Legacy Album that came in the bundle, I realized that I really needed a cover page for the beginning of my album.  So I went back to my leftovers to see what I could come up with. I think it turned out quite lovely for a cover page and it was so easy! I used two of the My Crush pages.  The gre

Welcome to the November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we are featuring the New Year's Cheer stamp. This set of 12 stamps, which coordinates with the Flower Market cricut cartridge. If you have come here from Darlys Recker'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 is a fun stamp to have if you are having a party!  I love the champagne glasses and bubbles!  This stamp set just said "GOLD" to me so I created my card with alot of gold embossing! I used the Dot Overlay from the All About the Gold Fundamentals (Z3246) for the top of my card.  To adhere this piece to the card, I used little squirts of Liquid glass behind each dot.  Next, I stamped "Cheers" and the sentiment with Versa Mark Ink directly on the card and used the Ranger Gold Embossing po

I am so excited about Close To My Heart's November special!  Happy, Happy Christmas is a wonder workshop bundle that you are going to love! Choose Red Post Bound Album Bundle - CC1180 or Red D Ring Album Bundle - CC1179 The Happy, Happy Christmas is a workshop designed to help you have a happy, happy Christmas! You will create not only a beautiful Christmas album in preparation for the holiday season, but you will also have plenty of materials to create four additional projects that would make beautiful holiday gifts! It’s like getting five amazing projects all in one workshop! Let's take a look at the layouts.  These layouts are created with My Crush pages and the Happy, Happy Christmas Picture My Life Cards!  Everything you need to create these layouts are included in your bundle - even page protectors and a beautiful red Album!  No need to add any additional items to your shopping cart! When you finish the layouts you can create even more!  Check