Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Slimline Celebration Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Slimline Celebration Blog Hop. The Slimline Celebration Blog Hop is brought to you by the CTMH Makers who bring you the Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop on the first of each month. Today we are featuring projects created with items from the Slimline Celebration collection.

We have just shy of 10 CTMH Makers sharing their creative talents on the Slimline Celebration Blog Hop. If you just happened upon my post, please join our hop. You can complete the hop by clicking the link to the next blog (often found near the bottom of the page) until you come back to my page.

Slimline Celebration Blog Hop
Slimline Celebration Blog Hop

You should have arrived here from the blog authored by ***Kristine Ponte***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of blog hop participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

For the Slimline Celebration Blog Hop I created a few A2-size cards with wiggling characters.

owl card created with Thoughtful Critters
owl card created with Thoughtful Critters

I started with this owl card. I colored the stamped images with the TriBlend™ Markers, random stamped Papaya cardstock with Papaya ink then layered most of the color and colored images with a mix of Thin 3-D Foam Tape and 3-D Foam Tape.

raccoon card created with Thoughtful Critters
raccoon card created with Thoughtful Critters

On my second card I used Peach cardstock and random stamped with Peach ink.

I thought you might like to see a wiggling character in action, so I created this quick video.

I think this is such a quick and easy way to create some fun cards for people of all ages. I see this as a fun technique to use on cards for guys (behind a golf ball, ship, car, fish, deer and more) and on cards for women as well as children. The ideas are almost endless.

I bet you are wondering how the characters wiggle. I was inspired by a video from Crafter's Companion who call them wobbling characters. The wiggle is created by a piece of cardstock cut into a tight spiral (the spiral reminds me of the Cricut® flowers you roll with a quilling tool) no bigger than a quarter. The center of the spiral is attached to the back of the character (I used Micro Dots) and the other end of the spiral is glued to the card front (I used a Dual-tip Permanent Glue Pen and applied to the last ½ inch – be sure no glue seeps out and permanently attaches the entire spiral or character to the card front preventing the wiggle).

hedgehog card created with Thoughtful Critters
hedgehog card created with Thoughtful Critters

On my final card I mixed in some patterned paper. To "dress-up" the Shortbread cardstock behind the stamped and colored images, I used a scoreboard to create a border; unfortunately the horizontal lines do not show well in the photograph.

I had the cards standing up on the kitchen stove (it is not used often) waiting to be photographed and I noticed when someone walked by the characters would wiggle, so I decided to try to capture all of the characters moving in another video.

Unfortunately I ran out of time before I could finish the other cards I have started, but I will take a moment to remind you of some other cards I created with Slimline Celebration. My first card was created for the September–October 2021 New Product Blog Hop and features a Slimline Sentiment on the front.

Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Give Thanks
Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Give Thanks

The card below was created for my great-niece who celebrated her second birthday earlier this month; you will find all of the details about the card here.

Slimline Celebration Birthday Card
Slimline Celebration Birthday Card

I hope I was able to inspire you with one or more of the cards I shared today. Your next stop on our hop is ***CatScrapbooking***. Before you go, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:

If you are not already working with a CTMH Maker, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my e-Commerce Website.

I would love to know what you think of the cards I created; if you have a few moments, please leave a comment. I hope you are enjoying all of the projects created with Slimline Celebration. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***CatScrapbooking***.

Friday, September 24, 2021

Slimline Birthday Card

Earlier this month my great-niece celebrated her second birthday, so I created this card for her.

Slimline Celebration Birthday Card
Slimline Celebration Birthday Card

The kids received a swing set this summer. As soon as I saw the girl on the swing I knew I had to include that image on the card.

I cut a piece of White Daisy ¼" smaller than the front of a Slimline card. I then dropped some Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Sparkles randomly on the card then spritzed with water to activate. I picked up the card and moved it around to swirl the colors. When it was dry I added the Star Cluster cut from Wild Berry. I added Diamond Stickles™ to the Wild Berry, spreading it out, similar to the Jingle Joy Cardmaking Workshop instructions. I also added Diamond Stickles™ to the watering cans, mushrooms and flowers.

I paper pieced some Capri cardstock inside some of the stars to ground the die cut images. I cut the number two from a QuicKutz alphabet I had in my stash. I added Silver Stickles™ Glitter Glue to the number and some Black Diamond Stickles™ to some of the images.

  • My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Mini Garden Gnomes Stamp + Thin Cuts (CC9215) or Mini Garden Gnomes (CC9211), Thoughtful Critters Stamp + Thin Cuts (CC9216) or Thoughtful Critters (CC9212), Slimline Sentiments (CC9214)
  • Thin Cuts: Star Cluster (CC9219)
  • cardstock: White Daisy, Capri, Wild Berry
  • Slimline Cards & Envelopes (X257)
  • Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Intense Black
  • Tri-Blend Markers: Earth Brown Blend, Earth Brown Shades, Fair Skin Blend, Gold Yellow Blend, Dark Red Blend, Purple Blend, Brown Grey Blend, True Black, Alpine Green Blend, True Blue Blend, Pale Pink Blend, Gold Brown Extend, True Blue Shades, Coral Blend, Muted Brown Blend, Ice Grey Blend, Bright Pink Extend, Ice Grey Shades, Dull Green Blend, Orange Blend, Blender
  • Stickles™ Glitter Glue: Diamond, Black Diamond, Silver
  • Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Sparkles: Beyond Blue, Fuchsia Rose, Pale Blush, Purple Affair, Teal Marine, Ranger Distress Sprayer, QuicKutz Chocolate Alphabet Set
I hope you find my card fun and great for a toddler. Thank you for taking a few moments to visit today.

Monday, September 20, 2021

Flower Shop Card Kit

In case you missed the email on Friday...Close To My Heart introduced a VIP Flower Shop Card Kit.

VIP Flower Shop Card Kit
VIP Flower Shop Card Kit

The Flower Shop Card Kit comes with everything you need–except adhesive–to create (and store) 15 cards.

The Kit is exclusive to members of the VIP Customer Program. VIPs will find the VIP Flower Shop Card Box under the VIP menu on my eCommerce website once they are logged in with their CTMH Customer Credentials.

View this video for a walk-through of the kit:

The kit contents are shown in the flyer: 

VIP Flower Shop Card Kit Flyer
VIP Flower Shop Card Kit Flyer

The flyer can also be downloaded in PDF format here.

You can create 15 cards like those in this photo. 

cards created with VIP Flower Shop Card Kit
cards created with VIP Flower Shop Card Kit

After you complete the 15 cards above, you will have a great B-size stamp, stamping block, mini stamp pad and storage box to create other cards as you need them. I do not have this kit yet, but it looks like the curved stamps will work well with the retired Party Banners Thin Cuts (Z4152) making it easy to create more banners for stamping the sentiment; if you want to check your stash for the Party Banners, you can see an image of the Thin Cut on my blog here.

VIPs will earn VIP credit on the purchase of the Card Kit. VIP credit cannot be used toward the kit, but can be used for other items on the same order. The VIP Flower Shop Card Kit is only available until October 31, 2021 while supplies last.

Friday, September 17, 2021

September–October 2021 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart September–October 2021 New Product Blog Hop. The same group of CTMH Makers who bring you the Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop are putting on the September–October 2021 New Product Hop. Today we are featuring projects created with items you will find in the new CTMH September–October 2021 catalog.

We have almost 15 CTMH Makers sharing their creative talents on the September–October 2021 New Product Blog Hop. If you just came upon my post, please join our hop by clicking the link to the next blog (often found near the bottom of the page) until you come back to my page.

CTMH September–October 2021 New Product Blog Hop-cover September–October 2021 Catalog
September–October 2021 New Product Blog Hop
cover CTMH September–October 2021 Catalog

You should have arrived here from the talented ***Gina Brandstetter***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of all blog hop participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

For the September–October 2021 Blog Hop I created cards with the new Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection. Did you notice I did not say Cricut® Collections? The shapes that coordinate with the Pumpkin Spice and Holly & Ivy collections are now SVGs that can be used with any electronic cutting system that is SVG compatible.

Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Fall Card
Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Fall Card

My first card used the Fall Card SVG. I kept this card very true to the SVG (I did have to convert the card fold from a Basic Cut to Score line - more on that below). I also used the "suggested" colors from the image sample (or at least as best I could judge): Harbour, Papaya, Shortbread, Paprika, Sundance, Toffee). To make the banners have a little more dimension, I used Thin 3-D Foam Tape on the bottom and wet glue on the top where I made sure that the hole for hanging showed the Harbour "string". I could have feed the Harbour "string" through the holes, but was concerned when I glued things down that the "string" would shorten and not reach both sides of the card. I also thought about using some Perfectly Imperfect Patterns stamps on the leaves so they were not plain, but I worried that the stamping might take away from the banner. I will try that in the future when I have more time.

Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Give Thanks
Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Give Thanks

My second card is the first SVG I was drawn to: Give Thanks. I love the wood sign look and the floral spray at the top of the sign offers so many opportunities to create different looks. Again, I stayed fairly true to the colors in the image sample and used the same colors I used on my first card. I used a stencil from Card Front Stencil Pack 3 to create a background on the lighter side of Shortbread cardstock. I had planned to use two colors, but I was so pleased with the one color that I stopped after using Vintage Photo. I added Rose Gold Liquid Pearls™ to give the allusion of nail heads on the wood sign and I added Paprika Shimmer Brush to the letters. I used a variety of adhesives to create dimension.

stenciled background with CTMH Shimmer Brush
stenciled background with CTMH Shimmer Brush

I was going to stencil on my card and then I had a thought. I had a dime-sized amount of Paprika Shimmer Brush on my craft mat from working on the previous card and I hated to see it go to waste, so I decided to try stenciling with it. I had a 1" paint brush on my table from a previous project, so I wet the brush with water, then squeezed the bristles. I dipped the brush in the shimmer and "pounced" it on Shortbread cardstock. I concentrated the edges since the center would be covered. I was very pleased with the soft, almost watercolor look and there is a bit of shimmer over the entire front.

Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Give Thanks (welded)
Pumpkin Spice Digital Art Collection Give Thanks (welded)

Here is the completed card. I got the idea when I noticed the stamp set. I thought the two stamp and sign together would look like so many of the porch signs you see everywhere. I welded several of the wood signs together (flipping and rotating the image) until I got the height I wanted. I stamped twice using Black ink. Again, I used a variety of adhesives to create dimension.

A couple notes about working with the images I selected. When you place cards on the Canvas in Cricut® Design Space - and this may be true for other cutting systems as well - you may need to convert the line that indicates the fold into a score line rather than a cut. In Design Space, look for the card base and see if the skinny line is a Basic Cut.

Design Space Screenshot - Basic Cut Rather than Score Line
Design Space Screenshot - Basic Cut Rather than Score Line

To do this, it is easiest to hide the Harbour layer. Scroll to where you can see the white rectangle Basic Cut with a skinny Basic Cut. Highlight the skinny Basic Cut (click on it once), then go up to Operation in the too bar and choose Draw > Score. 

Design Space Screenshot - Change Basic Cut to Score
Design Space Screenshot - Change Basic Cut to Score

When that is done, you need to attach the Score Line to the white rectangle, but you cannot do that while everything is grouped or you will end up with something that looks like this:

Design Space Screenshot - Attach applied when Objects Grouped
Design Space Screenshot - Attach applied when Objects Grouped

If you get to this point, just undo, then UnGroup, scroll to where you can see the skinny Score and white rectangle Basic Cut and click where it says Fall Card. Then click on Attach.

Design Space Screenshot - Attach Score to Card Base
Design Space Screenshot - Attach Score to Card Base

Now you have a different "problem", but this is easily fixed.

Design Space Screenshot - Move Attached Down
Design Space Screenshot - Move Attached Down

Click on Attach (hold your finger on the mouse button) and drag it to the bottom of the Layers; if you have to do this more than one time, that is you cannot drag and get to the bottom of the layers all at once, that is OK, just repeat until the Attach is at the bottom. Next, unhide the Harbour layer then select everything on the screen (either by drawing around your mouse with it or by using Ctrl + A on the keyboard (Windows - I not not sure about the IOS key combination)) and click on Group (this assumes you have not added anything else to the Design Space Canvas).

Design Space Screenshot - Ready to Cut
Design Space Screenshot - Ready to Cut

I hope this helps you use the SVGs to create your cards. If you have any questions about this process, leave me a comment or reach me via the Contact Form to the right.

Your next stop on our hop is ***Show and Tell with Michelle***. Before you go, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:

If you are not already working with a CTMH Maker, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my e-Commerce Website.

I hope you are enjoying the projects created with items you will find in the September–October 2021. If you have a new moments, I would love it if you comment below and let me know what you think of my creations. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Show and Tell with Michelle***.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Core Catalog New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Core Catalog New Product Blog Hop. Today's hop is brought to you from same the group of CTMH Makers who bring you the Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop. Today we are featuring projects created with products found in the new CTMH Core Catalog 2021–2022 catalog.

We have just shy of 15 CTMH Makers sharing their creative talents on our Core Catalog New Product Blog Hop. If you stumbled upon my post, please join our hop by clicking the link to the next blog (often found near the bottom of the page) until you come back to my page.

CTMH Core Catalog New Product Blog Hop - cover Core Catalog 2021–2022 Catalog
CTMH Core Catalog New Product Blog Hop
cover Core Catalog 2021–2022 Catalog

You should have arrived here from the gifted ***Melinda Everitt***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda also keeps a list of all blog hop participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

For the Core Catalog 2021–2022 Blog Hop I created two cards.

card created for Core Catalog 2021-2022 Blog Hop
card created for Core Catalog 2021-2022 Blog Hop

My first card was inspired by a card on page 48. I did not plan to make it quite so similar; I was planning to use the blue/green plaid, but I could not decide other colors to use (there are so many pretty choices) so I went with the inspiration in the catalog. I used Desert Rose on the left and right sides. I used second generation Desert Rose behind the sentiment. I was so anxious to use the new Card Front Stencils, that I did not look through my papers to create the banners. The larger banner was created from White Daisy Cardstock. I first applied Tattered Rose Distress Oxide™ Ink and then used the stencil with Vintage Photo. For the second banner I dabbed a little Vintage Photo, Seedless Preserves and Tattered Rose on my craft mat, misted with water, mixed and applied with a paint brush. When it was dry, I stamped with Tattered Rose. To add some sparkle, I used Mocha Glitter Paper, Wild Berry Loose Sequins and Gold Embellishing Thread.

My second card was created with a As You Grow Picture My Life™ Card.

card created for Core Catalog 2021-2022 Blog Hop
card created for Core Catalog 2021-2022 Blog Hop

I used part of this PML card for a CTMH product launch event and I thought it was just waiting to be made into a card. I trimmed ⅛" from the left and right sides to make it 3¾" wide (it was already 5¼" high) then layered it on Harbour cardstock. I stamped and embossed on the lighter side of Harbour, cut a fish aka dove tail and attached the sentiment with Thin 3-D Foam Tape.

Your next stop on our hop is ***Show and Tell with Michelle***. Before you go, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:

If you are not already working with a CTMH Maker, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my e-Commerce Website.

If you have a few moments, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of the cardd I created. I hope you are enjoying the projects created with items you will find in the Core Catalog 2021–2022. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Show and Tell with Michelle***.

Monday, September 6, 2021

New CTMH Colors Introduced in Core Products 2021-2022

Happy Labor Day!

At the 2021 Virtual Convention several new colors were introduced in the new Core Products 2021-2022 Catalog.

Core Products 2021-2022 Catalog
Cover of Core Products 2021-2022 Catalog

The new Close To My Heart Colors are Papaya, Mulberry, Capri, Harbour, Rosemary, Shortbread, Mocha and Wild Berry (the Color of the Year).

12" × 12" Cardstock Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad Exclusive Inks™ Re-inker
Papaya Cardstock
Papaya Cardstock
(X6063)
Papaya Stamp Pad
Papaya Stamp Pad
(Z6534)
Papaya Re-inker
Papaya Re-inker
(Z7534)
Mulberry Cardstock
Mulberry Cardstock
(X6061)
Mulberry Stamp Pad
Mulberry Stamp Pad
(Z6532)
Mulberry Re-inker
Mulberry Re-inker
(Z7532)
Capri Cardstock
Capri Cardstock
(X6057)
Capri Stamp Pad
Capri Stamp Pad
(Z6528)
Capri Re-inker
Capri Re-inker
(Z7528)
Harbour Cardstock
Harbour Cardstock
(X6062)
Harbour Stamp Pad
Harbour Stamp Pad
(Z6533)
Harbour Re-inker
Harbour Re-inker
(Z7533)
Rosemary Cardstock
Rosemary Cardstock
(X6058)
Rosemary Stamp Pad
Rosemary Stamp Pad
(Z6529)
Rosemary Re-inker
Rosemary Re-inker
(Z7529)
Shortbread Cardstock
Shortbread Cardstock
(X6059)
Shortbread Stamp Pad
Shortbread Stamp Pad
(Z6530)
Shortbread Re-inker
Shortbread Re-inker
(Z7530)
Mocha Cardstock
Mocha Cardstock
(X6060)
Mocha Stamp Pad
Mocha Stamp Pad
(Z6531)
Mocha Re-inker
Mocha Re-inker
(Z7531)
Wild Berry Cardstock
Wild Berry Cardstock
(X6056)
Wild Berry Stamp Pad
Wild Berry Stamp Pad
(Z6527)
Wild Berry Re-inker
Wild Berry Re-inker
(Z7527)

Most of the new colors are also available in Glitter Paper: Papaya (Z2543), Mulberry (Z2541), Capri (Z2539), Harbour (Z2542), Mocha (Z2540), and Wild Berry (Z2538).

Some of the new colors are also available in Shimmer Trim: Papaya (Z5014), Capri (Z5013), and Wild Berry (Z5012). Shimmer Trim is now also available in Candy Apple (Z5015), Clover (Z5016), and Rose Gold (Z5017).

All of the new colors will soon be available in Shimmer Brushes too (they are currently en route to the CTMH warehouse): Papaya (Z4289), Mulberry (Z4291), Capri (Z4288), Harbour (Z4294), Rosemary (Z4290), Shortbread (Z4293), Mocha (Z4292), Wild Berry (Z4287).

As I mentioned earlier, the Color of the Year is Wild Berry.

CTMH Color of the Year – Wild Berry
CTMH Color of the Year – Wild Berry

In addition to cardstock, a stamp pad and re-inker, Wild Berry is also available in a few other product options:

Wild Berry Glitter Paper
Wild Berry Glitter Paper
(Z2538)
Wild Berry Shimmer Brush
Wild Berry Shimmer Brush (image and link coming soon)
(Z4287)
Wild Berry Shimmer Trim
Wild Berry Shimmer Trim
(Z5012)
Wild Berry Stitched Ribbon
Wild Berry Stitched Ribbon
(Z5011)
Wild Berry Dots
Wild Berry Dots
(Z5008)
Wild Berry Dots Close-up
Wild Berry Dots Close-up
(Z5008)
Wild Berry Glitter Gems
Wild Berry Glitter Gems
(Z5018)
Wild Berry Glitter Gems Close-up
Wild Berry Glitter Gems Close-up
(Z5018)
Wild Berry Loose Sequins
Wild Berry Loose Sequins
(Z5021)
Wild Berry Loose Sequins Close-up
Wild Berry Loose Sequins Close-up
(Z5021)
Wild Berry Flower Sequins
Wild Berry Flower Sequins
(Z5025)
Wild Berry Flower Sequins Close-up
Wild Berry Flower Sequins Close-up
(Z5025)

I love the new colors and I hope you do too.

If you have any CTMH product or promotions questions, please reach me by using the "Contact Me" form to the right. Have a great Labor Day.