Oh So Simple

PTI Peaceful Poinsettia, Signature Christmas, Fancy Flourishes

Okay nobody faint but today I went to the gym! It's been a long time and I have to admit that I wasn't there for very long but it's a start. The good news, other than the fact that my friend did not have to call the paramedics, is that while I was on the elliptical machine this card popped into my head. Apparently, exercise is good for creativity (I may have to go to the gym more often).

Anyway, this is a very simple 3x3, one layer card. All the stamps are PTI as is the ink - Poppy and Ripe Avocado. The cardstock is CTMH White Daisy. The only embellishment is the gem in the center of the poinsettia.

Stamping Around Philly

I love to learn and I am always looking for new techniques to teach at my classes so when this opportunuty came along, I knew I had to sign up. A crew of talented ladies will be in the Allentown area on November 6 and 7 teaching classes featuring some awesome companies. This program has already run in the New England area and has been a huge success and I am really looking forward to it. For more information and a list of instructors and sponsor companies, click HERE or click on the badge in the sidebar. If you are local and are planning to attend, by all means please leave me a comment or send me an email. I will definitely post a review after the event.

Flower Soft Thankful

PTI Vintage Picnic SS

Another Fall card using the Flower Soft Autumn mix. This time I made the flower sticks. The paper is from a CTMH retired paper pack called Harvest. The cardstock colors are Autumn Terracotta and Barn Red (also CTMH) and the basket is an image from PTI's Vintage Picnic stamp set colored with copics. I sponged Chocolate ink on the edges of all the paper and also lightly over the embossing I did with a cuttlebug border folder. Much to my surprise and dismay, I did not have matching ribbon (my DH was also shocked at this) so I cut a very thin strip of Barn Red cardstock and placed it next to the embossed border. The sentiment is a sticker from the My Stickease collection that came with the Harvest paper pack. Hope the day is beautiful where you are!

September Stamp Camp Projects

These are the projects that the girls made yesterday at Stamp Camp. The first one is a dry erase board made from frames I purcahsed at Ikea. Some of the girls decided that they would use them as picture frames instead and wanted the word "ME" instead of "NOTES" or "TO DO" stamped on the blue cardstock. Each one came out just a bit different and the creativity was just amazing.

The second project was a popsicle card which they all thought was really cute. Many of them chose to use different colors for their flowers.

On a different note, thanks for all the comments and emails on Gallup's adventures. My husband has returned home from San Fransisco and Gallup has many stories to tell to the great delight of my daughter. Apparently in addition to Chinatown, the horse has been to wine country and over the Golden Gate bridge. Not bad for a stowaway!

Gallup in San Fransisco

Gallup looking at Alcatraz

This week my DH has been in San Fransisco for business. This is also the week where mom's "taxi service" for after school activities began and I had to prep for two upcoming classes I am teaching as well as stamp camp this weekend, so I haven't been able to get artwork up. However, I thought I would share with you some of the pictures my DH has been sharing with us this week of a little stowaway. Meet Gallup, my daughter's webkinz, who is now having the pleasure of touring San Fransisco.

Everyday, my daughter gets an email with a picture of her horse doing something "un"horsey with a funny caption (just like the commercial). She's getting a big kick out of it and so am I.

Gallup eating breakfast.

Gallup needs some walking around money.

Gallup in Chinatown.

Sketch 104 - Mojo Monday

CTMH Four Seasons, PTI Autumn Tags

J



It's a beautiful day outside but you can definitely feel that Fall is coming. I love the colors that this season brings and I couldn't wait to get the Autumn mix of flower soft. When I saw today's Mojo Monday sketch, I knew I wanted to do something that incorporated the colors of Autumn. I used my cuttlebug and an embossing folder to create the background and sponged Chocolate ink to bring out the embossed leaves. Nestabilities were used to cut out the circles and scalloped circles. Below is a close-up of the tree. I love the added dimension that flower soft gives to a stamped image.


I am off to prep for some upcoming classes. I hope you enjoy your day and find inspiration in the wonderful colors nature has to offer.

Digi Halloween

Image DZ Doodles, Sentiment PTI Halloween Tags

Now that I have my copics, all I want to do is color things. I feel like a kid again and I can see why my daughter spends countless hours with her crayons and markers (of course, now she wants my markers but that's another story).

The image for this stamp comes from DZ Doodles and is a free download for a limited time. I was directed to this website by Leslie (aka "The Enabler"). The paper is from Basic Grey and the sentiment is PTI.

A Card from Grace

Yesterday my girlfriend and I went to pick up the new Autumn Mix Flower Soft from a local craft store called Stacie and Gracie's Scrapbooking. The owner, Grace, is a wonderful woman who taught the flower soft class at the CK convention I attended this summer. In addition to owning the store, she also teaches classes on card making and scrapbooking using flower soft and various other techniques. Well, she hooked us up with our goodies and I also got some of the new cuttlebug folders (yay!) and when I got home, she had sent me an email telling me that I had inspired her to make this card and giving me permission to share it on my blog. I love that she used the Autumn mix on an acetate overlay. What an awesome idea and so gorgeous! Thanks so much for allowing me to share your artwork Grace.

Pumpkins and Bats

PTI Halloween Tags, PTI Kraft CS, Basic Grey CS

I have to say Martha Stewart comes up with some pretty cool punches and I have had my eye on this bat border punch for awhile. The stamped images are from Papertrey Inks Halloween Tags stamp set and the background paper is Basic Grey which I picked up at CKC. That funky looking stuff at the top was a 50 cent impluse buy at Michaels. I just knew it would come in handy for something. I only attached the bats' bodies so that I could lift their wings and give them a little dimension.

Digi Peer Pressure

Image from Digital Ink Co., CTMH Holiday Red and Black CS, CTMH ribbon

My two blog buddies, Leslie and Sarah, have not only forced me into spending money on copics and chocolate, but they have now strong armed me into the realm of digi stamps. Oh what fun! After seeing their beautiful examples of what can be done, I couldn't help myself. Check out Leslie's scarecrow and notice how she clearly admits her role in leading me down this slippery slope. But what pushed me over the edge was Sarah's post yesterday of this lovely poppy which she got as a free download from Digitial Ink Co. as part of a challenge. Of course I rushed right over and grabed the image for myself. I think I am officially hooked.

As for the card, once I colored the image, it was hard to match paper so I decided to "make" my own. I inked an impressabilities with Black CTMH ink, covered it with Holiday Red CS and ran it through my cuttlebug. I really like the effect. The sentiment is actually a brad. Well, I am off to find more digi stamps.

Sketch 103 - Mojo Monday

PTI Kraft CS, Hero Arts stamp Set, CTMH Holiday CB, Cranberry, Chocolate, and Topiary ink, Cranberry Ribbon, Cranberry CS, Sakura Stardust and Glaze pens, white gel pen

Okay so it's Tuesday but yesterday was a holiday, and there was a horseshow, and my daughter is waaaaaay into horses (so am I) and I did START making this card on Monday... Anyway, here is my interpretation of this week's sketch. As you can see, I did get my Copics and while I am not at the level of the "big" girls yet, I am loving the way these work. To add a little shimmer to the card, I used Sakura Stardust pens on the berries and the leaves. A yellow glaze pen gives just a hint of dimension to the owls eyes.

Chirstmas - Back to Basics

Sometimes we get so caught up in layering and embellishments on our cards that we forget when times were simpler and we used to just stamp. I thought I would challenge myself to make a card with very few "bells and whistles" and here is what I came up with. I found this adorable Hero Arts stamp set at Michael's and since my Copics haven't arrived yet (yes, I broke down thanks to enabler Leslie), I used my colored pencils and Sakura Stardust pens to color the image. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder and some ribbon and that's about it. Just think, no extra postage needed to mail this one.

CTMH Products
Cardstock – White Daisy
Ink – Holiday Red, Olive, Chocolate

Other
Hero Arts stamp set
Sakura Stardust pens
Colored pencils
Cuttlebug border folder
Ribbon

Colors of Fall

I love the colors of Fall and wanted to incorporate them into this card. I used a rectangle as a mask for the center of my cardstock and used various Distress Inks to achieve the Fall coloring for the border (once again using the Ranger foam tool). The leaves are Spellbinders shapeabilities which were cut, embossed and stenciled. I inked the dies before cutting them and inked the "veins" after embossing with chalk inks. I am really impressed with the Tim Holtz line of Distress Inks. The colors are beautiful and the texture of the ink is wonderful to work with. It stays wet just long enough to emboss or add perfect pearls for a little shimmer.



CTMH Products
Cardstock – Colonial White, Chocolate, Honey
Ink – Chocolate, Autumn Terracotta
Stamp Set – November Word Puzzle

Other
Distress Inks – Various
Chalk Inks – Various
Shapeabilities – Harvest Leaves
Copper brads
Martha Stewart ribbon

Wishes

When I attended the Creating Keepsakes Convention this summer, I purchased a Ranger foam blending tool. I use it every chance I get. I LOVE this tool! You can purchase additional foam pads which attach to the tool with velcro. It makes the technique I used to create this card a breeze and the best part...no messy fingers so I don't look like an inky fingered freak when I have to pick my daughter up from school.

For this card, I stamped the image and embossed with clear EP. I then used a series of inks and started belnding beginning with the lighter shades and working my way from the inside out using my awesome blending tool to achieve the color I wanted. This is really a very simple technique which yields a beautiful result.

I hope you have enjoyed all the cards I showed you this week using the Treasures stamp set. Join me tomorrow and I promise to take you in a colorful new direction.

CTMH Products
Cardstock – White Daisy, Black
Ink – Garden Green, Crystal Blue, Twilight, Heavenly Blue, Petal, Black
Clear EP
Stamp Set - Treasures (CTMH September SOTM)

Tiny Treasures in a Window

Just a quick note before we get to the card. My leather tutorial seen HERE was featured yesterday on Totally Tutorials. The surprise 40th birthday party was last weekend and although we were unable to attend, I am told the birthday "boy" really liked his wallet. Now on to today's card...

My week-long feature of the Treasures stamp set continues with this standard A2 card. I used one of my favorite paper packs from the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book, Twitterpated, and created a stamped acetate window. I kept the card simple to highlight the window and sometimes I prefer cards without a sentiment so that later, if I need to, I can quickly add one to fit the occasion. The ribbon is a Martha Stewart clearance find that matches perfectly.

Inside view

CTMH Products
Cardstock – Colonial White, Chocolate
Ink – Brown Stazon, Chocolate
Stamp Set – Treasures (CTMH September SOTM)
B&T – Twitterpated

Other
EK Success scallop border punch
Circle punch
Scallop punch
Acetate
Martha Stewart Ribbon

Make a Wish 3x3

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's blog hop. A big thank you to everyone who stopped by and left a comment!

As promised, here is more artwork using the Treasures stamp set. This 3x3 card was made using a nestabilities scallop circle die to cut the shape on the front of the card. I then embossed the image with Ranger White Puffy EP. The nice thing about CTMH clear acrylic stamps is that they are bendable. Although the "Make a Wish" sentiment is curved, I was able to straighten it out on my block in order to stamp it the way I wanted up the side of my card. If only other things in life were that easy....like making kids do their homework. Yes, we are already having some issues and it's only day 2.

CTMH Products
Cardstock – Colonial White, Twilight
Stamp Set – Treasures (CTMH September SOTM)
Ink – Twilight

Other
Ranger White Puffy EP
Nestabilities die
Ribbon
Adhesive gems

Treasures - September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to September’s Stamp of the Month Blog Hop where we will be featuring the Treasures stamp set from Close to My Heart. If you have come here from Katy's Blog, you are on the right path!

We have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this awesome stamp set along with other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one. Here we go!


For this month’s card, I chose to do something simple using the new Twitterpated paper pack from the just released Fall/Winter Idea Book. I just love the Sorbet and Chocolate color combination!

CTMH Products
Cardstock – Colonial White, Chocoloate
Ink – Sorbet, Chocolate
Stamp Set – Treasures

Other
EK Success corner punch

Tomorrow, and over the next couple of days, I will be posting more artwork I have created with this same stamp set so please come back and take a look. In the meantime, "Hop" on over to Laura's Blog to see her work!

Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the Treasures stamp set is only available until September 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant or email me at cibglazer@gmail.com to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even FREE!

Here are two circle cards I created with the Treasures stamp set. The first one uses flower soft and can be seen in an earlier post HERE. The second one was embossed and the details can be found HERE along with a short tutorial on how to make a circle card using the Cuttlebug.




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NOTE: If you get lost on the hop or find links that aren't working, click HERE for a complete list of participating blogs.