Silhouette Thank You Card

Hi everyone! Here's my 2nd card that I made for Teacher's Appreciation Week. This time instead of stamping and coloring, I used my Silhouette to create this simple card. It's been a while since I made cards that did not require any stamping. 😁

Papers are from Close to My Heart, I used scrap papers mostly for the polka dots, and Chocolate (retired) for the base brown cardstock.

Dies Used:

Stitched Nested Heart Die

Rolled Rose Large

Rolled Rose Small & Medium

Watercolor Happy Birthday

Hi Everyone! Wow I can't believe it's been 5 months since my last blog post! Holy cow! Time really does fly! I apologize for my long absence. Things have been crazy, at work and at home, and to be honest with so many things I'm trying to juggle, it's all just a bit too much. My only regret is not having enough time set aside to do what I love. Hopefully that can and will change soon. 

August has got to be the month with most birthdays happenings left and right. There's probably at least 5 people I know who celebrate it this month. I'm so bad at this I actually was only able to make 1 card for now. Hopefully these friends of mine won't mind belated cards! 

I used last month's Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart. The stamp set is called Storybook Alphabet. I got this idea from Pinterest c/o Yana Smakula. Intead of using Copics though I used my love for watercolor instead and painted over the letters using Prima Marketing's watercolor confections.  I glazed over every letter with Glossy Accents hoping to give it that dimension and added my own handwritten sentiment. I wanted a clean and simple look and yet at the same time use everything I love which is watercolor and lettering. 

Here's another view from this angle.

 

Am thinking of adding some shimmer later on when it's all complete dry. We'll see how that goes. 

If you guys have Instagram account, check me out over there where I'm a bit more active. I snapped a couple of videos of how I did this card on Instragram Stories. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Halloween Bag Toppers

Hi everyone! Here's another halloween related post from me today. Last week I thought I was done with doing all the treat bags, but when it came to packing it for my daughter to take to school, I realized I didn't want to risk breaking the pumpkin bag handles. So I thought of placing them in plastics, and tying the bag opening with twine. But since the the clearance on top wasn't big, tying a twine was not doable, nor was tying it with washi tape. So yesterday I sucked it up and did bag toppers for each. I had so much fun creating these, granted it took some time, but I was glad to go back to basics and doing some paper crafting again.

I've been busy practicing calligraphy and brush lettering, and now iPad lettering that I haven't paper crafted in a while. Yesterday was a breath of fresh air so to speak.

I cut these file using my Silhouette Cameo and just went plain with all the cardstock. I had so much fun assembling the witch, and this is really a cute image.

I'm also happy that this project allowed me to add my hand lettering side. I personalized each with the teacher's names using brush lettering. I used Kuretake Fudegokochi pen in writing the names out. For some reason the ink of this pen seemed to have a nice dark black color on the cardstock that wasn't lost.

I am excited and hope my daughter's teachers will love their treat bags tomorrow!

Happy Halloween weekend everyone!

It's Halloween!!

Where did the time go? Gosh I can not keep up! I have been busy the last few weeks, (or should I say month) practicing and learning calligraphy and brush lettering. If you check out my Instagram account you'll see I've been actively posting my calligraphy and lettering progress. Because of that I've sort of neglected my card making and coloring projects. Not to mention I'm 2 years behind on scrapbooking! There is just not enough time in this world for all the crafting goodness!

My share today is halloween treat bags I made for my daughter's class. Are you surprised I'm done a week ahead of time? If you follow me the previous years you know I complete this like midnight of Oct 30th. Can you believe this year I'm done? And even made 2 kinds, for students (sans peanuts) and for teachers (generous chocolate treats).

The pumpkin bag and tags are from Cricut's Tags, Boxes and More 2 cartridge. The papers I used are Close to My Heart's Scaredy Cat collection.

The sentiments and stamp images are a mix of Lawn Fawn's Spooktacular and My Favorite Things' Frightfully Fun stamp sets. Yes, I messed up on Frankenstein and Dracula. Apparently I wasn't paying attention when I stamped them. Hopefully the teachers won't mind or notice. :)

I feel like I've accomplished a lot by finishing these way ahead of time. Forgive me, it really is the first time in years I've done this without rushing. It is a big deal for me! :)

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you guys have a fantastic halloween!

National Stamping Month

Hi All! September is National Stamping Month and Close to My Heart has a Creating Kindness campaign going on to celebrate and help create and spread kindness around the world.

The Create Kindness kit contains all the materials you need to create 24 beautiful handmade cards that you can use to brighten someone's day. Card bases are pre-printed so creating these cards will be super fast.

Check out the hashtag #createkindness on Instagram and Facebook to see what acts of kindness these little cards are inspiring and feel free to post your own pictures too!

This whole kit costs only $46.95 and offer is only good for the month of September. Hurry and get yours now!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

The whole industry is celebrating Happy National Scrapbook Day and here's my contribution to this event. It's kind of like a 2-in-1 because I also made these for Teacher Appreciation week.

I used retired papers from Chalk It Up on both layouts mixed with Picture my Life also from the Chalk It Up theme. The first layout, I used some Kiwi Lane templates to decorate, and added in some florals to decorate.

This second layout is more straightforward, I embellished with some Chalk It Up Assortment and some cut out stars.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Purse Gift Card Holder

Hi Everyone! It's Teachers Appreciation Week at my daughter's school this week so I've been busy creating the stuff she needs to bring in. I'm quite pleased to say I actually finished way before deadline, so I'm sharing this quick and easy gift card holder that's made to look like a coin purse.

Silhouette is having a 50% off  entire design store so I took this opportunity to purchase this svg file. It's so easy, and the whole point is to do something quick but a little bit special for the teachers.

I used old retired leftover scraps of CTMH Lollydoodle paper to create these. I didn't go overboard and just simply decorated it with a flower and a glitter flower embellishment from Recollections.

And this is what the inside looks like. Please excuse my dirty mat. :)
I made a little square box so I can write a quick thank you note to the teachers.

Hope they like it!

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Join Close to My Heart This April

It's Mid April and time sure flies! There's still 2 weeks left to join my team though and what better way to explain what it feels like to be part of this wonderful family than to listen to Monica herself.

Hurry! Time's running out! Would love to welcome you to my team and let the fun begin!

Planning with Mommy Lhey Stamps

I have the weekend all to myself and what better way to spend a cool, breezy, easy Saturday morning than to plan? I've neglected it a bit because I've been busy taking some Copic coloring classes but thought I'd get around to updating now that my Mommy Lhey stamps have arrived.

Here is a picture of my haul, and as you can see I pretty much cleaned out all Mommy Lhey has to offer. I super love her designs and think they are perfect for planners! For this week's spread I used Big Brush Set, All About Me and Planner Girl.

I used a mix of Memento Tuxedo black in to stamp the ones I colored in, but for the colorful ones I used Close to My Heart's Pigment Inks. I remember in one of Mommy Lhey's videos she used Versa Color ink which is pigment ink. Since I don't have those but own the entire set of Close to My Heart's pigment inks, I finally have somewhere to use it for! These pigment inks are super squishy and wet, and a little dab goes a long way. Unfortunately unlike dye inks it takes a bit of scrubbing. Unlike other brands that I've tried before (I donated them recently), these Close to My Heart pigment inks surprisingly does not leave a color stain on the stamp. Wiping with the regular baby wipes isn't enough though, so I used the Close to My Heart Spritz cleaner to go with it. Typically you should use the stamp scrubber too, just to make sure no ink gets stuck in the grooves of the stamp, but I'm too lazy for that.

As you can see, the "yey" and the 2 planner stamps from Planner girl looks very clean, like it was unused. And I used the colors pink and yellow to stamp it. I am actually surprised at how well this Spritz Cleaner works. The cute luggage stamp I used on the previous week's spread using pink ink. I love these little pigment inks, they're inexpensive, and you don't really waste a lot, a little dab goes a long way. And it's just added bonus it has its own storage Pigment Ink Insert which also happens to fit perfectly in the Small Organizer. It fits 2 layers of the insert, but if you have 2 of the same color you can also stack them on top of each other.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my share today. Happy Weekend everyone! 

 

Join Close to My Heart This April!

Hi everyone! It's April and I'm so excited to share with you that for this month, Close to My Heart is having the BEST promotion for those wanting to join the family! New consultant kit with all the essential supplies (shown in picture below) is only $75!! Plus you get $50 in select product credit. And, for this April only, you get the chance to earn a FREE Cricut collection of your choice OR $100 select product credit when you submit $350 in sales during your first 30 days. How I wish they ran this promotion when I joined back then! This is a fantastic and amazing opportunity!

I started with Close to My Heart a little over 2 years ago. At first I was in for the discount, but over the course of time I made friends with fellow CTMH sisters, attended gatherings with them and workshops and made great friends. I am motivated to build my team, hold monthly workshops, but most of all, also just enjoy the friendships to be made by doing what we all love to do - be that cardmaking, scrapbooking, memory keeping, or planning, I love and do them all!

There's nothing that I love than for you to join my team! CTMH has so much to offer and the products are great! I know because I love them and have half a craft room full of their stuff!

So breaking it down for you:

• Sign up for $75 only
• Get $50 select product credit - includes stamps, patterned papers, cardstock, inks, markers, etc
• Plus if you reach $350 in sales during the first 30 days, you get an additional $100 select product credit OR a Cricut collection (that by the way includes 3 stamp sets!) that's available only to consultants! 

Your $75 investment goes a long way here!

And when you sign up you get to purchase this April's Stamp of the Month for only $5 when you spend $50, which is so easy to do! Love this stamp set and I can already think of so many ways to use it on!

S1604 Life In Pictures

So, have I convinced you yet? I am so looking forward to have you join my team! Click here to sign up! I can't wait to meet you guys and start having fun!!!

Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Copic Refill Organization

Hi everyone! Today's share is something I stumbled upon actually by accident. I recently ordered more of the Close to My Heart organizers to put more of the regular stuff I put in, and it so happened I just got my order of Copic refills. I thought I'd try it out and was so happy that I finally found a storage solution for my Various Ink refills!

Each compartment allows me to sort by color. This makes it easier to find the right refill. Each row holds 5, and each compartment goes 5 deep for a total of 25 inks per compartment. When full you can store 200 Copic refills on this Medium Organizer. How cool is that?!? I love these organizers and use them for a lot of my stuff. They are so flexible I have one that just stores all Picture My Life cards, and I have another that stores my ribbons, ink pads, ink refills and accessories.

Now I get to store my Copic refills too!

Since I don't have a lot of refills yet, or at least enough to fill an entire organizer, I'm putting everything together first so it's nice and tight. Here's a preview of what it looks like when the compartment is filled up.

It is the just the perfect height and space. Nothing is too loose or anything like that. Here's a front view so you see how the lid still closes perfectly while filled. 

Here are some of how I use this medium organizer for. This is super perfect for Picture My Life or Project Life cards.

Also the perfect storage for ink pads, ribbons, accessories and ink refills.

And here's a front view. The bottom is the small organizer which I use to hold our Pigment Inks.

Hope you guys enjoyed my share today!

Stampganza!

For this month only, Close to My Heart has a great promotion going on.

Hurry this deal is only good for the month of March! Shop here!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello everyone! You didn't think I'd let this day slide without at least sharing some Valentine's Day cards did you? Of course not! I actually made these weeks in advance, but had not had the chance to properly photograph them so that was my last minute to do on this project.

Here are the cards I've done, mostly made with paper from the Heartstrings paper collection from Close to My Heart. These are retired papers, and since I've got a bunch leftover from last year, I thought I'd put them to good use again this year.

Here's a slightly altered version, with the hearts not having the white background. Can't tell which version I like better, but both are pretty I think.

Here's using the Heartstrings assortment button and complements.

And this once with the Poppy extra thick twine to tie it all together.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you all had a great day filled with love!

Planner Tab Dividers

Hi everyone! To continue my post from yesterday, today i'm sharing the tab dividers I made for my Simple Stories Carpe Diem planner. I used scrap papers from Close to My Heart to create these tab dividers and added pockets so I can store little note scraps here and there.

Ideally the sides of the pocket should close, but since I used only scrap papers and they're not the ideal size, I made sure I just glued the sides really tight. That also means these are just meant for small stuff, like coupons for example, since these won't expand. Given the thickness of my current planner anyway, I'm not sure this can go even further.

I also put labels on the tabs so I can identify what each pocket will be used for. I made 12 of these, but since it's redundant to keep posting the same thing, I just picked my favorite CTMH papers to show. Now I'll be able to take my coupons with me, or perhaps some grocery list and never forget where I placed them since this planner will be with me most of the time anyways. Love how these came out vs. buying pre-made ones that are a bit expensive out there. And best of all, I get to utilize my scrap papers!

Enjoy!

Yuletide Carol Projects

I almost forgot. I have 2 more leftover cards I made using last year's paper pack Yuletide Carol. I made simple layouts for quick cards, a bunch of them, and just stamped multiple times. These are simple, yet so elegant looking. Don't you just love CTMH papers?

Background paper is Yuletide Carol, the reindeer is from Miracle of Christmas stamp set, and the tree is from the White Pines Cardmaking WOTG kit stamp set.

The reindeer is colored using Copics W0, W1, W3. I used Poppy extra thick twine to accent both cards. 

And here's the stamp set and WOTG kit stamp I used.

D1656 Miracle of Christmas

G1099 White Pines Cardmaking WOTG

And that's a wrap for Christmas 2015! Happy New Year everyone!

Last Christmas Related Post

Before the year ends, I'd like to share some of the last minute projects I made. This should remind me to get things done earlier next year, to better prepare and not rush at the last minute.

Here's a tag I made for my daughter's teachers. I attached these to the gifts I gave her teachers. I used La-La Land's Pretty Poinsettia Dies. Background paper I believe is from Echo Park's Home for the Holidays paper pack.

Another quickie last minute card I made is a quick cut of Lori Whitlock's Flip Ornament file. I used White Pines paper from Close to My Heart. This paper was such a big hit the paper packs are sold out already I think. Last I checked the site there's no more White Pines paper pack available. I'll have to keep my eye out on that one.
You can't see from the picture, but I used a gold shimmer cardstock on the ornament so it has a nice sheen to it. I used Crafter's Companion gold shimmer cardstock. I love the shimmer cardstock from Crafter's Companion. They come in so many colors, tAnd I topped the ornament with a silver glitter paper from some scraps I have.

This was super easy and fast to make. And who doesn't love a swing card right?

And last but not the least, a Christmas tree card. I used White Pines paper for the background and for the tree dies I used La-La Land's Christmas Tree Die and layered it with the Fancy Christmas Tree Die. I then adorned it red and white blings since my themed for my own Christmas tree this year is red and gold. I added some gold shimmer trim on the side to accentuate the tree.

After coloring for such a long time I do miss these plain no stamping or minimal stamping projects. Sometimes less is really more.

Hope you guys had a wonderful Chrismtas and Happy New Year to you all!