A Little Valentine's Love & Giveaway!

I wanted to share these with you before Valentine's Day, but I couldn't, because some of the recipients of the items below actually read this blog!  From what I hear, these Valentines I made for my son's class at daycare went over pretty well:

Those are from the Whoo's Your Valentine kit.  The boxes came pre-cut in the kit, however our CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge is capable of making them as well!  If you didn't already already know, that cartridge has a BUNCH of 3D objects, like gift card holders, mailboxes, even little shoe shapes.  Check it out.

I made this card for my Valentine from the papers left over from the Whoo's Your Valentine kit.  I had so much fun with this one.  Isn't that little owl adorable?!  I used a design from Crafty Queens With CTMH for this card and modified it just slightly to my taste.  You can also see our new glitter paper peeking out from behind the sentiments in both of these projects.

Ready for the good part?!  In order to make enough Valentines for my son's class, I had to order TWO of the Whoo's Your Valentine kits.  As such, I have an extra stamp set!  It is really cute and could be used for any number of occasions, not just Valentine's Day.

To celebrate the new Idea Book and the month of love, I'm giving away this set (brand new, of course) along with an ink pad in Hollyhock - the same color I used on my projects above.  It's one of my favorite colors.

To enter for this giveaway, all you have to do is tell me which of the paper packs in the NEW Idea Book is your favorite!  The great Rafflecopter knows all...

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Feelin' Beachy!

I've been a Consultant with CTMH for well over two years now, and that's never more evident than when I dig into my stash of papers!  I see lots of papers that have long since retired, but that I struggle to let go of!  One of the more recent packs on the retired list is Footloose.

(Image Credit)

Aren't those awesome?!  I'm not even a big beach fan, but flipping through that paper pack makes me feel so relaxed and vacation-y.

Anyway, I still had a few papers left and need to make room for all the goodies coming from the BRAND NEW Spring/Summer Idea Book.  So, it was time to make some cards.

Click to make that bigger so you can actually see them.  I used my Footloose paper pack, some dimensional elements from Footloose, and perhaps my favorite part of these cards is the stamp I used.

This is the Under the Sea set, and I just adore it.  Best of all, it's NOT retired!  You can still get it here.  I colored the stamped sentiments with our awesome new alcohol-based markers.  These are by far the best markers I've used; I love how vibrant the colors are.  Plus, here's a confession, I love to color.  I have a two year old at home, but I have had crayons, colored pencils and coloring books in my house my entire adult life for when the mood strikes.

Hope you like these!

Merry Christmas!

Some of what I've been working on the last few days.

I love putting scraps to good use!

Inspired by this post and modified just slightly!

Thank you ALL for a wonderful year.  

I hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, 

and I wish you all the best in the new year.

Happy joy!

NEW GIVEAWAY!

I've been spending a fair amount of time lately with my new Cricut.  I adore it, but I also feel a little paranoid.  You see, my previous model sits on the floor a few feet behind me.  I swear I can feel it burning holes into the back of my head with its mind every time I applaud my new one for a job well done.  It served me well for over a year and it deserves a new and loving home.

So, as the past two giveaways have been for CTMH Cricut cartridges, I am switching things up this time - sweetening the deal if you will - and giving away the Cricut itself!  

Isn't she beautiful?!  This is the Cricut Personal Electronic Cutting Machine and it's $179.99 if you buy it new.  Yes, it's been used, but it's been well cared for, too.  I just put a brand-new blade in it for your cutting pleasure.  Aside from its cutting performance, what I love most about it is how portable it is.  The panels you see sticking out/up fold up/down respectively, and you end up with this:

You can take the machine anywhere!  All you need is an electrical outlet and you're good to go.  I love this feature for craft shows and demonstrations.

Along with the Cricut itself, the lucky winner of this giveaway will also receive:

• Power cord (of course)
• USB cable, which allows you to connect the Cricut to your computer and use the FREE Cricut Craft Room service, which just rocks
• Brand-new blade just installed
• Brand-new 6" x 12" cutting mat
• George & Basic Shapes cartridge to get you started - for several months this was the only cartridge I had and I loved it!
• AND... $10 off the next order of $30 or more that you place through me!

Yup, that's well over $200 in goodies not counting the $10 off.

How do you enter, you ask?!  Well, you'll find the widget below and it's pretty easy to use.  Do me a favor, though - share this post on Facebook, Twitter, with friends, co-workers, anyone you think might enjoy this.  I really want it to go to a great home.  I will miss it when it's gone!

Ready?!  GO!

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Don Your Santa Hat!

It's time for my very favorite kind of crafting... CHRISTMAS CRAFTING!!

I've been spending a lot of time, post-baby-bedtime, in my craft room lately.  My new Cricut Expression 2 (which I got for less than $50, yessss!) is all set up and although there was a learning curve with it compared to my old machine, it has been fantastic.  I'm SO glad I finally made the switch.  I mainly did it because I wanted to be able to cut up to 12", whereas my old machine would only go to 6".  The other benefits have been awesome.

I used my new Cricut to make these little ornaments.  They obviously aren't finished yet - but I can't very well share pictures of the finished product with you without spoiling a surprise or two!  So this'll have to get you through.

Want to re-create these?  Here's what you need.

• Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge (and a Cricut!)
• Dimensional Elements Ornaments
• Pear & Partridge Paper Pack (which has sold so well that the warehouse has temporarily run out, but I have reserves, let me know if you want one!)
• Red Glitter Gel
• Adhesive of your choice, like our Bonding Memories Glue Pen
• Hole punch and ribbon or hemp for a hanger

And that's IT!  It's easy and so much fun.

Avonlea with Stella?!

Here's the latest two-page layout I created for my son's scrapbook.  I'm only a little behind, considering he turned two last month... ha!  I really love the Avonlea paper pack from the current catalog.  Much to my (very pleasant) surprise, I discovered that my Stella embellishments work beautifully with it!

I particularly love the element in the center of that second page.  With my CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, I cut out the rear shape at 3-1/2" and then the shape to be stamped at 3".  With a sponge dauber, I applied some Chocolate ink around the edges to give it a nifty look.  I stamped it with my favorite stamp from the Family Love set, and voila!  Love it!

A Little Something for Baby Brynn

This idea was born in my head long before baby Brynn was born, but because I tend to procrastinate on things like this, she's just receiving it today at the ripe old age of five months!

I'd never done a sign made of letters like this before.  I've seen tons of them online, so I finally decided to give it a try.  For this sign, I used only paper from my (now retired, boo!) CTMH Sophia paper pack.  But of course, any current or former paper pack would work beautifully!  Little Brynn's doting mommy had told me that her nursery was pink and green, so I just couldn't pass this up.

First I used my CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the letters out of patterned paper, and I cut a twin for each letter out of plain cardstock as well.  I glued the patterned letters to their plain counterparts, then began on embellishments.

On the "B," I used two flowers from the Color-Ready Garden Wooden Shapes.  I applied Pear ink to them using a sponge dauber, then for the center of each flower I used a pearl gem.

On the "R" you'll find a two-layer butterfly that, like the letters, I also created with my CTMH Cricut AP cartridge.

The "Y" has a piece of Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon tied in a bow.  I used Hollyhock ink on a sponge dauber to color the ribbon.

On the first "N," I simply adhered three buttons from my crafting stash using Glue Dots.

The second "N" has another creation from my CTMH Cricut AP cartridge!  If you haven't tried the cartridges out yet, you really need to.  They make this so easy!

Next, I cut out thin craft foam from my local craft store to match the shapes of the letters and glued those to the backs of each letter to add some rigidity.  And finally, I used Cocoa ribbon to make the hangers.  I left them long, and looped, thinking that her mama could snip them as long or short as she sees fit, if she wants to, and tie them in bows for that extra-cute look.

I hope that Brynn and her mom love it!

Want to start creating handmade gifts of your own?  Easy peasy.  Start HERE.