September promotions

Hello everyone and happy friday!

September has flown by and today marks the last day to get the great deals from Close to My Heart:

1.  Stamp of the Month



It's a beautiful fall/Thanksgiving set.  You can get it at $5 if you place an order of over $50 qualifying products.

2.  Create Kindness Campaign

The fabulous Create Kindness card kit was sold out.  But the card bases and stamp sets are still available so you could buy just the components and continue the celebration!
I really like that the stamp sets can be bought a la carte.  If you like to make a gift to a fellow crafter, they are perfect!  Oh so cute and great price point!

Thanks for stopping by!

Congrats

I am preparing a card for my friend who's having a baby shower.  Baby shower cards are always a challenge.

They do not want to know the gender of the baby until its arrival.  Hm.....that presents an additional challenge for me when I'm making a card for them.

I turned to the critters from Lawn Fawn - everyone likes them, right?  No need to debate whether it has to be yellow or green. Further, it does not necessarily have a stroller or a stork or a onesie on the card:

The fox and the owl came from the Jump for Joy set and instead of sweeping leaves this time, I made them hold the word congrats across the card.  I bet it's more fun and exciting than sweeping leaves. :)  I also used some Lawn Fawn stand-alone dies - the smiley face, the sun and the clouds.  Oh the grass and the stitched border too.

So much fun making this card, hope the parents-to-be like it too.

It's entering the following:
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspiration - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Ellibelle's Creative Moments - Critters and Creatures

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Lake Moraine

Today, I'm sharing a layout showing pictures taken at Lake Moraine.

I've used the sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

My photos are landscape so I turned the sketch 90 degrees clockwise to create my layout:

I realized that I need some blues and greens to scrapbook this trip to Banff!  I don't have that much but I have a leaf patterned paper for background which gives me the opportunity to take the Challenge at Shimelle's blog - to use leaves.  :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Birthday Wishes

Happy Friday!

How's your National Stamping Month so far?

I'm glad that I have been having some good time stamping and crafting!  Yay!

I'm sharing a masculine birthday card today.  I did play with watercoloring.  How fun!

This is a retired Close to My Heart stamp set.  When I bought it I had in mind how I wanted to create a card and it turned out exactly I wanted.  Time for happy dance!  You know, this only happens once in a blue moon.

I'm entering my card to
Heart 2 Heart Challenges - CTMH stamps
Seize the Birthday - birthday + frmes
Craftaholics R Us - Guys + Birthdays

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Lake Louise

During last month's family reunion, we went to Banff and other places.  We loved the scenic beauty!  The weather was not always the best but we kept on taking pictures regardless.  The views were just breathtaking!

I'm sharing one picture taken by my phone while we were at Lake Louise.  It was cloudy when we arrived. Because of that, we thought we would take pictures after our hike.  Guess what?  After the hike up to tea house, it poured.

I'm using the sketch at Let's Get Sketchy:

The beauty of the lake is best documented using a simple layout.  I'd like the picture to be the focus because I just wanted to capture its beauty.  It doesn't need a busy layout or many embellishments.  The picture itself should pop.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  Even my journaling is kept to a minimal.

Thanks for stopping by!

Killing time (and products)

Due to a lot of reasons, I had a lot of time waiting for my flight.  I took out my Ernie figurine and started taking pictures of him at the gate.  For your reference, this figurine is my travel buddy.  He has gone on numerous trips with me pre-iphone era.  Back then, I don't think there was something called selfie. So when I wanted to take a picture of a landmark, I either take a picture like I would a postcard, or make him the face in my picture.

Today, I take selfies when I travel thanks to my smart phones.  But I still take him with me on trips and take pictures of him.  I even make a layout of him this time.

Shimelle is challenging us to use floral motifs on our layout.  How am I going to use flowers with Ernie?

I used the floral patterned paper as the background paper, then put his picture on a stripe paper to create some contrasts.  Each cluster of the embellishments has a resin flower.  It doesn't seem to be a girly layout, does it?

Anyhow, I just wanted to document the things I did while waiting for my flight.  Further, I'm glad that I finally used all the products from the kit I bought at a show TWO+ years ago (did you see the plus sign?).  I normally do not use so many embellishments on a page, but here, there are four tags on the title, many resin flowers, buttons, and stickers.  That's ok,  I told myself, as now I have more room for new goodies. :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Fall

Do you feel that fall is here?

With the time of sunrise getting later each day, air becoming more crisp, and temperature getting lower each evening, I feel that fall is here.  My niece R's birthday is approaching and I'd better practice making some kiddo cards.

I had quite a bit of fun playing with the new Lawn Fawn goodies:

I've said it many times that I love how I can mix and match the new and old Lawn Fawn goodies.  They never seem dated and one stamp/die bought could be used in many ways.  Love it!

Here, I've used the new and popular Jump for Joy set for the critters.  To build the scene, I've used the Simple Stitched Hillside borders and a tree trunk from retired Sweater Weather.  I've mixed the patterned paper - the sky is the perfectly plaid from this summer's collection while the hills come from the fall collection pack.

Playing with Lawn Fawn sets is like pulling out all goodies from the closet then pick and choose different items to mix and match.  Making a card is certainly fun, but the process is just as fun!

I'm entering my card to the following:
Color Crazy Challenge - coloring
Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
Creative Corner - Woodland Creatures
Simply Create - Fall Colors
The Crafter's Cafe - use 2 patterned papers

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

LOTSA Time

Hello everyone!  I hope those who are in the US are having a wonderful long weekend.

I'm certainly enjoying mine.  Certain items on my to-do lists are done (finally!), and I had spent some great time with friends and also some for crafting!  So happy!

I have been meaning to participate in scrapbook/layout challenge and I'm finally making it happen!

On Shimelle's blog, she is challenging us to use lots of layers.

I've made a simple one-page layout using a lot of layers from scraps:

Layout challenges are certainly fun.  I hope to do more in the future!

Thanks for stopping by!

September is National Stamping Month

Let's celebrate National Stamping Month!

In this month, Close to My Heart has various promotions:

1.  We have a new Stamp of the Month, called Blessed Beyond Measure:

2.  Create Kindness Promotion:

Use hand stamped cards to create a little more kindness!  This kit includes pre-printed card bases with envelopes, 8 exclusive M-size stamp sets, a block and an Archival Black mini pigment ink pad, all packed snugly in the My Acrylix Mini Stamp Organizer.

3.  The new Holiday Expressions is here!

Browse this delicious catalog here.

Thanks for stopping by!