H2H Challenge -- Mad About Markers

Slipping in just under the wire...the Mad About Markers Challenge over at Heart 2 Heart is delightful. I was incredibly late to the Copic marker gang but I am catching up quick. 

I made this card last week for a local coffee shop class...and for me this is one of those rare creations that comes together effortlessly and makes me feel like I might have some skills at card-making after all. 

This is my favorite color combo--black and white and aqua.

Until we meet again,

Sarah

Six Ways to Use the Santa Hat Die

So I've recently been a little obsessed with the Santa Hat Die that is part of the set of dies that goes with the Beary Christmas Cardmaking set. 

Here's the Beary Christmas Cardmaking stamp set and the Thin Cut dies that accompany it, when you order the bundle. DIRECT LINK to the Bundle.

On my Instagram, for the past week, I've been sharing one idea each day for how to use the Santa Hat Die. I thought I would summarize the six offering here too--to keep them all in one place.

Day One

Simple and straightforward--use the Die in conjunction with the stamps just as it was made to be used. 

It just seems right that a Santa Hat has a fluffy little Pom Pom on its tail...so that's what I did. 

Day Two

Cut two Santa Hats out of cardstock (one red and one white) and layer them together for a very realistic looking Santa Hat. 

Day Three

And now the super fun begins! Cut the hats out of GLITTER paper and assemble together. 

Glitter makes everything happy, don't you think?!

Day Four

If you like a softer design, let's cut the Santa Hat Die out of felt! 

Thin Cut dies are perfect for cutting shapes out of felt. The layers can be adhered together using Matte Medium or any liquid adhesive that dries clear. 

Day Five

 

We are back to layering cardstock hats together and creating a sweet little gift tag, with the perfect spot for personalization. A little foam tape between the layers will add some dimension. 

Day Six

Today we  are playing a quick game of "Can you spot the Santa hat?"

Cut the Die out of New England Ivy Cardstock twice and trim the band from on layer. From the other die cut, snip off the floppy part of the hat. Turn it upside down as shown and use pop dots to add the band to the top of the pot. 

I hope you've gotten some new ideas for how to use the Santa Hat Die.

I have two more ideas for using the Santa Hat Die...check back on Friday to see those. 

Until we meet again...

--Sarah

My Promise to You, My Customers

So I am a new Close to my Heart demonstrator but I've been a scrapbooker for more than 22 years. I learned to stamp from a DOTS demonstrator back in the day and I have always loved their products. I've been thinking about a few things that are important to me...

I firmly believe that there is room in the creative world for everyone and every brand. CTMH is a wonderful company but they are not the be all, end all and the only people who are exclusively loyal to CTMH are some folks who sell it. That will never be me. I'm a papercrafter first and a demonstrator second. 

My promise to my customers is that I will not become one of those demonstrators who loses her objectivity in favor of her salesmanship. If CTMH has an outstanding product, I will be happy to tell you all about it. I will not lead you towards products that I haven't used personally. 

My promise to my customers is that I will never (yes I know that's a strong word) put out unfinished no-photo layouts in order to sell you stuff. I see it quite often but I just can't get on board that train. A scrapbook page from my desk will always be finished because above all else, I am a genuine authentic scrapbooker. I have no interest in pages without photos. I don't work that way and I don't expect you to. 

My promise to my customers is that I will always use my real photos on my scrapbook pages because that is what scrapbooking is. Ordinary photos--generally undoctored and most of them taken with an iPhone. (There may be the occasional photo stolen from social media, but I'll let you know if that's the case.) I believe that there is intrinsic value in showing a completely finished page. It demonstrates that this is a doable process. It demonstrates that there is value in the struggle of a completed layout. It gives perspective. And let's not discount what can be learned from the photos themselves. 

My promise to my customers is that I will always encourage storykeeping as well as creativity. I do not believe that the two are mutually exclusive. In my view, a well-designed page has four components--story, photo, title and embellishment. I'm ever pursuing good design through good balance of each of those components. 

If these ideas appeal to you, I hope you'll hang around and let's make things together.

Love,

Sarah

Falling for You and Feel So Blessed

For the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge #6

The Falling for You Scrapbooking kit has plenty of versatility going for it--yes it's great for fall themed pages but it also contains some universal patterns. This is one of the things that Close to my Heart does really well.

And the Block Alphabet die set,  of course. Because ya know...that Alphabet is perfect for pages!! Are we seeing a developing theme here?

Don't forget about the Stamp of the Month!

The September stamp (set) of the Month has this awesome feather in it that has so many uses...and it's available only in the Month of September at the discounted price of $5 with any $50 purchase.

Sometimes I forget how much I like the look of heat embossing. It requires a couple extra steps--ya gotta drag out the heat gun and keep the embossing powder from getting everywhere...yes I can be the laziest stamper around sometimes. 😬

If you wanna do a little shopping

CLICK HERE!

Unitl next time,
--Sarah

CTMH Technique Blog Hop - Fabulous Foil

Welcome to the Fabulous Foil edition of the CTMH Technique Blog Hop! I'm sure you enjoyed the artwork at Michelle Johns' My Flights of Fancy blog, the previous stop along the Hop!

Close to my Heart offers foil cardstock in both Gold and Silver. Perhaps when you think of foil, you relate it to something that gets damaged easily like aluminum foil. Don't be put off by the term "foil"--this is a sturdy metallic cardstock-weight paper, in the standard 12x12 size.

I have assembled this quick list of tips that I thought about as I worked with the foil papers. 

 

In my opinion, foil paper falls into the **bling** category along with glitter paper and as part of preparing for the Technique Hop, I realized that they work together oh so nicely! 

My primary techniques for using foil paper is die-cutting and matting photos. As you can see, this paper cuts crisply and definitely draws your attention in. In this first layout, I used the foil paper for the photo mat and the title. Those die cut letters were cut using the Block Alphabet set. (I am in love with the Block Alpha.) 

Pretty straightforward stuff. The magic of foil paper is that a little brings in a lot of power! 

Below is the pocket page that accompanies the above Pensacola page, with the many other photos. There's no foil paper on it...I just wanted to mention it because so many people tend to wonder about single photo layouts. (How could you possibly only use one photo on a page when you have eleventy billion pictures to Scrapbook? This is how. ;)

Foil paper is the perfect medium for elegant bold stripes! And while gold and silver don't have to be strictly Christmas...they sure do bring out the glamorous holiday flare!

Quite often I draw inspiration for paper-crafting from styles that are popular in the home decor space. Gold and white stripes with black polka dots are very on trend right now. 

My last layout takes on the silver foil for a very classic page reviewing a few thoughts about our 25 years of marriage. 

Again with the Block Alphabet letters--yes. I told you I'm in love. ;)

I hope you enjoy seeing the many projects using foil paper in the CTMH Techniques Blog Hop. Your next stop will be at Haley Dyer's The Inky Scrapper Blog.

For a comprehensive list of the ten participating bloggers, visit Melissa Robinson's Blog My Heartfelt Sentiments Here.

If you would like to try the foil paper from Close to my Heart...CLICK HERE!!

And those fabulous Block Alphabet dies...check those out too. They are universal!

Finally, please join me on Facebook at the CTMHStoryKeepers page. There I share design ideas and more storykeeping content.

Until next time,

--Sarah

CTMH Stronger Together

ANNOUNCING : STRONGER TOGETHER   As previously announced, Close to my Hearth has prepared a stamp set designed specifically to benefit those affected by disasters, such as the recent hurricanes in the United States and the wildfires throughout the US and Canada. The stamp set is titled Stronger Together and features a variety of sentiments that can be used for comfort, encouragement, and more.

This C-size set is available for purchase starting today; find it on my website using item number C1716. In order to be able to support multiple needs, we have determined that proceeds from the sale of this set will be donated to the Red Cross, which provides relief efforts to multiple disasters, and which will allocate the funds to where they are needed most. 

In order to maximize the donation amount, this set will be non-commissionable. This way ALL proceeds—including the amount that would normally go toward paying commissions—will be donated to the Red Cross.

CLICK HERE to purchase Stronger Together!

As a bonus, anyone who purchases Stronger Together through my website before next Friday 6pm will receive a handmade card from me!