Close to My Heart Father's Day Card

Hello again! I'm glad you've stopped by today. I've got a really quick little card to share that would be great for giving a gift card to your favorite Dad on Father's Day! It never hurts to make cards early...

I used some scraps from the Huntington Paper Packet to create this card. The over all size is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" which is about the same size as your average gift card. I used a retired stamp set for this sentiment but a fun one to substitute would be the Perfect Fit - Dad set. I cut the tie shape free hand from a scrap of paper and inked the edges and across where the tie would be knotted. I also inked my card, background paper, and the scrap of fabric I used. If you look back to last week's card, you will see I used a similar layout for both of my cards. I got the idea from the Originals Card Confidence Program® Book which contains 100 different card sketches and ideas to create beautiful cards!

If you head over to my good friend Lori's Close To My Heart page to shop, when you check out I'd appreciate if you'd click on the link that says Mandie from Mandie's Scrappin' Sent Me! Happy Scrappin' and I'll see you again real soon!

Celebrate Close To My Heart Card

Hello again! Looks like I'm off to a good start for my weekly posting goal. Here's a quick and easy card that I created using some scraps from the Workshops on the Go® Laughing Lola Scrapbooking Kit.

The overall size is 3 1/2" x 5" and I used a retired Close to My Heart sentiment set for "Celebrate" but there are LOTS of current choices you could use for a similar effect, like the Card Chatter - Birthday set! I inked the edges of my card and the patterned paper with Black Ink for a little extra definition.

This adorable little flower comes from the Cricut® Art Philosophy Cartridge. I cut it from my cardstock at 3" and then simply started from the outer edge and coiled it into a spiral. I used a glue gun to secure the center of it and then gently bent the petals into the shape I liked. Now I've got a quick and beautiful card that is good for almost any occasion!

If you head over to my good friend Lori's Close To My Heart page to shop, when you check out I'd appreciate if you'd click on the link that says Mandie from Mandie's Scrappin' Sent Me! Happy Scrappin' and I'll see you again real soon!

The Queen's Parade CTMH Layout

Hello again! One of my resolutions for the New Year is to blog at least once per week. Today I have a layout that I created using the Workshops On The Go® Laughing Lola Scrapbooking Kit. These kits are really fantastic because they not only come with a paper assortment and cardstock, but they also include a stamp set and embellishments. There are instructions to create layouts in the kit, but I chose to go in another direction with my kit and so I set those directions aside to use with something else.

I love to use sketches to create my layouts. I have made my own sketches, however I LOVE the Close to My Heart Idea Books and the sketch for this Layout came straight from the Imagine book. I made a few minor modifications to the sketch so it's not exact, but that's the good part about sketches, they give you somewhere to start and then you make it your own!

I wanted to add a few flowers to embellish my layout so I decided to stamp them in Black Ink out onto some scraps from the patterned paper and cardstock.You get a nice crisp image if you put that foam sheet that comes with your stamp set under your paper before you stamp. This stamp set is the one that comes with the Workshops On The Go® Laughing Lola Scrapbooking Kit. You will also want to make sure you have Acrylic Blocks to use your clear stamps on. I used the 3" x 3" My Acrylix® Block here.

Next I grabbed my Close To My Heart Micro-Tip Scissors and cut out the flowers I wanted. The smaller flowers are just the inner shape of the larger design.

For my title I used the Cricut® Art Philosophy Cartridge. This cartridge is only available through Close to My Heart and it has a huge variety of shapes and a really awesome font on it. I used my black marker to go around the edges of my letters to bring them out a bit without cutting a whole extra layer. 

Finally here's one last look at the flowers on the layout, as well as my favorite photo from the parade! This colorful dress just made me smile so much. If you head over to my good friend Lori's Close To My Heart page to shop, when you check out I'd appreciate if you'd click on the link that says Mandie from Mandie's Scrappin' Sent Me! Happy Scrappin' and I'll see you again real soon!

The Greeting Farm Cyber Monday Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to my little slice of cyberspace, Mandie's Scrappin'! Today I'm participating in The Greeting Farm's awesome Cyber Monday Blog Hop and I have 3 adorable Christmas cards to show you! The Greeting Farm has some of my favorite images to color, especially their Cheeky Cherry Collection. This little cutie is Cheeky Christmas and she is retired now but she's still one of my favorites.

Go HERE to The Greeting Farm's Blog for the complete list of Blog Hop participants! TGF is offering PRIZES for the hop! One 1st Prize Winner will get a $25 TGF Gift Certificate, 2nd Prize is a 4x6 stamp set and 3rd Prize is a single rubber stamps - but you need to hop and comment on ALL of the blogs!

I hope you've enjoyed my cards today! I had so much fun creating them. If you like what you see, take a minute to leave me a sweet comment and maybe even click on the follow button! Thanks so much for stopping by!

CTMH Thanksgiving Card

Today I have a beautiful Thanksgiving Card to share with you!I'm feeling extra Thankful this week as the tiny town I live in came VERY close to this tornado. It ended up missing our town buy about a mile but it did cause some damage to some of the rural homes in the community. But, in only the way a small town can, people have been generously donating everything from clothes, supplies, and their time to help the families affected, so I feel even MORE thankful to be part of this amazing community! Ok, on to the good stuff...

One of the really cool things about the Close To My Heart paper lines is that you can mix and match papers from the different collections pretty easily! For my card I used the Sarita Paper Collection for the background and the red is patterned paper from the ProPlayer Paper Collection. The grey and off white card stock are both from my stash.

The flower image and the sentiment "Give thanks for all you have" both come from the Happy Autumn Stamp Set. I love the fact that the flower comes in 3 parts making it very quick and easy to stamp it in any color combination you choose! The ink colors I used were: Cranberry, Sunset, Olive, and Slate. I also inked all of my edges with the Slate ink as well. Finally I added a little Baker's Twine and some buttons from my stash and in just a few minutes I had a beautiful card!

Now if only I had the energy to whip these up for the entire town..... hopefully I will be getting a little more time to play in my craft room soon... I'm going to need to make some Christmas cards - although at the rate I'm going I may just be making the cards for NEXT year!

Friend Card

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I just wanted to share a quick card I created using the gorgeous Close to My Heart Huntington paper collection.

I stamped the "Friend" onto a piece of canvas scrap from my stash with Chocolate Ink and then frayed the edges. Then I cut my Huntington papers to the sizes I wanted. I inked all of the edges in Chocolate Ink. Then I fussy cut a flower from the paper pattern with my CTMH Micro Tip Scissors and inked that as well. I adhered it with a little Foam Adhesive and then added a few gold nrads for some extra dimension.

The "Friend" stamp I used is a Hostess Exclusive Stamp. If you are interested in earning this stamp or learning about other Hostess opportunities, click right HERE for details on how Lori can help you set up an awesome party, either in person or online!

Here's another look at the card on top of the really cool gratitude plate I created at a MOPS meeting last week! The center is a chalk board where we can write what we are thankful for. Isn't it cool? Thanks for stopping by!

New Design Team Member Announcement

Hello again! I know it's been a little while since my last blog post (FEBRUARY???) but soon my youngest will be in school 3 days a week and I'm making it my mission to keep up with my blog again! What have I been doing with my time? Well, between Girl Scouts, PTO, Woman's Club, MOPS and volunteering in my daughters' classrooms... not much, LOL!

Anyway, I have NEWS!!! I was asked to be a part of an AWESOME new design team for the best Close to My Heart consultant - Lori Brown! Not only am I going to show you how to use some beautiful products, but you can BUY them too... All month long, I will be having an On-line CTMH party with Lori - you simply go to her website HERE and start shopping! When you're done, simply select me as your Hostess and I'll know that you loved the gorgeous products I've shown you. Super simple!

Now, on to my project! I've been trying to find just the right papers to go with the Renaissance Faire photos that I have and Lori gave me the Laughing Lola Workshops on the Go Scrapbooking Kit to play with. When I saw the colors with the purples and golds I knew this was the PERFECT fit for my photos! Here's the whole layout:

Below you can see one of the really cool details of my layout. I used the flower stamp that came in the kit and stamped it twice on the back of my paisley paper scrap and cut out the whole image from the first and the inner petals from the second.

Next I stamped it one more time on the yellow patterned paper and cut out just the center. I grabbed some 3-D Foam Tape to put between each of my layers to make this beautiful flower pop! Another one of my favorite techniques is distressing by inking the edges of my papers. You can see through out my layout I have distressed all of my papers with Gypsy Ink Stamp Pad and a Sponge Dauber.

I also want to point out my title block, shown below. The "Amazing" came from the Laughing Lola Workshop on the Go stamp set as well. I simply stamped it in Black Ink using my 2" x 6.5" My Acrylix Block and then cut out around it with my Close to My Heart Micro Tip Scissors. Next I stamped the words "Renaissance Faire 2009" with a retired Alphabet set called Storytime. There are a TON of gorgeous Alphabets Sets still available to choose from though!

The beautiful rhinestones accenting my title also came in the kit! I have more projects to come with the same kit so I hope you'll check back soon to see what else I've created. You can get my posts delivered right to your inbox by subscribing to by blog in the sidebar also. Thanks for stopping by today!!!