May16

Simple Mother’s Day Card

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Hello there! I have two more Mother’s Day cards to show you, using only Close to My Heart 2013 Spring/Summer catalog products. If you missed my previous two posts, just use the search bar on the right to find the Mother’s Day category. This is the card I made for my husband’s Grandma. We each have one grandma left, fortunately, so we like to celebrate Mother’s Day and include our matriarchs.

I was looking for inspiration while creating this card at a Cricut crop, when I searched for 2013 Mojo Monday card sketches. I usually like their ideas for laying out a card, so they’re a great resource. Here is what I looked at for inspiration and then I made it my own card from there. This is Mojo Monday Sketch 281.

I used a basic white cardstock base and then laid a piece of 2″ X 12″ Pear Cardstock down (cut 4″ x 5.25″) and used my Cricut Expression to cut out three circles and the shape that matched my stamp. I used the Cricut® Artiste and the Cricut® Art Philosophy cartridges for those shapes, and the paper used is from my favorite paper of all time: the Chantilly Paper Packet. See the horizontal line in the card above? I used the zip strip from the paper packet. The paper is slightly longer on one side and has decorative patterns or words that can be cut and used in your projects. I love that!

The stamp I used is from the Perfect Fit—Mom collection, and the ink used is Outdoor Denim. It coordinated well with the Outdoor Denim Chevron Ribbon and the button from the Buttons Green Assortment. I also used Outdoor Denim, Buttercup and Pear ink on the edges of the circles. I love how everything matches with Close to My Heart’s product line!

Thanks for reading my blog! If you’d like to order from the Chantilly collection, click the link. If you liked my Mother’s Day cards, you’ll LOVE this paper packet and the whole Chantilly collection!

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May15

Using Fabric and Zippers to Make Cards

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Using Fabric and Zippers to Make Cards

Hey there! Welcome to our Close to My Heart Technique Blog Hop! Seven of us are blogging about this month’s challenge: “using fabric on your layout or project” with Close to My Heart’s new textiles, which come in two sets of three fabrics each. Think of this blog hop as a big circle – you may start wherever you are and then simply follow the link at the end to the next blog post to see all of the colorful artwork using this technique.

If you are coming from Tabbi’s blog post, you are on the right track!

I have only used fabric in a card once before, and I wasn’t crazy about the way it turned out, so I was curious/nervous/excited and hopeful my project would turn out okay if I tried using fabric again. However, when using textiles designed to match the paper I’m using AND watching a couple of YouTube tutorials, I found the results kind of exciting! I am definitely going to use more fabric in my projects after trying these techniques used in the cards below.

These are the two cards I made with fabric for my sister-in-law (on the left) and my Grandma (on the right) for Mother’s Day.

My favorite CTMH Paper Packet is the new Chantilly collection, so all of the Mother’s Day cards I made were created using this beautiful double-sided paper and coordinating card stock.

For the first card, which is actually the last card I made, I made a rosette cloth flower with Liquid Glass, a portion of the pink patterned fabric from Chantilly Textiles, and a sweet fabric badge button from the Chantilly Assortment set. I love how these paper colors come together! This may just be one of my favorite cards I’ve made, and it’s another card I designed from my head as I went along and made it. I’ll be adding pinking shears to my wish list so I can re-create this adorable zig-zag edge again.

blog-CTMH Chantilly Fabric Rosette

I’ve wanted to use my Fiskars lace edge punch with our new Hollyhock Zipper Lace because the pattern looked similar to me. I debuted it with this card and I like how the two similar patterns complement one another. The cute “You’re Sweet” sentiment came from the zip strip I cut from the top of the paper I used. There are several cute patterns and phrases on top of each of our Close to My Heart B&T Duos papers. To add a final touch, I placed a few Pink Glitter Gems on the card.

I found inspiration in a card sketch featured in Make It from Your Heart® Volume 1 and made this card for my Grandma, who is VERY talented with all things fabric, yarn, string, embroidery floss and sewing thread. She can make ANYTHING from a custom designed real estate agent belt, to a cozy for my KitchenAid mixer, to tiny hand crocheted flowers, to an iPad tote bag, and custom patches for clothing. When I think of Grandma, I think of fabric, thread, yarn, computers (she’s very high-tech!) and creativity.

This fabric card reminds me of an apron! Can you see it? When I attached the fabric with Liquid Glass, our incredible and powerful multi-tasking clear glue, it needed something to conceal the top. I had some leftover yellow zipper fragments from my zipper flowers and attached one to the fabric, but the adhesive showed through and looked ugly. Using a small piece of Chantilly paper, I covered the dingy glue on the zipper using some glue dots and my ATG tape gun.

For the Mother’s Day sentiment, I used my Cricut Artiste cartridge to cut the shape and stamped it with Outdoor Denim ink and a matching stamp from the Perfect Fit—Mom acrylic stamp set.

I completed the card with some Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems and stick pins from the retired Bling Assortment collection.

Thank you for reading my blog post! Please continue on to Wendy’s blog where you will find some additional artwork highlighting the use of fabric on your layout or projects. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my variation and… “happy hopping!”

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May14

World’s Greatest Mom

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

World’s Greatest Mom

Happy Mother’s Day! (this post was supposed to be completed and go live last Sunday)

I wanted to make Mom a very special card for Mother’s Day and thought it was a good time to try making rosettes. They seem to be all the rage right now in the paper crafts world, so I was finally trying this trend! I used my Close to My Heart Artiste Cricut cartridge because it has 7 or so different rosettes to choose from. I cut two strips out and scored them with a Martha Stewart score board and stylus, and used a hot glue gun to attach the pieces together and then to attach the rosette to the card. In order to cover the seams where the two pieces joined, I added some sweet buttons (CTMH Buttons Pink Assortment) and some sparkly Pink Glitter Gems to the rosette. For the center of the rosette, I used my CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut a shape that was similar to the stamps I used from my Perfect Fit—Mom acrylic stamp set.

I used Buttercup and Cotton Candy CTMH cardstock and Chantilly (my FAVORITE) paper for this card, which was inspired by a past Monday Mojo card sketch. blog - World's Greatest Mom 2013 card

Here is the card sketch that inspired my card:

Since this was a sketch from earlier this year, I didn’t play along and enter the contest or link to the blog post – but that’s OK. I just love all of the inspiration I get from those Mojo Monday card sketches!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother’s Day. I love my mom very much and I am very blessed to have the perfect mom designed for me. God definitely knew what He was doing when He created me for my parents, because I wouldn’t ask for anyone else to have raised me. <3

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May4

Dream Pop Blog Hop Birthday Card

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Dream Pop Blog Hop Birthday Card

Hello, and welcome to our Close to My Heart “Dream Pop Blog Hop!” Try saying THAT ten times fast.

Today four members from our Playing With Paper team are sharing artwork featuring some of our favorite products from Close to My Heart. Today the emphasis is on the Dream Pop paper packet. If you have come here from Brittany’s blog, you are on the right path.

If you’re wondering what Dream Pop is all about, I made a video showcasing this new, exclusive paper packet in a recent blog post: Introducing the Dream Pop Paper Packet! In that post, I also featured another colorful card using this special paper packet, which can only be purchased in the Month of May 2013.

Today’s card was inspired by the Mojo Monday 291 card sketch. Here is the image I looked at to create my card:

I thought I’d do something different and create the circular card option. This card is 4.25″ in diameter because I wanted it to fit in an A2 envelope.

The scalloped circles and regular circles were all cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge from Close to My Heart. I cannot stop raving about this cartridge – between this and the Artiste cartridge, I have just about any shape I could possibly need!

I used Goldrush cardstock for the background/card base; White Daisy cardstock for the “Celebrate” birthday stamp; one of the cheerful Dream Pop papers and three of the Dream Pop embossed cardstock sheets to create this card. The sentiment was from Stamp Set B1417, Perfect Fit—Birthday; the ink I used was Lagoon; the ribbon and metal circular embossed shape were from the Mini-Medley Accents Smoothie Collection; and the pink resin flower is from the Claire Assortment.

These next few pictures show off more of the Dream Pop Paper Packet. I love to make these simple 3″ x 3″ thank you cards to have on hand and Close to My Heart products make it easy because all of their paper matches their ink and embellishments; and many of the stamps work with shapes cut from our two Cricut cartridges!

These CTMH ink pads seem to work well with this paper packet: Lagoon, Gypsy, Cotton Candy, Slate or Grey Wool, Sunset, Sorbet, Smoothie, Goldrush. My two CTMH Cricut cartridges and these stamp sets made these cards easy to whip up: D1531 Word Balloons from the Cricut Artiste Collection, D1525 Casual Expressions Occasions and D1546 Frame Flair.

Thank you for reading my blog – and if you’d like to order $35 or more in regular price products, you can get this Dream Pop paper packet for just $10… and then you’ll only be $5 away from qualifying for the super cute $5 Stamp of the Month!

Now it’s time to hop on over to Rachel’s blog to see another idea for how to use the Dream Pop paper packet.

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May3

Home Sweet Home

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Home Sweet Home

My husband and I recently worked with a lovely couple and helped them purchase a beautiful home. We attended their wedding and on their special day, I gave them this Mr. and Mrs. card along with this wall art.

I broke out my new Close to My Heart Claire Paper Packet for the first time and used it for this 12″ x 12″ project. Using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, I cut out the nine houses and the sentiment. I had to use a ruler, a triangle and my ruled self-healing cutting mat to get everything straight. I’d like to go tell the young me that yes, you will still use math as an adult someday – even in your hobbies!

I used some Natural Hemp and a Piercing Too to hand stitch through each house. I think it took me about three hours to make this piece of wall art. Next time it would take a little less time because I wouldn’t have to play around, guessing what size to cut everything. I’d say laying everything out straight and hand-stitching nine houses took the most time, but it was worth it to make a special wedding gift.

Thanks for reading my blog – and if you would like to buy a replica of this or another version with different paper, please leave a comment below and let me know.

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Apr27

Introducing the Dream Pop Paper Packet!

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Introducing the Dream Pop Paper Packet!

I am excited to bring this blog post to you today! It features a Monday Mojo-inspired card and a video I made to show you all the FUN papers in this special Dream Pop paper packet.

Every May is National Scrapbooking Month and Close to My Heart celebrates this with a new Constant Campaign each May. For May 2013, CTMH is offering this exclusive Dream Pop paper packet for only $10 when you spend $35 (a $19.95 retail value)! This cheerful paper packet includes 12 shiny embossed cardstock sheets as well as 12 double-sided B&T Duos^® papers that were specifically designed for this promotion only.You can’t get these sweet colors and patterns anywhere else and they are not featured in our catalog! Start National Scrapbooking Month off right with a unique paper packet at a bargain price and get your creative juices flowing! Also, consider hosting this month: Hostesses receive one paper packet free with qualifying May Gathering sales totals of $400 or more.

Today’s card is based on the Monday Mojo Card Sketch #290 and features the exclusive Dream Pop Paper Packet.

To make this card, I used the Accent Essentials cartridge to cut some hexagons at 1.25″ (which is the perfect size for our exclusive Honeycomb stamp set). I ran the Color-Ready Garden Wooden Shape through an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug machine and then inked it up with a sponge dauber and my Goldrush Exclusive Inks® Stamp Pad.

I added a grey button from the Mini-Medley Accents Slate Collection and threaded it with some Natural Hemp from CTMH.

The “hi” was created by inking the Irresistables Polka-Dot Alphabet stickers (retired) with my Grey Wool (or Slate Exclusive Inks® Stamp Pad) ink pad.

Thanks for reading my blog post, and remember – you can only get this exclusive Dream Pop paper packet with your order in May 2013. If you spend $35 in regular priced retail product, you can get this for only $10 and the your total will be $45. If you spend just $5 more on some Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape and/or other coordinating products, you’ll hit the $50 mark… and when you spend $50, you can purchase the Stamp of the Month for only $5!!

Start shopping now…

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Apr16

Poker Face

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Poker Face

Last year, my husband hosted a fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society through a Relay for Life family style (no drinking or bad language) poker party. He and his friends raised at least $1,500 for the cause, which – as a survivor – is very close to his heart! To wish him success at his fund-raiser, I made him this poker greeting card using some cardstock stickers, glitter glue, playing card paper, ink and a sponge dauber, grossgrain ribbon, a DCWV card base and a rhinestone spade from Michael’s.

Here are some fancy close-ups of the card.

Here’s the bling from the 99 cent section at Michael’s:

P-p-p-p-p-p-poker face! As I prepared this blog post, I realized it’s National Poke Dale Chumbley Day. Years ago, a friend of ours started this mock-holiday as a reminder for us all to inundate him with pokes on Facebook! He is the ultimate “poker player” – he rapidly pokes back anyone who pokes him on Facebook and has even taught classes all about the Facebook poke button.

Thank you so much for reading my blog and I hope you poke someone on Facebook today in honor of this silly holiday!

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Apr15

The Ease of Stickease

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

The Ease of Stickease

Hello everyone, and welcome to our Close to My Heart Technique Blog Hop! This month there are eight of us blogging about CTMH’s My Stickease Assortment stickers and how we used them. Think of this blog hop as a great big circle, so you may start wherever you are; then buckle up and follow the link to the next blog post to see all of the colorful artwork incorporating this technique.

If you are coming from Joy’s blog post, you are on the right track!

‘Tis almost the season for weddings, so I made a wedding card! I used the following Close to My Heart products: For Always Paper Packet, four heavy-duty stickers from the For Always My Stickease® Assortment, the Artiste Cricut Cartridge, Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems, Sparkles Clear Assortment and a sparkly button from the Buttons – Black Assortment.

Here’s another view of the card to show the layers. The ruby-red heart, red and black polka dot trim, grey flower and the wedding couple are all stickers from the Stickease assortment. This is why CTMH calls their heavy-duty color-coordinating sticker StickEASE – they make your projects come together with ease! As you can see, I used some double-sided foam adhesive to make the bridal couple pop off the page. Did you ever think of using dimensional foam with stickers? It can be done!

I used some ribbon from the craft store to separate the two bits of trim and then tied a bow by making an M and then tying the M loops into a knot. Then, I used a big Glue Dot to stick it where I needed it, and added another large Glue Dot to secure the button onto the black bow.

Just for fun, I used the tiniest crystal gem to give the bride some bling on her ring finger.

At first, I cut the “Mr. & Mrs.” shape too large for the card so I used it for the envelope. After taking this picture, I wrote the newlyweds’ last name below and drew hearts around the words. I don’t like to waste anything, so I was happy to find a use for that extra cut I made from the 12″ X 12″ Ruby Cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog post! Please continue on to Wendy’s blog where you will find some additional artwork highlighting the use of My Stickease Assortment stickers. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my variation and “happy hopping!”

Here is the list of all the blog-hoppers participating today:

1. Stephanie Chumbley (you are here): CardsByStephanie.com

2. Wendy Kessler – MyScrapbookingBlog.com

3. Shirley Ross – MomNMeScrap.blogspot.com

4. Tabbi Fritz – AdhesiveAddict.com

5. Melinda Everitt – IfYouBlingIt.blogspot.com

6. Judy Faye Garner – JudyFaye.blogspot.com

7. Cherri Hardcastle – CraftWithFeeling.blogspot.com

8. Joy McHargue – StudioWowJoy.com

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Apr13

Friends of the Universe

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

Friends of the Universe

A few years ago, I made some cards that resembled the cover of the current Depeche Mode album “Songs of the Universe” for my friends. I had a few left over, so for Christmas 2011 I added gems to them and sent them as Christmas cards to some of my DM-fan friends. I have so many cards I’ve never blogged about so even though it’s nowhere near Christmas, you’re getting a Christmas-ish blog post!

Here is what the cards looked like before I added Christmas ornaments to them. Now I wish I had blinged out all of the original cards I made because I like ‘em better with gems.

Thanks for reading my super short blog post and have a great weekend!

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Apr4

All About the Artiste Cricut Cartridge from Close to My Heart

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Stephanie Chumbley

All About the Artiste Cricut Cartridge from Close to My Heart

I made this video to show every one of the 700 cuts you can make with your Cricut electronic die-cut machine and the new Artiste Cricut cartridge from Close to My Heart. If you watch it, I’ll also show you how the cartridge works with our coordinating clear acrylic stamps and our pre-cut chipboard. You’ll see why so many of my projects involve using this Cricut cartridge. It’s one of my all-time favorites! Click here to see all my blogged projects that used the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.

From the Close to My Heart Website:

We’re delighted to introduce Close To My Heart’s exclusive Cricut^® cartridge collections. We’ve worked with Provo Craft to bring you incredible Cricut^® cartridges filled with inspiring shapes and projects hand-selected by company founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton. You’ll love how fast and easy it is to cut embellishments, cards, 3-D flowers, gift boxes, and more with the touch of a button. Simply insert the cartridge into your Cricut^® machine (sold at retail stores), add your paper, and presto!—perfectly cut shapes appear.

Each Cricut^® collection includes one cartridge plus three coordinating D-size My Acrylix^® stamp sets, available only in the collection, plus three sets of Dimensional Elements chipboard die-cut shapes designed to go with the cartridge images. Stamp on your Cricut^® shapes; cover your Dimensional Elements with a Cricut^® shape; or cut, stamp, and then cover!

The Cricut Artiste Collection:

The Cricut^® Artiste collection helps you turn everyday events into magical celebrations! The unique cartridge takes creativity to a new level allowing you to cut themed projects and shapes using a single key. Color-coded images in the accompanying booklet indicate shapes that are linked and can be cut using the same size setting for hassle-free layering and assembly. Choosing a themed project is easy with the project reference pictures, and assembling 3-D items is a snap with the separate assembly and folding guide.

With 700 images, you’ll find a themed project for any event, large or small, from Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and Halloween, to occasions like birthdays and baby showers, plus clever motifs like signage, game night, gears, timepieces, awards, and more. Use the three coordinating My Acrylix^® D-size stamp sets to jazz up your Cricut accents, then splash in some Dimensional Elements shapes from the three included sets for added flair! The Cricut^® Artiste cartridge makes it easy to create a charming, cohesive project, taking you from crafter to awesome artiste in a flash.

Cricut^® Artiste Collection (Z1790)

$99 (retail value of nearly $125)
1 – Cartridge (700 images: themed projects, cards, font, shapes, 3-D items)
3 – My Acrylix^® D-size Stamp Sets*
3 – 12″ × 9″ Dimensional Elements in coordinating shapes

*Recommended Blocks: 3″ × 3″ (Y1006), 2″ × 3 1/2″ (Y1009), 2″ × 6 1/2″ (Y1010)

Order your Cricut^® Artiste collection (Z1790) today!

Complimentary Stamp Images

Numerous My Acrylix^® stamp images in our Idea Book pair wonderfully with images on our Cricut^® cartridges. When you see the Cricut^® symbol or a stamp image outlined in red in the Idea Book, you will know there’s a matching shape on one of our cartridges. Cut out the coordinating shape with your Cricut^® machine using the setting indicated on the stamp’s carrier sheet, then stamp your image on the base shape—quick and simple!

Here are Some Helpful Tips, Tricks, Information and a Shape Index:

Cricut^® Machine Comparison Chart
Cricut^® Machine Tips & Tricks
Cricut^® Artiste Sample Shapes
Cricut^® Artiste Shape Index