CTMH Cyber Monday Only: 20% Off All Cricut® Collections!

Cyber Monday Only: 20% Off All Cricut® Collections!

For the first time ever, Close To My Heart is offering a Cyber Monday Sale on Monday, December 1, 2014. There has never been a better time to buy Close To My Heart’s exclusive Cricut® Collections for 20% off the retail price. Whether you love scrapbooking, cardmaking, or creating 3-D projects, our four exclusive Cricut® collections make the perf...ect addition to any craft room! Sale starts at midnight (MST) on December 1 and ends at 11:59 pm Monday night.

You will be able to take advantage of this special deal on my Online Business Address (OBA) or let me place the order for you. Orders must be submitted between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm (MST) on Monday, December 1 in order to get the discount on your selected Cricut® collections. Enjoy extra savings on Close To My Heart's exclusive Cricut® collections this Cyber Monday!

That's not all! Once you have placed your order for the perfect CTMH Cricut Cartridge for you, you are elegable (orders over $50.00) to buy as many C-size (reg. $13.95) and D-size (reg. $17.95) stamp sets you want for only $10.00 each!

 

Laurie Varner

LVarner.CTMH.com

 

CTMH Artbooking-My Happy Place LO

CTMH Artbooking-My Happy Place LO

Here is a fun LO of my youngest son Ryan. The filmstrip turned out to be a great way to use all the action shot photos I took of him. I love the Artbooking overlay of all the different sized circles. Each circle is backed with B&T paper or stamped cardstock.

 The Framework Alphabet was used to create the title. It was stamped using Outdoor Denim ink and sloppily colored in using the same ink and a blending pen. 

I hope this inspires you to be creative today. Make it from your heart.

Laurie

LVarner.CTMH.com

FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook

Close to my Heart's Yuletide Carol

Yuletide Carol

This paper from Yuletide Carol is one of my favorite! I just could not cut it, so, I used it as is. I also used My Crush Holiday Assortment cards and envelope.  Because the cards have rounded corners, I rounded the corners of the 12x12 sheet of paper and the black mat.

The rose and metal accent coordinate perfectly with the paper are from the Yuletide Carol Assortment. I even added a small card from the My Crush Holiday Assortment inside the adorable envelope that comes in the assortment. Make it Merry was stamped using black pigment ink and the Make it Merry stamp set.  I used our wonderful alcohol markers from ShinHan.

I hope this inspires you to make something from your heart.

Laurie

 

FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook

Frightfully Fun Treat Tube CTMH

Close to my Heart sells these wonderful Treat Tubes on page 177 of the Annual Inspirations CTMH catalog. You get 6 tubes (1" by 4 3/4") in each package for only $5.95. I filled this treat tube with gumballs from Party City. I used the adorable ghost from Frightfully Fun stamp set on page 41 of the Annual Inspirations CTMH catalog.

I stamped the ghost using Black Archival ink on Thistle cardstock. I ran my darker grey WG7 ShinHan alcohol marker along the inside line of the image. I came back with the ShinHan Colorless Blending Marker and drew the grey ink inward toward the center to give a shadow effect.
I hope this inspires you to create something fun today.
Laurie Varner in Louisiana
LVarner.CTMH.com
FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook
Pinterest.com/Lvarner2

CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge Trick or Treat Sweets box

Each month, I have been high lighting a new box shape cut from CTMH's Artiste Cricut Cartridge. This box can be found on page 44 of the hand book for Artiste (3D Object). The black flower die-cut shape can be found on page 54 (Accent 3).  The little witch is from Trick or Treat Sweets stamp set page 41 of the catalog. The Thistle (purple) shape is also cut from the Artiste Cricut Cartridge. (page 79, Icon, shift). I used a piece of Thistle Diagonal stripped ribbon to hold the handles together.

I hope this inspires you to create something fun today.

Laurie in Louisiana

LVarner.CTMH.com

FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook

Pinterest.com/LVarner2

CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge Goodie Box

This little box (p.79, 3D Object) was cut using the Artiste cartridge from CTMH and stamped using the August SOTM. Smaller stamp images were stamped tone-on-tone randomly on the box. The black web boarder is actually the cupcake wrapper image page 77, Accent 4. I stamped the owl, wings and eyes on Scardey Cat B&T paper and cut out to paper piece the owl. I stamped the sentiment in Sunset ink first and then in Black ink. I added a hook and loop circle to hold the box flap closed.
I hope this treat box inspires you to create something fun today.
Laurie in Louisiana
LVarner.CTMH.com
FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook
Pinterest.com/lvarner2

Flip Flap Explosion Layout

Flip Flap Explosion Layout

Here are pictures of our class available Saturday September 6th of ScrapDat's crop. This is an awesome scrapbook page you can find on page 98 of Magic. It is entitled Explore Explosion layout and we will show you how to attach several different Flip Flaps to your layout to make one page explode into 5 scrapbook pages! You will not want to miss this one! 
Hope this inspires you to create something from your heart today.
Laurie in Louisiana

LVarner.CTMH.com
FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook
ilove2stampandscrapbook.blogspot.com

 left page:

right page:

left page: 4x12 and 8x12 Flip Flaps open

 left page: 6x12 Flip Flaps open : Explosion

 detail

 

                                        

Scaredy Cat Layout with WaterFall Interactive Feature

Scaredy Cat Layout with WaterFall Interactive Feature

 

More Magic!
Here is the layout for Friday using Scaredy Cat paper entitled 'trick or treat'. It's the waterfall technique! You can find the directions on page 42 of Magic. We will show you how to assemble the waterfall into your layout to add more pictures and create this wonderfully fun interactive element.

left page:

right page 

details:

waterfall:

waterfall partway out:

waterfall out 

detail of foam tape securing the waterfall to the page protector. 

 

 

Chalk It Up Filmstrip Hidden Picture Magic Layout CTMH

Chalk It Up Filmstrip Hidden Picture Magic Layout CTMH

 

I felt like doing a little Magic for this years ScrapDat crop, so I took 3 layouts from Jeanette Lynton's book called Magic: Interactive Scrapbooks that Dazzle and Delight.
This is Thursday's class that Karen and I will be teaching at ScrapDat entitled 'epic'. This layout uses Chalk It Up paper. I love this paper! The layout can be found on page 56 of Magic. The film strip pulls out to reveal hidden photos! I will teach you how to build this interactive element into your layout.

Hope this inspires you to create something from your heart today.

Laurie in Louisiana

 

LVarner.CTMH.com

FaceBook.com/ilove2stampandscrapbook

ilove2stampandscrapbook.blogspot.com

 

 

 left page:

 right page:

 

filmstrip close up:

 filmstrip just being opened:

detail:

 

 

Artbooking Metal Art

Artbooking Metal Art

I love how you can take aluminum adhesive tape and create something so fabulous.  It's so easy, that's the beauty. The fabulous frame is the new hinged shadow box frame from CTMH. Here's what I am talking about:

Here's how I made it:
I cut my images using Close to my Heart's Artbooking Cricut Cartridge (except the tomb stone is cut from CTMH's Artiste Cricut Cartridge).  I used 2 layers of cardstock instead of thin chipboard, so, I cut each image out twice and glue them together before adhering to the 12x12 chipboard base.

Cut the aluminum tape in strips to go passed the edges about 2 inches on either side. Start at the bottom and work your way up laying the strips overlapping by about 1/4 inch. Tip: only peel part of the protective paper off and use a rubber brayer to help lay the aluminum tape smoothly.

Flip over and fold the tape over to the back.

Start to burnish the aluminum over all of the detailed images by using a stump (used by artists for pastels and charcoal shading). This is a picture before:

After: 

 Be careful not to let aluminum tear. Burnish all flat areas as well as along the edges of all images.

 You may want to add more texture by using metal texture tools.

Spread acrylic paint over entire surface.

 Remove as much or as little acrylic paint with paper towels as desired. Tip: gloves are a good idea for this part.

 Paint will remain in deeper grooves.

Add color by using alcohol inks with a Q-tip.

 I added cheese cloth dyed with re-inker, plastic spiders, black gems and a skull in the corner.

The skull in the tomb stone is by Tim Holtz.