December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Mad About You is Close To My Heart's December stamp of the month and what a great set to get ready for those lovey cards for Valentine's Day (even if it's a bit early, it's never too early for love!)

This is a Blog Hop so that means over 50 different consultants are creating projects with this stamp set, so you should have plenty of inspiration. If you're already hopping, you came here from Traci Godbee's blog. Keep reading through my post to see where to hop to next.

With all that's going on during this holiday season, I opted for a few cards, and with this great stamp set it was fun and fast. And with the Art Philosophy cartridge, I didn't have to cut anything out. Piece of cake! Check out all the images in this set in the right-hand column of my blog. The outlines around images signify coordinating Cricut cuts. Awesome!

Here's one of my cards created with this set...

I decided that I would include this card as one project for my Cards & More Club next week, but as I got to thinking about it, all my members are women and this card is rather feminine, so it probably wasn't going to work as a Valentine. Well, unless... okay... no.

So I made the very same card with more masculine colors and I will just let them decide which one they want to make. Lucky me, I now have two cards for Valentine's Day and guess what I think I will do? My husband likes to buy me those silly Shoebox cards, no matter what occasion, so I will give him the feminine card above to give to me (he'll love not having to go buy one anyway) and I'll give him this one...

Both cards were constructed the same way. Here's a quick look at how easy they came together.

Stamp large heart image with Versamark and emboss with either Clear Detail or Pearl embossing powder. For the feminine card, I used Pearl. For the masculine, I used Clear Detail.

Fill a spritzer with mostly water, some re-inker (I used Smoothie) and a dollop of Pearl Paint, shake up, spray lightly, then wipe off the hearts with a damp paper towel to wipe away spritz to reveal the emboss.

The spritz looked a little bright, so I used a little Bamboo on a sponge dauber to tone it down a bit. I added some ribbon and pattern paper from the Elemental paper pack. 

The ticket shape is cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge and this stamp image fits perfectly. I masked out two of the three so I could stamp different phrases, while keeping the double border. The mask is simply a piece of post-it-note.

Just stamp the image and peel up the post-it paper to reveal just the border.

Here is another look at the masculine card again so you can see the effect of the masked tickets.

Now continue on the Blog Hop and head over to Teresa Scrivens' blog to see what fantastic idea she's come up with. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the Blog Hop!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas is almost here!

I'm not alone, I'm sure, in the excitement and frenzy that is about to begin tomorrow, Dec. 1st when Tim Holtz begins his famous 12 Tags of Christmas.

If you've never heard of this before, I ask you "Where have you been?" This is the time of year when Tim creates one fantastic Christmas tag per day and shares it with us on his blog. We learn new techniques, he shares some videos, we get nice close-up step-by-step photos of every lovely detail, and we can create our own easily at home with supplies we have. Just take a look at his blog, go the left hand column and you can view his tags back to 2007.

I have participated in his 12 tags two years now. Just for fun, let's take a look at my banner I did last year (I opted for this instead of tags).

Here's a quick video and if you want to see each tag's details a little closer you can always go back to my December posts in 2010. Thanks for stopping by and keep watch because I'll be posting my creations each day as I finish them.



12 Tags of Christmas Banner from Annette Green on Vimeo.

Holiday Wishes promo is almost over

For those Close To My Heart fans, you have only a few more days to qualify to get your exclusive "Holiday Wishes" stamp set for only $5.

It's a pretty stamp set all on its own, but what makes it great is the coordinating cuts on the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. See the thin red outlines around the four main images? That means there's a cut sized exactly for those shapes. 

Here's my favorite card made from this set...

I used Echo Park's Merry Christmas papers and Tim Holtz's Distressed Doily die along with some ink distressing to give these bright and festive papers a more aged look. The doily was cut from Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Natural Sticky-Back Canvas.

The dove is in the stamp image. I stamped it twice and cut out the second one to layer over the original. A bitty sparkle gem is the dove's eye.

Love that Distressed Doily! 

Here's a quick and easy card I made with the tree image from this stamp set...

I added some Holiday Red Stickles to the berries and some Liquid Glass over the doves to give some dimension. This card came together in just a few minutes!

Don't forget, to get the Holiday Wishes stamp set for only $5 all you have to do is place an order with me by November 30th and make sure $25 of that order is in stamp sets. Just click here to start shopping and then be sure to also check out the "While Supplies Last" area of my website to grab some great deals!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a fun and happy Monday.

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #5

5th Annual Holiday Workshop

Sunday, December 4th

12 noon - 6 p.m.

$45

The final set of items we'll be making at my 5th Annual Holiday Workshop in December are five cards. Each guest will make two of each. 

This is a great mix of Close To My Heart, Tim Holtz, The Paper Studio and Echo Park.

Now let's take a look at all the projects everyone will be making in case you missed the sneak peaks along the way.

Here's what you see...

One altered wine/gift bag

10 Holiday Cards

4 Gift Card Holders

4 Large Tags

20 Small Gift Tags

I'm looking forward to another year of holiday fun with my friends. If you're in the area on Dec. 4th and would like to join us, I'd love to have you! I currently have three spots available.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoy your Monday.

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #4

One more to go after this! I've been a busy bee over here working on my Holiday Workshop tags. Each guest will make 20 small gift tags (four each of five designs) in addition to a slew of other items I've been posting the past few weeks in my sneak peeks. 

Next up will be ten different holiday cards so stay tuned on Monday. 

Today it's all about gift tags.

These were so fun and fast to create using the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge along with a few punches and older QuicKutz dies and Close To My Heart stamps. 

Here's a closer look at each. Thanks for stopping by to check them out. Have a great day!

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #3

Four gift card holders are next for my Holiday Workshop preview. This annual workshop is December 4th, from noon to six p.m. So if you're in the Melbourne, Florida area and want to play with us, just let me know.

Here's a look at all four gift card holders inspired by Julee Tilman, a great designer I like to follow. Check out her blog here when you get a chance.

Look at all those Starbucks cards! I can't ever bring myself to throw them out. I love em!

Here's some close-ups of each one...

For all of these, I used Hobby Lobby's "Ornamental Christmas" pack from Paper Studio. I believe this is Hobby Lobby's exclusive line, but I would be wrong. Either way, I love the paper.

Stamps are from Close To My Heart as well as all the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge cuts you'll see. Buttons and waxy flax are from Close To My Heart and other trims and such are from my local craft store. These were very fun & easy to make, thanks to the Art Philosophy cartridge!

I've seen this great twine everywhere in magazines and other blogs, so I stocked up on some from The Twinery. I'm always a little late with trends.  

I can't remember where I ever got these great paper clips, but I've had them over a year now. They look like candy canes and are a perfect embellishment for holiday cards and tags.

Gotta run for now. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

Dollar Store Tray Becomes Holiday Wall Hanging

Like many of you, I'm sure, I like to roam the aisles of hardware stores, office supply stores, and dollar stores to find interesting and affordable items to alter or work into my art. I recently found these great decorative tin serving trays in my local Dollar Tree and grabbed up about a dozen for an idea yet to be born for my All Things Tim Group.

I decided on a wall hanging and things started to fall into place. Here's what I came up with.

It may not be the perfect artist's composition, but I am happy with it and can't wait to take down all my fall decorations and hang this baby up!

Like I said, it started with this rectangular serving tray. Add some holiday paper from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Paper Stash and it's starting to feel festive.

I scuffed up the back of the tray where I was adhering this plaid flannel ribbon just to make sure the surface wasn't too slick. This looks pretty nasty, so I cut a piece of felt and glued it over everything.

From the craft store, I snatched up some inexpensive mini ornaments. I liked these because I don't have any vintage ones of my own and these sort of have the look I was after. The pine and berry stem came from the craft store too. Is it a stem? A spray? A pick? I don't know.

I cut a snowman out of grungeboard from Tim's Sizzix Alteration's die "Winter Wonder." I painted the hat and the nose and the arms of a second snowman and layered them over the top, but not until I painted the base snowman white, inked the edges then applied Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint generously and let it dry. So cool!

I just got this new "Holiday Lamppost" die (Sizzix Alterations) and LOVE it! Here I cut it from grungeboard, painted it black then crackled it too. I wanted an icy look and I think it worked nicely. The "glass" in the lamp is a piece of clear plastic packaging cut to fit behind the die opening. I colored it with Sunshine Yellow alcohol ink with a felt blending tool and let it dry before adhering it behind the lamp.

After antiquing some lace with Antique Linen, I hot-glued it across the bottom of the tray, then adorned the lower corner with some Tim Holtz buttons and a glittery snowflake.

Also from Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, I cut this sheet music page, crumpled it and inked it. The number 25 came from the stash as well. I glued it behind a Idea-ology fragment and hung it with a trinket pin.

In the upper left corner I attached this cluster. The paper is from the seasonal stash again and is mounted on a piece of Kraft Core (Nostalgic Collection) Core-dinations cardstock. Love this stuff! A swivel clasp attaches to a Christmas muse token (both Idea-ology goodness) and the whole thing is hung from a hinge clip at the top.

Here's another look at the whole thing put together. It makes me want to pull out all the Christmas decorations today!

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #2

Another project in my upcoming Holiday Workshop December 4th is a decorated wine bag. As it's been pointed out to me, this bag doesn't necessarily have to be used to for wine but perhaps cookies, a gift or something else really tall. (Thanks, Lisa.)

I got a bunch of these wine bags online from StampOnThis.com which carries an array of items perfect for stamping and altering. The selection isn't huge, but the prices are good.


For this bag, I again used the Ornamental Christmas paper pack from Hobby Lobby, plus some fun trims and embellishments. That pretty green pom-pom ribbon is from Close To My Heart's Designer Ribbon Green Collection. The large ornament shape is from Tim Holtz's Alterations Carved Ornaments die and the word JOY is a Movers & Shapers Alterations Die too. Fun!

Personally, when I see the word JOY the first thing I think is wine (and vice versa). You?

So for me, this will be a wine bag for someone very special this holiday season.

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #1

My annual holiday workshop is coming, and I am creating in my studio every moment for the big day. The workshop is set for Sunday, December 4th from noon to 6:00 p.m. and each guest will create a slew of goodies for their holidays.

Check it out:  4 Large Gift Tags, 1 Altered Wine/Gift Bag, 4 Gift Card Holders, 20 Small Gift Tags, and 10 Holiday Cards with envelopes. All for $45. Everything is pre-cut and ready to stamp and assemble.

So, if you're in the area and would like to join us, please do! RSVP by November 15th with payment and your seat if officially reserved.

I'll be sharing sneak peeks of all the projects over the next several days. Today is the large gift tags.

These are 5 inches tall and would be perfect attached a special package, bottle of wine, or tucked into a handmade item. Be sure to click on the photo to get a closer view.

I used The Paper Studio's Ornamental Christmas Paper Pack (Hobby Lobby) along with Kraft cardstock for the base tags. Here's how simple they came together. Using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, I was able to cut six 5-inch tall tags per 12 x 12 sheet of paper. First I cut out the Kraft tags to serve as the bases. Then each sheet of the four different pattern papers you see here.

To maximize the use the paper, I made the cuts you see above and used some of the leftovers from the 12 x 12 sheets to make the smaller border strips (see above photo).

I used several Close To My Heart stamp sets with coordinating cuts from the Art Philosophy cartridge, Tim Holtz's Alterations Movers & Shapers Die (reindeer and 25), a Martha Stewart border punch, a Sizzix strip die (holly leaves), some flowers and leaves, plus miscellaneous ribbons and gems. These came together rather quickly and easily.

Stayed tuned for more in the next couple of days as I share sneak peeks of all the other projects in this fun holiday workshop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dual purpose die-cuts

Just a quick share today. A few weeks back, you may have seen this fall hurricane glass adorned with Clear Modeling Film leaves colored with alcohol inks. (see this post for all details in case you missed it.)

     

I put my Vagabond machine to work cutting lots of leaves for 12 class members...

and had these leftovers from the modeling film that I thought would make a perfect stencil. I cut a few extra leaves to keep for myself too.

I made this Fall card pretty quickly. Although I didn't photograph the steps, it was really easy. 

First I laid down a few cut-out leaves and started spritzing a little alcohol ink in a mister over the card base which was a plain white piece of cardstock. I used a few different warm colors. 

Then I dried that layer well. 

I laid down the stencil and using a felt pad on the felt handle tool, I squeezed in some warm alcohol ink colors and started tapping the felt into the stencil areas. 

Finally, I took a blending foam tool with Wild Honey ink and rubbed it over the whole card to add more warmth. A final spritz of Perfect Pearls Bronze over the whole card and I was happy.

Prima flowers, Tim Holtz die-cut leaves, Close To My Heart ribbon, and some lace pulled the whole thing together nicely.

I cleaned off the stencil with some Alcohol Blending Solution and stored it away for another day. 

Cricut meets Cricket

Only good things can come from combining two great products: Love You a Latte Cricut cartridge and Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird papers.

This tag is for a special friend who I wanted to thank today. (Special friend, you might want to look outside your front door this morning. I snuck out at 6:30 this morning in my jammies to make a covert delivery.)

On the Tim Holtz Caribbean cruise, we were given so many wonderful goodies to use on our projects. Way more than we could possibly use up, so I pulled some of those great embellishments in to this tag. The large polka-dot brad and red ribbon, for example, come from The Girls' Paperie. This great market tag is an older QuicKutz die I love. It's stamped with Close To My Heart's "Make My Day" stamp set.

Velvety Juniper-colored scalloped ribbon is from American Crafts' "Gracious" line.

I absolutely love this "Love You A Latte" cartridge. It's all coffee stuff! 

Need I say more?

This is the back of the tag. I didn't need to write anything more. My special friend knows who she is and why she is receiving this today. 

* warm fuzzies *

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!