Through The Year S1711 CTMH Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to our Australasian Blog Hop. We have all been creating with the "Through the Year—November Stamp of the Month" Stamp set. If you have arrived here from 

Nell Ward

then you are in the right place. If you landed here another way, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. Follow the links, check out all the amazing ideas and eventually you'll come right back here to where you started. 

Today I would like to share with you my project which features the Through the Year—November Stamp of the Month available exclusively throughout November 2017 for $27 or for just $7.50 when you spend $75. 

One of the first things I made for my nephew was a nerf gun candle card. Each of the candles had a "flame" from the leaf of this stamp set. Stamped in first and second generation Tangerine Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad. 

I placed 6 candles on the front and one inside. 

The next thing I did with this stamp was take it to my card class and one of the girls made this card for her 13yr old cousin. I wanted to showcase it on here because I think she did a great job with the stamp set and the Gold Foil and the Thin Cuts. There are 13 cakes outside and 13 presents inside. 

This weekend just gone I was a consultant retreat and I worked on a My Creations™ Calendar. I used the month's to stamp each title in Heather Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad. I did have a giggle at the 1's I stamped first. You can order a calendar now but watch this space for more info on a special coming next few months about the calendars. We may be able to order this Through the Years stamp set in December at full-price but order early in November to get it at the Stamp of the Month special price. 

I took a photo of my desk mat at the end of the calendar because I thought it looked really interesting and kind of arty with the new Stronger Together stamp set which all the proceeds go to Red Cross for the hurricane relief fund.  Tough Times don't last - January, March, September... Tough people do... Sometimes our scraps can turn into art :) 

Remember this great stamp set Through the Year—November Stamp of the Month is only available throughout November from my website or from your Close to My Heart Consultant. 

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project idea. I'm really interested to hear what you think about them, so I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop which is 

Maz Wood aMAZing Close To My Heart Creations

I hope you leave a lovely comment on all the blog posts and come back around to mine. See you again soon.

CTMH Kaleidoscope Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to our Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop featuring this months feature paper pack called Kaleidoscope. This paper pack is a really pretty feminine pack. If you have arrived here from Maz Wood: Inky Fingers then you are in the right place. If you landed here another way, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. Follow the links, check out all the amazing ideas and eventually you'll come right back here to where you started.

We are all creating with the Kaleidoscope Paper Packet or Workshops on the Go® Kaleidoscope Cardmaking Kit

This kit is featured by Close to My Heart in December and is available for the lifetime of the current Annual Inspirations Catalogue (so about 6 more months to go). 

I pulled out the Kaleidoscope Paper Packet and wanted to create an artwork for last minute Christmas Gifts. I had seen some ideas by other consultants using frames. Laura Beacham has created some similar looking frames using rolled paper flowers. So my idea is a mix between Laura's idea and an Idea from Close to My Heart that was in the Seasonal Expressions Catalogue that highlighted an old product called the 6x6 canvas. I have one of these made up because I loved this idea of sequins on a heart. (Note: The below photo isn't mine). 

 Photo taken from an online Search, Thanks to the many consultants who have shared.

 

At Kmart this week, I purchased some shadow box frames that were 4x6 (with frame) or 5x7 (without the frame), These cost me about $6 but some were cheaper on clearance. I could choose if I used the glass or not. Because I didn't end up doing the artwork too thick (3D) it fit with the glass which I think gives the artwork a more polished look. 

To get the heart from the Kaleidoscope Paper Packet I cut a number of hearts from the Cricut® Artiste Collection at 2.5 inches. The colours of the Kaleidoscope Paper Packet matched so beautifully with the Paper Fundamentals Whimsy and the Fundamental Stickers Whimsy Pack as shown above. Instead of using the busy side of the Kaleidoscope Paper Packet I turned it over to the green side and stuck LOTS of Gold sequins from the Sequins Gold Assortment pack.

After I had completed the sequins I decided for some extra sparkle I would put on Bitty Sparkles and some larger bling sparkles from the Sparkles Clear Assortment (Bigger bling on the bigger sequins). 

I really liked the look of the bitty sparkles on the sequins. After I stuck the sequins and bling onto the heart I was confused about which colour to use as the background of my frame. I sampled it on natural colours, then blacks, then yellows, greys etc, then finally settled on the pink from the Paper Fundamentals Whimsy which has a lovely white background with circles. 

I put the white frame (from the Kmart Box Frame) around all my samples to see what the heart would look like - see below. This took the most time deciding on my colour scheme, the actual artwork doesn't take long to make. 

When I was ready I thought the blinged up heart needed some background so I cut a second heart in Kaleidoscope Paper Packet on the Cricut but this time slightly larger at 3inches. I turned the Kaleidoscope Paper around so that the pretty lighter pastel colours were showing.

I finished it off with a title from Fundamental Stickers Whimsy Pack to match the Pear colour shown in the Fundamental Stickers Whimsy Pack.

When I placed the artwork into the box frame with the glass on top it wasn't very stable, so I had to use my Duck® Easy Stick™ Adhesive all the way around the pink paper to hold the front of it in (before that it was prone to buckle). 

I am very happy with my artwork and plan to make a heap more for Christmas Gifts or to show customers that last minute Christmas Gifts from me are entirely possible at even this late stage (Christmas is in 10 days!!! Ahhhh) and they are so personalised. Click on any of the links in this blog post to get to my website to place your order or visit your consultant

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest projects. I'm really interested to hear what you think about it, so I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop which is Doris Taylor creative Inspirations

  Come back to see me again soon.

CTMH White Pines Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to our Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop featuring this months feature paper pack called White Pines. We have all been creating with the White Pines Products. If you have arrived here from Patricia Manhire's Creative Corner then you are in the right place. If you landed here another way, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. Follow the links, check out all the amazing ideas and eventually you'll come right back here to where you started.

I began this creative Session with the Picture My Life™ White Pines Scrapbooking Program pack and pulled it all out to look at it and get "inspiration". I really liked all the PML (Picture My Life) cards with the dates on them and thought it would make a great Advent Calendar. 

Last week I donated two boxful's of books to a teacher for a 3yr old program from an under privileged area a few suburbs away from me. She said they had identified a need that these children were "at risk" of illiteracy problems and the way they had decided to address this was to give the children a 12 days of Christmas, a daily gift of books, so that they had books in their home that their parents could read to them. This is what my 2nd hand children's books were going to. This reminded me of the great idea that I'd seen before, probably on pinterest, to do an advent calendar of books that you can read together with your children. I decided that this would be a great idea to do this year with my kids this year and the Picture My Life™ White Pines Scrapbooking Program pack was totally PERFECT. 

Last year I purchased a whole heap of brown paper wrapping paper from Big W. The label below says they cost $2 but they were reduced when I bought them (I bought as many as I could carry because I knew I would use it!!). I have used this brown paper in other blog posts I have done on this blog, coordinating wrapping paper with Birthday cards etc, its great for stamping on also! I think the brown paper looks great with the Picture My Life™ White Pines Scrapbooking Program "Advent Tags". The December cards didn't require much if any decoration to make the presents look interesting and fun!

Next I went to my bookshelf and pulled out all the Christmas books I had, then I pulled out all the Love and Kindness books I could find to make it up to 24 books. I mixed them up and did Big book then small book (because the PML cards are big/small/big/small) and mixed up the Christmas books with the other type of books so there was a selection each day something different. ALL the Christmas books went into the pile spread out and I removed the funny shaped books because I wanted to have them presents be square/rectangle shapes. I was amazed at how many Christmas themed books we actually had. The more I looked the more I found, in all the different bookshelves around the house!
  

    

I started December 1 with The Elf on the Shelf because our Elf Sprinkles will be arriving around the 1st December so what a perfect time to read her story. 

On the outside of the very first wrapped gift/book I added an extra PML journalling box for the gift tag. A Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen and Gold Shimmer Trim finished off present Number 1. 

Each day of December (until Christmas Eve) we are going to open one of the books and read it with the kids as a family. I didn't keep a record of what I put in each present so it will be a surprise to me too!! I am very excited about this time together, reading books that the kids are almost too grown up to read but as a family we can still giggle along to "Father Christmas needs a Wee" or sing the Australian Christmas versions of stories and songs. 

It took me quite a while to wrap and to put the cards onto every package and I had to decide which side of the cards I wanted to use. The new PML cards are the same pattern on both sides but one vertical and one horizontal - which does sometimes minutely change the design of some of the cards, but because I wasn't restricted to the PML Memory Protectors™ telling me which way I need to place the cards I could choose which side I wanted to use. NB: I decided not to use the December 25 card because we're not going to read anything on Christmas day. Some of the cards with cute little animals were best suited to one way or the other because of the way the animals weren't cut off. 

When I finished I had used some of my washi tape (Boardwalk Washi Tape Pack, Sparkle & Shine Washi Tape 3-Pack and Smoothie Striped Washi Tape). These are all available in the While Stocks Last and Retired section on my website (online purchases only, not available at Gatherings). I also used lots of SHIMMER TRIM... Red & Gold mostly. Plus a bit of bling. Although I decided I didn't want to use the bling because I wanted the presents to be able to stack flat. 

Now that all my presents are wrapped for my Reading Advent Calendar and I can't wait for Christmas season to start!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest projects. I'm really interested to hear what you think about it, so I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop which is Maz: Inky Fingers.

  Come back to see me again soon.