WILD About...Button Wreaths

So on a recent trip to the Dollar Store...I found buttons...lol! Now I have a love affair with buttons. I'm pretty sure I could use buttons on every project I make and still have buttons to spare...lol!

So I found these great little pouches of buttons (each having their own color theme) Well since I love Teal and they just so happened to have a pouch with teal and white buttons I bought one...How I ever stopped at one...I will never know!

After purchasing a 6" MDF Wreath from Michaels, I decided to make a Button Wreath.

I used my hot glue gun and began by adhering my larger buttons first and slowly filled in all the spaces where you could see the base. I added a satin bow on the bottom and covered the knot with two layered buttons and added a ribbon hanger and used one of the really unique buttons that came in the pack and it was a ribbon slide type button...perfect for allowing me to add a loop for hanging it from! I also added a couple of buttons to the ribbon at the top to tie the whole thing together.

I think it turned out quite well and made another trip to the Dollar Store to purchase some more pouches of buttons...(in different colors of course!)

Let's Get Crafty!

Snowmen Ornaments

I have been busy crafting away and have begun crafting items using wooden spools. I was looking in the craft aisles and noticed 3 different sized spools and thought...oh wouldn't that make a cute snowman ornament....so my quest began...

What you need to begin...

Wooden Spools (3 different sizes)
White Craft Paint (I uses Ceramcoat ~ Magnolia White)
Sponge Brush
Ribbon (About 12")
Bell
Smooch Pearlized Accent Inks (Gold Lane, Tuxedo)
Hot Glue
Black Hemp (Z282)
Glitter Glue (Black)


I took one of each sized spool and began paining them with white craft paint. I used the Ceramcoat that came with my CTMH Distressing kit and used the sponge brush as well. Once I had them painted...I only lightly painted them allowing the wood to come through in some spots to add some character to them....I let them dry. Once dry I started to adhere them largest on the bottom and working upwards placed the medium spool then smallest. When assembling them be careful to line up the centers of the spools to allow your ribbon to travel through them.

After I had assembled them I started to decorate them. I choose to use my new Smooch inks and draw on my take of a traditional Frosty...I then allowed these new faces to dry and cut my ribbon.

I used a thin piece of wire to guide the ribbon through the centers of the spools. I made sure to tie a double knot at the top to assure I would have a nice loop to hang my ornaments from. Then I took the remainder of the ribbon that was hanging out the bottom of the snowman and placed a bell part way down it (this was NOT an easy task...lol!) Once I had the bell on I tied a know and snipped the ends of ribbon.

Looking at the snowman and I thought he was missing something and figured it out...He was missing arms....I took little pieces of Black Hemp (Z282) and glued on one piece to each side of the middle spool.

Voila! He now had arms but he still looked as though he was missing something... He was missing his hat....I took my Black Glitter Glue and carefully coated the top of my spool to make it all black  to represent the snowman's top hat...

I'm a sucker for embellishing so I may still add a scarf to them...

Well lets see how he turned out...

Let's Get Crafty!

WILD About...Wooden Spool Christmas Tree!

So I was checking out all my great crafting magazines and came across a great little Christmas tree that was constructed out of wooded thread spools....Well I thought this was a great upcycling project and that it would be great to showcase how you can use items you find and the great things you can use these otherwise...garbage items!

If only I realized (Not being a sewing-able person!) that getting wooden spools would be very difficult...They are vintage therefore, nearly impossible to locate!!!

I placed ads on local "Find and Seek" sites as I like to call them....lol!

No luck!!!

I checked out Michaels and finally found some! (Had I looked harder I would have found larger packages of 20 for almost the same price!)

I took 12 of these little wooden spools and placed them down into the desired shape I wanted....A Christmas Tree...

I then took my Chocolate Exclusives Ink Pad (Z2111) and a piece of my Sponge (Z697) and began to distress the ends of each spool by rubbing the edges with and inked up sponge...giving the spools a little bit of an aged look and feel.

When I finished that part of the project I cut out stripes of my paper that I wanted to use and then proceeded to ink the edges of each piece to give it a vintage and aged feel and look too!

When these were cut out and distressed I took my Embroidery Thread in the Neutral Assortment (Z1096) and used the Chocolate thread. I adhered one end to one of the spools and began to wind it around the spool until it was covering the spool completely to the other end. I used my Liquid Glass (Z679) to glue both ends to the spool and that spool then became my stump.

After I goth that far I started to glue all my pieces of paper to the spools and used my Liquid Glass again to do this. I wanted to make sure that each piece was going to stay put!

Once all my spools were distressed and papered I took my hot glue gun and started to assemble them into my tree shape. I decided to change the way I had originally placed my top spool so that I could embellish it with a Milepost Shape (Z1464) I picked out a little corrugated chipboard star. I took my Bonding Memories Glue (1512) and ran it over the corrugated raised edges of the star and then sprinkle it with Prisma Glitter (Z134)

(This was after I had distressed the star of course!)

I then placed a little button with some Natural Hemp (Z280) tied through it and glued it to the star. I took a few little metal snowflakes ( I got these out of a little bag of glass stones I purchased years ago) and glued them to the spools.

Hope you liked this great little project I created for the holidays!

If you are interested in any of the great CTMH products I used please check out My Website
Let's Get Crafty!

WILD about... Christmas Ornaments!

Well here I am finally able to blog once again...I went to a great trade show this last weekend and it was fabulous!!! I took some extra product I had and sold it at the trade show. I also took my handmade cards and tags and other hand crafted items. I did good and had a great time sharing my love for Close To My Heart! A great way to celebrate 1 year with CTMH!!!

So now that I explained my absence from my blog I wanted to share with you a few items I created for the trade show. I created some hanging ornaments that I had gotten some inspiration from a twitter post.
Twitter Ornament Inspiration

So here goes my attempt at recreating this great ornament and making it my own! I made 4 different ones!!!

I started out with these great little resin frames that I found at Michaels. I found red square frames, green oval frames, silver rectangle frames and gold circle frames. Of course I bought all of them!!! So once I had my frame I flipped it over and removed the stand off of the back

I then took the insert out of the frame and cut out my paper that I wanted to place into the frame. For this one I used CTMH Wonderland Level 2 Paper (X7146B) and cut it out the the dimensions needed to fit into the frame.

I then picked out some ribbon to use  for the ornament and chose some great Martha Stewart ribbon that I found and proceeded to hot glue it to the back of the frame.

Once I had the ribbon adhered I decided to focus on the front of the frame and decorating it. I wanted to keep these ornaments looking classy and elegant. I took some of the ribbon I used already and tied a cute little bow and hot glued it to the front of the ornament.

After I took a few minuted to look and absorb the finished product I realized it was too plain for me and decided it was missing something....lol!

But what?!?!?

In the end I decided to use my Gelly Embossing powder and my Holiday Cheer (B1381) to stamp and emboss the inside paper and add a simple and refined look to the ornament.

Here are a few of the other ones I created!
Enjoy!

Red Square Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)

Red Square Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)



Green Oval Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)

Green Oval Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)

Gold Circle Ornament with Wonderland Level 2 Paper (X7146B)

Hope you enjoyed this project and get some great inspiration for your own great Christmas season projects!

If you are interested in more information please feel free to Contact me
If you are interested in any of the great CTMH products I used please check out My Website

Let's Get Crafty!

Black Friday Sales!

BlAcK FrIdAy SaLeS!!!! CTMH

Why stand in those long lines at 2am? Why sit in traffic, search for parking or fight the crowds??
Shop with ME and I promise to make it quick and painless! You can even do that in your pj's ;)

Tasha's CTMH Black Friday Sales:

Good November 18- November 30

To take advantage of these deals: EMAIL me your order.  KARDMADESIGNS@GMAIL.COM

PLUS---- the first THREE people to email me their order, will get FREE SHIPPING!!!!!

**********************************

*Buy a gift certificate from me (Christmas present anyone?) and get a free Christmas card.

*Spend $25 in STAMPS- get Holiday Wishes Stamp set for only $5 AND a pack of sparkles for FREE

*Spend $50- get the November Stamp of the Month for only $5 AND get Holiday Pockets FREE

*Purchase the Cricut Art Philosophy Bundle (or spend $110) AND receive Holiday Cheer stamp set for FREE

*Spend $150- get $35 in FREE product from me!!!!!!

View the online catalog here: http://www.closetomyheart.com/en/Products/Online_Idea_Book.aspx

Or visit my website to view products here: Come Shop With Me!

THEN email me your order to take advantage of all specials!

PLUS---- the first THREE people to email me their order, will get FREE SHIPPING!!!!!

Let's Get Crafty!

December Sneak Peek!

Close To My heart has done it again! We have a great constant campaign coming in December....It is going to be so exciting! It's going to ROCK!

Watch this great video that Corporate office has released and then I will fill you in on the details...

Please contain your excitement until December 19 when this promotion will go live...(Just in time for my birthday!)

When you place a minimum order of $25 in products from the Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book, you can get two new items for just $15! What a great deal!
You will get the brand new My Creations Collage Cubes (A Spring/Summer 2012 Sneak Peek Product) and the new My Acrylix Rock the Block E-size Stamp Set (You will only be able to get this stamp set during the duration of this campaign! So scoop it up!)

Let me know if you are interested in this fabulous campaign as I know I am!

Let's Get Crafty!

WILD Wednesday!

Welcome Wednesday! Today definately feels like Hump Day! I was checking out various things online today to get my post together when I came across a great Campaign going on tat really gets you in the true holiday spirit.

Susan K. Weckesser, has a great blog and Facebook page that really shows a person what it means to share your love for those around you and your papercrafting. Susan's Blog features some great things and more information and a blinky for your blog after you share your love in her 3rd. Annual Christmas Love Campaign. You make a card for a neighbour, family member or anyone you would like to and upload a picture onto her facebook page Christmas Love Campaign Page sharing your story behind the card. I already posted a card that I made out of  the Close To My Heart Wishes Card Confidence Program (9033)

Without going into too much detail I will post the set of eight cards created using one of the great card templates featured in the how to book. I used various CTMH products like Jingle paper (Retired paper pack) and the Holiday Jingle Stamp Set (C1371 - Retired), CTMH Exclusive inks and various Sparkles to coordinate with my stamped images and papers. I also used a little piece od Sassy Strands (Also a retired CTMH product) So here are the cards!

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Card 5

Card 6

Card 7

(This is my featured uploaded card to the Christmas Love Campaign - above pictured card)

Card 8

I know these cards are not the fanciest card but I wanted to use retired products and keep it simple and true to the products when they were used by CTMH. And I wanted each one to be unique - like a snowflake!

Now I encourage everyone to submit a card and story and try to do it each week. Each week until Christmas I will be submitting a photo of something I have created for others around me and the story behind each item! Look forward to seeing what others come up with.

Now Close To My Heart features videos all the time and I would like to share these with you from time to time. I find it nice to see what others create and share using the products I love.

Art & Soul ~ The Sparkle of the Season

I found this to spark my creativity!

Let's Get Crafty!

Thinking of You

So I know that as we go about our daily life, we sometimes forget how quickly things can change. I have had to go and attend a funeral in my family this past weekend and so I realize that I don't have Sympathy cards on hand. I don't know if others try to stock up on cards for those occasions that creep up on us...I'm really bad for missing birthdays...lol! I would love to know if everyone makes personalized cards or creates some that you keep on hand...Comment below with your preference.

So I had this great card that I so clearly had envisioned in my mind. I wanted to create a classic and elegant "Thinking of You" card. I wanted to try to make a monochromatic card and really test me ability to really challenge myself and all that I have learned.

So Let's check out the materials I used to create my card.

Monochromatic Sympathy Card

Materials Used:
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (Z1686)
Kraft Die-Cut Cards & Envelopes (Z1474)
Dark Brown Cardstock
Pearl White Shimmer Cardstock
For Every Occasion Stamp Set (D1187)
Friendship Stamp Set (D1453)
Chocolate Exclusives Ink Pad (Z2111)
Round Sponge (Z967)
Versamark (Z891)
Craft Heater (Z555)
Opaques Adhesive Gems - Mocha (Z1333)
Gelly Powder Embossing Powder - Chocolate Shake
Brown Satin Ribbon

Sizzix Damask Folder
Cuttlebug

So now that you have all the items I used I will start by telling you that this card was one of the best cards I have made so far. I absolutely love how it turned out.

I started with the Kraft Die-cut cards and envelopes from CTMH. I have been looking for a card that I could make with these cards to see if I would like the finished product and I love these cards. The envelopes are embossed with the CTMH logo and are amazing quality too! With Kraft paper being so popular too I thought even better...Bonus!

I cut out the tag portion on my card face with the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge and cut out the rectangle shape on page 55 at 3 1/2" in Brown cardstock and then in 3 1/4" in the Pearl White Cardstock. After adhering the two pieces together I used my Versamark and Gelly Powder Embossing powder to emboss my "Thinking of You" from my For Every Occasion Stamp set.

I then took my piece of round sponge and my Chocolate Exclusives Ink and sponged all my edges on my card. I did this to both the outer and inner portions of the card.

After my edges were inked I started to assemble the other parts of my card and piece together my vision for this card.

 Now having not a clue what to put inside the card I looked for a quote to type out and print out on some white cardstock and put inside the card...I realized then that I didn't own a single stamp that would be sufficient for a inner quote of a sympathy card...(definitely something I will be looking for from this point forward!)

I made sure that the print was in brown and that it was a font that complimented my font on the face of the card. I was really trying to keep it simple and elegant without it feeling too stuffy...

I adhered the inner quote piece to the card, placed a ribbon on the flap and left it with just being attached securely in the outer edges to allow for a personalized note or anything a person might want to include. I thought later that placing a photo and note together for a family would be a nice touch but having not had more time I stuck with just signing the card...

Using the Friendship Stamp set I stamped a Second Generation stamped image on the back of the card in Chocolate ink and placed 3 Mocha pearl opaques on the design. I also stamped the flap on the envelope and placed 3 pearls on it too to tie the image into the whole design of the card.

On the Thinking of you portion of the face of the card I decided to add some Mocha opaque pearls to both sides to add some flow of the embellishment to all aspects of the card.

In the end I achieved my vision for the card and feel that this is something special all in itself and think maybe it is something better left to the time you are in need, to make the cards for these trying times and create what your heart tell you to create.

“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” -Rita Mae Brown

Let's Get Crafty!