{Mini Banners}

I have loved the Close To My Heart Mini Banners since I set eyes on them but until recently I had not touched my package...and then we had Dotty paper...My creative juices were flowing again and I had an idea...

I wanted to make two banners that were very different from one another so I set out to find two words that would fit within the 10 pieces... Baby and Family... perfect!

Here is a great video from Close To My Heart featuring the mini banner...Enjoy and check out my projects below.

Are you inspired yet?

I will start with the Baby Mini Banner...

Although the days of babies is over for me...until I have grandchildren or more friends and family have them... I love making items for babies because they are so pretty and you have so much room to interpret and embellish...(my favorite thing...lol!)

So here it goes...I used the Dotty For You paper so I will be adding this to my projects for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge ~ Polka Dots and Stripes...
I picked two patterns of chipboard pendents to use and kept the other 6 pieces for the other banner. I selected to use the polka dotted sides of the paper and opted to use the Lagoon and Pear sheets.

I started with cutting out the pendants (without the use of my cricut...how I never thought of that...lol!) and adhered it to the chipboard piece. I stamped the BABY using the {Token Alphabet} and added some cute little bugs from {A Little Buzz} I used my water color pencils and colored the dragonfly. I used Liquid Glass to add dimension and shine to the tail... and 3 Bitty Pearls to the B...

I cut out and adhered the pear dotty piece and stamped my A...added the Bitty Pearls. I colored the owls and button, added Liquid Glass to the Button and the owls' beaks and eyes...I love the dimension that Liquid Glass gives to a project and the shine is fabulous...

One this banner I added this super cute lady bug and now I thought about adding the Liquid Glass to the lady bug's dots but instead decided to add it to the shell omitting the dots to give her a beautiful shell that would make any lady bug out there jealous...

I fell in love with this cute little dotty butterfly... Completely colored and Liquid Glass added to the dots gives these wings some great texture and shine. I added a button again and Liquid Glass to it and you can see the great shine it gets...

Well now we have seen all the parts alone, now on to the complete project!

I strung it together using some White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon and it is perfect for a door hanger or to decorate some nursery wall...

I had said that I wanted to make two and so here is the next one...

I used the Florentine paper and the remaining pendant pieces...

I decided to use the more muted sided of the Pemberley paper to give this banner a rustic feel. I used the {Posterboard Alphabet} for the title and used Brown Bag cardstock for the title. I stamped them out in Cocoa Ink and misted them with the Tsukineko Walnut Ink Antiquing sprays in Java and Eucalyptus. I used a sponge and gently rubbed the inks into the cardstock to create a beautiful deep and leather-like look to the letters...With a few Mocha Opaque Pearls to each letter and a added a beautiful resin flower from the Bouquet Assortment.

I distressed each of the pendants using my Close To My Heart Distressing Kit and gently sanded each of the edges. I think it just added a little more of a rustic feel and look to the project. Now you may have noticed that this banner comes with jump rings and I have not used any of them on either of these projects...let me explain why...

 I find them to bend easily and slip open easily so I opt not to use them on many projects. This being my 4th time creating banners (I will post the other two in the future...) I have tried the jump rings and found that when transporting the banners and displaying them my banners would sometimes fall apart, so I have tried to find creative ways to form these banners...For this one I opted to use some brown satin ribbon I purchased from Michaels and ties some bows and this is the finished project...

Well I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post and that you will look at the other projects over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges...

Let's Live Inspired!

{Roar means I Love You!}

I got to do a little bit of scrap booking done recently. I played with some of Close To My Heart's new paper line ~ Superhero...more on this in another post...just a bit of a tease...

I also played with some of the new stamps so I picked the Roar! stamp set (D1505) Now I loved this stamp set but realized that it was rather boyish...being that I have 3 girls I was in a situation...I went to the amazing resources that Close To My Heart sets out for all the wonderful fans of their products and found this fantastic video...

I decided to create this layout for each of my two younger daughters. I took two pieces of 12 x 12 Kraft Cardstock () and picked two pink shades of cardstock. I cut my pieces I needed for the layout and grabbed my fabulous Ruler () and Piercing Tool () I decide to do some stitching on the bordering pieces of my dinosaur stamped Colonial White strip.  I stamped the dinosaurs and used 3 shades. Cotton Candy (), Blush (), and Baby Pink (). I stamped the You Rock in Cotton Candy as well as the bones, and T-Rex for the banner. I decided to use some of the Miracle Irresistible and inked them in Blush. I then took my Liquid Glass () and lined the outside of the shape and sprinkled it with white glitter and some fuscia glitter as well.

Now because I was making these for my 3 and 5 year old, I knew I could add sparkles however I wished. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sparkles! I have refrained from using them lately but loved having the chance to use them again...And use them I did!

I added Sparkles () on the T-Rex as well as the middle dot on the bones. I then looked at all the other little Dinos and realized that they all needed some sparkle...I thought about just adding 3 to each one...Well three looked OK but I wanted Spark-tacular!!! I went all out and added as much sparkles as I could...For an added bonus I did include one lone pink sparkle to a random Dino...I thought about adding a little note to the back of each page for my little ones to read later...just a little surprise left for them to discover...

I used our CTMH Pearl Paint () to paint the Cork Alphabet () that I used for their names. I added the Miracle Chipboard shape and popped up the T-Rex, added some liquid glass to the eyes. I added a Bling button with some embroidery thread through the button and looked at the two masterpieces I had created...

When I had showed my little ones the next day it was so great to see their sparkle in their eyes and the smile on their face when they found out that their would be a scrapbook for them each. Nothing could have been better than happy girls!

Let's Live Inspired!

{Dotty For You Constant Campaign}

Well I was always told that patience is a virtue...but...when you are waiting for your Close To My Heart order to arrive, if you are like me...it is not an easy task...

I was so sad when Easter had arrived and my order had not arrived as this only meant that I was going to be waiting another 5 days...how was I going to survive...

Well... incase you hadn't realized, I did survive and managed to find a few other projects to keep myself busy while I waited...

So without further ado...

Here are my first projects I have created with this awesome paper pack.

Love this paper? So do I! There are three ways you can get this paper pack from Close To My Heart

1. Between April 17th and May 31st place a $35 order with me or on my website and add this paper pack for only $5!
2. Host a gathering (at your home or on-line) of $400 or more between April 17th and May 31st and get this paper pack for FREE!
3. Join the club :) Become part of my fabulous team and get all the benefits of club membership plus the opportunity to grow a business starting now and until May 31st and get this paper pack for FREE! You can find more information about joining the club here or sign up here

Check out this video for some great samples using this fabulous paper pack!

Let's Live Inspired!

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!