January Card Class this Friday 1/13 and Saturday 1/14 (6:30-8:30pm)!

Join me this coming Friday or Saturday night for our first Monthly Card Class of the New Year!! You can even join us both nights if you want more time to create extra cards! Let me show you how to create a variety of 3 different hand-made greeting cards using the latest NEW stamps, papers, techniques, and embellishments. All of our cards are designed with our Cricut "Art Philosophy" cartridge that cuts paper to perfectly fit the images we will be stamping on them! I will have all of the papers pre-cut and sorted into little "kits" so all you have to do is stamp, assemble, and embellish! Choose any 3 of the following cards for $5 (or make 6 cards for $10) when you bring your own adhesive or purchase it from me (and I always have plenty available for sale). If you would prefer to use my adhesive when you attend, then your cards will be 3 for $6 or 6 for $12. Please RSVP asap (even the day of the class is okay, space permitting)!

Space is limited to ten guests each night!

Standard size card (above) featuring the Sonoma papers
(a variety of sentiment options available)

Standard-size card for a new baby boy (above)

Standard-size card for a new baby girl (above)

The same "baby boy" card shown before, BUT showing that you can choose a different sentiment if you prefer a card you can use for any "celebration" or "birthday"
in blue (above) or pink!

Finally, we made this card (above) at last month's class, but I still have a few kits left-over

and wanted to offer you one more chance to make this one also if you want to!

January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

Welcome to our January SOTM blog hop featuring the January Stamp of the Month - Little Reminder S1201! If you have joined me from Wendy's blog then you are on the right path.

I've created a standard size card featuring the Wonderland papers X7146B (and Chocolate ink distressing) to welcome a new baby boy! In addition to the January Stamp of the Month, I also used the Save the Date stamp set D1386 (page 111) for the little star image that I stamped with 2nd and 3rd generation Twilight ink. Remember, you can click on my photo above to see it in closer detail if you want to! I realize that it is a little late, but I created this specific card to celebrate the birth of my new little nephew, Bradley Brinkerhoff, who was born on July 20th, 2011! You can learn more about Bradley's birth and how he continues to be our precious little miracle on my sister Mary's Blog. Finally, you can see all of the very versatile and useful images included in this stamp set here (below):

Now you can continue on with the hop by visiting 
Amy's blog next! Enjoy!!

Snowman Chocolate Bar Wrapper (too cute!)

I can't take credit for this adorable idea, but it is just so cute that I couldn't resist sharing it here with all my creative friends! This was created by my crafty friend Kathy Hazelbaker. Wrapped inside is a Hershey's chocolate bar, yum!! Here is the link to Laurie Furnell's blog where you can find and print the wrapper (although you know I've already got the wheels a-turnin' in my head as to how I can re-create this with my stamps)!!

"Rock the Block" Blog Hop!!

Welcome to my blog and thanks for joining us for our special "Rock the Block" blog hop! If you've just joined me from Krista's blog then you are on the correct path!

The "Rock the Block" kit is the new special promotion Close to my Heart is offering now through the end of January. You can purchase this kit that includes an E-size stamp set and My Creations Collage Cubes for just $15 with any $25 purchase from our Autumn/Winter Idea Book!

Here is just one side of my blocks completed...and I still have five more sides to go! I tied a ribbon around them to hold them all in place for now, but that ribbon will likely be adhered around the outside edge of the tray when it is all complete. I started by stamping a 6x6 piece of Olive cardstock and adding my photo and embellishing before I cut it up into 2x2 squares. Then I adhered them to the blocks with my tombow adhesive. I will come back and post more photos of the rest of the block sides once I am able to complete them. While this project was quite easy to put together once I got going, it took a lot of time at first deciding what photos I would be using. Once I'm finished, this will be something I can get out each year to display alongside all of my Christmas decorations! My four year-old already can't keep his hands off of it and I can foresee that it will be one of his favorite "puzzles" to play with every December!

Here is a view of the cubes (above) inside the tray before I covered them and the co-ordinating 8.5x11" stamp set (below). The blocks are made of paper and are hollow so they are light-weight. Notice how I started sponging the edges and corners of the block on top using a sponge dauber and Cocoa ink. This way I will be sure not to have any white edges showing once I get all of my 2x2 squares of paper adhered to them.

Well, I hope you like what I have shared with you so far!

You can now continue on the hop 
by visiting Jean's blog next! Enjoy!!

December Events (Clearance SALE and Christmas Card Buffet)!!

Happy December everyone! I am really looking forward to the upcoming holiday season and hope you are too! I have just a few events planned for this month.
Please join me in my craft room for my

Holiday Clearance SALE and Christmas Card Buffet

Saturday, December 3rd from 1pm to 5pm

RSVP's are not required, but appreciated when you can. You can come and create any of the cards you see below for just $1 each (make just a few or as many as you want)!! These are just 4 of the cards I'm offering as I am still working on designing a few more cards for you to choose from using the Wonderland and Believe papers (think snowflakes, glitter, and elegant wintery scenes!) and I hope to get the rest of the card options posted here soon also. For the clearance sale I am offering all of my in-stock discontinued/retired products at 50% off!!...PLUS a bunch of my well-loved/used stamp sets at 50% off to pick from...in addition, there will be no sales tax/shipping on all of my "in stock" items because I need to make room for all of the new Spring/Summer products I'll be ordering in January (customers can start ordering from the NEW Idea Book starting February 1st), so come and get yourself a deal now!! Finally, if you aren't able to stop by this weekend, I am offering a few other dates this month for you to come by to shop and/or create with me:

Thursday, December 8th (9am-11am)

Thursday, December 15th (9am-11am)

Friday, December 16th (6pm-10pm)

Tuesday, December 20th (6pm-10pm) last chance this year!!

I hope to see you all here soon! Have a very Merry Christmas!!

I will also be selling my Scentsy products at the Harvey House holiday sale coming up on Saturday, December 10th from 9am-5pm, so feel free to stop by my booth that day to say hello and I will have a little hand-made Christmas "goodie" for you (as well as a lot of great gift-giving ideas)!

December SOTM Blog Hop!

WELCOME to my blog and thank you for joining us for our December Stamp of the Month blog hop featuring the December SOTM - "Mad About You" S1112!
If you've just joined me from Paige's Blog,
then you are the right path!

First, I'm sharing a standard size card featuring the Roxie papers X7140B (above) with Cocoa ink distressing and our 1.25" wide Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain ribbon Z1617. This sweet and simple card could be given for Valentine's Day or any day that you want to tell someone that you like them!

Next I'm sharing another standard size card featuring the Roxie papers X7140B with New England Ivy cardstock (above). This time I've used the stamp set in an unexpected way to create a Christmas card. I simply cut three 2" hearts and one 1" heart from Colonial White cardstock using my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. Then I stamped them with the "heart" stamps in this set and New England Ivy ink and layered them to create my Christmas tree! (remember, you can click on my photos to see them larger!)

Finally, here is a view of all of the stamp images that are included in this stamp set (please notice the 4 images outlined in red are the shapes that can be cut using our Art Philosophy Cricut cartride - so fun!! ):

Now you can continue on with the rest of our Blog Hop to see more creative artwork using the "Mad About You" stamp set by visiting Katy's Blog next! Enjoy!!

November Creative Class Cards!

I'm sorry I am so late at posting the $5 Creative Class cards we made together this past month. With the holidays approaching and all the things my family has been up to recently I've just been so overwhelmed by my "to do" list this month. Even though November is just about over now, I thought those of you who couldn't join us for class in November might still like to see the cards we made this month (I'll be back soon to share more details about them!) Enjoy!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!!