Cyber Week Sale!

Beginning today 11/30/15 and for one week  you are invited to shop a selection of items from Close To My Heart’s current product inventory can be yours for 25% off retail price! Get supplies you’ll need to make handcrafted gifts and cards for the holidays, including our Cricut® Artfully Sent Collection, at an amazing discount!

Precious Baby Layout

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and checking the most recent post. I wanted to share my lastest layout. How many of us moms have items from the birth of our little ones and that just don't know what to do with, but you know you want to keep them?  I have this problem, so decided wanted to create a layout that I could save some of the little things from my son's birth (i.e. Crib Card, Hospital Bracelet and Birth Announcement from the newspaper) So after checking around pinterest for some inspiration, this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it!

1. First thing I did was select 12x12  cardstock and pattern paper to make up the wall and the floors of the room. Since it was to be a boys room I went with greens, reds and browns. 

2. I choose to use the solid 12x12 as my base and a striped pattern 12x12 paper for "Wallpaper". I cut cut it at 7 inches. I cut a 1/2 inch strip of another patterned paper to use as border between the wallpaper and the wall. The floor is cut at 1 inch from kraft card stock

3. Before gluing these pieces down. I used my CTMH ink and inked the edges of the papers to give it some dimension.  The colors are I used were Ruby, Desert Sand and Sweat Leaf. 

4. I then glued those pieces down. 

5. My next step was to create a Toy Box to store the items in. Using the George Cricut Cartridge I cut  2 rectangles that were 1/4 inch larger than the three items put together. So I could easily slide the items I wanted in the box.  Then decorate your toy box. I used Ruby ink to ink around the edges, a brad for the closer and i cut out the word Toy from the basic shape font pre-loaded on the Cricut Expression 2. Next only put glue on the very edges on the back of the bottom box. Then attached the top of the box (lid). After that is secured then slid your items into the box. 

6. Now to create the closet. Simply cut a large rectangle shape out of whatever cardstock color you like. Then using the same kraft card stock, that was used to create the floor, cut strips measuring 1/2inch and trim the ends at an angle. Once all three pieces are cut. Use a sponge dauber to ink the pieces to look like wood and adhere to the rectangle. 

7. Using the New Arrival Cricut Cartridge cut out as many oneies as you would like to hang in the closet. The ones i used were cut at 2 inches (I think I'll have to double check that) and then cut the hangers at the same size so they will fit inside the onesies. Cut a small piece of card stock to make the rack to hang the onesies on in the closet. Glue the rack in first and then attach the onsies.

8. Then final step I selected one of my favorite picture to hang on the wall and then glued all the pieces together. 

I hope you feel inspired to create your own layouts now using those precious little things from your newborn. 

Happy Paper Crafting! 

Teacher Gift Card Holder

Welcome to another adventure in paper crafting. Recently I was ask if I could create a gift card holder for a movie gift certificate, based on an idea. So... away I went to my crafting supplies to see what I could create. I pulled out the paper, circuit
cartridges, inks and glue and away I went. Below is what I came up with and I have added the measurements and items I used if you want to create the same project.

Instructions:
 1. Gift card Pocket: 1- 8 1/2 x 11 red cardstock.  Using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge I cut a 6 inch Card using the Tag5 image on page 70. When the image I cut there will be a flap that you will need to fold to the right to create the pocket. Glue the bottom and the left edge of the pocket and press down to make sure it's glued closed.

2. "Popcorn":  Cut  five 1" and 2" Flower5 on page 48 from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricuit Cartridge using white cardstock. I then inked the flowers with Crème Brulee Ink from CTMH. Glue the popcorn pieces on both the outside of the pocket and peaking out of the inside of the pocket. To give it a 3d effect layer the popcorn and us pop dots on the inside of the pocket.

3. "Thank You Ticket Stub"  Cut a 1" Rctangle4 found on page 25 from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricuit Cartridge using white cardstock. I then stamped the Thank You Image from the "Frames, Tags and Borders" stamp set that comes with the Art Philosophy Cartridge. The ink I used was CTMH Chocolate

4. "Star": Cut a 3" star found on page 67 of the CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge out of yellow card stock

5. "Movie Strip": Cut 2" movie strip fround on page 67 of the CTMH Artiste Cricuit Cartridge out of black card stock.

Once all pieces are cut assemble them as shown below and you have your very own Movie Gift Card Pocket to give to a friend, teacher or whomever on your gift list!

Supply List:

Art Philosphy Cricut Cartidge
Artiste Cricut Cartidge
Crème Brulee Exclusive Ink Pad
Cranberry Exclusive Ink Pad
Chocolate Exclusive Ink Pad
Black, White and Yellow Cardstock
1 x 3 My Acrylix clear Block
Sponge Daubers
Adhesive
Pop Dots



The supplies that are linked are available through my website stephaniehouck.ctmh.com. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.
Happy Paper Crafting!