Pretty to Practical Artwork for Children

I designed a fun banner for Amelia's birthday using June Stamp of the month, A Bushel and a Peck and the Central Park Paper pack and cardstock. The banner pieces were cut on cricut using retired CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge. The stamped images were stamped, colored and enlarged and cut on an Explore.  

The birthday party was to be held outside so I decided to change the banner to make it more kid (and weather) pactical.

I used jute to lace it so it could easily be tried to a tree branch.

 Grampa signed the card, Grams added 6 candles
and Noah hung the banner. Party on!

So Amelia loved her card, but immediately took it apart to show her mom the 6 candles. The laminated banner lasted the evening and will continue to be a play item in the future.
If you want to see more fun items created with the Stamp of the Month acrylic stamp set tune in tomorrow evening and join the blog hop made by over 20 Close To My Heart consultants by starting here at this blog.
Always, Alayne

Something to show you: Story by Stacy

Story by Stacy:

          an easy delight!

Close To My Heart

has made scrapbooking, story telling and cardmaking so easy for us, especially this May with the fantastic Postcard Perfect, a great Stamp of the monthand the introduction of

Story by Stacy. 

This great new product, along with two fantastic acrylix stamp kits that make it easy to add your story with little prompts. It also comes with a how to guide that takes you step by step to share your special stories.

Try one of these little books and you will be hooked on a fantastic way to share your stories with all your loved ones. 

Always, Alayne 

Seasonal Expressions 2 New Product Hop

Join me for a cup of tea and a circle blog

to look at the Seasonal 2 New Products! 

       If you are hopping from  Miss.Carries'Creations you are in the right place! When you finish looking at my pics head over to Vickie ODell to see what she created from the new products. Of course if you want to start at the beginning of the circle go to MelindaEveritts and see all the consultants that are participating in this fun blog hop.

Beautiful Friendship is the first paper pack I used with the cute acrylix stamp set:Cardmaking. 

I made an easy pattern from the great How To Book: Make It From Your Heart Vol.4

The second card using the Beautiful Friendship paper was made with scraps and cut by hand. I colored the flowers and leaves with colored pencils and used a Bashful Shimmer Brush to go over the whole image. I loved the effect but it was much more labor intensive.

The next paper pack I choose to use with the same stamp set was Fresh Air.

Again I choose an easy pattern from the how to book, Make It From Your Heart Vol. 4.

I continued using the beautiful paper from Fresh AIr to make some pages from a recent Alaska adventure. I don't like reinventing the wheel so I chose a pattern from another How To book: Make It From YOur Heart Vol. 3 to design the layout.

Don't forget to head over to Vickie's blog now.
If you would like to know more about the  New Products I used and how I created my teapot mobile and cards and layouts I will add a small tutorial of pictures I took as I made these projects weekend next.

Meanwhile enjoy the New Product circle blog hop and when you get a chance come to my Versailles, Kentuky home and have a cuppa with me while we create with beautiful Close to My Heart products.

Always, Alayne

Postcard Perfect Blog Hop....Join the fun!

 You are in the right place if you are viewing the Postcard Perfect

 blog hop from Miss Carrie's Creations to me

and then will be going to see what Brenda Lapp created with this great paper!

If you want to start at the beginning of the blog hop circle head over to Melinda Everett's blog and see the list of all the Close To The Heart Consultants that created original art for this hop.

Close To My Heart has created a beautiful paper suite with a paradise theme that is perfect for any  papercrafter.  There is a great Cut Above Kit that goes together quickly. There is also Postcard Perfect Paper Pack that I made an 8" x 6" album and 20 cards with adding some coordinating cardstock. So many beautiful goodies from this sweet bundle.  I used patterns other consultants created and absolutely loved their creativity! When I was finished I made the following album cover page with "leftovers" of supplies.
I plan on using the finished layouts for an upcoming trip to Bermuda this July. The cover page of the album was made with a photo from 2014 to help me anticipate the trip. 

The next few pictures show how I used some zip strips and leftovers to make the cover page. I also used the gold foil paper that was used with the card patterns to cut the title letters after trying different layers.

     I cut the zip strip in half to highlight the mitered corners.

I will  add pictures to the # of day till Bermuda layout.
Now head to Brenda Lapp's blog to see more of the Close To My Heart consultants creations using Postcard Perfect special paper suite offered this May at Close To My Heart .

Please feel free to comment or even add your projects made with this paper pack or cut above kit from the Postcard Perfect Bundle.
Always, Alayne

May Stamp of the Month ....Lemonade anyone?

Great stamp set for upcoming summer fun!

I missed the deadline for the blog hop this month but please join circle blog hop to get inspiration from creative Close To My Heart Consultants as they share their creations using this months fantastic Stamp Of The Month:  Classic Summer Bash

 Haley Dyer is a great place to start the blog

If you want to see all the submission locations go to Melissa's blog:

Melissa’s blog.

Or when you are finished perusing my blog head over to: Katy Taylor's for more inspiration.

Remember you can get this fantastic stamp set for only $5  with a qualifying $50 order.  What a deal!

I used the new background and texture paper from "Fresh Air" (X7232B) and 3 colors of card stock (canary, lagoon and juniper)

to make this 2 page layout.  

 I also enlarged the scanned stamped images, printed and cut out         the images on Explore Cricut to make titles for the layout.

 I used a stamp press to make the cards because the stamping was on the same place on most of the cards so it was easier to make multiples.  I also used transparent film on one of the cards and the press helps position it to match the underlying paper perfectly.

Archival black ink was used for 2 reasons:  plastic film, and use of watercolor paper to allow easy coloring of stamped images.

           Shimmer Brush Gold  looks great on top of canary yellow!

 Watercolor paper was used for the 2 page layout to make the coloring with ink , watercolors and shimmer brush to lie flat.
The cards were basic white cards and they absorbed the ink well.

Remember to jump over to Melissa's blog to see some more ideas how to create with this cute stamp set.

Feel free to add your creations in the comments below so we can all learn (and scrap lift) from each other.
                                                                 Always, Alayne