Crafting WITH my kids

On Sunday we had a party put on by the Military Family Resource Center to celebrate the half way point of the HMCS Toronto deployment. I had volunteered to do crafts with the kids for this.

My kids were using my eBosser by Craftwell to help me make card bases for the other families of the deployed members of the HMCS Toronto to use for our craft at the half way deployment party I figured we'd make a video. Of course one video turned into 2 since one child is not to be outdone by the other. :) 

Before you go watch the videos would you like to see some pictures from the Half-Way Deployment party?

Of course you do right?!

Here are the cards that resulted from the videos they made (see below for the videos). These are the ones Michael made.

Here are some fun things the kids made to send to their deployed loved ones... with the exception of that picture in the bottom left of this group... that would be a picture of a chunk of Samantha's hair and the piece of paper she was trying to cut her hand prints out of when her pigtail go in the way resulting in cut hair.

The top pics of this group are a mail-able hug and if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can probably even read it. I used the poem from the book "The Paper Hug". Basically it's the kids hand prints cut out and attached with a length of ribbon that was measured to be the length of their outstretched arms. The poem was added to the middle of the ribbon.

The bottom right is Reindeer poop aka Halloween smarties that we bought on clearance with a poem printed/cut out, ribbon looped through and laid across the smarties box  and then a return address mailing label that I whipped up stuck on to hold the ribbon in place and cover the side of the box that has Halloween pictures on it.

After crafting the Military Family Resource Center (MFRC) aka our second home lately had given all the kids tickets that they then used to "purchase" a loot bag and a bag of popcorn that they could have while watching The Croods movie. All of the kids (and moms) had a great time.

Watch as Michael, my 4 (and a half) year old demonstrates how to use the Craftwell eBosser to emboss a card.





Still don't believe it's that easy?? Watch my other video of my 2 year old using it.



DISCLAIMER: I am in NO way affiliated with Craftwell or the eBosser in any way.. just a product I love!

Sketch 27

For this weeks sketch I wanted to make a card to give out to all the veteran military personnel we know as well as put a few in my purse for when we go out as I like to give these out to the veterans that sit giving out the poppies for Remembrance Day as well.

I was so happy with how this turned out I decided I will also use these as thank you cards for all of the wonderful people who have donated their beautiful handmade cards to "Sending Smiles for Soldiers" a group I've started where I have been collecting cards and sending them to various military bases within Canada for them to send to their deployed troops. These cards are blank so the deployed military personnel that receive them can use these cards to send home to their friends and families. If you are familiar with Operation Write Home in the US this is essentially the same thing as that but for Canada.

I used kraft cardstock and some Tommy B&T paper. The strip across is the zip strip off the edge of the Tommy paper. I cut the ribbon using the Close To My Heart Artbooking cartridge at 1.75" using real dial size and the stamp I used is called Band of Soldiers from Deep Red Stamps (use the link by clicking on the stamp name and Stampers Best will donate $1 to Operation Write Home which is the US version of what I'm doing with Sending Smiles for Soldiers). I stamped it in Chocolate pigment ink and distressed the edges of all the layers with the same chocolate pigment ink.

Now, I'd love for you to go on over to check out what the rest of the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge Design Team has in store for you today using this sketch HERE.

I'd really love if you checked out the entries so far this week and played along with us HERE as well.

An extra shout out to Stampers Best for supporting our heroes by donating $1 of all of the proceeds from the stamps in the "Operation Write Home" section of their website to OWH. I can only hope that some day what I'm doing here in Canada will get big enough for a company like this to make stamps for us to uses here in Canada as well. 

Sketch 26

I actually have 2 cards for you today using this weeks sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I had one made but wasn't 100% happy with it and had an idea in mind for the second but it got left really late and my little guy has been sick the last couple days so I've been busy with him. I stayed up late last night to finish the second card to have it posted for you today but it just would not photograph for me without some natural light. That said, I will share my first card with you and promise to edit this post later today with the second card I made as well.

This is only the first card... but I couldn't decide on whether or not it should have a sentiment so I made one of each...apparently I am very indecisive lately eh?!

With a sentiment added

No  Sentiment like the sketch

This card uses the CTMH Artbooking cricut cartridge for the overlay and the card base behind it was made by cutting the same overlay in a different size and using the piece of paper I cut from for the one I actually used as a mask I laid the different sized one over it and sponged some crystal blue ink. I also masked off where the overlay went after I added my overlay and sponge whisper ink on. I could have achieved the same effect by layering some whisper cardstock and then patterned paper (or a piece of white with the sponging the overlay technique that I did) and I wouldn't have had to mask so much but I wanted to keep the weight of the card down so I did that by reducing the number of layers of cardstock I used and masking to produce the same layered look. The snowman is also cut from the artbooking cartridge. I hand drew his face on and his scarf is actually the scarf from one of the penguins in Wintry Wishes which is a hostess stamp set. The cartridge actually has a cut for the scarf and face included but I liked this striped scraf better an it fit so perfectly. I also didn't want to fuss with the little bits for his face so opted to drawn it on.

I tore a piece of white daisy for the snow and placed it in front of my snowman after lightly inking the edges with crystal blue (the snowman is inked with it too). I then added some streaks of glitz glitter gel to make the snow look more realistic.

After completing both this card and my second card I have actually decided I like this one better but you'll just have to wait until later today to see my second card to decide which one you like better for yourself. They are absolutely nothing alike as the second card is fall themed, not winter. LOL

Edited to add:

Here is the second card as promised. :)

This one uses our new glitter paper and a cut from the Artbooking cricut cartridge. I adhered it to a piece of Champagne cardstock and then used alcohol markers and a gold metallic marker to colour in the leaves. I used a chocolate marker to colour the tree trunk. The 'ribbon' is bronze shimmer trim. The card base is kraft cardstock.

Now, I'd love for you to go on over to check out what the rest of the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge Design Team has in store for you today using this sketch HERE.

I'd really love if you checked out the entries so far this week and played along with us HERE 

Lovely Sketch 19

This weeks sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge was provided by one of our fabulous Design Team members Carrie Wright.

I decided to stick with the heart shape she used in her sketch and with a little help from some white embossing powder, Laughing Lola Paper and D1571 Sweet & Lovely which is one of the stamp sets that comes in the Artbooking Cricut Collection Bundle I came up with this card.

The strip down the left is just the zip strip on this paper which I just cut my piece for my card from that edge of the paper to include the zip strip.

Now please head on over to Atlantic Hearts Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the Design Team came up with this week as well as the Top 3 from last week by clicking HERE.

You can enter this weeks challenge and see the original sketch HERE.

It's Called Artbooking for a Reason

As many of you know, Close to My Heart has just released a brand, new Cricut cartridge: Artbooking!!! It's nothing short of fantastic!!! Oh the things you will be creating with this cartridge - we don't even know where to begin! So, we decided to show you some of the creations WE have made using this amazing, versatile cartridge It's not just for scrapbookers you know. There are 700 images with a ton of coordinating stamps.

If you don't already have a Consultant that you are currently working with, please contact one of the Consultants in our hop with any questions you have!

In this hop, you will see projects featuring this versatile cartridges from many talented crafty ladies! Enjoy our blog hop! 

If you have just hopped onto my blog, please start at the beginning at Lucy's blog – Love 2 Create. If you came from Lucy's blog – Love 2 Create then you are in the right place!

Today I decided to show you that although Artbooking has wonderful scrapbooking layouts all pre-designed for you that you just pick your colours and start cutting or mix and match to make your own, mini-books and all things scrapbooking... it is still fabulous for cards!

I am loving the page laces for card backgrounds like I used in my Halloween card that I made HERE.

This time however, I wanted to show you that with just a few scrap pieces laying on my desk I was able to add a couple cuts from the cartridge and make a card that I am very happy with. 

I used the stamp set Country-Born D1543 stamped in cocoa on colonial white and matted it with a piece of Babycakes B&T paper. I coloured the image with alcohol markers as well as sponged a bit of new england ivy on the bottom and some cocoa and cashmere around the edges. Then I grabbed some scrap pieces of ruby and honey and distressed the edges with cocoa. 

I cut the border image from page 72 at 6" from New england ivy and the leaves from both autumn terracotta and honey. I crumpled and sanded the leaves and then inked directly with the pigment inks and smooshed it around with my fingers until I was happy with the end result (I used cocoa, goldrush, autumn terracotta, cashmere and new england ivy for this). The image panel is raised up on foam tape as well as the swirl is raised up in some parts and stuck flat in others to give it more dimension.

Oh and I should have taken a photo of the inside... but the sentiment inside says "I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck".

This will be going in my pile of cards to send to the Deployed Canadian Military for them to use to send home. I know I would love a card like this from my hubby while he is deployed, so I'm sure someone else will too. :) If you'd like more info on how to go about sending cards to our Deployed Canadian Military please check out the Facebook page I started HERE or contact me and I can send you the info.

Your next stop on our Artbooking blog hop is Jennifer of 4 Hearts Scrapbooking.

Here is the complete lineup in case you get lost along the way:

1. Lucy ~ Love 2 Create
2. Darla ~ Crafting is Contagious 
3. Jennifer~ 4 Hearts Scrapbooking
4. Wendy Kessler ~ My Scrapbooking Blog
5. Janna Gray ~ The Creative Princess

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you.

Beware Sketch 15

Make sure you check out the  rest of the Design Teams creations and Tops 3 from last weeks sketch (after you read my post of course or at least check out the card I made) so you don't miss out on some truly awesome creations! I am so very proud of our design team, they make my heart happy.

I always try to make cards for my sons preschool class and friends and family from both my kids (my youngest isn't in preschool or anything yet) for all the holidays.

This year I need to make sure I start them just a little bit earlier than usual to ensure they get made on time for each holiday.

That said when I was looking through my new Close To My Heart Artbooking cricut cartridge I saw a few images and had this weeks sketch in the back of my mind for this years Halloween cards. Now I know you're probably not ready to start your Halloween cards just yet but I bet over the next month you're going to start trying to (or after the fact will wish you started to so you didn't end up doing them last minute like I usually do) figure out what you're going to make so you can get all the supplies you'll need.

Check out what I came up with!

The card base is 6" square of cranberry cardstock and then the black is a 5.5" square. I used the Artbooking cartridge to cut the spider web overlay at 5.5" from whisper cardstock which I then sanded a bit and added some glitz gel randomly on it (not sure if you can pick out the glitter in the photo or not but trust me.. in real life the web has a definite sparkle). The spider was cut with the dial size set at 11.5" (this cartridge is set up so that the pieces will cut to make the layout pictured in the handbook by setting the dial size once and cutting all of your pieces hence the large dial size for this spider... I also could have used real dial size and cut it somewhere around 3" since that's how big he ended up). I cut the "Beware" at 1" with real dial size on (I think it would have cut this size had I just left my dial size on 5.5" and not used Real Dial Size as well).

I covered my spider with bonding memories glue using the jumbo glue stick and poured some black flocking on him. I love that this card has the fuzzy spider and the shimmery web. The spider is then positioned with the "Beware" first and then the word and spider are popped up together with foam tape.


Please head over and check out what the rest of the design team made with this weeks sketch as well as the Top 3 from Sketch 14 HERE

Products Used:

Exciting news!

Okay, I don't want to distract you too much and have you miss out on any retiring products.. so before I begin here's you reminder:

Don't forget with a new idea book coming out August 1st there will be lots of products retiring! If you had your eye on something and haven't ordered it yet do it before it's gone! If you want to know if the items you're looking at are retiring or not contact me with your list and I will let you know. :)

You can order by contacting me or through my website HERE. Make sure you join my open gathering and I will send you a little goody as well.

okay.. warning over.. now onto my exciting news!

Have you heard the news? No?

Close To My Heart has introduced a new cricut cartridge bundle that will be available for customers August 1st!

Bundled with 3 sheets of colour ready dimensional elements and 3 D size stamp sets!

There are page lace overlays (would make a great card front as well), scrapbook layouts already thought out for you just set your dial size to 11" cut assemble and add photos (of course you could also switch them up from the predesigned layout and use them for MANY more different ones as well), mini albums, titles, card fronts, envelopes, file folders, a complete font and much much more!

I am of course offering a special for you! 

Order the all new Artbooking cartridge through me and receive 2 FREE cricut blades (your choice of regular or deep cut), a copy of the new idea book and a small stamp set as a token of my appreciation. You will also qualify for the stamp of the month and any current promotion that may be going on as well.

Also, if you are local and order before July 20 I will have it waiting here for you to pick up on August 1st.

Of course you can always get it before August 1st by joining my team for just $49 and receive over $155 worth of stuff (see the kit HERE), get a minimum of 22% discount on all of your CTMH purchases, enjoy consultant perks (like convention, album retreats, bulk items, great training videos, product videos and more)  and preorder new products before the book goes live. As a member of my team you will also get my personal email, home phone and cell phone number to reach me any time you need to and the benefit of my team facebook page where you can ask any question you like, share ideas, get ideas and more. I do team member only videos if I think it will help to see something visual instead of just a verbal answer and more. Pretty good value for just $49 right?! 

I know some of you are now thinking... 

The last 2 cartridges were fabulous but how could they possibly have come out with a third that I "need:?

The answer... take a look for yourself! Check out the photos below and/or the PDF file of the complete handbook HERE and the pictures of the stamp sets below as well:

Oh, did I mention that Close To My Heart will be offering a 32 week video class using this cartridge absolutely FREE??? That's right, 32 episodes packed with information, instruction and ideas using this cartridge! It will start in September and run right through until April!Of course they'll be available to watch any time you wish after that as well.