Seasonal Expressions 1 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to our Seasonal Expressions New Product Blog Hop!  We will be featuring lots of new goodies from the catalogue, so grab a cuppa and see what beautiful new items are available.

If you have come here from Sandy's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog. 

This month we have 17 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using the new products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

I have just started to make a mini album of a trip I did with my boys over the October school holidays here in New Zealand, and luckily it contains a lot of the new products on the pages!

The title page features an adorable little plane, which is from the new Cruisin' to Adventure stamp set and also comes with matching Thin Cuts! The adventure awaits sentiment is also from this stamp set.




The star, cloud and plane stickers are form the new Something Fierce collection, as is the strip of patterned paper. The journal box is also from that collection.

Lastly, the title and the clouds were cut from my trusty Cricut. I sponged the clouds to make them stand out more.

On to the second and third pages!

This double page layout is of Rainbow's End, the local amusement park. This was a great opportunity to use some of the rainbow paper and embellishments from the I Heart Us Paper Packet. The washi and crosses stickers are also from that range.



I stamped the 'sunshine and rainbows' title from the January SOTM as it worked so well with the theme of this page.

Lastly, I cut another title from my Cricut and this page was completed in a matter of minutes.

Now "Hop" on over to Katy's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas!

Products used:
Album: Everyday Life Album- Black
Cardstock: Carolina, Sapphire, White Daisy
Cricut: Artbooking, You Are Here
Embellishments: I Heart Us Complements, Something Fierce Complements
Ink: Emerald, Sapphire, Pewter
Paper Packets: I Heart Us, Something Fierce 
Stamp sets: Crusin' to Adventure

A Girly Album made Easy!

I love the new Instalife Range, especially the Blush album paired with the Hello Gorgeous cards. I knew this would be a perfect album for my new niece!



Here is a quick video flick through of the album so far.

Link up with us at H2H For The Girls challenge this month!

M is for Mini Album

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

For this hop we will be featuring the letter M. This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment. Whatever the crafter has chosen as their M element will be featured in their post.

If you came from Catherine then you're on the right track!

I have done a lot of Mini Albums before, such as this one, one for my boys, a goal album and one to celebrate my wedding anniversary.

This Mini Album is the quickest of the bunch, and only requires three items- PML cards, washi tape and a journalling pen.

The front of the album uses a title PML card, hinting at what is inside. I made this card to document some of my nephew's antics for his birthday, so the title is very apt!



Inside, I have added some more of the Later Sk8r PML cards with different sentiments and quotes that relate to my nephew's life so far.



The PML cards also have journal lines on them, which make it so easy to write in a memory or event details to go with some small 2x2 photos within the album.



Each page is simply held together with a strip of washi tape, making this the perfect little album with limited resources. This album would be great for a kid's class!

Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is Danielle of My Little Happy Scrappy Corner.

In case you get lost along the way, go to Catherine Nowak for a complete list of participants!

S1606 The Long Way Home Australasian SOTM Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop.

If you have arrived here from Kara's Blog then you are in the right place.

If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

Today I would like to share with you a creation which features Close To My Heart’s June Stamp of the Month, The Long Way Home.

As soon as I saw this stamp set, I knew I had to do a mini album of a recent road trip! I have not added the photos yet but here is the album all put together.

I used the Hip Pics Mini Album to document this road trip, which is a perfect size for smaller events and brilliant as a gift. I decorated the front with some Magical Paper and Complements.



I love how this album has pockets all ready to slip the photos in. The title page features the car stamp, as well as a title stamped in Cranberry Ink with the Noted stamp set and a Magical Complements arrow.



I used some more Complements on these pages, with the arrow and street sign from the SOTM and the journal lines and Note to Self sentiment also from the Noted stamp set.



This next spread features a frame cut from Magical paper, a stamped banner for journalling, and one of the SOTM images stamped and fussy cut then placed on a strip of Magical paper.



For this page, I added a Picture My Life card directly over the album page, then decorated the right hand side with a Magical zip strip, more journal lines and some stamped suitcases from the June Stamp of the Month.



I love a fun frame, and this seemed to go perfectly with the scenic route stamp! I also cut some banners from the Magical paper and stamped two from the Noted stamp set.



Some more Complements and journal lines on the left hand page! I added one of the Magical Complements titles on the right hand side, and will use a smaller photo so I slipped in a piece of paper to create a frame.



The paper will also be used as a frame over the page, along with a Cricut cut border. I carefully coated the heart of the stamped image in Cranberry ink, then rolled the rest in Sapphire ink to create a sentiment. The 'say cheese' is also Cricut cut and I added a stamped star from the SOTM and a camera from the Magical Complements.



Another Cricut cut and journal lines for this page, as well as a speech bubble for journalling and the stamp in Honey ink.



The last page used some more Zip Strip and Complements, and I finished off by stamping the Road Trip stamp in Cranberry ink.



I can't wait to add photos to this album- it will be a perfect reminder of the fun time we had on the road!

This exclusive The Long Way Home stamp set is only available during June. It can be yours for just $10 with a qualifying order of $75 or for $33 if ordered separately from your CTMH consultant.

If you do not have a consultant please contact me or place an order here.

I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Shaunna's Blog, Passionate About Pages.

CTMH supplies used:
Album: My Creations Hip Pics Album
Cardstock: Honey, Sapphire, Whisper, White Daisy
Embellishments: Magical Complements
Ink: Black, Cranberry, Honey, Sapphire
Paper Packet: Magical
Stamp sets: Noted, The Long Way Home

H is for Handbag Mini Album

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

For this hop we will be featuring the letter H. This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment. Whatever the crafter has chosen as their H element will be featured in their post.

If you came from Catherine then you're on the right track!

On a recent visit to my grandmother-in-law's house, I noticed that there were a lot of photos of other family members and I felt like I should send some more photos down to them, as they always like to know what our family has been up to. With Mother's Day coming up, this was a good opportunity to send a gift of photos.

I had this Handbag mini album in my stash, so it was perfect to put to use!



I put together the most delicious combination of cardstock colours to match the album- Autumn Terracotta, Honey, Gypsy and Fern.



The front opens to reveal a tag saying 'a gift for you', which I embellished with green epoxy triangles and some of the La Vie en Rose Complements.



I cut frames for most of the pages using the Art Philosophy cartridge, and I will add photos to each page. I have not shown them on the blog today for privacy reasons. I also added some stamped sentiments in Fern ink from the April SOTM.



I used the three colours throughout the album, embellishing with a few titles and stamped images.


Here I stamped one of the SOTM sentiments onto a La Vie en Rose Complement with Chocolate Ink.



Another SOTM sentiment was paired with this family title and a small heart sticker. I also used some flair from La Vie en Rose Assortment.



I can't wait to get the photos in this album and get it sent off!



This Smile speech bubble was one of my favourite pieces to use in the album, and I know the exact photo that will go here.


Finally, I added a Grandma cut embellishment as this will be sent off to my husband's grandmother and I want the book to make her feel special.



Here are the back pages folded out.



And here is what it will look like when it is opened out from the front.



I hope that she will love this Handbag Mini Album as much as I enjoyed putting it together. i love giving photos and mini albums as gifts, do you?

Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is Wendy.

In case you get lost along the way…go to Catherine Nowak for a complete list of participants!

Kaleidescope Mini Album

I have been loving the mini albums around recently, and this idea came from experimenting with a design I saw on Traci Cornelius' video.

I used the PML Childhood cards and the Kaleidoscope Paper, as well as some stamp sets I have, to quickly create this mini album.

Here is the front of the album, which I have held together with the zip strip.



As it opens up, there are different flaps to decorate and use for photos and journalling.



The PML cards are perfect to add quotes, space for writing and some photo mats.



I even cut out the balloon from one of the cards to add a decorative element to the album.



Here is a short video I made of my Kaleidoscope Mini Album, showing closer details of each flap and how I put it together.

This album is super quick, and very cute for a last minute tween gift idea!

Artbooking In April- What a Wonderful World

Today I am sharing another mini album for my Artbooking In April series- using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge to create paper perfection!

This album was inspired by the Heart 2 Heart challenge this week- What A Wonderful World. Travel certainly makes me look at all the different things my beautiful country of New Zealand has to offer, and at the beginning of this year we went on a family road trip to Cromwell at the bottom of the South Island.

I created this album using the Artbooking 8x8 Travel Mini Album as well as the 6x8 Summer Mini Album as I had a few pages! I cut the pages themselves in Whisper, Glacier and Canary cardstock, and used accents in Pacifica, Honey, Outdoor Denim and papers from Seaside, Tommy and Wanderful.

Here is the title page- off we go on our adventure! I love this overlay cut from the cartridge- it gives the page a definite wow factor!

I mixed a combination of 8x8 pages, half pages and 6x8 pages throughout the book. Here is the back of the overlay page as well as the back of one of the half pages with a family photo on it, and a 68 page with some photos of the boys playing during our lunch stop.



Cromwell is famous for fruit, so we had to get a photo of us with the giant fruit! I also got some great shots of my son playing in the mall, where I have photos of myself as a young girl. The Oh Snap and photo frame were cut from the Cricut, as well as the apple.



Another fun overlay and a notebook style page were great backgrounds for photos of our cherry picking, and the retired Jubilee button with a cherry on it was perfect!



Some more half pages are scattered throughout the book, as well as some small journalling boxes that I stamped.



The Cricut Artbooking mini albums even have some great envelope style pages, perfect for memorabilia. On this page I had some photos of us on the lake (our first time fishing and everyone loved it!) so I placed the fishing licences in the pocket. I also added a fish embellishment from the Seaside WOTG and some epoxy bubbles.



I was a bit of a big kid on this holiday, and loved the flying fox at the Dinosaur Park. My husband was more interested in the car museum!



One of the main reasons we went on this holiday was to celebrate my grandparent's wedding anniversary and their birthdays, so I also have some family photos throughout the book.



The last page is another fun overlay page, featuring some stickers from the Wanderful Complements and a little note about how much we loved Cromwell.



 This was such a fun mini album to do, and I really loved how easily it came together using the Artbooking cartridge.

Be sure to check out my other Artbooking in April posts, and if you have anything related to this wonderful world link it up with us at H2H!

Artbooking In April- Love My Boys Mini Album

This is the first post for my Artbooking In April series- using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge to create paper perfection!

My first creation is the 8x3.5 Love Mini Album featured on page 46. Everything is ready to be cut at 8" so set the Cricut machine to 8" real dial size OFF and everything will cut in proportion for the album to be completed. The hardest part is choosing what cardstock and papers you want to use!



Instead of a typical love album for my husband, as I made him one earlier this year, I created an album for my boys to tell them how special they are to me.

Here is the front of my album- I have used the now retired Heartstrings paper, as well as Black, Lagoon and Ruby cardstock throughout the album.



The first page has some photos of me with my boys, as well as this wonderful envelope page. I have included a letter to each of my boys in this envelope, talking about their births and all of their wonderful qualities that make them unique. I printed all of the photos in black and white to keep the colours continual, as the photos I chose were taken over a time frame of three months.



I have wanted to use this poem in my scrapbooking for ages, and so this album was the perfect opportunity to use it! I simply printed it from my computer using white cardstock and adhered it to the album page. The blessed and bread tag were part of the mini album Cricut cuts, and I added some baker's twine.



On the back of the doily page I added one of my favourite photos of the boys together, and then on the sweet page I matted a photo of me and my boys during my son's 5th birthday.



These pages show more photos of my boys with their beautiful smiles, and all I added were some more Cricut cuts and a strip of washi tape. Did you notice the LOVE cut out on the side? It is part of the page and such a fun pop of interest to the page.



I can't have a project without my favourite shimmer trim, so that made an appearance on this page along with one of the stickers from the Heartstrings complements.



How awesome is this double heart page? I used this to share some photos of my boys playing together, and talk about why I love these photos.



A journaling tag from the Heartstrings complements filled the back of this space. and then the overlay on the right page was perfect for this photo of the boys kissing each other goodnight.



Some more glitter and Heartstrings complements are on these pages, as well as the Cricut cut Hugs frame. The stamp is from a special Convention stamp set- we get so spoilt as Close To My Heart consultants!



The back page has a bold title, as well as a recent photo of my boys on holiday. I love this photo so much that it is a canvas on our wall at home.



This mini album is so special to me, and I hope my boys will appreciate it. It was a definite labour of love but I had so much fun picking which photos to use, and the colour scheme was perfect for two little boys. I would love to know which page is your favourite!

CTMH suppplies used:
Cardstock: Black, Lagoon, Ruby, White Daisy
Cricut: Artbooking
Embellishments: Heartstrings Complements, Lagoon Hearts Washi Tape, Neutrals Metallic Baker's Twine, Silver Geometric Washi Tape
Ink: Black
Paper packs: Heartstrings, Teal Glitter Paper
Stamp sets: What A Day (Convention), Your Own Kind of Wonderful