July/August New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to our July Blog Hop!  We will be featuring  new products from the brand new July/August catalogue, so sit tight and join our blog hop for some amazing ideas.

If you have come here from Brenda'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 new CTMH 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 absolutely love the new Summer Vibes collection, and I have been trying to use it in unexpected ways. 

I steered away from the usual summer theme and created a layout of a trip to Auckland Zoo in New Zealand. The palm tree vibe and the colour scheme still matched our photos but these were taken during our Spring. I have used the new Summer Vibes Paper Packet and Sticker Sheet, as well as the Coordinating Cardstock to create the base layout.

One of the best things about trips is all the souvenir photos I get, but I always end up with so many! That's why I added a Flip Flap down the side of the left hand page, in order to get as many photos in at possible! You can see how it folds out to add more photos.

Let's take a closer look at the left hand side- isn't that palm frond paper just gorgeous? I also love how the cardstock matches perfectly.

I used more of our new product on the right hand side of the page- this one was slightly more decorative as the flip flap was the main feature on the other side.

I used the Summer Vibes sticker sheet to add a cluster beside the photo, and the journalling will be added onto this flamingo card from the Summer Vibes Picture My Life Cards.

As soon as I saw this little flamingo in the Summer Vibes Acrylic Shapes I knew exactly why I needed to create this layout! As you can see, I was wearing a flamingo dress at the zoo and I took a photo with the flamingos, so this little pink flamingo was the perfect embellishment.

Now "Hop" on over to Haley'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! 

New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to our New Product Blog Hop!

If you have come here from Krista'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 20 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using the new great CTMH 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 love the new wintery Spruced Up collection but we are in the middle of summer here and so I wanted to showcase a layout that made use of non-winter photos.

Recently, we were on a 5 kilometre waling track that had the biggest pine-cones and really tall pine trees, and so the pine cone and pine feel of this paper was the perfect accompaniment to the photos on this double page layout.

I was inspired by another consultant, Kathy Burrows (who you will be visiting next on the hop!) to use an older existing layout and jazz it up a bit with new product. This layout design is from the Great Outdoors kit that was released a while ago, and so I updated it by using the new Spruced Up Coordinating Cardstock along with other elements of the Spruced Up Collection. I also turned over the layout orientation for portrait photos, and cut smaller pieces for the centre panels as I did not want them to crowd my photos.



Here's a close up of the left hand side of the layout, featuring some photos of me and my boys.



Here's a detailed look at some of the elements that make up this layout using new product.



Look at the detail on this beautiful sticker of the robin and bough! The sentiment sticker is also from the sticker sheet, and the tree paper blends so well with Kraft cardstock. The sentiment sticker is mounted on a piece that I stamped in second generation new England Ivy ink using the Spruced Up Cardmaking stamp set.



I kept the journalling on a plain piece of White Daisy cardstock, but did add one of the new Spruced Up Wood Shapes for some interest and texture. You can also see some of the Zip Strip from the Spruced Up Paper Packet that I used to separate the photos.



And here's the right hand side of the layout with some more photos of my gorgeous boys.



More of the detailed stickers were used on this side of the layout, and I also created the title using the Spruced Up Scrapbooking Stamp Set and Thin Cuts. Isn't it great that titles now have this cuts too! I also added a little gold embossed pinecone from the Spruced Up Cardmaking Stamp Set and Thin Cuts set.



My last close up is of one of the cute stars from the sticker sheet, and I also stamped a tree directly onto my layout background from the Spruced Up Scrapbooking Stamp Set.

Now "Hop" on over to Kathy'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!

Invitation Only

This week the theme at Heart 2 Heart challenges is Invitation Only.

This may mean you create an invite, or maybe you want to share a project inspired by an invitation only event.

I was very lucky to be invited to the Waitangi Day reception at Government House in Wellington. For those of you outside of New Zealand, Waitangi Day is is the national day of New Zealand, and commemorates the signing, on 6 February 1840, of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Every year, 1,00 people from New Zealand get chosen by ballot to be invited to this event, which is held in the capital city of New Zealand and includes free food, drink and entertainment for the afternoon.

This was the perfect excuse to use my new Loving New Zealand stamp set!

This stamp set was such a perfect match with my layout.




 I was also inspired by the floral pattern of my dress and I watercoloured the flowers from the Feels Like Home Paper Packet to create this double page layout.



I absolutely love the heart shaped New Zealand flag and I mirrored this with the love heart paper, although I was careful not to overshadow the watercoloured floral paper.

I'd love to see your Invitation Only project over at Heart 2 Heart!

ABC Blog Hop- Z

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

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

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

For my Z, I wanted to feature the beauty of New Zealand!

I am planning a road trip with my Dad and sister in January, and I know we will see some stunning New Zealand scenery. I had a layout left over from a consultant workshop, and since I don't like to waste my creations I have jazzed this up with some road trip and New Zealand themed embellishments, ready for photos.

Here is the double page layout- the fruity papers will complement this trip well as we are going to where fruit is famous! I cut out the shaped stamp image, the Away We Go title and the mountains from the Artistry cartridge. 


This New Zealand stamp was perfect as an accent to the road trip layout. I love the hashtag stamp set too, perfect for summer holidays!

I look forward to sharing this layout with photos and journalling after my road trip is complete. 

Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is Diana of Farmer Di Stamps.

In case you get lost along the way, click here for a complete list of participants!

CTMH supplies used:
Cardstock: Honey, Juniper, White Daisy
Cricut Cartridge: Artistry
Embellishments: Silver Sequins, Silver Shimmer Trim
Ink: Black, Juniper
Paper packet: Taste of Summer
Stamp sets: Documenting Moments, Hit The Road, New Zealand

Have a Kiwi Christmas!

I wanted to create a uniquely New Zealand Christmas card this week, and this card happened accidentally when I was playing around with the 3 Birds on Parade cartridge. I cut the bird in brown and then thought it looked like a Kiwi (New Zealand's national bird) and the idea grew from there!



I am playing along with Merry Monday's colour challenge of Light Green, Dark Green and Red.

I am also joining up with Between The Folds's Fundamentals Challenge.

CTMH supplies used:

Cardstock: Black, Canary, Cranberry, Desert Sand, Topiary, White Daisy

Ink: Topiary

Paper Packet: Whimsy Fundamentals Paper Assortment

Stamp set: Merriest Christmas

Stickers: Holiday Happenings Assortment

National Scrapbooking Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our special NSD Taste of Summer Blog Hop!  We will be featuring the gorgeous new paper pack and stamp set available only during the month of May.  If you have come here from Jennifer'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 over 35 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this gorgeous paper pack and stamp set combo and other great CTMH 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!

My family recently went on a family trip to Cromwell, and you can see the full mini album I created for the trip here. I also wanted a double page layout in our main scrapbook album, and had planned to use this Jackson WOTG layout.



However, I then decided to use this cutting guide but with the Taste of Summer paper pack, as the fruity theme went perfectly- Cromwell is famous for its fruit!



The left hand side shows off some of the fun orange stamps that come with the set, which match perfectly with the paper. I wouldn't usually put these two colours together, but they work so well with the photos and theme. The title was cut from the Cricut Artbooking cartridge.

The right hand side has some space for journalliing- aren't those stamped lines wonderful? They are from my new favourite stamp set, Documenting Moments. More oranges as well as a title from the stamp set, more wonderfully delicous orange paper and a "sweet" sentiment" were added to the page.



This yummy banner is also from the stamp set, and I placed it on a photo of my boys picking cherries. We ended up with 1.6kg of cherries (3.5lbs) so we were eating stone fruit for days after our holiday.



The oranges were stamped on one of the papers from the Scaredy Cat packet- I love how CTMH coordinates and so even Halloween papers have made it onto my summer layout! I popped all the oranges up on thin 3D foam tape to give an extra lift to the page.



The "sweet" circle is another stamp from the Documenting Moments set, which I put over a nice photo of me and my husband getting photobombed by a dinosaur. They have a wonderful park in Cromwell that is a jurassic safari, with a fantastic prehistoric themed adventure playground, so the boys and I loved it.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my summery vacation layout!

You can now "Hop" on over to Jenny'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! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get your hands on the new products.

CTMH supplies used:
Cardstock: Juniper, Sunset, White Daisy
Cricut: Artbooking
Ink: Juniper, Sunset
Paper packets: Scaredy Cat, Taste of Summer
Stamp sets: Documenting Moments, Taste of Summer

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

Autumn Banner with Amy Mountney

Recently, I was honored to be asked to collaborate with Amy Mountney. Amy is a UK artist who had based herself within a central vacant space, opposite Central Library, so she could collaborate with passers-by, tourists, artists and local initiatives to create a quirky ‘homely’ installation, and sociable environment, in response to experiencing limitations in making new connections as a city newcomer when she first arrived.

Looking at what constitutes ‘home’ for the city, she collected stories and experiences from those she has met along the way and facilitated the chance for local educational programmes, creatives, projects and businesses to come together in a variety of ways inside the miniature home to discuss ideas.

Amy now hopes to use this experience to inform a new series of works based on her explorations of Christchurch as well as writing a blog she is working on to document her time here.

One of the items I created to place in the Microhouse was this Autumn Banner, as to me cosy seasonal home decor is a staple in my house and makes me feel "at home".



I cut the letters on my Cricut, and added some stamps, die cut and embellishments to create some interest.



The colours remind me of Autumn here in New Zealand, and makes me feel warm and cozy just like when I am at home.



I used Baker's Twine to hang the banner up in my house.



Amy displayed it over this painting in her Microhouse, doesn't it look wonderful?

photo courtesy of Amy Mountney

She also displayed some of my cards and other papercraft items, such as this card here.

photo courtesy of Amy Mountney

My wine bottle holders even featured!

photo courtesy of Amy Mountney

Can you spot my card?

photo courtesy of Amy Mountney

 It was so exciting to be a part of this project, and I loved creating pieces to make the Microhouse envoke feelings of being welcome in a homely space.

CTMH supplies used:
Cardstock: Chocolate, Crystal Blue, Goldrush, Kraft, Pear, Topiary
Embellishments: Bronze Shimmer Trim, Metallic Neutrals Baker's Twine, Sparkles Brown and Tan Assortment
Ink: Chocolate
Paper Packet: Pathfinding
Stamp set: Pathfinding Cardmaking WOTG