Bring Back My Pack- Urban

Welcome to our Bring Back My Pack Blog Hop!

We will be featuring December's Bring Back My Pack, which is Urban.

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 10 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this Exclusive Bundle Offer 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!

Most of my ideas for this paper packet focus on masculine themes, but I also wanted to showcase something a bit more cutesy using this paper packet.

One of my friends has been having a rough time with her 18 month old son, so I wanted to create a card that would appeal to both of them.

I used the woodgrain paper for the base paper of the card, and accented it with some banner scraps and Peacock Cardstock. The stamp set I used is called Woodland Greetings, which I thought paired perfectly with the woodgrain. I stamped the bear in Espresso Ink and the wreath in the same colour but using the second generation colour and then added the sentiment in peacock ink as well as some of the stand alone leaves.



Here's a close up of the bear's nose as I used the clear shimmer brush on it just for a little extra something and a bit of bling.



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!

Father's Day Card for Just Add Ink

Well, I am back into crafting after a month long hiatus while I moved house. I can't believe it has taken me this long to get my craft mojo back- but now I am creating like crazy in my new craft area.

Tomorrow is Father's Day here in New Zealand, so of course I've had to put together a quick card for my Dad!

I was inspired by the sketch over at Just Add Ink as I really wanted to use up some paper scraps and play with my new masculine stamp and thin cuts set, featuring an old-style pickup truck.




I kept the colours neutral to make the wood patterned paper take centre stage, and how cute is the pickup?

The sentiment is from a retired stamp set that I love, and I stamped both the truck and the sentiment in brown ink to keep the colour scheme monochromatic.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Blast!

I'm still loving the Stargazer paper pack even though it has retired.

I created this quick card using a small circle cut from a galaxy background I made using inks, a sponge dauber, sprinkles of water and splatters of white pigment ink.

I then added a metallic rocket and the cute sentiment, and attached everything to the rocket paper background.



I am linking up with the Heart 2 Heart Heavy Metal challenge(the metallic rocket) and also the Fusion challenge where I combined both the sketch and the photo.



Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Giggles with Let's Party

Once again, I have come up with a card inspired by various challenges to celebrate the upcoming birthday of my partner. We don't take life too seriously and always have a good laugh together, so I knew that I wanted to make a light-hearted card for him.

This sentiment always makes me giggle and is rather apt!

I kept the colour and the layout quite simple, using black and white with a touch of copper accents and just a tiny amount of bling with the black enamel gems. I sponged the notepaper die cut with black ink to make it stand out more as well.



I was inspired by the following challenges:
Addicted to CAS: Masculine
Color Throwdown: Black, White and Copper
Heart 2 Heart Challenges: Duly Noted
The Paper Players: Humorous

21st with Stargazer

When I first saw the Stargazer pack I loved the space theme, but it is also awesome for masculine projects in general.

I am heading to a 21st tomorrow night (I'm getting to the age where my friends' children are adults now too!) and I decided to make the birthday boy a special card.

I used some scraps from the Stargazer paper plus a die cut 21 to put this card together. I added some yellow sequins to add an extra touch of embellishment- I felt like this card had enough going on and so I did not add a stamped sentiment.



I hope this young man likes his card- it's a bit of a different style for me as I usually need to stamp somewhere but I'm very happy with the finished look.

I'm linking up this card with Seize The Birthday-Sequins and the Happy Little Stampers diecut challenge.

Have a Super Birthday!

I haven't had much of a chance to play with my Super Boy stamp set yet, so when I saw that the Heart 2 Heart Challenge this week was Superheroes I immediately pulled out the stamp set.

I was also inspired by the Color Dare, and used all of the colours apart from Linen and Nutmeg.

Finally, I'm linking up my card with the Anything Goes Birthday challenge over at Seize The Birthday!



I used a Juniper and Glacier Fresh Air background, and added a sentiment stamped in Juniper ink backed on Gold Glitter Card. I stamped the Super Boy and coloured him in then popped him up on 3D Foam Tape, and added some doodles and White Enamel Dots to finish off the card.

Now he's ready for my son's 6th birthday party this weekend- I can't believe how fast my boys are growing up!

Dad is Rad Workshop Kit

Have you seen the amazing Father's Day themed special Dad is Rad that is available until the end of this month?

I absolutely love the stamp set that goes with it too, and I have had lots of fun creating with it this month.

The kit is for Father's Day, but I actually used the double page layout to document my Dad's birthday.

I love the muted colours with pops of blue in this layout, perfect for any masculine event.

I've changed up the original layout a bit to suit my photos, and I am entering this layout in the Sweet Stampin' Challenge this week as well as the Heart2Heart Challenge Blog.



How gorgeous is this sentiment from the stamp set? The argyle strip is also stamped from the same set- such a versatile pattern.



The gold glitter touches, the ripped cardstock and the cute bow tie paper clips make this layout so shiny and happy! Instructions can be downloaded from the Close To My heart website if you would like to create this layout yourself.



But this kit is not just for males- I have created a layout here showcasing me and two of my good friends ready for a night on the town.



Once again I added some bling with the gold glitter paper included in the kit, but used the Documented Cardmaking stamp set for the sentiment as it sums us up perfectly! I also added some stamped flowers to girly the layout up a bit.



I've still used the argyle stamp set and the bow paper clips for this layout as per the original instructions.



The kit also comes with instructions to create four cards- this one is my absolute favourite!



This one is a great card for any occasion, not just Father's Day.



If you'd like more information about this special or if you would like to order the kit or stamp set, please click here. Remember, the Dad is Rad kit and stamp set are only available until the 31st June.

Fresh Air Father's Day card

I am really enjoying all the challenges a the moment, and I knew I wanted to play along with this week's Color Dare challenge over at Color My Heart as I had lots of Fresh Air paper scraps.

I started off with the Glacier spotted paper scrap and the card grew from there. The spots inspired me to create a spotty embossed background, and then I used a Father's Day stamp set for the sentiment.



I added some strips of extra paper and cardstock behind the sentiment to anchor it, and finished off the card with some Glacier twine.

Have you been crafting with Fresh Air? Let me know- I'd love to see your creations!

You mean the World to me

My two boys have been amazing at adjusting to a lot of changes in the last few months, and I wanted to let them know how special and important they are to me. I made them each a card and will write in it and leave it on their pillow, and hopefully this will show them how much I care about and appreciate them.

My boys love anything space related, and so it was a perfect opportunity to use some scraps from my Stargazer Paper Packet. I loosely based my card on the WYW design, but made sime changes to the paper and thin cut as my boys have both seen and loved the rocket ship printed paper.

I had a lot of fun stamping the border of the card, and then it was easy to put together the rest. I coloured in the astronaut with the watercolour pencils and added a Zip strip and some Stargazer Dots to finish the card.

I am linking this up to Heart 2 Heart's Out Of This World Challenge.

Back with a Birthday Bash card

Wow- it's been a long time since I've been crating due to a number of reasons- the most likely being that I moved house at Christmas and it took me a while to set up my craft space!

I have finally got back into things and one of my first creations was this masculine birthday card, created for the Birthday Bash challenge at H2H.

I used the April Stamp of the Month for the Celebrate title, and the best day ever was already preprinted on a pocket page card, which I then matted on Peacock cardstock.

I used the stars from the Stargazer cardmaking set to add some extra interest to the card.

It feels good to be getting back into scrapbooking and cardmaking, and I am looking forward to sharing more of my creations with you!

Get into Gear

This week's challenge at BTF is to use Picture My Life cards on a project.

I have a stash of retired PML cards that work great for masculine themed cards.

I placed a 3x4 card on a dry embossed background. I then stamped a bike and heat embossed it to stand out.

The sentiment and gear were also from a retired stamp set, and I added some White Dots to complete the card.



My husband and brothers in law are all bike mad, so this will be a perfect card to have in my stash!

Some Kinda Wonderful Australasian Blog Hop

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

If you have arrived here from Maz 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 April Featured collection, Some Kinda Wonderful.

I have seen a lot of cards and layouts using the beautiful Raspberry colour associated with this Paper Packet, but I wanted to showcase how this collection could be masculine too.

It was my brother's birthday last Friday so I made him this fun card using one of my favourite birthday stamp sets. I picked out the Black, Glacier and Willow colours from the Some Kinda Wonderful collection to create this card, and I also used the Black and White Dots that come with this collection.



This Workshop Your Way collection can be yours for just $46NZD.  Individual components can be ordered 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, Georgia Creates.

A Masculine Merry Monday

The challenge at Merry Monday is a great one this week- create a masculine Christmas card!

I found a die cut stag in the Oh Deer complements and built the card from there, using brown neutrals, woodgrain embossed Kraft cardstock and some Gold Foil Tape.



The sentiment was stamped in Desert Sand ink to keep the colour scheme monochromatic, and I finished off the card by adding some cream and gold sequins.

Thanks for stopping by!

Q is for Quick

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

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

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

I have been teaching my son about palindromes (words that are spelt the same both forwards and backwards) and I mentioned to him that 'racecar' is one such word. He then got out my new Racecar Birthday stamp set, and I had a eureka moment. Racecars are quick, hence the inspiration for the project for this hop!



I stamped and fussy cut the racecar, then adhered it onto a stamped background (the arrows are from the World Traveller stamp set) that used Crystal Blue, Pacifica and Twilight ink. I ran some Slate cardstock through the Chevron embossing folder for the background, and added in some teal shimmer paper and an arrow puffy from the Jackson embellishments.

Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is Catherine of CatScrapbooking.

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

Copy That!

I love being inspired by Pinterest, other blogs, magazines and of course the gorgeous CTMH Annual Inspirations!

This  week's challenge at H2H is to choose something from the new CTMH Idea Book to recreate your own way! (Don’t have a new Idea Book? Either contact your consultant or view online at http://www.closetomyheart.com/ctmh/products/online-idea-book.aspx)

I have been busy creating with the Wise Guy Birthday stamp set, and was inspired by these gorgeous cards in the book.

I used Cranberry, Saffron and Peacock colours as well as Black ink to recreate one of the cards for a masculine birthday.



I had so much fun creating the sprinkle border! It was actually a lot easier than I thought, and something I will be experimenting with more in the future.



How will you be inspired by the Copy That prompt? Link up here!

I am also linking up with Seize The Birthday this week, a great challenge for birthday cards!

Florence in Space!

I love the Florence paper packet, but I was struggling to make it masculine with three men in the house.

Then I looked at the subtle stripes paper, and inspired by the sketch challenge, I set to work!

I stamped three monsters onto the paper in Peacock, Poppy and Saffron ink, and then added some Junebug Puffies and Poppy Thick Twine.



The sentiment was also fussy cut from one of the zip strips on top of the paper, and worked perfectly with the stamped creatures!



I am entering this card in:
Just Add Ink: Just add F (Florence)
Between The Folds: Florence Paper Packet
CASE this sketch challenge

Have a Blast!

This weekend I have created a card based on Just Add Ink (Just Add Paper Piecing) , Seize The Birthday (Bold and Bright) and the Color Dare (Crystal Blue, Sorbet, Canary and White Daisy) challenges.

My nephew is turning four on Tuesday, so I made a space themed card for him. I inked up my star embossing folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug with  piece of White Daisy cardstock to create the background.



I then paper pieced the rocket ship and added a sentiment to match!

I am really pleased with the end result- the rocket is popped up on foam squares for some dimension and I love how the inked stars came out.

Big Wishes!

As a mother of boys, I love creating fun cards for younger males.

This week's card combined the 30day marker challenge with CASology and Seize The Birthday.

I love this little dinosaur, he was fun to colour and I added some watercolour splashes to the card in the same tones.



I added a chevron strip on top of a mint piece of paper, then stamped the sentiment and I was done!

This card will be stomping its way to my nephew who is celebrating his birthday in a couple of weeks.

June Worldwide Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring June's SOTM, which is The Long Way Home, a set of 15 stamps.

If you have come here from Tamytha'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 25 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM 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 husband is mad on bikes, and he makes me smile everyday, so I wanted to create a note for him to say how thankful I was for the things he has done recently while I have been sick.

I started off by stamping the front of the card with the bicycle stamp in Black ink, and adding a sentiment among the bikes.



When you open the card up, there are some Cricut cut clouds, a stamped sun from the June SOTM, and a Cricut cut bike as well.


I added the sun as I thought it looked cute but not too feminine!



I really love how this card has turned out, and the Artfully Sent cartridge made it super easy! This cartridge is retiring at the end of July, so if you don't have it yet I highly recommend you contact your consultant.



Now "Hop" on over to Krista'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! Remember, the June SOTM is only available until 30th June!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

CTMH supplies used:
Cardstock: Black, Glacier, Lagoon, Slate
Cricut Cartridges: Artfully Sent, Artistry
Ink: Black, Honey
Stamp set: The Long Way Home

Ahoy Matey!

As a mother of boys and aunty to a lot of nephews, I always need boy cards, which was perfect for the Curtain Call challenge this week!

One of my favourite stamp sets is called Pirate Birthday, and it has this adorable pirate ship. It was perfect to match with the Tommy Paper Packet, and I also added some waves from the Play Hard-Diving stamp set and an anchor element from the Regatta Complements.



The sentiment is from the Waltzingmouse Half Pint Heroes stamp set, which is also a fabulous boy stamp set.

Make sure to check out the other boy themed cards at Curtain Call this week!