Love is All You Need blog hop

 Hello and welcome to the Australasian Close To My Heart Love is All You Need blog hop. If you arrived here from The Scrapbooking Photographer you are in the right place, if you arrived by chance just click on the link at the end of this post to go to the next blog.

This hop is will be a little different, we get to choose what products we want to use as long as it fits the description of "Love is All You Need". This means there will be a variety of products used, I have chosen the Now and Forever collection. I fell in love with this collection as soon as I saw it  aren't these papers divine!

The Now and Forever papers have a vintage look to them, so I knew what photo I wanted to use to create this page. This layout features my grandmother, my mother's mother and three of her children, my mum who is 91 wasn't yet born. There is a wee baby in my grandmother's arms that you have to look closely to see. 

I love it when CTMH designs a paper pack with papers that you can cut up to create embellishments, which I have done with the flower paper. I have also added a stamped flower, the flower and butterfly images uses two stamps to create the two tone look. I have added a few of the White Acrylic Flowers Z6035 and also some ink blending and stenciling as well. I used one of the Card Front Pattern Stencils Z4679. I will add the journalling soon.

 

We all love sending birthday cards and this card is filled with special delivery birthday wishes. I have used different papers from the Now and Forever pack to create this card, the presents and special delivery stamps are from the Seasonal Haul stamp and thin cut set Z4655.

Thank you for stopping by, now hop along to Scrappy Chicks to see more great ideas, I am sure Danielle will have something wonderful to share.

Please take a moment and leave a comment they are always appreciated.

Happy crafting!

Are We There Yet?

 Hello and welcome to the CTMH Australasian "Are We there Yet" blog hop, if you have arrived here from Lynda's The Scrapbooking Photographer you are in the right place. If you arrived by chance you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post .

This paper pack is bright and colourful and has some lovely pattern papers with images relating to travel. There are drawings of many of the really popular and well know iconic sights plus the images of passport visa stamps and luggage. Something to use with all of your international travel photos or just a short trip to the countryside.

 

 

 I very much enjoyed creating this layout, I was traveling home to Perth and stopped in Sydney to visit my sister, we had a great day in the city sightseeing. Much has changed since 1978 but the well known sites of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are still as amazing as ever. The Sydney skyline has definitely changed.

I love the honey butter printed paper and chose this plus papaya and glacier cardstock for my layout. The Sydney Opera House cricut cut is from the CTMH "You Are Here"  cartridge and I used the slim  alphabet and numbers dies for the title. I also used glacier ink for the splatter stamped images.

I love this truck from the Seasonal Haul (D2117) stamp set and used the idea from the core catalogue as inspiration for this title piece. I will use this piece on a layout with my Australia Day fireworks photos. The truck was raised using the thick 3D foam tape to give it some dimension. The sapphire printed paper was perfect to mount my stamped image.

Thank you for stopping by, now hop along to Danielle's Scrappy Chicks  for more great ideas. I am sure she will have something wonderful to share.

Happy crafting!
 

April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

 Welcome to the CTMH Australasian blog hop, we are showcasing the April stamp of the month, if you arrived here from Danielle's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived by chance, to continue the hop, just click on the link at the end of the post.

The April stamp of the month is titled "Message in a Bottle" and has 21 different images and sentiments aren't they the cutest. You will be able to use these stamps in so many different ways.

I really liked the twinkling stars stamps and thought it would go well with these photos. A couple of Christmases ago we visited this house that was decorated for Christmas, every room in the house was decorated including the bathroom and toilet! There were twinkling lights everywhere,  a gold coin donation that would be given to a charity was the entrance fee and it was well worth it. I marveled at the elderly couple's decision to open their home this way, it would have taken them weeks to decorate the house.

Here is a closer look at the sparkling light stamped images, don't they just twinkle as well. I used versa mark ink and gold embossing powder. The poinsettias and leaves are cut from the CTMH Flower Market collection. 

I could see this stamped image as a vase as soon as I saw it, and thought it would make a lovely card. I used pattern 20 from the Make It From Your Heart Vol 2 ideas book as inspiration for this card. I masked off the top of the bottle and then stamped the stems of flowers onto the bottle. I added watercolour to the bottle to make it look like water in the vase. I used 3D foam tape to adhere the vase and the flowers.

Thank you for stopping by, now hop along to Doreen's blog and see what she has to share. I am sure it will be something wonderful.

Please take a moment and leave a comment before you leave.

Happy crafting.

Cake Day Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Australasian CTMH Cake Day blog hop, if you arrived here from Danni's blog  you are in the right place . If you arrived here by chance please click on the link at the end of this post to go to the next blog.

The Cake Day collection really is all about birthdays, but of course you can use it for many other themes of projects. This is a really bright and fun paper pack and the stickers are gorgeous. 

Some how I only ordered the Cake Day picture my life cards and not the paper pack, not to be deterred I was still able to create a layout and a card. 

I loved this card from the picture my life pack and thought I would add another sentiment as well. I just wrote it with the black journalling pen. It's a really fun card now, what do you think?

 
This layout uses just two of the picture my cards and the stunning new coated cardstock that is on special this month. You can get a special bundle of 24 UV coated sheets, 2 each of 12 different colours for $48. I choose the beautiful lemonade colour for my background and the mint for my title. Photos just don't do this paper justice, you have to see it in person. The UV coating gives the paper a beautiful sheen. I was able to cut the 4"x6" multi coloured paper into 2 pieces to create the border strip and then I cut one of the other cards into 2, 1/2" x 6" strips to create the other border piece. You can cover the joins in the papers with your embellishments and no one will ever know. 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope I was able to inspire you, now hop along to Lauren Moore's blog  I am sure she will have something wonderful to share.

Before you leave, please take a moment and leave a comment they are always appreciated.

Happy crafting! 

Cardstock Carnival Blog Hop

 Welcome to the CTMH Australasian cardstock carnival blog hop, if you arrived here from Doreen's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived by chance, click on the link at the end of the post to continue the blog hop.

Close to my Heart have a fantastic special on cardstock for the month of March. Cardstock is something you can never have too much of and CTMH's cardstock simply can't be beat. This month only you can save 15% to 30% on selected packs, check my website for details doristaylor.closetomyheart.com.au/

Never feel limited if the majority of paper that you have is cardstock, there is so much that you can do with cardstock to change the look or give it some texture. You can stamp and colour on it, you can dry emboss with embossing folders, you can heat emboss with the beautiful embossing powders, or you can use textured paste. They are just some ideas off the top of my head.

This first project uses dry embossing and images stamped with black ink and stamped and coloured. I also cut the milk bottles on my cricut. This is a free image from Cricut Design Space. When I first looked at these photos I didn't notice the empty milk bottles at the front door, I was reminiscing about how cute my nieces were way back then, but as soon as I saw them the memory of home delivered milk came rushing back. Do you remember when milk was delivered to your door, you just had the leave the empty bottles out the night before!

I have used random stamps from my CTMH stash that went with this layout and I embossed the papaya cardstock. As I have said before the Slim Alphabet Thin Cuts are my favourite. 3D foam tape was also used on the flowers and vines.

This card is a really easy but beautiful card, I have had this embossing folder in my stash for many years so I am not sure where it came from. Embossing with white cardstock really is so beautiful and this butterfly folder is simply stunning. It really is the focus of this card, the subtle pink border, pearls and the ribbon are all it needs to complete the card. I really like this card, I haven't added a sentiment because I feel it's not needed. The card is 6"x6" so there is plenty of room inside to write.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope I have given you some inspiration to use what cardstock you have or maybe get some more in this month's great special. Now hop along to Lauren's CTMHcraftings and see what great project she has to share.

If you like what you see please take a moment and leave me a comment, they are always appreciated.

Happy crafting! 

March Stamp of the Month blog hop

 Welcome to the Australasian CTMH stamp of the month blog hop, if you arrived here from Doreen's blog  you  are in the right place. If you arrived by chance you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post. 

This month's stamp is call You're The Goat: that is you're the "greatest of all time". There are 9 different animal images and 15 punny sayings. We can have lots of fun with this stamp set, for cards as well as scrapbooking.

This layout uses the the very cute "have a whaley great day", and also the whale stamp of course and I love it on this layout. I had to hunt through my stash of papers to find this past paper pack called Seas the Day which was perfect for these photos. 

The waves along the bottom decoration was an after thought after I had already added the scalloped sticker and thankfully I found 2 different stamps ( a straight line and the waves stamp) in my stash that allowed me to recreate the same pattern as on the paper with sapphire ink. Always check your stamps when you have little boo boos like what happened to me, you never know what you will find. 

Here is a close up shot of the stamped images. I fussy cut the whale and adhered it with 3D foam tape. He really is cute, with that cheesy grin.

I loved this black cat when I first saw it and the cool cat sentiment is so cute. I found this card kit of pieces when I was looking through my stash and made it work for this card. I really need to use up more of my stash. I hope you like this card as well. 

My mother has always sewn but came to quilting later in life and she has made quilts for all of her great grandchildren and many other people. I am proud to say I have two of them. I have never tried quilting but my two sisters have followed in mum's footsteps and have made some beautiful quilts. My sister Theresa made this small quilt for my niece and it truly is "toadly amazing" The front of the quilt is the pieced hearts and the floral is the back, I have to keep reminding my sister to sign her quilts as they are works of art like any other project. 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope I have inspired you to use this stamp set, now to get some more grat ideas please go to Alison's Scissors, Paper Heart blog. I am sure she will have something wonderful to share.

Please take a moment and leave a comment before you leave, they are always appreciated.

Happy crafting!

Sawyer Blog Hop

 Hello and welcome to the CTMH Sawyer collection blog hop, if you arrived here from Doreen's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived by chance just click on the link at the end of this post to  continue the hop.

Close To My Heart never fails to deliver, the Sawyer collection is another wonderful set of papers and decorations. The paper pack includes 6 sheets 2 each of 3 double sided designs, and one coordinating sticker sheet plus a 1/2" zip strip on each sheet.

Do fairies live in your garden? They do in mine and they also inhabit my home as well, here are a few photos that I managed to snap of them. The colours in this paper pack are perfect for these photos and the Fairy Garden stamp Z4526 is just gorgeous. I went through my stash of embellishments to add some extra flowers. I absolutely love these Slim Alphabet dies Z4334 

I made a cardstock flower for this card and to give it extra texture I dry embossed the petals with the dot embossing folder. Pearls always add a touch of elegance to any card.

Thank you for stopping by to see more great ideas hop along to Alison's Scissors Paper heart blog and see what great project she has to share.

Happy crafting!

February Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

 Welcome to the February CTMH stamp of the month blog hop, if you arrived here from Doreen's blog you are in the right place. If you arrived by chance I hope I have inspired you with my projects, you can continue the hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post  

This stamp set is called "Here's The Story" and will be great for cards as well as scrapbooking. It's perfect for journalling prompts and for titles.

Here's a card I made using the oval frame for my Happy Birthday sentiment. I used pattern 30 from the Vol 5 Make It From Your Heart ideas book for this card. It's a simple design but a really pretty card. The papers I used are from a previous Mix In pack.  

For this layout I have used three of the sentiments, I did tone on tone stamping using the A Favourite  Memory to create pattern paper from the grey cardstock. The Here's the Story stamp is perfect for my journal box. I have used papers from the As You Grow paper pack X8020B.

Thank you for stopping by to get some more great ideas go to Danielle's Scrappy Chicks blog . 

Happy crafting!

Sweet Little Things

 Welcome and Happy New Year! We start the new year with a wonderful CTMH Australasian blog hop. Today we are showcasing the fabulous January stamp of the month "Sweet Little Things" If you arrived here from Artymaz you are in the right place, if you arrived by chance, just click on the link at the end of this post to continue the hop.

This stamp set really is the sweetest little thing you have ever seen. Don't you just love these cute forest animals and the sentiments are so lovely.

I love the stamp with the small rabbit looking up to the bigger one and knew I wanted to use it. I was sure I had some photos of one of my nephews with a hand made rabbit that my sister had made for him. Looking at the photos now, I am not sure if it is supposed to be a rabbit or a mouse.  I have used papers from the new Sawyer collection and they are just gorgeous. I stamped the images and coloured them with the Tri blend markers. 

The layout design is from the Vol 2 Make It From Your heart ideas book, pattern 6. Just a hint, I am sure you already know this but just in case always cut the center out of the paper behind a top sheet because it's a shame for it to be wasted. The other decorative elements are from my stash of older CTMH products. 

 

I don't mind colouring in, but it's not something I find easy to do but  I am happy with this effort. This teddy is so cute and I am sure this card will brighten someone's day. A few sparkly gems add a little something special to any card.

A little dove built a nest in my mango tree, doves are renown for being one of the worst nest builders. A few sprigs thrown together to make the nest, I checked often and saw she had laid two eggs. I was most surprised to see she successfully hatched the two eggs and they managed to stay in the nest and grow. Eventually they grew too big for the nest and then flew away. 

I thought this sentiment "Sweet Little Things" worked perfectly for this page. This paper collection is called As You Grow and was a special release last year. It is geared towards babies and children but as you can see like all of CTMH's paper designs they are very versatile.

The bracket thin cuts are great to use for titles or a platform to add decorative elements as I have done in this layout.

  

Thanks for stopping by, now hop along to Kimmy Adds Sparkle to see some more great ideas. 

Please take a moment and leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

Happy crafting!