Spooky Artfully Sent

I put this together at a crop I went to on Saturday. As one does (at least I do), I brought way too much with me, but forgot several vital things that I really needed or ended up wanting. The one vital thing I left at home was a Cricut Mat. Our generous hostess lent me one so that I didn't have to make a trip home or to a craft store to pick one up. There were also several embellishment type things I might have added, but I decided to have a "make it work" moment and am pretty happy with the result. I gave the card to the very kind Corinne as a thank you, but made sure to get pictures first. This is one of the many pop up cards on the cartridge.

 Front

(I also used some cuts from Artbooking on the front,)

Inside

Close up

(Love the detailed cuts on this cartridge!)

Artfully Sent Card Number Two

This card was thrown together very quickly for my Dad's birthday. I realized that I'd forgotten to make it about a half an hour before I needed to make the hour drive to my parent's house. Sometimes I do my best creating under pressure. 

Like many dads I'm sure, my dad is a "punny" guy, so I couldn't resist breaking out the pun for this card. The alphabet and sentiment sets that come with the cartridge really came in handy here as I didn't have time to boot up the computer, log in to craft room or design space and design and cut the words that I needed. 

Given more time I might have fancied this one up a bit more, but then again for a masculine card, sometimes less is more.

Hope you're inspired and excited to see  all the creative options offered with this cartridge!

Melissa

My First Cricut Artfully Sent Card

I know I should probably spread these posts out, but I'm so excited with how my first Artfully Sent projects have come out that I'll go ahead and warn you that you are going to get several posts in a row from me, because I just can't wait to share! This first card I made is for a dear friend that is fighting cancer. I wanted to cheer her up while she is going through chemo. It came together pretty quickly - it would have been even quicker, but I tend to over think everything (yes, I am that person LOL). There are many different interactive card types on the cartridge. This one is a swing card.

Closed

Open

Front

Inside
(for some reason even though I copy the link for the edited version of this photo from photobucket, I keep getting the unedited version, so sorry this photo isn't as good as the others)

With matching lined envelope

Did I mention that the cartridge has lots of envelopes with liners? I think I have just found a great use for my stockpile of retired light weight Close to My Heart Background and Texture Paper ;-).

Hope you have enjoyed! More to come!

Melissa

Studio J Layouts

Not long ago I was "stuck" waiting in a airport for an entire day (about 11 hours to be exact). I'd been flown into a certain city for a job interview. The company had paid for a rental car for me as well as a flight. To save money (I'm sure and who can blame them) they sent me back on the red-eye, but I had to have the rental back by noon or pay for an extra day. So, I spent the day scrapbooking at the airport. How, you may ask? Studio J that's how!

I had my laptop and wifi, so I was ready to go. I love how these layouts came out and just had to share! I love paper scrapping too, but these really are beautiful. I wish you could see them in person. They look even better than online. There are several of the layouts I am going to add some paper and bling elements to, but most could stand on their own. Click on each layout for a larger view. The beauty of digital scrapping is you can also get copies of your work for friends or family. No re-creating layouts or entire scrapbooks.

Studio J is also awesome for your photo printing needs. See this post I made back in March of 2014 that details how you can get custom sized prints from Studio J as well as traditional sizes. Very economical, especially for all your odd sized prints.

Hope you are inspired!
Melissa

Cricut® Artfully Sent is now available to order!

The latest Cricut Collection from Close to My Heart is now ready to order! You can review a .pdf file of the over 700 images on the cartridge here. I would recommend using the zoom feature in the .pdf file to view the images as the watermarking can be a little distracting otherwise.

You can order directly from my shopping site or contact me for details on how you can earn this collection for half price with a $250 home or online gathering.

Thirty Years of Happy - September National Stamping Month Set

September is National Stamping Month, and Close To My Heart is ready to celebrate all month long! When you spend $30 on any current retail-priced stamps during the month of September, you qualify to receive the exclusive C-sized stamp set #30yearsofhappy for FREE! This special offer is part of our celebration of National Stamping Month and in honor of our ongoing celebration of our founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton’s 30-year anniversary in the scrapbooking and stamping industry. The exclusive stamp set features 30 mini images and sentiments perfectly suited for 30 days of happy stamping! Plus, make sure you check out Close To My Heart’s Facebook page and Instagram during September to follow all the ways we’re celebrating #30yearsofhappy for a full 30 days!

This is a really fun set! Get yours this month while you can!

Spinner Card with Camper Crazy and Lollydoodle

Spinner cards are a lot of fun. I have seen several variations of these on Pinterest and just had to give it a try. I didn't have any pennies handy, so I used some flat buttons. Not sure if they worked quite as well since this is my first try with this technique. Any opinions from the voice of experience out there in the internet land of crafting?

Anyway I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I can't seem to get enough of the Camper Crazy stamp set and Lollydoodle paper. The base is a sheet from our Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment. One side has tone on tone glossy embossed images and the opposite side is matte with a contrasting pattern. Very versatile.

I covered the chipboard banner (from one of our Cricut Collections) with a scrap piece of Lollydoodle, then trimmed close (but not too close) to the edge of the shape then filed with my paper file. This give a much more finished look than cutting the shape the exact size before you glue your patterned paper to your chipboard.

This series of three photos should give you some sense of the motion of the campers as they chase each other in a circle.

Hope you are having a grand summer!
Melissa