"The Lady and the Chocolate"

I don't often do this but I really needed to share a fellow blogger's post.  She chose to share a book her friend purchased called, "The Lady and the Chocolate".  It is worth a moment to read this amazing story that had me grinning ear to ear.  Enjoy! :)

From one chocolate-aholic to you all, thanks for stopping by! 

"It's Your Birthday" Blog Hop

Welcome to our January Art Philosophy Blog Hop! We are starting a new year of blog hops for you all featuring Close to My Heart's exclusive Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  The Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge is available exclusively through a Close to My Heart consultant.

This month we are featuring a "birthday" theme for you.  In this hop, you will see projects featuring this versatile cartridge from many talented crafty ladies!  Enjoy our blog hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, please start at the beginning at Lucy's blog – Love 2 Create.   If you came from Priscilla of  Priscilla's Paperie then you are in the right place!

My daughter will be turning 12 soon (and hopefully she doesn't see this) so I decided to make her card early for once! :)  The card is cut from page 60 of the catalog. <shift> <Card>.

I found this awesome prismatic paper and immediately thought one of the cutout cards and some confetti would be awesome.

I think she's likely to be mad about the mess she'll make when she opens the cards but it will be fun.  I made small presents, stars, and some welded (with my Gypsy) 12's to match the 12 on the card.

Your next stop on our birthday hop is Theodora of Celebrate Crafts.

Here is the complete lineup in case you get lost along the way:

1. Lucy ~ Love 2 Create 
2. Darla ~ Caution: Stamping is Contagious
3. Jennifer ~ 4 Hearts Scrapbooking
4. Priscilla ~ Priscilla's Paperie <YOU CAME FROM HERE
5. Kindred Hearts ~ It Makes Total Cents <<YOU ARE HERE
6. Theodora ~ Celebrate Crafts <<<GO HERE NEXT
7. Stephanie ~ The Quilted Scrapper  
8. Traci ~ Paper Crafting 101

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you.

"Whit As Snow" Blog Hop with Lorby's World

Welcome to the White as Snow Blog Hop where the idea was to either create something that has white as a primary color or as the background. I'm sure some of these crafty bloggers got creative and combined both but you will only be able to find out by hopping along with us today...

Our hostess for this hop is Jearise from Lorby's World and it's a good thing to start at her blog because she has a special give away of her own and all the details are on her blog.

We also have a guest blogger, Anita from Anita and Bugs, who also has an awesome give away on her blog.

Our wonderful sponsor for today's blog hop is THE CUTTING CAFE so please make sure you visit their online store to see all the wonderful cutting and printable files they have.

The Cutting Cafe is giving away to one lucky winner 3 files of their choice. To qualify, you need to visit The Cutting Cafe store and then "like" The Cutting Cafe on FACEBOOK and let Regina, the owner, know that you came from the White as Snow Blog. I can tell you now that if you like printable sayings and cutting files, you will love her designs and she has specials going on all the time on her FACEBOOK page.

Now on to the hop...

My card uses vellum (white), White Daisy CTMH Ink, and a white card bade.  I've added Dutch Blue in the paper and smaller rose stamps.  The roses are Stampin' Up images with the blue (smaller) covering the attachment areas that show through the vellum.  The center sentiment was a bargain (unmounted) from a local shop but I love it!  I used my Creative Memory cutting system to get the perfect ovals. The vellum/cardstock is popped off the card with foam squares and I added a little bling.  It looks a little more elegant that way, don't you think?

 

 

Thank you so much for joining us today and your next stop is Tee!

Here is the hopping list just in case you get lost along the way.

1. Jearise
2. Anita 
3. Lucy  
4. Jessi 
5. Jenny
6. Tabetha
7. Penny  <YOU ARE HERE!
8. Tee  <GO HERE NEXT!
9. Miriam 
10. Jamie
11. Lynne
12. Amanda
13. CallyAnn

Ribbon in a New Way - Technique Blog Hop

There are no lack of ideas in the Close To My Heart Idea Books (hence the name...lol) but this one made me think.  Me and a few of my fellow CTMH sisters challenged ourselves to find ways to use "Ribbon in a New Way." 

Anyone who's been to a card class of mine knows I love bows, ribbon, twine, etc.  I think it adds such a great touch.  But to use it in a new way, I came up with a decidedly girly addition.

For this card I used a retired CTMH stamp set called, "Be Yourself".

I love these silhouettes and used the girl with the frilly skirt for this card.

Here is a close up of the skirt.  I originally tried to make the ribbon sticky on just one edge with my Xyron but it wasn't working well so I ended up with simple glue tape and some pleats.

I really liked how this card turned out.  A few triple stamped swirls, some girly retired pink paper, and a few gems on a pink card base, and it's a wrap.  What do you all think?

Thanks for stopping by!  There are a few more projects to go through  Here is the whole order if you want to start back over at the top!

1.       Debi <<<Start at the beginning!

2.       Wendy

3.       Tabbi

4.       Judy Faye

5.       Shirley

6.       Joy

7.       Kindred Hearts  <<<You are here!



DON'T FORGET...


Locals - Card Class tonight @ 6:30
ALL:  Giveaway and Specials can be found by following the link! :)

Happy New Year . . . and January card class sneak peeks

Wow!  I've been away for too long.  I was sure I added a blog post since the 22nd of December . . . but I guess now.  Let's catch up!

I had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I hope you all did as well.  I've updated the specials tab for January and the giveaway is going until the end of the month.

To ADD to that, I've added a special January bonus.  Any orders over $35 this month will receive ONE (1) Monogram Stamp FREE!  I just love how elegant these look and there are so many uses for them....

On to the SNEAK PEEKS:
(NOTE:  Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to see these first!)

 

(Note:  I'll have my new Spring/Summer 2013 Catalog at each of the events this month for a sneak peek at what is coming next month as well.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

TONIGHT:  Craft Swap @ 6:00pm  (Facebook Invite)
TUESDAY 1/15/13:  Card Class @ 6:30  (Facebook Invite)
SATURDAY 1/26/13:  Card Class @ 2:30  (Facebook Invite)

(Blog hops on the 15th and 17th (so far) as well...)

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!