Happy Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and CTMH's Nevermore collection is perfect for all of your Halloween papercrafting!

Today's card is a simple design made spooktacular with the Nevermore paper packet and some fabulous green shimmer trim.  This is my go-to design for a quick & easy card.  This design works with any coordinating paper -- patterned or solid.  If solid, you can dry emboss for some extra punch or simply leave plain to allow you to stamp directly on the card instead of having to add an extra piece for the sentiment.

Supplies used:
*Artistry Cricut collection
*Nevermore paper packet
*Say It All stamp set (Hostess Rewards exclusive)
*12" x  12" Black card stock
*12" x  12" Whisper card stock
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Green shimmer trim
*Black & Grey epoxy bubbles (retired -- but available while supplies last on my website!)

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Nevermore -- Not Just for Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and CTMH's Nevermore collection is not only perfect for all of your Halloween papercrafting, but is also great for the rest of the year, too!  The colorful stripes would look fun on kids projects while the steampunk whisper/slate design works wonderfully for masculine projects such as the card below.

For today's project, I used the steampunk B&T along with the new Peacock color and some gears from the Artiste cartridge to make this bold and manly Father's day card.

Supplies used:
*Artiste Cricut collection
*Say It All stamp set (Hostess Exclusive)
*Nevermore paper packet
*12" x  12" Peacock card stock
*12" x  12" Slate card stock
*12" x  12" Whisper card stock
*White Daisy card value pack
*Slate Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Peacock Exclusive Inks stamp pad

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Happy Haunting

Halloween is just around the corner and CTMH's Nevermore collection is perfect for all of your Halloween papercrafting.

Today's card is a spooky combination of the Nevermore collection and the *new* Artistry Cricut collection.  The Halloween key includes a variety of images including a ghost, bat, monster, and pumpkin as well as a fun background overlay which I used for the card below.

To create the shadow effect on this card, I cut the image twice - once in Sunset and once in Pear.  I inked the edges of the Sunset with black ink to give it a spooky, distressed look.  Then I layered the Pear cut under the Sunset cut -- shifting it slightly to the upper right side.

Supplies used:
*Artistry Cricut collection
*Nevermore paper packet
*12" x  12" Black card stock
*12" x  12" Pear card stock
*12" x  12" Sunset card stock
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Green shimmer trim
*1" Circle punch

*1 1/4" Scallop circle punch
*1" Clear epoxy circles

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Nevermore Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and CTMH's Nevermore collection is perfect for all of your Halloween papercrafting.

Today's card is features the KISS method -- Keep It Simple, Scrapper.  :-)  I used a combination of circle and scallop circle punches along with one of my favorite clear epoxy circles.  This card is great as it is, but if you wanted to step it up, you could emboss the Slate and / or Pear layers to give the card some extra umph and dimension.

Supplies used:
*Nevermore paper packet
*12" x  12" Black card stock
*12" x  12" Pear card stock
*12" x  12" Slate card stock
*12" x  12" Sunset card stock
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Purple shimmer trim
*1" Circle punch

*various sizes circle & scallop circle punches
*1" clear epoxy circle stickers

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Elephant for You

Back in August, my family road-tripped to Wisconsin for a reunion with my Mom's extended side of the family.  We all gather together every 5 years -- from my great-grandparents' generation all the way down.  This year, the oldest living member of the family is 92, and the youngest was born the day before the reunion -- obviously, he wasn't in attendance though as he and his mama were resting in the quiet of their hospital room.

At the reunion, I took dozens, err... hundreds of pictures.  Upon returning home, I sorted all the pictures, trashed the bad ones, and burned the rest onto dvds to be sent to a member from each branch of the top of the family tree.  There are nine branches stemming from my great-grandparents so I knew I couldn't make discs for each person.  I'd probably still be burning discs if I tried!!  Luckily the family agreed and were okay with reaching out to their appointed family member to get a copy of the disc.  Whew...

Anyways, I wanted to include a little note with each disc I mailed so I came up with a simple 4x4 card using some cardstock, washi tape, and stamps.  Our family has a unique obsession with white elephants as my great-grandparents owned a tavern called the White Elephant in Wisconsin.

Supplies used:

*Recollections cardstock
*Paper Studio washi tape
*Close to My Heart ink
*Stamp set from my stash

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Spotlight on Holiday Expressions Blog Hop

Welcome to the Spotlight on Holiday Expressions Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Wendy Coffman, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure.

For today's project, I chose to get a head start on my December Daily album.  The White Pines Picture My Life set is perfectly designed for a December Daily!  It contains a title card for each day of December from the 1st to Christmas day along with 25 journaling cards and a handful of other title cards.

I snagged this great 8x6 Kraft album from Hobby Lobby; it came with 8x6 pocket pages in a variety of layouts.  To cover the end of the book, I used the Cranberry cardstock from the Paper Fundamentals - Adventure pack.  Then, I used cards from the White Pines Picture My Life along with the White Pines compliments pack to create the rest of the cover.  It was so fun and easy because CTMH has done all the work to coordinate everything is this collection!

Supplies used:

*Picture My Life White Pines Scrapbooking Program
*Paper Fundamentals Adventure
*White Pines complements
*Cocoa Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Fern Extra Thick Baker's Twine
*Bitty Sparkles
*Red Enamel Gems

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at JD Designs and for hopping with us on the Spotlight on Holiday Expressions Blog Hop!  Come back soon and check out my upcoming post (including YouTube video) covering the inside of my December Daily album.  Next up on the hop is Brenda Lapp. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Damask Divas Sangria Blog Hop

Welcome to the Damask Divas' October Blog Hop featuring the Close to My Heart Sangria paper packet!  The Damask Divas' team is excited to inspire you with fabulous projects from this beautiful collection!  You can see the full hop line-up over on the Damask Divas' blog.

For today's project, I was inspired by the rich fall-like colors of this collection to make a Thanksgiving card.  I absolutely love Sangria's color combination of  Pomegranate, Poppy, and Eggplant combined with neutrals, Champagne and Cocoa.  This card came together quickly and simply.  I hope you like it!

Supplies used:

*Sangria paper packet

*Blessings of Autumn stamp set (hostess rewards)

*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" Colonial White cards & envelopes, value pack

*Desert Sand Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Pomegranate Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Gold foil tape
*Gold sequins assortment

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at JD Designs and for hopping with us on the Damask Divas' October Blog Hop!   Next up on the hop is Jenifer Benner. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more fabulous Sangria inspiration.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

October Spotlight Collection - Sangria

This month's spotlight collection is the beautiful, rich and fabulous Sangria!  Three of CTMH's newest colors, Pomegranate, Poppy, and Eggplant are combined with neutrals, Champagne and Cocoa, to create this rich color palette.  

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Stay tuned throughout the month to my blog and my Facebook page for lots of fabulous Sangria inspiration.  And be sure to follow #ctmhsangria all month long for all the Sangria fun!

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- October: Twinkle

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Chris Robertson, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1510 Twinkle (pictured below).  This set is only available until October 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

For today's project, I made a double gate-fold Christmas card.  I recently saw a tutorial for this card style on YouTube and knew I had to try it!  It was so fun!  The only thing I would do differently is use a piece of B&T double-sided cardstock for the base instead of a solid piece of cardstock.  I chose to use a Colonial White card base and had to make extra cuts / measurements for the Cranberry and White Pines layers.  By using double-sided B&T, you could save this step.

Supplies used:

*Twinkle stamp set -- October SOTM
*Artiste Cricut Collection
*White Pines paper packet

*12" x 12" Cranberry cardstock
*12" x 12" Cocoa cardstock
*12" x 12" Colonial White cardstock
12" x 12" Fern cardstock
*Cranberry Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Cocoa Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Fern Exclusive Inks stamp pad

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at JD Designs and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month October Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Gina Brandstetter. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!

October Close to my Heart Specials

October Constant Campaign

When a new Consultant signs up during October, they will receive the 2015 Close To My Heart Convention bag FREE in their New Consultant Kit! They can then travel in style with this trendy and eye-catching cross body bag, perfectly sized for carrying layouts, paper packets, and projects that are in-progress. Along with the items found in the newly revamped New Consultant Kit, this bag will help New Consultants start their business with confidence and flair!

Dates: Offer valid October 1, 2015 (9:00 am MDT)–October 31, 2015 (11:59 pm MDT).

* * * * *

October Stamp of the Month

Only $5 with a $50 purchase

To order these or any of the other fabulous CTMH products, please visit my online store at jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, remember to design it with {heart}!