Plan with Me 2016 -- CTMH Everyday Life Collection

On December 1st, Close to My Heart launched its new Everyday Life collection.  This beautiful collection focuses on the planner trend that is all the rage in the papercrafting world, but in true CTMH form, Close to My Heart expanded the collection to make it multipurposed and fun for crafters all of types.  From weekly/memory planning to My Crush to Picture My Life, the Everyday Life collection offers it all!

I am so in love with this new collection.  It is gorgeous and full of fabulous features for all.  Due to the Christmas holiday and wrapping up year-end projects at work, I'm a little behind on my crafting.  But never fear, I managed to snag some time to walk you through the collection in the latest video on my YouTube page.  I hope you'll grab a warm beverage and join me as I introduce you to the CTMH Everyday Life collection.  As an added bonus, I've included a peek at the January special for National Papercrafting Month.

Reminder -- through December 31st, you can get the exclusive Planners Gonna Plan bundle for only $29.95.  The bundle includes the black with gold foil album, the accompanying 2016 planner pages, and the coordinating Perfect Plan roller stamp.  But again, this fabulous special is only available through December 31st or while supplies last.

To order the Everyday Life collection 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}!

Handmade Christmas -- Part 2

Handmade Christmas gifts are the best!  The time and love that go into creating a gift with the receiver in mind is worth far more than any store-bought gift could ever be.  And handmade card sets are the perfect gift for the person who has everything or the person you don't really know enough to know what's on her wish list.

On yesterday's post, I talked about my process for creating giftable card sets.  If you missed it and would like to know more, please click here to check out the post.

I create today's card set using the retired Skylark paper packet.  I received a bulk pack of this paper as part of my consultant kit when I signed on with CTMH.  And I'll be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the designs -- the main side is a soft floral design with various images scattered throughout.  While beautiful, it's just not my taste.  However, the back side is a sweet yellow lattice pattern that when paired with the other colors in the Skylark collection makes fabulous projects.  This set turned out to be my favorite out of all the gift sets I made.

One last note before I get to the pictures, To finish off my card sets, I like to put them in a clear goodie bag (usually found at the dollar store) with one of each card design facing out either side of the bag.  I use the included twist-tie to secure the bag closed and add a coordinating tag with some twine.  This last step really takes the gift from a bunch of cards to a beautiful handmade card set that almost anyone would be happy to receive!

The completed set

Card Sample

Card Sample

Card Sample

Card Sample

Card set packaged and ready to gift

Supplies used:

*Happy to Be Friends stamp set

*Skylark paper packet (retired)

*12" x 12" Kraft cardstock

*12" x 12" Lagoon cardstock

*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock

*White Daisy card bases

*Desert Sand Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Lagoon Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Gold shimmer trim

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}!

Handmade Christmas -- Part 1

Christmas gifting is one of the most wonderful parts of the holiday season, but it can also be one of the most stressful.  Especially when it comes to those who you deeply appreciate and want to thank, but don't know personally enough to figure out what they might want -- people like teachers, daycare providers, etc.  This year is my first year of teacher gifts -- and my son has 4 teachers!!  I knew I didn't want to get them lotions or candy because I'm sure they get plenty of that stuff.  So I decided to make and gift handmade card sets.  Everyone uses cards, right?  And I love to make cards, too!  So it was a win-win as far as I was concerned.

For each set, I chose one B&T paper design and two styles of cards.  I varied the greetings, but kept the paper and styles the same to help create that "set" feel.  My favorite stamp sets for making card sets are sets like Finding the Words and Happy to Be Friends.  These sets include several main words and lots of supporting phrases to mix and match -- making them extremely versatile and perfect for putting together a giftable set.

I also make sure to include envelopes when gifting card sets.  This may seem obvious to some, but it's easy to forget to include envelopes when you cut down your own cardstock for card bases.  That is why I prefer to use the CTMH card base value packs for making card sets.  Not only are they an awesome value for both cards and envelopes, but when mass-producing cards, it is extremely convenient to be able to skip the cutting / folding of the card bases.

The completed set

Close-up card sample

Close-up card sample

Close-up card sample

Supplies used:
*Art Philosophy Cricut collection
*Finding the Words stamp set

*Confetti Wishes paper packet (retired)
*12" x 12" Lagoon cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*White Daisy card bases
*Pacifica Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Lagoon Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Thistle Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Canary Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Gold shimmer trim

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}!

Watercolor Wonderful

I absolutely love the colors in the Sangria collection so last month, I decided to have some watercolor fun with that color scheme.  To start, I took a large piece of watercolor paper and tacked it to my work surface with some washi tape.  Working in smaller sections, I first applied a little water to the paper using my paint brush, and then began adding color allowing the colors to mix and blend together.  Once I was done coloring the entire page, I used my craft heater to dry the paper.  Tip -- to help keep your paper flat-ish, heat the back of the paper after you are done drying the front.  This helps curl the paper back in the other direction.  Finally, I used the finished watercolor paper like I would a sheet of B&T to create the cards below.  I worked in pairs varying greetings to great a variety of cards with minimal effort.

Supplies used:

*Just to Say stamp set (Artfully Sent exclusive)
*Curlique Frames stamp set (Artfully Sent exclusive)
*Opportunity stamp set (Consultant exclusive)
*Among the Stars stamp set (Consultant exclusive)
*12" x  12" Black cardstock
*12" x  12" Kraft cardstock
*12" x  12" Pomegranate cardstock
*12" x  12" White Daisy cardstock
*White Daisy card bases
*Watercolor paper
*Watercolor paints
*Paintbrush set
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Pomegranate Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Desert Sand Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Purple shimmer trim
*Gold shimmer trim

*Gold sequins assortment
*Pink enamel gems

*Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine

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}!

Pow! Double The Birthday Fun!

Last week, my nephew celebrated his 7th birthday, and over the weekend, we had the joy of getting together as a family for a birthday party honoring him and his little brother who turns 2 today.  I was able to pull a card from my stash for the 2 y.o., but made a card for the 7 y.o.

Before I show you the card, let me say I {LOVE} washi tape!  There is so much you can do with it!!  From accents to main elements (such as below), washi tape is a great way to add color and life to any project.  And for checking out my blog today, I'm going to share with you another teaser from the soon-to-be released Close to My Heart Seasonal Expressions Idea Book -- WASHI is BACK!!  CTMH is releasing new washi tapes on January 1st!  Here's a peek...

To make the card below, I used some old washi tape.  First, I cut the center rectangle.  Then I added the large yellow sound effects washi and used it as a guide for the red and blue washi.  Wanting the card to have a birthday feel, I skipped a strip of washi towards the top -- instead I stamped a strip of Happy Birthday sentiments using the CTMH Holiday Tags stamp set.  To really make the Happy Birthday "pop", I stamped it separately on a Hexagon cut in a different color and used some foam tape to make the piece stand out.  In hindsight, I wish I had placed the hexagon piece parallel to the rectangle instead of in line with the sentiment "strip", but hindsight's always 20/20, right? 

Supplies used:

*Artbooking Cricut collection
*Holiday Tags stamp set (retired)
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*White Daisy card base & envelope
*Pacifica Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Canary Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Scotch Expressions washi tape - Pow!
*Scotch Expressions washi tape - Red
*Scotch Expressions washi tape - Blue
*Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder
*Yellow cardstock from my stash

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

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

Papercrafters Don't Let Family *BUY* Cards

Saturday morning, my mom called me in a rush -- she was heading to a 100th birthday party and running behind.  She needed to stop by my house to grab some pictures she had asked me to print for her, and then she had to run to the store for a birthday card.  After we hung up the phone, I couldn't stop thinking about her "buying" a card.  Why??  Why was she "buying" a card?  Why should anyone in my family "buy" a card?  I make cards -- why do they "buy" cards??  Papercrafters don't let family BUY cards.

Knowing I had less that 20 minutes to come up with a design, pull out my supplies, and make a card, I turned to Google for ideas.  I found a simple card that would be quick and easy to CASE, but still look elegant and pretty enough for a sweet family friend's 100th birthday.

I love the white-on-white-on-white look of this card.  And the washi tape gift box... LOVE LOVE LOVE!  There are so many fun things you can do with washi tape.

And if you look closely, you'll see a sneak peek of a new product to coming to Close to My Heart in January.

Supplies used:

*Just to Say stamp set (Artfully Sent exclusive)
*Typeface alphabet stamp set (retired)
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*White Daisy card base & envelope
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Black & gold ribbon
*VersaMark ink pad
*Craft Heater
*Ranger Princess Gold Embossing Powder

*Scotch Expressions washi tape - gold
*Scotch Expression washi tape - gold vintage rose

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}!

Christmas Tags for Santa

A co-worker asked me to create some simple tags for her to use for her daughters' Christmas presents from Santa.  Simple is the name of the game in my house and thanks to Close to My Heart, I was able to whip up these fun and festive tags in less than the length of a Hallmark Christmas movie!

And with a glassine bag from my favorite Etsy shop, SpiegelMom Scraps, and some Christmas washi from Michaels, I was able to pack the tags up and deliver them this morning.

Supplies used:

*Artiste Cricut collection
*S1210 Very Merry Christmas stamp set (retired)
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*Cranberry Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Topiary Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Martha Stewart baker's twine
*Recollections washi tape
*SpiegelMom Scraps large glassine bag

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}!

White Pines December Daily Album -- Video INCLUDED!!

Ho Ho Ho

And lots of Christmas fun!!

This post has been a long time coming, and I apologize for the delay.  We've been so busy making holiday memories that I haven't had a minute to share with you how I am documenting those memories!  I'm sure many of you are like me and have lots going on this holiday season -- which is why the Close 

Back in November, I shared this picture of the cover of my 2015 December Daily album.  I am using the Close to My Heart White Pines collection -- including the Picture My Life scrapbooking programs, coordinating Complements, and other embellishments.  

Like me, I'm sure many of you have lots going on this holiday season -- which is why the White Pines collection especially the PML program is a perfect way to document your December.  To get started, I went through and inserted the PML cards into the various page protectors to lay out the album.  As the month goes on, I will be printing pictures and adding them to the layouts along with my journaling and embellishments.

Below is a video walk-through of the album showing each page in more detail and close ups of the embellishements, too.

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
*Memory Protectors Flip Flaps 4" x 6"
*Memory Protectors Flip Flaps 3" x 4"

*Kraft 6" x 8" album
*Memory Protectors 6" x 8" various designs

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}!

Focus on Stamping Techniques Blog Hop

Welcome to the Focus on Stamping Techniques Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Michelle Jones, 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. 

On today's hop, we will be featuring a variety of stamping techniques.  While it is quick and easy to simply grab a stamp pad and use your stamp to apply ink to paper, there are so many fun, different techniques you can use to really step up your stamp -- including embossing, emboss resist, masking, two-step stamping, coloring on your stamps with markers, rock and roll, random stamping, generational stamping, watercoloring, and so, so many more! 

I decided to work with the watercoloring technique.  There are many ways to color your stamped images -- markers, watercolor paints, reinkers, or my go-to method, using your stamp pads.  To use this technique, you will need whatever color stamp pads you want and a water brush or blending pen.  First, you will want to squeeze your stamp pad gently in the middle (allowing the actual pad to touch the inside of the lid).  This will transfer some of the ink to the inside of the lid; thus creating a palette for you to draw color from.  Use your blending pen to pick up a small amount of the ink -- the more ink you grab, the more intense the color will be.  Then simply color your image as if using a paint brush.  The intensity of ink will fade as you color so you can either pick up more ink or use the faded color to create a shading effect.

You will notice shading variations in my flowers below.  I am not a coloring expert so my shading doesn't look very true to life, but I like the texture it gives to the image.  To create the swirl-y effect in the water in the bottom of the jar, I chose not to blend my coloring together too much.  I let the brushstrokes stand out more to give it some dimension.

Supplies used:

*Candlelight Garden stamp set (December SOTM)
*Georgie paper packet
*12" x 12" Canary cardstock
*12" x 12" Slate cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*White Daisy card bases
*Slate Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Juniper Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Champagne Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Canary Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*StazOn Jet Black stamp pad
*Blending Pen
*Grey Enamel Gems
*Make It From the Heart, Volume 2, How To Program

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 Focus on Stamping Techniques Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Kathy Burrows. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

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

Christmas Crafting with the Kiddo

My son is finally at the age where he understands and can fully participate in my crafting.  So this year for Christmas, I've decided to plan out activities we can do together to help pass the LONG days (for a child!) until Christmas.  As a bonus, I will be able to capture fun photos to document in our December Daily album.  :-)

We started these activities Thanksgiving weekend by making a Christmas Countdown paper chain.  

Supplies used:

*Artistry Cricut Collection

*Recollections Christmas paper pack
*various cardstock (from my stash)
*various punches (from my stash)

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

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

December Spotlight Collections -- White Pines & Kaleidoscope

This month's Close to My Heart will, again, be featuring TWO spotlight collections!  That's double the spotlight inspiration for you!  First up, we have White Pines -- a subtle, understated Christmas collection with warm winter flair.  And for a pop of color and fun, we have Kaleidoscope -- a soft, bright collection with beautiful patterns.

White Pines
#ctmhwhitepines

Kaleidoscope
#ctmhkaleidoscope

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 Kaleidoscope and White Pines inspiration.  And be sure to follow #ctmhkaleidoscope and #ctmhwhitepines all month long for all the fun!

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

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Candlelight Garden

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Angela White, 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 S1512 Candlelight Garden (pictured below).  This set is only available until November 30th and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

As soon as I saw this set, I was in LOVE.  That mason jar is simply adorable!!  And those flowers... how fun to color either with ink or watercolors.  And that candle... you can make any color candle you want/need with a little ink or watercolors.  How cool!!  I don't make a ton of friend cards, but can see myself mixing this set up with other sentiments from my collection.

For today's card, I combined Candlelight Garden with the Georgie paper packet -- another LOVE!  While this paper packet is deemed a "baby" collection, don't let that fool you!  Only one pattern of the six on the B&T's is really baby-ish.  The rest are simply soft, beautiful patterns in a semi-neutral pallet.  I absolutely love the combination of the Juniper, Canary, and Slate / Whisper.  

Supplies used:

*Candlelight Garden stamp set (December SOTM)
*Georgie paper packet
*12" x 12" Canary cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*White Daisy card bases
*Slate Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Canary Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*StazOn Jet Black stamp pad
*Blending Pen
*White Shimmer Trim
*Grey Enamel Gems
*Make It From the Heart, Volume 2, How To Program

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 December Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Carol Taggio. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

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

December Close to My Heart Specials

December Constant Campaign

Attention all planner addicts! During December, you can get your hands on the new, gorgeous Everyday Life™ album from Close To My Heart, the accompanying Everyday Life 2016 planner pages, and the coordinating Everyday Life Perfect Plan roller stamp in an exclusive product bundle for only $29.95 USD. That’s over 15% off the retail price! With the new Everyday Life line, you’ll experience “memory keeping on the go” as you track your menus and shopping lists, stamp reminders, keep appointments, and tuck away precious memories—plus much more—all at once! This offer is only available while supplies last, so plan to place your order early in the month and start 2016 off right.

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

* * * * *

December 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}!