Nurses' Week 2016

My sister is a nurse, and for Nurses' Week back in May, she asked me to help her design tags / bag toppers for treats and little gifts she and a co-worker were going to leave as "Secret Santa" -type gifts for their fellow nurses.

Clockwise from upper left --

>>Monkey bag toppers were attached to animal crackers and read "It would be wild around here without you."

>>Hand tags were adorned with the nurses' names, read "You are the best.  Hands down.", and attached to a bottle of hand cream.

>>Lifesaver tags read "You're a lifesaver!" and were used with lifesaver candies.

>>Coffee cups had the nurses' names written on the coffee sleeves and were tied to a Starbucks drink.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

September Close to My Heart Specials

September Constant Campaign

Celebrate National Stamping Month this September with hand stamped cards designed to help create a little more kindness in the world. The Create Kindness card kit contains all of the supplies needed to create 24 beautiful handmade cards that you can use to brighten someone’s day! The kit can be yours for only $46.95—a 15% savings off the retail value!

Thanks to the pre-printed card bases, these cards come together in no time, leaving you more time to do something thoughtful for someone. Watch Close To My Heart’s blog, Instagram account, and Facebook page throughout the month of September to see what we’ve created with this card kit as well as the acts of kindness it has inspired! This exclusive kit will only be available in the month of September while supplies last, so make sure to get your order in early.

As a special bonus, the exclusive stamp sets and pre-printed card bases with envelopes are also available for separate purchase, but only in the month of September while supplies last!

Kit Contents

Kit Stamps

* * * * *

September 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, design with {heart}!

Last Day of School -- Teacher Gifts

My son and I made these planters to give to each of his teachers on the last day of preschool.  We have been so blessed with a great group of teachers this year and will definitely miss them as my son moves on to another school for the next chapter in his education adventure.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

March Showers Bring Birthday Flowers

Over the weekend, we celebrated the March birthdays in our family.  My sister-in-law loves Jelly Bellies, and I had a bag to give her.  But of course, it's no fun to just give someone a bag of candy; I had to scrap it up.

To make this fun candy jar, I first went to my basket of jars to upcycle and found an old salsa jar.  I then used washi tape to cover the writing on the sides of the lid and cut/decorated a circle to fit inside the top of the lid.

To make the flower on the front of the jar, I cut several flower images from Artistry using the Icon feature starting with a 3 1/2" flower alternating between Pixie and Canary dropping the size by 1/4" in time.  I used a bone folder to curl the petals before assembling the layers with glue dots.  I finished the flower with a 3/4" Pixie circle and a silver sparkle flower from the Playful Puffies assortment.  I also cut the leaves from Artistry and scored them down the center for some added dimension. 

Hint -- pre-assemble panel flat before wrapping  it around the jar

 

Decorated Lid

Supplies used:

*Artistry Cricut collection
*Holiday Tags stamp set
*Penelope paper packet
*12" x 12" Canary cardstock
*12" x 12" Pixie cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*Pear Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Silver shimmer trim
*Limeade washi tape
*Playful Puffies

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

Until next time, design 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}!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just wanted to take a quick minute and wish you a happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you and yours have a blessed, relaxing day filled with family, food, and fun.

We are heading to my aunt's for a "small" family gathering.  My brother and his family will not be able to make it this year so I went over to their house yesterday and brought my nephews and niece little craft-kit goodie bags.  Simple and sweet... but the kids loved them!

Supplies used:

*Art Philosophy Cricut Collection

*Chocolate Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Framed stamp set (retired SOTM)

*Miscellaneous cardstock from my stash

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

Be sure to stop back tomorrow to check out my exclusive Black Friday sale!

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

Ready to Pop!

Last week, my sister texted me a picture of some popcorn favors she found online and asked if I could help her create something similar to celebrate a co-worker who was about to go on maternity leave.  My brain immediately "popped" into action, and we set a crafting date for the next afternoon.

A couple glasses of wine, a little Cricut-ing, and we were done.  All that was left for my sister to do was make and bag the popcorn over the weekend.

Step 1 -- grab a bottle of wine & glasses

Step 2 -- make the tags

Step 3 -- make white chocolate popcorn & add tags

Supplies used:
*Art Philosophy Cricut collection
*Jennifer's Hand stamp set
*White Daisy card stock
*Pink polka dot card stock (from my stash)
*Whisper Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Pixie 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, happy crafting!

Oh Baby! -- Baby Boy

Warning!!  This post is VERY picture heavy!

This is a continuation of Friday's post, Oh Baby! -- It's a Boy -- which featured a shaker card and pop-up gift card tag.

In addition to the group gift I shared with my sisters, I also wanted to make something personal and special for my cousin and her husband from me.  A long time ago, I saw an adorable baby-themed mini album online that had been crafted using the Artbooking Cricut Cartridge (I wish I could remember where online, but sadly, I can't).  I don't traditionally make mini albums, but at the time, I was looking for something I could create using Artbooking to display at my workshops and vendor events.  So I decided to put together a mini using my son's baby pictures.  It was a true labor of love that I will cherish forever.  Anyways... back to my cousins... I love my son's baby mini so much, I decided to make one for my cousins' baby.

Supplies used:
*Artbooking Cricut collection
*Wild Wonders stamp set 

*Slate Exclusive Inks stamp pad
* Diamond embossing folder
*Slate Diagonal ribbon
*Slate Baker's Twine (retired)

*Recollections cardstock / patterned paper from my stash
*1" clear round epoxy circles

*Brads from my stash
*Cork heart from my stash
*Washi tape from my stash
*Ribbon from my stash

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

Until next time, happy crafting!

Oh Baby! -- It's a Boy

The same weekend of my friend's wedding I posted about yesterday, I was in Wisconsin celebrating the upcoming birth of my cousin's little boy.  It was a quick trip, but for family, it is always worth the travel!  My sisters and I left Friday afternoon and came back to Michigan on Saturday afternoon.  It was the first time we have ever roadtrip-ed with just the 4 of us.  Lots of laughs, a little traffic, and definitely lots of fun!  And as if the 5-hour road trip wasn't enough, my aunt and uncle were gracious enough to host the 4 of us in addition to 5 other family members in town for the baby shower.  11 of us under one roof... overnight...??  Talk about laughter and fun!

Since my cousin lives in California and had to fly in for her shower, we decided to give her a gift card so she didn't have to deal with shipping her gifts back to L.A.  To still make "unwrapping" out gift fun, I made a shaker card and super cute pop-up gift card tag.  

To be honest, this was the first time I tried a shaker card and I had a little trouble.  Every time I shook the card, sequins kept flying out the top.  LoL.  After several hours minutes of frustration and multiple times of tearing the card apart only to put it back together and have sequins fly everywhere again, I realized I forgot to take the backing off the foam tape along the upper edge.  UGH!  Way to go, Jen!!

Shaker card featuring sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps

While super fun and adorable, this pop-up gift card tag was much easier to create than it may look.  First, I used my Gypsy (I know -- I'm so old school!) to flip / weld together two matching tags from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.  After cutting them out, I folding them in half at the seam creating a folder of sorts.  Then, I created a belly band from the green gingham paper to complete the "pocket" effect.  Before slipping in the gift card, I threaded a long length of ribbon through the tag (more than double the length of the tag) and slid the gift card in between the tag layers -- pushing the ribbon down to the bottom of the pocket making sure not to twist the ribbon.  Once the gift card was completely in the pocket. I tied a knot in the ribbon to hold it in place.  To get the gift card out, all you have to do is pull the ribbon and the card "pops" out.  So fun!!

Supplies used:
*Art Philosophy Cricut collection
*Wild Wonders stamp set 

*White Daisy cardstock
*Slate Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Crystal Blue Exclusive Inks stamp pad

*Blue Lagoon sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps

*Punches from my stash

*Recollections cardstock / patterned paper from my stash
*Ribbon from my stash

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

Until next time, happy crafting!

Wedding Wishes for the New Mr. & Mrs.

In June, a co-worker friend of mine & my husband's married the love of her life.  I, unfortunately, was out of town due to another special occasion being celebrated in my family.  My husband stayed home with our son and attended the wedding on behalf of our family.  Reason #484 I love being married -- the ability to split up and represent at multiple events at the same time.  :-)

As a pre-wedding gift, I made a banner for our friend to use at the reception.  I used CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Collection along with the Damask embossing folder to add some fun texture.  It's hard to tell in the picture below, but the black banner bases are all embossed.  I apologize for the bad picture; the sun was setting and streaming in the window across from the door opening into my studio, and I was in a hurry to snap a quick pic so I could give my friend the banner the next day at work.

Since I felt bad about being unable to attend the wedding, I wanted to make my friend a gift instead of buying something at the store.  So I covered this cute recipe box with paper from my stash in her wedding colors (which also coordinate with her kitchen!) and then used the same paper pack along with some of my CTMH favorites to create a coordinating card set.

Supplies used:
*Art Philosophy Cricut collection
*Damask embossing folder
*You Mean the World to Me stamp set 

*White Daisy cardstock
*Black cardstock
*Cranberry Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Red shimmer trim
*Sparkles Clear assortment
*Black & white paper pack from my stash
*Red shimmer cardstock from my stash
*1/8" Ribbon from my stash

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

Until next time, happy crafting!