H2H Dec challenge

Hello, I know I am almost to late to put in a entry for December, but here it is. I known what I wanted to do since I saw the picture that we were to use for our inspiration for this challenge. It was just getting the pictures and time to get the project done. And I finally accomplished that this week. Here is the picture that we were to use for our inspiration. We could take what we wanted from the picture, whether it be the colors, layout, ribbons, etc.

I wanted to use the circle element and also the monogram mainly, but I also incorporated the ribbons. Here is my creativity.

I used paper from Roxie for the big circle, painted a chipboard letter for my monogram. The base page is CTMH's Tulip cardstock, I misted with my own spray mist and then splattered some black acrylic paint randomly. Edge ink distressed in black also.
Close To My Heart products used:
      cardstock- tulip, desert sand, colonial white
      patterned paper - Roxie Level 2 paper pack
      Stamp sets - D1495 You & Me    journaling block
                          S1111 Cherish the Day   Month tag
                          C1422  Unity    phrase on tape
                          E1019 Bohemian Alphabet
     Just Blooms  Spring Blossoms
     Black button brads
I will be posting the other half of this LO later. Go to Heart 2 Heart challenges and check out what others were inspired to create.
                                                                             Blessing you with a wonderful creative new year,       Polly

Rock the Block campaign special

Close To My Heart's Rock the Block campaign special begins December 19 and runs all the way through January. This campaign celebrates National Papercrafting Month which is in January. It also gives us a sneak peek of one item that will be in the Spring/Summer Idea Book set to release to you on February 1!
  How do you get this you say? Place an order of $25 dollars or more and for $15 more its yours. This includes the blank collage blocks and tray to decorate. The collage blocks and tray will be available in the new catalog and will be valued at $14.94. The second item is this super E-size stamp set. This is the 8.5" x 11" size stamp set, normally $29.95. The value of this offer is over $40! I love all the borders, sentiments, and background textures that will work so well with these blocks, but not only the collage blocks. I can think of so many more places to use them. This stamp set will not be in the new catalog so you'll need to get it with this special or be forever sorry :)
  Check out the video to see just what I'm talking about and get some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.



Oh the things that you can do with this! And in case your wondering how or who to order from...over on the right is a "shop with me" button!
Thanks for stopping by, Polly

Sharing From the Heart December blog hop part 2

  Another card I created for Sharing from the Heart December blog hop.
  If you arrived here from Lela's blog, then you are on the right track.
  A New Year's card. I cannot stop using my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. I cut the stars, tag and circle out with it. I used one of the stamp sets that comes with the AP cartridge for the star with the button on top of it. The tag is stamped with our Stamp of the Month for November. I stamped some texture background on the other two stars.

   All products are Close To My Heart except the red jute tied on the button.
      Elemental paper pack
      Inks:  Cranberry, Olive, Creme Brulee, Chocolate
     Stamp sets:  Cherish the Day November Stamp of the Month
                         Rock the Block ( for texture on stars)
                         Enjoy Life
                         one of the sets that come bundled with the AP cartridge
     wooden button
  
  Continue on this hop to Patti's blog. And if you've lost your way go to Diana Solings blog and the complete list is there.                                                    Polly

Sharing From the Heart December blog hop

 Joining in on theSharing from the Heart  December blog hop and if you've come here from Lela's blog then you are on track. I am using the Wonderland paper pack again. I am just really enjoying creating with it. This is a 4.25" x 5.5" card. I tried a technique that I saw on Stamp with Tammi. I changed it up a bit to work for what I had. I dropped one drop of Create-a-shade paint on a plate and then dropped one drop of reinker (same color as I wanted to stamp with) on top of paint and mixed it up good. I then inked up my stamp in the color ink I was using, in this case Cocoa, and then took a sponge dauber and daubed  the paint/reinker mixture on top of the stamp that's inked up. I love the subtle almost embossed look that it gives. Its almost like using shimmer mist, but without the more splotchy look. I used this technique on the words of the cup and on the mittens. I hope you can see it in the close ups.
   Other Close To My Heart products:
     Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge- the scalloped circles, the tag, and the snowflakes
     Wonderland  WOTG stamp set
     Pair-a-phrase stamp set for the sentiment
     Inks:  Twilight, Cocoa
     Prisma  Glitter

This last picture really makes the words look like they are embossed, but they're not. Now you can head on over to Patti's blog and check out her artwork.
If you've lost your way go to Diana's blog and the complete list is there.

                                                              Polly

An unexpected order

  Yay! I got an unexpected Close To My Heart order today! Our daughter does photography and when she gives her customers their proofs on a CD, she makes a pretty cover/envelope to put the CD in. I  helped her make several when I spent 6 wks up there this summer. Anyway, a customer of hers inquired about where she got the product to make them. She wanted to give a gift to someone who makes cards! So thanks Leticia! You can find Leticia photography at http://photographybyleticia.blogspot.com/. Go on over and enjoy some good photography. I need to take lessons from her.

December Stamp of the Month

Check out December's stamp of the month.  Mad About You. S1112 $17.95 or order $50 in product and get this stamp set for $5. You can order from me at  pollylewis.myctmh.com   The stamps you see outlined in red have a coordinating shape that can be cut with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge that we sell.

Holiday card

  I recently saw a card on Pinterest (yes, I'm addicted :( ) that I liked. I believe the card idea came from www. vervestamps.com. So here is my version. I completely changed up the the colors so that I could put this on http://dianasstampingchallenges.blogspot.com/ Color Dare #9. We were to use Pacifica, Sorbet, and/ or Cranberry. We could use all 3 or just 2 and we could add in neutrals. I really like blues for winter so Pacifica was my main color. I chose you use a little Cranberry and some Desert Sand for neutral. 
  Over at http://frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/ its all about Glitter on their Fabulous Friday Challenge. That's an easy thing to do when your doin a winter card. I sprayed my own white glimmer mist on the card base and then glittered up those cute little snowflakes. The ribbon has a metallic thread through it also.
  This weeks H2H Challenge is a virtual Holiday Card Exchange. And last, but not least, http://lisascreativecorner.blogspot.com/ has an Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge blog hop going on! I just can't resist using my AP cartridge for every project I do! I love this thing. On this card I cut the trees (both layers), the bracket, that teeny tiny tag, and those tiny little snowflakes. Is that not sweet?! I could have used it to cut every shape on this card!! Check out my other posts for lots more examples using the Art Philosophy cart. I am a fairly new blogger here so it won't take long to look at the rest. I think the card using the CTMH Sonoma paper is my favorite so far.

 If you haven't gotten your cards done yet and are still looking for ideas, here are some great places to find some.

Here is a close up, maybe you can see the glimmer mist and glitter on the snowflakes better.

                                                                                     



  Close To My Heart items- which can be ordered at my website:  pollylewis.myctmh.com

Cardstock: Pacifica, Desert Sand

Inks:  Pacifica, Desert Sand, Cranberry

Paperpacks: Dreamin, Elemental

Color Ready Borders

Stamp sets: Art Philosophy D1498,  Say It In Style D1283

Cricut cartridge: Art Philosophy

other:

Embossing folder: Swiss Dots

Glitter

my own glimmer mist

old sheet music

ribbon

                         May your day be blessed,     Polly

Sketch time Winter card

This weeks H2H Challenge is a sketch

 

And here's my take on it.

 

I can't hardly do a project without stamping and using my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge from Close To My Heart . This project used both and in fact all products are from CTMH. I love that company too!

Products used:

    Clear card  Z1323   (thus the glare on the card front)

    Wonderland Workshop on the Go  G1031   which comes with this gorgeous stamp set

    textured cardstock- retired

    Inks:  Twilight, Chocolate, Heavenly Blue, Cocoa

    Top Coats Icing Overlay   Z1468    the big snowflake-top layer of it

    Art Philosophy cricut cart.   Z1686    The large snowflake under the overlay

   My own glimmer mist on the white cardstock  using  Chocolate reinker, alcohol, shimmer acrylic paint

A whole new dimension is added when you use an acrylic card. Layers have to be thought out and adhesive or method of attachment. I added a couple extra photos so you could get a better idea of how this was put together. The textured cardstock was sanded and attached on the inside back. I put adhesive across the middle and then on the back I cut a strip of patterned paper to cover the adhesive. (I didn't take a picture of that.) CTMH's patterned papers are double sided and now they're cardstock weight! I added that piece to the inside front. I put adhesive so that the white cardstock pieces on front would cover it. White cardstock pieces where sprayed with my glimmer mist. The large snowflake design is given dimension with a pop dot.

You can order these products by clicking on the shopping button on the right.

Let me know what you think,      Polly

From Our Heart to Yours: Gratitude

  This H2H Challenge was a couple of weeks ago and I am just now getting it posted here. I had an idea of what I wanted to portray, but needed to figure out how to do it. In the challenge we were to tell of someone we were thankful for and the project then be given to them. This is not for a someone, but "someones"- family. This year has been especially blessed with some specials events in our family and I wanted them recorded. My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage (something that is becoming a rarity), one of our sons married and then they found out they were having twins. They chose to not find out what they were having, which is also a rarity, and we all were surprised to find out they were both girls. Our daughter has 5 boys and we love them dearly, but we sure were happy to add some girls to the bunch. In November I lost an uncle on one side of the family and an aunt on the other within days of each other. Though it was a sad time and especially hard on my parents, I had the opportunity to see alot of extended family, some of which I hadn't seen in years. We grew up very close to my uncle's children in our young yrs., but haven't seen a couple of them for years. It was so nice to see them and catch up a little and talk about the past.
  So this year I am full of gratitude for all the specialness we've enjoyed because of family.

Sorry, for some reason I couldn't seem to get a real clear picture. Following are a couple that are closer up so that you can better see what I did for each month.

I used  Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays # 29

Dreamin Level 2 paper pack

Friendship Large and Felicity alphabet stamp sets

Inks:  Pacifica and Chocolate

 all Close To My Heart Products

I think that I need to start doing one of these each year. Would be fun to look back on for a quick year in review. Thanks to all you blogging friends too.                          Polly

H2H challenge Time

I am a little late in getting this posted as this was last weeks challenge, but I am still going to post it. The theme was "time", it was left up to our imaginations how to interpret that. I have been working on this paper bag album for a few weeks and already knew that on the front cover I wanted to have a clock on it. So, when this challenge came up I knew what I'd be showing, but I first had to get it completed. I have had it done for several days now, but we had the Thanksgiving meal at our house and then we've had company for a couple days and nights and yesterday I had a class and so here I am just getting this posted. I have been wanting to do a paper bag album for some time and then I got the idea to create it for our 25th Anniversary which was a few years ago already. I will be showing the inside of this album at some point, but it isn't quite done, so you will have to keep checking back for further pictures.

Heart 2 Heart Challenge: Metal Mania

   This weeks Heart 2 Heart Challenge is to use metal on your project.My mind went immediately to using CTMH's metal embellishments and creating a piece of jewelry. I've wanted to do that every since seeing some that were created for the Operation Smile silent auction at the CTMH 2010 convention.
  One of my loves right now is making fabric flowers for headbands and clothing accessories. So I'm thinking.....here is my chance to combine the flowers and metal to make this...... I am happy with the results and hope you enjoy it too.

Here a couple close ups:

Head over to H2H Challenges to view what others have created or join the fun and link up to your site. Remember, you must use some Close To My Heart products in order to participate.
Also adding this to the Metal Challenge over at  http://frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/
                                                                               Blessings to you,     Polly

Color Challenge from H2H Challenges

Here it is the first week of November already! Where has the year gone? I still have so many projects I want to accomplish yet this year. Scrapbooking, cards, home decor, and home improvement, plus. Oh well, I will just continue to take one day at a time and see what I can get done that way.
  This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is a color challenge using Close To My Hearts Autumn Terracotta, Juniper, and Bamboo colors. Here is 6"x6" card. I was also able to use Mojo Mondays 213 sketch challenge for this week.

All products are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted. I began with a 6x6 card shape of Bamboo cardstock. I textured it with a Cuddlebug embossing folder- Swiss Dots. I then swiped Bamboo ink over the embossed card using direct ink to paper method and also swiped it all around the edges. I made my own glimmer mist using Autumn Terracotta reinker, our own Pearl Paint and alcohol, made another mist using Juniper reinker which I put in our spray pens. I really like playing with these. Unfortunately you can't tell in the photo how shiny this really is. I used Typeset papers and Autumn Terracotta textured cardstock and sanded the edges of it. The flower is from our Pizzazz Irresistaibles chipboard pieces and inked with Autumn Terracotta. Stamp sets were Key Moments B1392 and the sentiments are one of the stamp sets that come with our Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge bundle. I cut the oval using that same cartridge.  I am really into using lots of layers and textures. This one has several.
                                                                      Hope you had a blessed day,     Polly

November Constant Campaign

November's Constant Campaign is starting early! You may order this stamp set ( a D size stamp set) from now until Nov. 30 with a qualifying order. What's a qualifying order you say? You must order $25 in stamp sets and you will then get this one for $5( a $17.95 value.) So head over to my website and place an order. You can find that by clicking on the button on the right that says, "shop with me." You'll find the "shop online" button in the left column and while your there check out the "while supplies last", its at the bottom after you click on shop online, there's some good deals there.
   Also, now you can place your own order at my website (or through me) and if it is the minimum qualifying order of $150 or more you can earn Hostess rewards! How cool is that?! It used to be we had to have at least 2 or more placing an order. I just think Close To My Heart is the best. Thinking about signing up? Contact me and I would be glad to help you get started and/or answer any questions you might have.
   Here are the images of the Winter Wishes stamp set. The shapes that are outlined in red can be cut with our Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. Which if you haven't checked out, you most definitely need too

Have a blessed day,    Polly

My newest tile creation

First of all I just want to say, it's a wonderful cool, cloudy, rainy Autumn day! One of the reasons it's so wonderful is that here in Texas we still need lots of rain and I'm gonna enjoy this gloomy cool day!
And now for one of my latest creations. I love doing these tiles! I like creating them using Make-the-Cut software. Although, now that Close To My Heart has come out with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge I now have a whole new set of designs to choose from with less creating which = less time spent getting the project done.They make great gifts and I have given several for weddings, house warmings, birthdays, and this latest one I created for a raffle at our church for our Ladies Retreat fund. This is my favorite so far and now I need to get one made for myself.

Have a blessed day,   Polly

H2H Halloween/ Autumn Challenge

This weeks challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges is your choice of something Halloween or Autumn. It just so happened I had the perfect Autumn card made up for my card class this evening. It was created almost entirely using our new Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. I sooo love that cartridge and don't feel like I've hardly begun to use it. And I only have about 3 other Cricut cartridges, not a real huge cartridge buyer, but I do love this one for sure.

I used all Close To My Heart products on this card.

The card base is 5.5 x 5.5 in the Kraft cardstock

The B&T papers are from Lucky

All the cutouts were cut from our very own Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and the stamping was done with coordinating stamps.

I ink distressed in Chocolate, used Sunset for the label, and New England Ivy for the cap of the acorn that's near the label. (That acorn is the cut-out from the card base. I used the Hooray Bouquet to stamp texture on that acorn)

I crumpled the leaf that is cut from B&T paper and ink distressed it.

Twill tape

Garden Green brad

Want to see what others have created? Go check them out at heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by and blessings to you all.         Polly

H2H Challenge

This weeks challenge over at heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com is a sketch. Here is my take on it.

 

All products were Close To My Heart.

I used:

          Typeset Level 2 papers

          Cardstock: Colonial White & Desert Sand

          Inks: Desert Sand & Vineyard Berry

          Stamp sets: Enjoy Life  C1439

                            Card Chatter-Sympathy   D1476

          Color Ready Borders Z1377

          Twill   Z1099

          Juniper Ribbon  Z1616

          Art Philosophy Cricut Cart. for the tag shape

I love love this Cricut cartridge and can't hardly create without it! 

Go over to H2H and check out what others came up with. Or join the fun!

BlogtoberFest

   What is this you ask? Its the time of year for bloggers to be motivated, learn new tips and tricks, and to challenge themselves to new blogging goals. Being a new blogger, I am excited to join in and hopefully be motivated to blog more, create more, and learn lots of new stuff. A big "thanks" goes out to Tresa Black @ Fabulously Artsy for doing this. Go on over and join in the fun or just see what she has to share each day.

Twin Girls!!

I barely get this started and already I am failing....no post for quite some time. But I can at least try to prove that I have a good excuse. Our son and his wife had twin girls on Aug. 8th. Twins are exciting, but getting 2
girls shocked the whole family. We don't have an abundance of girls around here. We have 1 daughter and 3 sons. Our daughter has 5 boys, thus the reason for the shock. They were born a couple wks early, but are healthy contented babies. We weren't able to be there right away and in my hurry to pack ( we live several states away) I forgot my camera, so I have had to wait on others to get pictures from. Our daughter has her own part time photography business so I thank her for providing this beautiful picture of them. She likes doing newborn photography, but I will say that twins was a test of patience and endurance for her. You can check out her photography at http://photographybyleticia.blogspot.com/.
 I plan to be here in IN for another couple of weeks helping out my children and enjoying the grandchildren, and I will also be helping a friend whose daughter will be getting married. I will be leaving the day after that wedding. I am missing my husband, who could only be here for a week.
 I hope to attend an all day crop up here with friends this week, so maybe I'll have something creative to post later this week.
   Blessings,      Polly

New Product Blog Hop

So excited to finally be joining a blog hop and thanks to Tresa Black of http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com/ for sponsoring this hop.
I am thoroughly enjoying a lot of the new products and I used a few on this card:
Kraft Die-Cut cards and envelopes (Z1474)
Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (Z1686) partial scallop circle, scallop border, label, and flowers are all created       with this cartridge
Art Philosophy Celebration stamp set  (comes with the Art Philosophy bundle)
Dimensional Elements mixed shapes (label)    (Z1683 and comes with the cartridge when the bundle is ordered)
Sonoma  Level 2 paper packet  (X7143B)
Just Blooms Paper Shapes    Flutter Paper Shapes  (Z1463) 
In addition I used:
Mocha Opaque pearls (Z1333)
Glitz Glitter Gel  Stardust   (Z1313)
Inks:  Smokey Plum  and Cocoa

I am very much new to this whole blogging thing and still very much under construction, so please excuse me.
Blessings,  Polly

Close To My Heart new Idea Book is here!

Lots and lots of new changes and new product. You can access the Idea Book at Closetomyheart.com or go to my website pollylewis.myctmh.com, where you can both access the book, but also put in an order and have it shipped right to you. One of the cool changes - if you place a $150 order, you will qualify for Hostess Rewards! It used to be that there had to be 2 people on an order and  the $150, in order to get the Hostess Rewards. Another change - the Stamp of the Month set can now be purchased for $5 if you have a $50 order and from Aug. 1-31, 2011, we are celebrating that change with an A size stamp set for free!

Art Philosophy Cricut® Collection

One of the new products- A Cricut cartridges filled with shapes to go with our stamps and chipboard Elements! This cartridge has 700 shapes and 6 feature keys, plus lots of 3D items. Our Idea Book has red lines around the stamp images that have a cut out to match. The cartridge comes as a bundle, with 3 stamp sets and 3 chipboard Elements that coordinate with images on cartridge. A super deal for $99.

Sewing for "littles"

  Our son and his wife are expecting their first baby- no, make that two babies! Yes, we are getting twins! And I am back in the sewing mode. I have 5 grandsons and I've sewn for all of them, but I am really hoping we get at least one girl this time. They are choosing not to find out ahead of time and that's great, but makes the suspense double. I can't really even imagine getting two girls. We have 3 sons and 5 grandsons so far and on Kate's side, she has 1 sister and 5 or so brothers, so if we could just get one girl, please.

  Anyway, I've recently run across these pillowcase dresses and fell in love with them. They are so simple to make and can be made so many ways. You can use a real pillowcase like this one or start from scratch with fabric. This one is a size 1 and I have enough fabric left to make bloomers to match. Flower is made from fleece with grosgrain ribbon leaves.

   Sew I am off to do more sewing for the "littles".

July card class

Our card group made this card for the July card class. I got the flowerpot card template from Splitcoaststampers.com. I used various Close To My Heart papers for the flowers and pot.

I used paper packs:
Sweetheart
Sophia
Life Delights
for the flowers and
Veranda  for the flowerpot
Unfortunately these are retired papers. Although, Sweetheart and Sophia can still be ordered til the end of July at pollylewis.myctmh.com if your interested. The crocheted flower and button are also CTMH. I used Hollyhock, Autumn Terra Cotta and Pear inks.
This card will fit in a 5" x 7" envelope.

Takin' the Plunge

I'm finally joining the wonderful world of blogging. I've been planning to for quite some time, but have put it off because I wanted to know how first and then do it...yes, I'm a perfectionist.
Well, it hasn't gotten very far that way so I'm gonna jump in and learn as I go.
Who am I? That's a good question-right now I'm in transition. My baby is going off to college, so we will be empty nesters....well almost, he will be home on the weekends. I've spent the last 10 yrs, homeschooling 3 of my 4 children and enjoyed it most of the time, plus doing all the things a mom and wife do. I have been blessed to be a stay at home mom.
Several of those years I've had a part time sewing business- everything from suits, formal and bridal wear to alterations and plain ole mending. About 7 years ago I discovered scrapbooking and fell in love. I have now been a consultant for Close To My Heart for 4 yrs and love showing people how to preserve their heritage and memories in many different ways. I hold monthly meetings for scrapbooking and cardmaking.
Back to the transition.....I have so many things I want to learn and do, that it will take another lifetime at least to get them done, so now I have to decide what it is I'm doing next.
This will be the place I'll share the journey and share my projects and life as it happens. Hope you enjoy it with me.