Close To My Heart Gimme Some Sugar Paper Suite: Australasian Blog Hop

Posted in Cards by artymaz

A Happy Hello and welcome aboard our Gimme Some Sugar Paper Suite Australasian, Close to My Heart Blog Hop.

If you have arrived here from the amazingly creative Shaunna Richards – Passionate About Pages then you are in the right place.

If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this blog post – where you will discover lots of ideas using the Gimme Some Sugar Paper Suite

Can you believe it this is the last feature paper suite that will be featured in the Seasonal Expressions 1?

If you haven’t seen this delicious collection yet you will need to hurry as it will only be around till the end of April.

This collection features soft pastels, subtle patterns and super sweet sentiments & images.

The collection is perfect for celebrating little girls, high-tea, sisters, mothers, friends, a girls’ day out, family cooking traditions, special recipes and more!

I decide to focus on the floral elements for my card with only minor stamping & a bit of fussy cutting. I like the vellum how is softens the pattern paper

I hope you enjoyed what I created today & if you did so, please leave a comment before you head over to the very talented: Doreen Watkins who I am sure will showcase something absolutely wonderful.

Enjoy the hop & thanks so much for taking the time to check out these ideas with this month’s feature on the Close To My Heart Gimme Some Sugar Paper Suite.

Til next time, see you soon & keep creating!
Maz

CTMH Stamp of the Month: Color Your Life (S1804) Australasian Blog Hop

Posted in Cards, stamp of the month by artymaz

A Happy Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop.

If you have arrived here from the amazingly creative, Doreen Watkins then you are in the right place.

If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

The Color Your Life – April Stamp of the Month is full of wonderful words, including ones that encourage you to colour in. I love the long borders, the arrow & leaf branch, as these images can be used on any card or scrapbook layout. The words are perfect for scrapbooking, however Celebrate is a word I like to use on Birthday cards.

I decided to focus on the long decorative borders in the stamp set & use the word Celebrate. I paired the stamp of the month with Gimme Some Sugar paper & the butterflies from the Chelsea Gardens cardmaking stamp set.

I really like the colour combo of the Pewter & the colour of the year Bashful.

If you liked to own Color Your Life – April Stamp of the Month, all you need to do is add it to your cart at full retail price of $27 OR, with your qualifying order of $75, add it at checkout for the promotional price of $7.50. You only have until April 30th

I’d love for you to leave a comment before you head on over to the very talented Nell Ward to get more wonderful ideas on how to use this stamp set.

I hope you enjoyed what I created, as much as I enjoyed creating it and thanks so much for taking the time to check out these ideas with this month’s Stamp of the Month.

See you soon
Maz

25Mar2018

Sneak Peek into National Scrapbooking Month – Postcard Perfect

Posted in News, Special Offer by artymaz

Get ready to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month in May.

Sneak peek of what I created with Postcard Perfect products.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to craft with the National Scrapbooking Month Postcard Perfect and today I am sharing with you some sneak peak into what I have created with these papers & stamp set so far.

Now the National Scrapbooking Month Postcard Perfect will not be available to purchase till Tue 1 May – so make sure you head back here for the full picture of what I have created & how you can get the products to make it yourself.

So Till then, enjoy the little peek

And see you next time.
Maz

Will be available to purchase Tue 1 May!

17Mar2018

10 ways to change up your Thin Cuts

Posted in Ideas, Technique by artymaz

So many Possibilities with your dies here are just a few

Dry emboss – try with embossing folder!
Heat emboss.
Background stamp.
Stitch (with smaller layer).
Vellum stitch (with same size layer).
Add gems/ sparkles/ embellishments.
Edge distress.
Cut on patterned paper.
Use the negative & create a second shape.
Cut on glitter paper.

Have you tried any of these techniques?
If so what is your favourite?

Remember, now through the end of March, get your favourite Thin Cuts at 25-30% off!

Have fun die cutting – Till Next Time
Maz

1 March 2018 (12:01 am AEDT) – 31 March 2018 (11:59 pm AEDT) or while supplies last

15Mar2018

Close To My Heart Stargazer Paper Suite: Australasian Blog Hop

Posted in Cards by artymaz

A Happy Hello and welcome aboard our Stargazer Paper Suite Australasian, Close to My Heart Blog Hop.

If you have arrived here from the amazingly creative Vandra’s Virtual CTMH Craftroom then you are in the right place.

If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this blog post – where you will discover lots of ideas using the Stargazer Paper Suite

The Stargazer Paper Suite is a super fun space themed paper pack – perfect for the little stargazer. But while the paper pack lends itself towards space – the primary colours with touches of grey – are great for any theme.

For this card I wanted to feature just a couple of pops of the feature paper & focus on the colours of the paper, not so much on the patterns. I also did not want to create a typical primary colour birthday card or a space theme card so I stamped the flowers with yellows & oranges using the rock n’ roll technique and sweet leaf for the green leaves.

If a theme of a paper doesn’t suite your needs look at the colours – with the Close To My Heart Papers you often find a muted pattern that can work with lots of ideas.

I stamped across the background of the card front with the Chelsea Gardens Scrapbooking stamp set. Once I knew where the paper strips were going to sit I used the dotted stamp in Heather to bring in more grey & used the worn distress grey pattern paper, the red stripe (love this paper pattern & could create so much more with this stripe) & a grey polka dot z strip as the anchor for the placement of the main featured flowers.

No one would even think that this paper has come from a space theme paper range. For my featured flowers I added some watercolour to accentuate the flower structure & bring in more red – but it turned a bit orange – oh well I still liked it and it blended well with the orange that I introduced into the background stamp image and they worked as great closure for the gate fold card.

I hope you enjoyed what I created today & if you did so, please leave a comment before you head over to the very talented: Shaunna Richards: Passionate About Pages who I am sure will showcase something absolutely wonderful.

Enjoy the hop & thanks so much for taking the time to check out these ideas with this month’s feature on the Close To My Heart Make Stargazer Suite.

Til next time, see you soon & keep creating!
Maz

4Mar2018

Leave Fussy Cutting Aside and Enter an Era of Perfectly Cut Stamped Images

Posted in Cards, Ideas, Inspiration, Technique by artymaz

Using correlating stamps and dies is big right now and a must-technique for any stamper and allows for perfectly cut images. With just a few turns of a lever, you can make your cards look super professional.

Luckily Close To My Heart have a bunch of Dies called Thin Cuts that come packaged with matching stamps – there are also a couple of Thin Cuts that are stand alone – allowing you to stamp or decorate the die cut image any way you like!

What I love about Stamps with the matching Thin Cuts

It is that you can recreate the same images over and over again in different colours, papers, textures- you name it, just by purchasing stamps with coordinating dies, you basically have the equivalent of endless stickers! All you need is a Die Cutting machine like a Cuttlebug or a Bigshoot to name a few. Basically -Thin Cuts are an easy way to add shapes, titles, and sentiments to any project — no scissors required!

Some Cards using Stamps with the matching Thin Cuts

There are a bunch of amazing Thin Cuts with matching stamps in the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book and here are a few cards to show how easy it is to turn a perfectly cut image into an amazing card, plus a few ideas to get you started.

Special Offer

Ok just when you thought it could not get any better, than making it easy for you to cut out your images – Thin Cuts dies are on sale all month!

Save 25% on a wide selection of Thin Cuts dies and 30% on select Thin Cuts bundles!

During March, you can purchase individual Thin Cuts at 25% off the retail price and select bundles of Thin Cuts at 30% off the retail price. This special includes both current and retired Thin Cuts.

Anyway I hope you enjoy my thoughts & ideas about Thin Cuts & you get a chance to look at what we have on offer for you.

Till Next Time
Maz