It’s here—the last day of September! We’ve loved every second of National Stamping Month, and we’re excited to share one last stamping technique with you to commemorate September and usher in October. Using our Nevermore paper packet, our artist created an adorable scrapbook page to complement this precious little puppy dog:
Just look at that face! Isn’t he sweet? Halloween is such a fun time for children, but it’s also fun for adults to dress up their kiddos—or puppies!—in cute costumes. Their personalities really come to life! Scrapbook pages like this remind us to celebrate childhood and enjoy time together with loved ones.
Now, did you spot today’s stamping technique? You can find it by taking a closer look at the Cricut®-cut haunted house. We’re going to tell you how to create that textured look you see on the shape. It’s really simple!
Start with some twine. Wrap it around a My Acrylix® block a few times but not too many: You don’t want the block to look like a mummy! 🙂 Tie a knot at the top of the block to secure the twine, and there you have it! You’ve created your own unique texture stamp! Now ink the twine with our Black Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad, and stamp it down onto the haunted house shape. Feel free to alternate horizontal and vertical lines to add even more visual interest.
There is so much you can accomplish using this simple technique! As seen here, it is perfect for giving a rough texture to Cricut® shapes like houses and animals, but it can also be used to invent your own patterned paper. Try spacing out the twine when you wrap it around your block for different looks, and then get to work experimenting! There are SO many places you could take this technique! The sky’s the limit! (but you could probably create some fun sky effects, too!)
Thanks for joining us this month as we’ve shared some stamping ideas to spice up your crafting routine. For more Nevermore inspiration, be sure to search #ctmhnevermore on social media. Once you create your own masterpiece, share it with the world by using the same hashtag. We love seeing what you create!
Recipe 12″ x 12″ Boo Page Make It from Your Heart™ Vol. 1: Pattern 17
D1669 My Acrylix® Tasty Terrors, B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand, X7199B Sangria Paper Packet, 1386 Black Cardstock, X5929 Whisper Cardstock, X5930 Slate Cardstock, X5771 Flaxen Cardstock, Z2105 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7199C Sangria Complements, X7198C Nevermore Complements, Z2013 Sequins Silver Assortment, Z3095 Whisper Thick Twine (for wrapping), Z3169 Cricut® Artbooking Collection
National Stamping Month’s been a real treat: From designing the My Acrylix® Hello, Life! stamp sets to looking at all the beautiful artwork you’ve shared on social media, we’ve enjoyed every moment of it! Ready for another great stamping technique to celebrate this special month? We’ve got a great one to share from this spooktacular layout!
Did that “BOO” stamp on the right page pop out at you? Well it should have, not because it’s scary but because it’s embossed! For those who don’t know what we mean by embossing, we’ll quickly explain. Embossing means to create a raised design on a surface. This stamping technique gives the stamp a gritty texture that sits on top of the page for added dimension.
Now, how do you emboss? We’ll walk you through what our artist did for this stamp. First, she stamped the “BOO” image onto the page using a VersaMark™ ink pad. Then she sprinkled Ranger™ white super fine embossing powder onto the ink, and lightly shook off the extra (the powder will cling to the ink). To set the image, she heated it with a craft heater. Here’s a closer look at the finished product:
What’s particularly cool about the embossing on this Halloween layout is that our artist surrounded it with an Eggplant fog to create a ghostly feel. This technique is really easy to do and adds extra charm to the embossing. Using our Eggplant Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad, she simply took a sponge dauber and lightly daubed on and around the embossing. The stamp doesn’t become obscured because the embossing resists the ink. It’s almost like magic!
On the prowl for more artwork featuring our Nevermore paper collection? You’ll find lots more by searching Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest using the hashtag #ctmhnevermore. Also, in case you missed it, check out the fun artwork in this video that came out earlier this month on the My Craft Channel website:
Recipe
12″ x 12″ Halloween Layout
B1503 My Acrylix® Steampunk Scoundrels, B1488 My Acrylix® Pumpkin Chevron, X7198B Nevermore Paper Packet, X5769 Thistle Cardstock, 1386 Black Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3126 Paper Fundamentals Enchantment, Z3128 Paper Fundamentals Basics, Z2648 Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2647 Eggplant Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad 44751 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z891 VersaMark™ Ink Pad, Z3083 Nevermore Assortment, Z3166 Fundamental Stickers Basics Pack, Z3104 Fundamental Assortment Black, Z2013 Sequins Silver Assortment, Z2068 Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder, Z2462 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Peony Purple Marker, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z3169 Cricut® Artbooking Collection
Those of you who’ve already gotten your hands on our Nevermore paper packet probably have grand plans for fall and Halloween-themed layouts. Well, here’s another idea for you to try out 🙂 :
This fun, festive banner comes together quickly and easily with a little help from our Cricut® Artbooking and Artistry collections and, of course, the Nevermore paper packet.
What a great project to do with young children or grandchildren. They would love to watch the Cricut® cut out the leaves (because it’s even exciting for us adults to watch!), and then they could help slide the leaves onto the thread. If you don’t have any small children around, this would also be a relaxing project to work on while enjoying a little “me” time watching your favorite Julia Roberts movie and sipping some warm apple cider.
And did you notice the stamped leaves our artist colored in with the ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ markers? With the help of last week’s post about using these markers with our stamps, you could easily do this at home. The My Acrylix® Thankful Heart stamp set supplied the leaf images, which add such character to the banner. You could even add different stamps or embellishments to match other elements of your home décor.
There are so many works of art you can create with the Nevermore paper packet. Share you own Nevermore artwork by using the hashtag #ctmhnevermore, or search for this hashtag on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more artwork inspiration from the Close To My Heart community.
It’s finally September 1, and you know what that means—our brand new Close To My Heart Annual Inspirations and Holiday Expressions idea books are now available to the public!
We’re elated to finally be able to brag about all the gems featured in these beauties! 🙂 Even though it was VERY difficult for us to narrow this down, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to create a list of 11 love-it, gotta-have-it crafting supplies from our new idea books. Here we go!
1. Instalife™
This brand new product line is perfect for preserving your favorite social media memories or really any miniature keepsakes. We find the petite size of this line adorable! Add Instalife cards to the Memory Protectors™ for an extra pop of color next to your photos, or stamp on cute dates and messages using our Instalife roller stamps. This line is extremely versatile, letting you create an album that’s just right for you!
2. Watercolor Paints
Add a splash of color to any project with our brand new watercolor paints! From creating showstopper backgrounds to embellishing with a little splatter of paint, these watercolor paints are one of our most multipurpose tools
3. Fundamental Stickers Packs and Assortments
Fundamental Stickers Adventure Pack
Fundamental Assortment Black
Every crafter knows how nice it is to have items that color coordinate. Our Paper Fundamentals match our exclusive colors perfectly to make paper pairing a cinch. Along with updated colors and patterns, this line now also includes Fundamental Stickers Packs and Assortments! You’ll find color-coordinated tags, icons, and titles, as well as letter stickers you can use for putting things into your own words! Embellishing and accessorizing has never been so easy!
4. Picture My Life™ Overlays
Our Picture My Life™ pocket scrapbooking line makes catching up on scrapbooking quick and easy. In our new Annual Inspirations book, we now have beautiful overlays to add a touch of foil or else an eye-catching pattern to your photos without having to stamp directly onto the photos.
5. My Legacy™ Albums…and new posts!
Creating beautiful layouts for your favorite memories is important, but so is choosing a beautiful album to store those layouts! We love our high quality My Legacy™ albums because they protect our memories in style! Since each album tells a different story, we provide both 1 ½” D-ring albums and 1 ½” post-bound albums in a variety of patterns. For slightly shorter stories, use our brand new My Legacy™ 1″ Album Posts to keep your layouts perfectly nestled between the protective album covers.
6. My Acrylix® Etched Alphabet Stamp SetYou can never go wrong with a monogram, which is why we’ve created the My Acrylix® Etched Alphabet stamp set. It’s the perfect size for adding a monogram to our Base & Bling pendants. Create several monogrammed pendants for an easy go-to gift— because honestly, who wouldn’t want to wear an adorable monogramed bit of bling?
7. Cricut® Artistry Collection
This fella is the newest addition to our set of exclusive Close To My Heart Cricut® collections. Featuring over 700 images ranging from banners and borders to shapes and layers, it’s sure to make your crafting even more awe-worthy. Oh, and did we mention that now ALL of our Cricut® collections include THREE My Acrylix® D-size stamp sets AND a cardstock combo pack? Let the cheers commence! 😉
8. Cut Above™
Don’t you hate it when you remember an occasion last-second and you desperately need a card? Our new Cut Above™ card kits are perfect for these exact situations. Taking only moments to put together, these card kits are absolute lifesavers, as well as easy on your wallet!
9. Marker and Accessory Roll-Ups
We know that crafters tend to collect quite a few items (it’s okay, we do, too 🙂 ). Keep the clutter at bay with our brand new marker and accessory roll-ups! The marker roll-up is designed to hold our ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ markers to make transportation and horizontal storage easy, and our accessory roll-up can organize anything from Base & Bling items to embellishments and accessories.
10. My Reflection™ Paper Packets & Hashtags
#ctmhzoe
#ctmhnevermore
As always, new idea books mean new paper packets! And we’ve got 8! This year, we will also be spotlighting one or two paper packets each month on social media. Zoe and Nevermore have already claimed the month of September. 🙂 Use our featured paper packet hashtags to share your artwork during the featured month, and look at other crafters’ artwork by entering these hashtags in the search bar of any social media website or app—especially Facebook and Instagram. All of our featured paper packet hashtags are #ctmh followed by the name of the paper packet: #ctmhzoe #ctmhnevermore.
11. New Consultant Kit*
When someone decides to join our family by becoming a Close To My Heart Consultant, they receive a New Consultant Kit full of goodies to start off their business. Well, this is the NEW New Consultant Kit, and isn’t she a beauty? We want you to inspire you from day one, so we’ve revamped this kit to make it as handsome as it is helpful.
And there you have it, folks! That’s the list! Now come’s the tricky part—figuring out which one of these 11 products you’ll purchase FIRST! Good luck!
To begin shopping, visit your Consultant’s OBA or find a Consultant in your area by visiting our website and clicking on the “What We Do” tab at the top of the page.
