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Glass items I am working on

I have been learning how to do reverse enamel painting on glass and it has been a process for sure.  Here is my first piece that I am keeping for me.  More in progress.  I also learned how to make these little glass stars.  I am going to make a bunch in a variety of colors for an upcoming craft show.  The rocket is done using a porcelain mold and the bottom cut off a bottle.  Fun!

My recent arts and crafts projects

I have been learning to reverse enamel paint on glass.  I took a video class online.  Cheryl Chapman is the artist who taught the class.  I love her style and the process but I am using my own drawings to develop my own style.  I paint the glass with several layers of enamels with a firing for each layer.  When done I full fuse, and add a slump firing if needed depending on the project.  I drew the cat art shown and mounted it into a frame.  Keeping this one for me but have three more other pieces in process with leaves, a flower and another, but different, cat.  I crocheted a dumpling cat for my grand-daughter and that led my cousin to ask for a lamb for a baby gift, so I crocheted that too.  I made a fall cloth banner with heat transfer vinyl too.  That is going to the shop for sale.  I will drop it off this week.  I crocheted a dish towel and matching dish cloth but didn’t take a picture.  Having fun!

Damask Divas Taste of Summer Blog Hop

Happy Spring!  Welcome to the Damask Divas’ Taste of Summer Blog Hop.  If you came to my page from Traci’s page, then you are in the right place.  You can always start at the beginning or navigate to the various participant’s pages by going to the Damask Divas team blog page at http://www.damaskdivas.com or click this link.

These papers with their juicy, colorful, fruity prints are so much fun. I made some simple and quick cards to share with you.

Taste of Summer Greeting Cards

Taste of Summer Greeting Cards

This Taste of Summer paper pack (Item # CC1038) and the coordinating stamp set (CC1039) are the Constant Campaign from Close to my Heart for May 2015.  You can only get these papers in May, so be sure to contact me or your own consultant to order.  My CTMH online store is located at http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com or click this link.

The celebrate sentiment is from the Dizzy Circles stamp set (Item # C1610).  I used coordinating CTMH ink pads and colored the Thank You with a Shin-Han marker (P83 – Lavender).  I used CTMH archival ink for the black sentiments.  The card bases and envelopes are the White Daisy value pack (Item # X254).  Of course, I used my CTMH acrylic blocks to stamp with, and my Versamat to help get a nice clear imprint (Item # Z1279).  The Thank You stamp is retired, but still one of my favorites.

Your next stop on the hop is Felica’s page.  I hope you enjoy seeing all of creations and they inspire you to make your own.  Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

Yuletide Carol Paper Pack Blog Hop

Welcome to the November Damask Divas Blog Hop featuring the Close to my Heart Yuletide Carol paper pack.  If you got here from Lilian’s blog post, you are in the right place.  You can always go to the Damask Divas blog to start at the beginning by clicking here.

This paper pack is traditional with red, green and muted holiday themes.  To be honest, I don’t scrapbook nearly as much as I make cards and home décor items.  The patterns on this paper called out to be a scrapbook layout however.  I am very happy with the two page layout I made.  I hope it inspires you too!

yuletide carol2 pic

I like the designs printed on this paper, especially the birds and stockings.  It was easy to build a page around the design.  I added a small tree from the Artiste Close to my Heart Cricut cartridge just above the 25 that was already part of the page.  The negative cutout from the tree is to the right of the red bird in the lower left corner.  I added the four photo mats, the shimmer trim, the tree and the negative from the tree along with the sparkles and metal component from the Yuletide Carol assortment of embellishments.  The rest of the design you see is all part of the paper.

The other page was a more neutral design featuring the look of sheet music.  I cut the fancy border at the bottom of the page (also from the Artiste Close to my Heart cartridge) and the top Holly and Ivy border is the zip strip from the same page.  I added gold shimmer trim, stickers from the Yuletide Carol complements pack (the banners and holly) and more embellishments from the Yuletide Carol assortment pack.   The Noel decoration is a pocket card from the Artfully Sent Close to my Heart Cricut cartridge.  I cut it at about 3″ by 2 1/4″.

yuletide carol3pic

Here is a photo of the two pages side-by-side.

yuletide carol1 pic

All that this two page layout needs are three 4×6 photos and three small images to complete it.  The photos can cover the colonial white “place holders”  or the photos can be cropped a little to achieve a double mat effect.  The photos do not do the shimmer trim and glittery bling gems justice. They add a nice sparkle to the layout without overwhelming the design.

Recipe:

Artiste Cricut Cartridge – Item #Z1790

Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge – Item #Z3017

Yuletide Carol paper pack – Item # X7187B

Yuletide Carol Complements – Item # X7187C

Yuletide Carol Assortment – Item # Z3007

Gold Shimmer Trim – Item #Z1985

I cut the shapes from the exclusive Close to my Heart Cricut cartridges on my Cricut Explore.  For those of you using the Explore, here are the codes to make searching for these images easier.   Artiste – #S20E, Artfully Sent – #S124E3,  Tree – #M3EB1C, Pocket Card – #MCC236.  You can use these codes from “Search All Items”.  Be sure to enter the # sign to search.

To purchase any of the supplies for this project, you can visit my online CTMH shop at this link –  http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com or if you have your own consultant, visit their online business address.  I am happy to help in any way.  My contact information is available at my online CTMH shop.  Be sure to check out our monthly special and Stamp of the Month.

Looks like I am the last stop on this blog hop.  I hope you were inspired by all of our creations.  Be sure to visit our blog hop each month to see the new projects we have created.  Happy Crafting!

We hope you had as much fun browsing our creations as we had making them! Thanks so much for hopping with us–now go get your crafty on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October Stamp of the Month – Close To My Heart

Here we are – officially in the fall season with the holidays just around the corner.  The Christmas themed October Stamp of the Month (SOTM), Home for the Holidays, is available for a limited time.  It can be yours for just $5.00 with a $50 purchase but it is only available to you during October.   You can also purchase the October Stamp of the Month for $17.95 without a qualifying purchase.   I especially love the polar bear image.  The set coordinates with the Art Philosophy cartridge and provides measurements to cut pieces for all but two of the images (the candy cane and candy don’t have images on Art Philosophy but all of the others do) .   Here is a sample set I cut out using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and stamped.

Samples stamped with the October SOTM

Samples stamped with the October SOTM

I also made two cards with the polar bear postage stamp.  One with glitter paper and the other with paper from the Snowhaven paper pack.  So cute!

october SOTM polar bear cards pic

 

You can purchase the Stamp of the Month and the supplies online at my Close to my Heart business address at http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com.

Recipes:

October Stamp of the Month “Home for the Holidays” Item #S1410

the “Winter Wishes” phrase is from the stamp set To You and Yours, Item #B1403

The “Snow Much Fun” phrase and snowflakes are from Flakey Friends, Item # C1506

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge Item # Z1686

Snowhaven Paper Pack Item # X7188C

Teal Glitter Paper Item # Z1991

Silver Shimmer Trim # Z1799

White Daisy Bulk pack of card bases and envelopes Item #X254

White Daisy Paper Item # 1385

Ink Pads:  Glacier #Z2641, Topiary #Z2155, Ponderosa Pine #Z2145, Ruby # Z2170.  The bright red on the December 25 tag is Holiday Red and that is a discontinued color, but you can use Cranberry in its place, #Z2116.

If you are using the Cricut Explore die cut machine instead of a legacy model, you can insert codes in search to find the cuts on Art Philosophy.   Be sure to be at search all images and enter the code with the # in front of it.  Light bulb shape ornament tag is #M41BE5;  Polar bear stamp is #M450F2, the Home for the Holidays tag is #M45A94, The Do Not Open tag is #M45080 and the larger ornament is #M4003B.

I hope you enjoy this peek at the possibilities using the October Stamp of the Month!  Leave a comment below or if you have questions, please feel free to email me at cydneyfowlercreations@gmail.com and I will respond as soon as possible.  Click here to be directed to my online CTMH shop.

 

 

Pathfinding Blog Hop

Welcome to the Damask Divas October Blog Hop!  Fall is in the air and we are featuring the Pathfinding paper pack – autumn colors galore!  If you got here from Lilian’s blog, you are in the right place.  You can always go to the Damask Divas blog site to see all of the inspiring projects – just click here.

I made a 5×7 greeting card using the Pathfinding paper pack.  I used the new Artfully Sent exclusive Close to my Heart Cricut cartridge to make the card base, envelope and envelope liner.  I used my Cricut Explore and Design Space to Print then Cut the pumpkin, sentiment and leaves (these are from Artiste).  If you don’t have the Explore you can just cut paper items in the usual way using Artiste and your Expression or E2 machine for the embellishments.

Card base made with Artfully Sent

Card base made with Artfully Sent

If you are using your Expression or E2, set the card base size according to the booklet on page 39 and page 47 for the envelope and liner.  If you are using the Explore, set the size for the card base to cut at 9.34″ wide by 11.31 height.  Set the envelope and liner to cut at 10″ wide with 7″ height.  This gives you a little extra room in the envelope for a thick card.

In Design Space you can locate items to cut by their assigned number.  Here are the numbers for the cuts I used:

Frame Card – #M1011E3

Envelope – #MEF85D

Pumpkin – #M3D514

Give Thanks and Leaves – these are part of the Harvest Layout and the items are grouped together.  #MB0171 is the number.  To use just the Give Thanks and the leaves, ungroup them.  Hide what you don’t need by clicking on the eye for each item you want to hide.  For Print then Cut – change colors to suit your theme, flatten, select all, attach.

To use the codes, make sure you put the # sign in front of the number.  Insert images, make sure you are in all images.  In the search box type the #number and hit enter.  You should see a preview of the image.  Click on the preview to insert the image.  The image codes start with #M and the cartridge codes for the CTMH cartridges start with #S.  This allows you to search for the cartridge image set in search in the same way as the images.  It is a real time saver.

Artfully Sent is #S124E3

Artbooking is #S54A

Artiste is #S20E

Art Philosophy is #S13C

Recipe for the Card:

Pathfinding paper pack – Item # X7186B

Artfully Sent Cricut Collection – Item # Z3017

Artiste Cricut Collection – Item # Z1790

Colonial White Paper – Item # 1388

You can purchase Close to my Heart products from me at http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com or from your own consultant.

I hope you enjoyed my card and information on using the Cricut Explore.  You can make this project with your legacy machines, but I am hooked on the new Explore and Design Space.  Combined with our CTMH Cricut cartridges and CTMH papers it is amazing what you can do.

I am the “end of the line” for this blog hop.  If you want to start again, click on the link at the top of the page to return to the Damask Divas blog page.  Thanks for joining us!

 

 

 

 

 

There is still time to get the CTMH August Stamp of the Month

The August Stamp of the Month by Close to my Heart is still available until the end of August.  You can purchase the stamp set for $17.95 or get it for just $5 when you spend $50.   Click Here to go to my online CTMH shop.  It is my personal site and my account will be credited with your purchase.  I appreciate the support!  The link is http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com

Owls are very on trend right now – you can use this adorable owl themed set for Halloween with the included “happy Owloween” saying and costume pieces for the owls, or you can use it for a variety of all occasion cards and layouts using just the owls and “What a Hoot” phrase included in the set.

Here is a sample treat bag using this versatile stamp set:

1408-sotm-bag

 

And here is a cute layout using the same stamp set:

1408-sotm-layout

August SOTM

August SOTM

I know you will think of many more ways to use this adorable stamp set for your own creations.

I also have a Mystery Hostess gathering you can join when you shop at my online CTMH store.  It is open until August 31, 2014.  The customer with the largest order attached to the online gathering will be the hostess!  The mystery hostess will receive free select product credit (SPC) as long as the gathering reaches a minimum total merchandise sales of $150.  The SPC is $25 when the gathering reaches $150, and goes up as the gathering sales increase. Check out the Idea Book online to get all of the details about sales levels and corresponding hostess rewards.  Just click the above links to get to my online shop and you can get all of the information there.  Feel free to contact me if you have questions.  All of my contacts are on the website.

Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

Cards featuring CTMH July Stamp of the Month

I needed two thank you cards for my convention roomie/friends.  I used the July Stamp of the Month, Circus Alphabet (Item #S1407).  This is also a sneak peek at the new Shin-Han markers CTMH is unveiling in the August Annual Inspirations Idea Book.  I love the way they color!  Also a sneak peek at one of the new washi tapes, Topiary (item #Z2002), that is also available in August.  I used various CTMH solid colors to make the festive banner for the multi-color card, and Skylark paper for the green card.  Notice that I cut one inch squares to stamp the individual letters on – that way if you mess up coloring you can do one letter over and the letters are easy to line up this way.  Also, don’t hesitate to stamp letters in a random, wavy pattern if you have trouble lining the stamps up perfectly straight.  Perfect is the enemy of good!  Have fun with stamping and creating!  The Skylark paper pack is available until the end of July (Item #X7177B).  Get your favorite papers before the end of July!  All of the B&T duos patterned papers will be replaced with exciting new designs effective August 1.

Here are the two cards I made for my wonderful friends, Kelle and Erin:

Green Thank You card with the Circus Alphabet and Topiary Washi Tape.

Green Thank You card with the Circus Alphabet and Topiary Washi Tape.

Multi-Color Thank You card made with the Circus Alphabet.

Multi-Color Thank You card made with the Circus Alphabet.

 

Don’t forget – you can only get this cute alphabet stamp set during July.  Retail is $17.95, but you can get it for $5.00 with any $50 purchase during July.  My personal online CTMH shop is located at http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com.  Click on the link to shop.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Watch for regular posts featuring more wonderful Close to my Heart products.  Happy Crafting!

 

 

Skylark Blog Hop

Welcome to our monthly Damask Divas blog hop.  We are featuring the Skylark paper pack.  If you got here from Brenda’s blog, you are in the right place.  You can always start from the beginning by going to the Damask Divas blog where you will find a list of all of the participants and links to their blogs.  I created a few cards.  I just love the paper with the birds and dragonflies  so I cut my paper to highlight those images.  I added some embellishments – wood color ready shapes that compliment the design, washi tape, the zip strip from the edge of the paper, some leaves and bling.  These papers are perfect for Spring and Summer.  The colors are very soothing and peaceful.

Dragonfly - Spread Your Wings

Dragonfly – Spread Your Wings

Skylark - Believe

Skylark – Believe

Blue Bird - Happy Birthday

Blue Bird – Happy Birthday

That beautiful blue bird is part of the paper design not an embellishment! This paper would be great as a scrapbook page background as well.  I hope these cards give you some crafty inspiration.  If you want to purchase Close to my Heart papers and crafty goodness, go to my online store by clicking here, or contact your own consultant.  We are all happy to help you. Next up on the hop is Felica.  Click here to go to see what she has created for your viewing pleasure.  Happy Crafting!