Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Welcome Spring!!

Yay!! - today is the 1st day of Spring and I have been looking forward to this day for so many different reasons!... here are my top 2 reasons

1). It means warmer weather is on it's way! (I am so not a winter girl!!)
 
2). It is the release of our brand new Close To My Heart Catalogue/Idea Book (Annual Inspirations) - jammed packed with delicious new papers and crafting goodies to inspire your creativity!


...but that is just the beginning - today also sees the release of our Holiday Expressions supplement too! It contains lots of wonderful ideas and products to prepare you for Christmas and the holiday season... you can view the contents here.
 
September is also National Stamping Month, and this year Close To My Heart has something to help every kind of papercrafter say a big “hello” to life! Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix® Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $21 each! or - for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $53 —a savings of $10!! Each stamp set is designed to fit with a specific type of papercrafting, whether that’s scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. However, all the stamp sets coordinate with each other and can be used together to create dynamic artwork. These stamp sets also coordinate with shapes from the new Cricut® Artistry collection to help expand your artwork options, even further. Remember, these stamp sets are available for one month only, so head on over to my Online Shop for one stamp set—or all three—before these gorgeous stamps disappear!
 



 ...and don't forget when you place your order for these stamp sets to add the September Stamp of the Month too - it's the perfect accompaniment for both your Springtime projects and the Hello, Life stamp sets. Here is a little preview of a card I made combining the 2 sets.



This card also uses one of my favourite "new" products released this month - Watercolour Paints! These paints fuel my passion for the Adult Colouring craze and I love that you can just play or unleash your inner artist with fancy techniques. The background for this card was simply created by "dripping" paint and water onto my watercolour cardstock and moving it around with my heat gun to create a marbled looking background...this is a fun technique to try if you are new to watercolour paints.

Another simple technique for beginners to try is applying a "wash" of colour over die-cuts and shapes... for this technique the 1st step is to adhere the die-cut shape to the watercolour cardstock and dampen the surface with water before adding the paint. A little tip is to attach your cardstock/working area to a hard surface with washi tape before you wet it. This will help eliminate the distortion (buckling and wrinkling) of the cardstock.

For the card below, I cut a title from the new Cricut® Artistry Collection multiple times (four) adhered them on top of each other with Bonding Memories™ Glue Pen and then applied a "wash" of pink coloured tones of paints across the title. The card was then embellished with Kaleidoscope Complements and stamped images from a new stamp set called Diamonds are Forever. The images were stamped in champagne pigment ink from the Basics Exclusive Inks™ Mini Pigment Pads Set, along with a few little star images stamped with the VersaMark™ Ink Pad and embossed with Silver Embossing Powder.


These cards also showcase one of the new paper packs released today, called
La Vie En Rose... a lovely romantic pack that contains some classic black and white prints.

I am looking forward to sharing the full array of new products and some more fun and advanced watercolour techniques with you over the coming weeks... it is going to be one very creative journey that I know you are going to enjoy!


 

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