Artbooking made Easy!

Welcome to Artbooking Made Easy! In this 8-month series, we will show you how to use the brand-new, revolutionary Close To My Heart Cricut^® Artbooking collection to create works of art! From mini scrapbooks to layouts, you’ll find themes to fit any occasion—just set one dial size and let Artbooking do the rest!

Join us each week for the Artbooking Made Easy series from September 2013 through April 2014.  I will do my best to post these videos weekly.



If you already know you want it, you can get it here  or you can contact me at karen.gerlach@comcast.net and schedule a party.  A party of $250 or more qualifies to get Artbooking at 1/2 price!!!  Contact me today to schedule.

Mix it up!

If you are a paper hoarder like me, you have lots and lots of paper.  For the longest time I would keep all my paper packs separate, even keeping the scraps in the same bag so they wouldn't get mixed up. 

What a mistake that was!

Once I got the Cricut, I realized that I needed a ready supply of scraps available to cut letters, shapes, and other fun stampable items.  So I sorted through my scraps and organized them into containers by they rainbow.  Red/Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple.  Then I have containers for White, Creams, Browns, and Black/Grey. 

Now whenever I need a shape cut I dig through my scraps and find something that matches my project no matter what paper pack it's from.

Check out the video below for more tips on mixing and matching papers.


You can find papers to mix and match on my website here.

Cricut Collections make it easy!

The latest Cricut cartridge from Close to my Heart, Artbooking, makes is so easy to make scrapbook pages, mini albums, and cards anyone can do it.  Check out this video below for more information.



If you'd like to get one of these fabulous cartridges, contact me at karen.gerlach@comcast.net or get it delivered straight to your house by ordering direct from my website here.

September is National Stamping Month!

National Stamping Month

 

A new stamp set trio for only $10 with a qualifying purchase of $50 or more.

 

During the month of September, when you make a purchase of $50 or more, you qualify for this whimsical stamp set trio for only $10. You’ll love the whimsical alphabet, light-hearted sentiments, and fanciful images for a variety of occasions to give a cheerful touch to your projects, with a full retail value of $47.90.

 

Watch the video for more details on this great deal!

 

 

Embossing and Stamping

Another Great video from the Close to My Heart Corporate Office!




If you would like to try some of these techniques, come this Saturday January 5th to my open crop and we will have some fun with embossing!

Ink it UP!

Here's a great new video showing the versatility of our new alcohol ink markers.  I really never liked to color because my twin sister Kathy was always so much better at it and I'm left-handed and I get ink everywhere.  But I have to say these are really fun.



The new stamp scrubber is fabulous!  I've used archival ink on my stamps and it comes right up using the brush.  You want to finish your stamping quickly when you use pigment ink, spritz right away and scrub.  Doing it that way your stamps will stain but you'll still be able to see through them for the next time.

If you have questions or would like to see the items in person, call, text or email me today.  Ready to buy? Visit my website http://karencpa.ctmh.com

More repurposing going on tonight

Check out these repurposed vases.  I plan on putting some Halloween candy in them and giving them to my kids' teachers.

Super easy to make.

I used Moonlight paper, C1463 Harvest Happiness stamp set, B1395 So Grateful stamp set, Z1732 color ready ribbon, plus Art Philosophy and Artiste cricut cartridges. 

Colors are Autumn Terracotta, Honey, Barn Red, New England Ivy, and Smokey Plum.

Workshops on the Go - Crazy for Cards!

Here's a great video on the new Workshops on the Go especially for cards.  If you are looking to make your Christmas cards this year this is a great way to do it if you can't make one of my card workshops this year.





If you would like to order one of the workshops seen here, you can order them from my website at http://karencpa.ctmh.com or you can email me with your order.

Mini Albums for Holiday Bazaar

I finally got to seriously play with my Artiste Cricut Cartridge exclusive from Close to My Heart.  Wow, what fun!  I made this cute mini albums using the coordinating dimensional elements to sell at the Mt. Olive Holiday Bazaar today.  It took me about 2 1/2 hours to make all 4. 

 

 

Those are some of the better pictures of each of them that I was able to get in here in the time I have this morning.  I'll post more later when I have time to edit them better.

 

 

Now for the fun part!  If you place an order on my website for the Artiste or the Art Philosophy cartridge by 8PM PDT Wednesday, October 17th, 2012, you will receive a FREE Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad from me.  After you place your order just email me the color you wish to receive!  It's that easy!  Order both get 2 Exclusive Inks stamps pads AND pick an Exclusive Inks Marker set (in colors currently available) for FREE!

Just doing some recycling...

So I got this great new storage case for all my cricut catridges.  You can't tell from the picture, but there are 2 that are never in the case.  Artiste and Art Philosophy have spots in the case, but they never make it in there because I use them all the time!

 

So now what do I do with all the empty boxes?  They are kind of cool right?

 

But really am I going to add them to junk I already have in here?  Hmmm.  What else could they look like?

 

How About this:

 

 

Yes even Zoe likes this box.  Thankfully she didn't try to lay down in it.  She seemed to realize she wouldn't fit.  I think the next box will be something with fall leaves.  Then maybe a Christmas box.  A baby girl and baby boy box.  I have a lot of boxes.  I even have some more that were given to me - Thanks Shari! 

 

Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas for my recycling of the boxes I'd love to hear them.  All the supplies used are from Close to my Heart.  

 

Items used are:

 

Moonlight Paper Pack X7161B

Desert Sand Cardstock 1273

Hanted Assortment Z1741

Black Tulle Ribbon Z1798

Silver Shimmer Trim Z1799

Fashionista D1504 (Spring Catalog still available) 

Designer Brads Z1360

Exclusive Ink Stamp Pads in Black, Smokey Plum, and Goldrush.

 

 

My plan is to have several of these boxes made up and available for sale at the Mt Olive Lutheran Church Fall Bazaar October 13th and at the Garden Home Rec. Center Bazaar December 1st. 

 

Well off to make another one.  Happy crafting everyone!

Art Attack Video - New & Now

Many have expressed their sadness over their favorite colors retiring in the last catalog. But have you seen the new colors that are exclusive to certain paper packs? There are some very trendy colors featured in Avonlea, La Belle Vie, and Flirty. This great video produced by Close to my Heart shows how to add color to your art.



If you'd like to see any of the colors in person, call or email and we can schedule a time for to check them out in person.  Already sold?  Visit my website at http://karencpa.ctmh.com to get yours.  While you are there don't forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter and browse the "While Supplies Last" section for some great deals!

Art Attach Video - Stamping Across Multiple Surfaces

You just gotta love a company that helps out with great videos and training for consultants AND for their customers.  Here is a great video Close to my Heart has put together and allows the consultants to post on their blogs.  Just another great reason to be a part of this company - along with the fabulous stamps!

Enjoy!

September National Stamping Month!

Celebrate National Stamping Month with this great Double D stamp set.  The stamp set is just $5 with an order of $35.  Check out this video for details and some cool artwork you can create with this versatile stamp.



The set is available only until September 30th.  So get yours today.  Visit my website at http://karencpa.ctmh.com or email me at karen.gerlach@comcast.net to place your order.

New Close to my Heart Alcohol Ink Markers

Here is a great instructional video on our new markers.  Note how to best store the markers and that you should always start with your lightest color first. 



If you want more information regarding the markers or would like to acquire your own, please visit my website at http://karencpa.ctmh.com. 

Oak Knoll Winery First Annual Scrapbook Event

Here's the room with everyone working hard on their projects.  We had 15 women in all.  Everyone got a lot done and had a lot of fun. 

Here's me sitting for a second enjoying the fabulous brownies.

Here's the food all set up.  We had BBQ beef sandwiches, veggie lassagne, fresh fruit, an amazing salad with a dressing made with some Oak Knoll wine.  It was wonderful and all made by the fabulous Tasting Room Manager Natalie.

Take a look at this brownie!  It has some Oak Knoll Toasted Cow Red wine in it.  It was so yummy!

Everyone got to taste up to 6 different wines from the list of Oak Knoll wines.   I made it through 4 and loved them all.  I don't drink much or often so this was plenty for me.  We played a fun little Leprechaun Left-Right game that I wrote especially for the day. 

One special group of ladies were there working on a very special project.  They had all the books, notes, and pictures of a close friend who is suffering from cancer.  These ladies took it upon themselves to finish the albums their friend had started.  The self-designated 'non-crafty' ladies took it upon themselves to sort through all the photos.  While others worked on school albums and baby albums putting in pictures and leaving space for their friend to write a few words to her children.  I got to help them crop some photos and cut some photo mats.  I didn't help as much as I would have liked as I was pulled away with questions and I felt somewhat in the way of their very driven mission.  I also didn't want to ask too many questions because I feared with all the wine flowing we'd all be sobbing.  I pray that they are able to accomplish their task so that their friend can see the albums and add her special notes to the pages for her children.  Afterall this is the reason we scrapbook - to leave something of ourselves behind for our children.

Scrapbooking in Wine Country!

Well today is the day.  I'm off to Oak Knoll Winery to sample some fabulous Oregon wines, have a delicious lunch catered by Reedville Cafe, and I will teach the 2-page layout pictured below.  We have 15 signed up for the first ever scrapbook event at the winery and I hope we can make it an annual or even semi-annual event.

Here's the layout:

The pattern is from the How-to book Magic is retiring very soon.  I used the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut the flowers, stamped them in Olive Exclusive Ink using D 1491 Hooray Bouquet.  I added some bling buttons from the bling assortment Z1466, and Paradise Paper Flowers Z1710.  The bases are Bamboo cardstock and the B&T is from the Florentine paper pack X7153B.  Everything can be found on my website http://karencpa.ctmh.com

Check back later today (or maybe tomorrow depending on how much wine I taste today) for pictures of the winery and the class.

Until then, everyone have a fabulous day and don't forget to Cut, Paste and always Accessorize!


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My Superhero!

I have not been able to update my blog as planned.  I've spent a good part of February fighting the colds that are going around.  However, I managed to get a couple of layouts completed over the weekend.  I used the Superhero Paper pack with the stampset from the Workshop on the Go.  I just love the black and white photos on the comic strip paper. 

Check out the height on that jump too!

Harrison doesn't care that he's in a class full of girls.  He loves to dance when the music is playing and he loves the applause even more.  I used some of the Superhero complements on this layout with the Dimensional Elements Stars and Comic Badge Buttons that come in the workshop on the go kit.  Fast, easy, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

Items used: Superhero WOTG G1037; Superhero Complements Rub-ons X7152C; Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge Z1686.

Want to get the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge for 1/2 price or even free?  Host a PARTY with me and you can select the Art Philosophy cartridge as a 1/2 price item.  Want if FREE?  In March you get it FREE when you sign up as Close to My Heart consultant on my team!   Now the opportunity to make extra cash, catch up on your scrapbooking, and throw fun parties comes with Art Philosophy! 

Want to know more about the opportunity? Join me March 1st, March 8th, March 22, or March 29 to hear about it.  Email me at karen.gerlach@comcast.net to RSVP.

Look what I got done this weekend!

I've been working on dance albums for the kids as a way to catch up on years and years and years of photos.  I decided to take the kids formal pictures, group pictures, and the fun pictures by class and year and put them in albums for each of them.  I'm officially finished with 2004 through 2007.  Only 4 more years, 2 kids, 2-3 classes per year.  *Heavy Sigh* ok I have a lot left to do before I'm officially caught up through last year's dance recital.  However, I'm making progress. This first layout is the class photo and Macie's formal shot.  Look at that pose and those baggy pants.  :)

Macie's Jazz 2007

I'm just lucky that we have a fabulous photographer that sits through dance classes and takes THE BEST pictures and prints them up as 5x7s in black and white.  The black and white photos on the following layouts are from Liz Peck Photography and the color snapshots below are mine (or my husband's - note that he cut off Andrew's head? LOL)

Macie loves to dance.  She's very graceful - I have no idea where she gets it from. These photos were from just before her 8th birthday.

We had loads of people come to see the dance recital that year.  It was at the same time as my 20 year high school reunion.  (yes I just dated myself didn't I?)
 

My little dude loves to dance.  I just love this shot of him with all the little girls in his class.  His face says it all.  He was 4 when this picture was taken.  He turned 5 about 2 months later.

More pictures of Macie working hard to learn her recital dance.

For Macie's photos I used a Daydream Level 1 kit - gosh I miss those kits!  4 pages ZAP!  I used the Daydream Level 2 for the others.  Harrison's photos are on Magnifique papers.

You have no idea how hard it is to match some of the dance costumes with their ballet, jazz, and tap outfits.  Well, for the girls that is.  Harrison has always been in some form of black.  Black with yellow, black with red, black with silver, black with turquoise and silver.  You get the idea.  I'm really lucky to be a Close to my Heart consultant and a paper hoarding issue.  I was able to go through my piles of papers to find the right ones to go with  their costumes.  The only additional item I needed was some silver papers for all those outfits of Harrison's that have silver in them.

If you are looking to catch up on your scrapbooking, you can join me at my monthly crop.  Next crop date is February 25th from 3pm until around midnight.  Please bring some food to share.  I have drinks, snacks, table space, and product on hand to purchase.  Plus my scrap pile and cricut are open for use as well.

Happy Endings

Happy Monday!  That means a new pattern came out on Mojo Monday so I came home dug through my scraps and came up with Happy Endings.  I just love the little frogs.  They are colored using the CTMH water color pencils.  Then I went over them with the Blending Pen to soften the edges a bit.  The heart has some red Glitz Glitter Gel on it for some added pop.

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Getting the Mojo!

I've been stalking the Mojo Monday blog for almost a year now.  I always think one day I'll make the current pattern and post it.  Then it never happens.  Well today's the day I can check that off the list.  With any luck I'll be able to do this each week - with the exception of that third week in January in which my family thinks I've run away, but really I'm stuck at work doing a tax accrual. 

Without further ado here is my Mojo Monday card for this week.  I used some of my scraps (another thing I want to do more of).  There's some Fanfare paper on here, Outdoor Denim card stock, Twilight card stock, and Cranberry card stock.  A few bitty sparkles and the saying from the stampset D1408 A Little of Everything. 

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