Prickly Pear Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH Australasian Prickly Pear Blog Hop. This hop features some amazing and talented women from across Australia.

If you arrived from Vandra’s Blog you are in the right place. If this is your first time on a blog hop simply read on, enjoy my creations and maybe share some love in the comments. Then you click on the link at the end of this post and it will take you to the next blog and so on and so on. Easy and fun! Best part- you can see lots of different projects you can create with Close To My Heart’s Prickly Pear collection! When you land back here, you are done and it’s time to hit the scrapbook room for some crafting fun.

The Prickly Pear collection is available until the end of August 2017. Buy it as a full kit or individual items.

There are 3 co-ordinating stamp sets for this kit. This month, you can buy 2 and get the third one FREE* (For stamps only, not available for Thin Cut & Stamp bundles. Stamp of lesser value is the free one). I have used stamps from all three sets in the layouts I’m sharing today.

C1681 Fiesta Time

C1682 Prickly Pear Cardmaking

D1722 Prickly Pear Scrapbooking

Tangerine and Sorbet cardstock look so pretty with a Sea Glass base. The glitter strip is also Sea Glass. The solid Oval Thin Cuts add a little interest to the border.

The cactus are stamped on to Sea Glass cardstock and coloured with watercolour pencils. Shading helps to give them a rounded look. The border is a stamp in the Fiesta set. You can also add texture to the Tangerine cardstock strip by running it through the Chevron embossing folder.

The second layout used up scraps of paper, cardstock and embellishments. The block design could also work on the outer edges of the layout but I liked the focal point it created in the centre. The starburst border stamp worked well again along with the burlap ribbon and sequins to add some texture to the design.

CTMH Prickly Pear Collection - order yours at www.shaunnarichards.closetomyheart.com.au

Each piece of the central pattern is 2″ wide. Each vertical strip contains 2 pieces 2″ high and 2 pieces 3″ high. The last piece is trimmed to fit the space left. The emerald pieces will be for journaling. I liked the idea of using “Date” and “Place” as headings for journaling when they would traditionally form part of an invitation. The cactus was cut from printed paper but you could stamp them if you’ve used all of the print in your pack.

The Prickly Pear Collection is available to purchase from your Close To My Heart consultant. A list of products used in my projects appears at the end of this post. Place your order with your Close To My Heart Consultant. If you don’t have a consultant, you can order online through my website .

I’d love you to leave a comment for me before you go. Then click on the underlined link and move on to Doreen’s Blog , Scrapping and More with Doreen to see the gorgeous project she has designed for you. Doreen’s work is always beautiful.

Happy Scrapping,

Shaunna

Products used in these projects

G1128 Prickly Pear Workshop Your Way

X7221D Prickly Pear Co-ordinating Cardstock

Z3240 Sea Glass Glitter paper

X5751 Sorbet Cardstock

3505 Watercolour Pencils

Z2813 Sea Glass Ink

Z2805 Black Ink

Z3247 Simple Chevron Embossing Folder

S1706 Hello Foxy Australasian Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the June Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop. This is a circular hop. If you arrived from Nell’s Blog, you are in the right place. Simply read through this post and click on the link to the next blog at the end of it. Keep reading and hopping until you find yourself back where you started from. Each blog will showcase a project featuring the Hello Foxy (S1706) stamp set which is June Stamp of the Month.

S1706 Hello Foxy is CTMH's Stamp of the Month for July 2017. Order yours at www.shaunnarichards.closetomyheart.com.au

The foxes and flowers are petite so you can fit a few on a card or page border. They all look great coloured with your favourite medium and the sentiments are fun.

The first card today uses the linen print paper from the No Worries paper pack. You can stamp directly onto it and colour with watercolour pencils to get a soft look. To add the dots around the Oval Thin Cut simply place the thin cut back over the shape after you’ve stuck it down and draw dots around the outside edge.

S1706 Hello Foxy is CTMH's Stamp of the Month for July 2017. Order yours at www.shaunnarichards.closetomyheart.com.au

The next card uses the Wood Slats embossing folder. Once it is embossed, simply run the Desert Sands ink pad over the raised elements to create contrast. Move the inkpad in the direction of the lines with a light touch for best results. The frolicking foxes were hand cut. The wood panel paper is also from the No Worries paper pack.

S1706 Hello Foxy is CTMH's Stamp of the Month for July 2017. Order yours at www.shaunnarichards.ctmh.com.au

You will find a list of the products used on the layout at the end of this post.

Hello Foxy (S1706) is only available during June, 2017. Full retail price is $27 but you can have this gorgeous set for just $7.50 when accompanied by a $75 order. Place your order with your Close To My Heart Consultant.

Did you like these cards? I’d love you to leave a comment for me before you click on the underlined link and move on to Maz’s Blog aMAZing Close To My Heart Creations , to see the gorgeous project she has designed for you.

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

Products used on this layout:

S1706 Hello Foxy Stamp Set

X7220B No Worries Paper Pack

X5751 Sorbet Cardstock

X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock

Z3086 Aqua Shimmer Trim

Z3248 Wood Slats Embossing Folder

Z3328 Basic Ovals Thin Cuts

3505 Watercolour Pencils

Z899 Memento Black Ink

Z2818 Desert Sand Ink

Z1979 Black Journaling Pen

X1410 Colonial White Cards & Envelopes

Z2060 Thin 3D Foam Tape

Z3022 E-Z Dots Tape Runner

Dreamin’ Big CTMH Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH Australasian Dreamin’ Big Blog Hop. This is a circular hop. If you arrived from Nell’s Blog you are in the right place. Simply read through this post and click on the link to the next blog at the end of it. Keep reading and ‘hopping’ until you find yourself back where you started from. Each blog will showcase a project featuring the Dreamin’ Big Workshop Your Way (G1121) from Close To My Heart.

The Dreamin’ Big collection is from the Seasonal Expressions Jan-Apr 2017 Catalogue. Once you begin creating with this collection you will never want to stop! The colours just seem to go with everything you have in your photos.

Today I’ve used Dreamin’ Big on a layout featuring a great sporting moment in my life. If you know me well, you know I can’t throw and catch, I don’t like to get sweaty and watching sport just bores me senseless BUT I do like to be a bit silly and I love my family more than anything . So, here we are playing mini golf on a ship! It was girls versus boys and the girls won. Imagine everyone’s surprise when it was discovered I was the overall winner!!! This moment was definitely worth preserving in an album 🙂

This layout was created using leftovers after completing the Workshop Your Way layouts. Mounting the photos on Daisy White cardstock meant I only needed small pieces of the dotty paper above and below them.

To create the golf ball you will need the Confetti Embossing Folder (Z3118), Whisper Ink (Z2872) and the Basic Circle Thin Cuts (Z3318). Dab the whisper ink pad over the raised dots inside the embossing folder BEFORE you place the paper in it. When you run it through your embossing machine the ink will transfer to the paper and look like the dimples on a golf ball. The Basic Circle Thin Cuts cut solid circles in a choice of 2 1/2″, 2″, 1 1/2″ or 1″. They are on special this month along with all our other Thin Cuts – 25% off!

I had already used the Love Life sticker on another layout so I stuck the outline to scrap paper and cut around it.

You can create the illusion of a long horizontal strip running behind you photos and papers by cutting a PML card into small pieces. In this layout I used the juniper diagonal stripe PML. Zip strips with printed words make a nice accent for your layout too.

The Dreamin Big Workshop Your Way (G1121) kit is only available until the end of April. Place your order with your Close To My Heart Consultant. If you don’t have a consultant, you can order online through my website .

I’d love you to leave a comment for me before you click on the underlined link and move on to Doris’s Blog , Doris Taylor Creative Expressions to see the gorgeous project she has designed for you.

Happy Scrapping,

Shaunna

Thin Cuts – Moroccan Feast

We have friends who are as devoted to good food and wine as we are. Recently we had a Moroccan themed dinner party. Having never been to Morocco, I have no table accessories to suit. I needed my trusty CTMH supplies to create the illusion!

Moroccan Dinner - Page 003

I used Glitter paper and the Cricut Artiste Cartridge to make the placemats. They were perfect and everyone was very careful not to spill anything so I can use them again!

Moroccan Dinner - Page 004

The Ornate Blossoms Stamps (D1687) and Thin Cuts (Z3227) teamed nicely with my Shin Han markers to make napkin rings. I gold embossed the stamp before colouring.

Moroccan Dinner - Page 005

Six plain water glasses were transformed into a candle centrepiece with the aid of gold glitter wraps cut on the Cricut.

Moroccan Dinner - Page 006

One final decorative touch were the glass keepers made from Ornate Blossoms Stamps and Thin Cuts. The decorations didn’t take long to create but they certainly helped set the mood for a fun filled night of feasting. The photos below show some of the yummies we enjoyed.

The Ornate Blossoms Stamps and Thin cuts retire at the end of this month. Order yours today if you have had your eye on them – they may sell out before August 31. Order online for home delivery at http://www.shaunnarichards.closetomyheart.com

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

Last Chance Blog Hop – Annual Inspirations 15/16

Welcome to the Australasian Last Chance Blog Hop. This is a circular hop. If you arrived from Georgia’s Blog you are in the right place. Simply read through this post and click on the link to the next blog at the end of it. Keep reading and ‘hopping’ until you find yourself back where you started from. Each blog will showcase products that are leaving the Close To My Heart range on July 31, 2016. We’ve taken the time to create inspiring projects for you. Hope you like them!

retiring colours, 2016 7 colours leave our range at the end of this month. I’ve included all of them in the Carborders I have to share with you today. Carborders serve a double purpose. If you are a card maker, you simply fold them in half and gift them as a card. If you are a scrapbooker, you add a photo, title or journaling in the unused half and place it to on album page. The Reflections How To Book (9037) has many layouts that use a 4″ border. Check it out if you need inspiration.

cats dogs - Page 004

These two Carborders feature the Friendly Pets stamp set. I used Shin Han markers to colour the pets. The embossing folder is Scallop (Z3021) – this one is also saying goodbye. I used sponges and the 7 retiring inks for the background.

Friendly Pets B1481

cats dogs - Page 003

These Carborders also feature the Love My Dog and Love My Cat stamp sets. All 3 featured stamp sets are super versatile. You probably know many pet obsessed friends who would love these as cards. You may also be like me and take loads of photos of your own pets. Why not put them in your album?

Love My Dog A1178

Love My Cat A1181

Hopefully, these Carborders have inspired you to play with CTMH’s cute furbaby stamps.

Friendly Pets (B1481), Love My Cat (A1181) and Love My Dog (A1178) retire from the CTMH catalogue at the end of this month along with the 7 colours featured in this post. If you love fur babies, grab these stamps today. If one of your favourite colours is retiring make sure you have spare sheets of cardstock and the re-inker for your stamp pad. If you love all 7 colours, grab an Adventure pack of cardstock(X5935). Place your order with your Close To My Heart Consultant. If you don’t have a consultant, you can order online through my website

Did you like these carborders? I’d love you to leave a comment for me before you click on the underlined link and move on to Doris’ Blog , Doris Taylor Creative Inspirations, to see the gorgeous project she has designed for you.

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

Make It From Your Heart

I attended Close To My Heart’s annual convention last weekend. It was such a happy and information packed weekend. I’ll share highlights over the coming weeks but today I wanted to show you the prize winning layout made!

All consultants attending the event were invited to enter this page layout contest. Our brief was to use products from our current range and include the phrase “Make it from your heart” in the title.

With Spring well and truly sprung my gorgeous hubby has been busy in the garden and that got me to thinking. I love pulling in to our driveway. The garden Mike has created is just beautiful – so welcoming and an oasis in our dry climate. I am so appreciative that he creates beauty in this way. He loves gardening. It is a work of heart for him.

The actual layout is pretty simple. Just a 6″ strip of Kaleidoscope paper (X7202B) across the middle of the page, stitched borders either side with Whisper Twine (Z3095) and the stitch ruler (Z1852) and photos on cardstock mounts. The fun part comes when you add the hearts!

I began by cutting a full sheet of 1.5″ hearts from White Daisy Cardstock. I used the Art Philosophy cartridge (Z3171) with my Cricut.

I arranged about half the cut hearts in the Confetti Embossing Folder (Z3118) and put it through my Cuttlebug. Before embossing the other half of the hearts, I ran the Pixie inkpad (Z2644) over the inside of the embossing folder (the piece with CTMH logo on the front). When I opened the folder the ink had transferred to the flat parts of the design and left the dots white.

Lastly, I arranged the hearts as shown in the layout, keeping the pink ones centred on the layout and following the design of the confetti folder with densely spaced dots lower on the page.

My title was stamped with two alphabets – Jennifer’s Hand (B1484) and Inked Alphabet (E1033).

There were around 50 entries in the competition and I was chosen as one of 10 people to win a $100 product bundle! I was pretty excited I can tell you.

Look at all the goodies I won!

If you would like to order any of the products featured on this layout just hop on over to my website , comment below or contact me directly.

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

‘Four Squares’ Scrapbook Layout

Creating texture with embossing folders is so easy! It transforms plain cardstock into something wonderful. In this layout I started with 3 plain cardstock colours (Whisper, Bamboo & Lagoon) and one Paper Fundamentals (Bamboo) sheet. I cut 4, 2″ squares from each piece and used a variety of embossing folders on the plain cardstock.

Trim your photos to 2″, 4″ or 6″ and they will work with this design

The Chevron Border Punch created a line to hold it all together and I kept the embellishments simple in the top left corner of the page. My journaling will go under the BFF Cricut cut.

What photos and colours will you use to duplicate this pages?

Check out the range of CTMH embossing folders here and our Fundamentals Paper range here. Remember every 5th online order this month receives a gift! I’ll email the winners at the end of the month.

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

Year Noted – 2 cards

As mentioned yesterday, I made a couple of cards with the gorgeous Year Noted kit. This kit is only available during January 2015. It’s just $10 with a $75 order. The kit includes a C-size stamp set, gold foil stickers, cardstocks, and B&T Duos™ papers, valued at $37. You can also add a Mini album for just $5 more – that’s $52 value for just $15!

This card was quick and easy. I used the arrow stamps from the Year Noted Stamp set for the background and the semi-circle banner. The Scallop Border Punch added simple detail to the blue patterned paper and the gold heat embossed sentiment came from the Happy Birthday Australasia Stamp Set (D1597)

My second card took a bit more time but was lots of fun to make. I cut the large starburst away from the rest of the stickers (keeping the paper backing in place) and ran it through my dry embossing machine using the Heart embossing folder (Z3018). The bottom half of the card used the Floral embossing folder (Z1994). A bit of gold shimmer behind the Triangle border punch and a gold heat embossed sentiment finished it off.

Keep Smiling,

Shaunna

Classic Doily

I fell in love with this stamp as soon as I saw it in the catalogue. It’s called Classic Doily (B1424) and it does remind me of hand embroidery. I was playing with our new heat embossing powders and thought this stamp embossed with gold would look pretty special. It does! But you will have to believe me because I forgot to photograph it before I did the next step… colouring it in. I had planned to keep one plain but the colours of the Shin Han Touch Twin Markers are so gorgeous I couldn’t stop colouring.

I began with 3 blue markers and then chose 2 neutrals to go with them plus the red for a highlight. I just used straight colouring – no shading or fancy stuff. I also left a few sections white for contrast.

For each card I used a different colour scheme. The doily has the look of mosaics and I love how it appears a little different in each colour way. To make the cards I used Black from the Basics Paper Fundamentals pack(Z1939) to frame the doily and then a co-ordinating cardstock. The red, green and purple are from Paper Fundamentals and the Blue & Pink are plain cardstock dry embossed using the Floral Embossing folder (Z1994). Gold shimmer trim (Z1985) and Bling Gems Gold Assortment (Z2023) added a bit of pop.

Shin Han Markers used: Red Card: Barely Beige, Pastel Green, Golden Yellow, Marigold, Carmine Blue Card: Pastel Peach, Turquoise Blue, Cerulean Blue, Marine Blue, Warm Grey 4,Carmine Pink Card: Barely Beige, Pastel Peach, Mahogany, Black, Carmine Green Card: Pastel Green, Leaf Green, Vivid Green, Sap Green, Bronze, Carmine Purple Card: Barely Beige, Tender Pink, Peony Purple, Lavender, Clay, Carmine

Click here to see all the colours in our range of Shin Han markers.

This design would adapt beautifully to a scrapbook page. I have some photos from a mosque I need to print to use with this stamp. What photos would you team it with?

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

I’ve missed these faces!

YAY! Reunited with our gorgeous daughter and her boyfriend after 3 months apart. They have been having the time of their lives volunteering with a group called Soft Power Education in Uganda. We’ve followed their blog and chatted on Skype but it’s just not the same as having a hug! I plan to make the most of my time with them over the next 2 weeks we have together.

Here’s those little journal box and travel log stamps again from the Wanderful WOTG kit. I added the cute heart cluster from the Family is Forever SOTM. The Candy Cane Cardstock was dry embossed using the Arrow Embossing folder (Z1993)

I had a lot of fun playing with our NEW Heat Embossing powders. I used the Silver Embossing Powder for my title block, the ‘Happy’ on the banner and for the little birds. These adorable birds can be found in the Happy Birds stamp set (C1600)

I wanted to practise blending with the Shin Han Markers and the birds were a nice small project to do it on. I found a useful video created by a North American CTMH Consultant, Brae Montgomery, on YouTube which helped me a lot. Click here to watch it.

Happy Scrappin’

Shaunna

	Lauren Moore on Comfort and Joy Australasian B…
	Kimberley -Kimmy Add… on Comfort and Joy Australasian B…
	Doreen Watkins on Comfort and Joy Australasian B…
	artymaz on Comfort and Joy Australasian B…
	Doris Taylor on Comfort and Joy Australasian B…

Passionate About Pages

Photos deserve sharing – get them off your device and into an album

Embossing

Prickly Pear Australasian Blog Hop

S1706 Hello Foxy Australasian Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Dreamin’ Big CTMH Australasian Blog Hop

Thin Cuts – Moroccan Feast

Last Chance Blog Hop – Annual Inspirations 15/16

Make It From Your Heart

‘Four Squares’ Scrapbook Layout

Year Noted – 2 cards

Classic Doily

I’ve missed these faces!