I love Close To My Heart. LOVE IT!!!!
I'd shout it from the roof of my house if I didn't think my hubby would have me committed.
But seriously. I love that their kits are perfect for all crafters. From the brand new beginner to the old hat scrapping pro. If you can follow simple directions, you can complete one of the kits - no prior experience necessary.
So I've been working on the January promo for the last eh, hem... week-ish. I know, I'm slow. But I've got good reasons. Three of them actually. One I married and the other two I created. I'm the CEO of the house. They don't do anything without my permission or knowledge. That kind of responsibility means putting me on the back burner to take care of them most of the time. Yes, it gets frustrating. (Sometimes I scream in my head, " Just 5 minutes! Is that too much to ask?!?" Then I glance at their faces and realize I just said that out loud.) But I have six more years until my oldest is out of the house. And at the rate my kids grow, the other one won't really be too far behind him. Then I'll have all my crafting projects to keep me busy in my old age. And the cat. That cantankerous animal will outlive us all. But I digress...
Any way, so I finally got the first two cards done today. I cut out all the paper I would need first (to make it easier), punched out and stamped all the die-cut pieces and organized them by card style (the kit makes two cards each of five designs).
You can see my attempt at organization here:
See how nice and neat the piles look?
I say attempt because that's as far as I got for about four days. I tried to be as organized as possible, because I took over the dining table to get my creativity on. And once I pulled all my stuff out of the closet, I wasn't putting it away until I got it all done. The boys have been happy with this arrangement so far because we've been hunkering down in the living room to eat our meals.
What I decided to do was make one card following their instructions completely - no derivations. And then make the other card using various techniques I've picked up along the way. So for this first card, I didn't want to go crazy. I wanted to stay pretty simple. (And in the interest of actually getting these puppies made.) You might be able to see in the side by side shots the subtle differences.
As you can see from the mess in the background, my organization didn't last long at all. My baby is learning that if he gets up on his tippy-toes and reaches really far with his finger tips, he can get at almost anything. Everything got smooshed to the very inside of the table.
The card on the left is made according to the instruction sheet in the kit. But for the card on the right, I inked the edges of all the papers (including the die cut and the card) in Lagoon ink. I wanted to tie the teal shimmer tape into the card more than just some random strip of glitter running down the card. (I'm one of those weirdos who likes everything in my card to compliment each other.) I also popped up the "Thanks" die cut with pop dots. (Love those little things!)
See, here you can see up close what the original card is supposed to look like. I know there's a wonky line going down the middle of that one line of gold circles. The washi tape is only so wide and to make this card work, you have to use it twice by butting it up against each other.
You can see in this card, I reversed the washi tape and used that wonky line in a different way. You can also see the Lagoon inking around the edges of all the papers. I didn't want to get too much ink on the edges, I didn't want to detract from the card itself. I have a hard time making simple cards, so I wanted to try and keep this as close to the original as possible. I know you can't really see the shadow showing I popped up the "Thanks", but it's there. I wouldn't kid you.
I hope it doesn't take me a week to get the next set of cards done. But if it does, I hope you'll come back and check them out. And if you like this kit, please order it here. You only have until January 31st to place your qualifying order to get this adorable kit.
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