I've been using markers for 31 years. I was taught to use the flat or broad tip for rendering interior design projects. This morning I found a website where I could order colors to fill in for the colors that came with the Close To My Heart Shinhan markers. I also ordered a custom made holder for the ShinHan markers. So I spent quite a bit this morning. I'm looking forward to getting them and start coloring in all my stamping projects. So instead of cutting colored paper I'll be suing white and coloring the white in with the markers.

Corporate made great selections in marker colors and the marker brand. I gave away all my rendering markers to a friend who is still in the business and still renders by hand. The markers I use to use were more expensive and I had over 100 markers. Trust me we don't need 100 markers for our purposes. :-)

Today I'm headed over to Lisa's house for a team meeting and a take and make. I'll post what I've done later. I'm taking all my cards that I have finished and not mailed out yet to the lucky recipients.

Yesterday I used my Cricut Explore to make flowers. You'll see in a couple of days what I'll be making.

CTMH Skylark 35 Photo Layout featuring Flip Flaps

Scrapbook page from the past.

I haven't shown any scrapbook pages since I started this blog. When I lived in Santa Ana I was scrapbooking like mad. The I joined Stampin' Up and they didn't encourage scrapbooking whereas Close To My Heart does. My favorite scrapbook (and my most creative) page is with fine sand mixed with gold. Different layers of paper and stamps make me feel as if I were back on Maui with my parents. Nostalgic I know but isn't that what a scrapbook page should do to the viewer?

The sea is made of blue green glitter The shells were collected in Maui although you can buy little and big shells at Michaels or JoAnns when in season. Stamps and alphabets are by Stampin' Up. BTW, That picture was taken during the early 70's. Before 1974 when I cut my hair short.

Now I'm starting to scrapbook again. I'll bring my style up-to-date.I learned a lot of styles at Close to My Heart's 2014 Convention. In the weeks to come you'll see many different ideas that I have from our Convention.

Quick and Easy Christmas card!

When is a good time to start your Christmas/Holiday cards? Any time! I love Christmas cards. So I decided today was the day to start making them. Now I don't always make the same card over and over. That's because we send about 100 cards. I have begged my husband to cut back on his list or go buy cards. That's why I need to start so early. The card I'm showing today is made with last year's Christmas paper from the Workshops On The Go cards. The washi tape is from CTMH and the stamp with Winter Wishes is from the Yuletide Greetings set from last year. It's in the new catalog too! The embellishment of the tree is from last year's catalog and not in the next catalog. So go to my website to order it! It'll be available until July 31.

Once again I used the golden rule of thirds. I played with the sentiment and decided to put it there instead down on the very lower left of the card. This is a quick and easy card to make. I plan on making several until my card stock runs out and then use the new Close To My Heart paper. Who said you had to make each one the same? I'll be posting new design as I make different cards. Think about the embellishments you already have that could go in place of the tree! Enjoy!

I finished this last night and learned (the very hard way) to make a watermark for my cards. Now. only if I can remember!

I thought about picking my roses and placing them on a card. However, I believe they would brown and dry before they got anywhere. So instead I made a 'Thinking of you' card.

The card "Thinking of You" is made with the new paper from CTMH and the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. The paper is from the new Paper Fundamentals. The petals are from the new stamp set Pretty Petals that coordinate with the Art Philosophy cartridge. I used Daisy white for the petals. After using the Explore to cut 3 sets of large petals and 2 sets of the smaller petals, I stamped both sides with the coordinating stamps in Canary. The center stamp is the color saddle. For the smaller stamp I cut the center smaller.

The stems and leaves are stamped with Pear ink. I like Pear ink for most of my green stamping. I curdle each set of petals. I used glue dots to adhere the petal cutouts together. i placed pop-up dots on the back of the petal sets. Placed the petals sets where I wanted them. Next after gluing the rest of the flowers in place I used Liquid Glass to make the centers with a 3D.

Hope you enjoy the flowers!

Be sure to contact me for your free catalog that I will mail to you on August 1.

I bought the Whimsy Assortment in the Basic Paper Fundamentals which is in the new CTMH catalog. Both sides are a glossy print with one side being a monotone  color and the other side a print. I made the background using the same cardstock. I used the golden rule of 1/3 to 2/3. The stamp set is called budding buddies. To make the flower 3D I stamped 2 of the outline stamp and colored the flower in using CTMH Pixie, a new color, and Pear for the leaves and stem. The head of the flower is little dots of yellow and browns from my ink pens. The flower heads were glued at the head and placed on 3D dots to raise the flower off the background paper. The diamond sparkles are from the clear assortment.

Starting August first you may go to my website and purchase the paper. There are many color assortments and I love to combine the colors. I will be posting more on the new items to give you and idea of some of the new fabulous selections I offer.

I've been experimenting with my Cricut Explore. I bought sparkly vinyl and I want to put it on a t-shirt. Using a font other than a cricut font makes it difficult. So my next step will be to put the "Close To My Heart" in a Cricut font, move the letters together close enough so they are touching and flip the saying. Then I'll try to replace the Cricut font with and script font. If I still can't do it, I'll use a Cricut font. So wish me luck and also in taking more shots of my CTMH work. I should receive my first order from CTMH today. I can't wait!

Something new is coming to Close To My Heart next month! I'm so thrilled that CTMH is having a new cartridge from Cricut! It has the best images, 700 images, and best of all it's still only $99.00! I saw it at convention last month and I can't wait to get my hands on it and start making more cards and scrapbook pages.

Plus there are stamps and words/sentiments for cards! A truly unique alphabet and border stamps will delight any stamper.

Release date is some time in August. Cricut is keeping the date close to their hearts! So stay tune to my blog to find out when Artfully Sent is released. Then click on the upper right hand corner of the blog page to shop with me! Tomorrow I'll post some photos of projects made using the Artfully Sent cartridge.

Feathers galore!

My feather card. White cardstock for the card. Used 4 different colors with four different feathers; note the smaller feather. All from Feathers, Seasons & Nature. Bronzed round accents.

Follow Me on Pinterest!

Follow me on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/jansteffen/ I have loads of cards and scrapbooking ideas.

Artbooking Made Easy: Togetherness

What Fun! Learn new techniques and brush up on old.

Fundamental Crafts Contest

July's Stamp of the month is here. The Circus Alphabet is fun and look at the items you can make! It's $5.00 ($17.95 value) for the month of July. You must make a $50.00 purchase (not including sales and shipping.)

 The alphabet has both upper and lower case letters, and numbers! What fun!!! You can get the SOTM at my website www.jansteffen.ctmh.com.

Cards made with CTMH Artbooking Cartridge

Radiate Beauty

Stamp of the month is fantastic! An alphabet that does more than have words or titles!