Folding Fun Begins now.

by CraftyAmanda in Cards, Close to My Heart, CTMH, Pattern, Technique | 1 Comment

In September I decided that our club night group needed something different. We have mastered the creative insider guide card kits, know lots of different techniques and our scrapbooks are continuing to grow in pages. What to do, what to do? Fun Folds to expand our card variety!

First up. Joy fold.

(Found this sample on Google. There wasn’t any information from where it originated.)

Love this card. You can trade it up by making the “mini card” that folds on top different shapes. Hearts, Starts, tree, oval. . . Sky is the limit.

Sorry that I don’t have any photos of my samples at this time, but as I’ve been running with my hair on fire I thought I would post now, and let you do some playing. Soon I will make some crafting time and put together some samples and update the post.

Ready to create your own Joy Fold card? Here’s the instructions.

Start with standard base (5.5 x 8.5)

Fold in half

Cut 2″ off front of the card (2 x 5.5)

Cut mini card base 4.25 x 5.5 and fold in half

Decorating tips:

If you are going to put paper on the inside of the big card base, put it on BEFORE attaching the mini card base. It’s also easier to decorate the mini card before attaching to the big card base.

No embellishments should extend past the fold on the mini card or it will be difficult to open the card and see the inside.

Some of the colors from the folds might show through, especially on the inside. If you want, ink the edges before you attach any papers.

Happy Crafting!

Make a difference in October

by CraftyAmanda in Close to My Heart, CTMH, Offer, Scrapbook, Stamping | 1 Comment

This month, Close to my Heart is matching all round up donations to Operation Smile up to $10,000 USD! Just think of how many children will benefit from the life altering surgeries provided by Operation Smile. So, just place an order and click the round up box to help us surpass the $10,000 match.

In addition to the round up offer, for each Puny Pals stamp set sold, $7 goes towards Operation Smile.

These are so cute, and during October you can purchase the thin cuts that coordinate with the stamps! Quick, fun and easy cards!

Also this month Close to My Heart has designed a super cute card kit to showcase the Puny Pals. Get yours today!

You can buy the cards, exclusive papers & thin cut as a bundle and save!

Thanks for helping change the future for children!

Happy Crafting!

September is almost over

by CraftyAmanda in Artwork, Cards, Close to My Heart, Cricut, CTMH | Leave a comment

Kids are back in school and summer has finally arrived in the upper peninsula. As at all times there is work to be done on a farm, but this year find us with several fields that need all the hay that we were unable to harvest to be cut. What does that mean, less time at my craft table, and many hours in the tractor dreaming of the designs I could be making. sigh.

Enough of the pity party, today I leave for 4 days at a private cottage where I only have to cook one meal and provide some snacks for us. The snacks are all prepared so now I can let my dreams of creations soar and grow. I might not have the photos ready for next weeks blog, but I will post soon.

In the meantime, Here is a fun video showing some fun things to do with the Flower Market Cartridge.

Happy Crafting!

Scrapbook Video Week #5

by CraftyAmanda in Artwork, Close to My Heart, Cricut, CTMH, Pattern, Scrapbook, Stamping, Workshop On the Go | 1 Comment

Soon I will be starting weekly videos again for both scrapbooks & cards. I need to find my craft table, reset my cameras and remind myself of some of the little things that help my recording sessions go more smoothly.

As I’ve started doing some re-organizing, purging and discovery around the house, I’ve realized I have too many good ideas and not enough execution of those ideas. For example, I found a cookbook that was given to me. I have no need of the contents of the cookbook, but I remember keeping it because it had a great 3 ring binder and would be perfect for a small scrapbook project. Wah-lah, that will be the project for our first fall video, coming soon to a facebook live station near you. 🙂

In the meantime, I’ve learned that I sometimes feel over whelmed by guilt of paper that is just languishing in boxes and on shelves. These are not unopened paper packs, but more the “left overs” and remains of paper packs from previous workshops & projects. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve been trying to fully use up packs so as not to add to the abandoned paper pack stash. In aid of reducing this APS (Abandoned Paper Stash) I’ve returned to some of my previous projects and pulling out different paper, did the same layouts again. I sometimes forget how much I love the “old” Pattern books, and this is a great way to reacquaint myself with them. Hope you enjoy!

As a bonus to help you envision your own papers in this pattern, here’s a photo from another gal that did this workshop.

The colors she choose work so well with her photos. I also love that this layout seems to draw my eye to the photos rather than to the papers & embellishments! Great Job Pat W!

If you have completed any of these projects, I would love to see them. You can email me the photos at Amanda@craftingwithamanda.com

Happy Crafting!

Surprise Album Part 2

by CraftyAmanda in About Me, Artwork, Close to My Heart, Cricut, CTMH, Scrapbook | 1 Comment

The album was accepted and enjoyed, but time didn’t allow me to print more photos and put them in the album while we were there. (I thought that might happened) So, now that I’m home, I will use these photos of the remaining pages and choose the prints that will work on each page. The titles and other embellishments I created are in a bundle and I left them with Mom. Hopefully she will remember to pack them for their return to Florida so that when I send the prints she can just place them in the book and have it completed quickly.

Here are the remaining pages from the book. I think I might have to use this as inspiration to create another not so mini album in the future. They are fun and satisfying to do.