Etsy Store ~> New Holiday Season Planner & Scrapbooking Items now available

New to the Etsy store and just in time for Holiday Season decor are the following items. Whether your a planner person, a scrapbooker or crafter I'm sure these items will come in handy this holiday season.

We have some New Sparkle Tapes and Washi Tape's available,

Listed under Embellishments

a New Planner/Bible/Purse Charm ~ 

Joy Holly Berry Charm

Listed under Planner & Bible Items

and finally a New planner clip.

Deer & Holly Planner Clip

Listed under Planner & Bible Items

all items are available now at the Etsy store. Pop on over and check us out!

New Product Highlight: CTMH's Oh Deer! Creative Collection

I have to say I'm a sucker for a classy Christmas look and Oh Deer does not disappoint. This creative collection is chocked full of elegant images, colors and embellishments. Lets start out by looking at the collections featured colors...some of my favorite I might add.

Classic Christmas colors with a bit of pop. When I received the elements to play with this collection I was immediately satisfied and that was before even laying my hands on them. I couldn't stop thinking of all the possibilities. Here are some of the different elements in the Oh Deer! Creative Collection.

 and here are some of the stamp sets that go with this collection.

as you can see by the red outline the Season of Magic set can be used in conjunction with the Cricut Flower Market Cartridge.

I started off with this simple easel card and tried adding the Oh Deer! Complement die-cut foiled deer to the top and then went non-CTMH with a bit of floral holly. What you can't see in the image below is that the Cricut Cut sentiment is raised with a piece of 3-D foam tape to give it dimension.

if you like the easel card you can click HERE to download the simple instructions on how to make one for yourself.

Here are the supplies I used for this card.

Oh Deer Easel Card Supplies:
X7214B - Oh Deer! Paper Pack
X7214D - Oh Deer! Coordinating Cardstock
Z3262 Rustic Home Fundamentals
Z2816 Cranberry Ink Pad
Z2805 Black Ink Pad
Z726 Sponge Daubers
Z2060 3-D Thin Foam Tape
Z3168 Cricut Artfully Sent
M1127 Hand Lettered Christmas Holiday
D1631 Curlicue Frames
Z7214C Oh Deer! Complements

Next I dove into the Workshop Your Way (WYW). I'm positing pictures of what I created although I haven't put pictures into them yet as I'm fully caught up with my Christmas scrapbooking and I think I'll use these pages for this years Christmas pictures.

Here is the downloadable directions for the WYW. Once you view it you can see I changed up the Layout 3 pages a bit and used some PML cards to break up the picture spaces.

CTMH Corporate Artwork

Here are the add on option cards. I recreated these but used a different stamp set then shown here.

Instead I used the M1127 Hand Lettered Christmas Holiday stamp set and A1170 Doodled Designs Flair. I also added Z679 Liquid Glass for the holly berries to give them dimension.

Also with the WYW they have an add on PML insert. This is shown above and you can see details when you download the WYW direction sheets.

There is also a Card Workshop that you can do using the Oh Deer! Creative Collection. HERE is the downloadable directions and the samples of these cards are shown below.

Here are more samples using the Oh Deer! Creative Collection.

Once again thank you for being a Nina's Art Spot reader/follower. I hope you have found all this information helpful in making your purchasing decisions as well as your Creative Christmas that much more FUN!

Happy Happy Christmas

November’s Happy, Happy Christmas campaign. This special is centered on a scrapbooking workshop made up of five 2-page layouts made using the My Crush® Happy, Happy Christmas pages and the Picture My Life™ Happy, Happy Christmas cards. You’ll be amazed when you see the beautiful pages that have been made using these non-traditional scrapbooking products. By purchasing the project bundle, which includes your choice of Red My Legacy™ D-Ring or Post-bound albums and you save 10% off the retail value of the items needed for the layouts.

But the campaign doesn’t stop there! After creating the five layouts, you will have the option to use your leftover supplies in creating a variety of home décor projects! Featuring some of our favorite retired Designed Décor items now available at deeply discounted prices, these projects make wonderful gift items.

We have made this workshop to help you create not only a beautiful Christmas album, just in time for the holiday season, but also to give you the materials to create four additional items that would make beautiful holiday gifts! It’s like getting five amazing projects all in one workshop!

During November, save over 10% off the retail value when you purchase one of the 12″ × 12″ album bundles (CC1179 and CC1180) for only $69.95 each! This bundle includes an exclusive guide to walk you through the steps of assembling five beautiful 2-page layouts. 

Bundle #1 ~ Red D-Ring Album - Item# CC1179 - $69.95 (retail value $83.65) That is a 10% savings! 
Comes with the following items:

• Z5205 My Legacy D-Ring Album in Red
• 4110 Memory Protectors - Top Load (10 pk)
• Z4020 My Crush Happy, Happy Christmas pages
• Z4019 Picture My Life Happy, Happy Christmas PML Cards
• X7213C City Sidewalks Complements
• X7214D Oh Deer! Coordinating Cardstock
• White Daisy Cardstock (12 Sheets)

This was the bundle I purchased. Here is an unveiling video.

Bundle #2 ~ Red Post-bound Album - Item# CC1180 - $69.95 (retail value $83.65) That is a 10% savings! 
Comes with the following items:

• Z5305 My Legacy Post-bound album in Red
• 4110 Memory Protectors - Top Load (10 pk)
• Z4020 My Crush Happy, Happy Christmas pages
• Z4019 Picture My Life Happy, Happy Christmas PML Cards
• X7213C City Sidewalks Complements
• X7214D Oh Deer! Coordinating Cardstock
• White Daisy Cardstock (12 Sheets)

I had a lot of fun creating the 5, 2-page layouts and getting another Christmas set of pictures and cards into an album. It was odd cutting the My Crush pages for scrapbook pages but it was entirely satisfying and fun to see the final product appear. It also solidified for me the fact that nearly anything is a resource for scrapbooking as long as it is acid and lignin free. HERE is the workshop instructions to download for yourself. 

Here are the pages I created.

Layout 1

Layout #2

Layout #3

On page 2 of layout #3 I did veer away from the directions in that I added 2 smaller photos on the left side rather than one larger photo.

Layout #4

Again here I also veered away from the original to get in an additional photo on page 1 of layout #4. I also had a resize of the photo on page 2.

Layout #5

As you can see there are no photos on either pages of layout #5 as I am planning on making these into card pockets to hold the Christmas cards we received.

But that isn't all....

Add on additional items to make additional projects with your leftover materials, too! 

Bundle #3 ~ Sea Glass Album - Item# CC1181 - $35.80

Comes with the following items:

• Z4027 Everyday Life Album in Sea Glass
• Z3252 Memory Protectors 6" x 8"
• Z3192 Memory Protectors 4" x 6"
• Z3191 Memory Protectors 3" x 4"

Or these Items: Available at 40% off retail Add on items are while supplies last, so get yours NOW!

• Z2006 Designed Decor Red Magnetic Chalkboard - $17.50  (retail value $28.95)
• Z1750 Display Tray - $14.00   (retail value $19.95)
• Z1838 5" x 7" Hinged Display Tray - $12.35  (retail value $18.95)

Instructions for the additional items are included on the above download.

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring Octobers Stamp of the Month

Yuletide Joy, Set of 7 - $17.95 S1610 ~> Use with Cricut 

Art Philosophy Cartridge (indicated by red outline)

Each month you can purchase a new D-size Stamp set, available for that month only, for just $5! When you place an order of $50 or more in Close to My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing. This set is only available October 1-31, 2016

Recommended Blocks: 1" x 31/2" (Y1002) and 3" x 3" (Y1006)

If you have come here from Darlys Recker's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog.

This month we have 37 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

Here are some beautiful samples made with this set!

Created by Nina Fickett

Supply List

Stamping Technique ~ Background Stamping 

• S1610 Yuletide Joy Oct 2016 Stamp of the Month
• 1282 New England Ivy Cardstock
• 1386 Black Cardstock
• Z3239 Silver Glitter Cardstock
• 1272 Cranberry Cardstock
• Z2105 Black Ink Pad (used on the Noel dovetail and on the color me panel)
• Z891 VersaMark Ink Pad
• Z2088 Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
• Z555 Craft Heater
• Z679 Liquid Glass
• Z2216 Cranberry Re-Inker (mixed with liquid Glass and used on star as holly berries)
• Z3293 Shimmer Brush (Rubbed into Embossing after cooled to bring out the clear on black)
• Z3090 Red Enamel Gems
• Z3090 Vivid Green ShinHan Marker
• Z2448 Carmine ShinHan Marker
• Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (for the 2 1/2" star)

Technique ~ Mixing Liquid Glass with our re-inkers (aprox. 1/8 oz of liquid glass to 3 drops re-inker) to create matching color dimensional elements.

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Want to see more artwork created with this stamp of the month? Click here!

Now hop on over to Tracey Pierce's Blog to continue the loop.

Crafted with Love Christmas Countdown Continued

Ok...it's been three weeks since we last conversed about getting organized, getting creating and working our way towards Christmas prepared with what we have planned for heartfelt handmade gifts.

Have you made your list of whom you will gift? I have but knowing how busy these coming months are for me and my family I have decided not to make the usual 30 gift boxes this year and have drastically paired down my list to half of it's original size. I hate being realistic when it comes to creating but I know I want to be 100% involved in my gift making and 100% successful in completing everything I've set out to complete. Every year we give gift boxes to our family and friends full of handmade goodies. Last year I canned 30 jars of spiced peach butter and baked over 25 dozen (yes you read that correctly) cookies. I made 150 handcrafted Christmas cards and created a handmade ornament to top off all the boxes. 

Now the real work begins. Its time to calculate the remaining time left until Christmas (132 days) with how long it will realistically take to finish the decided project(s). For my project I have lots of experience with timing. I will use it as an example on how to calculate the time. I know it usually takes me 2 months to make 150 Christmas cards. So I need to start those in October. I've already decided on the design and what supplies I will need and I plan to place the order September 1st. Over the years of doing these gift boxes I have set aside the tried and true recipes for the baked goods. I need to in the next 2 weeks choose what recipes I will be making this year and make a list of the grocery items I need to prepare. I premix those recipes that the dough can be frozen. Usually I will get that done by mid November. I still need to decide how I will be packing the gift boxes. 

What are the breakdowns for your project? What needs to be accomplished first? How much time do you need to get each breakdown finished? 

TIP: Document your progress and turn it into a scrapbooking opportunity. Just another Journaling Prompt Scrapertunity!

Follow Nina's Art Spot on Instagram and get monthly, weekly then daily countdown reminders to help keep you on track to your Crafted with Love Christmas! 💟