What is it about colouring in?

One of my sister Michele's Mindfulness pictures

This is a real "thing" at the moment! Call it mindfulness, call it relaxation, call it meditation, call it anything you like, but the message is the same: it's OK for adults to pick up colouring pens and spend hours at a time on intricate drawings.
I LOVE IT.
I have always loved sitting down next to my daughter and joining in with one of her favourite pastimes, and I've always loved adding hand-coloured images to my pages and cards. But now suddenly my sisters are texting me about this new thing, and they're both doing it! Now we have colouring books designed just for us adults, and it's become The In Thing.

Close to My Heart has many perfect stamp sets for Mindfulness, but my absolute favourite has to be this one: D1645, Botanical Backgrounds, set of 3, $33.
Have a look at this beautiful piece of artwork created with this stamp set and black paper. It's simple and wonderful.

What should I use to colour in my images?

We have a few choices.

1. The Shin Han Touch Twin Markers. These are especially easy to use, with no mess. Plus the colourless blender is fantastic for adding a little bit of white shading to give your images dimension. They also are sold singly, which means you can select the colours you know you will use the most frost, and add to your collection later. $11.50.
2. The Watercolour Pencils. These are great for adding colour and also, when you use a fine brush and water, you can easily create smooth merges between your shades. $42 a set of 24.
3. The Ink Pads themselves. That's right! Have you ever tried to use a paint brush together with your ink pad? The ink doesn't "pick up" very well straight from the pad, but if you squish the pad in the centre before opening it, you will find a messy looking ink splodge on the lid. Dip your brush in water and then this ink, and you're away. Select the colours that tone exactly with the cardstocks and papers you're using. $11.50.

Here's to Mindfulness! Adult colouring in has come out of the closet!

 

What do I stick it down with?

A few nights ago I ran a class and had a lady come along who is relatively new to scrapbooking. It got me to thinking about adhesives; something which most of us take for granted after we've been crafting for a while. I think it's a good time for a blog post explaining the different types of adhesives that Close to My Heart carries, and what their purposes are.

We sell nine different kinds of adhesive, and sometimes it can be tricky choosing the one that is right for you. I have them all in my kit, and select the one that is right for the job in hand.

Tape Runner

This is basically good quality double-sided tape in easy-to-use dispensers. I also call this dry adhesive. It sits in its little case, coiled on a spool until you need it. And when you add it to your project it will stay tacky. It's my go-to adhesive for many purposes, for example compiling scrapbook pages and adhering photos.

The blue case is a 3L adhesive, which I have always trusted. They're the same company who make the Creative Memories tape runner I first started using years ago. The 3L comes out in little dots, which makes "stopping and starting" your run of tape easy. 3L E-Z Dots Adhesive (Z3022) $13, 15metres. We also sell a refill, Z3023 $7.50, 15metres.
However, many of my customers have had trouble with the 3L adhesive drawing out of the case in one long loop and not spooling back inside. I am always happy to replace these with a new cartridge.

The red case is a Duck brand Easy-stick adhesive, which comes off in tabs and looks exactly the same as the old CM tape frosted tape runner. I have started using this one in place of the 3L blue, and have found it to be more reliable in terms of smooth running. Duck adhesive (Z3033) $30 for a set of four, 6.5metres each.

Glue Dots

These are fabulous for adding small embellishments to my cards, and are in fact what comes already on the back of most of CTMH's bling. I use them mainly for ribbon though - I've found nothing else that sticks ribbon perfectly in place and keeps it there.
We sell glue dots in three sizes:
Regular - (1770) $12, 300 clear dots measuring 3/8"
Mini - (Z341) $12, 300 clear dots measuring 3/16"
Micro - (Z2089) $12, 325 clear dots measuring 1/8"

Bonding Memories Glue

This is wet glue which is absolutely perfect for 3D projects such as Cricut boxes. I find that although it may require a little patience, once the glue is dry, it will stick much more strongly than the tape runners.
Something which many crafters don't know about our Bonding Memories glue is that it is also repositionable. Allow the blue glue to become clear before you attach the items, and you'll be able to reposition them if necessary.

We have two sizes:
Bonding Memories Glue Pen - (Z553) $7.50. This has a small-tipped applicator for fiddly sticking.
Broad Tip Glue Pen - (1512) $13. This has a wide applicator and I like loaning this one to the kids. It also seems to last for ages.

3D Foam Tape

(Z1151) $10. There are two rolls in each package, 77" each. One is 3/8" and the other 1/4" wide. I use this tape for popping my embellishments up from my projects, giving them dimension. The adhesive is fairly unforgiving, so be sure of your positioning, but once they're in place you can be sure that your decorative elements won't fall off.

Hook and Loop Dots

(Z1805) $7. Set of 25. These little dots never fail to impress customers when they come out at workshops, yet they have rarely been noticed in the catalogue. They are tidy little round dots of Velcro, and I use them to seal shut my 3D boxes and mini albums. The adhesive is strong, and the dots won't come off once applied.

In summary, these are the adhesives I choose to use on my projects:

Purpose	Product
Photos	Duck or 3L tape runners
Cardstock or paper to scrapbooks	Duck or 3L tape runners
Cards	Duck / 3L / Bonding Memories
3D projects	Bonding Memories
Cardstock embellishments	Bonding memories
Chipboard embellishments	Glue dots
Bling / sequins	Glue dots
Ribbon	Glue dots
Raised embellishments	Foam tape
Lids / closures	Hook & Loop dots

Mojo Monday Card Sketch

Mojo Monday's sketch this week is very cool! It was super easy to use and I decide that I'd make quite a few birthday cards for future use. In the end I made eight, all with a selection of ages on the front.

The two paper packs I used were Close to My Heart's Brushed (for the pink and pear ones) and Chalk It Up (for the black ones). I used the Cricut to cut the circles at 2" and 1.75". The number inside a circle is also a Cricut shape - it came already installed on my machine - and was cut at 1.5".

Thank you, Mojo Monday, for the awesome sketches! It's been a while since I participated, but it is always fun to see what other people are doing.

Mini Albums...

I just LOVE them!

Close to My Heart have a whole range of mini albums, and I have loved exploring them all, but from time to time I really enjoy creating my own from scratch too. (Currently I'm working on a very cool little folio book using Wanderful papers... but I'm not yet ready to show you that!)

This little book is purely a Cricut project. It was inspired by a post on the Close to My Heart blog last month for the Taste of Summer Constant Campaign, and I've also used it as the framework for an Ice Cream Dream mini album too. I can see these little books looking absolutely gorgeous filled with summer photos.

 

In order to create this project for yourself, you will need the Artbooking cartridge and the Cricut. Cut as many pages as you like (I recommend 8-12) at a size of 5.5". The colours I chose for the Ice Cream Dream project are White Daisy, Pear, Sorbet and Lagoon.

The colours I chose for the Taste of Summer project are White Daisy, Thistle, Pear and Canary.

 

For both projects, I kept the decoration of each page relatively simple. I cut and corner rounded many little pieces of cardstock sized at 3x4". This was often the left over scraps from the Cricut pieces - so this project actually left me with very little waste. :-)

 I also created stamped embellishments for both projects. For the Ice Cream Dream mini album I stamped in Archival Black on White Daisy, coloured in with Shin Han markers, and fussy cut.
For the Taste of Summer album I stamped the images from the co-ordinating stamp set and fussy cut them out. If you're going for speed, the Taste of Summer was quicker - colouring takes me ages!!

 Finishing off both books, I used some of Close to My Heart's extra-thick twine - either Thistle or Glacier. And of course a few little snazzy embellishments like the purple glitter gems just add that extra sparkle.

Would you be interested in coming to a class and making these wee books? I'm running a kids (of all ages!!) holiday class on July 8, 10am. Cost is $15 and I will supply all materials and tools except for adhesive - please bring your own tape runner, or let me know and I can sell you one. Make sure you register your interest so that I can provide enough materials for you.

June's Stamp of the Month

Can it really be June already?!
Welcome to June's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop created especially for you by Australasian Consultants. If you have arrived here from Shauna's Blog, Passionate About Pages, you're in the right place. If you've stumbled on us by chance, don't panic! The blog hop is one big circle, so by clicking the links at the end of all the posts you'll be able to view all the inspiration and come right back round to where you started.
This month's special stamp set is one I've been looking forward to using for quite some time. It's just so cool and cheerful. My daughter loves it too :-) and she's thrilled that it's come out of its wrapper at last.

I have to admit that the ideas for this layout came from Liz Mullins Johnson, a CTMH consultant in the USA. She posted a beautiful photo of a single page which used this stamp set, so I converted it into a double-page spread.

 

For this project I used White Daisy cardstock and teamed it with Pear, Lagoon and Thistle. For embellishments I used the Lagoon Hearts 1" washi tape, the Purple Glitter Gems and the White Shimmer Trim. Click here to be taken to my shop to see these and many other beautiful embellishment ideas.



 

I stamped the black outlines of the ice creams in Archival Black ink on White Daisy cardstock, then coloured them in with Shin Han markers and cut them out. To give some extra dimension the embellishments are popped up on foam tape.

 

 

The "Ice Cream Dream" stamp set can only be purchased in June. It's worth $33NZ, but if you place an order with me worth $75 or more you can get it for just $5. Click here to view the Stamp of the Month page on my website.

Thanks for hopping by! Won't you leave a message before skipping through to view more inspiration on Simone's blog, Scrappy Matters?

 

 

May's Second Workshop

Our second workshop this month featuring the Jackson paper packet was for a layout which allows room for enlargements.
Have a look below for the layout guide and the finished pages.
We stamped a Distressed Background onto the Glacier strips using Cocoa ink, and we created the "Reel Life" embellishment using the Rock n Roll technique. The great thing about this stamp is that there is a clear delineation between the two colours (there's a gap on the stamp) so it's easy to get the colours pretty much where you want them.
Next month I have two workshops planned: one using the Stamp of the Month and one using the Wanderful paper packet. Make sure you book in on my Facebook events page so that I know you're coming!

May's First Workshop

If you're disappointed to find you missed last Friday's Jackson workshop, don't panic! I have a second Jackson workshop running this Friday night, with a brand new double layout. Reserve your place on my Facebook events page.
We had seven ladies come along on Friday night and all completed their layouts. We added texture with background stamping, and dimension with daubing. It was heaps of fun and very relaxed.
Scroll down for the featured layout.