Lovely Card Using Mischief Paper (Mojo 217)

Here's this week's Mojo sketch.  Check out this link to play along.

Here's what I came up with using the Mischief Paper Pack, Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, Canvas Badge Buttons, and the Unity stamp set.

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

My favorite sketch!

Here's another sketch from Sketch Support.  I think this one is my all time favorite on their site.  I plan on using it again and again.  Check out their sketch below and more examples of it here.

Do you ever have those pictures that you just lay aside because they capture a memory, but they aren't the most beautiful pictures you have ever taken.  Well that was my problem with these photos.  About 2 years ago, I had constructed a rocket out of cardboard boxes.  I finally completed the layout with the help of this sketch.

This is a simple layout.  I inked the edges of the photos is timber brown stazon.  I used the flourish layout from Jeanette Lynton's blog to make the fire from my rocket title.  Check out her original here for details on the size of the flourish.  Here is a closer look.

Supply List:
Timber Brown Stazon (Z1142)
Free Spirit Paper Pack (X7088B) Retired
Free Spirit Stickease
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)
Save the Date Stamp Set (D1386)

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Awesome Sketch Site!

There's a site I recently checked out for some inspiration to complete my scrapbook pages.  I am almost 3 years behind...Yuck!  I needed to do a birthday layout.  Does anyone else struggle with brithday and christmas layouts?  We do them every year and its hard coming up with new ideas.  So I stumbled upon this sketch at www.sketchsupport.com.

I didn't follow it exactly, but it gave me the inspiration to complete the layout.  Here is what I came up with.

Here's a closer look at each page.

Supply List:
Free Spirit Paper Pack (X7088) Retired
Free Spirit Stickease
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)
Cherish the day (November Stamp of the Month S1111)
Hemp (Z280)

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have writing down the things we are thankful for all week on ornaments cut from the cricut art philosophy cartridge.  These are just a few things that made the list.  Remember most of these answers came from boys aged 1, 5, 6.
I am thankful for...
   God, mom, love, catfish, goldfish, balls, swords, family, caramel brownie ice cream sandwiches, electricity, lightning, Christmas decorations, birthday parties, snowflakes, hermit crabs, house, rainbows, and dad.

I wish you all a blessed and memorable Thanksgiving filled with love.

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

This week's Mojo Entry 216

Here is the sketch from this week for the Mojo Challenge.  Check out this link to play along.

Here is my take.  I used the Typeset Paper Pack (including the zip strip), the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, and Milepost Shapes.  It is a cute simple card.  Hope you enjoy!

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Mischief Altered Frame

You are probably wondering why I am doing so many frames.  I am offering a crop where individuals can make the frames for a small fee to cover the cost and I want to have several options available.  So this time, I used the Mischief Paper Pack.  Thanks for looking!

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Here Comes Trouble Vol. 2!!!

  If you have been following my blog. You know my third child Graycen is a handful.  He is the sweetest, most loving, little 22 month old, but if there is trouble to be had, he finds it.  He is ALL BOY, the adventurer and explorer and I am sure when gray hair starts showing up, he will be the culprit.  This week he found himself in two messy situations.  I hope you enjoy his antics as much as I do.

 Situation one: He became the purple people eater after dismantling this marker/stamp by popping off the back and handling the ink.  Thank God it was washable!

Situation 2:  He loves to stamp just as much as his mommy.  For those if you who are familiar with CTMH and their stamping techniques.  He even knows "Tap Tap Twist Twist Tap Tap".  When my back was turned he decided stamping his face might be fun!

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Cohen's Camping Party Details

   Here is my proud birthday boy with his hobo stick.  We played a bug hunt game, where each child was give a laminated card with 4 bugs named on it.  The mission was to find your bugs and tie them in your hobo sack. 
   What camping experience would be complete with a campfire and smores.  So we had that too.  The favorite flavor of the night seemed to be chocolate chocolate smore (chocolate graham crackers, hershey chocolate, and marshmallow).  My favorite was the chocolate peanut butter smore (chocolate graham cracker, reeses peanut butter cup, and marshmallow).
   They loved the slingshots with mini marshmallows and although my initial idea was we just shoot them down the hill it became a battle of grownups versus the kids.  I am proud to say that all the children were asleep in their sleeping bags in out family room by 10:15.  One of our dear friends (parent of one of the children) and brave soul slept on the couch all night by the tents to supervise.  Some of the children, my own included have seasonal allergies, so although the children slept, the grown ups listening to coughing all night long.  Thank you Lord for such dear friends.
   Here's a few more photos of the fun!

Here is the invitation for the party and the post about the slingshots.

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Altered Chalkboard...perfect for a bride or little girl!

I originally saw this at Convention during extravaganza.  I am not sure who came up with it, because I got it off the boards afterward.  I loved it so much I had to try it out.  Even though I have no little girls.  I thought it would look cute hanging on the door of a little girl's bedroom with her name written on it.
Supply List:
Chalkboard from Michaels
Colonial White Cardstock (1388)
Smokey Plum Ink (Z2147)
Liquid Glass (Z679)
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Another Altered Frame

This time I used the roxie paper pack, clear sparkles and the square $1 frame from Michaels. Thanks for looking!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Alphabet Book

Here's an oldie, but a goodie.  I made this in 2007 for my son Cohen using all quickcutz dies.  It was before I knew about cricut.  It was a ton of work because I actually made 2 (one for each son at the time).  It was a great class created by Tobey Gable, co-owner of Paper Place on Main. Even after all these years, I am still proud of it and the boys still use them, so I thought I would share.

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Camping Party Countown: homemade slingshots

So this weekend besides the Christmas Extravaganza on Sunday, my son is having a sleep over camping party.  We are have 19 kids over to enjoy fun, food, and camping indoors with us.  We were going to let them make their own slingshots, but as we sat making one to practice we realized it may be too much.  Making them was easy, but making that many with childlike dexterity could have proved more frustrating for everyone.  So my husband, my mother in law and myself made them all.  Here is the link to make your own.  My father in law enjoying testing each one out and amazing enough, they work beautifully.  Now the trick will be how to we keep them from shooting the mini marshmallows at each other.

Each child will get to take a slingshot home and a hobo stick with bugs (a later post).  I know the parents will be thanking me! As a side note.  These slingshots are not just for kids.  Adults would have a lot of fun too!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Altered Wooden Frame

I got the idea from Mandy Leahy.  Check out her tutorial here.  This was quick and inexpensive and turned out gorgeous, I think.  Supplies: $1 frame from Michael's, Sonoma paper pack (X7143B), Liquid Glass (Z679) and the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686).  Thanks for looking.

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Mojo Entry Challenge

Here is the sketch for this week from Mojo  Monday.  Check out their blog to play along.

Here is my entry.  Supply list included:  Dreamin Paper Pack (X7142B), Hooray Bouquet (D1491), and the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)

 

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
livescraplove@gmail.com
717-665-0544

Candy Tin Teacher's Gift

Here is another item I will have at the Christmas Extravaganza Open House this Sunday!  I got the idea from fellow consultant Lisa Stenz.  Check out her blog here.  I used papermart.com for the hinged tin.  There prices were more reasonable then specialitybottle.com.  I think these would make a great teacher's gift.
Supply list includes:
Hershey Nuggets
White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon (Z270)
Cardstock: white daisy, twilight
Wonderland Paper pack (X7146b)
Snowflakes Stamp Set (D1480)
Intrinsic Backgrounds (D1335) retired
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)

If you are interested in my after Thanksgiving Sale or November Special, check out this post!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
717-665-0544

Pin A Pic Decoration

I have been saying since my oldest started kindergarten that I need to make something to hang his artwork on, but I never got around to it.  Then I saw Amy Moore's blog here and fell in love.  I am a vendor at an Christmas Extravaganza Open house in a week and I thought these would be great to sell.  Stay tuned this week for more items for the open house.

Great for Christmas cards or other photos

Great for artwork

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
717-665-0544

Holiday Wishes and November Sales

Close to my Heart is offering this beautiful stamp set for only $5!!!  From now until November 30th you can get this set for $5 with a $25 stamp* purchase.  I'm so excited to get this set myself - I love it!!

This set coordinates with the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (images outlined in red can be cut out on the Cricut) and the exact sizing you need will be printed on the packaging!  To get what you need to make all your beautiful holiday projects click HERE or CONTACT ME to place an order.

I'm also doing a 3-day After Thanksgiving SALE!  Lots of free items (like ink pads, paper packs, and stamp sets - all your choice) with purchases and a drawing for a Free How-To Book 

or

Workshop on the Go

To take advantage of these sales and for more information please sign up for my monthly newsletter, by emailing me at livescraplove@gmail.com.

Nickie Hoffer

Your Close To My Heart Consultant

717-665-0544

livescraplove@gmail.com

Mojo Challenge Entry

This week the Mojo Challenge is a non-traditional shaped card.  See the sketch below.

My example below is a twisted easel card.  If you need the tutorial for this, you can find it here. Here's a link to my friend and fellow consultant's super sweet twisted easel card.  For my card, the idea came from fellow consultant Jane O'Leary.  Check out her blog here.

Supply List Includes: Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, Believe Paper Pack, Liquid Glass, Prisma Glitter, White Daisy, Cranberry, and Topiary Cardstock, and the A Holiday Stamp set.  I am also using this card for my gathering next week!!!  Thanks for looking!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
717-665-0544

Today's Tip: Look in the washing machine!

   For about a week, we could not find our older boys' shoes.  We have a shelf in the laundry room that is to store shoes, but somehow the boys are just too busy to use it.  Just like most parents do, we searched the house high and low and having found no shoes, decided an ultimatum would be best.  Daddy said, "For now on if your shoes aren't in there cubby, no TV."  Then mommy convinced that they had literally evaporated into thin air and no one else seemed to care said, "I am not giving anyone any lunch until you find your shoes."  Still no shoes!!!  So I began organizing all the other shoes back on the rack and noticed that one of my husband's large work boots was also missing.  Thinking to myself, if daddy also is misplacing his shoes, perhaps there is another culprit, I peered into the washing machine.  Calling the whole family over to see the mystery solved, here is what I saw inside.

Graycen's little 18 month figure barely reaches high enough to touch the top of the washer, so I can only imagine that this feat took lots of determination on his part, especially for daddy's work boot.  There was also an entire pack of baby wipes removed from their package one by one and thrown inside.  So today's tip is if you can't find something anywhere and you happen to have a munchkin like mine, check the washing machine!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
717-665-0544

Fall Festivities

My son has a passion for creating things.  He voiced a strong desire to have a haunted house this year and create all these intense items.  We don't want to make such a huge deal out of Halloween, so we came up with a compromise.  We made some items together and decorated the house for a Fall Costume party for our couple's bible study.  Here is what we came up with.  Sorry for the late post, but if you have paid attention to any of my other posts, you would know I have my hands full right now.

 We made three sets of these scary eyes with frames, glow in the dark glitter, black glitter and glue.  I found the template here on Martha Stewart's site.

I love these creepy critters as well.  The same site above gives a template to cut out, but Martha sells them pre-cut at Michael's for $5.99.  No party would be complete without bats and spiders galore, so we had them too.  We had a glow in the dark hunt, where I hid creatures around the house and the children ran around with flashlights trying to find them. Lastly we made glitter pumpkins.  The hardest thing was accepting that when 17 kids do it, it may not look as nice as when Martha did it.  Here's a photo of all the children! Thanks for looking!

Nickie Hoffer

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant

6325 Bayberry Ave., Manheim, PA 17545
717-665-0544