Stampin, Scrappin and Craftin

Captain America

2011-08-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Who else has a super hero fan? With all of these Marvel Comic movie releases we are constantly pretending to be yet another super hero!

When my son saw the Captain America "shields" in the toy department he REALLY wanted one. It is basically a frisbee painted up to look like Captain America's shield, it does have a handle on the back to be used as a shield but it doubles as a frisbee as well. My pocketbook wasn't really liking the $8-$10 price tag for something that would end up over our fence and chewed on by a neighboring dog when it wasn't being used as a shield.

Sooooo....we decided to make one! Big Brother is gone for 2 weeks, Daddy is working long hours and we needed something different to do anyways. Nothing beats a craft project!

I originally thought we'd just paint paper plates but when I dug into the cupboard for the sturdy ones I remembered my round cardboard cake "plates". They are about 12" in diameter -- perfect for my little Captain America.

We used things from around the house as our template...star cookie cutter, plates and bowls of varying sizes for our circles. Red, White & Blue Delta Ceramacoat paints.

For the handle on the back I had some wide ribbon that we glued down in a loop then I also used packing tape to reinforce it's stability. I knew it would see some tough battles! I just ran the tape across the inside of the loop then ran it the other way over the tape to help keep it on.

This is what we came up with:
I would say this looks GREAT for a 5 year old! I did help with the star's edges and the blue but he did the red and white completely. He did request I make another for his 14 year old brother...I'm sure he will so appreciate having his own when he gets home. LOL.

Family Hike

2011-08-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Where oh where is summer running off to?

It seems like it has just begun and we are now nearly halfway over!

For Father's Day this year my boys bought a Northwest Forest Pass and selected a day hike to do as a family. Of course my youngest had to throw in a bag of M&M's...can't leave out the chocolate! I think my husband really enjoyed his gift this year.

The boys and I selected Ramona Falls for our hike. A little ambitious of us since it is a 7 mile hike. I read that it is rated moderate to strenuous with kids. I was hoping that since my 5 year old NEVER stops moving that he'd be fine. Here is a photo of Mt. Hood as we crossed over the Sandy River.

The elevation gain was quite steep, more noticeable since we are so out of shape! It was a hot day out and we chose to stick to the right on this loop trail where it is up hill, hot and dusty. My thoughts were to get the harder part out first in the cooler part of the day. Making the way back more scenic and shady to enjoy. I am so thankful we did it this way...for many reasons.

You could tell when you are approaching the falls. The temperature drops significantly. There was a lot of late snowfalls this year so it was very cold glacier runoff coming over that hillside! It was like standing in the doorway of a walk-in freezer!

Here is a photo of the falls. It looks so much better in real life! It is amazing to see.

We packed in snacks, found a log to sit on and munch while viewing the falls. We were even joined by a very brave chickbunk (aka chipmunk) that was coming all the way to our feet hoping for a crumb...he wasn't disappointed!

The way down was beautiful, rock walls, mossy forest, rippling brook....almost story book like. It was so quiet and serene...then came our 5 year old! LOL. There is even a "buried forest" if you know to look for it.

This was a perfect family day together.

Product Spotlight Blog Hop: RELAY RACE

2011-06-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our RELAY RACE Blog Hop! If you have come from Wendy's blog then you are on the right path!

If you are just starting out you really need to start from Nikka Geers blog for this one to see how it all transpires. This is a hop that needs to go in sequence to get the full affect. It's like playing a game of telephone but rather than "hearing" a message, we are being visually inspired to create a scrapbook page.

We are doing a twist on our product spotlight blog hop this month. Let me try to explain....

First we start with a sketch/layout design that is selected by person number one.
Person number one then uses that sketch or layout as inspiration to create her own scrapbook page (using CTMH products). She can use any element(s) from it that she wishes, just NO C.A.S.E.ing it.
She then emails her completed page to person number 2.
Person number 2 now creates her scrapbook page using person number 1's creation as inspiration.
It continues down the line....it will end up kind of like playing a game of telephone only we are using the previous message as inspiration and not trying to pass it along exactly as seen.

On the left you'll see what I received as inspiration from Wendy Kessler:

Since we recently returned from a trip to Disneyland I had already decided I would select photos from that to use.

When I saw the layout had just one photo -- I had the perfect single photo I wanted to showcase alone.

We went to Goofy's Kitchen and of course being a scrapbooker I couldn't say no to the package they present you. You get your photo taken when you get there and at some point during your meal they bring the pictures to you all printed. Our waiter threw in an extra picture of Goofy for my scrapbook so I can keep the other in the "frame" they gave us with our family picture. Goofy's my favorite so when he sweetened the pot for me I really couldn't resist!

Anyways....back to the relay race!

I liked how Wendy used the flower behind her picture to draw your focus in and while flowers aren't my thing in a house of boys, I went with the more basic geometric shape of a circle to use behind my focal photo instead.

I knew my other half of my layout would have photos taken with some of the characters we saw in Goofy's Kitchen so I pulled out the fun stripes from the Tinkerin paper pack to hopefully tie it in. The single photo had a lot of rich browns in it and I really didn't want my Disney pages to be all brown. The yellow background paper is from the Giggles & Grins paper pack.

I did some random stamping using some images from the Recipe Box stamp set to bring in the whole food thing. You'll see that on the Chocolate Cardstock Strip (chocolate ink on chocolate CS).

I copied her embellishment placements but used the Button Brads, 3 to the upper left corner and 1 to the lower right corner.

I'm not completely content with the plain red circle and may change it up but I haven't come up with how...I'd like to find a silhouette head of Goofy to place behind the title to resemble the restaurant logo more completely...we shall see!

I've been so anxious to start scrapbooking our Disney trip and this was the perfect inspiration to get it going.

This is technically the last stop on the hop...I hope you enjoyed seeing how we were each inspired in a different way! But to finalize things...go ahead and hop on back to Nikka's blog to see how she has compiled things all together and to see them all side by side.

DISNEYLAND Vacation

2011-06-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

So we FINALLY got our trip to Disneyland.

My youngest has been waiting 5 long years (and I found it to be an equally painful long wait) for his first trip to visit Mickey Mouse AT HIS HOUSE -- I wish I was in his head when we told him we were going. He was so excited but then I wondered, what does he really think this place is? He's seen pictures, he knows the Hot Dog Dance, he's been to the live shows (which we won tickets to), he has seen some youtube video's of the rides...but what does he really know about DisneyLAND? What are the rides really, how big IS the castle, the characters he can touch...

I LOVE Disney!

So I was doing the happy dance and bouncing up and down when my hubby gave me the go ahead to book the trip. I had been actively saving money for 2 years prior. I found a great package deal thru Costco Travel, got all the "extras" we decided were MUST's and came in way under budget! I was ecstatic....

We had an early entry to the park and were in the front of the line waiting for them to lower the rope and let us "run" free. I was able to snap this unobstructed photo zooming in all the way with my little point and shoot. I was pleased it didn't come out blurry! When my 5 year old saw the castle upon coming onto Main Street he was bouncing up and down and pointing....THERE IT IS! THERE IT IS! The Castle, it's right there, can we go can we go? It was great.

There were a lot of attractions closed between the 2 parks but this was the time that worked best around work schedules so we had to just go. I couldn't wait any longer, hubby was ready for the trip and my son was just dying with excitement to see what this place was all about. My oldest had been twice before -- it wasn't until I told him we were going to an all you can eat buffet at Goofy's Kitchen that he got REALLY excited about going. What is it with teenage boys and food? Whatever, at least I had all the family just as excited as I was to go! But hubby made it clear -- this was our last trip to Disneyland. There were other destinations he'd like to save vacation money up to visit so we had to make the most of this one. I was bummed we couldn't ride Splash Mountain. I had been telling my youngest that we'd go to Disneyland when he was tall enough to ride Splash Mountain. He finally had the height, we had the money and the time and it was closed. We went anyways....he walked past the ride a couple times and he peered through the walled off areas wondering about what was inside that he'd never get to see...it was a sad sight but he didn't complain!

We spent just 4 days in the park, traveling also on day 1 and 4. We were able to do it all -- we actually had the best time together! I think it was one of our all time best trips ever!! It was so good that about a week after we had returned, hubby said he missed being there and he'd like to go again...soon. We shall see -- it will be hard to save for an Alaska trip AND Disneyland....

I have to share this YouTube video....having all boys which are HUGE Star Wars, Pirates of the Carribbean and Indiana Jones fans....this was a fun find...I hope you enjoy it too!

I've JUST begun scrapbooking our vacation photos. The first will appear on June 15 as part of the RELAY RACE Blog Hop. Stay tuned....

Mother's Day and a CHALLENGE!

2011-05-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

ACK! I created my Mother's Day cards, put together a fun gift and forgot to take pictures! I finally had a chance to sneak into my craft room to create and didn't snap a photo. So bummed I still don't have pic's to share!

They were very simple since I do have to be quick in my creations. It was a baby step though getting back into my creative space.

I used the papers from SOPHIA -- I love that paper packet, I just don't have girls so it will be reserved for gifting. I don't think that if I describe it, it will even do it justice! How about a challenge though? I'll tell you what I used then see what YOU can create using the same items and no visual inspiration?

Here is the challenge:

What can you create using these supplies:

Big Pinks Paper Flowers (or any paper flowers)
Crochet Flower
Prisma Glitter
Chipboard Letters
Ribbon
Brads
Sophia Papers

Seriously???

2011-05-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Has it really been since the first of April since I've had a blog post?? And a pretty much NOTHING post at that!!

I admit, I have not be creating. Tax season takes such a toll on our family dynamic that we are accustomed to. This last season was harder, I was working full-time at the tax office, very part-time cleaning and then it is also Prep Basketball season which takes up the evenings and weekends. I think I was home long enough to clean, eat, sleep...our house is for sale to boot. If you've put your home up for sale and have small kids then you definitely know what I'm going through. The house has to be "company clean" ALWAYS!

We planned a vacation in the middle of the chaos...it was such a reward to end that crazy season with a fun filled vacation. I'll do a separate post for that.

I've been having crafting time withdrawals actually. The house is for sale so if I start a project it has to be something I can also finish in that same session. I can't just cram/hide it in the closet -- people are looking in the closets too! I am a messy crafter...I start with an idea and then it sits out while I expand upon the initial thought. Sometimes just a day, other times several!

I'm hoping to be better about creating and posting....I NEED to be better, I'm lost without my creative outlet I think!

Stay tuned....there WILL be more artwork to come.

April's SOTM Blog Hop

2011-03-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

If you have come from Jen's site...you are on the right track.

Unfortunately I have had to opt out of another hop -- it is the prime time of tax season and I have no free time at home until Tax Day -- April 18.

So skip on over me and hop along to Dawn's site to continue on your way.

February's SOTM Blog Hop

2011-01-31T22:06:00.001-08:00

Hello my Fellow Readers....thanks for "hopping" on by on the "Frienship" Stamp of the Month hop.

If you have come from Shirley's blog then you are on the right path.

Unfortunately you'll have to keep on hopping through to Jill's blog to see what she has in store for you. The last few weeks have been quite, well, time consuming for me and I haven't had a free moment to create a thing since the last hop. I haven't had a free moment for anything....lots of extenuating circumstances have arose keep me occupied.

I just love this month's stamp set though...it is a very versatile 8 set of 8 images - 2 of which are phrases. If I get a chance again before the month is over I'll post what I come up with!

Stamp Of The Month BLOG HOP

2010-12-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back! I'm glad you "hopped" on in or are hopping on through our Close To My Heart Blog Hop.

If you have arrived from Wendy's blog, then you are on the right path. If this is your first stop, then grab a drink and/or a snack and relax as you view lots of creative ideas from several CTMH consultants. Just click on the link at the end of each post to take you to the next one.

January's stamp of the month set is very elegant. The images have a calming affect in a sense.

The set is called: Find Your Style and it comes with 9 different images. One phrase, 4 individual words: Beautiful, Love, Friend, Soar and 4 images: shoe, bird, butterfly and a dress form.

I selected the Veranda Papers to use with this stamp set. I love the soft colors of the Juniper and Creme Brulee with these images.

I embellished with a few of the Opaque Pearls and Creme Brulee Ribbon. On the ribbon, I just pulled the strings out on one end to gather it up in the middle.

I used Juniper and Cocoa inks for stamping and distressing.

The bird is inked up with Juniper and the edges are softly rolled with the cocoa ink. I pop dotted him up off of a cocoa stamped bird. I was going for a shadow affect but I think I should have gone with the shadow on the lower part rather than above. Oh well...

The card layout is from Wishes and I used the Gallery format.

Thanks for hopping on by....your next stop will be Cindy's Blog.

CTMH Product Spotlight Hop

2010-12-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the Close To My Heart PRODUCT Spotlight Hop.

If you have come from Tracey Jean's site you are on the right path.

This month's product in the spotlight will be SPARKLES & PEARLS!
I am so thrilled, I LOVE adding touches of sparkle or
the beautiful opaque pearls for that little added touch to my creations.

I may have gone overboard adding them to this card....they were perfect with the snowflake paper background though!

I didn't go for a real elaborate card....I'm knee deep in making Christmas gifts right now. But if you are looking for some quick and easy inspiration for some Christmas cards....this may do the trick.

I made this quick card using Mistletoe Papers, Snow Days Stamp set (C1240), Bitty Sparkles and the Pearls. I just couldn't resist adding a little Liquid Applique to the house and a touch of colored pencils for a smidgen of color.

Your next stop on the hop will be Helen Onulak's site. Be sure to HOP on over to see what she has in store for you!

Our next Product Spotlight hop will feature Valentine's related creations! Be sure to come on back then (January 15th) to see what we will have in store for you then.

CTMH December SOTM Blog Hop

2010-11-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

December?? Already!

Life must be so full for me because I think this every time we reach the time for another blog hop! Another month gone by so soon. The good thing about it being December is that it means we are so close to my BIRTHDAY!

Welcome and thanks for "hopping" on by....stay for a minute to scroll through what I have for you this month... if you have hopped on over from Krista's blog then you are on the right path.
December's Stamp of the Month set is called AMORE.

If features 13 images relating to love and romance - words, hearts and borders, perfect for Valentine's projects or to just let your loved ones know how you feel.

I however am just not ready to jump out of the Christmas Spirit and when I saw that big word LOVE in the set I thought of God's love for us and decided to couple it with Everlasting Life stamp set (D1440) and added in Evergreen (D1315) to give it a Christmas twist.

For my card layout, I used ON THE EDGE from our Wishes "how to" book.

Used a little paper from the Passages paper packet.

Stamped with Cocoa, Chocolate, Olive, Barn Red and Honey.

Embellishments are Chocolate Ribbon and Opaques.

Images used from the Stamp of the Month set are "Love", heart, and the squirrely border - which is hearts on a curly line - I curved on my block to stamp around my corner circle for a round border rather than straight.

Now be sure to keep hopping along on over to Lori's blog for your next stop on the hop!

Christmas Cards Day 7

2010-11-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is the last of my Christmas Card stash...that I have come across anyways. I will be creating more to share...so come back and check in to see what new Christmas related things I have to share with you!

Sorry this photo is not up to par, at all!

Top left photo using Everlasting B&T duos. The santa is "textured" with Fun Flock and colored in with colored pencils. There are touch of Cranberry and Ponderosa Pine Cardstock accents.

For the top right card I stamped the snowman on a transparency with Staz On ink. The back was painted on with Liquid Glass and Reinker mixed together then sprinkled with Prisma Glitter.

Bottom left is just sponged color. I tore a strip of cardstock to make the snow hill line and sponged over that torn strip and up. I punched out a circle and placed that down, sponged around that, removed the circle then continued sponging on color.

Bottom right is a fun one! I inked the stamp and laid it down image side up. I used my rubber brayer and rolled it over the snowman then rolled him on my project upside down. Turn the paper over and now stamp a fresh snowman right above. I sponged a light blue layer between them and used my Glue Pen then sprinkled Prisma Glitter over the glue for an edge of the pond affect. The upper snowman is embellished with Red Sparkles and colored in. The lower one is lightly colored as I wanted him more faded. The sky has random liquid applique for snowflakes.

Christmas Cards Day 6

2010-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are with a couple of my favorites!

The two cards with color are filled in by just sponging ink colors on.

I especially love the top card on the right. I think of the Wise Men traveling and following Jesus's star....

I used Close To My Heart's White Daisy Ink on the Outdoor Denim Cardstock.

Twine accents on the Manger scene with Desert Sand Cardstock mat. The edges of the base card were also sponged in the yellow's.

I think the rest seems to be fairly self explanatory...if you have questions though, I'd be happy to answer them!

Christmas Cards Day 5

2010-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to Day 5 of my Christmas Card sharing!

These 4 cards go waaay back. Back to when embellishments consisted of eyelets and gold or silver brads! And of course ribbon...

Top left card using Desert Sand, Vineyard Berry and New England Ivy with random stamped images.

Top right card is pretty much just random stamped images in the New England Ivy and Vineyard Berry.

Bottom left card is Vineyard Berry and New England Ivy again. The Poinsettia is made by stamping and cutting out the holly leaves and holding them together in the center with gold brads.

Bottom right card is Ponderosa Pine and Cranberry. The stamped images along it's left side are white embossed and the color is just sponged on and faded to the right then stamped with a speckly stamp.

Christmas Cards Day 4

2010-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here are a few basic cards using basic Christmasy images.

The top left card is silver embossed trees on Vineyard Berry cardstock. The background is Outdoor Denim cardstock with random stamped snowflakes.

The top right card is silver embossed random stamped snowflakes on Outdoor Denim cardstock.

The bottom left card has Merry Christmas gold embosssed over random stamped images. Cardstock and Patterned Papers are Outdoor Denim with a Ponderosa Pine accent.

The bottom right card is a Cranberry Cardstock base. Each strip has holiday lights random stamped.

Christmas Cards Day 3

2010-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

So Sunday we had some fun Snowman Cards, Monday was the fun Christmas Stamps blog hop and today I have some more Santa cards for your viewing pleasure!

Unfortunately the stamped images are retired...but there are newer versions available from Close To My Heart that you can substitute.

A fun little technique I love to do, especially with Close To My Hearts "duos". Which mean that there are patterns on both sides of the paper! Is to fold a corner over, tack down with a button or other embellishment. It just makes for a quick little touch to your artwork.

CTMH Product SPOTLIGHT Hop

2010-11-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Product SPOTLIGHT Hop --- and Day 2 of my Christmas Cards week.

This month the featured item is not just one item but a category...
Christmas related stamps!

So sit on back and enjoy some fun Christmas Card or
gifty ideas as we rapidly approach the Christmas Holiday.

If you have arrived from Haley's Blog then you are on the right path.

Here is my Card I came up with for this Hop.

TUTORIAL: For the Cranberry Strip used under the ribbons, I simply cut a 1x12 inch strip of Cranberry Cardstock. I scored it at 3/4 inch then 1/4 inch then 3/4 inch then 1/4 inch and so on until I reached the end. Then I simply folded it back and forth. I lightly sanded the paper strip to bring out the "ruffles" just a little bit more.

SUPPLIES USED:
Mistletoe Level 2 Paper Packet
Magical Season (D1226) Stamp Set
Chocolate Ink (for Santa and Distressing)
Liquid Applique
Twill Ribbon
Chocolate Ribbon
Hemp
Cranberry My Accents (Retired)

Here is a close up of the Santa (on the left).

I did a little paper piecing on his hat also using the Mistletoe Papers.

The Liquid Applique is just applied on the image lines, heat with the heat gun and let it work it's magic. I wanted to keep the whimsical swirly lines of the image so I didn't fill in his entire beard with Liquid Applique.

His face is colored in with colored pencils. The image is pop dotted up over the ribbon.

If you are just beginning the hop here or jumped in mid loop, then your next stop on the hop is Wendy's Blog.

Christmas Cards

2010-11-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

The CTMH Product Spotlight hop will begin tomorrow, November 15. Since the theme is going to be Christmas Stamps I thought it would be fun to pull the "old" lingering stamped Christmas Cards I still have around from years past. Just in case you need some simple inspiration in preparing your own Christmas Cards.

I'll put a new post with 3-4 cards each day this week to help inspire your creativity.

I'll kick it off these "old" snowman cards. Snowmen are so fun and whimsical...you can adapt any snowman image in place of him!

Enjoy!!

Gift Idea!

2010-11-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

I was over visiting the Sew, Mama, Sew blog and one of the featured articles was Tween Gift Ideas. Who doesn't need gift ideas for the young teens in your life?

There are several great ideas posted daily for gift ideas but one really stood out to me and I can't wait to try it out myself! They shared a link to the Or So She Says blog where they had Christie from A Lemon Squeezy Home sharing a guest tutorial for what she calls a Lunch Cuff.

Check it out and let me know if you are ready to pull out the sewing machine and give this a whirl. I'm thinking it would make a FABULOUS way to give money gifts this holiday season to my nieces and nephews.

I may even be ambitious enough to make one for myself, it would come in handy to slip in your car key, drivers license and some treat money when you are heading out to the park and don't want to tote your entire purse or out on a walk with the kids.

The tutorial looks very user friendly, I'll report back when I get a chance to pull out some of my fabric scraps, buy a zipper and see what I can accomplish. I'm hoping to have a minute to work on it this weekend.

What great ideas do you have for this fun cuff wallet or trinket holder?

A Little MORE Thanks!

2010-11-04T17:16:00.001-07:00

During the month of November, we would like to extend our Thanks for being a customer with Close To My Heart! When you place an order of $100 or more you not only receive the Stamp Of the Month, A Little Thanks for free but you also get to select another stamp* set for FREE from the Autumn/Winter Idea Book!

So send me an email today with your order!
goofy {dot} scrappers {at} gmail {dot} com

*Free stamp may be A-D sizes only. Excludes E, K, Workshops on the Go stamps and retail Stamp of the Month. Shipping and handling charges apply. Available November 1-30, 2010.

Costumes

2010-11-04T13:43:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, I was so spoiled growing up! We always had a hand made (sewn) costume for Halloween. I thought ours were always the best, we far outweighed the store purchased costumes. But I think, back in the day, the hand sewn ones were better quality that what was available in the stores.

Today, there are some pretty great ones for purchase. I wish I was the Mom that made ALL my kids costumes...some are purchased while others were sewn. BUT I've also been fortunate enough to have a Mom that saves stuff and my kids have had the opportunity to wear costumes my brother wore when he was young!

I was reflecting back over the last 13 Halloween's the other day....I don't have pictures handy perhaps I'll add that to my to-do list when I have more free time. But nearly all of my oldest child's costumes were made! Then comes along the younger and his tend to be purchased. No right or wrong here...I'm just thinking back over the years.

My Oldest Child's costume list:
1st -- hand made Clown costume sewn by my Mom that I wore, I think I had to sew up some new pom pom balls on the front
2nd -- hand made super cute Mickey Mouse costume
3rd -- purchased Lion costume that was in the box of dress up clothes -- that was a favorite, to go with I made my own Dorothy costume.
4th -- hand made Pirate and won best costume prizes from the local toy store
5th --hand made Peter Pan, I wore it as an elf costume - my brother wore it as Peter Pan, sewn by my Mom
6th -- hand made Spider, I dressed up as Little Miss Muffet
7th -- purchased Ninja costume
8th -- hand made Darth Vader, another of my brother's costumes sewn by my Mom.
9th -- hand made Man with the Yellow Hat to go with the baby's Curious George
10th -- he made up his own and went as Mickey Mouse dressed up as Tom Brady (football player)
11th -- hand made Stick Man using Glo-Sticks
12th-- hand made Stick Man using Glo-Sticks again since it was such a hit the year before
13th -- hand made Charlie Brown Ghost

Let's compare that to my youngest child...

1st -- purchased from Old Navy Monkey costume - he was adorable! It went with brother's Man with the Yellow Hat
2nd -- hand made Mickey Mouse -- it was brother's
3rd -- purchased from the Disney Store Buzz Lightyear, clearance deals far outweighs the time and cost to make sometimes!
4th -- purchased James from Thomas The Tank Engine -- $5 costume he LOVED
5th -- hand made Darth Vader, yes the one my Mom sewed umpteen years ago

Here are they are in 2010's costumes!

For Darth Vader, I just needed to glue on some new buttons. Some had deteriorated over the years. I also needed to stitch up the body suit part since it was sewn for an older child. I took about an inch in on all sides and hemmed the legs and sleeves about 4 inches.

For Charlie Brown Ghost Costume I went to the store for a white sheet...Goodwill didn't have any so I hit Fred Meyer. They were out of FLAT white sheets. I thought for sure I'd see a ton of ghosts around town and I didn't see ANY! I used a FITTED sheet instead and pulled out the elastic. I bought a black flat sheet as well to cut the black spots out of and sewed them all down. If I was smarter I would have bought all iron on patches and used those! It would have saved a lot of time. I did use Iron On's on the eye spots and cut holes in the centers to see out. All in all, an easy costume! "I got a rock!"

I think together my kids scored over 10 pounds of candy!

CTMH Stamp of the Month BLOG HOP

2010-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time again for another round of the Close To My Heart Blog Hop!

If you have arrived from Kathleen's Blog then you are on the right track. IF this is your first stop on the hop, then just click on the link at the end of this post to head to the NEXT stop on the hop. It makes a full circle so you can jump in at any place.

November's Stamp Set is called A Little Thanks and features 16 "thank you" type sentiments.

I decided to pair up this sentiment stamp set with Nature's Vein stamp set. This has been one of my favorite sets since it was introduced! I'm so glad it's still around. :)

Here is a side view to show the added "texture" to the leaves.

I pop dotted a few leaves up but I also gently pinched and crinkled the leaves to give them more dimension.

Click here for my Stamp Rolling tutorial.

Supplies Used:

Olivia Level 2 Paper Packet
A Little Thanks Stamp Set
Nature's Vein Stamp Set
Sweet Leaf Ribbon
Barn Red Stamp Pad
Creme Brulee Stamp Pad
Sunset Stamp Pad
Pear Stamp Pad
Distressing Tools (sponge, stipple brush)

Thanks for stopping by....or checking back in!

Now hop on over to Jill's Blog to see what she has in store for you!

Rolling Technique Tutorial

2010-10-31T17:59:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for the November's Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop...click here to see my post.
This is a tutorial page that goes along with my Blog Hop contribution.

Stamp Rolling is a fun and easy technique to use to add a little extra flair to your stamped images. I especially love using this on fall LEAVES!

First step is to stamp your image in the LIGHTEST color first -- best results are with SOLID images but you could use an outline type stamp too.

I chose to use Creme Brulee as my base color.
Just twist twist twist, tap tap tap for even ink coverage.

Now flip your stamp over and set it down on your work space inky side up.
I wanted to add just a kiss of color randomly on my image so it was so contrasting.

I used my sponge tool and dabbed it in the Sunset ink color. This is my next lightest color.

I don't think I quite captured the Creme Brulee ink on the stamp too well in this picture. Your stamp should be all inky and just randomly dab the sponge on the image...more to the center. The edges will be covered up with our darkest color.

Now pull our your darkest color, I chose Barn Red for my fall leaves. Hold the stamp in your hand and we are going to gently touch the edges of the image onto your stamp pad.

And roll it around. So you have your stamp in your hand, you are touching one edge of the image to the ink and your are going to kind of rotate your wrist around rolling just the edges of your images in the ink. As you gain confidence, gently touch a little more towards the center to the ink as well.

You might be looking at something like this now.

The Barn Red is quite drastic against the yellow/orangey colors. You can stamp your image as it is now....OR I like to take my spone and dab at the darker "lines" some to soften and blend them in just a little more. Any sponge will do, I had a cut portion of a round sponge handy...

This stamp set came with a 2 step process, the leaf then it's veins are separate. I chose to ink mine up in the Barn Red and stamp over the leaf.

When you are ready...stamp your image onto your project or paper.

We still need to add in the veins....

This image shows a leaf inked in Creme Brulee, sponged on some Pear and rolled in Barn Red with veins inked in Barn Red.

Here is our ROLLED leaf ready to cut out.

After I cut out the leaves, I like to kind of pinch them down on the ends and kind of crinkle them in the middle to add dimension to the project.

CTMH Product Spotlight HOP

2010-10-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about this month's product spotlight!

It comes just in time for pre-planning some of your hand made holiday gifts...whether it be a hostess gift to thank that special person that invited you on over or a gift for your family or friends. You are sure to find some inspiration in this hop to help you along this season.

If you have come from Traci's site then you are on the right path.

It seems as the latest craze are to use washer's to create jewelry,
you know - the ones found in your husband's tool stash?

I was first inspired by a jewelry giveaway on a blog I follow (UCreate) for Bead Creations International. When I was perusing the jewelry for this giveaway I thought, as any crafter does, I COULD MAKE THAT! Well of course not THAT but I could do something similar so I sketched out my idea. Then I did some googling and found that it was not an original idea but others were making that very thing already!

My loving husband let me try out this project idea using some of his washers out of his stash. When I found the size I preferred I headed on up to the hardware store to buy myself a bunch!! I bought a whole box of 100 washer's...I had a BIG project in mind. I created this pendant to use as a key chain dangle as a room gift for those attending our Ladies Retreat last month.

KEY CHAIN PENDANT

Then I wanted to make Thank You gifts for each of the gals that helped me to plan out a fabulous weekend. I had so much fun with the key chains that I went to work on these necklaces with matching washer earrings. I had a sketch so I knew what look I wanted to achieve. Let me just say I have NEVER done beading and this was easy to figure out on my own without any instructions.

Front

Back

SUPPLIES USED:

CTMH Liquid Glass
CTMH Black Hemp
CTMH Sparkles
CTMH Finishing Files
Washer Fronts - CTMH retired but Passages map would be beautiful
Washer Backs - CTMH Majestic Blue retired
Mod Podge
Washers and beading supplies
Cricut - Circles and "X"

Basic Instructions:

Cut/Punch out circle to size out of B&T paper. I used my Cricut.
Using Mod Podge, adhere paper circle to the washer front.
Once dry, use CTMH Finishing Files to "pop" out the circles center and file down any paper overhangs in center or around the edges.
Making sure there isn't any dust left on, adhere on any embellishments.
Squirt a liberal amount of CTMH Liquid Glass over the entire front being careful not to get any air bubbles.
Finish it off with a key chain or necklace piece.

For the necklace I used Cotton 1mm cording. For the Key chains I used the CTMH Hemp.

Here are some other random gift ideas:

Mini Paper Coaster Photo Album
Alter Paper Coasters with B&T paper

Tumbled Tile Coasters
Stamp image with Staz-On Ink
Color in with Colored Pencils
Spray with Acrylic Sealer or Leave as is
Add felt dots to bottom

Candle
Stamp Image onto Tissue Paper
Cut around the image
Lay over Candle
Place Wax Paper over image, pull taught and hold in the back.
Using Embossing Gun, heat up image until you see it "melt" into the candle.
Remove Wax Paper

Next stop on the hop is Tracey's site.
Hop on over to see what she has in store for you!

Preschool

2010-10-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

So I have decided to take the plunge and jump on in head first into homeschooling my preschool age child! Since I really have NO CLUE as to what I'm doing...we are starting out slowly with just a little bit at a time in a morning. I am going the route of featuring a letter of the week. I found this resource to be a helpful starting spot.

We are creating our own Flash Cards together. I have so many stickers that I rarely use anymore so they are coming in perfectly handy for my kiddo to pick through and find ones that begin with our featured letter. We use these each day all throughout the day.

I've made adding fun -- we are using Pretzel M&M's that he gets to eat when math time is over. I've been timing this to be the last activity and ending it at snack time. The M&M math is only on Tuesday's so he's not getting candy every day!

I have found dot-to-dots, penmanship pages, coloring sheets and other activities to make it all fun for now and not overwhelming.

He is most excited to be doing craft projects so my time will be spent crafting with a 4 year old rather than working on my own craft to-do list! Perhaps in time he'll be keeping up with Mommy projects.

I have decided to pick my letter of the week this month centered around a Halloween Theme. Except for last week when I selected A. I did put thought into -- it is APPLE season of course and why not start with the first letter of the alphabet in my last minute decision to teach.

This week is the letter S. Story time at our local library focused on this letter so I ran with it. We had stories about Scarecrows so we kicked off Monday morning with Scarecrow school work. Today we looked at spiders.

Here are this week's crafts that have taken over Mommy's crafting time...

The Scarecrow needed colored, cut and glued. I love to color so I was more than happy to help color in the pumpkin when he was getting tuckered out.

The fun spider needed colored, cut and glued as well. We decided the legs he came with weren't long enough so we grabbed some black construction paper and made very long legs to our spider windsock.

My kiddo is so excited to be creating his own Halloween Decorations to put out around the house. :)

October's Stamp Of The Month HOP

2010-09-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Another month has flown on by! ALREADY!!
I am still in shock over this....but with the end of a month means the start of another
BLOG HOP... HOP... HOPPIN TIME!

If you have arrived from Adeline's Blog then you are on the right path...
If you have just begun, then just HOP right in and begin where you are...here on Kristie's Blog!

This month's Featured Stamp Set is called
SHARE THE MAGIC

This is a fun and whimsical set of 12 images available Oct 1-31st only!

Here is what I created using this stamp set:

I only used the Snowman Image on this card. I LOVE Snowmen and couldn't resist! I like how the background paper can resemble snowflakes if you use your imagination.

Techniques used:
Paper Pieced the Snowman's Scarf by stamping the scarf area of the image onto patterned paper of choice. Then cut out just the scarf. I stamped the full image onto my project piece. Glue the scarf in place...I used 3-D Foam Squares to make it stand out more. I also did this for the band on the snowman's hat. Liquid Applique on the snowy bottom of the image. Just squirt out the Liquid Applique where you'd like to see it. Heat until "fluffy" with the Embossing Gun.

Supplies used are:

Magnifique Level 2 Paper Packet
Pacifica Stamp Pad
Chocolate Stamp Pad
Colored Pencils
Liquid Applique (snow)
Licorice Opaques (buttons)
3-D Foam Squares

Your next stop on the HOP is LORI's BLOG.

Women's Retreat

2010-09-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

The past few months have had me quite busy! I am the Women's Retreat Coordinator at our church and we just completed our weekend retreat. Now I can share with you a few of the goodies I've been working on....the others will come in a few days with the mid-month blog hop on the 15th.

We like to have a nice welcome gift in the rooms for each of the Ladies. This year our theme was TREASURE ... Discovering the Treasure of God's Love. Each attendee received a brightly colored folder with a Treasure Chest placed on top and some other various "treasures". I included some Hershey GOLD Nuggets, Gold Chocolate Coins, Seashell full of brightly colored "gems" aka Skittles and I hand made a fun Washer Pendant Keychain for each attender. Of course we all would like to get to know each other at the retreat so I made fun Name Tags and Door Signs so we knew where to find each other! Here are the Room Goodies I made.

Of course my printer ran out of ink when I reached the time for creating nametags and door signs, and the weekend schedule so I had to do it all by hand! Fortunately my ink arrived the night before we left for retreat so I was able to type and print out the check-in page.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT HOP

2010-09-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

...If you have come from VICKI's site you are on the right track....

The product we will be spotlighting for September are
DIMENSIONAL ELEMENTS.

These are chipboard elements designed to give you dimension to your artwork.

I have used two different varieties in my card creation today.

The first is the NEW Irresistibles Chipboard Die Cuts.
These little beauties are very COOL. There is a patterned coating on the chipboard so when you ink it up, the pattern resists the ink leaving white space behind. These were released with The Miracle Kit several months back and have found their way into the Fall/Winter Idea Book which I am so thankful for. I love these things!

The second I used are the Monogram letters.
These come in a sheet with just one letter cut out in different sizes and fonts. I chose the H since I wanted to make a birthday card for my Mother In Law's birthday this week.

Other products used were My Reflections Level 2 Paper from OLIVIA.
Happy Birthday stamps
Chocolate Ribbon
Smoothie Ink
Pear Ink
Chocolate Ink

Now hop on over to WENDY's Blog if you haven't been there already!

September's SOTM Blog Hop

2010-08-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here we are back to another round of Close To My Heart's
Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop!

Are you ready??

If you have arrived from Lori's Blog then you are on the RIGHT path!

September's special stamp set for the month is getting us ready for all of those
spooktacular Halloween Invitations/Cards/Layouts.
It is a 9 piece stamp set called THRILLER.

I think this set is creepy and fun! That big skull is a little girly looking to me and I think would make a fantastic image on a Pink Pirate Party Invitation!

The window looking image with Dracula in the center would be fun masked out and use that white space for the Invitation details or for something entirely different.

It is fun to manipulate the My Acrylix stamps and thing outside the box!

HERE IS WHAT I CAME UP WITH....I just love the new colors in the MAGNIFIQUE My Reflections paper packet, I couldn't resist using them. I know they are not your typical Halloweenish colors....And the new SPARKLES in Blue & Green were perfect on the crown from this stamp set.

Here is Creation #1:

I was trying to use my "outside the box" thinking on this one and was going for a non-Halloween card. I used cut out the crown leaving the spider webs behind. I added the new blue & green sparkles and the Glitter Glue to dazzle it up. I masked off the center of the "box" like image and masked off the crow and turned the "box" on it's side to create a Text Box. I didn't have any sentiment stamps with me to fill it in yet...

Close Up:

And Card #2...

I wanted the "pirate" image to look worn so I started off by just tearing the edges of the cardstock and inking them up with chocolate. Then I had this great idea to tear the B&T and roll back those edges and place the image so it appears to be burning a hole through.

Now hop on over to Chris's Blog to see what she has in store for you!

Ahoy, me Hearties!

2010-08-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

I was asked to be the Women's Retreat Coordinator for our church this year. I served on The Retreat committee last year so I agreed to the task! I have learned over the year's from the best, my Mom. She is the QUEEN of organizing activities. I can not even compare to her abilities but I do think I have what it takes to throw an enjoyable bash. AND I've learned to delegate...I have an awesome team of ladies assisting!

I hadn't made up The Retreat flyers yet and thought the bulletin board would be a great eye grabber and get The Ladies eager to sign-up so that is where I began on the advertising end of things. I had it up a few weeks ago.

I am so thankful I bought a Cricut! It did most of my cutting for me. I did use all CTMH papers for the project. This is one of the most simplest of bulletin boards I've ever created but it gets the job done!

Our theme this year is TREASURE and of course with being a Mom of boys, my first thought was a Pirate's Treasure. So we are planning to set sail in search of some buried treasure, er...uh...God's Treasure anyways!

Now I've also finished up the flyers....and I'm currently working on our attendee favors. I can't wait to show off that project!

Birthday Album

2010-08-18T18:54:00.001-07:00

Here we are with nearly a month gone by and no posts from me! I have been busy creating away, just sometimes I forget to get pictures before I give my projects away!

I am sharing a gift I made for a young friend's birthday back in early July...yes it is taking me that long to post it!

I followed along with Vicki Wizniuk's Miracle 6x6 album cutting guide to create this one. There are a few differences but very subtle. I just loved how she had her's completed so I didn't deviate from that too much! There are 8 pages total but somehow I didn't get a photo of 2 pages before I gave it away.

My background cardstock choices are different colors than Vicki used and I also used the ALL SORTS MINI ALBUM (6.25"x7") rather than an Accordian Album.

Here you go...

Front Cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

OOPS! Where are they?
Pages 5 & 6

Back Cover

The pattern papers and the stickease are no longer available BUT the fun Dimensional Elements will be in the Fall/Winter Idea Book.

Thanks for looking!

SOTM Blog Hop

2010-07-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to another round of the Stamp Of The Month blog hop! This month's stamp set is called "Something Splendid". Here is a photo sampling of the images in this set:

If you have come from Jody's site, then you are on the right path!

I chose to do my creating on the new SPLENDOR Paper Pack. I used Sunflower, Chocolate and Olive Inks. I used the Stamp Rolling technique on the flower petals. I used Autumn Terracotta colored buttons with hemp accents. I used the Edge Distresser on the side of the card. The flower is also pop dotted off of the page.

Here is the creation I have for you:

When the card is closed you can see a glimpse of the strip of pattern paper just inside the right edge of the card. I just couldn't get a clear photo of the card closed.

Now hop on over to ANNETTE'S SITE to see what she has created for you!

July's SPOTLIGHT BLOG HOP

2010-07-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

This month's featured product is the My Acrylix stamp set,
CUPCAKE SPRINKLES D1336.
I LOVE this stamp set....it is a great staple for the stamp set collections.
Who gets tired of using cupcakes or receiving them? LOL.

If you have come from Adeline's blog, then you are on the right track.

What perfect timing to have this stamp set as our featured set.
Today is also my sweet friend Joy's birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOY JOY!
I made this card with you in mind....

I used the Whoops A Daisy papers on this card.
I've had these papers forever it seems and I've never used them!
The colors are perfect for my young friend so there you have it!

I used Liquid Applique on the "frosting".
I also sprinkled in some Prisma Glitter before heating the Liquid Applique.
I added sparkles to the cupcake wrapper and as a side embellishment.
The ribbon is not CTMH.

Now head on over to Tracey's blog to see what she created!

"JOY" Ride Fundraiser

2010-07-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

JOY RIDE!

A FUNDRAISER FOR JOY KENDALL

WHEN: SATURDAY, AUGUST 7th

WHERE: MOMENTUM BIKE SHOP

(17380 SMITH AVE. SANDY OREGON 97055)

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE KENDALL FAMILY TO HELP

OFFSET EXPENSES RELATED TO JOYS INJURIES.

9:00 AM : LONG RIDE STARTS

(ABOUT 25 MILES)

Entry fee for long ride is

$20.00

10:00 AM : “FUN RIDE” BEGINS

(FOR ALL AGES)

Entry fee for fun ride is

$10.00

Call or email for more information on entry procedures and forms.

ALL RIDERS ARE ENTERED INTO A RAFFLE

FOR A CHANCE TO WIN SOME GREAT PRIZES!

THERE WILL BE GOOD FOOD AND FUN FOR ALL!

DON’T FORGET YOUR HELMET!

FOR MORE INFO

EVENT ORGINIZERS: 503 347 3456 or 503-668-4334

MOMENTUM BIKE: 503 826 1070

Sandybicycleclub@yahoo.com

www.momentumbike.com

Time for ANOTHER hop....JULY SOTM

2010-06-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome back for another round of our Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop!

This month's set is called HAPPY FOREVER and features an adorable little porcupine. There are 9 fun & playful images in the set. There are a TON of consultant's participating in this month's hop so be sure to make yourself cozy and you view all the wonderful inspiration ahead.

If you have arrived here from JEN'S SITE then you are on the right path.

For my project I chose to showcase the CHALK POPPING technique. I stamped the image using VERSAMARK ink then gently CHALKED color over it to make the image POP out.

I selected papers from the Passages Level 2 Paper Packet. I used Chocolate Ribbon as my accent. The edges of all the papers are distressed with Chocolate ink.

Next stop on the hop is CARLA's SITE...

Thanks for hopping on by....ENJOY the rest of your hop!

CTMH Paper Flowers Product Spotlight

2010-06-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

I just love using Paper Flowers! CTMH carries a variety of flowers to choose from. For the Product Spotlight, I chose to use the BIG PINKS -- a packet that comes in white and pink flowers in the super HUGE sizes!

If you have hopped on over from Tracy's blog then you are on the right path....

I used the biggest Big Pink with the Bella Level 2 paper packet. The center of my flower has a crocheted flower from the White Daisy Mini-Medley Accents collection. The very center of the flower uses a decorative brad -- I had this one left over from one of the Merry Medley of Accents Connections Club Rewards.

The paper flowers are fun to use as is or ink them up for some fun!

Here are a few links to other pages on my blog where I have used Paper Flowers.
4 3/4"x 3" card - I used a Sparkle as the flowers center.
Mother's Day Card - I stamped on each flowers petal for a unique twist.
Dry Erase Boards - I accented the glass with a few white paper flowers.
Birthday Card - I used Red Sparkles on the white flowers - LOVE this!
Another Birthday Card - I used the flowers as side accents to the card.

Now hop on over to Lori's blog to see what she did with the Paper Flowers!

Journals

2010-06-12T13:31:00.001-07:00

These have taken me quite some time to actually finish! Free time isn't so "free" anymore. I either have to "steal" a minute to get things done or reward myself with "creative play" once "chores" are finished.

I'm hoping my recipients aren't peaking at my blog right now since they have not yet received them.

I covered a composition journal to personalize them up a bit. There are 3 total but the 3rd one isn't going to appear until June 15 as it will "debut" with the Paper Flowers Product Spotlight Blog Hop!

The "Kara" one uses our beautiful Veranda Creative Basics Papers. I absolutely LOVE the Veranda paper line -- I thought these colors represented my dear friend Kara quite well with her decorating choices.

The "S" one uses our Topstitch Level 2 paper packet. I thought this pack represented this recipient well with the pinks and blues.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my gifts! I know I really enjoyed making them and am sorry it took me so long to finally complete them!

Kristie

Are you ready?

2010-05-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's time for ANOTHER round of HOPPIN'!

We are featuring JUNE's Stamp Of The Month this month....

"WONDERFUL FRIEND"

If you have arrived from Mary's site then you are on the right path!

This is a vintage type stamp set with 9 images, perfect for those manly or vintage cards!
The set includes a pocket watch, neck tie, frame, argyle pattern, a corner "splotch" and 3 wordy type stamps: "The Greatest Treasures Are Invisible to the Eye & Found with the Heart", "DAD", "You are some kind of wonderful", "My Hero My Friend" circle stamp with a fleur in the middle.

I chose to use Back Country Level 1 Papers, Chocolate Ribbon, Chocolate Ink and Chocolate Brads on my card.

Your next stop on the HOP is Melissa's site.

If you get lost on the hop, here is a full list of all HOPPERS.

FUNDRAISER for JOY KENDALL

2010-05-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

As you've seen in a few of my previous posts, a young friend of mine was struck by a car on May 3 in Damascus, Oregon in front of her home. She is still in ICU but slowly improving - she is now breathing on her own!

My heart goes out to this awesome family and I would like to help out financially. I am going to be giving 100% of my commissions and override commissions to this family for ALL Close To My Heart orders placed through me for May and June.

If you would like to help, all you have to do is place an order through ME for Close To My Heart products. For any workshops scheduled during May and June I will also be giving 100% of my commissions to the Kendall family.

Click HERE to see the online SUMMER Idea Book. Scroll down that page and you will also find the Spring Idea Book. You may submit orders directly to me from either book.

Send me an email for more information to goofy.scrappers at gmail dot com if you would like to help me help this family!

Thank you!!
Kristie

Product Spotlight HOP HoP hOpPIn time....

2010-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

If you have hopped on over from Adeline's site, then you are on the right path.

Welcome along for yet another Blog Hop adventure! This month's featured product has a slightly different twist. Each participating hopper will be creating a card out of Close To My Hearts WISHES Card Confidence program......

We will be featuring CITY SCAPE from our WISHES book found on page 33. It is a 4 3/4" x 3" card -- so an itty bitty one or the perfect size for a gift card enclosure.

I created two cards using this card pattern. One sits vertically as shown in WISHES and for the other I turned on it's side to be horizontal. Each one was made for Mother's Day cards...

This first card uses the SWEET HOME PAPER PACK, Sparkles (my fav embellishment these days), Big Pinks paper flowers, May's Stamp of the Month: Cherish the Moment and Chocolate Ink.

This one uses the MOON DOGGIE PAPER PACK, Cranberry Ribbons, July's Stamp of the Month: Happy Forever and Chocolate Ink.

In order to continue on with the Blog Hop, you'll need to hop hop hop on over to Helen's site.

JOY KENDALL Fundraiser

2010-05-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

There will be another fundraiser for Joy Kendall!!

Joy was struck by a car on May 3 and still remains in the hospital. Pub 212 located in Damascus, Oregon will be holding a fundraiser BBQ on Sunday, May 16th at 1:00pm. The cost is just $10 and 100% proceeds will go to the family!

Another Card...

2010-05-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

May seems to be a busy month for card making!

Here is one I made for my Mother In Law for Mother's Day. I used Emporium papers, Big Pinks Paper Flowers, a Button tied with Hemp and Cranberry Brads.

I also used one of the "petals" from the Playful Petals stamp set over my Big Pink Paper Flower.

The top corner is rolled back to reveal a peak at what "could" be underneath.

The edges are distressed with Cocoa ink.

Thanks for looking!

JOY

2010-05-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

My young friend is in surgery right now. It began around 7:30am, it could be over soon or it may last all day long. I've been praying for Joy all morning, she is on my mind constantly in everything I do! Please take a minute to lift her up in prayers with me...

EDIT: The surgery time has been moved, she is being prepped and surgery looks to begin around 9:30am PST.

Please also be praying for the family, especially her Mom -- my dear friend! My heart breaks for her as she sits...waiting...The Lord has each one of them wrapped tightly in His arms, I pray that they are feeling it.

Prayers for a sweet young girl....

2010-05-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

A sweet dear young 10 year old friend of our family was struck by a car on Monday afternoon. She was life flighted to OHSU's Doernbecher hospital. Please take a minute to pray for this young girl and her family. Pray for the driver of the vehicle that struck her and his family as well. Miracles happen when we pray...please lift up all those involved in prayer.... Our sweet young friend knows the Lord!

There are donation sites set up to assist with the family's medical needs. Keybank is one of them as well as Hawaiian Beanz Coffee.

Thank you,
Kristie

It's Hop Hop Hoppin time....

2010-04-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another round of blog hoppin!

You have found yourself at your next stop on the Close To My Heart Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop. If you have come from Carol's blog then you are on the right path!

CHERISH THE MOMENT

Well you can cherish this moment if you'd like but I'm referring the stamp set for May! This is a set of 8 and perfect for invitations, birthday, congrat's, cherish, thank you or happy anything... Use this fun set as your focal image or tags. They'll also make great quick little journal entries on your scrapbook page.

I just love this stamp set! Each image is like a check box system to say your message -- too fun! I've enjoyed placing a decorative brad, sparkle or eyelet as my "check" mark next to what I'd like to say.

I chose to combine this set with the Bella papers and the Endless Friendship stamp set -- I am finding myself going back to this stamp set over and over again lately. I love those flowers!!

I ran with the WISHES card pattern DESIGNER TAB and added my own twist. First off, it's supposed to be a 6x6 card but I made it a 4.25 x 5.5 card. So I really just used the pattern as my inspiration and ran with it from there.

I used the Bella papers and Colonial White Cardstock.

I used my Euro Trimmer's track and measurements and a ball point pen (retracted) to create the lines -- it is embossed the old fashioned way.

Just place your paper or cardstock into the trimmer. We are NOT using the blade! I put the top of my project face down.
Decide where you'd like your lines to be, I did them at about 1/2 inch intervals.
Using the ball point pen, with the ink part retracted (no ink on my project), I pressed the ball point pen into the cutting track back and forth to create a raised line on the front of the project.
I did the horizontal lines at 1/2 inch but the vertical lines are about 1/2 inch and not full lines.

I did a little stamp rolling again on this card, I love that technique with this flower! I cut out the flower and pinched each petal to give it dimension.

There are square sparkles for my embellishments.

I used the Edge Distresser and a little Cocoa ink on the cards edges.

When you are through browsing around, be sure to hop on over to Allison's blog to see what she came up with.

Thank You's!

2010-04-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

So under the gun in the prime of tax season I managed to create 21 hand made cards to give to new clients. Our office likes to be sure and thank them for coming in and what better way to say that then with a handmade card!

I had in my stash several hand made ones and then the office had a few store bought ones to make up the difference.

So these are the remaining cards that go along with the set from my previous post... I used the Wishes "workshop" pattern to create 20 cards total, 10 different designs. I used the Veranda Creative Basics plus Vineyard Berry and Cocoa cardstocks/inks.

... we had several new clients that were men, so a few had to less flashy for them. I chose not to go all out on embellishments because I wanted to be sure there weren't any hang ups with the post office not appreciating the lumpys and bumpys! :)

Click here to see more artwork samples by Jeanette Lynton using the WISHES workshop patterns.

Product SPOTLIGHT Hop

2010-04-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Are you having fun hopping along with us?

If you have come from MELISSA's site then you are on the right path. When you are done browsing here, hop on over to your next stop at HELEN's site.

Our featured product for this month's hop are the newest released My Reflections Level 2 Paper Packets found in the front of the catalog. There are 4 new paper packs released with each catalog PLUS one bonus CREATIVE BASICS packet. The Creative Basics packet coordinates with one of the other new packs but it comes with just 2 patterns and a spool of ribbon for creating some bulk projects.

My PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT is on the Creative Basics Veranda Packet. I chose to also use one of the workshop cutting guides out of WISHES Card Confidence Program. The cutting diagram will create 20 cards, 2 of each design. I have pictured here just 4 of the designs with more to come.

I added in Vineyard Berry and Cocoa Cardstock to complement the VERANDA Creative Basics Packet.

I did my stamping with the Endless Friendship stamp set -- it debuted with the Bella Paper Packet last year but is also in the 2010 Spring Catalog on page 46. I accented some with the Creme Brulee Ribbon that came with the Creative Basics paper Packet and the others with Colonial White Mini-Medley Accents.

I used a few techniques --

2 step stamping with stamp rolling -- Stamp 2nd generation image onto project, Roll the stamp in the same ink and stamp over first image.
I stamped my flowers, cut them out, then pinched the petals to give them dimension.
Liquid Glass accent on the "daisy" like flower

Don't forget to hop on over to HELEN's site to see what she has in store for you!

Almost DONE!

2010-04-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posted much on my blog it seems...I've been working full-time as a Licensed Tax Preparer and Aministrative Assistant. So "free" time has been non-existent it seems.

But alas...one day left of full-time work until next tax season...

The Product Spotlight Hop goes live tomorrow and you will see 20 of the Thank You Cards I created for our new clients this year. Despite the growing popularity of Turbo Tax we did manage to gain over 30 new clients this year, that is a lot of thank you cards to create! Fortunately I had a good stock on hand all ready to use. :)

Thanks for bearing with me and my virtually non-existent blog. Thankfully I've been in these blog hops so I'm at least getting 2 posts per month up for you to be viewing. I've got big plans in store so stay tuned in for some major overhauling to my blog and my CTMH business!!

Kristie

April's SOTM Blog Hop

2010-03-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another BLOG HOP featuring APRIL's Stamp Of The Month
Grab yourself a comfy seat and click away at each person's creation using the featured stamp set...

FLOWER POT (set of 16)

If you have arrived from Dawn's site then you are on the right track.....

I made up a fun little Thank You card using this flowery stamp set.
It includes the "THANKS" sentiment on the card and some other phrases as well.

I did a little paper piecing and here is how:
I stamped the flower pot onto Vineyard Berry Cardstock and I cut it out,
I then sanded it lightly and pop dotted it off the card for dimension.

I also stamped a second bouquet of flowers onto VERANDA B&T duos (same as the background) and cut out the leaves. I then glued the leaves right on top of the stamped image.

I also had some of the fun rhinestone flowers from an extra sheet of the Connections Club Reward so I added those over the little flowers from the stamped image.

I sponged some chocolate ink around my White Daisy edges. Finished it all off with a White Daisy grossgrain bow.

Next stop on the hop is Shannon's site, be sure to hop on over and see what she has made!

March CTMH PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT

2010-03-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

LIQUID GLASS

If you have come from HALEY's site then you are on the right path.

I love this stuff!

Do you? Have you had the chance to use it?

Liquid Glass adds a dimension to your artwork that makes it shine or stay put.
It is a must have in my scrampin stash of supplies/tools.

Liquid Glass can be used as an embellishment or a liquid adhesive, how cool is that?

Just add a dab of it to your lumpy and bumpy embellishments for a super strong stick. I've even used it on my kids toys when a small piece has broke off. It comes in handy when you need just a little tiny area glued down and your Tombow is just too wide. I have also used it to attach fabric pieces together.

Here is a list of ways that I have used Liquid Glass on my artwork:

* On a Water Splash for a pool or beach page

* To give Shine to an Easter Egg as seen on this layout here

* On swirls on artwork for a subtle WOW factor

* As flower centers or dew drops on a flower

* Squirt a little bit of Re-Inker out and mix it with Liquid Glass for a tinted affect

How will you use Liquid Glass next?

Here is my ARTWORK SAMPLE using this fabulous little tool as my embellishment....it coordinates perfectly! LOL.

I chose to accent my B&T Duos with Liquid Glass. I added a dab to each "circle" on the paper and to each flower center. I also squirted out a big blog which dries into a great shiny clear accent instead of a brad or sparkle. Unfortunately I took my photo before the Liquid Glass was dry so you don't get the full affect. I will update the photo though so you can see a before and after of the Liquid Glass.

Now HOP on over to CINDY's site to see how she used LIQUID GLASS.

MARCH BLOG HOP

2010-02-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, at the first of the month which means it's time for another fabulous stamp of the month BLOG HOP!

This month's stamp set is called A LITTLE EVERYTHING which features several sayings stamps... Thanks, Happy, Celebrate then words to follow them such as...for your kindness; for all you do; for everything....or Birthday, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.

I chose to use the THANKS stamp on one of my Workshop On The Go cards which worked out perfectly.

SUPPLIES USED:
Topstitch Workshop On The Go Kit which includes papers, stamps and embellishments
Chocolate Embroidery Floss for a little handstitching
Colonial White brads
Sparkles

If you have come from Laura's Blog you are on the right path.

Click HERE to get to Carol's blog which is NEXT on the hop.

If you get lost on the way, visit Helen's blog which has all of the hoppers in order.

February's FEATURED Stamp Set

2010-01-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Is it February already? Time is really flying by.....

It is BLOG HOPPIN time again and this month is a
PIECE OF CAKE -- the stamp set anyways.

If you have come from Kim O'Rear's blog then you are on the right track.

I used the TOPSTITCH My Reflections Paper Packet
Chocolate & Cocoa Inks

TECHNIQUES:
The Cake is paper pieced together -- I stamped on pink paper and cut out the image and glued it to the stamped image on the blue paper.

LIQUID APPLIQUE -- squirt out a little liquid applique onto the desired surface, heat with your embossing gun and you have a fun fluffy raised image!

Now hop on over to Karen Norman's blog to see what's next!

If you should get lost at any point in the hop, you may refer back to Helen's Blog for the full participant list. Helen has also gone over and above the "call of duty" and provided a full list of the participants and links PLUS she included a brief description about the artwork or technique!

CTMH Product Spotlight

2010-01-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

I've joined in the fun with another Close To My Heart product hop. This one will feature a specific CTMH product each month which we'll refer to as:

CTMH Product Spotlight

To begin the year, we will be featuring one of CTMH's fabulous HOW-TO programs -- IMAGINE. Imagine is designed to make scrapbooking - faster, simpler, easier. I LOVE it! All of the CTMH "HOW-TO" guides have a completed color sample layout, a sketch design and cutting diagrams to complete the 2 pages.

Each participating "hopper" will be posting artwork created using IMAGINE as our guide. So come along and join us on the "hop" to view some fabulous scrapbook pages.

This hop is a continuous loop so if this is your first stop, just click HERE to get to Laurie's site next.

If you have arrived from Wendy's site then you are on the right track as I am your 2nd stop of the hop.

I used the IMAGINE book to create my Wall Calendar. I stuck primarily with cardstocks in shades to match my home. I added stamping or B&T papers to personalize each month a little bit. Here is Jan-Sept that is completed anyways.
I have labeled each photo's name with the corresponding Imagine Layout.

Don't forget to hop on over to your NEXT STOP, Laurie's blog....

After you've gone through the hop, be sure to check out Kimberly's blog for another artwork sample featuring IMAGINE. She used CTMH's fun BELLA papers for her pages, very fun! She has also included a link to Wendy's page back at the start of the hop.

Here is a list of all the sites on our hop, just in case you get lost or find a link not working!

Wendy K. - My Scrapbooking Blog - http://www.myscrapbookingblog.com/
Kristie Herdener - http://www.goofyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Laurie Flannery - http://www.westmanscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Tracy Oleksak - http://www.mamaolie.blogspot.com/
Cindy Leek - http://www.paperspadsandpictures.blogspot.com/
mestamp2 - http://www.mestamp2.blogspot.com/
Barbara - http://www.paper-creations117.blogspot.com/
Jenifer Benner - http://www.jensmessystudio.com/
Melissa - http://melissaburch.blogspot.com
Haley - http://inkyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Carol Loftus - http://www.CarolLoftus.blogspot.com
Sylvia - http://stampinsylvia.blogspot.com
SweetAline - http://www.adeline-brill.blogspot.com
Kim - http://kimorear.blogspot.com/

Are you ready for another HOP??

2010-01-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

I have signed up to participate in yet another blog hop! This one will come around the 15th of each month and we will feature a specific Close To My Heart product.

The other hop features the Close To My Heart Stamp Of The Month and is posted around the 1st of each month.

Come back tomorrow for some SCRAPBOOKING IDEAS as we feature the How-To book called IMAGINE.

Hop HOP Hoppin Time Again....

2009-12-31T18:00:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the January Blog Hop!

If you are arriving from Sheila's Site then you are on the right path.

Your next stop will be at Jen's Site .

If this is your first stop then just follow the links all the way around the loop until you end up here again.

January brings so many fun things....NEW Spring Idea Book and with that a NEW series of stamp of the months! January starts us off with a fun set of 11 images to be used as focal points, frames, accents, journal boxes......

I made up a card using new SPRING papers, VERANDA.
My card design is taken from the WISHES Card Program Book and is called GEOMETRIC.
Stamps used are TRUE FRIENDS and FOR EVERY OCCASION.
Additional supplies used were: Sparkles, Clear Buttons, Cocoa Grossgrain Ribbon, Dangles, Colonial White Waxy Flax, Cocoa and Black Exclusive Inks.

Now don't forget that your next stop is at Jen's Site.

National Paper Crafting Month

2009-12-31T11:17:00.000-08:00

CELEBRATE PAPERCRAFTING WITH THE STUNNING
FELICITY Collection!

The collection features:
decorative die-cut paper,
three gorgeous color schemes,
and a D-size stamp set that include --
flowers, flourishes, argyle patterns, birds, and an entire alphabet!

Your papercrafting possibilities are endless!

There are three ways to get the Felicity collection:

• Purchase it at full retail price for $34.95. (CC1008)

• Place an order of $60 or more in full-retail priced stamp sets (A, B, C, D, and E-size) and receive one collection FREE! (CC1008A)
Excludes: Stamp of the Month, Art & Soul,® Workshop on the
Go,™ and customizable (K) stamp sets.

• Place an order of $125 or more in full-retail priced Close To My Heart products and receive one collection FREE! (CC1008B)

The campaign also has enticing opportunities for
hostesses and new Consultants.

Hostesses get the collection FREE with a Home Gathering sales total of $400 or more,

and new Consultants who join Close To My Heart between January 1–31 will receive the collection FREE in their New Consultant Kit.

Celebrate with the Felicity Collection today!

Campaign Dates:

Customers and Hostesses: December 15, 2009—January 31, 2010

New Consultants: January 1–31, 2010

Dry Erase Boards

2009-12-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

I LOVE making these -- if you are in my family and viewing my blog, don't be surprised if you find one under your tree! LOL.

Sorry the photos are slightly blurry, the camera needed to flash but it was washing everything out.
Just click on them to view the image bigger.

I am doing a Holiday Home Based Business Bazaar this weekend so I've been creating a few handmade items to display! Here are a few of the Dry Erase boards I made up.

I also used the December Stamp of the Month some more see next post down for more details and artwork samples using this - it is so perfect for these!
All products used are Close To My Heart (except for the frames of course).

It's Hop hOp HoPpIn time....

2009-11-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

Another month has come and gone!

Are you ready to get started with another Blog Hop?

Let's go!!

This "hop's" stamp set is called:

"NOTICE THE DETAILS"
December's Stamp Of The Month
Retail is just $22.95, contact your consultant to find out how you can get it for FREE!

To see the full list of Hop hOp HoPpErs visit JENA's Site.

If you have just arrived from LAURIE's Site then you are on the right path.

If this is your first stop on the hop, then jump right on in and start from here. This is a circle hop so each site will take you to the next on the list until you've made a full loop. When you end up back here then you know you've gone full circle.

I chose to use Close To My Heart's GRACE papers for my items. I have an Altered Mini Composition Notebook with a matching Altered Paper Coaster Post It Note Holder w/matching Altered Pen.

Now hop on over to MARICAR's Site from here.

Christmas Countdown

2009-11-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

This is my workshop sample.

I absolutely LOVE Christmas time! I can not wait until Christmas, the day to celebrate Christ's birth. I think the focus of this season gets lost in all of the commercialism that has become of this glorious day. My goal this year is to make sure the focus is always on Jesus's birth and not on what everyone thinks they need to find under the tree. Our family shopping is done and all I want to hear is how or what can we GIVE to others instead of "I want this, or I need that".

Whether it be cookies for an elderly neighbor or shopping for toys for a toy drive -- December for our family is going to be all about GIVING.

When I saw these cute little Christmas countdown calendars on Leslie's Blog HERE, and later again HERE I knew I HAD to make one of my own. I'm trying to figure out how to embellish each date with ways to GIVE each day until Christmas but until then, we'll write it down on the regular wall calendar.

Here is the Christmas Countdown that I'll be displaying in my home.

front

countdown

I received a newsletter from my M.O.M.S. group with an article called "Begging For Myrrh" by Trina Conner Schaetz (also found here online). Take a minute to read it if you want to see a fun way to bring back the focus of Christmas without giving up the gifts! Because admit it, it is so much fun to see your kids faces light up when they see all the goodies under the tree. This article shares a way to explain WHY Jesus received the gifts he did and shares how you can also give your child or loved ones gifts of a similar nature and talk again about Jesus's birth. Keeping CHRIST the center of CHRISTmas. Read the article and see what you think!

Birthday Cards

2009-11-05T13:31:00.001-08:00

Today is my father in law's birthday so I of course I needed to make up a card for him, today. Yes I am always the day of kind of gal when it comes to making a card for someone! Luckily I do plan it that way, I didn't forget, that's just how I do it! LOL.

I made up 2 different cards for my hubby to choose from....

I made one with my Father In Law in mind and thought I'd make another one similar while I had the supplies out. They came out completely different really. I wonder if hubby will pick the same one I had intended!?

After I made the cards I remembered that I do have a whole stash of birthday cards from the last workshop I did using the CTMH Card Kit special. Oh well -- I like to be "original" with families cards....there are none out there just like it and made entirely with them in mind!

Supplies Used: CTMH Good Times Level 2 papers & Stickease; Everyday Celebration stamp set; Chocolate Ink Distressing, Chocolate and Twilight Stamp Pads; Colonial White Brads; non-CTMH handmade papers, hemp.

November Stamp Of The Month

2009-10-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

It is time for ANOTHER Stamp Of The Month BLOG HOP!

Are you ready to get started?

To see the full list of "hoppers" visit JENA's site.

If you have come from LORI's site, then you are on the right track.

If you are just beginning, then just start from here and follow the "path" until you get back to me.
Click on the image to see it bigger.
When I received this stamp set, the first thing I thought of was MONSTERS, INC. I had some photos still from California Adventure that hadn't been scrapbooked that were calling my name just itching to be used with this stamp of the month!

I stamped the 2 different front door images from the set randomly to create my background paper. White Daisy pigment ink onto black cardstock.

Now "hop" on over to JILL's site to continue on with the "hop".

2009-10-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Are you falling behind on your scrapbooking because you have fallen into a creative rut? Maybe you’d just like a little extra encouragement to get going on those precious pages again? Come create 2- 12x12 scrapbook layouts with embellishments. There are a few fun techniques to be taught as well!

Or maybe you would prefer to stock up on your card stash so you have a variety on hand to give to that special someone when the need arises. Come create 6 fun cards with embellishments. We will be making 2 of each of the 3 designs.

I’m inviting you to join me for a...

Take your pick workshop!

I will be conducting 2 workshops with 2 different buying options on

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30

This month’s workshop will feature CTMH’s TWITTERPATTED Level 2 Paper Packet and coordinating accessories.

Pricing depends on which “kit” you choose:

Summer Projects

2009-10-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, buy my summer was sunny and bright ALL SUMMER! Very unusual for Oregon to have next to no rain during the summer months. No rain means we are all outside enjoying the weather and NOT inside creating.

I did however create a few things for my dear friend's baby shower. I snagged up some of the fabric from the table cloths we used and added it to a few layouts to coordinate with her photos.

I also made all of the food labels with this cute little baby face punch art which was completely inspired by a scrappin' buddy of mine, Julie Anderson.

I have made all of my friends a 6x6 photo album to include with their shower gifts. I used CTMH's accordian album for this one and CTMH's beautiful Emporium papers. I just LOVE this paper packet!

To end, I made this simple little card inspired by the cover photo on CTMH's Wishes Card Program.

OCTOBER Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

2009-09-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring October's stamp set
HOLIDAY WARMTH!

If you have arrived here from Linda Shewchuk's blog then you are on the right track!

Holiday Warmth
October Stamp of the Month Stamp Set

Supplies Used:
Everlasting Level 2 Paper Packet X7085B
Cranberry My Accents
Silver My Accents
Silver Bitty Brads
Clear Inspirations Acrylics Accents
Cranberry Grossgrain Ribbon
Cranberry Organdy Ribbon
Ponderosa Pine Ink
Chocolate Ink for Distressing

Now "Hop" on over to Sheila Bennett's Blog to see her work!

If you get lost on the hop or find links that aren't working, click {here} for a complete list of participating blogs. We have 3 groups running this time around!

September Blog Hop....

2009-08-31T22:59:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love these blog hops?
September 1st is here and that means ANOTHER hop has begun!

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!
If you have arrived from Jen's site you are on the right path!

***
We will be featuring September's Stamp Of The Month

TREASURES

D1375

***
It is only available September 1-3oth so get it before it's gone. Contact your CTMH consultant right away to get your set at a discount or even for FREE during the month of September.
***
This is a fun set of 13 images and sentiments.
The images are of "wishy's" ...
you know the fun things that blow in the wind
that you try to catch and when you do you make a wish.
AKA: Dandelion Seeds
***

I chose to alter a composition notebook for my SOTM creation this month!
I made it into a prayer journal for a friend that was on my mind....

***

SUPPLIES USED:
Perfect Day papers
Bamboo Cardstock
Black Textured Cardstock
Black Stamp Pad
Playful Flourishes Stamp Set
Treasures SOTM Stamp Set
Sparkles
3D Foam Squares (on the circle)
Sponge Tools for edge ink distressing

Non-CTMH ~~ Composition Note Book and Pen

***
GHOSTING TECHNIQUE SUPPLIES USED:
Versamark Stamp Pad
Clear Embossing Powder
Bamboo Stamp Pad
Iron

***
Layout design adapted from Wishes Card Confidence Program
Windswept, page 103

***
Ghosting Technique instructions used on the "wishy" is from page 92 of Wishes CCP.
1- Stamp Image with Clear Embossing Ink
2- Emboss with Clear Embossing Powder
3- Sponge ink over image
4- Lay scrap paper over image
5- Iron over papers to remove the embossing

***

Now "HOP" on over to Jill's Site to continue on from here....

***
This month's hop has over 60 consultants again!
In case you get lost, here is a link to Jena's site which contains the list of all hoppers participating. I have also posted a list to the left of my blog.
The list is so long that not every consultant will have it posted on their site.
However, at the end of each consultant's post you will find a link to the NEXT site on the loop.

It's Here...

2009-07-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

...the August SOTM Blog Hop begins TODAY!

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!
We will be featuring August's Stamp Of The Month

It's Your Day
D1352

This set is full of fun party images, from cakes to gifts, to invitation information to just saying Happy Birthday -- this set is perfect to have on hand for your birthday needs! It is only available August 1-31st so get it before it's gone. Contact your CTMH consultant right away to get your set at a discount or even for FREE during the month of August.

***
If you have come here from Jena's Blog, you are on the right path! This is stop number 2 on the Blog Hop.
***
If you are just beginning, you have only missed 1 so far. You may start over at Jena's Blog where it all begins. This is a loop though so if you just continue on from here you will go full circle and just end with me when you've completed the loop.

***
***
Supplies Used:
Moon Doggie Level 2 Paper Packet
Colonial White Twill
Cranberry My Accents
It's Your Day Stamp Set
Images are: Cake Layers, Cake Platter, Candles and Words

Stamp Pads Used:
Cranberry
Indian Corn Blue
Garden Green
Chocolate
Sunflower
***
You can also view this previous post of mine using the It's Your Day Stamp Set on an anniversary invite here.

***
Now hop on over to Carla's Blog to see her artwork! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the August SOTM is only available until August 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!
***
If you get lost on the hop or find links that are not working, just look to the LEFT of my blog and you will find the list for AUGUST's Blog Hop. Happy Hopping!

Stay Tuned.....

2009-07-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

...for the AUGUST Stamp Of The Month BLOG HOP!

August 1 starts the new round of stamp of the month artwork featuring the exclusive stamp set "It's Your Day".

The Blog Hop will go live with contributions from 64 CTMH Consultants on August 1!
This will be your second stop of the loop.
If you want to start at the beginning go here to Jena's site.
From my site you'll be heading to Carla's site.

Stay tuned for some fabulous artwork with August's fun stamp set!

Happy Scrappin, Stampin or Scrampin!
Kristie

July Scrap Club

2009-07-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

We have our Club Group coming up on July 17 at 6:30pm in my home. Tracy H. will be our hostess this month -- yahoo for her as she gets the FREE STUFF!

Send me a note if you'd like to know how YOU too can receive FREEBIES or if you'd like to join the Scrap Club!

This month's layouts are coming from our how to book called IMAGINE. We are cruising on through the book in order and we are up to page 121-122 already. This layout is called MONOLOGUE.

Paper Used in Imagine calls for the following:

2 - 12x12 Base Pages

A good portion of the base is visible so you may opt for a color. I used black.

2 - 12x12 B&T Papers -- each a DIFFERENT patterned paper

Sheet 1 - we use a combined 12x7 portion. I used Dutch Blue Cardstock, Random Stamped.

Sheet 2 - we use a combined 12x6 portion. I used Cranberry Cardstock, Stamped.

1 - 12x12 Cardstock Paper

We use a combined 7x12 portion (2- 5x7 pieces)

Don't forget to bring your PAPER, 12" PAPER TRIMMER, ADHESIVE, PENCIL for labeling, ACCESSORIES are optional.

Here are the layouts I created using the MONOLOGUE Cutting Guide:

MATERIALS I USED:

-- CARDSTOCKS --
Black, Dutch Blue, Cranberry, Sunflower, Clover Meadow

-- ACCESSORIES --
Red Embroidery Floss
Colonial White Waxy Flax
Summer Carnival Bigger Brads
Photo Clips
Promotional Items - Red Spiral Clip, Metal Charms

CTMH Choo Choo Train Stamp Set (used the Train Tracks)
-- INKS --
Cranberry, Black

-- NON-CTMH --
Thomas the Tank Engine Rub-On
Thomas the Tank Engine Rubber Stamp
Day Out With Thomas Ticket Stubs

It's Time...July Blog Hop begins TODAY!

2009-06-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!
We will be featuring July's Stamp Of The Month
YOU'VE GOT FLAIR
(set of 8 -- D1351)

This set is full of lacy Victorian swirls and flourishes highlighting these graceful images, each one sending a message of flair and whimsy. Available July 1-31 ONLY.

I hope you'll check out each of the participating blogs - this month we have over 40 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! Remember, this stamp set is only available during JULY. Contact your CTMH consultant right away to get your set at a discount or even for FREE before it's gone!
***
If you have come here from Jan's Blog, you are on the right path!
***
If you are just beginning, you may want to click on over to Jena's Blog where it all begins. This is a loop though so if you just continue on from here you will go full circle and just end with me when you've completed the loop.
***

Supplies Used:
Bella Level 2 Paper
Hollyhock RicRac
Sparkle
Chocolate Ink for distressing
Hollyhock Marker

Card is from our new Card Layout Book WISHES by Jeanette Lynton called It's A Wrap
***

Supplies Used:
Dutch Blue Cardstock
Black Cardstock
White Daisy Cardstock
Sand Paper
White Daisy Bigger Brads
TECHNIQUE TIP for the White Brads: I rubbed Staz On Black ink onto my White Brads since I did not have any bigger brads in black! Quick and easy little trick. Staz On is permanent so no rubbing back off!

Card Layout Design is from MOJO MONDAY Sketch #90

***

Now hop on over to Alanna's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the July SOTM is only available until July 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!
***
"If you get lost on the hop or find links that aren't working,
here is a complete list of participating blogs:
Jena Devries
Wendy Kessler
Sherry Thompson
Dawn Heuft
Brae Montgomery
Melissa Laverty
Karen Norman
Deb Young
Adeline E Brill
Tammy Lea Pinchard
Jen Rubio
Cibele Glazer
Laurie R Newton
Kami Welter
Helen Onulak
Sarita Schraeder
Chris Shouse
Paige Dolecki
Dawn Ross
Jamia Bankhead
Nona Davenport
Haley Dyer
Misty Jackson
Jennifer Patrick
Carla Ironside
Jody Gustafson
Heather Painchaud
Julia Menssen
Lori Miller
Pamela O'Connor
Reba Poquette
Anne Beck
Shallon Pelletier
Caren Goldsein
Jan Moxey
Kristie Horness-Herdener
Alanna Moses
Leslie Markland
Barbara Otten
Traci Godbee
Jill Lucas
Amy McVey
Laurie Levnik

I'm so excited.....

2009-06-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

I received my FIRST blog award! How fun is this?

Thank you to Carol Labuski for selecting me as a recipient to this award. Now I must choose others who I feel show great attitude and gratitude.

Congratulations to the following bloggers:

1. Tina
2. Wendy
3. Michelle
4. Vicki
5. Jen

The rules to the award is as follows:

*comment on this blog
*cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog
*nominate 5 to 10 blogs that shows great attitude and gratitude
*link your nominees with your blog post
*comment on their blogs to let them know they won the award
*link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation!

Random Cards

2009-06-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

I received a card kit in the mail a few years ago. I was digging in my cupboards looking for something else when this kit fell onto my head. Now I do not remember where they came from, perhaps it was just a freebie in the mail -- but I finally put them together! I kind of followed the photo but I definitely added some touches to a few of them.

This first one I did a major overhaul on. It was a Valentine's Card originally, not something I need in my card stash. It's my favorite of the set.

The papers are on where they should be but I added a ribbon to separate the polka dot and stripe papers and another ribbon piece tied off of the wording.

I used RUSTIC FLOWERS stamp set in Vineyard Berry and Barn Red for accents. I used my little label maker for the "FOR YOU" sentiment. Pewter brads were used as well.

This next card is done pretty much like the photo. I sponged on some Blush Ink around the edges. The Chipboard "h" was cardboard color so I went over it with some white paint slightly and then sponged Blush Ink on over it. I also used Blush Ink on the flower circles. I added the clear buttons to the flower centers.

This card was very basic. It came with the two tone cardstock base. I simply sanded it and did the rest as pictured. Not much creativity on my part!

The 4th card -- well here it is! It is exactly how the picture showed it. The base cardstock already had the colors on it in the triangle directions, it came with the phrase "I'm glad you're in my life" that is adhered with brads or staples. Oh I did pop dot the FRIEND circle off the card front! That was my addition I guess. :)

As you can see -- I've been busy creating, just not sharing with you as quickly as I'd like to! I think it's that whole sharing the computer thing with others in the household and sunny weather -- it takes time to snap the photo, upload it, edit it and then post it. Thanks for checking back in!

Happy Scrappin, Stampin or Scrampin!
Kristie

July Club coming soon....

2009-06-27T18:21:00.001-07:00

Here we are again at the end of a month. It's time to start my planning for my July Scrapbook Class coming up on July 17th -- the THIRD Friday this month.

We just took our youngest son to the Mt Hood Railroad to go for a ride on a coach with a life size Thomas the Tank Engine pulling them! We took one of his friends with us and they had an absolute BLAST! My son has not stopped talking about it and this was a week ago now.

My son is a HUGE Thomas fan (and Lightning McQueen) so we were very excited to get tickets to share this day with him. We told him about it the night before and he could not fall asleep -- at 10:30 I was still hearing him sing the Thomas Tune and saying how much he LOVES THOMAS!

Back to club....our next layout in the IMAGINE Layout Sketch book by Jeanette Lynton is MONOLOGUE. Selecting which pictures to use is always the part that takes the longest for me in preparing Club Layouts. Since we had such a memorable, busy day I couldn't wait to print the pictures and get them onto pages for my kiddo to relive and enjoy! I went with those photos to select my papers for Club.

I bought a CHEAPO Thomas Stamp at the event and random stamped Thomas to make my own B&T (background and texture paper). I stamped Thomas onto Dutch Blue Cardstock, used Cranberry Cardstock to Accent and laid it all out onto Black Cardstock.

Here is the bare bones layout -- before adding photos and accessories -- that we'll be cutting out together at our next club.

Nothing is glued into place yet -- I tend to like to pull it apart and rearrange from the basic guide provided in the sketch book. So I just snapped a quick photo of the basic layout.

I'm nearly done with this page layout, I'll get them posted some time next week. Let's just say the general layout is the same but I've added a lot of elements to this one -- stamping, accessories, colored cardstocks! I'm really anxious to share it with you! Now if our schedules would just slow up enough for me to get it finished.....

Happy Scrappin, Stampin or Scrampin!
Kristie

July SOTM Blog Hop COMING SOON.....

2009-06-20T10:04:00.001-07:00

Have you heard of a Blog Hop?

There will be a starting blog and an ending blog that forms a loop and each one on the loop will have artwork featuring Close To My Heart's Stamp Of The Month.

This is a special stamp set available during it's designated month only and at reduced prices. I will be participating with other consultants who have all created artwork using that featured stamp set. So you will get lots of ideas on how to use this exclusive set.

July's SOTM is called "You've Got Flair", I think it is great for creating your own backgrounds or making floral bouquets like these featured in CTMH's artwork sampling shown here.

I’m so excited about the July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. There are 44 CTMH Consultants participating! In order to make the hop run smoothly, I’m testing out links to Jan’s Blog, she’ll be the one that visitors are coming from and Alanna’s Blog, she’ll be the one that you’ll jump to after mine. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with! Watch for the "loop" to begin on July 1!

Look at this sunset......

2009-06-09T18:56:00.001-07:00

....need I say more?

The sun is so big and close it was like you could
reach out and touch it...

... or could you?

This photo was taken of my son in Seaside, Oregon last night ---
isn't God's glory magnificent?

We have a great collection of photos from our quick family trip that I can't wait to print out and scrapbook!

Color Challenge and Mojo Monday

2009-06-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

The weather has cooled off a bit, everyone was busy with their own activities leaving me with a minute to myself last night!

I've had a fun card in mind since I saw the Mojo Monday Week 88 Card posted.

The ironic thing is I had some colors in mind to use on this Mojo Monday card but hadn't had a chance to get to it. Then Jeanette Lynton posted her Color Me Monday challenge from June 1, 2009 with a couple of the same colors I had in mind.

Here are the two challenges:

And here is what I came up with!

I did not use Grey Wool in my card.
I did use Cocoa ink with the Stipple Brush to antique my edges.
Everything is CTMH except for the chipboard H.
It was an extra I had so I did paint it White with the CTMH Acrylic Paint.
Then I brushed on Cranberry Reinker over the dry paint with the fan brush.
Next I used the stamp pad directly to the H giving more of the "lines" across it.

Supplies Used:
Cranberry, Twilight, Cocoa Stamp Pads
White Daisy Paper Flowers
Cranberry Organdy Ribbon
Cranberry Sparkles (retired)
Cranberry Cardstock
Heavenly Blue Cardstock
B&T Duo from Emporium Paper Packet

Up for a Challenge...

2009-05-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Each week Jeanette Lynton, the creative mind behind Close To My Heart, is coming up with a Color Challenge. She has shared 3 different ones on her site with us so far. I haven't had the chance to play around with these combo's myself but I intend to and will share the artwork when I have. For now, take a peak and see what you think! If you'd like to share your artwork here, I'll see if I can't find out how to add that capability to my blog! I'd love to see what you do with it! For now, email it to me and I'll add it into the post.

The first challenge is Heavenly Blue using Garden Green, Desert Sand, and Sorbet as secondary and supporting colors. Follow this link to see how Jeanette used these colors together in her artwork..

The following week she shared Juniper as her focal color with the neutrals Vanilla Cream, Bamboo and Desert Sand to complement. Here is the link to Jeanette's post with the artwork.

Jeanette's most recent post was from this Monday using Indian Corn Blue as the focal color, White Daisy and a hint of Sorbet and Taffy. I would probably never have tried these combo's together but Jeanette displayed it very nicely. Here is the link to this combo posting and artwork.

May 2009 Club Layouts

2009-05-11T12:21:00.001-07:00

I have finished them....for now anyways......

Before adding photos...

With photos, distressing, hemp, journaling....

WHAT TO BRING TO CLUB:

12" Paper Trimmer (I have extras you may borrow if you do not have one)
Scissors -- you never know when you may need them
Pencil - to label your cut pieces

DYNAMIC DUO on page 48 of Imagine is our next layout in the book

2 - 12x12 Base Pages
(I used Desert Sand)
(if you are using Creative Memories pages, then those are your base pages)
2 - 12x12 Cardstocks, each a different color
(I used Ind. Corn Blue and Black)
2 - 12x12 Patterned Papers, each a different pattern
(I used surf boards and blue pattern)

I used the Moon Doggie papers.
I added Sunflower Cardstock for the sunset photos.
The Moon Doggie comes with the Indian Corn Blue and Desert Sand Cardstocks.

I did a little PHOTO Sanding on this one.....yes I sanded my photo's edges!
You can distress just about anything!
I also used Desert Sand ink for my ink distressing.

I used Dimensional Elements for my photo labels.
I used Hemp to attach the labels.
I also journaled right onto one of my duplicate sunset photo's.
It is also sanded to lighten it up some and remove the gloss.

I used the Window Charms on top of the 3 smaller surfin pictures
to draw your eye to the surfer -- ME!

Let me know if you have questions!

Happy Scrappin, Stampin or Scrampin!
Kristie

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2009-05-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

To all of you MOMS out there -- just wanted to drop a line wishing you a Happy Mother's Day!! I'll have my Mom's Day card posted soon for you. I can not get enough of the new Bella paper packet and used it again!

EDIT:It is now "soon" and here is my Mom's Day Card...

Happy Mother's Day!

PS -- my Scrapbook Club Layouts are assembled, I have not had a chance to embellish them yet. It's been a crazy week in my house with not much ME time. ;)

Dynamic Duo Page 48/49 of IMAGINE
Here is the bare bones layout before photos/embellishments/journaling. I will be doing a few page element swap arounds on the exact paper placements though in order to better suit my photos.

Club meets at 6:30pm on Friday at inde-scrap-able!, send me an email or leave a comment to RSVP as space is limited.

Happy May Day!

2009-05-01T08:26:00.001-07:00

I am so in love with the new Close To My Heart Summer Idea Book! Each time I open it my wish list grows. Beginning today, I can now accept orders from the Summer Idea Book!

I received my Bella papers last week and couldn't wait to begin playing with them! I'm hoping to get some layouts together using the new Moon Doggie papers and my photos from my summer in California from 1993!

Off to the right you will see the card I made up really quickly actually. Here are the materials I used:

Bella Level 2 Paper Packet ($12.95)
Tickled Pink limited time kit ($34.95 or free with $60 My Acrylix Stamp Purchase)
Pansy Purple Stamp Pad ($5.25)
Hollyhock Stamp Pad ($5.25)
Sparkles ($2.95)

Card Pattern is from Originals Card Confidence Program -- Cubes and Colors
WISHES, the new Card Confidence Program goes live today too!

Happy Scrappin, Stampin or Scrampin!

My Latest Projects for "Hire"

2009-04-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me to create some party invites for her. I came up with a couple samples off hand going off of small tidbits she shared with me. I believe the goal was to appeal to both women and men so we didn't want it too feminine.
Here is what she chose:

(I attempted to blur out the text JUST IN CASE a recipient could be peaking)

There is a pocket on the inside for adding maps and area information for those out of town guests. A fun little touch so that the extra papers don't just fall out of the card!

I also created an extra card using the same format for her to give to the guest of honor if she so chooses. I was dying to add a little more girly flair on this one so I had fun stamping on paper flowers to coordinate the other colors used. Here is the end product for that:

I had to make a more frilly choice with a matching envelope, I couldn't resist ....All products used are from Close To My Heart

The phrase is from the TICKLED PINK National Scrapbook Day Campaign.

Happy Stampin, Scrappin or SCRAMPIN!

6x6 Album Workshop

2009-04-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Today was the big day for the 6x6 Display Album Workshop. I think it all went very well -- following cutting diagrams can be challenging and tedious but we all made it through!

I am happy to have met some new scrappers/paper crafters. I hope to see you again soon at my next workshop! Most workshops have the pieces precut so they aren't all like this one. However I find it good to go over how to use a paper trimmer here and there and demonstrate how to maximize the use of your beautiful papers by cutting the pieces out together.

Here are the page layouts for anyone needing a peak to finish up the embellishments.

6x6 Album Workshop

2009-04-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

I will be teaching a workshop this coming weekend. We are nearly out of spaces so if you were on the fence before about signing up ...... get your call into inde-scrap-able! right away to save your spot! (503.826.1600)

We will be creating 12 - 6x6 Scrapbook Pages together complete with embellishments!

The workshop will include papers, embellishments, album, and page protectors to complete 12 layouts for $25 or supplies for 2 albums for $40.

These make great Mother's Day Gifts, Baby Shower Gifts, Wedding/Anniversary Gifts, or even Theme Albums such as Zoo Trips which is what I am using these Outdoor Page Samples for.

This workshop is Saturday, April 25 at 10am. There are 3 kits to select from:

Kit #1 Blues/Greens/Browns

Kit #2 Pinks/Browns/Creams

Kit #3 Outdoorsy

HaPpY BiRThDaY TANYA!

2009-04-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

My sister in law's birthday was the other day. I made her a card that I thought came out super cute so I snapped some pictures before she received it so I could share it here with her permission!

Here is the front of the card:

and a side view:

All products are from Close To My Heart.

Instructions:

I used a sheet of polka dot B&T from the Silhouette Paper Pack.
The pink is Hollyhock.

I used my fancy edge Scallop Scissors on the Hollyhock Carckstock and the Silhouette Polka Dot B&T. I glued both of those down onto a Colonial White Cardstock Base.

The Cupcake image is a stamp from Cupcake Sprinkles Stamp Set.
I stamped out the cupcake wrapper and top onto cardstock.
I applied Liquid Applique to the cupcake top and heated with an embossing gun.
I stamped another cupcake wrapper onto white cardstock and cut it out.
I adhered it with pop dots to the base cupcake.
I used a Paper Piercer to punch holes into the cupcake icing and used Tiny Black Brads for sprinkles.
I squirted out a little Liquid Glass on the brads and put on some prisma glitter for a shimmer affect.
I added Clear Sparkles for a little "bling" to the cupcake wrapper.
The entire cupcake is pop dotted off the card.

I used Paper Flowers with a Clear Sparkle to each of their centers.

The Happy Birthday Tag is chipboard with the words stamped on. Liquid Glass was applied with a little Prisma Glitter added to it.

Happy Stampin, Scrappin or SCRAMPIN! Kristie

Changes To My Blog

2009-04-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working on adding personal touches to my blog today......leave me a note in the comments letting me know what you think. I will randomly select a winner to mail out a scrappin surprise to! Be sure to leave a comment though with your first name and last initial so I can determine who the prize is going to! Kristie

Centerpiece

2009-03-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the school at our church held a fundraiser event. It was a dessert and comedy night. OMG -- I laughed so hard! Tim Hawkins came and performed the comedy act -- he was fantastic!!

We also were entertained with students from the school, some performed and others had works of art displayed for us to view

Part of the fundraiser portion was the dessert. A hostess prepurchased a table for 8 and then sold the seats. The hostess was to create a centerpiece and a dessert. The table's display was voted on. My friend Kara had a table and asked for a little help brainstorming how to put her table idea together. She wanted to go with a paint theme as she and her husband own an exterior/interior paint business.

She had an idea of a paint can tipping and I had the same thought prior to her sharing her idea on using a paint can tipped over overflowing with fruits into a paint tray. How funny we were thinking the same thing! This totally helped us to work together since we had the same visual idea!

Kara paint splattered a drop cloth for our table cover. She used Fiesta Ware for our dishes -- the bright colors worked great for the paint theme! She also screwed a paint can to some boards elevate it up in the air to obtain that pouring out affect.

She then filled the paint can and paint tray with fruits. There were a couple other paint cans on the table filled with fruits as well so those sitting on the back of the display could still munch -- it was an edible centerpiece after all!

We used tomato paste cans with the labels removed, filled with weights and tissue paper for "paint". We stuck a paint brush in teh center and put the place cards into the paint brush. The place cards were made with paint chips.

The linen's were tied with a knot and a paint brush placed inside the knot. These were placed at the top of each place setting. We set the silverware on a paint chip as well since the napkin was elsewhere.

Kara made some YUMMY chocolate covered cheesecake bites and an ice cream cake. The plates were drizzled with caramel. We had a fun evening out!

So if you need any painting done this summer be sure to contact 4R Painting LLC

Cupcake Card Workshop

2009-03-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

The workshop and scrap day up at Inde-Scrap-Able! in Sandy was a HUGE hit!
There were 17 spaces sold for the workshop. Two were unable to attend but took card kits home. I think everyone had a good time and walked away with 4 fun birthday cards for only $7.

The first card took some time to complete. That was because we had to wait for the stamps and inks to pass around the room. Fortunately, that was the only card I had not prestamped in advance. I figured everyone would want to play with CTMH's fabulous stamps -- the My Acrylix make it SO EASY to stamp.

Here are the cards we made:

Products used are all CTMH except white ribbon on the first card.

I designed each of the cards using the basic layout from CTMH's ORIGINAL's Card Sketch book.

Card 1 -- stamped with Hollyhock wrapper and Creme Brulee frosting with Hollyhock sprinkles onto cardstock. Stamped extra Hollyhock wrapper onto regular printer paper and accordian folded on the white lines.

Using either Liquid Glass or the CTMH 2 way glue pens -- apply glue. If using Liquid Glass sprinkle Prisma Glitter while adhesive is still wet. If you are using a 2 way glue pen allow the glue to dry. Stick your finger into the Prisma Glitter and rub it around the glue. This method uses less glitter.

Edges of the card were inked with black to make it POP some what. Cardstock pieces were all sanded. Used a white brad to hold on the little HAPPY BIRTHDAY tag.

Paper is Daydream paper packet and Lilac Mist cardstock.

Card 2 -- stamped Chocolate ink for wrapper, masked it off and stamped Tulip frosting with chocolate sprinkles. The image is cut out and pop dotted onto white cardstock which is edged in chocolate ink.

The top corner of the card is just dog eared over so you see the pattern on the back of the paper (B&T Duos means there are patterns on both sides of the paper). Colonial White brad on the dog ear.

Paper is Perfect Day paper packet and Chocolate Cardstock.

Card 3 -- stamped Barn Red ink for wrapper, masked it off and stamped Twilight ink in 2nd generation for frosting and Barn Red sprinkles. Image is cut out and glued flat onto the Black cardstock.

Cardstocks are sanded. Three Antique Copper Brads used.

Papers are Sarsparilla paper packet with Barn Red, Twilight and Black cardstocks.

Card 4 -- stamped Chocolate ink for wrapper, masked it off and used Twilight in second generation with Vineyard Berry sprinkles. Image is cut out and pop dotted off the card.

White strip in the center of the card is a 12"x1/2" strip of White Daisy cardstock. Spritz with water and scrunch it up. Applied a bead of Liquid Glass across the card. Stick down each end of the cardstock strip first then scrunch the center to fit. It gives the appearance of a gathered ribbon.

Papers are Emporium paper packet with Vineyard Berry, Chocolate and White Daisy cardstocks.

CTMH March Product Highlight

2009-03-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

LIQUID GLASS

I love this stuff!

Do you? Have you had the chance to use it?

Liquid Glass adds a dimension to your artwork that makes it shine or stay put.

It is a must have in my scrampin stash of supplies/tools.

Liquid Glass can be used as an embellishment or a liquid adhesive, how cool is that?

Just add a dab of it to your lumpy and bumpy embellishments for a super strong stick. I've even used it on my kids toys when a small piece has broke off. It comes in handy when you need just a little tiny area glued down and your Tombow is just too wide. I have also used it to attach fabric pieces together.

Here is a list of ways that I have used Liquid Glass on my artwork:

* On a Water Splash for a pool or beach page

* To give Shine to an Easter Egg as seen on this layout here

* On swirls on artwork for a subtle WOW factor

* As flower centers or dew drops on a flower

How will you use Liquid Glass next?

Here is my ARTWORK SAMPLE using this fabulous little tool....

Now HOP on over to _______ site to see how she used LIQUID GLASS.

March Scrapbooking Class

2009-03-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

My March Scrapbooking Class is coming up on March 13. We will be meeting up at Inde-scrap-able in Sandy again. Guests are welcome to join us -- I just need a RSVP as seating is limited.

This month's layout format is coming from IMAGINE a CTMH publication by Jeanette Lynton.
We are on page 47, MINUET.

SUPPLIES LIST:
2 - 12x12 base pages (where you see the Moonstruck - dark blue on my samples is the BASE page)
1 - 12x12 patterned paper (2 strips near the sides of the layouts)
1 - 12x12 cardstock (this is where I used Topiary - green)
2 - 12x12 cardstocks same color (I used Dutch Blue - light blue - 2nd cardstock sheet ONLY uses a 5x5 square).

As is always the case -- be sure to also bring the following:

12" Paper Trimmer
ADHESIVE
Pencil for labeling pieces

Here is my layout before adding photos following the instructions exactly.

Here is my layout after adding my photos and title. I actually did not add embellishments to this aside from the Chipboard Letters for my title.

HOW TO CREATE THIS LOOK:

I used STARDUST Paper Pack. I added Dutch Blue Textured Cardstock and Topiary Textured Cardstock. The pack comes with the topiary but not the dutch blue. I also added touches of Cranberry Cardstock.

I used the CTMH Sanding Block and Edge Distresser and the My Legacy Writers for my "journaling" notes.

For the title,
I first used chipboard letters by CTMH -- Dimensional Classic Alphabet. I held the white chipboard letters in my hand and gently brushed my Dutch Blue ink pad across the letters. I cut Cranberry Cardstock slightly smaller then the chipboard and adhered it to the backs. The M is one of CTMH's chipboard Monogram letters.

I cut small rectangles from scrap photo pieces I had and stamped C A P E and H O U S E on those pieces and matted them on Cranberry as well.

I chose to add red accents to the Stardust Paper Pack because this lighthouse has a Fresnal Lens. A little lighthouse history for you... It is an eight-sided lens with 4 primary lenses and 4 bull's-eye lenses with red panels covering the bull's-eye lenses. The lens made one revolution every 4 minutes. It produced about 30 seconds of fixed white light from the primary lens followed by a red flash of 5 seconds from the bull's-eye lens once every minute. This was the signature of the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

Card Workshop

2009-02-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

As you can see I have a card workshop coming up in March. It will be held at in-de-scrap-able! located in Sandy. I am so excited -- we will be using all Close To My Heart products on the cards and they are so cute featuring the "Cupcake Sprinkles" stamp set by CTMH.

The samples are on display at the scrapbook store and I didn't get a picture before I dropped them off. I'll try to get in this week to snap some pictures to put on here for you to see.

EDIT: The workshop has sold out! HOORAY, thanks for signing up it is going to be so much fun!!

I will be teaching a Display Album in April, details TBA. These are the albums I used at last year's workshop. They were such a hit that I'm doing them again! Send me a note if you are interested in the details.

Happy Scrappin, Stampin or Scrampin.....

Party Time and.....

2009-02-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

You’re Invited To A Birthday Party…

And boy do we have cupcakes on the brain!

in-de-scrap-able has a jammed packed celebration planned for you!

Would you like to make 4 birthday cards to give to that special someone in your life?

How about taking some time for yourself to work on a few of your crafting projects?

Does the idea of crafting without the stress of preparing dinner sound appealing?

Join us for a day of fun!

We’ll start the day off at 10am with a Cupcake Birthday Card workshop using some scrumptious CUPCAKES as our focal image, taught by Kristie Herdener. Then from 1pm-10pm there will be open table time to scrapbook/paper craft. Dinner will be provided as well as salad and dessert. There will be snacks during the day and of course CUPCAKES from Cupcake-a-licious. What’s a party without the actual cake right? And prizes throughout the scrap day!!

WHAT: There are two ways to participate.....

Option One: Cupcake Workshop Only --- 10am-12pm --- $7

Will include 4 Cupcake Cards and Supplies (please bring your own scissors and adhesive all other materials will be supplied).

Artwork samples are available in the store at in-de-scrap-able!

BEST VALUE - Option Two: Workshop/Scrap Package --- 10am-10pm --- $25

Will include Cupcake Workshop, Table Time, Cupcake-a-licious “cuppy cakes”, dinner with salad and dessert, snacks in between and Door Prizes

Scrap Day set up will be begin at Noon after the Cupcake Card Workshop

There will be Cupcake-a-licious "cuppy cakes" on sale for those who will not be participating in the extended festivities.

WHEN: Saturday, March 14 at 10am

PRE-REGISTRATION :

Space is limited so pre-registration with payment is required to save your spot.

16 spaces for the workshop and 10 spaces for the day scrap.

***Registration fee is non-refundable and required for supplies/food***

(If you are not comfortable registering because of possible commitments, you may call me on March 13th to check for available space.)

To register, please call during store hours with debit or credit card # available, email me ( m.alker@verizon.net ) and send check to the address below or stop in.

If registering by email please indicate workshop($7) or workshop/scrap($25)

Michelle Alker, Store Owner inde-scrap-able!
38776 Pioneer Blvd Sandy, OR. 97055
503.826.1600

Workshops On The Go

2009-01-15T16:19:00.001-08:00

A hint of nostalgia and old world charm makes Close To My Hearts Emporium Paper packet especially suitable for preserving your most cherished memories. At this month's workshop I will also be teaching you how to create special artistic affects using a rubber brayer!

ORDER THESE ITEMS TODAY:
D1330 Connections My Acrylix Stamp Set
X7105B Emporium Level 2 Paper Packet
X7105C Emporium My Stickease
Z1146 Pewter Designer Brads

Optional:

9030	Imagine™
E1003	My Acrylix® Boutique Alphabet
Z2114	Cocoa Exclusive Inks™ Pad
Z2153	Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks™ Pad
Z616	Rubber Brayer
Z1294	Sanding Kit

It's a New Year, what is your resolutions?

2009-01-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

I hear this phrase quite often...

How do you have time to scrapbook/paper craft?

Honestly, I don't have EXTRA time to scrapbook - I have to make scrapbooking time a priority. I am a Stay At Home Mom with a toddler in the house and a husband that is here as well. My husband is in the process of becoming self employed. So I have a lot of interruptions to say the least.

I am one that also feels guilty scrapbooking if there is housework needing to be done. Once I get going on a project I don't want to stop so the household chores can pile up. I am learning to prioritize my responsibilities.

One thing I have found to make it easier and a little more guilt free is to have designated days for some things such as laundry. Before my husband left his previous job to work on his own employment ambitions my schedule was like this:

Sunday is church day. We have Church and Sunday School in the morning and AWANA's in the evening. No plans in between other then preparing a "lunner" or reading. Quiet day.

Monday would be grocery day and local errands if necessary.

Tuesday/Wednesday would be scrubbing sinks and toilets and sweep/mopping or running errands in town with dh. If we were gone Tuesday then Wednesday would be scrubbing day.

Thursday would be laundry day. Easy task - just time consuming. Thursday was also dh's night back to work after his weekend.

Vacuuming is a noisy task. I only have carpets upstairs in the bedrooms. No shoes or dirt so not a daily task. I didn't necessarily have a designated day for vacuuming since dh would sleep during the day. That came when he was out of the house when it fit around other tasks.

Daily tasks are playing with my toddler, dishes/kitchen and sweeping.

When do I do my creative time? I would use Thursday evening for that when dh was working nights. This way it didn't interfere in the weekend activities or if friends would call for a get together. It was the end of the week so if I was up late creating - I didn't have a full week ahead to be exhausted.

Now that he is home all the time, I have a harder time making an evening to scrapbook. I do designate a day and tell everyone, this is important to me and I'd like to get work on my projects. If I'm staying on top of my daily responsibilities then I don't feel guilty about having ME time.

When are you scheduling some paper crafting time for yourself? You have the supplies -- make it a priority and get to it! Start with small blocks of time -- 2 hours. If you don't have a space to leave the "mess" out. Invest in a flat 12" storage box where you can lay what you've begun into and/or a bin to keep the supplies still being used in so it is ready to grab and go and get back to it next time.

Are you going to set aside a day a week or a day a month for paper crafting? Leave me a comment if this is something you are struggling with and want to squeeze in more time for.

Stay tuned -- I am in the process of creating my wall calendar. It is all black and white inks and papers and I can't wait until it is finished. I will post January and February pictures here shortly. No photos on the layouts yet though. I'll do that when the entire calendar is done.

2009-01-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

I thought I would break down the supplies list by pointing out how where I used each of the papers on my layouts. I hope this helps in your paper selections.

I chose to use Grey Cardstock for my base pages.

Cardstock sheet number 1 is Desert Sand Textured Cardstock.

Cardstock sheet numbers 2 & 3 are Colonial White Textured Cardstocks. These are the photo mats and the strip along the bottom. Sizes in the Imagine book are 5x7, I trimmed mine a little to fit my pictures a little closer.

B&T Paper number 1 is the plaid design from Sarsparilla Paper Packet.

B&T Paper number 2 is the black/barn red swirly design Sarsparilla Paper Packet.

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES

I used twill ribbon along the bottom with pewter photo hangers for my MAKE YOUR OWN BUCKLE.
White Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush

Stamp Sets Used

Moments in Time, January 2009 Stamp Of The Month (calendar image)
Star Struck (circles and arrows)
Chocolate Alphabet (large)
Frienship Alphabet (small)

Using Acrylic Paint On Your Paper Crafting Projects

2009-01-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can not believe we are into January already!! Where did my time go? I instruct a scrapbooking class the 2nd Friday of every other month in my home. This month we will be meeting at the NEW Scrapbooking store inde-scrap-able! in Sandy on Friday. Michelle has a nice sized workroom so I'm hoping we'll fit a little better then we do in my home.

I will be showing how to use Acrylic Paint on your layouts. I find it to be a great alternative to sanding or tearing for a distressed or aged look. I like to use WHITE and add a few drops of Close To My Heart stamp pad reinker for custom colors to match my layouts perfectly. Since everyone selects different color schemes for their pages, we'll just be using white this week.

Layouts are from IMAGINE page 44 THREE-PART HARMONY
Required WHAT TO BRING LIST:

2 - 12x12 base pages (These are the pages we do the layering on top of. The bases are very visible so you may choose a color to use rather then just white).
2 - different patterns of 12x12 papers (2 sheets total each a different coordinating pattern)
3 - 12x12 cardstock papers (2 are the SAME color and 1 different color)
Paper Trimmer
ADHESIVE (if you forget yours or run out I will have extra available for sale at catalog prices)
Pencil
Scissors

OPTIONAL Supply Items
Ribbon
Photo Hangers
Accessories
Distressing items (coordinating ink, sand paper, edge distressor)
*PHOTOS -- layout uses 3 - 6x4 photos vertical; 2 - 3x2.5 photos vertical; 1 -2x2
*Title block is 2.5x5.5
*Journal block is 1x9

*I have altered the orientation of my layout to better accomodate my pictures. I used 2 photos trimmed to 3.75x5.75 to sit horizontal, 1 photo 4x6 horizontal, 1 photo 6x4 vertical, 1 photo 2.75x2.75.
My title and journal blocks are not placed how the layout photos are.

Acrylic Paint can be applied by dapping, swiping, painting, brushing, sponging or stamping your images. You can add the paint to your papers or even your embellishments (brads, ribbons, chipboard elements, buttons, etc) -- really, the possibilities are endless!

You might choose to use Acrylic Paint in lieu of chalks, inks, sanding/distressing.

Squirt a little paint on to your paint palette found in the Close To My Heart Distressing Kit.

Mix in reinker if you'd like color, or leave it white.

The Distressing Kit comes with several different tools you can use as applicators. For our class I'm just using the flat paint brush.

Dab the paint brush into the paint, then dab it off to the side to get the bulk of it back off the brush. I am going for subtle accents, you can always add more paint back on but I suggest you start light.

Gently brush the edges of your pages with the paint. Don't worry about perfection -- this technique does not have a correct way. Press a little more on areas you wish to be whiter. Use a gently touch for areas you just want that slight sanded look.

Acrylic Paint dries REALLY fast so you can add your page elements right away.

Another option is to brush a little paint onto your stamps themselves and stamp them directly onto the paper or title block. I would use a foam brush for this and dab it onto the stamp.

Painting makes a great photo mat -- you can brush some directly onto the edges of your photo, to the edges of the paper mat, or directly onto the page background.

To paint your embellishments, add paint and leave it or cover it with a gloss overcoat. Custom colored page accents.

Perhaps you are out of your favorite shade of cardstock. Add a little paint to alter the color of something else you have. Or paint over it with white as a primer and then paint again in a coordinating color to complete your project.

Maybe your pattern is a little too bold for the project you have in mind -- go over it with a light coat of white paint to soften it up.

Don't have reinker? Paint your paper with white paint then sponge your stamp pad color over it. Chalk also adheres to the paint quite nicely.

So many possibilites to be found with Acrylic Paint and your paper projects! I hadn't tried it out until I did these layouts but I'm LOVING the ease of this technique. Acrylic Paint is inexpensive -- just a $1.95 through Close To My Heart. The distressing kit comes with paint and brushes....

Distressing Kit (page 102 of the Spring 2009 Idea Book) Z1299 $35.95
Comes with the following:
6 texture tools (2 foam, 2 stipple, 1 sea sponge, 1 black stubble)
6 pieces of sand paper
3 paint brushes (1" flat, 1" foam, 1" fan)
2 distressing ink pads (black and chocolate)
1 Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paint (2 oz)
1 edge distresser
1 sanding block
1 emery board
1 paint tray with mixing sticks
1 frosted plastic carrying box

School is almost out....

2008-12-12T11:59:00.000-08:00

One test left to go and I'll be finished. I'm hoping once Saturday comes and goes that I will be adding to my blog more frequently and making your stop more worthwhile. Just bare with me a few more days and I will get some last minute hand made Christmas Gift Ideas posted for you as well as possible workshops up and coming.

Stay Tune for this year's Heart of Winter campaign with Close To My Heart. Begins in January...

New Idea Books will be released January 1, 2009. They are FANTASTIC as usual, yes I have them in hand and they are great.

New Scrapbook Store opened in Sandy -- Michelle A. opened up Indescrapable earlier this month. The inventory is low right now but she has LOTS of workroom space available. Stop on by and say hello. I will be teaching a few make n takes or workshops in the near future.

For now -- my extra activities are on hold until my Tax Prep class has concluded. Keep checking back -- I will be updating next week.

Happy Stampin -- Scrappin -- Scrampin

Deals To Be Had

2008-11-05T07:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you -- but I'm always up for a good deal out there. If I can save $$ in other areas, that leaves me more for $$ for other things -- like SCRAPBOOKING supplies! Some stockpile toilet paper -- I like to stockpile PAPER! LOL.

So a wonderful gal at church has been leading a series on Frugal Living. frugallivingonline.blogspot.com I am loving this mini series so much! It has to do with couponing, saving money and even making a little back in the end. Who doesn't like free money? In order to get to that point (free money) you need to be clipping coupons and using them at the right places. Angela's blog will update with deals she finds out there and which coupons to use, if you have them. That's the key -- IF YOU HAVE THEM. I just started clipping coupons this Sunday so I'm behind!

Which leads me to my next thought for you, take a minute to visit Angela's Blog. She posted that someone has donated 13 weeks of coupons which Angela has created a giveaway to determine who to give them to.

Click here Giveaway #1 and enter to win one bundle of coupons.

Then click here Giveaway #2 (if you're from the PDX area) and enter to win another bundle of coupons -- but be sure to say Kristie sent you in your comment!

So get out there, clip coupons -- and begin saving money!

Happy Scrapping -- Stamping -- Scrampin......

SNOW....

2008-11-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

SNOW .....

I just LOVE snow! It's so beautiful when it blankets everything in crisp clean white. It is calming and exciting at the same time. I'm just like one of my boys when it comes to snow -- I get just as excited if not more so then they do.

With these colder temperatures lately I'm itching for the fluffy white to come down our way.

I'm teaching a Scrapbooking Class this evening in my home. The theme of course is SNOW! It coincides with the Close To My Heart stamp of the month this month. It is called All Decked Out -- it is a set of snowman pieces so you can build your own snowman on paper.

Snowmen are at the top of my list for winter decor so I couldn't resist using this stamp set on tonight's projects. I will be teaching a few techniques to add to the layouts.....liquid glass with prisma glitter, paper piecing with our stamped images, using liquid applique for snow and how to add more photos to a page without creating more full page layouts.[Photo][Photo]

I used the ASPEN Level 2 Paper Packet for my layouts. (X7103B). Layouts are from IMAGINE (9030) Ensemble Piece on pages 40-41.

LIQUID GLASS
I love this stuff! It adds a glossy affect to your photos or stamped images. For this layout I added Liquid Glass (Z679) to the band on the snowman's hat. While it was wet I sprinkled in some Prisma Glitter (Z134) for a shimmering affect. It is in a small spot so it is hard to tell in the photo.

Liquid Glass is fun to also useas water, ice, or dew drops on a flower. I did an Easter Egg Hunt layout with black and white photos. I chalked color onto the plastic eggs and put liquid glass on top to give them dimension. It can also be used as an adhesive. It is very strong and will hold on your ribbons, buttons, etc but it does take a little longer to dry.
[Photo]
PAPER PIECING with STAMPED IMAGES
This is an easy technique that looks complicated. It does take a minute more then just stamping your images because it involves cutting.

For the snowman --
1- I first stamped his head and face onto Textured White Cardstock (X5671).
2- Then I stamped his hat right on top of his head overlapping.
3- I stamped his hat again onto a scrap of patterned paper.
4- I stamped his hat one last time onto a different patterned paper.
5- Then I stamped his scarf, also over lapping his head.
6- I stamped his scarf again onto a scrap of patterned paper.
7- Cut out the white snowman hat, face and scarf -- being sure to leave them all connected.
8- Cut out the patterned hat, scarf and the band from the 2nd stamped patterned hat.
9- Adhere the hat band to the hat.
10- Adhere the patterned hat to the white one -- puzzle work at this time as you layer the pieces together.
11- Adhere the scarf to the white one.

There you have a Paper Pieced Snowman.

I colored his nose with an orange colored pencil (Z921) and added SPARKLES (Z1104) to his scarf.

TITLE
I stamped the title with Friendship Large Alphabet (Exclusive for hostesses) with Outdoor Denim Ink (Z2140) onto the White Textured Cardstock (X5671). I cut out the letters leaving a white border around them. I used Liquid Applique (Z308) on the letter tops to resemble snow piles on the letters.

ACCENTS
I also added some stamped trees from the STEEP AND DEEP (D1175) stamp set in Ponderosa Pine Ink (Z2145), also with a little Liquid Applique (Z308) on them.
Snow Cocoa was stamped using the Friendship Small Alphabet (Exclusive for hostesses).

HOW TO ADD MORE PHOTOS
I created little "lift the flap" spots on my pages. I had more photos I wanted to include but were not necessarily my focal points. Some were similar to what I had displayed already. I used Hinges (Z291) to enable them to lift mor easily. If you are not a hardware user, you can make a paper "hinge" by folding cardstock and adhering it under the photos. I added a little mitten as the lift spot. In order for this to work, you also need to cut slits in your page protector. I used a straight edge and a Cutting Knife (Z533). Be sure to punch circles where the corners meet. They help keep the page protector from tearing more. You can use your eyelet setter and hammer with the self healing mat behind the page protector so you don't cut all the way through.

Here is a photo of the supplies I used.