Friday, May 31, 2013

June SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring June's SOTM, which is called a Flowering Bunch, a unique set of 10 stamps.  If you have come here from TERESA'S BLOG, you are on the right path!

This month we have 50+ Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this SOTM (and other great CTMH products) on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!
This month I'm deep in CTMH Convention Extravaganza hibernation, so I whipped up a quick card. I used the new sketch from Retro Sketches on this card...mostly. I didn't bust apart the background layer just like the sketch, but I did break it up with my Cricut cut sentiment frame.
I stamped the flowers and fussy cut them with my microtip scissors. Popped those cuties up with some foam tape over Cricut cut leaves and topped them off with a little bird, inspired by the Moxie Fab World Feather Weather Tuesday Trigger, pictured below. Don't you just love those fat little birds? I knew my little wooden Trinkets birdie would be so cute colored with Sweet Leaf and Indian Corn Blue alcohol markers!

Now "Hop" on over to HALEY'S BLOG to see her fab work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants Blogs to soak in the great crafting and SOTM ideas! Remember, this SOTM will fly away at the end of June!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

I'm linking this card up to the Heart 2 Heart Creature Feature challenge as well.

Here are some more projects I have made using this Stamp of the Month...
Thanks a Bunch card
Watercolor Thanks Card

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Pintester Movement

I am a Pinterest addict. I love all things about Pinterest, I pin almost daily, and on occasion I even actually make the things in the pins. I've made the laundry soap, loads of yummy Gluten free recipes, and, and crafty inspiration for projects abounds on my boards.

One lovely find from Pinterest has been the Pintester, a blogger who tries (and often fails) at testing out Pinterest pins in hilarious ways. Watching her set this bottle on fire about made me pee my pants! Today she's hosting a blog carnival of Pinterest inspired projects called the Pintester Movement. Some will be good, some will be bad, some will be ugly, but all will be awesome I'm sure!
This isn't my usual crafty post. My pin test today is inspired by my rowdy, lovely little boys. We needed a system, you know, something to help handle all the tiny irritating things they do to each other each day and turn it around into gentle happy reminders of how to be kind, etc... I pinned THIS a long time ago...but finally the sibling nitpicking got so bad I was forced to craft a new solution!

I made ours a rainbow so that everyone's favorite color made the board. Then I worked really hard to try to line everything up perfectly...only to get to the end of the project and realize the whole thing is slightly crooked. To that I said "whatever" and applied six layers of glitter to the WARNING label. Glitter makes every craft better...or at least it'll blind anyone looking at the sparkly board and prevent them from noticing how crooked the labels are applied.

Since I spent so much time lining up the crooked labels, I ran out of time to make cool magnets, so I grabbed some leftover ABC letter magnets from our fridge and scotch taped printouts of the boys' heads onto them to use for "pegging up and down" until I get around to making the intended magnet markers. Someday before the boys are too old for this board. 

I hung a shelf above the board with three labeled jars on it. The idea is every time the peg up to AWESOME they get a pom pom. When they pom poms reach the washi tape finish line, the child in question gets to pick a group activity for that weekend. Don't feel bad for Gabe...he actually filled his jar already and is starting over on round two. He wants to take the wild rumpus to the Children's Museum in Salem this weekend. I agreed immediately, as I am hibernating and working on Convention Extravaganza projects all weekend, so that'll be John's Saturday activity with the crew. Bwahahaha! This system is fabulous!

Honestly, we started this board because the squabbling and tattling between the three small fries was getting out of hand. We've done other charts, sticker charts, time outs, just gobs of other systems and nothing stuck or seemed to help much without being a huge hassle. So far, this actually seems to be working. The boys really want to earn pompoms, but more importantly, they all REALLY want to be able to claim the title of AWESOME. So they work hard to make sure their face stays on awesome. I almost wonder if the bottom layers said things like EVIL and KRAANG if they might try even harder to make sure to stay above the shiny WARNING level.

Check out the Pintester Movement for more Pinspiration, and STAY AWESOME!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Practical Scrappers Tiny Things

This week at Practical Scrappers we were working with Tiny Things. I chose one of my favorites, CTMH's Wooden Trinkets, stampable laser cut wooden shapes. I decided to make a card set, inspired by the Moxie Fab Card Set Challenge, using my Dream Pop papers, lots of Washi tape, and this adorable Puns of Praise stamp set that has been sitting unused on my table top. That situation was screaming to be rectified!
Here's a closer look at the four cards in the set. I kept the design simple and sweet with a Dream Pop banner for a burst of color and washi tape accents. A sprinkling of Bitty Sparkles finished off each card.
I cut out each Puns of Praise image, detailing the imaged with only a Grey Flannel marker and popping them up with 3-D Foam tape. I finished each images with a coordinating Wooden Trinket that I colored with a black Sharpie pen and edged with Silver Glitter Glitz. I just love the punny little sayings!
I cut my card set bag out using the Cricut Artiste Cartridge using the 3-D object bag on page 33 at 4 inches. The sides fold in to make a little pouch inside to hold my 3x3 cards nice and snug - no adhesive required! I put four cards in this time, but I've done up to 12 if they aren't too chunky. I cut a practice bag in some scrap B&T, then used that outline to figure out how to line up my Dream Pop notebook paper so that the swirls would be on the front of my bag.
Here's a close up of the floral cluster on the front. I cut some flowers in graduated sizes from 2 inches down to 1/2" (Cricut Artiste), then manipulated the paper fibers to bend and form the petals of the flowers. This is the clear polka dot embossed CS from the Dream Pop Pack, and it worked great with the flower formation. I was a little worried I'd ruin the cute embossed polkadots, but they still look shiny and fab! To my biggest paper flower I added one of the beautiful metal flowers I won in the Practical Scrappers Card Contest this year (Thanks, Christine!). And I topped that with one of the largest wooden trinkets and a Pewter Sparkle badge. A little washi and a Cricut sentiment finished off my cute purse.

Hope you liked my little gift card set! You can find more Tiny Things inspirations over at Practical Scrappers, and more amazing gift card projects over at Moxie Fab World

Friday, May 24, 2013

Oklahoma Tornado Relief Campaign

Today I joined my son to watch his "Catch of the Week" presentation at school. He shyly pointed to his big fish poster filled with baby pictures and favorite things lists, then blushed and whispered "thank you" through a compliment circle as all his classmates took turns saying something nice about him. His smile at the end was radiant. Then I rushed home to get back to working on my Extravaganza projects. Right now I can hear the little boys downstairs giggling with the babysitter.

In Oklahoma, the funerals are beginning. As Rachel from Finding Joy wrote, it's a Mile of Perspective for sure. Her essays always touch my heart. This time I was in tears before I even read her words. I bought her book. It's amazing.

CTMH is making this stamp set from the upcoming Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book available for early purchase. One hundred percent of profits from sales of this stamp set from May 23 to June 30 will be donated to the American Red Cross to aid tornado victims in Oklahoma. It's $3. I'm going to buy a bunch to bundle with 2x2 blocks to have on hand for teacher gifts and friendly thank yous for the many wonderful folks who touch our lives.It's one small thing I can do. I opened a party for OK Relief orders on my website. My full commission from those orders will be donated to the Red Cross efforts as the orders come in. It's another small thing I can do.

Stay safe. Hug your littles (and your bigs). Be grateful. Enjoy life.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Practical Scrappers Practical Storage

Today over at Practical Scrappers we are doing a feature on crafty storage. I'm focusing on my Ribbon Cube. This was originally a shoe storage cube, but I re-purposed it into ribbon storage using clear plastic jars. The quart jars hold small ribbon rolls, scraps, trims, and pre-made bows sorted by color. 

Behind the jars I stack bigger/full rolls of ribbons and trims, also sorted by color. I will probably hoard that roll of CTMH black gingham ribbon for eternity...
On top of the ribbon cube I have a lazy susan from IKEA. I topped it with spice jars. These I filled with buttons sorted again by color. I'm moving all my storage over to ROYGBIV. Dontcha love that I needed an extra jar just for Rhinestone Buttons? In the middle of the jars I stack 3-D foam tape rolls, glue dots, and other special adhesives. 

And for you inquiring minds, the little three drawer desktop organizer on top of the ribbon box is filled with Glitter Glitz, Stickles, and my spray pens. And lest you think my counter-top in front is always that clean...I just shoved all the projects in progress to one side so it would look tidy for the photograph. I am truly an organized disaster. You're welcome.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I'm a Practical Scrapper!

I'm so excited about today's post - my first ever post for Practical Scrappers! I've been watching these clever ladies scrap and paper craft for a long time, and I'm so honored to be a part of the team now. I'll be working on the Ten Things team, which is my FAVORITE feature. Woo!

For today's Ten Thing feature we are focused on Titles. Make sure you pop out to Practical Scrappers to see all the other fabulous title ideas! For my page I cut CS letters on the Cricut with my Artiste Cartridge  then stitched over them with a double length of sewing thread. I popped up the second part of the title on a little Dream Pop 1/2" banner I cut on my trimmer and popped that with a bit of washi tape I found at the Paper Issues store. That banner cluster at the top is cut out of the Dream Pop B&T base for my page, flipped over and I covered the "BEAUTIFUL" sentiment with one of the quotes from the zip strip.

I also used the Practical Scrappers May Sketch for my layout inspiration. I chose the hexagon resist CS from the Dream Pop paper packet, but I inked Outdoor Denim Ink to bring out the pattern and bring down the brightness level of these cheerful papers. I'm still working my way through my pile of Printsagram prints, and I love scrapping these random square photos of cute things the boys have done. 

I {heart}Instagram! I'm posting under Stamping Rules...Leave your Instagram name in the comments so I can follow you too!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Thanks a bunch!

Hi, Stampin' Friends! I'm in crafty hibernation with my big box of goodies from CTMH to work on my Extravaganza projects, so you won't be seeing a lot form me over the next couple weeks.  I do have some fun projects lined up to share though, starting with this June SOTM card for my Team Lunch next week! Since I can't have the girls over as my Stamp Pad is covered with all kinds of top secret, we're meeting up for a team lunch and card swap. I {heart} my team!
I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for my card design. Then I went looking for color inspiration, which I found at the Play Date Cafe. I didn't have anything in that yummy Jade Color, so I used Juniper CS stamped with polka dots and sanded down within an inch of it's life to lighten the color. I spent a lot of time pondering how to fill that space above my watercolored flowers...I wanted it empty, but no SO empty... Then I got my new email from Paper Issues about their die cut Linky Party and I thought, "Of course! Die Cut clouds!". So there they are.

Congrats to our Friday Favorite Things Winner, Jill Davis! Your stamps will be on the way!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Claire Pages for June's Club Kit

Ah, flowers. I totally {HEART] flowers on scrapbook pages. I have three boys, and they get flowery scrapbook pages too, at least for now while they are still young. When I was working on the pages for the Monthly Memories Clair kit for June I was also following along with the Big Picture Classes NSD online challenges, so this page is going to hold the pics of some of my favorite things, since I'm often left out of these scrapbooks I'm creating. 

These flower corners are a combo of the Claire Assortment flowers and some paper flowers I crafted using shapes from Art Philosophy. I topped them off with some chunky Artisan Studs. And I'm linking up to the Heart 2 Heart May Flowers Challenge.
I did some combo action on the title on this page, trimming apart the Claire Canvas Complements and adding in a bit of the Kraft Keyboard Alpha stickers. I especially loved the stitched word tabs, which I notched with banner tips. while I haven't gotten my pics printed quite yet, you'll note it's already journaled, as this page will hold pics from our Beach Blast Beach Retreat last February. I cannot wait to go again next year - registration is now open!!
These final two pages for our June Claire kit I was inspired by this fabulous Dream Pop layout by Pamela O'Connor. The SOTM this month are these adorable pinwheels, which my kiddos just L.O.V.E., so I know I'll get great pics to add here. There are two 5x7 photo wells, but I'll probably be adding four 3.5x5 photos instead...or maybe even a mini booklet of 4x6's using Flip Flaps. I like lots of pics! Now I'm all ready for my Scrappin' Ladies to come over to play in June!

P.S. Want to join in on the Claire Monthly Memories Club Kit? Check out general info here, or contact me for questions or to RSVP!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Thanks a bunch!

I'm back with a little sneak peek of the June Stamp of the Month (SOTM)! I needed to whip up something cute for the Dream Team swap hosted by Karen Morris, so I went looking for blog challenges to help inspire me. I started with the sketch from Retro Sketches this week. I knew I wanted to emboss the sketchy flower image, and Just Us Girls was asking for white ink, so I embossed the flowers using White Daisy ink and Zing opaque white powder. I used the White Daisy to stamp the sentiment too.
I knew I still needed something else, and I found just the thing at Moxie Fab World, where they are hosting a Wonder of Watercolors challenge. Using colors from the Color Dare # 42, I used my waterbrush and tons of water to wash the pinks over the white embossed images. It's a blend from top to bottom with Blush, Cotton Candy, and Hollyhock inks. Since CAS-ual Fridays is hosting a Top Ten Tic Tac Toe Challenge, I added some Kraft paper and Bling to go along with my embossing and score my Tic Tac Toe.

Then I figured I needed some stitching to define all the edges. I {love} my piercing ruler! I had a lot of fun making my card swap...now to pop them in the mail ASAP. Back tomorrow with some scrappin' Claire goodness. Happy Monday!

Happy Mother's Day!

Good morning, Stampin' Friends! Happy Mother's Day! Today I'm sharing this gift bag and card combo I crafted for another lucky Mom in my neighborhood. Her sweet family got her a really fab bunch of CTMH goodies, and I got to wrap them up!
I made a card slot on the front of the bag with my new Card Hanger Die from Soapbox Creations. It makes a covered card slot to hang a standard sized card from the front of your bag. It works well for the 3-D flower cards that an envelope would smash flat. I used Claire papers and Canvas StickEase on the card with some Kraft Keyboard Alpha Stickers. I used the Freshly Made Sketch for my card today. 
Don't you just love the texture of the Canvas? I highlighted each little heart on the background stamp with Stardust glitter glitz. The flowers are sponged with Ruby Ink and filled with Washi Tape and silver glitz.
I topped the ribbons off with a Big Blooms flower. I used one full flower for a base. Then I folded three additional flowers into fourths and glued them on top of the base flower to make a bigger fluffy flower...which I spritz with pearly spritz! 

Hope y'all are having a lovely day!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

CTMH Convention Jams

Y'all know how much I love my Jams! So when I was prepping my pack list for Walt Disney World and CTMH convention in June, I obviously needed some custom CTMH Jams, right? I designed these in Publisher and will be ordering then through the Jamberry Nail Art Studio next week on Friday. You want some too? Fab - I'm ready to share my mixed mani CTMH nail art!

I've got a couple of heart themed french tips, a CTMH love/heart stripe, a diagonal CTMH/Wish/Inspire/Memories stripe, and a black and red color block that is NOT Mickey pants, y'all. We are following the copyright rules here, ladies.

Since I would be ordering these for myself, I'm covering all the set up fees and shipping costs. I'm also planning to donate all profit over the cost of ordering and shipping the shields to Operation Smile, CTMH's awesome company cause. So if you want to get in on the CTMH Jamberry goodness, simply place your order through this Paypal button. Full sheets will do 2 full Mani/pedis, and Half sheets will do 1 mani/pedi. I'm getting two sets so I can wear them all through the month of June and enjoy my Convention excitement longer!

I'm only going to do the one group order for these, closing on Friday May 17th. If you want them after that, I will willingly share my design with you, but you'll have to pay the set up fees and shipping. Make sure you include your address on your paypal payment - I'll be re-mailing the shields out in a special Convention Jams only card for my CTMH Jamberry friends so you can apply them before WDW (or starting your convention week twitter stalking). I can hardly wait!

Squee!! I gotta have CTMH Convention Custom Jams, too!  

Choose your quantity! Orders due by May 17th. If you want more than one full sheet, please order more than once - I'll send you an email confirming your total number of sheets ordered. 

ORDER CLOSED - SORRY!

And hey - don't forget to enter my Friday Favorite Things giveaway for this week. It's one of my top ten things I love that are free!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Top Ten Things that are FREE

The ever fabulous Stasha over at Northwest Mommy asks for a list of our Top Ten Things that are Free this week. So here's my stampy twist on a totally fun topic!

Top Ten Crafty Inspirations that are Free!

1. Pinterest. Sometimes I can't believe that Pinterest is still free. How can something so utterly entertaining and time consuming be free? I pay $7 a kid so they can run at a local indoor playground (It rains a lot here, don't judge, I'm not just doing it so I can sip Earl Grey and work on my laptop much.) for 2 hours, but I can surf Pinterest all night long or the entire play date for nada.

2. Card Sketches from Retro Sketches. I don't always get to play, but I love their sketches ever single week. They are rockstars.

3.Top Ten lists from Practical Scrappers. I love everyone of these posts focused on using stuff you already own in ten shiny new ways. And using your stash is free...so long as you conveniently forget how that stash got there in the first place.

3. MUSE Card Club. Every week a new fabulous card to scraplift and turn into your own awesome crafty creation. Inspiration like this is priceless!

4. CTMH FB Eye Candy Board. I'd share a link, but you have to be a consultant to get in there...and it's a wondrous place of sharing, caring, and inspiring art. I'd totally join CTMH just to get access to this FB Board. It's seriously that much fun! If you are a consultant and are not on the Eye Candy crack yet, email me and I'll submit your request to join. You are in for a (free) treat!

5. Videos from CTMH on You Tube. How did CTMH find all these funny, lovely women to do their videos? Awesome projects, fun presenters, great tips, and all free.

6. Paper Issues Monthly Theme Party. O. M. Gee. Every month they gather a fabulous collection of layouts and cards. Totally amazing.

7.  SOTM Blog Hop. Every month on the first of the month 50-70 consultants post something adorable made with that month's SOTM. Every month I'm awed by how many different ways there are to look at one stamp set. It's a good thing.

8. Giveaways like my Friday Favorite Things (go on and enter now, I'll wait....). Crafty blogger love to giveaway crafty swag. Last month I won the new textiles from Scrappin Katy (Thanks, again!!).  Us bloggers gotta share the crafty sickness love!

9. Moxie Fab World. An offshoot blog from Paper Crafts magazine, Moxie Fab is run by their fabulous Trends editor Cath Edvalson. Want to know what the next big thing is gonna be? Cath found it two months ago. You can resist, but eventually you'll end up with mustaches on your nails and everywhere you go people will actually tell you that they are adorable instead of wondering why you've lost your everlovin' mind. I blame it all on Cath. Her pinboards rock too. Go ahead and take a peek - you can order pizza for dinner tonight.

10.  Big Picture Classes. There are for fee classes of course, but there are really great free classes too. I did an online crop with them this weekend - totally free, totally fab! Next up for me from BCP is the FREE BCP & CTMH pajama party on May 30th. Stacy Julian is, of course, totally amazing and I can't wait to see what she shares.

P.S. I put the kit info below if you want to play along too, but that wouldn't be free. Totally fun, but not free. Unless you just watch and eat ice cream. Calories consumed during pajama parties are FREE, right?


This "Think Happy Thoughts" project features a sturdy kraft tube, bright papers, an inspiring stamped sentiment, and darling accessories brought to us by one of our favorite partners, Close To My Heart—plus 52 awesome downloadable creativity starters to go inside.

Get your own blank kraft tube today (click here for my website or visit your local consultant) and gather the rest of the supply list now so you can join the party prepared to make your own! Order your Think Happy Thoughts Kit by May 17th and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift certificate that I'll draw on the 30th during the Pajama Party!

Want to make this project faster and easier? Your Stamping Rules Think Happy Thoughts kit will include a Z1833 My Creation Kraft Container, Z1754 Grey Sparkles, Z1844 Wooden Trinkets, and 2 yards Baker's Twine plus (shipped separately) precut Cardstock and B&T pieces, diecuts and stamped images for just $20! Invite a pal to play along and pick up two kits for $35!

Join the think Happy Thoughts Party by May 17th! No kits will be prepped after this date (extravaganza hibernation)!

Choose your kit quantity!
And just in case you just want to use your stash...here's the Full Supply List...feel free to substitute, because using up your stash is sort of free (see #3 above).
My Acrylix® Frame Flair (D1546)
My Acrylix® Happy Thoughts (C1536)
2" x 3 1/2" My Acrylix® block (Y1009)
4" x 5" My Acrylix® block (Y1012)
My Acrylix® spritz cleaner (1778)
My Acrylix® stamp scrubber (Z1782)
Cricut® Artiste collection (Z1790)
Whisper Exclusive Inks® pad (Z2172)
Lagoon Exclusive Inks® pad (Z2195)
micro-tip scissors (Z534)
corner rounder (Z578)
paper trimmer
My Creations® kraft container (Z1833
one sheet of 12" x 12" Crème Brulee cardstock (comes with 24 sheets, X5754)
one sheet of 12" x 12" Lagoon cardstock (comes with 24 sheets, X5762)
one sheet of 12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock (comes with 24 sheets, 1385)
one sheet of 12" x 12" Whisper cardstock (comes with 24 sheets, X5929)
one sheet Pink B&T Duos® paper from Chantilly paper packet (comes with 6 sheets, X7163B)
two yards Grey Wool baker's twine from neutral assortment (comes with ten yards, Z1701)
three butterflies from Color-Ready Trinkets wooden shapes (comes with 57 shapes, Z1844)
three grey Sparkles from Sparkles black and grey assortment (comes with 108, Z1754)
3-D foam tape

Hope to see ya at the Pajama Party!

Friday Favorite Things You Rule!

I'm back with a new card and a new Friday Favorite Things giveaway! Today's card was inspired by the MUSE Challenge card for this week. As soon as I saw it I kept thinking about the canvas Ruler StickEase from the Claire scrapbooking kit I've been working on all week (patience, pics are coming this weekend!). I'm not saying that knowing I wanted to use that ruler sticker for a card kept me from using it on the pages...but how nice that it worked out I didn't need it for my pages, right? Just sayin'...
I didn't use the MUSE card colors, because that Claire kit and canvas ruler I've been contemplating were just a perfect match for the Play Date Cafe's To the {MOM} in your life challenge too. So I made my punny little quick card with the Play Date colors, which happen to be the Claire colors I already had all over my tabletop! I stamped my frame with Sorbet Ink, and dressed up the Crown StickEase with some glitter glitz.  I'm linking this up to the Heart 2 Heart Teacher Appreciation Challenge too, as this one's going to school with my little guy in the morning.

I {mustache} you, do you love it? Y'all so rule! So here's a little Friday Favorite Things giveaway! See that cute keyboard font I used on my card sentiment? It comes in both sticker form and as a stamp set so you can stamp it any color your little heart desires. I love this little font set a bunch - so this week you can win it. Good luck! 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Love is in the air

I saved my favorite card for last. This card was a labor of love, with the inking, glittering and stitching on all the layers. I used the Chantilly paper packet- such yummy spring colors! The cricut cuts all came from the Artiste Cartridge.
I stitched the balloon strings by hand, and edges everything in glittery goodness with my jelly roll Stardust glitter pen. Don't you love the bird's little bitty pearl eye?
It took 4 coats of Pink glitter glitz to fill in the letters as completely as I wanted. The bird was inked in Crystal Blue ink, then I applied Chocolate ink with a sponge dauber to his cute little tummy before stamping him onto his matching diecut.
Here's how I finished out the inside of the card. I'm linking this up to the Pile It On Challenge for a Mother and these additional fine challenges to pile it on...

Tomorrow is Friday...time for another Friday Favorite Things giveaway! See ya soon!

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