Sunday, June 30, 2013

July SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring July's SOTM, which is called Sweet Life, a warm and cozy set of 9 stamps.  If you have come here from JILL'S BLOG, you are on the right path!

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

This month did some selective inking with my pads to add some color to the delicate outline image. I pressed just the leaves in a  Sweet Leaf pad, the rolled just the fruit into a Smoothie Pad and colored the branch with my Desert Sand Marker. After all that I huffed a puff of warm air on the inked image to moisten the ink up and stamped it onto my Colonial White Cardstock.
I stamped words from the set lightly in second generation Desert Sand around the background of my stamped image and added the sentiment in a nice bold Cocoa Ink. The papers for my banner strips are Buzz and Bumble along with some washi tape and adorable brown flower buttons topped with glitter glitz. I'm linking this card up to the Photo Inspiration challenge over at Heart 2 Heart because that where I got my color ideas!

My team normally meets once a month and makes a card with the SOTM, but since so many of us would be at convention in Orlando, I decided to just make a bunch of these and deliver them a completed SOTM card this month!

Now "Hop" on over to MICHELLE'S BLOG to see her sweet craftwork! 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 July!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5.

I hope you'll be following along this month as I attempt a post a day sharing all my top secret artwork from the last month and lots of fun tips on the new Artbooking cartridge. The follow by email link at the top left will help you be sure to not miss a thing!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Top 10 Convention Pics

So I was not going to do a wrap up of Convention pics since I've been inundating my FB feed with Instagrams - 96 according to my Instaport download...but the I got a moment to catch up on email and saw that this week's Listicle topic was ten favorite Instagram photos...and I do SO love me a Listicle! In no particular order then, here are my...

Top 10 Instagram Photos from Viva Close To My Heart!

1. Flat Elaine & Me - we made the end of convention video wrap up!
2. Bonnie and I ROCKED this coaster, baby! I mean, baby coaster. Whatever, we rocked it!
3. Look, boys! It's the Castle! Mommy's over 10, so I got to go to the castle!
4. Teaching at Extravaganza turned out to be an amazingly fun experience. Thank you to every single one of you fabulous ladies who stopped by to visit and meet me. You made my day...and those bundles shipping to my home right this moment aren't bad either!
5. Getting our Mari Gras on at the Dream Team Meeting
6. I found my first ever Sticky Boy! (Ha, Ha, Kelly Koch - you can't ever stay home again!)
7. Celebrating 40 'ears', my sweet downline Linnea and her super cool hubby Don. 
8. Speaking of sweet Linnea, she (and Cathy and Carlene) made these super adorable Mickey Aprons for our convention going team members. I think she should take orders for next year at Disneyland - what do you think, ladies?
9. This isn't a great pic since it's a screen shot...but Ask Jeanette is always one of my absolute favorite session at convention. I laughed so hard I almost made a puddle...of tea, ladies, of tea. Let's keep it clean, ok?
10. Ok I cheated. I had a bazillion pics so I grabbed a few for a collage, because every year at convention is like a family reunion, making new friends and meeting up with ladies you only get to see very rarely or only online. Convention is like a big, warm hug for your soul!

So next year we are headed to Disneyland in SoCal! I know this year it's not even quite over yet, but I cannot wait to come back. Disney treated us so well here in Orlando, and I never got sick (glutened) once. I know my team and I are gonna have a blast again next summer, and I'm so grateful for each and every one of these lovely women. Time to start cooking up more fun team projects for next year...If you've been on the fence, hop off and join us! I know it's going to be a blast!

Extravaganza Artwork

Whew! It has been a busy, busy week here in Orlando, and I can't believe that we are here on the last day of Convention. We were anticipating and planning and working so hard to get here and now it's practically done. I've had a blast...and you know what I've been doing if you are following my instagram photo stream, my twitter feed, or my Facebook page. Instead of recapping all of that, I thought I'd share some shots of my Extravaganza boards that I made for teaching yesterday. I will be doing individual blog posts on all of the art on these boards, so think of this as a sneak peek of the posts to come this month. SOTM blog Hop starts soon, then on Tuesday I'll post the first of my projects and my newest workshop kit!

So I was assigned ProPlayer! It was bold, graphic, masculine with cool techy accents and perfect for teen boys...but I have three little boys...who don't really play with cars, do a ton of video gaming, know how to code HTML or what a circuit board is...so I went a little off road and built something different. I'm sure you are shocked, lol. I apologize now for the pics - they are not as nice as I'd like, but the individual project photos will be much better. I figured faster was better than later, right? Plus I was D.Y.I.N.G. to show somebody SOMEthing all month long...that non-disclosure agreement was a toughie!
This is my Winter Board. As most of you know, CTMH is releasing a new Cricut Cartridge in August called Artbooking, and it is Ahhhhh-mazing! As we go through the individual projects I'll be able to show you how the Artbooking cartridge helped me to turn circuit board paper and tire tracks into beautiful Snow pages. Start saving now, 'cause this cartridge is going to be at the top of your must have list!
This is my Geek Love board, where I made lovey-dovey 3-D layouts and cards that still retained a bit of edge and masculine interest. My 7 year old broke my heart a bit when he asked me what that yellow blog on my board label was...I obviously have some educating to do since my little buddy did not recognize Pac-man. I'm not too old...he need more training!
And this was my Sweet Sentiments board, which was one of my favorites. I had a lot of fun playing with the chipboard shapes and Artbooking overlays on this board.

Tomorrow I'm flying home to Portland to hug and kiss my little guys, but Blog hop will go up as usual, and then I'll be back Tuesday to start a post per day until I run out of things to share. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll chat with ya soonly!

P.S. Happy Convention and safe travels to all my consultant friends!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

CTMH Convention Leadership Day

Ok - I meant to do a little wrap up on the blog every day, but I am stinking tired and I can't find the cord to connect my iPhone to the laptop tonight. So if you are waiting on me to blog the pics from today I have a few options for you! You can check out my feed on Instagram at http://instagram.com/stampingrules or you can find those same pics on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StampingRules since they came through on Twitter too. Tomorrow I'll find the cord...I hope!

Leadership was really fun and informative. Unfortunately, we did NOT get any sneak peeks this year, but we did get to pick the minds of some really amazing consultants who are doing great things, both in traditional sales and online. One of the things I love about Close To My Heart is the open and caring the consultants are with each other, sharing any help they can to allow everyone to succeed together. Corporate shared the location of the next Incentive Trip, the Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii, and it looks amazing!

In the evening I had a yummy dinner with most of our team at the hotel before heading to the Dream Team and Connected Heart meeting with Karen Morris and Naomi Smith. While I didn't get the games completed, I did get to chat with lots of friends old and new, and meet some of my internet buddies. So much fun! 

Tomorrow morning is the big new catalog reveal, so I'm off to sleep  so I'll have plenty of bounce in my step for the big day. Get onto Twitter ( search for the hashtag #vivaCTMH), Instagram, or Facebook for the fastest updates!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Practical Scrappers 10 Things Washi

This week the 10 Things team at Practical Scrappers is exploring fun ways to use Washi Tape. Since I've got Disney on the brain with my upcoming trip to CTMH Convention in Orlando, I created a cute Disney card using washi tape from Queen and Co. combined with my fav chevron pattern from For Always. The Mickey "balloons" are clear beads that I bought on eBay.
The ruffles were really fun and interesting to make. I cut lengths of rubber band and sandwiched it between two lengths of the Washi Tape. Try to keep the rubber band stretched while sticking the washi tape together - I did this by taping one side to my table while I stretched with one hand and placed the washi with the other...a second pair of hands would've been handy! Once I'd made my five lengths of ruffles I wrapped white cardstock with the flat washi tape, then adhered the ruffles I'd made down the seam lines. 
Can you see the texture of the ruffles here? Love it! I actually had to pop up the chevron paper to allow for the texture of the ruffles. I based my card on this week's adorable sketch from RetroSketches. So many cute cards out there!

Dont' forget to pop over and see what the rest of the team did with their washi!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Convention Badges

Yesterday I finished up all my convention badges (in addition to many other projects-that-shalt-not-be-named), and normally I'd wait to share these until actual convention, but I've been missing y'all, so here's the one thing on my table I can share! Each year I make a new badge for my team buddies, so this year I made 15 total, plus that sweet but simple Eye Candy badge. And while I had to abandon my original idea for time constraints (a castle window with 3-D flowers trailing out the bottom using my Happily Ever After and Art Philosophy cartridges) I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. 

I collected funky Disney Ribbons all year just for this project. The horn and banner are cut on Happily Ever After in Tan Glitter Paper and Ruby CS, then wrapped with Washi Tape. The rosette was cut on Artiste with for Always paper, and man, does having Artiste cut and score the rosettes make them a lot more fun to make! I glued the alligator clip backs on with E-6000 (phew!) using straight pins to prop open the clips so I didn't glue them completely shut...not that I would ever do that...ahem...yes, well, anyhooo...

I'm linking this project up to the Paper Issues Persnickety Party, because even though I said they would be simple...I'm totally persnickety about my badge details (like cutting 5 different sizes of rosettes to be sure I found the perfect size, and carefully weaving the Disney phrase ribbon into the heart slide so that the words Dream Wish and Magic showed on each badge). Perhaps persnickety is my new favorite word - I'll teach Ben to use it this week!

I'm back into hibernation mode, but check back Tuesday for 10 Things about Washi tape. Happy last week before convention!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Practical Scrappers 10 Things Bags

This week the 10 things team is focusing on fabulous bag related craftiness! I was getting ready to skip out of town for a wedding, so I whipped up a quick card front bag.
I've featured these sweet dies before. You use the die to cut out the card stock trim, then trace the center hole of the trim onto your bag. Hack out the hole on your bag, cover the ugly hole with the cute trim piece, and slide in your top gold handmade card to instantly decorate your gift bag. 

The color is about weird in this post- the papers are For Always and Slate cardstock. It's my first practice post done entirely from my iPhone, photography to upload, practicing for my live blogging from CTMH convention. I'm planning a wrap up post each day I'm in Orlando, plus Instagram instant updates during the morning general session, so be sure to follow me if that's your cup of tea!

And don't forget to pop over and see what the rest of the Practical Scrappers did with their bags too!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Practical Scrappers Two Page Layouts

Today over at Practical Scrappers the ladies are showcasing two page layouts. I just LOVE a two page layout...though those one pagers are slowly growing on me... Anyhow, in the spirit of practicality (and since I'm up to my eyebrows in projects I cannot share until after convention), I shared this sweet and simple Studio J layout

While the layout itself is from an Express collection, I did do a bit of customization, as I wanted that picture of Gabe and Ben on the right hand side to go across two photo wells. So I loaded it up into each well, sized it up so I could only see one boy at a time, and lined up the two photos so it looks like the photo is one single piece. You can't tell a bit on my printed layout (or the jpgs I got with my purchase), so I felt pretty clever! 

20 minute (including fussy photo placement) layout is one more reason I love Studio J!

Don't forget to pop out to Practical Scrappers and take a peek at the gorgeous two pagers shared by the ladies!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Practical Scrappers 10 Things Scallops

This week at Practical Scrappers the 10 Things team is focused on Scallops. I used my scallops to create these adorable and super fast flowers. I based my card on this cute sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch. and I used papers from Dream Pop combined with some black/white from For Always inspired by the Color My Heart Color Dare.

Each flower requires 4 scallops. I made the flowers at 1 1/2",  1", and 3/4". You stack up the scallops and pierce through the center with a brad. I used the yellow notebook background from the big Owl print sheet from Dream Pop (if you were lucky enough to snap that fab paper up last month). After you brad your stack of scallops together, just scrunch up each layer until everything is pushed together all around your brad nice and tight, then gently separate the "petals", exposing the brad or not as you wish!

Pop out to Practical Scrappers to check out all the clever ways to use your scallops!

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