Stamping Rules!

Free Cricut Art Philosophy Bundle when you join my team!!

2012-02-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

I know you enjoy Paper Crafting and you love Close To My Heart Products...now March is your LUCKY month!!!

When you Join My Team as a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant in MARCH you will get the fabulous $99 Art Philosophy Cricut Collection for FREE!!! Don't worry, if you already have it you can choose $100 in Close To My Heart Products for FREE instead. It's a no brainer opportunity... it only cost $99 to join!

If you've been wanting to buy the Art Philosophy Cricut Collection (which is $99) why not just become a CTMH Consultant ($99 to join) and get this awesome Consultant Kit full of nearly $300 in products too? As a consultant you'll then be able to get a discount on your Close To My Heart Products and the opportunity to earn extra money and even more free products!

Isn't this so exciting?!? I'm jumping up and down and I can't wait for March 1st. When I joined (for more $, btw) I got a Red album with our handprint logo on it and a single 4 piece wood block stamp set. It's a decision I've never regretted. I wish I could be a new consultant all over again so I could be getting $400 in Close To My Heart Products for just $99 but instead I'll just be so excited to welcome you to my team and help you get on your way!

Did you know all my team members have the opportunity to get an additional $100 in CTMH Products by hitting the "Straight to the Top" #1 & #2 goals. Close To My Heart rewards new consultants who achieve these goals with $100 in Select Product Credit so you can get even more FREE Products! Just an added bonus for joining my team!

For more details on becoming a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant and to check out the New Consultant Kit you'd receive, visit my JOIN MY TEAM page. Or simply send me an email and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

My next Monday Motivations team meeting is on Monday, February 27th at 7 p.m. and you are welcome to attend, ask questions, make a free project with us, and see what it's like to be a part of my team!

Ready to join? Be sure to wait until next Thursday, March 1st so you can take advantage of this awesome opportunity - then click here!

Five for Free in February + giveaway!

2012-02-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Hi! I've been out of the loop this last week (working on personal healing and (hopefully) a publication project! I've got more art for you this week, starting with Pemberly pages coming ASAP. I've had a fun achievement this week, with a card placed in the top six at the Card Patterns blog - yippee! The sketch for this week is super cute, so go out and play too!

CTMH is offering a FREE Studio J 5 pack for each 5 pack purchased this month - an amazing deal! They make great gifts - think baby showers, bridal showers, teacher's gifts... Plus, if you no longer have the time to scrap, Studio J is your solution! No stuff to tote, no mess to clean, just beautiful pages done in minutes! The part I love best is that there is no financial commitment - no pressure to use that 8x10 reprint just right, or to cut your pretty papers just so. Just point, click, and if you don't like it, don't buy it. Easy peasy!

You can check out some of the fun stuff I've done in Studio J HERE. I'm going to sweeten the pot further, and offer one of my winning Stella Thank you cards with each Studio J 5 pack purchase this month!

Anyone interested in learning how to use Studio J can attend a free quick class this Saturday, February 24th at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. - thirty minutes and you'll be using Studio J like a pro! Just let me know you're coming so I'll print a handout for you!

Here is the CTMH take on this month's promotion:

Double your layouts with our Five for Free promotion! For each Studio J^® 5-pack you purchase this February, you’ll get one free 5-pack. That means you get 10 layouts for just $55—that’s just $2.75 per page, with free shipping!

Studio J 5-packs include everything you need to have 5 two-page layouts (that’s 10 scrapbook pages!) shipped to your door ready for your scrapbook album. Each 5-pack can be redeemed for:

5 two-page layouts
5 Memory Protectors^®
Free shipping and handling

Whether you’re looking for an affordable gift or a way to save money on your own layouts, Studio J 5-packs offer you convenience and savings. Even if you’re already taking advantage of Studio J’s incredibly low members-only pricing, you’ll save even more when you purchase 5-packs through this special February deal. Keep one for yourself and give one as a gift!

Visit my website and create your Free Studio J account. Build some layouts - it's all free! If you like what you see, then buy a 5 pack to order the wonderful pages you'll whip up. You will apply the code you received for your 5-pack right into your Studio J account. f you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me.

P.S.: There's only one week left to RSVP for my Pemberly Card Box class! 15 cards plus a beautiful 3-D storage box for just $25!

CLICK HERE for details!

B R Valentine!

2012-02-14T06:49:00.001-08:00

This is what John and the boys cooked up this morning - sweet! It's on my screen saver, too. They were giggling with excitement that they made a project this morning. John said he could only get Max to stand for his picture if the other boys did too...he's such a little parrot right now! Gabe went back later and added an exclamation point over top of the "e" - because he says school says it means you are excited!

Happy Valentine's Day, Stamping Friends!

Stella Thank You!

2012-02-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

I love a new catalog - it makes getting to work in the stamp room so motivating! This weekend I finished the rest of the mustache valentines and a bunch of cards to go out for my team for their hard work in January! I used the Card Patterns Sketch 152 as my jumping off point. I loved the idea of the big off center focal point, so I cut some frames using my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge - love that there's so many awesome images on that thing. It was hard to choose just one!

I stamped a flower spray image from one of our consultant only stamp sets, and paper pieces the flower heads by rolling the image in Sunset adn Tulip inks, then cutting out the circular flowers and gluing them back onto the stems with Liquid Glass. I topped them off with medium sized sparkles.

I also dip dyed some of the new Seam Binding ribbon for this project - messy, but so much fun! I rolled the ribbon into a small circle using my piercing tool. Then I dipped one side into Sunset Reinker, clipped it with a binder clip, then dipped the other side in Tulip reinker and let the colors meld towards the center to create an ombre effect. Once the whole ribbon was inked, I took off the clips and laid it out on some scrap paper to dry overnight. Fabulously varigated ribbon in custom colors - I'm going to be doing this again for sure!

Then I whipped out one of the coordinating stamp sets that come in the Cricut bundle. I cut 2 3/4" scalloped circles at just the right size to stamp the whole image, plus regular circles at 2 1/2 and 1 inch to create a paper pieced 3-D Image. Each layer was lightly sponged on the edges with Cocoa ink as well.

I added an extra little bitty flower from that Consultant only stamp set that is also rolled in Tulip/Sunset inks to fill in my sentiment cluster. I filled the flower center with another sparkle and some pierced detail. Then I created a faux ribbon tail for my scalloped sentiment by cutting some banner on my Art Philosophy Cartridge and painting them with reinker using a cheap foam brush. I tried to create a fabric look to the faux ribbon tails by swiping on the color them coming back with the tip of the brush to bring in extra color stripes. Finally, Bling Assortment button tied on with some waxy flax finished off my card. Now it's off to the PO they go, to bring a smile to my fabulous team!

Happy Prize Day!

2012-02-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

Good morning! I just finished packaging up the prizes for my January Birthday web order promotion. Here's a couple all be-ribboned and ready to pop in the mail (or club gals, get picked up at our meeting)! You'll be getting either some adorable Felt Die cuts or some elegant Top Coats Acrylic overlays (just right for working with your Rock the Block special)!

I couldn't resist adding my tulips to the picture...my wonderful girls brought them for me at our Creative Club Team Stamp and they are holding up just beautifully. I should keep flowers in my stamp room more often - I feel more cheerful every time I look at them. Thanks - you girls rock!

I Mustache U 2 B My Valentine!

2012-02-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Every year since preschool we've handmade the valentines that the boys will be bringing to school. Might they be happier with inexpensive Buzz Lightyear/Lego Star Wars/Thomas the Tank Engine cards? Perhaps...but I don't think they would take as much joy in the valentines without helping to make them!

This year, in honor of the countless mustache art related pin I've perused on Pinterest, I settled on a mustache Lollipop valentine. They boys are pretty thrilled with them. I did not have a mustache image to stamp and cut out (nor do I foresee myself making a gob of mustache projects) and I was unwilling to shell out the bucks to get a die or Cricut cartridge to make a handful of kid valentines. So I grabbed my awesome "A Paisley" stamp set (retails for 6.95!) and made myself a mustache template using the biggest paisley image. Then I just cut them out by hand while my team was stamping away at my quarterly Team Stamp! last weekend. A little Cricut banner took care of the cutting and punching of the sentiment tags, which I stamped with a combo of tiny alphabet fonts (Atomic which is retired and Tiny Typewriter) plus the valentine word came from Say It In Style, one of my all time favorite sentiment stamp sets.

How did the boys like them? A picture says 1000 words!

I linked this post to the Heart 2 Heart For The One You Love Challenge, because cutting out 40 faux 'staches is absolutely an act of motherly love for my funny valentines!

Also linked to the Paper Issues All We Need is Love party.

Welcome Home!

2012-02-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

When I saw the sketch for this week's Mojo Monday I knew just what I wanted to do. It just took me a couple days to get the time to sit down and make my vision. Little boys take up a lot of time and energy! Finally tonight I decided to stay up late and get my fingers inky - or in this case, painty!

I have been pondering this challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays, a movie inspiration challenge! I was kind of casually (lol) planning a Princess Bride card when the Mojo Sketch came through - and I immediately saw that iconic ET image of the bike going over the moon! I was off to find a bike image...sure I had that set that went with the Lucky papers..no...aha! I grabbed my Pair-a-Phrase set and the adorable little flower basket bike image. Just what I needed!

I built most of my card in Moonstruck Cardstock. I embossed the background with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. Then I cut a 2 1/2 inch circle on my Cricut and embossed that with my Big Dots folder. The moon got painted with Pearl Paint. Then I dabbed it thickly with a lightly blue tinted Pearl Paint (Lots of paint, one tiny drop reinker) for texture, and then I sprayed the whole moon with Silver Glitter spray. After I colored my bike in with Tulip and Grey Wool Markers I went over the rims with more pearl paint tinted Grey Flannel and added bitty sparkles to the wheels.

This movie challenge was a lot of fun - be sure to go check out all the clever movie cards on CAS-ual Friday! And here's the sketch from Mojo Monday. It's contest week, so be sure to toss your hat in the ring too!

P.S.: Don't forget to sign up for the next Creative Club Kit - Just $25 for a beautiful Pemberly Card box plus 15 cards! RSVPs closing soon!

Creative Club: Pemberly Card Box

2012-02-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

Pemberly is one of my favorite new paper packets. I love the bold Blue florals, and I just couldn't wait to get my inky paws on this collection! For our new March Creative Club I've created this beautiful Card Box complete with 15 unique card fronts! When you've used up the cards, you'll still have the pretty box for storing trinkets or photos.

The Pemberly Card Box Creative Club Workshop will be held on March 17th at Wendy's Stamp Pad. You can attend in person and enjoy a day of stamping and a light lunch, or you can order your kit to complete at home for a small shipping charge.

Each kit includes pre-cut papers, the card box, embellishments including the new Sparkle Flourishes and Seam Binding Ribbon plus full color instructions to make everything pictured - just add adhesive! We are making card fronts only so we can get more cards from our paper supplies for the kit while keeping the price reasonable. The Creative Club Pemberly Card Box kit is just $25!

All of the stamping on these cards is done with a new stamp set call Card Word Puzzle - a beautiful collection of floral/nature images and individual words you can combine to make dozens of phrases! If you are attending the workshop in person (held at my 900 square foot Stamp Pad!) you are welcome to stamp with my set, or you can upgrade your kit to include the stamp set, which you'll want to use again and again!

Please RSVP by March 1st to reserve your kit for this elegant workshop. You can contact me via email, or reserve your spot via the Paypal Link below. You don't have to have a Paypal account to use this feature! To Go kits are not limited to quantity, but the March 17th Workshop (which includes a light lunch at no extra charge) is limited to 16 attendees total. Bring a friend I haven't met for a free Bonus prize!

Inks used: Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Creme Brule, Desert Sand, Sweet Leaf

Life is Sweet Heart Banners Layout

2012-02-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Trigger

Here they are - the last 2 pages our club will be making tomorrow night! These Roxie papers are so pretty, pink, and girlie...just like the Tuesday Trigger out on the Moxie Fab website! I just wanted to eat that Trigger up when it appeared in my inbox - yum! I don't often have the perfect pics for such a thing, since our pics typically include trains, dirt, trikes, and everything not girlie. My two year old growls, "Dark Vader" in a menacing voice then giggles like a mad man. It's not a girlie household. And Dark is not a title - all three refer to him as Dark Vader. I think he might not approve of these pages - but I do! Yea for pink! And Sprinkles/Bitty Sparkles!
So I did a couple of interesting things with these pages. Even though it's a flat Scrapbook layout, I'm linking it to the Heart 2 Heart Challenges 3-D challenge, since the punched pinwheels I incorporated required 4 layers of foam tape to pop my picture up level over them...I'm thinking shadow box, baby! I used a Martha Stewart punch to edge the long side of my pinwheel papers, then when you score and wrap it up, you get these lovely deco-medallions! I topped them off with the awesome buttons from our Bling Assortment. I swear I will never have a big enough stash of these sparkly Rhinestone buttons.

Here's the second page. I used a smaller medallion here, and continued with the stamped/Cricut heart banner. I stamped the border image from our Roxie set in Bamboo, then layered on Cricut hearts cut fro the Roxie paper. I filled the spaces between the hearts with Bitty Sparkles, and added Black Hemp bows on each side to "hold up" my banners!

Can you see the dimension the pinwheels added to my layout focal point? I love this picture of my oldest. This Layout is definitely gonna need it's own shadowbox! Ann that title comes from the NEW Keepsake Alphabet, one of my fav new things from the shiny new Spring catalog. I just love a new alphabet set!

Linked to Paper Issues All We Need is Love Party

Roxie Zoo Pages

2012-02-02T15:20:00.001-08:00

We love the zoo around here. We have a membership, and when the weather is nice it's not uncommon for us to hit the zoo more than once a week. Even when it's rainy we often go every week or every other week. The boys love the animals. They love being allowed to walk freely (so long as they stay reasonably close). I love that they know the paths at the zoo almost better than I do, so on the predestined day when Ben finally actually wanders off from me, I'll know where to look for him.

And we LOVE a good zoo event! The zoo here has lots of fun special events throughout the year. We have elephant ear headbands from Elephantastic. We trick or treat at the Zoo Boo! We stood in line for what-seemed-like-forever to meet Baby Sam the new elephant. And here, in this layout you see us decked out in all out rain gear to attend the Frogs and Princesses Party at the zoo. Nothing better than the zoo in the rain...unless it's the zoo in the rain with Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen boots!

We're doing these two pages as part of our six pages for my Monthly Memories Club on Friday. I used the Roxie papers and my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge to create our adorable little animal buddies. It always amazes me how a pile of simple circles and shapes can become adorable punch art! Can't wait for club!

I'm linking this post to the Heart 2 Heart Photo Inspired Challenge. Roxie is a pretty pink paper packet (as evidences in the other 4 pages we're doing), but the photo pushed me to work with the browns and blacks in the kit...plus I popped little Bitty Sparkles into each little animal's eyes!

Let's Cheer up Cath Blog Hop!

2012-02-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I'm not too late on this one - I love Moxie Fab, and I felt sad for Cath that she wasn't able attend CHA, even as I enjoying watching the adventures of Flat Cath on FB this week. So when I realized that it's not too late to make her a card for the hop, I busted out a bit 'o glitter for Cath. Consider yourself hugged - hope you are feeling better soon!

I started with the Mojo Monday 226 Sketch, which is a round or square card this week. I went with square since I just finished an hour of cricut cutting as part of my scrapbook club prep. I embossed the Crystal Blue CS background with some big ol' dots, then gave the bottom half a glitter stripe treatment. You apply adhesive all over your base CS (A little xyron machine comes in handy for that. Tonight I used monoadhesive). Then adhere your CS stripes all across the base. Apply Prisma Glitter over the top and it'll fill in the stripes with glitter - hooray!

I layered some Cricut Art Philosophy diecuts for my focal point. Each layer got sponged with Amethyst and Crystal Blue inks. The center layer also got embossed with those big dots. And finally, the sentiment on top comes from the February Stamp of the Month, an adorably handy little set of sentiments.

I tied off a knot of Amethyst organdy ribbon, then used some white string to tie on a cute little acrylic Friends Charm and topped it off with a medium Sparkle.

I'm linking this card to the Heart2Heart Color Challenge Plus. And don't forget to check out the For Cath with Love blog hop and Moxie Fab for some really wonderful inspiration!

February SOTM Blog Hop!

2012-01-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring February's SOTM, which is called Thoughtful Tidings, a stylish set of 11 sentiment stamps!

If you have come here from MELISSA'S BLOG, you are on the right path! This month we have 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. Hopping 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 made these delightful pages using the Roxie Paper Packet for my Monthly Memories club that meets on Friday. There's a lot of love and detail on these pages, which I've expanded on below, but here's a close up of the embellishment cluster I created using three of the images from the February SOTM. First I cut Colonial White CS to fit each image using my Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. I stamped the Hugged sentiment onto the ticket in Cocoa Ink, then distressed twice, first with Tulip ink on a sponge, then with Cocoa Ink on a dauber. It gives a bit more dimension to the inking and sharpens the edge of the Tulip sponging.

For the Main frame image I inked the stamp in Tulip Ink, then I used the leafy vine image form the Roxie WOTG stamp set inked in Cocoa ink to "Kiss and Twist" over the surface of the inked stamp to create that pretty tapestry effect. Just keep inking, then pressing the stamp and twisting across the surface of the bigger stamp until you're happy with your marbling. Then "huff" warm air over the marbled stamp before stamping it onto your surface, in this case a Cricut diecut that matches perfectly! I pierced holes all around the diecut stamped image and detailed the line of holes with a Cocoa marker to create the faux stitching. I layered the pieces together using 3-D Foam tape and popped a heart Rolled in Tulip/Cocoa inks behind my frame along with a sparkly Bling Assortment beaded pin!

I put more pics and explanations below if you want to see more of the layout details and techniques, or you can "Hop" on over to KRISTA'S BLOG to see her crafty work! Be sure to visit all of the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas!

Remember, this SOTM is only available until the end of February. Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

Here's a close up of the left page. I cut the big frame on my Cricut using my Art Philosophy Cartridge. The butterflies are also from my Art Philosophy, cut as a solid and as a decorative layer. I cut the deco-layer apart so I could make each butterfly be a bit more unique. I attached the butterflies with bling pins that are bent in half and tucking into the page elements.

I stamped the title using the new Keepsake Alphabet debuting in the new catalog on February 1st! I stamped it in Cocoa ink, then double stamped it without reinking to get a slight shadow to my scripty text. It also comes with a plethora of tiny alphabetized sayings, so I added one of those right below my bigger title, accented with a couple of Bitty Sparkles.

See that lovely wide stitched red ribbon at the bottom? It's actually just cardstock!! I was so pleased with how well this technique worked. I embossed a line right along the edge of my Cardstock Strip. I did it just 1/4" inch in from the edge on each side. Then I flipped it over and sanded it with the fine grit side of the sanding block. The embossed line turns white. Next I used my CTMH piercing Ruler to pierce the holes along the embossed line, which makes the CS looked stitched along the sides! A bit of a notch on the ends and I have faux stitched - faux ribbon!

Here are some other projects I have made using the February Stamp of the Month...

Team Embossing Challenge Card
HH Team Cards

And I'm linking this to the Paper Issues All We Need Is Love party - go check out the adorable love projects going on there too!!

Adorable Team Meeting Cards!

2012-01-31T17:31:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was a lucky gal who's hubby took the three kiddos (5, 3, and 2) while I got to spend the whole day Saturday stamping with my upline Ginni and a whole gob of super fun CTMH consultants (and even out to dinner with some of the amazing ladies from my team)!

Here's a couple of the many adorable projects the talented Ginni designed for us to make on Saturday. The new Milk Carton looks so sweet stamped up in the new My Peeps stamp set - I cannot wait to make some glittery peep inspired cards at Easter! We made a cute little CS holder that can tote a two pack of these cartons too. Check out that binder clip at the top - yet another new catty sneak peek!

I think my favorite card that we made is this Coffee Gift Card holder. Now, I am a super huge caffeine addict, and Starbucks was one of the first places each of my children could reliably identify as we were out and about town (hanging my head a bit). So a card that IS a coffee cup with a sliding panel to conceal a coffee gift card - well, you could say that's just my cuppa tea! I love how she even added a little 1/4" strip detail to the lid we made so that it really looks like a coffee cup lid. The February SOTM sentiment topped off the card perfectly!

There were many more projects too, layouts and cards galore! Thanks to Ginni for hosting us for such a fun day of stamping - can't wait to do it again in April!

New Product Blog Hop!

2012-01-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our CTMH New Product Blog Hop! We will be featuring lots of fab NEW products to be released in the Sprig/Summer catalog starting February 1st.

If you have come here from LALIA'S BLOG, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.

This month we have almost 30 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using new CTMH product on their blogs. Hopping 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!

I whipped up this adorable little flying birdie card for the blog hop this month using the new Lucy papers. I made the birdies out of our amazing Bling Collection buttons (which aren't technically new), but using the NEW Paradise Paper Flowers. Can you see that darling polka dot printed on the flower - heaven! I trimmed individual petals off the flowers to use as the wings for my birds and attached them with Liquid Glass. A Bitty pearl opaque eye and some My Legacy Writer action finish off my little birdies. Tweet!

I used one of my favorite new stamp sets to make my card, a huge E sized alphabet called Keepsake Alphabet. It's got the entire alphabet in these huge, beautiful scripty letters, plus a plethora a alphabetized sayings to match! I used the Alpha letters for my FLY sentiment, which I fussy cut right down to the tiny space int he "Y" with my microtip scissors (inspired by the Moxie Fab Cool Tools Cutting and Trimming Challenge). Then I popped them up with 3-D foam tape. Since ours comes on a roll it's easy to trim the tiny strips needed to pop up finer work like this. I used Teflon coated kid scissors to trim it so I don't mess up my good scissors.!

I stamped my backgrounds for each little chick with an image I assembled out of the sayings from the Keepsake Alphabet set. It's one of the things I love most about acrylic stamping - you can customize the images you stamp by shaping and combining them on blocks. In this case as I stamped the three birdie backgrounds I moved the image I created around a bit so each one reads slightly differently. Finally, I wrapped my whole card with some of our NEW yummy Baker's Twine. I got all I wanted for Christmas and more in this new catalog!

Read for more? You can "Hop" on over to CASANDRA'S BLOG to see her crafty work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get lots of sneak peeks and other fun ideas! Remember, this new catalog goes live February 1st. In the meantime, don't forget to check out the retiring products list, available only through the 31st!

Here are some other projects I have made using the NEW product (more sneak peeks!)...

Pemberly Black and White Card (my fav new stamp set!)

Cruisin' Moxie Fab Card

Pemberly Grateful Card

Pemberly Butterfly Card

And I linked this to the Moxie Fab Cool Tool Cutting Challenge - don't forget to check them out too! Inspiration overload may now commence...have you met Pinterest yet?

CTMH Retiring items: Get them while you can!

2012-01-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

All of these great Close To My Heart products will be retiring on January 31, plus the January SOTM and Rock the Block special are ending. Be sure to grab your favorites (like the Dreamin' paper I used on this card) on my website while you still can.

I've tried to make seeing these items and shopping for them as convenient for you as I could. You can click on each item to view and/or add it to your shopping cart. While shopping, don't forget to check out the "While Supplies Last" section for great deals on already retired items. Many of them are as much as 81% off their regular price. Plus anyone placing a web order on my site this month will get an extra gift from me in the mail at the beginning of February (a little birthday celebration from me to you!)

If this weren't enough good news and excitement, I have one more little tidbit for you: Close To My Heart has now added "Smart Post Shipping" for orders on my website for only $4.95. If your order and weight qualify, you will see that option available as you ready to check out.

Before I share the anticipated retiring list, I wanted to remind you not to forget as you are shopping that there are acouple of specials you may want to add to your order.

1. The "Rock The Block" special: only $15 ($45 value) with a $25 order. Read more about that here. You'll be prompted to add this to your order before you check out if you have spent $25 from the current catalog (not the retiring while supplies last items).

2. The January Stamp of the Month (Little Reminder): The link here takes you to the January SOTM blog hop with dozens of terrific ideas for this useful stamp set. This set ($17.95 value) is yours this month for only $5 with a $50 order. You'll be prompted to add it to your order at the end.

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January 31, 2012 Retiring List

Paper Collections
Typeset Workshop on the Go (WOTG) Kit - G1024 - $29.95
Roxie WOTG Kit - G1025 - $29.95
Elemental WOTG Kit - G1026 - $29.95
Dreamin' L2 Paper - X7142B - $9.95
Dreamin' My Stickease - X7142C - $4.95
Dreamin' WOTG Kit - G1027 - $29.95
Sonoma WOTG Kit - G1028 - $29.95
Mischief L2 Paper - X7144B - $9.95
Mischief Compliments Rubons - X7144C - $4.95
Mischief WOTG Kit - G1029 - $29.95
Believe L2 Paper - X7145B - $9.95
Believe MyStickease - X7145C - $4.95
Believe WOTG Kit - G1030 - $29.95
Wonderland L2 Paper - X7146B - $9.95
Wonderland MyStickease - GX7146C - $4.95
Wonderland WOTG Kit - G0131 - $29.95
Sophia L2 Paper - X7131B - $12.95
Sophia MyStickease - X7131C - $4.95
Lucky L2 Paper - X7137B - $12.95
Lucky MyStickease - X7137C - $4.95
Fanfare L2 Paper - X7138B - $12.95
Fanfare MyStickease - X7138C - $4.95

Stamp Sets
A Hop - A1112 - $6.95
A Little Buzz - B1353 - $9.95
A Little Everything - D1408 - $17.95
A Love - A1103 - $6.95
A Paisley - A1105 - $6.95
A Posey - A1102 - $6.95
Adoption - A1098 - $6.95
Adorning Corners - D1322 - $17.95
Always in my Heart - A1101 - $6.95
Ambiance - C1349 - $13.95
Around the Block - D1377 - $17.95
Baby Love - B1368 - $9.95
Backgrounds and Borders - D1463 - $17.95
Beary Best - C1363 - $13.95
Beary Busy - C1409 - $13.95
Beautiful Butterflies - B1373 - $9.95
Beautiful Things - D1298 - $17.95
Believe in Your Dreams - B1322 - $9.95
Beloved - B1343 - $9.95
Birthday Blast - C1436 - $13.95
Birthday Boy - C1411 - $13.95
Bless this Nest - C1445 - $13.95
Blooming Layers - C1449 - $13.95
Bon Appetit - D1367 - $17.95
Boom! - B1354 - $9.95
Bunny Love - B1324 - $9.95
Campin' Fever - D1353 - $17.95
Carefree - C1447 - $13.95
Catching Waves - D1466 - $17.95
Charmed - C1385 - $13.95
Cherished Flourishes - D1413 - $17.95
Ciao - D1461 - $17.95
Circle Around - D1300 - $17.95
Circle of Love - D1438 - $17.95
Circle Together - B1372 - $9.95
Connections - D1330 - $17.95
Cruisin' - D1471 - $17.95
Cupcake Sprinkles - D1336 - $17.95
Daydream - D1297 - $17.95
Down By The Sea - C1451 - $13.95
Dream Big - D1399 - $17.95
Dreams Come True - D1470 - $17.95
Enjoy Every Moment - C1395 - $13.95
Extreme Happiness - C1356 - $13.95
Family - C1305 - $13.95
Family Ties - Adult - C1346 - $13.95
Family Ties - Children - C1345 - $13.95
Family Ties - Pet - B1350 - $9.95
Fill in the Blank - D1465 - $17.95
Flower Pot - D1409 - $17.95
For Every Occasion - D1187 - $17.95
Friendship Blessings - D1191 - $17.95
From My Heart - C1443 - $13.95
Fun Times - B1309 - $9.95
Happy Holidays - D1431 - $17.95
Happy Moments - C1437 - $13.95
Hero - D1474 - $17.95
His and Hers - C1460 - $13.95
Horizon - C1454 - $13.95
Hot Diggity - C1407 - $13.95
Howdy - D1435 - $17.95
In the Month of February - C1403 - $13.95
In the Month of March - C1404 - $13.95
In the Month of April - C1405 - $13.95
In the Month of May - C1415 - $13.95
In the Month of June - C14016 - $13.95
In the Month of July - C1417 - $13.95
It's a Zoo - C1360 - $13.95
Just For Boys - C1338 - $13.95
Just For Girls - C1337 - $13.95
Just The Ticket - B1323 - $9.95
Kanji Phrases - C1339 - $13.95
Let's Go Camping - C1355 - $13.95
Little Princess - C1414 - $13.95
Love Always - D1337 - $17.95
Love Birds - C1396 - $13.95
Love Ya - D1460 - $17.95
Magic Tabs - C1448 - $13.95
Makin' Waves - C1365 - $13.95
Ms. Chillin' - D1404 - $17.95
Ms. Scrapbook -B1352 - $9.95
Notice the Details - D1378 - $17.95
On the Edge - C1399 - $13.95
On This Day - D1468 - $17.95
One of a Kind - D1410 - $17.95
Over The Rainbow - D1426 - $17.95
Paisley Praise - D1414 - $17.95
Piece of Cake - D1407 - $17.95
Play Day - D1360 - $17.95
Post Card - Travel Series - D1357 - $17.95
Precious Love - C1444 - $13.95
Priceless Love Word Puzzle - D1348 - $17.95
Recipe Box - D1364 - $17.95
Retro Tech - C1446 - $13.95
Royal Birth - D1441 - $17.95
Salutation Seals - C1461 - $13.95
Shining Star - D1320 - $17.95
Smiles - C1397 - $13.95
So Lucky - C1390 - $13.95
Soul Mates - D1354 - $17.95
Springtime - D1415 - $17.95
Star Power - D1403 - $17.95
Summer Breeze - C1453 - $13.95
Summer Days - B1375 - $9.95
Sweet Baby - C1359 - $13.95
Take Luck - B1364 - $9.95
Tasty Treats - D1427 - $17.95
Tea Time - C1438 - $13.95
Thank You - D361 - $17.95
Thrill Ride - D1425 - $17.95
TLC - C1364 - $13.95
Togetherness - D1402 - $17.95
Treetops - C1368 - $13.95
Trellis - D1451 - $17.95
True Happiness - D1365 - $17.95
Two-Step Backgrounds - D1473 - $17.95
Unity - C1422 - $113.95
X-Treme - D1432 - $17.95
You Did It - C1351 - $13.95
You Rock - D1346 - $17.95
You're Great - D1434 - $17.95
You're Sweet - B1351 - $9.95

Ribbon
Colonial White Ribbon Collection - Z1126 - $7.95
Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon - Z1103 - $6.95
Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon - Z1100 - $6.95
Colonial White Grosgrain Ribbon - Z1102 - $6.95
White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon - Z270 - $6.95
Wings Level 2 Assortment - Z1398 - $4.95

Floss
Embroidery Floss - Red/Pink - Z1092 - $3.25
Embroidery Floss - Green - Z1094 - $3.25
Embroidery Floss - Blue/Purple - Z1093 - $3.25

Waxy Flax
Cranberry - Z1086 - $3.95
Sorbet - Z1249 - $3.95
Juniper - Z1248 - $3.95
Crystal Blue - Z1247 - $3.95

Brads
Designer Brads - Colonial White - Z1274 - $3.95
Decorative Brads - Pewter - Z1146 - $3.95

Mini-Medley and Eyelets
Mini-Medley - Antiqued Copper - Z1275 - $4.95
Mini-Medley - Colonial White - Z1276 - $4.95
Foundry Metal - Bookplates - Z1147 - $3.50
Soft Set Eyelet Tool - Z1208 - $14.95
Soft Set Eyelets - Black and White Daisy - Z1228 - $3.95
Soft Set Eyelets - Chocolate and Colonial White - Z1229 - $3.95

Coordinating Collection Embellishments
Midnight Felt Shapes - Z1462 - $3.95
Harvest Charms - Z1633 - $4.95
Holiday Pockets - Z1486 - $4.95
Lucky Level 2 Assortment - Z1356 - $4.95
Lucky Level 2 Journaling Spots - Z1359 - $3.95
Bliss Level 2 Assortment - Z1355 - $5.95
Sweetheart Level 2 Assortment - Z1386- $4.95
Fanfare Level 2 Assortment - Z1400 - $4.95
Just Blooms Spring Blossom - Z1266 - $7.95
Just Blooms White Daisy Variety Pack - Z1300 - $5.95

Color Ready Alphabets
Color Ready Alphabets - Oxford - X5749 - $3.95
Color Ready Alphabets - Hodge Podge - X1406 - $3.95

My Creations Items
My Creations - Board Book - Z1310 - $6.95
My Creations - Journal - Z1268 - $7.95
My Creations - Memory Showcase 9x9 - Z1198 - $5.95

Misc.
Rubber Brayer - Z616 - $12.95
Eyelet Tool Replacement Punches - Z1245 - $2.95

Have fun shopping on my website!

Mojo Monday 225: Black & White

2012-01-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to share my card for Mojo Monday this week! I am in love with my new Pemberly stamp set, and when I saw the CAS-ual Friday Clean and Simple Penguin Awareness Challenge, I knew that my favorite new stamp set would look amazing in Black and White (even if I found them too late to play this time)!

I used the Mojo Monday 225 Sketch, which is a blocking sketch - love those! I filled each block on the background with one impressions of the largest paisley-ish flower image. That's it - one stamp per block! Each flower got a few bitty sparkles on the swirls in the flower centers.

I used my CTMH Piercing Ruler to pierce a line of holes 1/4" from the edge of of each block. Then I used my .05 tip My Legacy Writer to draw a dash from each hole to make a line of faux stitching around my blocks. I love faux stitching - whyen you do it with the actual holes pierced it looks so real, without the time consumption of actual hand stitching. I made my whole card in a half hour while my boys played at Munchkin Playland...with coffee. Woo!

Then I cut a frame on my cricut at 2 1/4" to use for the center bar of the sketch, which I rotated to be a tall card. I made a faux stitched box in the center of my Cricut Frame. The grid on the ruler makes it so easy - I just lined it up with the corners of my frame and poked away! Then I masked off the center of my box with a handy post-it and stamped the solid mum image repeatedly to fill in the outer edges of my cricut frame. I added one of the sentiments from the stamp set (Don't you just LOVE the mixed fonts?) and topped it off in the bottom corner with a couple of Rhinestone Designer Brads, an old retired black button, and a smidgen of Black Ribbon Rounds (on clearance on my site for just $4 for 6 awesome patterned ribbons!).

Finally, I finished it off with a couple of hand cut dragon flies that I stamped and cut out with my microtip scissors. I love it when you finish a project and you get the glowy, I-made-something-I-adore feeling!

Moxie Fab Embossing Challenge Team Card

2012-01-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

Just got done with a fun meeting with my awesome Stamping Rules team where we made this card, a little sneak peek into the new catalog. We used a bit of Stella B&T and the February Stamp of the Month, along with two kind of out of the box Embossing techniques! I was inspired to try some new embossing/debossing fun by the Moxie Fab Cool Tool Embossing/Debossing Challenge. Check out their site for lots more fabulous embossing ideas!

The base of this card is deceptively simple. I random stamped the star image from the February SOTM. Then I used my Embossing Stylus and paper trimmer to very lightly run a line down the card front every 1/2 inch, skipping over where the stars were stamped. That leaves a debossed (inverted) lines all over my card base. Then I flipped the base over and carefully re-embossed it on the back side, which changed the lines on the from to embossed or raised, so that when I sanded the card base the embossed lines pop up white because of our awesome white core cardstock. Sweet!

The second fun embossing technique I called customer embossing die, and one of the gals tells me it's called letter press. Either way, I cut multiple heart images out using my Art Philosophy cartridge at 1 3/4". Then I layered them together to make one thick heart (I used 8 hearts to make my "die"). Into my old timey reliable red Sizzix machine went the sandwich: spongy soft layer on the bottom, then Cricut cut White CS panel, then the heart die with just a smidgen of adhesive so it wouldn't shift during our embossing application. You could use other snazzy new systems too, I just like my old red Sizzix workhorse. I pumped the handle a few times, and embossed that heart diecut into the stamped Cricut diecut! Then I swirled my sponge with some cocoa ink lightly over the heart impression to bring it out further, and layered only the Thanks part of the sentiment over top stamped in Red and cut out. A corrugated star and some Antique Copper Bitty Brads finished off my team card for this month.

Be sure to go check out the rest of the embossing fun at Moxie Fab! And don't forget this is the last week to order Rock The Block and secure your spot for my Free Magic Cube workshop!

Moxie Fab Map to Your Heart Challenge

2012-01-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

So I've been looking at the fun artwork on the Moxie Fab Map To Your Heart Challenge, but I kept thinking I don't have anything with a map on it. Then I got some acupuncture yesterday, and today the stamp room has been bustling with a burst of creativity! I have Map paper - in my new Cruisin' paper packet (which makes this post a sneak peek too!).

I inked all my edges with Grey wool, and even the individual letter tiles were trimmed out of the Cruisin' papers. I covered a chipboard heat with the same Grey B&T that I used on the band for the center of the card, but then I inked over it in Tulip ink so that the B&T pattern could shine through the inking. I added a chipboard arrow as well, topped with one of the new glitter buttons, and one of the medium Sparkles fits just perfectly in the center of the glitter buttons! Finally, I ran a line of faux stitching around the outside of the card using my awesome CTMH piercing ruler you can see peeking in the corner of the pic and a fine tipped My Legacy Writer. Just pierce the holes, then connect the dots!

I did use the sketch from Mojo Monday on this card too, but I didn't finish it in time to post it there. Had to get my team work done too...more posts scheduled this week and TWO blog hops coming at the end of the month!

New Catalog Sneak Peek Pemberly Card

2012-01-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

I got in some bonus stamping time on my birthday today, as the snow was coming down so thick that my dear hubby couldn't get out of the driveway. I used it to goo advantage, working on another card swap for the new catalog, inspired by the Moxie Fab Cool Tools Diecut Challenge!

I stamped the card background using my new Pemberly WOTG stamp set - I am dying over that beautiful swirly stylized flower! I slightly modified an awesome ghost stamping technique I saw in a Betsy Veldman video. I wanted the effect of the flowers flowing onto my diecut, but I also wanted the dimension of the actual diecut.

I cut my focus embellishment Banner diecut using my Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. I also cut that adorable scalloped border using the same cartridge. The border is actually a double width ribbon border Cricut cut that I love to trim in half and use for edging - double the edging with less waiting!

After I stamped the background images using Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, and Desert Sand inks I covered my card with vellum. I laid the Banner diecut on top of the vellum and used the vellum as a mask to protect my card while I stamped coordinating images onto the diecut so it looks like the flowers are flowing onto the banner diecut. I stamped off the inked images two or three times to get the muted tones I needed on the diecut to let me sentiment really pop at full strength. It was easy to make the images wrap onto the diecut using the vellum as a mask, since you can
(almost) see right through it.
After wrapping the diecut with B&T and some of the new Baker's Twine in Grey Wool, I felt it needed a bit more shine. So I painted a few of my new Bitty Pearls with a dab of pearl paint mixed with Outdoor Denim Reinker to get blue pearl opaques.

Cricut Mat Tip: There's been lots of chatter about the new Cricut mats not being sticky enough. One of the Cruisers got an email from Cricut today that says when you get the new style mats for Cricut expressions (with the dark outline around the edge) you will need to activate the adhesive by running the mat under warm water and letting it air dry or burnish the mat with the plastic cover on top. I just ran my new mats under the water, and they already seem stickier. I wasn't having too big a problem, and I like that they aren't as sticky as the old style mats...but I'm glad there's a trick to amp up the stickiness!

Card Patterns & H2H New Catalog Sneak Peek!

2012-01-17T00:21:00.000-08:00

OK. I admit I'm a hardcore CTMH fanatic. I scared my father-in-law by leaping and bounding over a small child and various train tracks and toys to get to the door when FedEx delivered my new catalog shipment after Christmas. I literally giggle and bounce in my seat when I'm sitting down with a pile of new CTMH goodness to design a new project. Those who've scrapped with me know that I TALK to my projects...complimenting them on how cute they will be when the "grow up." I love what I do...

So you can see how out of commission I must have been last week. All of my new stuff came in - not catalogs this time, but actual scrumptious new product...and there it sat. I had the boxes here for a few hours before I busted them open. Then I left them on the table until John came home and he moved them upstairs for me...where they sat untouched until today. Thanks goodness for acupuncture - pain be gone, and let the wild stamping begin!

I used sketch #148 from the Card Patterns blog to kick off the stamping tonight. Don't you just love the broken background? I stamped the largest flower from my new Card Word Puzzle set in Colonial White pigment ink all over a sheet of Bamboo Cardstock, then cut it into 1 x 3 inch strips to use for my background. I inked each panel with Outdoor denim ink, then mounted those onto heavily sanded Desert sand CS. I stamped and embossed the same flower image on my card base using a pearlescent embossing powder.

I accented on the left side with a bit of Cricut cut scalloped border, which I also (carefully) sanded. I love that border on the Art Philosophy cartridge particularly because, as a busy mama who loves a good shortcut, that border is actually a double sided border. I like to trim it in half and get two for the wait of cutting once intricate border. Impatience, thy name might be Wendy...or in this case, as I got 4 cards out of each border, perhaps I'm a clever clogs!

The little scalloped edge square (at 1 1/2") was also cut on my trusty Cricut. I topped it off with a bit of the new Pemberly Paper packet, and a stamped butterfly. I stamped the butterfly onto the B&T square and onto some scrap Desert Sand paper. Then I got out my fabulous Pearl Paint, tinted a couple shades of blue using a Outdoor Denim reinker and detailed my butterfly with a fine tipped brush.

I added a strip of the new Color Ready Seam Binding, which I kept in the original creamy color for this card. It's super light and flexible, easy to tie and work with, and almost sheer, but with more heft than an organdy ribbon. I love it! An adorably dotted new Just Blooms flower and a few Pearl Opaques finish off my embellishments. Now my card is all grown up (with 11 siblings) and ready to fly off to Tina Lovell's swap group. Bon voyage!

I linked this blog post to the H2H Ready For A New Year challenge, which asks everyone to use a brand new stamp set you haven't briken out of your stash before. Check it out, then play along, too!

ScrapbookPal.com Design Team Entry

2012-01-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hip Hip Hooray! Here's one more take on my January SOTM card, this time using an adorable cupcake embellishment I cut on my Cricut using the Art Philosophy Cartridge! Because you can never have too many birthday cards in the stash...

I used the Cuttlebug Seeing Spots Embossing Folder on the background White Daisy CS, then painted over the embossed areas with Pearl Paint to bring out the texture. I decorated my Cricut cupcake using Stickles Glitter Glue in Platinum and Waterfall. Finally, I popped up the main Calendar embellishment using 3-D Foam squares so that the hemp wrap wouldn't make my focal point pop off the card. Now let's celebrate!

P.S.: I heard rumblings that Cricut is discontinuing the old style green cutting mats, and that the new white border mats are just not as sticky. Since I don't like the mat to be too sticky, I'm ok with that switch. I already have the new white border mats and that's what I used to cut my scallop circle and cupcake for this card. They worked fine for me....but int he spirit of equal opportunity crafty enabling, I did notice the ScrapbookPal has the old style mats at a great price - so stock up today before they disappear! Some of the links throughout this post take you to ScrapbookPal.com They carry a lot of great lines at affordable prices. Happy shopping!

Free Magic Block Workshop!

2012-01-11T21:31:00.000-08:00

Oooh! I'm so excited about this one! If you follow my blog, you can't have help but noticed that I absolutely am in love with the Rock the Block special running through the end of this month. For just $15 (with minimum purchase), you get this neat set of 9 paper cubes with a display tray PLUS an exclusive-only-available-this-month E-sized stamp set that is utterly adorable and versatile to boot! I've done a bazillion projects with the stamp set and blocks, but this one is making me giggle with GLEE!

The amazing Tresa Black from Fabulously Artsy did a fab video on using Rock the Block to make a magic block - an amazing, continuously flowing cube of photos (and stamped art if you want). I've wanted to make a Magic Cube forever., so of course I had to sit down and make one ASAP. So! Much! Fun!!

How much fun? So much that I am offering to teach you how to turn your blocks into a Magic Block just in time for Valentine's Day for FREE if you purchase the Rock The Block special this month! I'll be hosting a workshop to make your Magic Block in person (see details below), but I'll also do written instructions/hinge kits so that if you can't attend in person you can still whip up one of these babies at home. Soon you too will be flipping through your Magic Box photo cube...I need to make two, so that I can give one up to my hubby for his desk at work! Here's a video so you can see my cube in action. I chose to do it entirely in photos, since I had so many I wanted to fit on the cube!

CLICK HERE To order your Rock the Block today - or email me if you are local to ask how you can save on shipping!

What: Rock the Block Free Magic Block workshop!

Where: Wendy's stamp Pad

When: Sunday, February 12th at 1 p.m.Bring: Your Rock the Block special kit, Bonding Memories Adhesive pen (Mono will not work), 20+ photos that are easy to trim into 4x4 size. Bring lots of pictures - you'll be amazed at how much you can get on this cube!

Cost: FREE with January Rock the Block purchase!

Elmo-riffic Party goods!

2012-01-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

I went to the party store a week before Max's birthday party. The shelves were...empty. It was a party ghost-land in there. Picked over, tore up, and dusty to boot! I asked that lone employee what's up, and apparently if you want matching party goods on a theme, you need to pre-order them in advance now. And while I'm usually an avid supporter of shop local and support small stores, I cannot see myself getting it together to come in super early to pre-order overpriced Elmo party blowers at twice the price I can get them off Amazon...with slower shipping. Plus, since I waited until the last minute, I didn't really have that option anyhow...

So I bought white lunch bags and plain red party blowers and got crafty instead! I used my Rock the block favorite stamp Polka Dot background to make a stripe and stamped Thank You all over the party bags. I cut Scalloped circles and various sizes of regular circles on my Cricut using my Art Philosophy cartridge and built me some Elmos to top the bags. Sweet - and WAY less than the party store wanted for the pre-printed Elmo bags that I was two weeks too late to order.

Then I made another batch of Elmos in a smaller size to glue onto the tops of the Party blowers with Liquid Glass. I made 16 of these blowers for less than it would've cost me to order 8 of the specialty Elmo blowers.

Then I whipped up some (slightly crooked) gluten free Elmo cupcakes that were just delicious - you can find the recipe here on my Mostly Sweet Boys blog. I would eat these gluten free or not - yum! And the party was on....

This post was made for the Moxie Fab Die Cutting Challenge - check it out and play along too!

Big Elmos:
Red Scallop Circle: 4"
White Circle Eyes: 1 1/2"
Black circle eyes, Orange circle nose: 1"
Black Mouth: 3 3/4" Circle cut in half
Red Tongue: 1" Circle trimmed to fit curve of "mouth"

Little Elmos:
Red Scallop Circle: 2 1/2"
White Circle Eyes: 1"
Black circle eyes, Orange circle nose: 1/2"

January SOTM Team Card

2012-01-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick Cricut card I whipped out for my team members who submitted sales in December - go team! It features the January SOTM and the D1480 Snowflakes stamp set from the Wonderland Collection. I love how the snowflake image has multiple layers of stamps to create dimension and matches perfectly with my Cricut image from Art Philosophy!! I used Amethyst CS to cut the scalloped card base, Grey Flannel and Gypsy CS for the center circles. And lots of Glitter Glitz gel - I couldn't get the sparkle to pop in the picture, but it's pretty glittery, just the way I like it, lol.

These are going in the mail this weekend for my hard working team - thanks, ladies!

Sonoma Club Pages

2012-01-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

2012 is here, and we're kicking off this year with Monthly Memories Scrapbook club on Friday! This month we're doing those gorgeous Sonoma papers. they are so elegant, floral, and purple - it's everything I love. . .once I added about a pound of bitty sparkles, lol!

I created these bejeweled flowers for the pages 5/6 I designed to go along with CTMH's pages - aren't they awesome? They are built out of a leaf stamp with a Pin Clip to hold the flower together, topped with a Pearl Opaque center, plus each "petal" is blinged out with a smaller Pearl Opaque sandwiched between Bitty Sparkles. Happiness!

I also did a fun thing with the Pearl Opaques I used on pages 3/4: I tinted them Purple using just my regular old CTMH Smokey Plum marker! I colored the pearls while they were still on the liner. they looked a bit streaky, but I let them sit for a minute or so then buffed them smooth with a tissue and I had these lovely, gently tinted pearls!

All six pages we're making this month with Sonoma are pictured below. If you are a long distance kit gal, kits will go in the mail on Friday as well. Not a member? Kits start at $15 with three levels of embellishments, full color instructions, and (if you're local) a free crop night that includes dinner - such a fab deal! See ya Friday!

Mojo Monday 222 + Moxie Fab Trigger!

2012-01-04T00:16:00.000-08:00

It feels great to be kicking off the new year by clearing the decks of all my unfinished projects (from last week anyhow). Off into the mail tomorrow will go these little 2012 Pocket Calendars, which I made for my team members as a holiday treat. Ok...now a new year's treat! In any case, they have been sitting on my desk waiting to be blinged up and turned into something fabulous for a few weeks now...and then the Mojo 222 sketch posted. I pondered using it for the front of the calendar...and then the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger came with these adorable bright colors, and I was finally sparked, inspired, ready to stamp!

Since these are calendars, meant to slip back into a little plastic cover, my hands were tied so far as dimensional embellishments go - a few layers of paper maybe, but nothing too lumpy bumpy would fit! So I took that as a sign that it was time to get the stamps out and play!

I read an awesome tip on Jeanette Lynton's blog and that inspired me to stamp all over my B&T paper! The Plaid looking "ribbon" from the sketch is actually the Lagoon print from the Elemental paper packet, over stamped with the polka dot image from Rock the Block - it fits perfectly, making a sort of polka dotty plaid that I was diggin'!

I embossed the Lagoon CS strip with a big dotty Cuttlebug folder, then flipped it over to use the debossed side. I lightly painted it with Pearl Paint so that the polka dots would stay bold and Lagoon while the rest of the paper would be toned down and pearly. Then I stamped Lagoon hearts into each little debossed circle. I also painted the Lagoon CS base of my calendar with Pearl Paint to match.

I made a little puddle pad with a scrap of felt and three reinkers: Sunflower, Pear, and Lagoon. I drew a stripe of each reinker onto the felt until I had a variegated block of inked felt big enough to ink up my "FUN" image. Just be sure you've placed your felt on something disposable or washable so you don't actually end up with a puddle of ink! Once you've inked the felt, you just use it as you would any ink pad - pounce, pounce, stamp, only now your image will be a customized rainbow!

Gosh I love this Rock the Block special stamp set! The big swirly corner image alone would be enough to make me fall in love. Don't forget the stamp set is only available through the end of this month - click here for more details or to orders yours today! I've done a LOT of projects with this Rock the Block stamp set (click here to see more), but never with such bright colors. When that Moxie Fab trigger arrived, it literally brightened my day!

Here's the Moxie Fab Trigger image - so cute right?

January SOTM Blog Hop!

2011-12-31T13:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring January's SOTM, which is called Little Reminder, a set of 25 stamps!

If you have come here from TAMYTHA'S BLOG, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.

This month we have almost 50 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 I made this adorable Mayberry Menu Planner for my kitchen! I saw something like this on Pinterest, and I thought, "That's genius!" So I changed it up a bit and made it with a few more features because I found this amazingly cheap Magnetic Board at IKEA ($12!) so I had more space to work with - it's taller than my three year old!

I put more pics and explanations below if you want to 4read more, or you can "Hop" on over to KATY'S BLOG to see her crafty work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, this SOTM is only available until the end of January (not to mention that super Rock the Blog Special stamp set and Mayberry papers I used are also going away at the end of this month too). Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

Here's a close up of the title area. All the papers are 12" across, so full sized sheets of B&T paper. I cut the frames on my Cricut using my Art Philosophy Cartridge (isn't it the BEST!). I stamped the backgrounds and big title letters with the texture stamps from Rock The Block using Honey and Tulip inks. The smaller title is using Polka Dot Alphabet (my total fave). The flowers are also cut on the cricut, then I ran them through a cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder before sanding, curling, and rolling them.

I stamped the says of the week from the January SOTM and matted them with some of my stash of CTMH textured CS - sure wish they'd bring that back! Then I popped them up onto my menu panel with 3-D foam tape. I also stamped the corresponding numbers on Colonial white CS and fussy cut them, them popped them up down the right side. The actual menu pieces are computer generated, then stamped with the numbers background from January SOTM and mounted onto textured CS. Then I attached velcro dots to the back of each menu item. I know the board is magnetic, but my 2 year old loves to run his hands down things, so I thought velcro might be better for my kitchen right now.Less chance of Wednesday's dinner traveling to destinations unknown.

For the bottom third of the board I built a little french memo board using Red collection Ribbon and Green Assortment buttons so I can tuck in recipe cards and coupons for that week's menu. I made a little french fry box (cut with my Art Philosophy cartridge as well) to hold the rest of my menu suggestions, everything from eggs to spaghetti to eating out. I finished the bottom of the board with pleated twill ribbon combined with the stitched ribbon from that Red Collection of ribbons.

Now it's hanging in my kitchen - art that's functional and adorable!

Here are some other projects I have made using the January Stamp of the Month...

Team New Year's card

New Year's Ball Drop Card

Pink Scallop cricut Card

And I'm linking this to the Paper Issues We've Got Your number party!

Monday Motivations Team Card

2011-12-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

This week (on Monday) my team made this card, using the January SOTM that will be available soon. We embossed White Daisy CS using a Cuttlebug folder, then painted it with CTMH's pearl paint. A few 1" strips of Wonderland Paper, and some Cricut scalloped circles and frames for layering, and we had an adorable card in minutes!

I love how the hemp is so skinny and delicate. Did you know you could separate the CTMH hemp just like embroidery floss? Just twist the end of your string between your fingertips until it begins to unravel, then slowly separate the layers. Works on waxy flax too!

Mojo Monday 221

2011-12-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here's another January SOTM card, inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch #212. I almost never make a round card, so it was fun to experiment out of my normal box!

I cut a scalloped card on my Cricut using my Art Philosophy Cartridge at 4 1/4" as Mojo recommended. Then I cut a scalloped circle at 3 3/4" with the Decorative Layer so it would have the holes punched in the scallops. I stamped that scallop with the number image using Blush ink, then a sponged it with Blush Ink and swiped the edges with Cocoa ink.

Onto the Big scallop I layered a simple scalloped circle cut at 2 1/2", stamped with the big Calendar image from January SOTM in Cocoa Ink. I added the numbers to the center of the calendar with Blush ink.

Then I cut a Cricut rectangle frame at 1 1/2 inches, which I stamped repeatedly with the Let's Celebrate sentiment in Blush ink. I added a Tulip 3-D flower, a bling button, and a Red Collection button to finish my card (upside down from the sketch - hope that's kosher!). Instead of ribbon across the bottom I used a Cricut ribbon tag folded in half. Then, after I assembled the card, I filled in the big scallop layer holes with Glitter Glitz Gel. That was fun!

Linked up to Paper Issues We've Got Your Number Party - check it out!

Why do I never finish my Christmas cards on time?

2011-12-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

Every year I teach Christmas card workshops. I design multiple cards and cut literally hundreds of Christmas cards...for everyone else. It's a classic case of the shoemaker's children going with out shoes.

Every year I vow to get my cards addressed and mailed out early. I'd settle for on time even. I think about them, plan them, cut them, stamp them, design a computer printed insert with pictures and everything...and every year they seem to be mailed out the week after Christmas. Sigh...

I should accept my fate and bow down to the wisdom of my friend Leigh Anne and her no stress New Year's greeting card/letter instead. Every year I look forward to getting her letter and enjoying the fab and funny letter inside. Does it bother me that it comes after the holidays? Nope - I love the thrill of getting actual mail (not bills or ads) ANYTIME, for any reason!

Yet something in me clings to the ~~deluded~~ hope that one of these years I'll get my cards addressed and mailed off on time. Yes, this is my card for 2011. The other side is a cute pic of the boys and our change of address for the new house. I cut an acrylic sentiment apart to build my Joy and Peace Sentiment (something I love about acrylic stamping - I control the image!). I sponged the edges of every two step stamped wreath (and each door panel), and glitters the wreaths with Glitter Glitz Gel. I set the door handles (Bigger Brads) and embellished the computer printed insert with a stamped swirly border and Believe Paper. And I thought I was keeping it simple!

Tonight I finish addressing the envelopes and finally mail off our cards. Does it mean less because it's a wee bit late? I hope not - because we have a lot of Love and Good Wishes for our Family and Friends. Especially since we live so far from most of our Family. Which is why last week it was way more urgent to spend time with family (visiting from out of state) then finishing my pile of 99% finished cards....It doesn't mean we don't love you, it just means that when there are actual lovely family babysitters in town, you take time to smell the roses (or mass produce homemade gluten free cheese crackers without a 2 year old monkey clinging to your hip).

Hope you had a Merry Christmas, Friends and Family! And a Happy New Year...now where did I put those stamps?

P. S. The design for my card was inspired by a photo from Heart 2 Heart challenges (twiggy wreath, red & green), lots of sparkle!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger & SOTM Sneak Peek!

2011-12-26T22:19:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to hop on this Tuesday trigger all week - but Christmas Holiday Hoopla took a bit of precedence over my need to be in the stamp room. No time like the present, right before it expires to get a new Trigger tomorrow! This week's trigger is called Simply Stripes, and I simply love stripes! For this card I used the upcoming January Stamp of the Month (which, I know, is not available until January, but it was so perfect for what I wanted to do....). I used it to make a glowing ball to drop for this New Year's card!

I pulled the brown and blue tones from the Trigger to create my card.I stamped the big circle calendar image onto a 2 1/2" scallops circle cut on Cricut with my Art Philosophy Cartridge. I cut it on the Layer feature so the center was cut out. Then I layered it over a fancy Doily looking snowflake image I fussy cut out of some Wonderland paper I had left over from this workshop.

I created the striped background paper using 1/2" strips of Kraft CS sponged on the edges with Colonial White Pigment ink. Then I stamped one of the line stitch images from the SOTM in the same Colonial White pigment ink on the edges of the 1/2" strips and in between the strips I masked the centers of the 1/2" strips with post-it notes, then I over-stamped with the number grid in Twilight ink, and sponged it with my big sponge and more twilight ink.

The year numbers are stamped in Twilight Ink and fussy cut as well. Lots of Stardust Glitter Glitz gel and sparkles finished my sparkly New Year's Eve Ball.

Here's the actual Tuesday Trigger for my inspiration, from Moxie Fab World. There will be a new one tomorrow. Be sure to check it out and play along - it's fun!

Rock the Block Blog Hop!

2011-12-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Rock the Block Blog Hop! If you came here from Angela's Blog, you're on the right path! Dozens of consultants have made awesome Rock the Block creations for you this month. Hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! If you get lost, you can find a list of all the participants here. Here we go!

Rock the Block is an amazing special CTMH is offering now through the end of January. You get an adorable E-sized stamp set PLUS this cool alterable set of 9 blocks with a cute little storage tray - all for just $15 with minimum purchase! The Stamp set will only be available as part of this special package. The Blocks are a sneak peek into the new Spring Summer catalog, and will be $14.95 in the new catalog. . .so it's like getting a $29.95 E-sized stamp set free with this special. Yippee!

I created three Holiday Ornaments for my Rock the Block project. I even still have a few blocks left over, to post another project that's not quite ready yet! The blocks are nice and sturdy, and a clean white color, ready for whatever creativity you have in mind!

I did a simple one block ornament, a double block snowman, and a triple block photo ornament. I used 25 lb. fishing line to string my blocks together and make the hanging loops. I also used jingle bells for the spacers on my multiple block ornaments.

You'll find more info and pics on each ornament below, plus a slideshow with more close up pics. Rock the Block is available to order HERE starting December 19th - don't miss out on this amazing deal!

If you're ready to move on, hop on over to Karen's blog and see what craftiness she's cooked up for us! Don't forget you can subscribe to get updates to my blog via email from the link at the left!

For my single block simple ornament, I painted the block with Pearl Paint on all sides and let it dry. Then I cut some Cricut Squares with little decorative notches in the corners at 2 3/4" using my Art Philosophy Cartridge. I also cut some tiny snowflakes. The bigger photos I trimmed to fit the Cricut Squares and mounted with 3-D Foam tape. The smaller ones I punched with my circle punch and matted onto a circle punched from the new Icings Top Coats Acrylic Overlays. I used the 4x6 Snowflake image. It's hard to see in the picture, but it's a shiny silver embossed image - so pretty! I filled the Cricut snowflakes with Silver Glitter Glitz and added lots of sparkles. At the top and the bottom I anchored the fishing line with a Bling collection rhinestone button. The top and the bottom are decorated with a Cricut Snowflake topped by an Icings snowflake image. Simple, quick, and easy to reproduce - how much would the grandparent's love this?

For my second ornament I made this adorable snowman. I painted these blocks with two coats of Pearl Paint, and used the same 2 3/4 Cricut square image with 3-D Foam tape as well.

He's double sided, with a more traditional snowman image on the front, created with Black Mini Medley button brads and Black bitty brads. The carrot nose is hand cut and shaded with Desert Sand ink. I used the pink chalk from the winter chalks palette to give color to Frosty's cheeks and added bitty sparkles to his eyes.

For the back side I added a hand stitched vest and tie made from the Wonderland papers with Mocha Pearl Opaque buttons. The face has a mustache (hand cut from black CS), button brad eyes, and a Bigger Brad nose. The sides are decorated with pieces of Top Coats Icings overlays attached to the cricut squares and embellished with Sparkles and glitter glitz gel. Once the snowman was fully decorated on both blocks, I pierced a hole through the approximate center of each block and fished my line through using a big needle. I tied mini Jungle bells on the bottom and between the blocks to anchor the spacing and secure the blocks. Then I pierced and fished the line through the little top hat I made for my snowman. I tied off the top with a loop and a few bells to ~~hide my knots~~ add some holiday cheer!

Speaking of his hat, I created one hat for both snowman, cutting two circles on my cricut at 2 1/2" and 2", plus a 2" wide strip of CS. I stamped all the hat pieces with the dot background image from Rock the Block and then sponged them in Black ink. I trimmed notches around the outside of the smaller circle and folded them down for flaps. Using Liquid Glass, I adhered the CS strip around the tabbed smaller circle, creating the top of the hat. Then I adhered the hat top to the brim with more Liquid Glass, adding lots and brushing it on all over to create the glossy top hat look. After that dried I added a 1/2" strip of wonderland B&T to the hat and put a jaunty red Cricut Rose on one side and a pretty glittered snowflake on the other. I did add some Liquid Glass to the bottom of the hat when I strung it onto the snowman ornament so it wouldn't rotate as the snowman blocks turned.

I used the FUN sentiment on one side, cutting out each letter and popping everything up with 3-D Foam tape. The next side had the family sentiment plus two of the photos. I printed them wallet sized at Costco to get small enough prints. The third side was three photos, and the last side had two photos plus the LOVE sentiment. Full pics of each side are in the slideshow below.

I added a LOT of glitter glitz gel and sparkles to each side of the block so that the ornament will really sparkle in the lights of my tree. Can you see where I used the grid background stamp on the block background where it will show, and matted some of my photos with Believe B&T? Almost every layer and edge is glittered in some way. I used lots of Jingle bells on this one as my spacers, with a large cluster on top with my Red ribbon bow.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end! You'll find more pics and close ups in the slide show below. I love this stamp set so much - it's so versatile and fab!

Linked to Paper Issues Holiday Madness!

Other projects I've made with Rock the Block this month include:
Rock the Block Wall Hanging using the display tray
Rock the Block Holiday Card
Rock the Block Mojo Sketch Challenge Card
Rock the Block Team Meeting Card
Rock the Block Team Gifty Calendar

Rock the Block Wall Hanging

2011-12-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

Whew! I meant to post these layouts throughout the week, but getting the boys through the holiday festivities and extra activities has been a bit more time consuming than I thought. For this project I used just the tray and stamps from my Rock the Block special (awesome E sized exclusive stamp set plus alterable 9 block set with display tray for just $15 with purchase starting Monday - such an amazing deal!!).

I love how these came out! I made a mini 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 layout for one fun photo of the boys from each season last year. I combined four different paper packs (with emphasis on blue in the papers) to create a four block display to hang in my bedroom sitting area. I plan to cover each tray with coordinating B&T like I did for the Spring Layout. Hence the need for three more trays, which I can order starting Monday! I pulled Bamboo CS into each packet for the base of each Layout, plus I added hand stitched details, scallop borders, 3-D Foam squares on all the photo layers, and lots of sparkles to bring common embellishment elements through the four layouts.

Spring layout:
For this layout I used the Lucky Paper packet on the backside/monochrome side of the papers. I covered the base tray with the neutral based B&T, mitering the corners so that the tray was completely covered. Then I hand cut some clouds from two of the B&Ts. I cut a big scallop border using my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, and stamped it with the grid image from Rock the Block set, then sponged it in Sky and Indian Corn Blue inks. The rain drops are hand stitched with a single strand of waxy flax and topped with clear sparkles. I used to avoid stitching, but now it's so easy to make neat even stitches with my CTMH clear piercing ruler! I added the title letters using the new Trinity Alphabet, a neat E sized set with three different fonts on the sheet.

Summer Layout:
This time I pulled my papers from the Fanfare packet. I stamped my scalloped border with the dot image, then sponged it with Pacifica Ink. I stamped the flower image using the Kissing technique. I inked the dot image in Pacifica ink, then set it facing up on my table. The I inked the flower in Cranberry ink and "kissed" it to the pacifica Dot image before stamping it onto White Daisy CS. Now I have a polka dot flower! I made the little file tab at the top of my folder, stamping one of the Rock the Block sentiment squares and trimming off the frame, which I attached to a second image stamped in 2nd generation Cranberry ink to create the file table. I free hand cut the pennants and stamped them with the Rock the Block texture images. Finally I added Red glitter glitz gel to the banner and flowers, plus the little cricut heart at the top.

Autumn layout:

For Autumn I used the Miracle paper packet. Gosh, I love that paper! I covered my scallop image with Striped B&T. I stamped the grid image repeatedly all over the background in second generation Desert Sand Ink for a light texture. Then added the big swirly corner stamp to the bottom left of the Layout by dragging my Desert Sand ink pad across the image so that the stamped image would be distressed. I inked just the LOVE word of one of the Rock the Block sentiments and stamped it repeatedly onto Twill Ribbon. I added extra twill ribbon and rick rack scraps to the knot as I tied it. I popped up one of the Rock the Block sentiments onto a Cricut Art Philosophy frame.

Winter Layout:

For this layout I used the pretty new Wonderland papers. I broke from the scallop embellishments and cut a bunch of Cricut Art Philosophy snowflakes. I stamped the snowflakes with the textures and swirls from Rock the Block in Twilight ink, and embellished them with lots of glitter glitz gel in Stardust and Silver. Some of the snowflakes are two layers, with 3-D foam tape for the centers for added dimension.

I have a really fun project ready to post for the Rock the Block blog hop starting on Monday, using up the blocks from the special. Ok - it's really three projects in one, but I'm really excited about how they came out (plus there will be dozens of other adorable posts) on the hop, so be sure to check back Monday for more Rock the Block fabulousness!

Rock the Block Holiday Card

2011-12-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

I know I didn't post much last week, but I have been stamping my block off - my Rock the Block set that is! Today I have a quick Christmas card made with my Rock The Block set. I used the polka dot background stamp on my background, stamping tone on tone with Crystal Blue Ink. Then I sanded the stamped CS with the roughest side of my sanding block.

I cut some Ornaments with my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge and stamped them with the grid background and flower corner images. Then I filled in the white spaces on the ornaments with Stardust glitter glitz gel. It made the grid ornament so 3-D like those frosted ornaments from the store. I also popped some silver glitz onto random dots in the background for more sparkle.

I used a sketch from Heart 2 Heart Challenges. My color inspiration came from the Moxie Fab World: Inspired by Fashion challenge. I loved the blue and white jacket with the bit of sparkle with the vintage brooches! So I added those awesome Rhinestone Brads to my ornaments and my snowflake center. Then I stitched my ornament strings on by hand.

Rock the Block starts on the 15th, and you get an E sized totally adorable stamp set ($29.95) plus a set of 9 alterable blocks with display tray ($14.95) for just $15! More projects are coming throughout this week, culminating in a consultant Rock The Block Blog Hop on the 20th. I can't wait to see what everyone else is doing with their blocks...and order another set for myself!

Snowman Gift Tags

2011-12-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of the adorable little snowman tags I made for last weekend's holiday bazaar. I made these using my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. I cut out the tags at 2 inches, and a basic circle at 1 3/4 inches.

I ran the circles through my snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder. I added black sequins for the eyes, and handcut noses from an old eight petal flower punch from my stash. The mouths went on with a simple marker.

I stamped a To/From sentiment on the back of the tag, which was the whole purpose of double layering the tag - to keep the back smooth for writing on the tags. So cute...Can't wait to get wrapping!

December SOTM Blog Hop!

2011-11-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring December's SOTM, which is Mad About You, a Love themed set of 14 stamps! If you have come here from DOREEN'S BLOG, you are on the right path! This month we have over 50 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! If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants here. Here we go!

This month I made this adorable little purse, just the right size to slip in a few chocolates or a gift card and deliver to your favorite girlfriend! I made a coordinating tag too, all using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge in conjunction with the December SOTM! I found my color combo from Julie Ebersole's Color Swatch Challenge. I chose Vineyard Berry, Lagoon, 2nd Generation Lagoon, Baby Pink, and Sweet Leaf to match the swatches.

And I knew I wanted to make the purse this week, but I was planning to use the new Rock the Block set...until I saw the Moxie Fab Get Inspired in the Kitchen Challenge. Suddenly my SOTM project gelled in my head and I was stamping my heart(s) out...literally!

I cut a bunch (like 20) of the small 1" hearts on White Daisy CS with my AP cartridge. I know I could have stamped them right onto the Cricut shape for the purse front...I did that on the back. See the difference? Just adding the hearts stamped onto White CS adds so much texture to my little purse! Would I have fussy cut them all to piece it by hand? Probably not...but now I don't have to think about the work, my cricut does it all for me!

Even the purse handle was cut on my Cricut. I loaded a fresh sheet into my Cricut, chose the correct image to cut (adorable double scalloped edge border) and hit the "Fit to Length" button. That lets the machine know that you want the strip to be a specific length (in this case, 7 inches). Then it automatically decides how wide to make the strip proportionally. That strip was actually a smidge wide for my taste, so I then trimmed it in half down the center with my paper trimmer and adhered the two sides separately to my 1/2" Cardstock to create my scalloped handle. Then I folded in the two end scallops on each side of my handle and adhered them to the inside of my Purse Lid with Liquid Glass (then covered up the inside of the Purse Lid with more Lagoon CS).

Finally, I stamped my Cricut flowers using the Big heart stamp in Baby Pink Ink. Each flower was then swiped on the edges and randomly stamped with the big swirl image in Vineyard Berry ink. I used the tip of my paper piercer to curl back the individual petals of the flower swirl, then rolled up the flower and filled it with Liquid Glass. After letting it dry on my table top for a few minutes (I like to rest a big block on top of it to help keep everything in place while it dries) I smooshed the flowers more with the same big block. You're thinking a nice, gentle press with the block, so sweet...but no. I grab the block and give each one a good SMACK and call it good - yea for distressed flowers!

I put the measurements and Cricut cuts for the purse below. Last note: how much do you LOVE those Rhinestone Brads?

Now "Hop" on over to PAIGE'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, this SOTM is only available until the end of December! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

Here are the purse dimensions and Cricut Cuts used:
To make the inner "box" of the purse:
1 3/4" x 11" CS, scored at 1/2" along each long side and 3 1/2" from each short end. Fold on the score lines, snip just at the intersections (little 1/2" snips) and fold up, adhering the corners to create the purse frame.

Cricut cuts:
Purse Front/Back
(pg. 47) 4 1/2" White Daisy CS x 2
(pg. 47) 4 3/4" Lagoon CS x 2
Mat, embellish, then adhere to CS Box frame.

Purse Lid:
(pg. 31) 4" White Daisy CS
(pg. 21) 3 3/4" Lagoon CS (I ran this through the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder)
Adhere together, then score a 1" fold in the center to make it into a "U" shape. adhere one side to the back of the purse with strong adhesive. Close with a velcro dot on the front.

Embellishments:
(pg. 26) 1" x 20
(pg. 68) 1 1/2" and 1" <FlurDeLs>
(pg. 62) 1/2" x4

Handle:
(pg. 62) Fit to Length at 7"

Here comes the Santa-tizer!

2011-11-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

I have been working hard to get ready for our booth at Mooberry Elementary School's Holiday Bazaar on Friday and Saturday this week. One of the projects I made is this adorable Teacher gift - a bottle of Santa-tizer! I punched the scallop border across the bottom with the CTMH Corner Rounder. You pop the guard off and turn it upside down so you can line the scallops up to touch as you punch across your paper and it makes this sweet wide scallop border! A few buttons and some Gold Stickles and your hands have never been more merry...or cleaner!

Looking for something to do this weekend? Come see me at Mooberry and check out the fun!

Posted to the Paper Issues Holiday Madness Linky Party! Check out the Holiday crafty goodness!

Mojo Monday 216

2011-11-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

Oops! Two posts in one night...but I forgot to post my Mojo Monday sketch 216 card! I finished them this weekend, but posting got away from me. I really love this card sketch, too!

I started with the color combo from the Heart 2 Heart color challenge earlier this month: Juniper, Autumn Terracotta, and Bamboo. I only used White Cardstock on this card. Each piece is stamped with textures and images from the new Rock the Block special stamp set, then distressed and sponges with inks in those three colors to create the different textures. I LOVE that stitched wide ribbon from the new Green Ribbon Rounds!

The large flowers were fun to make. I took a large solid flower image, inked it in Autumn Terracotta, them pressed the inked stamp to the Polka dot background image to add a light polka dot texture to my flower base. Then I added a second layer of flower petals with pop dots. There wasn't a five petal flower in the set, so I cut out individual petals from an eight petal flower image that I had inked, stamped off, then rolled in the same Autumn Terracotta ink color for more depth.

A few Mocha Opaque pearls and a sweet Friendly sentiment, and my card was complete...completely ready for the Moxie Fab Celebrating Relationships Challenge! National Girlfriends' Day isn't until August 1st, but I think I need to send this one off sooner! Only a girlfriend can appreciate such a girlie flowery card!

Ok - meetcha back here tomorrow for a Crafty Holiday gifty!

Moxie Fab Team Meeting Card

2011-11-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

How was your Thanksgiving? We had a wonderful feast, followed by lots of stamping fun this weekend at the Black Friday Holiday Hoopla! One of the projects I whipped up over the weekend is this fun 8 x 3 1/2 card using the new Rock the Block special stamp set. It's so adorable, with the paisley and the fab flowers! I have a lot more Rock the Block projects coming, plus a Rock the Block blog hop coming soon...See the blank blocks there in the background? Check back on the 20th to see what I'm doing with them!

I made this card for my team to make at our meeting Monday night. I wanted to make something for the Moxie Fab Pay It Forward Challenge, to make a card for World Hello Day, Sweetest Day, or National Day of Encouragement. It's not too late to play too - it's open until December 12th, and there are some cute projects to peruse out on their site! I used the Sketch #143 from Card Patterns blog.

The card is done in Tulip and Grey Wool Ink. I stamped paisley and flower images on Tulip cardstock tone on tone in Tulip ink. Then I used the Polka Dot background image on the Grey Wool cardstock, also tone on tone. I masked the card base to stamp the circle border down the side in Grey Wool ink. The LOVE sentiment is three layers of stamping, popped up with 3-D Foam tape for lots of dimension.

I also made some faux baker's twine using my Waxy Flax. I separated a strand of Cranberry Waxy Flax and twisted it with a full strand of White Waxy Flax. Then I tied my Red buttons on with the remaining strands of Cranberry Waxy Flax. I just love the new patterns in the button assortments.

I have more to share this week, as I've been busily working to get ready for our Holiday Bazaar booth at Mooberry Elementary School - see ya back here tomorrow!

Believe Workshop for December

2011-11-23T01:47:00.000-08:00

Woo - I have been stamping the midnight oil getting ready for the Black friday holiday Hoopla this week...but in the mean time I did find some time to get the Believe pages together for December! I already have the perfect pictures in mind for the first Layout, which is my take on the CTMH Believe WOTG layout (added some dry embossing, StickEase, extra metal/bling, and GLITTER!). We just had the goofiest Santa pics taken with the munchkins (Go see them!) and as soon as I get to Costco those pics will have a cozy new home!

Workshop details below - RSVP by December 9th to reserve your kit. Bring a new friend with you and get FREE Glitter Glitz gel!

Believe Workshop: Tuesday, December 27th

6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

6 PRECUT pages - bring your pics and finish your Holiday scrapping, easy peasy!

Basic Kit: $25

I Want It All: $35 (includes a C sized stamp set!)

This post linked to the Heart 2 Heart Time Challenge!

December Club pages!

2011-11-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

This Wonderland paper is just so yummy; I can't get enough! Here are the six pages for Club in December.

Now back to prepping for Black Friday Holiday Hoopla - see you there!

Remember when we became friends?

2011-11-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

I am loving the Facebook posts folks are doing about things they are grateful for every day this month. I wish I was that organized about posting to my wall, but I tend to lean more to silly pictures of the boys and random stories about their ~~mis~~adventures than actual deep thoughts. Not to say that I'm not grateful...I've got a lot to be thankful for, starting with all those silly stories about my crazy little boys. And luckily, lots of friends with whom I can share those stories!

Tonight's card inspiration came from a few sources: a sketch from Mojo Monday, the Metals challenge from Heart 2 Heart (where you'll find two of my projects in last month's top ten!), and the Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World. I was planning to take the evening off, as the boys have been taking it in turns to disturb my sleep rather thoroughly lately, but when that Trigger showed up in my in box, the card I'd been planning for Mojo just came together in my head and I had to get it down on paper, so to speak!

I used my favorite paper pack lately, Wonderland. I can't get enough of that lovely blue and brown polka dot! The diagonals on the purse reminded me of my fav new print, and I had already made the basic Honey colored Cricut Art Philosophy Roses. So I gave up my comfy spot on the couch and got my fingers inky!

I took my basic roses and started distressing them by pounding them flatter with a stamping block. Then I using my piercing tool tip to spread a combo of Liquid Glass tinted with Sunset reinker along the edges of the flower petals to create my variegated flowers. I used the same reinker tinted Liquid Glass to shade my cream colored Pearl Opaques for the centers of my flowers and the check box on my sentiment. I've been itching to use this set - it's one of THREE adorable coordinating sets that are included in the Cricut Art Philosophy Collection. I love being able to cut the exact shape out of my paper so easily with the measurements for the Cricut cut printed right on the stamp set liners - sweet!

I used my WIDE striped ribbon as one of the background layers for the card sketch, and trimmed some scraps in half to create the folded ribbon leaves for my flower cluster. Finally, I stamped the stitch border (using my fav stitch from the Elemental scrapbook kit) and added a row of bitty brads down the right side.

Don't forget to sign up to follow my blog via email on the side bar, Stampin' Friends!

With my ink addiction now satiated, I'm off to bed. Sweet Dreams!

This Post is linked to:
Mojo Monday Sketch 215
Heart 2 Heart Metals Challenge
Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger

Give Thanks!

2011-11-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is coming up quicker than quick, and I've been buried in prep for the Black Friday Holiday Hoopla. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, so this was a fun project to reflect on while I was crafting; a little happiness therapy if you will.

I used the Card Patterns Sketch 141 as the jumping off point for my project tonight. I loved the idea of the little banner across the top, and I knew I wanted to make it something special. Then I saw the Championing Award Medallions Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and I knew what I wanted to do: a Thanksgiving Card I could use in my Holiday Mantel Display!
I used the polka dot print from the Wonderland Paper packet for my background print, mounted on some of my hoard of Textured Cocoa CS which I sanded. I trimmed the zip strip from the top of my B&T to use for the medallions. I scored that 1/2" x 12" strip every 1/4 inch, folded it up, then adhered the ends together to make a zigzag circle. I like to apply monoadhesive to a backing circle of CS then press the medallion onto the sticky circle to hold it in place. then I fill the center with Liquid Glass and then I pop a block on top to hold everything down while the Liquid Glass dries in the center for a more permanent bond. I added a link at the bottom of this post to a video tutorial by one of my favorite CTMH Artist that makes in in a (sort of) similar way to me, at least the squishing motion which is hard to explain in words.

I made five of these medallions, topped with Neutral craft buttons and Waxy Flax stitches or bows. I draped my medallion banner across the top of the card. Then I cut a 2" length of the super wide Striped Ribbon into 4 long skinny strips to make the banner ties, which are just glued on with Liquid Glass.

I added letters cut on my Art Philosophy Cartridge at 3/4", which I then flooded with Bronze Glitter Glitz for more of a holiday feel. I do this in two layers to get the raised effect with less drying time. A bit of that gorgeous wide striped ribbon and some faux stitching around the edges and I was feeling very thankful indeed.

This Post is linked up 4 times:
Moxie Fab Championing Award Medallions Challenge
Card Patterns Sketch 141
Heart 2 Heart Challenges Gratitude
Paper Issues Thankful for Fall

And, as promised, in case you need a visual on making the medallions:

Accordion Medallion Video Tutorial from Lisa Stenz

Black Friday Holiday Hoopla!

2011-11-06T22:31:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year...time for crafty chicks to think about handmade, from the heart holiday gifting and cards! Not sure you have the time? Come to the annual Black Friday Holiday Hoopla and let me show you how!
What is a Black Friday Holiday Hoopla? It's a fabulous holiday themed day of projects - instead of fighting the crazy crowds, you could be sipping cocoa and stamping the day away! All the projects are precut and ready to stamp/assemble for stress free crafting time. You'll have the whole day to spread out and create your projects. Light lunch and snacks are provided. Plus there will be goodie bags, prize drawings, and lots of giggling!

Choose one project, multiple kits of a single project (in case you need to gift to lots of family/friends), or take one of everything - the choice is yours. You can bring outside projects as well - all are welcome (well, at least up to 20 for seats!). The first ten stampers who pre-order the I Want It All package will get the Holiday Brag Book project pictured above for FREE (retail value $20)! The Bonus project has ten adorably decorated pages inside for adding 4x6 photos and journaling, and will not be made available to purchase separately.

Holiday Hoopla!

Black Friday, November 25th From as early as you feel like arriving to 5 p.m.
Super Saturday, November 26th Bonus Crop/Class time, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Lunch and snacks provided on both days.
Can't attend? To Go kits available IF ordered by the RSVP date, to be mailed directly to you!
RSVP by Monday, November 14th!

Class Choices:

Awesome Advent Activity Box ($20): Create this box chock full of ideas for daily holiday activities through the month of December. Add a picture to the back of each activity card to easily transform your activity box into a memory keeper your family will cherish and enjoy!

Terrific Tree Decor ($15): Craft this sparkly set of two paper trees for your mantle this holiday season. They coordinate nicely with the Advent box for display, too!

Pretty Picture Calendar ($15): Designed by my talented friend Ginni, this perpetual calendar will brighten anyone's day! Add 12 of your 4x6 photos for a wonderful (and easy) year in review. CLICK HERE to see a sample of an inner page layout!

Charming Card Tree ($25): I can't wait to hang this gorgeous holiday Card tree (designed by Ginni) up in my entry way! The "ornaments" on the tree, made with Cricut and our new Icings Clear overlays, are on clips so you can add your holiday greetings to the display as they arrive bringing cheer and love to your home.

Stamp-A-Stack ($1 per card): It's back - the most popular card workshop of the year! Choose from 4 pretty holiday card designs and order the exact number of cards you need at just $1 per card! CLICK HERE to see my post with pictures of all the choices. For each order of 25 cards you'll get FREE glitter glitz gel in the color of your choice!

The I Want It All Option!
Can't decide which projects to choose? Take the full day of classes! For $100 you'll get one of each project including your choice of 25 Stamp A Stack Cards, PLUS the Free Glitz Gel AND (the 1st ten who RSVP with payment) will receive the bonus Holiday Brag Book project. Not to mention bonus tickets for the drawings that day. Some substitutions available - contact me for details!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger + Card Patterns!

2011-11-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

So I was working away at my final cards for Tina Lovell's cute card swap this week when I was blessed with a bit of kismet. The Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger popped into my inbox, bringing this gorgeous charm bracelet photo...that made me want to bling out my entire swap card, which I based on the sketch from Card Patterns Sketch 139. My colors were already similar, I already had a cascade of swirls with a flower or two on it...and I had a whole couple of the new Rhinestone brads that had been ever so quietly calling my name.... So I grabbed my sample card from the wall and started adding the bling. Well, first I grabbed my Liquid Glass and tinted a glob in a small cup with a few drops of Sky Reinker. The brads were calling my name, but once I saw the Trigger I knew that they needed to be the touch of blue in my card. So I painted them with the tinted Liquid Glass to change the color!

Here's my completed card, with rolled 3-D Cricut flowers, fussy cut 3-D layered flowers with the centers popped up on bitty brads, Glitter Glitz, Pearl Opaques, Sparkles, and the now blue hued Rhinestone Brads. I covered the black CS swirl die cut (Cricut AP cartridge) with a couple layers of Bronze Glitter Glitz. Plus I edge distressed the focal point with black ink and Bronze glitz. The papers are from the Roxie packet - I need like a million sheets of that big damask rose on canvas pattern!

It's so sparkly in person! I couldn't capture the full glory of the bling, but I love it almost as much as I love that whole jar of bling buttons you see there. No, I'm not hoarding them, I'm getting ready for my Stamp A Stack workshop! Still, a ~~little~~ big grin spreads over my face every time I glimpse the bling button jar as I'm working.

Speaking of Bling, I've got 3 more projects to post tomorrow to wrap up the Black Friday Holiday Hoopla peeks. Glitter is drying, and I'm putting finishing touches on the final project, the cherry on top if you will. Had to take a break tonight to hang with my scrapbook club gals - to scrap or not to scrap...is it even a question? See ya back here soon, and in the meanwhile, take a peek at the fun challenges on Moxie Fab and Card Patterns.

November SOTM Blog Hop!

2011-10-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring November's SOTM, which is Cherish The Day, a set of 44 stamps! If you have come here from BRAE'S BLOG, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants here.

This month we have almost 60 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 I made a crafty picture frame for my friend and downline Bao, who just welcomed beautiful baby boy Joseph to her family! I used the October image stamped on tickets cut with my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to create the big flower in the lower frame corner. I rolled the image in Sweet Leaf and Vineyard Berry inks, then pulled each ticket over the handle of my piercing tool to make the "petals curve". The paper is retired (Wings), but I have a not-so-secret stash since I just LOVE butterflies! I painted the frame with White acrylic paint, and stamped directly onto the painted surface with my CTMH inks for the swirls and title. Final touches included a few Just Blooms Flutter paper butterflies, Bling collection buttons, and Stardust Glitter Glitz. Now I have something fun and hand-made to bring when I get to meet Baby Joseph!

Now "Hop" on over to DAWN'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, this SOTM is only available until the end of November! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

Here are some other projects I have made using this awesome Stamp of the Month...

Upcoming Holiday Gift Calendar Workshop
4th of July Scrapbook Wall Hanging
Set of 12 SOTM Cards

Stamp A Stack Preview!

2011-10-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

One of my most popular workshops each year is Stamp A Stack, which this year will be a part of the Black Friday Holiday Hoopla! There are 4 designs this year, and you can make as many of each design as you need to fill your Christmas card list with beautiful handmade cards...for just $1 per card!

Stamp a little, or a lot - the choice is yours! Plus Earn FREE Glitter Glitz gel for each 25 cards ordered!

Option #1: Button Ornaments!

Price of $1 per card includes Red/White/Green button assortments. Upgrade to Bling buttons available.

Option #2: Wonderland Wonder!

Price of $1 per card includes White Daisy diecut snowflakes.
Sample shows optional Glitter Glitz Upgrade.

Option #3: Paper Ornament!

Price of $1 per card includes diecut plaid/bright stripes Ornament.
Sample shows optional Glitter Glitz Upgrade.

Option #4: Photo Card!

Price of $1 per card includes Sparkles. Photo Mat is reversible, with choice of Bright Stripes (as pictured) or Red Plaid.
Sample shows optional Glitter Glitz Upgrade.
Add your Holiday Photo sized at 3x3 up to 3 3/4 x 4.
Note: You can get precut 3x3's at Scrapbook Pictures for 15 cents each or Photo edit two pictures onto one 4x6 and print at Costco to get 2 for the price of 1!

Can't attend Black Friday Holiday Hoopla? Order Stamp A Stack To-Go Kits, which will come prestamped with Sentiment (unless otherwise requested). The price remains $1 per card, for any number of cards! To-Go Kits can also be shipped for $5 S/H.

The rest of the Black Friday Projects and full pricing will be posted by Wednesday. RSVP deadline is November 11th! Check back November 1st for an awesome November SOTM Blog hop!

H2H Challege + More Swap Sneak Peek

2011-10-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

After a fun time at the pumpkin patch today, we came home and I had a nap with Not-So-Baby Max instead of getting up to my room to photograph and post these cards - totally worth it! In any case, Last night I did these two cards, both for my Swap due on November 2nd. 3 down, 1 to go!

The first one is based off the Sketch Challenge from Heart 2 Heart from back at the beginning of October. I used on of the beautiful new Top Coats Icings Overlays for the shiny foil accented borders in the background. I used one of the 4x6 photo overlays, trimmed off the borders, and layered those as ribbons. I find it super helpful to use my Rub & Remove Eraser to help peel off the non-scratch shipping coating from the acrylic image.I stamped and paper pieced the coffee mug using the Stamp set that comes in our upcoming December Club kit called Wonderland. The sentiment is stamped on an oval frame (cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge). Then I accented everything with Stardust glitter glitz! There's a lot of sanding on the Chocolate Cardstock background - I love the super heavy grit on our adorable little sanding block. You just lay that awesome White Core CTMH cardstock on your scratch paper and sand away for that rough crosshatch texture.

The second card for tonight is also for the swap, and uses that same Wonderland paper and stamp set from our upcoming club kit. I paper pieced the mittens in Chocolate and Twilight by stamping the mittens once in each color. Then I trimmed off stripes of the Twilight color and mounted them onto the Chocolate colored image. I filled them in with Stardust (on the blue) and Bronze (on the chocolate) glitter Glitz Gel. Then I triple stamped the Polka Dot Border in twilight and accented with a teeny tiny organdy wrap and bow. Simple and sweet!

Tomorrow my Black Friday peeks continue. Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek #1: Black Friday Stampaganza!

2011-10-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

OK - I'm not completely ready to share everything yet, but here's a sneak peek of ONE of the projects for the upcoming Black Friday Stampaganza! If you're new to Stamping Rules, every year I host a day of workshops on Black Friday. Instead of fighting the crowds, we stamp. Instead of buying more stuff, we craft gifts. And if you arrive with a bag of 4 a.m. bargains from Joanns/Target/Freddy's...we don't judge. We just offer snacks and coffee...and show you what we've been working on!

This year's line up of workshops is going to be fab! Here's your first peek: a beautiful Sonoma photo calendar! I like to do photo calendars for gifts for the grandparents each Christmas, and this one is so pretty. My friend Ginni designed this, and I was so excited to cross one item off my huge to do list - and I'm pleased as punch to have such a cute calendar decorating my studio now! It holds a picture for each month, plus an adorable stamped double calendar card, so you can see the current month and the next month's dates on each page!

This fabulous gift is just $15 per kit or you can get your kits for $10 each when you earn your SOTM for November for just $5! Attend Black Friday to assemble, or order your To Go kits pre-cut/stamped and ready to assemble at home. Now who's ready for the holidays?

See ya back here tomorrow for more Sneak Peeks!

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - scrapbooking!

2011-10-26T10:00:00.002-07:00

A project I've been planning for a very, very long time is a display of 10 x 10 scrapbook pages as a focal point in my living room. Of course, now that we've bought a house, it's a lot more motivating to work on this project. I've got a few layouts done, and the frames are all purchased - just gotta fill them! I want a wedding page, and one for each boy's birth memorabilia, and I did one for the CTMH cruise in '05. This month I added one of the pics of the three boys from this July, wearing their 4th of July T-shirts.

The focus of the H2H challenge was journaling, something that I really love about scrapbooking. You think you'll remember everything, but life goes so fast that soon people's names are forgotten, and funny details escape you. For these pics I was not around. Daddy took Gramma Debby and Poppa with the three boys to have the pics done. I had gotten these adorable blue and orange coordinating outfits, so those were carefully toted to the photo shoot, since John knew if he dressed them ahead of time they were sure to get dirty. Plus when herding them someplace busy we like to dress them similarly in case one gets lost. "Do you know what your child was wearing?" "He looks just like this one!"

But somehow, the boys never made it from their kickin' around red fourth of July tees into the cute photo shoot clothes. Outfit change forgotten, they got their smiles on in one of their favorite shirts of the summer. So in the end, all is good - we probably have a billion casual shots of them running around in these $5 shirts. But none of them are as cute as these smiles, or clearly capture Max's constant bruise-on-the-forehead condition from summer 2011 (because he could NOT grasp the concept that he's smaller than his brothers, so he got into a lot of scrapes).

Can you see the row of tickets cut on my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped with the November SOTM? then I pulled the same Cricut image in a Decorative layer to make my big Journal ticket at the top. The background scallop base and the scallop border are also AP cartridge - told ya I've been addicted lately! Now I just need to put it in the frame and bug John to start hanging my gallery downstairs!

Fall Wreath Blog Candy!

2011-10-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight, in between working on swap cards (posting soon) and watching "Walking Dead" online, I made a wreath for the front door! I have a beautiful Christmas one made for my by a sweet friend, Diana Yockey, but since we were renting before we didn't often decorate for the holidays. Now we're moved in, mostly unpacked (at least if you don't peek in the garage), and a wreath seems appropriate. Since the new challenge at Heart 2 Heart was to make something Halloween or Fall themed, and the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab was so pretty, I combined the two ideas and created this wreath. Read all the way through to find out how you can win the Just Blooms leaves I used to create this wreath!

I used a big roll of Ponderosa Pine Organdy Ribbon to wrap the wreath form. Then I pinned and glued the Just Blooms leaves on the wreath (that was the watching AMC online part, lol). These leaves are retired now, but I want to make another of these for Spring using the new Just Blooms BUTTERFLIES!

Then I added a row of the big Vineyard Berry maple leaves with the new Cork Alphabet letters attached. then I made a triple layered bow using lots of green and orange (retired) ribbons and now we're ready to hang!

The Tuesday Trigger image is this neat collage of autumn colored wooden blocks. I liked the different heights of the wood blocks, which is what made me remember my stash of paper leaves tucked in the bottom of my paper flower drawer. They are precolored, accept more inks, and embossed with line detail...and unfortunately, retired. However, I still have one full tube of them left - and they can be yours! Just sign up to follow my blog via email on the side column and comment below to let me know you did (or that you already are!) to be entered into the drawing!

I will draw on October 31st and contact you for mailing info. Thanks a bunch for visiting, and see you back here tomorrow for more project fun!

Mojo 212 & Swap Sneak Peek!

2011-10-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

I've got a lot of crafty pots boiling right now, and one is a regular swap group run by a wonderful fellow consultant, Tina Lovell. When I saw the Mojo Sketch 212 tonight, I knew that it was perfect for one of the cards I owe Tina. In the next week or so. Chop chop! So tonight after my team departed (Thanks, girls!), I started working on the sketch.

I used the Roxie Paper Packet -so girlie! I don't get a lot of girlie in my all boy household, so pink is always good for me. I wish the detail in that pink B&T came through - there are faint white roses sketched through out. So pretty...so I distressed it with Black ink, of course!

I rough sanded the Desert Sand base to continue to tone down the girlie factor. I added a sweet branch and 3-D flowers cut on my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, plus a tag with an adorable little heart cutout detail. I backed the heart with a bit of the plaid from Roxie.

The bottom scallop border is a piece of the Zip Strip you trim from along the top of the B&T papers. I love that there's no waste! A sprinkle of Sparkles and a swoosh of hemp finish off the embellishments. That is our CTMH hemp too - I just unraveled it into multiple strands, then grouped them in a wider band of fiber goodness. Now it's (way past) time for bed!

See ya back here tomorrow for even more projects!

Monday Motivations - 12 November SOTM cards!

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I sat down Friday night to stamp up a quick card for my team meeting tonight. I had already done a couple of projects with this adorable calendar-y stamp set (still coming up this week!), but I had yet to make a card with it. I stared at the stamp set. I turned it upside down. I had some more tea. I still couldn't decide how to use it. I worked on my Christmas tree (coming later this week!). I rolled roses for my bathroom wreath (coming later as well!) I just couldn't get going...and why? It's so cute! Then, finally, the ten o'clock inspiration hit. Something about burning the midnight oil that gets my stamping juices going I guess. Once I got going, I couldn't stop. TWELVE cards later, I finally put that stamp set to bed.

I did a series of cards, one for each month of the year using the November SOTM and the cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, plus some of the textures from that adorable little stamp set from the Elemental Scrapbook WOTG kit we just did. I love the stitch stamp in that set! All the cards are similar, but unique. Some are holiday themed, some are more general, so you could whip up the August cupcake card for any month of the year that you need a birthday card for example, just sub in the month for the birthday you need to celebrate! Each one is embellished with a little 1" Cricut image, often layered and stamped with textures. The only embellishment is Glitter Glitz Gel. My favorites include the butterfly on April's card (made with 3 layers of butterfly to give the wings spring and action), May's 3-D teensy tiny 3D flowers, and the super fast and adorable Christmas card, which is also the one that my team will be making tonight!

Here's a slideshow of all the cards - enjoy!

This post is shared on the H2H Challenges site: It's All in the Numbers Challenge

Card Patterns 138 - October SOTM!

2011-10-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hello there, Stampin' Friends! I can't believe that October is almost over! I've been stamping a lot lately, but I've had ADD of the stamping project or something...ten projects spread across my room in various stages of almost done and then I'd move onto something else. So I'm gonna try to post something every day this week and share what I've finally been finishing!

Tonight, I just have a quick card I whipped out today when I was cleaning up my creative mess so my team can come to play at Monday Motivations tomorrow night. I got the sketch for this card from the Card Patterns blog - love their sketches! So many cute ideas too. Check out the sketch and, if you play along too, leave a comment here so I can go peek at YOUR stamping goodness!

I have been addicted to my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge this month (as you'll see in my projects this week), and there's barely a lick of stamping on this card. I cut the stocking and the White stocking accents, the scalloped bottom piece and the sentiment mat with my AP cartridge. The paper is from the Believe Paper packet - how cute is that star/polka dot sky blue paper? I added Stardust Glitter Glitz gel to the Stocking accents and the stripes of the stocking bodies. I tried them onto the card with Waxy flax and 3-D Foam tape, and polished off the sentiment with some Red Sparkles. See ya back here tomorrow for TWELVE more cards!

Goodie for my team!

2011-10-08T01:06:00.001-07:00

Boy, I am stamping late tonight! I've got all kinds of holiday goodies to post soon, but tonight, after club, I wanted to whip out a little goodie for my team members who will be attending a big day long training with me tomorrow hosted by my awesome upline Ginni! I love these stamp camp team meetings - you get to stamp all day, learn about my favorite thing (CTMH in case you can't tell!), and I get to spend the day with my team - what could be better?

As it's very late, I decided to keep it simple. I used the new Love Life stamp set combined with Card Chatter-Thank You. I stamped the big flourish in Grey Flannel Ink. Then I added the big stars inked in Moonstruck ink, stamped off on scrap paper, and re-inked in Moonstruck by rolling the tips in the pad. A small second generation Moonstruck star plus bitty Grey Wool stars completed my corner stamp embellishment. I accents with dots of Silver Glitter Glitz - stars should shine!

I embossed a gutter for the sentiment across the top, something I saw on Lisa Johnson's beautiful blog. I think the subtle embossed lines really set off the sentiment and look so elegant! Then I added the sentiment stamped in Moonstruck and Grey Wool. I love how Card Chatter gives you so many options to finish off the Thank You sentiment!

Off for a bit of sleep before the big event tomorrow. Good night, Stampin' Friends!