Family Matters...and 10 Questions!

As I was working on photos for my Family Matters Album...ok pre-planning the photos I need to take on our trip to CA to fill my album... I remembered that I hadn't made a list for Stasha over at The Good Life this week. I love her fun writing challenges - such interesting things to write about and ponder!

This week she asked us to answer a list of ten questions. Many of the questions had me thinking about my family, which, as you can see above, matters to me! Of course there's always chocolate to consider too...

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, and find line 4. What is it?

Jodi Picoult, House Rules: “…to use nihydrin first. It reacts to the amino acid and then is followed by the…” It's about a boy with autism wrongfully accused of murder. So a heartwarming feel good story.

2. How many times a day do you say Hi?

About 300,000 – I have a two year old. He says “Hi, Mommy, Hi!” many times in a day. I dutifully answer... sometimes with tickles!

3. Have you ever worn a uniform?

Many – I was a total Band Geek in school. Forward, March!

4. What do you think about the most?

My Children’s gluten free diet…followed closely by unfinished stamping projects on my table, projects I haven’t started yet, and cheese. And missing coffee.

5. How many keys are on your keyring?

Three. Stasha didn't ask, but there are four keyrings on my key chain, as in the decorations outnumber the useful keys on my keyring. 'Cause that's how I roll.

6. What was the last thing you bought?

4 ½ pounds of U-Pick Blueberries from a local no-spray farm called Berries to Bellies….which my two youngest offspring took as an invitation to belly up to the all you can eat blueberry buffet. They totally should’ve weighed Max before and after, as he brought his picking bucket to the register with one lone berry inside. Which he promptly ate before his bucket was ready to be weighed - can't let one get away!

7. Are you growing anything these days?

Three small, rambunctious, but usually polite young boys and a super-sized Mount Washmore. Is it time to buy a new blouse do another load already?

8. What is under your bed?

Nothing. We bought a new house last year and we still have yet to buy a new bed. So my decade old mattress and box spring sit directly on the floor of my painstakingly painted room…a situation so far down on my list of things-to-get-around-to-eventually that I may hit forty still sleeping as a college student. Although in college I at least had a bed frame and a pretty ruffled bed-skirt...hmmm.... 

9. What is most important in life?

Not laundry. Not filing the project paper scraps correctly. Not bed skirts. Maybe chocolate. More likely being as present as possible for the three young men and one grown man who have completely changed my life. Or chocolate, one of the two.

10. What is the strangest word you used this week?

"No." And I’m pretty sure I’m pronouncing it wrong, too, since it seems to have little effect on my three wee ones beyond inducing bewilderment and promoting whining. Perhaps I should try it in a new language?


Wouldn't this make a great page? With Convention in a week, there was no time to make another page though... maybe later. After I have a square of extra dark, shop for a new bed,  and get some new socks toss in a load of laundry. 

July Creative Club: Family Matters Album

Can you believe it's almost July? In just over a week we'll be heading out for our camp-down-to-California-Adventure, where I'll promptly abandon my three angels to their father's tender care while I scoot off to Dallas for CTMH convention!   When I get back I'll be chock full of fabulous new CTMH goodness...and ready to teach this SMASHing Family Matters album. 

I've been wanting to do something smash-book style for a while. The idea is to keep the pages simpler, with more focus on the pictures and journaling. I am so excited to get pics from our family visits into this book!

Join me at the Family Matters Album Workshop! I have a fabulous PRIZE for workshop attendees only...from the NEW, unavailable until August Fall/Winter CTMH catalog!! 

Date: Saturday, July 28th (9 a.m., or 1 p.m.)

Location: Wendy's Stamp Pad (or precut To Go kits are available to be shipped right to you!)

Included: Pre-cut, ready-to-assemble album kit, optional light lunch, fabulous scrappy company, new catalog sneak peeks!

PLEASE RSVP by July 6th - That's the last day I can order before I vamoose!

Workshop and TO GO Kits

(1) Family Matters Kit$25.00 USD (2) Family Matters Kits$50.00 USD TO GO Family Matters Kit (shipped to you)$30.00 USD (2) TO GO Family Matters Kits (shipped to you)$60.00 USD

Want to teach my workshop? Consultant Instructions Kits are available HERE.


Are you following me on Facebook? There's a link over on the left side of my blog to make it super simple to find Stamping Rules on Facebook.  That's where I'll be posting my thoughts, photos, and excitement about the new hoopla at CTMH Convention. Don't follow if you want to be surprised in August...

My CTMH Family Matters to me - thanks for stopping by! 

Imagine the Possibilities!

Back again for a whole week of July SOTM card inspiration! I am not kidding you that when I sat down on Saturday I literally turned to Karin and said that this SOTM was killing me. It's all sentiments - big ones, and I just could not wrap my brain around it. By the second cuppa Earl Grey, though, I was really getting behind this one. Since there's only sentiments, it's such a versatile set! The sentiments are big enough for scrapbooking, but designed enough to look really cool on a card. So I apologize to you, July SOTM. You are awesome - I just had to imagine the possibilities!!

So for this card I used the #40 sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I used both Typeset and Cruisin' papers on my card base. Sometimes I struggle filling in a big shape like this oval, but in this case I knew just what I wanted there. I stamped the city skyline from the  Super Powers stamp set in Grey Flannel ink across the bottom of my Cricut cut oval. Gosh I love being able to just whip out shaped panels in a snap! Then I sponged the top with Juniper Ink, swiped all around with both Juniper and Black ink, and overstamped the whole panel with that huge SOTM Sentiment. I used a fine tipped Legacy Writer to add the dots around the edge of my oval - mostly because I didn't want to have to stitch all around the oval wanted to add some easy depth to my panel. And yes, that's a bit of Silver Glitter Glitz topped with a Bitty Sparkle dotting my "i"... because what could make a bitty sparkle better than a halo of glitter?

   I whipped up an embellishment cluster using scraps from my Cricut pile...do you have one of those? Every time I'm working on something I cut my shapes...plus one or two extra JUST IN CASE. Then I don't want to toss them because I might want them later, so I have a huge pile of orphaned Cricut cuts just waiting for me to find them a new crafty home. In this case I sponged the ticket frame with Black ink and backed it with a scrap of the Cruisin' Map paper. Silver Glitter Glitz was added to both the ticket and painted thinly onto the star.I also filled the black button brads with Silver Glitter Glitz. Fill them a bit more than you think you need - they flatten out nicely as they dry. That pretty button is leftover from my Bohemian Assortment Stella Collection...I need like 1,000,000 more of them! Shiny, silver, stitch detail - love it!

Speaking of stitch detail, I did hand stitch on the background of this card with my new favorite stitch - the running stitch! How awesome is it to get the texture of hand stitching but only have to do half the stitches?

OK - see ya back here tomorrow! Or you could sign up to follow me by email (over there in the upper left) and then you'll be sure not to miss even a bitty brad!

P.S.: I'm looking for Fabulous blog visitor Karen who commented on my Time for Something Sweet post - I have something sweet to send you in the mail if you'll email me a place to send it!

Mojo Monday Teacher Gifts

I can't believe that it's already mid June and my great big not-so-baby boy is almost done with Kindergarten! His little brother is wrapping up his first year of preschool on the same day, and I'm going to be a teary but-not-crying mess.

Last night at my club crop I whipped up these charming sewing kits as our end of the year Teacher Gift. They are made from the Jelly Jar style Mason jars (any excuse to buy a new type, right?). I cut pieces of quilt batting and placed them onto a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 square of adorable wish-I-had-that-print-in-paper cotton fabric which I then glued onto the Mason Jar lid using the quick dry liquid adhesive I normally use for my Canvas wall hangings. I considered hot glue gun, but I like all my fingers as they are, without burns. That covered piece got glued into the actual Mason jar ring, creating the puffy area to stick in the pins

 I covered the now icky looking inner lid with a Lagoon CS circle I cut on my Cricut. I also attached a strong round magnet here with the liquid adhesive and that's where I stuck the needles for the sewing kit so no one gets poked trying to find a needle!

I added ribbon around the outside of the Jar lid. I made a big fluffy bow which I topped off with some paper flowers from my stash and Pearl Opaques. I had purchased some pearly ball-topped pins which I added to the pin cushion on top. Some I added extra double layered paper flowers to with Liquid Glass to make it prettier.

 Then I needed a label, so got my Cricut Art Philosophy to work cutting ovals and scalloped ovals. I whipped out my Tailor-Made Stamp Set and did some second generation stamping in Lagoon and Cocoa inks with the scissors, thread, and measuring tape images. I stamped the banner from Remarkable Wreath over top in Cocoa Ink, and topped it off with a few handcut button images from Tailor-Made. I love how having clear stamps makes it so easy to add those tiny stitches to the buttons!

Finally, I used just the last two words of a sentiment from Tailor Made to finish my thought...Thanks Sew Much! I mounted the labels with adhesive in the centers and foam tape on the edges so that they were easier to curve gently around the jar.

Then I (of course) needed a matching card, right? So I turned to Mojo Monday for an absolutely adorable sketch. They are giving us until Sunday night to complete the sketch - there are already gobs of awesome ideas using the sketch posted out there, so make sure you go have a peek!

I used a bit of the Dressmakers Pattern print from Stella and some of the Grid print from Typeset to fill in the sketch. I embossed some Colonial White CS for the background with a neat Cuttlebug folder that had dots all over except for a 1" strip across the short way - perfect for popping a sentiment onto! I repeated some of the elements from the coordinating tag when I stamped the card, but here I could give into my lumpy-bumpy impulses and make them pop more since you wouldn't have to work around them to open a jar full of sewing stuff!

I did some waterbrushing and glitter glitz on the dressmakers form. I used my waterbrush to tint the paper flowers with Lagoon ink as well before topping them off with more glitter gel and Bitty Pearls. I added a couple of the sewing pins to my scissors too!

Finally, because it's a sewing themed gift, I HAD to stitch around the edges of everything...man alive did my piercing ruler get a workout! But I love it, and I hope Gabe and Ben's wonderful, hard working, dedicated teachers will love it as much ad those boys love their teachers!

I'm linking this post to Get Your Craft On Tuesday over at Today's Creative Blog - go check it out!

I'm also linking to the Linky party at DIY Dreamer - cute stuff out there!!

I'm SEW glad you came by for a visit!

Typeset Club Pages!

Here are our pages for November's Monthly Memories Club in the new Typeset papers! These were a lot of fun to design, using a bunch of fun Cricut Art Philosophy shapes (different from what we're doing with Elemental in October) and experimenting with Pearl Paint in our embellishing. As you've seen from my recent card, total Pearl Paint addict now!

Not a club member? Join us! We meet the first Friday of each month, and you can join up until the 15th of the previous month. Kits start at just $15, and can be mailed if you're a long distance fan. I make complete color instructions with cutting guides for all six pages, club only prize drawings, and (if you attend in person) you get dinner and a crop! It's the best deal in scrapbooking, and loads of fun too!

Page 1/2: One Fine Day

Page 3/4: Brave & Bold (although you can title it as you wish, of course)

Page 5/6: You are UNIQUE (& I like you)

Club sign ups are open now through October 15th for November's Typeset pages!

Mojo Monday 208

Mojo is back (yea!), and I'm (almost) not sick anymore, so here's my square card for the Mojo Monday 208 sketch found here. If you don't know Mojo, once a week they email you an adorable sketch to fill in however your heart desires. This week my heart belongs to the October SOTM called Holiday Magic. I know - it's not available until Saturday, but I'm jumping the gun! I've been dying to play with this one since July!!

The last week of the month is the round or square challenge. I made another of those 6x6 Kraft cards I've been obsessed with lately. I trimmed off the scalloped flap and used it on the main embellishment panel instead. I used Creme Brulee Cardstock and the Juniper blue/green patterns from the Typeset paper packet.

Instead of using this set to make a Christmas Card as intended, I shortened the stocking a bit by placing the cuff image super low and made baby booties! I stamped the BACK of the stocking image in Creme Brulee ink and trimmed them out. I stamped the front curlie-q from the sleigh runners around the edges of the cut out stocking for. a few sparkles on the tops of the cuffs finished off my baby booties in sparkly style!

The LITTLE ONE sentiment cam from the Polka dot Alphabet, stamped in Black ink onto Creme Brulee CS. I like that one because it's cute but still simple to fussy cut. I grabbed my CTMH piercing ruler and got to poking so I could stitch around the outside with a double strand of Black floss. I popped up the main embellishment panel with 3-D foam tape - boy, do I need to order some more of that...I can't stop popping up everything lately!

More art to come today...gotta get caught up again now that I'm no longer suffering from the plague. It's good to be back!