CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: You Are... (April 2012

No foolin', it's time for the April edition of the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month blog hop! April's stamp of the month, You Are..., is a great set to celebrate your loved ones and what they mean to you! (If you've started hopping already, you should have arrived here from the talented Wendy Coffman's blog. You'll head to Wanda Riley's blog next by just clicking on her name.)

Both of my projects celebrate a very special someone, my husband! (They use the Cruisin' paper pack with the April stamp of the month.) I am honoring my husband because he surprised me with a dinner party on Thursday for my 40th birthday! I made this card to tell him how much he means to me and how much I appreciate what he did!

Next up is a layout (from Magic, which is going quickly and won't be available any more!) to show how much we appreciate him. Yes, I snapped pictures of him mopping our kitchen! We joke that I think it's one of the sexiest things he could do. ;) LOL

What do you think of the splash of Cranberry? It is a subtle yet bright accent in the Cruisin' paper pack, and I love how it makes AMAZING pop.

Both of my projects use the cool new Durables square studs. They are self adhesive, so they are an easy, masculine addition to any project.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Be sure to talk to your consultant about getting your very own April stamp of the month for $17.95 (or $5 with a $50 minimum purchase). Don't have a consultant yet? Then I hope you'll consider me! Now hop on over to Wanda's blog to see her cool creation!

Stella Layout + Potential (March SOM) from Scrapbook Class

This layout might look familiar to you because the left page is a copy of the layout on the cover of the current Close To My Heart Idea Book! The pattern is based on the Elemental Workshop on the Go (no longer available). Our 2010-11 school pictures fit the Stella colors and layout sketch so well!

At my recent scrapbook class, participants made their own version, learning about the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge which we used a lot here. The stamping is with the March stamp of the month, Potential (only available for a few more days!), and the Chocolate Alphabet Small. Do you see how I stamped the flourish to give the wooden bird a wing?

Because of all of the Cricut embellishments, I kept the bling to a minimum with the Mocha Opaques Pearls, but had to include some!

Here's a close up of my sweetie pies.

As always, please leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions. Hope you're having a fab day! I know that I will be today. ;)

H2H Challenges: Embossing & CR84FN 50

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is to use embossing (heat embossing or dry embossing or both) on your project. I chose to heat emboss one of the pretty flowers from the new Card Word Puzzle stamp set. My color scheme was inspired by the CR84FN color challenge #50: pink, orange, and yellow.

My mother-in-law has a BIG birthday coming up (even bigger than my upcoming big birthday), so I made this card for her. To begin, I random stamped the flower image with clear Versamark ink all over the front panel. I heat embossed with white embossing powder (which makes a lovely wedding card that you will see in the near future). Then the fun began! I used my waterbrush to paint each flower. The flower centers and a few of the flowers are Sunny Yellow, a few more flowers are Sunset, and the rest are Hollyhock. I love how the white embossing pops when you add color over it. I even painted outside the lines a bit so that you can really see that white embossing.

The center sentiment was cut using the CTMH/Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge. All the words are from the Card Word Puzzle stamp set. (I had to include a picture of it because you get so much- 63 stamps- for so little money- only $13.95!)

I used some white grosgrain ribbon and pearls to accent my card. The Just Blooms paper butterfly is sponged with the same colors as the flowers.

Now it's your turn to share your embossed projects at the Heart 2 Heart Challenges blog. Just remember to use some Close To My Heart products to submit. If you need some inspiration, our Design Team has lots of great ideas for you!
Have a fabulous week!

Scrap Our Stash March Challenge: Green

Here is my second submission for the Scrap Our Stash challenge blog's GREEN challenge for March. It's our family's trip to 4-H camp in 2010! Yep, our entire family went (parents as chaperons and daughters as campers) and had a great time.

Since the 4-H symbol is a green 4-leaf clover, I had to use GREEN on my layouts. I used the retired Splendor paper pack and was able to scrap the tons of pictures quickly with the photo pocket pages. You can just slide your photos in and call them done! Of course I had to gussy mine up a bit, but that's part of the scrappy fun to me.

You can still take the Scrap Our Stash GREEN challenge! Even though all my supplies are from Close To My Heart, all products and skill levels are welcome at SOS. See you there!

H2H Challenges: Photo Inspiration

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is to use the photo at right as the inspiration for your creation. I fell in love with the hot air balloons and was saddened not to have any hot air balloons in my stamp stash. I finally remembered a DIY honeycomb paper post that I saw (and saved on Pinterest) that helped me to create my own balloons. (The link is at the bottom if you'd like to learn how too.)

The Stella paper pack seemed like the perfect way to incorporate the color scheme of the inspiration photo. Each of my ballons is made with nine 1-1/4" punched circles. I folded them all in half and then followed the tutorial. (It would probably look better with thinner paper, but I still like how they turned out.) The "baskets" are pieces of one of the zip strips in the paper pack. The hemp is held on to the card with Liquid Glass. (Love that stuff!!!)

The clouds were a bit of an afterthought because the card looked a bit plain. I freehanded a few cloud shapes and then placed them on the card. I felt that it still needed a little something, so I pulled out my trusty ancient Liquid Applique. In the first close up, it is still wet and too shiny for a cloud. After zapping them with my heat tool, those clouds puffed right up for me.

Here's another little close up of the heated, (cooled) puffy clouds and the balloons themselves.

Now it's your turn to create a little something using Close To My Heart products and the H2H photo inspiration. You can link your project HERE, and you have all month to play. Hope you have a great weekend!

You can view a tutorial to make your own honeycomb paper accent by clicking HERE.

Our Furbabies {Studio J Layout Share}

Here are some of our pictures of our sweet furbabies from last year, scrapbooked the Studio J way! I promise that they do more than sleep, but that's about all the photos I took of them last year.

Yes, they sprawl all over our furniture. They're our babies, after all. We get on the furniture too. LOL

Scrapbook the "little" things in your life, because they are often actually the BIG ones. What pets do you have, if any?

Our Technology {Studio J Layout Share}

It took some time to gather all the pictures, but I really wanted to create a layout about the technology that we use in our daily lives. You may think that's a crazy subject, but how many of you remember your first cell phone? Was it in a bag that there was no way you could lug around? Or what about that cordless phone? Nobody makes phones that big anymore! I imagine that we will look back one day and laugh over the gadgets we love right now. (I probably should have added the microwave, dishwasher, etc., but I didn't think about them at the time.)

My two favorite photos are of my nephew on the iPad (I think he can operate it better than me!) and of my older daughter on the couch. What a teenager!

What modern technology would you hate to live without?

Exciting New NEWSLETTERS from CTMH & Me

Close To My Heart has updated all of our consultant websites, and I think that they look fabulous! (You can view mine HERE.) They have added a great new website feature: the option of ordering online and it counting toward's someone's party! I will be starting that feature in April, so if you need anything, feel free to help someone else as you shop. It doesn't cost you any extra at all.

Okay, you may be thinking, what does that have to do with newsletters? Well, as part of the advancement in technology, CTMH is also offering a very professional newsletter for each consultant to send out at the beginning of every month. I will also be able to share my upcoming classes, etc., in this beautiful new format. If you do not already have a CTMH consultant, please consider joining my mailing list. Email me at inkyscrapper @ gmail com (of course in the proper format) to get added to my news list. Thanks so much!

Finally, if you've ever thought about getting a discount on Close To My Heart, products, maybe now is the time to become a consultant! There is a fabulous recruiting special going on right now, and I'd love to share more with you. Every consultant now has a FREE website and free monthly newsletter. Again, email me!!

P.S. This gorgeous artwork from the CTMH Art Department uses the beautiful Pemberley paper pack. Lovely, isn't it?

Carnival Dream (Studio J Layout Share)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you've got your green on! Don't forget that the Scrap Our Stash challenge blog's March challenge is GREEN, so get your crafty green on and submit your project!

Since this layout of our Christmas cruise features green, I couldn't resist sharing it with you today. (Are you green with envy? LOL!) I chose my 16 favorite photos from our trip to create this highlight layout in Studio J. (I still have high hopes of creating a mini album also, but at least I have some of my favorite pictures all in one place now.)

Creating in Studio J is so easy! I'd love for you to give it a try. There's no software to buy; you only buy the layouts you want. Becoming a member can significantly save you $$, especially if you love Studio J as much as me! Also, if you haven't checked out my newly redesigned website, hop on over there now. I'd love to know what you think. (I'm sure you, dear readers, have lots of great opinions to share.) You can find Studio J under the "products" tab at the top.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

CTMH Product Spotlight Blog Hop: My Creations Alterable Items

This month's Close To My Heart Product Spotlight blog hop is featuring our versatile "My Creations" chipboard products. (If you've already started hopping, you should have arrived from Tamytha's blog. From my blog, you will visit Jena next. We've got a great line up of six talented consultants this month showing off the My Creations products.)

My first project began with a My Creations Mini Banner set. It includes 10 chipboard pennants in four different designs. (I didn't use the plain triangles for this banner.)

My 13-year-old wanted me to make a name banner for her room, and she selected the sweet, feminine Lucy paper pack. I used the Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge to cut the pieces- faster, simpler, easier! Her name was stamped with the Bohemian Alphabet stamp set.

I personalized the back of her banner with a few inspirational stamps to remind her to be herself, smile, etc. They're just a little message from me to her.

If you like this banner, I'll be offering a class soon! You can use the Lucy paper pack (Wouldn't it make a great "spring" banner?) or the fun, boyish (or patriotic) Superhero pack. More details to come!

Before you head off to Jena's blog, here is a peek at the banner I'm making for my other daughter. It uses the large My Creations Pennant Banner set. When I get it finished, I'll post it here too, so please come back another day soon. Happy blog hopping!

H2H Challenges: Lucky to Have You!

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is "lucky to have you," and that's definitely how we feel about our readers and participants! At first, I struggled with how I wanted to interpret this challenge (too many ideas and too little time!), but then I thought about a rainbow of some sort and remembered the Clean & Simple sketch 181.

The pennants were cut out with the Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge (banner 4 @ 3/4") and then stamped with the pennants from the Party Pennants stamp set in 9 of the colors from the CTMH Summer palette. The "string" was stamped in Grey Wool and then I made two little bows with Grey Wool baker's twine (that I adhered with a dot of Liquid Glass). The "lucky" sentiment was stamped using the A Typeface stamp set in Grey Wool and Pear. I chose to go with the green sentiment and mat to help convey the "lucky" theme. Hope you like it!

Now it's your turn to share your lucky creations at the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog. Don't forget to go check out how our talented design team interpreted this lucky challenge. You have until the end of the month to link up any of our March challenges, so get crafty! Who knows- there might be a surprise, and you could get lucky!!

Scrap Our Stash Challenge for March: Green

This month the Scrap Our Stash challenge blog is encouraging you to go "green" or use the color green to scrap your stash!

I LOVED the idea of a tea bag dispenser when I first saw it on a blog. I found the directions (link at the end) and got to work with the Stella paper pack and Tea Time stamp set.

Here's a 360 view of the dispenser.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart. Please let me know if you have a specific question about this project. If you'd like to sign up for a class to make one, please let me know. We could have a nice cozy evening sipping tea and creating these. Don't you think they'd make a lovely gift? They are not that hard to make!

Now it's time for you to bust out your green stash and get crafting. We'd love to see your project, so check out the SOS blog for details to submit your project. All skill levels and products are welcome!

The original tea bag dispenser project tutorial can be found HERE.

Roxie Birthday Card

Somehow in all the hustle and bustle that is life, I forgot to post the birthday card that I made for my sister last month! We celebrated her birthday with a (belated) dinner at my house, and the pasta bar was great fun. I loved having her and her family, including her sweet mother-in-law, and my brother, his girfriend, and her daughter over for dinner a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we were having such a great time, I forgot to get the camera out!

Her card is a 3"x6" with the Roxie paper pack. The flourished paper was so pretty that I couldn't stand to cover it up, so I offset the Happy Birthday label and then tricked it out with some CTMH bling. Happy birthday again, Amy! I am so blessed to be able to call you sister! I love you!

All supplies from CTMH: Party Pennants stamp set; Roxie paper pack; Desert Sand and Smoothie inks; Bohemian assortment; Sparkles

12 for 2012: January Layout

Here's a screen shot of my January layout (which I made in Studio J). I will order it when I have at least 10 layouts made, since I get free page protectors and shipping as a Studio J member.

It was fun to relive our memories while they were still fresh. I encourage you to preserve your memories and photos too! A layout a month is not a difficult challenge to meet. Best wishes!

As I look at this layout now, I think that it looks too spring-y for January. I will probably go back and change the My Stickease artwork and NOT include the bird, etc. I can always embellish it with stamped images that are more appropriate for January. So, there's another advantage to Studio J: your layouts and sit and "perk" without leaving a mess on your dining room table- or wherever you scrap!

Whenever you do create your layout, grab this blog badge too. Happy scrapping!

March Stamp of the Month Meets Card Patterns Sketch 155

Card Patterns is a challenge blog that posts a new card sketch to try each Saturday. This week's sketch immediately made me think of the large circle stamp in the Close To My Heart March stamp of the month, Potential, so I made this card yesterday.

I began with a Colonial White A2 standard side-fold card base. I cut pieces of the Stella paper pack to fit just inside the card base. The lighter piece on the left is 1.5" to accommodate the pretty swirl stamp (that I ended up mostly covering! LOL). I inked up the edges of everything with Cocoa ink. The medallion was stamped in Lagoon. (I am loving the Lagoon & Olive color combo!)

I used a piece of (retired) Garden Green organdy ribbon from my stash. The little flowers are from the new Paradise paper blooms collection. The cocoa buttons were embellished with Lagoon sparkles (also on the medallion along with Mocha opaques self-adhesive pearls). All supplies are from Close To My Heart except for the large Marvy scalloped circle punch.

I can't decide if I like this card better as a side fold or as a top fold. Which do you prefer? I left the inside blank so that it could be turned either way.