Framed Thank You

This next Thank You Card is part of a Heidi Swapp design paper. I took my favorte element on the page and used it the main focus on the card.

This stripey grey and the off white/ivory/gold shiny ribbon and Rhinestones seem to be the trend lately, unusual color combinations. I also used a Basic Grey Rub On for the Thank You, relatvely simple but kinda elegant.

Let's see what the next card has to offer..

Rylie Nola - More to Adore Layout

I have started up my scrapbook classes again here in Yuzhno and for the second class we did a really sweet layout using Close to my Heart's More to Adore discontinued paper pack. My daughter Rylie was born in 2010 and I had yet to scrapbook her pictures, I know, bad me! But I fixed up my pictures and changed them to sepia toned which suited the paper pack perfectly.

I used my Gypsy to cut out the letters, Gypsy Font I used, then I welded the letters together so they would cut as a single piece. I inked every single piece of paper and placed my pictures down, then I cut out a locket from ...well, I can't remember. But it all turned out very sweetly if you ask me. I cut the paper for next class already so stay tuned for the next awesome layout.

Sarsparilla Class Layout

On to the next one! I quite enjoy planning class for our scrapbook group, it's kinda like a puzzle, what to do here, what goes there. I also like to do different layouts for different papers, case in point, our next class I used Close to my Heart Sarsaparilla paper pack. Sarsaparilla has some great cowboy elements, I tend to like the flourished that are through out the papers.

This layout if from the CTMH layout book called Imagine. The name of the layout is Role Play and it boasts 8 photographs. I actually had a hard time finding my event that had 8+ pictures in it. But once I found it, everything fell into place. We ended up going to Evans Mountain in Colorado which, I believe, had the highest point in the Rockies that you could drive up to. This river area was near the top. I did happen to get some great pictures of our little trip and loved the way they play with the paper.

To keep with the 'natural' photos and theme I added these great twill ribbons to lighten and add some horizontal lines to the page.

I was looking for something fun to put on the page to capture the eye. I have the matching CTMH Acrylix Stamp called 'Western Flourishes' and stamps those great stamps in some of the white space.

Next I broke out the Cricut and cut a fun title from the Country Life Cartridge and chose 'Cool, Clean Water', to reflect the water in the pictures. I really like the way the layout turned out, of course after the class is done I will add some extra embellishment to make this layout uniquely mine.

Mojo Monday Challenge #237

Up for the next challenge was Mojo Monday, and thier latest sketch. A cute little sketch and everyone one loved it there are lots of entries. I was having a challenge figuring out what to do with 4, not 3, jumpy circles? I could do flowers, but most of the ladies did those, I could do the actual circle, too cliche, or I could do butterflies? To many ideas, I ended up thinking about it for a day and realized that what hangs not at the same level are lanterns, the are never just in a straight line, so with some asian inspiration I dug out my Pagoda cricut cartridge.

There are awesome lanterns, dolls, fish lanterns, pandas, anything with an asian theme you can think of on this cartridge and other than this card I have used it once. It was a great layout that I will probably post another day but hopefully soon we will visit China or Japan and that cartridge will be smoking that day! :)

It is also full of Kanji characters, each page has a different word, and even though there is no birthday...celebrate is a great way to say happy birthday anyway, or anything else for that matter.

It was looking pretty plain with just the paper so I decided to add some jewels, maybe it kinda looks like fireworks, too much Kung Fu Panda for me, and sprinkled them around.

Last but not least, I looked at the sketch again and saw that it needed a label or ribbon down near the bottom, but I wasn't going to put any words on the front, so I was thinking I needed a fan, but where would I find that? So next idea, I had some wider red grosgrain ribbon and ended up folding that across the card for an awesome pop of color.

All in all I thought it turned out pretty nice, even with all the thinking going on. Want to play the next card challenge? On Mondays of course, see the next sketch -->HERE

Clean & Simple Challenge #185

I ended up joining some challenge sites lately to get some extra inspiration. One of them was Clean & Simple, no prizes but fun layouts, all cards so that should get me back up to my old stock level of cards as our Happy Hobby craft show wiped me out. This is the sketch:

A simple sketch but with endless possibilities, if you want to see what others have made with this sketch you can go HERE!

This is my version I put my self under the wire to make this card so with a little help from my cricut and Graphically Speaking cartridge I think it came together. I also have limited ribbon here and had to choose colors that went with my ribbon.

And of course the inside of the card can not be naked so with the leftover papers I put the rest of the sentiment on the inside!

5 for $5 - Halloween Treat Containers

This is my first class after having our new baby daughter, but she is now 9 1/2 weeks old and it's time to get back into the swing of things. The next couple of months are going to fly by, with lots of holidays coming up, ih ave a long list of everything I would like to get done. But my first 5 for $5 this month is for Halloween, we are making treat containers. These fun little things perk up any Spooky gift giving.

this easy little bag is made with patterned paper from Close to my Heart's New Hooligans line. Fun Halloween colors and the stamp set used is called 'Beware'.

This scary popcorn cup is made with Orange Close to my Heart Cardstock, cut on the Cricut, and embellished with some creepy patterned paper. To finish this cup off we cut tags and added some ribbon.

You can't see it in the picture very well but each box we will make has been random stamped with CTMH's September stamp of the month, 'Thriller'. Great art on this stamp set. I also used glimmer mist to give each box and eerie green shine. Fun and easy to fill, the clear front let's you show what's in the box...no suprises here.

Easy to make, this bag topper can be attached to any ziploc bag and given away with lots of candy inside...what a way to dress up a boring snack bag.

Super fun Frankenstien Matchbooks, just attach your candy to the inside and give away. I first saw this great idea on Vicki Wizniuk's Blog, thanks for the inspiration Vicki!
The class is tomorrow night and I hope that this one sells out...I am also opening this up to anyone who wants to do this in the afternoon if they can.

5 for $5 Workshop - Thank You's

Lately, I believe thta there is a lost art of giving real, hold in your hand cards. Even I am guilty of giving e-cards, they are fast and some are really cute, even though I have a hundred cards I have made and can send at any time, convience is key with e-cards. So my goal this year was to stop sending e-cards and start making cards to give away. One set of cards I NEVER have enough of are 'Thank You's". I make them and send them out immediately. I like to give them to eveyone, for helping me with lunch, giving us a gift, for being nice, mostly for anyone who has gone that extra mile, I try to give a card that also goes tht extra mile, I made it for them. This month's workshop is dedicated to Thank You's. On Wednesday this week, we will be making 5 Thank You's for $5, a great price for any handmade card, seeing as how Hallmarks printed cards can range from $3 - $20, I am pretty reasonable!

I always try to give variety with my card workshops, using lots of different colors and trying interesting techniques on each of them.

This card is really fancy, with organza ribbon, cute scalloped edge and jewels.

A cool card for a male or a co-worker, this fun card has a fun design with a retro 'Thanks', this card can be assembled in under 5 minutes.

I adore the colors on this card, with a sampling of Close to my Heart's Boom-di-ada paper pack, this card is sure to please anyone. Front and center is a sweet flower Thank You for your friend.

With subtle colors and fun faux stitching, this card is an easy crowd pleaser.

This card was inspired by a fellow consultant, I call it Fairway Trees, cause it looks like the trees are on the fairway. This is an easy card to get more creative with because the Treetops (C1368), there are a variety of trees that you can choose from!
Each card is different and fun, I hope that when they take these cards home, they will be mailed out right away...why not when you have them on hand!!!

Summer Idea Book Kick Off

So here I am writing about my Summer Idea Book Kick Off Party before it has even started, I guess I am hoping for big things. This cute monocromatic tag is the Make n Take for the day, 90% Close to my Heart products*. I choose Tulip as my Exclusive color for this tag and used Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels* and a Dimensional Elements Border (chipboard) as a mask which gives us the cool swirl in the background. Using Tulip Ink, I stamped the May Stamp of the Month and cut out the Thank You, then adhered it to the tag with 3D foam tape. I also added the Just Blooms Paper Flower and Butterfly in Tulip. Threaded White Daisy Organdy Ribbon thru the hole and tied with Tulip Embroidery Floss. To finish it off I used our Clear Sparkles and made it shine. This whole project takes 10 minutes to make and shows like you spent hours slaving over it! I hope you try this Close to my Heart project and send it to someone you are thankful for!

Vague Occasions Card Workshop

This month's card workshop is all about cards for any occasion! Sometimes we all need cards that aren't geared towards a certain event, this is that workshop. My 5 for $5 card workshop is an assembly only class with a room to be creative. Each card this workshop has a little something extra added to it to make that card unique.

This is a super simple card but I pumped it up with a cute flower to mimic the background and an adorable scalloped edge to finish it off.

This dark looking card is one of my favorites, other than loving stars, so easy to cut out, but I used some gold paint to make my stars POP! You may not be able to see it in the photo but in person, it shines.

The colors in this card draw me in and with a 3D Fleur de Lis and cute antique copper mini-brads I think this card is ready to send.

A fun card with bright colors, a perfect sentiment and cool twill across the bottom this card is sure to stay on someones mantel for quite a while.

Who doesn't want to celebrate with cupcakes? Sparkley cupcakes at that! Very simple but I love the sparkle this card gives.
I do have fun putting together these workshops but I also love seeing the creativity that others have with my pre-cut cards. I am looking forward to this next workshop, if you are interested and in the Denver-Metro Area, message me and we would love to have you join us!

A Year to Remember

This great Mini album was made with Creative Cuts and More 8"x8" Mini Album Set. It is a 10 piece die cut set with 2 covers, four dividers, four pages and four 1" rings. I ordered mine in Bazill Bling Cardstock - String of Pearls. I love the color it came it, it's soft and textured, which is awesome. I also used Basic Grey's Urban Couture Collection and Close to my Heart My Acrylix Stamps. This mini album is going to my In Laws, I did and album for the first year of my daughter's life and gave it to them for a Christmas gift almost 2 years ago and just recently they asked if they were ever getting another one? Well of course. It's going to be great for them because we are no longer living in the same country and they do miss thier only grand-daughter. I hope they will enjoy it.

To Carry or to Capture?

For my next project as Guest Designer for Creative Cuts & More, I decided to take the basic Gable-Tall Box in Acetate and fashion it into a Phot Box. What better way to capture my daughter's boundless energy than by encasing it into this box. I wanted to create something with depth, color and fun techniques. This has eye-catching qualities and some great products helped that along. Of course we have the Gable-Tall Box in Acetate, Basic Grey Paper and Killer Red Tacky Tape from Creative Cuts & More. Rhinestones, Stamps, Inks and Ribbons are all Close to my Heart. I think this photo box is darling and only wish I would have found a way to make it rotate!

Stay in the Line!

So the next challenge for Whimsical Scraps and Bugs was a color challenge. You can see the colors in this post. I am a firm believer that companies put thier products into 'lines' so it makes you, the scrapbooker's, life easier. When you combine all the elements that you can find in a line from a manufacturer, you will always get a beautiful layout! I know that the trend is to mix and match, and in the beginning, that is all you really could do. But don't make your layouts harder then they have to be by doing unessessary extra work. This layout was made from Making Memories 'Chloe's Closet' and I think it worked out fabulously.

Back to School...Already?

How shocked was I to find out that school in the state of Colorado starts in August! The height of summer where I am from. Up in the frozen North we only start school in September, that way we have the warmest days to play outside. So one of my good friends daughters is off the the Honor Academy in Texas, giving a year of her life to God. I hope she has a good time, but, before she went I thought I would make her some great items to help her along. I think they will definately decorate her drab room and add some flair! I made the whole set of items I already had sitting around and SEI's Chocolat line of papers, goregeous!

This was my Eco friendly project...obviously made out of a tin can...the only thing I would differently is put something around the edge to protect her fingers and pens from getting cut, acrylic perhaps? Suggestions?

This is a great pen and notepad, just recovered. Picked up the notepad/pen set for a $1.

Great Dollar store buy, a horrible little picture frame that we recovered with our paper, Cork is painted and stamped and the letters are 'Color Ready' Sticker letters from Close to my Heart and my gel pens, love them sooo much!

This Journal is the best, with front, back and inside covers done with the paper I am sure all her thoughts will be well written. Just for fun I also stamped random inside pages...to give it some color!

A great Michael's buy, this little tool kit just needed some ribbon and a tag and it was done!

Of course the coaster post-it note holder! Recovered and AWESOME. I know that I missed some Must-have items that belong with this kit like pens, but I only had so much time. If you have any suggestions as to what else I could make with this kit, leave a comment I would love to hear from you!

Zoo Train

Look at how cute this 'Zoo Train' turned out. I made it for the challenge on Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. The fun thing about this is that I can add onto the train if I want to make it a room border or even for a pary, it is really cute. I am just in love with how this turned out. I did leave the train cars kinda plain but I did some great distressing techniques on them which makes them more rustic. The design came right out of my head, no pattern or nothing. Now if only I had a boy I would decorate his room in these cute animals.