MIA

Hello my crafting friends, Yes I know I left you for awhile but I am hoping you will forgive me once you see all the great things I have been making and working on to show you! As you know I signed up with Close To My Heart and was waiting on my start up kit. Well it came in and I already placed 2 orders and in the process of putting in my 3rd which will include my first customer order!!

CTMH now offers 2 different sign up kits, they have a Essentials kit for $49, which you see here. this includes Avonlea Scrap booking Kit Workshop on the Go plus the Bonus project and all you see here. The larger Master kit is $99, includes all you see here and 5 Studio J layouts, more supplies for Gatherings as well as some essential scrapbook supplies. I of course ordered the Master Kit.

CTMH had a promo for the month of August, when you sign up to be a consultant you get this bad for free. Now let me tell you I was impressed with this bag. Very heavy duty carry strap and you can also use it as a back pack. Well made and sturdy. I put all my customer supplies in it and there is still tons of room.

Now I loaned out all the cards I have been working so that a friend of mine could do the workshop I had this past Wednesday. Once they are back I will take pictures and make some blog post about them. I have also finished the Avonlea WotG and Bonus project so that needs to have pictures taken. But the one I am most excited about is the Halloween Party WotG that I have almost finished. It was so stinking cute in the catalogue I had to order it. Now I am doing a small trade show in October and I will be using it for a display. Hope I can get my name out there and find some customers and others to attend my gatherings. Here is crossing my fingers.

Winter Wonderland

Sorry I have been gone so long. Went through a slump there when I was not selected to work with DCWV. Needed to motivate myself to create again. I could not even sit in my craft room. Well that went on long enough thank you and I had to get back to crafting. I joined an 12x12 LO swap on www.scrapbook.com so I had a goal. I have never done a LO swap before but I know I need to make more LOs, so I figured this would be a great way to get a ton of LOs back for an album. I have 2 spots to fill and this is the first one. For each spot I had to make a double page LO for 5 other ppl and also for me. So 6 of the same double page LOs. My first group is Winter and I titled the LO Winter Wonderland.

Pg 1 - I started off with plain white pp for the back ground. Then selected the colour scheme I wanted to use. I love snowflakes so I also decided that they would figure largely in the LO design. I used CS from DCWV, the 3 stacks I used are the Metallic Stack, the Winter Wonder Stack(2010) and the Holiday Collection solids(2010). The blue pp is Recollections shimmer CS. Next  I cut out the different elements needed to make the page. For this I use CTMH design book Imagine. I love using the design books or sketches because then I don't have to figure out The size of the cuts I need to make nor do I waste paper because they have it all laid out. Everything else about these pages is mine. All the CS is distressed with Starlite Silver ink by DewDrop. The words, snowflakes in a circle and the stamped snowflake in the right hand corner are cut using E2 CTMH exclusive Cart. Art Philosphy. The stamped snowflake is coordinating stamp set Snowflakes from CTMH Winter 2011 Catalog.  Unfortantly my stamp pads are not in yet from CTMH so I used Stampin'Up Baja Breeze and then re stamped it with DewDrop Platinum Planet to add shimer. It is a double snowflake and the small punch out one is a Martha Stewart punch, not sure of the snowflake name. Then applied it to the page using a sparkle DoodleBug Brad. The silver snowflakes are attached with a snowflake brad, and the beaded fringe was from my stash. I can't remember which of my friends sent it to me otherwise I would mention her. The word Winter has 3 little dots cut out of each letter, I applied silver Stickles to these 3 dots.

Pg 2 - More snowflakes cut out of the Art Philosphy Cart and matching stamps to stamp the images. It is not picking up well in the picture but the large snowflake also has glitter embossing on it. Using my iRock I added some bling to another snowflake. In the upper left hand corner of the page is the hidden journaling area. I again cut out an image with the E2 Art Philosphy Cart then using a Cuttle bug embossing folder I embossed the blue pp with snowflakes. Using a white sparkle snowflake brad I adhered it to the LO so that it would swing down to show the journal spot. The CS snowflake was from the Paper Studio.

Here they are together, I think they look wonderful and now need to finish assembling all the others for the rest of the swap and plan my Spring one :)






I have plenty more to make and show you, I am just waiting on my CTMH consultant package to arrive. Once it is here I should be more active here as I need to make, post and share my love of crafting and CTMH products. Thank you for sticking with me and waiting around for me to come back. May God Bless you and hold you in the Palm of His Hand.

DCWV Design Team Submissions

Well it is Saturday and DCWV will be announcing their first ever Design Team tomorrow. As far as I am aware they have not even let the 12 ppl they have picked know yet. At least that is what I am hoping and praying for as I have not gotten an email either way. I am going to share with you today what I sent in to DCWV. Now they did not get all the pictures because I could only send 4 but you get to see everything.

Of course everything is made with DCWV paper. This one I used Coral Couture, love the colours in this stack. The strips of glitter are difficult to see, wish I used a darker glitter. Also stitched the side were I joined the 2 CS pieces. The centre piece is cut with Spellbinders Labels Three, inked the edges then used a cupcake stamp. I coloured the image with H2O pigments(first time using them) and then added stickles for the candy. I like the look of the card just the glitter was wrong.

I love this picture of my youngest Cara. Here I used The Sweet Stack. The title is My Little Chef done in Reflections glitter alpha Pink. I again used Spellbinders Grand Big Scalloped Ovals, some cooking buttons from my stash and Prima Flowers. The pink glitter paper is from DCWV Dazzle stack, I really like the fine texture of this paper and the great amount of sparkle to it, I plan on picking up more stacks like this one. I used Martha Stewart corner double loop bunch to add a little more detail plus I found it went well with the swirls on the paper. One of my favourite LOs I have done in a while.

Next is a desk set. Journal, address box and a note card box. All using 4 Seasons stack. Of course I did them in purple as that is my favourite colour and I plan on having these on my desk.

This is my address box, It is made using a 12x12 sheet of card stock and inside are index cards with ppls addresses and birthdays on them. This way I hopefully won't forget any ones birthday. I have been involved and now run a birthday card exchange on http://www.scrapbook.com/ for the last 3 years now and this helps keep me organized. The top bling is from Reflections, Lace used around the top is from my stash, Purple flower from Micheal's $1 bins. Cross Stitched Diva star, kit is from Mill Hill beads but my talent stitched LOL. Love when I can combine both my cross stitch and paper crafting.

I am soooo LOVING altering Journals. I use fabric on the binding, from Walmart, then used matching lace from the address box for around the outside of the journal. Also were the CS joins the fabric I added lace and pearl trim from my stash. The purple flowers are all from http://www.iamroses.com/ , LOVE their mulberry flowers. Of course a matching purple bling flower in the corner. Using my crop-a-dile I put in two holes for the ribbon to tie it closed. Attached to the ribbon closer is a cameo that is done in silver and has purple rhinestones in it. The name plate is from Tim Holtz. I made this and it is what lead me to do a whole desk set. LOVE how it looks and all that PURPLE LOL.

This is  my Note Box, it is an altered cigar box. As you can see I tied all the pieces together with the same CS, lace, trim and in some cases embellishments. I also added a butterfly from reflections with a pearl trail to the top. On the front I added a mesh flower from Prima and the glitter sticker boarder is from Reflections. I Mod Pod the boarder on because it would not lay straight. As you can see it still bubbled up a little. The only thing missing is legs for the box. Could not find any in time to take the pictures and send it off to DCWV.

 Here you can see the box open. Inside I lined it with paper, normally I would use fabric but I ran out of the purple. I made 12 Thank You cards to put into the box and found this cool flower pen at Michael's that fit the whole theme of this set. I hope this set had the WOW factor they were looking for. I Really Really would like to be on this team. DCWV is my first and only CS love. They come out with some amazing patterns, stacks and love how they add foil or glitter to their paper and it doesn't flake off. They CS is a nice heavy weight and perfect for all types of paper crafts. Well off to pace and find something to keep me busy today so I don't think about tomorrow LOL.

Next project I have is making 28 cards from 4 sheets of 12x12 paper. Saw it done on pintrest and going to try it myself. Plus I have to take pictures of the projects I made using my Big Shot and the E2 I recently purchased. I LOVE new tools :)
God Bless and have a wonderful day my crafty friends.

DT CALL

I missed posting 2 days ago and I am sorry. I am busy working on several designs/projects for DCWV first ever Design Team call. If you have been following me or have read some of my older posts you know I am a DCWV girl. I LOVE their paper, how thick it is, the foil or glitter elements they include, and the designs used. I am working very hard on this and making sure I use all my talent and knowledge so I can show case what I do. I am not holding back this time or second guessing myself. I am just going with it. Once I send these projects in and I hear back I will do a blog post on what I made until then I am keeping it under wraps. I hope to be back in 2 days with one of the other projects I am making just for fun.

Have a wonderful blessed day everyone and keep creating!

Workshops on the Go

CTMH comes out with a new catalog/idea book twice a year. In it are several new lines of paper and stamps. To save you money and get a nice assortment of the lines they have Workshops you can purchase. Sort of like Kit of the Month from some sites. Well I fell in love with the Lucy line so I ordered their Lucy Workshop. In it I got 12 sheets of CS some double sided, Lucy stamp set, Lucy glitter rub ons, Bitty Sparkles and an instruction brochure. What I did not realize until I sat down to make the 2 page LO was I would need to have the Exclusive Cricut Cartage Art Philosophy Collection. Lucky for me the consultant was willing to lend me hers.

 This is a perfect paper pack for little girls. I have 2 girls under the age of 5 so made 2 double page LOs from this package just changed the side that is showing to make them sightly different. With this kit I got to try a new technique, at least for me. All the die cuts were made with the Cricut except for the crowns those I fussy cut, UGH. Once all the pieces were cut it was time to stamp. The flowers and butterflies are all stamped. The flowers required 3 separate stamps and 3 separate colours. It was fun to line everything up just right so that it looked good.

The Crowns are rub ons and then fussy cut out. I really dislike fussy cutting, I feel that is why I have a Cricut and my Grand Calibur so I don't have to do that anymore LOL.

 Here you can see the pendant that is on the page, this will hold a title at some point. Even though these pages have identical LOs they look slightly different due to the different colours and patterns used. You can just make out the fact I curled the petals on the flower. I also added rhinestones to the flower centers and the crowns. Princess Pages need some bling, :D

Have a great day everyone and don't forget to get outside and enjoy the sun and your family.

May Stamp'in UP

 So May was the final month until some time in the fall for Stamp'in Up. This time we made a 2 page LO. Not colours I would normally use but looks very elegant all the same.

Each square is layered, inked and embellished. The heart is wrapped with ribbon then a die cut that states "love" is on it. The birds are a punch and the wings have pop dots under them to add some height. I curled the wings on the butterflies to add some dimension and there are pearls in the centre of the flowers. Some of the paper was flocked so gives texture too. I enjoyed putting this one together.

 Have a great day and happy crafting. May the Lord watch over you in all things.

June SOTM

I was not able to get to my Club this month but the consultant was kind enough to drop everything off for me to complete on my own. This is the cards and 1 of the LOs I used the XYRON with. This set was made with the Lucy Paper Pack and the June SOTM Life is Tweet.

All of the pieces were already cut, the die cuts are from the Cricut CTMH Exclusive Cartridge Art Philosophy Collection. As you can see in the cards the stamps fit perfectly.
The first card has a primary layer of textured CS that was lightly sanded to show the white core. The next piece was inked on the edges and then the centre medallion is stamped saying "how tweet of you" with two little birds. A nice fast and quick card to make.
The second card has all the layered pieces edges inked and a couple of the corners punched with a corner rounder. The stamped image fit perfectly on the die cut and says "Life is tweet". I love layering cards and really need to do it more. The ribbon was put through the XYRON and stayed stuck in place LOL. Going to love that tool for ribbon.

The LO has all edges inked again, and a stamp that fit perfectly on a die cut, which I pop doted up, added a bit of ribbon to finish it all off.
Still needs a title, pictures and some journaling. That will be a summer job, going through the TON of photos I have and getting them printed to start putting them on all my LOs.

 Looking forward to Julys SOTM and the fact I will be a consultant for CTMH! I can't wait to sign up, get all my goodies and start sharing my talent, skills and learning more with others.