Monday, June 28, 2010

July Sneak Peek

Wouldn't you want this little cutie??

Monday, June 21, 2010

I WON!!!!!!!!

Yippee!! Yahoo!!! Yeah!!!!!

Thanks to all your help in becoming CTMH fans I have won this cute apron! You are AWESOME!


As a HUGE Thank you to all my loyal friends I am offering FREE shipping for all gatherings booked and completed in July. AND ... You will be the star of your event modeling my gorgeous apron!

Thank you sooooooo much for making this happen for me!

June 21 Jackpot June

It's Goodie Box Day again!

Get a box filled with popular products at 50% or more off of retail value. Plus you'll get a deal on shipping/handling. Purchase this Goodie Box (retail value of$235.50 CAN) for only $93.95 CAN. 
Buy now! This offer is while supplies last and will be snatched up quickly.

Look at all the goodies I got in the last box of this value!! **
 Stamp Sets
Cardstock, Rub-ons, Card kits, etc
Paper Packs, Embellishments, Ribbon, etc
 Journal Prompts, Dimensional Elements, Flowers, etc
 
 
** Please note that your contents will vary from mine. I will be hosting a Crop 'N Swap in July so you can trade your goodies.

Father's Day Altered Frame

This Father's Day I altered a frame for the sweetie. He didn't have any updated photos of his 3 munchkins. 1 picture is missing but will be taken and inserted in August when munchkin #3 gets here. Below you can see the blank frame in the planning stage and then the completed version.




 I used two new stamp sets, CTMH Wonderful Friend (June SOTM) and CTMH Live Inspired. The center stamps are done directly onto the mat. I first stamped with Versamark, embossed the image and chalked around to make it pop out. I then over stamped using Cocoa ink. The corner images are stamped on white card stock with a combination of Versamark and Cocoa loaded at the same time, embossed, cut out, then adhered. It gives a slight touch of dimension to the project.


I made my first flower with the new CTMH 1 1/4 round punch. I love this punch! I used paper from the CTMH Passages pack. The Barn Red side was the perfect color but the other side was Garden Green which didn't match my color scheme. I used blue chalk to color the green side. It was a little fussy to do but the result was just what I wanted. Never be afraid to try to alter your paper to get that perfect match. The center of the flower is a CTMH Filigree Charm which coordinated wonderfully with the paper.



 The cardstock buttons and metal swirls are from the $$ Store. The matting was originally white with a cream color framing. I used chalks to color the base to the blue and the framing a cocoa color.


No Jackpot posts from yesterday. All the good info is on my website so head there to find out the scoop!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Help me get this cute Apron


All you have to go is go to the Close To My Heart  Face Book Fan page and become a fan. I will do the rest from there. Help me help the fan page get 15,000 fans! We only need a couple hundred more.

http://www.facebook.com/CloseToMyHeart

Go Now!!! Pleaseeee!!!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

WWF - Help Save Canada's Arctic from Disaster

 The Canadian government is currently holding a review of drilling safety in Canada's north. If you are concerned about what safe guards our government has in place to prevent a disaster like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, click the link below to send a message to Prime Minister Harper and the review board.

WWF - Help Save Canada's Arctic from Disaster

Monday, June 14, 2010

Two Challenge Cards and a New Technique

These 2 cards are my Challenge cards from fellow CTMH consultant, Nikki Geers, Weekend Challenge. I was late discovering her blog so I did 2 weeks in one. She'd love for you to join is as well so pop over to her blog HERE.

The first card is based on a sketch posted and you had to use the color red. I gave myself an additional challenge to make a card using MyStickease only.



 The second card was another sketch and using stripes. Again I only used MyStickease to complete this project.



New Technique
You can make your own embellishments for your projects using items you already have. With a little bit of Elmers Glue and a Cuttlebug Folder the possibilities are endless. I used the glitter glue for my project.

Here is my sample. I used a 2x2 folder and opened it out flat on the table.

Put a layer of glue onto one side of the folder. Set it aside overnight to fully dry. When dry the glue will be curling up off the folder.

You can then use the piece as is, cut out certain elements, or even color it with your inks. Use pigment ink as dye ink doesn't dry very well on this. I used my CTMH Ocean ink pad and ran it across the top to pop out the features. It's been 8 hours and the ink is finally starting to dry up.


OK, get your Elmers and go play! Show me what you created as well.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

June 13 Jackpot June

Today is a great day to get over to MYCTMH website! Paper flowers are on special up to 46% off! Flowers of all sorts are THE hot item in scrapbooking.

Get Them Now!

One of the products listed on MYCTMH Website is the mystery Jackpot item for today. If you order the mystery Jackpot item, we'll send you a My Acrylix® Treasures of the Heart Stamp Set (retail value of $22.50 CAN) for FREE! Order one of each of the items to guarantee that you will hit the Jackpot! 

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Awesome Cards

I would like to share some of the artwork that 2 of my fabulous customers created.

These first two were created by Shandel. These are simply stunning! Her suit cards could be used for so many masculine events - wedding and graduation being only 2 ideas. The details are amazing in the ribbon ties and hankies. The second card is so elegant! I love the way she created faux ribbons out of paper. I give her 10 out of 10 for these handmade treasures!


These next two were created by Erica. She is a beginning paper crafter and I think you would agree with me that she has found a talent buried within her. Her flower card is simple yet extremely elegant. What an awesome job she did on creating the flowers that make card this just pop! The vest card is a wonderful creation. By using an embossing folder she added subtle dimension to the outside of the card without taking away from the absolutely fantastic inner details of the collar and tie pieces. I give these 10 out of 10 again! 


Don't you agree that these 2 ladies have talent? Please leave a comment to let them know what awesome work they do and to encourage them to create even more wonderful art!

Have you made a project that you'd like me to showcase here? Send me an email with your artwork and I will let the world know how awesomely talented my customers are!!

Friday, June 11, 2010

My GAME is ON......Finally

My creative block has crumbled. I ordered a couple of L1 kits on the first day of Jackpot June. I am one of those people that has never used a level 1 kit! I know!!!! Shame on me!!

I absolutely L-O-V-E the level 1 kit. It was easy as pie to do the page. Put the picture in the pre-printed spot and embellish. Done! I added Love Letter Rub-ons, Colonial White buttons, Filigree Charms, Black Waxy Flax, Just Blooms, Black brads, silver flowers from the accent tubes we used to get, and a smattering of left over Connections Club sticky pearls.


Isn't it amazing how versatile our CTMH kits are. This kit is called Game On and is meant for using with sports themes. I love how changing up the embellishments turns this into a romantic page. I hesitated a few minutes about using the Stickease letters. The bold letters certainly relay my feelings about this photo and I was glad I broke through the barrier of thinking these are college letters to be used only for football pages.

Look At What I Got!!

Here are the reveal of my first Goodie Box. The only item I didn't already have is one stamp set. I love how the Christmas stamp set is Spanish. It's like CTMH knew I had bought Spanish sets before!


Contents of box:

1 pkg 12x12 paper holders (3 in pk)
15 sheets 12x12 Cardstock
  3 - Vanilla Cream
  3 - Brown Bag
  3 - Outdoor Denim textured
  3 - Cocoa textured
  3 - Black textured
1 Perfect Day L1 Kit
1 Perfect Day Paper Pack
1 Bits & Pieces Card Kit
1 Around The Holidays Card kit
1 pkg Doorhanger Pouchs (10 in pk)
1 3x3 Mini Craft Album
1 pkg About Me Journaling Prompts
2 pkg Rubons
  1 - Primavera
  1 - Love Letters
1 pkg Booksmart Dimensional Elements 
1 pkg Colonial White Designer Brads
1 pkg Foundry Tabs
1 pkg Basic Embroidery Floss
1 pkg Believe Clear Ribbon Slides
1 Mini Distressing Ink - Sunflower
1 Colonial Whilte Ribbon Round
1 pkg White Daisy just Blooms
4 Stamp Sets
  Spring Equinox
  Let's Play Ball
  Alfresco
  Ornate Ornaments - Spanish        

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

First Picture Tutorial

Hello Everyone!
I was asked by a couple of friends how I made my infamous shoe. And would I be willing to do a tutorial on how to put it all together. So here we go!

First I need to give credit to the designer of the template - Ellen Hutson. It is her template that I used for this project. You can purchase a copy of it here .

Here is what the shoe will look like when completed

List of Supplies:
Downloaded shoe template
2 pieces of co-ordinating patterned paper - I used CTMH You Rock paper pack
3 brads
1 flower or other embellishment for the top of the show
2 pieces of ribbon, 1 cut about an inch shorter
1 ribbon slide
Any other embellishments you want to add to dress up your shoe
Scissors
Bone Folder
Ruler
Pencil
Paper piercer
Sticky adhesive - I used Glue-Glider Pro with PermaTac
Liquid glue for liner - I used CTMH Bonding Memories glue pen


This next part is up to you. You can either print out the template right onto the back of your patterned paper or make a cardstock template and trace around it. I used the cardstock template because I wanted to make sure to get the striped paper lined up correctly.



I put little marks outside the tracing to show me where the score lines start and end. Line up your ruler with the scoreline marks and score using a bone folder. The score doesn`t have to be deep so I scored this right on top my craft mat.




Next cut out your pattern and fold on the score lines.



As you push the scored areas together you will start to see the shoe shape forming.


Working from the back of the shoe, overlap and glue the 2 back flaps. Make sure you line up the edges of the 2 flaps to form a nice heel back.



Now to finish the heel. Turn the shoe upside down and do the same procedure with the heel flaps.




Now flip the shoe back over and let`s finish the top. Glue the sole in. Put adhesive on the 2 small flaps and the underside. This may be a bit tricky the first time doing this and you might want to use some liquid glue instead of runner.


 This next part is even trickier so I would advise you use liquid glue to get the liner set into place properly. Make sure to line up all the edges as close as you can. You can trim away where you didn`t line up quite right.




In my sample I didn`t score the top flaps as I wanted a rounded shoe top. If you score on these lines you will get a flat shoe top.

Overlap the flaps and glue them together. Then with your paper piercer, pierce a hole in the center where you will insert a brad with your embellishment.


Insert your brad through the embellishment and through the hole you pierced. I used CTMH Crocheted Flower, but you can use any flower or bow. You can basically decorate the top how you wish. Instead of a flower or bow you could use brads in a line as a buttons. You are only limited by your imagination here!



Now at this point you can leave it as is or attach a strap to the top. I chose to put on a strap. Pierce 2 holes on either side. Attach a piece of ribbon to each side with a brad.


Thread a ribbon slide onto the shorter ribbon. Insert ribbon from bottom over top the center and back down through the other opening. Take the longer ribbon and thread it the opposite way over top the shorter piece.

And here is the completed shoe!



Well I hope you all enjoyed my first tutorial. Let me know by leaving a comment or better yet become a follower.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Reason for No New Posts!!

OK, so I'm in the process of moving my craft room from the upper floor to a sunny room in the basement. As you can see this is uttter CHAOS!!

It's a slow process but one I know I will be happy with. The new room has tons of cupboards, 2 windows facing south and west, and a sink for cleaning up.






More pics to follow as I progress
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