New Project (and I'm still alive!)

Well, I've been working on a few non-crafty projects and so have neglected to post here in sometime. Thank you for the kind emails and texts asking if I'm well... I am!








I have a new cricut! I got the Expression2 on a ridiculous sale at my favorite craft store and picked up the Oh Canada cartridge at the same time. HOLY CROW IT'S SO CUTE!! I'm a bit of a nut for all things Canadian and it has almost nothing to do with the fact that my second child was born 3 hours too late to be a Canada Day baby. Honest.



Anyway, Close to My Heart sells this really cute My Creations Memory Game box set and I thought it would be fun to make a Canadian game! There's 24 cards, 3x3 inches, in the box so I only needed to think up 12 pairs. I used the Typeset paper pack, a sanding block, glue and the cricut... no ink or stamps!



I managed to get 7 pairs done (one each of those pairs shown in the photos). Once I get the other 5 pairs done I'll layer on some clear coat to seal it all up and decorate the box. You can see some of my itty bitty mistakes (like having to write in the letters for the coins, man those letters were TEENY... or having to cut off the poor beaver's fingers since I misjudged her size) but for a kids toy I don't think anyone will mind.



Thanks for checking in! I'll try not to go so long without posting again!

Believe in Whoooo you are!

I love owls. I think it's a hold over from when my mother was collecting owls (same time she was my Brownie leader). This little guy is part of a new stamp set fondly referred to around here as the Double D. It's got two D size stamp sets in one package! I'm hoping to see more of those from Close to My Heart. I used the Dreamin' paper with some Craft cardstock and colored the little guy with my markers. I also stamped on a canvas badge button and filled in the stamped image with my markers. So awesome to be able to creation your own accents!

On November 13th I'll be hosting a Christmas Card Workshop. If you live in Calgary and would like to attend please contact me (contact information on the side of this post, phone or email). More details will be posted on Facebook and StampOffEh.com closer to the date.

Thanks for checking in!

Fairy Nice!

My middle child, Kerowyn, is really into anything pink, sparkly or relating to princesses or fairies. For her birthday this year (last month) we had a Fairy Princess Tea Party after visiting CrocTalk to pet some live reptiles. Interesting combination hey?

Well, in honor of the Fairy portion of her party, I made a card. I used a stamp from Paper Pretties, and the Sophia paper pack from Close to My Heart. To get the real sharp color I first stamped in a light color (in this case Bamboo) then colored with the CTMH markers that match the Sophia paper, and then stamped again in a darker color (Grey Wool).

To make sure the image was exact I used my travel scrap tote (basically a wooden box) and nudged the paper and stamping block right into the one corner and did the same when I stamped the second time. Sometimes the paper slipped a tiny bit so there was some trial and error, but in the end it was super easy to -exactly- stamp over the image with the darker color.

Thanks for checking in!

More Mischief

Thank you so much for your comments on my last post!

This is one of my favorite of the new stamp sets. I used the Mischief paper again, cause... wow, harvest colours much?!


The wreath is two stage stamping, the branches were stamped in Desert Sand and then the berries in Barn Red. There are two other options instead of berries (leaves and flowers). It's versatile and so... freakin... cute!

I topped one of the i's with a pearl just for a little sparkle. I think I might stamp the sentiment in a darker brown next time instead of the red, let it pop a bit more.

Exciting new products!

Close to My Heart has released the new Autumn/Winter catalogue and wooo am I excited about some of the new stuff.

First let me say that if you are in or around Calgary, Alberta, on August 7th and you would like to attend my Open House, just let me know and I'll pass on my address. We're making a couple cards (originally I was going to use the new paper called Sonoma, but I fell in love with this month's Stamp of the Month).

This is one of the cards I made using the August Stamp of the Month (which you can get for only $5.50 with qualifying purchase, or $19.95). The paper is Mischief, one of the four new paper packs.

For those of you with a Cricut... CTMH now offers a Cricut cartridge complete with images that coordinate with our stamp sets! Feel free to contact me for more information, or stop by the Open House to see it in action!

You're a STAR!

Another card today using the Miracle paper pack. Nothing special, stamped the star (from Shining Star) and cut it out, used dimentional tape to stick it down. The words are one stamp, to get the two different colors I just bent the stamp around the end of the block (so that only "you're a" was on the bottom of the block and then only "star" was on the bottom). Since the blocks are clear it's super easy to see where to position the words. I could have also used finger daubers to ink the stamp with different colors (making sure to "huff" before stamping so the ink isn't dried out)... I just didn't have any on me when I made the card heh.

On a more personal note, a while back I was sharing my plans for The Butterfly Bed. Well it was completed sometime back and I'm not sure if I shared the results. So.. here is Kerowyn seeing her Butterfly Bed for the first time.

Fun Flock!

This is one of the cards I made for June's stamping group that I run. I used the Miracle paper pack (by hostess request) and a fun little stamp set called Howdy. In another version of the card I used the cow from the stamp set and the sentiment "I herd you were sick. Hope you're feeling butter!"

Fun flock is a fuzzy powder you can use to add a little something to your crafts. I used it on the mane and tail of the horse. You can also put some in a ziploc baggie with a couple drops of re-inker to dye it any color you want (for brown teddy bears, yellow chicks, green catapillars and more). All you do is use a glue pen on the area you want to flock, pour the fun flock over top and gently press it down. Tap the excess off and return it to the jar.

Lucky Boy!

My son is nearly four and a half years old... and, I'm ashamed to admit, this is the first time I've scrapbooked (in a full size book anyway) his first birthday party. I used the Lucky paper pack with Kraft cardstock (which is close in color to Desert Sand) I really like the texture of it!

Maybe before he goes to High School I'll get around to scrapbooking his 2nd, 3rd and 4th birthdays!

Just us girls

We're finally all settled in at the new place and my craft room looks close to normal. Just in time too since I'm hosting my monthly demonstration group here next week! Today we celebrated my youngest's first birthday (for video cuteness see the bottom of the post!).

The project I have to share with you today is from last month's demonstration group. We used the Wings paper pack and did a layout from the Magic book available through CTMH. I offered the ladies in the group two options (black and Vineyard berry, or white and Sweet Leaf). (There is suppose to be a 6x6 picture on the left page but I didn't have any printed).

I love these groups so much for a chance to expand my own creativity. I find I do a lot of the same style of things... cards tend to look the same, the same layouts get used over and over... but when I spend time with the group and watch them assemble my design, with their own twist, I get to do the, "oh! never thought of that!" and "oh, that looks neat!" over and over.

The Magic book that I used for the layout incorporations interactive elements to each page. In this case it was an expanding booklet (3x3 squares). At first I was against the idea, I mean... how do you USE them in page protectors?? Then I bought the book and discovered that there is a tutorial on how to cut your page protector to allow the interactive element to work without removing the page from your book! How cool is that?

Well, it's supper time here and I can smell the salmon is almost finished roasting, so I'll leave you with one more image. Thanks for checking in!!

Happy National Scrapbooking Month!

May is national scrapbooking month and that means more excuses to scrapbook! Woo!!

Well, now I have news that will make it even more exciting. For this month only the Close to My Heart new consultant kit is 50% off! For $70 you get to pick any three of the six "kits" at the back of the catalogue (you can still purchase more kits on top of the package for the regular $40 each).

If you're interested in taking advantage of this deal simply head to MyCTMH website during the month of May and select "My Opportunities". At the bottom of the page is a link to sign up as a consultant.

Please feel free to contact me by email, phone or text, if you have any questions about this promotion.

I'm still alive!

No pictures to show you today but wanted to pop in to let you all know I'm still alive. I haven't been buried under a mountain of moving boxes or anything.

I've got my laptop set up to connect to the interwebz but my craft room is still a shamble. The rest of the house is starting to look like someone actually lives here, which is good. The kids are adjusting nicely, Kerowyn's even been sleeping in her own room... alone! Elora is a bit clingy but she's nearly 1 and that's normal.

This weekend... curtains go up!! Then maybe my children will sleep past the sun rising. Gah!

I'm soooo excited to have a whole room for crafting now. And the "media room" has room for two six foot folding tables once I move the couch and coffee table to the edge of the room. SCRAPPING PARTY AT MY HOUSE oh yeah! I promise to post pictures of the craft room once I have it unpacked (I haven't even anchored the shelves to the wall yet!)

Thank you everyone who has left me comments or sent messages during my move, it's really moving to know I have so many friends out there that I've never even met face-to-face. Thank you for helping me feel "connected" to the wider community!!

One more while away

I don't have internet right now! *gasp* but through the miracles of Blogger I'm able to share the last of three cards I did at Leisa's house, based on her designs. This is still the Lucky paper pack but the blue side, clearly, heh. I used Robot Power this time. And again the vertical border is the handy, dandy, Kraft Color-Ready Borders. The actual move date was pushed back to the 22nd but our phone and internet were still moved on the 17th (have you ever tried to make a last minute change to a telephone service call... haha yeah, no). That means I can check email from my phone but that's about it! I'll try not to go crazy in the last few days. Oh yeah, it also means I won't have Netflix to distract the kids while I'm packing and cleaning. *twitch* Thanks for checking in!

Lucky Dragon!

As promised here's another of the cards that started out Leisa's design and then was modified by me. I used the Lucky Paper pack, a retired sentiment stamp set and possibly my favorite stamp set of all time, Birthday Blast.

I also got to use some Kraft Color-ready borders which are so much fun. You can ink them up or leave them as-is (which I did in this card) and then it's just cut to the size you want, peel, stick. Thanks for checking in!

Moving sucks!

I'm still here!! It's one week to the move and I'm horribly behind my self-imposed schedule. The kids really don't like things going into boxes even though they're super excited about moving to the new house.

My crafting time is pretty much nonexistant so it was a really nice break to head over to my friend Leisa's house for her spring card workshop. While there I made several cards of her own design and then changed three of them around a bit.

This is one of them, it uses the Sophia paper pack along with the Heartfelt Treasures stamp set. The sentiment reads, "the greatest treasures are t hose invisible, to the eye but found by the heart." I added some bling and then the sorbet dash ribbon which is currently in the "While Supplies Last" section of my website (74% off!!).

Thanks for checking in! I won't be posting much in the next couple weeks, but I'll try and have something new up for you to see!

Mayberry spread

Today I held the second gathering of our monthly scrapping group (thank you, Kelly, for hosting!). We worked with the Mayberry paper pack at the request of our hostess and made this two page layout. Since this picture was taken I have added photos of Grandpa Martens doing various fun things with the kids. I used the Bohemian alphabet to add a title on the left page (right above the stripes and below the circles).

I used so many stamp sets on this page! The Mayberry workshop exclusive stamp was used for the flowers and to stamp the yellow pattern on the canvas badge buttons.

The flower stems and the border around the edges was done using Spring Up. And the sentiment comes from a retired stamp set called Flower Child.

I'm really quite happy with how this page turned out! It was even more fun to see how the ladies in the group took it and made it their own.

The move is progressing slowly, packing isn't easy with three little kids when two of them are pulling things back OUT of the boxes. At least one of them is content to crawl around in the playroom... speaking of, here's a video of Elora playing Peek-a-Boo the day she turned 10 months. Isn't she cute?!

CTMH Promotion for Relief Efforts in Japan

Close to My Heart is holding a wonderful promotion. This A-size stamp (typically $8.95 Cnd) will be available until April 30th for $5 + tax and shipping.

Close to My Heart will donate 100% of the profits from the sale of this stamp to the Red Cross to benefit relief efforts in Japan.

Contact me if you'd like to order one (email, text or phone, details on the side of my blog)!

Message Can

Elora is bottle fed now which means I have tons and tons of formula cans (powdered stuff) going through the house. I started saving a few thinking I would either donate them to a youth group for crafts or make something with one of my monthly gatherings. I intended on saving... oh... six or so. I estimate I have about two dozen. With the move looming on the horizon it was time to DO something with them!


There are several ideas I have an I intend to do a few more soon (tm), but the one I'm showing you today is the Message Can for kids. I tell my children every day, several times a day, "I love you" and "I'm proud of you". But as Koen learns to read I wanted to make a place I could put little notes for him, messages like how it made me smile when he did X, or how sweet it was that he did Y. The key is to drop the messages in there when he's not looking so it's always a surprise when there's a new note! (He also has a mailbox for when Grandma sends him letters or parcels).


Of course I'll do similar cans for the girls, but for now... I used Hooligan paper and some dollar store ribbon. The "goo" is a Martha Stewart edge punch. For the hole in the top I used a punch from Stampin' Up and made a stencil, then cut out the hole by hand.


Another use for these cans is the Baby's Firsts can. When Koen was born it was super easy to jot down in my pre-purchased book when he first crawled or when his first tooth came in. The details were then transferred to his baby book, which I had lots of time to make! With the arrival of Kerowyn things got a bit hectic. What I have recorded is stuck on a sticky note and shoved into her incomplete baby book (she's nearly 3 now). Elora... baby book? haha what?


So the Baby's First can works the same way as the child's Message Can. When your baby does something remarkable you jot down the date and time and a sentence to remind you what it was and drop it in the can. It can sit on a shelf and be all pretty and when you are ready to work on the baby book, all those "firsts" are in one safe place.


One more for the road... the Snaps can (thank you Legally Blonde). A family writes notes about positive things they've seen the rest of the family do during the day and after supper (or when ever) they sit down together and take turns drawing them out and reading them. The movie reference would then have everyone say, "Snaps for you!" and much finger snapping. It's a great "feel good" bond building exercise, but better for children who can read.


Thanks for checking in!

Embossing Day Four: Scratch and Sniff

Been a while since I posted on my Embossing Extravaganza, I apologize for that. Today I'm revisiting a technique a friend of mine taught me a few years ago (thank you Chris!) called Scratch and Sniff. When she showed me it was with clear embossing powder, but I wanted to try something different.

First of all you need your sniff... I used kool-aid powder. Yes, you read that right. I would like to try it again sometime with jello powder since I can't find any Green Apple in Kool-aid. I chose tropical punch and mixed two different color embossing powders together (Cranberry and Outdoor Denim) to try and match the purple kool-aid a bit. I added some sparkly embossing powder after I'd mixed it... it needed sparkle.

Next I grabbed my new Mayberry stamp set and stamped a few plums in versamark and dipped them in my mixture. Careful when heat embossing here because the kool-aid can make it a bit tricky to heat evenly and you may find it starts to bubble and even burn!

Once you're done let it cool off... then rub it with your finger and sniff!
I completed my card using Close to My Heart's retired paper Bella... one of the main colors is "Smokey Plum", it had to be done! Not related to embossing but... if you're inking, watch for fingerprints when you put down pieces of your card (in other words, I have no excuses for those purple fingerprints on the card lol).

Thanks for stopping by!

Moving sucks

Happy Saint Patrick's day!

I'm still in the throes of a packing nightmare as I prepare to move to my new place. Three small children really complicate things!! We take possession of our new house on April 1st (hahah, no joke).

Last night was our CTMH Unit meeting (just me and my up-line, Leisa)... I use the term "meeting" really loosely. We craft, drink coffee, chat, and watch re-runs of Glee. But I did get a card and a two page spread finished. The pages I can't show you until after the monthly gathering... but the card I can! (Pictures always look so much better when Leisa takes them!)

This card uses the Mayberry paper with the March SotM called Sensational Seasons. I used our watercolor pencils to color in the bunny and eggs, using Honey, Smoothie and Olive for the eggs so they'd match. The shape was cut out using my nestabilities, the border punch is from Stampin' Up.

Edit to leave you with more cute!!

Scrapbox Give-away

This is an amazing give-away. So while I don't normally link to give-aways in my blog... wow. Just... wow. There's this Canada Workbox Giveaway of a whole "The Original Scrapbox"

If you want to enter to, you'll need to head over to Andrea's blog!

Additional entries for the contest can be made at the following blogs:

Canadian Nickel

Pink Star Creations

Paper Inspirations

Random Acts of Krafting

Chris's Creations

A Mom After God's Own Heart

Jenny's Scrapbooking Haven

Momma K Crafts

More Sweetheart

This is the other half of the projects we did at my first "group" gathering. (It's a group that agrees to meet and make a minimum purchase and rotate which participant gets the hostess rewards). My iphone still doesn't pick up the reds and pinks very well...

I used the Sweetheart paper pack on black cardstock. The pink cardtstock is Cotton Candy. The butterfly is an exclusive stamp for the Sweetheart Workshop on the Go and "Elora" was stamped with Old World Alphabet. The rose was made from our new designer ribbon pink collection.

The pictures are all from Elora's first few days (few hours in the case of the one with me holding her, that's at the hospital still!). This will become the first page in her baby book!

Thanks for checking in!

There be (more) dragons!

Here it is! Using the Sweetheart paper, some black and cranberry embossing powder and "Birthday Blast" and "So Lucky" stamp sets.

I spritzed the dragon's square with a mix of ink and shimmer paint to give it a glimmer you can't see in a photograph. The dragon and balloons are textured and a bit shiny due to the embossing powder.

One of the ladies in the group did a version of the card with both design papers flipped over (the black dots becomes white with pink dots and the red cross hatch becomes black) and then did the balloons in pink, and used pink ribbon, it looked great!

You may have noticed I'm really liking the dragons. Maybe. Just a little.

Thanks for checking in!

First day and blog candy

Today is the first day of myCTMH group (a group that meets once a month and agrees to buy a minimum of product and then trades who gets the hostess duties and benefits) and I'm both stoked and nervous! I've designed one 12x12 layout and one card using the requested paperpack Sweetheart. I've finished cutting all the materials for five sets (though some people can't make it so I'll be assembling three myself hehe) and I HOPE I've packed everything I need.

I'll be posting the pictures after the event... no sneek peeks!

In the meantime though, my upline is having a give-away on her blog to celebrate reaching 200 members! She's got a great blog, well worth the look!

Remodel of Aspire Card

I liked the Aspire card I did so much that I remade it for a card swap. This one was much easier than the dragon to make!!

I used Wings paper, with Whisper White and Vineyard Berry cardstock. Then inked the image, from the Aspire stamp set, in Juniper and the sentiment in black.

"If you don't leap, you'll never know what it's like to fly."

House of Plague!

So after Valentine's day my entire household got sick (we're still battling the remnants of icky). But I'm back and I'm posting, even if I don't have the next installment of the embossing extravaganza!

Instead I'm going to show you a card I did for a swap!

This card uses the Lucky paper pack and the Birthday Blast stamp set, both are new this catalogue. I used olive embossing powder for the dragon and the green balloon. Let me tell you... cutting things out for a card swap? means lots of cutting!! I made 8 cards... so I cut out 8 dragons and 24 balloons *dies*.

Away Notification!

I'll be on a posting hiatus until after Valentine's day. When I'm back to posting we'll dive into the exciting world of dry emboss! Woo!

Sneak Peek! "Aspire"

Well I may not have liked how the original card looked from my card swap (see previous post for remade card) but I still really liked how the base looked. It just needed another image.

This stamp set is called "Aspire" and will be available in one more week! It has three dancers in different poses, two flourishes (one with the word Aspire) and two phrases. "Dance as if no one is watching," and "If you don't leap, you'll never know what it's like to fly."

I used the Wings paper pack with Juniper ink, the dancer is done in Desert Sand. I topped it off with some wide satin ribbon and some bling.

Thank you to Leisa for taking such a nice photo of the card!

Remade card

I wasn't happy with how my card from the Heat Emboss Resist post turned out, so I changed it up a bit. I switched out the ribbon and the design paper and then my upline, Leisa, took a really nice picture of it for me!

This also happens to be the card I'm using for my part in the "Thank You" card swap I'm hosting! Typically a swap is "5+1" or "7+1" where you make 6 cards, or 8 cards, but get one less back. The extra card is kept by the hostess. In the case of this swap the extra card is joining the donations going to the Ronald McDonald House here in Calgary, Alberta.

I'm really happy with the changes. I'm using Juniper, Sweet Leaf, White Daisy and Black as my colors and the design paper is from the Wings paper collection. The stamp is from Find Your Style, this month's Stamp of the Month.

Thanks for checking in!

Embossing Day Three: Bleaching

Yes, bleaching. You can use bleach while crafting, for many purposes, but this one is one of my favorites.

A few tips before I begin. Wear clothing you don't mind getting dirty or ruined, just in case, bleach is not the same as washable inks! Also, don't work in a small windowless room, it's still BLEACH.

Not all cardstocks work well with bleaching, I suggest testing a corner of the cardstock you want to use (you can still use the other side of the paper). The best kind are the "full bleed" type cardstocks, not the "white core".

I picked three pieces from my scrap bin and, using the Heat Emboss Basics, I heat embossed my image in detail clear. You can use a color embossing powder too, the stamp I was using had a lot of tiny detail and I wanted the color of the paper to shine through.

Once the emboss dried (it doesn't take long) I used a paint brush to spread a little bit of bleach over the areas I wanted to draw attention to. I needed several coats on the baby images. Tip, if it's not going light enough, fast enough, try applying a little bit of heat with your heat tool while the bleach is still wet. Daub with a tissue to take off excess bleach if you put it on a bit thick.

I wasn't really thrilled with how these turned out, I mean, they look great but I couldn't get "into" making a card with them... so they've been added to my decorative scraps collection and may get made into something later.

Thanks for checking in!

Valetine's for Charity

Wow have things been a whirlwind around here! First we all got sick (poor Koen had to miss his friend's birthday party and he was NOT happy about it) then we found out we'll be moving at the end of our lease as the owners would like to sell the house (we would buy but it's a house we'll outgrow in a year or two). So I haven't been posting much as crafting has been limited.

Last night, however, was my monthly "meeting" with my upline Leisa. (We put on reruns of Glee or CSI and papercraft... sometimes with new product). Leisa gave me a HUGE bag of Valentine cards for the Ronald McDonald House that I collect for and I made a few more.

This card uses red cardstock that a friend gave me that was recycled from a closing business, two punches and treat cups from Stampin' Up, and the sentiment is from Clost to My Heart, a stamp set called "A Little Everything".

I wanted to thank everyone who has given me cards to include in the donation drop. As soon as my currect "Thank you" card swap is concluded I'll be taking the whole lot of them in.

Blog Award

Well, I would like to thank Anne Marie for awarding me with the Stylish Blogger Award! Anne Marie has a fabulous blog, she's got an eye for details and it really makes a difference in her projects. Thank you, Anne Marie, for thinking of me!



The rules of this award are simple:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you and link to their blog (done)


2. Share 8 things about yourself


3. Share the award with 8 other "Stylish Bloggers" and share the bloggin' love.

Well... 8 things about me. I'm not even sure what I shared last time I got one of these, so if there's any repeats, please don't be angry!

1. I play World of Warcraft. Actually... my husband and I play World of Warcraft. With my mother. And some of my nephews. And my sister plays now and then. Even my 4 year old knows how to make a character move around and jump in the game! I was playing while in labor with my second baby (the doc said "go home and do something relaxing" so I did!). I was playing 12 hours after my third was born (for those who play, we got 6/12 in ICC10 before Cataclysm came out).
   


2. I love creative writing but most of my writing (that I publish to the web) is based on role playing games that I've played... so World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons and Vampire: The Masquerade.
   


3. I'm very outgoing and creative, I really enjoy "story telling" or "running" the games mentioned in the above point. Think of it like a narrator in a TV show, but the narrator has control over what the "extras" say and do. The "main actors" are other people playing made-up characters and making their own choices. It means I have to be ready for ANYTHING! I love it!
   


4. I plan on home schooling because if I'm going to pay for "free public education" I might as well do it myself and at least know what my kids are learning! I'm very grateful that I'm able to do this and hope that our circumstances don't change so I can continue to do so (Koen starts kindergarten this year!!)
   


5. I'm really nervous about hosting my first monthly stamping group. I've been a consultant with Close to My Heart for four months and I've only co-hosted one card making party... now I'm hosting a monthly group. Panic!
   


6. I hate eating ice cream or pudding or cake with crunchy bits like nuts. I want to mush the ice cream to the roof of my mouth and I can't if there's walnuts in it!
   


7. I never drink enough water. I really should to get myself more hydrated... but, it's so much water!
   


8. I'm really bad at thinking up things to share about myself.

So now I'm to pick 8 people out of the hundred or more blogs I follow to award this to. Wow!

• Starla with StarFireEtc. She's just starting out in the blog-o-sphere and has some absolutely amazing photos. Very striking. She also dabbles in papercrafts. And... she's one of the nicest people I know, I'm glad to be able to call her my friend.
  


• Okay, I know I've picked Leisa with Big Red Scraps before, but she's my friend and my upline and I know she's posting an amazing card today. She's also the founder of the CTMH community with the same name, Big Red Scraps.
  


• Colleen with DragonflyInk Creations also has some pretty amazing stuff, and also happens to be one of my best friends.
  


• Kathy Braun with Lucky Stamper is not someone I know "offline" but I wish I did. She's always got a kind, and sincere, word. Her dog is really sweet too and Kerowyn just loves him to pieces without ever having met him.
  


• Twyla with Tywla's Heart is still relatively new to me but I'm enjoying participating in her many swaps and seeing the projects she posts on her blog.
  


• Jodi with My Creative Expression has a really nice blog too, I always enjoy checking out what she's posted.
  
• I always notice Frances with StampOwl. It may be that she shares my first name, but I think it has more to do with the really great cards she posts!
  
• Stephanne with StagnantlyCreative is also new to me, but her style is fabulous! She goes for an older vintage style, but the images (in her last post, for example) aren't the kind I would think "fit", and they totally do!

Okay, goodness, that took a long time. I think I might follow a few too many blogs. But I can't unfollow any of them, they are all too great!

Thanks again, Anne Marie!

Valentines for Charity

Next month is Valentine's day and while some of us older folks are a bit jaded toward another Hallmark occassion, there are a lot of sick little kids at Ronald McDonald House Southern Alberta that would absolutely love to give and to get a Valentine. Since many of them are bed ridden they don't have an opportunity to make a card for mom or dad or siblings, and certainly any parent glued to a child's bedside doesn't want to take time to pick out a card at Walmart.

Normally I would do this as several different swaps over several different websites, but I waited too long so I'm asking for donations instead.

If you're willing to donate a Valentine card or two please email me at ruth(at)stampoffeh(dot)com for my address.

If anyone would like more information on adopting a Ronald McDonald House in your area (to coordinate cards and crafting supplies being donated) let me know, I'm happy to help get you started!!

Thank you!
Ruth

The Hamburger Cupcake

I've seen these hamburger cupcakes on various places around the web and I promised I'd make them for Koen's birthday. Some of you may recall Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes from this summer, which were a total hit. The hamburger cupcakes were easy in theory but I learned a few things that would have made it easier had I known them in advance.


For instance, you want really small cupcakes. Like, less than 1/3 of the cup small. (The package says to fill the cup with batter to 1/3, yeah, no). And you want really thin brownie, I ended up splitting my "paddies" in half!



This all makes more sense if I explain the hamburger cupcake. Bake cupcakes with yellow cake mix. Bake brownies and use a circle cookie cutter to make your burger paddies. Slice baked cupcakes in half horizontally to make your bun. Add yellow, green and red icing on top of your paddy for condiments. For an added touch you can sprinkle sesame seeds on the top (to make them stick moisten your finger and run it over the top of the cupcake). I opted to draw each child's initial on the top of the burger instead.


I also learned that it's actually best to make your "ketchup" kind of runny because kids think it rocks when the icing pours out the side of the burger.


I know they were a hit because every family member Koen spoke to after the party had the same conversation with him...


Family Member: Happy Birthday Koen, did you have a nice party?


Koen: Thank you. We had CUPCAKES, and it was a HAMburger! It was COOL! And there were bababalooons!!


So while they didn't turn out as "pretty" as the hamburger cupcakes I've seen around the web, they turned out just right for my 4 year old. Now to come to terms with being the mother of a 4 year old!!


Thanks for checking in!

Embossing, Day Two: Resist Embossing

Welcome back! Today I'm going to go over an embossing technique that uses heat emboss from the previous post.

To start this project you need the usual suspects of paper, ink, and stamps. Look for a stamp that has lots of surface to it, not something that is nothing but itty bitty lines. For the embossing portion you'll need "detail clear" embossing powder, versamark pad and your heat tool. You'll also need a brayer, or a sponge, or some other means of covering large areas with ink.

Start off with a light color paper, I picked White Daisy because I'm making a card with the Wings paper pack. Stamp your image a couple times (I picked the butterfly and the word "Soar" from this month's Stamp of the Month, "Find Your Style") and cover in your powder. Tap off the excess and apply heat from your heat tool. Take the time to shine a bright light (or just hold it up to the light) on your paper to look for "dull" spots, that'll be spots that the heat tool didn't quite melt all the powder.

Next apply your ink. I'm not adept at using a brayer so mine came out a bit uneven, I typically use a sponge or even run the ink pad over the paper (careful with this one though, if the ink pad is fairly "juicey" it could oversoak your paper!). Edit to add: Because the embossed image is glossy it doesn't "hold" the ink... this is the "resist" part of the resist emboss!

Now I've got white butterflies on Sweet Leaf green paper!

Hint: you can use patterned paper to end up with patterned butterflies on a darker paper (in that case you'd have to use ink dark enough to hide the pattern).

But wait, there's more!! For three easy payments of... no, wait that's not right.

Let your paper dry completely, I mean REALLY dry... and stamp your image again in some of the larger "blank" areas. Apply your powder (this is why it has to be dry, or your powder will stick where you don't want it to) and heat and now brayer or sponge a darker color! I used Juniper, again to coordinate with the paper pack I'm using.

So how cool is that? You now have two sets of your image... white and green.

I did a third layer using black ink for the final bit. Experiment with it. Use your lighter colors first. See how the first butterfly seems to be "on top"?

Tip: if you find that the ink is staying on your image (such as when you sponge) just rub it gently with a very slightly damp tissue or a nearly dry baby wipe. That will take the ink off your embossed image without damaging your paper.

I've done this sort of resist emboss technique before. In that case I stamped a word in a dark ink and then stamped over it with the embossed image and sponged another color over that... leaving the word visible like through a window. My friend Colleen showed us that one, loved it!

Here's one more example of resist. This is a 6x6 layout I made for a consultant swap. The dress form on the left is detail clear, I used white daisy pigment ink to give that smokey look around it before adding a flower. (Sorry the sentiment can't be seen, poor lighting where I was taking pictures!)

Remember that your pigment based inks (like black and white) will stick to your previous layers a bit more, you'll need to clean off the embossed image before the ink dries too much.

Thanks for checking in, I hope you enjoyed today's embossing technique. Please, if there's a particular embossing technique you'd like to see, comment! I certainly don't claim to know about ALL of them and I'd love to learn about new techniques!

Embossing, Day One: Heat Emboss Basics

There are tons of embossing techniques, I'm sure there are plenty I don't know about. There are a bunch of tools too, from the Cuttlebug to the "Embossing Heat Tool" (which is not what we call it in my scrapping group).

To help others make heads or tails of embossing powder versus embossing plates, I'm doing an embossing series! Expect to see at least one post a week with a new embossing style (some use the same technique with a twist).

First up is the basic heat emboss. This can be a lot of fun for first timers especially if you're using metalic embossing powder. For this technique you need a "heat tool" (seen in the far right of the first picture), embossing powder, paper, a stamp and versamark. (You can use regular ink, but versamark holds the powder better). It's better to use a stamp that has a large solid area.

Once you've picked out your tools, stamp your image in the versamark... it won't dry too quickly, but you'll still want to be quick adding the powder. I make sure to have an extra sheet of paper (if I don't have an embossing tray handy) that I can "pour" the excess powder onto. Tap the back of your image to dislodge extra powder (and to get rid of the bits that end up outside your image). Then turn on your heat tool... give it a moment to warm up and then apply the heat to the powder. Don't get too close or you'll burn the powder or paper!

For the record... a hair dryer does NOT work. You need lots of heat with very little airflow.

The heat "melts" the powder, it's more obvious with the metalic powders, keep your heat tool moving so you don't over do it.

This kind of embossing is great for making your own suedo embellishments. Stamp an image in one color, stamp it again on a scrap and emboss part of it, cut out the embossed part and popdot it down.

Here's an example of white embossing powder on colored cardstock, you can see how it goes from "what? that's WHITE?" to "oooh shiney white!"