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!