CTMH March SOTM Blog Hop - Choose Happy

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  

We will be featuring the March SOTM, which is "Choose Happy", a set of 14 stamps.  

 If you have come here from Shalana Glass's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog:  http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/p/stamp-of-month-blog-hop-list.html.

This month we have 53 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

I love the CTMH cricut cartridges - all four of them.
I'm using them more frequently and love what I can do with each cartridge.  This card is a quickie.  I used Artist p 41.  It's cut at 4x4.  I used Hopscotch paper and Flaxen inked with cocoa. I stamped the image on a shape cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I forget the page number. The flower is made from 3 layers of random cut circles, spritzed with water, crinkled into "spit" wads, opened, and pinched into "petals"; after they dried, the edges were inked with Indian Corn Blue.  The bling is from the gems gold assortment.

Now "Hop" on over to Brenda Lapp's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available until March 31!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

The Everything ABC's Blog Hop - Letter E

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

For this hop we will be featuring the letter "E". This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment. Whatever the crafter has chosen as their "E" element will be featured in their post.

If you came from Marie Goetz - Marie's Paper Crafting and Such then you're on the right track!

For my letter "E" creation I used the retired Emporium paper, the "E" sized alphabet stamp set and our new embossing folders, elemental paper, embelishments including, elegant lace, heat embossed Eiffel Tower, plus envelopes with hidden journaling, show casing examples of various distressing.  This layout was an endeavor of love in which I attempted to expand my techniques while having high expectations of creating an eye-popping layout for my grand daughter's Easter-break French class trip to Paris last year. Since I'm essentially a card maker the results are equally extra-special and epic.  Of course I endorse the the CTMH stamp sets and used the extra-ordinary Eiffel Tower from the Amour stamp set (D1632). I hope you enjoy this hop, I enthusiastically encourage you to explore the entire hop making encouraging comments along the way. We actually read each and every comment and thank you for taking the time to enrich our experience. 

This layout actually has 12 photos with 8 more hidden under the flip flaps -4x4 and 3x4 sizes.  

The  end of January I attended a local retreat weekend crop retreat put on by the Firs' Conference Center of Bellingham, WA.  They do an amazing job of providing a relaxing, entertaining weekend.  They always have a theme and this year was a Weekend escape to Paris.  One night they put on a skit and had a photo op corner with the Eiffel Tower.  
Jennifer dressed as a French kiss.  It was a hoot!.  
So for letter "E" I created a  Studio J Layout of the Eiffel Tower, 
using the Emporium Paper pack.

Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is Janna Gray - The Creative Princess.

In case you get lost along the way…go to Scrappy Therapy  for a complete list of participants!

Making Messes

  
As a teacher I endorse this article I got from my friend Tresa Black.  As I learn the art of cardmaking and scrapbooking, I find that the more I do, my own creativity blooms. I love the approach to just dig in and get your hands inky.  I admit, I do get ideas from Pinterest and blog hops, though the best techniques have evolved, when I had a "mistake" and needed to dig deep and create a solution to "fix" the "mistake".   Over the years, I've always had the philosophy, "If I've made a mess, it must have resulted from having some fun, the bigger the mess = more fun.  Hmmmm, pottery looks messy - that might just be my next FUN adventure!

If you’re looking to improve your skills, do some research and learn from others, but don’t spend all your time on Pinterest and youtube… get your hands inky and don’t be afraid to make a mess!

I recently ran across this story, which sums up my beliefs perfectly….

A pottery teacher split her class into two halves.

To the first half, she said, “You will spend the semester studying pottery, planning, designing, and creating your perfect pot. At the end of the semester, there will be a competition to see whose pot is the best.”

To the other half she said, “You will spend your semester making lots of pots. Your grade will be based on the number of completed pots you finish. At the end of the semester, you’ll also have the opportunity to enter your best pot into a competition.”

The first half of the class threw themselves into their research, planning, and design. Then they set about creating their one, perfect pot for the competition.

The second half of the class immediately grabbed fistfulls of clay and started churning out pots. They made big ones, small ones, simple ones and intricate ones. Their muscles ached for weeks as they gained the strength needed to throw so many pots.

At the end of the class, both halves were invited to enter their most perfect pot into the competition. Once the votes were counted, all of the best pots came from the students that were tasked with quantity. The practice they gained made them significantly better potters than the planners on a quest for a single, perfect pot.

In life, the best way to learn a skill, is to make lots of pots.

February CTMH Special -Album Allure

Some albums are Ruby and others Lagoon; 

they’re all buy one get one half off

—a treat just for you!  Six choices.

During the month of February*, when you purchase one of Close To My Heart’s alluring coated canvas albums you will be eligible to receive a second album of your choice at half price. That is a savings of over $17 USD! These albums are available in a gorgeous variety of colors and patterns in both post-bound and D-ring styles—perfect to pair with traditional, Studio J^®, or pocket scrapbook layouts. This offer is only available while supplies last, so make certain to get your order in early to ensure you can choose the styles and colors you love. They’re going fast and are built to last; so don’t delay—place your order today!
Contact me for more details.

  
Lagoon  D-Ring                                    Ruby Floral D-Ring                    Black D-Ring
Lagoon  Post-Bound                             Ruby Floral Post-Bound             Black Post-Bound

I have purchased them and love the coated canvas that's easy to wipe clean just in case the album becomes soiled from the many hands enjoying the memories recorded inside.

Music to the Eyes Technique Blog Hop

Welcome to our Technique Blog Hop! 

This month there are 15 CTMH consultants highlighting the “Music to the Eyes” Technique found on page 34 of the Close to My Heart's Annual Inspirations Idea Book.  For the entire hop list go to Sheila's Stamping Stuff . 

Jazz up your pages with a journaling pen and your creative hand! This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique. 

If you are coming from Catherine Nowak's  Blog, you are on the right track! 

 I find using the pen intimidating.  I even shy away from journaling with a pen.  It just seems so permanent and unforgiving when it isn't all straight and even.  This was a stretch for me and I do like the results.  I especially like the doodling around the edge of the butterflies.  I attended the regional "Rediscover CTMH" last spring and we made the small album.  We had instructions to outline the edges of photo wells, the chevron strips and I liked the effect so I tried to create some of the same on this card. The clear sparkles didn't seem to coordinate with the sequins so I colored them with a Shinhan marker.  I have a sample below to show how they turn out with some added color.
I used Seaside paper X7192B, Artfully Sent Z3017 for the butterflies, Shinhan Marker Golden Yellow Z2452, Marvey Journaling Pen Z1979, Teal Shimmer Trim Z1918, Sparkles Clear Z1752, Sequins Z2012, Lagoon Hearts Washi Tape Z2004 and Sunset Chevron Washi Tape Z2005.

This was a fun challenge, I know I will be doing more doodling and journaling to embellish layouts and cards. I'm eager to see the other creative inspiration that will evolve from this technique hop.

Thanks for stopping by!  Please continue onto Tonya Whitehurst's Blog where you will find some additional artwork highlighting this technique!  Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my variation and happy hopping!  

The Everything ABC's Blog Hop - Letter "D"

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!  

For this hop we will be featuring the letter "D". This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment. Whatever the crafter haschosen as their "D" element will be featured in their post.

If you have just hopped onto my blog, please start at the beginning at Linda's blog ~ Scrappy Therapy 

If you came from Shelly Nemitz - Just One Pretty Piece - then you're on the right track!

This week we feature the letter "D". 

I love distressing and recently have been challenged to doodle and I immediately thought, "Yes!  I've seen some great cards created with the stamp set 
"Doodle Design" A1170  
and I've never used it,

 now is the time!"

So here is the card that has been inspired by the letter "D". 
distressed, dry embossed, and doodled.

Supplies used - Flaxen cardstock, Seaside paperpack,

 journaling pen, sparkles clear, and sanding block

Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is  Marie Goetz - Marie's Papercrafting and Such.  In case you get lost along the way…go to Scrappy Therapy  for a complete list of participants!

I hope you've enjoyed all the creative inspiration on this blog-hop. Be sure to leave a comment. Plan to join us for letter "E" in two weeks.

Hello February

Starting another first in my life. At school we just finished the first semester of 2014-2015 and are one week into the second semester which is the last of my career life.  Since I've never had a last semester before this must be a first - last semester. Weekends are a sweet taste of retirement.  Time to craft and play.

Today I'm updating my blog and finishing a couple projects.  I'm also recovering from a great fundraiser for our Gems girls' club last night. I admit, I'm exhausted. We have 19 girls and 4 counselors in our GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) club. Last night with lots of help from my counselors, we had a baked potato dinner with all the toppings including three big pots of chili. We served about 80 people.  For dessert we had brownies with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. The yummiest!  After dinner some folks went home and over 50 staying to watch or play Bunko.  The evening was so much fun, we're going to plan a follow-up bunko night in a couple months - Just desserts.

Baked potato and chili. We had ALL the toppings. This was lunch today and I had given away the left -over broccoli or I would also have had that, too. The easiest-meal-ever for a crowd.