Halloween Class Treats

Okay, so admittedly I was running out of time and needed an even faster class treat for Cole to hand out to his schoolmates.  I saw some treat bags made by fellow Consultant Julie Carriere and just had to CASE them.  So I can't take any credit for these, it's all Julie's idea.  ;)

I love the eyeballs created with punches!  Super cute.  Thanks for the inspiration, Julie!

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper:  White Daisy, Black, Clover Meadow (retired), Orange (retired), Hydrangea (retired)
Stamps:  Witch's Brew (retired), Halloween Backgrounds (SU-retired)
Ink:  Black
Punches:  1 1/4" circle, 3/4" circle (EK), 1/2" circle (SU), Small oval (SU)
Other items:  Uniball White gel pen (SU), Stapler (other), Spider Web treat bags (WalMart) 

Cool view...

While I'm waiting for Photobucket to slowly do it's thing this morning so I can share something, I thought I may as well share these pictures with you that I took over the past couple of days.  It's been pretty cool (temp. wise) around here - around zero Celcius.  Cool, but not cold.  Yesterday was so foggy ALL day.  The sun is actually shining today.

I took these pics from our new home a couple of days ago.  You can see a glimpse of the Hardi Plank siding going up on our house.

This picture I took yesterday morning from the driveway of the home we live in now, before the ice fog settled in for the day.

I'll be back shortly with a crafty share...  :)

Blessings Pumpkin Card... H2H Challenge

This week over at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog, the challenge is to create something either for Halloween or you have to use pumpkins as your theme.  And of course you have to use mostly CTMH products.

The background paper peeking out from behind my main pumpkin image is random stamped using one of my fave sets called Many Thanks.  It's a set full of leaves and acorns.  Love it.  I also added polka dots to help fill in the white space with Argyle Backgrounds.

I stamped the pumpkin image onto polka dotted B&T, trimmed it out with my scissors and glued it onto a 2 1/2" square piece of Colonial White CS.  I used my blending pen to color in the pumpkin stem and to add some shading onto the pumpkin.

The satiny ribbon I used is retired.  It has words printed on it and I centered the word Blessings on my card.  It's hard to see the words clearly in the picture as it was hard to photograph the shiny material.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Olivia B&T; Chocolate, Colonial White, Sunset, Garden Green CS

Stamps:  October Word Puzzle (retired), Many Thanks, Argyle Backgrounds

Inks:  Olive, Sunset, Chocolate, Desert Sand

Embellishments:  Chocolate Brads, Natural Hemp, Ribbon from Heartfelt Collections (retired), Autumn Leaves (retired)

Punch:  Circles Large Edger (EK)

Other items:  3D foam tape, Paper piercer, Glue dot, Blending pen, 1/4" ScorTape, Micro-tip scissors

New ART & SOUL Webisode... Autumn Projects To Fall For

I thought I should start to share with you the links for the fabulous Art & Soul webisodes from Close To My Heart.  There's a new one released every month and this is the one for October. 

You can view past webisodes there, too.

Just click on the Art & Soul logo above and hopefully if I did it right, it will take you to the video.

Sky 3x3 Thank You Card Set and Pizza Box

A huge shout out to Kim Burmeister (former CTMH Consultant, now an SU Demo) for inspiring this 3x3 card set and pizza box!  She inspired me by her gorgeous black and white set you can view HERE.

I've been wanting to make some 3x3 thank you's for awhile and love how these turned out.  Simple, yet classic.  Awesome.

You can watch Kim's video on her Ustream channel to see how she created it.  Although I tried to watch it today and I couldn't find it.  Hopefully it will be back up soon.

But in the meantime, if you are looking for the pizza box instructions, you can find them on my Boo - Halloween Pizza Boxed Set post from last year HERE.

For the box band, I cut a piece of White Daisy CS at 1 1/4" x 10" and scored it at 3 1/2", 4 5/8", 8 1/8", and 9 1/4".

For the Magnifique patterned B&T, I trimmed it to 1 3/4" x 3" and the Sky CS trim I cut at 3/4" x 3" and then used a scallop edge punch.  The ribbon length was 10" for each card, as I wrapped it around the inside and tied the ends at the front.  I believe the ribbon length to wrap around the box was also 10".  I also used a white gel pen to make the dots in the flower centers of the patterned paper stand out more. 

Hope I've passed on some inspiration to you!

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Magnifique B&T; Sky, Chocolate, White Daisy CS

Stamps:  Unity, Thank You

Inks:  Sky, Chocolate

Ribbon:  Chocolate grosgrain

Punches:  Real Estate Sign (EK Success), Wide Oval (SU), Scallop edge (SU)

Other:  3D foam tape, Uniball White gel pen (SU), 1/4" ScorTape

Wildlife artwork, anyone?

The love of a piece of art is all very personal to each individual.  We all have differing tastes and styles.  Lee has been looking for a piece of art to hang on his wall at work for quite a while now, and he finally found one, actually two pieces he liked and purchased.  The second one is now hanging in our home and I can't wait to see it up on the wall in our new home.  The artist just happens to be a next-door neighbour to Lee's sister who lives in Clairmont, AB.  His name is Des McCaffrey and you can check out his BLOG to see his work. 

Side note:  You should see his home.  Log house.  Beautiful.  There's photos on his blog if you want to see it.  I got to tour around it looking for ideas and inspiration for our new home on the lake.  ;)

This is the one piece Lee has hung up in his office at work, called Spirit of the Kakwa (named after the Kakwa falls approx. 150 km southwest of Grande Prairie, AB).  I love the eagle flying.  The movement draws me in.  And it's perfect in his office.  He recently had bought a small piece of art of a close-up of an eagle's head, so this works perfectly with it.

And this one below, I just love.  It's called Northern Frontier.  He has another piece that we want to get, too, that goes with it, called Northern Tranquility.  And a there's even a third piece that Des is currently working on in his studio with a wolf pack that seems to go with the series.  Can't wait to see it when it's completed! 

I dont' know why, but I think I have a thing for wolves.  I gave Lee a pencil drawing from a local artist years ago of a wolf.  I was happy that Lee and I have the same tastes.  The ones I picked as my faves ended up being the same ones he wanted.  That must be why we're together, huh?  lol

Anyways, just wanted to share a little.  :)

Christmas In The Heart... a quick Christmas card and H2H Challenge

Don't you love quick?  I do!  This card took no time at all... okay, a little time.  But seriously not much.  Honest.  ;)

I was completely inspired by this flower card on Brandi Wiggins-Cote's blog. 

How'd I make it?  Here's my long-winded explanation... might look/sound like lots of work, but it's quick, just takes a lot of typing for each step...  lol

• My card front is Sky CS cut to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  The white CS is 4" x 5 1/4". 
• I used my circle Coluzzle cutting template to cut a 3" circle out of a scrap piece of CS; set the circle aside and used just the mask template I created. 
• Then while holding the mask in position over the white CS where I wanted my image to be in the lower left corner, I stamped the deer image.  I inked the stamp first in VersaMark ink, then directly into my Chocolate ink, then stamped the image centering it in the hole of my mask. 
• I then heat embossed the image with Clear Detail embossing powder. 
• My next step was to sponge Sky ink onto the open circle area of my mask, directly over the reindeer image until I had nice, even coverage.  (You can wipe off any excess ink you may have from your stamped image because it is embossed.  It also seals in the main image's colour so you don't alter the colour by sponging another colour over top of it.) 
• After that, I inked up the sentiment in VersaMark and Chocolate ink, stamped it and then clear embossed it, too. 
• I then stamped the snowflakes in the upper right corner in Sky ink by inking them up, stamping them once onto scrap paper and then onto my card.  That kept the ink light enough to better match the blue of my sponged circle. 
• Lastly, I added a bitty red sparkle to the reindeer's nose, and two clear sparkles to the center of each of the snowflakes. 
• Then I just glued the white CS onto the Sky CS, centering it, and adhered my card front onto a white CS base.

This week over at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog, the challenge is embossing, so this is my entry for over there...  Play along.  I'd love to see what you create!

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used all CTMH:

Paper:  Sky, White Daisy CS

Stamps:  Peace On Earth, I Believe

Inks:  VersaMark, Sky, Chocolate

Embellishments:  Red and Clear sparkles

Other items:  Clear Detail embossing powder, Sponge, Circle Coluzzle (retired), Craft Heater

CTMH Spotlight Blog Hop - October

Welcome to the CTMH Spotlight Blog Hop for October!

This month we are highlighting Christmas project ideas.

You should have arrived from Melinda's blog.

But this is a circular hop, so it doesn't matter where you start along the hop.  ;)

For my Christmas project I decided to create a card box, using my A2 card box template, with our new Christmas paper called Mistletoe and mixing it with the Creative Basics Mistletoe Collection. 

I created a decoration to add to the front of my card box by layering some different Dimensional Elements, and using some natural hemp for the string/bow.  I then glued them onto a circular piece of black cardstock.

I also made a card to go inside the box.  Now I just need to make about 5-7 more of them to fill it.... lol

I hope you enjoyed your short visit, and be sure to continue along on the hop by heading over to the next blog to check out Wendy's fab ornaments. 

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper:  Mistletoe and CB Mistletoe Collection; Colonial White, Cranberry, Black CS
Stamps:  A Twinkle, Tag The Occasion
Inks:  Cranberry, New England Ivy, Black
Embellishments:  Black brads and bigger brads, Clear sparkle, Black stitched grosgrain, Natural hemp, DE Stars and DE On Target, Stardust Glitter Glitz glue
Other items:  Liquid glass, Prisma Glitter, Corner rounder, Paper piercer, Micro-tip scissors, Hole punch (Fiskars), Circle Coluzzle (retired), Vicki's A2 Card Box Template

Wait just a minute... I had an idea! (more Halloween Class Treats)

Okay, so I just had to use the eyeball gumballs as eyeballs!  I simply turned one of the card bases I was making and turned it into Frankie's face, using a few different punches from my previous post.

What do you think?  I like them both, but I think I'll wait until Cole gets home from school and ask him which one he wants to use.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper:  Black, Clover Meadow, Grey Wool CS
Punches:  1/2" circle (EK), Grass edge (Martha Stewart), Ornament (SU), 2 step Bird (SU)
Other items:  Black Journal pen, Uniball White Gel pen (SU), Gumballs (Life Brand - Shopper's Drug Mart), ScorTape (ScorPal)

Boo Class Treats

While Cole was at his guitar lesson last night, I spent my 1/2 hour browsing the Halloween aisles at the nearby Shopper's Drug Mart and came across a bag of eyeball gumballs.  (110 gumballs for $6.99)  I thought to myself that I could make something cute and quick with these for Cole to give to his classmates for Halloween.

This morning I made this as a flat, postcard style card, where Cole can easily write who they are from in a white gel pen on the backside before we attach the eyeballs on all of them.

I used my Cricut (George & Basic Shapes) to cut the 'B', a Martha Stewart punch for the bats with a white gel pen to add dots for their eyes, the Drippy Goo Martha Stewart edge punch, and a sentiment stamp.  To attach the gumballs, I used pieces of ScorTape.  The thing I like about ScorTape is that you can tear off the length of tape you need with your fingers. 

 The card base is: 

• Black CS 3 1/2" x 5"
• Clover Meadow CS 3 1/4" x 4 3/4"
• Hydrangea CS 1" x 5" (cut to size first, then edge punched) 

Easy, peasy... just the way I like it.  Besides, let's face it, the kids will just rip the eyeballs off and toss the cards anyways.  LOL

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  White Daisy, Black, Clover Meadow, Hydrangea CS

Stamp:  Witch's Brew (retired)

Ink:  Black

Punches:  Drippy Goo edge (Martha Stewart), Bat (Martha Stewart), 1/2" circle (SU)

Other items:  Cricut - George & Basic Shapes (Provo Craft), Uniball White Gel pen (SU), ScorTape (ScorPal), Eyeball Gumballs (Life Brand - Shopper's Drug Mart)

Happy Thanksgiving! (and some house photos, too)

I just want to wish all my fellow Canadian's a
Happy Thanksgiving today!

And I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some photos of our home.  These I took a couple of weeks ago now.  The insides are being worked on by the electrician, so not too much for changes going on lately to report.  The plumber should be starting this week, I believe, and the siding guys in a week or two.

Since these pics were taken, the windows have all been installed, the roofing completed, and all the interior walls/closets, ect. have been framed.  Oh, and I now have stairs from the garage that go right up to the bonus room, which is my scrapbooking room!  Love it!

That's me in the media room looking around, probably hiding from the camera.

In the living room area where you can see the little ladder up on some scaffolding:  that's where the wood-burning fireplace will eventually be in that corner against the wall.  It will be built in with a ton of rockwork surrounding it from floor to ceiling.  Think rustic cabin, with a big chunky wood mantle and a nice sized hearth to sit upon and that's what I'm envisioning when it's completed.

Hope you all are enjoying your long weekend!

:)

Christmas Coffee Cup Pocket Card

Isn't this the cutest to-go cup? 

You can purchase the template for this card from Ilina Crouse on her blog

 HERE.

(It also includes a cute cupcake card template.)

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Mistletoe B&T; Chocolate, White Daisy CS

Stamps:  Tag The Occasion, Adorn-able, Festive Thoughts

Inks:  Chocolate, Cranberry, Olive

Embellishments:  Red Sparkle, 1 1/4" circle punch, Snowflake punch (Martha Stewart)

Other items:  Grey Chalk, 3D foam tape, 1/8" ScorTape, Sponge

Royal Birth-day card

Well, I had fun while away at a local scrapbooking retreat this past 3 day weekend (Friday - Sunday).  Tired and still trying to recouperate, but so worth it.  I'm hoping to get some of my layouts finished (with photos, because I didn't take any pictures with me, yikes --- what was I thinking???) and then I will share with you as I get them completed.

Now on to my card.  This week over at the Heart2Heart Challenge blog, the challenge is to create something with a birthday theme.  I made this very simple, yet elegant birthday card (which could very easily be turned into a wedding card, too).  I'm always drawn to black and white with a splash of colour.  It's pleasing to my eye.

I random stamped the damask pattern onto White Daisy cardstock with black ink and the Damask Tiles stamp set.  I thought it would match well with the pattern on the cake stamp from the Royal Birth set.  And I used my blending pen to paint the Lagoon ink onto the candle.

Simple, quick, easy... just my style lately!  Love it.  :)

Why not play along with the challenge this week?  Nichole Lewno is offering a great prize!

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper:  Black, White Daisy, Lagoon CS
Stamps:  Royal Birth, Damask Tiles
Inks:  Black, Lagoon
Punch:  Scallop edge (SU)
Embellishments:  Black Opaques adhesive pearls
Other items:  3D foam tape, Blending pen

Make It From Your Heart Contest - my other winning entry

I love this layout!  I was so happy that it won!  It's my fave layout design from our new Magic book.  This layout design is called Backstage.  I changed it up a little to add a hidden journaling tag behind the middle picture on the right page.  I still have to journal on it, though.  ;)

For the big circle, I just used a plate and cut around it with my craft knife.  And for the scallop edge on the Pear cardstock, I used a template from 'One Way Mirror', also found in the new Magic book.  I just happened to have the scallop template on hand from creating that layout design once before (done with Tinkerin' B&Ts), and it was just sitting here ready for me to use.

Well, that's it for my winning entries.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to create entries for our next contest, which coincides with our Spring 2011 Idea Book.  We will be moving into our new home around that time, so I may not get to create.  But there's always next time, right?

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH):
Paper:  Hooligans B&Ts; Black, White Daisy, Pear CS
Dimensional Elements:  Solos A, C, K, O, R, S, T, Stars, On Target, Borders
Embellishments:  Sunset mini-medley accents, Pear mini-medley accents, Natural Assortment Embroidery Floss, Nature's Ambiance Rub-Ons
Other items:   Magic - Backstage, 1 1/4" circle punch, Micro-tip scissors, 3D foam tape, Craft knife

Make It From Your Heart Contest - one of my winning entries

I can finally share with you my winning entries from the CTMH Make It From Your Heart contest. 

Here's one of them.  I have a layout to share too, but I will save it for tomorrow.  ;)

For this card, I used Hooligans B&T and mixed it with two of our new colours; Pear and Lagoon.  And I used a stamp set you've likely seen a lot on my blog -- A Posy.  One of my fave sets, for sure.  Oh, and for the sentiment I used So Sweet.

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see my winning layout!  It ROCKS!  lol

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH):

Paper:  Hooligans B&T; Black, White Daisy, Lagoon, Pear CS

Stamps:  A Posy, So Sweet

Inks:  Lagoon, Gypsy, Black, Pear

Embellishments:  Lagoon stitched grosgrain, Lagoon buttons, Black waxy flax

Tools:  Corner rounder, Micro-tip scissors, Paper piercer

Other items:  3D foam tape

Zippidee Birthday with Candlelight

Here's another card I made using one of my sketches.  Zippidee B&T papers are perfect for birthday cards, don't ya think?

I used my paper crimper on the Cranberry cardstock strip, though it's hard to see in my photo.

I'm off to a scrapbooking retreat weekend today and won't be back until late Sunday. 

Have a great weekend!

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Papers:  Zippidee B&Ts; Colonial White, Black, Cranberry CS

Stamps:  Candlelight, Party Pennants

Inks:  Black, Honey

Embellishment:  Black brads

Other items:  Paper crimper (Fiskars), Paper piercer, Micro-tip scissors, 3D foam tape