May is National Scrapbooking Month... CTMH You & Me Kit available May 1st & 50% off Consultant Kit!

May is a special month!  At least to me it is... it's the month we celebrate scrapbooking.  Awesome!

Close To My Heart is offering this wonderful You & Me scrapbooking kit, only available during the month of May.  I absolutely love the stamp set that is included with it.  You can see I already put the stamp set to use on my card below.

There are a few different ways to get the You & Me kit:

• Sign up as a Consultant with Close To My Heart and get the kit for free with your Consultant kit.  ***I also have to make mention that during May, the Consultant kit is available at 50% off.  That means you can join for just $70.  That's amazing in itself!
• When you purchase a minimum of $55 on any CTMH product, you can buy the You & Me kit at the discount price of $16.50.
• Or you can purchase the You & Me kit for $38.95.
• (all above prices do not include shipping or tax)

{You can click on any of the pictures to get a better look.}

  

What's included in the kit? 

• 1- D size "You & Me" Stamp Set ($25.50 value)
• 1 - 12" x 12" Colonial White Cardstock
• 6 - 12" x 12" B&T Duos (note that these are thick, cardstock weight B&Ts)
• 1 - 6" x 9" You & Me Irresistibles Chipboard Die Cut Sheet
• 1 yd. Chocolate Striped Ribbon
• 1 pkg. Opaques Mocha Adhesive Gems
• 1 - Full-Color Cutting and Instruction Guide

  

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As I previously mentioned, you can sign up as a Consultant with Close To My Heart in the month of May for 50% off the Consultant kit price.  It's just $70 to join, WOW!  Contact me and I'll tell you all about it!  :)

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Last chance for A Hope...

I created this very simple & quick 4x4 card yesterday using the A Hope stamp set.  I didn't add any embellishments, just left it as is because I didn't think it needed anything else.  ;)

The A Hope stamp set is only available for the month of April, so be sure to get it while you can.  CTMHs A-sized stamp sets retail for $8.95, but they are selling the A Hope set for just $5, with 100% of the proceeds to be donated to the American Red Cross for relief efforts in Japan.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Bliss B&T; Kraft, Chocolate, Tulip CS

Stamps:  A Hope, Heart To Heart, You and Me

Inks:  Chocolate, Tulip

Punch:  Scallop border (SU)

Thrill Ride Birthday

I was playing with one of my sketches and came up with this card.  I love the fun colours in the Zippidee paper pack!

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Zippidee B&T; Colonial White, Black CS

Stamps:  Thrill Ride, Polka Dot Alpha, Card Chatter Birthday

Inks:  Black, Cranberry, Desert Sand, Indian Corn Blue

Embellishments:  Red sparkle, Black button brads

Punch:  Scallop border (SU)

Other:  3D foam tape

You Are So Wonderful

I've been finding little snippets of time to play again.  {Tho I should really be doing other stuff!}

My card today was inspired by this one that Linda Aarhus created.

I really wanted to add some waxy flax to my button, only to discover that it's packed and over at the other house.  C'est la vie!  Oh well, this is what you get with limited supplies.  I think that it's still pretty.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Mayberry, Zippidee B&Ts; Tulip, Colonial White CS

Stamps:  Sophia - from the Sophia WOTG kit

Inks:  Black, Honey, Tulip

Embellishments:  Blush button, Black grosgrain (Walmart)

Other:  3D foam tape, Micro-tip scissors, ScorTape (ScorPal)

New card design for Style #2...

It seems this month has been a little busier than usual and I've been selling out of cards.  Here's another new design, this time for card style #2, which is available for purchase now.  When you buy one of my handmade cards, you can pick any one of my box templates as a bonus.  You can find all the details here.

This time I used a colour combination of Cranberry, Kraft, Lagoon, and some White Daisy.  I love the stamp set from the Fanfare WOTG kit with all its fun images.  And the Card Chatter Birthday stamp set has the best sentiments, seriously a must have for any card maker!  

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Cranberry, Kraft, Lagoon, White Daisy CS

Stamps:  Fanfare, Card Chatter Birthday

Inks:  Cranberry, Desert Sand, Lagoon, Black

Embellishments:  White Daisy bigger brad, Black gingham ribbon (Walmart)

Punch:  Scallop border (SU)

Other:  3D foam tape, Micro-tip scissors

Criss-Cross Card Box... Heather Martin style!

I'm not sure if you all remember my Criss-Cross Card Box tutorial from a while back or not, or perhaps you're new-ish to my blog, but fellow CTMH Consultant Heather Martin created this adorable set using my {free} tutorial.  {And with her permission, I'm posting her photos here.}  You can view Heather's Criss-Cross Card Box post here.

I love to see what people create with my tutes!

I just finished adding a tab page to my blog so you can easily find all of my free tutorials, and links within my posts to other people's free tutorials.  You can find these linked lists just below the Wizard's Hangout banner at the top of my blog page, called Free Templates & Links.

Enjoy your day, and happy creating!  :)

New card for Style #1...

I was able to find my packed paper crimper yesterday and bring it home so I could complete my cards for card style #1.  Yay!  These cards and others are available for sale now.  You can view the details here, where you get one of my box templates as a freebie with purchase of one of my handmade cards.

Inspiration for this card came from the very talented Lisa Stenz and her adorable scallop circle punched cupcake cards using the new CTMH scallop circle punch.  If you've never been to Lisa's blog, you need to take the time to look around.  You won't be disappointed!  ;)

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Miracle B&T, Creative Basics Wings B&T; Colonial White, Heavenly Blue, Kraft CS

Stamps:  Card Chatter Birthday, Argyle Backgrounds

Ink:  Chocolate

Embellishments:  Chocolate bigger brad, Colonial White Edge Anchor and Brad, Brown stitched grosgrain (Michaels)

Punches:  2" scallop circle, Scallop border (SU)

Other items:  Paper crimper (dollar store), 3D foam tape, 1/4" ScorTape (ScorPal)

New card for Style #4...

Please excuse my photo... my Ott lights are packed up right now and I can't seem to get the lighting right without them.  (Edited to add:  I've already changed the photo to a better one.)  We've been having crazy weather the last few days, with over a foot of wet, heavy snow and it's still falling.  Hoping it stops soon.  We really need to get more stuff moved over to the new house, but it's hard to get in there right now with so much snow.

But with all the snow, the bright side is that I've been able to find time to create some new cards for purchase.  You know, the ones that you get the card sketch/cutting instructions for the card you pick, and one of my box templates of your choice as a bonus with the purchase of a card.  I've been worried that I'll run out of cards to sell before I could get a chance to replenish them.  Disaster diverted!  At least for now...  ;) 

You're also getting a little sneak peek at a new stamp set that I used on this card, which will be available in May... I won't spill the beans on that yet, though.  ;)

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I have another card (for style #1) almost completed, but I need my paper crimper, which of course is over at the other house.  Hopefully today I'll be able to get it and complete them.  I'll post it as soon as I can.  :)

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Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Sweetheart B&T; White Daisy, Cotton Candy, Kraft CS

Stamp:  You and Me

Inks:  Desert Sand, Chocolate, Cotton Candy

Embellishments:  Chocolate flower button, Mocha Opaques, Pink Sparkles

Punch:  Scallop border (SU)

Other items:  3D foam tape, Micro-tip scissors

Time for some house pics...

I know I've been attempting to post some older projects, but thought I'd interupt that for a moment and share some current photos of the progress of our new home.

Kitchen

Mudroom door leading into the garage

Looking from the kitchen into the living room



Close-up of the mantle

Staircase is now completed

Entryway floor tiling has begun (and the master bathroom still needs to be tiled)



Vanity installed in upstairs bathroom

Cole's room (most of the doors, baseboards and trim have been installed now)

Bonus room:  Almost all of my scrapbooking supplies are sitting in that pile of boxes... sigh.  : (

I'm going through withdrawls... might just have to set up a table in all the construction dust.

Love this large solid-core door in my bonus room.  (It'll help keep the chatter-noise contained on this end of the house when I'm holding classes...)

I also need to do a trip to Edmonton to make a serious shopping visit to Ikea for some major storage solutions...  those 39" tall sidewalls are a little awkward to find shelving for.  Would love to just order them right now, but the shipping cost would be outrageous for all that I need to outfit this space!

Lee's been busy most evenings picking away at whatever he can.  There's so many things I love about this house.

I've finally reached the point of just wanting to be in there already.  I've been good until now... LOL 

It's just so close to being done.  Gotta have running water before we can move in though, right???

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Older, yet-to-be-posted projects...

I have a file on my laptop that holds photos of projects I haven't posted to my blog.  Why?  Not sure, really.  I guess life just gets in the way and they get put aside... until it's like a year or two later and here we are. 

Since all my stuff is packed with no end in sight of when I'll get to create new projects, I thought now is a great time to post the old and purge my file.  ;)

I won't post all of them at the same time, though.  It would take too long... lol.  And I have to leave for the day pretty soon.

{Please forgive me on my lack of supplies listed for these projects.  I may not recall the names of the products I've used and I have no way to look at them with them being in boxes sitting over at our new home.  If you would like to know what I used, please just ask and I'll do my best to remember.}

First up:  Bookmarks I made for my friends' kids for back-to-school in the fall of 2009

What I do remember:  I used mostly CTMH product on these.  The little mushroom is a stamp from Michaels $1.50 bins - I loved the little saying with it; "Fairies Live Here", super cute.  The pirate ship is from an SU set (I believe it's called Ahoy Matey, but I could be mixing the name up with an old CTMH pirate set.)

I'll post another old project another day...

Happy creating!  :)

On This Day stamp set inspriation... CTMH video

CTMH has some great little videos.   This one shows some inspiration using a new stamp set called On This Day.

Happy creating!  :)

Newest addition to my cards for sale...

I am updating my cards for sale, in which you get one of my templates of your choice for free with the purchase of a card.  This is the newest addition, card style #2. 

{I'm currently sold out of card style #1 and with all of my tools and supplies packed up and sitting over at our new house, it will be a while before I can create new ones to replace that style.
Edited to add that I'm now out of card style #4, too.}

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Sophia B&T; Chocolate, White Daisy, Smoothie CS

Stamp:  Tea Time

Inks:  Chocolate, Blush

Embellishments:  1" white grosgrain (Walmart), Blush button, Blush waxy flax

Punches/die:  Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), Scallop border punch (SU), Nestabilities Labels Two die (Spellbinders)

Other items:  3D foam tape, Sponge

My Winning Entry for the CTMH Make It From Your Heart Contest & My Entry for the Moxie Fab Contest

Now that Close To My Heart has finally announced the winners from the MIFYHC, I feel free to post my winning entry.

I created this beautiful card set over Christmas break and it was the only thing I had ready to submit before the contest deadline.  By the time my order of new product from the new Idea Book arrived, I had already started my 8 week long stint of painting over at our new home, so life was just too busy to create more projects to submit.  I was so pleasantly surprised that I won!  :)

Edited to add:  I've had some questions about the card box.  It's one of my tutorials that you can get for free with the purchase of one of my handmade cards.

You can check out the CTMH artwork and the other winning entries for the current Idea Book here.

My congrats to all the other winners, too.  Beautiful work!

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I'm also entering this set into the Moxie Fab Card Set Challenge.

Wish me luck!  :)

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Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH):

Internet down...

Just popping in to let those of you waiting for email from me that our internet provider is down for scheduled maintenance.  Sounds like it might be for most of the day.  I'll reply as soon as I can. :)

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Happy April fools day everyone!  It's time to announce the winner of my latest blog candy giveaway....

So congrats, Amy, you won!  Can you please email me to claim your prize?