Regionals: Operation Smile Auction - Holiday Recipes Mini Album

 

A while back, I had mentioned that I was asked to teach at Regionals, which I sadly had to decline due to my inability to speak in front of large groups of people.  I think it is mostly due to my shyness that I've struggled with all of my life.

 

Even though I declined, I was still asked if I wanted to participate in the silent Auction.

Close To My Heart is partnered with Operation Smile, which provides free surgeries to children to repair their smiles, and all the monies received from the silent auction goes directly to Operation Smile.  :)

 

This was something I could do, and I was honoured to be asked!

 

 

Here is my creation I donated to the Auction:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't ya love it?

 

♥  I sure do!  ♥

 

And the funny thing is that the gal who took it home lives in my home town.  ;)

 

 

Happy creating!  :)

 

 



Regionals: New Friendships (a few photos)

 

A bunch of us decided to get together for a little meet and greet at the hotel the night before Regionals started.

 

It was mostly so us first-timers would get a chance to meet some people, making it not so overwhelming the next day when you knew you had to walk into a room full of people you don't know, to search for somewhere welcoming to sit.

 

 

 

Forgive me, but I do not know everyone's names in this photo.

Yes, we all introduced ourselves, but it's a lot to take in all at once, and I've since forgotten some names.

I do know that I am sitting 2nd in on the left side, beside Brandy Lees in the blue.

 

 

 

(Left to Right: Karen Giacobbo, Me, Lorrinda Holman, Kimberly Deraadt, Hilary Polzer)

 

This photo is of the ladies who sat at the same table as me, minus sweet Monique, who unfortunately had to leave early.

 

 

 

(Hilary Polzer and Me)

 

If you have never had a chance to meet Hilary, she is one of the sweetest gals, seriously. 

Wish we had more time to hang out, Hilary!  :)

 

 

 

 

(Lorrinda Holman and Me)

 

Okay, so this girl... call me a dork, but I totally want her to be my CTMH BFF!

 

I couldn't believe how much we had in common, you know, one of those corny sounding "we had a connection" kind of things.

 

I have to say that was happy to see an available seat next to her that first morning. 

Thanks for being such a great table-mate!

 

 

You know, I always heard/read about the friendships that you make at these events... blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, whatever. 

But it's true.

 

I hope to make it to my first Convention next year.

 

 

 ~~~~~~~


I have one last Regionals project to share with you, and it's pretty special to me, so be sure to come back to check it out tomorrow!


Happy creating!  :)



 

Regionals: Scholastic Layout

Here's another layout we did at Regionals using the new Scholastic paper packet.

 

I love this layout, too, and I was happy that I was able to use the photos I brought with me on this layout.

(If you noticed yesterday's layout had no photos on it, it was because the pictures I brought with me totally did not work with the layout!)

 

I changed up the original title to work with my photos, and I ended up using the It's Your Day stamp set on the right page (inside the stamped circle frames from Perfect Fit - Frames) in place of the Trinity Alphabet stamp set that was used on the sample artwork.

 

 

And speaking of It's Your Day, you don't want to miss out on the It's Your Day stamp set (for just $5 with a $35 order).

It is only available until September 30th!

It is so versatile and trendy, I love it so much!

 

 

Happy creating!  :)

 

 

 



Regionals: Ray of Sunshine Clementine Layout

This is one of the layouts we got to create at Regionals using new products.

 

New products used: 

• Clementine paper packet
• Cottage Assortment
• Buttons, Bits and Bobs stamp set
• Houndstooth Alphabet

 

 

Love it!  ♥

 

 

Happy creating!  :)

 

 



Regionals: "Create something with a bag of scraps"...

 

 

So we were given an optional challenge in the evening of the first day of Regionals.

 

We were all given a bag of scraps from various new paper packets.  Each bag handed out to everyone had the exact same patterned papers in the exact same size of scraps to use.

 

The challenge was to create something using your bag of scraps. 

 

We were also allowed to use items to embellish from other projects we had done earlier, and use the stamps sets we either received or brought with us on the supply list.

 

I love me a good challenge.  And this is what I created with my bag-o-scraps...

 

 

I quickly took out all of the papers I didn't want to use and set them aside, leaving just the papers from the new Flirty paper packet, and then went to town building a single 12x12 page.

 

You can't see it in the photo, but the pink strip of patterned paper on the left side is fringed all the way from top to bottom.  The real reason why I decided to do this was because I had a piece of patterned paper that was 6" long, so I cut two strips off at about 1", and I thought the best way to hide where they would join in the middle was to just cut both strips into a fringe.  ;)

 

The pink photo mat came that size in the bag as a scrap piece, so I didn't even need to trim it.

 

My title was stamped using the Trinity Alphabet stamp set, and Chocolate and Goldrush inks.

 

 

Happy creating!  :)

 

 

Regionals: 5 Studio J Layouts

 

As part of Regionals, we were given an opportunity to create 5 free (digital) Studio J layouts beforehand, and Corporate had them printed for us and ready to pick up at Regionals.

 

Of course they gave us a few guidelines to follow:

 

The first two layouts are from the new Express Collections.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know we had this as a new option in Studio J.

 

And to my delight, I discovered that I love the layouts in the Express Collections!  Each one is fabulous, and I love that I just simply added photos, journaling and a couple of embellishments to my layouts.  Super fast, and they are gorgeous.

 

 

A little story about these yellow sunflowers; they started popping up willy-nilly all over the yard from the birds scattering the seeds we have out for them to eat.  I call that unintentional gardening!  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next two, we were to create layouts of our choosing using the regular kits and patterns.
 

 

 

 

 

And for the last layout, we were to follow some instructions which helped us learn some new techniques. 

 

For instance, on my own I never would have thought of to use brackets or the lesser than/greater than symbols to create some cool embellishments on my pages.  We were able to do this technique by typing the symbols into a text box, turning them, changing their colours, enlarging their size, and layering them.  Love learning something new.  :)

 

 

  

 

When you purchase a Studio J layout (for just $6.95), you also get a free JPG file with it, that you can re-print at any size of your choosing, and wherever you want to have it printed.

 

 There is also the option of just purchasing the JPG by itself for just $2.95 each.

 

Happy creating!  :)

Regionals: 4 Cards

 

Between the Business Classes, we also got to do some Creative Classes at Regionals.

 

These are the cards we made, and we were given enough supplies to create two of each...

 

 

 

 

 

Admittedly, I worked on these after I got back home.

 

Instead of working on them during class time, I chose to do some chitty-chatting with the gals sitting beside me.  ;)

 

 

Happy creating!  :)

 

 

Regionals Contest: 3D Item Featuring Chalkboard Products

 

Rushed for time before Regionals, a bit stumped on what to create, and too short for time to order anything, I ended up using a CTMH Recipe Box that I had on hand for my 3D project for the contest.

 

I was thankful that I had at least ordered the new Chalkboard Shapes and Chalk Marker from the new Idea Book!

 

 

Alas, I didn't win, but I did end up with a pretty darned cute box to put my Fabulous Cards  into... lol!

 

I used paper from the new Flirty paper packet, and if you look closely at the flowers and leaves I cut with the Artiste Cricut cartridge, you will notice that I literally painted (with a small paintbrush) some Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel onto each one.

 

 

Happy creating!  :)