Simply Creating

CTMH: March SOTM Blog Hop

2012-02-29T21:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another Stamp-Of-The-Month Blog Hop! This month we have over 50 CTMH consultants participating. If you've come from Traci's blog, you're on the right track. We're creating with the fabulous set called, Potential. Here's what it looks like:

The inspiration for my card came from this photo I found on Pinterest:

It came from a blog called Simply Stamped.

Here's my card:

And I decided to decorate the inside as well.

I made the base out of Kraft cardstock. All the patterned paper is from the Pemberly Level 2 paper pack. The flowers were cut with the Cricut and the stamped images come only from this month's set. I discovered that the Tapestry Velvet Rub-Ons match these stamps exactly! There are more images in the rub-ons, but all the stamp ones are there. How fun! I used the Dark Chocolate rub-ons for the flourishes under the flowers. The brads are from the Copper Designer Brads set. Initially I had stamped the sentiment on the front with Chocolate, but I didn't really like it, so I over-stamped with Desert Sand and am now happy with the result. The edges are all sponged with Desert Sand and the inside image is stamped in the same colour. I hand-stitched around the outside with embroidery floss, using CTMH's fabulous ruler to get perfect spacing, and then tied some Colour-Ready Seam binding Ribbon around before attaching it to the base. I think this is my new favourite ribbon!

Now you're ready to move on to the next blog and see what wonderful things Gina has created for you.

Happy Creating!

Guatemala: Wrap Up

2012-02-28T14:56:00.003-05:00

Things have been pretty busy and it was hard to get posts done the last couple of days in Guatemala. I apologize for not getting something up until today. Yesterday I was so tired, I did absolutely nothing.

I am extremely grateful for all of you who have been keeping our team in your prayers. We had an amazing last couple of days, despite having some sick team members. On Friday we saw 832 in medical and 145 in dental and on Saturday, we smashed our record with 954 patients seeing a doctor and getting meds, and 155 people getting dental work done! This was with a number of team members under the weather and some even needing to take breaks in the bus.

Thursday was such a neat day. We were in Parramos, where another Canadian organization called Loving Arms, is working. It was further out of the city and we saw a lot more traditional dress. Here are a few photos from this site.

The view out our pharmacy door, a play area, and on the other side of the fence, a playground!

This little cutie gave me big smiles after my camera went away and

when I saw him later in the day we played peek-a-boo.

Chris counselling with a grandma and her granddaughter. She had lots of questions.

Friday we were back in the same slum as on Monday, except we were on the other side. The area is split into two and no one crosses over. The church we connected with on Monday, with Pastor Gorge (pronounced Hor-hay), hadn't been successful getting into this side of the slum. Our clinic was a huge stepping stone for them. It was also a more dangerous area at night. We were safe in the school, but were warned not to venture too far away. Again, it struck me that these beautiful people live with such fear and hardship. It really doesn't seem fair that as I write this from the comfort of my home here in Canada, that the faces we saw will shut their eyes tight and pray that the bullets won't fly tonight. I am also grateful that we were able to give them vitamins, parasite meds, blood pressure and diabetic medications along with so much more, even melatonin for sleep. At least we could address that. Pastor Gorge said that they only know "gringos" who come to do business with the drug lords and the fact that we would be there just for them, serving them, was such a huge step forward. I am grateful also that our clinic will help his church to reach out the people of this slum. That will have much longer lasting effects than the medications we handed out! Here are some photos from this area:

The view from the second floor of the school.

Even when you're poor, you still want your home to look nice.

Chris and I took this photo on the roof of our hotel on Saturday morning. Guatemala City in the background. Clouds were low so they covered the tops of the volcanoes.

If you would like to see more and get more of an understanding of what happens on our trips, as well as see some incredibly photographs, you have to go see what Tim has written and posted on the Speroway blog.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers as we served in Guatemala last week. We felt them each day and know it was because of them that we were able to see close to 5000 patients. Love you all!

Guatemala: Days Two and Three in Photos

2012-02-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos from the past two days.

The view from our Pharmacy room on Day 2.

This is how lots of people here keep out unwanted guests, broken glass.

Houses perched on the edge of a cliff, a very normal sight.

This was the sight that greeted us on Day 3. Hundreds of people already waiting for us.

A little cutie, all too eager to smile for me.

How some of our patients got home. They crammed as many people as possible in that truck,

even at least one more after I took the photo.

Today was fabulous, just resting and relaxing and having fun together. Tomorrow we head out for another clinic, and now it's time for me to go to sleep!

If you want more great stories and amazing photos, check out the Speroway blog that Tim is writing.

Until next time.

Guatemala: Days Two and Three

2012-02-22T22:58:00.001-05:00

Wow, what an amazing two days we've had! I was so tired when we got back after dinner, I went right to bed almost. No time for posting. Now, since we'll be having a day off tomorrow, I have some time to write again.

Yesterday we went into another slum area. Our big bus wouldn't fit down all the streets to get to the school, so we had to carry almost everything down a very steep hill. The entire community was built right into the side of a hill, it seemed. Even the school. Street level was the top, and we had to just keep going down steps to get to other rooms. If I have time to post photos, I'll show you the view outside the windows in our pharmacy space. If you've been following me on my facebook profile, you've already seen it. This was another area run by drug pushers and gangs. Chris even walked up to the truck and discovered some people being arrested. That was a little exciting. There is a very good reason that we have police with big guns along with us each day. Rest assured that we are never in any real danger while we do these clinics. The communities we visit are so happy to have us come, they would do anything for us and we don't feel any fear. But, we do need to get out of there before dark. There was something really neat in this community. A group from Quebec had started a way for the gangs to negotiate. There is a special room, just for that purpose and as a result the crime has gone way down here. Awesome! We saw over 700 people yesterday.

It was a successful day, and I spent a lot of it on my feet. By the end of the day, my feet and legs were incredibly sore and I mentioned it to one of the medics. She diagnosed me with shin splints. Yes, the kind of thing athletes sometimes get. It's very painful and so, I've had to adjust what I do. I'm staying drugged up on Ibuprofen, and my legs were wrapped in tensors all day. It was very hot today and the tensors made me even hotter. As I type this, I'm sitting on our bed, with ice on my shins. Tomorrow is a day off, so I'll be sitting with my legs up and will hopefully be feeling much better for Friday's clinic.

Today we saw over 800 patients again. It was very busy and I spent a lot of the day sitting and bagging up drugs so those filling prescriptions could do so easier and quicker. We had something happen that we didn't expect. Someone started copying registration sheets and selling them! We had such a crowd waiting for us when we arrived and once they figured out we weren't going to be able to see everyone, they took matters into their own hands. It's always hard when we have to deal with things like that, and then turn people away. We were an hour and a half drive away from the hotel, so we couldn't stay to treat everyone. I firmly believe that we saw the people we were supposed to. There were so many sweet faces today, and they were full of smiles, especially the kids. Such a pleasure to serve them.

It's getting late and I really need to get to sleep, so I will try to post some photos tomorrow, either in the morning or after dinner.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I would love to hear your comments and thoughts, so please post.

Until next time.

Guatemala: Day One

2012-02-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

We've finished our first clinic and boy, does it feel good! 829 people saw a medic and received vitamins, parasite meds and the medicines they needed. 115 people had dental work done, extractions, root canals, restorations, and cleanings.
Our team in the pharmacy is now a well-oiled machine, as one new person put it. A lot of us have done a number of these clinics so once we get back into the groove, it's old hat.
There were some stories of people who really needed our help today. A woman whose son was shot by her son-in-law, who escaped, needed not just medicine but prayer as well. I just heard tonight at supper about a 6-year-old girl who had genital warts, in her mouth. I should explain that we visited a slum in Guatemala City. The gangs and narcs run the streets at night. There are homeless kids who have been snatched up by these guys and now have no hope for any kind of positive future. 12-year-olds are turning tricks on the street. It breaks my heart that some of those sweet smiles I saw today will be broken tonight as I sit typing this. It doesn't seem fair that I and my family are so blessed while others have to deal with respiratory problems just because the houses they live in have no doors so they breathe in dust from the street all day and night. It doesn't seem fair that while my family has a safe community to live in, there are others who can't sleep because they hear gun shots all night. It doesn't seem fair that we need to come down here to do these trips because there is so much need. I hope and pray that my fleeting smiles were enough to show Jesus' light to those people. Do they know we care about them? Love them? Hope that their lives can be somewhat better by what we did for them? I'm sure they do.

Sorry about going on like that, but it's my heart on my sleeve. Maybe you'll understand a little of why we keep doing this over and over.

Here are some photos I took today.

Our pharmacy area today was VERY small, but we made it work.

And some of those precious faces:

As I mentioned last night, if you'd like to get updates quicker, I've been posting photos on my Facebook profile. I'd love to have you join me there. For some reason I can't get Facebook to work right now, but if you can search for me, Krista Posthumus Ritskes. You won't be able to see anything unless you are my friend. When you send me a friend request, please mention that you're coming from my blog.

Until next time!

Guatemala: We're Here & Raring to Go!

2012-02-19T23:37:00.000-05:00

We touched down in Guatemala yesterday, after having our flight delayed for de-icing. Our connecting flight in El Salvador waited for us and all our bags made it on board, too.
We have the largest team we've ever travelled with, 41 Canadians and with our Guatemalan friends joining us we're up to almost 50 people! That doesn't include the translators who will join us tomorrow.
Today, we did an amazing job getting things prepped. The dental team made sure their equipment was working. The medical team got their supplies together and then helped where they were needed. The distribution team had lots of help sorting through boxes and boxes of clothing and other items. Our pharmacy team bagged vitamins and other meds. We did so well that every last vitamin has been put in a bag of 30. Usually we have to do more of them during the week. We even prepped our parasitic medication, albendazole. How many children's chewable vitamins? 54,000, all bagged in just 4 hours!
Now, after spending the rest of the day in Antigua, and getting to know each other better, we are ready for a good night sleep. We hit the ground running tomorrow morning with our first clinic site.
I'll try my best to post some photos tomorrow. But if you'd like see some sooner, you can send me a friend request on Facebook. I've been posting on my profile page quite regularly. Just tell me you were on my blog. Here's a link to my profile. I hope it works. http://facebook.com/krista.posthumusritskes?refid=7&pos=1. I'm doing this on my phone, so we'll see how it works. Until next time!

Guatemala: Almost on our Way

2012-02-17T10:04:00.000-05:00

We touched down in Guatemala yesterday, after having our flight delayed for de-icing. Our connecting flight in El Salvador waited for us and all our bags made it on board, too. We have the largest team we've ever travelled with, 41 Canadians and with our Guatemalan friends joining us we're up to almost 50 people! That doesn't include the translators who will join us tomorrow. Today, we did an amazing job getting things prepped. The dental team made sure their equipment was working. The medical team got their supplies together and then helped where they were needed. The distribution team had lots of help sorting through boxes and boxes of clothing and other items. Our pharmacy team bagged vitamins and other meds. Wedding so well that every last vitamin has been put in a bag of 30. Usually we have to do more of them during the week. We even prepped our parasitic medication, albendazole. How many children's chewable vitamins? 54,000, all bagged in just 4 hours!Now, after spending the rest of the day in Antigua, and getting to know each other better, we are ready for a good night sleep. We hit the ground running tomorrow morning with our first clinic site. I'll try my best to post some photos tomorrow. But if you'd like see some sooner, you can send me a friend request on Facebook. I've been posting on my profile page quite regularly. Just tell me you were on my blog. Here's a link to my profile. I hope it works. http://facebook.com/krista.posthumusritskes?refid=7&pos=1. I'm doing this on my phone, so we'll see how it works. Until next time!

CTMH: Guest Book

2012-02-15T11:14:00.002-05:00

We are busy getting ready to head to Guatemala on Saturday, but I really wanted to put up a post about artwork before my focus changes to our trip.
We've had some issues with our photos and photo storage and so I've been going through some old photos and sort of streamlining how they are organized. I know, not something I really need to be doing right now, but sometimes I just need a break from all that's spinning around in my head!
Anyway, I came across these photos of Close To My Heart's 3-ring binder. I made this to celebrate my dad's 66th birthday. We had a big party for him. Why on his 66th? Well, I'm sheepishly hanging my head right now, we never got around to planning a party for his 65th. Better late than never, right?

Here is the front. I used images from a couple of stamp sets, the majority from the June 2010 Stamp-of-the-Month, Wonderful Friend. The sentiment is from a set called A Little Everything, I think. The colours of inks and papers are based on the Back Country paper pack. Most of this is cardstock, but you can see one strip of patterned paper on the front.
Below are photos of the inside, where I stamped more images from the Wonderful Friend stamp set and used a line stamp from Comments. People wrote messages to my dad on all these pages.

And of course I had to decorate the spine and back as well. All of that is Olive cardstock stamped with Olive ink. I also used Outdoor Denim cardstock and buttons with hemp, Cocoa cardstock and Barn Red cardstock. The stamping on the front is done with Cocoa ink and some Outdoor Denim in second generation. These four colours are used for the stamping inside as well, all in second generation, except the lines. I love how it turned out. My dad did, too.
Most of these items are now retired, but I hope this still inspires you in some way.

Until I post again from the Country of Perpetual Spring,
Happy Creating!

New Email Subscription

2012-02-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post today, before I head out to pick up my kids from school. It came to my attention (Thanks, Jacque!) that my email subscription wasn't sending out my posts. I'm not sure why that was, so I just set up a new one. If you'd like to get my posts delivered directly to your inbox, just pop your email address into the box on the right.

We're just 10 days away from heading to Guatemala! I do plan to post one more time before we leave and while we're in Guatemala. Hopefully the internet will be a bit more reliable than it was last time we were there. We're staying at the same hotel, so fingers crossed!

CTMH: February SOTM Blog Hop

2012-01-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

I'm very happy about this month's blog hop and this particular stamp-of-the-month set. I love it! Welcome to February's Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop. We've got lots of consultants who are ready to inspire you with this fabulous stamp set, entitled Thoughtful Tidings.

If you've come from Dawn's blog, you're on the right track. If you're starting here, just sit back, relax and enjoy. Simply click at the links in each post and you'll come around right back here again.

February is also an exciting month because our new Idea Book goes live, and I'm quite sure you're going to see lots of new product. I've created two items, one with old and retired (trying to use it up!) and one with new. Here is my first project:

This is the goodie bag I made to give to the women who attended my most recent fundraising crop. I forgot to take a photo before they were all handed out, so one of my team members took one and emailed it to me. (Thanks, Tara!). You might be thinking, this looks familiar. I was inspired by the artwork in the Idea Book but put my own spin on it. I cut the box with my Cricut. In fact all the parts are cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. The box is made with Sweet Leaf cardstock. The Twilight paper is from Emporium, a retired paper pack, and the layered hearts are Vineyard Berry cardstock. You can't see it very well, but I stamped "thank you", from the stamp set by the same name, on the top heart. The stamped border is from Boutique Borders, also retired. There is a Filigree Charm added and I used the Chocolate Ribbon and some floss to tie it closed. Everything has been stamped, and edge distressed with a sponge, in Chocolate ink. I just love the sentiment and I know I'll be using it a lot. It's been stamped on Colonial White. I love hugs. They just make my day and I have to say, my kids give the best ones!

And here is my project with all new products!

This is the My Creations Milk Carton. You get two in a pack. They come with those neat little clips on the top. They are not made of chipboard, but a much thicker cardstock paper and can be a bit tricky to fold up, but they're totally worth it. I've decorated up both, one like this and the other with some real boy paper from Superhero, another new paper pack. I'll try to post it soon. I'm going to use them as Valentines gifts for my kids. I've decorated this one with paper from Stella. The flower is from the Stella Complements Canvas Shapes and the butterfly is from the Colour-Ready Accents Garden Wooden Shapes. Yes, wooden! They already have a dark edge, so no distressing needed. I added our new Bitty Pearls on the body, along with a couple larger ones on the sentiment. Again, everything has been sponged, including the canvas flower, this time in Cocoa. I stamped the sentiment in Cocoa as well, but used White Daisy cardstock and found it just too bright for this paper, so I sponged the surface, too. I should say that the inspiration for this project came from fancyMelissa. You can see her version here.

Now, just click on over to Lori's blog and enjoy the inspiration. Remember, this stamp set is only available until the end of the month. If you don't have a consultant, feel free to email me and I can get you hooked up with a set.

Happy Creating!

I'm featured on Studio J!

2012-01-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

My "Good Water" layout is being featured on the Studio J blog! I'm so excited and honoured. Can't wait to show my daughter. That's her in the photos.
Check it out here: http://www.studioj.com/blog/post/2012/01/17/Add-Extra-Shine-to-Your-Layouts.aspx
Thanks, Close To My Heart, for making me feel like a million bucks.

New Year, New Action

2012-01-05T13:38:00.000-05:00

When the new year arrives, I always get a little, well, hard on myself. I think about how I spent my time and how I really need to do better at all kinds of things. It's easy for me to get bogged down in thinking these things. And I guess that's a big part of the problem. I just think about what I should be doing and how I should improve, what I need to do to reach my goals. But's that's often where it ends. Well, no more! I'm just going to keep thinking, "Take Action" and I plan to create something to hang on my wall to remind me every day, that just thinking about how to improve will get me nowhere. I must take action. Melissa Laverty inspired me with her artwork. You can check it out here. I'll post my completed work when I get it finished.

So, one of the things I want to improve at is my blog. I hope to have more regular postings. Not sure what that's going to look like, yet, but I'm taking action and writing a post.

Here are a couple of old projects I created for gatherings. I had some extra kits just sitting around, so I thought I'd make them up. Now, I made them a while ago and these photos have been waiting patiently on my desktop for me to post about them. If you notice the blog address on them, you'll see that it's been a long time! But I'm taking action and finally posting about them! :)

Inside of this card:

Both these cards use the Emporium paper pack. I love these cards and the owl on the second one looks so fun with googly eyes!

Think you might want to make fun cards like these? Then book a home gathering with me. I'm scheduling into February and March right now. We can do one or two cards with you and your friends and family. You'll even get some free product and a special hand-made gift from me. If you've hosted for me in the past, you can expect a phone call next week. I've got a special announcement just for you... Stay tuned!

Happy Creating!

CTMH: January Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

2011-12-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I can hardly believe that 2012 is upon us! I'm sure you'll hear that a lot over the course of the blog hop.
If you've come from my friend, fancyMelissa's blog, you're on the right track. Just keep hopping by clicking on links in each post and you'll get back to where you started.
Here is the stamp set, called A Little Reminder:

It's a great set for remember-the-date cards, highlighting a special event or you could play on the passage of time idea or even just recording the date on your scrapbook layouts. I've been sick with a nasty cold for almost the entire month and figured I'd be better by now. No such luck. I haven't had the energy to do the necessary things and some crafting. So, I will show you a photo of Close To My Heart's artwork and hopefully add some of my own in the very near future.

Just remember that this stamp set is only available until Jan. 31. And since our Canadian prices are dropping to match the American, you can get it for $17.95 or for $5.00, with an order of $50.00!

Now, hop on over to Traci's blog and see what inspiration she has for you.

Enjoy ringing in the new year and celebrating with family and friends! May there be many happy creating days ahead, for you and for me, as soon as I get over this cold!

Crop 'Til You Drop

2011-12-13T12:03:00.001-05:00

I'm hosting another 12-Hour Fundraising Crop on Saturday, January 21 and I'd love to have you join us!

We'll be cropping away from 9am to 9pm. Here are all the details:

Why: to raise money for a medical mission trip to Guatemala in Feb. 2012. My husband and I have been doing these trips with Speroway for a number of years. Your fee will help put medicine into the hands of those who need them so badly.

Place: Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor St. E.Courtice

Cost: $50 for 12 hours, $35 for 6 hours plus dinner, $30 for 6 hours no dinner

Registration Deadline: Monday, January 9.

Register by December 31, with payment and you'll get a tax receipt for this calendar year.

Fee includes:
6’ table all to yourself
Snacks and coffee, tea, bottled water all day (and dinner if you've chosen that option)
Use of stamps, inks, and other tools
Swap table
Giveaways and goodie bag

Layout workshop using Wonderland (open for anyone not attending crop as well):
$5 cost for one-page workshop
additional $5 for coordinating page kit

We'll also have another Dollar Auction, with the entire proceeds going directly to the costs for our trip. And enjoy an on-site scrapbook store! Julie from Sassy Scrappin' will be joining us.

Sign up today!

CTMH: December SOTM Blog Hop

2011-11-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

Happy December! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We had our first dusting of snow this morning and it looks beautiful. We're here for another Stamp-of-the-Month blog hop. If you came from Dawn's blog, you're on the right path. If you're starting here, just keep clicking the links in each post until you get back here and you'll have seen all the inspiration we have prepared.

This month's stamp set will get your thoughts away from Christmas and on to Valentine's Day. It's full of lovely images and sentiments.

You'll see that 4 of the images are compatible with the Art Philosophy cartridge as well. So fun! I decided to go really simple with my cards, just stamping directly on the card base. The hearts in this set are perfect for standing alone and I'm really in a simple kick since planning workshop cards. My own Christmas cards are going to be super simple, too. Here are my cards:

This first one is a 3x6 card. I used Tulip ink and the lighter one is second generation. The sentiment comes from For Every Occasion.

This card uses Cotton Candy ink and I double-stamped the image. The sentiment is from Pair-a-Phrase and is masked to get just that one word. I added a line with my Legacy Writer pen.

This last card is also done with Tulip. The sentiment is from Say It In Style. What do you think about the line around the outside? I'm not sure I like it. Do you think I should add it to the first card or leave it as is?

I have to thank my upline, Sheri Ballantyne, for help with the designs of these cards.

Now it's time to hop on over to Georgia's blog and check out the fabulous artwork she made. Don't forget that this stamp set is only available for the month of December.

Happy Creating!

CTMH: Card Set Using Up More Scraps

2011-11-14T21:35:00.001-05:00

I've managed to complete another set of paper from a past promotion. This one was a fun kit all about celebrating. It included a stamp set, which is the only set I used on these cards.

I believe the colours were Indian Corn blue, Sweet Leaf, and Chocolate. It also included a set of Chocolate Mini Medleys. This is a set that I'll be selling at my craft fair on Wednesday. What would you pay for them?

Using Up the Old

2011-11-08T20:42:00.000-05:00

I am getting ready for my very first Craft Show in a couple weeks and so I've been using up lots of old paper to create cards and other goodies. I have so many left-over kits from workshops or gatherings and have made them all up to sell, but I've also been creating with scraps from old paper kits. I wanted to show the last 3 cards I made with the Tickled Pink paper kit we had a number of years ago. It was a promotion for National Scrapbooking Month. I had fun coming up with the best way to use every last bit of paper.

I wish I could remember all the embellishments I used, but the stamped images came only from the set that came with the paper. I know you're probably deep in preparations for Christmas, but hopefully these will make you think of spring.

A question before I go. What sorts of items would you buy at a craft show? Or, if you've been a vendor at one before, what types of things did you sell lots of? As a newbie to this whole thing, I'd love your advice.

Happy Creating!

CTMH: November Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

2011-10-31T21:00:00.000-04:00

We are here again, for another SOTM blog hop! This month we've got almost 60 consultants participating. If you came from Tamytha, the Paperheartist, you're on the right path. If this is your first stop, just keep clicking the links at the end of each post until you get back here.

I am so excited to share my project with you. Sometimes you make something that ends up exactly the way you wanted it to turn out. I changed things around a lot while working on it, but the end result showcases my photo the way I really hoped it would. Before we get to my artwork, here's a photo of what the stamp set looks like:

How fun is that!!! I love that it matches with one of the Art Philosophy images, that the higher numbers are stamps, too, so that I don't have to stamp a 3 and a 0 to make 30. This set is perfect for any kind of event, for invitations but also layouts.

Here is my project:

I had so much fun creating this layout, following the Sidebar-Main Frame pattern from Reflections. I'm a year and a half behind, since my daughter has had her 6th birthday already, but I love this photo of her. It was taken during her first birthday party with her friends. I printed the photo in black and white so I could use any colour and I decided on blue because that is Arianna's favourite. I loved the way the stamps were all rectangular. To show that my focus was on a year, I stamped each image a number of times, in a type of random grid, using Indian Corn Blue ink on Indian Corn Blue cardstock. Then, you'll see the May stamp on the tag, since her birthday is May 30. I chose to cut a different image than the ticket one because this bracket rectangle looks more girly.

Here's a close up of the stamped side:

And here is a close-up of the embellishment cluster.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Lilac Mist, Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim, White Daisy

Ink: Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim

Embellishments: Milepost Shapes, Colour-Ready Cork Alphabet, Lilac Mist brads, felt flowers (from Maya Road) and Denim Baker's Twine (from The Twinery)

Other: sponge, My Legacy Writer

Now it's time to hop on over to Katy's blog and drool over the artwork she's created.

Happy Creating!

Join my Team and Get a Deal: Time is Limited!

2011-10-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

Have you ever considered becoming a Close To My Heart consultant? Now is the time, but that time is almost up. The special promotion, Add on for Free, is over October 31. Right now, when you sign up to join my team, you can choose an add-on pack (retail value of up to $140!) for free. You already get an amazing deal when you purchase the New Consultant kit, for just $99 and now you'll get even more. But it's over very soon.

I'd love to have you join our team of consultants. I'm looking for people who are willing to step out, have fun, and learn new things. It will feel overwhelming at first, but I'm here to help you, answer your questions, and get you started off on the right foot. Maybe you're not sure what's all involved with this new job. Maybe you're raring to go. Send me an email or call me and we'll set up a time to chat.

CTMH: October Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

2011-09-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

We have reached my favourite month! I love October. I love this time of year, the way the weather is cooler at night and nice during the day. I love the colours of the leaves changing. We have ivy on our garage and our house changes from green to red every fall. I love putting my sweaters on and cozying up with a yummy cup of Earl Grey tea. It's also my birthday at the end of the month (and it's a big one this year!), but that's just a plus.

Our Stamp-of-the-Month blog hop is here and we've got a great group of consultants participating again. If you came from Adeline's blog, you're on the right track. This month's stamp set will get you thinking Christmas! Now is the time for preparing cards and gifts and this set is perfect for that.

Isn't it cute? I love it. It has such wonderful texture and is so fun to work with. Here are the cards I created.

I decided to use up some old paper for both of these cards. This first one is made with Mistletoe Level 2. The trees are stamped with New Englad Ivy in first and second generation. The trunks and sentiment are stamped in Cocoa. I sponged the edges of everything with Cocoa ink. The trees on the left and middle are popped with one layer and the tree on the right is popped with two layers. The embellishments added are from Bitty Sparkles, Rhinestone Designer Brads and the Red/Pink/Purple Sparkle Assortment.

This second card is made with some really old paper. In fact, I've had the papers adhered to the card base for a couple years and I don't remember the name of it. On this card, I stamped the sleigh with Ponderosa Pine and the other images with Cocoa ink. I also lightly tapped my sponge all over the Colonial White piece. The little ribbon is just from my stash. The white-looking dots on the paper are Stardust Slitz Gel. You can still see some of the colour through them in real life and they sparkle a bit, too.

Now hop on over to Sheila's blog. I'm sure she's created some beautiful work to inspire you. If you want to get your hands on this stamp set, email or call me or go to my website to order.

Happy Creating!

Wow, I Feel So Honoured!

2011-09-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

I am so touched and amazed! I thought that getting this little award from Lisa was an honour. But then I got it from Jackie a little while later and I was tickled pink! So, when I also got it from Carol a few days later, I was over the moon! These ladies are so talented, so getting an award from them means a lot! I didn't know people loved my blog so much. I don't always post very regularly, but I try. Thank you so much, ladies, for completely making my week!

This is a different kind of blog award in the respect that it recognizes inspiring blogs with less than 200 followers. This way some very worthy, but often over looked blogs benefit from some extra exposure...which is something every blogger can use! And who doesn't like an award?

Liebster is the German word for "beloved" or "favourite". So it is now my turn to bestow this award to 5 of my most beloved blogs who have less than 200 followers. So be sure to check out the blogs listed below and congratulate them by leaving them some blog love in the form of a comment and becoming a Follower if you find them to be as inspiring as I do!

Kim at Creative Hands and Hearts. I love her simple cards.

Arlene at Arlene's Creative Space. She's one of my team members and does a great job scrapbooking heritage photos.

Carla at Carla Creates. My friend, who creates gorgeous, award-winning layouts.

Brae at The Brae-er. She just had a baby! I love the details she uses in her artwork.

Sarah at Just Visiting. Sarah is amazing! She's been published numerous times and her work is beautiful. Oh, and did I mention that she roomed with me for all four years of university? Yup, I'm proud of her. ;)

Make sure you check out their blogs. Happy Creating!

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

I can hardly believe it. Today my son turns 4!

This sweet little baby, only a day old, has grown up into this silly little boy, oh, pardon me, big boy.

He's such a character! Full of personality and silliness. He loves to make silly noises and he is incredibly curious. He asks questions about everything and has to look at new things from every angle. He absolutely adores anything to do with machines, particularly Mighty Machines and emergency vehicles and really knows his dinosaurs.

He's all these silly things, but he loves to pretend he's a baby, complete with sounds. He still loves to cuddle with me and give hugs. When he starts telling a story, he really gets into it. He is a challenge sometimes, with a determined spirit that really hates when he doesn't get his own way. He's still adjusting to the rules in his Kindergarten class, but he'll get there. God created him as a true boy, rough and tumble, climbing, playing, running sort of boy. I can only imagine what God has planned for Nathaniel.

Happy Birthday, my favourite silly boy!

2011-09-18T21:06:00.000-04:00

I have been having some fun working on past card kits and other projects. Some of these are projects from gatherings and others are me just finishing up paper packs.

These first cards were made with the Splendor paper kit, Over the Rainbow and TLC stamp sets, and a Heavenly Blue brad. The images were stamped in Goldrush, Moonstruck, Topiary and Heavenly Blue.

I love that this style card. Fun and light and yet I've used two of them for sympathy cards. Did you notice that on those two cards the sun is hiding behind the clouds more? I didn't take it away entirely. It's my way of telling the people to whom I would send the cards that the sunshine is still there, even though it may not feel that way at the moment. Have you ever done that? Put something on your card that has an extra meaning? What did you do? I'd love to hear about it!

Stay tuned for more cards. Happy Creating!

CTMH: September Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

2011-08-31T21:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the September SOTM Blog Hop! If you came from Judy's blog, you're on the right track. If this is your first stop, just keep clicking the links in each post until you get back here and you will have experienced all the amazing artwork that consultants have created for you.

What a whirlwind this week has been! I almost forgot that I didn't have a project made for this hop. My kids start school next week, and Nathaniel will be starting Junior Kindergarten, so exciting! We've been really focused on the last bits of potty training. Yeah, not so fun, but necessary. Arianna is looking forward to having her little brother join her at "her" school. Anyway, that's been my focus and the reason I raced down to my craft room, during the half hour quiet time I could get out of the kids this afternoon, to create this card. It really didn't take much time, thanks to the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge which did the cutting for me.

I used Roxie Level 2 kit to create this card. In fact, every piece of paper besides the base is from the patterned paper in this kit. Love it. I also used Just Blooms Paper Shapes Flutter (Those butterflies make me happy!), Foundry Ribbon Slides, and Designer Ribbon Red Collection, along with some retired Twill ribbon. I stamped the tag in Sorbet, Cocoa and Desert Sand inks and everything was sponged with Desert Sand ink. Then I added in some Clear Sparkles for a little extra bling.

Since I had paper in the Cricut, I decided to cut some pieces for journaling spots. This stamp set is perfect for that. Here are the two I stamped, ready to add to a card or layout.

The edges have been sponged with Desert Sand and the lines stamped in the same colour. I also stamped some images in Cocoa and Barn Red, in first and second generation. Can't wait to use them!

It's now time to hop on over to fancyMelissa's blog and see the stunning artwork she's got for you to drool over. I know it's going to be great!

Happy Creating!

CTMH: You and Me, Part 2

2011-08-30T17:20:00.004-04:00

As promised, here are the rest of the cards I made with the leftovers from the You and Me Kit sold in May. I did add a bit of cardstock and all the card bases as well.

I had a lot of fun creating these cards. Sometimes I used a pattern in the How-To book, Wishes. Sometimes I followed someone else's idea and sometimes I just made it all up myself. And most of the time, those last ones are my favourites! I don't often do things all on my own when it comes to paper crafting and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. I always have such a sense of accomplishment when I love how my own ideas work out.
Feel free, though, to use these ideas to get you creating. ;)

It's almost time for the Stamp-of-the-Month blog hop, so stay tuned!

CTMH: You and Me

2011-08-29T17:19:00.000-04:00

I really loved the You and Me kit we sold to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month in May. The layouts were gorgeous and the paper, wow! I cut the paper for my layouts very sparingly so I would have leftovers to make cards. Some of these cards are completely cased from other consultants, but I made them quite a while ago, so I don't remember who made them initially. Here they are!

This next photo shows the inside:

I'll post some more tomorrow, so come on back then. I hope these inspire you to crack open your You and Me Kit and get crafting. I know some of you haven't opened it yet, I just know it! ;)

Happy Creating!

Cricut Card Workshop

2011-08-08T14:10:00.000-04:00

Come on out for a fun afternoon, playing with the new Cricut cartridge, Art Philosophy. We'll be creating a slight variation on the Bonus Project from the Typeset Workshop-on-the-Go kit. I'll provide all the materials. You just need to bring $12 along with your favourite adhesive, dimensional adhesive and a pair of scissors. Your fee includes a 1/2 package of Milepost Shapes as well as all the other embellishments you'll need. We'll even get to do some messy painting.

When? Saturday, August 27, 2-5pm.
Where? My basement studio
RSVP by Wednesday, August 17.

Here are the cards we'll be making:

Call or email me today to reserve your spot.
Happy Creating!

CTMH August SOTM Blog Hop

2011-07-31T21:00:00.004-04:00

Wow, what an exciting time to be a consultant for Close To My Heart! The new Autumn/Winter Idea Book goes live to customers tomorrow (Aug 1) and there are so many incredible changes. I'm quite sure as you go through this month's hop, you'll see lots of gorgeous new papers and embellishments.

This month we have over 60 consultants participating. It's a cyclical hop so if you've come from Michelle's blog, you're on the right path. If you're starting here, just keep clicking links until you get back here and you'll have seen it all.

August's Stamp-of-the-Month is very Halloween-y. As I've said in past years, I'm not real big on Halloween. So I decided to use the stamps in a different way, although I have to say that I do think the rest of the set is super cute. Here's what it looks like:

Here is the card I made:

I used our brand new 6x6 Kraft cards and envelopes, one of my favourite new paper packs, Typeset, Milepost Shapes and Complements Canvas self-adhesive images. I used the border and sentiment from the stamp-of-the-month. I rubbed the star over my Vineyard Berry ink pad to add some colour. Everything was sponged in Desert Sand or Black ink. Here's another view so you can see how neat those card bases are.

And since these have got to be my favourite new accessory, I had to include a close-up. They're so neat!

Now, you're ready to keep on hopping over to Terrie's blog.

Happy Creating!

Retiring Items

2011-07-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

My friend, Carla, has a fabulous post outlining all the retiring items. These will not be available after July 31, and I'm putting in an order on Saturday night. Check out Carla's post and email me with your order. (I'll be at a 12-hour crop all day on Saturday, so please don't phone an order in.)

Another Sneak Peek!

2011-07-26T20:11:00.000-04:00

Check out this video about the new Dreamin' Workshop-on-the-Go kit with added Cricut fun.

Then come see this paper in real life at my open house.

Dates: Thursday, August 4: 8-9pm
Friday, August 5: 8-9pm
Saturday, August 6: 2-5pm. Come at this time for a make 'n' take, too!

Please RSVP, especially for Saturday. See you then!

New Autumn/Winter Idea Book! (and lots of changes)

2011-07-22T15:31:00.000-04:00

I'm still here, I promise. It's just been a crazy few weeks. I'm home from convention and trying to get back into the swing of things. Getting information I've learned out to the people who want to know (okay, neeeeeed to know!). Trying to get my head back into family obligations and other things I'm supposed to be doing even though I only want to think about Close To My Heart and all these ideas percolating in my brain! I'm going full-steam ahead.

First of all, this blog is going to become my headquarters on the internet for all things Simply Creating with CTMH. Our websites are going away as of October 1st, so you won't be able to access my calendar or artwork there anymore. I'll still have an address to give you for shopping online or if you'd like to join me in this adventure as a consultant. That means there will be some changes in what you see me post here on my blog. I'll be doing more advertising for promotions and events as well as posting artwork.

I'm sure you're eager to see the new Idea Book. I can't give it to you, yet; but drop by my open house and pick up your copy for free. Here's the information:

Drop in to pick up your free copy of the new Idea Book. Take a look at the amazing changes coming in this new catalogue!

Thursday, August 4, 8-9pm
Friday, August 5, 8-9pm
Saturday, August 6, 2-5pm.

If you want to play with some new products and make a small project, you'll need to come on Saturday afternoon.

Please RSVP to let me know when you're coming, especially if you'd like to attend Saturday afternoon. Let me know if you need my address.

And to whet your appetite for all things new, here's a sneak peek:

Want to stay in the know? Subscribe to my posts on the right or like my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/simplycreating.

CTMH July SOTM Blog Hop

2011-06-30T21:00:00.004-04:00

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians! How exciting to be celebrating this fun day with a blog hop featuring a stamp set that's perfect for today (okay, tomorrow since this is up on Thursday night instead of Friday morning). If you came here from Vickie's blog, you're on the right track. Remember that this is a cyclical hop, so keep hopping until you get back here and you'll have seen everything!

Here is the Canadian version of this stamp set. Yes, you read that correctly. There is a Canadian version and an American version. How neat is that?

I'm expecting lots of patriotic projects this time around. Since there are lots of American consultants on this hop I thought I'd better put the Canadian side of things on display. Here is my project:

I have had this event calendar for quite some time and haven't done a thing with it, until now. I used only the SOTM along with Cranberry, Black, Gypsy, Lagoon, Grey Flannel, and Pacifica inks. All the fireworks and stars are stamped second generation so they don't interfere with anything I need to write on the calendar. I also kept it pretty plain, with no embellishments so the calendar will hang nice and flat when I finally finish it and put it up on the wall. (Who knows how long that will take!)

If you'd like to see another project I've made with this stamp set, just scroll down to the next post.

Now it's time to keep hopping over to Shirley's blog and check out what's she's created.

Happy Creating!

Summer Card Camp!

2011-06-29T15:22:00.000-04:00

I won a registration to Summer Card Camp! It began on Monday and has been lots of fun so far. I don't have a lot of time to create now that both kids are home every day all day, but I did get a chance to complete a card yesterday.

I love this colour combo! So bright and cheery and very summery. Here's the card I made:

I used only Close To My Heart products. The stamp set is actually the July Stamp-of-the-Month, so you're getting a little sneak peek. The images are stamed in Gypsy, Sky, Sunset, Cotton Candy and Black inks. Then I sponged the same colour inks on the background to fill it in a bit and edged the front piece in Black. I also used Jennifer's window technique as well, cutting into the card front inside the epoxy frame sticker, which came from the Sweetheart Level 2 assortment. The letter "u" is one of our Irresistibles Eclectic Chipboard Diecuts, inked in Black. To finish it off, I added a few Bitty Sparkles since I didn't have any larger circle ones left. Here are a couple other angles to show you the window.

Happy Creating!

My Free Studio J Layout

2011-06-24T15:30:00.000-04:00

I completed this layout for free, completely nothing. It was so fun to create it and play on my favourite online scrapbooking program.

(click on photo to see it larger)

We visited Uncle Rob at the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton on June 5 and I've already got this very fun event scrapbooked. I love how quickly I was able to finish it.

You've got a few days left to make your free layout. After it's complete, you can print it the same way you would do your photos for your classic layouts. Just visit my website and start getting caught up or even just create a layout to celebrate a recent event.

Happy Creating!

Another great video from CTMH and a winner!

2011-06-23T09:15:00.000-04:00

Congratulations, Arlene, for identifying the Dreams Come True stamp set. I'll get a card out to you soon.

Here's a great video from the CTMH corporate office. Do you use pigment ink? They use it in a way I've never thought of before!

Enjoy. Happy Creating!

Bulk Birthday Cards with Mayberry

2011-06-20T21:46:00.000-04:00

I made these cards a few months ago for a workshop. It was so easy to follow the instructions in Wishes, using the Just Because workshop. The workshop shows you how to cut just a few sheets of patterned paper and cardstock to create 20 cards. 2 each of 10 designs. Then it gives you the layout and instructions for each card and a completed example for inspiration. I was going for quick, simple stamping, and easy to mail. I can't even tell you all the stamp sets I used!

I did each card two different ways using the same paper, just to show off the versatility of our papers. There are a few brads and some foam tape and ribbon, but that's it for embellishments.

I'm offering some blog candy with these cards. If you can tell me what one stamp set I used on the first four cards, I'll send you one of them. Just comment or email me, but do it quick because this offer ends on Wednesday!

Happy Creating!

Paper Rose Topiary

2011-06-08T22:13:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a lot of fun this project was! I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted it to look like and it turned out exactly like I thought it would. That doesn't always happen for me. I created this topiary to be put in a silent auction for a Crop for the Cure I'm attending on Sunday. (Yes, I'm skipping out on church. ... Shhh!)

Here it is:

I bought this bucket from Michaels in their garden decor section. Just used my hot glue gun to add some buttons from CTMH's pink button assortment. The fill is pear cardstock put through our shredder. I spritzed the pile with water and then scrunched it up in a ball and let it dry. Then I spritzed it again a little before putting in the bucket; I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to pop out and show the floral sponge I have in the bottom!

The dowel was cut from a piece I had lying around. The ribbon bow was made with CTMH's sweet leaf ribbon and one from the Designer Ribbon Pink Collection.

Most of the flowers were made from a Sophia Level 2 paper pack. I added in a few made with pear, blush and hollyhock cardstock. I also had to add 4 made with Sweetheart Level 2 because I ran out of Sophia paper! And to fill in the spaces, I also made little flowers with the other ribbons in the Pink Collection. The only thing holding those flowers on the styrofoam ball base is some pearl-topped pins. I've spend about a month off and on creating the flowers. I've actually used up quite a bit of Liquid Glass! There are about 80 paper flowers and 10 or 12 ribbon ones.

Did you see the little surprise hiding on the side of this photo?

There she is! I used a Martha Stewart punch to create this little butterfly and then added some Pearl Opaques to the body.

I love how it turned out! Even my hubby, who sometimes doesn't react very much to my artwork, was impressed. I think I'm going to have make one for us to keep, maybe to put on our mantle. We'll see.

Wondering how to make these roses? It's really quite simple.

Cut a piece of paper in a square. I used 5x5 for the big full ones and threw some 4x4 ones in there, too. Freehand cut a circle and follow the curve to cut a spiral right to the middle.
Then, using a quilling tool or just a pair of tweezers like I did, begin at the outside and roll the spiral up tightly. As you get to the middle of the spiral, the paper will begin to look more flower-like.
Place it on your table, positioning the rolled flower on the centre circle that was left when you cut into the middle. That's your base. Hold it gently with your finger on the top of the rolled flower and allow it to unroll to the point you're happy with.
Squirt some Liquid Glass under the rolled flower on the base, press down lightly and then add a big dollop to the very middle. I like to add some down some of spaces formed when you unroll the flower, between the "petals", just for some added stability.
You can stick a sparkle or opaque down the middle to finish it off. My pins did that job for me.

Happy Creating!

Studio J: Free JPGs and a Very Helpful Video

2011-06-04T15:06:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! Can you believe it's June already? It's the last month of school which means teacher gifts need to be made, my daughter is now officially 6, summer is pretty much here, and convention is only a month and a half away! So many things are going on around here right now, I'm pretty busy and my head is spinning.

Close To My Heart knows that it's a busy time of year, so they've come up with a wonderful promotion to help you get some scrapbooking done despite all the other things you need to do.

For the month of June, create a layout (that's 2 pages) in Studio J and get free jpgs to share your layout online or print it yourself. You'll get a low-resolution jpg of both pages together, and one high-resolution image of both the right and left pages. So, that means you can play for free and have a finished product to show off or print! It's all free, no strings attached. Go to my website to check it out.

And to get those pages perfect, check out this awesome video to help you put your embellishments in just the right place:

Happy Creating!

CTMH June SOTM Blog Hop

2011-05-31T21:00:00.009-04:00

Welcome to another stamp-of-the-month blog hop. What a fabulous stamp set we're showcasing today! It's perfect for any season, literally. If you came from Mary's blog, you're on the right track. If this is your first stop, then look for the link at the bottom of each post. Keep hopping until you come back here and you'll have seen all the amazing artwork created with this stamp set.

Here's what you get in this set:

Aren't they just adorable? And, talk about seasons, these images work all year long!

Here's the card I made:

I really had fun with this card. I used a sketch from one of Paper Crafts' recent submission calls. Fanfare seemed perfect for this celebration card, which could be used for any type of celebration. The medallion is made by accordion-folding a 1"x12" piece of paper and glueing the ends together. I also inked all the edges in Pacifica ink. Then I used the sun image, rock and rolled and punched out with CTMH's 1 1/4" punch, to keep my medallion flat. I popped the Celebrate image and added some rhinestone flourishes from Recollections. This became my daugher's birthday card. She turned 6 on the 30th. So exciting!

Now, it's time to hop on over to Debra's blog and see what she's created.

Happy Hopping!

4 Cards, 1 Stamp Set

2011-05-24T14:01:00.000-04:00

We completed another neat project at the Toronto Regionals. It was perfect for a workshop and so last weekend, that's what I did. We made 4 of the six cards I made at Regionals.

Here are the four cards my customers created:

The stamp set we used was Happy Moments. And there are a variety of paper kits used. From left to right: Lucky; Bliss and Mayberry; Bliss, Sweetheart and Sophia; Lucky and Mayberry. Each card has different kinds of clear buttons on it. Take a look at each one below:

Here's a close up of that neat flower. We just stamped the same one three times. Once with Bamboo on the large square piece, then twice with Blush. These two we sponged with Bamboo ink and then cut them out. The top one we kept the full petals only, every other one. Then curled the petals. This is my favourite card!

On this card we sewed the buttons onto some Cocoa cardstock with Waxy Flax, then cut them out, giving them a nice colour.

And here's a close up of the last card. We also backed the buttons on this one, the large one in the flower with a bit of Mayberry paper and the smaller ones with Grey Flannel paper.

Here are the other two cards I made, but didn't include in the workshop. The masking we did for the sentiments was just too fiddly for my customers, although now that you see what you can do, maybe you'll want to try it!

This first 3x3 card used Miracle and Wings.

And this last standard-size card used Sweetheart and Wings.

It's pretty amazing how different these cards all look! And all with one stamp set. I also love how papers from different kits were used on the cards. It's something I like to do, but have a hard time with.

What can you do with just one stamp set? Happy Creating!

CTMH: Regional Layout Number 2

2011-05-22T22:12:00.000-04:00

I had so much fun making this layout! Mayberry is my favourite new paper kit and pairing it with photos from our first attempt at a vegetable garden was perfect. (Thanks, Tara, for the title idea!)

Here are photos of each page separately:

We did some pretty neat techniques on this layout. The Kraft Colour-Ready borders were used, one of which we inked up with Cocoa beforehand. We distressed the edges by tearing and rolling the edges. But my favourite part was the stars!

Here's a close-up:

Can you figure out what we did? After stamping the stars, we cut out the inside, right through all the layers on the layout. Then we put a different piece of paper on the back of the layout. Picture those tissue paper stained glass art projects you used to make. Neat, eh? (Yup, that's my Canadian "accent" coming through!) You can do this on any type of project and I think I'm going to try it again.

Happy Creating!

Another Great Studio J Video!

2011-05-17T17:32:00.000-04:00

Check out all the great things you can do with photos on your Studio J layouts.

Have you played yet? If not, you can click here. Just set up an account and get creating in no time!

Happy Creating.

CTMH: Regional Layout Number 1

2011-05-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

I'm so relieved that blogger is up and running again. I don't post that regularly, but I was all ready to do so yesterday afternoon.
Well, here we are and I'm ready to show you the first of two layouts we completed at the Regional Celebration in Toronto last month.

(I just realized the pages are swapped. Whoops! It will be placed in my album the other way around.)

Do you recognize the right-hand page at all? Check out page 18 of the Spring/Summer Idea Book. Now does it look familiar? I ended up adding a bit more spritz to my base pages, but I love the way this layout looks! Here's some photos of the individual pages:

See the neat-looking hearts? We sprayed the stamps with re-inker and water before we stamped with it. Such a cool technique. It was fun working in the back with these little boxes they'd set up. I almost sprayed Kristine's pants! Sorry about that, Kristine. We used the Affection stamp set and the Headline Alphabet, which we stamped using the back side of the stamp on the back side of the patterned paper. You'll also notice the distressing. We used the long brush from the distressing tools, brushing Grey Flannel re-inker onto the edges of everything.

Here are a couple of detail shots:

We also used pink buttons, the Sweetheart Level 2 Assortment (those black and white epoxy stickers), and Colonial White waxy flax.

Such a fun layout to work on. Stay tuned for the other layout we completed as well as some cards yet to come.

Happy Creating!

CTMH: 4 Cards: 1 Paper Kit, But Many Stamp Sets!

2011-05-06T17:08:00.001-04:00

These are the four cards we made at the crop held during the Toronto Regional Celebration last month. I know I had said I would post these photos (and more) a LOT earlier and I apologize for leaving it until now.

Here are the cards:

The paper kit we used was Mayberry, but I really can't remember all the stamp sets. I know some of them were Happy Moments, Affection, and Paper Lanterns, but I'm not sure about the one with the stitches. I love them all, especially since Mayberry is my favourite new paper kit!

I do have more photos of cards and layouts we completed that weekend, but they'll have to wait until next week. It's Club Night tonight and we're playing with Sweetheart and tomorrow I'm in charge of the A-May-Zing Race happening at my daughter's school, a fundraiser. Busy, busy!

Happy Creating!

CTMH May SOTM Blog Hop

2011-04-30T21:06:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the May Stamp-of-the-Month blog Hop! I say it every time, but this past month has just flown by and I can hardly believe it's already May. We have lots of consultants participating this time again, and I'm happy to be back after a month away. If you came from Georgia's blog, you're on the right track.

I love this stamp set. It's all about chairs and it's so fun! I had a hoot using a brand new technique for me. Here's the card:

I used some of the leftover paper from the You and Me kit, CTMH's special promotion this month to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month. I add some Mocha Opaques and Chocolate buttons with Colonial White waxy flax. The stitching is a stamp that comes with the You and Me set. The little flowers were stamped in a different way. I coloured the stamp with markers and then huffed on it before stamping. It looks mottled in a neat way.

Here's a close up of the chair and then I'll explain the new technique I used.

I learned a really neat way to create a suede-like feel and look on paper! It's all about Liquid Applique and re-inker. Mix a good amount of Liquid Applique with re-inker the same colour as the paper. Smooth it out as much as possible. Then stamp your image with StazOn ink. Use your brayer to cover the paper with the mixture, then heat set. Cut out your image and voila!

Enjoy the rest of the hop! Head on over to Angela's blog. I'm sure you'll love what she's made!

Happy Creating!

Close To My Heart Rocks!

2011-04-16T21:28:00.000-04:00

What an amazing two days I've had! We learned SO much! We created SO much! I had 8 team members attend with me (Yay for Tara, Joanne, Lynn, Heather, Susanne, Monica, Mona, and Sissy!) We missed Michelle who was sick. :( I loved being there with all of you ladies. It was so nice to get to know you better and make some memories, including getting our photo taken all together on stage. (Ahh, paparazzi!) It was so rewarding to be there with my team!

I also felt so honoured during one of our classes. It was all about Studio J. At the end of the presentation, Sheena, our trainer, showed her three favourite layouts. One of them was mine. You can check it out in the post below. I was so flattered and so excited! There are lots of giveaways at these types of events and so I got a little gift for being featured. And since I got a free gift, I'm passing one on to you. Oma correctly identified which paper pack I used, so I'm popping in a set of Blue and Green Sparkles in the mail to you, Aunt Anna.

Stay tuned for photos of the event and the incredible artwork we made. It may take a couple of days, I'm pretty busy the next few days. But in the mean time,

Happy Creating!

Heading to Toronto soon...

2011-04-14T15:58:00.000-04:00

Why am I going to Toronto, you ask? Close To My Heart is having a fabulous weekend, called a Regional Celebration, where I will be taking some business classes and creative classes and even participating in a 4-hour crop tomorrow night! I'll be creating some wonderful artwork. I can say that because the artwork the corporate team comes up with is always stunning. Stay tuned here for photos and the like.
In the meantime, I'll share a Studio J layout I made specifically for this weekend. I don't know why we had to make one, or how they're going to use it, but it was free to make, and so much fun.

Here it is:

Just click on the photo to see it larger. Can you tell me which paper kit I used?

Happy Creating!

Studio J: video

2011-04-09T18:09:00.001-04:00

We're home and trying to get back into the swing of things. Although, now I'm battling a cold. My hubby says it must be because our bodies are missing all that glorious fruit we ate last week!

Close To My Heart's creative team has been making these fabulous videos about all kinds of things and I thought I would share this one, all about Studio J and how easy it is to use. I plan to make some pages about our trip to El Salvador (and Guatemala in November!) using Studio J.

I hope it peaks your curiosity enough to try it out. You can go here to play for free on my website. If you want to access everything, purchase a membership and enjoy catching up on your scrapbooking!

Watch for more videos in the future, maybe even one from El Salvador.

El Salvador: Day Five

2011-04-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

Hola, mi amigos! What an amazing day we've had. It's a little hard to believe that we have come to the end of our time here, in El Salvador. We finished with a bang in Somalia, a slum right in San Salvador. It took some time to set up so we were grateful for a short drive to the site. It was a little interesting getting our buses in there. This is the third time we have done a clinic in Somalia and each time the community takes more charge of preparations and that is so great to see. They wanted to take care of getting tarps to put over our heads, tables to put our things on, including all the pharmacy boxes, and chairs for us to rest our weary legs as well as for all the medics and patients. They did a great job and each time we asked for another table, one appeared. They had a community person at the "door" of the pharmacy to take "recettas"(not sure on the spelling of that one!), patient forms, keeping families straight for us. We had a fabulous, big table to counsel over, no one was going to be pushing that one in today! Everything went so smoothly. I did hear of one little girl being sent to the hospital, a growth was removed and someone was having angina attacks. We also saw more than 800 people, which is much higher than any of our other days.
There is something I should say about Somalia. You won't understand it, not having been there. These people's homes are made with tin, sticks, some wood, plastic signs for roofs, sometimes fabric, and the lucky ones have all tin. In fact, last year they actually took apart a house so we would have a place to set up. I don't think that happened this time. They have outhouses that are put together in such a way that they look like they'll fall over in a big wind, and for some people, their house looks like that, too. The people of Somalia live on less than $2 a day and are considered outcasts in San Salvador. In fact, they probably wouldn't even venture out if we held a clinic just outside the limits of their community. This is why we go right into the centre.
Here are a few photos I took today:

The community even made their own signs!

Police presence was so important today. We love having them around, especially when they whisk us home with sirens and lights.

I'd better sign off. It's getting very close to dinner time. We're having a banquet with all the people who worked with us this week, including our translators. Then we head home tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for your prayers, everyone. We found out today that our next trip is most likely back to Guatemala in February of 2012. Yup, we're already looking forward to the next one. ;)

Adios!

El Salvador: Clinic Day Four (our Fifth Day)

2011-04-02T00:15:00.000-04:00

Hola. I learned a new sentence in Spanish today, Como se llama? What is your name? I used to ask the name of a sweet little girl who grabbed my hand this afternoon. I wish I had known it at the beginning of today, because another adorable little girl, probably 2 or 3, was passed to me and I held her and talked to her. She squirmed down and led me into the area where our clinic was being held. She didn't say a word to me, but I loved every minute. :)

Steve Russell, one of the doctors with us, led us in a morning devotion on the bus. This is something we do every morning on the way to our clinics. He told us two stories. I want to share them here, as well as another one that happened today. He spoke about a woman who had had a heart attack probably a couple days ago. She had no idea. We weren't able to see everyone on Wednesday, so two of our paramedics went out to the line and essentially decided who would still get in. Leo found this woman. She was still having chest pain and had water on her lungs. We arranged for her to get to the hospital free of charge and will now get the care she needs.

The other story was one that almost had me in tears all the way to the orphanage. It's the story of a little boy named Juan. I don't know how old he is. His parents split up, something not unheard of. His siblings went with either their mom or dad. Juan got left behind, yes, left behind, all on his own, with no one to look after him, no place to live, no one to hug him or feed him or clean his clothes. The neighbour saw that he didn't seem to have anyone and took him in. We made sure Juan got the meds he needed, but also extra clothing, food, shoes, etc. We also made sure the neighbour would have some support as well. Despite his situation, he was smiling when Steve saw him. It still makes me want to rush in there and just scoop him out of there.

This last story was something that happened at the very end of the day today. We were cleaning up and one last patient came in. (We didn't have to turn anyone away today!!!) It was a young mom, very young at 14, who lived at the orphanage with her daughter of 18 months. This little girl, named Hazel, was so sick she was having seizures because of a fever. The doctors put an IV in her with antibiotics immediately. Tony (the doc in charge) and Ross (a paramedic) rode her and her mom to the hospital. The police that play the role of our security, raced her there, sirens blaring and lights flashing. We just found out tonight at dinner that she's going to be okay.

I don't know what would have happened to these three people if we hadn't been in their communities on the days we were. God knew we needed to be in those places as those exact times to be of help to those people. It blows my mind sometimes when I think about how He is so involved in our lives, in every little thing. He brought us here for some very specific purposes. The community around Remar Orphanage isn't as needy as some of the other ones we've been to in the past, but serving them was still worth it, even if we were only there for Hazel. It reminds me that God has a purpose and a plan for my life, for our family. He knows the deepest desires of my heart because He put them there. He knows how they will be fulfilled. And afterwards we will look back and see His hand through it all, as we are beginning to see it already. What an amazing God we serve, I serve! A God who loves us so perfectly and knows exactly what we need. This God, this wonderful God.

I apologize. I'm rambling now, but I can't help but write about it all. It's been a bit of an emotional day for me. I'll quit now and share some photos. I walked around a bit again, this time in the morning before the pharmacy really got hopping.

Chris, Olgui (the teacher of all our translators), Flor, and Susan filling prescriptions in the Pharmacy.

Dr. Bert examining and patient. Bert is the Deputy Coroner of Ontario and he wanted to join us on this mission.

Joan showing a family how to use an aero chamber for puffers.

This sweetie was waiting for her mom to be finished with a medic.

Patients discussing things with a Christine, a medic.

Grandmas and grand-babies waiting in line. They were asking for a photo and no wonder, these two are adorable!

Our two local team members registering new patients.

Marlene, and Dennis, handing out reading glasses.

Two of the children who attend the school we were at, which is attached to the orphanage.

A local dentist, Dr. Alba, working on a little boy.

Canadian team members, Mark Cross, and Odalmus.

The piles of clothing in distribution.

I know this has been a long post and I hope I haven't bored you. We have one more clinic day, in a squatters slum right in San Salvador, called Somalia. The weather has held out for us, although today was incredibly hot. It should be a little cooler tomorrow, especially since we'll be setting up outside, under tarps.

Now I'd better get to sleep because we give it our all tomorrow. I may not have time for another post before we get home on Sunday night.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We had one team member stay at the hotel today because she was so sick, a few others are feeling a little under the weather. Gracias! One more day...

Buenos Noches.

El Salvador: Day Three (and Four)

2011-03-31T23:54:00.000-04:00

Buenos Dias, mi amigos! I'm writing after our break day at the beach. I had a wonderful time just sitting in the shade, reading, enjoying the view of waves crashing on the beach and then dipping in the pool, which had a fair-sized crab along the wall. He was rescued and brought back to the ocean. And yes, Mom, I got a little sunburned. We all really need the time off, to recuperate and rest before our final push for the last two clinic days. Tomorrow we are going to Remar, the orphanage. I think it's going to be a tough day for me, emotionally. Those sweet orphans are tugging at my heart strings right now. We'll see...

Yesterday, though, was quite the day in El Sunza! We set up in a school and things were pretty steady all day. We like those kinds of days in pharmacy. We don't want to wait for patients. We like to just go, go, go all day. (Hence the need for a rest day!) There wasn't a huge line until closer to the end of the day. Then things got a little harried. People started pushing into the room a bit and it made me a little nervous. They actually slowly pushed the table we were counselling over, further into the room. So, I put on my teacher hat and raised my voice, asking them to "Sientese, por favor!" (Sit down, please!) That didn't work for too long, so I simply pushed the table back. Yup, little me. We miss Dashina on these days, because she would get her mother hat on and yell at them all to just move back and wait patiently. She's from Guatemala and has always been with us in the pharmacy, until this trip. Things settled down soon enough, but it was definitely tense for a bit.

I took some time at lunch to walk around and take some photos. Here are some of my favourites:

Checking out the glasses a family member would receive.

Had to take a photo of this girl. Her name is Ariana, 6 1/2. My daughter will get a kick out of seeing someone with her name. I showed her and her mom a photo of my daughter and they thought that was pretty fun.

Dental area, working hard. They loved the open-air. Much cooler than a stuffy room!

Some kids hanging out. I'm not sure if they'd seen the doctor yet.

Such a sweetie! I couldn't resist a photo.

This 81-yr-old woman was waiting to see the doctor. Her name is Adonica and she had never had a pair of shoes!!! We gave her a pair of running shoes at Distribution.

With all the blessings we passed along to her.

Two sweet boys playing in the courtyard. They were actually banging those bricks down on the edge in front of them! Boys will be boys, no matter what country you're in.

It seems the weather may not be so great for the rest of our stay. We still have two clinic days, one of which is in a slum, no walls or roofs to protect us from rain. Please pray for clear weather for us! I'd better get to sleep now. It's going to be busy, regardless of the weather.

By the way, for more photos and stories, you can check out the Speroway blog here.

Buenos Noches.

El Savador: Day Two

2011-03-30T00:12:00.000-04:00

Hola!
It really doesn't feel like only day two. It feels like we've been here for a while already! We've done so much work so far.

Today we were in a community called Santa Maria Ostuma. I don't have a final count, but medical was around 570. The mayor and other dignitaries were there to greet us with a little speech and a plaque. They put in a lot of prep work to make things run smoothly. We set up in some community spaces, not sure exactly what they were before we moved in, but it was not a school. The rooms were much larger and, thankfully, cooler than yesterday's.

Our day went fairly smoothly, a little slow at times. And although we don't like to wait for patients, it did give me a chance to take some photos. But first a couple from yesterday:

One of the little cuties I got to provide with meds.

We even take care of our security detail. This particular police officer was with us last year as well. She's tough! And yes, that is a semi-automatic weapon on her shoulder. They carry them around all day, along with at least one hand gun, maybe two. We are well-protected. That's Douglas, one of our interpreters counselling with her.

This is Flor, counselling with a whole family.

This afternoon was a bit crazy. We really had to stop seeing patients so we could get out of there at a reasonable time, but there were still about 100 people in line. Unfortunately, sometimes this happens. We just run out of time. Some of these times it's important for us to leave on time because if we stay later, we could be in danger. I don't know if that was the case today, but I do know it was a long bus ride home, 1 hour and 40 minutes! So, even though the medics stopped seeing patients, we gathered up some Medbendazole and vitamins and the medics handed them out the people in the line, while we gave meds to the last people and dental started packing up. It's sad that some of these people walked for a couple of hours to get to our clinic, only to be turned away. It's truly out of our hands, especially when the police are telling us they're concerned about the crowd forming. We don't feel good about telling people they're too late, turning them away empty-handed. It's very difficult to do that. But there are things we just can't do and one of them is stay until every single person in line is seen by a medic, even when it's starting to get dark. It's times like that when I remind myself that those people are in God's hands. He is there, even when we're not.

As I mentioned earlier, I got the chance to take a number of photos. Enjoy!

The line greeting us when we arrived. Click to get a better feel for this.

The sugary coloured water that everyone drinks, being poured into a bag. That's the the way they drink it. But we really wish they wouldn't. Just an example of the poor diet.

We saw a lot of people in their 70s and 80s, with some even older.

This sweetie was waiting for her mom to finish with the sugar drink. She just would not smile, no matter what I did. It's good to see her drinking bottled water.

A little guy who was completely enthralled by what Chris was telling his mom.

Well, it's off to bed for me. Thankfully tomorrow we don't have as long a drive. We're going to the home town of one of our dental assistants and her brother, both of whom are with us on this trip. Pretty neat!

Buenos Noches.

El Salvador: Day One

2011-03-28T23:59:00.000-04:00

I am back from a delicious dinner and just before I fall into bed, I thought I'd post a little update about how our day went. I don't have time for photos, and honestly, didn't have a lot of time to take many. I will try to have some up later this week, maybe tomorrow or Wednesday.

Our first clinic day was at a community called El Cedro. FTC has a feeding centre there. Five times a week they feed 83 children! Amazing. We set up in the school of that community, taking over classrooms and changing them into Dental, Medical, Pharmacy and Distribution areas. We were able to give some hope to 604 medical patients and 65 dental today. 669 people felt the love of Jesus and were given a brighter tomorrow. It's incredible what 25 Canadians, when joined with local El Salvadorans can accomplish! God is so good, allowing us to serve in such a wonderful way.

I heard a couple heartbreaking stories just tonight over dinner. One woman hasn't been sleeping well because her two brothers were recently shot to death. We gave her something to help her sleep. Another woman told of being shot in the head, while riding a bus through a gang fight, just a couple years ago. She was holding her baby, spent 8 days in the hospital and part of the bullet is still in her head! I know that both these women will feel better, no matter what their symptoms because someone was willing to listen to them. We don't just give out meds, we also hand out love.

If you've spoken to me about this trip before we left, you'll know that I had a goal of doing some counselling with patients, explaining in Spanish what their meds are for and how to take them. I had been doing some practicing before we left. It turns out that only one of our Canadian team is actually doing the counselling, my husband, Chris, because of the way we set things up with our two translators. So I may not reach that goal this time. We'll see, but I'd be okay doing it this way.

Speaking of translators, Flor and Douglas are incredible! We get all the medications together, put them in nice neat piles on a table and they explain everything to the patients. They are on their feet as much as the rest of us and they're talking almost non-stop. Almost all our translators are Grade 12 students from a local school and I have to say, we are pretty blessed by them.

I spent the whole day on my feet, filling prescriptions. No bagging drugs for me this time around, although I think I'll need to take a few breaks and do just that tomorrow. My legs and especially my feet are so very sore right now. Hopefully a good night's sleep will take care of that and I'll be raring to go for our early departure, 7am!

Now I'd better get to sleep. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for me, my husband and our whole team!

Buenos Noches.

El Salvador: Prep Day

2011-03-27T19:56:00.000-04:00

Hola, mi amigos! I am writing from sunny, warm, comfortably breezy San Salvador, El Salvador. Today the weather is beautiful and it's a good thing because we did a lot of prep work for our week.

There have been an incredible amount of issues and problems we have had to deal with, even before we left Canada. First we found out that our team from Guatemala, a group that comes with us each and every mission, would not be coming this time. They needed to stay in Guatemala to help with another team from the US. We also discovered that a man, Efrain, who does a ton of leg work for us before hand, such as purchasing all the medications we hand out, was fired from his position and wouldn't be here, either. That also meant, no drugs. We found all this out last Sunday, a week ago. YIKES!

Then, when we arrived at the airport, we found out that 3 of our medics had either an injury or family crisis and wouldn't be coming with us either. Another YIKES! We also discovered this morning that our 1000s of patients sheets were photocopied incorrectly and that some of the meds were just too expensive or not available.

(Just as an aside, being a Christian, I, and other members of our team who are also believers, firmly feel that Satan is trying to side line us. He's fighting hard to keep us from doing the work God has placed us here to do. Please pray for our spiritual protection!)

So, what does all this mean? There was some serious scrambling this week to purchase meds, copy sheets, find more medics, and just make sure we had everything we needed. It also meant that when we arrived, we had a lot of preparation to do. The boxes where we keep the medicines as we dispense them were still empty. This is something that is usually completed by the Guatemalans before we arrive. On top of the usual prep of bagging children's chewable vitamins and Mebendasole, an anti-parasitic med, we also had to fill the boxes, and make sure we had all our drugs.

The chewable vitamins, to be divided into bags of 30.

The big bottle in the front of this table is the Mebendazole, divided into different numbers for families.

Boxes of meds, ready for our distributing boxes.

Distributing boxes, almost ready to go, lined up down the hotel hallway.

Other team members went through the dental equipment and made sure it was ready. Some worked on getting the items the medics would need ready. Still others sorted through the huge pile of donated items for distribution.

Boxes used to sort items for different days.

The piles are big, which is great.

Checking if the individual items are suitable. We got a lot of used clothing, not in good shape this time. Take note, if donating used items, make sure they look almost new, no holes or stains, please!

As I'm writing this, Chris is meeting with all the medics and they're going over what types of sympotms they can expect to see, diagnosing, how to fill in the patient sheets, etc. It's been a busy day, but the fun hasn't even started yet, really. Tomorrow is our first clinic day and we'll be busier than we were today by far! But it's what we're here for, to work, to help, to bring God's love to these people. I can't wait to see who will touch my heart tomorrow.

Masculine Cards, Mostly, and Special Japan Stamp Set!

2011-03-24T14:09:00.002-04:00

I've got a quick post before I leave for El Salvador! We're heading to the airport for 8am on Saturday. It's going to be an interesting trip since we've had a few hiccups come up just this week. Stay tuned here for updates and photos.

Since we're going away, my calendar hasn't been full of workshops, gatherings, etc. and I've had a chance to play, just for the sake of playing. I'm really enjoying one of the workshops in Wishes, which I used for my own bulk birthday card workshop earlier this month. I'll post those photos when I get back. I've only got a few done from this set using Lucky, but I really wanted to share them and I promised another consultant I would post them soon. The Just Because workshop allows you to create 20 cards, 2 each of 10 designs. I had fun making them each individual. And although I was thinking mostly of masculine cards, I ended up making a couple more feminine ones as well. I used the Lucky Level 2 paper kit, our new Kraft paper (love, love, love working with it), Olive cardstock and our Colonial White card bases.

Card 1:

Card 2:

Card 3:

Card 4:

Card 5 (one of them):

I used so many different stamp sets, too many to list. They were spread all over my tables! I also used the Lucky Level 2 Assortment chipboard embellishments. They are awesome to work with, kraft chipboard with colour and clear embossed designs on them. In fact you can even ink them up like I did on the arrow on the left card 4. Click on the photos to see them bigger and you'll really get a good look at this fun product. I dug into my Outdoor Denim Mini-Medleys for these cards as well as adding some hemp and Twill ribbon.

That's all I've got for you for now. I'll post the rest of the cards as soon as I get them finished and can get them up here.

On another exciting note, CTMH has announced a fabulous way for you to support the relief effort in Japan and get a gorgeous stamp set out of it. Until April 30, you can purchase the Hope for Japan stamp set, retail of $8.75, for just $5 and all the proceeds go to the Red Cross effort in Japan. How great is that? Here's what the set looks like:

Isn't it just beautiful? Add it to your order today!

Please pray for our team in El Salvador, for safety and peace and that everything will go smoothly despite some issues. And pray that I get up the nerve to do some patient counselling this time, in Spanish! Yikes, I'm nervous about that.

In the mean time,

Happy Creating!

Want to Win???

2011-03-18T13:10:00.000-04:00

I know I do. A fellow CTMH Consultant has opened a new business, making Ribbon Carousels, and these are gorgeous and incredibly functional! I can just picture this sitting on a shelf or on my table in my studio.

You can win one of these! Just check out Katie's blog for details. But don't wait too long. This contest is over at noon today, MT.

Using Up My Paper

2011-03-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

I'm trying so hard to use up my old paper and I find the best way to do that is to make cards. I don't have to worry about finding photos that match and can just play with no limitations.

These cards were made with a paper kit we had as a promotion a long time ago, called Tickled Pink. All these designs are from either Originals or Wishes. I've also used some of the die cuts that came with the kit as well as lots of different embellishments, stamps and rub-ons. Here are some individual photos of each card.

This card also used our Irresistible sticker alphabet.

I have made two 2-page layouts, all these cards and I still have some scraps left! I will finish this kit. I will finish this kit. I will finish this kit!

I'd love to hear which one you like best.

Happy Creating!

CTMH: March Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

2011-02-28T21:00:00.006-05:00

We have arrived at another month and another blog hop. If you are new to this, welcome! It's great to have you join us. It's quite simple to follow the hop. At the end of each post you'll see a link to the next. Just click it and away you go. You'll see some fabulous artwork made with Sensational Season, March's Stamp-of-the-Month, and when you get back here, you've seen it all.
If you arrived here from Traci's blog, then you already know what you're doing and you're on the right track.

Here is what this stamp set looks like:

Isn't it cute? I love the "Peter Rabbit" look of these stamps. So, that's the look I went for when I created this card.

(I have to give credit for some serious help and suggestions to a couple of my team members, Lynn and Heather. I made this during one of our meetings. Thanks, ladies!)

There is nothing but ink on this card. I stamped the bunnies with Desert Sand ink. I used Black to stamp the sentiment and added the quotation marks from the small Chocolate alphabet to give it a "book" look. To put some colour on the bunnies I used our watercolour pencils and blending pen. Then using a couple sponges I added some blue and green around the images. I made this a while ago and I'm not sure which inks I used. I also sponged some more Desert Sand around the whole card. I can not get the colours to look right for some reason, so I apologize for that. That's it. Cute card done. ;)

And now you get to check out Georgia's blog and see the beautiful artwork she's created. Have fun!

CTMH: Acrylic Album Finally Finished!

2011-02-25T17:09:00.001-05:00

I have had this album since it first came out, 2 1/2 years ago! It's not that it's so difficult to do, I just kept putting it on the back burner. To be honest, I'm sort of glad that I did wait to finish it. I have better photos and better embellishments now! So, good things do come to those who wait. Hee, hee.

Here is the front cover:

I had so much fun making this. I used Magic Moments Level 2, My Stickese from Level 1, Level 2 and a scrapbooking kit we sold a while ago. I used all sorts of rub-ons in black from CTMH, irresistible letter stickers, ribbon, sparkles, etc, etc. There's so much and I love it so much! Here are the rest of the pages:

If you want to get a closer look at all the different things I did, just click on the photo to see it larger. If you were fortunate enough to snatch up one of these albums while they were on the "While Supplies Last" page on my website, I hope this gives you some ideas. A lot of the rub-ons I used are currently on that sale page and they're only $2.25! An amazing deal. Click here to go directly to the sales.

Happy Shopping and Creating!

A Final Studio J Layout

2011-02-22T15:09:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while since I posted and I blame it on my desire to get published. You see, my friend, Sarah, got published in Paper Crafts' Stamp It issue (Check out her stunning card on page 61!) and she's inspired me to submit some work as well. They have a call out for their next Sketches issue so I've been creating some cards to submit. It's really challenging me to see how I can make my work better and different so it stands out. So, that's been keeping me from my dear blog friends.

On to my last Studio J layout, at least for now.

I love how easy it is to add embellishments to these layouts. Here is what it looked like before I added anything to it:

I used the Splash Zone paper kit, but changed the colours to suit my photos a bit better. Here is what it looks like now:

I know it doesn't look like much has changed, but look closer:

I had lots of fun adding Liquid Glass and Glitz Glitter Gel on the title and patterns. It adds such a fun look!

Still haven't tried Studio J? You have until the end of the month to get a free layout if you purchase 9. This offer is only available for members, so if you're wondering what that's about give me a call or send an email quickly. Time is running out!

Happy Creating! And keep your fingers crossed for me! The deadline is Feb. 28.

CTMH: February Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

2011-01-31T21:00:00.008-05:00

It's time for another blog hop with our fabulous February Stamp-of-the-Month, Friendship. This month we have such a classy stamp set, full of damask images to create beautiful, classic, sophisticated artwork. If this is your first time experiencing the blog hop, just grab a cup of your favourite beverage and a snack and settle in for some stunning inspiration with this stamp set. Just click the link at the end of each post to take you all around this circular hop. When you end up here, you've hit them all. If you've come here from Debra's blog, you're on the right path.

Here is my card:

Did you know that Grey is the new Black? I love how it looks with a pop of Cotton Candy pink on this card. I'm going to have to use it more often. I was tempted to make another one with Blue or Green sparkles, but I ran out of time. The grey is looking a little black in this image, and the sparkles are a little washed out. I apologize. We're painting my workshop space and I couldn't find what I usually use for backdrops, forcing me to resort to other methods. You'll have to imagine things are brighter.

I used my favourite image from this set and stamped it numerous times right on the card base, using Grey Flannel. Then, using the same colour, I stamped the sentiment and matted it with the back of one of the papers from the new Sweetheart Level 2 paper pack. I went all out with the pick sparkles. I love those coloured sparkles!

Here is the inside:

The damask image is stamped in second generation, with a couple more sparkles on it. What a lovely sentiment that is!

Here is a card one of my team members created using the Wings paper pack:

So pretty and elegant, and I love how the big image stamped on the envelope just has that "old-world" feel to it. Great job, Tonya!

Now, it's time to hop on over to Georgia's blog and check out the gorgeous artwork she's created with this set. Thanks for stopping by. And please, leave Tonya a little love and tell me what colour you would pair with Grey.

Happy Creating!

CTMH: Oh, Our Ink!

2011-01-21T07:00:00.006-05:00

Today is going to be a short one, my last post in this fun "Freebie Week", as I have dubbed it. Still not sure what that means? You've got until midnight tonight to ask and find out.

I love our stamp pad design. Did you know that in order to keep your stamp pad surface juicy, you should store the ink pad upside down? Well, CTMH has solved that by putting the ink pad in the lid! Fabulous and innovative.

I love that the stamp pad opens up and flips inside itself. I know some people have a tough time opening and closing the stamp pad. I discovered a neat little trick that another consultant shared with me. Slide your thumb nail in the little opening as you open the stamp pad to help it pop open.

Would you like to hear what else I love about CTMH's stamp pad? I love that it's raised higher than the base it sits in. It makes it easy to stamp with big stamps (no lines), edge distress, and even do this neat criss-cross technique that I wish I had time to show you.

What about the actual ink, you ask? Well, except for a few, they are all water-based, dry super quick, and match all the rest of our products in the 60-colour palette. It's pure perfection.

But, of course, you already love the Close To My Heart stamp pad, so that means you're going to love emailing me to tell me that stamp pad is the key word for today. You might just benefit from that...

Thanks for joining me on this fun week. I hope you've learned something and gotten something you can take away with you.

I'll be back with more artwork next time. Happy Creating!

CTMH: Re-Inker Isn't Just For Re-Inking

2011-01-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

Oh, what fun I'm having posting every day this week. Have you taken advantage of my special week, yet? Email or call me to find out what's so special about these posts. But don't wait because it's over tomorrow!

Today, I'm going to give you a bit of a sneak peek at some brand new paper that you will be able to purchase beginning February 1st. I've also had lots of fun with re-inker. What is this stuff? Well, it's a little bottle used to add ink to your ink pads once that nice juicy feel goes away and your images aren't inking up nicely anymore. Instead of buying a whole new ink pad (What do you do with the old one, anyway?), just purchase a bottle of re-inker. It will last for a LOOONG time if that's all you use it for. But did you know that re-inker can be used for lots of other things, too?

I made up a little tutorial (my first one!) to show you how to use your re-inker to made your own little ink pad, called a puddle pad. First, choose two or three different colours of re-inker that matches your paper. I've only got two because I'm only just starting to learn about all the neat things you can do with re-inker so I don't have too many colours yet. I'm using Smoothie and Cocoa. You'll also need a few baby wipes, folded and placed in a tray.

Start with the darkest colour and just put drops onto the baby wipe, making sure you're covering an area large enough for your stamp plus a bit.

Then add your other colours, darkest to lightest. Don't worry if there's some empty spaces between the drops because they'll all blend together.

Then stamp away. Move your stamp around a tiny bit to get some more blending of colours. Here you can see my three different tries. Neat isn't it?

Now, you're ready to add it to your project. And you're also ready to see the next thing you can do with re-inker!

We have a fabulous new product called the spray pen. It's such a neat little tool. You can mix water, re-inker, and Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint to spray a wonderful shimmering mist on your project. In the following photo, you can see that I've already added water and re-inker to my spray pen.

When you add the paint, your mixture will look lighter. How much of each you add is up to you. Use the lines on the side to help you. One suggestion is to add water until the 7th line, re-inker until it reaches the 9th and 3 drops of paint. That creates quite a bit of mixture so if you're just using it for a small project, just use less.

Then spray your project. Make sure you protect your work area and even practice a bit on a scrap piece of paper so you know how hard to press for the effect you want. I covered the back of my card as well.

And here is my assembled card. I love the finished product!

The re-inker just added such a nice polished look to my card. I used paper from the new Mayberry Level 2 kit. It might be my favourite from the 8 new paper packs in the new Idea Book! I used the January Stamp-of-the-Month, which you can still order. I used my craft knife to cut around the top wing and pop it out a bit. You can see that in the next photo. I added some Mocha Opaques and my card was finished. See that wonderful shimmer?

So, use your re-inker for something special and tell me what you did. I'd love to learn some more neat techniques.

Still don't know why I keep bolding some words? Ask and you shall know...

Happy Creating!

CTMH: Chipboard Should be Called Fun-Board!

2011-01-19T07:00:00.001-05:00

Okay, I know that title is a little silly, but I love chipboard, and I especially love CTMH's Dimensional Elements Hearts. My problem is I forget to use all the fun chipboard shapes I own. It's silly, really. I was going back through the photos of all my artwork I have taken and only a few actually have chipboard on them! What's wrong with me?! Maybe this post will help me use up my stash.
Close To My Heart has created white chipboard which means you can leave it as is, or do just about anything else to it. This layout, which I posted about a half year ago, has lots of ideas for how to use Dimensional Elements Hearts, or any shape.

I've covered a circle with paper and then added dots of Liquid Glass, inked up two flowers with a brayer and then removed some layers so they're not too thick and then stamped and added a rub-on, inked up an embossed bracket so a pattern shows through, added 4 different colours to a letter and blended them together a bit, scored and inked up a heart to turn it into a journaling space, and inked and distressed a book plate. Wow, that's a lot of different things you can do with your Dimensional Elements Hearts. And since we're focusing on hearts, here's a card I where I used another one.

Perfect for Valentine's Day, which is fast approaching! Maybe I should use up my Dimensional Elements Hearts for cards this year. What will you use your's for?

Curious about all the bolded words? There's a reason. But you'll have to call or email me to find out...

Happy Creating!

CTMH: Mix It Up!

2011-01-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

Today I want to talk about Close To My Heart's Mini-Medley Accents. They are so much fun to use and make accessorizing (is that a word?) your cards and layouts a breeze! Especially if you combine a couple colours together.

There are a couple things that are helpful to remember when you're working with embellishments. First of all, ground them somewhere on your project. Give them a place that makes sense and connects with the other parts of your project. Notice where I placed those buttons on the card below? Right on the edge of the image and over the twill ribbon. They connect those two parts together. Putting a row of brads, from your choice of one of the Mini-Medley Accents packages along the edge can often draw the eye to other similar

Second, you'll want to think in terms of odd numbers. This is a rule that applies all over the place, in art and even interior decorating. Odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye. It goes back to how creating was made, odd numbers in flowers and leaves. Beautiful. The layout below has just 5 flowers. This is a layout I made a while ago. That's my mom, isn't it gorgeous photo?

What is in a package of Mini-Medley Accents? They include a variety of embellishments, all in the same colour. Depending on which colour of Mini-Medley Accents you choose, you could get brads, buttons, ribbon, photo clips, metal tags, book plates ... and they all match the CTMH colour palette exactly.

How do you use the Mini-Medley Accents on your layouts? Have other "rules" to remember as you create? Share them. I'd love to learn from you, too!

Curious about all the bolded words? There's a reason. But you'll have to call or email me to find out... In the mean time, happy creating!

CTMH: A Wonderful Gift

2011-01-17T07:00:00.004-05:00

I just had to share these two projects I created for my mom and dad. This was a workshop I held in December. We used a Level 1 Kit to decorate up a 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album. I took my favourite photos from this year and created two albums, one for each of my kids.
The first 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album is all about my daughter. I used the Splendor kit, as well as a Colonial White Mini-Medley and the set of brads that match the Splendor paper (can't remember what they're called right now!).

I added some Liquid Glass as well to this 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album, although it's hard to see in these photos. I apologize for not having a good photo of it all unfolded, but I took these photos quickly before giving them to my parents. I actually had to unwrap them to take the photos! Yeah, I was really thinking there.

Here is the second 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album that I made with my son's photos. I used the You Rock Level 1 kit and Outdoor Denim Mini-Medleys as well as a bit of hemp here, too.

I had fun adding Glitz Glitter Gel and Liquid Glass to this 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album as well.

There are other things you can do with the 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album. If you turn it the vertical way, you can create a wall hanging, or cut the 6x6 My Creations Memory Showcase Accordion Album apart and just use the front and back chipboard covers that way as well.

Curious about all the bolded words? There's a reason. But you'll have to call or email me to find out...

Until tomorrow,
Happy Creating!

Christmas Club Layout: Our Imperfect Tree

2011-01-13T15:06:00.000-05:00

We have a fake tree. It was a difficult decision, but when Nathaniel was just over a year, he was into everything and I had visions of pine needles being spread all over the house. We found one at Michaels, discounted because the lights didn't work. The great thing is, the tree never had any lights! Something written on the box got us a great deal. Hee, hee!
This year our kids really got into decorating our tree, which resulted in a far-from-perfect tree, but I think it turned out beautifully. Sure, all our little snowmen are hanging on one branch. Sure, a pile of ornaments are facing into the tree instead of out. And despite the fact that one string of lights stopped working just hours after we finished, I really did love our tree.

This layout is the one my club made last Friday. I love the way it turned out.

The tree is made of 1" strips of paper that were cut on diagonals in different lengths. I purposely put them in the wrong order and a little on edge because of my imperfect theme. Even my journaling is a little imperfect, although not on purpose! We used the Mistletoe paper pack, some sparkles, Glitz Glitter Gel, the October Stamp-of-the-Month (Sharing the Magic), and lots of ink distressing in Cocoa.

The title circle was cut and embossed using my new Nestabilities, and then popped with 3-D Foam Tape.

The little white spots on the above photo shows the Glitz we added for more bling! Don't forget to do a layout about your tree, no matter how perfect.

Happy Creating!

CTMH's Memory Keeper Gift

2011-01-06T17:09:00.001-05:00

I really wish I had gotten one of these before now. They are now retired and no longer available and the one I bought for my own cards I decided to do this with it. I really do love how this turned out and I'm more than happy to be giving it away.
A couple in our Bible Study group is getting married on Saturday. I made a 9x9 Accordion Album for some of their wedding photos and their invitation. The Memory Keeper was the perfect place to house it.
Here is the album (Don't forget you can click on each photo to see them larger):

And here are a few photos of the Memory Keeper:

There are a lot of Pearl Opaques and silver embossing. The chipboard letters on the top of the box are K & Company. The glitter was already there; I just inked them up in Indian Corn Blue. The paper flowers were made with Tracey Mason's help and the ribbon flower is made from White Daisy grosgrain. I used lots of different stamp sets (including the new E-sized alphabet!) and sponged just about all the paper in Indian Corn Blue, since that was the colour in their invitation. All the patterned paper is from Magnifique. I just used the backs for a nice mono-chromatic look.

Thanks for checking out all these photos. I'd love to hear what you think!

Happy Creating!

Blog Candy Winner!

2011-01-05T12:19:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Sharon Luff for winning our blog candy. Email me your mailing address and I'll put those 10 cards in the mail.

CTMH January Blog Hop

2010-12-31T21:00:00.014-05:00

Happy New Year! What amazing things do you think are in store for you in 2011? I can hardly wait to find out what God has planned for me.
Welcome to the first SOTM Blog Hop for this new year. If you arrived from Lori's blog, then you are on the right path. Is this your first time hopping with us? It's super easy. At the end of each blog post, you'll find a link to click on to hop you to the next one. When you get back here, you've hit them all.
The stamp-of-the-month this month is just gorgeous, full of beautiful images like a bird, a butterfly and a dress form created out of wonderfully inspiring words. I was so excited when my new product arrived that I had to work with it for this card. I'm sure you'll see lots of artwork on the hop made with the new Wings paper. It's stunning!

Here is my card:

I used a clear card as my base. Then added the Wings paper, Black Mini-Medleys and the Wings Level 2 Assortment (that fabulous black ribbon), all of which are new products available this month! I stamped the butterfly in Vineyard Berry on the Colonial White piece and then on another piece so I could cut it out and pop its wings, using the Rock 'n' Roll technique in Black on the top one. Look closely at those fabulous words.

Here is a photo of the inside:

I again stamped the butterfly rockin' and rollin', but in second generation. I don't have a close up of the words there, but click on the image and you can see it bigger. All the papers except the inside patten were ink distressed with Black.

I hope you like it as much as I do! And if you are a customer of mine, or don't have your own consultant, email me to find out how you can get these products and unlock some more amazing deals this month!

Now it's time for you to hop on over to Nancy's blog and see what wonderful things she's made. Happy Creating!

I'm Giving Away Blog Candy!

2010-12-29T12:28:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I know I'm a few days late, but I still wanted to say it. I hope you had a blessed Christmas spent with family and friends. We were able to spend Christmas Day with my husband's mom and sister and her family for the very first time! It was so nice, extra special.
Anyway, I've finally decided on my blog candy. I've now reached 104 followers! Wow, I can hardly believe it. So fun!
Here is what one lucky follower will receive:

This blog candy includes ten, yes 10, cards made by me. Some of them are from past Workshops-on-the-Go so they may seem familiar.

How do you win? Well, you get one chance just for being a follower. Post a comment and you'll get another chance. Share my blog candy on your blog and then let me know and you'll get another chance!

I'll draw a winner one week from today, Wednesday, January 5.

Happy Creating!

Studio J: Don't have it? Studio J it!

2010-12-18T16:09:00.000-05:00

There are so many things happening at my house right now, in fact it's felt like that for a few months! I'm so looking forward to the Christmas holidays, which have officially started now that my kids are off school. The holidays mean I can take a bit of a breather. We can have pajama days here at home, take our time in the morning, and there aren't a million things pulling me in all sorts of directions.
Another thing I love about this time is spending time with family. For the first time we will be able to celebrate Christmas with my husband's family! They just recently moved to our province, only an hour and a half away. My family (brother and his family, sister, mom and dad) have always been close. We get together a lot.
Here is a layout I did of one of those times. I think it was just a normal Sunday afternoon. I was staying with my parents because my hubby was in Central America. (This is before I started going along.) Since I was there, my brother and his family came for the afternoon. That almost bald guy is my twin brother. Okay, he just shaves his head. ;) You can click on the photo to see it larger.

This layout is an example of one of the perks to using Studio J. The paper kit I used is called Zipidee. I don't own any of the classic Level 2 kit, never have. But now I have a layout made with it. I think the colours on this page work perfectly with my photos. I didn't add much to the page, other than colourize the suggested embellishments. This one was a pretty quick layout.

I love scrapbooking the unique relationship my kids have with their Uncle Tony. He's a pretty crazy guy and did just about anything to get a grin from Nathaniel here, or at least to keep him riveted to his face.

So, what special relationship do you love to celebrate in your layouts? I'd love to hear about it.

Happy Creating! (And stay tuned for some blog candy! I promise it is coming.)

CTMH: Any-Purpose Club Layout

2010-12-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this layout for a couple weeks. I decided to do a fairly generic theme so my club members could use it for just about anything. And since paper flowers are so much fun to make, we did that as well. (Just click on the photo to see it larger.)

This is one of the layouts from our new How-To book, Magic, although I chose to leave the interactive portion out of this one. I am really trying hard to use up older paper, so we created this layout with Grace. I love the earthy tones in it. We also used Picture Perfect for the stamped titles and Comments for the journaling lines. The following photos are close-ups of the embellishment clusters and you can see where we inked and scored the Cocoa cardstock at every 1/2 inch. You'll also notice that we edged everything, except the darker patterned paper, with a Direct-to-Paper technique in Cocoa ink. Just brush your ink pad along the edges of the paper.

You may notice that my paper flowers don't look like the ones you're used to seeing. I chose to only use 3 or 4 layers (cut with my NEW Nestibilities!). I didn't want them to be too bulky since these pages will be going into albums.

For my club members who are using this post to help them create this layout, here is a photo of what each flower needs from your little embellishment package.

I just realized that the little gold brad sitting on top of the larger blue/yellow scallops is supposed to go with the smaller set! Sorry about that.

Here are a couple links to YouTube videos so you'll know how to create the flowers.

This one is for the larger blue/yellow one with the button on top. You can skip the cutting part, just jump to the section where she starts scrunching them all up. This one is for the other two flowers. Again, just skip to where they are scrunched. We sprayed them with a tiny bit of water to make them harder when they're dry.

As for the Bitty Sparkles, tiny Pearl Opaques, and brads I included in your package, it's up to you where you'd like to put them. The photos above show you how I used them.

Have fun and email or phone me if you have any questions.
Happy Creating!

Guatemala: Stunning!

2010-12-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

This country was just gorgeous! I don't know what your thoughts are on how our world came to be, but I believe that God created it with his words. Driving through this country made me think that God really had some fun in Guatemala. He took His great fingers and pulled up the earth here, molded it there, and pushed down deep with the heel of His hand in that place. And all the while, He was thinking about how we humans would work with what He'd done.
Here are a couple photos I took:

This one was taken from our hotel window.

This is Antigua.

The next couple photos I found online. I tried so hard to get a photo of the mountains and valleys as we drove up the volcano on two of our days, but I always missed the view or the photos were blurry. The buses never stopped for photo-ops.

This photo is exactly what we saw on our drives. Imagine that the road is just leveling out after a steep descent.

I also took some fun photos in Antigua, along with a few more of that amazing cross. Antigua is a historical site, so the people who live there are not allowed to build anything over the ruins there. They're beautiful!

Yes, that is the peak of the volcano above the cloud.

Guatemala is truly a beautiful country and I feel so blessed to have been able to work there, helping their people. God is giving me His eyes and heart for the people of Central America. My thoughts and feelings stayed in Guatemala for a number of days after we got back home. It was hard to get back into the swing of daily life here, when all I could think about was their stories and faces. My heart breaks for the pain and loss they experience and the hardships they deal with on a daily basis. I pray, as we prepare to go back to El Salvador in March, that God will continue to show me His people through His eyes and with His heart. I know it breaks, too, when He sees what His beloved creations go through, in Central America, in North America and all over the globe. May Jesus' love heal wounds, restore relationships, and bring peace all around the world.
Okay, I'd better stop. I'm tearing up again!
Blessings to you, my blog readers and Happy Creating!

CTMH December STOM Blog Hop

2010-11-30T21:00:00.005-05:00

Welcome to the SOTM Blog Hop! If you're coming from Katy's blog, I'm sure you've seen some fabulous artwork, and you're on the right track. Is this your first time hopping? Well, just keep on clicking through the links until you get back here.
I can not believe how fast November went! It seems like I blinked and it was gone. But I guess going to Guatemala, then running the bazaar at my daughter's school, will do that.
I'm so happy to be back on the Blog Hop again! The stamp set this month is called Amore and it's definitely all about love. Now I'm not a really lovey-dovey person and looking at this set, I think lovey-dovey. It is perfect for Valentines Day cards, which I don't make too many of. So I challenged myself, again, to think outside the box, so I made ... a box. I was working on hostess gifts for upcoming gatherings and I decided to make sure I used the SOTM set. This is what I came up with:

This little box is the perfect size for four 3x3 cards and our little Petite Perks stamp set. I got the pattern and instructions from another blog. I'll update this post with the link soon. The Emporium Level 2 paper pack is the inspiration for this project.

Here are the four cards that go in the box. I used a few stamp sets, but mostly Connections, except for the top right card.

I've made two of these hostess gifts. My hostess on Thursday night will get one, but the second one is still up for grabs. Want one? Book a gathering with me soon.

Now to explain how I made these two cards. I used the postage stamp image for the middle. But the swirls in the background, behind that image are actually the big heart image. I only used the point section of the heart and stamped it twice on my project. I love how it looks. But here's a question for you. Which do you like better? The card on the left was stamped with Heavenly Blue and the one on the right with Sky. What do you think?

Thanks for hopping in to visit me. To my regular readers, I'll have that promised post about Guatemala up soon, very soon. It's now time to pop over to Kristie's blog and see the beautiful work she's done.

Happy Creating!

CTMH: Christmas Card Workshop

2010-11-25T10:49:00.000-05:00

Every year I have a big Christmas Card workshop. We make 20 cards in about 3 hours. These aren't really involved cards and they're fairly flat so they can be mailed easily.
This year we used Mistletoe Level 2 and the Creative Basics paper packs. We used all kinds of stamp sets, especially new ones. Here are the cards:

Stamp set: A Timber

Stamp Set: Snow Days

Stamp Sets: A-Dorn-Able, Peace on Earth

Stamp Sets: No Greater Love (retired), Everlasting Life

Stamp Set: Tannenbaum

Each participant will receive a complete package of Mocha Opaques (They hadn't arrived in time for the workshop). I also provided some Pearl Opaques for one card and Bitty Sparkles (Love those!) for another. We added some Glitz Glitter Gel to the ornament as well.

I hope these give you some inspiration for your own Christmas cards. I have one more post about Guatemala, and I still have some more Studio J layouts to share with you, and the December SOTM Blog Hop is coming up very soon. And I see that I have hit 100 Followers! Guess I'd better do something special, like some Blog Candy! Stay tuned.

Happy Creating!

FTC Canada in Guatemala, the Final Days

2010-11-15T14:41:00.000-05:00

We have arrived home and are now trying to get back into the routine of things. It seems very surreal to think that life just continued without us for a week. My kids went to school, had piano lessons, and lots of fun with Grandma. Meetings happened at church and decisions were made at school, where I'm on the board. And now I need to catch up on everything.
Despite the fact that I am very happy to be home with my sweeties, my mind is still in Guatemala, on the last two days of amazing experiences. I'm not completely sure of the numbers from Friday, but they were somewhere around 650, I think, for medical. Saturday, we treated 838 patients. Dental was around the 170 mark.
On Friday we were at another community that had been affected by the volcano in May. Here are a few photos:

Saw this gentleman on the way to our clinic site.

This is what remains of this section of the school, a large portion just destroyed by the volcano. They were still in the process of replacing the roof and hooking up electricity in the other section.

The line-up greeting us as we arrived.

This gentleman just broke my heart. As he sat waiting for his prescriptions, I couldn't help but take his photo. I don't ever want to forget the look of sadness and despair on his face. This is why we do these missions, to put a smile back on faces like these. I wish I knew what his story was.

______________________________________________

Saturday was another busy day. We were down in a lower spot, close to the lake, so it wasn't as cold. The school seemed like it was built right into the mountain, though. The building on one side, with a courtyard/basketball court beside it. On the other side was a huge concrete wall. The concrete was put on the side of the hill to eliminate erosion. Right at the top was a slum area, with houses built almost to the edge of this cliff. I wish I had a photo so you could really understand what it looked like. No railing for part of it, kids standing there, watching us below. A little scary.

I learned about a woman who came in with a large growth on her breast. It measured 15cmx20cm! Sacha, one of our medics who comes from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said she needed a biopsy to find out if it was cancerous, which she was pretty sure it was, then chemotherapy and radiation possibly. Without these things, she will die. FTC Guatemala will be taking charge of making sure she gets the medical help she needs, with funding help from FTC Canada. Sometimes we're not just giving them a little help; sometimes we can provide a lot!

I didn't have a lot of time to take photos, but here is one from our clinic:

This family was so cute. The little boy in the middle looked to be about 2 years old and he was chattering away the entire time they waited for their meds. When I wanted to take a photo, the little girl in the back and the taller boy both hid behind their mother so this was my second attempt.

__________________________________________________

Here are a few photos of our team:

Pharmacy Team

Dental Team

Distribution Team, with the entire Guatemalan Team and the people who handed out glasses.

Medical team, with translators.

It takes a lot of people to make these clinics work and we so appreciate the Guatemalan FTC team that comes with us every time. It was a treat to be in their country this time. We also couldn't do anything without the translators that sit with each medic. This has been an amazing group of people to work with!

Check out the FTC Canada blog for more details, wonderful stories, and even video about our trip. John did a great job with it.

Thank you, again, for all your thoughts, prayers and support. We could not be a part of this without it. We are headed back to El Salvador in March and so until then, you can enjoy more cards and layouts from me. I hope to create some layouts about this trip on Studio J soon. Watch for them!

Guatemala, Enjoying a Day Off

2010-11-11T15:35:00.000-05:00

It's been an incredible three days so far. We've had long days, working hard. And today we are relaxing. Most of our team is at the beach, but Chris and I have done that before and we were tired. It's a good day for sleeping in and hanging out in our hotel room, and avoiding a two-hour bus ride, there and back. And we can take advantage of the working internet.
Yesterday was a fabulous day. We saw 898 patients in medical. Dental blasted away their record, seeing 177 patients! We were hopping in the pharmacy all day, which is exactly how we like it. Then later we had a very special treat. We were treated to dinner at the mayor's house. This gentleman has a gorgeous property and we had a lovely dinner outside in his front yard. FTC has done a lot for his community of Palencia, and he was so incredibly appreciative. It was so nice to have that kind of reaction to our hard work. But it's not about all that. It's about the people who leave with medicines that will make their life easier or clean teeth for the first time in their lives. It's about the adorable children who play peek-a-boo with me around their mother's legs. It's about the elderly women who smile back at me with their missing teeth.
Here are a few photos from yesterday:

Local transportation. Not the kind we took, of course.

Local shop. Notice the candy hanging beside the brooms?

Until next time.

Photos from Tuesday's Clinic

2010-11-10T07:27:00.000-05:00

Dashina helping a patient.

The bottom section of steam is the one that erupted in May.

The medical line.

This little guy stayed with our team all day. He has Downs and notice the thumb on his right hand.

Two patients, already been through the line. So sweet!

A girl with her baby sister, while her mom was getting meds.

Guatemala, Day Two a Success as Well

2010-11-10T07:17:00.000-05:00

Despite my hopes, the internet was down again last night. That's just how things are here in Central America.
Day two of our clinics was a fairly smooth day. We saw 837 patients go through medical, pharmacy and most through distribution. It was pretty steady all day in the pharmacy and we were kept hopping.
One story I read on a registration sheet brought me to tears. It simply said, "had a c-section two months ago, baby died in 5 days". I knew I had to get the rest of the story from Paul, the doctor who saw her. After dinner last night I asked him. He said as far as he could tell, she was told she had a kidney infection 6 months ago and it was never treated. He didn't know exactly what happened, but there must have been complications for her to need a c-section. He also didn't know exactly why the baby died. But he did tell me that she seemed okay with it, she was handling it well. I tried to memorize her face. I don't want to forget her.
This community was at the foot of a volcano that erupted in May. We saw the damage, although a lot of the homes had been fixed. The volcano is still smoking.
Here are a few photos from the beginning of the week:

Guatemala off to a pretty good start.

2010-11-09T07:41:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Although I have to say, I'm not feeling too fabulous right now so it doesn't feel like that good a morning. My cold seems to have reared its ugly head again and I didn't sleep very well last night. Hopefully I'll feel better later.
Things have gone pretty well so far. We had good flights in, although the second one to Guatemala was VERY bumpy, in a small plane.
We spent Sunday getting ready. That meant sorting distribution items and counting vitamins. We also visited Antigua for a while, shopping at the market, seeing the sights and eating a late lunch at a coffee plantation.
Yesterday we had our first clinic day and it was pretty easy on those of us in Pharmacy. The medics seemed to moving patients through quite slowly, so we actually got some breaks throughout the day. We still ended up seeing over 600 people. Dental saw 148 patients, a record!
Today will be much of the same and with 4 more medics on Wednesday, we'll be hopping all day.
I'm sorry I don't have time to post photos. The internet connection doesn't work well in the evening and I've got to go have breakfast now. I'll see if I can post some tonight.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

CTMH's November SOTM Blog Hop

2010-10-31T20:40:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately I am not participating in the hop this month, but I didn't want you miss out if you come to my blog each month to get started on the hop. So here is a good place to start, Helen's blog. The hop goes live officially very soon, so feel free to pop on over to Helen's blog to see all the fabulous work made by CTMH consultants. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has made!
On another note, in only 6 days my husband and I will be in Guatemala. We fly out of Toronto on Saturday at 10:45am and will be in Guatemala City by 3:30pm. I'll be posting while there, so check back to see what we're doing as well as hear some stories and learn how you can pray for us. Right now we'd appreciate prayer for health. Both of us are battling cold bugs and we definitely don't want those when we're working so hard next week. We thank you in advance for your thoughts, prayers and support.
Stay tuned!

Helen's blog isn't working right now, for some reason, so here's a new link to get started. You can start at Carla's blog. She's created a beautiful card. And she's such a sweetie!

CTMH You Rock Clear Birthday Card

2010-10-30T15:28:00.000-04:00

I'm going to take a little break from Studio J to show you the latest card I made. I make a lot of cards, usually for a workshop I'm hosting or for gatherings. As a result I have a lot of cards that I can pick from when I need to send one to someone. In my last post I mentioned it was my birthday. But, I don't think many of you know that I'm actually a twin. Yup, I have a twin brother, whom I love dearly. We've always been very close. He's pretty special. We don't often get to spend our birthday together anymore and I miss that. The fact that I miss it is ironic, since all I really wanted when I was a kid was my own birthday! On Monday, our actual birthday, my brother, Tony, and his wife, Theresa, met my husband and I at our place and we got to celebrate over dinner at my favourite restaurant, The Mongolian Grill. I knew I had to make a special card just for him.

I love the size of CTMH's new clear cards and I had fun with this one. If you know Tony, you know he is a worship leader at his church and has been playing guitar since he was a teenager. The patterned paper is from You Rock Level 2. I stamped the guitar, from the Star Power stamp set, in Outdoor Denim and then embossed it three times with Clear Detail embossing powder. The banner, from Party Pennants, is stamped with Olive and Outdoor Denim. I used the Sea Foam tool from the Texture Tools to distress the edges of the papers. Those little Olive stars on the front and the larger one on the inside are from CTMH's Glitter rub-ons. The sentiment on the inside is from Party Pennants as well.

I hope this gives you some ideas for the guys in your life. My brother liked it, especially when he read the sappy stuff I wrote in it. I couldn't help myself; I was feeling very emotional. My next Studio J layout will have photos of him. Big hugs to you ... Freak!

Happy Creating!