It's the May SOTM Blog Hop!

It's a new month and that means a new Stamp-of-the-Month is available.  It also means we have another blog hop.  If you've come from Kimberly Smith's blog, you're on the right track.  If this is your first stop, just keep clicking until you get back here and you will have seen all the gorgeous artwork!  This month's stamp set is lovely.  It has some fabulous images that are perfect for adding a classic look to a card or layout, celebrating just about anything.

May also means that a new Idea Book is going live to customers.  I have chosen to use some brand new products on my card.

In fact, the card itself is new!  It's one of our new clear cards.  We have scallop circle ones and square ones with rounded corners.  I loved working with this one, my first clear card!  I also used our new Splendor paper pack, the cloud paper is one of my favourite new patterns in the whole book!  The flower and leaf are our new Irresistibles Pizzaz and the brad is a new Designer Brad that matches the Splendor pack.  Here are a couple more views:

The design is a pattern from Wishes, one of our How-To Programs.  I divided the pattern between the inside and front of the card.  You can see what I mean in the next photo.

And now, it's time to move on to the next blog, Angela Tutton.  Keep hopping to see the fabulous work she's created.  If you get lost along the way, Helen will have the whole list of participants on her blog.
Happy Creating!

Studio J Goes Live Tomorrow!

It's finally time.  Studio J will be going live to everyone, including you, tomorrow morning at 8am mountain time, 10am eastern!  You will now get the chance to create your own beautiful studio layouts in no time at all.  Choose those photos you took just yesterday and get them scrapbooked! 
How do I get to the Studio J website?  Just go to my website, simplycreating.myctmh.com, and you'll see a link to Studio J.  I'm not sure where it will be, but when I do, I'll edit this post to add that information.

Need some incentive to check out this amazing new product?  The first five customers (sorry, no consultants allowed!) who can tell me their favourite part of Studio J, will win a card handmade by me!

Please note that my website will not be accessible from midnight to 8am mountain time tomorrow morning to prepare for the Studio J "roll-out"!

Have fun!
Happy Creating!

It's Almost Studio J Time!

As consultants, we've been playing with Studio J for a little while.  I just love it!  I'm getting so much scrapbooking done.  I've completed some 2-page layouts in about 15 minutes.  I am normally a very slow worker when it comes to scrapbooking.  It takes me a while to choose which photos in particular to use, unless I don't need to worry about that step because my layout is for club and I'll add photos later.  Then I need to choose papers and try to picture what each paper would look like on my layout.  I change my mind so many times!  Then I have to choose the right pattern and once I get things cut, choose the right embellishments.  It can take me hours!  So 15 minutes for a layout was mind-blowing to me. 
These layouts look fabulous when printed.  You'd actually have to run your hand over it to realize that those brads aren't actually real brads.  Of course, you can always add your own "real" embellishments afterwards for a mix of online studio and classic.
Here's a sneak peek of a couple layouts I've made that I just love.  Just click on the images for a closer look.

One of my favourite features is that you can re-size the My Stickese to fit whatever you need, which is what I did with the kite, and the innocence and play images.

This is my favourite one so far.  I don't actually own any of this paper pack, for some reason, and so had fun playing with it on Studio J.  I can't wait to see it in person!

Stay tuned for more project examples (I'm working on our El Salvador trip right now!) and to find out when you'll get the chance to play with this great online digital scrapbooking program.

Happy Creating!

April Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop!

I'm back in the SOTM blog hop!  And so happy to be back.  This month we are featuring the set called "Flower Pot".  It is simply adroable!  Perfect for all those spring and summer occasion cards and layouts.  If you've come from Michelle's blog, then you're on the right track. If this is your first stop, be sure to keep clicking until you get back here.  There are 67 consultants participating this time so I'm sure you'll get lots of fabulous inspiration.

Here is the project I created with this sweet stamp set:

The idea for this card came from the title page in our book, Wishes.  I loved the card pictured there, so I set about copying it.  I found the pattern that was used and then used my own supplies.  I changed the colour from blue to Hollyhock and stamped the flowers from Flower Pot instead of using our Just Blooms paper flowers.  I also used Spot on Backgrounds for the dotted background, which has been adhered with 3-D Foam Tape.  The lines on the card front were scored and then sanded.  I stitched, which is still something I'm relatively new at, used a heart punch that I had given to my daughter to play with (guess I'll have to borrow it from her now) and a Dimensional Element for the large heart.  I also used a Foundry Bookplate and Hollyhock Ribbon Rounds.  I used Liquid Glass to attach the flower in the focal point.  I also added some Bitty Sparkles (love those!) and some Pewter brads.  Here is the inside:

I carried the scored and sanded look to a strip here and then stamped a few more flowers (with a few more Bitty Sparkles) and then added the sentiment.  All the stamping was done in Grey Wool ink. 

I plan on giving this to my mom for mother's day.  (I can say that because she's rarely online and doesn't look at my blog.) I am quite proud of how this turned out.  Now I want to make another one!

If you'd like to get this stamp set, just contact me today to find out how you can get it at a discount or even for free.  Only available during the month of April.

And now it's time to hop to the next blog.  Click here to go to Jenna's blog and see what lovely project she has created!

If you get lost along the way just click here to go to Helen's blog.  She's got the whole list of participants.

March Club Layout

Each month my club meets and I get to come up with a layout that is easy enough and yet challenging enough for my fabulous group of ladies.  They let me know what kind of layout they'd like to do next.  In February the discussion about what sort of theme to do in March started with an immediate "Valentine's Day" vote.  But just as quickly, there was a chorus of, "Aw, no."  Some of my members are single or don't really celebrate this holiday with photos.  So we settled on something a bit more generic and vague: celebrating relationships/family/friendship.  What a tough assignment for me!  How was I going to come up with a layout that could be used for Valentine's Day photos but also for any other relationship?
My March/April Creating Keepsakes magazine came to the rescue!  The title on one of the layouts in the magazine gave me a starting place and the sketch for scrapping 4x6 photos gave me the layout.  We had already decided to still go with the pink/red theme.  Here is the finished product:

I used the That's Amore Level 2 paper pack, Playful Flourishes and various alphabet stamp sets.  I also added some craft buttons threaded with embroidery floss and twill ribbon pleated a bit with Glue Dots.

Here are a few more photos:

The flourishes were stamped in Blush ink and then rolled a bit in Tulip.  After I cut them out, I sponged the edges a bit with a dauber.  I also sponged the edges of the buttons; love doing that!  I used the direct-to-paper technique to edge the title and blush papers.  The title spots were random stamped in second generation with both Blush and Tulip.

These photos were all taken at different times, spanning from April 2009 to January of this year.  In order for them to look cohesive on this layout, I changed them all to a sepia, which actually ended up printing almost black and white.  Still love how this turned out!  It's so nice to be able to work with photos in this way.  I hadn't gotten to scrapbooking our trip to the zoo last year and in looking for photos of my kids, I found the one of my son with his hat.  It's now one of my new favourites!

Som of my club members weren't too happy about cutting the flourishes, but they trust me and did it anyway and came away with a layout they were all very pleased with.

Live in the Durham region?  Want to join my club?  New members can join any time!  Just send me an email.  Our next club night is Friday, April 9 at 7pm.

Happy Creating!

A Bevy of Beautiful Cards

My next card workshop is just around the corner, Saturday, March 27 at 7pm.  We'll be using three new paper packs to create six cards, for $10. 

These were all made using stamp sets from our Workshop-on-the-Go kits.  The sentiments can be stamped to suit your purposes.  Sign up today because there's only 8 spots, and a couple are spoken for already.  Last chance to sign up is Saturday, March 20.

Home and yet, still more news to share.

We pulled into our driveway at 10:30 last night.  It is very nice to be home.  We're both very tired and are looking forward to getting back into the swing of normal life.
Our last clinic day, on Saturday, was spent in Somalia.  This is a slum right in San Salvador.  The story behind this area is a sad one.  The people there are squatters.  The land is government owned and they just set up their homes there a few years ago.  A man, who told them he owned the land, talked them into giving him their savings to buy the plot of land their house stood on.  It turned out to be a hoax.  He left with all their money.  The government has allowed them to stay on the land because they have absolutely nowhere else to go.  They have begun to settle a bit more on the land, building more permanent homes of tin and wood, instead of just cardboard and platic.  On FTC's last trip to El Salvador, in April of 2009, they went into this community.  This is the first time we've visited a place twice.  They were so grateful that they presented us with a plaque.

I wasn't able to get good photos of the community, but this one gives you an idea of what it looks like. 

Our clinic was set up under tents we rented, with tables and chairs we brought along with us.  The pharmacy was put in a family's front yard.

The day was much hotter than other days and the heat affected me a bit more than I liked.  I sat down to count out Albendazole, the anti-parasitic medicine we gave to almost everyone, whenever we needed it.  This was a job I did more often.  The one time dose was given to families, so I counted out bags of one to ten.  On this day, I sat right by the edge of the roadway where people were lined up to see the medics as well as walking by.  It didn't take long for kids to come over and see what I was doing.  That was when I really wished I understood Spanish.  They talked to me, asked me questions, but I couldn't understand them.  This was one of the little guys who visited me often.  Other people would come up to me as well, trying to get meds or other things.   

Every time we go on one of these trips, my daughter, Arianna, sends along one of her stuffed animals for us to give to one of the kids.  This time she chose a little bear two weeks before we left!  As the day drew to a close, I started looking for a little girl who would be perfect for Arianna's gift.  This cutie, named Maryory (pronounced Marjory), was standing with her mom and siblings.  She looked so sad.  When our interpreter was done giving them their meds, I had her bring her over to the back of the table and when I gave Maryory the bear, she smiled so sweetly and immediately said, "Gracias."   It turned out she is exactly the same age as Arianna.

The following picture is of our pharmacy team along with other medics and translators that would come in at different times during the day to help us out.  Whenever our line got too long, the medics would stop and allow us to catch up.  Today we saw 888 people, so the extra help was necessary a couple of times.  At one point there were over 70 people in our line.  This group was amazing!  The kids in the photo are young teenagers, 14 and 15, who translated for medics, distribution and for us as well.  They did so well, worked so hard!  We couldn't have done anything without them.

So now our trip is over, and it feels a little strange to be back in our extremely easy life.  We are so incredibly blessed.  I am so grateful that we live in this wonderful country of Canada.  We have more than enough space for our family and the many things we own.  We have more than enough food and clothing.  We don't have to worry about floods or rock slides wiping out our homes or lives, at least here in Oshawa.  We have access to wonderful health care, even if we don't have a family doctor.  Our water does not make us sick.  I could go on and on.  It was such a blessing to be a part of this trip, to be able to give hope and smiles to people who had lost so much.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts and support.  They kept me going when I felt like I couldn't, especially with a nasty cold. 

The next FTC Medical/Dental trip is in the planning stages already.  We're looking toward November and Haiti, which was already in the works before the earthquake hit.

Thank you again.

Blessings.