July Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the month of July!  Wow, summer is here.  July is a very exciting month for me.  I'm just days away from leaving for Washington, DC for our annual convention!  It's my first time and so I'm over-the-moon that I get to go this year.  My next post will be from convention ... I hope.  Oh, and if you're here before 9am eastern time on the 1st, you can still order the Big Goodie Box that is full of 58% discounted items.  Just click on the Jackpot image on the right.

Enough about that, on to this adorable stamp set!  This month we have almost 70 consultants participating!  If you came from Carol's blog, you're in the right spot.  If this is your first stop, just keep hopping until you get back here and you'll have seen every beautiful piece of artwork. 

Have you ever seen cuter little hedgehogs?  I love these little sweeties.  It was fun coming up with the perfect project for this hop.  I really wanted to try my hand at the easel cards I keep seeing everywhere.  I'm quite pleased with how mine turned out.

I used the Twitterpated Level 2 paper pack.  I paper pieced the kite and little butterflies, and spnged the edges of everything with chocolate ink.  I chose not to colour in the hedgehog, letting the little bow by her ear pull the eye.  The ribbons are from the Sorbet and Chocolate Ribbon Rounds collections.  I think this just might be my daughter's birthday card next year ... but can I wait that long to use it to make someone smile?  We'll see.

Ready to see more artwork?  Just hop on over to Judy's blog and check it out.  If you get lost along the way, just click here to go to Kathleen's blog where there is a complete list of all the participating blogs.

Happy Creating!

June Club Layout: More Family Photos

Here is our last layout for this session of our club.  We start up again in September and there are spaces available, so if you're in my area and would like to join, email or call me today.

I told you in my last post that I had already scrapbooked more photos from our photo session at Parkwood.  My group wanted to do a summery layout and the Splendor paper was perfect.  I love the new Over the Rainbow stamp set and was very happy to be able to use it on this layout

I added a flip flap protector as you can see below.  I have yet to add the journaling under the flap.

I also had fun learning (and then teaching) how to make these great paper flowers.  I got a fabulous tip from another consultant.  Use a piece of paper, cut from a square on the diagonal, to get the perfect fold every time for every petal.  That's a Colonial White Designer Brad on the centre of the large flower and an Autumn Terracotta one on the smaller one.  Then I've also posted a photo of the rainbow.  We sponged the clouds to give them more dimension. 

I hope you like this layout.  It's now one of my new favourites.  So here's a challenge for you.  Put some photos of yourself on a layout.  Tell your story, not just your family's.  Don't have any photos?  Go somewhere (or even stay home) and take some, even if you just give your camera to your kids and let them have fun.  You'd be surprised how you'll feel when it's done.

Happy Creating!

May's Club Layout: Scrapbooking Ourselves

I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time scrapbooking myself.  I'm usually the one behind the camera and I don't always like the way I look in photos.  But I also know it's important to put myself in my scrapbooks.  When the kids are older and their kids are looking at my scrapbooks, they will want to see me in them, to learn more about my life, my thoughts, my feelings.  I often wish I knew that stuff about my grandparents, especially since they have all gone on to heaven.

So, I gave my club members a challenge.  We completed the following layout at our May club night.  Their job was to complete the layout, with photos and journaling by June's club night.  Then they were entered into a draw for their favourite new Stamp-of-the-Month from the current Summer Idea Book.  I wish I had taken photos of their completed layouts because they turned out fabulously!
Here is my completed layout:

And a bit of detail on the stamped journaling:

We used the Authentic stamp set, which I've been wanting to use for a long while.  I love the words.  Making my club members stamp these things, like "One of a kind", "An Original", and "Authentic" were my way of telling them that they need to think of themselves in those ways... and so do I.  We also used the You Rock Level 2 paper pack, focusing on the Smokey Plum side of the one pattern.  The shiny stuff that you see on the edges of the layout and the other cardstock pieces is CTMH's Pearl Paint, just brushed on with a paint brush. 

I'm not totally pleased with my written journaling part.  I might still change what I wrote.  But I do love the photos.  Our friend, Judy, who is a great photographer and happens to live with us, accompanied us to Parkwood one morning.  We took all kinds of photos, enough great ones that my June Club layout was done with them as well!  But you'll have to wait to see that one.  I hope to have it posted soon.

In the mean time, check out my website for some great deals in our Jackpot June promotion!  Just click on the icon on the top right of my blog.

Happy Creating!

April's Club Layout

I know it's nowhere near April and that I'm super slow in getting this posted.  I hope those of you who were looking for this layout can forgive me.

As I've said in previous club posts, my members choose a topic for upcoming layouts.  For April they wanted one with a spring theme.  Makes sense.  My problem was that I didn't have a lot of spring pictures, but I did have a lot of baby photos of my son to get scrapped, so this is what I came up with.

I had a hard time trying to get these pages to work.  All my ideas just didn't seem to fit.  I am happy with the final result and very pleased that I got to use my Love You Forever stamp set.  Such sweet little birds in that set!  The image on the bottom right is paper pieced.  We used the Caboodle paper pack and inked up some Big Pinks paper flowers with Sorbet.  I used Grey Wool ink for stamping the title because black would just be a bit too much for a soft, sweet layout. 

Here are some more details:

As you can see I still need to do the journaling.  That seems to be left behind lately.  Hmm... strange since I never used to be able to move on to a new layout until the current one was completely finished.  Now I have to catch up!  I think I'll have to set some time aside to get that done on all my unfinished layouts.

I've got the other club layouts from May and June almost ready to post.  Stay tuned!  They're my favourites.

Happy Creating!

June Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

A new month is almost upon us.  Is it really June already?!  I'm sure you're going to see that a lot this time.  It seems like each month goes faster and faster.
If you came from Kimberly's blog, you're on the right track.  If you get lost along the way, just click here to get a complete list of all the participating blogs.

I love the truly masculine stamp set CTMH has for us this month.  It's perfect for all the Father's Day cards that will be made for those special men in our lives, but it's also fabulous for a birthday card or any other occasion when we want to celebrate that guy.

Here are the two cards I made:

Inside:

If they look familiar that's because they're taken straight from the artwork in the Idea Book, showcasing this set.  I taught a masculine card workshop last month and we made these two cards.  The larger, 4 1/2x4 1/2, card is a complete lift.  For the smaller 3x3 card, I used the colours from the artwork made with the May SOTM in the Idea Book and the layout from this set's artwork.  I love the fact that our catalogue is such a treasure trove of ideas!  No wonder it's called an Idea Book.  Want one for yourself?  Just email or call!

Now it's time to hop on over to Teri's blog and see the fabulous work she's made.

Happy Creating!

Unforgettable Moments

I finally got around to scrapbooking my daughter's first real haircut.  My mom used to cut my hair, now cuts my nephews' hair, and of course, had to cut Arianna's.  I had a lot of fun with this layout, just playing with all sorts of aspects, including using an old brads package to house those precious curls.

I did some zigzag stitching for the first time, added lots of distressing along with some My Stickese.  I am trying to use up my older paper kits and after choosing the fun flowered paper that matched Arianna's top so well, I realized that I didn't have enough for the layout.  So I just stamped another one.  Can you tell the difference?

I always get a bit nostalgic when I work on old photos.  Arianna looks so little and still a bit baby-like in these photos, even though she was already 2 1/2.    Here is what she looks like today:

I guess the other reason I'm feeling nostalgic is because she's turning 5 on Sunday and I can hardly believe it!  She's a sweet girl, so smart and imaginative.  She loves school, already reading at an early Grade 1 level even though she's only in Junior Kindergarten!  We love her to bits.  Arianna is really excited about her first friend birthday party and I'm hoping that I can kick my present cold before my family comes on Sunday.

Okay, thanks for letting me ramble on.  I'll quit now. 

Happy Creating!

Celebrating Babies

I love our church.  We attend a Christian Reformed Church just minutes from where we live.  It's a fun, lively congregation.  We have a live praise band every Sunday and our pastor preaches from the heart.  We also have lots, and I mean lots, of young families.  In the past year there have been probably 10 births, with more on the way.  Most of these have been to brand new parents.  That means baby showers!  I'm not particularly close to all those young moms, but I did get invited to my friend Ruth's shower.  Her little guy Noah is adorable and I got to cuddle with him while she opened her gifts.  My mom "expertise" was put to work and I was able to get him to sleep.  I got my baby fix in.  I wish I had a photo of Noah to share with you.  It was strange, for most of the shower I was the most experienced mom there!  That's not my normal situation and it was kind of nice. 

Ruth has expressed an interest and desire to start scrapbooking and we've been trying to set up a date for a home gathering, but life is busy for her, and I completely understand.  So with that in mind, I made a special little gift for her.  I went to Ruth's registry to see what sort of theme she had for Noah's bedroom.  This is what I found:

Now doesn't that just scream Magic Moments?  The following accordian album is 9x9 and almost totally copied from another consultant, whose name I did not save. I wish I had.  

I used all kinds of stamp sets and had a lot of fun making it.  This paper is still one of my most favourite.  Because the paper looks better with Colonial White and the album is White Daisy, I sponged the edges with Cocoa ink to make the white less obvious.

All the guests really loved this and are talking about wanting me to do a workshop with this.  We'll see what happens.  I made this to celebrate my friend's new baby.  I wanted something really special for her.  But using Close to my Heart products really sells them and I might have new customers.  Two birds, one stone.  Love it.

And of course I have do make a matching card using Love You Forever and an Irresistible frame.  Here it is:

And the inside:

Happy Creating!