Something Splendid

I needed a quick card to mail to a friend and fellow Close To My Heart consultant. I decided to use the August Stamp of the Month. This is going to be one of my favorites. If you read posts on my blog before then you know I'm not a fan of stamped images that need to be colored. I much prefer base and shade stamping. It's Faster. Simpler. Easier. (That's the Close To My Heart Motto!)

Base and Shade Stamping Technique:

 

Hay There!

I love puns like the ones in the stamp set Howdy. The card base is from a clear card pack that will be in Close To My Heart's Autumn / Winter Idea Book and Catalog. On the front is the bale of hay and sentiment. Then when you open the card you see this.

So cute! The trick is hiding the adhesive on clear cards. I'm still trying to perfect that.

What I'm Reading

My two favorite hobbies are papercrafting and reading. I haven't been sharing a lot of papercrafting, because I've been reading a lot the last week! I recently read the new book by Nora Roberts. It's not a mystery because you get to see the story from different points of views including the bad guy. I did enjoy the mix of humor, romance and suspense and would recommend this book. I pretty much enjoy every book I read by this author, and I'm looking forward to the last book on the Bride Quartet series in November.

July Stamp of the Month

It's almost halfway through the month so it's about time I make a project using the Stamp of the Month! I put together a quick card. The background is patterned paper from Splendor. I even cut the flowers and bug from patterned paper. I "tried" to color the stamped image with my Copic markers. I like the way the balloons looked, but I wasn't happy with the hedgehog. My fix was to stamp the hedgehog on Brown Bag cardstock. Then I cut and layered it over the colored in image. This technique is paper piecing. I use it often as I'm not a fan of coloring stamped images, and it's faster, simpler, easier!

Sticky Boy! | CTMH My Acrylix Clear Stamps

Check out this video featuring Sticky Boy. As I understand Sticky Boy was the first acrylic stamp to be made by Close To My Heart as a "test subject." He is not available to buy, but sticky boy appears at convention, and consultants are eager to find him. I just got back from convention and guess what, I found one! He was riding the escalator.

Relaxation Kit

Here are the contents of my roomie gifts. I'm calling it a relaxation kit! I put half a dozen scented candles in a tin and decorated with a paper band and flower. Next I burned a CD of music. I decorated the CD envelope and added the word "Relax" to the front. Lastly I used Close To My Heart's My Creations Board Book to make Spa Recipes. I found the recipes for homemade bath and body items on the Internet. I wanted to include chocolate too. However, that wouldn't mix with the scented candles. So I'm taking chocolate along for when we are hanging out in our hotel room!

Convention Gifts

Tomorrow I leave for Close To My Heart's Convention in Washington D.C. I've been spending the last couple of days getting ready. Today I just finished my gifts for my roommates. I'm not sure what made me think of the idea of using the My Acrylix Organizer as the gift bag. I love how it turned out with same paper and silk ribbon. I'll post the contents tomorrow just so it's a surprise until I give them away!

This photo was taken in 2006 at Brookeside Montessori School. I had just received my digital Canon Rebel as birthday present. I like having photos on hand to print out a quick all purpose card. Lately I've been using this photo for "thank yous" as families have been donating items to the summer camp program at school. I haven't had time to stamp.

I'm hoping things change, because I finished my classes as Princeton Center for Teacher Education yesterday. YAY! I have a few days now to work on some projects before I go to Close To My Heart's convention in Washington D.C. I’m looking forward to a fun and inspiring few days surrounded by other CTMH consultants.