Convention Present for My Roomie!

Jolene and I at the Close To My Heart 2011 Convention in Disneyland, CA 

It's time for CTMH's 2013 Convention in Disneyworld, FL! Two years ago in Disneyland we wore Minnie Ears and that inspired my roomie gift this year. In January I saw this polka dot scarf and I immediately though how adorable it would look with the Minnie Ears! So then I decided to make a layout that could be used to showcase photos we take at convention wearing our Minnie Ears and polka dot scarf!

This layout pattern is "Now You See It" from the How-To Book Magic (retired). The color palette is Cranberry, Honey, and Black. I used Black cardstock and Black Glitter Paper. I embellished the layout with Dimensional Elements Stars, Dimensional Elements Awards, and Sparkles Black Flourishes. I used A Typeface stamp set for CTMH and Convention. The numbers for 2013 is from a retired stamp set. Minnie, Mickey, and Disney was cut from the Mickey and Friends Cricut Cartridge. the "@" was cut with CTMH's Artiste Cricut Cartridge! Then I added some "stictches" on elements with a black journaling pen and "dots" with a white pen. 

Me Right Now, But Really Yesterday!

I like the idea of doing a scrapbook page on your birthday to document what is happening. My nephew played photographer for me yesterday and caught similar poses to my page last year "Turning 40". This year I used Photoshop Elements and started with Cathy Zielske's Story Guide No. 05B Layered Template. I love how this template includes a series of questions to help you to journal. I can see using this throughout the coming year on each of my family members too! The Pattern Paper, Solid Cardstock and Flowers are part of the "My Favorite Things Collection" from Harper Finch Designs.

A Birthday Card for Me!

I love making cards, and it's awesome when I give someone a card and they say "You made this?!" Today I'm on the receiving end of that. It's my birthday and this lovely card arrived in the mail from my dear friend Jolene. I love the candles but I'm really glad she didn't make one for each year I am or that would be a really big card!

Walk with Flowers Layout

Close To My Heart's Studio J online digital design software is by far the best way to put a digital layout together. (In my opinion.) However, I have been "sitting on" Adobe Photoshop Elements software and quite a collection of digital paper and elements. Many I've collected as freebies! I never took the time to learn about scrapbooking with PSE until the past week. Which I really don't have time to be doing since I'm leaving for Close To My Heart's convention in a week!

Here is my first layout using PSE and a PSE template I bought here. The background paper is from the Floral Surprise Paper Pack from Fred She Said. I also layered Fred She Said daises from the Cardinal and Daisies Colored Set. The "cardstock" colors were part of the template and I picked color from flowers so it coordinates. This was fun and I can see so much more in the future. I'm lucky enough to have a printer at home to print digital layouts. Studio J also has a pattern "No Limits" and I believe I could upload this page and order it to be printed out that way too.

A Father's Day Card

Up until a day or two ago I believed father's Day was next weekend! So I needed a quick card and gift. This card has an envelope on the front that holds a gift card. Problem solved! The one thing I'm not happy with is the embossing of "open, surprise inside". I added that stamping and embossing after the card was put together so it was a bit tricky!

Supplies are from Simon Says Stamp Card Kits and the stamp I used for the embossing is Papertrey Ink. 

Joyful Stars June Blog Hop

Welcome to the first ever Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  We're excited to share our creativity with you using our favorite Close To My Heart products. If you have arrived from Stephanie B.'s blog you are right on track. If you are just happening by, that's ok follow the links and circle around until you get back to my blog. See below for the list of all our blog hoppers this month!

For my project I wanted to use one of my favorite product lines from Close to My Heart, My Creations. This is the My Creations™ 6" X 6" Canvas Display. I wanted to display a now and then photo of my parents, my brothers and myself. The Avonlea Complements Canvas Shapes are a perfect match with the theme. Other embellishments I used are the Durables Square Studs in antique gold and the Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Now hop on over to Stephanie H.'s blog.

Here is a listing of all the blogs on the Joyful Stars June blog hop.
Joyce                                    
Krista                                     
Nickie                                                     
Nancy                                   
Stephanie B.                                                       
Crystal - You are here!
Stephanie H.                                           
Elizabeth                                             
Betty                                                            
Jean                                   
Meridith
Helen

CTMH Alcohol Marker Techniques

I made this quick 3 x 3 card to play with my alcohol markers. I stamped A True Thank You - Oklahoma Tornado Relief Campaign stamp set then colored it in with the Cotton Candy alcohol marker. I made dots using the Alcohol Blending Marker. The Alcohol Blending Marker removes ink so my image has this cool texture to it. I matted the stamped image on to Black Glitter Paper and also used a layer of For Always Textiles on this card.

Here is a video from Close To My Heart that inspired my work and has some other techniques too!

Facebook Hop Freebies!

So today (actually in the wee hours before I went to sleep) I went on a Facebook hop to see dozen of designers that are selling on Etsy, and each of them were offering a freebie! All you needed to do to get the free download was to like their Facebook page. Even better the designers used the same color palette so everything coordinated nicely! Here is the link:   Facebook Etsy Digital Designers Team Freebie Hop!

Now I am printing and creating with all these wonderful files I downloaded. I started with the paper from PickyChicken and the owl image from Makn the Rounds. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp BE Sentiments. It's a new release I just got in the mail today! YAY! My sentiment is inspired from the Starfish Story. Here it is if you've never heard of it.

 

Sundae Easel Card

Recently, a friend shared a site with me that sells SVG files. They were having a sale and I purchased several things, but never had a chance to create with them. The first project I made was this Sundae Easel Card. I used retired textured cardstock and Dotty For You paper from CTMH. The sentiment is from the retired stamp set Piece of Cake also from CTMH. I love the finishing touches of current CTMH product Red Glitz™ Glitter Gel on the cherry and Liquid Glass on the hot fudge. YUM!

Simon Says Stamp May Card Kit

I've been using my time off to create cards from the pile of kits I have from Simon Says Stamp. This weekend I grabbed the May card Kit and checked out the gallery at Simon Says Stamp Blog. I thank all of the talented papercrafters that shared their work and my cards are CASEd from the ones that inspired me the most! I even purchased Distress Markers and watercolor paper after seeing several cards using that technique for coloring in the flowers! 

I still have 7 more card kits to complete! 

CTMH June Stamp of the Month

As a  Close To My Heart consultant I received the Stamp of the Month sets awhile ago. I couldn't wait for June because I love this one: A Flowering Bunch. I think I finally figured out its appeal to me. It reminds me of a Vera Bradley pattern!

I cut the corresponding flower shapes from our Cricut Artiste cartridge, stamped the images in black, then colored them Copics. I stamped the sentiment and added a border with a black journaling pen. The bold and colorful flowers stand out on the white background and because I used foam tape! I chose a palette close to the Vera Bradley Folkloric pattern. Now I'm eager to mimic other patterns.