A Pocket Full of {Paper} Posies

Stationery card

2011-12-30T14:05:00.001-08:00

Starry Welcome Birth Announcement

Birth announcements & graduation announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here's what I came up with for our card this year. I love it, and it was so simple to put together.

Sweet Holly Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

On Christmas Cards...

2010-11-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

I love paper crafting. If you've spent half a second checking out this blog, that fact in incredibly apparent. While I try to do mostly scrapbooking, I actually think I prefer card-making... the project are smaller, which makes them faster and easier. And there are not pesky pictures to try to coordinate your papers with. So much easier.

But I have a confession: the idea of making my own Christmas cards to send out completely petrifies me. I'm not really scard of making one... I'm scared of making 50. I'm petrified by the idea of that kind of time commitment to a single project this time of year, when I have SO many projects that I want to be doing and finishing.

But, luckily, theres another option. Shutterfly's unquie holiday cards get me off the hook of making my without boxing me into the ho-hum selection of cards available at the grocery store.

I absolutely love the designs available. You can see them for yourself here. Did you see the one with the timeline inside of it! I LOVE IT! Its like getting the card, a shortened version of the annual "what we've been up to" letter AND a picture all in one unique product! And I'm not limited to justone picture with them either. There are lots of choices that use several photos on the card. I think those are great options becuase I'm not sure I could pick just one picture... there are so many cute ones!

Shutterfly is also great for photo gifts this time of year. Photo gifts are always something I consider giving to grandparents (pretend to be surprised if you get these!). Check out the desk calendars here (a great gift for anyone with a desk at work, I think), or how about the canvas gallery prints here? Those look gorgeous, and ready to hang. I can see doing some of our pictures from Europe in canvas.

I can't wait to get started on creating my cards. Are you interested in some free cards from Shutterfly? Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Dear Life...

2010-10-12T19:31:00.001-07:00

Please slow down a bit. I'm having trouble keeping up...

Two more layouts

2010-08-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

These are actually layouts that I worked on a few weeks ago, but hadn't yet titled, journaled or embellished. And now they are done. For your viewing pleasure...

100% Cute, 100% Boy. I'm in in love with where I had to place the "100%" on the B, but I didn't trust my first placement, and by the time I realized my mistake I had too much VersaMark on the thing to put it where I wanted it and I ran out of patience after 15 hours of drying time and the heat gun. Oh well. I still like this page. Paper pack is "Rough and Tumble" (retired) and the layout comes from Reflections (the left hand page is a "Title Topper" and the right is a "Side Bar", I think). I used a faux stitching technique around the edges of my Outdoor Denim cardstock. I love how it turned out. Totally done, including journaling. I didn't have much to say about these photos... I just like them becuase he looked so darned cute, so the journaling (little tags on the right hand page) jsut has his name, the month the photos were taken (I'm not organized enough to know the day) and his age at the time. Works for me!

Welcome Sweet Baby. I've had these baby themed vellum stickers for a long time, and this layout seemed as good a project as any to use them on. I was otherwise stuck for how to title this, so I was happy to come across these stickers again. The paper is from last year's National Stamping Month "Everyday Celebrations" card kit and the layout is Cherish "Gallery Collection". Just a little bit of stamped journaling with his name, date of birth and birth weight and its done. I like how it turned out, overall. Most of all, I'm glad its done and neither the photos nor the partly finished layout will be hanging out on my desk any longer.

A Creative Moment!

2010-08-14T16:26:00.001-07:00

I finally found one! After moving 2700 miles to Syracuse, NY, living in a too-small rental, buying a house, moving again and getting settled, I finally found a creative moment or two. Helps that my husband is awesome and not only let me sleep in this morning and cleaned the kitchen floor, but took the kids out so I could have quiet creative time, and then didn't complain when my creative time spilled into the rest of the day too.

But, I have much to show for it: a whole completed layout. Honest-to-goodness complete, with a title and journaling and embellishments and EVERYTHING! I don't think I can remember the last time I had a layout that complete that I didn't have to come back to later for one reason or another.

So, here it is!

Its the first trip to a Cougar football game for Allison. Acutally, its not. I think we took her a few times as a infant. But its the first time she had any idea where she was and what was going on. I used papers from Game On and Stardust paper packs, plus some Bamboo textured cardstock (this came out of an old project kits). I really like how it turned out. Its not Cougar colors, which I would have liked, but I like this all the same.

Whaddya think? I have some more things to post soon... I've got layouts with pictures done, just not titles, journaling or embellishing. I'm workin' on it...

Supply List

(all products by Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated)

Game On Level 2 Paper Pack

Stardust Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)

Black Cardstock

Bamboo Textured Cardstock (retired)

Pewter My Accents (retired)

Rustic Alphabet Stamp Set

Atomic Caps Stamp Set (retired)

Atomic Lowercase Stamp Set (retired)

Stitching Rub-ons by DoodleBug

Black Stitch Ribbon, Target Dollar Spot

*You'll see me using a lot of retired things... why? I use what I like and a LOT of the papers that I really like are retired or retiring this year as CTMH prepare to switch to semi-annual catalogs with shorter availbility times on their scrapbook kits. Several of the kits retiring in December are already sold out and unavailable, so I'll just list them at retired, since they can no longer be ordered. I do love the new stuff, but I'm trying to use what I have (which is a LOT) before I buy more. :)

Busy Life...

2010-01-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

My life has been very busy and chaotic the last several months. In October my husband and I packed up our little apartment and 2 kids and moved from Utah to Seattle. Brian was finished with school, is graduate student contracted job with the university had ended and he hadn't been able to find a job yet, so we moved in with my parents. We were joined shortly thereafter by my brother and his little family. Chaos is the only word that describes a house holding 3 families (6 adults and 3 children under 30 months old). Lets just say that is a good thing my parents have a big house.

With life being in such upheaval, I have done very little creating. In fact, with the exception of an event calendar for my mom's Christmas gift, I belive I'd done exactly... none.

But, things change. Brian has secured a job and we are moving to Syracuse, New York in a few short weeks. Once there I hope that we'll be able to get settled and into a comfortable family routine quickly. And with that comfortable family routine I hope will come creative time for me.

Last year I hoped to complete a layout a week plus bunches of cards. Let me tell you... didn't happen. I did make a few layouts, but it was probably less than a dozen. And I did make some cards... but it still didn't feel like I got to spend my creative time how I wanted to (I think I was a little busy spending my time trying to figure out how to be a mom of 2).

So, this year I hope things will be different. Once we get settled and find our little groove in life I hope to be able to do the following:

*Participate in the weekly Mojo Monday card sketch challenge. I discovered Mojo Monday several months ago and have wanted to participate, but haven't really found the time.

*Complete one new layout every other week. Thats 26 layouts a year... if I can manage nothing more than my kids monthly first year layouts, that would be about 20 layouts (some of Allison's are already done)... I sincerely hope that I can find time for an additional 6!

*Find my joy for sewing again. I used to sew so much and I loved it. I have, however, found it more frustrating than enjoyable in the last 5 years as nothing ever fits the way it ought to (and I suppose it doesn't help that my body seems to be constantly changing... normal me, pregnant me, post-partum me, need-to-lose-the-last-five-baby-pounds me...). I think I'll focus on simple clothes for my children. It sounds less frustrating.

So... I guess we'll see how it goes. I do, however, reserve the right to give myself until mid-February to consider myself settled and comfortable in our new place in life.

Event Calendar

2010-01-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Several months ago my mom purchased an Event Calendar from me. And since then it has been sitting on her cork board, all lonely, unloved and unadorned. As her Christmas gift, I remedied the situation.

I was really excited about this project... I got to use quite a few pieces of "paper candy" from a swap that I hosted way back in March. I have two baby wipes tubs fulls of these little candies, so it was nice to actually use some of them.

I based a lot of these designs off the of 3x3 card layouts in Wishes and Originals and I also lifted several ideas from other CTMH consultants on the consultant bulletin boards. Jen Rubio, in particular, has a great workshop that she shared online. It provided a jumping point for my project.

Paper pack(s): Aspen

Stamp set(s): Snow Friends, Christmas Scripts (retired)

Paper pack(s): Thats Amore

Stamp set(s): Thoughtful Seasons

Paper pack(s): Magic Moments, Evensong

Stamp set(s): Festivities (retired)

Paper pack(s): Daydream

Stamp Set(s): Bunny Love, Festivities (retired)

Paper pack(s): Bella, Hydrenga Cardstock

Stamp set(s): May Word Puzzle (retired) and ? on the flower...

Paper pack(s): Everday Celebrations (retired CC)

Stamp set(s): June Word Puzzle (retired)

Paper pack(s): Rough & Tumble (retired)

Stamp set(s): Vintage USA

Paper pack(s): Magic Moments

Stamp set(s): August Word Puzzle, June Word Puzzle (both retired)

Paper pack(s): Key to My Heart (retired CC)

Stamp set(s): September Word Puzzle (retired)

Paper pack(s): Enchanted (retired), Game On

Stamp Set(s): Boo-tiful (retired)

Paper pack(s): Enchanted (retired), Chocolate Cardstock

Stamp set(s): Fabulous Fall (retired)

Paper pack(s): Evensong

Stamp set(s): Evergreen, Festivities (retired)

Blog Candy

2009-12-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Jena, a fellow CTMH consultant whose artwork I really admire, is giving away some blogcandy this week. Check is out on her blog: Live, Laugh, Love and Scrapbook.

No Peeking, Mom!

2009-09-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

So for Mother's Day I promised my mom hand-made cards. She's been asking for years at every gift giving occasion and I finally feel like I could actually make her some that I would be pleased with. She wanted blank any-occasion appropriate cards. Now, if I ignore the fact that Mothers Day was only about 900 months ago (its an estimate), I am pleased with what I have ready to give her.

These use Perfect Day (the damasky paper) and Key to My Heart (stripe) paper packs, chocolate grosgrain and sorbet stitch ribbon and Fancy Cuts Botanicals (which I love... I need another pack!) plus a past Connections Club reward, some Window Charms and a few random embellishments. What do you think?

New Jingle Paper Pack!

2009-09-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

I've been playing this week with the new Jingle Paper Pack from the Fall/Winter 2009 Close to my Heart idea book. I didn't love it at first, but it is fun paper. Here's what I've created so far.

Love those little Elves! I made the snowflakes on the layout out of the spidery looking flowers from the White Daisy Just Blooms variety pack. They are covered in liquid glass and our prisma glitter. I love how they turned out!

Bella Makes Beautiful Cards

2009-08-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night I held a card workshop. Four friends and cusomters came over and made 20 cards (2 each of 10 designs) using the "Just Becuase" workshop from the new Wishes Card Confidence book and the Bella paper packet.

Here are 8 of the cards we made that night... I've left out two because they're not finished yet...

Supplies Used:

Bella Paper Pack
I Am Stamp Set from Tickled Pink Promo
Cottage Floral Stamp Set
Playful Flourishes Stamp Set
Playful Petals Stamp Set
Hollyhock Dash ribbon
Sparkles
Creme Brule Ink
Smokey Plum Ink
Olive Ink
Vanilla Cream Ink
Hollyhock Ink

Blog Candy

2009-03-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Lori has had 20,000 hits on her blog in less than a year! To celebrate she's giving away from great blog candy... check it out here!

Father's Day Card

2009-03-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, its a bit early to be thinking about Father's Day, but I was hosting an All-Occasion Card Swap and I had a spot in the "Holiday" round. Father's Day was the most obvious holiday that no one had claimed yet, so I decided that I would do that.

Unfortunately, I don't have a single manly or masculine friendly stamp set. Not a one. So, I found these directions for making a cute little origami tie here. I figured that would work for me... here is what I came up with. Pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Supplies Used

All Supplies are CTMH unless otherwise noted

Aspen Paper Pack
Natural Twill Ribbon
Say It In Style Stamp Set (May 2008 SOTM)
Outdoor Denim Ink
Adhesive Pearls (Michael's)

By the way, I love the Say It In Style stamp set and can't believe I didn't realize how great it was last May when it was available! I guess I wasn't much into cards then... anyway... here's hoping it makes it into the summer catalog as a part of our regular stamp collection! And I am hopeful... every stamp of the month from the Spring 2008 catalog made it into the Spring 2009 Catty as part of our regular collection!

A Nap for Two

2009-03-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

New layout! I started playing with this last Sunday and had to let it sit and stew most of the week... its been a busy week. I used to complain that it took me 2 or 3 hours to do one layout... I kind of yearn for those days now. Anyway, here's what I finally landed on...

I had some trouble embellishing it at first, but I got some great feedback from some fellow CTMH consultants on our consultants artwork board. They encouraged me to add some pink into the layout since there is so much pink the the picture. Never would have thought of that on my own! I love how it turned out.

Supplies Used:

*all CTMH unless otherwise noted*

Fairy Tale Paper Pack (retired)
Simple Alphabet Dimensional Elements (retired)
Garden Green Ink
Spot on Backgrounds
Fresh Shapes Dimensional Elements
Just Blooms Big Pinks
Just Blooms White Daisy
Blush Polka Dot Ribbon (retired)
Alphabet Beads (Westrim Crafts)
Buttons (Archivers)
Safety Pins (JoAnn Fabrics)

Allison's Thumb-sucking Day

2009-02-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

Allison sucked her thumb for about a day. I wouldn't even call it a full day... more like a few hours of that day she discovered her thumb and decided that it might make a good sucking toy.

Papers here are not CTMH... the background is from Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) Glitter Stack (thanks Emily!), some DCWV cardstock and the hot pink is from Provo Crafts Slab 5 (I think it was 5).

I completed this layout at another crop last night. Sadly, in 5 hours, it was the only layout I really got completed. I did get another layout partly put together (paper and photos, no title, no embellies) but I'm not sure how I feel about it. I had a hard time with inspiration last night. Partly its the photos I have to work with, partly its the papers. I'm thinking I need to treat myself and order some paper packs from my wishlist. I think I'd really like "Lets Get Together," "Stardust" and "Its a Guy Thing" (for the new baby boy to come). I also like most of the papers in the "Paper Garden" and "Sweet Pea" packs... and "Boom-di-ada" has really grown on me lately.

Hmm... maybe it is time to switch gears on my scrap subject for a while... I think I'll print some 8x10s of Allison each month, then move on to our trip to Europe. How great would it be to actually FINISH an event? Maybe I should think more about my wedding scrapbook too while I'm at it...

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-02-26T18:29:00.000-08:00

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Okay, its not a paper craft, but it is stinking adorable! Check it out!

Salon Mommy

2009-02-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

I completed a layout during yesterday and today's naptimes (and last night's lack of a new episode of "House"). I used the Perfect Day paper pack, which really isn't so much my favorite. I'm not a fan of the striped paper or the floral in it... I just have had a hard time pairing them the the other papers in the pack, which I generally do like quite a bit. I also used some of the coordinating stickers, which I really never used. I only have them because they came in my kit.

Anyway, here's what I came up with... layout concept comes from Cherish ("Dynamic Design", I think).

Supplies Used:

Perfect Day Paper Pack
Perfect Day Stickease
Black cardstock
Sorbet Ink
Black Ink
Friendship Alphabets (large and small)
White Daisy Just Blooms
Sorbet Ribbon Rounds
Connections Club Metal Tokens
Connections Club Rub-Ons

February Club Layout

2009-02-07T20:55:00.001-08:00

Here's the layout for February's hostess club! We are using the new Unforgettable papers and Fancy Cut Botanicals (which, by the way, are SO cute in person!). I might not be done with this yet, but I'm going to let it sit a while before I do anything else to it. Layout if straight out of Cherish.

And, while I'm at it, here's the layout we did for January's club meeting. I'm pretty sure I never posted it. Again, layout is directly from Cherish and we used the new Emporium Creative Basics paper, which is a steal... 16 papers and 8 yards of ribbon for under $9? I'll say yes to that every time. =) We also used the new Designer Pewter Brads... so cute.

Recent Creations

2009-01-25T16:23:00.001-08:00

Here are some things I've been up to lately... I'm been very busy... lots of swaps!

Alterd notepad, using Daydream paper. I actually found this paper really hard to work with. Its very busy. But, I'm pleased with how this turned out. This was for a swap, so I'm excited to see the other artwork I get back from it after the end of the month.

ABC book pages. I did A and Q. Again, this was using the Daydream papers and again it was pretty hard for me to work with. I don't have a photo of my Q page, but I think it turned out cute. I made 27 of each of these, again for a swap, and when the swap is complete I'll get a full alphabet set back. I'm excited to see it.

Train layout. I used the last of my Life Delights paper pack for this one and finally inked up the "Life's a Jungle" stamp set for the animals. I did this during another crop with my sister Emily. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Needs journaling, and probably another embellishement over the the elephant. The layout concept comes from CTMH's "Cherish" scrapbooking book.

Funny face layout. I love these photos. This is the Magic Moments paper pack, and the layout concept is from CTMH's "Reflections" scrapbook program. Again, this needs journaling and embellishments. I also did this one at the crop with Emily.

You should also check out my personal blog and check out the giveaway I'm doing. I hit 100 posts on that blog in December and I'll be giving away a set of cards (probably 3x3 cards) hand-made by me. Leave a comment on the giveaway post before midnight on January 31st to enter.

Using up my scraps...

2009-01-02T21:59:00.001-08:00

Over the last 2 days I've made these 3x3 cards using my scraps. My one "rule" for myself was that I COULD NOT cut any uncut sheets of paper to make these (except to make the card bases). I like them... they turned out pretty cute. Sadly, they're for another swap, so I won't be keeping most of them. I did, however, make several duplicates of ones that I just couldn't part with. =) Enjoy.

Altered Mini-Composition Book Swap

2008-12-23T15:02:00.001-08:00

I've been busy lately, just not super busy with much paper-crafting creating. After my open house and the crop with Emily, I got busy with some Christmas crafting... specifially I made this quiet book for my little girl. It was a fun project, but took a lot of time.

I started creating again this week, this time working on some consultant swaps that I've signed up for. Here is the first one I've finished... its an altered mini-composition notebook with a matching pen and 3x3 card. I made 8 of them and I'm sending them off to another consultant, who will sort them out and sent me back one of mine plus six more made by six other consultants. I'll use them for hostess gifts, among other things, when I get the swap back at the end of January. Its been fun to get back to crafting...

Supplies Used - All products CTMH unless otherwise indicated:

Notebook paper pack
Natural Twill Ribbon
Friendship Small Alphabet
Botanicals Super Set Stamps (Retired)
Shining Star Stamps
Thing of Beauty Stamps
Sparkles
Desert Sand Ink
Black Ink
Crystal Blue Ink

A Productive Crop

2008-11-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Emily and I went to all all evening open crop at Archivers in the University Mall. It was so much fun and so nice to just have 6 hours to sit and scrapbook and get things done without being interrupted by an adorable little girl who wants to play with mommy's pretty papers. I think Em and I are going to try to go again another month. Here's what I got done at the crop.

Happy Easter... I made this layout in April and finally had some photos to put on it. I still need to print a 5x7, but almost done! This page uses the Sweet Pea paper pack. I think I might change the title...

This is Allison's 6 month page. I still need to add the "6 months" to it, but I might wait until I get the Small Chocolate Alphabet stamp set so it matches the title. Love this picture, love how the page turned out. Should I have cut the centers out of the letters?

Archivers had the perfect thin organza ribbon to finish off this layout... I love it!

Our Hospital Stay. These are photos of the 4 days Allison and I stayed in the hospital when she was born. I'm glad to have them on the layout. I forgot to mud the edges of my paper tough... that bugs me a little. Journaling with go in the blank purple box on the left page and I might make some changes to the colonial white boxes above the 4x6 photos on the edges of both pages.

The reason I scrapbook

2008-11-16T17:48:00.000-08:00

There are many reasons why I scrapbook. It gives me a reason and excuse to print off photos. It gives me something to do with the vast majority of them. I remember things better when I've gone through the photos and done a short journal entry about them. I enjoy the process. Its a creative outlet for me. But there is a new reason.

My one-year-old daughter loves to look at her scrapbook album. I don't have a lot of pages done in her album, but she loves to look at them over and over again. She will very quietly sit on mine or my husband's lap and just look at the pages and name the people (or objects) in them. She gets so excited when I add a new page to the album for her to see. I love that she appreciates her scrapbook. It makes me want to get more pages done for her to see and get excited over.

Sleepy Girl Layout

2008-11-08T21:41:00.001-08:00

Another layout done! Maybe I should spend more of my evenings like this... I might actually run out of printed photos to scrap and be able to move beyond the first 3 months of my daughter's life! =)

The layouts are from the Reflections layout book. I used Sidebar - Original for the left page and Half & Half - Split Focus for the right. Both used photo variations and I made some changes to the right page (like I said last time, I can't follow directions). Colors are Blush, Colonial White and Chocolate. Patterned paper isn't CTMH, but stamps, cardstock, ink and paper flowers are. What do you think?

I'm proud of this layout...

Supplies Used:

Colorbok Patterned Paper

Pebbles Inc. Cardstock stickers

Big Pinks and Sumer Posies Just Blooms

Large Friendship Alphabet Stamp Set
Small Friendship Alphabet Stamp Set
Playful Flourishes Stamp Set
Baby Steps Stamp Set
Colonial White Cardstock
Chocolate Cardstock
Chocolate Ink
Blush Ink

Rubber Ducky

2008-11-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

I am so behind in my scrapbooking. I'm hoping to spend a lot of good hours scrapping over Christmas break this year. Maybe I can finish Allison first year before baby #2 makes its appearance... that would be a goal.

Anyway, I got my inspiration for this page Sunday night, but I had to wait until I had my how-to books back and I had time. I finally got time today during naptime (my favorite time of day).

This isn't CTMH paper, but I did use CTMH stamps and inks. I had to make my own patterned papers to go with the cute pink circle background paper. I pulled my other colors from that paper and used the Spot On Backgrounds stamp set to make the polka-dot strings patterned paper and I inked white cardstock in Key Lime ink to make the green textured-looking one. What do you think? I'm quite pleased.

Obviously this still needs journaling. Thats going to go on left page with the polka-dot string box acting as its mat.

I used Cherish layout "Dramatic Fashion" pattern for this... the right page is rotated and the left page is changed quite a bit... I switched the orientation of the focus photo and triple-matted it so that it really stood out and was substantial enough to be the only photo on the page (instead of having 2 or 3 on it). I guess that means that I, apparently, can't follow directions! Oh well!

Supplies Used:

Pebbles Inc. and DCWV paper & cardstock
Pebbles Inc Duck Sticker
Square metal-rimmed tags
Baby Steps Stamp Set
Rustic Alphabet Stamp Set
Spot On Backgrounds Stamp Set
Small Friendship Alphabet Stamp Set
Blush Ink
Key Lime Ink
Black Ink
Sunflower Ink

Cards from a Level 1 kit

2008-10-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this on the Close To My Heart consultants bulletin board and I thought I'd give it a try. I have had a level one kit hanging around for months... I bought it back in May at the CTMH Warehouse sale at the Women's Expo and have since decided that its not quite going to work for me. I'm just not much of a level 1 user for my scrapbook pages. Besides... the Stickease that came with it weren't great... all borders, frames and tags... no alphabet, no little icons.

Anyway, here's what I came up with this afternoon/evening...

All 11 Cards

Close ups: 8x3 and two 4x5.5

Close up: four 4x4s

Close up: 5x7 and two 4x5.5

These cards all used pieces of the pre-printed layouts and the "My Stickease" cardstock stickers that came with the kit. I added brads and papers flowers to some of them and stamped the sentiments. The ribbon is not CTMH... just something I had in my stash and didn't already have a purpose in life. I'm not crazy about all of them, but I did start to like them better when I remembered Tresa Black's advice on using stickers and started altering them and inking them as I felt necessary.

There is not template, so if you want to give it a try make up some card bases and start figuring out what parts of your pre-printed layouts you like best for each card. You should have plenty of paper... I only used 3 out of the 4 layouts on mine. Happy scrapping!

Supplies Used:

Fairy Tales Level 1 Kit (retired)
From Me To You stamp set
Whooo Loves You stamp set
Thoughtful Seasons stamp set
Card Commentary stamp set
Doodle Alphabet stamp set
Playful Petals stamp set

Garden Green Brads

Garden Green Ink

Desert Sand Ink

Big Pinks paper flowers

October Scrapbook Club

2008-10-12T11:41:00.001-07:00

Here it is! The October layout for my Scrapbook Hostess Club. This layout uses our adorable new Notebook paper pack, and Shining Star stamp set and coordinating accessories. It is perfect for any number of titles, page themes and photo sizes (I think I'll use an 8x10 on the left and 2 5x7s or 3 4x6 on the right...).

Club will be held on Saturday, October 25th, 3 pm at my house. Leave a comment if you need directions or if you'd like to join! Stay tuned for projects for my card club... coming in November!

Supply List:

Colonial White Cardstock
Black Cardstock
Desert Sand Ink
Notebook Paper pack
Shining Star Stamp Set
Hollyhock Twill ribbon
Colonial White Brads

Reflections Layout

2008-10-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

I used my new Reflections layout book for the first time Satruday night and I loved it. So simple, so easy! I only did a one page layout, but you can combine and mix and match with the layouts in this book... it is AMAZING! Contact me if you'd like to look at it or order one of your own!

Supplied Used:

Life Delights Paper Pack

Large Friendship Alphabet Stamp Set

Small Friendship Alphabet Stamp Set

Playful Flourishes Stamp Set

Big Pinks Paper Flower

Chocolate Ink

Blush Polka Dot Ribbon

Christmas Card Workshop

2008-10-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak peek at my upcoming Christmas card workshop! You'll make 50 beautiful, hand-stamped card in just 3 hours. You can choose from "Evensong" (red & green) or "Aspen" (blue & cream) papers and a variey of winter and holiday themed stamps. Workshop is the morning of November 1st... leave a comment or contact me if you'd like to do the workshop. Cost is $25, prepaid no later than October 24th.

Simply Snapshot Page

2008-10-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a "Simply Snapshots" page to have as a sample to show at my gatherings. This one, done on the "More to Adore" variety of the pages, took me about 10 minutes and I think it turend out so cute. I may be converted to these things myself!

Supplies Used:

"More to Adore" Simply Snapshots base page

"Big Pinks" paper flowers

Dimensional Elements "Fresh Shapes"

Blush Ink

Spongue Daubers

New Gathering Card

2008-09-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

This came to me Friday morning as I was laying bed, trying to wake up between "snoozes" of my alarm clock. My mind must have been thinking about my sister's gathering, which was schedule for Friday evening. I tought about it all morning at work. When I got home was was please to find Allison down for a nap, so I grabbed my stamps and supplies and started working. Here is what I ended up with:

Please ignore the smudged sentiment and the spot on the owl that I could not, for the life of me, get to ink up. This came out pretty close to my vision. I also love this card for gatherings becuase its a little more in-depth in stamping than others I've come up with, which gives a better introduction to the product for gathering guests. It also gives me a chance to teach some techniques... hopefully that will make people want to learn MORE techniques and think about signing up for my monthly hostess clubs. =) Techniques here are second generation stamping and sponging with a little bit of paper piecing and use of liquid glass.

This card would also be so cute using the bigger owl from the Whooo Loves You stamp set, but the card would have to be at least 4" x 5.5"... I didn't want to do ones that big for a gathering. It would also be ADORABLE to either use brads for the owl's eyes or dye liquid glass with re-inker to color the eyes in.

Supply List

White Daisy Cardstock (cardbase and stamp surface)

Smokey Plum Cardstock (mat)

Ink Colors: Cocoa, Topiary, Sunflower, Purple Pansy, Lilac Mist. Black

Stamp Sets: Whooo Loves You, From Me To You

Accessories: Liquid glass

Gathering Cards

2008-09-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few cards that I've made with my new kit materials. The notebook papers are pretty cute, and I'm finidng that the Perfect Day pack is cuter than it looks in the idea book. I LOVE the cute "Shining Star" stamp set, as well as "Whooo Loves You". So cute. I'm thinking these will be the gathering projects I make for my first few gatherings.

Recent Layouts

2008-08-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've been trying hard to find time to scrap since we got back from Europe. I should probably just print my Europe pictures and scrap those, since they're current... but I still have SO MANY printed photos of Allison first few months and my wedding. I'm trying really hard to get a finished wedding album before the year is over. Anyway, here are some of the pages I've been working on when I've had a few minutes.

This was my first time using dimensional elements. LOVE how they look... I used the sponge daubers to colors them. This also did a great job using some of my smaller scraps from the Sonata paper packet. I thought about using flouishes on either the pink or the yellow, but I didn't want it to be too busy. Journaling still required (I'm so bad about getting my journaling done...)

I picked up the "Heart of Winter" project pack at last spring's warehouse clearance sale at the Utah Valley Women's Expo and I loved how these colors when with this cute photo. I'm not super crazy about how my title turned out, but I like it well enough to leave it alone.

Cutting the Cake - yeah for a wedding page! This layout came straight out of Cherish. I traded out the small square between the photos for the word "celebrate" from the Card Commentary stamp set. I didn't leave space for journaling, but I don't know if its really necessary. This page really just speaks for itself.

I LOVE this page, but its hard to see the details... poor lighting, harsh flash. Oh well. The photo is of Brian and I standing at the edge of the reflection pool at the Portland temple and its round because its taken with an extremely wide angle lens. Everything cut out of the photo was just black... this photos shows the entire almost 180 degree view from where the photographer was standing. In gold lettering it says "The Thornock's" About the photo, and our wedding date below it. This will probably serve as a wedding album cover page. Maybe...

So excited!

2008-08-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

I sign-up to actually begin as a Close To My Heart (CTMH) consultant next week! I've been waiting for September for paycheck reasons and becuase my friend Julie, who will be my upline, told me that The September National Stamping Month promotion card kit will come free with my consultants kit if I wait until September to order. I got last year's kit, so I'm very excited for this years. The cards were so cute!
I'm really excited to start my classes too... I'll be starting a scrapbook class in September and hopefully a card class a little later on. I'm thinking that out of this catalog we'll use the Notebook, Magic Moments, and EvenSong for sure... and maybe one of the Perfect Day papers... I love the combination of the new Tulip color with Cocoa.
Anyway, I'm excited to start my new business and I just wanted to share. =)

Welcome to my paper-crafting blog!

2008-08-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

I created this blog to showcase my scrapbooking, card making and other paper crafting. I am a Close To My Heart independent consultant and I love being creative! I love CTMH products... they are innovative and beautiful! I hope you enjoy the art work I post here!