Sweet Stop Sketch #199 - Birthday Card

Once again, I have decided to try something new! For years, my dear friend Nancy Brown, has participated in sketch challenges. For those of you who don't know about these challenges, there are tons of people and companies who publish sketches of card designs for people to attempt to recreate using their own paper, stamps, etc. The challenges are usually posted weekly, and participants then post their cards on the hosting blog. Often, there are prizes awarded. I have decided to try to start completing some challenges of my own! Ideally, I would love to do one a week, but we'll just have to wait to see how that goes.

The design of this card was inspired by sketch #199 for the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps Sketch Challenge Blog. I have always enjoyed looking at these sketches, and it helps that Korin used to be a sideline of mine with CTMH. I love her work, and I'm excited to participate in this challenge.

I used several different products on this card, which was for my best friend's surprise 40th birthday tonight. The paper is all from the CTMH Paper Pack, Clementine. I've really enjoyed using this paper pack over the past few months, and it is still available if any of you are interested in getting some of your own. The image is a pre-colored digital stamp called Emma and the Cake from Fred She Said Designs. I cut out the cake and popped it up so it looks like it is coming off the card. I added a bit of bling using mocha opaques, clear sparkle swirls, and a button stack that matches the Clementine paper. There is hand-stitching around the edge of the card using matching embroidery floss.

This card also qualifies for the following challenges:

Broken Box Stock Challenge #20 - Happy Birthday
Card Makin Mamas - It's Birthday Time

Gift Card Box

Today, I wanted to share with you the gift card box we made at our February club meeting this month. I'm always looking for new ways go give a gift card, since it can be boring to just put it one a card. I think this cute little project definitely fits the bill!

The box itself is made from two rectangular pieces that are scored and overlap in the middle. The card holder is also a rectangular piece that is scored and glued to the base of the box. I used the CTMH paper pack called "Clementine," along with some matching embellishments. (I just love those adorable flowers!) If you look closely at the top of the box, you may notice that I used some of our new brown glitter paper to give the box a bit of bling. This is a quick and easy project that is sure to be a big hit with the lucky recipient!

 

Music Card

I made this card a while back, but it's still one of my all-time favorites. As soon as I saw the music stamps, I knew I had to make a card with them. You see, I have been a trumpet player since I was in fifth grade (which means I've been doing it for almost 30 years...yikes!) and I fell in love with that stamp! I just love the combination of the silhouette image, with the music notes and swirls in the bottom of the image.

I can't remember the exact measurements, but I started with a large square. (I think it was around 8 or 9 inches.) Then I scored triangles in each of the four corners to make the flaps.

This card features the Avonlea paper pack and two stamp sets with slate ink. The corners were stamped with the August Stamp of the Month, Baroque Borders. The trumpet player and the inside were both stamped with the Sweet Music Stamp Set. I embellished the card with sparkles (clear, black, and black flourishes), a slate button, and baker's twine. Enjoy!

 

Winter Thanks

Since last week was my birthday, I found myself in need of a few thank you cards for some of my kiddos from school. I received a few gifts that were unexpected and greatly appreciated. I decided to take another attempt at using some Fred She Said (FSS) Digital stamps since I was short on time. I'm quickly falling in love with these images!

I managed to whip up this card pretty quickly, and made a few of them in a matter of about an hour. I used a piece of background paper from retired CTMH paper pack called Jingle, along with some Juniper and Tulip colored cardstock. The FSS image is called "Emma the Hugger." Isn't she just precious?!? Anyway, I used my scalloped square Nestabilities to cut out the image. I added a bit of light blue ink to extend the pre-colored image to the edges, using the die as a mask to leave the white edge. I also added prisma glitter to the snowman and the snow on the bottom of the image to add some extra sparkle. The "Thanks" was stamped using the CTMH Charm Lowercase Alphabet acrylic stamps. Click on the picture if you want to get a closer look! Hope you like Emma as much as I do :o)

Fred She Said Tulips

Two of my very dear friends, Nancy and Crystal, are both members of the Fred, She Said Design Team. Fred, She Said Digital Designs has an amazing collection of digital stamps. I have been admiring Nancy and Crystal's work for the past several months, and had even purchased a few digital stamps of my own. If I am being 100% honest though, I must admit that I had never actually used any digital stamps until this week, but now that I have used them, I am totally hooked!

First of all, the designs are GORGEOUS! There is a wide variety of subject matter, and I haven't yet seen an image that I didn't like! You can use the images to meet your needs because they aren't subject specific.

Second, you when you purchase the designs, many of the designs come as pre-colored images! The images come in a variety of different colors in one file, so you can pick and choose the colors that best match your paper.

Finally, with the use of Nestabilities dies, it's super easy to cut the image out after it has been printed.

Last weekend, my sister in law lost her 91 year old grandmother. Since we are very close to their family, I needed three sympathy cards! One for her, one for her daughter, and one for her mother. Enter Fred-She Said Designs! I was able to create three sympathy cards, each with a different look, all in about an hour and a half! I used the same image in three different colors, and used matching CMTH paper packs, ribbon, and embellishments. I have a feeling I am going to be making tons more cards with digital images in the very near future!!!

 

Avonlea Display Frame

This year, I decided to make a Christmas gift for my best-est friend, Michele. She is always so sweet and thoughtful. I honestly do not know what I would ever do without her. I'm so thankful to have her in my life! The one thing that makes her so special is that she loves her girls so much that I wanted to make something she could display in her home that would showcase her girls. She has two daughters of her own and a niece that she is raising along with her mother-in-law as if she were her own daughter. The display frame was a perfect fit! I secretly approached her oldest daughter in order to get some recent photos of the girls for this project. She was a huge help!

Back to the project itself...a few months ago, the uber-talented CTMH Consultant, Lisa Stenz, put together a display tray kit for her customers. I loved her work so much that I ordered the kit from her, knowing that I wanted to use it for Michele's gift. It uses the Avonlea paper pack, along with some other wonderful items. The colonial white rosette ribbon and the slate polka dot ribbon add a lot to the project. The dimensional flowers were all cut with the CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge. The Avonlea canvas complements bring this whole project together! I hope you like the finished frame as much as Michele did....love you bunches, my BFF!!!

Crafts in my Classroom

As many of you know, I have been an elementary classroom teacher for the past thirteen years. This past year I was moved from my former position as a technology teacher into a third grade classroom because of budgetary constraints. If any of you have ever set up a new classroom, you know it can be a HUGE undertaking.

Over the summer, I used some of my craft-sense to make a few items for my classroom that I thought would help make things run a lot more efficiently for the students. This post contains three of my favorite projects from this undertaking...

The first photo is an altered clipboard that hangs on our classroom window directly outside of the room. There are tons of cards that can be hung on the clothespin to indicate where we are when we are not in the classroom. I used the retired CMTH paper pack called Magic Moments, and a bunch of adorable buttons. I painted the clothespin black and hot-glued it to the board. VIOLA!

The next photo is the front of my desk. We use this to keep track of our lunch count each day. Each student has a number assigned to him/her for the entire year. As the students come into the classroom, they move the bottle cap with their number to the appropriate lunch choice. I used patterned 'duck tape' to make the sections on the desk. Since my desk is magnetic, I put small adhesive magnet discs on the back of each bottle cap, which made this a functional space! It takes me only seconds to count the lunch choices each day instead of the much larger amounts of time it used to take!

Finally, I've included a photo of the super-cool cookie sheet that is right next to our classroom door. As the students leave the room, they move their bottle cap to the destination where they can be found. This eliminates any questions if a student is missing from the classroom. It also cuts down on the constant questions to go to the bathroom, get a drink, go to the nurse, etc. There are rules for when students are permitted to leave and how many students can be out at a time, and they do a really good job keeping up with the rules. The sections were created with black shimmer tape. The labels for this and for the front of my desk were made using CTMH Roxie paper.

The students seem to really enjoy each of these items and they have definitely gone a long way toward helping with classroom management.

Resolutions and New Starts

Hey there! Remember me?!? I know it's been ages since I've last posted here. I have a lot of different directions I could go with this post. I can apologize and make excuses. I could tell you all of the reasons I haven't posted since last July (YIKES!) but I am not going to do that. I've decided that starting with this year, I no longer want to look backward, rather look forward.

Like most of you, I decided to make a New Year's Resolution. Of course, I always say that I want to make healthier choices, lose weight, and exercise more (which I still am working hard to do), but I really wanted to make a resolution this year that I thought I actually had a chance to keep. So...my resolution deals with all of you and with this blog...

This year, I resolve to commit myself to at least four blog posts a month. (I find that this is rather convenient today, since there are only four days left in January!) I refuse to let this one fail before the month of January is over! I have been taking photos and have been squeezing in some craft time over the past few months. Now, I just need to take the time to post what I've been doing. I am hoping that once I create a 'blogging habit' that more than four posts will be posted each month.

So...here goes nothing!!!

This first post for January is my 2012 Christmas Card. I made 80 of these little guys and I was worried that this would end up being the first year my cards didn't get finished in time for Christmas since I started making my own cards in 2002. I started with CTMH die-cut cards. I just LOVE the scroll design pre-cut into the bottom of the card! I used the CTMH paper pack called Pear and Partridge. I also used the October 2012 CTMH stamp of the month Very Merry Christmas. I stamped the image three times on the ornament shape after it was cut with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. Then I folded each ornament in half and glued them together to create the three dimensional ornament. I added Cranberry Baker's Twine for the ribbon on top, and some bitty sparkles on each ornament for some bling! The finishing touch was the addition of Silver Shimmer Tape on the inside of the card. This peeks through the bottom of the card and really did a nice job finishing off the card.

I hope you enjoy this first post, and that you keep coming back for more! (Don't be afraid to email or message me if you feel like I'm slacking!) Sometimes, I need that extra push to keep on top of my goals!

Convention Day 3

Well...here I sit in my room with most of my things packed at the end of another Convention. This one was full of great times and memories that will last a lifetime. It's sad that we are leaving, but I am so ready to go home and be with my hubby again. I really missed him!

Today was another busy day. We started the day with a four hour Extravaganza session. During this time, we rotated through eight sessions in which fellow consultants shared information and artwork featuring our new paper packs and embellishments. I am sharing a few pictures from the event below. See if you can find some of the new products! If you check it out and leave a comment telling me at least three new products in the photos, there may be a prize for a lucky responder ;-) It's okay if you don't know the product names, just describe what you see.

After lunch, we had our closing session. It started with a question and answer session with our founder and CEO, Jeanette Lynton. Then a few consultants got to play a game of Deal or no Deal to win new products. We ended that session with a convention tradition, the left/right game. Debbie won a new WOTG pack for winning the game at our table.

Finally, the day ended with a create and take session and a live auction to benefit Operation Smile. We completed a couple of two-page layouts with my favorite paper pack, Clementine! I love the layouts and you can see them below. The live auction was a hoot. Three or four lucky winners paid $1000 each for a complete set of exclusive sticky boy stamps from this year with him wearing a cowboy hat. The set included all six sizes of stamps that were hidden around the event this week. Over $14,000 was raised during this week to benefit Operation Smile. That's a lot of children's lives that will be forever changed!

Well, gotta get to bed! We need to get up at 4am in order to catch our shuttle to the airport at 5:30am. If you know me at all, you know this is going to be tough! Hope you enjoyed all of my convention recaps. See you when I get back to PA!

Convention Day 2 Recap

Wow...what another whirlwind day we had today! It's almost midnight and we have been going since eight o'clock this morning. I am exhausted but I can't go to bed without another blog post!

We started the morning with an inspirational message from Stacy Julian. It was moving and emotional, and so worth it! After lunch, we had a business class about the amazing changes coming to Studio J. The best news is that there will be no more memberships and lower prices for everyone! There are also some great new additions making digital scrapping faster, simpler, and easier. More on that later...

After the business class, my roommate and I came back to our rooms and worked on some projects we didn't get to do yesterday and today because of the business classes. Check out all of the awesome new product we got to play with!

Tonight we had our awards dinner and we were entertained by The Texas Tenors! It was a phenomenal evening and we had an amazing time. We also received an exclusive stamp set only available to those attending this dinner. See the picture below.

Below are some pictures from the day, including two projects that we finished this afternoon.

Convention Day 1 Recap

What a day! Sorry I wasn't able to post sooner, but the wireless here is unreliable at best. Add to that the fact that the is not much time to breathe during the day, and that leaves you all waiting until now when we finally are back in our rooms!

Well...as always, CTMH did not disappoint with the opening session of convention this year. There are tons of amazing new products and beautiful new stamps and paper packs. I'm going to try to give you a recap of some of the highlights from today. Of course, there are so many wonderful things in the catalog, that there's no possible way I can tell you everything. If you want to see it all, you'll have to contact me for a catalog! Here's the big news...

- New alcohol markers! (similar to Copics)
- Six new colors and a revamped color palette
- All cardstock colors are available in bulk packs again
- New pigment ink stacks
- Home decor items in the My Creations line
- New storage containers
- 13 Workshops on the Go!
- Another exclusive Cricut cartridge!

Here are a few pictures of some new product. The last page is a layout we made in our create and take session this afternoon. Come back tomorrow for more amazing information!

Ahhh...so excited!

Only have a minute here but had to tell you that my album I shared was selected for the top ten! That means it is in the running for prizes to be awarded tomorrow night. I can hardly stand it....I'm still shaking!

Convention Roomie Gift

It's a convention tradition to exchange gifts with your roommate. Crystal made me this neat card organizer using my favorite paper pack! The calendars on each page are for listing birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Each page has a pocket for storing cards until they are ready to be mailed or delivered. So cute! Thanks, Crystal!

We are getting ready to head out to our first general session. Can't wait to hear about all of the amazing things CTMH has in store for us. Check back for updates!

Convention Album Submission

As some of you already know, I decided to enter a Scrapbook Album Contest at the CTMH Convention this year. There were two requirements: the album had to center around a star theme and it had to have five two-page layouts. As soon as I heard about the theme, I knew what I wanted to do...

During my first year teaching, I was given a poem called "The Star Polisher." I've always used it as inspiration throughout my teaching career, and the poem has always been displayed in the different classrooms in which I have taught. It represents my thoughts about the students I teach in a profound and eloquent way.

Below are the photos of my album. (Please forgive the sheer volume of pictures....but I want you to see it all at once.) The layouts in which there are multiple photos, show pull-out elements or additional photos on the page. You can click on the photos to get a better look. I won't know anything about the contest results until Friday night, but no matter what happens, this is something that I will treasure forever!