Crystal's Birthday Card

I'm back and I have a super cute card I want to share! Last month was my CTMH BFF, Crystal's birthday, and it is tradition that she gets a handmade card. (I mean...I really can't give a store bought card to someone who is also a paper crafter like me, now can I?!?)

Last summer, Crystal and I attended a two day workshop to become certified Copic marker instructors. We really didn't do it because we wanted to teach, only because we wanted to learn techniques for using our markers to the best of their ability since they were a BIG investment. We had a ton of fun, and learned so much from the incredible instructor Cindy Lawrence. Unfortunately, once school started up in the fall, there was little time to play. Although I'm a little rusty, I broke out the markers for this card, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. (I liked it so much, it was tough to put it in the mail...haha!)

Anyway, this card uses a digital stamp image called "Happy Bee Day" by Tiddly Inks. (I just love their adorable images!) The paper pack I used is called Hopscotch from Close to my Heart. Unfortunately, the paper is no longer available because it has sold out :-( In order to add a little something extra, I used a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen on the girl's wings and headband, as well as the bee to make him shimmer. I used some foam tape to give the bee and the sentiment some dimension. For the finishing touches, I used Bronze Shimmer Trim and a few gems from the Brown & Tan Sparkles Assortment, all from Close to my Heart. Hope you like the card as much as I do :)

Joyful Stars March Blog Hop

Well...it's time for another blog hop. As always, I'm excited to see what this group of talented consultants have created for you this month. The hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Stephanie's Blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you get back to the blog you started on to make sure you see all of the wonderful artwork!

 

This month, I'd like to share this adorable crayon box we made at my last club meeting. The crayons inside are made by covering packs of Rolo candies with patterned paper, and adding a Hershey Kiss to the top. It was a super-easy project and it makes a great gift for anyone!

Close to my Heart Supplies Used:
X7194B - Hopscotch Paper Packet
X7194C - Hopscotch Complements 

To continue along the hop, please head on over to Betty's Blog to see what she has created for us this month. Thanks for hopping along with us. For a full list of all participating bloggers, please click here. Be sure to come back next month for more inspiration and to see more fabulous CTMH products!

Joyful Stars November Blog Hop

Well...it's time for another blog hop. As always, I'm excited to see what this group of talented consultants have created for you this month. The hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Betty's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you get back to the blog you started on to make sure you see all of the wonderful artwork!

I've had a few My Creations Pennant Frames hanging around my scrap room for a while now, but never got around to making one. I think it was mainly because I wasn't sure how or where I would use one. When CTMH came out with the Chalk It Up paper pack, I had visions of all kinds of things I could use it for in my third grade classroom. I decided to combine the two items and make something to hang in the window to my classroom for people to see as they enter from the hallway. The complements on the inside are popped with foam tape. I also used black glitter paper instead of shimmer trim. When I went to use the black shimmer trim, my roll was empty. If you'd click a closer look, just click on each photo!

 

Close to my Heart Supplies Used:
Z1941 - My Creations Pennant Frame
X7184B - Chalk It Up Paper Packet
X7184C - Chalk It Up Complements 
Z1829 - Black & Grey Glitter Paper
Z1754 - Sparkles Black & Grey Assortment 
 
To continue along the hop, please head on over to my sweet friend Stephanie's Blog to see what she has created for us this month. Thanks for hopping along with us. For a full list of all participating bloggers, please click here. Be sure to come back next month for more inspiration and to see more fabulous CTMH products!

Joyful Stars October Blog Hop

Well...it's that time again! Time for another blog hop. As always, I'm excited to see what this group of talented consultants have created for you again this month. The hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from Betty's Blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you get back to the blog you started on to make sure you see all of the wonderful artwork!

Funny story about this project. I have wanted to make one of these for a long time, so I created this one last weekend as the monthly project with my club members. As one of the girls was paging through the catalog, she saw a very similar project on page 74 with the Snowhaven Paper pack. Since school started, I haven't looked at my catalog much at all in the past month or so, and I had never even noticed it! So...this was not scrap-lifted, but it is funny to see the similarities. Oh well...

This one is made of three different sized rosette flowers. I used a chipboard circle as the base, and lots of hot glue to hold it all together!

Close to my Heart Supplies Used:
X7188B - Snowhaven Paper Packet
Z1935 - Black & Grey Epoxy Bubbles
Slate Polka-Dot Ribbon (retired)

Next please head on over to Andrea's Blog to see what she has created for us this month. Thanks for hopping along with us. For a full list of all participating bloggers, please click here. Be sure to come back next month for more inspiration and to see more fabulous CTMH products!

Joyful Stars August Blog Hop

It's hard to believe that it's already time for another blog hop! I can hardly wait to see what all of the talented consultants participating in this hop have created for you this month. This blog hop will be especially exciting because it will contain all NEW PRODUCT from the Annual Inspirations catalog that went live on August 1st. The hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from my friend Stephanie's Blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you get back to the blog you started on to make sure you see all of the wonderful artwork!

This month, I would like to share with you a 5"x7" card that I made featuring a removable ornament. I started with the stamp called Classy Doily. I stamped the image eight times on the corresponding cuts from the Cricut Artiste cartridge. Next, I used our brand new ShinHan Touch Twin alcohol markers to color the images. Then, I cut the images and adhered them together using foam tape. The ornament has several layers, which creates a great deal of dimension. I repeated this process for the back side so that the ornament can be viewed from any angle. Finally, I cut the scalloped circle from the center of the card so that the ornament can be seen on both the outside and the inside of the card. The ornament is attached to the card using metallic bakers twine and two pewter brads. I used the Snowhaven paper pack to create this card.

Close to my Heart Supplies Used:

X7188B - Snowhaven Paper Packet
B1424 - Classy Doily Stamp 
Z1921 - Baker's Twine Neutral Metallic Assortment
Z2647 - Warm Grey 4 Touch Twin Marker
Z2448 - Carmine Touch Twin Marker
Z2465 - Turquoise Blue Touch Twin Marker
Z2461 - Peacock Green Touch Twin Marker

Next please head on over to Andrea's blog to see what she has created for us this month. Thanks for hopping along with us. For a full list of all participating bloggers, please click here. Be sure to come back next month for more inspiration and to see more fabulous new CTMH products!

Graduation Card with Copics

A few weeks ago, I attended Copic Certification classes in Philadelphia with my CTMH BFF, Crystal. We spent two jam-packed days learning how to use and blend with Copic Markers, along with many other fun techniques. We have both had Copics for years, but never really learned how to use them properly. I'm so glad we took the time to attend these classes. Cindy Lawrence was our instructor, and we learned so much from her! Ever since that weekend, I've been so busy that I really haven't had much of a chance to play with my new skills. Well...that chance finally came today!

Today I want to share a graduation card for a party I'm attending tomorrow. I used this adorable hedgehog stamp from Penny Black called "A Scholar." All of the products are Close to my Heart with the exception of the stamp and the circle Nestabilities dies. The paper is all from a pack called Dream Pop, but I'm sad to say it is no longer available. (I'm desperately trying to use up some of my stash before buying more paper!) I used Bronze Shimmer trim and Brown Glitter Paper to add some bling on the right side of the card. The flower is from the Chantilly Assortment set. I just love the paper I added to the inside of the card as well. It's light enough that I can write a message, but added just the right amount of fun. As always, you can click on any image for a closer look!

I used MANY Copics to color this image. The B colors were used for the sky. I used the E colors on the hedgehog. The G colors were used for the grass, and the W colors were used on the graduation hat. The red and yellow were accents colors for the star and the ribbon.

I decided to use this week's Mojo Monday sketch as the layout for this card. It is such a fun layout and I loved playing along with the challenge!

Babycakes Name Frames

A few years ago, I started making these baby name frames as gifts for my co-workers whenever they had a new addition join their families. As more people in my work family received these gifts over the years, others started asking questions about how to get me to make more. I still make them for gifts at work, but I also make them for other people to give as gifts too. They are a huge hit, and are relatively easy to make!

This one was made for my niece to give as a gift to twins that were born on her husband's side of the family. They feature the Babycakes paper pack and matching canvas complements. (Aren't they adorable?!?) Click on the image for a closer look! Each square piece is matted to 2" and the inside piece is 1 3/4" square. The letters are cut on my Cricut and then I cover the letter with Bonding Memories Glue and Martha Stewart Glitter. The frame is 11" x 14"and the artwork measures 8 1/2" x 11". It needs to be placed outside of the matted area in order to fit. Sometimes I place elements on the outside of the frame for a little bit of added dimension. 

Joyful Stars July Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars Blog Hop! I am very excited to be participating in this blog hop for the first time this month with some very talented CTMH consultants. The hop is a circle, so it doesn't matter if you are coming from my dear friend Crystal's blog or if you start here on my blog. Just continue around until you get back to the blog you started on to make sure you see all of the wonderful artwork!

This month I would like to feature a 5x7 hinged display tray. My best friend's oldest daughter graduated from high school last month, and I wanted to make something that she could take with her to college in the fall. The hinged display tray was a perfect choice! I started by covering the front and back of the box with the black paisley paper from the Laughing Lola paper pack. I added the complement border pieces to the top of the tray, and then put the pieces I trimmed off on each side. For the inside, I decorated each box individually. The smaller photos are wallet size prints trimmed to fit, and the larger photo is a trimmed down 4x6. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I used lots of foam tape to add dimension to the project. If you want to make one of your own, hurry and order your supplies from the list below! Everything is retiring except for the display tray.

Close to my Heart Supplies Used:

5" x 7" Hinged Display Tray
Laughing Lola Paper Pack
Laughing Lola Complements
Laughing Lola Assortment
Base and Bling Purple Jewels 
Base and Bling Black Jewels  (clear jewel on bottom right)

Next, please head on over to Betty's blog to see what she's created for us this month! Thanks for hopping along with us. For a full list of all participating bloggers, please click here. Be sure to come back in August for more inspiration and to see some fabulous new CTMH products!

Pop-up Gift Card Holder

One of the things I enjoy most is finding creative ways to give a gift card. It's much more fun when a card has an interactive element, instead of just putting the gift card inside of the card. I found this cute pop-up gift card idea online, and when I saw it I decided to make one for my niece's bridal shower gift. The box holding the gift card lies flat when the card is closed, but pops up with the gift card when the card is opened. How much fun is that?!?

I wrote my personalized message on the white daisy cardstock, and I did not give her an Applebees gift card ;-)

The paper and stickers I used are from the CTMH pack called For Always. The image is from Fred She Said Designs, and it's called Wistful Emma.

Posting again! Wedding Project #1

Yeah, I know...it's been WAY TOO LONG since I've posted anything here. Let's just say life got in the way. Although things are still crazy, and there is still much going on, I really have missed sharing my artwork with you all, so I'm going to make another attempt to re-enter the blogging world.

For a good chunk of time last year, I wasn't able to share my work. You see, I was creating things for my niece's wedding, and they were top secret. I wasn't able to share them with anyone until they were made public. One of the most time consuming projects was the invitation because I made 225 of them! The invitation is based on an idea I found online, and for the life of me, I can't find the original card. All of the paper (except for the glitter paper) on the invitations came from www.paperandmore.com. The bride, groom and hearts were cut from the CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge. They were a huge hit, and I'm very proud of the final product!!! You can click on each photo for a closer look. Enjoy :-)

Card for the Hubby

So...I've been making cards for years now, and I have never made one for my husband. (I know...I know...bad wife, but I honestly never thought he would want one! Whenever I would show him a card I make, he'd say "that's nice" and that was the end of the discussion.) Needless to say, as I started making more cards recently, he has been giving me a bit of a teasing about how nice it must be to receive one of my cards, and how you must be someone pretty special to get one of my cards. I got the hint and set out to make him a super-special card!

This one is for him! I used the Penny Black hedgehog stamp set again, and colored him with my Copic markers. The paper is another one of my favorites from CTMH. It is the retired pack called Splendor. I added a bit of bling with some silver glitter paper, and finished the card off with hand-stitching in matching embroidery floss. The corners are adorned with some CTMH adhesive studs in antiqued brass.

Card for a Co-worker

I am blessed to have some pretty awesome co-workers! One in particular has been invaluable this year to myself and my niece, who also teaches third grade with me. We decided that we wanted to do something special for him to thank him for all he's done this year to help us, and to keep us all on track. This is my first year teaching third grade in a while, and I came into a classroom with no files left behind. I know that if I didn't have him helping us, I would have been lost for the first half of the year!

This card was made just for him, and was presented to him with a small token of our appreciation for all he does. It was created using the Dakota paper pack from CMTH. The image is a pre-colored image from Fred She Said Designs, called "Nolan with a sign." The card is embellished with black sparkles in each corner, and silver glitter paper to add a little something extra. There is a hand-stitched design in black embroidery floss around the edge of the card. Enjoy!

Hedgehog Birthday Card - SSS203

Although I have been working on a few projects lately, unfortunately, they are things I haven't been able to post for various reasons!  Some are super-top secret and can't be revealed just yet. I promise as soon as I can, you will see them sooner or later.

One of the biggest things I have been working on for the past few weeks has been samples for my niece's wedding! I am so excited that she loves my ideas and she wants me to make her invitations and her guest book. You'll have to wait a while to see those though...

Today, I would like to share a card that I made for a very dear friend of mine. This card was created using the Sweet Stop Sketch #203 for the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Sketch Challenge Blog. Please click on any of the images for a closer look!

The card was made for a friend's birthday, and I wanted to make her a super-special card because she is a super-special person. Nancy is the reason for my hand-stitching addiction, and I can't give her a card that isn't stitched! In fact, lately, I've been having a tough time making any card that isn't stitched. (Thanks a lot, Nancy!!! LOL!)

This card was created using some retired CTMH paper, called Mayberry. This is one of my all-time favorite paper packs, and I am so glad that I still have a bunch. The hedgehog is from a Penny Black Acrylic Stamp set called Wonderful Day. This image was colored using my Copic Markers. The embellishments are all CTMH, and the card is hand-stitched using matching embroidery floss. It's hard to tell on the photo, but there is lots of dimension, and the bee's wings are glittery.

Here is a close-up of the stitching.

And...here is a peek at the inside of the card.

Hope you enjoyed my card! Stay tuned for a few more posts in the coming days...I had a productive weekend :o)

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.