Rock The Block

Rock the Block
December–January Constant Campaign

When you place a minimum order of $25 from the Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book, you can get two valuable new products for just $15: the My Creations® Collage Cubes (a Spring/Summer 2012 sneak-peek product!) and the exclusive My Acrylix® Rock the Block E-size stamp set (available only during this promotion). This Rock the Block promotion represents a retail savings of almost $30! You're going to love the collage cubes and the Rock the Block stamp set, which work together for interactive, fashionable fun!

Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Well, it looks like this tree wins the prize! We always have a real tree and this year is no exception.  Emily says it is good just the way it is, no trimming needed.  We love us a good scragly tree and that we have. 

Snowflake card

Here is a fun little card using one of the card bases from the AP Cricut cartridge. For the base I used Wonderland paper and stamped the cut snowflakes with the Snowflakes set. A quick easy card perfect for a special friend on my list this Holiday season!

I sized the card to fit in a CD envelope. I love that you can see the card front through the window and CD envelopes are very inexpensive at the local office supply store.

Sonoma B&T papers

Today's project was made with the CTMH Sonoma papers. I absolutely love these papers! They were perfect for these pictures of Emily from 2004. The design was inspired from the TA-DA sketch in the CTMH Magic how-to book. Of course as I worked, the page took on a view of its own.

The frame around the main picture is one of the border strips on the sonoma papers. Then I added some clear buttons to hide the corner seams. For a little more dimension I added a ribbon slide and stamped the "Amazing" title on a dimensional element. The final touch to pull it all together is a little faux stitching around the page.

The flower was made with 9 circles punched with the 1 1/4" circle punch.

Simply fold 8 of the circles into thirds form a triangle.

Then adhere them all on top of the 9th circle forming a circle. I sponged on a little Smokey Plum ink and added a wooden button to finish it off. So easy and so pretty!

Happy Thanksgiving!

There are so many things I am grateful for this year. Of course, my family and friends are at the top of the list. Without their constant love and support I would not be able to achieve all of the goals I have set upon myself. To them, I am forever grateful.

Today was filled with wonderful food and family. After dinner, while everyone was sleeping off the Turkey, I managed to finish up this page that had been laying on my desk.

It took me nearly 10 years to figure out what my scrapbooking style was. It wasn't until I became a CTMH consultant and I really started analyzing my pages did it occur to me. One simple word sums it up. "Layered". I build my pages from the ground up, adding layers and dimension until the page feels "done". I usually attach as I build and often the page takes on entirely different look from the vision I had when I started.

The base of this layout started with a piece of pink paislee resist paper. I spent a lot of time adding various colors of ink to the paper to change the boring off white to a rainbow of colors, only to cover most of it up with other page elements. Ahhh... the building process.

The chipboard circle framing the pictures is from the CTMH Dimensional Elements On Target package. If you haven't tried the Dimensional Elements, they are the bomb! Perfect for inking and stamping since they are white and not "cardboard" colored.

Today is a Happy Day!

Here is a fun page that started out as a home gathering project. I added the borders cut from the CTMH Cricut cartridge, as well as a few other details. The border is stamped around the page with a bracket stamp, the flower is made with the CTMH scallop and circle punch, and the hand stitching was easy peasy with the new stitching ruler.

I have been very busy preparing for the crazy month of November. I will be setting up shop at 2 crops and 2 craft fairs, plus have 2 crop nights and an event calendar workshop going on. I am excited to share my crafting projects with you, they are pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. For now, you will have to wait... Sorry :).

Tyler takes the written test for drivers training tomorrow, then he will be driving us around to get his hours in. The bad thing about a small town, everything is just around the corner. It looks like a couple road trips to visit family will need to be planned. Oh my, the thought of my dear son behind the wheel makes me a little jittery.

Smile.......

So sometimes you have to counteract bad photos with a great page. I should have known better than to leave Zane in charge of taking pictures during Emily's dance recital. I grouped them in a 5 x 7 collage so they were smaller prints. This helped with the focus a bit, but as you can see they still have lots of "movement".

This page was from a workshop example that I just added the pictures to. Somewhere in our travels, we saved the information from the song the girls danced to. "Somewhere", the key word here, hence the empty journaling lines. The papers are from the retired Wings collection. So sad to see these papers go, one of my all time favorites! The stamped flowers are all from the Dreams Come True set. I hope to see this one stay around past January 31st. Even though the set is not featured in the current book, it is still available to purchase.

Pure Joy!

Oh my, Elliana really enjoyed devouring her birthday cake. Even though she was over 4000 miles away, we could feel the excitement through the pictures. Yes, a picture can speak 1000 words!

This page was from a home gathering project from a couple of months ago. I used the Mayberry papers, bohemian alphabet and canvas badge buttons. Sadly, Mayberry will retire January 31st. Oh how I love this paper and the canvas buttons are so fun to stamp on!

Follow Your Dreams......

Moving on to the second layout with the You and Me kit. Emily had edited these pictures with all these great quotes she found online. I was so taken back when I found them. They speak volumes about her go getter attitude. She has ambition, goals, and determination, yet she balances her drive to be the best with a lot of fun loving personality.

I added a couple of things not shown in the kit quide to make the layout my own. The borders around the page and photo corners help to pull it all together. The Elemental journaling tags matched perfectly and a great way to hide my mushy journaling. I did a lot of inking around things on this page. This added a lot of dimension and contrast to the different layers.

Silly Girls..........

Good Morning! I have had the pages made up from the past You and Me kit made up for a while. The title "Celebrate" was perfect for pictures from Emily's 12th birthday. It is hard to believe she is already 12 years old. It seems like just yesterday, she was a wee little baby cuddled up in my arms.

I love the papers and stamp set from this kit. I hope to see them as a full packet in a future catalog. Doubtful, but one can dream.

Zane's mom showed up with these boots she found at a yardsale. Emily and Kylee giggled themselves silly trying to walk in them. Of course, they are for "dress up" inside the house only! They are silly girls:),

A little Ellianna!

Todays page features Roman's older sister Ellianna! Again, I used the Elemental papers again since I had them out. Her little smile is contagious. The picture of my nephew in the bottom left hand corner will be replaced with a 6 x 6 as soon as I remember to reprint it.

The journaling strips are to be filled in by mom and dad someday when I pass her book along to them.

Lots and Lots of pages!

Hold onto your seats Ladies and Gentlemen! It is a blog update! I have been busy adding pictures to all the example pages from various workshops and home gatherings. It feels so good to have pictures added to them. There are a few pages that need dates or journaling added, only because I didn't have the information available at the recent crop I attended. Over the next several days, I will be posting them here on the a scrapper blog. So check back daily for a little creative inspiration!

Today's page features little Roman! Roman is my only Great Nephew, he lives in Hawaii, so we watch him grow through photographs. His mom Stacey takes some amazing pictures, don't you think! Here he is 5 months old, he looks a lot like his daddy did when he was a baby. I can't wait to meet him in person when they come home for Christmas!

I used papers from the Close To My Heart Elemental line. The tag, stars, and flourishes, and border are all cut from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge. On the left hand side of the page, I used a pocket to hold some extra photos of sweet little Roman. This is a quick way to put extra's in your book without doing another layout for the same event.

Thanks for looking, and be sure to stop by tomorrow!
Angie

Embrace The Moment

Phew! What a crazy few weeks. School is well under way and we are all finally getting back into the routine again. With the holiday season fast approaching, everything will be in a whirlwind again soon. For today, I am living in the moment and had a chance to sit down and do a little creating.

My nephew Daniel is off for his training to prepare for his second deployment. This time he will be in Afghanistan for 14 months. If everyone could please keep him and the rest of the military in your prayers it would be much appreciated. Thank You:)

He has been on my mind a lot, so I decided to pull out some pictures from his last deployment and give it a whirl!

Journaling reads:
As we go through life, there are events that are truly amazing! Welcoming Daniel home from his first tour in Iraq was one of these moments. The atmosphere was full of so much energy. Seeing all the children, parents, and families welcoming the soldiers home. The tears of joy and relief, and the American pride is something I will never forget. My nephew Daniel holding his first niece Ivy after 9 months deployed. It seems like he was just a little boy catching toads. Now, look at him all grown up, serving our country, fighting our wars. So Proud!!

Tip: A great way to save paper! If you are covering up most of the base of your page, cut part of the section out that will be covered up. I then used part of this piece for the journaling area. This saved cutting into a fresh new piece of cardstock.

Items used in this layout: (all CTMH unless stated otherwise)
Typeset Level 2 paper packet - X7139B
Blue Ribbon stamp set - C1464
Milepost Shapes - Z1464
Juniper Brads - Z1363
Black Brads from Black Mini-Medley collection - Z1393
Piercing Tool Kit - Z1114
My legacy Writer Black Pens - 4275
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge - Z1686
(Cut the circle then used decorative scissors to trim the inside for rustic edge)
Sanding kit - Z1294
Inks - Vineyard Berry, Black, and Juniper
Title - Quikutz reuse alphabet set.

I used a sketch from Becky over at Pagemaps for inpiration! Thanks Becky!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Pair A Phrase Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Pair A Phrase Blog Hop! We will be featuring this special stamp set, which is called Pair A Phrase, a set of 37 stamps. To celebrate National Stamping Month starting August 15th through September 30th you can get this double stamp set for FREE!!! That's right, with any order of $75 you can add this wonderful set valued at $35.90. This set is only available for a limited time. Plus there is more! If you include the August SOTM for $5 as part of your $75 order you will get another FREE alphabet set valued at $6.95. That is $42.85 in free stamps! Amazing deal!

If you have come here from Nancy Brown's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Helen's Blog

"Enjoy" Scrapbook Page Pops with Flowers: Project Inspiration Autumn/Win...

Chore Board

Yes.... I have been a very bad blogger this week. Things have been a little hectic adjusting to our new routines.

Two things I have figured out.
1. I am not cut out for housework. Figured this one out last night cleaning the shower, apparently when you are 50 lbs overweight and standing on the edge of the tub, you fall. Lesson learned.
2. Wow! Do dogs shed! I have been a tad obsessive about sweeping the floors since I noticed how much dog hair collects in a mere 24 hours. Zane use to do this one. I had no idea!

In my effort to make my kids accountable for the chore money they are earning. I made up this cute dry erase board to list their daily chores each morning. Looks much cuter than a piece of paper on the counter :).

I used triangles of each of the new CTMH papers for the photo mat then added some faux stitching to make it look like a quilt.

The title letters are from the new CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. The chipboard pennants come with the cartridge bundle. I feel like I need to paint the frame for a more country or vintage feel. Maybe another day. For now it works.

Have a great day!
Angie

It is reveal day!!!!

I am off to work, but wanted to jump on here real quick and shout out that IT IS REVEAL DAY!!!

There are so many wonderful new products in the new book. Just to name a few.... Heavier weight double sided papers, lower priced stamps, revamp on the SOTM program, and the biggest news of all A CRICUT CARTRIDGE!!!

Plus, now if you place a $150 order you get $25 in free products. It use to be you had to have a "party" to get free products. There are so many wonderful changes with this idea book. I will be back later with some more exciting updates. But, I must get to my "real job". UGH! If only I could play with paper all day.....

To see the new book, click on the "shop with me" button to the right. This will take you to my website, so you can browse the book online.

Enjoy your day!

Close To My Heart August Stamp Of The Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring the August SOTM, which is Wicked, a set of 9 stamps. If you have come here from Judy's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants here .

This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

The project I chose to do is a sleeve for a package of microwave popcorn. These will be so fun to give to some special friends on my list this Halloween. They are super easy to make! Simply cut a 5 1/2" x 9" piece of cardstock, then score and fold at 2 1/4" and 2 1/2" from each end. Wrap the cardstock around the popcorn package and glue the two overlapping ends together with your favorite scrapbooking adhesive.

Before assembling the sleeve, you can stamp the cardstock with whatever you choose to dress it up a bit. I used the honeycomb background stamp that comes int the SOTM set, alternating rows of Pansy Purple and Sunflower. To make the front, use a die or image off the new CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge, cut it so you have 2 pieces, one larger and one smaller. Then stamp the sentiment on the smaller piece and the wonderful witch image on the larger. I put a couple brads and wrapped some natural Hemp around them to make it look like the sleeve is tied shut. The sleeve actually slides off, this was just for looks.

Super quick and easy!

Here's what you get with the August SOTM set.

Now "Hop" on over to Gina's to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the August SOTM is only available until the 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

Saturday Crop pages

It was so great spending the day with the SOTTS girls yesterday. For those of you that don't know, SOTTS stands for Sisters Of The Traveling Scraps. There are 9 of us that try and get together at least once a month for some scrapbooking fun. We have become very good friends and cherish our time together. I am so grateful for my wonderful SOTTS!

In between the socializing at the crop yesterday, I managed to complete 2 pages. The first I used the Creative Scrappers sketch posted earlier for my jumping off point.

The first page of many celebrating my first great nephew Roman! They live in Hawaii and can't wait to meet him in person. For now, we watch him grow through pictures and facebook updates.

I only took my Cricut, Gypsy, papers and a little bag of embellishments with me. I often do this so I am forced to step out of the box and create with what I have on hand. The Baby banner was made by layering letters from the Storybook cartridge over a scalloped circle from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge on the Gypsy.

My second page for the day was another for the TN vacation album....

The font on this one is from the Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge. Yes.... I bought this cartridge just for this page.

Sorry about the Wonky Pictures! Wow! I didn't realize they were that bad until I put them on the blog. I will have to fix that later, but we are off for a beach day now. Enjoy your Sunday!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

I whipped up this quick little card last night for my entry into the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #127

The little flower stamps are from the CTMH Spring Up set. The sentiment is from PTI. The pattern paper is todays sneak peek. It is the new Typeset paper line by CTMH. Only a couple more days until the new book goes live! Yay!!!

I learned a new trick and it is amazing!!! To save your Cricut mats, spray them with the CTMH My Acrylix stamp cleaner, wipe them off with a lint free cloth. It is VERY important that it be a truly lint free cloth. Then let the mats air dry for 15 minutes and they are 90% new again. Trust me on this one! It truly does work! I could not believe my eyes, my very worn down mats were revived and full of life again. Amazing!!!

Another card from scraps and sneak peak.......

We made it through day 2 with both of us working. Yay! I had to chuckle when I read what Emily posted on facebook yesterday. She said she really likes that both of her parents are working. For breakfast she can eat whatever she want. She had a Pop Tart, Applesauce and Ice Cream. Too Funny! I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon.

I learned to never trust a 15 year old when he says he will get up in 20 minutes. I had to have Tyler's friend that lives a couple houses away come over and joust him out of bed. I knew as I was frantically calling and no hello at the other end of the line, he didn't get up in 20 minutes. Lesson learned.... make sure he is standing on two legs before I leave.

Both kids have completed their chore list each day without a problem. Amazing what a little cash bribery will do. I haven't gotten any calls with them yelling at each other, its not fair, blah, blah, blah. Hoping for another smooth transition today:).

Onward to my latest creation....

A fun card using some more scraps on my desk from the last layout. I used the June SOTM set Chairs To You. If you were lucky enough to get this set, the little chairs are fun to color in with the Copics. So cute!

Another little tease for you.....

This new Close To My Heart stamp set is surely one of my favorites in the new book. There are so many lettering possibilities here! 2 full fonts plus little circles to customize them. This will be a fun one for subtitles on pages. A must have!

Have a happy Wednesday!
Angie

Times are changing

Phew! What a day. After 8 years home, Zane's first day of work was yesterday. On September 2, 2003 there was a moment in time that changed our lives forever. Zane was in a very bad car accident that left him with several ongoing medical issues. Our lives were turned upside down in an instant, everything we knew was no more.

Yesterday marks another huge adjustment in our lives. Zane has decided to try and work again. I am so proud of him for this huge decision. I am praying everyday that he can do it both mentally and physically. I feel so blessed he has been given an opportunity. For me it is about him building on his confidence, the social aspect and him gaining a sense of purpose.

Now keep in mind, for the last 8 years he has kept the household chores under control. He has been here everyday with Tyler and Emily. We are all very spoiled, especially me. When I come home from a long day at the office, he has dinner made and there is very little I have had to do around the home front.

Yesterday marked the day the kids had to fend for themselves all day. I had a couple drama moments with Emily over the phone. Tyler was late for Band Camp and I had to make dinner after a long day of work. This will be an interesting adjustment for us all.

When I finally sat down in my craft corner I had no energy to pick any new papers, or tackle the start of a a layout. I used the papers still laying there from the last layout I did, the same stamp set, and even the scrap of cardstock for the card base. Easy Peasy! No thinking involved.

A little Sweet leaf ink, some stickles, ribbon, and bling!

Enjoy your day and please say a little prayer for us during this adjustment.

Angie

Creative Scrappers Sketch #166

I was looking at some of my favorite blogs to the left and Creative Scrappers has their new sketch up. I didn't do last week, but am going to try and do this one this evening.

Posting here to hold me responsible for completion.... You can find the blog and original sketch here Creative Scrappers

July 2011 Stamp of the month plus a little sneak peek..........

This was a fun layout to put together. I used a sketch based on a layout by Suzy Plantamura on page 71 of the March / April 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes.

Pg.1

The pattern papers are from 7 Gypsies. I love the bright summer colors! They fit my scrapbooking style..... Very busy and layered! The red cardstock border was designed on the Gypsy with a border on the Martha Stewart elegant cake cartridge.

Pg.2

The title is cut with the Cricut using the Printing Press Cartridge. This is my first time using it and can tell already it will be a favorite font. That is until I get the new Close To My Heart Art Philosophy Cartridge in my hands. Which I ordered today! Shhh...... Don't tell Zane. LOL!

Both pages together...

The border stamped around the page is a little sneak peek at one of the images in the Close To My Heart August Stamp Of The Month set. To lighten it up some, I stamped a little splot from the CTMH Enjoy Life set. I really like the effect of this. They almost look like water drops. Very Cool!

Zane didn't like how I tore the paper. He said "Oh No, you ripped your paper". Of course I had to enlighten him that it was meant to be that way!

The stars are from the Close To My Heart July Stamp of the Month set. If you haven't checked it out yet, it is a very fun set full of images to celebrate 4th of July! I am sure you will see the stars show up on some sports layouts in the future. I used my trusty black sharpie and drew a black line around them, then added a few stickle dots to give them some pop on all this busy paper.

I hope you enjoyed my creation today! Enjoy the rest your weekend.

Angie

Sneak Peak.....#3

There are several new embellishments in the new idea book. I think this one may be my favorite. Interactive pieces are so much fun! A little bit of hidden goodness:).

Sorry about the bad picture. There isn't very good lighting at 11:20 pm... Go figure.

Sneak Peek.......#2

Here's a little teaser for you with what the exclusive Close To My Heart Cricut Cartridge can do.....

I cannot wait to have this in my hands. The suspense is killing me!!!
***please note this is my artwork, all designs are original CTMH designs***

Sneak Peek..........#1

I have got to say that the new Close To My Heart idea book / catalog is the best yet!! One of the many changes is that the level 1 paper packs have been discontinued and replaced with Studio J. The new level 2's are a heavier weight B&T paper. YAY!!! The price has gone down to $9.95 and has a more usable amount of paper. No more feeling guilty buying a new package when I still have half full packages sitting around waiting to be used. I am sure we can all relate to this.

Here is a little glimpse at one of the papers in one of the 8 new paper lines. The idea book goes live to customers on August 1st!

Art Philosophy Cricut® Collection

Here is the video for the new Clost To My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. This will be available for purchase August 1st! So exciting!!!!!

An oldie but goodie....

I picked up this layout from The Scrapbook Nook in Ludington on Saturday. I had made this as a Design Team project a few months ago. I believe the papers are Sassafrass Lass??? It is hard to believe this little munchkin is now 3, has a little sister, and another sister on the way.

The past few days, I have been working on putting together cards and projects that I had leftover from workshops. 100 of the new Close To My Heart catalog / idea book was delivered to my house on Saturday. I am beyond thrilled with it! I will be posting daily sneak peeks here on the blog until it goes live to customers on August 1st. So be sure and check back for a peek or two:).

The biggest news of all!!!!!!!! We have a new exclusive Close To My Heart Cricut Cartridge. I have been wanting this so badly. Cricut and Acrylic stamps! The perfect combination!!!!!!