It's Blog Candy Time!

Welcome to February! The new Spring / Summer 2012 Close To My Heart idea book is live today! To celebrate the new wonderful products and 31 days of blogging I would like to give someone $31 in new products!

All you have to do is comment on my blog posts. For every comment you leave during the month of February, you will get one entry in my drawing bag. On March 1st, I will draw one lucky winner. The winner will get to pick out $31 in free products from the new book!

On that note, here are some more examples with the February SOTM set. These were copied from the examples in the book, only I switched up the paper to both Pemberley and Florentine just to mix it up a bit. All of the boxes and pieces were cut from the AP cartridge.

Have a happy February!

Five & Feisty

With Valentines day just around the corner, a layout with hearts is in order.

I used papers from the CTMH Roxie line. Such a feisty paper line, perfect for a feisty five year old. How about the fun little stamped accent in the upper left corner? Not to many stamps say "we" on them. This one is from the February Stamp of the Month set Thoughtful Tidings that will be available tomorrow along with about a gazillion other fabulous scrappy items!!! Okay, maybe not a gazillion :)

If you are not familiar with the Stamp of the Month. Each month CTMH features an exclusive stamp set that you can get for just $5 with a $50 purchase. This one is perfect for little personalized gift bags and boxes. I have a few fun ideas rolling around up in the noggin for this one.

Notice the little fold down journaling book to hide the stories about how feisty Emily was at 5. She's still full of spunk at 12! I didn't feel like there was enough space on the layout to say what I wanted to say. When all else fails, make more room!

I know I usually do a Technique on Tuesday's, but the little technique I am working on isn't quite ready for posting yet.

Since today marks day 31 out of 365 with keeping up with the blogging, I have a little surprise tomorrow. Keeping up for 31 days is a HUGE accomplishment for me, considering I only posted 62 times in 2011.

Stickle Holder

The organizer in me strikes again. I have been thinking of a way to store stickles upside down and still be in the ink tower tray. (Translation for ink pad tower = the creation station = the hub of creativity).

Here is what I came up with....

I designed a cut on the Gypsy that was 9" x 7.25" rectangle with a 3/4" circle in each inch on the mat grid. Once cut, I placed over chipboard, then used an exacto knife to make slits like cutting a pie in each circle. I extended past the paper a little because the 3/4" was just a tad small.

Next I trimmed the chipboard so that there was 1 1/4" around all sides of the rectangle template. I scored the chipboard flush with the template edges, folded them down, trimmed and taped the corners. So then I had a box looking lid to sit in the top of the tower.

This whole process would have been much easier with a deep cut Cricut blade. (Note to self.... add to "need" list.)

Ta-da!!!!

Exactly what I was looking for and free!

Since I was photographing the tower, I thought you may like to see how I store my sponges.

This side of the tower is just an empty space wanting some love. Each ink color has its own sponge. For sponges I cut up a big auto sponge that you can pick up at the dollar store. Clipped a binder clip on each one, then added a color label to one side of the binder clip and a little piece of velcro to the other. There are strips of velcro on the tower to stick the sponges onto.

The other side of the tower....

The binder clips make handy little handles. Just flip them open and no more inky fingers.

So there you have it "The Creation Station".

On the family note today. Drama rehearsal started for Emily. We have a great drama program for such a small school. This is the 4th play for her. But, oh man did she come home cranky! With volleyball after school for 2 hours, a 30 minute break, then 2 hours of drama, throw in a little PMS and Cranky is the word. She likes to do all these things, but when is it to much?

Tyler lost another book for English. Actually as he told me, "I lost my backpack, and my book was in there". Even better. Since I am always looking for the positive in things, at least it is a $13 book he needs to replace and not his actual English book. Plus, looks like he has 90 minutes of cleaning to pay for the book. Hmmmm..... we are off to a grand start for the second semester. :)

Just another day in the Highland house, Happy Crafting :).

MoJo Monday Sketch #225

Continuing on from my last post....... the second project I did these wee hours of the morning is a Sympathy card for a friend who recently lost her sister. My heart goes out to her and her family. I wanted to make her something extra special during this very difficult time. I chose to make a large 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 card.

The pattern papers are all from the new CTMH Pemberley collection. (Another little sneak peek for you!) The beautiful rose is from my absolute favorite stamp set in the new Spring / Summer book. Card Word Puzzle (C1494). For $13.95 this gem of a set has so many possibilities!

I hope you enjoyed my creations today. Off to catch a few hours of zzzzzz........

It is 3am........

Why oh why do I start creating at 11:00 pm? I should know better. It seems my creative juices always flow better in the middle of the night.

I did manage to finish up the layout inspired by a sketch from My Little Sketchbook. I recently discovered this blog and am loving her sketches. The blog is over on my reading list to the left. I am looking forward to starting the latest sketch posted. After I sleep of course.

Here is the sketch:

My take:

For the background I used a piece of pattern paper by American Crafts I have had in my stash for a while. The banner and border are cut from the AP cartridge, then stamped with one of the pennant stamps that come with the Elemental WOTG kit.

The saying is from the Take A Picture (C1440) set. Notice the ink stains, that means it is well loved. :)

Stella WOTG bonus layout

Have I said yet that I love this paper? Here is the bonus layout for the Stella WOTG that will be available to the you on February 1st.

Left side:

Notice the lacy flowers up in the corner. They are in the new Bohemian assortment pack. Very pretty!

Right side:

The tulips in the bottom left hand corner are actually stamped with the lampshade stamp that comes in the WOTG kit. What a clever idea! I would have never thought to do this.

Both pages together.

Lately I have been into scrapping older pictures. Hence the photo quality. These pictures are from 10 nearly 10 years ago. It sure feels good to get them out of the box and into a book!

Thanks for stopping by :). I think tomorrow a card is calling my name.

Love Your Layout: January 2012

Today we found out what the special is in February! Buy a Studio J - 5 pack and get one free. That is a value of $55! If you have wanted to try the CTMH Studio J digital scrapbooking program, February is the perfect time. Here is a quick video showing you how to make a layout in Studio J.



I hope to have some creative time tomorrow evening. I am dying to play with the new Pemberley line and Word Puzzle set. Maybe another sneak peek tomorrow???