Use My Sraps Swap

A while back I was browsing on The CTMH consultant site Bulletin Boards and saw a post for a "Use Up My Scraps" Swap,  The hostess was cleaning out her craft room and would send everyone who participated in each group (of 4 people) a package of identical scraps. We were then to use those scraps to make up four identical cards to send back to her. She in turn will send us back four different cards using the same scraps. I thought it sounded like a fun idea so I signed up for five different groups. Somehow since the groups were small I never did the math and realized that I would be expected to make 20 cards...my bad.

When I got the package in the mail it wasn't quite what I had expected, although I have no idea what I really was expecting. Each package contained a scrap or two of patterned paper and some sort of embellishment in multiples of four. Some of the scraps were pretty small and at first I was a bit overwhelmed as to what to do with them. I set the package aside and decided I would come back to it later when I had more creative mojo. Well, life got in the way as it has a tendency to do and before I knew it the deadline was quickly approaching.

Last weekend I took out the package again and decided to get to work. The rules were pretty simple.
Use the scraps provided, do consultant quality work, use only CTMH stamps but other papers/embellishments etc are ok. 

I forgot to take pictures of the first two sets of scraps before I did my cards but here is what I came up with. I can't wait to see everyone else's designs.

Get Well Soon - This one had the small striped piece of Magnifique and the larger piece the cow is stamped on along with the chocolate ribbon. I did not cut either scrap for this one. I used the Howdy stamp set and stamped the cow on the back side of the patterned paper and colored it with my copics. The background is bulk paper from Caboodle. Inside says "hope you feel butter soon" and has the spilt milk image.

Child's Birthday -  The scraps for this one were the sorbet patterned paper behind the image and the circles pattern that I stamped the sentiment on, both are from Caboodle. She also included the brads. I have been wanting to use the new Birthday Blast stamp set and I thought the colors from Caboodle would make a cute dragon. I think it's a fun card. 

New Baby - Here is a picture of the scraps/ embellishments I received for this one along with the card I made.

I don't remember this paper so it must be older, before my time. I decided to use the Love You Forever Stamp set on this one. I paper pieced the birds and the flower with scraps from Twitterpated (nest, birds and sky background) and Sophia (wings and flower). I colored the branch and leaves with my copics and added a blush brad, yellow pearls in the center of the flowers and yellow ribbon bows. Sweet.

Wedding - Here is a picture of the scraps for this group.

I used the Cocoa side of the large piece of paper and added some Juniper cardstock as a mat. I then embossed a cake image from the Piece of Cake stamp set using silver pearl on Colonial White cardstock. I stamped "bliss" using the chocolate alpahbet and Cocoa ink on the smaller scrap. The entire card front is embossed using my cuttlebug and a sizzix embossing folder. It was hard to get a good picture of the white on white image but it is really pretty in person.

Blank - These are the scraps I received for the "blank" group.

There were anything goes groups and blank groups and I wasn't sure what the difference was really. I decided that "blank" just meant anything goes...with no sentiment inside. Since I really have spring fever this is what I came up with.

A sweet little spring or Easter card. I love those little ducks from the Springtime stamp set. I paper pieced the umbrella and the ducks and added some paper flowers and gems.

All in all this was a fun swap to participate in once my creative mojo was flowin. I would love to do another swap like this with some of my local stampin' friends.

Birthdays...everybody's got one!

Everyone has a birthday and who doesn't love a handmade birthday card to celebrate the day. I recently had a birthday card workshop where we created 10 fun cards with a little something for everybody.

Here are the cards we made. 

I usually have a hard time with making cards for guys but as soon as I saw this stamp set I knew I could use it for some man friendly cards. I love the movement created by generational stamping.

Supplies Used: All supplies are CTMH unless otherwise noted
 Paper -Lucky B&T , Barn Red and Outdoor Denim and Colonial White cardstock
Stamps - Enjoy Life
Inks - Chocolate, Olive, Outdoor Denim
Embellishments - Buttons in green and brown, Colonial white twill ribbon

We all love birthday foods, and what makes you more happy than cupcakes and ice cream cones?

Supplies Used:
Papers - Sweet Home and Caboodle B&T, Sorbet and Indian Corn Blue cardstock
Stamps - Cupcake Sprinkles, Fanfare WOTG
Inks - Indian Corn Blue, Garnet, Buttercup (Sweet Home), Desert Sand, Sorbet, Crystal Blue (Caboodle)
Embellishments - Sorbet stitched ribbon

How cute and easy are these cards? I first saw this idea on Vicki Wizniuk's blog at Christmas time and she apparently CASEd it from someone else. I love how CTMH consultants share their ideas, it's such creative inspiration.  These cards are a great way to use up all those little scraps we all save and I love the way they look no matter what papers you use.

Supplies Used:
Papers - Sophia and Magnifique B&T, Hollyhock, White Daisy, Pacifica and Colonial White cardstock
Stamps- Card Chatter- Birthday, Party Pennants
Inks - Hollyhock, Pear (Sophia), Chocolate, Pacifica (Magnifique)
Ribbon - Hollyhock stitched and Chocolate

This one was one of my teen cards. I wanted something you could give to a teenage boy and this is what I came up with. Again I love the movement created on the rocker by stamping second generation shadows behind the main image.

Supplies Used:
Papers - Rock Star B&T,  Colonial White Cardstock
Stamps - Extreme
Inks - Goldrush, Olive, Outdoor Denim
Edge Distresser
Silver Brads from my stash

This one was my teen girl card. I love this stamp set. It is my go to set for teen girls and I have used it for birthdays, graduations and congratulations cards.

Supplies Used:
Papers - Sweetheart B&T, Hollyhock, Black and Colonial White cardstock
Stamps- Be Yourself, Card Chatter - birthday
Inks - Cotton Candy and Black
Paper flowers and gems from my stash

These are two more cards that I CASEd from Vicki Wizniuk's blog. She has some awesome ideas!  I decided to use the same layout to make one masculine and one feminine version. I love how you can take the same design and completely change the look by just changing the papers and colors. 

Supplies Used:
Papers - Caboodle and Fanfare B&T, Crystal Blue, Colonial White, Cranberry and White Daisy cardstock
Inks - Black, Outdoor Denim, Crystal Blue
Fiskars Scalloped edge punch

I had a great turnout for this workshop and we all had a great time creating birthday cards to use throughout the year.

I'd like to thank the academy...

I recently received this award from my friend Debbie over at Debbie's Inkspectations.

Although Debbie's kind of ink differs from my kind of ink I guess she finds me stylish, thanks Debbie!

I believe she left my award here since while I haven't posted here in a few weeks it has been months since I posted on my personal blog. I thought about moving it back over there since I am trying to keep the personal stuff over there and the crafty stuff here.

I have to be honest, I have mixed feelings about these things, I appreciate that someone has thought of me for the award but it always feels a bit like one of those chain letters/ emails that you have to pass on to ensure your future luck, wealth, love life etc. But since I am feeling adventurous this evening you'll get to know a little more about me, whether you want to or not.

Here is what I was supposed to do.

1. Thank the person who nominated you, but don't tag them back. (see above)
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass along this nomination to 7 recently discovered stylish and cool bloggers (it said 10 but I wanted to stick with the 7 theme)
4. Contact them and tell them about their nomination

Seven things about me:
1~ I am a night owl. You can often find me crafting, reading, cleaning, facebooking etc. until the wee hours of the morning.
2~ I dream of working on the corporate side of one of the big craft companies. THAT would be my dream job.
3~ I really want to take another cruise, maybe to Europe this time.
4~ I rarely make my bed, and after years of feeling guilty now I don't anymore. But I do love the feel of clean sheets.
5~ I love to watch the snow fall. I just don't like to have to drive in it.
6~ Someday I would love to own my own business, and not have to work a regular job too.
7~ People think my daughter and I are sisters. It makes me feel great, but I think it makes her feel awkward.

Now to award 7 very awesome people with the Stylish blogger award.

1. Debra Bonson - Postcards from Budapest
2. Natalie Doxey - Life in the Doxey Lane
3. Lori Gallegos Scott - Scrappinglori
4.  Becca Morgenegg - Reb and Jeb and our Little Men
5. Brooke Summer - Brooke Summer Photography The Blog
6.  Vicki Wizniuk - Wizard's Hangout
7. Ally Warner - Sister Sue's Creations

 Your mission should you choose to accept it is to pass this award on to some more deserving bloggers...this message will self destruct in 387.5 seconds.

The wait is over!

The wait is over and the highly anticipated bigger and better Close To My heart idea book is finally here!

There are 20 more pages of beautiful artwork, awesome new stamps sets and accessories and 

8 new paper packs

Sophia - Sweet and fresh flowers and polka dots in Blush, Goldrush, Hollyhock and Pear. 

Bliss - Beautiful and Sophisticated patterns in Bamboo, Chocolate, Grey Flannel and Vanilla Cream 

Miracle - This one makes a return from a very popular special we had last year with a few new patterns added. Colors include Bamboo, Crystal Blue, heavenly Blue and Sweet Leaf.

Sweetheart - Fun and funky with Black, Cotton Candy, Tulip and Baby Pink. Perfect for your favorite teen.

Lucky - Great for the guys in your life or outdoorsy adventures. This paper pack

features Desert Sand, Outdoor Denim, Olive and Sunset.

Mayberry - Summer fun with retro charm in Pear, Hollyhock, Honey and Smoothie

Fanfare - All American charm with stars, spots and stripes in Cranberry, Pacifica, Sky and Sunny Yellow

Wings - Bright and beautiful butterflies in Black, Sweet Leaf, Juniper and Vineyard Berry

Check it out online or contact me for a free copy.

February SOTM Blog Hop: Friendship

Welcome to our February Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!   

  If you have come here from Jean McNulty'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 on Helen's Blog.

We have bunches of Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. To keep on hoppin' just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

Here we go!

February's SOTM, which is called Friendship, is a beautiful set of  8 stamps.

 

Here is what I made using this set.

Products Used:

February SOTM - Friendship

Mayberry Level 2 Paper Pack

Exclusive Inks in Olive, Smoothie and Chocolate

Chocolate Button Assortment

Natural Hemp

Techniques - Stamp Sponging and Rock and Roll

 Now "Hop" on over to Tamytha Jenkins' blog  to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants' blogs to see some awesome artwork and fun ideas! Share the love and leave some comments as you go.

Remember, the February SOTM is only available until February 28th! 

More Valentines...and a sneak peek of things to come

This weekend I held three Valentine card workshops. Not sure what I was thinking when I scheduled them back to back to back. I started out on Thursday night with a bunch of lovely ladies from church. We made most of the cards from my previous post plus a couple more I didn't get pictures of.

Friday night was the first of my two CTMH Valentine workshops. We used some of the fun stuff that will be debuting in our brand new Idea Book in just a few days on February 1st.

These cards came out so cute. The stamp set is called Party Animal and it actually came out in our last catalog and as featured as a Halloween set, but I love these monsters and monsters need love too.

 These papers are all new! The red and blue (Cranberry, Pacifica and sky to be exact) is from the new Fanfare paper. It's great for boys, and summer and 4th of July. The pink and green (Blush, Hollyhock and Pear) is from Sophia. Great color combos. Sooo many possibilities with both of these new lines!

This next one features a brand new stamp set called The Game and the beautiful new Sweetheart paper.

I love the black with the pinks and reds, so pretty!

 

Finally, I decided to get a little more sophisticated. These use the brand new Bohemian Alphabet (possibly my very favorite CTMH alphabet EVER) along with the Rosy Regards stamp set and Wings and Amore' papers. 

My second CTMH workshop was this afternoon. When all was said and done I helped 24 ladies create nearly 200 Valentines this weekend. Time well spent on my book. Check back soon for more sneak peeks of what's new for 2011!

My punny Valentine...

The holidays are over and I finally got my tree put away. So what's next you might ask...why Valentine's of course. As someone who is single with  no prospects for a Valentine this year I often wonder why I have so much fun making Valentines. I guess it is because it gives me a chance to show my sillier side. I love making "punny" Valentines. Here are some of the ones I have created this year.

 I kind of case'd this one from one Mary Gunn posted for the H2H challenge last week. Hers can be seen here, this is my version. I wanted to make it simpler because I will be doing it will a big group of ladies from church, some of which are brand new to card making.  The stamp set used is from CTMH and is called Howdy. I used Pear dots from the Olivia paper pack to make grassy hills , Sky background with white daisy sponged clouds, and a fun flocked sheep.Simple but  fun...Wool you be mine??

 When I saw the cover of last month's Card maker magazine I knew I already had the stamp set in my stash, a remnant from my days working at Archivers.

 

The fish stamp set is by Hero Arts and it is one I bought because it is so stinkin' cute but I don't think it had been used more than once. When I saw the magazine I knew it was time ti dig out those fishies. I couldn't find the paper shown so I went with this fun stripe by Doodlebug. I love the bright colors. So here is my version of the Card Maker cover card. I think it came out cute, I like it even better than the original.

This next one is based on another one I saw in Card Maker. Simple and sweet. 

The inside says...

I honestly have no idea who makes the stamp set with the branch and the birds. It is a leftover from a Valentine card class I taught at Archivers a couple of years ago. There are lots of tree and bird sets out there that would work. The sentiment is from the Love Birds set by CTMH.

This last one is a really easy one made with Coredinations paper (love that stuff) 

and a cuttlebug folder with the owl design.

The sentiment came from a totebag my daughter found with an owl on it and I recreated it here using the Chocolate alphabet set from CTMH and a dollar stamp that says "love". This one is super simple just emboss and then sand to reveal the color underneath.  As a huge Harry Potter fan I love that owls are so popular right now in the stamping and scrapbooking world.

Stay tuned I have even more Valentine creations to come but 

I hope you enjoyed my "punny" Valentines.