New Miracle Card

This 4.25x5.5 card was made using the new Miracle papers.  The colors are Heavenly Blue, Sweet Leaf, Bamboo and Colonial White.  I random stamped using the Miracle Workshop stamp set and the sentiment was using the Card Chatter - Happy Birthday stamp set with Desert Sand ink and Clear Detail embossing powder.  Accessories are blue Sparkles and Kraft Color-Ready borders.  These borders are one of my very favorite new CTMH products - they are self adhesive and come in a pack of multiple versatile 12x12 designs that you can cut down to the perfect size.  More new cards to come - check back often!

Notecard Sets

I made these little note card and box sets for my retreat guests.  As this post appears, we are busy at retreat with lots of crafting, scrapbooking, chatting, eating and relaxing!  Sound nice?  IT IS!  Check out my retreat blog here for more info and you can always join us next year!

So, these card sets may look a bit familiar to those I've posted earlier this month.  Previously, I made them with some B&T papers from some retired kits.  When I got the February Stamp of the Month, Friendship, I knew I wanted to use it on a project to make some dynamic random stamping patterns.  When I thought about it, this was the perfect project!  I needed to make multiple gifts that were very similar but slightly different.  I used White Daisy cardstock as my card box base and random stamped using Black, Grey Wool and one of the new colors from the revised Summer CTMH color palettes (Pear, Sky, Smoothie, Sunset, Gypsy, Pacifica, Cotton Candy and Lagoon).  Using the card box template found here,  I scored and made the folds to make a super-sturdy, double-walled card box (which worked much better with the cardstock weight vs. my previous project which used background & texture paper which is much thinner).  I made five - 4 1/4x5 1/2 note cards with Black, White Daisy, Grey Wool and one of the new summer colors of cardstock, inserted those and five envelopes inside, tied a little black ribbon on the front of the box for embellishment, and voila, totally cute and practical gift project!!!  I am so happy with how these turned out.  I used the Friendship, Felicity and Wings WOTG stamp sets for this project.  I also used the new CTMH scalloped circle punch on the note cards.

Calendar Time!

I completed these custom 12x12 sized calendars for a client back in December, I'm just now getting around to posting them!   These are so great for keeping memories all year long.  CTMH has a blank, white 12 month calendar available and the top half is completely an open canvas.  I like to put a scrapbook page on the top, and accent the bottom with stamped months and days in the coordinating colors.  This client does one annually for each of her two girls.  She said she wanted something pink and green for one and purple and yellow for the other - what a fun time I had choosing these color combos with CTMH's new summer color palette!  For the top calendar, I chose Creme Brulee, Amethyst and Gypsy.  For the bottom one, I used Pear, Smoothie and Baby Pink.  I chose layouts from the Reflections book and random stamped the pattern paper using the chosen color.  I used the Tickled Pink stamp set for the purple calendar and the Felicity stamp set for the pink one.  Then, I used the brand new Bohemian Alphabet stamp E-sized alphabet stamp set (my new absolute fave) for the months.

New Idea Book Cards - Day 1

Beginning today, I'll be posting one card per day that I've made with products from the brand new Summer 2010 Idea Book.  This 4.25x5.5 card was made with papers from the new Splendor kit.  The colors are Goldrush, Moonstruck, Heavenly Blue, Topiary and Colonial White.  I also used some Colonial White brads as an accent.  I stamped the dragonfly with the A Flitter stamp set using Colonial White pigment-based ink.  Pigment-based inks sit on top of the paper instead of being absorbed into the paper as dye-based inks do.  On the Colonial White small square, I did some second-generation random stamping with the WOTG Splendor stamp set.  Check back tomorrow for another card!

Pirate Party Invitations

 

I made these invitations for my son's birthday party.  I used the retired stamp set Ahoy Matey with Desert Sand, Cranberry, Colonial White, Black and Sunflower cardstocks.  I used the blending pen to color in the stamped sword - I love my blending pen!  I also used some Colonial White waxy flax, black brads and a black photo hanger.  Arrrrgh!

Holiday Treats!

 

I just finished these treat bags for my kids to give to their teachers and friends to celebrate the season!  We made Specalatzi cookies this past weekend, a family tradition this time of year!  I bagged up five cookies each, and made these bag toppers and tags for each gift.  I used the All Decked Out stamp set - my son has been wanting to stamp with me using this set for awhile now, and this project was a perfect use for it!  He had so much fun helping me stamp the hats and scarves for the snowmen.  I just random stamped for the bag toppers using a color combination I found on Jeanette's Color Me Monday challenge on her blog.  Jeanette Lynton is the founder and CEO of Close To My Heart, and her blog features fabulous artwork and color combos.  This one is Sorbet, Cocoa, Outdoor Denim and Crystal Blue.  This is a fun little project to get the kids involved in and share some love during this special season!

Here's my family recipe for Specalatzi sugar cookies:

1/2 lb butter

2 cups sugar

4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

rind of 1 small lemon

3 eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar together in mixer on low.  Add eggs, one at a time and lemon rind.  Add cinnamon, baking powder and flour, gradually until well mixed.  Roll out thin on a well floured surface adding more flour to dough as needed.  Cut, decorate and bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. 

Super Bowl Layout

So, a couple of weeks ago I went on a fabulous scrapbooking getaway to the Oregon Coast in Lincoln City. It was a ton of fun and I got lots of pages completed and in my scrapbooks! I'll be posting lots of layouts in the next few weeks that I finished on this trip.

This first layout showcases a couple of my favorite techniques - one I've used for a long time (random stamping) and another that I've only started using fairly recently (stamp kissing).

I custom designed this entire layout to fit these special photos from this winter when my husband's favorite NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl again! I knew I wanted a layout in the bold Steeler team colors of black, yellow, white and gray, but I didn't have any patterned paper to match, so I created my own using the random stamping technique and my favorite football stamp set - Touchdown. I used Black, Grey Wool, Sunny Yellow and White Daisy carstock and ink pads, along with my handy Imagine book. To make the title, I stamped the letters using the Headline Alphabet stamp set and then "kissed" off some of the ink using the stamp from Touchdown with the field markers and lines on it. The result is a super-cool football themed effect on my letters!

I also used Black Bigger Brads and the wonderful new Foam Tape on this layout.

It is a great example of how you can use random stamping with a color combination to coordinate with your photos to make your own wonderful personalized patterned paper!

College Layout

Although documenting the lives of my two children, Alex and Ava, dominates most of my scrapbooking projects right now, I have started to go back and create layouts about events in my life before I was married to Tony and we started our family. These photos are from the Spring Dance Concert at Western Oregon University, my senior year. My friends Greta and Sam choregraphed an African piece that was SO much fun. Tony was actually in it with me - it was a great experience to share together.

To create this layout, I began with a color combo that I thought complimented our costumes - Ocean, Outdoor Denim, Topiary and White Daisy. I cut some scallop edged trim using my Cricut machine, random stamped using the color combo with the Western Flourishes stamp set on some Ocean cardstock, embellished the flourishes with White Daisy Bitty Brads, stamped some accent flourishes with the Legendary Moments stamp set and finished it off with my title using the Building Block E-size Alphabet stamp set and some handwritten journaling accents.

I love the clean, simple lines of this layout. I wanted to showcase the photos and get something completed in a couple of hours to remember this special event from my senior year of college.

Random Stamping

I haven't random stamped on cards in awhile and I had forgotten how it can make such beautiful, personalized artwork! I ran across some gorgeous cards while browsing my fellow CTMH consultant Vicki's blog here. She inspired me to use the same color combination and stamp set to create some cards for gifts to give to my daughter Ava's teachers at church as a thank you gift.

This is another wonderful way to use the stamps from the wonderful National Scrapbooking Day special that CTMH has going on right now - Tickled Pink! I love this stamp set! I used it, along with Spot On Backgrounds and Dainty Thoughts stamps for the sentiments. First, I stamped the background stamp in Bamboo ink, right on the card bases. Then, I used the Tickled Pink flower stamps to "randomly" create an all-over floral pattern, beginning with the largest flower stamp first and working my way down to the smallest. I used Lilac Mist, Spring Iris, Creme Brulee, Sorbet, and Sweet Leaf inks for the flowers and black for the sentiments. I also used some brads and crocheted flowers from the White Daisy Mini-Medley and regular White Daisy brads along with 3-D adhesive on the sentiments. I also used my Cricut to cut some of the scalloped borders from White Daisy cardstock.