September Close To My Heart Specials & Stamp of the Month

Welcome to cooler weather and the start of fall! This is my favorite time of the month and I love the colors and ideas in the Autumn/Winter Idea Book the best! Speaking of great ideas, Close To My Heart has a another round of fabulous deals this month!


1. Did you know that September is National Stamping Month? To celebrate, Close To My Heart is offering their very first DOUBLE stamp set that you can earn for FREE this month. You get two D-size stamp sets together in the same envelope during the month of September when you spend $75! "Pair-a-Phrase" is full of fun designs and sentiments for almost any occasion. You wont want to miss adding this to your collection!

This is a card made by Karen Pedersen using this set. See, sentiment + picture together to make = AWESOME!

2. September Stamp of the Month: This is one of those sets that everyone needs to have because it works for EVERYTHING! It's called Limited Edition, and yet the possibilities are ENDLESS!

You can purchase this set during the month of September only in one of two ways: 

• Spend $50 (before shipping and tax) and get it for only $5
• Purchase it for $17.95 

Ordering Helps:

• To order either or both of these stamp sets, just go to my website and click on Shop Online. 
• If your order totals $50 (before shipping and tax), you will qualify for the Stamp of the Month at $5. If your order totals $75, you qualify for the Pair-a-Phrase stamp set FREE and the Limited Edition stamp set for $5. You'll be prompted to add them before you finish your order. 
• If you just want to purchase the Stamp of the Month at full price, you can type "Stamp of the Month" in the quick search box on the left side of the shopping page and it will come up and you can click "add to cart".
• There is a link on the side of my blog to view the current Autumn/Winter Idea Book if you want to go shopping!

Warm wishes,

Week In The Life {Completed Album}

Thanks for hanging in there while I finished up my Week In The Life project (designed by Ali Edwards, you can read about it here.) I ended up deciding to forego the extra pictures. There were a few that I really liked, which I may add into a divided photo sleeve later, but for now I decided if I wasn't going to scrapbook them, I didn't need to print them.

I completed this in Studio J, Close To My Heart's Online Scrapbooking Software which made it super easy to complete several layouts in the same style and papers to keep the album uniform. And it ended up being WAY cheaper than a traditional scrapbook!

The journalling came from my blog mostly which made it easy to cut and paste into the digital pages and I love that it all coordinates! This first page is meant to split as the title and end page of the album, with the daily layouts in between.

Words + Photos

How It All Started
I saw a link from Ali Edwards' blog on her project Week In The Life. She also does a large photographic essay called Project Life, where she documents things every week in photos and in words. This seemed a little bit overwhelming for me, but I thought the week might be something to try. So I researched her blog like crazy and looked at other peoples' creations and decided to give it a try. I thought this would be a fun exercise to get me brainstorming in the craft room as I have felt lacking in motivation for a while now.


I started out as Ali did, just by documenting for the first week. Take your camera everywhere and a notepad and pen to write down your thoughts. Some people found Facebook and Twitter to be helpful in documenting. I really liked the free downloads that Ali herself provided. 


Photos
Week In The Life {Monday}
Week In The Life {Tuesday}
Week In The Life {Wednesday}
Week In The Life {Thursday}
Week In The Life {Friday}
Week In The Life {Saturday}
Week In The Life {Sunday}

Week In The Life {Completed Album}

I had a lot of fun doing this project and hope to do it more often as a great way to document our family lives in such a detail-oriented way. The magical and the mundane should both be spotlighted for us all to enjoy!

Warm wishes,

{Wicked} Halloween Card and Pinwheel Flowers

Try making a scene out of your stamps for something fun and different. When I first started stamping this was ALL we did! So go old school, as it were, and have fun! (I won't tell you how OLD school.. No one needs to go THERE.)

Supplies: Wicked, August SOTM; Sunset CS; Black ink; Opagues Pearl and Licorice; Silhouette papers.

Warm wishes,
Trish

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Some Fantastic Back To School Items

I was perusing a favorite blog of mine and wanted to share it with you. I love the Grey Wool and Sunset back to school layout with just a touch of chocolate striped ribbon. It's not a color combo I would have chosen, but it's stunning! There were so many great projects here - cards, gifts, you name it!- highlighting some beautiful Close To My Heart art. Of course, what would you expect from Jeanette? Go check out her blog and be inspired.

Warm wishes,

Personal Yearbooks

It's that time again. Time to send the kiddies off to school for 9 months of hard labor, er.. I mean learning and personal enrichment. Lol! They are so excited to go back and I have to say Brandon & I are both feeling the same.

We both love having them home but they get so bored and they are ready to be back and have some fun and exciting activities to fill their days. Brook will be in third grade this year and Aidan is starting Kindergarten. Garrett will have a great time because Aidan will only be gone half days this year.. Enough time to get one on one and still have a buddy to play with when he gets home.

I knew with a new baby on the way I wouldn't have a lot of time to devote to their school books so I found this great download from Becky Higgins' blog. It's an easy yearbook to do with your kids or the whole class (I'm not THAT ambitious!) where you take a picture each month of the child in their class doing different activities, holiday celebrations or things in their classroom like art and crayons. Then have them draw a picture about that day or activity and they can journal their photo and art. The little kids may need some help to write down their thoughts for them.

The kids get to decorate each page with pre-cut B&T papers over the pre-printed design or color in their own on each page. I am excited to create this book for them both to help them document their year at school and teach them the values of pesonal progress and journalling. I'll still do a few pages of their activities each year that we are able to attend, but this will be a great help for me to keep them current and invaluable time spent together working on a Keepsake they'll enjoy for years to come.

Warm wishes,
Trish

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Another Wicked Card

Now that I'm playing in the craft room I'm having some fun playing at Halloween cards with the August SOTM, Wicked. This set is so cute and so fun!

I used the same background from yesterday's card (see it here) featuring the honeycomb background in sunset and randomly clear embossed and sponged with Grey Flannel. The other images are super easy and stamped in Black. Add some stitched ribbon and you're good to go!

Close To My Heart just recently revamped the SOTM program to make it cheaper and easier to get these exclusive sets every month. Purchase just $50 in product and you can get the D-size set for only 5 Bucks! Pretty fabulous! Call or email me today to get in on this awesome deal and have yourself a Wicked Halloween!

Warm wishes,

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Stamp of the Month Halloween Card {Wicked}

I'm finally getting around to the craft room a little. Pregnancy always wipes me out and I don't get as much rest time as I really like because all the chores seem to take twice as long now!

This card was inspired by the Heart to Heart challenge blog. The challenge was to CASE one on the designers' creations either a little or a lot. I chose the circle card and pattern from Wishes as a start and a Halloween theme of some sort to highlight August's SOTM Wicked.

This is my most favorite SOTM set (I LOVE Halloween) and this is the first I've had to play with it. The honeycomb pattern on the sunset cs is from this set and was dusted with clear embossing powder and sponged with Grey Flannel. Boo and the bats are from Spellbound and were embossed also. I used the spray pen with a mix of water and create a shade pearl paint to highlight the black bats and trimmed with a random box pleat. It turned out very differently from what I originally planned but that is half the fun! Hope you enjoyed stopping by.

Warm wishes,

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Studio J blog | Art Gallery : Studio J Online Design Software : Close To My Heart

Hey all, I just wanted to share a great article off the Studio J blog. If you are not following this yet, you SHOULD! It has great tips and the latest release info along with fabulous and fresh ideas. Stop by today!
Studio J blog | Art Gallery : Studio J Online Design Software : Close To My Heart

Warm wishes,
Trish

Mickey Wedding Frame {Bliss}

After reading my new Paper Crafts Mag, I felt the need to decorate! There were so many cute fall decor items I wanted to try out. This is the first thing I tackled.

We got this frame for our Disney-themed wedding but have never put any pictures in it. I always thought we would get to Disneyland and have a picture of the two of us to put in but we never made it as life got in the way. (I'm sure you know NOTHING about that.)

After reading the magazine I realized I could repurpose the frame with some scrapbooking supplies. The stamp is from a retired Close To My Heart set appropriately named Dream Wishes (D1331) and is a quote most Disney fans are familiar with. It was a main theme for our wedding and the song played at our reception.

With a quick snip of paper from the Bliss paper pack, the phrase stamped in Outdoor Denim quickly became a small 3x3 canvas to work with. I added some Licorice (Z1335) and Pearl (Z1336) Opaques Adhesive Gems along with some Bitty Sparkles (Z1263) to give it some bling and tied it with a ribbon from our wedding favors, printed with our names and wedding date.

Thanks for stopping by the craft room! Please leave me your thoughts in the comments before you go.

Warm wishes,
Trish

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Morton Family Update

It's been kind of hectic the past two weeks and we're only just starting August! I've been out of the office for a week, so thanks for staying patient and let me catch you up on our comings and goings.

I started the Week In The Life project July 25th and spent a week chronicling my daily life with photos and words. I was able to finish 5 out of the 8 layouts (7 days plus an intro and footer page) in Studio J, then had to set it aside to catch up on housework (booooring!) I hope to finish these this week and get them ordered for the album. I've still got supplies waiting to arrive, but I'm very excited to see this completed! Stay tuned.

The housework I mentioned above involved packing the two older children for a week-long camping vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Garrett in Fish Lake. A whole lotta laundry got done so we had stuff to take and stuff to wear when we got home (and spent more time catching up more laundry..) The kids left a few days before Brandon, Garrett and I headed up and we had a great time 4-wheeling on our favorite trails and seeing tons of deer. Brook decided she liked s'mores (finally, ONE kid likes them) and Brandon got to take his truck on a pretty tough trail out to Crater Lake. We had fun chronicling that for his trailblazer blog.

After such a nice vacation it was tough to come back to reality and I started a new shift this week as a result of our recent shift-bid change. We're working 12 hour days right now (3 plus a 4hr) and I can tell you it wasn't a popular topic at the dinner table a few months ago when we found out we would be changing from 5 eights. The plus side? Pretty much 4 days off that will ROCK! The bad? Three full days lost every week where I see very little of my family each night before we all go to bed. Think breakfast, lunch and dinner at work and in the winter you go to work in the dark and go home in the dark. I'm just about to end my first week and the adjustment is slow, but we'll make the best of it for the next few months.

Baby [insert name here... No REALLY.] is doing well. We are 25 1/2 weeks pregnant and things are going really well. Our little guy is very healthy so far and we're grateful for the blessings we have received with this very unexpected pregnancy. We have yet to pick a name (PLEASE send me your suggestions- we have a running list that has yet to narrow significantly) and this bothers me that we haven't named him yet. I like to connect through the name during pregnancy so it's frustrating to just call him Baby all the time. However, it does provide some comic relief as some people insist on calling him a different name every time they see us! "How is baby Stryker? When will we meet baby Conner?" (The funniest, most far-fetched so far is baby Jalepeno.)

We hope your past few weeks have been going well!

Warm wishes,

and the Mortons