January Play Dates Scrapbooking Class | ProPlayer

Play Dates | Pro Player

This month I've got game. No, really! I just made 4 super layouts from the ProPlayer My Reflections Paper packet (just $9.95 plus tax and shipping) plus a few extra cardstock sheets (okay, and one Creme Brulee B&T leftover from my retired Veranda paper packet because I ran out of CS...) These paper packets are a seriously amazing deal!

Close To My Heart has always come up with terrific trendsetting supplies and artwork and hasn't failed here. Listen, ladies, even if you are put off by the decidedly masculine colors because you need GIRL stuff.. never fear! This paper works for your favorite team: Team You! Whether you've got Little League, Super Bowl, or Gamers in mind, this is a great package to cover the Big Day. (Detail closeups of L1 below).

"Non stop fun" is from Later Sk8r and worked again for my missing  Complements My Stickease.
"Adventure Time" is on the zip strip!

Here's a closeup of my borrowed Veranda Creme Brulee' B&T.

I went with the two WOTG layout patterns to showcase a training session for work at one of our local air ambulances, AirMed (Layout one, L1, above), and for my boys who love playing with their dump trucks inside and out (L2, below).

Stamps are from Later Sk8r (retired), Fast and Furious and the Cricut Artbooking stamps,
plus April's SOTM (also retired). Journalling will go on White Daisy CS strips in the middle black portion.

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I stamped the dumptruck first in black, then on a White Daisy CS sheet in Creme Brulee, and I cut out the dump to overlay with a little 3D Foam Tape.

The third was inspired by my friend, Karen Pedersen (L3, below). Red and blue are my son's favorite colors and they fit so perfectly with pictures I took of his recent broken arm (Merry Christmas) and seemed to embody his whole attitude about the experience, perseverance and accomplishment. Game on!

The title is made from a retired alphabet, but the Complements have a similar title design.

Sometimes we must make do! I didn't have any ruby shimmer trim, so I cut some Ruby CS and
added red Glitz glitter gel over the top. Nothin' wrong with using what ya got!

This sentiment is from Later Sk8r (retired) and was perfect!

I also put together a 4th layout with the scraps and 2 slate CS sheets for the traditional "Gamers" in our home, Brandon and the "Wii" little ones, the exact theme of the ProPlayer pack. And the layout is straight out of Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1. Easy peasy!

I just love pennants! To keep your Ruby Chevron ribbon from fraying after you cut it, just run a thin line
 of Liquid Glass along the cut edge and let dry a few minutes.

Pop up your title with a little 3D Foam Tape.

These clear squares are from the retired Clear Windows, we used to carry,
many a moon ago when I started with Close To My Heart. They seemed to add the
right accessory and shape with this paper and super-clean layout pattern.

Journal tag and pocket "secured" with twine to match the other embellishments.

You can make these layouts with just a few basic supplies next month. Get started with the Basic Kit now ($29.95 plus tax and shipping) and Happy Scrappin!

Warm wishes,

Week In The Life | Thursday Photos + Words

Well. It's getting to mid-point and I am having a hard time writing things down and taking pictures. I can't believe how much harder this is from the last time I did WITL. Life gets in the way which is the story of mine. Oh well.

Garage is finished (mostly).

Most of Brook's homework is online this year. She is part of a pilot program at her school where she has to go to several websites linked through a main online suite and upload her homework assignments into a chat where she can post discussions. It reminds me of college. My how things have changed.

 

At her Activity Days program with our church, Brook learned about babysitting. She didn't want to go to this one because she felt she already knew all she ever wanted to about the subject. After getting a bag full of games and entertainment for the "kids", she was glad she did and got started right in with reading to Garrett.

 

Brook's planner, today.

Warm wishes,

Morton Update | Mother's Day Card

First, thanks for staying with me the past few years, and following my blog! We've been mighty hectic around here (really, since Colt was born) and I've had a hard time setting things down and crafting, let alone sharing any of it.

Here's what you'll find, today:
1. Mother's Day
2. Morton Update
3. Mom's Card - tutorial

1. Mother's Day
I'm kind of proud of myself. I'll tell you why in a sec. For Mother's Day, my family really gave me the royal treatment! I got to prop my feet up while they cleaned the whole house top to bottom (waxed floors and polished the wood railings, even!) I received chocolate, handmade gifts, and a wonderful home-cooked meal and I didn't have to do the dishes! While they worked like slaves, I used my time wisely. This is the proud part. I got a rare opportunity to craft for several hours while they cleaned and cooked. I was able to accomplish quite a bit during that short time and crafted some last minute gifts for others. I'll share one with you today, and yippee! I have a few more to share this month, too. I hope you had an amazing Mother's Day with your friends and family as well!

2. Morton Update
Before I go on about my cute little family, I want to remind you that during May, with your $35 purchase, you can still pick up a Dream Pop paper packet for National Scrapbooking Month for only $10. It's super cute and fun and just right to perk up your day! Pick it up here. Okay, now on to the fun stuff! We just returned home from four-wheeling in Delta, UT. Delta, you say? Yes, I was a bit skeptical as well, but, turns out, Delta has some really interesting sites and we had a great time. If you're from Delta, I commend you on your beautiful town and hospitality! Some of the places we saw:

Topaz Japanese Relocation Camp

Notch Peak

Painter Springs

Hermit's cabin

Lehman Caves

Brandon and I have been just plugging along and the vacation was much overdue. It was great to get out of the valley and roast s'mores with family and friends! The kids are all doing well, looking forward to summer. We got a tramp recently, so they've been enjoying their status as VIPs in the neighborhood :)

3. Mom's Card (one of them - Moms, that is)

This was a bit unconventional for a Mother's Day card. I had been cutting earlier for a project later this week for Moms and daughters at my church and became fascinated by the negative space created from the items cut out on my Cricut. I kept thinking, this would make a fabulous card in Slate and Honey! So this is what developed. I loved spending time just puttering around on the Cricut. Just seeing what inspiration came and following through; putting several projects together. Priceless. Thank you family.

This 6x6" card features a Slate base and 3 layers of Honey cardstock over the top, black 1" grosgrain ribbon and 2 Ruby cardstock roses, inked with Slate. Below is a quick tutorial on how I got the pattern.

1. I had 3 sheets of negatives left from cutting pinwheels out of Honey cardstock. The pinwheels were cut using the Close To My Heart Artiste cartridge (pg. 50, "p" key using Accent 1) sized at 3 1/4" and the Auto Fill feature, which produced 9 per sheet.

2. Flip the bottom diagonally, from the top right corner to the bottom left corner, keeping the top left corner where the pattern is closest to both edges.

 3. Ok, set the top sheet off to the side, keeping track of how you set it. Take the middle sheet and rotate a quarter turn to the right.

4. Now, hold up that third top sheet which you set aside and rotate that one a half turn to the right. And there's your pattern.

 5. Ok, now to tack them together quick-and-easy-like, grab your favorite spray adhesive. This is from Wally's. And something to use as a drop cloth. The lid of a paper box works great in keeping overspray to a minimum while fitting a full 12x12" sheet.

6. Now, separate the layers, keeping the positioning, and spray the backs of the cardstock sheets (so your adhesive doesn't show through if you miss), one at a time and carefully re-stack the sheets and press together to secure. Now you have your overlay for your card. It's still tacky on the bottom due to the previous spray adhesive, so just center over your card base where you like and press down, then trim.

7. Attach ribbon and then roses, which were also cut from the Artiste cartridge (pg. 54, "f" key using Accent 1, at 5" and 3"). Tip, use this handy tool to form your roses and zip these out in record time.

Warm wishes for a great spring day!

December Daily | Days Ten - Thirteen

Day Ten
Still loving the Glitz Glitter Gel! The Christmas light string stamp is from a retired SOTM, Sharing The Magic.

Day Eleven
A glimpse into the design process behind every class. Ribbon is some old Vineyard Berry from a bulk kit a few years ago.

Day Twelve
Building a snowman in the front yard. Stamps are in Cranberry and Sky inks and from a special double stamp set received in September from National Scrapbooking Day.
Day Thirteen
Colt and I watching Frosty come to life. (He was more interested in the camera clicking and beeping.)

Warm wishes,

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December Daily 2012 | Day One - Day Nine

One of the projects I worked on this past month (albeit, a bit silently) was a December Daily album, inspired by Ali Edwards. I became aware of this project a few years ago, when I started A Week In The Life, but figured I didn't have time to do such an in-depth project at the time. I was wrong. One of the things I've discovered, is these types of projects can be as involved and extravagant or as simple as you want. Love this! You've heard me say it a million times, as a mom of four I don't have much time. But the memories are so important. Documenting them doesn't have to take a lot of money or time. I challenged myself to use Close To My Heart products and to use up some of my stash. Without further ado, here is the album and the first nine days.

I used a 6x6" Quick Pic album in Olive as my base. I wanted to be able to slap the photos on and quickly journal. Not a lot of muss and fuss on the pages. I want this done. These albums come in two shades and have 8 memory protectors pre-mounted. That obviously wasn't enough to do 25 days plus an intro and/or end page, so I added some 6x6 Flip Flaps to expand the album. In the picture above (sorry, it's not great) at the center of the album, there is a half-inch space where the pages are mounted. I adhered 6 Flip Flaps in the center here, alternating pages spreading out three to the left and then three to the right, so I didn't end up with a "wedge" if they were all facing the same way. These pages are about an eighth of an inch larger than the pre-mounted memory protectors but they line up pretty well, even for an anal-retentive like me. 

Finished mounting.

Stamp the inside of the cover in Slate and Cranberry using Season of Change (retired). Even though this is old (it's still one of my favorites) I thought this scene embodied all of December from the tree, the winter snow and Santa's reindeer.

Another shot of my opening spread. I've always loved vellum so I wanted to do a see-through page, but didn't want to spend oodles of time. This was pretty simple! Cut the vellum to 6x6" and then I stamped in Slate across the middle using my date stamp I got at Walmart. The ornament is from this cute packet of  Dimensional Elements In Color-Holiday. 

I placed a matching ornament on the back. I created my Foundation Pages in Word using a table and just printed them on plain white 20 lb. paper. If you're interested, email me and I'll send it to you. The pages repeat the days up to 25. I originally made 31, but then decided I would just scrapbook those New Year events separately as they seemed to be a separate thing. each page has room for about 3 lines of journalling. Just enough. Yeah, I'm all about faster, simpler, easier the Close To My Heart way! Here are the rest of my pages. Enjoy!

Days Two and Three. Cranberry stitched ribbon is from the Ribbon Round and retired. The banner is hand-cut and hand lettered in red marker.

"Seven-11" (Garrett can't wait to go with Dad each day) is stamped using the Glamour Lowercase Alphabet in Slate and red glitter accents added using Glitz Glitter Gel.

Again, the Glamour Lowercase Alphabet in Cranberry. Love this.

The ribbon is really old (non-ctmh).

I'll have a few more pages up later this week. My schedule at work changed, so I'm all skee-wampus and I'll be offline for a few days. Check back soon!

Warm wishes,