Monday, August 29, 2011

Whoooo wants a Pair-a-Phrase Set


This is the last of the Thank You cards I needed to make for the girls' teachers from last year. They officially moved onto their new classrooms Monday morning. I can't believe how time flies!

Each of the classes in their school has a bird name. Last year Ellie was in the Owls class, so the owl image from the Pair-a-Phrase set was perfect.

This card is a perfect example of how versatile the My Acrylix stamps are. I used three stamp sets, and both the 'FOR' and 'Whoooo you are' stamps are only parts of their original phrases. The 'FOR' actually says 'FOR YOU', and the 'Whoooo you are' (from Pair-a-Phrase) says 'believe in Whooooo you are'. All I did was adhere only the word(s) that I wanted to the bottom of the stamp, and wrapped the remainder around the block. So easy!

How did I color it in? Also easy. I used the oh-so-affordable Blending Pen (3.95), one of my new favorite tools. Just squeeze the front/back of the ink pad together when shut. This leaves a little ink on the inside of the top cover Dip the blending pen into that ink, and transfer it to the image. It takes a little bit of practice, but not much, and so fun to be able to add colors to your images.

Love the owl and just need to have it? Place a $75 order by September 30th, and it's yours, along with the rest of these great images (retail value $35.90) for FREE.



CTMH Supplies Used:
Ink: Chocolate, Honey, Garden Green
Stamps: Pair a Phrase, A little Everything, For Every Occasion
Paper: Cocoa, Lucky (green)
Other: Chocolate grosgrain ribbon, Blending Pen

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Six more layouts to go!






I've wrapped up June in Carina's first year book, and I'm itching with excitement....I can't wait to make the leap to Close to My Heart's albums which have drop in style pages. I love my CM albums, but there are so many new things I want to be able to do with my scrapbooks. In particular, using Flip Flaps which just don't lend themselves to the CM albums, and.....stitching on the pages....the hubby has even brought my neglected sewing machine down from the attic, and it is just teasing me from the sunroom.

But enough about that, back to the present. I wanted to share Carina's June layouts with you. As I've mentioned previously, since I started this album before I even knew about Close to My Heart, in order to maintain the flow of the album, I haven't done a ton of stamping. Even so, I love how just a touch of stamping adds a level of interest to my pages.



On the calendar layout, I used the stamp pad as a stamp to add some texture to the white pieces of cardstock. It was so easy to do, and I like the effect. Simply lay your cardstock piece face down, about 1/8" of an inch in from the edge of the stamp pad. Then, lightly run your finger over the paper to press it to the stamp pad. It's a quick, easy way to add some color and texture, and you won't even have to clean off any stamps!



For the second layout, I wanted to dress up the blank space a little bit. I used the large flourish stamp from the You & Me stamp set with a very light shade of ink (Heavenly Blue) that coordinated with the lighter blue cardstock I was using to soften the white space on the page. I'm always a little nervous about stamping right on the page in my CM albums just because there's not really any do-overs when you've already completed other side, but I held my breath, and I really like how it turned out.







CTMH Products Used:
Stamps: You & Me, Enjoy Life, Classmate Alphabet
Inks: Pacifica, Tulip, Heavenly Blue
Paper: Pacifica, Hollyhock, Indian Corn Blue

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Pencil Birthday Treat for School


Ellie turns four next week. She also starts in a new class at her preschool next week, so I wanted to send something nice with her as a birthday treat for the class.

I've seen these pencil goodies several places, and it was originally featured in Creating Keepsakes Magazine's September 2010 issue.

The original uses a roll of Rolos, but for four year olds, whose parents I don't know yet, I thought this might be too messy and too much chocolate. So, I opted for a roll of Lifesavers (I'm not exactly sure why I think Lifesavers are better than Rolos for little kids, but I do).

[Note: If you want to make these with Lifesavers, they are not always easy to find. The hubby spent literally hours going to countless grocery stores, drugstores, etc. in search of these....it finally dawned on him that he should check a 7-11. He had to buy out two stores to get enough. He's quite fabulous, isn't he? We also just figured out that they have them at Michael's.]

Here is what you need for each pencil:
Roll of Lifesavers
Hershey's Kiss (paper tag trimmed off)
Piece of Yellow Cardstock cut 3 1/2" x 3/14"
Piece of Pink Cardstock cut 5/8" x 3 1/2"
Extra pink cardstock for circle to cover the top of the pencil
Piece of foil cut 3/8"x 3 1/4"
Scotch Tape
Liquid Glass
Scoring tool (optional)

I have seen these where the yellow cardstock is left unscored, but I like the overall effect of scoring better as it mimics a pencil more. Scoring takes time, and you should score your cardstock before you cut it into the pencil pieces. I scored the paper every 1/4".

The Lifesaver wrapper moves a bit, so I taped part of the edge on one end to the inner foil wrapper with scotch tape. I also used a small piece to secure the yellow paper to the inside Lifesaver paper wrapper so I could get the yellow piece wrapped as tightly as possible. (I kind of shaped the paper before putting it around the wrapper, folding/bending it on the scored lines. If you don't score, you will still want to curl it a little to help with the wrapping.) I hung the paper off the edge of the Lifesaver roll by about 1/8". That way the Hershey's kiss will look more like a pencil tip as opposed to an onion dome. Use Liquid Glass to secure, the great thing about Liquid Glass is that it dries pretty quickly and VERY securely.

For the eraser, I curled the paper a little, ran a line of Liquid Glass around the top edge of the yellow paper and then also secured the ends with Liquid Glass. Same thing for the foil piece, which I first folded in thirds lengthwise.

I then glued the pink circle to the end(I used the CM 1" mini circle punch. It doesn't fit exactly, and more kudos to go the hubby for going through and trimming off the excess after they dried.) I found that attaching the Hershey's kiss was easiest if I stood the pencil on end, added a nice glob of Liquid Glass and put the Hershey's kiss on top. You need a fair amount of Liquid Glass because the surface of the lifesaver pack is so uneven...this takes a while to dry.

That's it!

You can decorate as you see fit with stamping. In my example I used powerpoint to create a little tag, printed a bunch of them and then cut them out and glued them onto the pencil. Usually school pencils are no. 2 pencils. Mine are no. 4, which of course represents my daughter's fourth birthday.

Update: I just created a 'Freebies' section for the blog, and uploaded the powerpoint file for the No. 4 tags. Feel free to download/make changes to suit your needs.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Coffee To Go Card



Finally! Some new work! I ran across a version of this card on Karen Day's blog (http://kdaycreations.blogspot.com/2010/11/coffee-cards-and-little-bieber.html) a while back.

Since then I have seen a couple different versions, and wanted to create my own. So, I sent my very accomodating husband out to get some coffee so that he could bring me back a cup and lid for inspiration.

I did several mock-ups until I came up with one that I liked proportionally and aesthetically. I think it's pretty close to the real thing.

This one, and a couple others that I did up at the same time are thank you cards for the teachers in Ellie's class. The girls are in a year-round day care which is based off of the school calendar, so they'll be rolling over into their new classes shortly.

I was very excited to be able to pick up the Baby Impressions retired stamp set as the school's logo is a handprint, so it was perfect for that.

For the lid, I didn't want the lines to be as rigid as if drawn with a pen, so I drew a light line with pencil, and then actually use the edge of a scrap piece of paper as a stamp. I then lined it up and stamped across, and also used that in a swiping motion to add some shading to the edges, similar to a dry distressing technique with a brush.

I'm planning to put together a tutorial/template for purchase, so stay tuned, or let me know if you are interested.

CTMH supplies used:
Paper: White Daisy, Kraft
Ink: Desert Sand
Stamps: Baby Impressions
Other: Liquid Glass

UPDATE: The Coffee to Go Card Template/Tutorial is now available for purchase. If interested, please see the Templates/Tutorials for sale tab for details.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Moxie Fab Stamp of Approval









I haven't posted much artwork lately - been busy traveling with the family and working a bunch of projects simultaneously, but soon, I promise!

Still, wanted to let you know that Cath over at Moxie Fab World has given her "Stamp" of Approval to a bunch of new CTMH stamp sets! Better yet, she's giving two sets away. All you have to do is follow this link:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2011/08/moxie-fab-stamp-of-approval-close-to-my.html


And leave her a comment. They are awfully cute, but since I already own two of them, I figure I'll give everyone else a better opportunity to win them.

If you don't win, and have to have them, you can always order them yourself using the "Shop with Me" link to your right.

Good luck!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Moxie Fab Fanatical About Botanical Challenge




I created this very simple cut out Christmas card for the Moxie Fab Botanical challenge. I had actually played with this idea a while back when I was practicing random stamping, but the image was too large for what I wanted to do, so I shelved the idea for a later date.


I used the large leaf from the Something Splendid My Acrylix stamp set, but I curved it a little bit so that it would hug the frame. I drew two circles in pencil as guides, one in the center that I stamped around, and a larger one. This helped me keep the diameter uniform.



Then, I used my CM custom cutting system circles template to cut the center out. For some contrast I used some cranberry cardstock, for the inside of the card, and used the My Acrylix Classmate alphabet for the sentiment.


CTMH Products Used:

Cardstock: Colonial White, Cranberry

Stamps: Something Splendid, Classmate Alphabet

Inks: Garden Green, Olive