Christmas in July

Ok, so I haven't been a good blogger lately. I've skipped all kinds of events (even my own birthday), but sometimes things get in the way of my being productive. Things like T.V., television, the tele, the boob tube... are you seeing a theme? Ha! Yes, I have a bad tv watching habit and I know it makes for a very unproductive girl. Oh well, c'est la vie.

One of my other problems is doing fun things instead of doing what I should be doing, so on a whim last night, rather than cleaning the house, doing laundry, giving the dog a bath... I decided to make a card for a challenge on the Stampingbella blog. She's in Eastern Canada, so I don't know if my submission made it there on time with the time difference and all, but I tried.

The theme this week was "Christmas In July" and this is what I came up with. My photo's not the best because I normally use my Mother-in-Law's camera, but she had to "borrow" (wink) it a couple weeks ago and I haven't gotten it back. I used my iPhone to take photos last night and just couldn't get a true color photo, but I just had to go with it. Here's the card I came up with.






















I used "gifty tree" from Stampingbella. I just love their stamps! I also used some of my Copic Sketch markers and Spica Glitter pens. I was trying to show the sparkle in the photo, but it didn't come thru as well as I'd like. You can check out her blogabella blog today and see what other folks came up with for their "Christmas in July" artwork. She's got some very talented people that play along each week. Well, off to work, at least I'm productive somewhere in my life, lol.

Independence & Handmade Cards - two things I love!

Happy Independence Day!! I'm thankful as always to have my freedoms and enjoy a good life with my family and friends! Thank you to all of those past and present that have made that possible for us!

On a somewhat related note... I had a card workshop earlier this week and thought I'd share what we made. This first card was made specifically for today. It was made using two different stamp sets, "C1394 Candlelight" (which is actually a stamp set featuring different candle images (more for birthdays), but I thought these looked like they could be fun firecrackers) and "B1354 Boom!". Now these are the firecrackers I don't mind being near today, I'm just not one that enjoys the real thing too close to me. I'm more of a snakes & sparklers kind of gal, lol.






















Once we stamped the images, we cut them out and then curled the cardstock around a pen to get the 3-D effect. They stay that way quite well without having to do anything else to them.





































I actually had a second motive for doing this card. I've also been wanting to play along in a challenge over on the Heart 2 Heart Challenges blog, but haven't had the opportunity yet. This card actually works for the theme this week which is "Patriotic". If you're a fan of Close to My Heart products you'll want to check out this blog. It's run by a Close to My Heart consultant and there's a regular design team, then each week other people (consultants and non-consultants) can participate in the challenge and link their creations. It's fun to see how differently people interpret the challenges.

This next card was made using the Magic Moments paper pack and the stamp "C1407 Hot Diggity" (which we used last month for the embossed Frog card we made).


































































This card was inspired by a combination of elements from two other CTMH consultants (Faith Richardson and Jennifer Bennett). Isn't that little snail cute? I thought this card style was very clever with the green flap tucking behind the raised circle the snail is stamped on and once untucked, revealing the inside of the card.

One of the techniques we tried out during this workshop was using the Watercolor Pencils and a Blending Pen. I had only used each a couple of times in the past, so I wanted to do a little more with them and I had a lot of fun. I've always liked to color, I find it very relaxing.

Here's the first card we made using the Watercolor Pencils and blending pen.






















Isn't this little Elephant fun? I'm not usually one that's drawn to really cutsie images, but this whole set is great for coloring. It's called "D1434 You're Great" It has an aligator, monkey, hippo and a lion as well.

That background was a bit of a challenge in class. We started off with just a plain Blush colored cardstock and then used the "D1412 Noted Backgrounds" stamp to get the Herringbone effect. It takes some practice to get the lines to line up because for a card front this size you have to stamp the image 4 times.

We also added a little Liquid Glass to his toenails to give them a little shine and dimension.















The next card we used those same Watercolor Pencils and Blending Pen and added a few more colors. This girl is from the "D1344 Ms.Gardner" set. She was fun to color, and paired with that lovely Topstitch paper, I think this card turned out pretty cute.






























The sentiment continued to the inside of the card.















And last but not least, we did a card using the new Petite Perks "Dreams" stamp set that's featured on the back cover of the Summer Idea Book. This is a set for consultant's to purchase and do with what they choose. I chose to use it on this card and then give all of the workshop attendees a set to take home with them.






























This time we used the Blending Pen once again, but we didn't use the pencils. This time we used the pen and dipped it in the excess ink that accumulates on the lid of each stamp pad. This is a great option if you don't have the matching marker color, to use on small areas.

Well, I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday this weekend, thanks for sticking with me to the end of this long post. :)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad! I hope you have a fantastic and relaxing Birthday, you're the best!! I love you!

I won, I won!!

Woo hoo, I was just sitting here surfing around my favorite blog sites and discovered that I won a new stamp set and some fun accessories from one of my blogger friends Sparkle!!! How exciting!

Sparkle announced earlier this week that she's starting her own stamp company, Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps, which will be opening it's doors (online) on Saturday, July 10th at midnight. She's been giving little sneak peeks of some of her images and giving away those images along with the card she featured on her website & some fun paper and accessories to go with it. The stamp I won is Surfing Oliver, here's the card Sparkle created with him.




















and here's the rest of the loot I won...













Isn't' that fun?? Go and check her out at Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps and see all of the images she's shown so far, they're so fun! I wish Sparkle all the best with her new company and I'll definitely be adding some more of her images to my stash as soon as her doors open on Saturday, July 10th at midnight!!

A bella card for a bella friend

It's been a long time since I've made a non-Close to My Heart card, so when my friend Alicia had her 40th birthday last weekend I took advantage of the opportunity to dig through my stash and create a special card for her.

I have many Stampingbella stamps, but have inked up only a few (can you say hoarder?). I recently purchased a few new Copic markers and wanted to give them a try as well. I have very little experience with those markers, but hope to use them a lot more in the future, they're so cool to color with - smooth like butta.

Anyhoo, back to the subject. This is the card I made for Alicia.




















Isn't she cute? This is "Flowahbella" from Stampingbella.com Like I said I used a couple of my new Copic markers to color her. I also used my Copic Spica glitter pens to color the flowers, her mouth and her shoes. I tried to show the glittery effect in this next photo. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.



I also have several Stampingbella sentiments and I've never used this particular one, so I thought it might be an appropriate time to bring it out.




I love that quote!


One special thing I did with this card has to do with the paper used on it. It's actually vintage wallpaper. Years ago, back before kids, when we were able to just hang out and go places on a whim, Alicia and I found this great Estate sale. We found these matching rolls of vintage wallpaper and each got one. I know over the years Alicia has used it for wrapping gifts and various other things, as she is one to create a purpose for things and get them moving out of the house. Me on the other hand, this was the first time ever cutting into the roll, uh oh I see that word "hoarder" rearing it's ugly head again, lol. I wondered if she'd recognize the paper when she opened her card and she did, almost immediately. That's the fun thing about making your own cards, the personal touches. :)

Congratulations Angie "Ironman" Gerber!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my high school classmate Angie Gerber. She just completed the Ironman competition in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho about 1/2 hour ago! So very excited for her accomplishment today!! Her overall time was 16:13:36! That's 1:30:53 for swimming 2.4 miles, 7:52:11 for bicycling 112 miles and 6:29:40 for running 26.2 miles (a full marathon). Whew, makes me tired just typing those times, lol.

Here's a photo I stole off of one of her friend's Facebook pages. This was taken a couple days before the race. Isn't she cute?



I don't have a photo of her crossing the finish line, but as soon as I can find one to steal I'll add it to this post. :)

Congratulations again Angie!! Like I already said on Facebook, you are one AMAZING woman!!

Another 40 year old in my life

Well, it looks like another one of my friends has hit the 40 year mark today. My dear friend Alicia is now officially 40 and Fabulous!! I wanted to do a flash back with photos from over the years, but frankly I'm so disorganized that I don't know where anything is. I should have just borrowed Alicia's photo albums, because she's always been on the ball about getting pictures right into albums where they should be unlike me and my totes full of lose photos - yikes! One of these days (she says yet again) I'll get all of those photos organized and maybe I'll do a special post with some of the "best of" shots of Alicia for all to see. ;)

For now, I'll just say again "Happy Birthday my Dear Friend"! Thank you for being such a great friend and "sister". Thank you for being such a great "Aunt" to my kids. It's always so fun to be around you. You make me laugh and I still think you should write a book some day about all of your adventures and those crazy, funny dreams you have (wiener dog babies come to mind as I type this), lol!

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you last night and as I said in my card, I can't wait to see what the next 40 years brings! Love you!

Beautiful day on the coast

This photo makes me laugh. We went to the coast this weekend to watch cousin Shawna graduate from Nursing School. It was such a beautiful day there, Shawna and I took a spin in her new Jeep later that afternoon. I became a one armed photographer to capture the moment.

Jackpot June - the CTMH Goodie Box Promotion is back!

JACKPOT JUNE MEANS DAILY DEALS!
Hit the jackpot and win free products OR grab loaded goodie boxes at 50% off or more. Enjoy two types of deal days in June!















On goodie box days… you can purchase one box filled with popular products at 50% or more off retail value! Each goodie box day will feature different surprise items, so you can score a wide variety of current and recently retired products.

On jackpot days… 5 products will be offered for sale at discounted prices. One of the 5 products is the mystery jackpot item for that day, but we’re not telling which—exciting, isn’t it! If you happen to order the mystery jackpot item, we’ll reward you with one or more FREE Close To My Heart products, with shipping included on the free items! If you purchase all 5 products, you’re guaranteed to hit the jackpot! There’s no purchase limit—if you order multiple secret jackpot items, we’ll send you the same number of free items.

These special offers include discounted shipping/handling and are only available on a MyCTMH® website - click here to shop from my website. Once on my website, follow the "Shop Online" link to "Jackpot June" (located on the left side bar). Check back every day for the latest offer. Email me with any questions at kandi@myctmh.com.

Here's the "fine print":
* Offer valid June 1–July 1 at 8:00 am (MDT), on MyCTMH websites only. New deals are posted each day at 9:00 am (MDT). To be eligible for discounted prices, your order must contain only Jackpot June items. Visit facebook.com/closetomyheart or closetomyheart.com to see what the mystery Jackpot item was for the previous day. Offers are while supplies last.

May Card Workshop (yes, I am still here)

I know, I know, it's been forever since I updated this blog. I don't know what's gotten into me, but it just dropped off the top of my priority list a while back and has stayed at the bottom.

I have lots of catching up to do and I've been taking photos along the way, so hopefully I'll get some time to sit down and post about what's been going on since my last post back on March 28th - yikes!

For today though, it's only a crafty post. I know, not the most exciting for some readers, but for my fellow crafty peeps, I know you all can appreciate it. :)

I had a fun workshop yesterday with 6 lovely ladies in attendance and I actually got on the ball and took photos of my cards right after they left, while I still had some good daylight to use. I still haven't posted my April workshop photos, so I'll have to work backwards on another post as today's post is only the 5 cards from yesterday. So, without further ado...

Card #1:
This card was made using the new "Splendor" paper pack and the new stamp set called "Hot Diggity". We embossed the frog and added a fun paper pleat (we did this on a bird card a couple months back). This is a card I created for a card swap I participated in recently. I guess I wasn't tired of it after making 26 of them for the swap, so I decided to do it again. :)






















Here's a closer shot of the frog so you can see that he's embossed. This stamp set has some really cute images, can't wait to use it some more.



Card #2:
This was a fun, masculine Father's Day card that I CASE'd from a fellow consultant, Beth Ivanic. I've made these little folded paper shirts in the past, but I loved the layout that Beth used on her card, so I just had to do the same. The shirt was made from one of the patterned papers in the "Cherry-O Creative Basics" paper pack. I just love it and it's very versatile. One of the other cards we made uses another pattern from this same paper pack.



Here's a little closer view of the shirt. Isn't it adorable? I love the added bitty brads as buttons. This could easily be a birthday card too, just stamp "Birthday" at the bottom in lieu of "Father's Day". The hemp adds a little extra masculine touch too.



Card #3:
Here's the other card I was talking about that uses the "Cherry-O Creative Basics" paper pack. This is a fun baby card I also created for the card swap I was in recently. I also made 26 of these. I don't think it was the most favorite card of the day yesterday because of having to line up the stamped images, but it was doable especially because the stamps are clear and you can see where on your paper the stamp is going to land. Gotta love Close to My Heart Acrylic Stamps!





















The Cherry-O Creative Basics paper pack also comes with 4 yards of this great velvety ribbon - love it! The new 1 1/4" paper punch came in handy for punching out the tag after we stamped it.



Card #4:
This was my favorite card of the day. I CASE'd this card from a fellow consultant named Tina Dupin. She participated in another new product swap that I participated in and she designed this great card. Her card used a different paper pack and I was already using that paper for another card in this workshop, so I switched the paper up. The paper we used is called "Unforgettable" and the stamp sets are "Aspiration" (which goes great with this paper pack) and "State of Mind" (which has several definations to choose from).





Card #5:
For the last card of the day I wanted to show off our new Clear Cards. These are really fun. You get 8 in a package, 4 square and 4 scalloped circles. I think everyone had fun making this card. For this card we used the new "Cherry-O" paper pack and the stamp set called "You're Sweet". This paper was a definite favorite of the day. We also made the little flower on the front using the new 1 1/4" Circle punch again and following the directions from page 13 in the idea book. When you're looking at your Idea Book next time be sure to pay attention to the great tips and tricks that are located throughout - what a great resource!

So here's the front of the card.



Here it is opened up so you can see the area where you would write your own little sentiment to someone.



Here's a little closer look at the folded flower and I'm not sure if you can tell from this photo, but we accented the cherry's polka-dots with the new "Stardust Glitz Glimmer Glue".



Well, that's all for now. If you have any questions about any of the products used or you'd like to attend a workshop in the future or you haven't got your latest copy of the new Summer 2010 Idea Book, leave me a comment or send me an email to kandi@myctmh.com

See you soon!