New Discounted Items at CTMH Websites!!!

A host of new discounted items will be available soon on MyCTMH websites!!

From stamp sets to favorite paper packets to accessories, we have a little of something for everyone at a phenomenal 40% off retail pricing! These items will be available beginning Monday, January 26, at 8:00 am (MT). Shop on!

If interested, pls go to my friend, Leigh's website at http://stampin.leigh.myctmh.com/ and have fun shopping!!!

Don't forget, sale starts Monday!! I think it'll be about 10am our time. Speaking from experience, it's really a first come, first serve basis. Things really fly out of there and what you have in your cart before checkout, may not be available AT checkout.

IF you do shop at Leigh's website, pls leave a comment on this post so I can let Leigh know. Thank you so much!

Riley

I took these yesterday of our new pup as I have a layout in mind already. We have 2 other dogs as well and what I would like to do is a 2 pg LO to start. I want a photo of the dog on one side with their name above their head and on the adjoining pg I would like a photo of our 2 kids with the dog and have 'man's best friend' as the title. So, I started trying to get pics yesterday and came up with these ones of Riley. More pics to follow as I get them!

My Attempt at Minnie's House!

As some of you may know, I got the Cricut Expressions for Xmas this yr. So, after Xmas, the cartridges came on sale and seeing as we went to Disney Oct 2007, I wanted to get some Disney ones so I can start my album. Yes, I've been lazy and it still sits waiting to be started!! So, this is my attempt at Minnie's house. Alot of fun to do. All the pc's are separate and you have to put it all together!! The colors are off, but you can see how it all comes together. Once I do a pg with it, I'll add that to this post to!

Valentine's Gift Box

This is a little box that we did at a recent scrapbook get together. Christine, a friend in our group of girls, came up with a template to make this cute little box!! You can interchange it to make it for any occassion. I'm also going to try and do one in an Easter theme to see how it looks. I'll add a photo of the template later as well. The little window is done with acetate and you have the option to use staz-on ink to add a little something to it, or just leave it clear. Either way, it's really pretty!

New Addition!

Hello! It's been a little since I posted anything new and this is why! Meet Riley! Riley is our new addition. He's little now, but he won't be for long! He's a rare breed called a "Bullweiller" and he is ADORABLE! Dad is an American Bulldog and mom's a Rottie. Funny story how he came to us really. My husband, Keith, had been talking about getting a puppy for a bit and I would catch him checking out puppies online etc and I would say "You know, now might not be a great time...we should wait. We have 2 dogs." And ignore it, thinking it would go away. (yeah, right..lol..you have to know my husband to understand this..LOL!!!) Then he found Riley and he went to meet Riley and fell in love with him. Came home and 2 days later, told the kids he had looked at a puppy etc, but not to tell mom! LOL! Anyway, Ashleigh let it out, well, I coaxed it out of her and that was it. She was on cloud 9 wanting this puppy. Keith had even shown them pics. So what to do? I just wanted everyone to be aware that having a puppy is a HUGE responsibility and a lot of work and EVERYONE would have to pitch in and help out with him. The kids were on board and really excited. They've been asking for a puppy for a long time. Our older dog is about 12 or so now, so she's really slowing down and our mini daschund, well, she'll play...her way..lol, but she's not good on a leash etc and they want something they can play with, walk, take for runs etc. So, since they were all on board, I thought, Ok! Here we go! But you know what? Riley is adorable and it's fun having a puppy around again. It's busy and it's a big adjustment for all of us, but you know who's taking a big reponsibility with him? Our 8 yr old daughter, Ashleigh. The photo below of Ashleigh and Riley is from Sunday. Keith just brought him home on Friday. They've really bonded. Andrew loves having a puppy to play with and has taken to making sure he gets him out for a run after school. One of our rules though is to make sure all 3 dogs get the same attention, and the kids have been awesome with that. They take all 3 out for a run/play in the yard every night. Everyone has really stepped up in helping take some reponsibility and it makes a HUGE difference! Keith and I are very proud of both the kids for the responsibilities they have taken on. We've discovered Riley's favourite thing is to go in the kitchen and drag the broom, dustpan and all, into the living room to chew! LOL! You see this puppy barrelling through the room, broom head in mouth, handle and dustpan trailing behind making a heck of a racket. It's so funny!!!

So, that is why I haven't been attempting to many new things! LOL! He's settling in nicely though and starting to enjoy his crate, so I'll have time to sit and relax and play. I'd really like to try some other ideas with my cupcake stamp!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Cupcake Sprinkles and Daydreams!

Good morning! When the 'Close To My Heart' Spring catalogue came out, I fell in love with the "Cupcakes and Sprinkles" stamp set. You can find it on pg 30. I also loved the "Daydream" paper packs. So, I ordered them. I am in LOVE with this stamp set!!! I had a chance to get down and play with it a bit last night and made 2 cards. It is such a fun stamp set to play with!!

Hey There Cupcake: (all CTMH product unless otherwise noted)

• Daydream Lv 2 paper pack
• White ribbon from the Ricrac collection
• Cupcakes and Sprinkles stamp
• 'Creme Brulee', 'Lilac Mist' and 'Blush' ink
• Sparkles
• I used my expressions to make the 'blast' (Hey There Cupcake)

Celebrate: (all CTMH product unless otherwise noted)

• Daydream Lv 2 paper pack
• Cupcakes and Sprinkles stamp set
• 'Lilac Mist' and 'Blush' ink
• (retired) Glitter stack (red glitter)
• Prisma glitter
• I cuttlebugged the little green rectangle and used the negative side, so the dots are pushed in and then used my gluepen to fill in all the little dots and added prisma glitter to get the glittered effect in there

A Virtual Flower Garden, So Pretty!

Good morning! Well, a COLD one it is! I actually got up half hour early to make sure the van would start or the kids were taking the bus and would be none to happy about that!! I can't believe they're outside in this, but I guess they're more resiliant than I am! And they are dressed warmly, so they'll be fine. Glad it's not me! I am not a winter person, I don't do well without the sun and especially with this cold!

Yesterday I was checking out some blogs and I came across "Hands, Head and Heart" and Melanie had the neatest link and I would love to share it with you. Today is the perfect day to share it. All you have to do is click here http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf and now put your mouse over the screen and CLICK! Where you click, flowers will grow! You can click or hold the mouse and scroll and create a beautiful virtual garden of your very own! When you first go to the website, your screen will be black and empty, start scrolling and watch it grow!

Enjoy!

JUST A Mom???

I had a friend send me this today via email and I wanted to share with you. Please feel free to copy/paste and share with your friends!

JUST A MOM?

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk 's office, was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. "What I mean is, " explained the recorder, "do you have a job or are you just a ..?" "Of course I have a job," snapped the woman. "I'm a Mom." "We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation,'housewife' covers it," Said the recorder emphatically. I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, "Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar.." "What is your occupation?" she probed. What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations." The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire. "Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest,"just what you do in your field?" Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) In the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money." There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another Mom." Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door. Does this make grandmothers "Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations" And greatgrandmothers "Executive Senior Research Associates?" I think so!!! I also think it makes Aunts "Associate Research Assistants." Please send this to another Mom, Grandmother, Aunt, And other friends you know. May your troubles be less, Your blessing be more, And nothing but happiness come through your door!

Key To My Heart

I made this card using the CTMH "Key To My Heart" campaign stamp set, which you can learn all about if you click the photo to the right, and I had a pre-embossed heart print card that I had purchased from Michaels. The key is done in CTMH 'creme brulee' ink and I used CTMH 'tulip' ink to distress the outside of the card. The heart is 4.5" and I cut that out using my expressions 'Plantin Schoolbook' cartridge.

Photo Memory Box and Matching Card Set

Hello there! I found this cute idea on a fellow CTMH constultant's website. Tina Sutton is an Independent Consultant and Senior Executive Director for Close To My Heart. You can view her website at http://www.missgingerdots.com/. You can view the instructions and template for this memory box here http://www.missgingerdots.com/pdffiles/Memory%20Box.pdf. I had a lot of fun doing this and decided to do a card to match. I haven't added my photo's, as I'm not sure what I want to do with it or who is going to receive it.

Materials Used for the Card:

• B&T paper cut to 4 x 5.5" (I used CTMH Paper Garden paper pack and Stickease)
• Premade card (4 x 5.5") or make your card using CS
• Brads
• Transparency paper
• Cuttlebug and embossing folder (I used Swiss Dots)
• Stamps for sentiments on front and inside

Instructions for Card:

• Cut your B&T AND transparency paper to 4 x 5.5"
• Run your transparency paper through your cuttlebug using your folder of choice
• Attach transparency to your B&T using your brads, now attach to the front of your card. This way you don't see the brads!
• Add your sentiment on the front and inside

Materials Used for the Memory Box:

• (2) 12x12 sheets of CS
• CTMH 'Flutter' acrylic stamp set
• CTMH 'petal', 'blush' and 'kiwi' ink pads
• (2) 12x12 sheets of co-ordinating B&T paper (I used CTMH 'Paper Garden' paper pack and stickease for this as well)
• Adhesive
• Trimmer
• Scor-Pal or scoring tool

Instructions for Memory Box: (please remember you can also refer to the link above which also contains diagrams)

• Take your first piece of CS and scor it at 4" both horizontally and vertically, so you'll have 9 (4") squares on your sheet
• Cut the 4 corners off (see photo below)
• Stamp both the inside and outside of the paper, this will become your box

• Cut your B&T paper into 3.5 x 3.5" squares and attach to the outside flaps (purple area in photo below)
• Cut your 2nd piece of CS to 11 1/4 x 11 1/4" and follow same directions as above, discarding 4 corner pieces
• Adhere the last 4 pieces of co-ordinating B&T paper to your flaps, as shown below
• Stamp or use a stickease to add a sentiment of choice in the center box (see both photo's below) This will be the bottom of your box, you will see it when the box opens
• Attach this pc of CS to the larger, ONLY GLUING THE CENTER SQUARE

Once you have all your steps completed, this is what you'll end up with!! Undo the ribbon and your box falls open and you will have attached your photo's of choice! What a great little gift or keep one for yourself!!

This would be a great gift for anyone on your list, including teachers and bus drivers. You don't have to add the photo's, you can give it as is and they can add their own photo's!!

TRIPLE Inked Embossing!!

Hello!! Well, I had another free afternoon, so I came down to my scrap room to play. This time, I worked on making my niece, Jayla, her 'first birthday' card. So, I went again with the Flower Child theme, but this time, I tried triple ink embossing! This is a bit (ok, more than a bit..LOL) harder. I went around the outside with 'chocolate' ink and then on the inside (top) I ran 'hollyhock' ink and then under that, I went with 'sunny yellow'. You have to be careful you don't get your ink on your other pads. After that was done, I went with the 'sunny yellow' and ran it freehand over the hollyhock area and vise versa. Just to try something different. Alot of fun and have I said I LOVE this new technique??

Materials Used: CTMH unless otherwise noted

• "Chocolate" ink
• "Sunny Yellow" ink
• "Hollyhock" ink
• "Flower Child" stamp set
• "Annotations"stamp set
• Boom-Di-Ada paper pack
• Distressing tool (edges)
• Co-ordinating markers/water color pencils/blending pen
• Prisma glitter
• Cuttlebug 'Happy Birthday' embossing folder
• Expressions 'Plantin Schoolbook' cartridge (1)
• Stampin' Up! scallop circle punch

Inked Embossing Birthday Card

Hello!! Well, I'm off this week, so I spent yesterday cleaning and today I went down to get some cards made. Well...total creativity block!!! UGH! Why does that always happen??? Anyway, here's one card I did manage to come up with. I did this using the inked embossing technique that I found on the 'cuttlebugg-ers' board on http://www.papercraftplanet.com/ and I love it! Just adds a little something to your cards. I did this one on white CS so you can see better.

Materials Used:

• white CS
• CTMH creme brulet ink
• cuttlebug 'happy birthday' embossing folder
• CTMH 'annotations' stamp set
• CTMH 'flower child' stamp set
• CTMH 'colonial white' (retired) ribbon rounds
• CTMH prisma glitter
• glue pen
• watercolor pencils and blending pen
• plantin schoolbook cricut expressions cartridge (maddie)

TIP: Using your ink, run it across the top of your embossing folder (where the ink pad is) and carefully position on your paper and run through your cuttlebug...voila!! You have inked embossing!!

Happy Birthday, Dad

I made this card for my dad. I also found the idea for the inked embossing on http://www.papercraftplanet.com/ in the cuttlebugg-ers discussion.

Materials:

1. Stretch Your Imagination expressions cartridge (balloons)
2. Opposites Attract expressions cartridge (dad)
3. Happy Birthday embossing folder (cuttlebug)
4. Sandpaper
5. It's A Guy Thing paper pack (CTMH)
6. Chocolate ink (CTMH)
7. Baby wipes or stamp cleaner of choice
8. bling (michaels)

Instructions:

1. Using your ink, ink the side of your folder where it says 'cuttlebug'. I ran the pad across the folder till it was covered
2. Add your paper (be VERY careful when doing this so you don't smudge your work)
3. Run it through your cuttlebug and remove CAREFULLY
4. IMMEDIATELY clean your folder off
5. Use your sandpaper and distress your paper (the white area on my photo)
6. You can cut your pc's out using your expressions anytime
7. Using glue dots, adhere your words and balloons and you're done!

Flowered Gift Bag

I made this using my expressions. It's actually a pretty decent size! I did it 'fit to pg' on a 12x12 pc of CS and then I did the flowers using the 'mix and match' setting on the expressions as well, so you get different shapes/sizes, but it's the same flower, believe it or not!! I am LOVING my expressions!!

Baby (girl) Shower Invitation

A friend asked me to make her 30 baby shower invites. So, here they are! I am quite happy with how they turned out!




Materials Used:

• Cricut Expressions "Stretch Your Imagination" cartridge
• 'bling' from Michaels
• "Swiss Dots" and "You're Invited" cuttlebug embossing folders
• Scor-Pal
• CTMH "blush" ink and distressing tool

Instructions:

• Using the expressions cartridge, I cut out both a 'shadow' and 'silouette' of the baby buggy and glued those together to make the baby buggy on the front
• I cut pink CS to fit the inside of the card and ran it through my cuttlebug using the "You're Invited" folder
• I scored the lines on the front of the card using my scor-pal and actually lined it up and 1" so I could even out the scor lines (scored at the 2" and 6" spots for the double line)
• Then I lined up the "Swiss Dots" and ran them all through the cuttlebug
• Now I added my baby buggy's to the front and invites to the inside
• Using my distressing tool, I 'flicked' blush ink all around the edges for some added dimension!