Autumn/Winter 2010 Blog Hop

Welcome to our Close to my Heart New Product Blog Hop! 

Over 40 Fabulous Close to my Heart Consultants are celebrating the upcoming release of the Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book by giving you a Sneak Peak of some of the great products available in the new Idea Book starting September 1st! 

If you have come here from Tresa Black's blog, you are on the right path! You can also find a complete list of Blog Hop participants at http://www.tazzygirl2000.blogspot.com This is simple to do- just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

When I saw the Magnifique paper pack I instantly fell in love with it and had to find some pictures to use with them. Luckily my husband and I had just come back from a weekend in Vegas and these pictures paired so well with this paper. This was a super fun layout to make and I even made it so the tickets pull out to reveal the journalling :D





Recipe:
Template: "Creative Team" from Imagine - My 2nd page is the 1st page of the template
Paper: Magnifique
My Acrylix Stamp Set: Cocktail Alphabet
Ink Colors: Lagoon, Pacifica
Embellishments: Flowers made using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and Magnifique paper, CTMH mini medley shades of chocolate, Prima bling

Now "Hop" on over to Karen Norman's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and see the great new Paper Packs and My Acrylix Stamp Sets! Remember, the Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book goes LIVE on September 1st! **Link not working? Missed a Blog? You can see a list of all Blog Hop participants at http://tazzygirl2000.blogspot.com

Wall Art

Here's a home decor idea for everyone. I made this for my Mother In Law for her birthday using the 7 gypsies printer tray. I've been wanting to make one of these for a while and finally got the chance. Now I think I need one for myself :D

A little more inspiration

Here's a layout done with the same CTMH Stardust paper pack as the previous layout for my youngest son. I got the idea for these super cute paper medallions from one of the girls over at Two Peas and I'm just loving them. I can totally see myself using these on all kinds of layouts and cards!!!

A little Inspiration

Here's a recent layout I did using the Stardust paper pack from CTMH. I wanted something playful and fun to commemorate my oldest turning three so I decided to make some pinwheels as my embellishments. I really like how this turned out!

A few more fun ideas from my BPS class :)

A few more neat ideas that I've gotten from my BPS class. The green one is using tissue paper and mod podge to create an awesome textured look to your paper. The other one is another mosaic but using kitchen twine in between your pieces. I think it would make a fabulous frame for your pictures, especially if you use just one photo on a layout.

Cheers! :D

Getting my mojo back :)

Here are a few layouts I did this week. The Ladybug one was scraplifted from a talented lady on the CTMH boards Kate. I saw her layout using the Splendor papers and immediately thought of these pictures of Caidan discovering all the ladybugs in our grass. The other one was just great, getting dirty and inky fun! I've been wanting to use the Passages paper for a while and they just screamed grunge and distressing so I pulled out my inks and my new Tim Holtz dies and had a grand ol' time. It's nice to have a bit of my mojo back :)

Can I just say...

I am loving my 52 card pick up class at Big Picture Scrapbooking !! I'm learning some fun new techniques and some just "out of the box" ideas. I'm totally debating taking the Claudine Hellmuth class but not sure if I want to commit to another class over the summer. What to do..what to do... :D Here are some pictures from my current class...hopefully you'll be inspired to try something new too! The first picture is printed on a transparency, layered over pattern paper and stamped on with stazon. The second is using bleach and clear heat embossing to add detail. The third is painting with acrylic and using a glaze pen for journalling. The fourth is great for all the little scraps you have because you use them to create a mosaic and thus creating your own patterned paper. How smart is that?? And this is just a small sampling of the inspirations we've been given in just over 2 weeks...and there's 8 weeks left! It's going to be a great summer~

Jackpot June!!

In June, take advantage of a different deal each day at my CTMH website. Click on the Jackpot June link to see each day's deal. Each day will either be a Jackpot day or a Goodie Box day. Deals will run for 23 hours: from 9:00 am (MDT) to 8:00 am (MDT) the following day, while supplies last. (The hour between 8:00 am and 9:00 am will be used to finalize all pending transactions, clear the queue, and launch the next deal.)
On Jackpot days, 5 products will be offered for sale at special discounted prices. On each Jackpot day, we've selected one of the 5 products to be the Jackpot item for that day, but you won't know which one it is (isn't it exciting!). If you happen to order the Jackpot item, lucky you! We'll reward you with a fabulous Close To My Heart jackpot, which may be one FREE product or a bundle of several FREE products! For those of you who aren't risk-takers, you'll want to purchase all 5 items to guarantee you'll hit the Jackpot!
If you purchase multiple quantities of the Jackpot item, you'll receive multiple products FREE. So, buy as many as you'd like of each item—there's no limit—and you could be a big winner!
The free items will be featured on the Jackpot June shopping page, alongside the 5 discounted products. We'll send your FREE items with the products you've ordered—and we'll pay the shipping/handling for your free items! Special shipping is offered on the discounted products you purchase: just $0.99 US / $1.99 CAN for each item.
So, how do you know if you've hit the Jackpot? Each day we'll announce what the Jackpot item was for the previous day on www.facebook.com/closetomyheart and at www.closetomyheart.com.
On Goodie Box days, you will be able to purchase a Goodie Box filled with wonderful Close To My Heart products at 50% or more off retail value. The Goodie Box contents will vary by day (we're not revealing specifics but you'll be thrilled!) and will include favorite current and retired stamp sets, paper packets, embellishments, and other great scrapbooking, stamping, and cardmaking items.
We have made every effort to differentiate the Goodie Box offerings by date so you can purchase boxes on different dates and receive a wide variety of products. The prices of the boxes will vary but each will be at least 50% off retail value. The higher the box price, the greater your savings from the original retail value. We're also offering discounted shipping.
Important Notes: In order to give shoppers the best possible deal on products and shipping, Jackpot June purchases must include ONLY Jackpot June items (the Goodie Box or the discounted items) and nothing else. This will streamline the shipment of orders and is also how we’re able to offer discounted shipping for this exciting promotion. This means:

• On Goodie Box days, only one Goodie Box and no other items may be checked out in a single transaction.
• On Jackpot days, only the discounted items may be checked out in one transaction; no limit on discounted items per transaction.

My Bottle Swap goodies!

In all the excitement of the CTMH summer blog hop and then the not so exciting life of a mommy with a teething baby and not a lot of sleep I completely forgot to post the pictures from my bottle swap. Here are some pics of the bottle that I got in the mail from my swap partner, Ruthie, at Scrapbeach. It was so much fun to do this swap with her. The funny coincidence was that we are both CTMH consultants so we both had to think outside the box for swap items :) Ruthie sent me so many fabulous little goodies. I'll definitely have to do another one of these swaps soon! :)

On another note...teething baby syndrome has caused no creativity syndrome for me so I haven't been scrapping much lately. I'm hoping that will all change soon though since I signed up for this class at Big Picture Scrapbooking to work on over the summer. It looks to be a lot of fun. It's the first online class I've signed up for but I like that I can work on it at my pace (and in my pj's at 2 am if need be*lol*). Here's hoping it gets my creative mojo flowing again...although sleep might work too :D

Here is a cute layouts I did using the new Cherry O paper pack from CTMH. I wanted to show how to use it for a boy layout and LOVE how this one turned out!

Paper: Cherry O Level 2 kit
Ink - Chocolate
Embellishments: Sweet Leaf ribbon, Tulip mini medley, Clear Inspirations tags,misc. buttons

Sneak Peaks and more!

Welcome to our Close to my Heart New Product Blog Hop! Over 40 Fabulous Close to my Heart Consultants are celebrating the upcoming release of the Summer 2010 Idea Book by giving you a Sneak Peak of some of the great products available in the new Idea Book starting May 1st! These talented ladies have come up with some awesome ideas. I know I'll be getting a ton of inspiration from all their great ideas and I hope you will too!


If you have come here from Clerissa Lewis's blog, you are on the right path!
You can also find a complete list of Blog Hop participants at http://www.tazzygirl2000.blogspot.com
This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! And away we go!!

This card just came together for me. I love the Cherry O paper pack. It's so fun and versatile to work with and can be used with boy or girl layouts and works great with a variety of themes like summertime activities, cooking with Mom, and so many more.

Paper: Cherry O paper pack
My Acrylix Stamp Set: Chocolate Alphabet Small
Ink Colors: Chocolate
Embellishments: etc) Chocolate Waxy Flax, Misc. buttons


Now "Hop" on over to Georgia Hauglid's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get
some great crafting ideas and see the great new Paper Packs and My Acrylix Stamp
Sets!

Remember, the Summer 2010 Idea Book goes LIVE on May 1st! Happy Crafting everyone!

Studio J is here!!

Studio J is CTMH's fantastic new digital scrapbooking site. I've been playing with it during it's testing phase and really love using it. It's so simple but the pages you can create are just amazing!

1. What is Studio J Design Software? Studio J is free online scrapbooking design software brought to you by Close To My Heart. (Did I mention FREE?) Studio J helps you easily create custom-printed two-page layouts using our foundational scrapbook patterns, exclusive color palette, and themed designs all delivered in 12 × 12 custom prints ready for your albums. It’s a snap!
2. Is Studio J easy to use? Studio J software is extremely intuitive and easy to use. The program walks you through five steps that include:
   
   
   1. uploading your photos
   2. choosing your desired themed kit
   3. selecting an exclusive layout pattern
   4. adding photos, embellishments, titles, and journaling
   5. purchasing custom-printed layouts ready for your personal album
   It’s super simple and extremely fun to use! 
3. I love Close To My Heart products. Will Studio J use the same great papers, patterns, colors, and embellishments? Of course! If you love Close To My Heart’s scrapbooking philosophy, then you will love Studio J.
4. Do I need to download any software to my computer to use Studio J? Nope! You only need an Internet connection, and then you simply log in to my MyCTMH website and click on the Studio J link to get started. Feel free to design to your heart’s content—you are not required to buy anything to get started!
5. Can I save what I am working on and come back to it later? Absolutely! You can create a customer profile that allows you to save and return to a project in progress at a later time. Your active projects will be saved for up to 90 days, giving you plenty of time to work on them. You extend that timeline for your active projects by 90 days each time you make a purchase, and your purchased projects will remain archived for one full year after purchase.  Better yet, Close To My Heart will even send you an email to let you know where you are at with your project timeline.
6. Do I need a printer that can print 12" × 12" pages to use Studio J? Nope. Your Studio J layouts are not available for you to print from a home computer. In fact, we take care of the printing for you. When you purchase your designed layouts, we print and ship them quickly and directly to you using only top quality printing technology and archival-quality papers.Mine arrived only a few short days after I purchased them.
7. What is the price? You are not charged a thing until you order your custom prints. The price per printed two-page layout is $14.95 (well below the industry standard). We also offer some fantastic rewards for larger orders. You can receive FREE Memory Protectors to protect your layouts in your albums, and FREE shipping/handling based on the number of layout prints you purchase in a single order as follows:
   
   
   • For 5–9 layout purchases: You’ll receive a pack of 5 Memory Protectors FREE!
   • For 10–20 layout purchases: You’ll receive FREE shipping/handling PLUS a FREE pack of 5 Memory Protectors for every 5 layouts in your single order.
8. When can I begin creating with Studio J? RIGHT NOW, Tuesday, April 27th!

Here are a couple of layouts that I created using Studio J. If you have any questions feel free to contact me!

Summer 2010 Sneak Peak Blog Hop

Over 40 Fabulous Close to my Heart Consultants are celebrating the upcoming release of the
Summer 2010 Idea Book by giving you a Sneak Peak of some of the great
products available in the new Idea Book starting May 1st! Starting April 28th at 7 pm MST come to my blog to start a blog hop through all the awesome ideas from some truly talented ladies! I hope to see you there :)

Loving the 10 second studio metals!!

So I went to another fabulous make and take at Treasured Memories on Tuesday night. This time it was taught by the awesome KC! This wasn't a new technique for me as I took KC's altered doll class a few months ago and that is where my love affair with 10 second studio began. I had always seen them in the store but didn't know what to do with them. Once I took KC's class I realized how super easy and fun they really are to work with. For the make and take this week they made a chipboard frame with embossed/die cut metals which will look cute on a scrap page or just on the wall. Here's a pic of my frame and just for fun I'll throw in a picture of my altered doll.

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a happy and love-filled Easter!

A bottle swap you say?

Over on Life on the Scrapbeach, Kristin G. suggested a bottle swap. I know I probably wasn't the only one who kinda went "a what?" so she posted a youtube video that she had seen about them. I have to say this is the absolutely neatest idea I have ever seen!
So the deal is you take a 1 litre bottle (empty and washed of course), cut it open, fill it with goodies, seal it back up, stick a mailing label on it and send it in the mail just like that.  In our case it will be filled with scrap goodies but what a fantastic idea for kids or anyone else that you want to surprise with something unique. I'll be sending mine off at the end of the week (Can't wait to see their faces at the post office for that one*lol*) and when I get mine from my swap partner I'll post pictures.

Cake time is over!

Well now that our butts are a little bigger from all the cake we ate this month from my Wilton class, I can honestly say I'm glad there won't be any cake in the house until June when my oldest son turns 3. It was great fun and I learned a lot. Candace was a fabulous instructor and I'm looking forward to taking the next level in the fall when I can look at cake again. Here's a picture of my final project...while it won't win any awards I'm pretty proud of it. The pink rose is from my friend trying out a Victorian rose but she didn't have any room on her cake and well we can't let good icing go to waste :P

A little girl time :)

Me and two of my girlfriends decided to check out the free make and takes that our LSS Treasured Memories has started holding every other Tuesday night. We made this cute tag with a coffee filter flower and a little glimmer mist. It was great to spend some time with the girls and getting crafty. I think this is going to become a happy little habit :)

My Brown eyed boy :)

Here's a cute layout I did using the Veranda paper pack from CTMH. I tried my hand at making a cardstock rose that I've been seeing on blogs all over the internet. It turned out not to bad but I definitely need some practice.

They call me MAMA-RAZZI!

I completely admit to being a Mama-razzi! There are few days that go by that I'm not pulling out the camera and taking pictures of my ever patient husband and not so patient children :) So when I saw the Mama-razzi line by Bo Bunny I couldn't wait to get my hands on all those beautiful papers. Well my wait is finally over today!! One of my  LSS' (Scrap-a-lot) sent out the message that they had a new shipment of Bo Bunny last night so first thing this morning I was there. They didn't even have it on the shelves yet but were SUPER NICE and let me help myself to all that scrappy goodness. I can't wait to start playing with this awesome line!! And my 2 year old was rewarded for his Momma's craziness with a lollipop from one of the employees so we both came out happy :)

Let them eat cake!

So I've decided to get in touch with my crazy side. Not only am I taking photography classes and trying to start building my CTMH business all while raising my 2 year old and 5 month old...but I've decided to learn how to decorate cakes. I signed up with a friend to take the Wilton decorating course through Michael's. The teacher is great and I'm having fun but boy is it a lot of work to make up that much icing for practicing. All I can say is thank goodness for box cake mixes!! Here's my first decorated cake. Not the greatest but not bad for my first attempt that didn't involve Duncan Hines icing and a piping gel tube*lol*

My very first blog post!!

I've decided to finally start a blog. It still seems a little weird to me but I know how much I enjoy reading other people's blogs and getting ideas and inspirations. I'm hoping that this blog will do the same for you. I'm hoping to share some of my artistic endeavors as well as tidbits of my life. I hope you'll follow along and enjoy the ride :)