Long Time, No Time!!!

Thank YOU for Hanging In Here!!!

I have no time, but I'm making a quick post to share a couple of things. We are moving, I'm in school, still selling real estate full time and still managing a small bit of time of my creative endeavors! I have many stacked up, backed up projects just waiting to be posted, and they will post. . . E-V-E-N-T-U-A-L-L-Y!!!

Here are some fun creative photo projects I found today and if you are looking for some inspiriation and creative ways to decorate your home with loved family photos, click here

Creative Home Photo Decor

Also September is National Stamping Month and Close To My Heart is offering another fabulous promotion!

Click Here to See the EXCLUSIVE CARD KIT AND STAMP SET that is yours free this month for purchasing $60 in stamp sets

I have the new catty set for release September 1st! Combine purchases totalling $100 this month or next and receive the exclusive Stamp of the Month. . . also FREE!!! That's $62.90 in free product for spending $100 on the paper and stamps you already love!

This is the Summer Kids Cooking Class Cookbook I made for all of my students. . .nothing too spectacular, but the recipes inside are just YUMMY and the class was a blast. . . The younger set really enjoyed learning to make some recipes all on their own and the older girls had a blast making everything from Eggs Benedict to Animae Pasta Salad! Hoping to do it again next summer!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Am I the only one old enough to remember Mickey Mouse Club? I can't think of the big cheese without singing that silly song!

There is something about scrapbooking that's hard to explain unless you do it. Many people never try it because it can be so intimidating; especially when the magazines mostly show pages that the scrapbooker spent hours perfecting and frequently show only one or two photos on a page. I don't know about you but I have 8+ photo boxes from the old 35mm days and going on 25000 images on my external hard-drive (which I do back up, but I'll post more about that another day!) If I only scrapbook 1 or 2 photos per page I'll be 978 years old before I get caught up. Oh, but wait! If I live that long I'll have and average of 1.25 million photos left to scrap! You get the point. You will never be caught up. Sometimes, when you get a really great photo a one page layout is a must. Sometimes a close topic or subject is worth one really great page, but other times that would be plain overkill. Today I'm showing you the latest installment of my Get It Done Scrapbooking class results. I encouraged my class to bring ALL of their Disney photos, not just their latest trip or their favorite trip or the trip with the best photos. I went to Disneyland the first time when I was 12. I went again on a High School Acapella Choir Tour. I didn't go again until my now 11 year old was 2 and we've been a total of 3 times as a family. I chose the 3 family trips and scrapped all of them in one evening on 8 pages. I'm only going to show you the main 5 pages here, but the last page uses a CTMH True Fit Folio. You can see the remaining pages here. My boys had such a good time on the rides we took almost no photos of their first trip to Disney, but with so many of the "extra" photos being the same for each trip, it doesn't really feel that way at all!










Hidden Pockets and the True Fit Folio allowed for almost 100 pictures to be featured on 8 pages! All but 10 photos were taken in the 35mm era, so no photo editing, no re-do shots, just plain old family photos taken from a box. Another side benefit to this kind of scrapbooking is the gratitude you feel when looking back on these memories. My kids have had a blast looking at and talking about their Disney memories and even having a glimpse at moments they don't remember. While these pages won't end up on the pages of a magazine, they will be treasured by family for what I hope to be many generations to come.

P.S. I use CTMH LEVEL 1 Scrapbooking Kits plus a little extra for all my Get It Done Scrapbooking Classes. IF you haven't ever given those fab kits a look, you really should!

Pictures in Art - Wall Hanging

While this may never end up on my wall I do love how it turned out. I woke up dreaming about this project a few weeks ago and couldn't be more pleased to have it in my hands. This was the class 1 project for my Pitctures in Art class. . . Yes, I manufactured these by hand and it was a LOT of chipboard, but totally worth it! The overall size of this project is 8.5 X 11" and there are (8) 2-sided inserts. I still plan on adding photos to the inner and outer covers as well as adding some journaling. This showcase album features our family over the past few years in our favorite California get-a-ways.















The best part of making a project like this is the extra measure of gratitude I feel for my life, family, opportunities and experiences. There is a sense of satisfaction here that is hard to explain. I'm hopeful that the 7 members of my class walked away feeling it too.

CaRDs BoX and a little bit more!

So here it is. The Card Box I designed for my 1st class of the 2008-2009 class year. I believe that all 8 of the class members lucky enough to buy a seat were happy with their results. You may want to look quick because I do have a publication call and as soon as I mail it I have to pull it from any online art gallery so look quick!






So here it is. The Card Box I designed for my 1st class of the 2008-2009 class year. I believe that all 8 of the class members lucky enough to buy a seat were happy with their results. You may want to look quick because I do have a publication call and as soon as I mail it I have to pull it from any online art gallery so look quick!

Ingredients:

CTMH - Boom-di-Ada Papers and Cardstock, Chipboard Letters, Ric Rac,Buttons & Ink in Hollyhock, Barn Red, Sunkiss Yellow, Garden Green, Olive,Hollyhock, and Autumn Terracotta
CTMH Stamps - Be True, Cottage Floral, Spot On Background, and Say it in Style
Diane Ribbon - green silk
Joanne Crafts - Steamer Trunk 11 1/4" X 8 X 6 1/4" deep
Krylon Spray Paint - Cottage White

Basic Instructions: Paint Steamer Trunk to coat all surfaces; especially metal embellishments. Once dry, sand metal parts Cut paper to fit. Using good adhesive cover trunk. To make the corners I used an embossing stylus and then cut away the corners. (Much easier than creating a template!) Decorate as desired!

Happiness. . .

is a project once envisioned, realized:





Mini folio scrapbook/card. Approximately 3.5" X 5.5".

Isn't it cute?

CTMH: Garden Green, Olive, New England Ivy, Pansy Purple CS and INK
CTMH: Happiness Is and Serendipity
Ribbon: Diane Ribbons

Chance To Win

CTMH is offering a great May National Scrapbooking Promotion! From my web-site you can see a tip a day for the entire month of May, enter a drawing to win a Magic Moments Scrapbooking Kit (a $49.95 US retail value) during May or win your entire shopping cart free. You can also purchase the Magic Moments with special incentives as well. IN ADDITION to this drawing, one customer per day is getting their entire shopping cart for free! All you have to do is a place an order through my site for your chance to win! Each day they post an update to see who's won!

Cards, Cards, Cards 2007-2008 is Done ;(

My first Season of Cards, Cards, Cards if officially over. My new class schedule and calendar is posted and registration has begun. I'm sad to see it end, but excited about my 2008-2009 endeavors and I think my class participants are too. Cards, Cards, Cards is still an offering, so don't despair. You'll see the results posted 6 times this year, but in addition to cards there will be a recipe card club, an artful scrapbooking class, some get it done pages and more. To end the last season, here are the cards we made on Friday. I tried to get the class to choose a favorite, but I guess I really pleased them this time because they just couldn't pick one!
Celebrate Flap Card Open

Celebrate Flap Card Closed

Monochromatic Happy Card

Yeah For Today (just love these colors!!!)

Masculine Happy Birthday (still had to use ribbon!)

For You Shaker Card

For You (Summer must be on my mind!)

Enjoy!

Clippy Boards

We had a blast at our unit meeting on Friday. The project was a hit and some of the baskets that were made were "da bomb!" I made a couple more myself, but I've given them all away already and forgot to take pictures of the rest. . . oh well!

I made these for the gals Friday night, but didn't want to post in advance because I knew some of them would be snooping for hints on the project on my blog and I was right! So glad I didn't give it ALL away! I also have to thank Sharli, Kelly T., Jenn D and Jen P for the awesome hostess gifts. . . They gave me buttons, a star box, some great cards and you gals just ROCK!!!

We're Going to Make These:

 

So unit meeting is my house tomorrow night (well, it's 12:14 AM so I guess that makes it TODAY!) We're having a fun auction and some other stuff, but the "project" for the evening is my responsibility. I knew what I wanted to make, but had I made one yet? NO! This is my goobered up, can we actually make it, trial mode project, but yes, I think we're going to make these! Wish me luck!

It's That Time Again!

5X5 Card - a class favorite! They were asked NOT to drop theirs in the ink pad when finished to avoid the annoying ink line across the front! LOL!



Standard Size - Acetate Card, this was just plain fun to make!



Standard Size Card - Fun Puzzle Technique



8 X 3.5 Card - a SCS Sketch Challenge and My Personal Favorite!



6X6 Card - Simple, but a class pleaser




The purpose of these cards was to teach 4 quick to make card layouts using randomed stamped card stock or already printed paper. I use these layouts to make many cards quickly for fun gift sets when a new mother has a baby, as a birthday gift or any other reason. These were a class favorite as well.

I LOVE

how this card turned out!



Of course something always gets lost in the digitizing of a photo, but I still love it! This is not a new color combo for me, I've used it a few times, but I really like how the dry embossing pops!

S.W.A.K.

Yet another Valentine Treat. I will post a template and I promise to also give a quick tutorial for the envelope folds on my previous 2 posts by many requests. Ü. Can you tell it's Card Class time again??!!??



The original creator of this project is Nicole Heady (a most talented and amazing artist.) I did have to create my own template so I could reproduce them and that is the one I'll post!