Thursday, December 31, 2009

January 2010 Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close to my Heart January Stamp of the Month blog hop. What a mouthful, huh? If you arrived from Jill's blog, you're on the right track. It's a brand new year and time for new ideas. And while I have your attention, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can hear about specials and get projects that are ONLY in my newsletter! Look to the right under my info to sign up.

It's time to be creative and step out of your box or, on the other hand, it's time to make a box!! This is our Close to my Heart My Acrylix organizer but it's not just for stamp sets. This box makes a great card holder. For this particular one I used Animal Cookies paper and, of course, the January Stamp of the Month which is called True Friends. To begin, pull out your paper and cut the first piece 6" by 4". Cut a mat out of Dutch blue cardstock 6 1/4" by 4 1/4" and attach the pattern piece to the cardstock. You may distress all the pieces with Dutch blue ink.

Next cut a piece of Dutch blue cardstock 6" by 2". Take a dry embossing tool and the groove in your trimmer and make lines about 1/2" apart both vertically and horizontally then sand them so the white core of our paper shows. Glue that to the center of your first piece.

Cut a circle out of white cardstock approximately 2 1/2" in diameter. I ran mine through my Cuttlebug so it would have nice texture but that's optional. Glue it to a piece of tulip cardstock that you've cut 2 3/4" in diameter. Attach those to the center of your dry embossed cardstock strip.

Stamp one of the frames on the stamp set in Clover Meadow ink for the frame and then tulip ink for one of the "friendly" sayings in the set. Cut it out and attach to the center of the circle.

For the sides you want to make them identical and make two of everything that I'm showing here. Cut the pattern paper 6" by 4". Cut three strips of tulip cardstock 1" by 6" and either run them through a crimper or use your trimmer and dry embossing tool to make embossed lines about 1/4" apart along the strips. Sand them and attach to the pattern paper with 1/4" apart.

Cut two white circles (remember to double all these for the two sides) 2 1/2" in diameter and green pattern paper 2 3/4" in diameter and attach to each other and then to the center line of the pattern piece about 1/4" apart from each other in the middle.

Stamp another one of the frames from True Friends, this time in Dutch blue with tulip in the center. Cut out and attach to the center of the circles.

Add three yellow brad to each side of the circles about a 1/2" apart from each other going along the curve of the circle.

For the back, cut your pattern paper 4" by 6" and add a 2" by 6" piece of Dutch blue pattern paper strip and a 5" by 3 1/2" yellow pattern paper piece. Attach them as shown in this picture. Stamp another frame in tulip, the center sentiment in Dutch blue, cut out and add to the center of the blue strip.

Add 8 brads, 1" apart from each other, 4 on the top, 4 on the bottom.

Here's the finished look for the front. Use Tombow to attach, line it up with the lip of the box so it stays straight.

Here's the side, make sure the other side matches.

Here's the back, put lots of glue around and in between the brad backs so it lies flat.

For the inside card dividers cut white cardstock 5" by 6". Distress. Cut pattern paper 4" by 6" and attach to the white cardstock. Cut a piece of tulip cardstock 2" by 2" and cut off the two top corners with a corner rounder (not shown here). Attach to the left for the first divider. You can make as many as you like, I made 16. Attach brads as shown for the first one.

For the second divider, put the tab in the center of the card, for the third, put it at the far right of the card as shown. Attach brads either to the left or right or one on each side depending on where you put the divider tab. Stamp your titles on the tabs. I used the March stamp of the month to do mine. The Say it in Style set works beautifully for this too. Stamp them in Dutch blue. When I did mine I lined the cards up together so I could make sure they were all the same height.

Stick them evenly in the box (there are already dividers in there to help you). You'll put your homemade cards behind them in each category.

To finish it off, use some liquid glass on the handle and wrap it in ribbon tying it up at the top with the bow.

Thanks for visiting my site, you'll be off to Lori's blog now for the next hop, click on this link if you get lost. Blog List Have fun and Happy New Year!

Seriously?

Do you like Grey's Anatomy? I sure do and can't wait til it starts up again this month. One of the catch phrases on that show is how they say, "seriously," whenever they are in disbelief about something. Well, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the new consultant's kit in the Close to my Heart spring catalog. Seriously, after seeing it, I can't imagine who wouldn't want to sign up. Did you know that you only have to do $300 in sales in THREE MONTHS? That's so easy that you could make it just on what you spend on scrapping supplies I bet! It's one party! I make my minimum in the first couple of weeks of each quarter from just one little show. The rest of the time, it's all gravy, as my dad always used to say.

Check out this picture, it's amazing at the amount of product you get for just $99 plus shipping and handling. You can see the list of what's in the kit here on pages 106-107: Great Opportunity! Seriously, why wouldn't you sign up in 2010?

January 2010 blog hop list

Here's the January 2010 Stamp of the Month blog hop list in case you get lost!

Helen Onulak
http://hookedonstamping.com/
Jena DeVries
http://livelovelaughscrapbook.blogspot.com/
Jessica Booth
http://jessicabooth.blogspot.com/
Carla Ironside
http://carlacreates.blogspot.com/
Lori Miller
http://clearlyfromtheheart.blogspot.com/
Misty Jackson
http://misstscraps.blogspot.com/
Jen Patrick
http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com/
Susan Brooks
http://stampingintheopen.blogspot.com/
Kathleen Androlewicz
http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/
Dawn Ross
http://iamahappystamper.blogspot.com/
Amy McVey
http://clearlystamping.blogspot.com/
Antoinette Herrin
http://godblessyourart.blogspot.com/
Jill Lucas
http://scrapwench.blogspot.com/
Barbra Otten
http://barbraotten.blogspot.com/
Lori Brown
http://savingmine.blogspot.com/
Brae Montgomery
http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com/
Wanda Riley
http://creatingwithwanda.blogspot.com/
Adeline E. Brill
http://adeline-brill.blogspot.com/
Kami Welter
http://scrappin4memories.blogspot.com/
Judy Burger
http://makingtimeformemories.blogspot.com/
Pamela O'Connor
http://cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com/
Cindy Leek
http://paperspadsandpictures.blogspot.com/
Mary Eisen
http://www.mestamp2.blogspot.com/
Sylvia Jacquot
http://stampinsylvia.blogspot.com/
Laura Dame
http://thecroppersconnection.blogspot.com/
Melissa Laverty
http://fancymelissa.blogspot.com/
Haley Dyer
http://inkyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Terrie Dodd
http://my-life-in-real-time.blogspot.com/
Katy Donaldson
http://scrappinkaty.blogspot.com/
Chris Shouse
http://houseostamps.wordpress.com/
Tammy Lea Pinchard
http://mycreativeclubhouse.blogspot.com/
Krista Ritskes
http://kristaritskes-simplycreating.blogspot.com/
Shannon Pelletier
http://mycolorfulworldinvt.blogspot.com/
Deb Young
http://scrapbookczar.blogspot.com/
Amy Edwards
http://paisleysplayhouse.blogspot.com/
Sheila Bennett
http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com/
Kristie Herdener
http://goofyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Jen Rubio
http://jenrubio.blogspot.com/
Jody Gustafson
http://cre8nmemories.blogspot.com/
Sarita Schraeder
http://blogspot.com/
Laurie Levnik
http://creationsbylaurie.blogspot.com/
Debra Van Patten
http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com/
Kimberly Smith
http://verykimberry.blogspot.com/
Michelle Nist
http://michellenist.blogspot.com/
Karen Norman
http://gettinscrappywithit.blogspot.com/
Traci Godbee
http://createwithtraci.blogspot.com/
Nancy Brown
http://creativelyartsygallery.blogspot.com/
Maricar Harris
http://maricarharris.blogspot.com/
Nona Davenport
http://nonapearl.blogspot.com/
Laurie Newton
http://scrapsfromthebeach.blogspot.com/
Dawn Heuft
http://stamptildawn.blogspot.com/
Melissa Burch
http://melissaburch.blogspot.com/
Kim O'Rear
http://kimorear.blogspot.com/
Michelle Bourlet
http://michellescreativeconnections.blogspot.com/
Angela Tutton
http://tuttonstreasures.blogspot.com/
Jenifer Benner
http://jensmessystudio.com/
Shirley Ross
http://momnmescrap.blogspot.com/
Latisha Haag
http://domestichomefrontcoordinator.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

How lucky am I?

I was just looking back over the archives of my blog and it suddenly occurred to me that, without any plans to do it, this blog has saved some really cool moments of my year (at least back to June). Though this blog is mostly projects that I hope will inspire you to create, it also included a lot of my life in 2009. I see pictures of the Adams Family Reunion back in June, our trips to Silver Beach with the kids, the awesome Fourth of July picnic where my mom made homemade cream puffs, what great times!

July also brought the best event of my year, Leadership Convention out in L.A. Not only did we get three days of a great conference and a wonderful time with my inlaws but I won a Rising Star award and still find myself in shock about that. (see photo below)

The blog reminds me of the special times I had with my team, giving them a new art challenge each month, I still think they hate me for that!! In August there were a lot of pictures from the Venetian Festival, oh how I'm missing those summer days right now! I loved that I was able to meet 9 out of the 10 American Idols this year. My friend, Paula and I made autograph books out of scrapbook supplies and an accordian album and the Idols loved them!

I had such a good time looking over all the project tutorials I prepared. I sure hope that they gave you ideas and helped you create your own mini works of art. I have absolutely loved doing this blog and look forward towards 2010 with a thousand more ideas in my head that I want to share with you. I think 2010 is going to be an excellent year for us all. Make sure you check back tomorrow night when the stamp of the month blog hop kicks off!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Hello Everyone - Updates!

I've had to change my blog background a little sooner than I normally do. I just found it was too overwhelming. I'm still playing around with finding the right one so you may see several different backgrounds before I finish.

Are you experiencing post holiday letdown like I am? I know we still have New Year's Eve but my family and I try to play it safe and stay home for that night so to me, the holidays are pretty much completed. I'm trying to get back into the groove and get some projects ready for you.

I finished up the special item that I'm showing for the Stamp of the Month blog hop. It starts late night on the 31st and all the blogs will be up and running by midnight on January 1st, 2010!! Tomorrow I'll be making some invitations for an upcoming party in Bellevue, MI. I will post that tutorial probably tomorrow night depending on when it's finished. I'll be working on them with my good friends and downlines in Battle Creek. My team gets together just to play pretty often, another reason I love them!

I hope you all received a copy of my newsletter. Remember special offers only come in my newsletter. You can sign up for it to the right of this post under "All My Info."

I hope you've taken advantage of your holiday time to check out a few movies. I'm a big movie lover and see tons of them. I recommend Avatar, it's amazing. It's Complicated was good but could have been a little better. The movie I'm most looking forward to is Up in the Air. How can you go wrong with George Clooney.

Have a Happy New Year Everyone and here's to a wonderful 2010!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Ideas?

I was searching the web this morning for instructions on how to decorate a word book and there was hardly anything out there so I'm going to pick up one this week or next and figure it out on my own and post instructions for you It got me thinking though that there are probably lots of other things scrappers and stampers might need instructions on and that's where you come in. I'll keep a little sidebar of what you'd like to see on my blog but you will have to tell me so leave me a comment or email me directly if there is something you need help with. caldreamin05@comcast.net

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Friendship's Flight

Just another last minute gift, I love, love, love the way this turned out. The stamp set is Friendship's Flight.



Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Last minute easy gift!

Need another last minute gift, something easy and oh-so-cheap? Get on down to your dollar store and pick up one of those $1.00 2010 datebooks. They have them everywhere, I bought mine at Walgreens. This datebook has the calendar horizontally, you can adapt this design according to how your calendar is positioned. You can see their cover isn't that inspired so take out some of your That's Amore paper, your Save the Date and Precious Alphabet stamps and let's get started.

This didn't require a lot of measuring. I took the datebook out of the plastic cover and pulled the outside cardboard cover off. I'll give you the measurements I used but really you can adapt it to whatever size datebook you have.

You'll want to remove the staples out of the remainder of the calendar so you can restaple your pretty cover on it later.

Lay your outside cover down on a piece of pattern paper and trace around it. Mine ended up being 7" by 6.5". Distress. Cut it out and dump the old cover.

I happened to have some of the little journaling blocks that go with That's Amore paper so I used one of those since it was already decorated but you can use a blush colored cardstock paper cut 2.75" by 2.5" and then mat it in chocolate cardstock cut 3" by 2.75" and distress. Use your Precious Alphabet stamps to personalize. Since I'm using this datebook as my Close to my Heart booking calendar, I stamped "ctmh." I used the Save the Date stamp to stamp 2010, can you believe it's going to be 2010???!! Use tulip and chocolate inks.

Cut a strip of coordinating patterned paper 6.5" by 1.5" and attach about a half inch up from the bottom of the folded cover. Add your title block.

Fit your calendar evenly under the cover and staple it twice right on the seam. I'm using our swivel stapler on this, so easy!

Here's how it should look before you put it in the plastic cover.

Once in the cover you need to take your piercer and poke a hole about an inch from the left hand side of your title.

I didn't want to put my flower under the datebook's plastic cover, I thought it would be too bulky but you can if you wish. Layer two different sized pink flowers over each other and add a twinkle brad in the middle. Fasten it inside the cover and you are finished! This took about 10 minutes to make and that included my designing, you can do this! Make up 10 or so and have handy easy last minute gift for guests. You could even put one at everyone's place sitting on Christmas Day, what a sweet gift that would be!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

It's a Wrap

I'm heading to a lot of movies over Christmas break, Avatar tomorrow, Up in the Air on Wednesday and It's Complicated next weekend so I was in the mood to create a movie card!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Key to my Heart Album

This is the last day to buy this paper and it's only $5.00 for a pack of 22 sheets. If I haven't told you enough, this is my favorite paper and I know if you buy some in the clearance sale today you will love it plus you can't beat that price.

Here's my website where you can get it today. http://barbraotten.myctmh.com

I've bought 11 packs of it myself. To show it off here's an album I made to send out to my relatives in California.