Rock the Block Promotion

You can get this excellent special from me by clicking on my store link to the upper right of this blog.

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 11

When you work with Studio J you don't need to have special equipment for what normally would be difficult with traditional scrapbooking. For instance, writing white on a dark color, no white pen needed and and you can even write red on black or peach on brown, sixty colors are at your disposal for your journaling and your journaling backgrounds, whoo hoo!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 10

Another great aspect to Studio J is the editing component. You can whiten teeth, get rid of red eye, fix blemishes, reduce glare and lighten and fix colors on a photo. Studio J is the complete package and you have many options on the cost.

Buy as is for $13.00 for a two page layout OR

Buy a 3 month or yearly membership and your layouts are 1/2 price PLUS you get special templates, papers, free shipping once a month and free page protectors.

Sign up to be a consultant and get a yearly membership for $40 and the two page layout reduces in cost even more to $5.00 per two pages. Think about it!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 9

One of the newest layout templates has this nice tilt to it. Did you know that almost all the layout templates in Studio J come from the How to books that Close to my Heart sells? That means if you fall in love with one, it's not too hard to duplicate with traditional scrapbooking too!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 8

Along with each paper set in Studio J comes the Stickease that were in the original real paper set so you there are a lot of options of pretty designs to use when decorating your layout. Studio J also allows you to some unusual pattern types such as the diagonal photos along the side of this layout. Imagine how long that would take using real paper!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 7

A neat thing about Studio J is that it's about the easiest way to put a lot of photos on a page. The templates can be divided by number of photos you have to scrapbook. Then you just slip them over into the photo wells with your mouse. You can try it out for free yourself (really, try for free, you only pay if you want to buy the layouts). Just click here!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 6

This is Bliss paper, one of our retired papers. It's not retired in Studio J though! The colors were just perfect for this layout of our trip to Ecuador.

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 5

I love the layered look of buttons when I'm traditionally scrapbooking and when I'm digitally scrapbooking. What makes it super simple is that I don't actually have to tie the threads on these buttons! Have a Merry Christmas!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 4

There are so many different paper sets to choose from in Studio J, even the ones that you can't get anymore in our catalogs. The other cool thing is that all the paper sets match the colors of our "actual" paper exactly so you can barely tell the difference between our physical paper and the printed out Studio J layout paper.

Just a quick plea

Hopefully you saw this story on the Today show this morning. It's so heartwarming to see the money roll in to help this young firefighter. Can you help?

http://www.indiegogo.com/marcdoty?c=comments&a=353453

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 3

Welcome back to my Studio J Layout a Day post. Did you know that Studio J now has stitching! Check out the hearts below. I could make them any of 60 colors and any size!

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 2

Hello and Merry Christmas. Welcome to Day Two of my Studio J Layout a Day posts. I cannot tell you how resistant I was to any kind of digital scrapbooking. When Close to my Heart first announced that we were going to have a digital scrapbooking component I was certain that I wouldn't be interested and certainly wouldn't work to sell it. Boy was I wrong. I now do more layouts digitally than traditional scrapbooking (though I still love that) and not because it's so fast and easy (but it is) but because the layouts turn out so beautifully. I hope to share the evidence of all that with you as I continue my blog posts this month and next. This layout is again my newly married brother and sister in law. The paper set is Miracle. You can start your own Studio J layouts by clicking on the shopping link to the upper right of this blog.

Studio J Layout a Day - Layout 1

I just bought a bunch of new Studio J layouts so I'm going to be posting one a day! First up is a layout I did for my newly married brother. They sent me all their engagement photos which I was able turn into beautiful layouts in just a couple hours. To get your own Studio J layouts done quickly, just click HERE!

Christmas Gift - Christmas Card a Day!

Before I start my last Christmas card tutorial I'd just like to thank everyone who has been reading my blog these past 20 days. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I've been so excited about making a stair step card as the final card of my 20 days of cards. I am using the Wonderland paper but in a new way, concentrating on the spring iris color in the paper, a pretty lilac-y color. Even though we've barely had an snow in Michigan this winter, we will so here's a Christmas card with an emphasis on snow!

To make a stair step card you need to cut a piece of hearty cardstock 10 1/2" by 5", this is spring iris cardstock and I distressed with crystal blue ink. Put your paper in the trimmer the long way to score at the 1 1/4", 2 1/2", 4 1/4", 6" and 8 1/4" marks. I find that putting the card together while it's still flat works for the most part so don't feel that you have to fold it yet.


Some people don't put pattern paper on the back side of the "stairsteps" but I do, I like it to look great from all sides. Working bottom to top you need to cut pattern paper TWO EACH 1" by 4 3/4" (for the first step) , 1 1/2" by 4 3/4" (for the second step), 2" by 4 3/4" (for the third step). Glue them down.

Now on the bottom (first step) stamp the hat border from the Bundled Buddies stamp set in spring iris ink. Since the border is short you need to use the masking technique to finish the border. On a separate piece of paper, stamp the hat border again and cut out around the right hand half of that stamped piece. Using temporary glue, tack it down right on the image you stamped on the actual card. Now stamp again over this "mask" to finish up the border. Remove the mask.

Here's the finished look, you can hardly tell that the stamped image is actually two stamped images.

Using the Christmas Love stamp set, stamp on a piece of white daisy cardstock you've cut 2" by 3" in crystal blue ink. If you want to make the present on the stamp a different color you could:

a) use the masking technique

b) bend your stamp around the edge of the block so that you stamp only the words stamp in crystal blue, then put the present on the block and wrap the words around the side so they don't stamp and stamp the present in spring iris.

c) stamp the whole phrase on present and words in crystal blue and then on a separate piece of white daisy cardstock stamp the present in spring iris, cut out and glue on top of the blue one on your card.

Use some glue and prisma glitter to decorate the present and make it shine! Add it to a piece of spring iris cardstock you've cut 2 1/4" by 3 1/4", don't forget to distress.

On the second step, add a pretty sheer purple ribbon across the card, make sure to glue it down tight in the back of the step too.

Add your stamped present piece to the right hand side of the step. I used glue dots to hold it securely. Make sure to leave the top inch or so unglued so it stands up.

Decorate the bottom step with bitty sparkles. Add a big bow to the left side of the ribbon border. I tied it first out of separate ribbon then glued it down with liquid glass.

Using the Snowflakes stamp set, stamp the smaller snowflakes using twilight, spring iris and twilight inks.

Using your Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, cut out an assortment of snowflakes using spring iris and white daisy cardstock. Decorate and attach one big snowflake and layer the rest around it.

Use the Snowflakes set to stamp in spring iris and crystal blue inks on the white snowflakes and let some of them stand above the step. Try not to let any go off the side or it may be hard to put into an envelope (the bow can be folded around the back of card when mailing). Once everything is ready you can fold the card like steps so it all stands up!

Holiday Cheer - Christmas Card a Day!

I recently bought every embossing powder that Close to my Heart owns, determined to teach myself how to "wet" emboss. Here's my first official try. Using the diecut cards that I love so much, I put this card together. I did choose an unusual color scheme for a Christmas card but I've seen store-bought cards in every color combination so I thought I'd go for it. This is Silhouette paper, one of the packs I miss the most! Cut a piece of bamboo cardstock 1 1/2" by 5 1/2" and distress with black ink. Using the Captured Memories stamp set (one of my favorites), stamp the long Christmas set using a Versamark ink pad. You won't be able to see where you stamped except when turning in the light but don't worry, it's not hard to use.

Now, use your craft tray and tweezers to hold the bamboo cardstock and dump black embossing powder over the ink. The ink is extra sticky and is made to hold this powder to the image.
Dump the embossing powder off and there is your image! One more step to go!
With your craft heater, slowly dry the embossing ink and watch it turn shiny! This is the fun part!
Now you can finish your card. Cut a piece of the Silhouette pattern paper 5 1/2" by 2" and glue to bottom of inside of the card.
Cut another piece of the Silhouette paper 1" by 5 1/2" and glue just above the curvy part of the card. Make sure it's straight!
Attach your stamp piece next.
Cut one more piece of the Silhouette pattern paper 1" by 5 1/2" and attach it just above the stamped piece.
Stamp "holiday cheer" just below the 1 inch strip onto the curve of the card. I love how tiny these letters are on this stamp set. The Captured Moments set has three "scenes" that are just too cool, make sure you check out the link above to really take a look at it. So, that's it, you're done! Tomorrow is my last card tutorial for this month. If you'd like to see my tag tutorials, sign up for my newsletter at the upper right of this blog.