All Decked Out

Although I really love this stamp set. "All Decked Out" (CTMH's November Stamp of the Month) . . . I am having a difficult time wanting to use anything related to SNOW!!! Also sprinkled in is October's Stamp of the Month "Annotations". I think the dotted patterns in both stamp sets work well together. These are kind of plain. . . but I'm planning to use some sparkle on my next ones!

The challenge was to create a "title topper" and "accent" using the Notebook paper from Close to My Heart and any current Close to My Heart product. I needed to make 20 of them for an exchange. I was also challenged by the fact that I only had one "notebook paper pack" This is what I came up with. I was pretty pleased with the results. The "u" is an alphabet solo. For a personal scrapbook page I probably would have used one of our dimensional elements aka a chip-board letter. . . . but I didn't have twenty of those. . . so I stamped and cut out these. I considered several designs as you'll see by the other pictures.

Volleyball

Just in case you think I've given up on paper crafts all together. . . here are some simple giftbags that Kristine and I put together as part of our senior night gifts.

I used my volleyball stamp set to decorate the tissue paper and a few strips of paper. I also used a Quick-kuts volleyball die and a cuddlebug diecut as well. It was fun!

More

Well, I copied this design off of someone, and I can't figure out who to credit. . . The only bit of originality was that I used a sponge dauber to make my green background for the saying and the black matt with the brad is slightly different than the origianl.

Can you tell that the bottom piece of sweet leaf card stock is scored? On a similar card I sanded it and that looked great too.

Inspiration

Inspiration. . . it's a beautiful thing. . . I really don't think I have an original thought in my head. When I start a new stamping project . . . I check out what other people are doing first. Lisa Steig is one of my favorite blogs to go lurking. Here is what she came up with. . . as you can tell, I loved her color combination. . . In this card you'll notice that I was inspired by Lisa's color combination and Kathi's lay out (last link)

http://lisascreativecorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/another-treasure-life-card.html

Kathi Carlson is my hero. . . and she doesn't even know me!
http://kathiscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/harvest-moon.html

Here are some more of her "treasure life" art work; http://kathiscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/treasure-life.html

OK. . . . . these are the same patterns, but with the new Creative Basics kit . . . to be available September 1st in the Autumn/Winter Idea book. The stamp set is from the Just Because Card kit.

National Stamping Month

I was pretty excited when I received my "Just Because" card kit. The pre-cut papers were convenient to use and I loved the finished results. I took the time to draw up a cutting guide so that I could make similar cards in different colors. These cards were made with a piece of Background Texture paper from the Simple Pleasures paper packet , a piece of Cocoa Cardstock, and some Bamboo cardstock as well. I used Cocoa, Bamboo, and Twilight inks. I used Liquid glass to accent the hearts.

Volleyball Stamp set

I'm not 100% happy with the blue around the edges. . . but I like the volleyball net with the school initials across the top. . . . I'm sure I'll be using that net on many projects.

Today's Date

I know that I'm going to have plenty of opportunities to use the August Stamp of the Month - "today's date". Here is a post card that I'm sending out to remind friends and family that have expressed interest in attending one of our son's football games this fall. I was able to stamp up several of these cards in a short time.

I know I will use it alot of scrapbook pages. . . but I think it will be great for invitations as well.

Clearance Madness

Close to My Heart promoted a Clearance Sale to begin at 9 am on August 5th. I gathered orders, promising to do the best I could to get the requested items. What a riot! Compare it to the day after Thanksgiving doorbusters but on line. I had all of my orders compiled and ready for the next mornings sale. . . even trading work days so I could be home. Well during the evening we had a line of severe thunderstorms go through. . . so I had no power! UGH! Now I needed to look for a computer to use. Thank goodness, my mom wasn't effected! My neatly compiled list was on the computer as well, so I had to recreate my list. Whew! Well the order entry was tedious, and some of the items that I successfully added to my order were gone before I was able to check out! But all it all I'm not complaining. Enjoying free shipping we cummatively saved over $475! about 70%

More Thanks

I used the "t" alphabet solo for this thank you card. The primary color is topiary and I tried out my "spot on backgrounds".

4H Thank you

This is the card that Kristine is sending out to The Kurish Family, her 4H pig buyers. The Pigs are from the nursery bash set. The 4 leaf clovers are from the March word puzzle. The green is topiary.

Cottage Floral

This is a photo frame that I decorated for my niece. Her mom mentioned that her bedspread is yellow and black, so I thought this would work out well. I used 2 stamp sets. B1306 - Cottage Floral (page 16 in the Summer Idea book) and D1186 - Rustic Flowers. Rustic Flowers was a previous stamp of the month, but is also included in the Spring Idea book on page 63. The ink colors are Honey, Buttercup and Black. I printed the verse on vellum. The frame is from Target.

Wrinkled Elephant Project

Mini Brads for the eyes . . . and Game on Paper complete this project. The inside says "it's your Birthday". Easy and cute! That's the way I like it!

Hippo

One more life is a jungle picture. Plaid Hippo.

Wrinkled paper

Wet your paper. Wad it up in a ball . . . maybe multiple times.
Flatten it out by hand; then iron it if you want it smoother. Fun and easy!
On my elephant you may notice that I cut an additional head and layered it on top either with foam tape . . . or in this case I folded a piece of paper making a paper hinge. Attaching this underneath gives the head some dimension and movement. I also used mini-brads for the eyes.

Life is a Jungle

I love this guy. He is from Close to My Heart's Life's a Jungle Set. It's the July Stamp of the Month. I used Grey Wool Cardstock and added texture to the project by Wrinkling the Cardstock. This is easily accomplished by wetting the cardstock first either by dipping it in water or by spritzing it with a spray bottle. I used a 6x6" piece which gave me plenty of paper for several elephants. You will be much less likely to tear your paper if you wet the cardstock before wadding it up in a ball. I'll add a couple additional pictures of the process.

2007 Puma Layout

I need to add some journalling . . . . but what I like about this layout is that I divided some of the photos between the two pages. I also stamped the football helmet a pop-dotted it over the background textrue. I used the "Game On" paper packet and everything is mounted on black cardstock.

This was my first scrapbook page using the dimensional elements letters.

I used a sponge dauber to rub hydrangia ink into the chipboard letters. Then stamped a football image in black onto each letter.

It's the game on paper packet. I have plans for a couple more football pages with this paper as well.

Turtle

Found this little guy in our waterfall pond tonight. . . too cute. . probably less than 3" big. I scared him while trying to take this picture . . . and I'm so sad that I may never see him again.