No Peeking Edition #3 (Mom I know you have already looked :-)

Ok this is the last gift I have done and ready for the H2H challenge.  This is a 6x6 accordian album completed using the Mistletoe Level 1 kit.  I got this Idea from several ladies on the Close  To My Heart Consultant Bulletin Boards, sorry girls I don't remember exactly who you all, but THANKS A MILLION.  This is an album from our Christmas in 2008 when we spent it in the cabin in Tennessee.  It is a gift for my mother-in-law.  Though I like it so much I think I am going to have to recreate it again for me.




 


The inside pages

Front & Back Cover with center pages



The Front cover.  the picture is of an old rake that they have sitting in front of
the cabin with a wreath on it.  Ken remembers having to ride on the seat when making hay.
I only have several pictures of the rake, I take a dozen or so everytime we are there.




This is the first pages.  It shows how my In-Laws had the cabin decorated when we got there.

 




The second set of pages.




the back cover





The center back pages.

 This project came together really quickly.  I did in all the white edges of the album in New England Ivy Ink.  I used the Mistletoe level 1 kit and cut the base pages into 6x6 squares.  Then played around with my pictures and decide on my order. Then went through and double matted all my pictures.  I also matted all the MyStickEase onto at least one sheet of cardstock for dimension and cut out.  The funnest part was Creating the Merry Christmas "M" and the Packages and Holly Embellishments.  For these I stamped the image in New England Ivy on my base  and cut out (for the Merry Christmas I didn't cut it out.)  I then stamped the image again on the Cranberry side of the snowflake B&T, I used New England Ivy for the M and Cranberry for the rest.  I then cut them out (yes I am insane when it comes to fine cutting I enjoy doing it).  Then I paper Pieced the Cranberry over top the same image on the base.  Of course for the Gifts and Holly I thought they needed a little more dimension so i mounted them on Colonial White Cardstock and Cut them out again.  Did I mention that the fine cutting for me is relaxing?  Here is a close up ofthe gift & holly.

Close up of the gifts

Close up of the Holly

Materials Used all CTMH unless otherwise noted:  Mistletoe Level 1 Paper pack and My Stickease.  St. Nick  Stamp Set, Cranberry, New England Ivy, Colonial White Card Stock, Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment, CTMH Cranberry Ribbon, Gold Ribbon I had in my stash, Foam Tape.

Hope you enjoyed viewing all the gifts I have made so far.  Now it is time to hurry back to my craft room to make more wonderful items.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  

No Peekiing Edition #2 (Mom I know you are tempted to take a peek:-)

Okay so I said I managed to get several projects started in Tennessee over Thanksgiving.  Well thanks to Wrestling I not had much time to complete what I had started up until today when my totally full calender was totally cleared off by 10am.  I started the day out with taking Jimmy to the high school to catch the bus for his wrestling match today at 6:15 AM.  Then I came back home and tried to catch another hour's sleep before I left  to go to the match.  The day was to be full, cause I had to leave Jimmy's match at 4:00pm to go home and get ready for a card class at 6:00 pm.  Robbie, Dani & I left for the Wrestling tournament at 8:30 which would get us up to the meet by the 9:00 am start time.  Well thanks to my son thinking he knew a short cut to get there we ended up arriving about 15 minutes late.  As I pulled into the school my phone rang and it was my upline Karen calling to let me know that we were going to have to cancel our card class for the evening.  Whew, now I could spend the day watching Jimmy wrestle and not have to worry about having to leave before he was done.  So we go into the match Robbie and Dani pay to get in while I am still talking on the phone to Karen.  The kids go on in and find Jimmy, only to come immediately back out to tell me that they had a full bracket in Jimmy's weight class with no room for alternates (Jimmy had lost his wrestle off) so Jimmy wasn't wrestling today.  Now we kindly ask the lady taking money if Robbie and Dani can have a refund and we collect Jimmy and head home.  Whew my once Overloaded schedule has now become a free day for Mom.  So of course when I get home I immediately call Karen and we set up a playdate for the afternoon.  I quickly pack my bags and run off to have several hours of kids free paper therapy.  YEEHAW.

One of the projects I had started when I was in Tennessee was to cut up a Notebook Level One kit I had gotten when I first became a consultant 2 years ago.  I had taken this kit out of it's bag several times over the years but never could quite seem to be able to get pictures on it.  I have no clue what it is about Level 1's but I have a very hard time using them to complete pages.  On the Close To My Heart  Bulletin Boards lately some of the very talented consultants have been posting some awesome 6x6 mini My Creations Memory Showcase Accordian Albums and cards made from Level 1 kits, forgive me ladies I have forgotten who all you were.  These  projects inspired my next set of gifts that I have created.

Shhhhh Don't tell them but this is what my Mom and Mother In Law
are getting for  Christmas.

No you are not seeing double, I have created 2 very similar wall hanging for my Mother and MIL.  My Idea started with me cutting up my Notebook Level 1 Paper into 6 inch squares.  I them adhered them to some 6x6 chipboard I had laying around, and since I had 4 pieces of chipboard & Level 1 combo's, and 4 sons I decided to make a wall hanging using some current pictures I had taken of the boys.  Robbie's picture is one of his Sr. Pict's I had taken in October and the other 3 boys are pictures I took in TN over Thanksgiving.  This particulare pattern sheet from the level one looked really good when I alternated the sides the Black was on when laying out the wall hanging.  This project came together really easily as all I had to do was distress all the edges of the Level 1 paper with Desert Sand, then cut my Colonial White and Crystal Blue Mats, Distress the Crystal Blue mats with Crystal Blue ink, and Stamp out each boys' name using "The Works" Stamp Set & Desert Sand Ink.  Once that was done I adhered it all together, punched my holes with a crop-a-dile and then they were ready to assemble.  I couldn't decide on how to connect the 4 boards, as our boys aren't ribbon type of guys and the twill was too big for my holes.  I then thought of the leather lace Ken uses to braid hatbands.  It was perfect, plus it added to the rustic feel the distressed Black and Bamboo cardstock provided,   Of course once I got the first one together I just had to create another one using the exact same pattern, as I loved how well the boys pictures looked with this paper.  My initial plan was use 2 different Level 1's to clean them out of my stash.  Now for my problem, I only had 1 Notebook Level 1 paper pack, and it is not longer available for purchase, not to mention the fact that I was on a roll and wanted the second one done now.  So I decided to recreated the pattern using Bamboo, & Black Cardstock, and a piece of Crystal Blue B&T from the Notebook Level 2 kit.  I sanded the Bamboo & Black cardstock so some of the white was showing like the Level 1 was, I then used a slightly different B&T for the Crystal Blue strip as I no longer had the original pattern used (it was my favorite).  I measured and assembled the second one not quite as quickly but almost as quickly as the first and unless you look closely you can't tell that I didn't use the exact same paper on each.

This is a Picture of Robbie our Oldest.
this one was made using the Notebook Level 1 kit.

And this is the one in which I had to recreate the look and feel of the Level 1 kit
using Cardstock and B&T.  It is really hard to tell the difference. 

And so the rest don't feel left out here is a close up of each of their blocks, from the Level 1 kit.

Jimmy Son #2

Tony Son #3

Dillon our Baby

I still have a couple gifts to show you.  But it is getting late and I have to keep Mom in suspense a little while longer as I know she will not heed my warnings and will have read this post before Christmas. LOL  Mom just act surprised on Christmas when you open your gifts.LOL  Love ya.

No Peeking Edition #1 (Mom this means you :-)

While we were in Tennessee to visit Ken's parents and spend time in our wonderful cabin in the mountains, I started working on some projects I had in mind but was always too busy to try.

Since I had limited room to take supplies down to work on, I actually planned a little and managed to only take what I thought I would need to get those projects started.  I actually had plans to work on Christmas gifts and for the first time in forever I have actually gotten several done with 2 weeks to spare.  I am impressed, guess this old dog can learn some new tricks.

The first project I completed was a set of ornaments for our tree.   Each year I try to buy the boys each a new ornament for the tree, so when they go out on their own they will have a good collection of ornaments to take with them.  With having done this every year since they were born (and even with losing some in the fire in 2000) our tree is quite full, but there is always room on the tree for more special ornaments. This year with funds being tight We really don't have much money to spend on the boys for Christmas, so I decided that they could get handmade ornaments instead.  Now we just need to get it set up.

These are the Close To My Heart Dimensional Elements Ornaments.  This was a simple project and I was able to get all of them mostly done in about 2 hours of working while in TN.  The only thing I would have done different is I would have embossed the tops of the ornaments before I assembled them, but I didn't think about that when I was in TN and my embossing powders and heat gun where in Ohio. So I waited till I got home to emboss the tops using Silver Pearl & Gold Embossing Powders.  Doing this after they were assembled was hard cause I couldn't get the embossing powder to stick to the chipboard close to where the second layer was, which is why they all have some form of a bow on the top of the ornament.

This is Robbie's Ornament,
The picture is one of him and his Fiance' Dani, taken around Christmas time last year.
Product Used All CTMH unless otherwise stated: Mistletoe Paper, Finishing Files,
Bitty Sparkles, Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment, New England Ivy Cardstock (for Leaves)
Misc Ribbon from my stash and Liquid Glass to hold it all together 

This is One of my Ornaments,
Materials Used All CTMH unless othewise stated:
Magnifique Paper, Clear Sparkles, Pacifica Ink
Stickles, finishing files, Ribbon from my stash
and Liquid Glass to hold it all together 

I had initially covered this one in the Magnifique Feather paper, but then decided I didn't like it so I sponged it all Pacifica Blue instead. The inside of the ornament I placed the sky side of one of the papers from Magnifique and Placed the Gem in the center of the design. Well as I was playing I started adding the Stickles and really liked what I was getting so I ended up covering the center patterned paper with sparkles, If you look closely you can still see a little of the sky patterned paper. I also love how the ink bled into the Stickles on several of the ornaments.  I used the same bottle of Stickles on all the ornaments and love the different color effects I got with each one.

Tony's Ornament
Materials Used All CTMH unless otherwise stated
Mistletoe Paper, Opaques Pearls
New England Ivy Ink, Cranberry Ink, Snow Flurries Stamp Set, Finishing Files,
Ribbon & Stickles from my stash
and Liquid Glass to hold it all together 

Jimmy's Ornament
Materials Used:  Mistletoe Paper, Opaques Pearls
New England Ivy Ink, Snow Flurries Stamp Set
Stickles and Ribbon from my stash
and Liquid Glass to hold it all together 



Dillon's Ornament
Materials Used: Cranberry Ink, Mistletoe Paper
Rem Sparkle, Stickles and Ribbon from my stash
and Liquid Glass to hold it all together 



Another One for Mom
Supplies used: Mistletoe Paper
Red Sparkle, Ribbon from my stash.
and Liquid Glass to hold it all together 

My favorite way to emboss....Embossing on Vellum

As I stated in my earlier post the gals over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges are having an embossing challenge.  Since Embossing is my all time favorite way to embellish items I am submitting several of my projects. 

My favorite way to emboss is to emboss an image on vellum and then cut out and use as an embellishment.  Once I have embossed the image I rub ink over the image so it resists the embossed area but gives the negative area a touch of color.  In today's example I stamped the butterfly from the Dreams Petite Perks Stamp set in Black and Versa Mark then sprinkled it with an Irredescent embossing powder ( I have also used CTMH Clear Detail EP and Prisma Glitter Combined to geet a similar effect) I then gently heated to melt the powder, holding the gun far enough away to heat the image but not burn the vellum.  Once it was melted I sponged Orange over the embossed images to get my emboss resist look.  Then I gently cut out the butterflies including the antennea, (I cut out 18 of these without losing a single antennea).  On my card for the first one I stamped the butterflies in chocolate on my background then applied liquid glass just to the body & antennea only.  I placed these over the stamped image and once it had dried I gently raised the butterfly wings up so it looks like the butterflies are flying off the page.  Of course once I got started I had to make several more butterfly cards.



Paper Used: Twitterpatted, Chcolate, and Colonial White Cardstock, Vellum

Stamp Sets: Treasure Life, & Dreams Petite Perks

Inks: Creme Brulee, Chcolate, Sorbet, Black, Versa Mark

Hallographic Embossing Prowder from Ranger



Close Up of Butterflies

Additional cards made using the embossed butterflies

H2H Challenge Embossing

This week the challenge over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges is Embossing.  Well since this is my favorite way to embellish items I figured I would enter several of my past projects.  I have nothing new right now cause I am in the middle of a major cleaning of my scrap area.  Since I have several projects I would like to enter I  will be posting several times today.

Here is my first contribution, it uses embossing in 2 ways. The first is dry embossing with sanding.  I scored (dry embossed) my paper every 1/4 inch then i sanded over the raised areas to make them stand out.  The next technique is called ghosting (I think) i found it in the CTMH "Wishes" Card confidence program.  I first heat embossed the mountain scene using Clear Embossing powder then I inked over the embossed area with desert sand, so the embossed area would stand out.  Next I took a piece of paper and placed over the image and ran over it with a hot iron until all my embossing area was on transfered onto the paper. My final piece has no raised embossed area as I "ghosted' it away.

Materials Used:
Barn Red, Colonial White & Twilight Cardstock
Sarsaparilla Paper Pack (my Favorite hated to see it retire)
Clear Detail Embossing Powder
Twill
copper brad from JoAnns
Stamp Sets: Beauty Seen, & Say it with Style

Card using Veranda

Things have been a little crazy around here, I am filling in for a girl at work who is on vacation.  I am coming home with little energy left to do little else aside from the typical nightly chores.  So I decided to post some artwork I have completed recently but hadn't posted yet.  Here is a card I made 2 months ago for my brother's wedding.  I used Close to My Heart's Veranda Level 2 Paper Pack, Colonial White Satin Edge Organdy Ribbon,  Just Blooms Spring Blossom paper Flowers, Filigree Charms, Follow Your Heart Stamp Set, Curly Sentiments Stamp Set, Creme Bruleee, Sorbet, Juniper and Black Inks, Colonial White Cardstock, Juniper Cardstock, Creme Brulee Cardstock

Here is a close up of the front label I used the Rock-n-Roll Technique on the flowers and on the Hummingbird.

Hope ya'll enjoyed this little card, hopefully my creative juices will be flowing again next week.

4-H Fun Crop - And a Layout featuring Jimmy

Today we had a Fun Crop for the members in our county who are taking the 4-H scrapbooking project.  Our county 4-H educator, who happens to be a Creative Memories Consultant, and I hosted the event.  We invited all the members taking the project to join us for a fun filled day of cropping and make-n-takes.  Of the 40+ members we have taking the project we had 12 attended today's event, not bad for something we threw together in 2.5 weeks.   In all I feel it was a really good day, and I got to teach something I love to the kids. 

For my make and take I created a 6x6 Layout with the help of my upline Karen.  Karen came up with the out of the box idea to create a patriotic bunting using the Over the Rainbow Stamp Set
The 6x6 Layout was created by the members, I then went on to create a 12x12 Layout incorporating the 6x6 in it.  I used the following Close To My Heart Products.  Blue Ribbon Level 2 B&T, Colonial White, Cranberry, and Outdoor Denim  Card Stock, D1426 Over the Rainbow Stamp Set, Starstruck Stamp Set. On  the 12x12 Layout I also used 4-H Clover Stickers by It Takes Two.

First the 6x6 Layout

(this has the journaling box for the 12x12 lo, because I forgot to take a picture of it before I taped it down)

Now for the 12x12 Layout you will see the 6x6 has been incorporated into the Layout in the upper left corner.  This layout is pictures of Jimmy's market hog Sausage who placed 1st in her weight class in 2004,

 

Mojo Monday Challenge 136 & Heart 2 Heart Challenge #4

Well I have decided to try my hand at completing some of the challenges that you can find online.  So tonight I made this card to go for 2 challenges.  The first challenge is the Mojo Monday - The Blog challenge 136, using the sketch below.

 The other challenge is the Heart 2 Heart Challenge #4.    This challenge is to add at least 2 different ribbons on your artwork. All products used are Close to My Heart Products unless otherwise noted.

Here is my submission for both challenges, it is not my best work but I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Products used:
All products used are Close to My Heart Products unless otherwise noted

That's Amore Level 2 paper pack - Blush leaves B&T
Colonial White Card Stock
Tulip Cardstock
Garden Green Cardstock
Key to My Heart Stamp Set (Flourishes)
Soul Mates Stamp Set (Love)
Fiskars border punch
Just Blooms Spring Blossoms
Filigree Charms
Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon
Designer Chocolate Ribbon
corner rounder to make scalloped circle
Tulip Ink
Black Ink