CTMH Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Close to my Heart New Product Sneak Peak Blog Hop! We have about 30 Close To My Heart Consultants celebrating the upcoming release of the Autumn/Winter 2009 Idea Book by giving you a Sneak Peak of some of the great products available in the new Idea Book starting September 1st! If you don't have your own copy of the newest Idea Book, on the 1st you will be able to view the online catalog at THIS LINK.

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If you have come here from Lisa's blog, you are on the right path! Don't forget to come back on September 1st to check out our SOTM Blog Hop to see even more fabulous creations! This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one - here we go!

I just love the new Jingle papers, but I think they can be used for more than just Christmas themed projects and here is an example - I used the fun striped paper from the Jingle Creative Basics pack, along with some of the dot paper from the Jingle Level 2 pack to create this fun birthday card for my friend Nicole. The Juniper Grosgrain Ribbon also came from the Creative Basics pack and I finished that off with a White Daisy Photo Hanger. The pattern used is Sunrise from the Wishes How-To Book.
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I hand-stitched this Tulip Felt Butterfly (from the Whimsy Heartfelt Die-Cuts) with White Embroidery Floss - for the antenna I took a Juniper paper clip from the Spring Blossom Mini Medleys, pulled it apart slightly, cut (with wire cutters) and attached using Liquid Glass. While the Whimsy felt that I used here is not new, you can check out the *new* Wonder Heartfelt Die-Cuts in the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book - lots of fun new shapes!

Now "Hop" on over to Jen's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and see the great new Paper Packs, My Acrylix Stamp Sets, and other fun new products! Remember, the Autumn/Winter 2009 Idea Book goes LIVE on September 1st!

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Link not working? Missed a Blog? Lost on the hop? Just click here to view a list of all the participants in the New Product Sneak Peak Blog Hop.

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Want to see what else I've been playing with from the new Idea Book? Just click the following links to see!

Twitterpated and Celebrate the Everyday

Twitterpated & *new* Basic Buttons

More Twitterpated!

Can you tell which is one of my favorite new paper packets!

Blog Hop List

Here is the list of blog hop participants for our New Product Blog Hop in case you get lost along the way - have fun hopping!

Erin Herring
Terrie Dodd
Jessica
Leisa Hubley
Karen Norman
Sherry Thompson
Adeline Brill
Miranda
Brae Montgomery
Wendy Kessler
Dawn Heuft
Carla Ironside
Dawn Ross
Julie Banzon
Jody Gustafson
Helen Onulak
Sheila Bennett
Haley Dyer
Lisa Stenz
Jena DeVries
Jen Patrick
Amy Schultz
Lori Scott
Tresa Black
Jennifer Kraynak
Sharesa Larsen
Amy Edwards
Jean McNulty
Emma Hubert
Antoinette Herrin

Celebrate the Everyday

I had a chance last week to put together my 'Celebrate the Everyday' card kit - it's Close To My Heart's special for National Stamping Month, and let me tell you, it is my FAVORITE card kit that they have released yet! In the past couple of years, the card kits that they have had for NSM have come with the pre-cut pieces and I am ashamed to say that I have still not put those together ;-P But this kit came with full sheets of paper, which I LOVE! I especially love this paper and already have the pictures to go with it, so I saved one of each pattern and I'm going to create a page, so I'm not limited to just the cards!

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With the kit you can create 16 cards - 2 each of 8 designs. In order to save some of this patterned paper for my page, I only cut enough pieces for one of each design. So I used the *NEW* Twitterpated paper to create my other 8 cards. I love that I'll be able to use this cutting guide over and over with any paper and any stamps that I want! The card bases come pre-cut and since I love the design so much, I traced it on the label insert (KWIM?) that came in the bag. These cards came in handy last week as I had 2 nephew birthdays and the 3 gals in my ward at church who all share my birthday, plus a couple of thank you cards I needed to send.

Anyway, enough jabber - here are the cards! Sorry I did get very good pictures of them - I was in a hurry before I mailed half of them off! This is a great kit and you can buy it for $39.95 OR you can get it for free if you purchase just $60 in stamp sets! Click here to see complete kit details and to find out how else you can get this kit for free!

Thanks for looking!

Back to school...

...where did this summer go - it just flew by! The girls started school yesterday and they were SO excited - they love their teachers and are glad to be back with friends. Yesterday as Kaylee left, she said, "I'm going to make a new friend today" and she did! Brianna has two of her cousins in her class and Kaylee has one of her cousins in her class, so that should be fun! The girls couldn't wait to go back today, they woke up at least 1/2 an hour before their alarm clocks and were ready to head to school by 7:30. Brailee and Trysten were both awake, and since we had extra time before T got here, we all took a little bike ride this morning as the girls headed to school. It worked to clear my head and relieve some of the stress I've been under the last couple days, and it turned Brailee's morning around as she had already had a rough morning. So we all came back refreshed and ready for the day. Anyway, here are some pictures from yesterday...

Brailee has wanted to be like her sisters since they started school - so when they got out their lunchboxes, we had to go downstairs and find a small cooler bag that she can pack in the mornings along with her sisters. I have also started doing 'pre-school' for her and T. Yesterday we started our alphabet coloring pages and today we talked about colors. This is all stuff that Brailee already knows, but she is loving it and she enjoyed telling her daddy what she learned that day at school, along with her sisters.

August MMB Give-Away

Another MMB give-away for this month - check it out here!

Same papers - totally different look!

So, do you remember this page that I posted yesterday for my Word Puzzle Workshop?

Well, I haven't had a chance to add pictures to the originals yet, but I did do something a little different. I took the exact same papers and used the BACK side of them to create this totally different look - I just used Cocoa instead of Chocolate since it matched his jammies better ;-) Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this feature of CTMH paper! It just gives you so many more possibilities. I did a little different stamping - in addition to the September Word Puzzle that I used on the original, I used Picture Perfect, Baby Steps, Save the Date, and You're a Hoot. On the *new* Basic Buttons I added a bit of Moonstruck Waxy Flax to coordinate with Trysten's jammies in these pictures. I love these pictures of Trysten when he first started smiling - and he hasn't stopped smiling!

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I was going to add some ribbon along the left side like there is in the original, but I forgot to find some that would go with the new layout. Now that I look at it, I don't really think it needs it. What do you think - any suggestions?

Remember - you can click on the picture to view it larger. Thanks for looking!

September Word Puzzle

Here is this month's workshop - I used the *NEW* Twitterpated paper pack along with the September Word Puzzle, August SOTM It's Your Day, and EXCLUSIVE Hello There stamp set - available only in the Workshop Kit. I have included a picture below of the Workshop Kit - they are such a great deal!

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You can click on the pictures to view them larger.

12x12 Option - Those who select the Basic Option will only create the right page, but anyone who selects the Deluxe, Super Deluxe, or Exclusive will also get the option to create the left page.

6x6 Option

Card Option - Those who select the Exclusive Workshop Options will get to make at least 6 of these cards - with lots of paper left over!

Workshop Kit:

These kits are amazing - this kit includes a B-size stamp set that is not available for purchase separately! In the Twitterpated Kit that I am featuring this month, you’ll get the following:

***Twitterpated Level 2 Paper Pack

***Exclusive B-size Stamp Set - Hello There

***Chocolate Designer Ribbon Rounds

***Full-color brochure with a new scrapbook layout pattern designed by CTMH’s founder & CEO Jeanette Lynton. This brochure is amazing! It contains the cutting diagrams and instructions for creating the featured layout plus cutting diagrams and instructions for creating cards as well. Even after you've created the layouts and/or cards, there are still more papers left over to do more!

The kit's retail value is $35.85 but you pay only $29.95 (plus tax and shipping) - but if you sign up for my Word Puzzle Workshop and choose the Exclusive Option to get this kit, I'll pay your tax and shipping!

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There are 3 other kits available and I will be featuring them in the next three months, but you are allowed to purchase them at any time. Please contact me if you would like info on the rest of the kits.

Laugh

Here is another page that I've been wanting to do for a while and finally got a chance to put it together last week. It was a super simple page using a sketch from beggahuna - I just simplified my take on the sketch.

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You can click on the picture to view it larger.

It went together rather fast thanks to the Stickease used for the title and the strips at the bottom. I used Emporium papers and Stickease and used Liquid Glass on the title. I used a Voice Recorder to capture Brailee's laugh, covered it and attached it next to her picture. I also used a new stamp set from the upcoming Fall/Winter CTMH Idea Book, it's called Save the Date, and I have a feeling I will be using this one a LOT! I usually don't do many single picture layouts but they have been super easy for me lately - not good for my growing stash of pictures!

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Thanks for looking!

On the move...

Trysten is all over the place - he is so close to crawling, he just can't get the forward motion down yet. Last night Trysten was playing on the floor in the living room and I left to put something away and when I came back, this is what I found - he was halfway under the love seat!

And still in the mood for a picture ;-)

He can go from sitting to his hands and knees where he likes to rock and reach for toys. Sometimes he can even get himself back to sitting again, but other times his chubby legs get stuck ;-P He can pull himself around in circles and push himself backwards and once he kind of launched himself forward to get at the newspaper I was reading on the floor, so any day now he'll get it down!

Here he is sitting...

...then "Oh, Mom, I want your camera!"

"Nevermind - I found Brianna's shoes more interesting for the moment!"

He also loves his little jumper - he just jumps and kicks and laughs!

And he's getting so big - he is a true boy as he loves playing with trucks and balls!

Guest stamper - Sandy DeVries!

I just had to quickly share this fun creation - my SIL, Sandy created it for the auction at our family reunion last month and I was the lucky winner! I can't wait to fill it up with pictures!

Calendar Cover

Here is the page I created for the cover of Trysten's calendar. It's not completely done until I add the picture, but I'll wait until he turns 1 for that pic. I totally scraplifted this layout from the SOTM artwork from the Summer 2008 Idea Book - it was for the August SOTM, which was Todays Date. I just changed the paper and colors used to keep with my Stardust theme through Trysten's calendar.

Products Used (all CTMH): Stardust paper pack and Stickease, Todays Date stamp set, Rustic Alphabet, Spot On Background (for the stamp kissed title), Tiny Typewriter, Circle Coluzzle, White Daisy Conchos

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Thanks for looking - that's it for Trysten's calendar, for now anyway!

PageMaps - Apron Strings sketch contest

I used the following sketch from the PageMaps Blog's latest contest and created this page for Trysten's 7 Month Calendar page. This contest was supposed to have a summer theme - I think the only way it qualifies is the fact that the picture was taken in the summer ;-) as it has more of a baby theme to me! But it's been a while since I've entered their contests so it was fun to try again!

This is where I got a little ahead of myself - usually for his calendar pages I like to use a picture that was taken close to the 24th so I can get a good month in between pictures, but I just loved this picture way too much and had to use it, even though this picture was only taken one week after his 6 month page picture. Isn't he just the cutest! This was another super quick page - all I had to cut was the circles and photo mat and the stamping was fast and easy - you can tell I did it quickly as I got some of my 'stitches' crooked, but I like how it turned out. Oops - I just noticed on all the calendar pages that I posted this week that I forgot to add my filler squares - I'm off to do that now!

Products Used (All CTMH): Stardust Paper Pack, Circle Around stamp set, Rustic Numbers, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Comments stamp set.

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I have one more page from Trysten's calendar to post tomorrow so I hope you're not sick of it and will come back to see more! Thanks for looking!

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Oh, and if you'd like to check out all the calendar pages, you can view them at the following links:
Birth Month

1 Month Old

2 Months Old
3 Months Old & 4 Months Old
5 Months Old

6 Months Old

6 Month Calendar Page

Here is another calendar page that I got done - this one was inspired by another layout from the August 2009 PageMaps, but I had this last Level 1 page left from my Stardust pack and I put the two ideas together.

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Click on the picture to view it larger.

And a close-up of the 'notebook paper' that I created with the Comments stamp and a sneak peek at the upcoming December SOTM, Notice the Details - I embossed the edge onto the paper, then used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes and cut along the edge.

Products Used (All CTMH): Stardust Paper Pack and Stickease, Rustic Numbers, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Comments stamp set, Notice The Details stamp set.

Check back tomorrow for another calendar page - it's one of my favorites! Thanks for looking!

Oh, and if you'd like to check out all the calendar pages, you can view them at the following links:

Birth Month
1 Month Old
2 Months Old

3 Months & 4 Months

5 Months

On A Roll...

...and it feels so good to be scrapbooking again! This last weekend I got caught up on Trysten's calendar and even a little ahead of myself - you'll see why in a couple of days. For now here is his 5 month page! I used a layout from the August 2009 PageMaps - I just rotated it once clockwise. This was a super quick layout - the Stickease added just the right touches without taking a lot of time. Looking at it now, I wish I would have placed the picture higher on the page, but I'm still pleased with how it came out.

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You can click on the picture to view it larger.

Products Used (All CTMH): Stardust Paper Pack and Stickease, Rustic Numbers, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Circle Around stamp set.

Check back tomorrow for his 6 month page - thanks for looking!

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Oh, and if you'd like to check out all the calendar pages, you can view them at the following links:
Birth Month

1 Month Old

2 Months Old
3 Months & 4 Months

Full Heart

Some say that scrapping is better than therapy - if I'm having a rough time and I get a chance to sit down and scrapbook for myself, it sure makes me feel good to reflect on past memories and take a chance to count my blessings! I started this page shortly after Ghostbuster died - I had it all done, just needed to glue it all together and print up my journaling, but I just never got around to it. This summer has been so busy and what little creative time I could find has been spent making Birthday cards and other non-scrapbooking items. Anyway, at the end of last week I was feeling really drained and then due to David's migraine and then an allergic reaction, we ended up just relaxing and staying home for the weekend. That down time gave me a good chance to finish up my 'therapy' piece.
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I've been wanting to use this title since I saw it way back in the spring of 2008, but then I got pregnant again, so I wanted to wait until I could include the new baby. As soon as I took this picture back in March I knew it would be perfect and I've been wanting to do this page since then, I'm glad I finally got a chance!

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You can click on the picture to view it larger.

My journaling is hidden behind the picture - pull it out by the attached Cocoa Edge Anchor. It just talks about how many times someone tells me that I sure have my hands full, but I love every one of my kids and wouldn't change it for the world!

Products Used: Perfect Day paper, Fancy Cuts Botanicals, Field Trip Alphabet, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Cocoa and Juniper brads, Colonial White ribbon, Moon Doggie WOTG guide (left page).

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I got a couple more pages done this weekend so be watching for more to be shared this week - it's good to be doing pages again!

I almost forgot...

...to post these family pictures that we took in Star Valley. I am quickly realizing how hard it is to get a family of 6 to all be smiling and looking at the camera at the same time!

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David was off loading something into the Yukon so we decided to start without him while the kids were all happy - but somewhere Brailee picked up a stick that she proudly displayed for the camera.

So we get her to put the stick down but then she decides to be silly and cover her eyes. And Trysten sees Daddy walking up to join our picture so he's all smiles!

So then Daddy joins the picture and Brailee decides she's done being happy and Trysten decides to chew on my shoulder (a common thing lately).

I turn Trysten around and we get Brailee somewhat happy again so this is the best we got for a family picture - whew!