Flashback Friday

Today I am sharing some fun, old Easter themed projects for my Flashback Friday. I sure had fun looking back at some of these old creations. I will be sharing another old favorite Easter project that I created with the girls, so I hope you'll check back! Have a great weekend!

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First I want to share this old favorite project - one I remember doing with my mom. Here I re-did it using CTMH Sassy Strands but you can use any kind of thin string...

And here is how you create them:

*Blow up some water balloons (they are small and have an egg shape vs. other balloons)

*Dip your string in starch and wrap around the balloon

*Allow the balloon to dry completely (set it on wax paper to dry)

*Once the balloon is dry, pop the balloon and pull it out of your egg shape

And here are some fun pop-up cards with a bunny and a chick - I love these animals because they were created using the Happy Easter stamp set. Their bodies were the egg shape, the chick's feet were the tulip stamp, and the bunny ears were the leaf stamp - how fun is that! So many more possibilities with this stamp set than just eggs and flowers.

And here are some Easter pages that I created before I started blogging, so I haven't had a chance to share them here yet!

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You may recognize the big picture on the following layout if you have a CTMH Spring 2010 catalog - that's my girls on page 51! You can also check it out here if you missed it before! I used no patterned paper on this layout - only textured CS and the Friendship Flowers stamp set.

I created my patterned paper on the following layout using the Playful Flourishes stamp set with Buttercup and White Daisy inks.

And these pages I have shared on my blog already, but here they are again just because of their theme!

Here I used two Just Blooms flower petals for the bunny ears, and a pink brad for the bunny nose:

Notice how this page and the next are identical - I just used different papers but the same Imagine layout. This was a layout for a gathering, and I gave them a girly option and a boy option.

Thanks for looking!

September SOTM Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring September's SOTM, which is called Treasures, a fun set of 13 stamps.
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This month we have almost 70 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. 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! Don't forget the new CTMH Autumn/Winter Idea Book goes live today - you can view it online at this link. And don't forget to check out the Sneak Peek Hop to see the new products in action!


I have SO many pictures of my girls and Wishes (as they call them) so it just came down to picking which one to use! I have a few more pictures that I printed off to use with this stamp set, but this one of Brailee last May is the only one I have used so far - I have a feeling I will be playing with this stamp set a lot more in the future! For this layout I played around with some transparencies - first I embossed the "flower" with White Daisy EP, but it seemed to bold - KWIM? So then I stamped it in White Daisy pigment ink and it gave me more of the soft look that I was going for on the transparency. Then I cut it out and layered it over the corner of the picture. I also embossed the title on a transparency with White Daisy EP using the Boutique Alphabet. The stem was embossed using Olive EP. The loose "wishes" were stamped directly on the Garden Green CS using the pigment ink.
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CTMH Products Used: Promise of Spring paper (no longer available ), Garden Green CS, White Daisy grosgrain ribbon, *new* Wonder Heartfelt Die-Cuts (Olive bracket and circles), Amethyst Waxy Flax, White Daisy Pigment Ink, Smoky Plum stamp pad, Olive Marker, Piercing Tool.
Other Products Used: Stampin Up! Scalloped Border punch, transparencies, plastic canvas circle. I used the following PageMaps sketch for my inspiration.



Now "Hop" on over to Nona's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the September SOTM is only available until September 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!
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If you get lost on the hop or find links that aren't working, click here for a complete list of participating blogs.
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Here is one more small/quick project that I created using this stamp set. This is a fun scalloped box made from envelopes - I got the idea from here. I used my Coluzzle envelope template and I can't wait to make more using all of the different sizes. I used Twitterpated paper and I also stamped the tissue paper - I will fill this with goodies for a friend.

Thanks for looking - enjoy the hop!

Super Saturday

Here are the projects that I taught on Saturday...card organizers made from the Acrylix Organizer OR fun little lunch box tins...

We also made some cards...

Inspired by Pat Pobst (sp?)

The next three were inspired by Lisa Stenz

Idea from last year's (?) Autumn/Winter Idea Book or maybe 2006?

Inspired by Diane Bowman (?)

Altered VHS Cases

Here are some projects that I have been working on for the last few weeks - I didn't want to post any until I got them ALL done and in the mail. The project got delayed by our house rearrangement, but I finally got them all sent out early last week, so hopefully they have all received them so I'm not spoiling anything ;-) These are some altered VHS cases that I made for some of my blogging/stamping friends - these are gals who have sent me fun cards and stamped images or have just been a huge support to me since I started my blog. I made my first maybe a couple years ago and still had a stash of cases to use, and since I don't have any fun images to stamp and return the favor, I decided these would be fun. I use mine as a tool box for my scrapping supplies - just a fun way to hold scissors, tape runners, etc. These were inspired by Yvette West (? - correct me if I got the last name wrong) she is a fellow CTMH Consultant who shared her fun idea on the CTMH boards.

First here is mine that I made quite a while ago...

And here are the gifts for my friends - it was fun to make these - each one became my favorite as I finished them ;-) I hope they like them!

This one is for Nicole

This one is for Ramsey

This one is for Laurel

This one is for Marjorie

This one is for Stacy

This one is for Nona

This one is for Kari

June Challenges

For the last two years, I have done a 'Cherish Challenge' with my customers, and then when Imagine came out last year, I added another challenge. I'd like to invite you all to participate now! Here's how it works - at the beginning of each month, I announce which layouts from Cherish and Imagine that we are going to be doing. I will also post my example. You then create the layout using your choice of theme, papers, orientation, etc. and send me a link or a picture of your layout. I will even accept pages that you have previously done, as long as they use that month's layout. I will draw a name from all participants and the winner will get a fun bundle of cards at the end of the month. It's fun to see the different results from the same layout! I have posted my layouts before, but June really snuck up on me, so I had to pick a layout we haven't used before in our Challenges - I promise next month will be new layouts by me, even though that's not a requirement for these challenges ;-)

For the month of June...

...the CHERISH Challenge is 'Silver Screen' on pages 20 and 21

Click here for Ramsey's fun Birthday layout

Products Used - All CTMH: Floral Tapestry, Parchment Accessories (retired), Playful Alphabet stamp sets, Do Nothing stamp set, StickStock Twill, Boutique Alphabet, Ivory Organdy Ribbon, Ivory Eyelets

...the IMAGINE Challenge is 'Everything In Its Place' on pages 54 and 55.

Products Used - All CTMH: It's A Guy Thing, Pewter Accessories, TrueFit Folios, Express Postage stamp set, Tiny Typewriter stamp set, DE photo clips, Weathered Background stamp set, twill ribbon

I can't wait to see what is turned in this month! Let me know if you have any questions!

Hooray! I won first runner-up!

I was just checking out the CTMH monthly contest winners and found out that I got First Runner-Up! I made a goal this year to enter something every month and this is the first win for me! You can check out the awesome entries here.

Here is my original page - I did this one back in January. I tried to recreate it a couple months ago, but Brailee got her hands on the page, and the flowers, when it was almost done, so I put it away for a while, and almost didn't try again. Now I'm glad I did!

Here it is with the companion page.

Here is the one I sent in - I changed it just a bit.

More Hot Springs Pages - last ones, I promise!

I finally finished scrapping the last of my Hot Springs photos - I used more photo storage pages, which is an awesome way to get lots of pics done!

I used Marjorie's Color Challenge #17 again, and this time I used the color combo as is - didn't change a thing - you're shocked, aren't you ;-) It's not your typical color combo for snow pages, but all the colors in the challenge are in the pics, so it worked (for me, anyway).



You can't tell in the pics, but there are lots of snowflakes stamped along the edges and corners of the two pages - I really struggled with the empty space and had to fill it with something, even though you can hardly tell it's there!

I cut up another photo storage page and added it here so it opens up to reveal more pictures...

Here is the photo storage page that goes between the layout...

Products Used - All CTMH: Bubblegum, Sunflower, and Orange CS, Holiday Red Seasonal B&T paper (I used the textured back), Boutique Alphabet, Flurries stamp set (retired), January Word Puzzle, HodgePodge Alphabet, a Dimensional Element photo clip, Font CD for the journaling, and Photo Storage Pages