Cross Canada November Blog Hop - Holidays From the Heart Gift Guide

It's been a couple of months since I've been able to participate in this hop but finally have a little time to do the fun stuff I enjoy doing!

Welcome to our November Blog Hop featuring creations made with products from the Mini Holidays From the Heart Gift Guide.   To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join My Creations With Michelle 
If you came from Michelle's blog, then you are in the right place!

I had a layout class last night, and chose to do one of the layouts from our Sparkle & Shine Workshop On The Go Scrapbooking Kit - with a couple of modifications.  I love the layout as it is pictured, but didn't have enough of the Ruby patterned paper and zip strips for everyone.  The first change I made was to substitute our Ruby Shimmer Tape for the zip strips.

Then, I thought it needed a little more bling, so I added some mini-sparkles and some Red Glitter Gel to the title piece, and to the stamped starbursts.

 I also didn't have enough of the yoyo's from the embellishment package, so we made our own using some paper from an older collection that just happened to be juniper, added a red button and some black hemp and voila!

And then, because I didn't have enough of the ruby patterned paper from the Sparkle & Shine collection, I needed to find a substitute for the Cricut cuts for the scalloped-edged photo mats.  I cut 1/4" strips instead and punched them with our scallop edge punch and made my own frames with the pieces.  A little more work, but it was that or just use Ruby cardstock - I love the patterned paper so opted for a little more work!  There are ways around everything!

The card below was created for a gathering I did a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to use our Stamp of the Month from last month - "Scandinavian Wishes".  Sparkle & Shine striped paper looks great on the clean white card.

If you would like more information about how I created either project, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail - I would love to hear from you!

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Sheri of Sheri Says Just Scrap It!  If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle's blog, My Creations With Michelle as she has the complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. Join us again in December when we will be featuring projects that would make great gifts.  We hope you will join us again on December 15th.

Cross Canada Blog Hop - September featuring Jeanette's Archived Stamp Sets

Welcome to our September Blog Hop featuring Jeanette's Archived Stamps. You will see creations from our participants that will include 1 of 5 stamp sets that Close To My Heart has re-introduced from  Jeanette's Archived collection. To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Michelle at http://mycreationswithmichelle.blogspot.com/2013/09/september-with-jeanettes-archived.html

If you came from Darla’s blog of www.stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.ca, you are in the right place!

I participated several times in a “layout” swap with some of my CTMH sisters where we created all the pieces to complete 12 x 12 layouts, swapped and added them to our own cardstock bases!  This layout was one that I received from Kim McArthur and I am finally able to use it for some sweet pictures of my grandson!  BIG NEWS too, I am going to be a grandma again!!!   

This layout uses a retired paper pack from CTMH called “Caboodle” and I added some MS embellishments, but doesn’t that little teddy bear just look so cute on this layout!  

Our stamps are not just for card making!!  The stamp set I chose is called “Teddy Bear Birthday” A1143 and I think that little bear is so cute for baby layouts!

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is ARLENE'S blog at  http://arlenescreativespace.blogspot.ca/2013/09/cross-canada-hop-jeanettes-archived.html

If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle S Blog,  Creations With Michelle, as she has the complete blog list. 

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. Join us again in October when we will be featuring the Base and Bling line. We hope you will join us again on October 15th.

September Brae-er's Blog Hop

Welcome to our Blog Hop featuring CTMH consultants who belong to the Brae-er's team ..... We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you get lost you can find your way by going to Brae's blog at http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com for a full list of participants. If you came from Sheri's blog, then you are in the right place!

This month, we are focusing on projects we have made with our new Cricut "Artbooking" cartridge.  I chose to do this layout, I couldn't wait to create that hexagon overlay.  I mixed and matched elements from a couple of different keys, but I loved how I could just set my dial at one size and cut everything to fit perfectly on the page.  I also used some of the "negative" pieces to create the border on the right page.

 Don't even ask me about these photos.....what happens at the cottage, stays at the cottage!! LOL

Products Used: All CTMH - Artbooking Cricut Cartridge, Cocoa, Topiary, Honey, White Daisy, & Twilight cardstock & inks, stamp set from Artbooking bundle,  Slate Washi tape, Scholastic paper pack, Baker's twine, durables studs. 

Your next stop on the hop is Lucy's blog .  Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to create your own projects using some of the designs and paper seen along the way. Join us again in next month!!

More challeges!

I don't know about you, but I love challenge blogs! I follow quite a few of them and every week I note what the challenges are, but most weeks I don't find the time to complete any of them!  The sketches I really love get added to my sketch file for future use, and I start all over again in the new week.  This past week, I decided to finish up some projects while my husband was away and try to fulfill some of those challenges!  This layout was quick with the help of some Cricut cuts and I added some chipboard circles to enter this in Frosted Design's Fabulous Friday chipboard challenge!  I also wanted to participate in Scrap It With A Song's David Bowie "Fantastic Voyage" challenge - this was a day in port during a fantastic cruise with my husband, my mom and my aunt!

 



2013 Challenge - 15  Layouts
                            20 Cards
I'm behind!!

Challenge Card!

Just a quick little post tonight to enter my card in the Atlantic Hearts Challenge sketch challenge for this week, and the CAS-ual Friday Challenge  to create a clean & simple project using aqua, green, and orange, not to mention my own little challenge to create 52 cards this year!  So here it is:

 

 



Clean, simple, colourful, easy, done!!

Card # 19 2013 Layout Challenge

I haven't posted a card for awhile and I have really wanted to participate in the Atlantic Hearts Challenge that is hosted by two of my CTMH sisters from Halifax.  These are the two girls I roomed with at Convention (Michelle & Darla) and they are a lot of fun, so go play!!  This is my entry for this week's challenge sketch:

 

All materials are Close To My Heart except the bakers twine: C1533 Fabulous You was the stamp set I used to stamp the background pattern, the bird, and the sentiment.  Added a couple of Z1335 Licorice Opaque Gems.  Other supplies included twilight, black and white cardstock, Scholastic paper, twilight and black inks. I also used our water brush along with some Watercolour pencils to add a little colour to the bird and CTMH Artiste to cut the piece for the sentiment. 

August NEW CTMH Product Blog Hop - The Brae-er's

Welcome to our Blog Hop featuring CTMH consultants who belong to the Brae-er's team ..... We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you get lost you can find your way by going to Brae's blog at http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com for a full list of participants. If you came from  Heather's blog, then you are in the right place!

This month, we are focusing on new product from our Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book and I have chosen to do a layout using our new "Babycakes" collection:

 

 I love the soft, gender-neutral palette of this collection, all you have to do is add a pop of pink or blue if desired.  The canvas stickease are easy to use, just peel & stick and I adore our wood-rimmed badge buttons that are adhesive backed! 

 

Supplies used:  X7173B Babycakes Paper Packet, Z7173B Babycakes Completments Canvas Shapes, Z1869 Babycakes Assortment, chocolate & buttercup cardstock, chocolate ink.  You can order any of these items through me personally or my website : www.ctmh.com/rozkelly.  

 

Your next stop on the hop is Kim's blog.  Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to create your own projects using some of the designs and paper seen along the way. Join us again in next month!!

Layout 13 2013 Challenge

Happy 4th of July to all my friends in the US!  I will be celebrating with you tonight because our Canada Day fireworks were postponed until tonight due to weather on the 1st. 

Convention excitement still reigns in my house though!! I have ordered product bundles, my new Idea Books should be here tomorrow, but until all that arrives, I have the goodies that I brought home with me from Orlando to play with.  However, I want to try to get caught up with my blog posting as well, so here's a quick layout I did of my niece and her daughter:

 

I used really, really old paper for this layout - I think it's been in my stash for about 8 years, just waiting for the perfect pictures!!! Isn't that crazy?  Now, I have adopted a policy to "just USE it!"  Those "perfect" photos sometimes never come and I have so much beautiful paper that I just can't leave sitting in my scraproom. 

Layout 12 - 2013 Challenge

I am not sure if anyone out there is still participating in their 2013 challenges, but I am still working away at my goals.  Today I am posting a layout that I did as a class, I haven't found the right photos for it yet and I am now challenging myself to get pictures on all my unfinished layouts.  I have a huge stack of them, just waiting for photos to be added!!!

 

This paper was not my favourite from our current CTMH catalogue, I admit.  However, I really love the colours and the stamping in this and the row of tags is so cute...what do you think.  I was inspired by a layout I saw in a magazine, I am not even sure which one but I love this one!  Features CTMH Buzz & Bumble Paper Pack, sunset, sweet leaf, cocoa, honey, kraft, and colonial white cardstocks& inks, Universal Backgrounds stamp set, Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. ribbon & button from CTMH.

When did my life become so hectic??? I just realized my last post was well over a month ago so thought I should do a little update, yes?!  I am working outside the home again (quite unexpectedly, but it's been a lot of fun!) at a real estate office - no, I'm not selling real estate, just doing admin work.  And I am still doing my French course two nights a week, as well as my CTMH classes.  I spent a week in Ontario visiting my son, grandson with a quick visit with my step son as well.  I miss them all so much and while I was getting groceries yesterday, I heard a "eewww!" just the way my grandson says it, brought a little tear to my eye.  Now the focus is Convention the end of June....can't wait to go to Orlando and see all my CTMH sistahs!!  I need to get busy on my swap cards.....!!!

In the meantime, here are a few of the cards we did last month at my card class, plus another one I am posting for Ann Marie D. - thought I had already posted it.  Here we go:

For Always paper, Tulle ribbon, smokey plum and slate cardstock & ink, glitter button, twine, and B1419 Joyful Birthday stamp set.

For Always paper pack, B1418 Love Doily stamp set, glimmermist, tulle ribbon, pearl opaque, white daisy embossing powder, twilight ink.

 

D1398 Just for You stamp set, Avonlea paper pack, Antiqued Copper Designer Brads, Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

That's 18 cards so far.....need to work on some layouts.  Ciao for now!

Card #7 2013 Challenge

The last couple of weeks have been hectic and I am trying to get a little caught up!  I'm also trying to get packed up today to head to Moncton for Crop & Create tomorrow - WOOOT!  Can't wait to get there, but thought I would post quickly before packing up.  This card was CASed from a fellow CTMH consultant, Amie Kiger with only minor changes. 

The front of this card is completely stamped with C1537 Honeycomb using the following colours:  Black, Autumn Terracotta, Creme Brule, Honey.  Each piece is hand cut and placed on cocoa cardstock.  It's a little time consuming, but the effect is stunning, don't you think.  The girls at my gatherings last week all made this card and loved it!

OK, off to pack but I want to let you know that I am taking part in a brand new blog hop that starts on Monday....stop back in and check it out! 

Layout 11 - 2013 Challenge

I love the versatility of CTMH's paper packs, in particular "Chantilly".  At first glance it has a very flowery, girly feel, but flip those papers over and the look is more masculine.  I immediately wanted to do a layout featuring my gorgeous grandson (I am a little biased aren't I??) and this is what I came up with.  I used a sketch from Page Maps this time, hand stitched the accents on either side, made my own coloured button with clear buttons and Liquid Glass.  I also used our new Tiny Type Epoxy Alphabet to cover the date stamp on the photos, blue & green epoxy bubbles, buttons, and hemp.  I stamped the title and accents with "New Arrival".

 



Thanks for stopping in!

Card 5 & 6 - 2013 Challenge

March is coming in like a lion here...we had snow overnight, schools are cancelled, and there's more snow on the way today.  Spring has to just around the corner....right?  I am getting ready today to attend a crop tomorrow. It always takes me so long to decide what I want to work on, what supplies I want to take.  I have so many projects I'd like to do but I need to be a little realistic about what I will actually accomplish at this event!  If I spend as much time socializing as I usually do, then I might get two or three layouts done!!

These are the two additional cards my class did last week:

CTMH "Pun Fun" was used to create this cute little card.

CTMH "Rugged Dude" and "Card Chatter - Birthday"

 

Both cards were made with our Chantilly paper pack, one side of the papers are very "girly", however the back side incorporates greens and blues and yellows for a more masculine feel.  So versatile!!  I love our new pink glitter gems - adding a little sparkle is easy!

 

Off to pack for the crop.  I am hoping for a very creative day.

Layout 6-10 2013 Challenge

I've decided to post the next layouts as a group because they are all photos from the Winnipeg Zoo.  Do you recognize the Basic Gray paper I've used?  I've had it in my stash for a long time now and it just feels good to finally use some of it.

Fairly clean and simple, a few embellishments here and there (did you notice the real feathers?) and voila! 

Have a great weekend, thanks for stopping in!

Card 4 - 2013 Challenge

Happy Valentines Day!  Do you do something grand on this day, or do you prefer simple acts of love to celebrate the day?  I love going out for dinner, but always prefer to wait a day or two after Valentines Day...the restaurants are not as busy and the atmosphere is usually more intimate.  Tonight I have french class anyway....learning to speak the language of love!  I have my valentines all ready to hand out to some special friends.  These were made with the "Whoo's Your Valentine" kit and use our new treat tubes.   I have a kit available if you want to whip this up!

 

This little card I copied right from our new Idea Book, except that I didn't have any of the stick pins so I just stamped the flowers.  Paper pack is Chantilly and I used "A Garden" stamp set.  Each piece is hand stitched! I cut strips of our glitter paper (love it!) instead of using the glitter ribbon.  This is one of the cards I will be making next week with my group of lovely ladies.

 

Hope you have a "love"ly day today!

Layouts 4 & 5 - 2013 Challenge

Brrr, it's chilly outside and we've got another snowstorm forecasted for the weekend.  I want winter to be over!  However, when it's cold outside, I get to spend more time in my scrappin' room which is a fairly decent trade off!  I've been busy getting ready for my open house on the weekend but took the day yesterday to go get my hair done, went to see Les Miserables finally! What a fantastic movie!

So here are two more layouts I've recently completed:

This one is being entered in the Scrap it With A Song Challenge for this week. The song is "As Long As You Love Me" by Justin Beiber so I used Love in my title.

Do you recognize this CTMH paper collection from a few years ago?  Good Times is still one of my favourites, I only have scraps left now.

So I'm off to get my scrap on....thanks for stopping in!

Cards 1-3 for 2013 Layout & Card Challenge

Today I am posting the cards I offered at my last card class.  We used CTMH "Dakota" papers, CTMH inks and markers in barn red, pacifica, crystal blue, blush, sweet leaf, and black.  We also used several different stamp sets including "Rugged Dude", "Words of Comfort", and the January Stamp of the Month "Happy Valentines".  All embellishments are CTMH and we also used our Art Philosophy cricut cartridge and stamps for the pocket insert..

 

This last card I did for CASual Fridays challenge CFC87: Use markers in your clean and simple creation. Glad to see that most of  my blogging friends are still creating and posting artwork! Thanks for leaving comments - I love to hear from everyone.

 

Fresh Start for 2013!

I look back on my blog posts from last year and realize that I've failed miserably with the 2012 challenge.  I have many excuses why I didn't get layouts and cards posted, but I won't bore you with making excuses!!  Let's just say that 2013 is the year for me to get my groove back.  My life is slowly getting back to "normal" now that my Mom has moved into her apartment.  After 14 months of living with us,  it was time.  I've spent the last couple of weeks helping her move, unpack, hang pictures and get settled.  Now it's time for me to get my house in order and focus on my business again.

I am going to start by challenging myself again this year to create at least 52 layouts and 52 cards - that's only one a week.....I know I can do this!  Anyone want to join me?  You can set your own goals, they don't have to be the same as mine.  Is there a group out there already that I can join??

So, in keeping with this new-found enthusiasm to keep my blog fresh and up-to-date, here are my first three layouts of 2013! 

 "Frosty" features paper and stickers from the Hot Chocolate collection from Fancy Pants. I also used an overlay with snowflakes and snowflake letter stickers from my stash.  You can't see them, but there are also some gems in the centers of the flowers. Entering this one in Seriously Creatives Winter Wonders challenge.

 Canoeing at Lake Pleasant has CTMH cardstock as a  base and I've used some Back Country paper, along with camping paper that I think came from Imaginisce.  Also used felt Thickers and letter stickers from Cosmo Cricket.

I used really old paper for this page, they came in a book from Melissa Francis....like I said, really old.  The colours were perfect for these photos though.  A little bakers twine and some flower stickers from my stash, a journalling card and voila!, it was done.

Let me know if you want to join me....I'll list your blog on my sidebar!