Personal Challenge card

One of the ladies in one of my Masonic groups asked me to make cards for new members. What a perfect opportunity to work on my "personal challenge"! This is a simple Originals layout. Hopefully I'll have time to make something else later this week to do more with my challenge.

Materials: All CTMH. "Just Because" SS, "Friendship" small alpha SS, "Simple Stitches" SS, That's Amore L2PP, chocolate, tulip and blush inks, sponge, edge distresser.

Personal Challenge

Like many stampers, I have so many stamp sets that there are some I've forgotten about or some that I haven't even used yet. I decided to make a challenge for myself: once a week, I'll choose a stamp set and create something with it.

This week I have chosen the "Just Because" stamp set that was in the Just Because card kit promotion a while ago. Stay tuned to see what I create with it!

Quick post

It's been a while, so here we go....

I made this card the other night after the ladies from my scrapbook club left Sunday night. The "Thank you" scalloped circle was something I took off another card that I didn't really feel happy about. It looks loads better on this card.

Materials: All CTMH. Emporium L2PP, buttercup CS, "Say it in Style" SS, twilight and cocoa ink, cocoa grosgrain ribbon, embossing stylus, sanding kit, 3D pop dots.
Other: EK plain circle punch and scallop punch.

Easter "egg-samples"

Hello my bloggers!

When I first saw our Stamp of the Month for February, "Easter Eggs", I'll admit I didn't like it. ....at first. I couldn't get past the fact that it's a bunch of eggs. Couldn't that is until some lovely CTMH consultants showed some other ideas and I decided to create my own:
Here's one using the egg the traditional way on the right.
Flip the egg upside-down and now you have a balloon!

Now stamp an egg in a circle, cut it out, add a brad in the center, and then "viola!" you have a super cute flower!

How 'bout this....stamp the bottom of an egg along the edge of your card and trim for an adorable lace-looking scalloped edge!

I think the scallop is my favorite. This really showcases how truely versitle our stamps can be. Any questions on technique or how to order, please contact me.

Materials: All CTMH. Emporuim L2 PP and MyStickease, "Easter Eggs" SOTM, buttercup CS, cocoa grosgrain ribbon, colonial white ricrac ribbon. Cocoa, crystal blue, twilight, tulip and sweet leaf inks. Pewter decorative brad, twilight corduroy brad, sponge, edge distresser.

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Does anyone see anything odd with the way my blog looks now? All the sudden the whole right side of my blog wants to start at the end of my posts. I don't know what's going on. Sorry if it frustrates you as much as it does me. Hopefully it will fix itself, otherwise, I don't know how to fix it. :(

February Club pages and cards

Here it is ladies.....the pages for our February Club. These use the new Emporium PP and the new pewter decorative brads. Love this paper! It goes well with my pictures from my wine trip to Chelan. I also made the cards that they feature in the guides. So cute!

Materials for pages: All CTMH. Emporium PP and MyStickease, Connections SS, sweet leaf and cocoa inks, pewter decorative brads, colonial ricrac ribbon, sanding kit.

Materials for cards: All CTMH. Emporium PP and MyStickease, Connections SS, Easter Eggs (Feb SOTM). Sweet leaf, twilight, and cocoa inks. Colonial white grosgrain ribbon, sponge, edge distresser.

Sorry....I've been busy....

Hello all. Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I have been awfully busy this last week and weekend. I'm going to share with you some other things that I like to do.

Since the age of 11 I have been actively involved in Job's Daughters International, a Masonic youth organization for girls that are between 10 and 20 years old that teaches young women such things as speaking in front of crowds, planning fundraisers, planning and serving dinners for groups, and managing a meeting. You can find more info on this terrific youth group by following this link to the Washington site, or this link to the International site.

Job's Daughters has taught me very useful tools that has helped made me the open and confident woman I am today. I still am actively involved as an adult leader guiding the same young vibrant minds that remind me so much of me and my Jobie friends. It's so rewarding watching a new 10 year old member join all shy and timid and watch them grow and blossom into exciting, out-spoken, and confident leaders of tomorrow.

So.....that's mostly what I've been busy with. This weekend two of our youngest members volunteered to help out another Bethel (what we call our meeting places) in Bothell with their initiation of a new member. Both girls did me so proud! They new their memory work and their floorwork to perfection! I just couldn't stop gushing and telling everyone about how well they did.

The next day was our regular Bethel meeting at our Bethel in Snohomish. Before the meeting, we had a practice so that the newer members were not confused on how things go during the meeting. Again the girls made me proud. They quickly picked up on the instructions all while having fun. They are some outgoing and so willing to help. This part of my life is so rewarding.

In addition to Job's Daughter's, I am also a member of the Order of Eastern Star and Ladies Oriental Shrine. If you have any questions about these great organizations please feel free to e-mail me.

I also went to the Silvertips hockey game on Friday. It was an awesome game, and the Tips won over their local rivals the Seattle Thunderbirds in a shutout win of 4-0!! Go Tips and more cowbell!!

Darn coupons!

I went to JoAnn's last Friday looking for something to buy with my coupon, because you know you HAVE to use the coupon even though you don't really NEED anything. ;) So I was perusing the aisles, trying to find an item worthy of my coupon. Thinking to myself during my search:

"Oh! I can use it for a new punch.....no, on sale already."

"Oh, I can use it on a new die cut.....nope, they're on sale too."

Then I came across an end display featuring some new DCWV paper packs. This one called "Animal Crackers", and another called "The Green Stack".

"Those are so cute! Man, they're one sale too. Oh well, I'll just buy them anyway 'cause they're on sale it justifies it, right?"

So alas....I left JoAnn's with two new paper stacks and a still intact coupon. Guess I'll try to use it again later this week. ;)

Here's what I made with the Animal Crackers paper. It works perfectly with my CTMH "Nursery Bash" ss and "Life's a Jungle" ss. I made to boy style and two girl style. Too cute!

"Rotic" Luncheon

Every year, my close friend (and fellow blogger) Josie hosts what she calls a "Rotic" luncheon: Romantic without the "man". All of her closest girlfriends are invited to enjoy champagne and Josie's terrific food. These luncheons in fact are what got us all to convince her to go to culinary school. There's only one word that comes to mind when I think of Josie's culinary creations: Gluttony!

So anyways....back to the actual invitation. Josie had asked that it be mostly red in honor of the Red Dress Campaign. I chose the ever perfect cranberry cs and a simple yet fun heart to accent the invite. Glitter is applied to the butterflies in the heart.

Materials: All CTMH. Cranberry and white CS, You and Me SS, Key To My Heart SS, cranberry ink, prisma glitter, edge distresser.

Other: Swiss dot Cuttlebug folder, Word processor.

Special FREE stamp set!!

Close To My Heart is celebrating 25 years of business and they're giving YOU a gift! For the month of February only, when you spend $25 in My Acrylix stamps (Customized Name and Stamp of the Month excluded), you'll receive this adorable B-size My Acrylix "Good Times" stamp set (retail value $13.95), packed with fun and versatile party-inspired images, for FREE! What was that.....FREE, FREE, FREE!

This is a great time to book a party and earn additional FREE product for yourself. With how easy it is for your guest to earn this FREE promotional stamp set, just think how quickly your party total can reach great heights! I am free most work nights and some weekends this month, so book quickly! Just e-mail me and I can set it up for you. I do all of the work for you, you just host the place and invite all your friends.

If you'd like to make a qualifying purchase just on your own, let me know via e-mail. I've seen this set and it's super cute and very versatile as you can see from the examples above.

"So.....let's celebrate! Here's to the next 25 years of happy stamping and Good Times!"

I <3 cupcakes!

Here's yet another cupcake card. I absolutely love this set. Don't know if you can tell from the photo (since my camera's a lame point-&-shoot) but there's glitter on the "frosting".

Materials: All CTMH. Paper Garden L2PP, Cupcake Sprinkles SS, Say it in Style SS, sweet leaf organdy ribbon, petal and sweet leaf ink, prisma glitter, corner rounder, sanding kit, 3d pop dots.

Valentine craft party

These are some of the fun things people will be making at my Valentine craft party this Wednesday. All are inspired by fellow CTMH consultant Lisa S. You can see her blog here The sour cream container can hold candy or a trinket inside. Hopefully everyone has fun creating these for their special someone.

Materials: All CTMH. Colonial White, Cranberry, and Blush CS. Silhouette L2PP, That's Amore L2PP, Rustic Alpha SS, Card Sentiments SS, Key to My Heart SS, Thoughtful Seasons SS, Connections SS, Soul Mates SS. Bamboo, cranberry, chocolate, blush, and tulip exclusive inks. Sponge, 3d pop dots, white embroidery thread.
Other: EK circle and scalloped circle punches.

Another inspiration....

I really love seeing what fellow CTMH consultant Aaron Brown is making. I regularly follow her blog. She always has such cute ideas. The other day I had seen this card and thought it would make a cute Valentine card. I had an awful lot of extra black and cranberry cardstock, so this worked out perfectly. The "love" sentiment is from a booking set I earned when I had a CTMH party as a customer a long time ago.

Materials: All CTMH. White, black, and cranberry CS. With Love SS, You and Me SS. Black, blush, sweet leaf, and cranberry exclusive inks, black ribbon round, paper piercer, sponge.

I was inspired....

Last night I was reading some of the blogs I like to follow. I came across these cards by Rachel at "Wonderful Whimsy". They are super simple to make, and I love her idea of making the matching envelope. Plus it gave me a reason to use some Prima flowers I bought quite a while ago. I'm going to leave them blank so I can add whatever sentiment I need later. Hope you get inspired as well.

Materials: All CTMH. Colonial White CS, Silhouette L2 PP, Notebook L2 PP, Intrinsic Backgrounds SS, Just Blooms, cocoa exclusive ink.

Other: Prima flowers, brads-Making Memories.