Make It Monday!

   Welcome back to another Make It Monday project! Today I want to show you my take on Layout #3 from the No Worries Workshop Your Way kit!

   I modified the cutting guides for this layout a little bit so that I could stretch my collection a little further. I used White Daisy cardstock for the bases and wallpapered them using the patterned papers cut down to size. Like the other two layouts, I used foam tape behind some of my die-cuts and stickers from the complements pack to give added dimension.

   I also added a Pocket Plus Design #1 (Horizontal 4x6 photos) Page Protector as suggested as an optional add-on to this layout! This picture shows the Pocket Plus over the right page.

   This picture shows the Pocket Plus over the left page. I love using these to add extra photos to my layout without having to make another two page spread! It's a great way to complete pages faster and easier. Plus it saves you time, too, and we all could use more of that, right??

   I have one more layout to show you this month as part of this featured paper pack! I think you're going to love it! Check back next week to see me wrap up this collection, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Make It Monday!

   Happy Monday to you! I kicked off my June with a ton of graduation parties already, but now I am down in Janesville, WI for a workshop that I am teaching tonight! I can't wait to show off these fun cards we are making using the No Worries paper pack!

   I also wanted to share a quick project with you all today! It's my second layout from the No Worries Workshop Your Way kit, and I LOVE it! These papers just make me swoon, and these pictures do not do them justice!

   I didn't modify this one at all! I love the layout as is and stuck to the cutting guides as suggested, too! For the embellishments I added foam tape behind the heart circle sticker on the upper left page, and the one on the lower right page. I also added some foam tape behind the "Together" circle sticker as well to make it pop more. I use a baby powder applicator to take the sticky off the stickers before adding foam tape, but corn starch also works, too!

   Thanks for stopping in and checking out another fun project this month! I hope you can make time to get crafty soon, and maybe even play with this kit! Until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Make It Monday!

   It's June already and I can hardly believe it! Summer is starting to peek at us and CTMH Convention is only 3 weeks away! Woohoo! I have a ton to do before then, but I wanted to share a fun layout with you today featuring this month's paper pack, No Worries!

   I followed the instructions for the first layout in the No Worries Workshop Your Way, but modified the cutting guides a little bit. I used White Daisy cardstock as my bases and only cut 1 palm tree paper to make the "middles". Everything else is the same! I also added foam tape behind the whitewashed starfish and the "Better" circle sticker. I like the different dimensions and added details that this gives to a finished layout!

   I love this collection so much and cannot wait to put some fun beach photos on it! Is this collection speaking summer fun to you? What photos are you hoping to scrap using this kit? Let me know! I would love to hear from you! Until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Make It Monday!!

   I'm sorry it has been so long since I have updated or posted. Time really has flown by already this year, and I found it hard to keep up with my blog with everything else my family had going on. I am hoping I can get back to posting regularly for you, though! I miss showing you all the fun things I have going on!

   Today I want to bring back my "Make It Monday" posts for you to show off some artwork and fun things that I have been creating lately! Today's artwork is from the new Seasonal Expressions II Idea Book! This book just went live May 1st. So you can see it online now or you can contact me to get a copy for yourself! 

   I love the collections in this idea book, and I think you'll love them too after seeing all the cute ways you can use them! The first collection I am featuring this month is called "Little Dreamer", and it is perfect for birthday celebrations, little girl pages, and summer fun projects!

   I started using this collection for my niece's 2nd birthday party pictures. The colors in this collection matched her outfit perfectly, and I thought it was the perfect bright and cheery patterns to show off her cute little personality in these photos!

   I stamped the banners portion on top using the "Way to Go" stamp set in Glacier, Thistle, Canary, and Whisper inks. The journaling card came from the retired "Beautiful You" Picture My Life set, and I used a mix of embellishments to finalize the look: White & Gold ribbon from the Little Dreamer collection, the Little Dreamer Complements, My Girl Complements, and the Gold foil dots came from the alphabet sticker sheet out of the retired January campaign: Welcome Home Wreath. 

   All of my pictures are 4x6 photos so I didn't have to do any trimming or re-sizing. The purple strip on top of my photos is the zip strip from the paper I used! I love that CTMH gives us extra border pieces to use with each paper in the collection! 

   This is the layout we are making at my in-home workshops this month! If you want to host one to make this layout yourself, contact me today! I would love to come show off the new products for you and your crafty friends! 

   I hope you have a great week! Enjoy the sunshine, and I hope you are able to get some crafty time in! Until next time:

Here's to live, love, and creativity!

   

Make It Monday

   Welcome back to Make It Monday! Have you been getting crafty for the holidays this month? Are you crafting for you or for others? I typically do more crafting for others this time of year, but I am hoping to squeeze in some time for my projects soon!

   Today I want to share another layout with you, but this one is for Christmas pictures! I used the Workshops Your Way: City Sidewalks Kit to complete this layout. However, I modified the original layout and sketch to make it my own. This is layout #2 from the WYW kit:

   Now here is my take on this sketch:

   I took the original sketch and rotated it outward (the bottom of the sketch now became the sides). I don't typically use a lot of 2x2 or 3x3 sized pictures so I also modified the picture sizes on my layout to use 4x6 and 3x4 pictures instead!

   Instead of the stripe paper I used the darker trees side, but kept all the other papers and colors the same. I moved the title to the bottom to accommodate my pictures better, too, and dovetailed all the pieces under the title piece. I added the glitter die-cut pieces from the City Sidewalks Complements pack, but still thought it needed something. So I decided to add some stamping! I used the Cozy Christmas stamp and Thin Cut Bundle to die-cut the trees and stamp them for my pages. I used Willow and Lagoon inks for the trees, Chocolate ink for the bases, and Cranberry ink for the stars. Then I layered and adhered them to my pages. I think they added the perfect touch, and were super easy to do!

   What do you think of my modified layout? What's your favorite way to modify sketches given to you in the Workshop kits? Let me know if you have any questions about this project or about the products used! Remember, this WYW kit and coordinating embellishments and stamp sets retire at the end of this month! So make sure and gets yours before it's too late! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Make It Monday!

   Happy Monday to you! I hope you are enjoying this new blog series I started this month! I love sharing my projects with you all, and hope that you are feeling inspired to get crafty yourself!

   Today's project is a two page layout using the new Swan Lake Workshops Your Way collection from the Holiday Expressions Idea Book!

   As soon as I started playing with the Swan Lake papers, I knew I wanted to scrap these photos of the hubby and I from 2010!!! Yep...only 6 years ago...no biggie.

   For this layout, I used the main pattern paper (swans on one side and floral background on the other) as accent pieces. Then I used the zip strip from that same paper under my photos, and finally embellished the whole layout using stamped images! That's right....only stamped images on this one! I used the With You stamp set from the Holiday Expressions Idea Book, and the Capture This stamp set from the Annual Inspirations Idea Book. I also used the September stamp-of-the-month, Blessed Beyond Measure, to add a few more Fall touches as well.

   The title was stamped directly on my project using Peacock ink and the new Marker Alphabet stamp set, and I love how it turned out spanning both pages as a centered title!

   Also, the other thing I love about this layout is the fact that I have room for 11 photos on these two pages! Yep I said 11! Can you find them all? Let me give you a hint:

   FLIP FLAPS!!! I love Flip Flaps and really cannot use them enough! I really didn't want to make another layout using my leftover photos from this one out-ing. So I used a 4"x12" Flip Flap (now retired) to add extra pictures to the left side of my layout. Since I cut my pictures down to 4x4 photos on this side, I technically could have 9 photos on this 1 page! Instead of a photo, though, I decided to put some memorabilia in a photo well spot, and, if you look at the pictures, you'll notice the pumpkin stickers are the ones on our shirts from that day at the Pumpkin Patch!

   What do you think? I still need to journal on this layout about our day at the pumpkin patch, but I love how fast this came together with very little product from my Swan Lake kit!

   Let me know if you have any questions about this fun Fall layout, and hopefully you can scrap some Fall pictures for your albums this week, too! Until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Back from hiatus!!

   Hi, everyone! I'm so sorry I've been on hiatus this year. Time flies really fast when you have a little one around, and trying to find my new normal has been a huge part of this year's learning curve!

   I'm loving being a mom, though, but miss posting fun projects for you all! So I'm back to blogging and sharing my fun creations with you, and am hoping that this will help me get more crafty time in each month as well!

   To start back in the blogging world, I want to start a new post series I'm calling "Make It Monday"! On most Mondays, I am hoping to share with you a project that I have made recently, and to give you tips on how you can re-create it for yourself!

   Let's kick this fun series off today by sharing a fun Halloween layout I made using CTMH's new collection, Jeepers Creepers, from the new Holiday Expressions Idea Book.

   I really wanted to scrap the pictures we took from our little guy's 1st Halloween last year. So I got out my new Jeepers Creepers Workshops Your Way Kit and got started! I used only 1 sheet of the main Jeepers Creepers paper (eyes on one side and cute monsters on the other), and the coordinating zip strip for that paper. I then added the Jeepers Creepers washi tapes, a journal card from the PML paper, and some die-cuts to complete the look.

   The title die-cuts came from a few cartridges. I used the font from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to make the "baby's" die-cut, and the "halloween" die-cut was cut from the new CTMH cartridge Flower Market. These two title pieces were then "colored" with the new CTMH Shimmer Brush to add a little extra shine and glitter to these fun die-cuts.

   For the ghosts, I used the Create-a-Critter 2 cartridge which has a pirate ghost image on it. I then cut the pirate hat off so that I just had these cute ghosts left. I ink distressed the edges in Desert Sand, and added foam tape to pop them off the page. The larger ghost was stamped to complete my title using Black ink and two new CTMH alphabet sets: Marker Alphabet and Bistro Script.

   The mini stars were punched out using an EK Success star border punch and the new CTMH color Tangerine, and the banners on the right side of the layout were made using Slate cardstock and the new CTMH Adventure Fundamentals collection to get the Pansy dots paper. I added a couple mini staples to these to add some more dimension on this side of the layout.

   That's it! It was a simple and quick layout for Halloween, but I love how all the little elements came together. All of my pictures are ~4x6 (I say approx. because they are printed from my Canon Selphy printer and not true 4x6 prints), and I still have a majority of my Jeepers Creepers Workshop kit to play with!

   You can click on any of the links in this post to find the products I used to complete this layout, but if you have any questions or comments, please let me know! I would love to help you re-create this for yourself!

   I hope you have time this week to get crafty yourself! Enjoy your week, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

CTMH Updates!!

   Happy Pie Day, everyone! I am finally getting back into the blogging world! I know it's been awhile, but I have enjoyed being home with my little guy these last few months!

   With that said, I have some updates for you today! CTMH has a lot of things going on right now with new product about to be released, old product about to be retired, and awesome new inspirational videos for us to check out! Here's the quick scoop on what you should know:

1.) Low or No Inventory on Thin Cuts dies

   That's right! With the release of this brand new product, CTMH has had a very positive response to these fun new dies. However, that also means inventory difficulties before the end of the Seasonal Idea Book.

   The Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts are completely sold out. New inventory will not be offered for these dies due to the lengthy manufacturing and ordering process. These dies were set to retire with the Seasonal Book's retirement, but inventory sold quicker than expected! It goes to prove that if you really like a product, ordering it sooner rather than later is best in these Seasonal supplements!

   I also found out that the Spring Critters Thin Cuts inventory is very low, and most likely will be sold out before the end of April. If these thin dies are on your wish list, I would suggest ordering them ASAP before they're gone!

2.) New Workshops Your Way Videos are now available on YouTube!!!

   Are you a visual learner? Do you enjoy watching instructional videos rather than read a pamphlet?? Well CTMH has the perfect solution for you! CTMH has made Workshops Your Way videos to help guide you through the 3 new workshops from the Seasonal Book. Simply go onto YouTube, search Close to My Heart, and you will have access to these and so many more helpful videos! Go check it out now!

3.) New Stamp Policy!

   Some of you may have seen my newsletter or Facebook post about this, but it's really important and I thought I should revisit again on here!

   CTMH is revamping their stamp policy for when and how long stamp sets are available for purchase. Starting now, stamp sets featured in the current Idea Books will retire when those Idea Books retire. There are only a few select stamps that this will not apply. You can view which stamp sets will carry over on the Google Document I set up for you:

Stamp Sets not Retiring in 2016

   Let me know if you have any questions about this or any of the other updates I shared today! I hope you all had a great weekend, and are enjoying some pie today! Until next time:

Here's to live, love, and creativity!