What have I been doing this summer???

Not blogging, that's for sure, and I'm sorry I haven't been! Here is some things that I've done:

I bedazzled my Cricut Expressions with VINYL!!! It now has my name on it and flowers. This was a long hard decision. My hubby and I were up to 2am playing and learning vinyl and that's when I decided to do my machine. He said flowers. I wanted something like a crest. He won.

I added a ladybug right above the logo :)

The hubby and I sell real estate for a living and so we did the Shorewest Logo and some yard signs. The Expressions is now a write off!!!

I'm doing an advance class for Hobby Lobby so I played around with making my own rubber stamps! Here is a monkey:

He fits nicely on my CMTH 3x3 clear block! I've got to play with the embossing folder for the Cricut and I also did glass etching using vinyl. Here's my first project:

It's a votive cup for a candle. I used the negative of the vinyl and put it on the glass and with Armour Etching paste I created this look.
The side view. Want to learn how to do these projects and more, come join my class! I'm going to be teaching at 3 Hobby Lobby's in Wisconsin in September!

Cricut Word Book

I've created a Cricut Class for Hobby Lobby that uses the Design Studio Software. It's a hands on class where you bring your machine, laptop and create this book in class! This is using the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge that came with the Expressions machines. $15 plus some supplies.

Each page is a letter that spells LOVE!

Plenty of places for photos inside too!
This book is made with the George and Basic Shapes Cartridge that came with the Orginial machine (6x12) I did one for each machine so that anyone can attend the class - you will get the cutting file downloaded onto your machine - I'm pretty clever - hey?

Decorate and there you have a great homemade album for any occasion!

Classes are at the end of August - email me if you are interested!

The Acrylic Album - Hobby Lobby

This is a class I will be teaching at Hobby Lobby in September.

It will teach people how to work with acrylic and what you can do to create this book.

Email me for details - $7 for the class. (Plus supplies).

There is water splash stickers on many of the pages.

They look like real water - clear and raised. She was not going in until I had her cousin B. take her hand and walked her thru.

By the end of the day she was dragging him thru!

My Water Baby!
Don't Drink The Water!

She slept good that night!

Where Have I Been?

Can't believe it's almost a month since I posted! I've been enjoying the summer! I've been taking tons of photos I'll have to share (see me on FACEBOOK and you'll see family fun almost daily.) I've even managed to do a few things too! Stay tuned for more postings!

THE WEDDING CARD

Now I know that many of you wanted to see the wedding card that I made with my Cricut Expressions and so here she is (now that the wedding is over I can show it off!) When you open it up there is a pocket with 4 cards on the right side and each one is for a different part of the wedding. We had to do 2 different sets, one for the people coming to everything and another for people not invited to the dinner.
Half the cards are two sided. The directions card has a map on the back and the response card is an actual post card that you mail back. I created the layout using the Cricut Software - no it didn't come predesigned on one of the cartridges. I used the George Cartridge and it takes about 9 different shapes (from the letter "C" to a triangle) to create the base/folder that holds everything. We really lucked out and somehow we managed to make the inserts 4.25 wide so we ran them thru my DreamKuts machine that cut the 8.5 x 11 in half - one less cut manually for us! This is what the layout looks like on the screen when I did it using the software for the Cricut:
It took 9 objects and there is welding, stretching and cutting being done all on one layout!We printed everything on my inkjet printer. There is Sparkles on the invite center page below the swirl on the bottom (not a good photo). We used Garden Green and Colonial White cardstock. (Thanks to the sister consultants that lent me their extra paper until my order came in! The Purple/Wine Paper is a specialty milled paper and was super expensive (there's a shimmer in the paper - trust me you don't want to try and glue on shimmery paper!)

The wedding party stayed at my lake house for the weekend to assemble all of them! (And they almost had all of them done in one weekend too - what great girls!!!) I'll have to post the assembly line photos. Each girl had a job to do and the cards just kept circling the table. We made 250 of these! I went thru 4 to 6 large mats and about 3 blades (the special ones for thick paper). I think it ate 4 to 6 ink cartridges too - they make those things soooo small lately - it's sad.

June Deal of the Day

CHOCOLATE BRADS!

Buy a stamp set (any size) and get FREE BRADS! Check my CTMH website every day to see the great savings!

Father's Day Fold Out Card

This last week Daddy has been taking our daughter fishing - I'll upload photos. She's a natural. She catches about 6 fish everytime she goes and she's just standing on the pier! It's a full time job keeping the worms on her hook (and YES she touches those GROSS worms TOO!) She can cast (and I'm deadly afraid of the hook - very long story). She hooked Daddy's sleeve once! But he's so proud of her. So I made this card for her and signed her name and gave it to her to give to her Daddy. While he was opening it she was ROLLING her eyes and she's only 3 years old. After he opened it she said she wanted to make her OWN card and got off the couch and went into my room and we made one. I guess she didn't like not having any part of making the first card!
I totally scraplifted this card and layout - loved the 3D effect and I made this one to fit a 6x6 envelope (I thought the 4.25 x 5.5 size would be too small and the canoe wouldn't fit very well.) I highlighted the edges of the boat with my Bamboo marker and did all the fish and boat with Chocolate Ink. The water waves are Moonstruck. There's a piece of thread that goes from the fish to the top of the fishing pole.

This is when it's flat. I almost made the water too high and the sign would be too tall for the envelope! Gotta watch the height. I'll post directions shortly.

Why I'm afraid of hooks story:

When my Uncle was a small boy he was fishing with a very close friend of the family, someone they would consider an uncle to the kids. My Uncle HOOKED this man in the eye lid while fishing.

When I was a little girl I went fishing with that same Uncle and I hooked HIM in the eye lid!!! I'm afraid it's my turn!! I cover my face with my hands whenever we go fishing. I'm also silly enough to worry that it might skip a generation and she'll get one in the eye - a Mother's job of worrying is never done!

OPEN CROPS!

Bring your stuff to work on and come borrow my inks, markers, Cricut and other great toys - plus Tastefully Simple will be catering! What more could you want?

Bring a card for the troops and get in for only $4 instead of $7! See my calendar at CTMH for details!

Thanks for looking and when I get more energy I'll create stuff soon.

For the Troops!

I have a co-worker that just left to go back and serve. He was called away from his wife and 2 little ones about a month ago. Just this week we all got a group update from him telling us were he is and how he is doing. I've seen so many sites doing cards to send to people in the troupes so I asked him what his thoughts were about me heading up one of these mass shipping of cards and this is what he emailed me back:

"They will be given to the soldiers who don't get much mail. Mail call is always a highlight to the day, everyone here likes getting cards and anything really in the mail, it kinda makes you forget how far away from home you really are. If that makes any sense."

So, I was wondering if there is anyone who would like to make a card or two and would like to donate them to my box that I want to send to the troupes - if you are interested please post here or email me privately.

Thanks for reading :)

New Header - What do you think?

I've been trying to come up with a new header for my blog. A very nice, fellow consultant, came up with one for me - isn't it nice! I have color! She happens to have the same first name as me - talent must run in the name! I put her blog link below - check out her site when you have a chance!

Spring - Finally!

Spring has sprung at our house

and I've been busy and not enjoying it!

I took these pictures this week of things I'm looking forward to:

My Daughter's StrawberriesJeanie and I would go out the strawberries every

morning a eat the ones that were ready.

Purple Ball Flower - Or that's what I call it!
The hubby relandscaped the back yard and accidently forgot to dig these up and move them, but they still survived this year and I'll dig them up and move them out of the way.

Open Crops

Sorry haven't kept up - life is getting in the way!

I'm hosting open crops Wednesday nights at my lake house for $7 and Cherie of Tastefully Simple is catering it! Last week was great and the food was awesome. I've added a few Saturdays to the mix and I might open up Friday nights too! So if interested, comment here or email me privately.

Swap Cards

Here is the swap card I made for this month's unit meeting! I used the NEW papers from the May Catty!! Sneak Peek!

The paper is called Bella and it's actually only one sheet - the purple circles. The flowers are Botanical Dimensional Elements. I used foam squares to give them depth and a sparkle to add bling. The green is our Garden Green ribbon. The Chocolate cardstock creates a flap, giving it an additional panel.Perfectly hidden under that flap I stamped a message that came from our NEW Buttoned Up Stamp set! (guess what objects are on that stamp set???) Here is a closer look under the flap.
Here is the inside:And closer . . . . .

Wedding Card

I've been doing wedding invites and shower invites the last month. Here's the brides wedding card from me using the leftovers:I used Edge Anchors on the sides and instead of putting the Brads in the holes I put Sparkles! I thought that would dress it up a bit. The ink is Daisy White Pigment ink so it shows up on the dark purple paper really well. (The purple is a special milled paper with sparkles mixed into the paper.) The Garden Green cardstock in the background I embossed with my Cuttlebug.The stamps are from our Love Always set with Pansy Purple ink. I added another Sparkle to the swirl on the inside. I think she'll like it.

Send Us Your Layout Jpegs!

National Scrapbooking Month is all about you! We want you to share your story with us, so put together your best two-page layout featuring…you! Send a JPEG photo of your layout and a description of how it is highlighting you, your life, your passions, your hobbies—whatever is the best way to tell your story. Send your photo and description to scrapbookandshare@closetomyheart.com and you will be automatically entered into the contest to win $150 US retail in Close To My Heart product!

Sign up here to get email updates and I'll pick an additional winner for a free D size stamp set. Just for reading this!!!