Am I actually able to post something??? Let's Try a Tommy WOTG Main Layout

Hey all, I think I'm back. I haven't been able to post anything in months as you can see. There is something with Google that since I had a Verizon account when I set it up, even though I changed, to Gmail (a google product), I can't change my blog to a gmail address. so all this time It hasn't been letting me sign on. Tonight, I have been futzing with it for an hour and got online. I am hoping it works . . . We'll see?!?!?!?!

 

Tips:

1. When you stamp the tiny little flag banner, across the top--stamp it on your scrap paper first to get a feel for it. I didn't and messed it up near the center. This one is too small to mess with trying to see through the block to get it exactly in the right spot to fix a misstamp.
2. You may want to cut your square instead of using Cricut to cut them. I'm NOT a huge Cricut fan. It is good for some things, but not everything. Evelyn is like a mother to me so when I make a layout, I cut pieces of her supplies and get a layout ready for her to put together. We tease her and say the "stamp fairy" came by! Anyway the "stamp fairy" found it easier to just cut the square and clip the corners with the edge of a circle punch or a Stampin Up corner punch that makes this same design.
3. CTMH had us cut a thin strip of red paper for a "ribbon" for the tag. I used red ribbon instead and then needed to pop-up my tag; it didn't work flat.
4. See the two "arrows" made out of the striped paper? I don't always follow the cutting directions but did time because CTMH shows us how to cut the paper to make these arrows. It is super easy and they look great!
5. Don't freak out when your white stamped image doesn't quite fit on the Cranberry Cardstock. It works when you continue with the following steps, so don't do like I did and smush the edges.
6. My friend Candice gets and saves advertisements where ever she goes and uses them to make great layouts. When we went to Hawaii in November 2012, I copied her and even had my husband help. On this layout, the left page title is from a coupon and the journaling in the Outdoor Denim Square is the definition of the term, also from that coupon. Down at the bottom, I included some trivia about Hilo from one of the sheets we received on the ship. On the right page, on the square with the flags, I affixed two strips cut off of the Macadamia nut box about when the first macadamia nut tree was planted. So most of my journaling was taken care of with trivia about Hilo. When I am finished with all of my Hilo layouts, I will have my husband make some notes and I will make some on both of our highlights, adding tidbits for which I didn't have room.

Products Used:                                                        Discontinued Products Used:

G1058 Tommy WOTG                                                 Cranberry Bigger Brads

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads                                          Mini Gold Brads (I put 1 where ea

    Z2118 Desert Sand                                                        stamped mini-banner section

    Z2140 Outdoor Denim                                                    met, across the top.) 

Z697 Sponge                                                               Cranberry Grosgrain

Z1114 Piercing Tool Kit                                               Other Products Used:      

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape                                                 Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue®

Z1471 Ruler (grids help make layouts even)                 Stampin Up Corner Clip punch

Z1836 Non-Stick Micro Tip Scissors                              Cricut Expression**

Z1686 Cricut Art Philosophy Collection

 

NOTE ON CRICUT EXPRESSION: For those interested, you can still get the Cricut Expression on Amazon.com. (Click on "Expression" up above, under Products Used.) The Expression 2 is the new one with the printout and stylus that I've been told is  NOT user friendly.  As of 6:47 p.m. on 5/28, this link showed that they had 13 new from $145.00 14 used from $125.00 and 2 refurbished from $159.99. Seems odd that the refurbished is more expensive than a new one.

Pemberley Bonus Layout--I Like This One Better!

The Workshps On The Go are so great. You get professional looking layouts and don't have to do the hard work of figuring out what to do--it's all been done for you, complete with dimensions!  Pemberly was one of my favorites from the Spring Summer book and I'm thrilled to Say it IS in the Autumn Winter book.

This is of my dad's cousins. They were such super-nice people. If you look close, the little kid in the photos on the right page--that's me.

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PRODUCTS USED

 

G1033 Pemberley Workshop On The Go Kit Includes the following:

      X7148B Peberley Paper Pack

      Pemberley Stamp Set--exclusive for this set

      Z1694 Bouquet Assortment

      Z1707 Bitty Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems

      Instructional Brochure T

Z1686 Cricut Art Philosophy Collection
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2118 Desert Sand, Z2140 Outdoor Denim, Z2162 Honey
Exclusive Inks Marker: Z2421 Outdoor Denim

Z1327 Sparkles--Blue & Green Assortment

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Z534 Micro-Tip Scissors

C697 Sponge

Other products used: Thickers (for the letters)

 

PRODUCT REVIEW: THICKERS

I have to say . . . Thickers are beautiful; they have some fantastic colors. BUT that is where my affection stops for them. I HATE them!!! The adhesive doesn't stick to them I pulled out my trustee Xyron, it didn't stick to them. You basically have to glue each and every letter down to get them to stick. Life it MUCH to short. If I'm doing that, I will be cutting my own letters, thank you very much. I will be donating my Thickers to a preschool.

Pemberly Workshop On The Go, Mary Style!

When I saw Pemberly, I loved it and knew I wanted to use it for special photos. What could be more special than for my dear sister Patty. Patty was always the one I wanted when I got hurt. I wanted Patty to fix me. Patty bought me my first doxie. A red Susie dog for my 2nd birthday. I grew up with Susie. Patty taught me lots of things thoughout my life. For my high school graduation, she got me a Thesaurus that I still have and cherish! I love Patty and I hope she sees that in this layout.

The original layout has a solid scalloped Outdoor Denim Circle, 2 small photos, and one large on the left page, and two wallet-sized photos on the right page. The ladies with which I scrap and I prefer better use of our pages so I promised I'd change that. Here is my version.

I left all the same pieces as Close To My Heart suggesed except for the large round Outdoor Denim Piece. I changed that to take advantage of the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge. Instead of leaving it solid, I cut it using the Decorative Layer on Page 31 (Top right corner of your Art Philosophy Book), using the same dimensions as your WOTG suggests.

I also double-sponged the tag, letters, and Desert Sand circles first with Honey, and then with Desert Sand--try this it really gives more dimension. I sponged all Blue circles with Outdoor Denim, and sponged the pages with Desert Sand.

I also created an arc with my photos instead of just two wallets on the far right and the 3 on the left.

The other change was I added 3 blue Sparkles to the first "s" of Sister. Patty deserves a little sparkle!

Oh and one other tip, to affix your decorative layer to your page, use spray adhesive--can get it at your local craft store. It is much easier than trying to glue it and hoping the glue stays wet!

Products Used

G1033 Pemberley Workshop On The Go Kit Includes the following:

     X7148B Peberley Paper Pack

     Pemberley Stamp Set--exclusive for this set

     Z1694 Bouquet Assortment

     Z1707 Bitty Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems

     Instructional Brochure   

Z1686 Cricut Art Philosophy Collection

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2118 Desert Sand, Z2140 Outdoor Denim, Z2162 Honey

Z1327 Sparkles--Blue & Green Assortment

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Z534 Micro-Tip Scissors

C697 Sponge

Other products used: Spray adhesive

Sonoma "Reflections" Mainframe Tied Up

Well, this is the photo that started it all! isn't it a beautiful layout? I would love to say I was the one who created this, but I didn't the design team at Close To My Heart did. I just replicated it from the Idea Book. I think it is a great layout to showcase my father's parents, people I never met, but I have heard were wonderful. I never heard a bad thing about them. But my faith tells me that when I get to heaven, they will be there too as they believe in Jesus so they'll be there waiting for me with my mom and dad. (For my beliefs on this matter, please see the notes below Products Used.)

Products Used

X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack

E1019 Bohemian Alphabet

C1467 Sweet Moments
Z1686 CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2100 Amethyst, Z2103 Bamboo, Z2111 Chocolate, Z2114 Cocoa, Z2137 Olive and Z2147 Smokey Plum

Z1612 Pin Clips
Z1316 CTMH Designer Ribbon Rounds Cocoa Collection
Z1326 Sparkles--Red, Pink, and Purple Assortment

Z1297 Edge Distresser
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
1772 Glue Dots
9031 Reflections (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources!)

Other Products

Discontinued CTMH Textured Cardstock: Bamboo

Stampin Up Designer Frames Textured Embossing Frame for my journaling box
 

Thank you Lord that this isn't all life offers; there is so much more through You, and much better too!

The following is what I believe and from the New Living Translation of the Bible.

John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it."

1 Thessalonians 4:13"And now, dear brothers and sisters,

we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died

so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

14For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again,

we also believe that when Jesus returns,

God will bring back with him the believers who have died."

15"We tell you this directly from the Lord:

We who are still living when the Lord returns

will not meet him ahead of those who have died.

16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout,

with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.

First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.

17Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth

will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

Then we will be with the Lord forever.

18So encourage each other with these words."



Sonoma "Reflections" Triple Play Tagline

When I make a layout, I rarely pick it out with pictures in mind. I usually do so because I like the paper and layout. I add my pictures afterwards, or pick pictures out after I have decided what to make and then figure out a way to make it work. I have wanted to create this layout from the first time I saw it when Reflections first arrived at my house. So, when I was getting to the end of my layouts and had lots of scraps left, but not many full sheets of paper, I decided, I was gong to make it. I never once considered the photos. I knew I had a lot of little pictures of my dad, but never dreamed that when I made 16 small squares I would have 16 small pictures of my dad. SURPRISE!!! I was so happy that the two worked together.

The Crop-A-Dial made this so much faster than the old way of pounding in eyelets with a hammer and the setting tool, quieter too. Just remember 3-C for standard eyelets. To punch your holes, it's real scientific. I eyeballed where I wanted my holes to be, drew a dot on my cardstock, grabbed 4 pieces stacked together, punched the hole, and then with my Crop-A-Dial still squeezed together, set the guide on the hole punching side so each other hole would be punched at the same depth. No more measureing. To set the eyelet, it's as easy as unlocking your front door. You need to put your key in the hole in your door to unlock your house. So with your Crop-A-Dial, you need to put the "stem" of the crop-a-dial or "KEY" in the hole of your eyelet, and the eyelet in the hole of your paper, before you squeeze and "unlock" the magic of the tool, by setting your eyelet. SIMPLE!

At the top of each piece of Close To My Heart's Background and Texture paper, are Zip Strips. One side of the Zip Strip contains identification information on the paper pack that the paper is from, such as colors used in that paper pack and the product name and number. The other side is useable with a printed border, alphabet, or words. When my layout was complete, it needed something else, I added the Zip Strips to the far left and right edges of each side and purple Sparkles to the Zip Strips.

Something else I have decided to do, thanks to my friend Candice is start using some of my old letter stickers. WOW were they a waste of money. I have gotten so used to using My Acrylix clear Stamps, Quickutz, Sizzix, and even Sandy's Accucut, that I just quit using the gazillion stickers I had bought over the years before these great machines and my clear stamps. This layout used five letters and I would have had to buy one alphabet just to get those 5 letters. Those days are over. PLUS with CTMH's My Acrylix and our blocks, they're super-simple to align. Our blocks have a laser cut line etched into the block. It is going to be hard using the stickers, but I'm determined to use some of the things I spent money on and get rid of them--creating more space in my craft room. We'll see how long that lasts! 

Products Used

X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
C1465 Unscripted
Z1686 CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (For the little title tag on the right page.)
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2100 Amethyst, Z2114 Cocoa, Z2137 Olive and Z2147 Smokey Plum
Z1326 Sparkles--Red, Pink, and Purple Assortment
Z1360 Designer Brads
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
1772 Glue Dots (sometimes old photos have a hard time sticking to a page and I use a Glue Dot to keep them down.)
9031 Reflections (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources!)

Discontinued CTMH Embroidery Floss Green Assortment
Discontinued CTMH Eyelets
Crop-A-Dile (The ONLY way to set alot of eyelets!)
Assorted Cardstocks used on other layouts
K and Co stickers

November Project: Fall Banner

At convention, I met a fantastic presenter . . . Denise Black! She is one of the best teachers I have met and so creative. She shared two projects with me that I have shared with my friends, our Halloween tile and this great fall banner. It is made with a discontinued stamp set, but I still love it and knew I wanted to make it with our Dreamin' paper pack. The ladies and I had such fun this weekend.

I don't like using discontinued stamps for my projects, but this was an exception. The Many Thanks set, D1371, is a favorite of mine and when I went through all of my stamps, there weren't any others that came close to working for this project.

My first flower is 7" and the last flower is 6." To save paper, we made the final ones for the projects 6" and they worked fine. I had the ladies roll the petals down first, then roll them up as tight as possible to keep from tearing them, and then when finished, let them unroll to the dimension they want. I user an Imaginisce Petal Roller to roll my petals and then my flowers. I actually just learned something. There is a petal roller for fabric and for paper; I have the one for fabic. Guess what--it works fine and it's pink and prettier so that's the one I'm keeping!

Here are some close ups for you:

 

Products Used

Z1686 Cricut Art Philosophy Collection

X7142B Dreamin Paper Pack

D1371 Many Thanks My Acrylix Stamp Set

X5912 Dark Neutral Shade Cardstock Pack (for Cocoa)

Z1334 My Creations Mix and Mingle Album

Z1683 Mixed Shapes Dimensional Elements

(Note: I used chipboard that I had on hand,

the Mixed Shapes set has the flower shapes in it.)

Z1333 Mocha Pearl Shapes

Z2194 Sanding Kit

Z2191 Finishing Files

Z578 Corner Rounder

Z534 Micro-Tip Scissors

Z697 Sponge

Z1296 Distressing Inks--Chocolate

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads:

Z2101 Autumn Terracotta

Z2103 Bamboo

Z2108 Brown Bag

Z2123 Goldrush

Z2137 Olive

Z2192 Pacifica

Z2150 Sunflower

Other products: Alene's Quick-dry Glue for chipboard pages, Tape adhesive of choice or Z679 Liquid Glass for Acrylic sheets, 1" circle punch for notched corners, Creative Memories decorative corner punch. 

Calendar Pages

For the next few posts, I thought I better share some more of the calendar pages we have made. I use assorted materials for these projects.

Products Used

Discontinued Wings Paper Pack

Z1294 Sanding Kit

Z1615 Designer Ribbon Red Collection

Sizzix Sizzlets Broadway Letters

Stampin Up Butterfly Die

Stampin Up label Punch

Because our stamps are totally clear, you can stamp on them after you cut them out with your Cricut. Plus we have stamp images that totally match Cricut images!

Products Used

X7139B Elemental Paper Pack

Z1686 Art Philosophy Cricut Collection, Cartridge and Stamps

Z1298 Texture Tools

Z196 Distressing Inks--Chocolate

Z2157 Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad--Vineyard Berry 

Bazzil Cardstock

Satin Ribbon

Imaginisce i-rock Jewel Setter

Chalk Ink

CTMH Spotlight Blog Hop: Circle Cards

If you have arrived from Wendy's Scrapbooking Blog, you are in the right place. If not, I'll get you there. Each person's site follows another like a circle of us sitting around a table, sharing what we have made with you and if you keep clicking on the following name (my page will take you to Elizabeth's), you will wind up back to Wendy, and then back to me.

Because I have listed several new products, I have highlighted some and linked each one to my website. You can click on the bolded/underlinded phrase and see more information on the products and pick some up if you'd like. If you do, however, be sure to check out the "while supplies last" section for some great bargains.

This month's Close To My Heart Spotlight product is Circle Cards. I chose to use the Colonial White circle cards to make my card. There come in packs of 12 cards with matching envelopes and are also available in White Daisy. We also have Z1309 4 1/2" Clear Cards that are packets containing 8 flexible, clear cards, 4 square and 4 scalloped circles along with 8 cello envelopes. Each card has a removable protective coating. These are so pretty when embossed and work beautifully with our double-sided papers.

Since I just got my Cricut Art Philosophy collection in my convention bundles, and the great Roxie papers that I already played with I knew I wanted to use these products. Oh and I had to use the NEW cute little Just Blooms Flutter Paper Shapes--Love them. Lots of elements and this is what I came up with, a special card for someone special!

The big black center of the left flower is a velvet button I had laying out my craft table. It was huge and I told some friends I would find something to use it for. It made a great coneflower! Everything else is Close To My Heart Products and most are new.

I cut the Rose at 5 1/2" and the Coneflower at 6" on the Cricut. There is a Tulip-colored belly band underneath the flowers, with belt loops on each end to hold the ribbon. that I believe I cut at 3 1/2". The ticket was easy as the carrier sheet that holds the stamps tells you what size to cut it--1 inch.

We have a stamp that matches the leaves, but to stamp them, I would have had to cut them approximately 3/4." I learned why you cannot cut the leaves that small; their stem turns out less than threadlike and it pretty much disintegrates when you take the leaves off the cutting mat. I think my leaves were cut at 2." Then I just took a swirly stamp and stamped a design randomly all over them. Since our stamps are 100% clear, you they are super easy to stamp after you have cut them out on the Cricut. If your cut image it too small to hold with your finger and stamp, hold it with a piercing tool.

Oh and the shimmer on the rose--that's my favorite--our own glimmer spray/mist. Mix it to match your projects, using our Spray pens, Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint, and Re-inkers. Even mix re-inkers to get different colors--the possibilities are endless and very inexpensive since you only use a few drops of reinker, pearl paint and water. You receive a recipe card in with the Spray Pens showing quantities you use, and measuring marks are right on the pen. If you want more, or less shimmer don't want any at all and just want a spray mist, omit the pearl paint.

SUPPLIES USED
Z1352 4 1/2" Colonial White Circle Cards
X7140B Roxie Level 2 Paper Pack
X5754 Creme Brulee Cardstock
Z1686 Cricut Art Philosophy Collection
D1491 Hooray Bouquet (click on title to see all stamps in set)
Z1615 Designer Ribbon Red Collection
Z1463 Just Blooms Flutter Paper Shapes
Z1333 Mocha Opaques (pearl for center of Rose)
Z1263 Bitty Sparkles (for Butterfly Body and dotting the "i" on ticket greeting)
Z553 Bonding Memories Chisel Tip Glue Pen
Z341 Memory Book Mini Glue Dots
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
Z1114 Piercing Tool (great for an "extra" hand or finger)
Z534 Micro-Tip Scissors
Z1380 Spray pens
Z1039 Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint
Z697 Round Sponge (for shading ink on my flowers)
Exclusive Inks Z2262 Honey Reinker
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads
   Z2114 Cocoa   Z2153 Sweet Leaf    Z2166 Tulip    Z2167 Creme Brulee

Believe it or not, this was a quick and pretty easy card to make. It took longer convincing myself that I couldn't play with all of my new toys and cleaning up my table afterwards. I had papers, tools, and embellishments everywhere! I tell you, it is just as hard for me when the new goodies arrive as it is for you when you get a new bag, to get back to everyday responsibilities than it is to sit right down and play!

Now it's time to leave my site and go see what the other creative ladies in the month's CTMH Spotlight Blog have created with Cricle Cards.

Next on the list . . . hop on over to see what  Elizabeth at Broken Treasures made.

Crop and Create Project: Memory Game Box

We created this great little box at the recent Close To My Heart Convention. I had so much fun making mine that I thought I'd share it so it's the project at my house on 8/12. Email me for more details.

Supply List
Z1686 Cricut Art Philosophy Collection
Z1614 My Creations Memory Game Box, complete with 24 3x3 Chipboard cards

C1464 Blue Ribbon My Acrylix stamps

X7141B Elemental Level 2 Paper Pack

X7141C Elemental Complements Dimensional Elements

X5920 Winter Cardstock Combo Pack

1273 Desert Sand Cardstock

Z1375 Kraft Cardstock

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads

    Z2114 Cocoa

    Z2118 Desert Sand

    Z2318 Exclusive Inks Desert Sand Marker

Z697 Sponge

Z1612 Pin Clips

Z1366 Metal Brad Assortment

Z1466 Bling Assortment

Z1151 3-D Foam tape

Z534 Micro-Tip Scissors

1772 Glue Dots

Z1114 Piercing Tool