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 "Magic" Final Act (Again!)

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I have been struggling with shoulder and elbow pain and had to rest. The elbow has definitely been tendonitis as I have felt that pain before. The shoulder, however, is a different story and after more pain inflicted by my doctor manipulating it, I see an orthopedic doctor at the end of the month. Hopefully a quick fix awaits me!

I was working on some layouts using "Victory" papers this weekend and realized how much the Magic book has become my "go-to" book! It really contains some nice layouts. Plus this Final Act has been used alot, just with the Sonoma layouts. Click on the "Sonoma" over in the right column and you will see the there are multiple variations. Then if you were to turn this page around and use different photo orientations--you have even more options for this single design. I hope those of you who enjoy our books as much as I do have been able to get your copy. For now, I'll better get back to Sonoma and another layout from Magic.

Products Used

X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2111 Chocolate, Z2114 Cocoa, Z2147 Smokey Plum
Z1316 CTMH Designer Ribbon Rounds Cocoa Collection
Z1336 Cream Pearls
Z1635 Heirloom Assortment (The large dangling gemstone is from the is part of the Heirloom Asst.
            I love how it adds to the page. It attaches with jump rings and a brad.)
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
1772 Glue Dots
9034 Magic (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 C1269 Fabric Finishes
Discontinued CTMH Textured Cardstock: Amethyst and Chocolate
XL Oval and Scalloped Punches



Sonoma "Magic" Enchantment

Our Stickease, cardstock stickers make layouts SUPER easy. There are two 6x12 sheets of stickers/set, I used one sheet to create this layout and added some ribbon and brads. On the back of the sticker carrier sheets are 2 photos of layouts, I just adjusted them to fit my photos, which included trimming a few of the Stickease so they would fit my spaces better. But the layouts are impressive, fast, and easy.

Products Used

X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
X7143C Sonoma Stickease

X5905 Bright Green Shade Cardstock Pack
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2103 Bamboo, Z2114 Cocoa, Z2167 Creme Brulee,

Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1316 Designer Ribbon Rounds Cocoa Collection
Z1366 Brads--Metal Assortment
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
1772 Glue Dots
9034 Magic (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources.



Sonoma "Magic" Magic Act and "Reflections" Visual Textures

Cherish, Imagine, Magic, and Reflections are how-to books for Scrapbooking and Wishes and Originals are how-to books for Cardmaking, written by Jeanette R. Lynton the Founder & CEO of  Close To My Heart. They're my go-to guides. They're better than just sketches because they have the cutting dimensions, diagramsm and directions to put your layouts together.  They contain hundreds of patterns, ideas, mini-tutorials and beautiful photography. I am SO thankful that I bought all of them.

All of the layouts in each book, as is the case of this layout, can be mixed and matched. Each page, below, is from a different book. Plus the layouts are designed so that you can turn them in any direction and have a different look. I have already started on a new workshop and one of the layouts I'm using was created by another consultant. I didn't even recognize it until I pulled the book out and then I realized I had created it in the Sonoma workshop, she just turned it upside down.  I have Pagemaps and Sketches but I still keep going back to these becaue of all the detailed instructions.

As noted below, some are sold out, but you can still get those still available on my website, where shipping starts at just 4.95. After CTMH is finished selling them, check amazon.com. Some are available now there and at Michaels.

Products Used

X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2114 Cocoa, Z2147 Smokey Plum
Z1316 CTMH Designer Ribbon Rounds Cocoa Collection
Z1336 Cream Pearls
Z1635 Heirloom Assortment (for flower in between the two buttons on the right page)
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
1772 Glue Dots
Layout
9031 Reflections and 9034 Magic (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources!)

Discontinued CTMH New England Ivy Textured Cardstock
Creative Memories Silver Pen
K and Co. Letter Stickers
Buttons

Sonoma Magic "Out of the Hat

I LOVED finding these pictures. The car was actually my grandmothers! I went and bought the Tim Holtz Sizzix Jalopy die to use on this layout. I wound up getting the Movers & Shapers Jalopy, as well as the ATC embossing folder for another car my Dad has that looks just like this one. I was going to put a picture of his car on the left page and noticed his had spoke wheels and this one didn't; that's how I realized they weren't the same cars. A good way you can identify different eras in your photos when they all look to be the same--check the little details--haircuts, clothing, belts, shoes, jewelry, toys, or in this case wheels.

Right under the car I have a note that says, "Mother's grinning like an opossom in her new car, HAHA." It was on the back of the photo in my dad's handwriting and so nice to have. I make photocopies of the backs of photos like this at Staples and then sponge the white paper with Bamboo ink and/or Creme Brulee and Cocoa, Smokey Plum, or Amethyst on the edges. Then I will add them to my pages right beside their original photo. The sponging makes it so the bright white doesn't detract from the layout and I incorporate my ancestors' writings in my layout.

Products Used

X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
X7143C Sonoma Stickease
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2100 Amethyst, Z2103 Bamboo, Z2114 Cocoa, Z2167 Creme Brulee, an Z2147 Smokey Plum,
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1316 Designer Ribbon Rounds Cocoa Collection
Z1366 Brads--Metal Assortment
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
1772 Glue Dots
9034 Magic (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources!)

Additional Items:
Sizzix Tim Holtz Jalopy Die
Encore Copper Ink Pad
Crayola Metallic Copper colored Pencil (Their metallics are soft and contain a good amount of pigment.)
Stampin Up First Edition Special Designer Series Paper
Discontinued CTMH Pansy Purple Textured Cardstock
Discontinued CTMH Colonial White Textured Cardstock
The journaling sticker is actually two from an old CTMH Stickease pack. I save journaling stickers or blocks. For thiw layout, I cut 2 in half diagonally since I couldn't decide on which color to use and pushed the two halves together, making one block out of both colors.
Prima flowers

Sonoma, Magic "Magic Act"

This was one of the last set of pages I made and I had run out of papers to use, I was truly using scraps, with my friends bringing their own pale lavendar/purle pages since I didn't have anymore.

On the left page I learned that my love for dogs is from my dad! We always had dogs when I was growing up. It is so neat to learn about me from old photos as well as about my father. The right page has photos of him, his dad, and his brothers.

Old pictures are small and what do you do to fill in empty spaces? First I added some fern leaf punchies from the EK Success Corner Adorner. Not enough. The dog paw brads wouldn't work on the right page. I stood in the my craft room and just looked around until I saw the box containing the Making Memories Antique Glitter Deco Brads. They're a Glittery Copper and along with some of the words from Close To My Heart Background and Texture Paper Zip Strips, they filled in blank spots on the right page nicely. I also added some tiny square, clear sparkles, that may not show up online to the leaf punchies.

Products Used
X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2100 Amethyst, Z2147 Smokey Plum
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1104 Clear Sparkles
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1612 Pin Clips
1772 Glue Dots
9034 Magic (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources!)

Additional Items:
Discontinued CTMH Amethyst Textured Cardstock
EK Success Corner Adorner--Fern Leaf
Making Memories paw print brad
Making Memories Antique Glitter Deco Brads
7 Gypsies D is for Dog Stickers
Bazzil cardstock (green)

Sonoma Magic "Final Act"

One day, a Monica and Teresa were looking at a Sonoma layout on page 38 of the Autumn/Winter 2011, Close To My Heart Idea Book and a new Workshop idea was born! That's where I have been and why I haven't been posting for a while. I have been busy planning, creating, cutting, and organizing pages of a mega 15-page Sonoma Workshop. Now it is time to share the results with you. My friends still aren't finished, but boy do I have some nice pages and they will too when they're finished. We also had a blast visiting, sharing stories, and will when they come back to finish their pages. I know I want to do more.

I'm starting at the back of the ones I have finished and moving forward in hopes that when you open this, you can read from front to end. I hope you enjoy it!

This is my mother's parents. These papers were perfect for my historical photos and the layout was copied from page 41 of the Idea Book. I added the Journaling Box at the bottom, Prima leaves to my Heirloom Asst. flower, mini pearl accents, in addition to changing the font and paper a little bit. The layout is from the Magic Book and is the "Final Act" design. More layouts coming soon!

Products Used
X7143B Sonoma Paper Pack
B1392 Key Moments My Acrylix Stamp Set
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2114 Cocoa, Z2147 Smokey Plum
Z1316 Designer Ribbon Cocoa Collection
Z1336 Cream Pearls (I don't think you can see, but there are mini pearls in the big flower on the left and on the cameo frame.)
Z1635 Heirloom Assortment
Z697 Sponge
Z534 Microtip Scissors
Z1471 CTMH Ruler
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
1772 Glue Dots
9034 Magic (Check my website for availabilty. These books are being discontinued and are only available while supplies last. They are FANTASTIC resources!)

Additional Items:
Discontinued CTMH Chocolate Textured Cardstock
Stampin Up Rich Razzleberry Cardstock and Marker
Stampin Up Designer Frames Textured Embossing Frame for my journaling box
Quickutz Marigold Classic Font

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.

Blessed Card

Such a pretty stamp set. It was an April Stamp of the Month and I love both the greetings in this set of 12. "We are so Blessed" and "If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.--Alfred Lord Tennyson." I never knew Tennyson to be the author of this saying. Flowers, Leaves, and Greetings, can we ever have too many stamps???
When I saw this saying, I new I had to make something with it and incorporate the rosebud ribbons in our Designer Ribbons pink collection. Here is my card. The left side is the outside and the right side is the inside of the card. It is the "Sun Dial" design on page 14 of the Close To My Heart Wishes Card Confidence Program book.

For the leaves, I hand cut little ovals out of cardstock scraps, scored and folded them in half. The circle and decorative corners on front greetings and inside panel were created with punches I colored the leaves on the inside panel with Garden Green and then flicked the center protion with Olive for the highlight. The flower's solid part of the stamp was inked with Sunflower ink, and then the lower edges were rolled in Smoothie ink and then stamped. This is so easy to do with totally clear stamps and blocks. Then I used the blending pen and my matching inks to blend out any lines in the flower.

Supplies Used

9033 Wishes Card Confidence Program

D1455 Blessed My Acrylix Stamp Set

X7136B Mayberry Level 2 Paper Pack

1245 Olive Cardstock

Exclusive Inks Markers: Z2337 Olive & Z2320 Garden Green

Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads: Z2114 Cocoa, ZZ2196 Smoothie, & Z2150 Sunflower

Z1384 Pink Designer Ribbon Collection

Z697 Sponge

3174 Blending Pen 

Z608 Scoring Stylus

Other items: Circle punch and Stamping Up corner punch

Our First Club Workshop Calendar Page

I've made one little change . . . when I signed up with Avon, they assigned my website address so it didn't have my "MKP." I wrote and begged and they changed it! My new Avon website address is http://mkp.avonrepresentative.com/.

I hold monthly club workshops. My club members commit to monthly purchases for one year, get projects, are hostess one month of the year, and get 20% off their purchases during their birthday month. For February, They purchased the Wings Workshop on the go (I will post that later) and we made the two pages, I sent them home with homework--to make the cards, and then I provided supplies, using the gorgeous Magnifique papers, to make our first calendar page. For those who don't want a calendar, it will work as a 12 x 12 page. Close To My Heart has a top, spiral-bound 12 x 12 calendar for $7.95. This is a bargain for those who want to make the calendar. For the months, we can stamp them, or us Silhouette, Cricut, or even Sizzix or Quickutz dies.

My page was inspired by CTMH's Book Magic. It is page 70, layout: "Ta-Da!" The book provides tips, layouts, ideas, cutting dimensions AND layout patterns for 35 12 x 12 kinetic layouts. BUT they have made the book so that they can be standard layouts or those that are movable, with pop-ups, slides, etc. It is really a clever book with lots of detailed, colored photos accompanying the directions.

My large bird was stamped on Sky cardstock with Lagoon Ink, then before stamping, the image was rolled in Vineyard Berry ink. Because you can't roll in all areas, I used a Sponge Dauber to ink those edges. Then it was cut out and I used a sponge to brush the edges with Vineyard Berry ink providing more depth to the image. Both Large an small images were affixed to the page with the body flat and the wings and tails popped up with foam tape. 

The little birds were punched out of some old copper colored paper I had from Hero Arts, using a Martha Stewart punch.

There was a shadow of the person taking a photo on the lower right corner of the photo--by the date. I stamped a swirl on photo twice to sort of hide it. It does a much better job of hiding in person. Just remember that you can ink edges or stamp on photos with our Exclusive Inks as long as you let them dry before handling them.

 

There is a hidden journaling tag behind the photo on the left. A few tips--my buttons are clear buttons. I ran my Background and Texture Paper through Xyron so the adhesive would be on the design side. Then we cut little squares out, put the design side next to the button and just trimmed excess off--super fast and easy. You can't even tell that the cut isn't even. Then the bracket--we've used that before. I run Background and Texture Paper through Xyron and attach it to Cardstock. I stamp the bracket on my cardstock and then trim. The stamped image just provides the cutting diagram. The cardstock provides stability so that I can pop it up on foam tape so that it looks like a cardstock image.

PRODUCTS USED

X7127B Magnifique Level 2 Paper Pack $12.95
D1438 Circle of Love My Acrylix Stamp Set $22.95 (big peacock in top left and photo swirl)
D1452 Find Your Style, January Stamp of the Month. (SOM's are available on a sliding scale--email me for more info.)
My bracket stamp is discontinued, but check out C1399 On the Edge $18.95
Z1391 Clear Button Assortment $5.95
Z697 Sponge $1.25
Z726 Sponge Dauber $3.95
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads $5.95/ea
   Z2157 Vineyard Berry     Z2192 Pacifica     Z2195 Lagoon
The Foundry Tabs (on Journaling Tag) have been discontinued
The polka dot ribbon are old, discontinued CTMH products--see how nice even discontinued products coordinate!
Old Hero Arts Copper paper
Martha Stewart Bird Punch