Welcome Home Wreath Kit

This month's Constant Campaign is a beautiful wreath kit. This is easily one of the best campaigns Close To My Heart has ever done. It is easy to put together and is beautiful when it's done! You can get your own kit by purchasing it for $18.95, or you can get it FREE when you place a $60 order. Here is a list of items I used to make my wreath:

Z679 – Liquid Glass – 6.95
Z1382 – Tweezers – 5.95
Z697 – Round Sponge – 1.25
Z726 – Sponge Daubers – 4.50
Z1795 – Quilling Tool – 7.95
Z2045 – All-Purpose Mat – 19.95
Z3316 – Shimmer Brush Gold – 4.95
Z2895 – Lagoon Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad – 7.95
Z2810 – Blossom Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad – 7.95
Z2850 – Fern Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad – 7.95

This is what the kit looks like before it's assembled:

I chose to ink the roses using Blossom ink. I found that it worked better to use a sponge (cut into quarters) rather than the ink daubers. I used the ink daubers to ink all the succulents and leaves. To get a realistic looking rose, it helps if you curl the edges of the rose outward before you roll it. I also softened the cardstock by bending it along the straight edge before I started rolling it. After I roll the rose, I let it unwind a bit and arranged it before using the Liquid Glass to glue it down. 

I love the result! Here's a helpful video on making the flowers:

This kit is only available until the end of January (or while supplies last), so order soon if you'd like to have one of your own. 

#52Stories - Week 3

One of the goals I'm actively working toward is to improve my health. At this point, I haven't narrowed it down to become a SMART goal (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound), but I am working on that as well. When I was 16 years old, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), and it has worsened as I've aged. Chronic inflammation is part of the problem, so I'm really focusing on lessening that by eliminating things from my diet that contribute to the inflammation. I'm following a primarily Paelo diet, which was a great excuse to invest in an InstantPot! I'm also working to add more movement - recumbent exercise bike, walking, and stretching. It's definitely a lifestyle change that won't happen overnight, but I continue to work at it to make small improvements that I can sustain. 

How about you? What goals are you actively working toward? 

#52Stories - Weeks 1 and 2

I was recently inspired by this post to document the things that are important to me this year. Each Sunday this year, my goal is to post the week's question and share as much of my answer as I can. I'm really excited about this! Our first grandchild is arriving this spring, and I want to document my history for the Little Man joining our family and others who will come in the future. 

Because I procrastinated last week, I'm going to post two questions today. Join my VIP Facebook Group to share your memories, too, and for ideas about how to preserve these memories. 

SO. MANY. GOALS. 

1. Improve my health - I have struggled with fibromyalgia since I was 16 years old. That's a lot of years of pain and inflammation, and it has caught up with me. Exercise is a challenge with FMS, and I'm paying with a lot of excess weight. My focus this year is to identify the triggers for inflammation and eliminate or minimize them. I'm starting with my diet and am going back to a mainly Paleo diet, which has worked well in the past. I'm also gradually adding in low-impact exercise, trying to pace myself. I want to be a healthy, active Nana for Little Man - he's going to require a lot of energy! 

2. Complete another insurance designation - I work in the insurance industry, and industry education is highly valued where I work. I've completed one major insurance designation; now I'm working on another one. I've passed five exams with three to go. Right now, I'm feeling a lot of "test fatigue," but the reward (besides what I'm learning) is a trip to the Bahamas in November to attend the conferment ceremony! 

3. SIMPLIFY - Along with so many goals, I have SO. MUCH. STUFF. Craft stuff, kitchen stuff, books, clothes, jewelry - so much. I recently read Marie Kondo's book on decluttering. While I'm not going overboard with her method, I'm definitely rethinking how I view my stuff. I've known for a long time that having too much can be an impediment to being organized. I've pared down my clothes; my goal for this year is to work on the craft room. I've held on to so many items because I "might" use it someday, and someday almost never comes. With Amazon, Close To My Heart, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby readily available, if I get rid of something I eventually need, I'm pretty sure I can get it or something close. Sounds like another blog post series, doesn't it? 

4. Devote more time to my CTMH business - The last few years have been exceptionally busy, and I haven't been able to spend as much time focusing on CTMH as I'd like. This year, my goal is to post at least weekly on my blog and to post several times a week on my VIP Facebook group. (Be sure to join so you can be part of the fun!) I've also set a goal to make something creative at least two times each month and to post it here and on Facebook. 

5. Send cards - For someone who loves to make cards, I'm terrible at sending them. My goal this year is to prepare cards for mailing on the first of each month for those who have birthdays or other special occasions. 

6. Say "yes" - As much as possible, I want to say "yes" to being with friends and family and to be present when I'm with them. 

When I went to work at a major insurance company 11 years ago, I didn't know anything about using MS Office. I was still using Works. (I know.) I taught myself to use Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access, although I did take two online courses to learn Access. Now I like to say that I think in Excel - I love me some spreadsheets! 

Now it's your turn! Write down your answers to these two questions. See you next week!

Jeepers Creepers!

I spent Halloween in my scrapbook room, which happens to be right next to the front door so I could hand out candy to the trick or treaters. I thought it was appropriate to work on the Jeepers Creepers Workshops Your Way, which is ADORABLE! 

Here's what I love about Workshops Your Way - you get a ton of materials and all the planning is done for you, so it's super quick and easy. There is no stamping unless you want to add some. The embellishments are included. This set has a combination of high-quality stickers, black glitter die-cuts, washi tape, and puffy stickers. In addition to the three 2-page layouts planned for the kit, i was able to make  another 2-page layout and nine cards, and there were still materials left over! Here is what was left after making the three 2-page layouts from the workshop:

I don't have pictures yet to put on the pages, but they're ready to go for next year when our first grandbaby will be here!

Here are the layouts:

Jeepers Creepers is only available until the end of December, so act quickly if you'd like to make these adorable pages! Hop on over to my website to check it out!

Today - Adventure Fundamentals

One last layout! 24 sheets of paper goes a long way! Even after making seven layouts and 24 cards, I have quite a bit of paper and several Complements left.

Layout design by Rebecca Lehman

Be Happy - Adventure Fundamentals

Aren't the pennants on this layout adorable? They were SO easy to make: just cut a small rectangle of paper, find the center point on a short end, and cut from the opposite corner to the center point and repeat on the other side. The pennant pieces are popped up a little using Thin 3D Foam Tape, one of my favorite adhesives to add a little dimension to my projects. 

Layout designed by Rebecca Lehman

Hello - Adventure Fundamentals

My favorite part of this layout is the camera - I think it's so cute! I love all the bling, too. It makes me happy. 

Layout design by Rebecca Lehman

Dream - Adventure Fundamentals

This is probably my favorite of all the Adventure Fundamentals layouts. I tend to prefer the "cool" colors, so I really dig the greens and blues. This one really sparkles, too! The elements on the left side of the first page are a combination of the glitter Good Life Complements, gold shimmer trim, vellum complements, and stickers. 

You get a TON of embellishments in the Good Life Complements package! After making seven layouts and using the elements liberally, I still had some left over for more projects.

Details & Moments - Adventure Fundamentals

One of the things I really like about this Adventure Fundamentals paper packet is the paper with words. Each paper is double sided and features a different color on each side, making it super versatile. This same effect could be achieved using word stamps on cardstock.

Layout design by Rebecca Lehman

Love Life - Adventure Fundamentals

This Adventure Fundamentals paper pack is so fun and cheerful! The layouts went together really easily. I love the colors in this one!

Layout design by Rebecca Lehman

Just Breathe

This idea popped into my head earlier this week and wouldn't let me rest until I completed it. It ended up differently than I envisioned, but I love the result! My job can be stressful at times, and the song "Just Breathe" by Anna Nalick often runs through my head on very hectic days. I wanted a little reminder to take a breath and keep myself from getting overwhelmed. It also allowed me to experiment with watercolors!

I originally envisioned a square of watercolor paper attached to a small canvas (6x6) I had.

I drew a circle with a pencil on the watercolor paper because I wanted to do a resist technique by heat embossing the words and making a watercolor circle over it. Don't draw with pencil first - it won't erase after the paint is applied. Lesson learned.

I used White Daisy pigment ink to stamp the words then sprinkled super fine clear embossing powder over the ink. I heated it with my craft heater until the letters were nice and shiny. I really love this fun alphabet, Handwritten Print. It has both uppercase and lowercase letters - very fun!

The next steps was to break out the CTMH watercolors, watercolor paper,  and our fabulous waterbrushes! 

When I discovered that I couldn't erase the pencil marks, I decided to adjust the plan and cut out the circle. The background needed something a little more exciting, so I broke out the washi tape and made a fun background on cardstock! 

I attached the washi tape background to the 6x6 canvas (retired) and used 3D foam tape to add the saying, plus some bling (of course!). The completed product is now hanging in my office, reminding me to Just Breathe!

New Idea Book - New Colors!

Happy August! Where has the summer gone? Of course - I live in Phoenix, so I have a few more months of "summer" before it cools off. August 1 brings a brand new Idea Book (Annual Inspirations) from Close To My Heart. I'm so excited about the wonderful new products available NOW! I'm going to be sharing several layouts and cards over the next couple of weeks featuring the Adventure Fundamentals paper pack and Good Life Complements. The Adventure Fundamentals paper features brand-new colors: Pansy, Emerald, Willow, Lemon, Tangerine, Blossom, and Raspberry. The colors are as bright and sunny as they sound! 

Here's the first scrapbook layout (all designed by Rebecca Lehman):

I love the bright colors and the fun prints! There are 24 sheets of paper in each paper pack - 2 each of 12 double-sided designs. The Good Life Complements include an extra large pack of coordinating stickers, teal glitter die-cuts, and vellum die-cuts with gold foil accents. The layout also includes Gold Shimmer Trim and Gold Sequins. 

Check back often for more fun layouts and cards! For more frequent updates, ideas, and giveaways, join my Facebook group by clicking here. 

Hello - It's Me

This week's Mojo Monday sketch motivated me to use the CTMH Stamp of the Month, From the Notebook (available only in July).  I love how it came together!  

Materials used to make the card:

Stamp sets: From the Notebook, Tickled Pink
Cardstock (all Close To My Heart): Black, Raspberry, White Daisy
Paper: Calypso
Inks (all Close To My Heart): Black pigment ink, Cotton Candy, Pixie
Extras: Gold foil tape, Tickled Pink Thin Cuts (not available), Thin 3-D Foam Tape, White Card Base (bulk package)

Check out the sketch at Mojo Monday! 

Stamp Organization

I'm a little weird - I really enjoy organizing things. It makes me happy and motivated when things are in order and I can FIND THEM. I recently started a project to catalog my stamp sets so I can remember what I have when I'm ready to create. The program I use is called OneNote, which is part of the MSOffice suite. Here's a peek at what it looks like:

Each stamp set has its own page in the notebook. I tag the heck out of each stamp set with as many descriptive words as I can think of. This makes it so easy to identify a theme or specific word by using the search feature. Because I like things to be easy to find, I drag the page to the right spot so it's in alphabetic order in the left thumbnail part of the OneNote main page. 

I'm by no means an expert, but this has been super easy to learn. I love that it functions on a cloud, so I can access my OneNote from my laptop computer, from my tablet, or from my phone. This is an ongoing project, but it has been fun to do. I've discovered some "old friends" in my stamp collection and am eager to use them in some upcoming artwork. 

Mojo Monday 455 - Calypso Card

I'm excited to get back into blogging, and I'm kicking it off with participating in the Mojo Monday card sketch challenge! I used the super cute sketch to create this card. 

I'm crazy about the flamingos in the Tickled Pink stamp set, and it also has a coordinating set of Tickled Pink Thin Cuts! It was my first time using the Thin Cuts, and they worked like a charm. 

The CTMH clear acrylic stamps make it super easy to line up the stamp on the Thin Cut, too. The paper is Calypso. And how about those Calypso sequins? They are just the cutest! These items are only available through July 31. 

National Stamping Month - Hello, Life!

September is National Stamping Month, and this year
Close To My Heart has something to help every kind of papercrafter say a big “hello” to life!

Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $13.95 each! Or, for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $34.95 - a savings of $6.90! 

Each stamp set is designed to fit with a specific type of papercrafting, whether that’s traditional scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. However, all the stamp sets coordinate with each other and can be used together to create dynamic artwork. These stamp sets also coordinate with shapes from the new Cricut® Artistry collection to help expand your artwork options even further. Remember, these stamp sets are available for one month only, so get your orders in for one stamp set—or all three—before these gorgeous stamps disappear! Make certain to follow Close To My Heart’s blog, Instagram, and Facebook page for artwork inspiration featuring these lively stamp sets all month long. You can post your own artwork to your social media channels using the hashtag #ctmhHelloLife. Visit my website to order yours today!

Timberline Layout

Last October, I turned fifty. Yeah - kind of a big birthday. I wanted to do something special to celebrate, so our family took a day trip to the Grand Canyon. (Have I mentioned how much I love living in Arizona?) It was an amazing day, and I took tons of pictures. It has been a busy year, so I'm just getting around to planning the pages, printing the pictures, and scrapbooking the memories. That's actually kind of fast for me! 

When I have a scrapbooking project that involves a lot of pictures and numerous layouts, I take time to plan. This post from a few years ago tells how I do my page planning. It has worked really well for me and ultimately saves me time when I'm ready to scrap. This time, I printed a contact sheet of my photos which made it much easier to order the photos and sort them. The company where I used to order my photos went out of business, but now I just order my photos through Studio J. It's very easy to do using an Express Collection (Photo Collections or Photo Mixes), which are pages of photo wells in various sizes. If you need a size not included in an Express Collection, you can select the No Limits layout in any of the page collections, which is essentially a blank layout in which you add photo wells or journaling wells of whatever size you want. The quality is great, and the cost per photo is very reasonable.

I had a scrapbooking day with my daughter Saturday, and I started on the Grand Canyon photos. My little notebook has the layouts, photo sizes, and photos listed. The Magic how-to book is on the stand, ready to go!

I've been focused on using up existing paper packets so I can get some of the new papers in good conscience. The paper I selected for this layout is Timberline. I love the way the colors work with the gorgeous colors in the photos!

I like to add some dimension where I can on my pages. The main photo is highlighted by using 3-D Foam Tape, one of my favorite tools. (It also comes in a thin version.) I also found some sweet little wooden embellies in my stash, so I added them to the journaling block. 

I love how these pages turned out, so now I'm eager to continue scrapping this great trip! 

Wanderful WOTG - Part II

As promised, here is the additional layout from the Wanderful Workshop on the Go. I love how easy it is to put these pages together! These pictures are from the super fun girls' weekend in June when my daughter, a friend, and I flew to Maine for a friend's wedding. It's great to capture the details soon after the event before the details are forgotten.

When I make the pages from a Workshop on the Go, I'm always inspired by the creative embellishments. The step-by-step instructions included with the kit make it so easy, and I often apply the techniques to future layouts. The metal chevron embellishment wasn't used in the instructions, but I used it to cover an ink "oops" when I accidentally got some ink from the edge of my block on the page. It happens, so I look at it as an opportunity to creatively fix the mistake.

The large stamped image was fun to make. I stamped it twice: once in Black and once in Crystal Blue. On the Crystal Blue image, I cut the upper and lower half of the globe and paper pieced it onto the Black image. It gives it some dimension, and it was a lot easier than trying to carefully color the stamp in two different inks. Try this technique on your next card or layout! 

Why I Do What I Do . . .

This beautiful video tells the story of why I do what I do - and keep doing it. Memory keeping is precious and worth the investment. 

Wanderful Workshop on the Go

I had the great opportunity to travel to New England in June for a friend's wedding. It was an amazing girls' weekend with another friend, my daughter, and me. We packed a whole lot of fun into the four days we stayed in Maine: a day trip to Boston, a day trip to the Yankee Candle Village in MA, a visit to a charming lighthouse, and lots and lots of "lobstah" rolls and "chowdah."

I took a million pictures (give or take), so I decided to go through my stash of scrapbooking supplies to make some pages to showcase the pictures. I landed on the Wanderful Workshop on the Go. I love the travel-themed papers, and the WOTG makes it so easy to make gorgeous pages. All the thinking and planning is done for me, and all the materials (except for ink) are included in the kit. There are some amazing kits coming in the new Annual Inspirations, so be on the lookout for more! 

Here is the first layout from the workshop. In addition to the main layout, there is also a second layout featured, too. I'm working on that one now and will post in a few days. I used the Cricut Artbooking cartridge on this layout, but there is also an option to make the layout without Cricut. CTMH Cricut cartridge sets now come with cardstock rather than dimensional elements plus three coordinating stamp sets.