Cruisin'

Just a quick warning that I won't be posting for about a week. My hubby and I are going on a cruise to Mexico next week. Woo-Hoo! This will be the first time we have been away this long without the kids. I can't wait. We will be back on Friday. As soon as I get back I will post the swap cards that I received this past week. They look great!

I am working on another fun project as well, so if I am able to get it done before we leave, I will post it. Otherwise it will have to wait until we get back.

Have a great week! (I know I will!)

Happy Everything Card

This card is cased from Tresa Black, one of my idols. Her work is fantastic and I am constantly inspired by her posts on the CTMH boards. I made a few minor changes to my card, but looking at it now, I wish I had copied hers exactly. LOL! I used the June stamp of the month called With Love and the new Cottage Floral set. Two sets that I know I will be using a lot!

Cardstock: CTMH White Daisy, Textured Petal, Blush Patterned Paper: CTMH Paper Garden B&T Stamps: CTMH With Love, Cottage Floral Ink: CTMH Petal, Blush, Sweet Leaf, Buttercup Other: CTMH Pink Conchos, Colonial White Ribbon Rounds, 3-D Foam Square, Foam Tool, Buttercup Button

Scrapbooking Retreat

I am so excited. A friend of mine, Cindy Baker, is starting to hold monthly scrapbooking retreats in Lake Arrowhead, CA. Her first one is going to be May 30th - June 1st. When I saw the date I got excited because my birthday is May 31st and I thought this would make a perfect b-day gift from my hubby! *Ü* Well, I asked him if I could go, not being sure what he'd say to watching the kids on his own for 3 days, and he said, "YES!" Woo-Hoo!! I am going to have a great time! I can hardly wait.

They still have a few spots open if you'd like to come to. Here is the website to get more information.

BTW, this is the view from the front porch. Breathtaking, isn't it?
ETA: I just found out that they will be giving away lots of extra gifts and prizes at this retreat, since this is the first one. If you are slightly interested in coming, you may want to contact them right away just in case it fills up. Click here for Cindy's contact info.

Another flower card...

As you may recall, I was inspired a while back by Kathi's cute flower card here and another one here. I made this card a few weeks ago and thought I'd take a stab at another one. This one uses the new Boom-Di-Ada paper pack, as do many of my recent projects. LOL! I also used the May Stamp of the Month for the sentiment. I stamped it on Buttercup cardstock with Hollyhock ink. Then I put a circle window charm on top of it and cut it out. I put the entire thing on top of a piece of white cardstock cut out with my Marvy scallop circle punch. The stem is made from sanded Sweet Leaf cardstock and the leaves use a stamp from Playful Petals with Sweet Leaf ink.

Dahlia Card

I finally made a Dalhia Card! I have seen so many of them and thought they were so pretty. I am hoping to have my gals make this card along with a few other "fun fold" cards at a workshop next month. Here are the instructions to make the dahlia fold. Once you make one or two, they are very easy.

I used Paper Garden B&T, textured Petal cardstock, a Buttercup Bigger Brad, and the May Stamp of the Month. I also sanded the lighter side of the textured cardstock. Kinda fun.

More Boom-di-ada stuff

This is another card made with the new Boom-di-ada paper. I used the new Spot On Background stamp for the polka dots (stamped in Buttercup ink on Buttercup cardstock.) The Solo T stamp was used for the word "thanks" on the twill ribbon. I used Barn Red Ink and was impressed that it didn't bleed on the ribbon. I also used the new scallop scissors to make the small scallops on the Barn Red Cardstock. I think my favorite thing is the little charm I used that comes in the CTMH Connections Reward pack. The flower was simply cut out of the B&T paper in the Boom-di-ada pack.
Below is a layout that I made using the revised Reflections Book and the new Boom-di-ada paper. If you look closely, you'll see that I actually used my sewing machine. Woo-Hoo! LOL!

I'm still here...

I was out of town for a while so I didn't get a chance to post anything for a few days. Sorry about that. I have a few things that I am going to try to post tomorrow. We are switching from Verizon Fios back to TimeWarner tomorrow, so hopefully I won't have any problems getting online tomorrow. (I have had it with Verizon and by switching we will be saving $60 a month for the next year, so I figured, why not?)

Have a good night...

Another Boom-Di-Ada Card

Here is another card using the new Boom-Di-Ada paper pack. This one also uses a new stamp set called Cottage Floral. I almost didn't get it because I have so many floral stamps, but I love it and know I will be using a lot. I used the new Ricrac for the stems too. (Very fun!) I added a few 3-D Foam Squares and a some buttons from the Autumn Button pack. The sentiment is from another of my favorites, For Every Occasion set. I used our new scallop scissors to cut around the green polka dot B&T paper. I like this card although now I think I may need to add one more flower to the bottom right. I like to have an odd number of things on my cards, but it looks a bit off balanced. Hmm....

Special Friend Card

Here is a sneak peak at a new paper pack from CTMH called Boom-Di-Ada. It is sooo cute. It is not made up of typical summer colors, but it is a beautiful kit. I used the new Boom-Di-Ada paper pack, a new stamp set called Be True, and one clear sparkle to create this simple card. I added a white organdy ribbon after I made the card, but I am not sure it works.

And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone for visiting and commenting on my blog and for helping me celebrate my 10,000 visits! It is really fun to see some of the people who visit my blog. I feel like we are family. *Ü*

The online random number generator chose # 13 which was kearneykrafter who said...

"Way to go on your blog milestone! Can't wait to send you my swap cards for the swap on the 24th!! I know what you mean when it comes to hubby categorizing all of the handmade creations in to "Scrapbooking." Too funny! thanks for sharing!!"

Congratulations! Please email your address to lisa@myctmh.com and I will mail you the cards!

Thanks again to everyone for visiting my li'l Creative Corner. I love sharing my creations with those of you who share my passion for stamping and scrapbooking!

Have a blessed evening. I will try to post something fun tomorrow...

Wow! 10,000 hits! This calls for some blog candy!

Wow! I just noticed that my blog has had over 10,000 hits already. That's amazing. Thanks to everyone who has visited. As I mentioned to Lisa Osterlind who emailed me with a wonderful compliment yesterday, I love creating and it is so much more fun to share my creations with people who appreciate them. My hubby is sweet, but I don't think he quite "gets" how much work goes into each card, layout, or other creation. Well, actually he does because he says I am ALWAYS scrapbooking. (Everything to him is scrapbooking, whether it is making a card or a home decor project or anything else with stamps and paper. LOL!)

Anyway, as a thank you for making my crafting and blogging more fun for me, I'd like to offer a little blog candy. I just went through my millions of old swap cards and pulled out a ton that I won't be using. How would you like to have them? There are a lot!!

Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a random name on Wednesday evening. That person will get all of the cards in the picture below!
Thanks again for visiting! *Ü*
Have a fantastic day!

Edited to add: Thanks for the sweet comments on this post thus far. I wanted to clarify that most of the swap cards and 6x6 layouts that I am giving away are not actually my creations. There are a few of my cards sprinkled in the pile, but most of them are from swaps that I participated in a while back. I would hate to take credit for other people's creations. There are some cute ones in the stash. *Ü*

Thinking of You Daisy Card

I saw this card on Lauren Meader's blog a while back and just fell in love with it! I recreated it using CTMH's new June Word Puzzle and May Stamp of the month. (Have I mentioned how much I love my Word Puzzles and the May stamp of the month? Oh yea, about a zillion times! LOL!)

This card was super quick and easy. I used a piece of CTMH's textured Honey cardstock folded with the lighter color on the outside. The I stamped the flower with black ink on white cardstock and colored in the middle with a Buttercup Marker. I cut it out and placed it on top of the stamped stem. Since the stem stamp wasn't long enough, I had to stamp it twice and it didn't line up perfectly. So, I added a tiny knot of black organza ribbon to cover up the imperfection on the longest stem. Then I added another piece of ribbon at the top, stamped my sentiment and I was done. This card took less than 10 minutes to make!

Birdhouse Card

Boy, has it really been 3 days since I posted last. Sorry. I'm not sure where the time goes...

Anyway, here's a card I made today using a birdhouse template I found here. It was inspired by an adorable card that Niki made here. I loved her little shingles and thought they'd be perfect on my birdhouse. I used Lilac Mist Cardstock strips and then sponged some Lilac Mist Ink on the bottom of each one. Then I overlapped them just as bit as Niki suggests to get the "shingle" feel.

I used the new June Word Puzzle stamp set for the cute bird, the March Word Puzzle set for the flowers, the April Word Puzzle set for the notes and the May Stamp of the month for the sentiments.

Well, I am off to bath the kiddos and get them ready for bed... Have a great night.

Men's Shirt Card

I am in the process of making some card samples for a class next month. Fellow consultant, Lisa Aquino, created some really fun folded cards that I thought would be great for a class. Here is the first of the cards that I am hoping to make next month. It was inspired by one that Lisa made. I am still waiting to get some of the new stamps and papers to make a few more fun shaped cards. I will post them as I make them.

I found the folding instructions for the men's shirt on Martha Stewart's website here. However, using the 8-1/2"x14" paper that she suggests makes the shirt huge, so I tried a few other sizes and ended up using a sheet that was 5"x8".

Below is a close-up of the shirt. To make the tie, I simply cut a piece of Cocoa Grosgrain ribbon, tied it in a knot, and slipped one end of the knot under one of the collars.
Cardstock: CTMH White Daisy, Indian Corn Blue, Cocoa Stamps: CTMH May Stamp of the Month called Say it in Style Ink: CTMH Cocoa Other: Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon, B&T from Free Spirit Paper Pack, Sanding Block

Christmas Card

I've had a few people ask to see the Christmas card that I made last year that inspired my birthday swap card. Well...here ya go. I used the same stamp set which is called So Sweet Seasons for the presents and the sentiment and used Cranberry and Sweet Leaf cardstock and markers. I love this stamp set. It is so versatile!

Bunch a Bunch Card

This card uses a variety of things including my fun Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I got the idea to emboss it on the top and bottom from Beate's blog. She gives great instructions here. I used two new stamp sets. The flowers and scalloped oval images come from My Favorite Things Bunch a Bunch set set. The sentiment "hey there" comes from Stampendous' Hey There Cupcake set. I love this set and can't wait to make some cupcake cards with it. I used my Marvey Scallop Oval punch to punch the pink oval out and then adhered it with 3-D Foam Squares.

The Spring Moss stitched ribbon is from Papertrey. (I am hooked on their ribbon if you haven't figured that out yet.) Unfortunately I made this card late last night when the light wasn't very good in my studio and when I looked at it again this morning, realized that it didn't match the flower stems at all like I thought it had. Oh well. I'll make another one later with different ribbon.Cardstock: CTMH White Daisy, Blush Stamps: MFT Bunch a Bunch; Stampendous Hey There Cupcake Ink: CTMH Black, Blush, Sweet Leaf Other: Papertrey's Spring Moss Stitched Ribbon; CTMH Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Blush, and Petal Markers; Swiss Dots Embossing Folder; Paper Trimmer Scoring Blade

My Swap Card

Here is my card for the CTMH swap that I am hosting. I created a Christmas card like this last year and thought it would be fun to use the same stamp but different colors to make a birthday card. I got the idea and directions here (scroll down and look for the post titled "Tutorial: Circle Window w/ Frame.")

I used So Sweet Seasons and Happy Birthday Stamps, sanded blush and chocolate cardstock, and as I was using my Circle Coluzzle template, I dropped my knife and the tip broke, so I had to finish it with a couple of non-CTMH punches that I had instead. I will be adding another Coluzzle blade to my next order and will probably do my final swaps with that instead of the punches. LOL!

Thinking of You Card

This card was inspired by Lauren Meader. She is amazing and I get so much inspiration from her blog! Her card here, is actually MUCH better, but I didn't have the same stamp set so I used what I had. I used my new Inkadinkadoo set by Brenda Walton. I tried to look for a stamp name on the package but there was just an item number which is 97617. I got it at Joann's a couple weeks ago when their stamps were all 40% off.

I used Papertrey's Berry Sorbet twill ribbon which is luscious! It is so soft and makes great knots that are not too bumpy if you know what I mean. *Ü*

Cardstock: CTMH White Daisy, Black Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Brenda Walton Ink: CTMH Black Other: Papertrey's Berry Sorbet Twill Riboon, CTMH, Watermelon Marker

Papertrey meets CTMH

I love the new Berry Sorbet color from Papertrey. Actually I love anything pink! I used Papertery's new Berry Sorbet Pink Patterned Paper, and Stitched ribbon along with CTMH's May Stamp of the month for this 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" card. The card design was inspired by Nichole's card here. I think her card may be a bit smaller because after I made mine, it looked a little bare on the left side while hers looks great. So, I added some flowers and a button from Joann's. The two largest flowers are Primas and the smaller white one is a velvet Maya Road flower.

I used my new mini Berry Sorbet Pallete ink pad to stamp the sentiment on the flap. As much as I love the color, the Pallete inks aren't working well for me. I can't seem to get even coverage no matter how much I season my stamp. Maybe I need to use it more to break it in. In any case, I LOVE CTMH's May stamp of the month called Say it With Style. I can't wait to make more cards with it!

I didn't drop off the face of the earth!

I just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive. *Ü* Sorry I haven't been posting very much lately. The past week has been super crazy and now both of my kiddos are sick, so I haven't had much creative time recently. I am just itching to play with some of my new stamp sets. I just got all 4 of the next CTMH stamps of the month in addition to some fun new Stampendous, MFT, and Brenda Walton sets. Oh how I wish I wasn't too tired to be creative right now. I just got home from teaching a workshop in Riverside today and I am wiped out! I promise to post some new cards this week! As far as right now...I am off to catch some Zzzzs.

BTW, I still have a few spots left in my card swap. Email me at lisa@myctmh.com if you are interested in playing.

Nighty-night.

Card Swap anyone?

If you received my last CTMH newsletter you'll see that I am hosting a Close to my Heart card swap this month. I still have some spots open if you want to play too. Here's what I said about it in my newsletter...

Do you love handmade cards as much as I do? How would you like to receive 10 different handmade cards while you only have to design one? Here's the deal:

I am hosting a card swap for anyone who is interested in participating. All you need to do is design one handmade card and make 10 of the exact same card. Then keep one for yourself and mail me the other 9. (Contact me for my mailing address.) Once I receive everyone's cards, I will separate them and mail you back 9 different cards. It will be so much fun to see what everyone comes up with.

Here are the requirements:

• You must use all Close to my Heart products (i.e. cardstock, stamps, ink, ribbon, embellishments, etc.)
• Let me know by April 7th if you would like to participate. If I have more than 10 people, I will open up another round.
• Have your 9 cards to me by April 24th along with a self-addressed stamped envelope large enough to hold 9 cards.

I will swap them out and mail them back to you as soon as I receive them all. I will also include a photo of them on my website, giving you full credit of course, and a link in my May newsletter to your wonderful creations!

So, what do you think? Does this sound like fun? I am really excited. In fact, I will take the first spot in this swap, so anyone who participates will get at least one card from me.

Contact me if you have any questions or would like to participate.

I've been tagged again...

How fun. I have been tagged again. This time by Chris. *Ü* Since it's the same tag as before, I will post the same thing I did last month when I was tagged by Kari to do this 7 random facts thingy.

The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Hmm...I think I will link you back to my "35 (random) things about me at 35" post. This layout tells a lot of random things about me a few years ago. Here are the top 7 most random things about me from that layout:

1. Favorite smells are anything citrus and cinnamon.
2. I love games shows. (It drives my hubby nuts!)
3. I eat corn on the cob in a very unique way. (Don't ask.)
4. I love stale Gummy Bears. (They are too hard to eat when they are gooey and soft.)
5. My toenails are always painted.
6. I like to play racquetball. (I don't get much of a chance to do it these days.)
7. I have always dreamed about being an Olympic ice skater.

I am supposed to tag 7 people now, however I still don't know most of the gals whose blogs I visit regularly, so I feel little weird about tagging them. And the gals whom I have become "blog buddies" with, have already been tagged many times. So, I would like to tag all of you who happen to read this and if you would like to join in, just post a comment with 7 random things about yourself, and if you would like, feel free to tag someone else. *Ü*

Delight in Everything Card

Yikes. It has been way too long since my last post. Sorry everyone. The end of the month gets a little crazy for me. This month was no exception. I had to get my two CTMH newsletters ready to send out which took longer than normal for me. (One is for my customers and one is for my team.) If you'd like me to add you to my newsletter email list, just let me know. I usually have a fun trivia question each month and give away some sort of fun goody.

Anyway, here's a card I made last year using the Delight in Everything stamp set. I need to pull it out again because it is a lot of fun. I added some small brads to the center of some of the flowers. Colors used are: Cranberry, Crystal Blue, Buttercup, and Garden Green.


I just received the new CTMH catalogs and the next 4 stamps of the month, so when I get some free time, maybe I'll create something fun and post it here. Now, if I could only order some extra time along with all of the new products...)