December Club Project - Mini Album Ornament

December’s Creative Club project will be a fun Mini Album Ornament. We will be using Close to my Heart’s Kraft Colored 3x3 Mini Albums to make ornaments to showcase some “year in review” family photos. You can also choose to make it into a little brag book as a gift for Grandma or for yourself. (They are the perfect size to keep in your purse to show off your adorable kiddos at a moments notice.)
The first page of the club kits will be stamped with the border as shown below without the type. You can choose to hand write, stamp, or use a computer font to personalize your title page.
There are 16 pages in this cute little album. Every other page will have a stamped border and journaling lines for you to fill in. The facing page will have a mat to place your photo. Below are a few examples from my sample mini album. Because I made mine into an ornament, my photos and journaling are vertical. You may choose to make yours horizontal if you do not plan to hang it on your tree.
I choose to use a photo of my wonderful hubby and me to finish off the book. (I am never fond of my profile pictures, but I thought this one was kind of cute in spite of my big nose. LOL!)My Creative Club meets the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7pm at my house, however, you do not need to be local to be part of the club. My long distance members get their kits mailed to them and any orders they place, get drop shipped to them directly from the Close to my Heart office. (Sometimes they even get their orders before the local gals!) Next month’s club is on Wednesday, December 16th. If you would like to attend or order a kit, please contact me no later than December 5th so that I have enough time to order the supplies and prepare your kit(s).

Click here for more details on this super fun club! Contact me at lisa@myctmh.com for more information, to sign up for next month’s class, or to order your own club kit(s).

All supplies are from CTMH unless otherwise noted.
Cardstock
Colonial White, Cocoa, Dessert Sand, Foam Tool
Stamps
Frame of Mind, Vintage Christmas, Card Chatter - Christmas
Inks
Cocoa, Garden Green, Chocolate for distressing
Other
3x3 Mini Album (Kraft), Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon, Cranberry Brads, Waxy Flax, 3-D Foam Tape

Gingerbread House Gift Box

As soon as I saw Lauren Meader’s new Home Made template, I knew exactly what I would do with it. I wanted to use the CTMH November Stamp of the Month, Around the Block, to make it into a gingerbread house. I discovered a few fun things while making this little gift box that I thought I would share with you. Did you know that if you print something on your inkjet printer, you can sprinkle embossing powder on it and heat set it in whatever color you want? The template came with a pdf file for the shingles used on the roof. I printed the file onto some Desert Sand cardstock in black ink and immediately sprinkled some white embossing powder on it. When I heat set it, I discovered that it actually worked! I made sure to not shake all of it off because I wanted to leave a little extra on to look like snow. I was pretty happy with the results.
The little gumdrops around the edge of the roof are actually stamped using one of the roof stamps from Around the Block. I lined it up and stamped it a few times. (Gotta love those clear stamps for lining up images!) Then once I was finished embossing, I colored each one in with a CTMH marker from the Summer Carnival Marker Set. Then I put a drop of Liquid Glass over each color to make it look more like a gum drop. I cut the “gum drops” out, scored and folded them at the top, and glued them to the edges of the roof so they hung over a bit.

The peppermint lollipops on the front and the peppermint candy on the sides are actually a stamped snowflake from the Snow Friends stamp set. I stamped the snowflakes in Cranberry ink on white cardstock and then punched them out with a circle punch. Then I wrapped a little clear plastic from a baggie around them and tied them each with some Waxy Flax.
The door and windows are from the Around the Block set only available until the end of this month. I love the playfulness of the stamp designs! I embossed them all on Desert Sand cardstock with White embossing powder, cut them out, and adhered them with some 3-D Foam Tape. The fence is punched with a Martha Stewart punch.
To finish it off I added some Cranberry ribbon around the base of the top. This is what it looks like with the top off. Looking at it now, I think I need to add a little more sponging with some Chocolate ink around the edges to make it looked more “baked.” LOL!

Don’t forget that you can get the adorable Around the Block set at a discount or even for FREE this month. Plus, with Stampaganza still in full swing, you can get even more stamp sets for free! Click here for more info on how to get your free stamp sets!

Treasure Life Scripture Cards for Charity

Some wonderful women recently started a chapter of Gogo Grandmothers at our church. I know it is a funny name, but their cause is so worthy. They provide for the orphans of AIDS in Africa by assisting the grandmothers who care for them. Sadly more and more children are becoming orphans because their parents are dying of AIDS over there. Their grandmothers are left to care for them and many of them are caring for up to 6 grandchildren at a time. (I had initially thought I had heard someone report it was up to 20, but I realize I was mistaken. I corrected the mistake on my original post.) Even 6 children is a lot. The Gogo Grandmas at our church are holding a luncheon/boutique fundraiser in February to raise money to send to the orphans in Africa. Once a month until then, they are holding craft workshops where women in the community will come and make some fun projects that they will sell at the boutique in February. There will be ladies there teaching everything from knitting, crocheting and potting plants to making gift bags and cards. That's where I come in. Whenever any type of paper crafting is involved, they always call me. And of course, I am more than willing to help!

This is the project that I came up with for the ladies to make this month. I am hoping that it will be simple enough that we can make a bunch of sets to be able to sell in February. We will be using CTMH's Treasure Life Stamp Set along with a set from Papertrey Ink called Everyday Blessings. The set of boxed cards will include 5-6 cards in clear plastic boxes from Clear Bags. Each card has a different bible verse or inspirational saying. The little tag on the ribbon on the outside of the box can be changed. We will probably make a variety of mini tags and have the buyer choose which one she would like.
If you happen to be in the area and would like to join us for a fun evening of fellowship, coffee, and dessert please come to Rancho Baptist Church on Monday, November 23rd at 6:30 pm. You will be able to learn a new craft and utilize your God given talents to make some fun projects for a worthwhile cause. Contact me for more information.

Christmas Tags and Box

I shamelessly lifted another project from the talented Vicki over at the Wizards Hangout. (Thanks Vicki!) She made the most wonderful gift tags and box that she said were inspired by LeeAnn here. You can check out Vicki’s version here. I loved them so much that I made a set of my own. My photos are horrible, but hopefully you will be able to get the idea.

The best thing about this project is that it only required one stamp set. I used the Just for the Holidays set. If you have the Christmas Melodies set, you could use that too. The instructions to make the box can be found here.
Here is a little sampling of the many tags that are inside the box.Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Just for the Holidays
Cardstock: Chocolate, White Daisy, Cranberry and Olive
Inks: Chocolate, Cranberry and Olive inks
Other: Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop and Circle Punches (SU!), Acetate (Overhead Transparencies from Staples), Gold Cording

A Cute Little Mini Box and an Award

I am humbled and honored to receive the “Over the Top” Award from the one and only, Fabulously Artsty, Stamp Goddess herself, Tresa Black. If you have never visited her blog, you must run (don't walk) over to check it out. She is amazing! I was honored to receive the same award a couple of weeks ago from another super talent, Melissa. You can check out my answers here. (Not too many of them have changed. LOL!) Thanks Girlies.

Speaking of the Stamp Goddess, I used one of her wonderful video tutorials last month to make this cute little box. Tresa’s instructions were so easy to follow. You can check them out here. I decorated my box with patterned paper from the Twitterpated Collection and filled it with Hershey’s Kisses. Yummy! These would make great party favors or place cards. (I just may make some more and attach a tag with everyone’s name to the ribbon and use them as place cards for Thanksgiving Dinner.)

Please vote for your favorite...

I had a little contest with my Creative Club members this month. I told them that they could enter any project that they liked and I would post them on my blog for you all to see and vote on. The only criteria was that they had to use at least one CTMH product. Out of 18 club members, I only had three entries, so their chances of winning are pretty good. LOL! The winner will receive a $10 CTMH gift certificate.

So, now it is up to you. Please leave a comment on this post letting me know which project you like the best. The winner will be announced at the end of the month.

Project #1: Uses the Tickled Pink Paper Packet.
Project #2: Uses the tree stamp from the spooky Spellbound stamp set along with some multicolored Flower Soft.
Project #3: Uses the Unforgettable Paper Packet and Stickease.
Voting will close on November 30th.

Notepad Book List

My son's teacher just had a birthday and I was racking my brain to try to figure out what to give her. I know she loves to read, so I got her a gift card to Borders Book Store and made her a little notepad to keep a list of all of the book she might like to read someday. (That idea came from one of my all time heroes, Nichole Heady!)

Nichole sells note pads that are the perfect size for making cute little list pads, but I decided to try to make one on my own. I bought a pack of two notepads at Staples that were perfect. They were 5"x8" eco-friendly writing pads. (To be honest, the main reason I bought them was because they had brown lines that I knew would match my project.) I cut them in half with an xacto blade and made a folder out of CTMH Bamboo cardstock. I followed Nichole's example and made a rounded pocket on the inside where I put the gift card.
I used some Barn Red cardstock and a couple of pieces of patterned paper from CTMH’s Grace Collection to decorate the cover. I added a little Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon and piece of chipboard from CTMH’s Booksmart Dimensional Elements Collection. I LOVE CTMH’s chipboard because it is white so you can make it any color very quickly with just a little ink. I sponged some Bamboo and Chocolate ink onto it to give it a leathery-type feel and added a couple of Antique Copper Brads to the sides. Finally I adhered it to the cover with some Glue Dots. (I realize now that I should have filed the edges a bit more, but oh well...)
I stamped a few images from the Delightful Things stamp set on the inside. After making a matching card and gift bag, I wrapped it all up and gave it to her on Friday. She seemed to really like the handmade touch.

Anniversary Card

This is the anniversary card that I am going to give my hubby today. I used some brown textured cardstock for the base. After printing the words “I love you Andy” a trillion times on white CS, I stamped the little love birds and heart from CTMH’s Solo 2 stamp set. I used my Nesties to cut out the window on the outside along with the large piece on the inside. Then I added some Cranberry Ribbon to the top with a little tag stamped with “Happy Anniversary” from Papertrey's Mixed Messages set. The “I love you” on the inside came from CTMH’s Because I Love You stamp set.

ETA: I just gave the card to my hubby and he said, “I like the cute little cups toasting each other.” What? Cups? I had to gently correct him and tell him that they are love birds. I guess they do kind of look like cups with legs. Oh well. LOL!

This is the inside of the card.

Here is a close up. Can you see the text in the background? It says, “I love you Andy” about a zillion times. I typed it up on my computer and printed it out before I used my Label One Nestabilities to cut out the large shape.

Today is the 9th anniversary of the day my wonderful hubby and I got married! We celebrated last weekend with a nice dinner on Friday night and an amazing hot air balloon ride over Temecula’s beautiful wine country on Saturday morning.

This is the two of us just before we floated up.

Our balloon was called Fantasia. You could see Mickey Mouse’s wizard hat at the very top of the balloon from the inside. It was pretty cool.

For more photos of our hot air balloon adventure, feel free to check out my family blog here.

Have a great day! *Ü*

Stampaganza is back! - FREE Stamps!!

Whether you are a long time fan of stamps or just venturing into this fun hobby, now is the perfect time to grab some My Acrylix® decorative stamp sets! From November 3–30, 2009, when you purchase any two stamp sets at full retail price you will receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value)! Plus it is unlimited! You can get 2 free stamps if you buy 4, 3 free stamps if you buy 6, or even 50 free stamps if you buy 100! The amount of free stamps you can get is in your hands! Choose from any stamp set offered in any 2009 Idea Book or the current Product Review. Take advantage of this month’s great offer to add to your assortment of these innovative stamps.

If you have had your eye on some cute stamps that are retiring at the end of the year, November is the time to get them! Don't know which sets are retiring? No problem. Just click here to see all of the stamps scheduled to retire at the end of the year. Be sure to get your favorites sooner than later as they are only available while supplies last!

PLUS, don't forget that you can also get the darling Around the Block November Stamp of the Month at a discount or free as well.

November is a great time to host a home gathering or catalog party and earn even more FREE goodies. Contact me for more information.

Click here to start shopping or contact me to place your order.

November Stamp of the Month Projects

Happy November everyone! I am excited to share with you the adorable CTMH November Stamp of the Month called Around the Block! I made a couple of little projects with it almost two months ago but wanted to wait until the stamp set was available to share them with you.

The first project is a little match box. The template is from Lauren Meader. You can find it here. I used some patterned paper from the Jingle Paper Packet and paper pieced the house together. It is a little hard to see, but I created an opening where the window is and covered it on the inside with a piece of acetate. I used one of CTMH's new soft set eyelets and the new awesome soft set eyelet tool with a piece of ribbon for the handle. (Did I mention that I LOVE our new eyelet tool? It comes with the cutest little 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" mat too!)
The second project is a gingerbread Christmas ornament. Isn’t it sweet? I kind of want to eat it. LOL! I used white daisy embossing powder to emboss the house on Desert Sand cardstock and then sponged a little chocolate ink around the edges. Then I colored in some of the details with CTMH markers and then went over the “gumdrop” shingles with Liquid Glass. I used the Save the Date stamp set to stamp “Christmas 2009.” I also mounted the house on some chip board to make it more sturdy.
I didn't quite make it into the CTMH Blog Hop in time, but I thought I would direct you to the list anyway so that you can check out more fun artwork using the November Stamp of the Month. Click here to see the November SOTM blog hop list.