Boy and Girl Birthday cards with CTMH Candlelight, Daydream and Stardust

This card set was inspired by a fellow CTMH consultant, Vickie Wiznuik - you can see her card HERE.  You can't see it very well in this photo but the flames on my candles have Glitz glitter gel on them with a top coat of Liquid Glass - very, very cool!

Materials Used:
Paper:  Daydream Level 2, Stardust Level 2, Black Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps:  Candlelight
Inks:  Archival Black, Blush, Spring Iris, Creme Brulee, Moonstruck, Topiary
Other:  Glitz Glitter Gel, Liquid Glass

CTMH Petite Perks - A little gift for my hostesses

I love the little Petite Perks sets that Close to my Heart has for us Consultants to give to our hostesses as a thank you for having a party with us! I also give them to my Playgroup ladies during their hostess month as a thank you for participating in our club. When I have a party I like to present the set in a little 4x4 mini pizza box and I include four 3x3 cards made with the set.  Above is a shot of the mini pizza box (sorry for the poor set up on the picture - I took a quick snap on my craft table before I gave this one away).

This is a better picture of the two cards I created with this set (I made two of each card) to put in the box.  Our watercolor pencils work beautifully with our Glitz glitter gel - I hope you can see the sparkle on the main image.  If YOU would like to get your hands on one of these adorable sets then contact me about my new online club!  You can send an e-mail to paige@myctmh.com and I'll get back to you with full details on how you can budget your crafting supplies AND get tons of free rewards!

Don't forget our $2, $4, $6 for 8 sale is still going strong!  There are lots of paper packs left at just $6 for a Level 2 (you get $4 worth of cardstock in every set), Level 1 kits for $4 and Stickease for just $2.  To get in on the sale action visit my site paige.myctmh.com and see why so many people are taking advantage of these great prices!  I'll be pulling names from a hat on the 12th - for every 10 people that order I'm giving away one of our brand new accessory packs from the Fall 2010 Idea Book!  You'll get your prize before the new Idea Book is even live to look at!

Materials Used:
Paper:  Zippidee Level 2 (Honey background paper), Daydream Level 2 (lilac colored paper) Colonial White and Black Cardstock
Stamps:  Petite Perks for Summer 2010
Inks:  CTMH Archival Black
Other:  Watercolor Pencils, Glitz Glitter Gel

Teacher Gift Thank you Cards with CTMH Thank You, Daydream, Easter Eggs, Let's Play Ball

These are part of the gift my youngest kiddo and I made for his teacher for Christmas.  Her classroom has a sports theme (baseball and football) which hasn't been Devin's cup of tea as we are more of a martial arts family.  When I saw the Let's Play Ball stamp set in the clearance sale I knew I HAD to get it just to make cards for his teacher!  At $6 this stamp is perfect for these cards and whenever we get invited to a sports-nut boy birthday party!  The clearance sale is over at the end of the 17th so if you haven't had a chance to order YOUR presents yet - CLICK HERE to get on over to my site and get some GREAT deals while they are still available!!

Materials Used:

Paper:  White Daisy CS, At the Game Paper (LONG ago retired)

Stamp:  C1198 Let's Play Ball (in the clearance sale NOW -gone on December 17th), D1361 Thank You

Ink:  Outdoor Denim

This is the girl version of the thank you cards.  I used our Easter Eggs stamp (former Stamp of the Month) to stamp around the punched out flower to create the pattern.  I love using that stamp set like this! 

Materials Used:
Paper:  Daydream Level 2, White Daisy CS
Stamps:  Thank You, Easter Eggs
Ink:  Spring Iris
Other:  Martha Stewart punch (edging), Flower Punch (not sure the vendor) and small .5" Marvy Uchida punch

Baby Card with CTMH Daydream Paper, Ms. On the Go, Watercolor Pencil Technique and Wishes Cardmaking Pattern

I finally had a chance to play with this great stamp set "Ms. On the Go" the other night to create a card for a friend who is due soon. I love how you can color the mommy in to match the person you are sending the card to, such a nice personalized touch!

This is one of the new 4.5x4.5" cool square cards from the new Wishes book. As you can tell from my previous post I really love our books (LOL). I'm totally a more-bang-for-your-buck kind of gal so I love helping people maximize their dollars.

The card is not high on bulky bling as I'm sending it in the mail. I used our Daydream paper pack and cut one of the wavy strips off a full 12x12 sheet and then put two of them back to back to make the 2" strip in the center. The primary image is from Ms. On the Go colored in with watercolor pencils and a blending pen.

Ah, watercolor pencils.... Such a great tool! They can truly make you look and feel like an artist. I can't draw very well (my mother painted and minored in art in college and my brother is an architect so I know my drawing skills are not up to snuff) but stamping makes me into an instant artist! You use watercolor pencils just like regular coloring pencils but when you are done coloring you take a clear marker called a blending pen and go over the image - it is moist so it blends all the coloring into a nicely painted look. I like to go darker around the edges and then lighter in the center of the image so it looks a bit shaded as well. Very fun tool in your tool box!

Materials:
Paper: Daydream Level 2 Paper Pack
Stamps: Ms. On the Go, Family Ties - Adults, Family Ties - Children (for mama and baby)
Inks: Black, Hollyhock
Other: Watercolor pencils, Blending Pen, Black Bitty Brad, Paper Piercer

CTMH Altered Composition Book, Coaster Post-it Holder, Happy Endings stamp set

About a year and a half ago a good friend invited me to a Close to my Heart gathering at her house. My youngest son had recently been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and I was looking for a way of coping with the stress and uncertainty upon us. I knew I wanted to start scrapbooking so I could document our lives and really capture the essence of what makes my family unique - the love my kids have for eachother, what good friends they are to each other, the fun we all have together as a family and in general the deep unconditional love I have for my mad monkeys. Long story short - I fell in love with Close to my Heart products and their how-to books and philosophy. A couple of months later I became a consultant and I've been having fun and relieving stress ever since! There are three things in life that keep me sane - friends and family, paper crafting and Tae-Kwon-Do (terrific stress reliever).

So anyways, this friend who started me on my journey with CTMH has a daughter turning 7 and asked me to come to the party and lead a group of 7 year old girls through a couple of projects. Yes, these are all simple projects - I have a 7 year old so I know what their attention spans are like!

I've pre-embossed the girls names on their journals and I'll let them stamp as many butterflies as they want on the front and back covers. This one was done by my 13 year old - I think she liked that blue color - what do you think?










Then we'll do the frog and heart treat bag (kind of a princess theme going here) using the Happy Endings stamp set from CTMH. I've pre-made the tags so they can write their names on them to keep track of their stuff.




















After that we'll do the super simple post-it holder using the Daydream Level 2 paper pack from CTMH (covered coaster with a clippy) and then a very simple book mark using that terrific stamp set again. My daughter is totally out of the little girl princess stuff but I couldn't resist getting this too-cute stamp set. It was the frogs....I have a thing for really cute frogs.... I'll be curious to see how long these projects take. I have about a hour for the paper crafting part. Who thinks I'll only be getting through half the projects????





One of the things I adore about stamping is that you can use your stamps for so many different things! Its not just about layouts and cards - its about lunch bags and candles, journal covers, post it holders, pencil cups, etc. I have to admit I am nuts about our stamps and THANK GOODNESS they are acrylix on the carrier sheets. Because of this I can store my 300+ stamp sets in two 8" wide and 40" high towers instead of an entire bookcase. Yes, I am totally addicted to CTMH stamps. I guess I'll have to join a 12x12 program (budum-bum-bah!)

Products Used: Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Hollyhock Cardstock, Daydream Level 2 Paper Pack
Stamps: Happy Endings, Butterfly Wings (March SOTM)
Inks: Cocoa, Blush, Topiary, Sweet Leaf, Heavenly Blue, Spring Iris
Other: Colored Pencils, Hollyhock RicRac (from Boom Di Ada Creative Basics Kit), White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Embossing Powder
Non-CTMH: Coasters, White lunch bags