Heart 2 Heart Challenge, ABC

So this week at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge, we are doing the ABC's!  Be sure to check out the projects from the design team.  They are really great.  So here's what we have to do this week:
A= Alphabet. Use alphabet stamps, stickers, etc.... in some way on your project

B= Boy. Your project must be for a boy.
C= Chocolate. You must include the color Chocolate (or other dark brown) somewhere on your artwork

I have a feeling that I will be doing more than one of these this week.  This challenge is right up my alley!  Not only do I have three boys, but I have a nephew being born any minute now.  My brother and his wife are at the hospital and hopefully, we'll add another grandson to my mother's flock soon. 
Here is my project:

Here's the left page

And the right page

These pictures are from our very first day here in Australia.  This will go in the boys' album to celebrate and remind them of our first day here. 

I used the Tiny Typewriter alphabet to spell out the little tag box.  I used some non CTMH chipboard letters for the Sydeny.  I painted them with our white paint and then sponged chocolate ink on the edges. 

I tied little bits of ribbon to the letters to add a little more texture to the page.  I used three papers from the set Sweet Home on these pages.  The yellow is the front side, but the other two are back sides.  Since I was using the back side on the brown, I had to cover up the trademark.  The bottom of the "E" worked nicely for that. 

I thought the plain blue didn't work well with the brown so I added some brown to it.  I used the swirl from our Felicity stamp set and some small flowers from the Connections stamp set.  I random stamped on the blue with Chocolate ink.  It turned out really well and tied the two papers together.  I decided to use the front side of the yellow because a few of the pictures have yellow in them and it made for a really nice accent. 

I added a line of buttons for some fun and over all I am very pleased with how the layout turned out. 
Hope you like it too!

Heart 2 Heart Challenge, Week 19

This week the Heart 2 Heart Challenge is a sketch challenge.  We have to take this sketch and make it our own.  Be sure to check out the other projects here. 

I decide to make a scrapbook page so here it is:

And since I tend to make double layouts, I came up with a page to go with it.

The second page is very similar to the sketch as well.  It looks like I just turned it upside down and added another circle.  Complete accident, I assure you. 

I used the blue patterned paper from our Moon Doggie paper pack and the striped paper is from a retired pack called Free Spirit.
I kept the pages fairly simple so that the pictures could shine through.  I took these pictures the day we visited the Myall Sand Dunes.  What an incredible place.
I sanded all the Indian Corn Blue cardstock and the edges of the striped paper.  I also lightly sanded the edges of the pictures. 

I made the little title tags by covering CTMH dimensional elements with Indian Corn Blue cardstock.  I used a couple of the book plate DEs for the tags.  I stamped the "Life is good" with ICB ink.  The stamp is from the Treetops stamp set.  I hand wrote on the other tag with an ICB marker. 

 
Thanks for looking!

Heart 2 Heart Challenge, week 18

Love Family, Cherish Tradition.
This week's challenge was Tag! You're It!  You can make any type of tag or have a tag as a project. 
I decided to make a two page layout with some pictures from Memorial Day weekend.  The pictures are of my parents, my kids, my brother and his wife.  I am really happy with how it turned out.

The paper is Magic Moments and the layout is from the Cherish book.  It is called Simple Contrast.  I switched the pages left to right and also rotated the larger picture 90 degrees. 

Here are some closer views of the details:

The stitching on the left hand page

All the letters are chipboard letters, coverd in Indian Corn Blue cardstock and cut out.  The edges were inked with Cocoa ink.  All the letters were then popped up with 3D foam dots.  On the "F", I added two small Cocoa buttons and a small medal tag.  The tag is an old Connection Club item, that I got before I was ever a consultant. 

I mixed and matched all different chipboard letters.  Some are Close To My Heart, but some are not. 

 Here is the right hand page.  Notice the three journaling tags, tucked behind the 5x7 photo.

Here's a view with the tags pulled out.  I didn't have any sort of template for the tags.  I just free-handed them. 

The letters for Tradition were made the same as the letters for Family.  This time, the little tag says Cherish. 

Here's the hand stitching on the right hand page. 

A closer view of my family's sillest faces. 

Splendor Bug Hunting Layout

First, let me apologize for the shaddows in the pictures of my pages. Try as I might, I just couldn't get an unshaddowed picture.
I spent the day at an all day crop and didn't have to work it! It was great to have time to crop and actually work on something. Since I actually had some time, I made something special.
The pictures are from a sunny afternoon of bug hunting in our yard and woods. I love the pictures and wanted the page to have the same feel.


I used our new Splendor paper for this layout. All products used are Close To My Heart. I used the green B&T for the ground and the leaves on the tree. I used the cloud B&T for the sky. The tree is Cocoa cardstock that I cut into the shape of a tree. I free-handed the tree.

Left Page:


Showing the Flip Flaps and hidden journaling tab:

I added more pictures to the page by using our Flip Flaps and a hidden journaling tab. I had to plan ahead and not put any adhesive in the middle of the large picture or the tree. The tab is 3 1/2 by 4 1/4 so it fits completely behind the 5x7 picture.

Close up of the leaves:

The leaves were very time consuming, but worth it. I used the large leaf from the new Irrisitables Pizzza as a pattern. I traced the leaf on the back of the green B&T. I then cut the leaves out. I sponged half of the leaves with Topiary ink and then layered them randomly on the tree. I used some foam dimensionals to pop up some of the leaves.

Close up of the large and small Friendship Alphabets with liquid glass:

I stamped in Topiary ink with our large and small Friendship Alphabets. I then covered the letters with liquid glass in order to make them shine.

The right page:

As usual, when I tried to make the solid block of 4x6 pictures, my pictures were not quite 4x6. In order to correct the problem, I trimmed the middle picture slightly and added a 4x6 mat. It worked out pretty well.

The right side Flip Flaps:

I added more pictures on this page with Flip Flaps as well.

I enjoyed being able to spend a lot of time on a project and I love how it turned out.
Thanks for looking!

Sam's third birthday

Here is a layout that I did for Sam's third birthday. Sam's birthday is always the first event in 2010. While about 90% of my crafting projects use items from Close To My Heart, this project did not. At least, not the paper and cardstock.



The patterned paper is from Mind's Eye. It is part of a set called Little Robots. It's a really fun boy paper (and you know I need all the boy paper I can get!).




The letters are from CTMH and I sponged them with Vineyard Berry ink and then painted them our Create-A-Shade paint. The candles are from the CTMH stamp set, Candlelight. I used Vineyard Berry, Ocean, and second generation Ocean to stamp the candles and Sunny Yellow Ink for the flames. The candles were then embossed with our clear detail powder in order to match the textures on the page.

I journaled in Vineyard Berry and the brads are also CTMH.
Thanks for looking!

2009 is finished!

I have finished my 2009 albums. This is huge for me! Granted, I am nowhere near caught up. Nothing before 2009 is finished, but at least 2009 is!
2009 fills two 2 inch albums.



There are just too many layouts to share, but I thought I would share my all-time favorite 2009 traditional layout and my favorite 2009 Studio J layout.

My favorite traditional 2009 layout:

It's a hard choice, but for some reason, I just really love this layout. It features my middle son Tom and our chickens. I used the Twitterpated paper and our Posterboard alphabet.

For 2009, all the Studio J layouts that I completed are from our trip to Australia. I just needed to get these done and Studio J was a great way to get them all done!

It's almost impossible to tell that the Studio J layout was not a layout that I pieced together by hand, but one that I created on a computer. Love it!

Heart 2 Heart Challenge, week 2

Here are the requirements for this weeks challenge:

This is a 1/2/3 challenge.
*Use 1 stamped image (not 1 set, but 1 image)
*Use 2 different patterned papers
*Use 3 embellishments - these can be 3 of the same thing or 3 different things

I had a little bit of a hard time using only 1 stamped image. I really wanted to use an alphabet set and spell something out, but that would be more than one image, im my opinion. So, I used the "Happy" stamp from March's A Little Everything.
Everything on my page is Close To My Heart, even the giant snow flakes.
I made this 12 x 12 page to go in a frame on the wall. I am making one of each of the favorite pictures I have of my kids. This one is of my youngest son Sam.



The patterned paper used is a preview of one of the new Summer packs. It is called Zippidee. The edges of one paper are torn to reveal the other paper. The edges of the cranberry cardstock is distressed using our edge distressor. The snow flakes are the CTMH Flurry Dimensional Elements. I sponged Indian Corn Blue ink on the the flakes and then painted them with our Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint. I love that it dries to a shiny finish.
I used foam dots to layer the snowflakes.