Upcoming Open Houses

Thursday, June 2 from 7PM-9PM
or
Friday, June 3 from 7PM-9PM

Come sample the awesome products from Close to my Heart and create these adorable cards, while enjoying an evening of fun, friends and crafting.
Comment if you would like more info about this upcoming event. Make sure you check out my website (http://www.mnmscrapbooking.myctmh.com/) for more info about these products and Close to my Heart. Hope to see you there!

~Amy

Anything But a Card...

I feel like I am I cheating on this weeks Heart 2 Heart Challenge because Studio J is so easy and quick to use...but hey it still meets the criteria. No matter how easy it was to create, this is Anything But a Card.
I have enjoyed playing around and layering the different stickese embellishments. They really help to give this one-dimentional layout some depth and texture.

I am currently working on a monogram letter for my daughter's room, so since this entry was way too easy, maybe I will enter that too if I finish it in time.
~Amy

May is National Scrapbooking Month...

What have you been doing to celebrate?

I enjoyed putting these pages together and love how easy they were. Now if I can only find pictures to go on the "boy" pages.
You too can own the You & Me Scrapbooking Kit available only during the month of May. Hurry before you run out of time!

Go to my website http://mnmscrapbooking.myctmh.com/ and you can purchase this kit by;

1.) Purchasing $50 dollars in CTMH product and get the kit for only $15.

2.) Purchase the kit by itself for $34.95.

3.) Sign up to be a CTMH Consultant for half price at $64.50 (usually $129) and receive this kit for free.

Don't miss out on this great offer and don't forget to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month! ;o)

~Amy

Favorite Technique

I just signed up to be a new consultant for Close to my Heart this month and have been busy playing with my new supplies and making plans for my 1st home gathering. In designing the few cards for the Make and Take, I intentionally tried to create very simple, stress free cards for my guests to create. I did though want to add at least one stamping technique to make the cards unique and look more complicated than they really are.

I chose probably my favorite and most easy technique to add color and depth to my stamped image, "The Rock and Roll" to create this simple 4x4 card. I love that by simply rolling or rocking your stamp into a second color, your stamped image is completely transformed into a tiny piece of art. This technique works perfect for the fruit in CTMH's Mayberry Workshop on the Go. I am loving this sweet and simple card!
Stay tuned for the remaining two cards you will have the chance to create at my Open House in June.
~Amy

Ain't too Proud.....

to copy a page from CTMH's Spring/Summer Idea Book.

When I read this week's Heart 2 Heart http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/ challenge, I immediately thought of that adorable page seen in the Spring/Summer Idea Book, page 115. Or click on the following link to see. http://www.closetomyheart.com/en/Products/myctmh_Idea_Book.aspx?i=CB33&c=1&mw=1

While many others had the same idea and created beautiful pages, I had a few problems. First, I wanted to created a 2 page layout. What design would complement the original page? Secondly, how would this page fit into a scrapbook? Would it be too bulky and heavy? And last of all, where in the world would I find such a colorful array of buttons? I don't nearly have that many on hand...and I think I would have a hard time putting that many on one page.

Never fear....Studio J is here. Check out the cute layout I created on Studio J using the inspiration from the idea book. I found the design that matched the page seen in the book and it already had a second page paired with it that looked great! There was really no thinking involved. I added in the color hue of orange and yellow to tie in the yellow from the flowering forsythia plant the kids were standing by. I like how it brightens up the layout. Studio J doesn't have clear buttons, but I used a "Stickease" embellishment to add a heart in a coordinating color.

The second page is pretty simple, but connects nicely with the first page with a few simple bright buttons and butterflies.

I was happy to recreate this page on Studio J and was happy with the endless possibilities and endless use of embellishments. That is what's great about Studio J. You pay one set price and can add as many embellishments to it with no extra cost. Awesome! I am looking forward to adding this layout to my scrapbook. All the look with no extra bulk.

If you would like to learn more about Studio J visit my website at http://www.mnmscrapbooking.myctmh.com/ and click on the the "Studio J Online Scrapbooking" button to sign up for a free account and experiment with this wonderful online tool.

~Amy

Unicorns???? or Pigs with Party Hats????

I think they look like pigs with party hats, but they were really suppose to be unicorns for my daughter's birthday party this past weekend.
Even though they didn't turn out how I had envisioned them, they were cute none the less and my daughter was thrilled with her "Unicorn Party." She has been wanting and planning this party for at least 2 months, thanks to the Birthday Party Express catalogs we get ages before the actual birth day.

After everyone arrived, each child receive a headband with pony ears and a pony tale. They were unicorns in training and had to earn their "horns," those fun unicorn horn shaped lolly pops, by participating in lots of fun games. They had to learn to gallop like a unicorn.....

Find treasures in a cloud....pin the horn on the unicorn..... and find even more treasures by cracking open a unicorn pinata. It was a magical day!

Dinner was easy with a 3 foot long sub sandwich from the grocery store, star, heart and moon shaped PB and J sandwiches for the kids as well as other treats from the "Unicorn Cloud."

Here's our cute rainbow fruit tray.

The sandwiches, rainbow and cloud fluff (jello and cool whip parfait) and of course unicorn's favorite food, VEGGIES and dip!!!!

Star and unicorn horn pasta salad.

Last of all baby unicorn horns...aka Bugles.

Even though, I secretly wished and tried to persuade my daughter to have a "Tangled/Rapunzel" party, I am glad we went with the theme she truly wanted. It was a great day for everyone.

~Amy

A Mother's Blessing

I very rarely make a card with a neutral/white backgroud, but have been wanting to find a simple design that I could do just that. While looking at Mother's Day cards at Hallmark the other day, I found a card with a simple bouquet of flowers on it. I immediately thought of my CTMH stamp set "Friendship Blessings." I put together this little card, using Tulip, Crystal Blue, Honey and Chocolate inks. I stitched the stems with some green embroidary floss.
Tip of the Day: Need inspiration? Visit your local card store to get ideas for card layouts, colors ect. All of my best work are copies of another card....just with my own take on them.

I plan to mass produce this Blessings card to send out to all the MOPS moms in my discussion group (about 15) for Mother's Day and am glad to only use a few products to make such a lovely card.

Be sure to check out other Mother's Day inspired artwork at http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/. Share yours too!

~Amy

Crafting with Kids

Since I started blogging my crafting accomplishments in February, I have been doing a lot more crafting, and finishing many more projects. It feels great to be using my supplies. I feel more like a crafter now, versus a collector...or heaven forbid....A HOARDER!!!! Well, with more crafting means I spend more time in my craft room, which also means the kids want to be in there with me too. It can at times be a little crazy, to say the least. The kids love to look at all my stamps, inks, ribbon etc. Sometimes it looks as if a tornado hit the room after we are ALL finished with it. Most of the time our craft room adventures end with me yelling at the kids and banning them from the room.

Finally I wised up.....
Tip of the Day: Don't fight your kids need to be with you, embrace it. When you are crafting, encourage your children to craft with you. I set a TV tray/"craft desk" for my daughter right next to mine, so she could work on projects too while I am working on mine. We set specific rules for using my materials (ie. one stamp set and ink at a time, clean stamps after each use and put back materials before getting out new [that's one rule I need to learn to follow]. It has been great, and we really enjoy our crafting time. I have also found that because I have allowed her to craft with me using some of my "special" materials, there isn't as big of a desire to get in and use what is forbidden. Granted there a still some crazy times, but far less than before. Note the craziness occurring right in the background of the below picture as her little bro tries to get into supplies on my other table. Looks like we need to bring in his blocks or Lego's. Here is an example of a little project she worked on to give to her cousins for Easter. We started with a carton of Whoppers.

I stamped the cute rabbit figures from the CTMH Sensational stamp set to create an Easter scene, mounted it on some card stock and scored fold lines to place around the carton. My daughter loved coloring the intricate stamp images. It was better than a coloring book.

We glued them around the carton added a handle and some crinkled up paper. They made perfect little gifts for her cousins. She was proud to give them.

~Amy

Bunny Hop

"Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail....hoppin' down the bunny trail....." Couldn't help but use the Peter Rabbit Stamp from the CTMH "Sensational" stamp set for my Easter cards this year. He is just so cute...I just love his little pink nose. Hope Mr. McGregor isn't around to chase this little fellow away.

CTMH Materials used; Papers-Lilac Mist, Sweetleaf, Sweet Pea Gingham, Stamp Sets; Sensational, Happy Easter and Serendipity, Used the watercolor pen to color in "Peter" with Chocolate, Baby Pink, Lilac Mist and Sweetleaf. White Grosgrain Ribbon.

Check out the Heart 2 Heart Bunny Hop starting Monday, April 18th at http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/ for more great Easter artwork.

~Amy

Lindy's Linky Party

My friend and Fabulously Artsy CTMH consultant, Tresa Black, is on the Lindy's Stamp Gang design team (http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com/). This week they are having a "linky party" and I decided to join in. I have never use their products before, so this is a first for me, and I have to say spraying and dying can be pretty addicting. Check out my creation below. I used CTMH Colors Desert Sand, Chocolate and Sorbet, along with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray Cocklebells Coral (sprayed background on card and sprayed flowers). The picture above does not show how pretty and colorful the spray is, but this closer picture shows the pretty shimmer the spray left on the flowers.

~Amy