{1 Layout, 5 Ways ~ Layout 2}

So I finally have all my chores done...OK...well I'm still doing them but decided that the little ones are sitting still for more than 5 minutes so I can blog while they are awake...Big accomplishment!

So I started this series of blog posts last week and it is to show the versatility of what one can do with some simple changes such as adding embellishments, changing paper or adding stitching, stamping, embossing and much more...

I wanted to share this Easter layout I did using the same pattern and different paper ~ Lucy!

Now I love the color Pear and I definitely love the Bunny Love stamp set...{I use it often!}
Here is a rundown on the layout...

I cut out my photo mats and the B&T pieces... Cut out 3 scalloped circles with the CTMH Punch and then used one of my mini hole punches and punched holes around the circle to give it a lacy look... Using the CTMH Watercolor Pencils I colored the bunnies and let them dry, I then applied glue and some white glitter to the bunnies...I random stamped some little flowers onto the Base to add some detail to the page without it being distracting... I printed out the word 'Easter' and using the Piercing tool poked holes to form a pattern and hand stitched the word to form my title... lastly, I took a piece of Sweet Leaf Ribbon and tied a knot and adhered it to the layout...

 Some simple watercolor pencil coloring and a glittered bunny makes this one cute bunny!

 This bunny is grey and not to be disturbed...

Who doesn't like to blow bubbles? This bunny has Liquid Glassed bubbles to add a raised texture and glossy look to each bubble...one of the great things you can do with Liquid Glass!

Now I used banners on the last layout and wanted to switch it up...
Using Ribbon as an accessory is a great way to add texture and detail to a layout or card. I usually use a strip of ribbon alone or with a bow but rarely use a knot... I definitely will be using this look more often {and it is easier and faster too!}

I LOVE Scriptina font! I decided that some of our CTMH stamps feature this font in some of our stamp sets...For Every Occasion is an example. I decided that for the title I wanted a challenge...I do not sew! Especially with a sewing machine...far to scary for me...lol! With this all in mind I practiced first to ensure you would be able to make out the word and once I was confident you would be able to read this layout, I was in business! In a sewing fury I was finished with a couple poked fingers and 1/2 hour later...Voila! I had a title!

I hope that you enjoyed this and will come back soon to see the next post in this series of posts!

Let's Live Inspired!

{1 Layout, 5 Ways ~ Layout 1}

I don't know what crazy notion came over me to decide that I would sit and blog these layouts all in one week... It could be boring... It could be inspirational... It could be a challenge to others to try to recreate this layout in their own way... Either way it is now time to blog the first layout of this series...

Now I love this layout and had seen one on Pinterest... I love the versatility and the clean look that allows the stamps and paper to really stand out on this layout. I said I would give a quick tutorial of some of the great techniques that each of these pages features...

Technique 1: Stitching

I used the Close To My Heart Ruler and started by picking a pattern that I wanted to use on this layout. I love that the ruler allows for a variety of stitches without having to buy a sewing machine...oh how they scare me... So once I picked my pattern (Simple X's) I took my piercing tool set and started to poke my holes into the cardstock...

Once the holes are in I took my embroidery thread and unraveled the strands. I wanted to have a thin tread look so using one strand was what I used to sew it. I started to stitch the pattern and continued on until the pattern was finished on both the top and the bottom of my page.

Sewing was now complete!

So once my stitching was finished I stamped my patterns and grabbed my Versamark, Silver Pearl Embossing Powder (now retired) and heat tool. Embossing is the next technique!

Technique 2: Heat Embossing

You take a stamp and can either stamp the stamp with ink first and Versamark after to allow for the option of seeing the ink (when using Clear or Clear Detail powder) I decided that I wanted to be able to see a hint of color with the silver pearl so I stamped with Desert Sand first and then used my Versamark pad and stamped over it. I then sprinkled my Silver Pearl embossing powder over the Versamark and covered it. I then shook off all the excess powder to reveal just the stamped image covered in the powder...
Enter the heat tool... I aimed the heat tool towards the powdered image and hold it about 6 inches or so away from the image. I heat the image until it begins to melt moving the heat tool around until the whole image is melted. On some of the images on this page I allowed the image to melt but wanted to keep a textured look so as it melted I stopped before it melted to a smooth finish...
Once you have the image the way you like you are finished! Do not touch the heat tool end as it is very hot!

Thorough out this layout you see these beautiful yellow flowers... These flowers are cut out on the Cricut using my Art Philosophy Cartridge. They are cut out in two different sizes and then stamped with the stamp that comes with the Pemberley Workshop On The Go kit. Once it is dried I bent the petals and adhered them together with a glue dot. I placed a pearl gem onto the center and feel that this helps accentuate the silver pearl embossing.

Well until tomorrow, I hope you enjoy this layout! Tomorrow is Layout 2...

Let's Live Inspired!
 

{Peep Wreath}

In the spirit of Easter and spring fever...I decided to create new decor for my door. I love the idea of wreaths and I love the look of the little Peep Bunnies...although I don't eat them I do love the look of them...

I decided to try my hand at creating a little wreath for my door using the edible bunnies with hopes that no one gets any funny ideas to sample a bunny...lol!

I started with painting the mini mdf wreath with a pink acrylic paint. I coated it twice but perhaps if I had primed it first I would have achieved a brighter base color...

Once I had the paint dry I got out my hot glue gun and heated it up. Grabbed a package of the marshmallow goodness people speak of and prepared to attach the little bunnies to the wreath...

After I had finished placing the last bunny onto the wreath I looked and noticed that I had not considered where I would place a ribbon or how this wreath was going to hang...hind sight being 20/20...I would have placed a ribbon on BEFORE attaching the bunnies...lol!

I decided to attach a little green ribbon and slide a ribbon slide onto the ribbon to keep the ribbon together and allow for a place to put a bow...

After some delicate gluing and some drying time...
...Here is my finished and placed project...

Hope you enjoyed!

Let's Live Inspired!

{Valentines Blog Hop ~ Love Necklace}

Welcome to the "Love Me Do" Valentine's Blog Hop!

This week, January 16th - 20th, we have a group of 5 talented designers sharing projects with you on their blogs to get you prepared for the upcoming season of LOVE!
Whether you use these designs to create something for your loved ones or spring-board off the inspiration given, we would love to see your work as well, so leave a comment on the blogs as you go through.

On January 24th, we will be giving away a collection of goodies from the group to one lucky participant. The giveaway will be hosted through filling out a Google Docs. form, on Live.Teach.Create on January 20th, asking various questions about the posts throughout the week. All those  who enter with the correct answers will have a chance to win!

I went shopping last week and found a great deal on Teresa Collins Blingage  accessories, so I scooped them up. Once home I wondered what to do with one of the accessories. It is a big jewel called Kayla's Gems...

I also found a great deal for these satin ribbon necklaces too so thought here was my first valentine's item...I wanted to see if I could challenge myself to create something other than paper crafting. I also wanted to try different techniques too...

I added a couple jewelry hoops to the ribbon and found that it definitely did not scream ...Love or Valentine's....well, it never screamed anything....good thing cause it might have startled me....

I took a look around my craft room and wondered what I could do to add something to this piece and thought...maybe a stamp?!?

I found a petite perks stamp set from CTMH and it was perfect! It had a heart and the word LOVE and they were just the right size...Now what?!? How was I going to stamp this onto my jewel and make it stay...Stazon might work but I don't have any....Archival Ink? Not really sure so kept thinking...What about embossing it?!?

I got my Versamark ink pad out and my Black Embossing Powder out and went to try the unknown...I have never embossed on anything other then paper so this was going to be an adventure in crafting....

I stamped it and everything stuck....I stamped it again and only a little bit stuck....I stamped it a third time and carefully removed any excess powder from areas I did not want it to be and here is what I got....

Now I want to make you aware that the jewel was double sided and it was mirrored so that made this more of a challenge to photograph. I think that it worked out quite well and I might have a little bit of an itch to try other jewelry items in the future...My wheels are turning...

Thank you for joining me today for Day 1 of the "Love Me Do" Valentine's Blog Hop!

Next person in the hop is Jenn, check back again with me tomorrow as well for another new idea.
 

 
Let's Live Inspired!

{Rustic Chic} Frames

Well, It's Monday and time to share the great frames that I created a couple of weeks ago...
Let's start by first letting you all know what products I used for these frames...There are allot considering how simple they look...Making this quite a surprising list...

Needed Items:

• Square unfinished, wood frame (Michaels ~ $1)
• 12" x 12" Solid colored card stock (Used 2 colors)
• Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (Z1686)
• Versamark Ink Pad (Z891)
• Silver Pearl Embossing Powder (*Z669 ~ Silver)
• Chocolate Exclusive Ink Pad (Z2111)
• Sponge (Z697)
• Love Life Stamp Set (D1482)
• Bling Buttons (Z1466)
• Black Hemp (Z282)
• Bonding Memories Glue (1512)
• Liquid Glass (Z679)
• Martha Stewart Black Glitter
• Cuttlebug Quilling Pen

Ok so now we are ready to start!

I took my unfinished frame and distressed the edges with my Chocolate Ink pad and sponge. I wanted each of these frames to have a rustic but chic look to them...I then picked my base color for the frame and measured and cut out the paper. Now normally I would have wanted it to be exact but this time I let some of the edges get cut a little short of perfect. I wanted to be able to see some of the wood beneath exposed for all to see...So not an east task with OCD...lol!

After the edges were inked I used my Bonding Memories glue and liberally covered the front of the frame, I adhered the paper and let it dry. While this was drying I went and cut out my flowers with my Cricut. I used the flower image on page 69  using the shift + font + <Heart3>
I cut out flowers ranging in size from 1" to 2.5" in my other card stock color.

I took the Cuttlebug Quilling pen and carefully rolled and glued my roses....I use Liquid Glass as it holds the best and if you happen to be able to see inside the center of your flower you will get a little shine that resembles a sparkle jewel...something to consider would also be adding a gem or maybe even some prisma glitter for a little extra glitz!

While all my flowers dried, I took my frame and inked the edges with Chocolate ink as well. Then I grabbed my stamp set....for these I used Love Life Stamp Set and stamped my image using Versamark. I took my Silver Pearl embossing powder and applied it to the Versamarked image, dusted off the excess, and heated it up. With wanting to keep with a rustic vintage feel I allowed a few little specks to remain on my paper and I also did not heat all the texture from my embossed image. Just one of the little details that I feel added so much character...

Paper adhered, inked and embossed it was ready to place some roses and add some glam to it....

I added the roses after I carefully rolled the petals on each rose...A very tedious but worthy process. I just helps to add some charm to these roses...I used my Liquid Glass again to adhere my roses to the frame....This is probably one of my most favorite adhesives....It is so versatile....But that is a whole other post...{Sneak Peek!}

Once my roses were placed and secured I took my black hemp and threaded and knotted it to the fronts of my bling buttons...I used the small bling buttons to keep it from overpowering the roses...I really wanted them to stand out...I used my Bonding Memories glue and carefully applied it to the edges of my petals on each of the roses. I took my black glitter and sprinkled it over the roses, let it sit for about 30 seconds and then tapped the excess off....I once again used my Liquid Glass and placed my bling buttons and Voila!

Finished Frame

You can see the liquid glass and glitter in this picture 

Close up of the flowers and bling buttons





I made another frame in a Chocolate brown to co-ordinate with the Navy blue one. I mimicked the details and mirrored the on the brown one to allow for some difference but to keep it cohesive.


Until Tomorrow...

Let's Get Crafty!

Snowmen Ornaments

I have been busy crafting away and have begun crafting items using wooden spools. I was looking in the craft aisles and noticed 3 different sized spools and thought...oh wouldn't that make a cute snowman ornament....so my quest began...

What you need to begin...

Wooden Spools (3 different sizes)
White Craft Paint (I uses Ceramcoat ~ Magnolia White)
Sponge Brush
Ribbon (About 12")
Bell
Smooch Pearlized Accent Inks (Gold Lane, Tuxedo)
Hot Glue
Black Hemp (Z282)
Glitter Glue (Black)


I took one of each sized spool and began paining them with white craft paint. I used the Ceramcoat that came with my CTMH Distressing kit and used the sponge brush as well. Once I had them painted...I only lightly painted them allowing the wood to come through in some spots to add some character to them....I let them dry. Once dry I started to adhere them largest on the bottom and working upwards placed the medium spool then smallest. When assembling them be careful to line up the centers of the spools to allow your ribbon to travel through them.

After I had assembled them I started to decorate them. I choose to use my new Smooch inks and draw on my take of a traditional Frosty...I then allowed these new faces to dry and cut my ribbon.

I used a thin piece of wire to guide the ribbon through the centers of the spools. I made sure to tie a double knot at the top to assure I would have a nice loop to hang my ornaments from. Then I took the remainder of the ribbon that was hanging out the bottom of the snowman and placed a bell part way down it (this was NOT an easy task...lol!) Once I had the bell on I tied a know and snipped the ends of ribbon.

Looking at the snowman and I thought he was missing something and figured it out...He was missing arms....I took little pieces of Black Hemp (Z282) and glued on one piece to each side of the middle spool.

Voila! He now had arms but he still looked as though he was missing something... He was missing his hat....I took my Black Glitter Glue and carefully coated the top of my spool to make it all black  to represent the snowman's top hat...

I'm a sucker for embellishing so I may still add a scarf to them...

Well lets see how he turned out...

Let's Get Crafty!

WILD About...Wooden Spool Christmas Tree!

So I was checking out all my great crafting magazines and came across a great little Christmas tree that was constructed out of wooded thread spools....Well I thought this was a great upcycling project and that it would be great to showcase how you can use items you find and the great things you can use these otherwise...garbage items!

If only I realized (Not being a sewing-able person!) that getting wooden spools would be very difficult...They are vintage therefore, nearly impossible to locate!!!

I placed ads on local "Find and Seek" sites as I like to call them....lol!

No luck!!!

I checked out Michaels and finally found some! (Had I looked harder I would have found larger packages of 20 for almost the same price!)

I took 12 of these little wooden spools and placed them down into the desired shape I wanted....A Christmas Tree...

I then took my Chocolate Exclusives Ink Pad (Z2111) and a piece of my Sponge (Z697) and began to distress the ends of each spool by rubbing the edges with and inked up sponge...giving the spools a little bit of an aged look and feel.

When I finished that part of the project I cut out stripes of my paper that I wanted to use and then proceeded to ink the edges of each piece to give it a vintage and aged feel and look too!

When these were cut out and distressed I took my Embroidery Thread in the Neutral Assortment (Z1096) and used the Chocolate thread. I adhered one end to one of the spools and began to wind it around the spool until it was covering the spool completely to the other end. I used my Liquid Glass (Z679) to glue both ends to the spool and that spool then became my stump.

After I goth that far I started to glue all my pieces of paper to the spools and used my Liquid Glass again to do this. I wanted to make sure that each piece was going to stay put!

Once all my spools were distressed and papered I took my hot glue gun and started to assemble them into my tree shape. I decided to change the way I had originally placed my top spool so that I could embellish it with a Milepost Shape (Z1464) I picked out a little corrugated chipboard star. I took my Bonding Memories Glue (1512) and ran it over the corrugated raised edges of the star and then sprinkle it with Prisma Glitter (Z134)

(This was after I had distressed the star of course!)

I then placed a little button with some Natural Hemp (Z280) tied through it and glued it to the star. I took a few little metal snowflakes ( I got these out of a little bag of glass stones I purchased years ago) and glued them to the spools.

Hope you liked this great little project I created for the holidays!

If you are interested in any of the great CTMH products I used please check out My Website
Let's Get Crafty!

WILD about... Christmas Ornaments!

Well here I am finally able to blog once again...I went to a great trade show this last weekend and it was fabulous!!! I took some extra product I had and sold it at the trade show. I also took my handmade cards and tags and other hand crafted items. I did good and had a great time sharing my love for Close To My Heart! A great way to celebrate 1 year with CTMH!!!

So now that I explained my absence from my blog I wanted to share with you a few items I created for the trade show. I created some hanging ornaments that I had gotten some inspiration from a twitter post.
Twitter Ornament Inspiration

So here goes my attempt at recreating this great ornament and making it my own! I made 4 different ones!!!

I started out with these great little resin frames that I found at Michaels. I found red square frames, green oval frames, silver rectangle frames and gold circle frames. Of course I bought all of them!!! So once I had my frame I flipped it over and removed the stand off of the back

I then took the insert out of the frame and cut out my paper that I wanted to place into the frame. For this one I used CTMH Wonderland Level 2 Paper (X7146B) and cut it out the the dimensions needed to fit into the frame.

I then picked out some ribbon to use  for the ornament and chose some great Martha Stewart ribbon that I found and proceeded to hot glue it to the back of the frame.

Once I had the ribbon adhered I decided to focus on the front of the frame and decorating it. I wanted to keep these ornaments looking classy and elegant. I took some of the ribbon I used already and tied a cute little bow and hot glued it to the front of the ornament.

After I took a few minuted to look and absorb the finished product I realized it was too plain for me and decided it was missing something....lol!

But what?!?!?

In the end I decided to use my Gelly Embossing powder and my Holiday Cheer (B1381) to stamp and emboss the inside paper and add a simple and refined look to the ornament.

Here are a few of the other ones I created!
Enjoy!

Red Square Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)

Red Square Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)



Green Oval Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)

Green Oval Ornament with Believe Level 2 Paper (X7145B)

Gold Circle Ornament with Wonderland Level 2 Paper (X7146B)

Hope you enjoyed this project and get some great inspiration for your own great Christmas season projects!

If you are interested in more information please feel free to Contact me
If you are interested in any of the great CTMH products I used please check out My Website

Let's Get Crafty!