Welcome to the July SOTM Blog Hop!

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring July's SOTM, which is called Live Out Loud, a graphic set of eight sentiment stamps.  If you have come here from ALLISA'S BLOG, you are on the right path!

This month we have almost 50 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM (and other great CTMH products) on their blogs. Hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

This month I used a sketch from Freshly Made to create my project, which I twisted into a scrapbook layout. Technically, this is the next installment of a set of 10 x 10 pages I'm framing to hang together! I got gobs of these silver frames at Target forever ago...like 8 years ago-ish...and recently I've been filling them up with favorite photos. This photo we took a couple of weeks ago, right around our 14th anniversary.  I've noticed that there's hardly ever a picture of John and me as a couple in our family trip photos, so I'm gonna be more mindful of that...

I pierced the frame around the outer edge of where I wanted my photo to go. Then I filled in the left half with tiny paper flowers attached with an assortment of brads. I used the color challenge from Stamptacular Sunday - John's favorite color is Orange, and I love that combined with Blue and the bold sentiment in black. I added some Orange to the Sentiment with a marker as well. Clean and simple - not my usual boat, but my glitter is probably breathing a sigh of relief for the (brief) vacation!

I'm linking this to the Heart 2 Heart Wedding challenge - anniversaries are wedding related, right? And also to the Get Your Craft On Party over at Today's Creative Blog and the always fabulous DIY Dreamer Linky Party! Go check them out for even more DIY home decor ideas!

Now "Hop" on over to NANCY'S BLOG to see her rock this awesome stamp set! Be sure to visit all the Consultants Blogs to soak in the creative SOTM ideas! Remember, this SOTM will soar into the sunset at the end of July, so contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

Here are lots more projects I have made using this Stamp of the Month...I think I got quite a range of different looks!
Pretty in Pink Card
A Rainbow of Butterflies Card
Black White and Retro Sketches Card
Black White and Moonstruck Card
Imagine the Possibilities Card
Pink Layered Flower and SuperHero Cards

Thank you, Card Patterns!

My heart is sad as I type this post - one of my favorite Sketch blogs, Card Patterns, is closing up shop. I know I am going to miss them a bunch - the sketches were always fab, and the blog sample eye candy simply fabulous! I wish those lovely gals lots of happiness and fun and lots of glitter where ever their future paths may go. My card today is based on their newest sketch.

I used a bit of retired Sophia Paper and Blush Textured Cardstock that I've been hoarding saving for a rainy day (which we have a lot of around here). Everything is stamped/sponged/swiped in Blush Ink. The big Art Philosophy frame is stamped with the edges of the swoopy SOAR sentiment from the July SOTM. I used the trimmed up butterflies from that same image to stamp the flurry of butterflies across the main panel. I filled in the YOU of the sentiment with Bitty Sparkles.

I also created a super fluffy layered bow for this card inspired by the plethora of layered little girl hairbows I've been coveting seeing lately on Pinterest.. The bottom layer is polka dot grosgrain, layered with a dip dyed Seam Binding double bow, topped off with a double loop of Pink ric-rack. A trio of sparkly goodness tops off my ribbon creation, including a bling button (topped with a sparkle to cover the holes, natch), a large pink sparkle, and a Rhinestone designer brad. Probably not mailing this one! I'm linking this post to the Heart 2 Heart Ribbon Challenge.

Goodbye, Card Patterns - you made my world a better place. I'll be taking tomorrow morning off, but check back on Sunday for a brand new SOTM Blog Hop - dozens and dozens of new ideas for this versatile July SOTM!

You can stamp a rainbow....

...even if you don't have a rainbow stamp pad! One of my favorite stamping techniques is rolling. You start with a lighter color, then roll the edges or pieces of the image into a second, darker color. Clear stamps (like CTMH's awesome My Acrylix) are fabulous for this, as you can see exactly where the colors are going and blending on your stamp before you press it to your project.

For this card I took the Color Dare from a new color challenge blog Color My Heart. This Week Sarah challenged us to make a card using a seasonal Rainbow color palette - I chose summer, since we apparently aren't having any summer in the Pacific Northwest this year and I'm a-missin' the sunshine! My colors were Holiday Red, Sunny Yellow, Sunset, Topiary, Moonstruck, and Gypsy, plus Black!

I carefully trimmed the butterflies from the large SOAR sentiment from the July SOTM. I stamped the SOAR in Black Ink. Then I built my larger swirl of butterflies by carefully rolling the trimmed image in three inks at a time. First I inked in Sunny Yellow, rolled about 1/3 into Sunset, then the beginning in Holiday Red. I kept building with my other colors until I had a lovely swoopy rainbow of tiny butterflies streaming across my page. Once it had dried for a few minutes I applied some Stardust Glitter glitz carefully with my fingertip, pouncing it so that I wouldn't smear the ink. A bit of piercing with my favorite Piercing Ruler lead to so stitching using thread from my new Sewing kit and then my corner rounder insisted on getting some action...

Tomorrow I've got a pretty pink tribute to one of my favorite Sketch Blogs, Card Patterns, which is closing up shop. Sniff...I think that calls for some chocolate!

What's Black White and Retro Sketches all over?

Ah, Retro Sketches...how do you always have such irresistible sketches? I love, love, love making cards with a Retro Sketches sketch like this one. This was my first card of the day last Saturday...originally intended to be my team meeting create n take card. Then I go going...and going...and going....then I realized that I would not be mass producing this baby. But I do love it!

My background is embossed with a cuttlebug dots folder. I replaced the left side panel with some ribbons trimmed to size, then stitched across the top. Ad that's a bit of ric-rack peeking out the right side of the main panel.

I used the Black+White+any color challenge over at Heart 2 Heart - my extra color was just a dash of Tulip. That center flower is 4 layers of flat Art Philosophy cut flower, all 1/4" apart in size ranging from 1 1./2" to 3/4"  Each layer was sponged just a smidgen with black ink, the rolled with the back end of my piercing tool on a couple layers of fun foam to form the curvy petals. The pad that comes with my piercing tool kit would've been fabulous for this technique. Let me know if you see it 'round here, ok?

Those butterflies were fun "cricut orphans" that I sponged with black ink and a dauber before detailing with Silver Glitter Glitz. Each flower was topped with a black button brad filled with a sparkle.

Happy Wednesday Crafty Friends - halfway there... Hope you are enjoying your little corner of the world today!

P.S. Don't forget there's only three more days for Stampaganza - Buy two, get one free stamp sets!

You make the world a better place...

Welcome back, Stamping Friends! Today I'm trying out some new challenge blogs in my July SOTM Exploration.  I grabbed a fab sketch from Unscripted Sketches - there's a lot of talent hanging out over there! I combined that sketch with  the color challenge from Play Date Cafe. I'm excited about this one too - it looks like the challenges are super cute and the whole blog is coffee themed, so of course I love it!

This week's color challenge from Play Date Cafe is Black+White+Blue. I did a lot of sponging for these Cricut Art Philosophy layered flowers with Moonstruck ink, tipping each petal in Black. I also double sponged the edges of the mail sentiment. I inked that sentiment very carefully to stamp it in two colors - since it's so blocky it was easy to manipulate just the "YOU" to ink up in Moonstruck.

I broke into my stash of Star Spangled Blue Grosgrain and Gingham ribbons (yes, I've been hoarding saving full ROLLS of ribbon for a long time...) Then I wrapped a bit of black baker's twine in a bow around my gingham bow and topped it off with a bitty sparkle.  Notice I topped off my Bling button with a sparkle as well instead of threading it with twine. It's just big enough to cover the button holes!

And speaking of making the world a better place, my dearest husband John makes my world a better place. I've been really unwell this week, first with allergy issues, then because I took Prednisone for the allergy issues, and he is my rock star! Stasha over at the Good Life is up to Monday Listicles again, and this week we are to compose a list of ten memories about a man in our life. So here's to you, my dear scrubby - ten things I am so thankful for about you for me to remember when the Prednisone rage takes over!

1. Thank you for making sure I wake up to boys who are fed and dishes that are clean.

2. Thank you for having patience with said boys when I am at the end of my admittedly ridiculously short rope.

3. Thank you for cleaning my Stamp Pad for the team meeting Monday night after I spent all weekend making the biggest crafty mess know to womankind...and knowing where to store all the ink pads.

4. Thank you for embracing our crunchy new food life (and woo hoo for your Cholesterol of 149!) and becoming an advocate for our family's food idiosyncracies.

5. Thank you for checking in on me and answering my texts while at work even though you are endlessly busy with your new manager responsibilities.

6. Thank you for supporting our family financially. Big time.

7. Thank you for skipping your poker club quarterly hoopla to spend the day bowling with the boys and doing laundry because I was not feeling well. And you even vacuumed!

8. Thank you for taking the time to admire whatever crafty creation I've produced from the StampPad as though you too are excited by an excessive amount of glitter, rhinestones, and baker's twine!

9. Thank you for handling bathtime after a long day of work and making it a blast for the boys. They literally cry if I have to do bathtime when you work late. And then giving me adult conversation, often scrappy related, after that.

10. Thank you for loving our boys. And thank you for loving me.

Catch ya back here tomorrow to continue with more black+white+another color! Thanks for making the world a better place!

Imagine the Possibilities!

Back again for a whole week of July SOTM card inspiration! I am not kidding you that when I sat down on Saturday I literally turned to Karin and said that this SOTM was killing me. It's all sentiments - big ones, and I just could not wrap my brain around it. By the second cuppa Earl Grey, though, I was really getting behind this one. Since there's only sentiments, it's such a versatile set! The sentiments are big enough for scrapbooking, but designed enough to look really cool on a card. So I apologize to you, July SOTM. You are awesome - I just had to imagine the possibilities!!

So for this card I used the #40 sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I used both Typeset and Cruisin' papers on my card base. Sometimes I struggle filling in a big shape like this oval, but in this case I knew just what I wanted there. I stamped the city skyline from the  Super Powers stamp set in Grey Flannel ink across the bottom of my Cricut cut oval. Gosh I love being able to just whip out shaped panels in a snap! Then I sponged the top with Juniper Ink, swiped all around with both Juniper and Black ink, and overstamped the whole panel with that huge SOTM Sentiment. I used a fine tipped Legacy Writer to add the dots around the edge of my oval - mostly because I didn't want to have to stitch all around the oval wanted to add some easy depth to my panel. And yes, that's a bit of Silver Glitter Glitz topped with a Bitty Sparkle dotting my "i"... because what could make a bitty sparkle better than a halo of glitter?

   I whipped up an embellishment cluster using scraps from my Cricut pile...do you have one of those? Every time I'm working on something I cut my shapes...plus one or two extra JUST IN CASE. Then I don't want to toss them because I might want them later, so I have a huge pile of orphaned Cricut cuts just waiting for me to find them a new crafty home. In this case I sponged the ticket frame with Black ink and backed it with a scrap of the Cruisin' Map paper. Silver Glitter Glitz was added to both the ticket and painted thinly onto the star.I also filled the black button brads with Silver Glitter Glitz. Fill them a bit more than you think you need - they flatten out nicely as they dry. That pretty button is leftover from my Bohemian Assortment Stella Collection...I need like 1,000,000 more of them! Shiny, silver, stitch detail - love it!

Speaking of stitch detail, I did hand stitch on the background of this card with my new favorite stitch - the running stitch! How awesome is it to get the texture of hand stitching but only have to do half the stitches?

OK - see ya back here tomorrow! Or you could sign up to follow me by email (over there in the upper left) and then you'll be sure not to miss even a bitty brad!

P.S.: I'm looking for Fabulous blog visitor Karen who commented on my Time for Something Sweet post - I have something sweet to send you in the mail if you'll email me a place to send it!

These boys LOVE pancakes!

Last one! What's with all the Studio J this week you ask? Well, besides the fact that CTMH gifted us with 5 free layouts (and who doesn't like free), I've been pretty down for the count with allergy issues, so much so that there may have been a visit to Urgent care and a bunch of steroids prescribed. Again. Sigh...so I wasn't much up to scrapping and stamping this week at all - thanks goodness Studio J is around to keep me amused and feeling semi crafty! Farmville for scrapbookers I always say!

This kit is with the new Victory papers, which I'll be featuring in my club kit for next month. You should see those pics go up next week! We made a pleated ribbon trim using the ribbon tabs option - way less messy  to achieve for me than this one or this one! I am not a fan of liquid glue, but I keep on truckin'! 

We did some more cropping of StickEase images - a trick I wish I'd known before. You just grab the little icon at the edge of the StickEase and drag it in to trim off the part you don't want to show - so simple! 

Finally, since we can no longer indulge in pancakes (the whole family is now (happily) gluten free, here's our favorite recipe for Gluten Free pancakes...which I actually cook in a waffle iron. They don't crisp up like a waffle, but I find it a lot simple than dealing with flipping tender gluten free pancakes. So our pancakes look weird., but taste good - a daily mantra around these parts. 

The search for a decent GF pancake recipe quite a big deal around here, and this is the best compilation of all the many, many, MANY techniques and recipes we tried. Enjoy!

Terrific Teff Pancakes:

1 cup Teff Flour 

1 1/2 cups yogurt or plain kefir

3/4 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a tbsp of vinegar added, let sit for 5 minutes)

3 eggs

2 tbsp coconut sugar (or honey or your fav sweetener)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Coconut oil or butter for greasing up the griddle/waffle iron

Heat up your waffle iron. Beat Eggs a bit, then mix in all the ingredients and blend until a nice batter forms. Grease up your cooking surface and fill up the waffle iron as per usual. Cook until your waffle iron says "done", then eat em up with extra butter and real maple syrup - or homemade strawberry jam! Nom nom nom! 

Sometimes we do 1/4 cup coconut flour (not a typo, coconut flour sucks up moisture like you wouldn't believe), but the teff comes out more like a traditional whole grain looking pankcake. We use the waffle iron but it still feels like a pancakes when you eat it, soft and yummy! Have some bacon too - heaven!

Next I'll need a layout of the boys helping to make their favorite breakfast treat! Thanks for stopping by...and sorry if you now need to go and get you a big fluffy stack o' yummy pancake goodness!

Linking up!

Allergy Friendly Wednesdays @ The Willing Cook

Scratch Cooking Tuesday @ Mrs. Dulls Kitchen

Linky Party #22 at DIY Dreamer

Real Food Wednesday @ Kelly The Kitchen Kop
Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet

Challenge Catch-up!

Happy Sunday! I was lucky enough to spend all day in my Stamp Pad yesterday, catching up on challenges and playing with my shiny new July SOTM. My fabulous team is coming over Monday evening, and i needed some new goodies to share!

This is my swap card for the meeting Monday night. I used the retro-mod color combo from the cute Colour Q blog. I translated that picture into Juniper, Ocean, Honey, Smoothie, and Colonial White and whipped up this adorable smackerel! The large sentiment is my FAV from the upcoming July SOTM.

I random stamped the  background paper with a cute little A-Sized stamp set called A Garden.

Then I pieced a LOT of flowers using shaped from the Art Philosophy Cartridge. The flowers I sponged and directly inked with Smoothie Ink. There are two layers of Smoothie flowers, and I used some fun foam and the back of my Piercing Tool to round and shape the outer petals on the top layer. The small scalloped flowers i swiped direct to paper with Honey Ink. And the Heart was waterbrushed with Juniper ink and swiped with Ocean then topped with a Sparkle!

The leaves were also waterbrushed and formed around my Piercing Tool. The dampness of the waterbrush helped the leaves to retain their shape when they dried.

 And now for something completely different, here's my super take on the Mojo Monday Sketch for this week as well!

I love this superhero stamp set - can't believe that paper is gonna be GONE in just over a month! Luckily I already have my Super Powers stamp set, so I'll be all set for my hero needs!

 Here I stamped the skyline image in White Daisy Ink across a Kraft CS base. I got my color combo from the Color Throwdown # 197. I chose Kraft, Smoothie, Tulip, and Pear as my closest colors, and Ben was thrilled to have a hero that wasn't blue and red!

I embossed the small squares from the Mojo Sketch with my cuttlebug folder,

then colored them with a Smoothie marker and topped each embossed dot with a drop of Liquid Glass to make them shiny.

To color my superhero I turned again to my trusty waterbrush...but this time I used it with 91% alcohol instead of water! I just poured a bit into a craft jar and used the waterbrush like a paint brush, dipping the tip into the alcohol then picking up color from the lid of my pad to paint on the colors. It's not a copic...but it only cost me 97 cents for the alcohol, and it makes the ink blend so nicely!

So that's my catch-up for this weekend...and more cards are coming, one for every day this week!

See what happens when I get a free afternoon and 3 cups of Earl Grey? Thanks for stopping by - YOU are making the world a better place!

Daddy's Photo Shoot

Last July I sent John off with the boys to get their pictures taken. Cute, coordinated outfits were brought along (ok, coordinating with one of our paper packets, lol...), but the boys went in their cheap-o 4th of July t-shirts, having learned my lesson long ago that if you put them in the photo outfits even 5 minutes before you get there it's pretty much guaranteed that SOMETHING will happen to said outfits. I couldn't go along, since I was teaching a workshop that day. You can imagine my surprise when he returned...with these adorable-but-not-what-I-planned-for pics of the boys...in fourth of July t shirts...riding a tractor...in a football stadium. 

Still those grins are pretty adorable!

In this version of a Studio J layout we learned to use My StickEase as a border for that cute open scalloped border. The paper packet was originally called Magic Moments, and it's a super cute Cocoa, Hollyhock, Goldrush and Indian Corn Blue polka dotty and floral packet...not exactly screaming tractor pull until you change out all the colors, eh? We also learned how to make a layered ribbon bow (adding extra knots and flipping the rotation - brilliant and fast!) AND we made that striped ribbon by stretching a journaling box and filling it with ///////// backslashes!!  How cool is that? 

Thanks for driving by!

The first Day of Kindergarten...

I wrote about the little tag book I made for Gabe's first day of school (click HERE to see that project). That's what he's clutching in his terrified hands in the photo on the right. He was totally jazzed for Kindergarten to start right up until we headed out the door to actually GO to Kindergarten. Oh the tantrums and screaming, crying and whining...

We did more color changing to the paper - in this case the kit was Lucky (click HERE to remember what that Grey paper above used to look like). We lined up Stickease across the center to make a scallop border. Little Tip: Line up 4 or 5 of them, then copy/paste the whole group again and again - much easier! 

Gabe just finished his last day of Kinder last week - and it was a very different experience. I walked to school and spent the morning in class with him. He was comfortable, participated in activities, played with lots of friends (instead of his usual one friend at a time policy) - it was a joy to see!

And yes, we did recreate the grumpy 1st day photo on the last day, but this time with a big beaming smile! But that's a story for another layout!

I feel so LUCKY you stopped by today!

Time for something SWEET!

I read somewhere that blog readers like bigger photos. Do you like the bigger photos I'm trying out? I can't decide if I like it better this way or the old way... I'd love to see your comments, dear readers! So much so that anyone who comments on this post by Friday will be entered into a drawing for a fun blog candy Surprise package valued at $20! I'll be waiting with baited breath by my laptop to see what you think...

Here's the 2nd of 5 layouts CTMH gave us for Convention this year. In this one we took a retired Halloween themed paper packet (Mischief - remember this one?) and changed the colors of the papers to get rid of the Halloween feeling. We also used the StickEase to make that trio of cupcakes in the upper corner. They are made out of an oval tag plus a piece of wrapped candy that we cropped to look like a bowl and a brad/cherry on top! 

We also learned how to add an extra mat by putting a journaling box over top of a photo well and sending it back behind the photo. I've always wanted to double mat in Studio J! There's stitching around each small photo well too - I am all for any stitch work that doesn't require me to actually stitch!

Max's first days in Studio J

One of the wonderful things about CTMH Convention is the swag. don't we all love to get a little something extra? This year CTMH gave us a free 5 pack of Studio J layouts to complete BEFORE we head off to Dallas. The instructions were a lot more advanced than I've attempted in Studio J. As I said in my post yesterday, I'm more of the 10 minute layout girl in Studio J. I like my paper too much to spend as much time digital scrapping as I do with paper. But it is nice to have the option!

In this layout, I used the new stitch options - there are straight lines of different stitches (this one is a running stitch) and also shapes (I used the star centered around my Start StickEase over the Max photo on the right layout. There's also some stitching at the start of each journal strip (computer generated journaling at the drop of a click - one of the bonuses of digi-scrapping!) 

Best part? Most of these pics are CELL phone pics I took in the hospital with terrible light and my old crappy not-a-smart phone. I'm so glad CTMH decided to have us all take another whack at Studio J for free - I might not have gotten around to these pics for a while!

It was fabulous to see you today, darling scrappy friends!

Studio J Layouts

I spent a good bit of time last week working on 5 new more advanced Studio J layouts, but I wanted to be sure to share this one too, for the Heart 2 Heart Challenges Father's Day Challenge.   I did this one last year for John's Father's Day gift, and with the JPGs you get from your membership benefits, it's currently the background on my laptop as well! 

This was a pretty basic Studio J layout - sing in, choose a kit, choose a layout, drop in your pictures, and change the colors on the toggle accents (that's all the pre-suggested embellishments) I did add a line of stitching across the top - this was back when you had to line up the buttonhole stitches one at a time to make a row of stitching. When working this last week I was pleased to see that now you can drag and drop a whole row of stitches or even stitched hearts, circles, etc... What a huge improvement!!

Of course, if you've been following me a while, you've seen my Father's Day project for this year - this Superhero album! Here are some more pics from the inner pages - sorry I didn't get any with the pictures added yet. It's been a rough week healthwise for me, so blogging hasn't been at the top of my list. Stinkin' Allergies! But here's all the innards- I am loving this picture collage thing!

If you have already bought a Consultant kit for this workshop, I'll be emailing you this JPG later this week as I get caught up on my To Do list. Thank goodness for Prednisone! 


If you are not a Consultant and missed the kit and want to make one now, just drop me a line and I'll send you the details! 

Hope you had a SUPER Father's day weekend too!

I'm linking this post to the amazing Paper Issues Stars and stripes Party!

Monday Listicles

Stasha over at the Good Life is at it again - another Monday Listicle with a fascinating topic. This week we are spending (a pretend) $1000 on 10 things.... Since I'm off to Dallas in 22 days (!!) my mind is overwhelmed with the possibilities of what new awesome swag CTMH is gonna hook us up with. So here's what I'm dreaming about spending my $1000 on...

1. New Markers! Our old markers are retiring, and some colors are already gone. My markers got left in an unfound box in the garage for 6 months after one of our moves, so the fact that they still function at all is a miracle. Something new is coming down the pike...the anticipating is delicious! Replacing all 60 colors in one blow... $250 bucks...or if we're REALLY wishing some new form of alcohol ink marker... can't wait to see!! So maybe $300...

2. New Paper! I am a paper er...um...hound! I love paper. I sniff it as I open a new package (come on, you know you do that too...right?). I spread it out across my table to admire the colors. I save scraps just in case. 8 new packets are coming to me in a month!! I'm so excited I can hardly see straight...oh wait, that's probably the allergies right now, but still! 8 new WOTG kits of paper (with stamps = $250). Maybe I'm blowing my new $1000 stash too fast...

3. New Alphabet Fonts! I love stamps in general, but it's the Alphabet fonts that I collect obsessively. I have every font I've ever bought. I clear out the flowers and borders to make room for new designs, but the Alphabet Fonts...those are priceless. Could I even hope for 5 new fonts? $100

A rainbow of buttons...and brads...and eyelets...and there are 20 of those bins of embellies underneath.
I like to see what I've got!

4. More Buttons. New Buttons. More kinds of buttons. Shiny glitter buttons. Buttons with flowers stamped into them. Is it wrong that I already have a rainbow of buttons (see pic above) and I want more? If it is wrong, I don't want to be right! I mean, I already HAVE all the ones we already carry...plus some contraband...so I need you to change out the buttons so I can buy some more, ok, CTMH? Thanks! $30

5. . More Ribbon! Says the girl with an entire Shoe Organizer of ribbon...I mean one of those lovely sturdy wooden modular shoe organizers with 18 shoebox sized holes. Each one is filled with spools of ribbon stored in the back and a clear jar with smaller ribbons and scraps in the fronts...also sorted by color. What can I say - I like a rainbow of choices when I sit down to craft. It's how I roll. Bring on some more fancy ribbon please! $40

6. More Cricut Cartridges please! I love my Art Philosophy Cartridge dearly and it almost never leaves my Cricut. So I need CTMH to produce a new Cricut Cartridge I can't live without, because I need me some Hexagons, and if CTMh can't provide them, I'm gonna go and get me this...if it should ever come back into stock! Never mind - I just want the PTI hexagon die...more $$ for other swag! $16


7. More Bitty Sparkles in a huge spectrum of colors. I've been coloring my clear sparkles with sharpies and Reinker/Liquid Glass Combos...but deep down i'm a lazy crafter. I want to have many, many, way too many  sheets of tiny sparkly colored rhinestones all ready to just stick on with no liquid adhesive hassle. I can SEE them fanned out in a rainbow on my table top. $30


8. Lace. And crochet trim. And fabric flowers. And Baker's Twine in lots of individual colors. $30+


9. Gluten free food and no...issues. I am very worried about eating at Convention this year. I know this isn't a craft thing, but, hello, even a hard core crafter's gotta eat something besides chocolate! We almost never eat out at home anymore, and when we do it's almost always Chipotle (or Five Guys) because we know that they won't gluten us up and are affordable. I'm busily storing away homemade snacks to bring (pineapple is drying on my counter in the dehydrator as I type - yum!) and we're planning to make a grocery store run when we get there...  but as a bona fide food-freak-even -though-I-swore-I'd-never-be-THAT-mom...I don't know HOW to eat out any more, and even with a full bottle of Gluten-Ease tucked away for my trip I am just so NERVOUS about it...I can't even have coffee anymore... though that'll just save us a bazillion dollars while we are traveling... I can't put a dollar amount here...just something that takes up way too much of my pondering time, every day, even without travel...can I survive for a week on dried pineapple and homemade beef jerky? I guess if I add in enough chocolate and Earl Grey...


10. New Stamps! I'll spend the rest and anything I can scrounge up from the couch cushions on new stamps! Christmas stamps, new background stamps, frames and tags - I can't even imagine what new gotta-have-that-right-now-give-it-to-me designs we'll see in just a few short weeks, but I'm already practically drooling over the idea. I haven't bought a single buy 2 get 1 free stamp deal this month for myself because I am saving all my pennies for this. You can see the shine of my halo right? 


Oops-  I guess I'd have a halo if I choose to spend my imaginary $1000 on something good and altruistic instead of more papercrafting supplies...or something for my three little boys...or pedicures for me and all my girldfriends - wouldn't THAT be a hoot!  I've never spent anywhere close to $1000 on stamp stuff for me...at one time...ahem...so it's nice to imagine getting all the new stuff all at once instead of picking and choosing and being all reasonable. 


So there ya go - my 10 things for $1000...unless someone knows a good doctor who can make you NOT be allergic to gluten and/or coffee...then I'd blow it all on that! Now get out to Stasha's Blog and check out all the much deeper than mine lists - maybe make one of your own!


What's on YOUR list?

My favorite stamps!

I believe that Close To My Heart produces the best stamps in the industry. And this month there are Buy Two, Get One Free for Stampaganza - can't beat that! But CTMH makes a LOT of stamps - how do you choose which ones are for you?

For starters, you might want to consider some designs that are retiring as of July 31st. These awesome stamp designs will no longer be available after that date. I have listed below those stamp sets and have linked 'em up so that they'll take you right to the stamp set so you can see it and even put it in your shopping cart. You're welcome!

The set you see here on this darling whiteboard calendar is one of my favorite retiring sets called Party Pennants. I'll miss this one -oops, no I won't! I already have it, bwahahaha!

The sets below with an asterisk (*) next to them are sets that coordinate with our wonderful Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  You can see when you click on the link that the stamps that coordinate have an outline around them. When you receive your sets, they will also have the outline around them as well as a measurement of what size to cut that image on your Cricut.

The sets below that are BIGGER and BOLDER are some of my favorite retiring stamp sets, sets that I use often. I've sprinkled in some art samples too for good measure. Happy clicking!

Stamps retiring at the end of July:
Instant Memories

Zoology

Zoology*
Harvest Happiness*
Unscripted*
Sweet Moments*
Key Moments*
All Hallows Eve*
Christmas Cheer*

Countdown

Countdown*
Snowflake*
Winter Joy
Harvest Home
Thanksgiving
So Grateful
Captured Moments
Fright Night
Party Animal
A Sip
Nature's Gift
Snow Days
Bundled Buddies
Snow Flurries
All Decked Out
A Holiday*
Holiday Cheer*
Adorn-able
A Twinkle
Tannenbaum
Fill in the Blank - Holiday*
I Believe
Father Christmas

Snow Flurries

A Timber
St. Nick
Glory to God
Angel Sent
John 3:16
The Present
A Flitter
Treasure Life

Party Pennants

Party Pennants
Always Remember
Tag The Occasion
Happy Clusters
Joyful Jar
Month by Month
Gnome Garden
A Game
School Rocks
Live Inspired
Childhood Portrait
Christmas Love

December 25

December 25*
Card Chatter-Christmas
Everlasting Life
Holiday Commentary
Holiday Commentary-Spanish
Holiday Commentary - French
Say it in Style 
A Little Thanks
Authentic
Made With Love
Live Your Style
Save the Date
Save the Date - French
Save the Date - Spanish
Baroque Alphabet
Friendship Alphabet Small
Friendship Alphabet Large 
Field Trip Alphabet
Giggle Caps
Giggle Lowercase
Rustic Numbers

Rustic Alphabet

Rustic Alphabet 

Can you tell I collect  hoard  love fonts? You can purchase these and many other stamp sets on my website , 24/7...and during the month of June, don't forget that stamps are buy 2 get 1 FREE!

Who doesn't love FREE stamps? Not me...my Scrubby can attest to that, lol...


A few giggles to send you off with a smile!

CTMH stands for can't tell my husband...

Scrapbooking is cheaper than a therapist.

A good friend shops with you for scrap supplies...a true friend helps you hide your stash when you get home!

Have a happy stash-hiding stamp-clicking therapy session - I'll never tell!