Why I Became Close To My Heart Blog Hop

Welcome to this month's special hop, Why I Became a CTMH Consultant. We have 18 consultants sharing their story this month in honor of the Baby, I'm Worth It special. You might be arriving here from WENDY'S BLOG. Here's my story...

I made a scrapbook page with some of my favorite pics from Convention last summer (and one from the first convention) my team traveled to Disneyland with me. Each year we travel to Convention in a big group, having adventures together, and these ladies make the whole experience so much fun! I love our monthly team meetings too, but there's a special spot in my heart for traveling on these big trips together every year. I based my layout on the fab new sketch at Stuck ?! Sketches. 

I combined some Penelope line with the April SOTM and City Life Instalife cards. I did some hand stitching details using a combo of yellow and gold threads. I also added some fat swipes of my new BoBunny Glitter Paste, which I got on a field trip my team took to a scrap store before dinner in Seattle when we were there for a CTMH event recently. The background is watercolor paper splattered with lots of colors of watercolor paints. 

My journaling is reflecting back on how I joined CTMH. I never meant to be a CTMH consultant. I just wanted to buy extra paper, so the discount sounded great. I wasn't going to go to meetings or sell anything or (are you kidding me?) start a team. I only knew like three people since we'd just moved to Oregon. My first party was a disaster - not even the hostess showed up. I ended up stamping with the hostess's friend and her big, burly biker roommate dude who took pity on the poor nervous wreck trying to teach to a class of one, so he joined in for fun! Fourteen years later it turns out that the paper discount (while sweet!) is the least of what I've gained in joining CTMH. 

CTMH has given me confidence - in myself, my leadership skills, and my craft. It's also given me some of the best friends a gal could ask for, from my team, from my sidelines, and a whole community of amazing people who love crafting and making as much as I do. These ladies are my peeps. They craft with me. They laugh with me. They help me when I move, love my kids, and are always there for me. I am there for them too, because helping others to achieve their dreams is the best part of having a team. For me, CTMH is not about the dollars (though I'm super proud of them when they reach their goals), it's about the lasting connection we've built, all because we like to hang out and make pretty stuff together.         

That's why I'm happy to be CTMH, and my life is immeasurably better because one day fourteen years ago I just wanted to buy pretty paper at a discount. If you'd like to chat more about the extra rewards of joining the CTMH family this month, talk to your personal consultant or send me a note. Next up on the hop is MELINDA'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Foxy How You Doin'? Card

I already shared earlier this month about how this sentiment from Spring Critters makes me thing of Joey from Friends... and tonight I thought what if that cute little fox was actually a little sassy...

So I grabbed the new sketch over at Mojo Monday, and punched some 1" holes down the edge of my card front. Then I ran a strip of wide green washi tape down the left side of my card to back the punched holes and slipped just the head of that adorable fox into the third hole.

I gave him a single wiggly eye so he'd give the recipient a little wink-winker, then added Joey's catch-phrase popped up with a bit of thin foam tape. A little marker work and I felt that I was doing mighty fine, thanks for asking! 

Day 365: All Smiles Layout and Giveaway!

Oh my gosh it felt so good to make a page layout again! Today's layout was inspired by the new sketch over at Stuck Sketches.

I decided to combine my Penelope papers with some doilies (Doodlebug), purple shimmer trim, and gold stitching. I formed some flowers from my cricut die cut stash, and topped them with pink rhinestone gems (source unknown). Then I dug into my special buttons stash and grabbed some fun wooden and fabric buttons for accents.

Oh my golly, we did it! My 365 days of projects challenge is finally completed. There were a few days where I wondered how I would keep going, but you were always there to cheer me on and encourage me. I feel like I've learned a lot about how to make time for crafting and hopefully you've enjoyed my daily projects, too!

Since you have brought me so many smiles this year, I've got a nice box full of goodies I've found while unpacking to share with one of you! Just leave a comment on this post telling me something - your favorite project from this last year (yours or mine). what you are working on currently, how excited you are for the Gilmore Girls reunion, whatever is on your mind... I'll draw a winner and announce it next week. Thank you for sticking with me and always having something kind to say, Stampin' Friends!! 

Day 364: Hip Hip Hooray Froggie Birthday Card

Hip! Hip! Hooray! Just one more day...until I've finished my 365 days of projects! Thanks to Viva La Verve sketches for tonight's inspiration.

Tonight I'm sharing this sweet froggie birthday card made with the Penelope Complements stickers and papers. As I'm unpacking my studio I keep finding goodies that have lost their buddies, like this sweet Doodlebug mini doily. I sprayed it liberally with glitter spray and it's so sparkly now! I need to practice with my ShotBox so I can learn how to capture that sparkle instead of having this look so flat and gray. I mean, after I'm done unpacking and all!

I also uncovered my beloved metallic threads today, so I had to add some silver stitching around the card edges and on the sparkly doily. Hope to see ya tomorrow for my last challenge day, Stampin' Friends!

Day 363: Happy Easter Card

I know this is a bit early, but this bunny was calling my name today for some reason.  

He's from a cute little set called Spring Critters, which has matching Thin Cuts dies that I somehow managed to leave off my last order so I had to fussy cut my bunny. I dressed up my background with Penelope papers, following the new Freshly Made Sketches sketch. I colored my bunny friend with a White Wink of Stella brush tip pen and some alcohol marker shading.

I had my Penelope Complements stickers sitting on the desk and I have, of course, used all the heart stickers...but I hadn't used the outer edge of the hearts! so I fussy cut the heart outlines out of the sticker backing (it's pretty easy with non-stick scissors), added them to the card base, and filled them in with a bit of glitter gel. Then I fussy cut a few purple shimmer trim hearts for good measure (again, thank goodness for non-stick scissors).  I love a little googly eye action on these cute Spring Critters!

Day 359: My Type of Friend Card

I just love this sweet Share the Love stamp set  CTMH is offering to benefit Operation Smile this month. I'd totally snap up this cutie even if it wasn't also doing a world of good for children in need of life saving surgery.

Tonight's card was done is quite a hurry. We arrived home from a fun visit with good friends and I was supposed to start dinner. Instead the power was out...with a late night estimated return. Our emergency box of LED lanterns is lost somewhere in the boxes stacked in the garage. I knew my middle of the night crafting wasn't going to cut it since there might be no light at all to craft by, so I immediately set out to make a super fast card before the light was lost. I finished this sweet card in fifteen minutes, in large part because of the super cute sketch from Mojo Monday. 

I layered on Penelope paper in the background. Then I stamped one of the sentiments repeatedly in Pear, Crystal Blue and Thistle inks, filling in any spaces with the tiny heart stamped in Canary. I stamped the typewriter three times (once each in Slate, Crystal Blue, and Pomegranate), then quickly paper pieced it as the light was growing dimmer all around me. I grabbed a couple quick shots with all the blinds open right where I was working, then started loading the kiddos into the car to go to dinner. Just as we headed out the door....the power came back on. I'm writing this with a tummy full of Chipotle, and a new determination to find the box with my new Shot Box!

Day 358: How You Doin' Frog Card

Today I got to spend some crafty time using a stamp set generously sent to me by the ever awesome Karen Morris called Spring Critters. It is so very adorable!

I've been plotzing over this frog lately, so I wanted to highlight that image for sure. I started with the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I used the pear floral print from Penelope and added some stripy washi tape (cut in half lengthwise) and a leftover Penelope sticker.

I popped up my froggie friend with thin 3-D foam tape. Then I gave him a quick wash with Pear ink and my waterbrush before adding his sweet wiggly eyes. In my head, he sounds just like Joey Tribbiani, which is weird for a frog, but still makes me giggle! 

Day 355: Penelope WYW All Smiles Layout

I was a bit nervous when I first set out to make up this Penelope Workshops Your Way kit as designed, since the papers have a lot of pink and purple in them and I'm scrapping for three boys...would these designs work for my little dudes?

After getting my photos onto the pages I feel that the designs are very versatile. I had printed out a few sets of photos to try with the layouts, and any of them would have worked just fine. 

I really love the metallic accents on the vellum diecuts. And you can see a peek here of where I added a bit of stamping to this layout.

This is the last of my Penelope WYW projects. If you love these four layouts and 8 cards, order up your Penelope kit here. It was fun hanging out with all these spring goodies, but tomorrow I'll be headed back to Winter for Scrap Much!

Day 354: Penelope WYW Make Today Fun Layout

So this is the second of three double page layouts in the Penelope Workshops You Way guide. I went a bit more off-road in making this layout, but still generally followed the guide.

I changed the sizing on a couple of the photos, and tilted the pocket card that we are using for the title. I also added dovetail ends to the central stripe.

I also decided that I did not want that center blue gutter between the two pages, so I added some washi tape detailing along the far edges of each page to allow me to have the blue striped paper flush along the center break of the layout. 

Here's the clean and simple original layout from CTMH. I love how easy it was to make this layout more my style without really changing much about the original design.

Day 353: Penelope Workshops Your Way Spring Layout

I just realized I got distracted with all this moving and never actually posted the layouts from the Penelope Workshops Your Way kit. I finished these layouts with pictures using the free guide that CTMH has provided to go with this kit.

The WYW kit comes with paper, the sparkly silver puffy stickers, three rolls of washi tape, and a packet of the Penelope complements, which is a mix of cardstock weight stickers and vellum diecuts with metallic accents. The guide contains instructions to make three double page layouts, a pocket page layout, plus a bonus project of eight cards, so it's a lot of bang for your buck!

This tiny rainbow polka dot print is one of my favorite pieces in the Penelope line. I did some creative highlighting in my journaling using the skinny 1/4" washi tape. I laid down short bits of the washi and popped up tiny hand drawn boxes containing the highlighted words. 

This is the CTMH sample layout, so you can see that I did actually (mostly) try to follow the instructions. Tomorrow I'll share the second layout. Thanks for stopping by, Stampin' Friends!

Day 350: Share the Love Blog Hop

Welcome to the Share the Love Blog Hop.  Share the Love is not only an adorable stamp set, but with $7 of each set purchased donated to Operation Smile, it's also doing good for children in need. You might be arriving here from SHEILA'S BLOG. We have dozens of consultants sharing their love for this stamp set, so let's hop!

I decided to start off with the new sketch from Mojo Monday. I filled the sketch in with Penelope papers and green washi tape. I love this delicate rainbow polka dot print!

I stamped the telephone image in Black, Canary, and Thistle, then paper pieced the image before adding details with a tiny black journaling marker. I stamped the arrow image onto the background and added the heart bubble topped with a Penelope Complements sticker. I outlined everything with the same tiny marker.

Share the Love is available through the month of February - contact your consultant or CLICK HERE to get this sweet set and help change the life of a child. Next up on the hop is VICKIE'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Day 349: Love You Frog Card

I think I am in love with this teensy colorful polka dot print in the Penelope paper packet. And this adorable little frog in the coordinating pocket scrapbooking cards...swoon! 

This card was inspired by the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I trimmed the PML card to fit the card sketch, then matted it with the green pattern from the reverse of the polka dot print. I added a fussy cut Thistle heart onto his cute little tummy. The stamp set is called Share the Love, and it's an Operation Smile special available only this month.

I topped off my little frog with a couple of wiggly eyes. Now it's back to unpacking for me!

Day 348: Penelope WYW Pocket Scrapbook Layout

Oh my golly, I wish I had already unpacked my Shot Box. Or even knew where it was. I could not get rid of the glare on these cute Penelope pocket scrapbook pages. 

I love that the new Workshops Your Way kits come with these Pocket cards to cut apart - though I do often opt to use them in card making instead of the Pocket Scrapbook layouts as intended.

I think this adorable frog is my favorite of the Penelope cards. The cards are all printed with one orientation on one side, and the other orientation on the back so you can mix them and use them in any direction your pictures require.

I take a lot of square photos, so I just cheated out the rest of the 4x6 pocket using pieces of other cards, scraps of Penelope paper, and washi tape to hold it all together!

Day 347: Penelope WYW Card 4

For the last of my Penelope Workshops Your Way cards (the kit makes 8 cards, 2 of each design), I wanted to use the giraffe balloon. I stamped him a bunch of times with a lot of rolling ink combos, but I didn't like any of them. 

Eventually it occurred to me that the reason I didn't like them is because giraffes should be spotted. I had a simple fix for that - kissing!

First I inked the giraffe in Canary Ink but did not stamp him. Then I inked the polka dot image included in the SOTM set with Thistle ink, stamped that off onto my scratch paper so the spots wouldn't be too bright, and then stamped it onto the Canary inked giraffe repeatedly until his was all spotty. You could also stamp the second generation spots directly onto the Canary stamped giraffe image if you want a more defined spot. Finally I was happy with the giraffe balloon! Next up I'll share the adorable Penelope layouts.

Day 346: Penelope WYW Card 3

Back to our Penelope Workshop Your Way kit...For the third card I wanted to change up the image a bit. 

So I got some watercolor paper and splattered a few colors of paint across the paper. Then I did that dragging the stamp across the pad thing I talked about with the yellow bunny to add some striping to the Thistle Ink I was using. 

The paint splotches shone right through the more transparent Thistle ink, and I love this effect! One more Penelope card for you tomorrow, and one more inking technique for these balloon animals, Stampin' Friends!