Love of Travel

I thought I'd crack into some of the paper packs that I have purchased and saved for the right occasion. CTMH tends to retire papers now and again but I always grab a few packs from the current line and use them much later on.

Today's inspiration is another Random Acts of Creativity piece, Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #48.

I wanted to incorporate a bit of heat embossing and a travel theme into this piece. One of my brother's favorite things to do is travel alongside rock climbing and diving and what better than to add a suitcase with a compass on it?

I finished the inside with flourishes from Love Life and I brought the same cardstock patterns inside by way of four little squares, distressed in two different shades of brown - my trusty Chocolate and then Cocoa to darken it a bit more. This turned into a two tone distress which looked really cool.

Wonder how I got those fancy lines on? A ruler and a Sharpie marker!

My Stash:
* Solid color cardstock
* Gold button
* Sharpie

CTMH:
* Love Life
* Just a Number
* Ruler
* Black Embossing Powder
* Blue and Green Adhesive Sparkles
* Mocha Opaque Pearls
* Avonlea Paper Pack Lvl 2 (retired)
* Chocolate Ink
* Cocoa Ink
* Black Ink
* Twilight Ink
* Garden Green Ink

And like that January is out the door and Feburary arrives - with a new catalogue!

So simplistic it's beautiful...

I originally saw this card from Random Acts of Creativity: Sketchbook Challenge #67 but I didn't have the right butterfly stamps!

However I decided to use silver embossing powder which didn't originally show up so well on La Belle Vie, and then I distressed all over it in Gypsy Ink and the stamp just popped up.

I also cut the edges with Fiskars Edging scissors and distressed them in Gypsy. A few gems and all of a sudden it was looking very classy. The photo doesn't do the color of the paper justice. That's what I get for photo-editing on a tiny iPhone screen... my iPad is in Moscow with my husband.

I finished the inside with the same stamp in gypsy along with a sentiment and it was a perfect match to the purple cardstock. Did I mention I have a love affair with La Belle Vie and the Flair stamp?

My Stash:
* Fiskars Edging scissors
* Solid cardstock

CTMH:
* Flair
* Silver embossing powder
* Itty Bitty Clear Sparkles
* La Belle Vie Level 2 Paper Pack
* Gypsy Ink

It's foggy out today!

And the birthdays start again...

With both my brothers having birthdays in January I had to break out all my crafts again, even though they were all put away for the holidays.

However a swift inspiration kick in the back is always welcome and the new Spring/Summer catalogs arrived! They will debut Feb 1st but I will include one new catalog with any order in January.

My inspiration for today had to include planes, as my brother-in-law was once a pilot and still adores them : Mojo Monday : MOJO275

I thought I'd let the paper from Dreamin Level 2 (retired) carry the oomph of this card as it is so beautiful. However I was needing a distress tool and as it turns out, my foot file did the trick. Mind you I think I'll have to include the distress files in my next order. It exposes the white core that is at the center of all CTMH papers for a nice look.

I carried the paper and distressing through to the inside of the card and added a few flourishes, including distressing the middle panel's edges with Pacifica.

My Stash:
* Solid color cardstock
* Blue flower rhinestones

CTMH:
* Dreamin Level 2 Paper Pack
* Horizon
* Just A Number
* Love Life
* Olive Ink
* Pacifica Ink

Finally I should mention the stamp of the month for January - Happy Valentine's before it's too late - it's a beautiful set of roses that would work wonders on any layout or card.

This set is only 5$ with a minimum order of $50 CAD and don't forget about the latest promotion - a Valentine's Day kit for $10 with a minimum purchase of $35.00. 

Stay warm, it's cold outside!

Kicking off 2013 with my very first tutorial

Happy New Year! What better to start off the new year than with my very first tutorial? However, I'm still not happy with the quality of photos that turned out from my camera so any tips from any of you veterans would be greatly appreciated.

The new catalogue will be revealed Feb 2013, but it has just arrived and there's a lot of cool new things in there! 

Recently I saw this tutorial: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/gift_card_holder/  but there were two things that made me wonder.

a) Where would I find coin envelopes? I have never seen them around here...
b) When I watched the corresponding video it actually wasn't the same as the tutorial posted - the flap she used to "close" the holder turned into a circle and she used "snaps" from Stamping Up to close her holder. But this sparked a new idea... why don't I just use it as a base and fiddle until mine worked out (with Close to My Heart materials?)

Here we go!

1. Cut a strip of 2 3/4" x 11" patterned cardstock. Score at 2 3/4", 3", 6 5/16", and 7 1/16" spots.

in this project, I've used Wonderland Level 2 Paper Packet (retired)

2. Fold at each score to create a "matchbook" style cover

3. Cut a strip of cream, white or contrasting 2 1/2" x 7" solid cardstock and score at 3 1/2". Fold to create a pocket. 
4. Using a 1 1/4" circle punch, punch a half circle at the top of the pocket. Secure using two brads, but be careful not to make the opening too small (I usually put the gift card in and then punch the holes for the brads. Stamp a pretty pattern on the top part of the pouch.

5. Tie a ribbon bowtie around the middle of the pocket so the cards stay in there.  Distress the edges if you'd like (this is optional) and then attach to the inside of your cover.

 Ribbon thrifting - this one was from Sunterra :)

6.  Cut a rectangular piece of 2 3/16" x 3 1/2" of contrasting solid cardstock and 3 5/16" x 2" of cream or white cardstock. Adhere the cream cardstock on top of the solid cardstock.
7. Stamp your sentiment, an image, and add a 1 1/4" semicircle to the edge to make it easy to pull out.

8. Punch a 2" scalloped circle out of the same patterned cardstock but use the other side, and a 1 1/4" cream circle. Adhere the cream circle to the scalloped circle. Stamp your sentiment on the circle (I used Perfect Fit from the CTMH Winter 2012/2013 catalogue).

9. Using foam tape, adhere the bottom half of your scalloped circle to the bottom flap of your gift card holder. The top half will be loose so that the top flap of the gift card holder can tuck under the scalloped circle. (or, you can buy Hook and Loop dots from CTMH to adhere the flap to the rest of the holder).

10. Add a ribbon, and you're done!

Another fancy giftholder for this year. :)

Michaels, etc:
* Ribbon
* Solid colored cardstock
* Star brads

CTMH:
* Wonderland Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Pear and Partridge Level 2 Paper Pack
* Scallop circle punch
* Circle punch
* Blue and Green Sparkles
* Merry and Bright
* Perfect Fit - Holidays
* Outdoor Denim
* Barn Red
* Ponderosa Pine
* Key Lime
* Indian Corn Blue embossing powder

May the new year bring you everything you wish for,

Chocolate, Cricut, and 10 minute cards...

This year for some reason has been doubly stressful and more jam-packed than last year.  What I did not mention in previous posts is that I lost my job in late August which led to a new job and a new team. As I always enjoy doing, I make little chocolate packages accompanied with Christmas cards.

This is cut using the latest CTMH Cricut cartridge, Artiste. The neat thing about this cartridge is that due to all the 3-D options available on that cartridge, it comes with a how-to-assemble manual for all the 3-D options. The two snowflakes too are from the same cartridge. Learning my lessons from last year I broke out my trusty glue gun and everything stayed put.

A trick for those of you with unsightly glue-gun "strings" after your project is done - give it a few once-overs with your embossing heat tool and they will disappear.

After I was done this I was so exhausted but you just have to pair these with a little Christmas Card.

You'll have to pardon the yellow lighting, as these photos were taken late at night. I was cruising through a card store one day and noticed some cards had a second piece on them and one image. Taking that for inspiration I simply cut these little bases: 3x3, and then picked one color and finished all 7 cards in 1/2 hour. That's a new record!

The best part is that they were the perfect companion to my much fancier chocolate boxes stuffed with Ferrero Rocher.

My Stash:
* Solid color cardstock
* Ribbon
* Foam tape

CTMH:
* Wonderland Level 2 Paper Packet (retired)
* Pear and Partridge Level 2 Paper Packet
* Barn Red Ink
* Ponderosa Pine Ink
* Itty Bitty Sparkles
* Blue and Green Adhesive Gems

Thank you all once again for being such avid readers. Merry Christmas!!

P.S... I couldn't help but add the project (my triangles) to H2H's first challenge in 2013 :) 

December 2012 and Valentine's Day Promo!

I'm always a bit behind in telling you about the stamp of the month, but my December has been absolutely insane. I just wrapped up a second workshop yesterday and got the compliment that the workshops are really easy for someone who's never done this before.

So first things first - the December Stamp of the Month, Year Round Cheer.

There's so many little stamps that can be used year round, and this could be yours with a minimum purchase of $50 up to December 31st. I can't believe Christmas is next week!

I wanted to take this moment to say thank you to all of my loyal customers - for those of you that spend anywhere up to $50 between now and Dec 31st, I will throw in a free stamp pad as a thank-you gift! This is only available for emailed and phone-in orders.

Secondly, if you're organized enough to think about Valentine's Day, there's a promo for making treat boxes for people. This is fabulous if you have kids or have a great team to work with that enjoy your little crafts.

With a minimum purchase of $35, you can have this additional valentine's day gift for an additional $10. This promo is available until January 31, 2013. 

I know there haven't been a lot of posts but don't worry there's a gem coming your way. Just need to finish working on the photos for it! 

Hope you are all ready for Christmas,

Christmas is here...

Lately when I walk into the Hyatt on the way to work, they have been playing Christmas carols for weeks. I'm also connected into the Palliser Fairmont Hotel, and I decided to go for a walk down that way as I'm spending one night there to sleep off the liquor and go to work the next morning.

I walked into the Fairmont to be greeted by this:

This is carved from white chocolate, dark chocolate and sugar with a gingerbread chimney by one of the Palliser's newest pastry chefs. It took 40 hours to do. How amazing is that?

Today's inspiration is Case Study #118, in particular Maureen Merritt from Mama Mo Stamps' variation.

I've had the set Holiday Commentary for some time without not knowing what to do with it but it was the perfect pair to three cheery little raccoons. It's again a bit more simple than what I usually do, but the colors pop on this card so well and the Baker's Twine with green rhinestones just finishes it off.

As you can see, I carried the same theme throughout the rest of the card. I decided to do a bit of distressing throughout - on the front it's the paintbrush from the distressing tools from CTMH and inside the sponge for the edges.

My Stash:
* Green solid cardstock
* White cardstock

CTMH:
* Texture Tools
* Christmas Love
* Holiday Commentary (retired)
* Bundled Buddies (retired)
* Ponderosa Pine Ink
* Barn Red Ink
* Liquid Applique
* Blue and Green Assortment Sparkle
* Cranberry Baker's Twine

Stay warm and watch the ice on those slippery roads!