Ronnie Creates

New Website/Blog

2011-02-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

So I'm moving on - check out my site at www.goingdigi.com. My goal for the new site is to share my journey as I move from being a "full-on" paper scrapper to a "digital" scrapbooker. I hope you'll come visit. Not much there but give me time.
Ronnie

Organizing Supplies

2010-09-18T19:59:00.001-07:00

Haven’t managed to post this week as I’ve been busy organizing my digital supplies. Last weekend as I said in my last post there was a big sale at www.designerdigitals.com and as a result my bank account is $50 lighter and my supply selection is boosted by some great additions. My problem has been that as I’ve added more supplies to my collections its been harder to remember what I did or didn’t have and where it was saved. Which meant when I was scrapbooking I was wasting time looking for supplies. This became really evident when I tried the 30 minute challenge last week and I realized I had to do something to help my process. My files on my external hard drive are sorted fairly well but I couldn’t search them. Yes I had copied the summary picture into one folder but what if I wanted to remember where I had a orange flower with a button. I couldn’t I had to look through them all. So I decided to tag my supplies and use Photoshop Elements Organizer to do this. I don’t use it for my pictures which I sort by event and date. So why not use it for my supplies. So I’ve spent most of my scrapbooking time this week going through my supplies and tagging each item. As some items have more one than one tag this is taking a while but even now I have found it beneficially and I haven’t even finished. It was great today when I decided I wanted to be creative rather than continue cataloging to be able to search for elements I needed or wanted without having to go through each folder looking for them! Certainly made the whole process much faster!
Photoshop Elements Organizer is really easy to use. I found it very simple to get things started and get multiple tags allocated to each item. I didn’t even read the instructions I just got started and it seemed to work. I even managed to work out how to rename a “folder” or “pile” I had created and then even to merge two. So if your using Photoshop Elements and your not using the organizer I can highly recommend the ease of using this program. Remember I’m using this for only my digital supplies and not my pictures. Anthony has warned me off using organizers for pictures and I haven’t really felt the need. But even 50% through the digital supplies I know this was the right decision to get it done. My word of warning is to make sure you backup your catalog so incase of disaster you can restore it. I haven’t yet done this but need to – as I don’t want to have to start again.

Enough words – here’s the layout I created this evening using one of the new templates I purchased last weekend.

Supplies -

Technorati Tags: photoshop,PSE,organising supplies

30 minute challenge – or speed scrapbooking

2010-09-11T11:57:00.001-07:00

Today at designer digitals.com they have an all day chat going on with free digital downloads every hour so I have been watching and learning as I can. At 9 o’clock this morning there was a 30 minute challenge. They gave you some digital elements a set of rules :-

your title must be the full width/height of the page
use only one photo and it can’t exceed 3 inches on longest side
include a border around your page
use at least one of the freebies
use the color red somewhere on the page

and then off you went. As a newbie this was a challenge and a half. I haven’t been digitally scrapping for that long so it takes me time to get things to happen as I want them. The other problem was remember quickly what you have on hand! In addition I had to run Eleanor to dance within the same 30 minutes!!! But I did it and I’m fairly happy with the outcome.

Don’t ask me what supplies I used and where from other than the freebie file. No really I found the title in my directory under journaling – not sure where I got it from. The stitches are from a set I got from little dreamer designs – I got two sets from there and the heart is from the same sets. No journaling – no time. I did learn though that I can now create in Photoshop elements fast if I need to!! Anthony thinks its terrible as it too much about the graphic design and not the picture. Well I guess he’s right – you don’t even know its a back to school picture. I was working so fast that I didn’t have time to create my own title and the rules said one small picture which meant lots of space.

Moving on - If you haven’t checked our www.designerdigitals.com this weekend is the one to do it as this weekend the products are all 30% off – they only do this once a quarter. At the moment my cart is full to the tune of $50 and as the weekend goes I thing it will go up. I better do some pruning as I don’t think I can spend that much.

Dance Scrapbooking – Back to the glue and paint

2010-09-04T12:49:00.001-07:00

As I said in my last post Thursday was the first day of class for the latest May Flaum class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Its all about using the products you have on hand – not a problem I have a room full to play with! The first exercise was to start with some neutral cardstock and lots of pictures allowing the pictures to do most of the work. Well I have plenty of dance pictures in the pile to do so picked out a set of these to play with – managed to get 7 pictures on the layout in a way I was happy with them.
May is encouraging us to look at our supplies and see what we have a mountain of and to work on using them up. Now I have many mountains but chipboard letters and shapes are something I always seem to be buying with out regard to the ones I already have at home. So chipboard letters were singled out for this layout. She also wants to use products we may have purchased and not used a lot, if at all. That’s my collection of stickles – my friend Vicki is the queen of stickles but I always forget I have them and can’t be bothered waiting for them to dry. Chipboard letters + glimmer mist + paint + stickles give me the letters for my main title “dancer” – now not totally happy with it but 5 chipboard letters down and a decision made to give the stickles to my DD and the layout is complete in less than an hour.Not to mention the 6 other chipboard letters which I’ve had for over 5 years I’m sure.

Now I just have to be patient for those stickles to dry before I can move on to the next layout.

Also read some great news this morning on the Big Picture Scrapbooking website – Nic Howard has a new class coming up and it starts on my Birthday. Its all about color and using color in your layouts. I don’t really care what its about. Its Nic Howard and in the last two classes I’ve done with her I have learned so much that I’d sign-up regardless. It’s called Colour! Or is it Color? – well I’m certainly confused about that having learned to spell it colour as I grew up but now moved to color since moving to Texas. Anyways check out the course outline here – Colour! Or is it Color? If you decide to do it PaperClipping has a 10% discount

Technorati Tags: dance,scrapbooking,big picture scrapbooking,Nic Howard,paperclipping

here . If you haven’t listened to the PaperClipping podcasts I highly recommend doing that. They have two - one which is more the traditional scrapbooking and the other is which is about digital scrapbooking. I find they are great things to listened to when I’m doing housework.

The Search is Over

2010-09-03T18:12:00.001-07:00

Since I started playing with digital scrapbooking my issue has been printing the layouts at a cost which doesn’t kill me. Thanks to Alie Edwards I have found my solution. Recently I have been printing my layouts at CostCo but the machine automatically cuts the pages and I was loosing parts of the layout which were close to the edge. This was so annoying to me. I like the distressed ink look around the edge but they would trim one edge of the four so the border no longer looked even. It could be several mm’s which really makes your layout off balance if you look at it in detail.

Fast forward to Wednesday and Ali’s blog post. She is celebrating the re-launch of her blog and website by hosting a giveaway. One the prizes was from Persnickety Prints. This is what it said

per·snick·e·ty: Adjective a : fussy about small details b : requiring great precision

PersnicketyPrints.com is the leader in digital scrapbook printing. Their certified professional lab techs and quality control team set them apart from the rest. The best part about PP? Customer Service. They understand the time that is put into creating your layouts, and they will print your images the way you intended them to be. Check out their bleed comparison here.

12×12 full bleed prints on archival fuji photo paper is always $1.99.
8×8′s are 99¢.
Flat rate shipping for US + Canada is $5. International $10.
100% Guaranteed

I was like I wonder if this is true. I checked out the website and the facebook page and it looked like a lot of happy people so with the added bonus of a 10% coupon on Ali’s blog I thought I’d try it to see if it as true. At lunchtime on Wednesday I loaded seven layouts and paid a total of $17.54 including shipping. This would of cost me $21.98 at CostCo so I was even saving money. (Even without the discount each layout would work out less than CostCo by a quarter. My savings would be even more if I send a batch of layouts as the shipping is flat rate). I couldn’t wait to get them in my hands and see if it was true.

Fast forward again to today. They arrived in the mail at 4pm this afternoon – so 2 days later from Utah. Great fast turn round. And its TRUE they don’t cut off the edges of my pages. Even the test one which I had printed at CostCo twice trying to get it done right came back perfect. It was important what Anthony thought about them – when you have serious amateur photographer as a husband any prints are also required to be given his seal of approval. And YES again Persnickety Prints passed the test for the quality of the paper and the reproduction of the colors. These guys are good! So if you do any digital scrapbooking I highly recommend you try them out while Ali Edwards has her coupon code (valid until 12th September) you won’t be disappointed. I know they will be getting my business from now on. They win on:-

price
no cutting off the edges of layouts
speed of turn round
price again – yes scrapbooking is an expensive hobby if your not careful - so this is important to me.
customer service – did I mention this before. I don’t think I have. Since Wednesday they have responded to my posts on their facebook page and emails I have sent to them in no time. Gold star rating for that. I always appreciate businesses responding to me in a timely manner.

So just to make sure you get it – GO and Visit Persnickety Prints if your persnickety about the printing of your layouts. You won’t regret this decision.

Off to work on some paper layouts for the new May Flaum Class I’m doing at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It will be fun to make a mess again.

Sketch #51 – capture these sketches

2010-08-30T19:23:00.001-07:00

When I saw this sketch I knew I had to try my hand at it. I don’t know why it spoke to me but it did.

I really don’t like this picture of me but if I had a choice there would never be a picture of me in the scrapbooks as in my mind I never look good. I believe that some people just don’t take good picture while others the camera just loves them. I see this when my hubbie takes pictures of the dancers. Some of them just never take a bad picture. Do you have the same issue?? I wonder how many of us avoid getting in front of the camera as we’re never happy with the results. The purpose of my scrapbooks though is to leave a record of us all as a family and not just the kids. I mean I’m expecting to be gone before them and hope they will cherish pages like this even though I don’t anywhere near my best! (I looked even worse in color!).

Digital Supplies

Changing Digital Papers Color

2010-08-28T18:46:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when scrapbooking you don’t have the correct colored paper. Now the beauty of digital scrapbooking is that it doesn’t matter you just change the color (can I just say here I don’t think I’m going to give up traditional scrapbooking totally but this digital stuff is getting a little addictive making and I’m loving I can do it anywhere!).

The patterned papers I chose to use are these ;-

I wanted to change the blue to match the blues more in my pictures and didn’t want the green wanted a brown. Doing this is easy in PSE 8.0. Firstly I took the papers and included them in my layout with the pictures. I then used the eyedropper tool and sampled the color of the jacket Philip was wearing. Then I clicked on the layer with the paper I wanted to change and selected Enhance>Adjust Color>Hue Saturation. A pop-up window appears and the check the colorize box and if by magic the paper changes color. You can change it a little more if you want using the sliders.

Using this method I also changed the color of the hearts from green to the brown – so simple, so cool and fast! Means when you buy a digital element you can use it many times in many colors and thus get lots of uses out of it.
The other special thing I did on this layout was the cut out of Philip. So easy to do with the magic wand tool and so much easier than cutting out with scissors! Can you tell I’m becoming more and more into this digital scrapbooking. That being said I’m starting my next Big Picture Scrapbooking class this next week with May Flaum – “Adventures in Scrapbooking – using your stash” - its about using up your stash. So I think I’ll have my glue and scissors out again although I’m not sure I’ll use much of my stash up as I’ve got so much of it. I really need to get into my scrapbook room to clear-up ready but haven’t made it there yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Supplies used in addition to papers -

plus - Flergs_SBAportauprince_Heart1

Southport Times

2010-08-25T19:20:00.001-07:00

When we first got married we lived in a small village called Burscough which is between Liverpool and Preston and inland from Southport in the North West of England. With our first child on the way I wanted to take pre-natal classes and signed up with the National Child Birth Trust. As a young couple we had made few friends in the area prior to this and these classes have resulted in making life long friends. Each time we visit England we try and get to visit them, it doesn’t always work as we have limited time and many people to see. (We missed seeing a couple of sets of friends this year due to vacations and time constraints. Its really hard when you have family and friends to fit in and its also your vacation.)
On this occasion we were able to spend a day in the Southport area and see three families in one visit. We all met with the birth of our first born child – Jake, Eleanor, Isabella and Nathan. Thirteen years later (with 11 of them spend overseas for us) we can return for a visit and the kids just act as if they saw us yesterday and even us adults manage to continue where we left off, although we do discuss the differences in education and things like that. Sue was a great host and provided a excellent base for our visit. Its great to have someone willing to open their house to that many people. Thanks Sue!

Supplies – Katie Pertiet Photo Clusters no.31, Vinnie_Pearce_Kraft_Paper_single, Jen Wilson grungedges_set1, iKari designs Alpha Bits Stamped Chocolate.

Another layout from England……

2010-08-23T19:11:00.001-07:00

Well that’s not exactly true as the pictures are from Portmeirion in Wales but they are from our trip to the UK. Portmeirion is a strange place. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village and is now owned by a charitable trust. Many know it due to the pottery that was designed by the daughter of the Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. My Mum used to love this pottery and the last time I visited I was able to selected some pieces to add to her collection from the seconds shop. This time we spend a few hours just exploring the grounds. We had left the kids with the grandparents for a few days and it was nice just to have sometime to ourselves. If your ever in the area I highly recommend a visit, but get there early as it gets busy!

Digital supplies - KPertiet_PhotoClustersNo31, KPertiet_GraphicFlowerClusters-3, Kpertiet_Edges_7, KPertiet_StitchedJournalStripsNo2-1 (Designerdigitals.com); Kraft Paper - VPearce_Kraft_paper01 (Two Peas).

London Trip

2010-08-21T18:37:00.001-07:00

On our recent trip to England the main reason for the trip was to visit the American Embassy to present ourselves for our renewal interview for our “visa”. We have a special visa which allows us to live in the USA due to hubbies job but it is only valid for a number of years and it was finally time for us to renew it. The kids didn’t have to attend so we flew from London to Manchester on our arrival in England and then a few hours later we caught a train back to London. Having just flown all through the night from Texas by the time we arrived back in London we had been travelling for over 24 hours – yuck is all I can say. Then the next morning we had to be at the embassy for 9am the next morning so we couldn’t even get to sleep in and catch-up. Luckily our interview was simple and fast so we got to spend sometime wandering around London (even those in a sleep deprived state) and having lunch with my sister before we got back on the train and headed back to Manchester. By the time we finally made it to Manchester we were both dead on our feet but happy to know that our visa had been approved and we could return to Texas and continue with life. I don’t know what we would have done if there had been a problem – thankfully it didn’t happen and for that I thank God.

Digital supplies –Papers and digital elements JM Designs – Travel the World; Template – Biograffiti.com – creative juice no. 21(freebie). Shadows – scrapmatters.com Jennifer Barrette designs “Get Real – Realistic Drop Shadows”.

Back from England

2010-08-13T06:31:00.001-07:00

Haven’t posted for a while as I’ve been in England for two weeks. I had fun but glad to be back in my own bed with my own things. Its nice not to have to cook and clean for two weeks but I miss my own space and was ready to get back to the routine. Visiting England is about the grandparents and I take the kids each summer but this year we also had to renew our visas which allow us to live in the USA and we’re grateful that this was achieved in the end with ease and we can stay for five years without having to renew.
While I was in England I had the opportunity to meet up with a school friend who I hadn’t seen in 26 years so I thought I’d record this with a digital page – digital because I’ve discovered one of the great advantages of digital is that it can be done at 4.30am without waking others who may be sleeping and as I always have trouble with the jetlag this is a great advantage to me!

The layout I have created is also for a challenge for the online crop which is running at pretty paper, true stores (and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes) blog. It was a color challenge to scrap with red, aqua and white. I then decided to use the latest template from Katie Pertiet at www.digitaldesigns.com template inspiration.

Supplies – Katie Pertiet Clock Buttons and template; Jen Wilson – worn foam stamps, paper flower – Reminisce kit from sweet shoppe designs and red paper and text swirls from Jessica Sprague.com InAWord04.

Photoshop Friday Series

2010-07-23T11:37:00.001-07:00

At JessicaSprague.com there is a series of photoshop short tutorials called Photoshop Friday. So far I’ve bought two of these when they have been on special so they have cost me a $1 – yes that is not a typo. Now they are short and sweet but they come with a mini-kit and template to make the layout as part of the class so for a dollar they are a sweet deal. I’ve learned that like at Kohl's when shopping for digital supplies you only buy when things are on sale. Most of the digital websites have at least one day a week when things are on special and you just need to sign-up for their newsletter to know when.
Anyway yesterday I took Philip and his friend to the pool for some fun in the water at LMRA and when I opened the latest tutorial I had purchased to work through I realised the pictures were perfect for the layout. I was very proud of myself as I also actually did some photo editing before I made the layout to make the water bluer and put some ‘extra’ water behind philip. The highlights also needed some work!

Before

After

How cool is that! The reason I added the extra water behind him was so the picture would fit better in the template. In the end I didn’t need it that much as I realised I could just angle the picture – durrrr…….
Here’s the final layout. What I learned to do was using the text on curve tool – now in photoshop elements you have to use a text path purchased from someone else but I’m lucky if I want to do this Anthony has an earlier version of the full photoshop I can make the curves in. That will be for another day – for the moment I’m happy with what I did and what I’ve learned. Creating my own curves is for another day.

All supplies from JessicaSprague.com – Photoshop Friday Series No.10

Snapshots of you - Dad

2010-07-22T18:25:00.001-07:00

In January 2007 my Dad had a massive stroke and since them has spent his time confined to a wheel chair watching the world go by. I haven’t seen him since the last trip we made to England but I prepare myself for another step backwards in terms of what communication there is. Last time I visited he certainly recognised me but this time I’m not so sure it will happen from what my sisters report! Thanks to my mother-in-law I get to speak to him about once a month as she calls on her cell phone from the nursing home. I don’t know what he makes of this but I tell him I love him and we miss him and I pray that he at least understands the words.

I have been struggling with what to take with me for my next visit. The last few times I’ve taken T-shirts but really how many does he need. I send DVD’s for him and his visitors to watch for his Birthday and Christmas. So I wanted to do something different. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know I’ve started playing with digital scrapbooking so I decided to make a layout for him which I will put in a frame for his wall. The pictures are all of him over the years. Some of my favorites from the pictures my sister Juliet got scanned by a company so we could have digital copied of them.

Supplies – Template No 19 Cathy Z, Notebook Edge Frames and KPertiet_Edges all from designerdigitals.com; Carina Gardner Distressed Urban from designhousedigital.com and jbarrette_shadowstyles from scrapmatters.com

Blending Layers in Photoshop Elements

2010-07-20T15:40:00.001-07:00

So today I decided I wanted to learn something new about photoshop elements and create a new digital layout. I had purchased the “How’d they do that?” – course called the perfect blend from ww.designerdigitals.com it was well worth the money. It comes with a digital paper, a digital brush and all printable step-by-step instructions. The only negative is that I’m using elements 8.0 and I don’t think its been updated for the changes so something’s were in a slightly different place than the instructions but it was easy enough to find them and continue to work. Once I had worked through the instructions I decided the best way to make sure I understood what I had learned was to try on my own to create a layout. This is the result.

Supplies –
plus the Portauprince set I purchased for Haiti from Songbird Avenue.com

Then & Now or should it be Now & Then

2010-07-15T06:15:00.001-07:00

May Flaum challenged us to do a layout comparing two different times and as I was searching through the pictures to find an old picture of Eleanor with her sheep I came across a picture of Anthony and I at his 21st birthday party. Yes we’ve been together that long – well even longer we got together just before his 16th birthday…………and we’re now 42! I suddenly changed track on what my layout was going to be about as I knew I had the picture Eleanor took the night we went out for his 42 birthday that I hadn’t scrapped booked and all sheep were forgotten. When I looked at the picture from September I realized that the new basic grey kit I got yesterday was perfect for the dress I was wearing in 2009 but not in 1988. A scan later and a conversion to black and white and I could now work with the pictures in one layout!
Here’s the original picture – that dress was so 80’s. And look at the color of hubbies hair.

I also cropped the picture to get rid of some of the background as well. Love being able to scan pictures so easily. I use my HP Deskjet F340 All-in-One. It does a great job and is so easy to use.

Here’s the final layout. The kids love it!

All the supplies are Basic Grey other than the flower (handmade by me), The Thickers letter stickers and the rub-on dates. Layout is based on one by Nic Howard from the dimensional details class I was taking previously! The small picture is mounted on chipboard and for both pictures I sanded the edges to give the white edge to them.

Crazy Dog – Crazy Paper

2010-07-14T06:20:00.001-07:00

Some scrapbooking papers are just crazy colors and designs and I don’t know why I ever purchased the Lime Rickey kit from basic grey in the first place. The paper is just not ‘me’ normally but that being said I think I’ve made some of the best layouts I’ve done in a while in the last month or so using this kit. The latest I completed last night and can I just say I’m really happy with the outcome. Its based on sketch #112 from creative scrappers.

If you look closely at the layout you can see I did stitches around the “frame”. I did this my sewing machine with no thread in it. Doesn’t show very well in the picture but adds some dimension in real life. The pictures are also mounted on chipboard to raise them off the page and then the edges sanded. The Star and arrow are foam taped also to raise them.

Just got in the mail another kit from basic grey so look out for a change of paper soon – here’s hoping it makes me create layouts of a similar standard (in my opinion and that’s whose opinion matters as my pages are the one thing I’m 100% in control of so if I’m happy all is good!).

Technique rich layouts

2010-07-11T17:57:00.001-07:00

Once in a while I feel like creating a page which is more in depth in terms of the techniques I use on it or the mediums I use. Last night I decided I wanted to play with my paints and glimmer mist. (One of the reasons I could never go totally digital is my love of getting messy sometimes when I’m scrapping – digital just isn’t so much fun!). So I decided I would make my own background paper. Originally I was doing it for a different set of pictures but I was moving things around on my desk and managed to knock a pile off and when I was sorting the stuff out I found an envelope of pictures from our trip in 2008 which I had never scrapped. I was flipping through them and this one spoke to me and I realized I wanted to do an ‘artzy’ page with it. Not really recording a memory which is 99% of my scrapbooking but using the image to remind me to dream about possibilities. Doing a layout like this also means I have more freedom to play with the messy stuff! Here’s what I created.

The background cardstock started life as a piece of CTMH textured white cardstock. I took two masks and using tattered angels glimmer mist in tattered leather color I sprayed the paper. Once it was dry I then took some new CTMH stamps called Live inspired and used the corner stamp in this set with Tim Holtz distress ink to stamp around the edge at all different angels. The picture is then matted in twilight paper by CTMH – the lighter color is the reverse side of the twilight textured cardstock. The “dream” was a piece of pre-cut chipboard i picked up at Michaels – I sprayed with a blue glimmer mist and a copper one. The saying “Live inspired, dream with possibility” was a saying on the stamp set and I stamped it first off but it was too small so I recreated it in word and printed on an overhead. The compass, arrow and other words are CTMH rub-ons.

When finally complete I’m really happy with the look I created. May even get a frame for this one and put it on the wall rather than hiding it away in a scrapbook album. For those interested this picture is of Ecole Beach in Oregon. It was a grey and dismal day but Anthony still managed to get this picture.

Today I also made a quick digital page using the challenge template on designerdigitals.com. I used digital brushes to create my own digital background paper in a similar way with the traditional layout. Fun to see how you can recreate techniques digitally. Other supplies are :-

Winged Words Brushes and Stamps - Katie Pertiet
LivEdesigns - Afternoon Stroll
SBA-portauprince

Another take on the same sketch

2010-07-09T08:21:00.001-07:00

To show how versatile sketches are I decided to make another layout on the same sketch I did for the last post. I turned the sketch by 45 degrees so I could include landscape pictures.

Added a grunge board swirl which I colored with glimmer mist to give some dimension to the right side of the layout as I didn’t have any journaling I wanted to add. With this sketch you could include a 7 by 5 picture in addition of the large area of patterned paper as well. That would give even more options!

And just for fun another quick digital layout I did for camp scrap yesterday – digital template was provided by Allie Edwards and papers etc came from a freebie at designer digital by Katie Pertiet

Fast and Easy Layout

2010-07-07T16:55:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I didn’t get to scrapbook so today I’m trying to catch-up yesterdays layout and do today’s – plus work, keep house and all the other things that go along with having 2 kids home for summer. Add the hubbie coming home to watch Germany via Spain, so I couldn’t scrap like planned this afternoon!

For Camp scrap yesterday May Flaum provided a great sketch from Valerie Salmon, a name I didn’t know but I’ve now added her sketch blog to my Google reader so I won’t miss any of her future sketches that she shares. First I will share my version of the sketch – this time it really is a straight take on the sketch. That’s the great thing about sketches sometimes you can do that just as they are, other times you can change it out to fit your pictures. This time as I was short on time I decided it would work for me just as it was! Taking about changing sketches out I recently bought a book on changing out sketches from Ella publishing. They sell some great e-books which you can download and print at home or read them on your computer. The following article is a great article about the book and using sketches – check it out by clicking here.

Sketch #111 – Creative Scrappers

2010-07-05T17:58:00.001-07:00

Have to repeat how I love working with sketch’s and creating my own version. I’m also really enjoying using trims on my layouts at the moment. Yesterday Sketch #111 from Creative Scrappers arrived in my google reader and I knew I just had to play along but what with cleaning the house (yes I sometimes have to stop scrapbooking and attend to the daily chores) and having invited the neighbors to our “English” 4th July Celebration grill I didn’t have time to play yesterday. This is the first day in a while I haven’t created a layout, I really have been working on trying to allocate some creative time each day and missed it yesterday. I mean cleaning just isn’t as satisfying, especially with children in the house who seem to create a mess as fast as you clean it up!

Here’s my take on the sketch

The papers are all CTMH, rub on swirls Heidi Swap, Memories tag and butteflies CTMH, round letters misc old product (sorry had these about 5 years and no clue who made them). Trims I got from the local (or no so local scrapbook store). I used my i-rock tool again to add bling to the trim and butterflies – can I say how much I love that tool. Really make it easy to add bling - well that is if you don’t tip the container over when its open!!!

Really happy with how it all came together in the end – note I even hand wrote my journaling. I hate to write on layouts as I don’t have fancy handwriting and always worry I’m going to make a mess but sometimes I make myself do it and today was one of those!

Fun layout for Saturday morning…..

2010-07-03T10:11:00.001-07:00

Started the morning moving some pictures off my point and shoot and re-cataloging them so they were stored ready to print. I try and do this on a regular basis just incase the card gets corrupt or something. I know so many people who have lost pictures with lost cameras or corrupt card. So if you have done it recently get it done this holiday weekend!

Once I was had finished the family were still sleeping so I decided to play with PSE 8 again and try another layout. I recently had downloaded a free template from www.designerdigitals.com for a template challenge – the template was by Pattie Knox and had space for lots of pictures. Having just sorted my “snaps” I knew I had lots of guinea pig pictures and it would be a fun template to use with these.The kit I used with the template was LivEdesigns_AfternoonStroll-PPack from www.jessicasprague.com.

I don’t very often scrapbook using my pictures who would when they have a semi-professional husband. My pictures can’t compete with his but I’m still really happy with the results. I couldn’t get PSE8 to remove the guinea pig red eye. I’m guessing guinea pig eyes are different and I maybe need a different tool. I now have to create a second page for Galaxy our other guinea pig – I think I’ll try and flip the template so I have mirror image layout to go in the album.

Talking about albums – I gave up on chronological scrapbooking several years ago after reading the Stacey Julian book. Now I have themed albums. So Eleanor has a dance album and Philip a sports album. We have trip albums, everyday Eleanor and everyday Philip albums (these include school layouts) – then my favorite album is our special people album and this is where these layouts will go. Joining the page on Boris the hamster. If your still chronologically scrapbooking I highly recommend moving away from this – the freedom it has given me is great. I can just scrapbook what I feel like – like this morning. The pictures of Slash just appealed to me at 9am on a Saturday morning. If I was a chronological scrapbook I’d have to wait until I got to that point.

Here are links to the two books by Stacey Julian which got me to change, highly recommend them both although I can’t believe how much copies are going for as they are out of print! If your in Fort Worth and want to read them you can contact me and loan them if your promise to return!

Part 2 – dimensional details

2010-07-02T12:32:00.001-07:00

So I’ve decided to work my way through the dimensional details class again myself – why you may ask. Well I really think I need to go through all the material again so I make sure the things I’ve learned to do are now naturally part of my layouts and also to keep me scrapbooking. While I do this I also need to keep-up with the camp scrap challenges and stuff so where I can I will combine the two to create my layouts.

Yesterday at Camp Scrap it was “Artistic Thursday” and the idea to add into a layout was paint splatter. I have to say this was a little out there for me. I like to be in control of what happens on my layout and your not in control of paint splatter (my face and clothes are evidence of that) but part of doing these classes is trying different ideas out so splatter it was! Splatter on a heritage page as well – didn’t take the easy way out and do a page of the kids painting or something like that.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,heritage,ronnie crowley

The papers are from a set of papers I got from Costco a while back – not sure who made them but I bought them with the view to use them for heritage pages and they put them away and forgot about them. Came across the other day and thought I need to get using them – I mean there is only about 500 pieces of paper to be used. If you look at the cluster there is a tulip swirl – got this from Australia from one of the students, Rae, in Dimensional Details class who has her own store www.scrapmatrix.com she offered us all a discount so I had to order some things. They arrived yesterday and I just use one of my new things on a layout. They are made of a very light product like chipboard which can be painted or colored in similar ways to chipboard. I used glimmer mist to color it this time and was very happy with the way the color set. Highly recommend these unique items especially for your heritage pages. The shipping wasn’t too bad from Australia and it took a little over a week to arrive which is no longer than some place in the USA.

The other thing I thought I’d share was the page I made at the start of dimensional details 13 weeks ago to show you how two very different pages can be made using the same instructions.

Simple Pleasure and the be-dazzler for scrapbooks.

2010-07-01T12:32:00.001-07:00

Until you loose your health I don’t think we total realise what we have. Yesterday for camp scrap we had to create a layout about the everyday and the hear and now. Got me to thinking as I was looking at the pictures that I have printed ready to scrapbook about my Dads hear and now.

On January 7th 2007 my Dad had a major stroke. He had been living alone since my Mum died but was active and involved in the local community. Since the stroke he has been living in a nursing home with 24 hour care. The hear and now for Dad is what you would expect in a nursing home and the limitation there are of that. The home is great and my sisters visit as regularly as they can. Myself being on the other side of the world finds it harder but my in-laws visit about once a week for me. When I do visit I try to take him to the local pub as often as the weather allows as this is one thing I’m 100% sure brings him pleasure. He is now a man of few words but that pint is nectar from heaven as far as he is concerned and if I can bring him joy but taking him for one I will. So the pictures I scrapped are taken on one of those walks to the pub – recording that simple pleasure of a pint of beer, a good newspaper on a summers day in England.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,i-rock,big picture scrapbooking

All the papers used other than the base page were from my scrap supply! To make the title I cut the word PLEASURE using my gazelle and sponged the edges. I then adhered to the cardstock prior to sewing with my machine several lines of stitches. Then added the word simple in alpha foam stickers on the top. The coppery swirls in the cluster I made myself using my tool I-ROCK

Can I just say I love this new tool – the be-dazzler for scrapbooking. So easy to use and add some dazzle in your layouts. See the movie below for a short intro to the tool. Let me say I will be ordering myself some more bling to use with this tool – I only ordered limited colors. The tool itself costs less than $10 and the cheapest place I found to buy it was www.scrapbooking-warehouse.com but that may not be true still or you maybe able to find it somewhere you can use a coupon!

Blue Bird - My first digital layout without a template

2010-06-29T21:50:00.001-07:00

Well Eleanor has gone off to see the new movie Eclipse, without me at the last minute so I’m trying to prop my eyes open till she gets home. Decided to try my hand at some more digital scrapbooking and set myself the challenge of cutting an image out of a photo and using it one a page. Its only taken me 2 hours but I’m done. The magic extractor tool in PSE 8.0 is really cool! Made it really easy to do when I worked out it was the right tool to use! I know I’ve already traditionally scrapped these layouts but I wasn’t expecting to like the resulting layout so much – don’t you like the blue bird in the corner! Wasn’t planning a second blog post today but was so excited to have done this I had to share!

Technorati Tags: digital,scrapbooking

Quote from Ballet Brushes n Stamps by Jesse Edwards
Dance Sticker - ArtWHSE_DanceRubons-n-Brushes - Danelle Johnson and DesignerDigitals.com
Lace - Copyright©2009 Digital Fingers by Louise Williams Choco Mint
Bird - porta prince set

Happiness is……

2010-06-29T07:34:00.001-07:00

So last night when I blogged I said I was off to make another page – well this is it. This page came together in a little over an hour which I was happy with it. Its based on a sketch from Creative Scrappers Blog Sketch #110

I subscribe to this blog in my google reader and love all the sketches they do but this one especially stood out for me. If you don’t use google reader I highly recommended it for keeping up with blogs you like (mine especially!).

Most of the layout is based on the papers from Basic Grey – just the cardstock which is CTMH and the added bling is CTMH as well. The That Thing You do – is a rub-on that I’ve had for an age. Its just went so well with what I was trying to record in this layout that I think it was made for it. So in Cathy Z words – old product alert!! The layout is my record of my baby boy and how he makes me so happy when he gives me those random hugs!

Well its raining again in Texas – strange third day on the run. Warm rain but still rain which makes taking pictures of my layouts harder as I usually do it outside. Hope it dries up soon as I have to drive for an hour.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,basic grey,creative scrappers

Not my favorite thing to do in the rain. Also like for a few dry days before Hurricane Alex (or what is left of it) comes through!

Another Dimensional Layout or two…..

2010-06-28T17:43:00.001-07:00

Been hard at work over the weekend trying to keep up with the pace of class and make my layouts. I have a weeks overlap of the two classes which means two sets of homework. This weekend I finished the last two layouts for the dimensionals class. That isn’t to say they are the last last as a group of us have decided to start at the beginning of the class again from next week and see what new layouts we can come up with. Big Picture Scrapbooking has even created us another gallery in the classroom for post class layouts - how cool is that!

The first layout I created is another dance once. I really found these pictures hard to work with as the color of the tutu didn’t work with any blue papers I had or could find so I went for a paper which had more pinks and just a hint of blue in the background.

The flags are all the rage at the moment if you follow online scrapbook sites and magazines and we learned how to make them this week so had to add my own to the layout. I stamped in the dark purple colors on some patterned paper to bring out the color from the background patterned paper. First time I’ve stamped in a while! Each triangle was inked and then stuck in place prior to me sewing three runs of stitches across. Just above the flags is a overlay I printed at home – it ties in the border of the layout which is the outside edge of a paper I used earlier in the class and had kept. Don’t you love the dragon fly – I found him at the scrapbook shop in Waxahachie last week. Going again tomorrow so I may bring another one home. The hearts and chipboard frame I sprayed with glimmer mist and inked. In the end I wasn’t totally happy with it but given the response on the class gallery I think that’s just me!

The second layout I did this weekend for class was the result of an inspirational email that Nic sent out. As soon as I saw the email I knew I had to do this one! Love Love it – if I say so myself. The circle of brads with a string through it – brilliant idea – wish it was mine but no that was on the layout in the email and I just replicated it. Still I love it and will do that again.

Don’t you love the look on Philips face – he was making butter from cream – lots of physical effort to do that when you just shake it in a jar!

Well I’m off to keep creating for camp scrap I have another layout I want to get started tonight. I’ll share it when its done!

Camp isn’t only for the kids!

2010-06-24T14:25:00.001-07:00

So I started my latest class with Big Picture Scrapbooking today – Camp Scrap – who said camp was only for the kids. This class is with May Flaum – you can check out her blog at http://mayflaum.com/ – her style is very different from Nic Howards layouts and this is the second class I’ve done with her. She has a great outlook on life and scrapbooking and this is what I especially like about her. You will find all about this if you come and join me in the class – its not too late just pop over to big picture scrapbooking website and sign-up its only $29 for a five week class, that’s a lot cheaper than my kids camps for certain and I will have something to keep when I’ve finished.

Today’s challenge at Camp Scrap was to spend sometime scrapbooking – which was easy – and I used the inspirational email which arrived in my inbox this morning as the starter for my page.

Don’t often get to make pages about a dog as we don’t own one but these pictures are of Nana and Grandad's Dog “Ellie” from last summers trip to England. The DOG was made using the CTMH white chipboard letters which I colored and then painted with clear gloss paint prior to finally running through the cuttlebug to emboss with polka dots. Notice the heart – Eleanor made that for me. She has learned to crochet this summer (self taught via utube video’s) – ever since she fractured her ankle at school she’s had to find things to keep her fingers busy and this is what she’s been doing so in the end I told I needed her to make something’s I could add to my scrapbooks and this is the first of her creations for scrapbooking. May had lots of buttons on her page so I decided to follow her lead. I don’t tend to use buttons but have a large stock which I need to work on using up so this was a great opportunity for it. Initially I was concerned about the glue mess I may make doing this but then I remembered I had some glue lines (like glue dots but in a line) – this made it really easy to do. I’ve had those glue lines for ages, they seemed like a good idea when I bought them but I had to search to find them which shows me how often I’ve used them. Need to keep them out as it got me thinking about other things I could do using them. How about lines of glitter? I think it would be easy to do with the glue lines. Off to play!

Oh Ronnie, this is just beautiful. Love everything about it.

2010-06-22T06:41:00.001-07:00

Imagine how happy I was to receive this comment on my layout I posted on the big picture scrapbooking class gallery for my latest layout I did this weekend. I love it when the teacher comments. I have to admit it I’m a junkie as far as checking the comments I get from other students but yesterday it made my day to check the gallery to see that Nic had taken the time to comment on my last two layouts. Sometimes scrapbooking can be a lonely hobby as you spend time creating the layout, you share it with your family – who say positive things and then you add it the album and its forgotten until you next open the album. I know I’m preserving the memories for the kids and that’s what important but deep down I admit that I’m competitive and like to know that the girl has done well! So getting a comment from Nic is just what I needed after a long hot hot day here in Texas with the two kids driving me a little crazy. Here’s the layout in question.

The funny thing about the layout is that the red heart wasn’t meant to go where it is but I had a glue whoops which forced my hand. When I placed it there though I realized it was meant to be and just drew the eye to the picture perfectly – so it was meant to be. I love the look of concentration on Eleanor’s face here and thank my lucky stars that I have a husband who takes the time to be at the studio to capture such great memories.

Especially for Father’s Day

2010-06-20T06:42:00.001-07:00

Using the template challenge on Designer Digitals for this week I created this digital layout about my Dad. The papers I used are from previous color challenges on designer digitals by Katie Pertiet (KPertiet_ColorChallenge61310) and I added a digital brush to give a frame around the edge which is also her’s – although this one I purchased. Can I just say I love this site for digital supplies and ideas.

Just had to share this………

2010-06-18T15:39:00.001-07:00

I’m really happy with this layout. Yellow isn’t normally a color I would choose to use but these Basic Grey Papers were left over from a kit I got and so I wanted to use them up rather than find them a home. The layout records my love of Tea – as far as I’m concerned the day doesn’t start until I’ve had my cup of tea! The photo has an overlay on top of it which is pre-printed with glitter. Its also mounted on chipboard to give some extra dimension. The flower I made from organdy fabric – cut flowers shapes out and then heated with my embossing gun. The heat makes the fabric crinkle and creates a great texture to the flower. Five of these layered up with a brad through the middle makes a great addition to any page.

Just remember working out of our comfort zone in colors can some times create great results!

I Love You Grandad

2010-06-17T12:24:00.001-07:00

Another layout. Another Day. This time I used the latest sketch in Creating Keepsakes Magazine as my starting point.

I love sketches but have been using them less since I started the lastest class with Big Picture Scrapbooking as I had yet to work out how to apply what I’d learned to the sketches. I also wanted to make a layout with multiple pictures and a two page layout. So last nights challenge was to do just that. The added challenge was it was a male layout which I always find harder. I think it came out well – the embellishment clusters worked. I used a chipboard mini album I’d got on clearance. I colored it with glimmer mist and clear acrylic paint. Then I added some of those many brad etc I have stocked up on but never seem to use.

Handmade Flowers – Mum & Dad

2010-06-15T15:00:00.001-07:00

Week 11 of my 13 class. If I didn’t know I was moving straight onto May Flaum’s summer camp class I’d be sad to think it was coming to an end but I know I’ll be busy the whole of July with the scrapbooking camp May is running.

I’ve made flowers and more flowers and even more flowers this week. At one point my hands were a multitude of colors from the glimmer misting and hand work involved. One important thing I’ve learnt is you can work chipboard really well when its wet to form different shapes. It dries really nicely keeping the form you created so instead of a flat flower you have one with some dimension – just spray it with some water or glimmer mist. Another thing I learnt which I’d never though of doing is running my chipboard through my cuttlebug in one of the embossing folders to give some texture. Really great way of adding interest. Why didn’t I think of that before!!

In the end I didn’t use many of my flowers on the layout assignment for the week because you ask? Well as Nic Howard said less is sometimes more and three just seemed enough and I didn’t need any color. The final layout is very similar to the one in the handout. Nic provides very precise instructions but usually mine ends up very different. Yes the papers and things I used are different but the basic design is very similar.
The frame around the picture is made using grunge board again. Its meant to have beautiful mitered corners but that didn’t work out very well for me and there were gaps so I added extra square blocks on top to hide my mistakes! Next time I think I’d paint it cream rather than the blue. I chose blue to pick out the color on the layout but I think in the end the blue of the frame sort of dominates the picture. Once done its done and I’m not changing it!
On this layout I even broke out the old foam stamps with my paint and stamped the swirls – golly haven’t done that in a while! Had to dust off the box and dig out from under the pile of other stuff – think I’ll do it again soon as it does look cool.
I should really be talking about the flowers – the large one is made of parchment paper. I punched five scalloped circles, inked the edges, put a brad through the center and crumbled each circle up individually. You then open the circles out to form the flower. Quick and simple. I’ve done this with patterned paper as well. The two smaller ones are just 3 circles of patterned paper in 3 graduating sizes, Edges inked and a brad through the center. I then wetted the layers prior to crumbling them up to soften the edges and make them easier to form into shapes.
Check out a previous blog for some links on making flowers or go to utube and search handmade paper flowers and you will have full night of movies to watch!

Sketches on Blog

2010-06-09T09:37:00.001-07:00

I love reading blog and have many set-up to my google reader so I don’t miss anything they post. There are lots to choose from out there but I love the ones which share sketches to try. Yesterday the Prima Flowers blog posted a sketch for June so I decided to play along.

Now the layout i ended up with I don’t think I can enter for the competition part as I didn’t use prima products mainly – the ones I had didn’t work with the pictures I chose but I’m still happy with the layout and that is what matters to me with these sketches. I also got some more practice at embellishment clustering from my dimensional details class and used my new Martha punch (got to get my monies worth). It also features my three favorite colors so I was able to upload to the big picture scrapbooking student gallery for Stacey Julian’s competition for doing a layout using your three favorite colors – do you never know I may still win something yet. If you want to try and win for a layout using your three favorite colors here’s the link for that – big picture scrapbooking blog

Digital Layout

2010-06-02T18:40:00.001-07:00

I will never totally move to digital layouts (well only if they stop making scrapbook supplies and given the amount of supplies I have stashed it would take a long while for me to run out) but since taking the Cathy Z class Me:The Abridged version I have been dabbling with it and asked for Photoshop Elements for Mothers Day so I could use some functionality I didn’t have in the photoshop version we had. This weekend we finally managed to get round to replacing the disk drive in the computer so we could load the software. (Its rather hard to load software when the disk drive is out of order!). I have lots to learn with digital scrapbooking and especially now I have a new program to play with and I really believe the only way to do this is to work with it and create layouts. So I thought I would do some of the recent everyday pictures I want to record. Digital scrapbooking allows you to change your paper color to match the pictures so the two papers I used in this layout weren’t the color they are now. The cardstock was originally a lighter denim blue or indian cornblue in CTMH colors. Its from http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com and I messed around with the color in the blue range until I was happy with it. I say messed around as yet I’m not totally confident in how to do this and which tool does it the best. The patterned paper is from the chocmint digital kit from Louise Williams at www.digitalscrapshop.com and it was also a free download. There is so much available free on the internet in terms of digital scrapbooking supplies. I finally added the frames which I had purchased from Katie Pertiet at www.designerdigitals.com I love this store and have purchased a lot from there – but wait for a sale as they have them regularly! I was able to use the same frame for the main page and the focal picture. It was also easy to make the color of the title match the frame on the focal picture which helps pull it all together. I finally added a digital brad from the chocmint kit. Once I get it printed at Costco I may actually added a real button or something to turn it into a hybrid layout but we’ll see!
Costco print 12 inch scrapbook pages for just under $3 which when you compare to the cost of paper and embellishment isn’t bad. Its archival quality photo paper which is used. I prefer the glossy finish to the matt but that’s a personal choice.
The other fun thing I was able to do was to have the same picture in the two small picture slots but to show a different part of the original picture.
I should also note that the layout uses one of Cathy Z’s templates which is available for sale on www.designerdigitals.com I love her templates as they are so easy to use. This could be due to the fact that I’ve used them doing her big picture scrapbooking classes but I find that the way she sets them up with the layers really makes the creation of the page so easy.

Embellishment Clusters

2010-05-30T19:46:00.001-07:00

So this weeks class is all about clustering embellishments. This is one of the difficult things to do as go one step too far and your embellishments take over the layout rather than enhancing it. I mean scrapbooking is really about the pictures and not all the extra stuff we add.

I find building cluster difficult as I want to be able to place everything so I can move it around until I’m happy with it and then glue it down but this doesn’t always work when your using stickers and things like that. You can if you have the energy use corn starch to get rid of the stick but I just don’t seem to get round to doing that so I try and cut them out of the carrier sheet and use this to work out placement. Once I’ve built my cluster I’ve found when I remove it to glue it down I never get it 100% back to where it was so I’ve been taking a quick picture to use as a reference point.

Rules for building clusters are basically start with the flat items first and then add layers on top of this one by one to give vertical dimension. Remember to think about balance and visual triangles when your doing this. Odd numbers of things always work better.

The layout I created I’m really happy with in the end. I created two overlays in photoshop and printed on overheads (the graphics I used were from Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com and her graphic flower clusters and DreamsWordArt. Always be careful to print on the roughside of overheads when your doing this. The petal border was a Prima pre-made embellishment that I got on clearance, as were the small cream flowers. I made the purple flower using paper from a dictionary and spraying it with glimmer mist. The centers are from Jolee which I found on clearance also. The other flowers are from my stash. I love those strings of pearls they are a great way to add a swirl out of a cluster of flowers. I added the single cream flower at the top right of the layout to draw the eye through the picture. Papers are Basic Grey on a neutral background cardstock.

One thing I’m finding about this clustering is that its essential to make some of your embellishments and to shop the clearance section as otherwise the cost of each layout is getting very high. Since starting this class the average cost of each of my layouts most have jumped considerably. I’m trying to use my stash but as my style is developing and moving in this direction what I had isn’t working for me. I think I need to have a garage sale to sell some stuff I won’t use so I can replace it with new stuff. Or I need to get a job with a company like the Prima Flower people so I can get an unlimited supply!

@ T Time

2010-05-25T15:20:00.001-07:00

Another layout for week 8. Trying out what I’ve learned over the last 7 weeks and seeing if I can design my own page from scratch. I also wanted to have more than one picture on my layout. Lots of the layouts are single layouts to highlight the techniques but I have been struggling with this as I have so many picture I need to get scrapped! Anyway this is another layout playing on the title – It reads At Tea time – do you get it? I hope so. The pictures are mounted on a piece of chipboard and then I sanded the edges to make a border. The clocks to represent the time were done using glimmer mist and a mask from Tim Holtz. I love how your able to add these masked images to some pattern paper and change it totally to work with the layout your creating. Just remember when your using these mist to do it in a box or something similar or it goes everywhere (note I’m speaking from experience here). I’m now using one of those 12inch plastic boxes for painting and spraying in – its becoming a piece of art work in its own right!

In the end the layout isn’t one of my total favorite but its another one completed and added to the album.

All papers CTMH. Chipboard letters Tim Holtz grungeboard and the time is Making Memories foam glitter letters.

Dance Celebration

2010-05-20T17:41:00.001-07:00

So today is the start of week 8 of my 13 week course and I’m dreading the end of it all. Last night I decided I wanted to make a layout myself using some of what I’d learned over the last 7 weeks. So I got to work on a layout from one of Eleanor’s dance shows. This morning I laughed when I read the handouts for this week to find that this week is basically a challenge week to use your five favorite products on a layout. I’m not really sure what my favorite five products are. They change all the time especially when I’m doing a class like this. But here goes :-
My Gazelle – I love to be able to cut out letters of any size
Cardstock – can never have enough colors of cardstock especially textured with a white core.
Ink – such a versatile product. A swipe of ink here and there can make the difference to a layout
Chipboard – any type color or shape. Love all the things I can do with this from inking to painting.
Sewing Machine – my sewing machine is featuring more and more on my layouts especially as I’ve found a place in my room where I can leave it set-up and ready to go. The texture and dimension it can add so quickly makes it really versatile.

So the layout I made. Purple – not a color I use that often but the dancer were all required to wear purple so I had to go with purple. The patterned paper is one of my favorite patterns from CTMH but one I struggle to use as its such a bold pattern. The half circle I think is just enough not to overtake the picture. I had fun playing with the title to make it using a mix of plain white chipboard (I did nothing to it – tempted but didn’t) and then the black MM foam glitter letters. I added a border of sewing around the whole page, sewed around the picture down the plain edge and added zig zag sewing around the circle. The edge of the circle was also inked and paper curled to add more dimension. The light purple strip is using my new Martha Stewart punch – way cool - thanks to May Flaum to putting me on that one. It looks like lace ribbon when its done, although I covered one edge with the white flowers. Those white flowers I got at the The Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington Texas about three years ago. That’s coming up again soon and I need to decide if I’m going to have a look see. Last time I was disappointed but I’ve heard that Tim Holtz is going to be in attendance this year which may make the drive to Arlington worth it.
The other secret about this layout is the program for the show which was on bright orange copy paper is in a pocket I made especially for it on the back. Then Eleanor can refer to it in the future but we don’t need to worry about incorporating it into the layout – especially with that yucky color!

Man At Work

2010-05-16T17:37:00.001-07:00

Sewing on Scrapbook pages to many is a little strange but I’ve been doing it for a while now. I got my sewing machine as a 21st Birthday present from my parents and in reality I think I’ve used it more for sewing scrapbook pages than anything else. Since I got it overhauled at the Sewing Machine Repair shop here in Fort Worth its worked like a dream and I keep it set-up and ready to go. So this weekend when the topic for class was sewing on pages I knew I would have no problem.

The build-it page which Nic Howard does each week gives you all the directions to make a page down to the paper sizes and everything. Her page though this week was all floral and only had one picture. I have so many pictures to scrapbook that I really don’t want to do one picture layouts and I’ve done so many pages in recent weeks for Eleanor that it was time to do one for Philip and so no floral for me.

The pictures are from the Homestead Thanksgiving Fair we went to last Thanksgiving near Waco Texas. If you’ve never been to this fair you need to go in November. We had a great day arriving as they opened and staying late into the afternoon. The kids got to try their hands at many traditional skills from butter making to wood crafting. I love these pictures are they show how Philip was so engrossed in what he was doing. He worked on that spatula for over an hour.

To make the layout you cut the square center out of one piece of patterned paper and insert a neutral piece back in. Then I distressed all the edges of the papers. I sewed a border around the center square to add some dimension. Check out the heart on the picture to the right where I added a heart which I sewed using my machine (go me!). The title is made from a mix of different letters from my collection – a great way to use up some different letters when you don’t have enough for a full title. The Man was plain chipboard which I painted red and added some black ink around the edge. If you look closely behind here you will see a grey cardstock gear cutout – I got this recently – its made by little yellow bicycle. Love it for using on a boy page and as I only used about half of one piece I will be using this again in another layout soon I’m sure.

Homemade Flowers for layouts

2010-05-15T10:42:00.001-07:00

The cost of the beautiful flowers made by Prima Marketing can be really high if you don’t use a coupon or find them on sale. So I have been looking at ways to make my own so I can add them without worrying about the cost of my layout! I thought I share a couple of cool tutorials I’d find on the web with everyone. I haven’t tried these yet but there on my list of things to do.

Crepe Paper flowers

Flowers from Patterned paper - paper folding

Rolled Cardstock Flowers

Dimensional Flowers

Remember I also shared how to make flowers previously but here’s the link again :-

Paper Flowers using punches

Hybrid Layouts – and what is Hybrid?

2010-05-13T09:54:00.001-07:00

Hybrid scrapbooking is somewhere between traditional and digital. The actual definition I have been given by others is that if you created anything on your computer and print it and add it to your layout then its hybrid. So even if you do computer journaling and add it them its hybrid. I really don’t see this as hybrid because I have been doing computer journaling for so long, even before the term hybrid scrapbooking was invented! So my definition of hybrid doesn’t include journaling and printed titles. But that’s just me and really does it matter – its only a label being given to your layouts what’s more important is that you’ve done a layout and not how its done.

A second part of my homework this week was the use of this title piece which said Beauty that I was to download and print. The only problem being that I’m using the class to help me work through a set of pictures that need to be scrapbooked and there was nothing that this title worked with. So I decided I wasn’t going to force a layout to use the title but would come up with a separate digital piece I could use to create a layout with the pictures I had. A few months ago I downloaded some ballerina clipart from one of the font sites – can’t remember which one now(remembered so thought I'd add it Lettering Delights). So I took the title word Ballet, a dancer and flowers which all matched sized them in Photoshop and printed them on white cardstock. With some careful cutting I created some elements to add to may page. I took several of the flowers and layered them with foam tape to give dimension. I then took a title which I’ve had laying around for a while, I think I paid a dollar for it, which was made of several pieces of chipboard and said She’s a dancer. I broke this apart so I could use it in my embellishment cluster as two separate elements. Finally I added all the pieces together with a grounding of an acrylic overlay with arrows to add to my page. In the end I was really happy with the way it came out, as was Eleanor.

Focus on Titles

2010-05-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

This weeks homework for my class was about titles and different ways of incorporating them. The lesson looked at different ways to alter letters you may already have which is what I chose to focus on. I’d never really thought about altering all those odd chipboard letters I have left over. Occasionally I’ll mix letters up and use them in a title so they look funky but had never thought about actually changing the look of them so they work with the layout I’m doing. So for my layout this week I took chipboard letters from two sets and painted them blue. Coated them in liquid glass and sprinkled with prisma glitter. To complete the title I took a random sticker I had left over from another kit which completed the title True Bff.

The blue flowers I made using a punch and layering two flowers and added the sparkle in the center. The blue in both the title, flowers and there is a little piece just below the picture to the left is intended to pull out the blue in the photograph on Eleanor’s dress. All the papers are CTMH, as is the green felt vine and leaves. The white flowers I got at Hobby Lobby sorry can’t remember the make I think its K & Company but not 100% sure.

Eleanor was really happy with this addition to her album – I have to say I was happy with it as well. I’m also really happy about the amount of scrapbooking Nic Howards class at Big Picture Scrapbooking is getting me to do. I don’t think the bank manager is that happy though as I keep going to buy more embellishments. Yesterday I found some really cool Prisma Flowers on clearance at Michaels - $30 later I left with a whole selection. In my defence they would have been $90 full price. I can’t wait to learn some more later in the class about making my own flowers as these things are way too expensive. I know several ways but hoping to learn something new.

Brave - and design with lines

2010-05-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

My homework this week was all about - Lines. They are really important in scrapbooking helping provide balance and focus to a layout. The most obvious use of lines is the addition of borders around the page edge or the photos. Other time lines are created using the meeting points of papers on your page so these ones are less obvious but still working the magic in your design. This layout uses lines to draw the eye to the one picture and is based on a layout provided as an example in my big picture scrapbooking class by Nic Howard.

There are several sets of lines the most obvious being the strips of papers - I inked the edges to give more definition. They help frame the picture with the addition of the felt scalloped frame. Initially I didn't have the lines of pearls but I added the pearls to add more lines and to help complete the frame around my picture. I even added my journaling to the lines. Papers are Basic Grey, Felt Scallop CTMH, Flower center Basic Grey - flower unknown.

A quick and simple one picture layout but effective still I think.

Jumping Jack

2010-05-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

So as promised in my last post an alternative take on the same idea. Very different look with the colors. The silver rings are from a necklace I purchased at Kohl's. Inspiration can be found everywhere if you look hard enough. The Jack is made from Tim Holtz grunge board letters which I've painted. Grunge Board is one of my new favorite products. On Tim Holtz's website you can get lots of ideas on what to do with it. Take sometime to watch some of the video's under the demo section and you won't regret it. I got my grunge board from of all places Tuesday Morning - it was really cheap. I don't know if they still have any as this was a few weeks ago but you could check your local one out and see. Its always worth a trip to look at their scrapbook section as you never know what they may have.

Champs - male pages

2010-05-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Embellishing pages for Philip is really hard. I love the way the Nic H in my current class does all these embellishment clusters but they are always so girlie with flowers etc. So for this weeks homework I decided I was going to do a page for Philip's album and there would be a cluster but no flowers.

The page is very 3 dimensional with lots of layers and then the embellishments on top. I added a border with the sewing machine and then I removed the thread and added another board around the scalloped edge. The white paper was painted with texture paint and then sponged with inks to give some color and texture.

The embellishment were a mix from the box of soccer scrapbooking supplies I have. (Well when I know I have so much soccer scrapbooking in my future I have them sorted in one spot! Same with basketball and dance).

The scallop edge was meant to be handmade using 50 one inch circles which I didn't have the patience for especially when I knew I had a stack of scalloped square from CTMH from a special they had a while back. So I took the easy option and went with that.

I'm really happy with the final product and I'm now working on another layout using the same basic layout. I'll share when I'm done just to show you how two very different layouts can be done using the same basic design.

More Dimensional Details

2010-04-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

So this week my homework for my class was to make a layout where you used a technique to get your picture to pop off the page. Using the instructions provide I created this layout which is of my mother, sisters, my niece and myself at my youngest sisters wedding. To ink around the placement of the pictures you first position the pictures and lightly mark with a pencil where they are going to go. Then remove the pictures and ink a border around the edge. I used the Close To My Heart texture tool with the foam head and Tim Holtz distressing ink. You can use other things to provide this "halo" such as paint and glimmer mist. Then I sanded the edges of the pictures to give a white edge to make them pop out of the darker background they were now on.
The other special item on this page are the roses. I made them myself. The cream rose is made from cardstock. To learn how to do this check out this utube video on Betty's blog. Betty is taking the same class and shared the video. The flowers are really easy to make - you just have to be patient and wait for them to dry! The deep red rose I made using wired ribbon. I've been making a lot of roses like this for some dance costumes for my daughters school production of Sleeping Beauty and I've become quite an expert at it. Here's the link on how to do this.

The final home for this layout will be my Hatch Family album which I've been working on. I'm trying to scrapbook some of the pictures my sisters rescued from my parents home when we sold it. This will be a very special album when its finished as it will be a record of my childhood and some of my heritage. I just doing a layout here a layout there in no order to add to it as I know every page is more than I have currently. Keeping up with the kids current life is a higher priority and there is no pressure to get this one done. The backlog isn't increasing or anything like that.

A longtime not blogged

2010-04-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't blogged since August 2009 so its getting on to be nearly a year. Why not well I need a break and I wondered what was the point of me blogging when I did have a scrapbook business. Well I'm back!

I have been busy since January taking lots of classes with Big Picture Scrapbooking and have learned a lot of different things and made lots and lots of scrapbook pages. Currently I'm doing a class with Nic Howard called Dimensional Details. We're only on week 3 and I'm loving it. Each page is taking a life of its own and I'm using all sorts of techniques I don't take the time to use normally. Take this layout for instances. The eyes on the skull are from a necklace I purchased at Kohls just for those two beads! I now need to find a use for the other beads as the necklace won't work any longer.

The special technique on this layout is masking. I used a Tom Holtz Spider web mask and some silver glimmer mist. I did this over the background paper and the black patterned paper. I then added the color to make the whole layout pop off the page!

The skull and the hinge are both Tim Holtz grunge board - which I'm now in love with. So easy to use. I found it at Tuesday morning at a really great price. I even gone back and bought more after using it. If you have a Tuesday morning I recommend going and seeing if they have it. He has some great video's on his website on how to use it. How to Use Grunge Board

Well blog readers that's my first post in a while but I promise to be back more regularly!

Points of View

2009-08-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

Well the last assignment for my class was to look back at your life and journal about things you miss or don't do. Or to look at the differences in life. I found it hard to find the picture I wanted to use. My journaling about the differences in Christmas would have worked for this week as well but I wanted to push myself to do something else. So out came my recipe box. The box contains all those pictures that didn't make it into the scrapbook. I was flicking through the pictures, having a few laughs along the way when I found a not so great picture of Eleanor at dance. I had already looked through the pictures I had of my childhood and this prompted my page. I have so few pictures from when I was growing up - a few school pictures and that's about it. The picture that hadn't made it into her album could make it into mine to record that I did dance although there isn't a picture of me dancing.

I think sometimes we are afraid to put cream and white together but you know it actually works on this layout. You make have to click on the picture to see it but the title of the page is on the picture "Inspire to affect, to guide, or influence".

The goal of the page is to tell the children how important I feel recording their lives is for them. So that they will have something to look back on, to help them remember everything they have done as they have grown-up. The journaling reads "This may not be the best picture of you at dance but I just wish I had one picture of when I danced. I remember taking dance at the local community center and a dance about a bird but I’ve never seen a picture and don’t think they exist. I sometimes wonder why - I know my parents had a camera. It’s too late to ask now as there’s nobody left to answer the question. It’s not just dance, which I know I didn’t do for long, but also hockey. I played for five years but all I have is a school team picture. When I think back I don’t have any memories of my parents at the games. It’s very different in our household and I feel guilty when I have to miss something. What I do know is that you will appreciate looking back at these pictures, even the not so good pictures. I hope they will inspire you to take lots of pictures as you grow older of events we can’t be at. For us being part of your life and there on the side cheering you on is one of the most important things we as parents can do. Would I have been a different person if my parents had been there? I’m not sure…… but I would appreciate having the pictures to look at."

I hope I have inspire you as I was by this class to look at your pictures in another way and see beyond the obvious.

Happy Scraping...........

My Little Secret

2009-07-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

Still working on my big picture scrapbooking class here. This week we had to scrapbook a picture of ourselves looking at other peoples view of us. I have had the picture I had chosen for 12 years now and haven't done anything with it. I've known I wanted to scrapbook it but not how. Well this class gave me the answer. To scrapbook it looking at what other people saw and how they didn't know everything. When this picture was taken I was a young executive manager working for a telecommunications company as the commercial manager for China. They would have liked me to move and work in the China office but I couldn't do that but at one point I spent 6 weeks there. The plan was I would continue to work my way up the promotions until I became director. I was working on my MBA and it was all mapped out. But they didn't know everything about me and what I wanted. I didn't know how much this secret would change me as I had every intention of going back to work.

A great tip from the class was not to adhere the layer papers right to the edge so you could slide things under it if you wanted later - which I did. But also once applied I was able to get the paper edge damp and then roll them to add more to the distressed look. I also sanded the edges of the picture.

Lots of sewing as I finally got round to getting my sewing machine set-up in my room. Now I have more space as I've moved out all the CTMH paperwork that took up so much space my plan is it will stay out all the time. I had fun sewing on this page and I think it added a little. The very back paper was very bright for the page so I toned it down using ink.

When the page was finally finished. I took a picture and then I realised I had a mistake - a typo. We've all been there. Come times for a creative addition. I think it works well - adds an highlight to the work My - as it was my secret. I'd prefer it without but I wanted to share that we all sometimes do this. All a did was print that work again cut it out. Glue and go round with the brown pen. Now it would have worked better if the 'l' of little wasn't so close but its better than it was!

I must be missing the dance studio

2009-07-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

So last night I dreamed that they created a special part for me in this years nutcracker performance in a new circus scene. It was all so real. I really must be missing our near daily visits to the dance studio. Its a good job we start dancing again on Monday morning.
Many of the "big girls" (well that's their name at our house although how a ballet dancer can ever be described as big I don't know) have been away from home this summer at summer intensive across the world (yes a couple went to Paris!). So they got some mail while away I have made a number of cards. I have had so much fun recently though with my ballerina legs stamp which I got from Eclectric Paperie.
Here are 2 of my favorites - recognise the tutu skirt?? If not go back a couple of posts and you may notice this on one of my layouts. It was lying around on my desk and I suddenly realised that it would make a great skirt for the tutu. (Sorry there is a smudge on the sticker on the card - photographs show things eyes miss).

I have the vision of a scrapbook page with a whole line of these legs across the bottom, now just to find the correct picture to go with it.

Have a great day - and watch out you never know I may make by dancing debut this November as a "photographer" in the nutcracker......

Memories of Christmas Past

2009-07-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

This weeks assignment for my Big Picture Scrapbooking class was to make a mini album about a holiday but to journal from a different view point than you would normally. I have to admit I'm not really into mini albums because I like all my layouts in one place. The only reason I can see for them is gifts so I passed on the mini album idea and just did a layout.

The holiday I chose was Christmas 2008. We didn't have very many good pictures from this Christmas. I'm not sure what happened but when I looked at what we had I saw all these pictures of the crazy present opening that goes in our house and it made me think of the Christmases I used to have we were growing up. They were the complete opposite. You had to wait patiently for the time to come to open gifts. When my Granny came we even had to wait until after the Queens Christmas message which was about 3pm in the afternoon. Very English I know watching the Queen give her yearly message. It even got me to thinking about how my grandma would make us open the presents very carefully to preserve the paper - she would carefully go through it all and fold it ready for next year. I'm sure we had pieces which had been used for 5 years at least. I guess it was from living through the war that she was very concerned about conserving things.

For the layout I found some cute Christmas paper in Michaels which I wanted to work with. It had the tradition reds and greens but also some blue tonnes which I was able to match with juniper and crystal blue from the CTMH palette. The red glittery letters matched some of the red glittery writing in the paper so I had to have that as well, good job I had my coupon for those. I don't know how they justify charging me $6 for some sticker letters. At least at 50% there were a little less. I made the white glittery letters. They are CTMH chipboard letters. I covered them in liquid glass (CTMH liquid glue) and sprinkled with prisma glitter. The white letters on the paper were also glittery so these match well even though you may not be able to see the glitter in the paper. If you do this just remember to be patient and letters the glue dry for several hours. You can also color the letters before you do the glue and glitter to make colored glitter chipboard letters. Much cheaper than how much they charge in Michaels and such. Plus you only do the letters your using so the other letters can be saved for another project and made to match that layout. Ways to color chipboard letters include :-
- direct ink to paper technique
- paint
- re-inkers
- stamp them (I love to do this after I have done a base color to give some texture)
- stickles
plus I also have some creme rub on stuff which I've had for ages. It doesn't have a name or anything on it. All I know is I paid $4 for it. But it works really well.

Birthday Layouts - from an alternative angle

2009-07-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Currently signed up for another big picture scrapbooking class. I have to say I love taking these classes as they make me scrapbook and push me to try new ideas. The one I'm taking at the moment is called Point of View and its about looking at those events we have every year to scrapbook but journaling about them from a different angle than you would normally. This weeks was birthdays. Usually we write about the birthday party and the guests and we do it every year without fail well in this class its about looking beyond the obvious. Week 1 was an assignment for a birthday party picture - well with 2 kids I have 2 birthdays to do each year and the last 2 birthdays hadn't been done so I had the material to do it. (The other benefit of the class is now I've done those pages - yeh me....).
Firstly Philips 10th birthday - when I look at the pictures I saw these boys who were just a few years off becoming objects of desire to girls. So I decided to focus on this.

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All supplies used are CTMH other than the ribbon. The title is letter stickers but they have been mounted on foam tape to give dimension. The ribbon was pleated and brads used to hold the pleats to give texture to the layout as well. I cut the bracket shapes by finding a shape online printing it at the size I needed and using as a template.

For Eleanor's birthday I focused on the fact she's growing up and become more aware of the cost of everything. Her hobbies are way more expensive than Philp. This last year she wanted to dance in a competition which with out the extra lessons needed was going to cost several $100s. In total for the less than 3 minutes she was on stage it cost in excess of $400 - could even be $500 but I don't want to think about that. So she exchanged her birthday party to cover part of that. In the end she had a dance rehearsal on her actual birthday so we couldn't even have a birthday dinner at home so we brought pizza and cake to the studio for everyone after rehearsal!

All the supplies are from Jo Annes - the paper is from a variety of companies. My favorite part of this layout is the flowers and trim at the bottom. I was looking for a way to add texture and dimension to the layout and couldn't find anything in the scrapbooking supply area so headed over to the trims in the sewing section. I found the flowers which were a perfect match in color. They are made of a vinyl type material. Then I came across the netting edging stuff and they worked together and so ballet that I had to have them. (Don't tell Anthony but combined they cost me $6 for enough to do the layout) When I was working on the layout I realized I could put brads through the holes in the flowers to add something else and this is what we got. I love it. Eleanor was worried when I bought these things for her page but now she's seem it together she agrees that I did know what I was doing.

Well I'm off now to read assignment 2 for next week looks like its holiday pictures - I can see Christmas in July may be. I will have to see what I can find that I need to scrapbook.
Have a great day and stay cool if your in Texas.

Hey There Cupcake

2009-07-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well after a very stressful week and a major change in life I decided it was time to get creative again. For those who just read my blog this last week I resigned as a CTMH consultant for a number of reasons which I don't need to go into here but this means my blog will change slightly. I will be able to use more none CTMH products more freely but don't worry I will still be using plenty of them as they are my no.1 stamping company. I hope to work on posting more tutorials and things on my blog. With product reviews and you never know I may even get into making my own video tutorials, if my daughter will loan me her video camera!

So that all being said my project today was cupcakes. Cupcakes are huge in scrapbooking and I love the set from CTMH called cupcake sprinkles (D1336). I have though been having issues with the icing on the cupcakes not looking yummy enough for me. That was until I was wandering around blogging world and came across someone using dimensional paint (sorry I can't remember where I tried hard to find the blog again but failed. I was sure I had booked marked it). So I went to Michaels and after a 10 minute search I found my paint hiding in the paint section near the spray paints. Just so you know what it looks likes here's a picture - I always find it easier when I know what something looks like.

I took the frosting stamp and using a light ink color I stamped the image on white card stock. Then I took the tube of paint and squeezed out a pea size blob of the paint and using a paint brush moved the paint around to cover the image and to look like icing looks of cupcakes, you know what I mean. To add sprinkles just drop some small seed beads of the color of your choice into the paint and gently press into the paint. I then left it to dry. The amount of time it takes will depend on how thick you make the paint but a couple of hours should see it dry to touch. I found that the card stock was the last thing to dry completely. When the whole piece was dry I careful cut out the image.

To complete my cupcake I stamped the cupcake case and cut this out. I mounted the frosting flat on the card but used foam tape behind the cupcake case to give the dimension I needed to make the finished cake look more realistic.

The final card is below. It's in the mail now to one of my daughters dancer friend who is away at a summer intensive. I hope she likes it. I had fun and I see more cupcakes in my future! At least these ones don't result in the extra pounds.

Interactive Pages in Your Scrapbook

2009-07-01T11:09:00.001-07:00

With the 4th of July coming up I know you will have a lots of pictures from the one day and I know from my vacation we took about 4000 pictures over 3 weeks so I have plenty of pictures to scrapbook. The latest product from CTMH to help us is the Flip Flaps Memory Protectors - which are $3.95 for 15 flaps or enough to add another 30 pictures to our pages! They attach direct to your page protector and you can make little flap albums with you then add.
One of my favorites among the CTMH Consultant Tresa Black has made a great UTube to show you how to do it. She is so talented at these videos. So check out how she uses the flip flap memory protectors. In addition she shows you how to add a 9 by 9 page protector to your 12 by 12 album page to give you another 2 9 by 9 pages of spaces to add pictures. There is no need any longer to have multiple pages of one event and you don't have to leave any of those precious pictures out. You can buy both of these products direct with me or via my website at www.ronnie.myctmh.com. Watch out for some pages from me where I've used these products coming soon. Just got to finish getting everything put away after the vacation.

Check it out here :-

You've Got Flair Slide Show

2009-06-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry no post for a while but I have been on our annual road trip for the last 3 weeks. Finally back and getting back to doing things. Tomorrow is the 1st July so thought I would share the lastest offering from the group of consultant I swap art with each month.

Thanks to the following Consultants who contributed artwork to this slideshow: Carrie Burdette, Christina Cox, Christy Monteith, Heather Martin, Heather Snow, Judy Faye Garner, Marianne Hancock, Melissa Robinson, Neely Dean, Nickie Gill, Ronnie Crowley, Sharryl Hales, Sheila Wilkerson, Stacy Park, Tammy Paulson, Teri Baxter, and Tonya Whitehurst.

You've got flair can be ordered from tomorrow. Its a great stamp set.

Dimensional Elements and Sand Surfing

2009-06-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

This last week my upline in the CTMH world challenged us to do a layout using dimensional elements. Now I love these things as you can do so many things with them and they are cheap! So it wasn't a hard challenge for me to do. The word SAND is done using the dimensional elements Simple Alphabet Z1047. I took them and lightly sponged with bamboo ink. Then using dotty stamp from Argyle backgrounds stamp set (D1325) I over stamped with desert sand ink. The surfing was done in a similar way but I used the color ready alphabet Oxford X5749. Whats great about both these products is the letters I didn't use are still white and can be alternate for another layout to match the colors of that one. So I don't have a pile of letters which are not needed. One note for techniques I use. With the color ready alphabets I first take the letters I need off the carry sheet and place them on a piece of wax paper. This is where I alter them prior to adhering them where I want them. Just watch you don't touch the wax paper as the ink won't stay on there and you'll end up with messy fingers but it makes them easier to alter.

The other unique thing on this layout is the pocket I created for the brochure from the National Park. I like to preserve these with my layouts so we can refer back to them in the future. I use the CTMH Photo Storage Pages for this (4113). I cut one of the pockets out from the six pockets and adhere to the layout. They are perfect fit for the majority of brochures. Remember with these pocket pages if you want extra spaces for pictures you can use these in some unique ways to create spots for those pictures. You can even cut one of the pages in half and have space for an extra 6 pictures in the center of your layout between the two sides. This is great for those occasions when you have lots of pictures which you must include!

While I remember have you checked out the deal of the day on my website. You don't want to miss out on a great deal! Click here to check in now.

Scrapbook and Share Contest

2009-06-08T04:00:00.000-07:00


CTMH celebration of National Scrapbooking Month in May was an astounding success! More than 300 gorgeous two-page layouts were submitted to the contest in five fun categories—most unique technique,  most humorous, most inspiring, best use of color, and best use of photography.

The finalists’ layouts will be re-posted on June 8 (today), and you’ll be able to vote for your favorites until 12:00 midnight (MT) on June 14. The winning entries will be announced on the website, and each winner will receive $150 US retail in fabulous Close To My Heart products. (Now if by any chance my layout is included I'd love for you to vote for me! Its a white layout with black and white photography and red and black flowers).

Visit www.scrapbookandshare.com beginning today, June 8, to vote for your favorite finalist in each category.

Todays June Special - First Goodie Box

2009-06-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

What a deal from CTMH for todays June Special - For just $60 you get approx $120 of products! Plus discounted shipping and handling of $8. Now the only problem is whats in the box. I'm tempted to get it as I hate not knowing. Its a sweet deal and there aren't any CTMH products I don't like to so I should be good. These deals are killing me I won't have any money by the end of the month if I'm not careful. Off to place my order.......

If you want to catch this deal today click here and place your order while supplies last. Remember the deal only lasts today and it will be something else tomorrow!

CPS Sketch Card

2009-06-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Another challenge card from the card positioning blog sketch CPS 118. I did two cards this time. The first one I was less than happy with, so I made another one. Not sure why I don't like it. I think it was the stamping on the juniper cardstock. But decided to share it anyways so you could see both versions and decide yourself. In the end the second one I prefer as its less busy. Colors are :-
Cocoa
Juniper
Sorbet
Tulip

Supplies all CTMH unless noted
D1361 Thank You
D1330 Connections
D1300 Circle Around
X7100B
Z1033 Just Blooms
Z1120 Winter Cozy Collection (Juniper Brad)
Z1100 Cocoa Grosgrain

Both the cards will be used by my daughter for teacher thank you notes for great year. Only 2 days left before school it out for the summer.

June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

2009-06-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

I joined the June CTMH stamp of the month blog hop so you could once again see lots of other samples of things to do with these stamps. If you haven't seen the stamp of the month hop over to my CTMH website and check it out online. You'll really like what you see and remember during June there will be a daily special online at my CTMH website so you can just add the stamp of the month to your order (everyone who orders this way in June will get tickets in a prize draw for product credit in July). Check details on the side bar of my blog.

So to the blog hop ..............

The June's SOTM is Tender Tags, a set of 15 stamps. If you have come here from Helen's Onulak's Blog, you are on the right path! If this is your first stop, you may want to go back to Jena's Blog and start from the beginning!You'll arrive back here eventually.

This month we have 44 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

I chose not to use the tag part of the SOM and use the flourish and words. Just to show how the set can be used for other things as well as tags.
The flowers were punched and then stamped in Indian Corn Blue. They are mounted with foam tape to give some dimension. Plus I added the sentiment on the Cranberry Red insert in the center of the card. Colors are Indian Corn Blue, Garden Green, Cranberry Red and Desert Sand. The patterned paper is from the Moon Doggie Level 2 paper packet.

Now "Hop" on over to Karen Strous''s Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the June SOTM is only available until June 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

All the Blogs involved......

www.livelovelaughscrapbook.blogspot.com

http://adeline-brill.blogspot.com

http://www.scrapbookczar.blogspot.com

www.createwithchris.blogspot.com

http://www.roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com

http://www.houseostamps.wordpress.com

www.damoses.blogspot.com

www.inkyscrapper.blogspot.com

http://www.jenrubio.blogspot.com

http://www.scrappin4memories.blogspot.com

http://www.scrappycaren.blogspot.com

http://scrapsfromthebeach.blogspot.com/

http://www.thedirtyscramper.blogspot.com

www.nonapearl.blogspot.com

http://www.misstscraps.blogspot.com

www.ralphandjulia.blogspot.com

http://www.anniemuses.blogspot.com

http://www.papermadnessinc.blogspot.com

http://www.iamahappystamper.blogspot.com

www.picturespatternsandpaper.blogspot.com

www.thecroppersconnection.blogspot.com

http://www.luciasscrappinandstampin.blogspot.com

www.ballisticdesign.blogspot.com

www.rockinstamps.blogspot.com

http://www.fancymelissa.blogspot.com

www.my-life-in-real-time.blogspot.com

http://www.creativevalleycreations.blogspot.com

www.hookedonstamping.com

http://www.ronniecreates.blogspot.com

http://karensctmh.blogspot.com

www.scrapcrazydiva.blogspot.com

www.stampinallday.blogspot.com

www.clearlyfromtheheart.blogspot.com

http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com

www.shannonmvt.blogspot.com

www.myscrapbookingblog.com

http://www.paigespaperparadise.blogspot.com

http://www.cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com

http://stampinshari.blogspot.com

http://www.creativeimpressions-pinchme.blogspot.com

www.stamptildawn.blogspot.com

www.flowerfoot.blogspot.com

Special Online Offers for June from CTMH

2009-05-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Special Online Offers for June
Love a great deal - how about 30!

In June you'll find a different deal each day on my CTMH website - a product special available only that day and only while supplies last (new deals will be posted 9am (MT) - FYI website may run slow due to traffic at 9am). Watch for popular products offered FREE with a stamp set purchase and all-the-rage goodie boxes filled will enviable items priced well below retail. Irresistible shipping discounts are included!
In addition I will be offering a prize draw for anyone who orders via my website during June. For every $10s ordered you will earn one ticket. On July 1st I will draw for the winners.
1st Prize - $30 product credit to choose what you want.
2nd Prize - $15 product credit
3rd Price - $5 product credit
Remember, each special is good only for that day, only while supplies last and only via my website. Visit often and save!

Visit my website at ronnie.myctmh.com

CPS - Card Sketch Challenge

2009-05-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying as I said to do more challenges so here's another one. I love how people can create such different cards from the same sketch and that's what I love the CTMH card design books so much. I have been following the CPS blog for a few weeks now but this is the first time I've actually had the time to create the card. Didn't turn out exactly as I wanted but I think its works. Its a 6inch square card which provides lot of extra space to play with but then you have the problem of the envelopes. I need to hit Michaels with my coupon today to get some but not sure I will have time we've invited half the street for a grill at lunch! Well I'm off to prepare for the grill. Enjoy the Holiday.

Supplies (all CTMH unless noted):-
C1340 Aspiration
X7090B SILHOUETTE LEVEL 2 PAPER PACKET
X7090C SILHOUETTE My Stickease.
Z1033 Just Blooms Big Pinks
Z1147 Foundry Bookplates
Z1285 Holiday Craft Buttons (colonial white buttons)
Misc. Red and off white flower(not CTMH).

To see some other samples using the same sketch click here.

Color Inspiration #53

2009-05-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

This week I was determined to get my card done for the color inspiration in time to post it. When I checked in to get the colors I was less certain about it. The colors this week are so not me. You know how colors just don't work well for you. Yellow is that color for me. I hardly ever use yellow and its only use is generally in very small amounts for centers of flowers etc. But I'm determined to do some more challenges so I took a sample of all the cardstock colors and laid them out in front of me. For a while they didn't speak to me and I thought I'd have to miss this week. But in the end primary colors spoke little boy and a little boy card was born.
The colors are Sunny Yellow, Holiday Red, Dutch Blue, Black and White Daisy - all CTMH. The stamps used are C1256 Little Boys (retired) and D1300 Circle Around - both CTMH. I stamped and edged both the Holiday Red and Dutch Blue pieces with images and then sanded the edges gently. Originally I didn't have the black photo hangers but the card was missing something so I added this and the piece of blue ribbon - who says ribbon isn't for boys!

So here it is - not sure when I'll use as I don't have much use for cards for little boys at the moment but you never know.

My First Circle Card

2009-05-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Circle cards are all the rage as far as I can see from my travels around the stamping blogs and magazines. Then "Wishes" arrived and its full of circle cards so I knew I had to make one. I also wanted to take part in the color challenge from the Kwerner Design blog that I did last week. The color challenge this week was :-

These are SU colors so I found the CTMH equivalents and went with creme brulee, crystal blue, vanilla cream, colonial white and bamboo. Unfortunately life took over and didn't get my card loaded last night before the deadline but still I can share for my blog readers, even though I can't win, I think its worth sharing. I hope you like it. The card is very similar to the one in the Wishes book - different stamps and colors but was so easy to put together that I think I'll be making more circle cards.

The stamp sets I used were sans alphabet (C1304), Argyle background (D1325) and Star Struck (D1237)

The day was so beautiful here in Texas that I decided to take my picture outside just for a change.

Wishes is Here!

2009-05-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

The brown arrived this week with my copy of Wishes the latest card design book from CTMH. It wasn't expected to be available until June 1st but the printer got them out early so they were released for sale. Its of full of some really great new designs from card in a whole variety of sizes and types. 109 designs in total! It even comes with a CD full of patterns for you to print. In addition this time there are several card sets to make. It gives you all the cutting diagrams to cut the paper to create a set of coordinating cards. These “card workshops” are specifically designed to help you make bulk cards faster, simpler, easier - how cool is that!

It also emphasizes unique ROUND card patterns and a template CD to make these circles spectacular. Imagine the fun of receiving a cool, round card! Even better, imagine the fun of creating one!

If you want to order a book you can do this online at my CTMH website - the cost is $29.95 and it can only be purchased via a CTMH consultant.

Well a new book in hand meant I had to design a card using the book. As usual for me I never follow the pattern totally. I'm so the same when I'm cooking. I take an idea and change it around for me. The pattern I chose was for a small card (3 1/2 " by 2 1/2") but I wanted a standard card size. The sample in the book even uses the same colors and everything. I just enlarged the design added my own touch and I had my card done. All done and complete within 15 minutes from start to finish. That is the beauty of the card design books by Jeannette Lynton. They do really make your card designs faster, simpler and easier! I hope my brother-in-law appreciates the card as it will be going in the mail to England tomorrow so it arrives in time for his special day!

Products (all supplies CTMH)
D1283 Say It In Style
D1237 Star Struck
C1234 Simple Stitches
D1352 It's Your Day
X7097B Game On Level 2 Paper Packet
Black, Cocoa and Chocolate Ink
Silver Brads

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

2009-05-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Decided to try something different and joined a blog hop. Never done a blog hop - well its a fun way of sharing different ideas based on a theme. The theme for this blog hop is the CTMH May SOTM - you will get to visit 18 different blogs and see 18 different creations using this set. What a great way of see how versatile this set is. I know many of you already have it on your list for May but for those doubters around check out the cool ideas these consultants have come up with for it.

The way the blog hop works is that you move from blog to blog clicking on the links on each blog. So If you have come here from Shannon Laux's Blog, you are on the right path! But if this is your first stop, you may want to go back to Jena's Blog and start from the beginning - so you don't miss out on some of the great artwork being shared!

My input for the hop is a cool any occasion card. It could be for a girl friend who needs to be reminded the life is great or just to say Hi!

I used pansy purple for the background and used a flower template underneath the cardstock. Then I sanded the cardstock which brought out the flower shape which was highlighted again using the piercing tool. To make the center of the flower I punched a scalloped oval out of creme brulee cardstock which I then scored in both directions to make a grid which I highlighted using creme brulee ink. The images are from the Be Yourself Stamp Set (May Stamp of the Month). I just love how the lady is dancing - she looks so happy and when your happy everything is beautiful. The white core of the CTMH cardstock is what makes this card in my mind. A little bit of sanding can allow you to create such a different look than the basic cardstock.

Now "Hop" on over to Deb Young's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the May SOTM is only available until May 31st! If you want to order this stamp set - you can do it on my website at www.ronnie.myctmh.com - remember depending on how much you order you can earn this set for FREE - combine it with an order for $60s of stamps you'll also get the tickled pink set for more details click here - tickled pink

Also before you go remember to check out earlier posts on my blog which features other cards using the May Stamp of the Month - you won't regret it! Remember also to sign-up for updates to this blog at the top right of the blog. Its easy to do and you ensure you won't miss out on any of my blog enteries
Color Inspiration Card Sample
Slide show of Samples

Color Inspiration Challenge

2009-05-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

Decided to try my hand at a color challenge this week. I used the CTMH colors Chocolate, Hollyhock, Goldrush and White Daisy. I had seen a card by Jean Johnson which I really liked but want to add to a little bit more color so this seemed the perfect time to do it.

The stamps sets I used are from the May Stamp of the Month from CTMH - Be Yourself and the stamps which come with the Tinkled Pink special which CTMH is offering for National Scrapbook Month. Finally the birthday comes from the August Stamp of the Month It's Your Day - but this could be replaced by any birthday you have.

Card Keeper with matching Cards - May Workshop

2009-05-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

So I finally found time this week to pull together a workshop for May. I really thought I wasn't going to be able to do one as the clock has been ticking and didn't have anything designed. Luckily two ideas from other consultants came across my emails and I was able to adapt these and create a workshop.

A while back I did a workshop using the snapshot pages made by Close To My Heart (CTMH) to create cards. Since then CTMH has released new snapshots and they were begging to be used for a similar workshop. Thanks to Chris Green who provided the basic design idea I came up with 5 cards using the Perfect Day Snapshots (X8532) and the Botanical Fancy Cuts (X1405).

I had just completed this when Tresa Black shared on her blog a really cute card keeper. In a moment of inspiration, these are rare since I turned 40 so I have to mention it, I realised I could take the design she used to create a matching card keeper for my cards and I had my workshop.

The workshop will be held on Thursday May 28th at 10am at my house. One last fling before the kids finish for the summer. The cost will be $15 (tax and shipping included). For this you will get everything you need to create the card keeper plus five cards (with matching envelopes). You will have extra fancy cuts left over to make more cards at home. I'm sorry I can't do an evening class at the moment due to the cancellation of school events due to swine flu the back end of this month is crazy. I will offer the opportunity to purchase a workshop kit which will include everything you need plus detailed instructions. If you can't pick-up your kit there will be an additional mailing charge.

RSVPs required by May 14th to ensure we get the products in time. You will need to bring 12inch trimmer, scissors and adhesive of choice.

This card keeper would make an excellent end of year teacher gift - so if you want to order extra supplies to make more at home let me know. You can make one set out of 1/2 packet of snapshots.

Graduation Card

2009-05-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year when we need graduation cards. As we usually give some money or gift card as well as a card I decided to make this a card which combined the card and the ability to hold money or gift card.

I used Good Times Level 2 paper packet, Chocolate Alphabet Large (E1010), Condfidential (D1347), Reach for the Stars (B1321), Chocolate Ink. (All Close To My Heart products).

Want to learn how to make this card. I have 4 classes this month when I will be teaching it. Check out my schedule on my ctmh blog at www.ronnie.myctmh.com - if there's a class you can make email me to check that I have a spot available at ronniecrowley@prodigy.net. Otherwise how about hosting a class at home where I can teach you and your guests how to make this card.

Samples from new sets from CTMH

2009-05-05T07:32:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd share another set of swaps I was involved in with samples from a variety of new sets included in the new catalogs. The slide shows a whole variety of styles and items. You've already seen my sample but still I thought it was worth sharing.

I hoping the weather this afternoon arrives and keeps us home as I have more samples I need to make. I was working on a workshop based around snapshots last night and want to be able to share this soon. I wish I had more time and energy to create but the end of the school year is always a challenge for me even with out the swine flu!

Carol Harris
Nicole Simmons
Tammy Paulson
Emma Ault
Carrie Burdette
Starr Bartlett
Lisa Moore
Ginger Manning
Ronnie Crowley
Christina Cox
Jody Skinner
Heather Snow
Melissa Robinson
Teri Baxter

Heather Dennis

Stephanie Sickler

May Stamp of the Month Samples - Be Yourself

2009-04-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

The May Stamp of the Month Be Yourself is one of my favorite for a long time. The ladies are so cute and I have so many ideas of how I can use them. As far as I'm concerned these are a must have purchase and you do that tomorrow May 1st - plus order from the new catalog.

The slide show below is a sample of some ideas made using the May Stamp of the Month from a variety of CTMH consultants across the USA - aren't they cute. I wonder if you can guess which is mine. The first to comment correctly on which is mine gets a prize!

Persons contributing to this artwork: Carla Testa, Carrie Burdette, Christina Cox, Christy Monteith, Heather Snow, Marianne Hancock, Melissa Robinson, Nickie Gill, Ronnie Crowley, Sharryl Hales, Sheila Wilkerson, Shirley Ross, Stacy Park, Tammy Paulson, Teri Baxter, Tina Patten, and Tonya Whitehurst.

Treetops and Buttons

2009-04-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm stuck on my trees at the moment and decided to make another attempt at my tree card for the swap I'm in.

I think the buttons add so much dimension to the card its worth the effort. I thought about adding waxy flax through the holes but didn't have green so shelved that idea.

The design is based on one the designs from the originals card design book from CTMH.

CTMH has currently only the one card design book but in the new catalog we have our second one coming out Jeanette Lynton wrote on her blog - "It’s called “Wishes,” and it contains 109 brand-new patterns, which includes three complete “card workshops.” These “card workshops” are specifically designed to help you make bulk cards faster, simpler, easier. It also emphasizes unique ROUND card patterns and a template CD to make these circles spectacular. Imagine the fun of receiving a cool, round card! Even better, imagine the fun of creating one!"

These books really make your card designing easier. I get mine out all the time just to start off a design. Doesn't mean what I finish with looks anything like the design but it helps me get going. Other times I do a card exactly following the pattern. Never tried one of our patterns well now is the moment to try. Jeannette Lynton also shared one of the new patterns and you can check it out here - pattern. I'd love to see what you create!

Have a great day creating.

Treetops for my tree hugging friends - New for Summer 2009

2009-04-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

My new stamps arrived this week from CTMH and I had a moment to play. Not my best card but Ok. I need to come-up with something more creative for this card for a swap but this was done in a few minutes I had to play. When I saw this set I fell in love. This is only one of the trees in the set and I'll be playing with the others thats for sure.

CTMH Scrapbooking Competition Annouced!

2009-04-16T04:54:00.000-07:00

Just heard last night that CTMH has started a competition for National Scrapbooking Month. I'd love for one of my customers to be a finalist. How about this enter a page and be a finalist and get a $50 gift certificate to add to your stash! All the details are on a special blog see details below. So get sharing those layouts. There are several categories you can win under so don't forget to read the rules! For more details click on the link below or the link on the right will take you to the blog just for this!

National Scrapbooking Month is all about you! We want you to share your story with us, so put together your best two-page layout featuring…you! Send a JPEG photo of your layout and a description of how it is highlighting you, your life, your passions, your hobbies—whatever is the best way to tell your story. Send your photo and description to scrapbookandshare@closetomyheart.com and you will be automatically entered into the contest to win $150 US retail in Close To My Heart product!

See the Scrapbook and Share Contest categories and details .

Tickled Pink Special

2009-04-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Available from April 15th till end of May - while supplies last

Put a little more "you" in your scrapbooks and you'll be Tickled Pink this spring! Our newest scrapbooking kit puts you front and center - with everything you need to create two beautiful two-page layouts all about the things you love and make you shine. And speaking of shine, you'll also be tickled by the kiss of glitter on these fabulous papers!

To get your very own Tickled Pink Scrapbooking kit:

Place a minimum order of $60 in stamp sets (excluding K-size and Stamp of the Month) between April 15-May 31 to receive a Tickled Pink scrapbooking kit FREE! (Limit one free kit per order.)

Purchase the Tickled Pink kit at just $34.95 - well below retail value!

Sign up as a new Consultant between May 1-May 31 and receive a kit FREE.

Host a Home Gathering between April 15-May 31 with minimum sales of $400 and receive a kit FREE.

Celebrate spring, bling, and everything you love - you'll be so happy, you'll be Tickled Pink!

Tax and shipping/handling apply. Available for a limited time while supplies last.

This year, the promotional scrapbooking kit for our May Constant Campaign, "Tickled Pink", includes:

1 - My Acrylix "I Am" Stamp Set (D-size)

2 - 12" x 12" Floral B&T Duos Paper (1 with glitter)

2 - 12" x 12" Stripe B&T Duos Paper (1 with glitter)

1 - 12" x 12" Blush Textured Cardstock

1 - 12" x 12" Crystal Blue Textured Cardstock

4 - 12" x 12" White Daisy Textured Cardstock

1 - 12" x 12" White Daisy Textured Die-Cut Shapes

1 - Mini-Medley Accents White Daisy Collection

1 - Foam Texture Tool

1 - Instructional Brochure

If you are interested in obtaining this scrapbooking kit, for FREE or at full retail price, please contact me.

Another Funny Cartoon for you

2009-04-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson

2009-04-09T03:41:00.000-07:00

This one could be so true if any of us ever caught up with our scrapbooking!

New CTMH Catalog

2009-04-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

This week I got 200 new catalogs from CTMH - my copy is now marked up and my order of new products arrives next week. Can you wait? It goes live to the customers on the 1st May. If you can't wait you could always sign-up to sell CTMH and then not only could you see the catalog but you could order new products - one of the best reasons for being a consultant. With my catalogs came all the new stamp of the months. May is my favorite and I can see everyone wanting it - so so cute! More I here you say - what about a teaser for new paper packets - its called Moon Doggie

If you want to read more about the new catalog Jeannet Lynton the owner and founder of CTMH has shared some more details on her website - click here to read it.

April Workshop

2009-04-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

April Workshop News - Desk Caddie Workshop

Date : - April 30th
Time : - 10am or 7pm
Place : - My House

This month we will be making a Desk Caddie - it would make a great gift for Fathers Day, Mothers Day or even an end of year Teacher Gift. Any desk or work area would benefit from such a beautiful piece of artwork. I made one for my husband for Valentines Day and he just loves it so I thought I'd share with you all. There is room for 5 pictures.

Cost : - $20 (includes shipping & tax) - will include 1/2 packet of Magic Moments Level 2 paper packet, complete packet of My Stickease Magic Moments, Ribbon, eyelets, waxy flax and all other none CTMH supplies needed to complete project other than basic tool kit. You will leave with a set of instructions so you can make another at home.

Supplies you need to bring : - 12 inch trimmer, adhesive, scissors.

Space is limited to 10 per class - please RSVP to reserve your spot. Payments required by April 15th.

RSVPs required by April 15th so order can be placed for supplies.

Another Soccer Layout

2009-03-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Still working on this weeks homework for my scrapbooking class I'm taking. This week we're making embellishments for our pages from items we already own. Well I have plenty of things to choose from so that hasn't been a problem. I decided to start with making a soccer page and use some of the chipboard shapes we got with the dazzling die-cuts promotion in the fall. I colored the chipboard star using some rub-on metallic color stuff I've had for ages and used like twice. It really colors the chipboard well I just wish I had it more colors. I then added some chipboard soccer embellishments that I bought somewhere sometime to add to my star and T - this created my focal point embellishment fairly easily. We were meant to add it to paper clip but this didn't work for me. So I left that part out. Then I had to make a tag to match. So using my gazelle I cut a tag out of a cereal box and layered it with cardstock. Then I got the stamps out and added some words and stars before adding the matching smaller star from the dazzling diecuts set. Having now realised I can cut cereal boxes with my gazelle I can make my own chipboard letters so made the rest of the title using this and covered with cardstock also cut with my gazelle so they are a perfect fit. In the end I was really happy with the layout. Funny how sometimes when you start you have no idea where your going but in the end the results are pleasing. (Click on the layout to see a larger image.)

April SOM - Sample

2009-03-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Being a consultant I get the Stamp of the Months ahead of the time and this one has been sitting there not saying anything to me. I mean fish - who wants to stamp with fish not me for certain. I make it a challenge to myself to teach each month though using the set so my customers get to use it and see if they like it.

Well I need to make samples for April sooner or later and decided to start with the hardest first - the fish..........I used the masked frame technique which I shared a card for last month I think or was it in December now I think about it. Time flies while your having fun stamping. I hope you like what I came up with, especially if you come to my classes as you'll be making it in April. The colors are olive green, cocoa and indian corn blue. I had made the masked circle and then couldn't think what to do next with the open space on the right hand side of the card. I find most embellishment very feminine for male cards so struggled with this. Then suddenly I saw the fishing rod stamp and the fly and I saw how my fish could be jumping to catch the fly. Now I'm even thinking I could improve it again and stamp the fish again and pop it off the front of the card. Maybe I will have to try that.......

Added - Ok so I have added a 3-d fish. I think I prefer the card even more now. What do you think?

Scrapbook Store - New Find for Me!

2009-03-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie is my new find. What a great store. Two large rooms full of some great products. The papers are embellishments are kept together and in themes. The staff were friendly and informative. They even had some soccer papers which I hadn't seen (I thought I owned ever type there was!).
http://www.thecraftyscrapper.com/

The drive from my house is just under an hour so not somewhere I will go every week but it was a nice adventure for Spring Break. The kids and I ended up spending nearly the whole day doing it as we ate lunch after visiting the store at the Chisholm Grill just up the road. Then we decided to walk around the square and found this great mosaic store. We were able all to choose our own design and make mosaic wall hangings. Philip made a guitar, Eleanor a peace sign and I chose the gecko. The price included everything you needed to decorate the item you chose. If you want you can come back the next day to finish the grout but we were able to take this home and that's todays job! You can check them out on their website. I'd love to plan a girls day to do this again Mosaic Shop Website

Flights of Fancy

2009-03-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

I've started another online scrapbooking class with big picture scrapbooking this week. Not that I really have time for another thing in life but I do want to get scrapbooking more and it seems the classes push me to do it. The class is about scrapbooking on a shoe string or using up what you've got. The first assignment this week was too much for me - you are meant to do an inventory. AN INVENTORY - I don't think they realise the problem I have - this would have taken me every waking hour to do and then still I wouldn't have been done. Never mind the other things I should be doing this week. So I decided to give myself permission not to do this.

The second assignment was easier a layout. I can do that and that's what I want to do to reduce the picture backlog and the supply mountain. On the layout you had to use something that sparkles, something with a decorative edge and something that sticks. Well not too hard really - my sparkles are not very sparkly but the layout didn't need too much sparkle. The decorative edge I created using a punch I purchased the other week. Its a new EK success punch which is a wave with dots. Then I finally used a bird die-cut I had purchased which I first turned into a sticker using my sticker machine.
The journaling is using a new type of journaling from my latest scrapbook mag which suggested using analogies. The journaling of these bird pictures would have been rather hard if I hadn't used this way of writing. I think I'll be doing this more in the future. It allows you to write beyond the pictures really and make comments on life.

Soccer Pages - Gazelle Digital Cutter with Funtime

2009-03-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd share my latest scrapbook creation. When you have a son who plays soccer for 2 teams and for 2 seasons a year you have a load of soccer pictures and so to make it all look a little different you have to come up with something unique. Well I have my gazelle digital cutter which I can create my own cutting files for (if I have time). I decided to use some of my time at Basketball practice, forgot to add he plays that as well, to make a file for soccer. It took me a while as I've never done such a complex file but I made it work and this last weekend I managed to get it cut. This is the result - a great page if I say so myself and cheap which is important in these hard economic times. Cost 4 pages of cardstock - well maybe 8 as I messed up the cutting on a few until I had my settings working and everything. I get out of practice sometimes. Note to self use cutter more often as its cheap way to make pages when you have it all down.

If you have a digital cutter and what this file email me and I'm happy to share.

Creations From the Past

2009-03-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

Several months ago I taught this dress card in my clubs (the picture below). Its great then at a later date to be shown something that someone else has done with the idea. This is the card designed by one of my customers daughter (the picture above) - isn't she talented (Sorry Tracye I lost the piece of paper I wrote her name down on - email me and I'll add it to this post). Its a party invitation. I suggested she'd do well as a consultant but she hasn't signed-up yet but you never know. She could help to pay her way through college doing this.

In my clubs this last month I offered everyone an incentive to create another project using what I taught them and if they bring it back the following month they'd earn a goodie from my goodie bag. Well I hope to share more ideas as the month goes on to show you how people have adapted what they learnt.

Male Cards

2009-02-20T13:49:00.001-08:00

Male cards are so hard to make and I had to come up with one today for Philips soccer coach. As many of you know soccer is big in our house and Philip plays on two teams. His coach has been his coach since he was 5 and as he's 10 next month so that's a while. The two families have become close friends as we all live on the same street although we never knew each other before we signed up for soccer. I wonder if we would be as close friends if it wasn't for soccer. Funny how live could turn out differently.

Anyways Jim has his birthday today and we off to eat Pizza at our favorite pizza joint - mama's

I realised I didn't have a card for him as I find male cards so hard that I didn't have any made ready to go. So this is what I came up with. Its using a technique I'm teaching in March called pierced spotlight. Its fun to do and I think it makes a cool card. I won't teach this card as not everyone is so soccer nuts but something more general which will suit all.

Have a great weekend.

Ronnie

Stamping with Solid Images

2009-02-20T05:22:00.000-08:00

When you use acrylic stamps with solid images sometimes you have problems when they are new getting a good image. I've tried many ways to fix this and the one I use most often is stamp clean stamp and clean again. The following blog entry though gives you a good review of some other methods to use.

Notice she recommends the foam mat - ever wondered what that foam was for in CTMH stamps well thats your answer. I though as many of you know keep the large foam mats on hand - plus remember the CTMH self healing mat has foam on the back just for this reason.

Anyways here's the link to the blog -Preparing stamps blog

Ok - I know shoot me!

2009-02-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't had chance to post in so long. Why bother coming to my blog if I don't post often. I really need to get better but life seems to take over so much that I don't get it done.

What have I been working on I hear you ask? Well making a tutu - well to be more exact updating a tutu. This last weekend Eleanor performed her first ballet solo and she needed a tutu to wear. New tutu's start at about $250 so you can see why I preferred to use one that belongs to her dance teacher and just add some extras things. Here's a picture of the finished tutu - I forget to take a picture of the before.

Then here's a picture of her dancing in it!

So you can see why I've been busy now. I have had some time to play with my stamps but haven't made a scrapbook page since we cropped in January. The following card is one I'm teaching this month. I really like how the background piece came out. You use string and masking tape to do it so its even cheap to do. The colors are outdoor denim, indian corn blue and crystal blue - all are shades of the same blue family. The stamps are all CTMH stamps.
I taught the card for the first time last night and everyone had fun doing this. Its a fun cheap technique for making your own backgrounds and could be used on a scrapbook page as well.
Come to class this month if you want to learn how to do it. Check my website for club times and email me if your interested.

Birthday Book

2009-01-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

More details about this later but a quick post for Jill and Susan especially.

Alternative Look on Eggs

2009-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

The February Stamp of the Month for CTMH is some really cool Easter Eggs. A number of consultants have been coming up with some alternative uses which I have been happy to adapt to myself. This is a use that Mary Gunn shared on a consultant list I read - Eyes. Well tired eyes to be exact or morning after eyes. I just had to make that card so here's my version. Not exactly the same but the credit goes to Mary for the idea I would never have seen the eyes myself!

My Creations Cube WorkShop

2009-01-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

Adding a workshop to my calendar just in time for Valentines Day. I hope you like it.

My Creations Cube Workshop

Learn how to use one of CTMH newest products and create a great gift for someone in your life or a great home decor item for yourself to keep. Workshop is just in time for a Valentines gift.

DATE: February 12th

TIME: 10am till noon or 7pm till 9pm

LOCATION: 6808 Day Drive Fort Worth TX 76132
COST: $20 - this includes all supplies but your adhesive. You will receive 1/2 a level 2 package of silhouette papers which will leave you with plenty left to make another cube at home - just order another cube!

MORE: My Creations Cube is a chipboard 5" cube. During this workshop you will learn how to decorate this cube to create a piece of artwork that would grace any home. We will use the Silhouette Papers (Bamboo, Black, Colonial White and White Daisy). You will need to bring tape runner and 12inch trimmer. You will leave the workshop with a completed cube ready to add your photos and printed instructions so you can make more at home.

Space at each session is limited to 10

RSVP: Deadline for RSVP is January 26th to ensure products arrive in time. Email me at ronniecrowley@prodigy.net

Can't make this time but want to do this project - get a group of friends together and lets book your own workshop party!

LOVE Card

2009-01-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

This is one of the cards I'm teaching this month at my clubs. I'm using the clear acrylic hearts which we're embossing with red powder to make the embellishment. This is a method that came as a result of me trying to make my own special embossed buttons. A customer sent me a link to a blog which told you how you can stamp with versamark on a button and then emboss to create your special buttons. Cool idea - well 10 buttons and a burnt finger later I have determined that this isn't a method that works well for me. Unless your happy with bits of embossing powder in places you didn't want it. Even with the help of embossing buddy I couldn't stop this happening. The fact it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for you. I'd be interested to hear if anyone had any better success with this idea. It maybe due to the buttons I was using or maybe I didn't have my leg crossed in the correct manner - you tell me.
My embossed heart made me feel much better and come to club this month and you'll learn how to make one yourself!
Don't belong to a club of mine - visitors are welcome check the dates on my CTMH website or find some friends and we can start your own club just for you and your friends.

Virtual Swap Results - Spring Catalog

2009-01-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

Recently I signed up for a virtual swap with some other consultants. We each signed up for a different new stamp set and had to produce a piece of artwork using it, take a picture and share. Then Teri created a slide show of them all we could all use. So here you go. A wide range of items all using a new CTMH stamp set from the Spring Catalog. If you want to know which set has been used let me know and I will check it out.

Ronnie

January Stamp of the Month - Moments in Time

2009-01-02T15:41:00.001-08:00

This months stamp of the month is a really great calendar set which allows you to make your own calendars forever. Its not year specific as you can create the month starting on whatever day you need. You just need to mask the end of the month so you have the correct number of days.

You can see the set on my website at www.ronnie.myctmh.com

I totally lifted this project from another blog - sorry can't remember which one. But I've seen several versions around the place. It's a stand alone calendar made of cardstock. You just remove the ribbon when you need to see the inside pages and replace so they become the outside pages. Get what I mean?

This set would also be great with the Display Album making 12 layouts one for each month - great gift for the grandparents. I plan to try and make one this weekend - if I have time. Want to be able to show people a sample at classes this month. I wish I had more time to create but need to employ someone to cook and clean to give me that!

Happy Birthday Card

2008-12-31T05:14:00.000-08:00

Still having fun playing with new markers. Needed a birthday card and came up with this one using Nursery Bash Set from CTMH. I used my cuttlebug to emboss the background and then added the ribbon.

The ribbon is funny really its a never ending roll of ribbon which Kristy Bee gave me when she closed her stamp store down over here on Granbury. That must be 2 years ago now if not longer and it never runs out. I don't know what I will do when I finally get to the end of it.

Hope you have a great New Years Eve - Stay Safe!

Ronnie

PS - New Catalog tomorrow.........

Ms. Sweetheart - D1345

2008-12-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

Sneak Peak of one of the new stamps sets from the Spring 2009 Catalog from CTMH. If you like the Bella Stamps you'll love the series of Ms. stamps that CTMH has added to the catalog. I had fun making the card. I colored using my new copic markers. I took a beginners class at Imprints here in Fort Worth on how to use them because I'd been seeing some great cards using them. I've always had a problem with the look of my marker colored images - lines all over the place. I love the CTMH markers for stamping multiple colored images but I wasn't any good at coloring in with them. Well copic markers are working great for me - I find the way I can shade with them pleasing and effective. Only problem is the cost! I'm hoping that Santa will bring me a few more to add to my collection but they make a serious hole in the pocket so I won't be able to afford to collect them all for a while.

A Merry & Bright Holiday Card Kit

2008-12-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

Read an independent review of CTMH's Merry and Bright Holiday Card Kit and see if you agree :- Click here to read

I know when I need something quick or a kit for the kids these are what I chose. I love also that you can take the basic kit and add some layering and glitter and it really takes them up to the next level.

Quick Christmas Gift

2008-12-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I'm always looking out for a quick gift idea at this time of year. I found a tub of peppermint bark at Costco and just needed a cute way of displaying it. I've had the tin for ages and I bought it to use with Hersey Nuggets but didn't get round to doing it. But same idea here with my peppermint bark. Took minutes to make - the longest time was waiting for the stickle to dry!

The tin can be bought online here http://www.catscraftcupboard.com/pc-61-162-metal-tins.aspx - they are the ones with the hinged lid.

I then just made a snug loop of paper to go round and punched out the circles.

Have a great day. I'm off to buy more peppermint bark!

Boy's Birthday Card

2008-12-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

I always have problems coming up with cards for Philips friends but I'm fairly happy with this one. I used a masked frame to create the central image which gives the soccer player his clean look. The images comes from the Close To My Heart set called "Best Shot" - Close to My Heart has some great sports sets.

Hopefully the recipient will like the card!

Christmas Planner - Quick and simple gift

2008-11-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

The planner is made using a manila folder. You cut it down to 8inch tall and then score the pockets. Cover with patterned paper and your done!

I found this Youtube tutorial which explains how to do it. Check it out!

I used the printable planner pages from this site -

I've been thinking though that this basic idea could be adapted to be used for a wedding planner, a baby shower planner or family reunion planner. Basically anything you could be planning.

Make sure you use a really good adhesive so it stays together!

Pumpkin Dip - Quick Easy and delicious!

2008-11-23T06:31:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite recipe for when visiting friends and you need something quick to take at this time of year. It tastes even better if you make ahead so it has plenty of time to chill - serve with the best ginger cookies you can find (Try World Market they have the best!)

You Will Need:

-1 can of pumpkin 15oz (Not the mix…you want to add your own spices)

-2 packages (8oz. each) of Cream Cheese (Room Temp. makes it easier to mix)

-1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

-1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

-1 1/2 cups of Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Combine all of your ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I used a whisk by hand, but unless you’re looking to sweat, use your mixer with a wire whisk attachment. Beat all ingredients until smooth, place into a serving bowl.