Blog Candy at Practical Scrappers

Practical Scrappers is giving away some blog candy to kick off the new blog. Check it out HERE!

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendar for upcoming club dates (Crop ‘til You Drop from 10 am to 10 pm):
August 15, September 19*, October 17, November 21, and December 19.

Labor Day weekend, Thursday, September 3rd to Sunday, September 6th, we are going on a crafting retreat to The Trails Retreat in St. Croix Falls, WI. There are spots available if you would like to join us. Contact me for more information!

*As a thank you to my loyal customers, and to commemmorate my 1-year anniversary with CTMH, we are going on a road trip! The September 19 Scrappy Chic workshop will be a full weekend in McGregor, MN at our family cabin. It is a bit rustic, but it is my favorite place in the world. Space is very limited, so contact me to reserve your spot today!

You do so much for everyone else;

let Close To My Heart do something for you!
This August 3-17, place a minimum order of $100 and you not only get the August Stamp of the Month, My Acrylix It’s Your Day stamp set, for FREE, but we’ll throw in a My Reflections Level 2 paper packet as well (a total retail value of $35.90)! How about even more thanks? We’ll also cover the tax and shipping/handling on the free products! Act fast, time is already running out. This Thanks-a-bration only lasts until August 17!

* Free paper packet will vary by order and may not include the one shown. Paper packet will be hand-selected for you by Close To My Heart. Offer valid August 3-17, 2009. Limit of one free paper packet and Stamp of the Month per qualifying order. No shipping/handling or tax on free items, but shipping/handling and tax will apply on the qualifying purchase.

To celebrate National Stamping Month

in September we are giving you 3 ways to get a FREE Everyday Celebration card kit for making 16 beautiful cards!
· Purchase a minimum of $60 in stamp sets
(includes A, B, C, D, and E-size) between August 18-September 30
· Host a Home Gathering with minimum sales of $400 between September 1-30
· Sign up as a new Consultant between Sept. 1-30

You can also buy as many card kits as you’d like for $39.95 per kit. And there’s more fun! Place any order between September 1-30 and you’ll be automatically entered in our daily drawing for a FREE card kit! Winners will be announced on My CTMH website and closetomyheart.com. Express your passion for stamping with this pretty new card kit today!

Stamp of the Month August: It's Your Day

It’s the perfect time to party! Use these versatile words and images to celebrate the best days of your year. Available August 1-31 only.

With a minimum qualifying purchase, get your Stamp of the Month set at a great discount or FREE!

Waterfall Album Meet Scrapbook Page

After completing the exclusive 2-page Animal Cookies Workshop On The Go layout (link to other post), I had another 16 photos from our Wiggles concert that I wanted to work into Lucy's scrapbook. I'm trying to edit, you know, not do three 2-page layouts for big events; I know crazy, isn't it! I just have a hard time letting good pictures stay in the computer. So I created an additional 2-page layout that holds all 16 photos, and it's interactive.

For Father's Day I created 2 waterfall albums, for my Husband and Dad. I also created 3 breast cancer themed waterfall albums for a friend. I credit Jennifer Zimmerman, my upline, for sharing the waterfall album inspiration with me. She had one as our make and take at a team meeting. She is so creative!

The idea seemed easy enough, in theory, to make a waterfall scrapbook page. Well, after trying, and trying, ripping it up, and trying again, I came up with something! I’ll try to explain, but honestly, I don’t really know how I put it all together. It was one of those “just keep trying” kind of projects.

I started with the 2-page layout from Cherish: Puzzle Junkie, featured in the Animal Cookies workshop on the go guide.

Instructions for a basic waterfall album can be found here. It’s difficult to explain, and Scrapbook-Crazy did such a fabulous job, they deserve the credit for making the tutorial. I’m sure there are also other good tutorials out there if you consult Google Search.

This waterfall album/scrapbook page has the pull at the top and the center fold at the bottom. I took a 12" by 5" piece and scored it, starting at 1", then every ½” for 13 total. Then I burnished all of the folds. I adhered an 11" by 5" piece overlapping the 1" to create a 22" by 5" complete mechanism. The 11" is the back half, and the 1" fold (from the 12" scored piece) should wrap around the 11" piece, to help from it getting caught on the anchor piece.

I attached 5x5 pieces of coordinating papers to each of the ½” sections on the mechanism using glue dots. I used patterned paper, instead of cardstock, for some of the pages, and that was a mistake. It was correctable, I just had to pull the paper off and put my journaling on cardstock to stiffen up the pieces. In the future I’ll use cardstock first for all of the pages, and then decorate with patterned paper. I was trying to keep it thin because I have so many pages, and forgot about the function.

I cut a 5½” slit in the polka dotted paper (anchor piece) 4” from the top of the patterned paper in the middle of my layout, for the back half of the mechanism to pull through, and to anchor the top half of the mechanism. I put a piece of packing tape on the back side prior to cutting to help strengthen it. The polka dotted piece is attached to the base cardstock on the sides, center and bottom. I left the top center adhesive free for the mechanism to be able to pull through.

















To put the page into the page protector, I cut an opening in one side of the page protector from 5½” to 11½” and 3 ½” to 8 ¾” (measured from the top and left seam of the page protector). I opened the waterfall completely and slipped the page in the protector. The waterfall is able to function through the hole in the page protector, but it is still safe in your album.

For the pull, I set 5 eyelets in the top of the back of the mechanism and laced white ricrac through it, having the ends come out the center eyelet. Then I cut two 1 ½” circles and glue dotted the ends of the eyelet between them. I added a stickease with a button embellishment to the top, and a Velcro dot to the bottom. I put the other half of the Velcro on top of the page protector.

Oh, I also tried my first attempt at quilling. See the little heart. This is going to be my technique at the next co-team consultant art day. My Aunt Sue used to quill and she taught me how. I think it’s an artform that should not be lost. It is so fun and easy to do!

All in all, this project was a lot of fun. I will definitely try this one again. And if you have kids under the age of 6 - take them to a Wiggles Concert - you will not regret it!

Happy Scrapping!

Mom's Paper Purse

Yesterday was the monthly Crop 'til You Drop at the Scrappy Chic Workshop. Beautiful handmade cards, pages, and projects were created by all, while we bonded. Cropping with friends is the only way to crop!

My Mom was at the crop, and she was looking for a hostess gift for a good friend. She saw my black and white purse on the wall.

And she decided to make one of her own. Armed with my pattern, a few tools, and some fabulous papers, she created this fantastic number:

Check out the closure. Mom stitched and gathered a 2" ribbon, pulled it into a rose, and stitched a diamond button into the center. She even put a binding around the front!

It is even more beautiful in person! My Mom is very talented, amazing, creative and inspiring!

Card + Box = Supercard! FREE Make and Take for Saturday, July 25 Crop 'til You Drop

Thank you to Deneen over at

http://apathofpaper.blogspot.com/

for the inpiration for our make and take!

Instructions can be found on her blog at http://apathofpaper.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-card-its-box-its-supercard.html.

We will create this FREE project using the following CTMH products:

X7112B 12" x 12" Animal Cookies Level 2 Paper Packet
Z1282 Summer Craft Buttons
White Ricrac Ribbon
C1359 Sweet Baby Stamp Set
D1304 Life's Creation Stamp Set
Z697 Round Sponge
Colors: Sunflower, Tulip, Clover Meadow, Dutch Blue

Contact me if you would like to join us for 12 hours of cropping fun on Saturday, July 25!

Animal Cookies Meet The Wiggles

This is my take on the Animal Cookies Workshop on the Go. Last August we went to the "Pop Go The Wiggles" concert. Our little Lucy was totally in love with the Wiggles. She was excited beyond belief to see them live on stage!

If you would like to put together a layout just like this one, let me know! Animal Cookies is the featured paper pack for my workshop this month. We will get together on Saturday, July 25 from 10 am until 10 pm to crop 'til we drop. Send me an e-mail if you would like to join us! Or, if you can't make it to the crop, let me know, I can mail the workshop to you. Starting at under $25 you'll receive a workshop guide and products* to complete three 2-page layouts and at least 3 cards, with plenty of products left over to create more!

Products and Tools Used in this Workshop:
X7112B Animal Cookies Level 2 Paper Packet*
X7112C Animal Cookies Level 2 My Stickease® Assortment*
Z1162 Foam Die-Cuts Numbers*
White Daisy Ricrac Ribbon*
Animal Cookies Workshop Guide*
C1359 My Acrylix® Sweet Baby
Z1282 Summer Craft Buttons
Z1096 Embroidery Floss Neutral Assortment
9029 Cherish™
E1003 My Acrylix® Boutique Alphabet
Z2113 Clover Meadow Exclusive Inks™ Pad
Z2119 Dutch Blue Exclusive Inks™ Pad
Z2150 Sunflower Exclusive Inks™ Pad
Z2166 Tulip Exclusive Inks™ Pad
Z1114 Piercing Tool Kit

Art & Soul®: NEW! Sensational Simplicity

It’s been said there’s great beauty in simplicity, and it’s so true in artwork. In this episode of Art & Soul, you’ll learn how to create simple yet gorgeous layouts and cards using basic techniques and tools that everyone can enjoy! From designing handmade B&T papers, selecting the right adhesive, and choosing perfect color combinations to make your photos pop, your crafting hours will be simple and oh-so pleasurable! You’ll also discover what’s most important to Jeanette and drives her love of stamping and scrapbooking.

Check out the new Art & Soul episode:
https://jenlee.myctmh.com/MyCTMH/CTMHTV.aspx