'Rock the Block' Blog Hop!!!

Sharing from the Heart Blog Hop

Good Morning! 

If you've arrived here from Deb's Blog then you are on the right path...as this is a continuous loop, just keep on clicking to the next person until you've completed the Hop!

I'm not entirely sure where the month has gone but for some strange reason I thought today was the 13th!!! I am finishing off one more item with this stamp set, but thought I'd post a card I created earlier in the month so you have something to look at!

This is December's Stamp of the Month! Only available until the 31st, so don't delay if you are wanting to get a jump start on Valentine's Day...I created this card for my Anniversary at the beginning of this month, so this stamp set for December was perfect timing :)

Now head on over to Nicole's Blog to continue with this Hop!

Diana Soling         http://mystampingspot.blogspot.com
Christne Murphy      http://lifebeyondwords.moonfruit.com/#/blog/4557016062 
Wendy K              http://www.MyScrapbookingBlog.com
Jody Gustafson       http://cre8nmemories.blogspot.com
Lori Stroup          http://loriannie670.blogspot.com
Deb Fortin           http://paper-crazy.blogspot.com
Kristine Ponte       http://kponte.blogspot.com
Nicole Schuette      http://scrappernic.blogspot.com  
Heather Hunt         http://creativecoconut08.blogspot.com      
Lela Norris          http://lilola4life.blogspot.com/
Polly Lewis          http://scrapinmolly.blogspot.com
Patti Rowe           http://pattirowe.blogspot.com/

December's SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to our December SOTM Blog Hop with 56 CTMH Consultants participating this month! You are sure to find loads of inspiration and beautiful creations with this month's 'Mad About You' stamp set! 

Hopefully you've arrived from Diana Soling's Blog, and I know you are eager to keep going so this is what I've created with this month's Stamp of the Month set:

I've created the flower by stamping the small heart image 6 times in Tulip ink and rockin' & rollin' black around the edges...I then cut each of them out and layered 5 of them on a glue dot and raised the centre heart with foam tape...did some rolling and bending of the edges and I was done!

Products Used:
(all items CTMH)

CS: Kraft
PP: Roxie
inks: Tulip, Black
ribbon: designer black
opaques: Mocha

I hope you've enjoyed your stop here, I really appreciate your comments and love to make new friends through my Followers...now off you go to Allisa Chilton's Blog for some more Blog Hopping fun!

This Hop is one big loop, but if you get lost along the way, there's a complete listing of Hoppers below!

Helen Onulak     http://www.hookedonstamping.com

Kathleen Androlewicz     http://BowlOfStamps.blogspot.com

Adeline Brill     http://www.adeline-brill.blogspot.com

Brae Montgomery     http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com

Shannon Beck     http://www.cardsfromthefarm.blogspot.com

Doreen Guilfoyle     http://whereisyourhappyplace.blogspot.com

Wendy Coffman     http://www.stampingrules.blogspot.com/

Paige Dolecki     http://PaigesPaperParadise.blogspot.com

Jen Rubio     http://JenRubio.blogspot.com

Katy Donaldson     http://www.scrappinkaty.blogspot.com

Gina Brandstetter     http://gmbscrapper.blogspot.com/

Susan Brooks     http://stampingintheopen.blogspot.com

Dawn Heuft     http://stamptildawn.blogspot.com

Haley Dyer     http://inkyscrapper.blogspot.com

Sarita Schraeder     http://www.blessedscrapper.com

Amy McVey     http://www.clearlystamping.blogspot.com

Nicole Griggs     http://www.nicolescreativezone.blogspot.com

Dawn Ross     http://iamahappystamper.blogspot.com

Krista Ritskes     http://simplycreatingtogether.blogspot.com/

Georgia Hauglid     http://inkygeorgia.blogspot.com/

Wanda Riley     http://Creatingwithwanda.blogspot.com

Mary Eisen     http://mestamp2.blogspot.com

Judy Burger     http://www.makingtimeformemories.blogspot.com

Melinda Everitt     http://www.ifyoublingit.blogspot.com

Kami Welter     http://www.scrappin4memories.blogspot.com/

Jill Lucas     http://scrapwench.blogspot.com

Melissa Laverty     http://www.fancymelissa.com/blog

Carla Ironside     http://carlacreates.blogspot.com

Traci Godbee     http://createwithtraci.blogspot.com

Annette Green     http://AnnettesCreativeJourney.blogspot.com

Teresa Scrivens     http://www.creatingwithinkypaw.com

Beth Naumann     http://www.bethscreativeblock.blogspot.com

Pamela O'Connor     http://cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com

Michelle Loncar     http://michelleloncar.blogspot.com

Tamytha Jenkins     http://www.paperheartist.com/

Lisa Sargent     http://www.lisasargent.net

Shirley Ross     http://www.momnmescrap.blogspot.com

Angel Sawyer     http://RunningwithScissorsDesignCo.blogspot.com

Elizabeth Mindemann     http://www.ejoym.blogspot.com

Angela Tutton     http://www.tuttonstreasures.blogspot.com

Debra Van Patten     http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com

LeAnne Dudley     http://www.dudleychickdesigns.blogspot.com

Jen Patrick     http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com

Sheila Bennett     http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com

Lori Brown     http://www.savingmine.blogspot.com

Traci Pasqualone     http://ScrapiTraci.blogspot.com

Karen Fullam     http://www.enrichingmemories.com

Jean McNulty     http://stampinmaui.blogspot.com/

Diana Soling     http://mystampingspot.blogspot.com

Kristine Ponte     http://www.kponte.blogspot.com

Allisa Chilton     http://rockymtnpapercrafts.blogspot.com/

Casandra Bennett     http://casandra-scrappinbliss.blogspot.com/

Heather Schmuckal     http://www.heatherjanedesign.blogspot.com

Nikka geers     http://www.nikkageers.blogspot.com

Vicki Price     http://priceofpaper.blogspot.com/

Krista Hershberger     www.kristascraftycorner.blogspot.com

Wednesday's Let's Scrap Sketch!

Hello! This is my last layout as one of Let's Scrap current design team :( I am looking for a little holiday from the Design Team aspect as it is fairly time consuming and seeing as December and January are so busy for me, didn't think it would be fair to all the hard working gals on the DT if I wasn't active during those two months!

We are getting ready in this house for the Holidays and for our Christmas in Mexico! 

So excited!

Hope you have some fun with this weeks sketch!

I am constantly working away at the kids' school albums and I've completed three double page layouts for Marissa's last day of school where her teacher, Mr. Willms, took his class to Castle Fun Park for a day of FUN! Here's one of them!

Super fun papers, journalling tags, buttons, alphabet stickers and twine used here. Jillibean Soup mostly, die cut papers were from Jenni Bowlin, twine from Twinery and the mini alpha were from October Afternoon.

I love those pkgs. of Jillibeans' journalling spots...perfect as embellishments or journalling tags...I will complete Marissa's Top 5 Memories once she comes home from school!

Those mini alphabet sheets in various colours have got to be a staple in my scrapbooking stash for sure! I love to use them, as I can create long titles and phrases that can explain the page without lots of journalling :)

...YES! that is my crazy daughter hanging off the 

mini-merry-go-round!!!

Up for a fun challenge???

Good Morning! I hope you've had a scrap-tabulous week so far and have an even better weekend lined up!

I have plans to add some festive spice to my home this weekend and might even be able to talk my hubby and son into adding some sparkle to the outside of the house...fingers crossed that the temperature can stay above zero...they are fair weather boys and will not easily be persuaded to endure the extremes in the name of Christmas lights ;)

Today is Friday, as you all know, and it's my day to post a Design Team challenge over at the Let's Scrap site...here's a challenge for you if you care to join in...I'd love a link up to your blog in my comments if you want to join in!

What's the challenge you ask? Well incorporate some momentos/memorabilia into one of your LO's...click on this link to read my post at Let's Scrap for more information!

These are photos from my daughter's field trip from June 2008! I have been hanging onto these tickets to add to her layout, once I got around to doing it! 

Here's my boxes of other keepsakes that I need to add to layouts...Do you think I'll ever get it done? Oh well, who knows, but I do know that in the meantime, I have to keep it all!!!

Let's Scrap Sketch for Wednesday!

It is with some sadness that my term on the Design Team at 

Let's Scrap is nearing an end. It has been a very fun and creative time there, but I am also ready for a break...it's a lot of work on DT's and I am looking forward to getting some inspiration from some of the New and Returning DT ladies! 

This way I can just play with sketches and be a member...I hope to have a chance to participate in more of the DT Challenges, Scrap Your Stash Challenges and get some BAM (Book about Me) Challenges done too!

I am loving the simplicity of this sketch, even though I've only created one side of it...I hope to get a double page LO done from this sketch sometime soon because I love the number of photos we can incorporate and the fact that you can really use up some of your 'stash'! Which I know we can all do!!!

This layout was perfect for the final photos of Matthew's Grade 5 Sports Day from a few years ago! It was a miserable raining day for the whole time and they just went ahead with it! I wasn't thrilled because it is hard to take photos in the rain, but it made for some fun photos too! At one point. Matthew had this incredulous look about him and I love that I captured it...and the rain :)

This is by far one of my all time favourite paper packs with all their great embellishments and of course my clear CTMH buttons! and super awesome Twinery twine!!!

Question of the Week!

Good Morning! As a current Design Team member at Let's Scrap, we are asked to present a QOTW(Question of the Week), an IOTW(Inspiration of the Week) as well as a Design Team Challenge. This is my week to offer up all three of these to the Let's Scrap Membership and 

I thought I'd share them with all of you as well this week.

Here's what I've posted and I certainly welcome your answers here for those of you that are not members of the Let's Scrap site, I'd love to know what you think :)

"A little about me, I love to talk and write {as you will see} and I have been a crafter my whole life ranging from finger painting to woodworking! The one thing that has become very clear to me through my years of painting, sewing, woodworking and crafting is that scrapbooking can encompass ALL of my interests and at the same time preserve memories of mine and my families.

Now through my discovery of scrapbooking only 7 years ago, the first thing I did was attend classes! Any kind of scrapbooking classes I could find...finding card classes and mini-book classes were easy, but an actual layout class...quite a bit more challenging :)

This is where my question comes in...I teach regular layout workshops every month where we work through at least one LO, usually two or sometimes more per Workshop {depending on the fun level and whether my gals are chit chatting or working!}

In these Workshops we explore different styles and techniques to help them expand their scrapbooking knowledge and to create some different LO’s that they don’t usually do on their own.

Now the question I want to ask you is one where you need to put your scrapbooker/customer hat on to answer...

Now in typical ‘Kristine’ wordy fashion, I can’t just throw one question at you it needs to be multi-faceted...now some of you might not have many classes available to you so you could always answer them from an “If I could, I would...”

1. Tell me what you find ‘most’ valuable when you attend scrapbooking classes? 
2. What are you hoping to ‘get’ out of the class, be it material or informative?
3. When you are ‘paying’ to attend a class, which ‘type’ of class do you want to attend? (card, LO’s, mini-albums, 3D...)
4. What are your ‘must have’s’ in any class you attend?

Thanks so much for reading my lengthy QOTW and I can't wait to hear some of your answers!"

Now here's what I answered:

"I like to learn something from a class I personally take, even if it’s to do with photo or ribbon storage...I want to walk away from it with finished layouts and know something I didn’t know before.

I personally like layout classes because it helps me get more done! AND someone else did the prep work and thinking!!!

However, that being said, I will usually attend more card classes because I tend to struggle with cards and I like having someone else think up some wonderful cards for me!

I LOVE 3D layouts...I have to have some dimension and texture on my projects or they just don’t feel finished, so a class working with anything more than just paper is usually one I love to attend!"

Wednesday's Let's Scrap Card Sketch!

Hello! I know, I know...it's not Wednesday! You're right, but it's still a great day for a sketch! Especially seeing as this is the third Wednesday of the month, so that means we are playing with a card sketch...

I decided to dig into some of my Sonoma paper pack...we are going to be working on this paper collection for January in my Hostess Workshop Clubs...I love the purple and tan and cocoa colours together...I hope you have a chance to play with your paper and glue!

I've used the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out this card base at 4 1/2" with Desert Sand paper and used the Sonoma B&T duos paper with some Colonial White cardstock to cut the tag (also, AP from Cricut) and stamped the Winter Wishes in Petal from the 'December 25th' stamp set (C1469)...added a Mocha Opaque to the centre and tied it onto the card with some purple twine from my store! Thanks for stopping by!

CTMH's 'Sharing From the Heart' Blog Hop

Good Morning!

If you've arrived from Kathleen's Blog then you are on the right track!

'Cherish the Day' is November's Stamp of the Month and boy have I ever been using it! 

I love that it can be incorporated in layouts and cards! I have used it in several different layouts that have been featured already here and here if you'd like to see more...I created a quick card with this set and my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge for my Brother-in-Law's birthday coming this January, as we will be away all Christmas break, I won't have time to whip one up for his big day so I thought I'd get a head start here... this is how I've used the Cherish the Day stamp of the month for this BlogHop today...

Products Used:

Desert Sand cardstock

Sonoma B&T duos

antique copper brads

Chocolate & Petal ink

misc. twine

card shape, heart and tag all cut with 'Art Philosophy' Cricut cartridge

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now if you are interested in some more fabulous Christmas stamp set deals...order $25.00 in myAcrylix Stamp sets this month and get this gorgeous set for just $5.00!!!

contact me for more information or to get your order in before you miss out!

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you've enjoyed what you've seen so far and you carry on to Lori's Blog now to see what she has in store for you!

Here's a list of the gals featuring this fantastic SOTM in case you get lost:

Diana Soling   http://mystampingspot.blogspot.com
Deb Fortin   http://papercrazy.blogspot.com 

Elizabeth   http://ejoym.blogspot.com 

Heather Hunt   http://creativecoconut08.blogspot.com 

Jody Gustafson   http://cre8nmemories.blogspot.com 

Kathleen Androlewicz   http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com 

Kristine Ponte   http://kponte.blogspot.com 

Lori Stroup   http://loriannie670.blogspot.com 

Wendy K.   http://MyScrapbookingBlog.com 

Adeline Brill   http://adeline-brill.blogspot.com 

Lela Norris   http://lilola4life.blogspot.com

Wednesday's Let's Scrap sketch time again!!!!

Good Morning !

This past week has sped right by...I went to a 12 hour Crop on Saturday and participated in a Scrap your Stash Class...which I'd like to adapt for instructing here at my Workshop!

Lots of work preparing for the class as each participant needs to put together paper and photo 'kits' and then you are guided through assembling a LO...they are all single LO's but could easily be adapted to doubles...

This class will be an awesome way for you to power through getting LO's done in a short period of time as the LO's are already pre-designed for you and all you need to do is bring the required papers and photos! Spend time at home doing your 'homework'!!! and you will be very happy at the end of the class!!!

More Class details to come for this 'Scrap Your Stash Boot Camp Class' and check back soon for some Christmas card and layout classes for this month and December...

Now here's this week's sketch!

and this is what I came up with!

I used my square punch so it made short work of this layout!...the subjects in these photos are so intricate that I wanted to be sure to not overpower them too much with my paper choice, but in saying that I also wanted to pull out some of the colours in them as well! 

I found some older journalling tags from CTMH in my stash and added some Sassafras stickers for my title...the corrugated shape was punch from my Corrugated shapes by CTMH and the antique copper brads are also from CTMH..

We took our kids to Disney World back in 2001 and again in 2009...instead of scrapbooking two separate albums, I've decided to put the photos together...the large main photo was taken in 2001 and the photos on the RHS were from our more recent trip. 

Thanks for stopping by and why don't you try this sketch out this week! It's a perfect sketch for those of you that have little bits of paper laying around that you don't want to throw out yet! I could make 100 layouts from this sketch just because I'm one of those people that keep everything!

Wednesday's Let's Scrap Sketch time!

Wednesday is here again and I've got another great sketch from Let's Scrap where I've incorporated the CTMH stamp of the month as well!

I have to say I love, love, love this month's stamp set 'Cherish the Day'...perfect addition to almost anything :) More artwork on this post too...and after your done here, have fun going through the 57 additional artwork posts from my fellow CTMH Consultant's where they are also showing off artwork from this month's SOTM!!!

and as you can see I've been using my new favourite thing...twine!

my second favourite right now is this big scalloped border...and my banner is super cute too if I may say so myself!!!

Thanks so much for checking this sketch out...hopefully you'll give it a whirl yourself and get one more double page layout done this week! Feel free to contact me if you are liking this SOTM (aka. stamp of the month) as much as I have been in using it...and you'd like one of your own! Remember that SOTM's are only available during the month they are featured so don't wait!

November SOTM Blog Hop!!!

Good Morning!

I hope you have been enjoying this month's SOTM hop! 

There are 57 creative gals showcasing November's Stamp of the Month 'Cherish The Day'

Now hopefully you've arrived from Krista's Blog...this is one big loop of blogs so if you find yourself somewhere else along the way...have a look at the very bottom of this post so you don't miss anyone!

After playing with this stamp set I can honestly say that it will work with both my layouts and my cards...I've already used it on three different layouts, but I'll show you just one of them today :)

I really LOVE our wintery paper line called Wonderland...the colour combination is so versatile and of course it works beautifully with those snowy photos!

Don't you just love all these snowflake shapes? I've cut them using the snowflake images off of my Art Philosophy cartridge...now if you are late getting to the Cricut Party... let me tell you that Close To My Heart has partnered with Provo Craft's Cricut and are now creating stamp sets that work together with these cut shapes so that we can create some fabulous, quick and easy embellishments!

I have cut my snowflake and then I ran it through an embossing folder for some added texture and dimension...I originally had plans to stamp on these snowflakes but thought it might be distracting...I've tucked under two ticket shapes (also cut with the Cricut machine and the Art Philosophy cartridge) and simply stamped the January stamp in Petal ink and added the day in Lagoon so it would stand out a little better...that and coordinate with my twine!

I absolutely LOVE my new E-size stamp set Trinity Alphabet (E1021)! It is so perfect for titles and I've used it loads already but here it is stamped with more Petal ink...the little flag 'school' was stamped with the the Trinity Alphabet set too! WHY??? you ask, well because this awesome set comes with 3, yes count em, 3 different sizes of FULL alphabets!

Thanks so much for visiting! If you are interested in becoming a regular follower, just click on the Networked Followers or Google Followers in the upper right column...I love making new friends!

Now off you go to Vicki's Blog to see what she has created with this awesome stamp of the month! and remember if you get lost along the way, the full list of blogs are below!

Kathleen Androlewicz http://BowlOfStamps.blogspot.com

Helen Onulak http://www.hookedonstamping.com

LeAnne Dudley http://www.dudleychickdesigns.blogspot.com

Wanda Riley http://Creatingwithwanda.blogspot.com

Angela Tutton http://www.tuttonstreasures.blogspot.com

Paige Dolecki http://PaigesPaperParadise.blogspot.com

Beth Naumann http://www.bethscreativeblock.blogspot.com

Tamytha Jenkins http://www.paperheartist.com/

Krista Ritskes http://simplycreatingtogether.blogspot.com

Katy Donaldson http://www.scrappinkaty.blogspot.com

Traci Pasqualone http://ScrapiTraci.blogspot.com

Mary Eisen http://mestamp2.blogspot.com

Angel Sawyer http://RunningwithScissorsDesignCo.blogspot.com

Kami Welter http://www.scrappin4memories.blogspot.com/

Haley Dyer http://inkyscrapper.blogspot.com

Michelle Loncar http://michelleloncar.blogspot.com

Jen Rubio http://JenRubio.blogspot.com

Lori Brown http://www.savingmine.blogspot.com

Doreen Guilfoyle http://whereisyourhappyplace.blogspot.com

Pamela O'Connor http://cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com

Traci Godbee http://createwithtraci.blogspot.com

Gina Brandstetter http://gmbscrapper.blogspot.com/

Debra Van Patten http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com

Lisa Sargent http://www.lisasargent.net

Melinda Everitt http://www.ifyoublingit.blogspot.com

Nicole Griggs http://www.nicolescreativezone.blogspot.com

Jill Lucas http://scrapwench.blogspot.com

Carla Ironside http://carlacreates.blogspot.com

Sheila Bennett http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com

Susan Brooks http://stampingintheopen.blogspot.com

Sarita Schraeder http://www.blessedscrapper.com

Teresa Scrivens http://www.creatingwithinkypaw.com

Georgia Hauglid http://inkygeorgia.blogspot.com

Judy Burger http://www.makingtimeformemories.blogspot.com

Adeline Brill http://www.adeline-brill.blogspot.com

Amy McVey http://www.clearlystamping.blogspot.com

Nancy Brown http://creativelyartsygallery.blogspot.com/

Shirley Ross http://www.momnmescrap.blogspot.com

Brae Montgomery http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com

Wendy Coffman http://www.stampingrules.blogspot.com/

Dawn Ross http://iamahappystamper.blogspot.com

Elizabeth Mindemann http://www.ejoym.blogspot.com

Jen Patrick http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com

Dawn Heuft http://stamptildawn.blogspot.com

Shannon Beck http://www.cardsfromthefarm.blogspot.com

Melissa Laverty http://www.fancymelissa.com/blog

Annette Green http://AnnettesCreativeJourney.blogspot.com

Heather Schmuckal http://www.heatherjanedesign.blogspot.com

Allisa Chilton http://rockymtnpapercrafts.blogspot.com/

Luisa Morgan http://www.creativedesignsbyluisa.com/

Casandra Bennett http://casandra-scrappinbliss.blogspot.com/

Corina Mitchell http://www.mycreativeink.org/

Karen Fullam http://www.enrichingmemories.com

Nikka Geers http://Nikkageers.blogspot.com

Krista Hershberger http://kristascraftycorner.blogspot.com

Kristine Ponte http://kponte.blogspot.com

Vicki Price http://PriceOfPaper.blogspot.com

Wednesday's Let's Scrap Sketch time!

Good Morning! Boy It's been a busy week and I feel 

like I've neglected this space!

Since last post I've been prepping for my weekend away at the Ultimate Scrapbooking Retreat at Loon Lake...for those of you that haven't been, it is nestled deep in the woods, with no cell phone reception and depending on your device, WiFi if you are in the right spot with the right device...my laptop hasn't worked there the last three times...so this means I am separated from the real world for two nights and three days!

Here's the sketch for this week:

 I've been working through my kids school albums trying to

 finish them off before they graduate! 

I have just a few left and this one was from a field trip we took with Marissa's grade 7 class to the Blue Heron Reserve...a very beautiful location where birds and other wildlife are safe from harm :) 

We had some photography instruction from a professional photographer and then each kid was to head out into the reserve to take some pictures...he showed them things like the rule of thirds, composition and macro etc. Mom played along too!

Here's some of my homework:

I used CTMH's new Art Philosophy cartridge from Cricut to cut out the tree base from Cocoa cardstock and the bush background from the Brook Collection of patterned paper by Crate Paper.

all the stickers and brads and patterned papers were from this Crate Paper collection...except the twine...this was Twinery...or you can now get some from me! I have 14 different coloured spools for sale by the yard in my Workshop !!!

This twine colour is Honeydew...still have to journal...

Wednesday's Let's Scrap Card Sketch!

Hello and welcome to another Let's Scrap Card Sketch by Debby!

Products Used are all Close To My Heart:

Mischief Level 2 paper pack

Mischief felt shapes

Licorice Pearl Opaques Gems

Create-A-Shade Pearl paint

Cocoa re-inker and spritz bottle

Kraft cardstock

I have been busy getting ready for a weekend away at the "Ultimate" Scrapbook Retreat...I think I might just snap some pics for you all to see while I'm up there this weekend...

Also, stay tuned for another SOTM BlogHop at the end of the month featuring November's awesome stamp set 'Cherish the Day'...thanks for stopping by!