A different kind of wreath

Our family motto is "We Are Laughing Together Every Ridiculous Second!"  It fits us and our goofy personalities, it is also an acronym for our last name.

I have been wanting to make a welcome sign for the front door with our motto on it, but I was having trouble with the how until I broke the glass in a picture frame.

Normally broken glass would mean I had to clean up and buy a new frame.  This time when I held up the now empty frame I was inspired.  I quickly dug through my scrapbooking supplies for a chip board banner I had been saving.   While digging I found some paper flowers and buttons from a past project.

It was amazing how hot glue and a few embellishments changed an empty frame into a wreath.  Using two different sizes of alphabet stamps I was able to make our name stand out but still fit our motto.

The stamps, ink, and chipboard banner were all from "Close to My Heart."  I am a consultant for the company and if you are inspired to recreate the project you can purchase those supplies on line from my business website.  http://caytw.ctmh.com/

Girl's Birthday Card

 

My younger daughter is going to a birthday party so I decided this was the perfect excuse to play with my "Paper Doll" stamp from Close to My Heart (I am a consultant so the link is to me business page).

 

I started  by picking out my back ground.  Even though both papers are patterned the fact they only have one color on each makes them act as neutrals.

 

 The next step was stamping and coloring the girl.  I chose grey ink so even if it bled a little it would not smear on the image.   Then I filled in with water-color pencils and water.  I had to combine two colors for a good skin tone.

 

After finishing the doll  I used the same technique on an outfit.  The above image is before I added water.

To blend the colors I like to use just a damp paint brush, if you use to much water the lines start to blur.

I attached the doll to the front on the card using 3D dots, that way you could use the tabs when putting on the different outfits.

 

I added a ribbon along the side. To make the bow I first made a loop then pinched it in half.

 

I then wrapped  a second piece I ribbon around the center.  I used glue dots to hold it all together and attach it to the card.

The card turned out just like I had planned, which is actually unusual for me.

I also tucked in a few more stamped outfits that the recipient can color and cut out.

I always have fun using new products and techniques, when I am brave enough to try.  If you haven't tried water-colors yet I hope you will now.

Close to my heart's new jewelry line

One great thing about being a CTMH consultant is the sneak peak at the up coming catalog.  Than means I have a chance to buy early and get people excited about what is coming!

It is easy to get excited about the Fall/Winter 2013 catalog.  To be honest when I flipped through the catalog I was a bit concerned.  One item that stood out to me was the new line of "do it yourself jewelry."

I was not eager to learn a new crafting skill and more than little worried about my skills.  But I decided to give it a try, besides it is hard to sell something you're afraid of.

The kit (which is how I chose to start) comes with everything you need, and only one small instruction sheet.

 For the most part the instruction were helpful and with a bit of experimenting I discovered it was fun.  My experience with paper crafting helped because I have made paper flowers just like the fabric ones on the necklace.  The only thing that was missing from the instructions was where to cluster the embelishments. 

In the end I was able to complete the project and be eager to try another.

And it gives me something cute and original to wear this weekend.

Improvising Washi Tape

I usually avoid trending my artwork.  It dates the pieces and makes them loose freshness.  It is also like adding an expiration date to a project, you will only display it while the trend is popular.  But I recently made an exception.

 Washi Tape, or patterned tape, has been showing up all over the place lately.  The tape adds color, patterns, and texture to projects.  It also adds an impromptu feel and makes the taped on element stand out because they appear to be added later.  While the product may be new in the scrapbook world the concept is not.  Most baby books and diaries have special places to tape in your memorabilia.  So rather than ignoring to tape trend I decided to embrace it.

The perfect place for trying out trends is a project that you want to date.  I picked an end of the school year journal.  The pages are 6x6 so there wasn't a lot of room to embellish and I wanted it to fold flat so the elements all had to be flat.  A bit of patterned tape fit the bill, it's flat and doesn't require much space.

I only had one problem, actually it was what I didn't have that was the problem.  I didn't have any tape. So I improvised.  I cut 1/2 inch strips of patterned paper and card-stock then cut those to the lengths I needed.  This worked better for me than using tape because I didn't have to worry about it folding up on itself.

In the end I was so happy with my project I decided to use my new "card-stock washi tape" technique on a card as well.

One of the keys to these projects was the paper, bright colors, smaller patters, and textures all helped pull it together.  This particular paper pack (Dream Pop) is only available until the end of May and can be purchased from any Close to my Heart consultant (including me.)  If you miss out on this opportunity don't worry, just look for glossy patterned card-stock  for a more tape like appearance.  And have fun mixing and matching.