January Scrapbooking with La Belle Vie

Here are the three layouts Scrapbook Club will be making in January.   La Belle Vie is a gorgeous paper pack - it's retiring at the end of January, so don't wait too long if you haven't tried it yet.   It has two exclusive card stock colors - you can only get them in the workshop kit and the paper pack - La Belle Vie Pink and La Belle Vie Mauve.

This first layout is for party or dance pictures, or...    It took me a bit of playing around, but I finally came up with this layout.  I hope you like it!

Here's a detail shot of an embellishment cluster:   La Belle Vie Stickease, Black Tulle Ribbon, Bling Assortment and Boutique Assortment:

Here's the Life is Beautiful Layout, inspired by our CTMH Idea Book! 

This layout was created by Pamela Thorn - thanks so much for the inspiration!   The black shaped pieces and the flowers were cut with Cricut Art Philosophy.

Here's a detail shot:   it shows the flowers, stickease and the Boutique Assortment - pretty!

Contact me if you'd like to order a kit for January!

Display Tray for All Seasons: Christmas and Winter

I am in LOVE with our Display Trays!   I'll be buying myself a present soon:   3 trays, one for each kiddo, with their K-11th grade pictures in them, and a senior picture hanging next to the tray!

Meanwhile, I've been having fun making the Christmas Tray and the Winter Tray.   The Christmas and Winter Trays were both inspired by Lisa Stenz, an incredibly talented CTMH Consultant -thank you, Lisa!   I should put "Winter" in quotes because as you'll see, while I'm using Avonlea papers and Canvas Stickease, which are the blues and greens of the Winter palette, my tray is Family themed.

Here's Christmas:

 My Tray Workshop ladies enjoyed creating their Christmas tray with Pear & Partridge papers, the Dimensional Elements In Color Holiday, and lots of ribbons and sparkle.   They chose either the Pearl or the Sparkle Flourish too!

We're putting our hook and loop dots that CTMH now sells on the back of each paper, and on the frame itself, so we can change out the papers and ribbons with the season - pretty slick!

What do you think of my "Winter" Tray?   I love it!   I used a wedding picture of my parents from November 3, 1950.   For the small picture I picked a picture of my brother, my sister and I when were were little.   Guess which one is me!  I scanned the original pictures, which were not the greatest photos, but I still love my frame!   It's inspired me to get out more family photos and display them.   We'll be putting this tray together in early January if you'd like to join us!

Pear & Partridge Layouts - October Scrapbooking

Here are the three layouts we'll be doing for October Scrapbooking!   They are made using the Pear and Partridge papers.   I love their vintage look, and I'm really enjoying distressing with our new Cashmere ink - beautiful golden light brown.  Scrapbooking for October is Friday evening October 19th at my studio in Gresham.   Scrapbooking in Salem date has not been set yet - stay tune and watch for my e-mail.

This layout is the Pear and Partridge Workshop Kit layout, made using some of the stamps from the kit, and the beautiful P&P Complement Rub-ons.   I also used some red sparkles and Harvest Bakers' Twine.  

 This layout was inspired by Amy Mayhew's beautiful layout - thanks, Amy!   It's embellished with our Dimensional Elements In Color - Holiday Set - LOVE this set!  And sparkles again, of course because what's Christmas without a little sparkle?

This layout is another layout from our new pattern book, Make if From Your Heart.   It has 16 great layout patterns, gorgeously helpful artistic tips, lots of color photos, two single page layout patterns, and 12 new card patterns.  This layout really shows the sparkle with our Slate Satin Polka Dot Ribbon and Silver Shimmer Trim.   The Shimmer Trim comes in a 3/8" width package of 5 yards.   It's self-adhesive too.   At the bottom of the layout (left page) I used 5 widths of it, and you can't even see the seam - nice!

Display Tray for All Seasons!

Here's a picture of our new Display Tray (I LOVE it!) decorated with Autumn's colors and my kids' beautiful faces! This is look #1 for this Display Tray for All Seasons Workshop. We are getting together on Thursday 9/27 to create this gorgeous tray that you can put on an easel or hang on a wall. All the pieces are hooked on with our new velcro dots, and we'll be meeting in late November to give our tray a Christmas look, then again in late December or early January for Winter colors, and later for Spring and Summer! For the first session, you will be purchasing the tray and materials to decorate your tray for Autumn - This will be a FUN class!

Recruit for Loot Winner!

This video is hilarious!   Noreen Petty won the consultant contest Recruit for Loot!   She got three minutes to grab every product she could get her hands on in the CTMH warehouse - lucky girl!

(Vice President Kristine is narrating, and you can see our two other VP's Monica and Brian in the video too. Monica is escorting Noreen in, and Brian's in the background in the lavender shirt!)

Stars Shine Bright - last post from Texas!

Here's Megan at the Awards dinner - her first fancy dinner as far as we could recall!   And no, that's not wine (kinda looks like it!), but iced tea!    She enjoyed the dinner, got to see Jeanette and Kristine, Monica and Brian, and enjoyed the performance by the Texas Tenors - they sang everything from bluegrass to opera!  Here's our yummy dessert:

 Now for more art pictures!   This is another item made by an Extravaganza teacher, Melissa Laverty.   It's a sweet little purse with an adorable bow made on the Artiste cricut cartridge with Avonlea papers.   I think I have to scraplift this idea, don't you! 

Here's a shot of several creations by another CTMH Extravaganza teacher, Tamra Pope.   This is Pear and Partridge paper collection.  Isn't it beautiful?  Tamra won first place for her themed Stars Shine Bright album.   She took first place with the CTMH staff votes, as well as earning Consultant's Choice.

Can you believe this?   Here's a Paris dress shoppe, all made with the Artiste cartridge!   You're looking at La Belle Vie papers!   Over the top amazing!

Stars Shine Bright Day 3!

Wow!   WHAT a day!!   We started out with a huge FOUR hours of Extravaganza, traveling to eight different booths to be shown what some amazing consultants (including my upline Ginni!) did with the eight paper packs, and snapping photos madly of their creations.   If I could show you just one little bit of what I saw today, we'll have an awesome six months of creating together!

Here's one picture that shows our new 12" chipboard star (oh yeah!) covered with paper from our Scholastic line.   Gorgeous, huh?

And since I'm showing off home decor items, here's our new Display Tray, art by Ginni Candelaria, using the Flirty paper pack!  Is that cute, or what?    (If you're reading this post and are following my blog, mention the Display Tray to me for a prize.)

After lunch we had our closing General Session where we learned that Album Retreats will be coming back for consultants.   I can't wait to hear more about this, because not too long after I became a consultant, CTMH stopped having these annual retreats (in Salt Lake), and I was so disappointed, but now they're back!   More honors and awards were given including three consultants who won a workshop for themselves and 20 friends put on by CTMH Corporate staff - talk about fun!   There was a question and answer period with Jeanette - what a wonderful lady!  We learned that many thousands of dollars were raised for Operation Smile this convention, by donations and auctions - lots of smiles will be fixed thanks to consultants' generosity!

As a grand finale, we got the news that convention next year will be held in Orlando at the Disney property there!    I'm hoping to add some of you to my team so you can go with me next year and find out just how much fun all of this is!  If you sign up to be a consultant in August you get the same very cool bag that we got for convention ($50 value) plus you can get the Essentials consultant kit for $49 or the Master kit for $99 - either one is an excellent value.

Then we had one final creative session, making two layouts and six cards.   During this session two of my CTMH heros Lisa Stenz (Remember the mini note card set made in the box? - that was Lisa's design she so generously shared.) and Tresa Black (Oh, my I love her art!  I even got her autograph last year at convention!).

This is a picture taken from the large screen in the ballroom, so it's not a good shot, but maybe you can see the bow made from burlap!  I'm telling you, Tresa makes everything look fantastic!  There was a live auction tonight benefiting Operation Smile even more and at least $6,500 more was raised!   Oh, and hey, I won another prize today - yee haw!  I won the Pear and Partridge Card Workshop on the Go Kit!




Tomorrow a very kind couple down here who have a fellowhip meeting in their home will be picking us up and taking us to their home for a Sunday morning fellowship meeting.   They live in Arlington and are driving over here to get us - it will be so special for Megan and I, the true highlight to our time here, I already know.  

CTMH Convention Day 2!

Hey there, it's Friday evening and I have a little time before the fancy awards dinner for more updates!

Color Your World:

Our color palette has completely changed - wow! I was very surprised but the more I think about it the happier I am!   In order to keep more trendy with color changes, CTMH will now have a set 40 colors plus White Daisy and Colonial White, and then add different colors in paper packs as I mentioned yesterday. This will enable us to change some colors out more easily, while sticking with a large number of stable colors we can count on. I DID get my wish for a new red: it's called Ruby! We also have several new basic colors: Slate, Whisper, Saddle, Cashmere and Champagne. Just to give you an idea of the "trend colors" the Avonlea Paper Pack features an Avonlea Teal (incredibly gorgeous) and an Avonlea Green card stock, as well as an Avonlea Off-White card stock. Two other new paper packs feature exclusive colors too!  Here's a photo that shows that beautiful Avonlea Teal so you have an idea what I mean:   

Avonlea is the featured paper pack in this Idea Book - featured on the front cover and shown first - you can see why!   We made (okay, started) a mini album this afternoon using these papers, and I can't wait to get it done.

Here's a mini album made with the NEW Dakota papers - don't you love it!!!    (Sorry, just a country girl at heart, I guess...) 

Stamp of the Month:

I think you'll be very happy with this Idea Book's variety in the Stamps of the Month:   Everything from borders and corner decorations to scarecrows to winter mittens!   There's also a stamp set that will be great for calendar making (I feel a workshop coming on...) and a Valentine stamp of the month for January.

More tomorrow....

Stars Shine Bright! CTMH Convention 2012

We're nearly done with the first day of Convention - it is SO much fun!    It's worth signing up as a consultant just to get to go to Convention!  

Megan and I toured Tuesday and Wednesday and got pretty hot - whew.   Tuesday we visited the Dallas Holocaust Museum where the exhibits focused on one day during World War II.   It was a very worthwhile, moving exhibit.    Then we went to the 6th Floor Museum, which focused on the life, presidency and last day of John F Kennedy.  It was an an incredible museum.   I was nearly the same age as John-John was at that time, so the only thing I remember from that time is that little guy saluting his dad's casket, and thinking how sad that his daddy died and that he must have been someone important.    Wednesday we went to the Dallas Aquarium and didn't even spend half the day missing trains like we did the first day. 

Enough about that -- you want to hear about CTMH's NEW products!

Here's a sneak peek (almost said peak, as if a mountain was going to sneak up on you!) of one paper pack called Flirty:

Isn't it gorgeous!  The Level 2 paper packs are nearly the same, with 6 sheets of printed papers and 6 sheets of card stocks.   Each printed paper has a different print on the back.   Some paper packs have a shade of card stock exclusive to that paper pack!  (That's a strip of card stock with the word love stamped on it - it's not part of the print!)

Here's a picture of the exciting General Session this morning -- what a crazy bunch of consultants!

 

YEE HAW!

There are:

• 8 NEW Paper Packs
• 13 NEW Workshop Kits!  One for each paper pack, two workshops for card workshops, and a few more.....!
• 62 NEW Stamp Sets! 
• NEW alcohol based markers (SO nice for shading and so easy to use!)
• 6 NEW Colors!
• NEW storage containers!
• NEW Studio J Express Collections - drag and drop your photos, add journaling and you're done!
• NEW pigment ink spots (small ink pads in pigment ink)
• Dozens of NEW embellishments!

AND, wait for it --- drum roll please ---    another cricut cartridge called Artiste!   We heard today that this was Jeanette's BABY, and it is quite different from the typical cartridge.  There are "suites" of cricut cuts that go together to make projects -- and a whole Halloween workshop designed using Artiste too!   I don't know many details, so more about that later.

I'll save more news for tomorrow's post:  color changes, stamps of the month and more!  Come to my Open House on 7/31 to play with new product and get YOUR hands on the Autumn/Winter Idea Book.

June Create with Karen Events

Cheaper by the Dozen Layouts

Saturday June 2nd 10:00 - Gresham


Scrapbook Club:

Friday June 8th 6:00 - Gresham
Monday June 11th 6:00 - Salem


Cards with Karen

Monday June 11th 6:00 - Salem
Tuesday June 12th 4:00 & 6:00 - Gresham
Thursday June 14th 4:00 & 6:00 - Gresham
Monday June 18th 6:00 - Gladstone


Karen's CTMH "Garage" Sale PLUS Five Cards for $5

Monday June 25th 12:00 - 9:00 - Gresham

LOTS of gently used and new stamp sets, plus embellishments, papers, markers and more.  Come to Shop and Stay to Play!  Make five cards for $5 after you're done shopping the sale.   Please RSVP and pay in advance for Five for $5.

Cheaper by the Dozen!

These layouts are using the Dotty for You papers - super fun and cute layouts.   We're making these layouts at my place on Saturday June 2nd.   All papers are cut for you, plus you get three embellishment packages, and salad and dessert, all for $60.   That's just $2.50 per layout!   Many of these layouts were created or inspired by my upline, Ginni Candelaria - thanks Ginni for your creative inspiration!   Contact me right away if you'd like to join us.   Or, order a kit to complete at home or a crop.   Since everything is cut for you, you can put these together in about four hours.

 

Options

Pick up at Karen's$60.00 USD Shipped to you$65.00 USD

Pick 3 Embellishment Packages

Smoothie Mini Medley, Sunset Mini Medley, Paradise Paper Flowers Smoothie Mini Medley, Paradise Paper Flowers, Cork Alphabet Sunset Mini Medley, Paradise Paper Flowers, Notable Alphabet Smoothie Mini Medley, Paradise Paper Flowers, Keepsake Felt Alph Smoothie Mini Medley, Keepsake Felt Alpha, Cork Alpha Sunset Mini Medley, Cork Alpha, Notable Alpha

Create with Karen May Anniversary Events

Cards with Karen:

Mon 5/7 4:00-9:00 Gresham
Tues 5/8 6:00 Gladstone (8360 Cason Rd)
Thur 5/9 4:00-9:00 Gresham
Mon 5/14 6:00 Salem (3500 N River Rd)

4 + 1 equals FIVE! It's my fifth anniversary, so we're making four cards with the gorgeous Pemberley papers, PLUS a Sweet Surprises treat holder. Join me in celebrating my 5th anniversary with Close to My Heart--there'll be cake, gifts and prizes and a special sale! Cards with Karen is $8 or free with a $15 order. RSVP so I can prepare for you!

4/17 CTMH Mini Banner and Cricut Pair Up

April Creative Escape - Pemberley Note Card Set

This beautiful note card set was created by one of Close to My Heart's outstanding consultants, Lisa Stenz.    I've doubled the amount of note cards for our project.   Isn't it gorgeous?

We'll be making 12 cute little note cards using Card Word Puzzle and Crafted with Love, and putting them in this decorated, divided box.   They come with envelopes and a coordinating pen.   Your Creative Escape will come with a slice of delicious dessert too, all for $18.00.   This project would make an excellent gift.   The nice thing about it is that it goes together fairly quickly, so you could actually make two boxes - one for a gift and one for yourself!

Dates are:  Saturday 4/21 10:00  and  Thursday 4/26 4:00

Check out the samples and sign up at Cards with Karen this week!

April Cards with Karen

Here are two of the cards will be making this month at Cards with Karen:

This first one was originally inspired by the Amazing Aaron Booth, CTMH Consultant, and then tweaked by Vicki Wizniuk, one of my favorite Amazing Consultants!






















This second card is from our mid-April through May National Scrapbooking Month Special Dotty for You papers.     These papers are so cute and summery!   I'll have some samples showing more of the papers when you come for class.   There are 2 each of 12 designs, PLUS each design has a different color of polka dot print on the reverse - fun!    The stamp pads in the picture show all the rainbow colors in Dotty for You.  Can you see the cute polka dot butterfly?

Dotty for You!

When you place an order of $35 or more in products from the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book between April 17 and May 31, you may add the Dotty for You paper packet, valued at $19.95, for just $5. Dotty for You includes 24 specially designed, coordinating B&T Duos^® sheets (2 each of 12 patterns) and an artwork idea insert to get your creative juices flowing.

Hostesses will receive a free Dotty for You paper packet when their Gathering sales total $400 or more (excluding tax, shipping/handling, and Operation Smile donations).

New Consultants who sign up between April 1 and May 31 (two full months!) will receive a free Dotty for You paper packet with their kit.

April Classes

Here's my line-up of April Classes:

Monday 4/9 at 6:00  Cards with Karen Gladstone
Tuesday 4/10  at 4:00 and 6:00 Cards with Karen Gresham
Thursday 4/12  at 4:00 and 6:00 Cards with Karen Gresham

We'll be using the Cruisin' papers to make three of our cards this month, including a birthday card, a You Are Amazing Card, and a Welcome Little One Card.    We're also using Dotty for You to make Fluttering By to Say Hi Card.  

Cards with Karen is $8 or FREE with a $15 order.  Please RSVP by e-mailing me or by clicking on the "join" button on my website.

Get Door Prize Tickets for:

• RSVP two days ahead
• bringing your own adhesive
• ordering (2 tickets for a $50 order)
• donating to Operation Smile
• signing up for a workshop

Friday 4/20 at 6:00 Scrapbook Club.

Contact me if you'd like a Cruisin' Kit for this month!

Monday 4/23 at 6:00 Salem Cards with Karen and Scrapbooking.

While Supplies Last...

Here's a heads up on upcoming product retirement.   CTMH has let us know that the following items will be retiring in July, BUT may run out sooner:

The Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book is the last idea book the following products will be featured:
• How-To Books
• Distressing Kit (full kit only)
• Exclusive Inks® Markers
• Cardstock Shade Packs
• 8 1/2" x 11" Cardstock Packs


Here are the 4 new papers from the Spring/Summer Idea Book that will be CONTINUED in the Autumn/Winter Book:

Pemberley
Stella
Victory
Florentine

So, the other papers in the Spring/Summer Idea Book will no longer be available after July:

Footloose
Superhero
Lucy
Cruisin'
Typeset
Roxie
Elemental
Sonoma


Why am I tell you this so EARLY??    I'm giving you a heads up because some of our wonderful How-to Books are already gone!   Reflections (layouts) and Originals (card patterns) are already sold out.   We currently still have:   Magic, Imagine, Cherish (all layout books) and Wishes (cards).

It was a bit of a shock to see that the how-to pattern books and markers are retiring, but I trust Jeanette and the CTMH team:  this means something better will be coming!    We'll just have to wait until Convention in mid-July to find out...

Love Your Layout - Studio j

Here's a fun tutorial on how to design a Studio J layout and add stitching.  Remember, you can always play with Studio J FREE.   There is no charge until you decide to buy a layout.   Ask me about getting a membership to get your layouts at a discount, along with free shipping and page protectors.

March Stamp of the Month Card

Here's a little tutorial on the card I came up with to use with the March Stamp of the Month, Potential, and Florentine Papers.  My thanks to CTMH Consultant Susie Rostad, whose card inspired this card.

Take a 6"x12" piece of card stock - I used Colonial White.   Score it at 4 1/4" and 8 5/8".

 Then, using some kind of circle cutter or anything round as a template, round off the short end of the card.

 Here's the gorgeous Florentine paper I'm going to use:  It's 5 1/2" x 3 1/2"

 Put it under the rounded end of your card base and trace.   Ouch, you can see my sore thumb and finger.   I got that from attacking Cousin It with a pair of scissors.  Cousin It is that overgrown Japanese Maple outside our front door, the one with the lousy haircut.   (I couldn't find the trimmers!)   Any of my customers who mention Cousin It to me will get a special prize.   See, there are rewards for reading my blog!  I put my pencil lines on the back of the paper I want to use.

 Trim and attach.

 Now take a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 piece of twilight card stock and start random stamping.   I always start with the largest of my stamps that I'll be using.   Don't forget to go off the edges with your stamping to make it look more natural.   Rotate the stamps for variety.

 Now I've added the two smaller stamps.   These are all from Potential.   I used some 2nd generation stamping also.   It's bothering me - looks a little plain.   

 So, I'm adding a stamped image in cocoa.   This stamp is from the Florentine Workshop on the Go Stamp Set.  You will notice the cocoa images are rather light.   I think that stamp pad is my original from 5 years ago - you can imagine how much use it has gotten through the years in all my classes; it's getting a little tired.  But, the look is perfect for the effect I wanted:  I love it!

 Now for some of our very cool chocolate striped ribbon:

 It's getting beautiful!

 There's that same cocoa image from Florentine on the right.   The Happy Birthday stamp is from the new stamp set:  4 My Friend.  

 Now I've added a medalion type image, cut from my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge (both the circle and the scallop behind it are AP images).  The scallop is from Brown Bag card stock. The stamp is also from Potential.   You can get Potential only during the month of March for $17.95 OR get it for $5 with a $50 order.

I inked all papers with Brown Bag ink and Twilight ink.  Brown Bag and Twilight look really nice together.  I also added a bitty antique copper brad to the center of the medalion

 Here are the three inks and the three stamp sets I used. 

 Hope you enjoyed this tutorial - come and make this card at March Cards with Karen this week!

Guy Cards with Victory Papers

Here are the pictures from the Guy Card Workshop last week.   We had fun creating these masculine cards.  

First, the card box:   they are so fun to put together.   This one has a pewter badge button on the front, 4 Durable Pewter Studs on the top, and 2 photo corners from the Pewter Mini Medley on the front.   I also cut out the words GUY CARDS for the top.  The box and the papers are distressed with desert sand ink.

 Two of my favorite embellishments from the Spring/Summer Idea Book were used on our Guy Cards:  Tough Tags and Durables:

 We primarily used the Pure Adventure Stamp Set - I love this stamp set!

 Here's Card #1 Born Tough:   We used leathering (rubbing the stamp pad over a piece of card stock (in this case Olive on Olive) that is flat on a piece of scratch paper.   To get the hexagon-shaped papers, we went low-tech and traced around the Born Tough Tough Tag - simple.   The brads are antique copper.

 Card #2 Triumph:   Again, we did some leathering, and sponged edges, along with our stamping and embellishments.   Natural Hemp, shown here, was used on a few of our cards.

 Card #3:  Adventure is a State of Mind:   Stamped on an Art Philosophy Cricut Shape.   I love my AP cartridge!  We used the elk, duck and fish stamps too!  The plaid paper featured here is one of my favorite prints from this Idea Book.

 Card #4  Incredible:  pretty much lifted from the Idea Book - that's what that book's for!  We used the spray pen on the colonial white circle for a different look.

 Card #5 Limited Edition:   No stamping on this card - easy peasy!

 Here's a close-up of this Tough Tag:   I'll have to send this card to Scott - his birthday is June 23rd!  They were off by one year though!

 Card #6 Genuine Quality:   We used a zip strip (the star paper) off of one of the Victory papers - love those zip strips.   We used Just a Number Stamp Set - it has some great sentiments.

 Here's the inside:   Boy, isn't that the truth!

 Card #7:  This is the bottom right quarter of one of the papers - pretty neat - we just added copper brads.

 Card #8 You're a Star:   This card is taken from the Workshop on the Go Kit instructions.   There are some new card patterns, and this is one - instructions are on my website.  We made a slit on the folded edge of the card base so we could wrap the hemp around the front of the card.  A Dimensional Element Star and Durable complete this card.

 Card #9 Pure Adventure Elk Card:  We used stars again, along with some stamping for this card.

 Card #10 Unmatched Style:  Here we go with another zip strip, a bit of stamping and another Tough Tag - fun!