Stamper Girls Unite!!!!

Part of our team at Convention 2011

In 1997 I went to my first stamping party . . . my husband asked where I was going at 7:00 pm on a Tuesday night (not that he cared really, not with that dazed look a new dad has when he has a 4 month old baby, a rambunctious 3 year old and a 7 year old that was really just wanting attention, so maybe he just wondered how long he could hold onto his sanity).  I said I was going to a stamping party which was kind of like Tuperware and no, I wouldn’t spend too much, but could I take the checkbook, you know, just in case. When I look back at my life from that point forward (and I still say I'm only 29, just an OLD 29), I have to say the best thing I decided to pursue was my journey as a Consultant with Close To My Heart, the best stamping and scrapbooking company in the whole world. Not kidding, it's true! I've been a Consultant for almost 15 years (that's half of my 29 years . . . oh wait, now my math is getting kinda blurry. LOL)

I love being a Consultant and not just because they carry a FULL line of the best scrapbooking paper (yes, I sniff the new bags of paper. Best. Smell. Ever.), best clear stamps (I sniff them too), and matchy matchy everything from the inks to the accessories to the ribbons, oh how I adore ribbon. You can never, ever have too much ribbon. No, the very best thing about Close To My Heart is the friendships I've made and the connections I have made with both my customers and my team members and others in this awesome company from around the world. And let's face it, many of them became team members after becoming my customer or were my friend and I hooked them into this fabulous art world. Truly, when I say hooked, it really is addicting. My husband watched me with a class of stampers one day and he pulled me aside and said that it was a little like a drug deal going down.

Me: "This stamp pad color would go perfectly with that paper pack."
Mary Stamper: (name changed in case the husband reads this) "oh, yes! I love that color, is it Tulip?"
Me: "oh my, you know your CTMH color palette so well. Would you like to look at the other Tulip accessories?"

Michele P.'s beautiful card.

And so it is that Mary Stamper orders EVERYTHING she needs to make an adorable Cherry O greeting card and enough paper to create pages for her scrapbook and maybe even little goodie bags for her daughter’s birthday party. Yes, it is a little like dealing, I suppose. However, unlike dealing bad things, stamps and scrapbook things are GOOD things. Not only is it extremely therapeutic (I have a psychologist on my team who has endorsed stamping and scrapbooking as a form of therapy) but we stampers create a legacy of scrapbooks and cards for generations to come. Plus, it keeps us out of trouble. Right? Get the glitter, girls, we've got work to do!!

Look what I stamped today!

I made these cute little 3x3 cards today with my new stamps and papers we received at Convention . . . It was SO much fun and now my fingers are inky and I am pretty sure there is a smudge on my nose too (I can just see it as I'm typing this . . . ) but it makes me happy so, that's okay. Maybe the pizza delivery guy won't notice. Oh wait, that's just Dave, my hubby.

I made these cards too . . . I love the blingie buttons (that's a real word) and the butterflies are beautiful and make me think of a Jason Mraz song.

Then I totally switched gears and made a Halloween card. I know, random, huh? But I couldn't let the cat be so boring so I added an opaque black button for her nose and red sparkles on her eyes. Spooky!

But wait, isn't Halloween not for another 2 months? Don't tell Target or Michael's that, they barely got the summer stuff out there for me to think about and bam, it's Christmas stuff. Huh? Anyway, Have a Wicked Christmas! LOL

Paper Flower Tutorial

I love making the paper flower rosettes that are on the new CTMH Art Philosophies cartridge . . . and my friend, Michele Pryor really has the best tutorial ever!  Michele's Flower Tutorials

Making flowers is SO much easier than growing them! Michele is an exceptional paper gardener as shown here with a card she made using her Cricut and the CTMH set that coordinates. Beautiful!

 This is the side angle of the Cherry O paper card . . . I love how Michele has the flower petals curled up a bit to give it more diminsion. Simply lovely! And no watering involved. Have fun with your paper garden!

Wicked Fun

 I am LOVING the August Stamp of the Month . . . and maybe it's not just because it's called Wicked. It's no where near Halloween and yet, the stores are full of Halloween stuff already (and school hasn't even started). Heck, if I bought candy for the trick or treaters now, what would the chances of it still being here (or me finding it in October because I hid it in such a perfect place from myself that I can't find it) . . . yup, not a good idea.

So, instead I'm stamping witches and brooms and lots of scary stuff . . . including the cat, who, by the way, is NOT wicked. She's really cute and I just had the thought that she would make an adorable card . . . and I could make her have green eyes with some of my little jewels. OR I could make her spooky with some of the red ones.

this is a cute cat card

this is a real wicked cat

Oh, and the cat card was really fun to make because I cut the scallop shaped card out with my new CTMH Cricut cartridge. There are several really fun shaped cards, including circle cards which I love making, but are hard to cut out because, well, I failed cutting circles out in kindergarten. LOL

Okay, so apparently, I need to go make some more cards with my new Wicked stamp set. I hope it's not wicked of me to not make my family dinner because I'm too busy stamping. It's not Wicked if you make cute stuff, right?

MeOw!

Fun with the Cricut (I know, more!)

I just found more ideas and hints and tips for integrating the Art Philosophy cartridge with the stamp sets.
I want to make more of these adorable flowers.

Also, if you want more step by step directions on very 3D rosette flowers, see page 33 of the current catalogs. It couldn't be easier to create one of a kind art work!

Online Current Catalog (go to page 33)

Have fun and let me know if you have any questions or want your own Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.

Chirp, chirp!

Scrapbooking in Studio J

https://stampedbyme.myctmh.com/Retail/StudioJ

I bet you didn't know this, but I have expanded my Studio . . . don't even worry, Dave won't be mad, because the Stamp Studio, also known as our living room, is still the same. I've expanded my studio with Studio J, which is the Close To My Heart digital online scrapbooking program.

I know, first I was using the Cricut this week and now I'm scrapbooking online. It's crazy! Today I created 4 beautiful layouts this afternoon and I have submitted them to print . . . my total cost: under $25.00 and I get free page protectors and earned free shipping! And that's not all! I immediately received the jpg images so I can show and tell them here or on Facebook or if I wanted to print them myself (although the CTMH printer uses higher quality and the colors are much better than my Canon.)

For a VERY short and easy training (7 minutes) we have a video on YouTube: 

 This is the link to the video if this doesn't work: http://www.youtube.com/Studio J
This is the link to the pricing information . . . there are several options to pick from, but to just try the software and creative your page so you can see how it works . . . that's FREE! http://www.studioj.com/studioj_pricing.html  Let me know if any of those links don't work!

(To see the layouts in a larger size, click on them and it will enlarge them!! Magic!)
The first layout I created featured my fun day at Disneyland last month:

Then I had some more fun with our trip to the zoo!

And the last two were memories from my two summer birthday children. I am so excited to get so much scrapbooking done!

Hope you enjoyed my show and tell. If you have any questions regarding the program or the how to's, just give me an email or call and I'll walk you through it. It sure does make scrapbooking SUPER fast and super easy. And did I mention cheapest way I can think of to get some cute pages done too! Make sure to tell all your friends about my blog so I can get more followers and I won't feel so sad that I only have 12 people. LOL

Happy Scrapbooking!

Cricut Chirp, Chirp!

What a FUN afternoon! My good friend, Katie and I sipped iced tea, and I showed her all I know about the Cricut, which isn't much, but we experimented and used up some old cardstock and managed to make some cute cards and tags, if we don't say so ourselves.

The card shape for this fun Happiness card is found on the Art Philosphy Cricut cartridge and the gnome is from the new stamp set called Gnome Garden C1470. Katie made one just like it, in blue, because we needed a man card. Yes, we know . . . the bow might not make this manly, but we added some of those opaque circle things . . . plus, you know, her brother will just be amazed at the gnome and won't notice the flower and stuff, right? ;-)

We also made this tag to hang in Katie's car . . . to remind her of how cool gnomes can be. I could tell Katie's husband was really excited about the gnome picture. The squirrel is totally making the card, everyone knows that squirrels and gnomes are the real bosses of the forest and definitely good luck!

We also experimented with the rosette flowers that come on the Cricut cartridge. This tag was made using two of the different style flowers. Super easy to make too! You just choose your flower and the size (I did 4" ones) and after it cuts the flower (a spiral shaped circle), you start on the outside of the spiral and roll it up toward the center of the circle (I used a skinny sanding tool but a pencil works too). Once you have it rolled, just glue it down to the center circle. I used a glue dot and then added some Liquid Glass here and there to keep it in place. then I stuck a decorative brad in the middle for the center of the flower. The tag is from the Cricut cartridge. So much FUN! I love the little Cricut bug! :-)

 What have you been making with yours? Let me know! Chirp, chirp!