Sunday, January 24, 2016

Sunday Refresh-February Week 1

Every Sunday I sit down and look at my week ahead, plan meals, and go to the grocery store. Therefore I am hoping to share with y'all every Sunday my planner designs to help inspire you to start your week off right. So please subscribe to my page so you don't miss any pages.



I am a planner by nature. You can find many list around my house, which is why I am such a big fan of paper planners. And I love my MAMBI Happy Planner. I have tons of room to make list to my heart's content instead of being limited by characters or screen space digitally. My problem is actually executing those plans. So one of my goals this year is not to just plan, but to accomplish, not just talk but do!

I decided to use La Vie En Rose for most of my projects for the month of February including my planner because of the classic black and white patterns, pink and red floral, and gold accents. Close to My Heart not only created these beautiful papers, but started carry an ephemera pack for only $5.95 that includes craft die cuts, cardstock stickers, and plastic die-cuts. It is perfect for my planner pages!




All supplies used:
        


    



Friday, January 15, 2016

Valentine Bouquets

It has been a long time since I have really loved a stamp as much as I do the Beloved Bouquet by CTMH. The layered stamping really reminds me of stamps from when I began 8 years ago. So I also did something I rarely do which is just play. I got the stamp out and my favorite colors and just tried things out until I found the result I liked. I'll give you a little peek into my process.



Colors:
     Eggplant
     Pansy Purple (retired)
     Fern
     Ponderosa Pine (retired)

Technique:
     Second generation stamping: 
          Second generation stamping is a great technique to use with layered stamps so that you can use
          one color to create a beautiful image with depth. To achieve the lighter color with the same 
          tone you ink your stamp and apply it to the paper (1st generation). Then, without cleaning it off 
          stamp the image again, which will produce a lighter shade of the same tone. (2nd generation)

         Then you can stamp the detailed image on top of the solid image and it will appear darker and
         pop. Since you are having to stamp so much I advise making a lot at one time that way you 
         have options to choose from without having to start the process over again. As you can see I
         didn't use all of the flowers that I stamped because a couple didn't turn out very well.

     Layered stamping:
          If you don't do second generation you need a one color to be darker than the other so you can 
          see the detail of the flower. For example I used Fern (1st generation) and then went back with 
          the detail of the leaves with Ponderosa Pine. I try not to use retired colors but it was the only 
          darker shade I owned that would coordinate with Fern.

So the next thing I did was design the sentiment. I wanted to keep everything simple because the flowers are big and quite busy. I knew that I wanted to stamp the sentiment on a banner so I pulled out the Artistry Cricut Cartridge and cut a frame in Fern. I then cut the background banner in White Daisy and stamped the sentiment "Happy Valentine's Day" from the Beloved Bouquet in Eggplant and glued the two pieced together to form the banner. I then started to layout the card. I was a little surprised when I found out all of my pieces wouldn't fit on a standard A2 card so I decided to make a 5"x7" card and found a pack of gray envelopes from Hobby Lobby in my stash.  I then added a piece of Slate Cardstock to the card base to coordinate with my envelope and to take away a little of the white. I used a zip-top that was in the La Vie En Rose paper pack and put it centered behind the banner. Lastly, I adhered the banner with foam tape.

 

At this point I was pretty happy with my card except I felt that there was still too much white on the banner. I thought about adding a little bling from my stash, but I really didn't want to take away from the flowers. So I crossed my fingers and hoped that if I added a few lines by hand that I wouldn't hate it because I didn't want to have to recut/stamp the banner. Fortunately I really liked and was astonished that something so simple and subtle could make such a big difference. 


And since Beloved Bouquet is such an awesome stamp set it covers the inside sentiment as well as the front. I took the negative from the banner I cut for the front and stamped the sentiment and added one of the smaller flowers that I stamped when doing the second generation technique.    


I hope you like the card I made. Please feel free to purchase any of the items that you see on my website www.tamra.ctmh.com

Oh and another hint. While you are stamping with a stamp set go ahead and make extras especially if the creative juices are flowing. My mom's favorite flower is the yellow rose so I went ahead and stamped some Canary/Saffron flowers for a Mother's Day card. Of course I have a while to actually get that made so I will post pictures of the finished product later but, Beloved Bouquet is only available until January 31 and I didn't want you to miss out.
 

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Mother/Daughter Class 2016

I usually ask for mothers not to bring their children with them to my classes. It's not because I don't like kids or because they are not capable of doing the stamping but because as moms we do a lot for our families. Many of us mothers give so much and rarely treat ourselves to something that is just for us. I would like my classes to feel like that, a quick vacation from life. A time to laugh with friends and catch up once a month, while enjoying a hobby that is just for them.

Once a year I try to hold a class that invites you to bring your daughter with you. Bring your daughter to either spend one on one time with her or to expose her to stamping with the hopes that it will be a hobby you can enjoy together as she gets older. This is a great class for beginner stampers. The class will stamp 10 - 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" mini cards using the Georgie Paper Pack. It will be stamping simple images and phrases with coloring. Who doesn't like coloring? I think the puns are whimsical and perfect for children and many of the phrases would work great for Valentine cards.

This year's class is extra special because it is using the Animal Greetings stamp, which is the Operation Smile stamp. Operation Smile is a non-profit supported by Close to My Heart that provides cleft palette surgeries for children all over the world. For every stamp set that is purchased, Close to My Heart will donate $7 to Operation Smile. I'll be talking more about Operation Smile in another post.

Sign up with me and pay no later than Jan 14th.


BASIC PACKAGE: $25* (includes shipping & tax)
     

          *Additional Supplies needed: I know some of you already own these items so I didn't include 
                 them in the package.


EXTRA PACKAGE: $40 (includes shipping & tax)

     Basic Package
              +

Again please turn in all orders and payment by Thursday, Jan. 14th.





Friday, January 8, 2016

Catching Up


I'm not really sure what happened to December 2015? We all had a turn at being sick at our house. And then it was catching everyone up with work and school from being sick. Then it was Christmas, which is always a whirlwind. And now it is the end of the first full week of 2016 and I am still behind. Anyone else feel that way? So much for the fresh start, right? Anyway, I still have high hopes for this blog so I hope you can stick with me even through all of my inconsistency.

I love January because it is usually cold, which forces me inside, and I am most of the time in between sports with my children so I have a little free time. Well, not so much this year, but that is okay too. But what all of that usually does is allow me to get in my craft space and create for me. In other words scrapbook!!!And lucky for me I love all of the new paper and stamps in Seasonal Expression I catalog and I hope you will too.

When writing out my goals for this year, one of them was to finish the first year scrapbook for my youngest. It was my goal for last year too (and the previous seven years) so hopefully I will get to scratch it off the list this year. I am also wanting to spend a bit more time with you on my blog. Taking a photography class also made the list and finish the Christmas scarves for possible presents for next year since they didn't get done in time this year either. What can I say, life just doesn't go like I think it should, or how I would imagine everyone else's life (with houses that stay 100% clean all the time and scrapbooks that are full of everyone's precious moments). But I say, " just don't give up or it truly won't ever happen." So what are some of your crafting goals for 2016?

There are hopefully a few specials going on at Croppin On Cloud 9 that will help you with your paper crafting goals for 2016.

First off if you purchased one of the Planner Bundles in December I hope you are enjoying it and are staying a bit more organized because of it. If you are using your Planner to also act as a journal or scrapbook you will want to get the first special which is available only in January for $8.95/us. Live Your Day integrates seamlessly with the Everyday Life Planner pages, Project Life, or My Crush pages.

If you are like me and behind on your scrapbooking or maybe you like to scrapbook after the event then you want to head over to the Clearance section on my website because they have items from the recently retired Holiday catalog on sale!!

Lastly don't forget about the Stamp of the Month for January-Beloved Bouquet which is $5 when you spend $50. The multi stamped images that provide beautiful shading is very popular right now, so I love that CTMH was on point with this stamp that is more toward the romantic side of Valentine's Day. Speaking of Valentine's Day, I hope to have some cards to show you soon that maybe will inspire you on your Valentine card crafting.