C'est Magnifique!

I am having so much fun catching up on my scrapbooks minus the other day when I had to spend over an hour figuring out that I had scrapbooked pictures in the wrong year.  OOPS.  No major biggy other than a date wrong on a page and then sent me into a panic to look through the pages and make sure I had not made other mistakes!  So I am using this time to get caught up!  I feel like I have been working on 2006 and 2007 FOREVER!!!  This moving stuff really interfers sometimes!  :-)


   Let me tell you about my crazy, easy process of scrapbooking CTMH style- LOVE IT!  So this layout just started out with me looking at 7 photos and thinking hmmm how will I put this together.  FIRST step- the CTMH layout books(LOVE THEM ALL- you've got to pick one or all of them up, click here to check them out on my online shopping page)!  I took out the Magic book- looking through to see what layout with 7 pictures spoke to me.  VOILA!  It was the Shuffled Deck Layout on page 42.  Second Step- paper....hmmm...what to use???  The turqoise in the pool pictures really spoke to me and I wanted to capture that and the fun polka dot turqoise paper in the Magnifique collection really caught my eye!  So then I start pulling out paper and layering to see what combination looks the best to me.  Thrid- I cut the pieces out according to the directions and then glued the puzzle together and there is the layout!  


Of course if you know me I cannot leave paper ALONE!  I have got to distress it! 

 So out came the Pacifica ink and I distressed all the pieces- yep all of them!  Love that Distress to Paper Technique- simply swipe the edges of the paper in your ink pad!  There is no right or wrong!  Okay then I had to scissor distress some of the pics to give them interest.  Thought that would really help draw your eye to the 4 2x2 pictures layed in a row- love this techqnique too!  

 And if you notice I even had my Cricut Chirping today!  Boy is it ever fun to have your titles cut out!  I simply sanded each individual letter too! And I found Liquid Glass to be a great adhesive for these skinny letters.   I used the Jasmine Cartridge.  :-)

And I am so happy with my layout and of course I love remembering these fun days!!!!

 And I have been madly creating with this paper pack too...look at these FUN cards I made as well.....

I had fun with our Sparkles and Opaques that helped jazz these cards up and give them a little pop!

~Jennifer  :-)

Fun Friday Crafty Project!

Make your own Coasters!  FUN and easy to Do!

Run on down to your local home improvement store and grab some 4x4 tiles- choose whatever style you like.

Then come home clean them- just wash them off and let them dry.

Next thing I did was pick out a fun Alphabet Font to use for the tile.  I love our E size alphabets.  I used the Baroque Alphabet.  And the E size alphabets are now a NEW lower price at just $29.95!  All of our Stamp Sets have NEW lower prices and I just love that!

I then loaded the letter I wanted (for us B for Bohnart :-) ) and dipped it in the Stazon Black Ink.  Then take your time and line it up where you want it on the tile(love our clear blocks for this project).  Be sure to press down firmly and not wiggle your block.  Let it dry and you are good to go.  I also added those small felt pads for the bottom or you could use the small plastic bumpers- whatever you think would work best it is up to you.

This makes a great house warming gift or any gift for a family.  Personalized Coasters are great!   Let me know if you like this and if you decide to make them!

Enjoy and HAPPY Crafty Friday!

~Jennifer  :-)

Time for....Me...????

Okay that is an interesting concept, right!?!  For any mom out there you know what I mean.  We are so use to doing and getting things done and tableing those items that we would like to do for ourselves.  My kiddos started school on Tuesday this week and I found myself all day walking around this new house thinking of them constantly and not knowing what to do with myself while they are gone!

New places, new schedules, new friends(hoping I will find some soon) and just everything NEW!  It can lead you down a crazy path- one that can drive you a little batty as you are not knowing where to start, what to finish, or what is a true priority.  Yes this is our 6th move in our 13 years of marriage and yes one would think you would get use to it and know how to "roll" with everything but let me tell you it is new everytime unless you are going back to a place you have been before- in our case that has never happened. So the first day of school, I was all consummed about my kids if they were doing okay, meeting friends, feeling settled- all the typical concerns.  And then yesterday I came home after dropping them off and started with the pacing around the house and trying to figure out what to do with all my time....then it hit me like a ton of bricks....something a friend mentioned to me during our move/transition and it made sense when she said it but to be honest I just sorta pushed it aside.  But yesterday it hit me square in my face- TAKE THIS QUIET TIME AND DO WHAT YOU WANT!
really?!?  So I sat and thought about what have I not had time to work on that if I had all the time to devote to what would it be.....CATCHING UP ON MY SCRAPBOOKS!!!!

Okay some of you may be thinking- what?!?  Seriously I work on a lot of different projects and teach classes to others be it preschool last year or my monthly Scrap N Play club but that does not mean I am working on the things that I want and that are meaningful to me!  So I dived in and tried to figure out where I was in my books but that path just leads to me overplanning so I opened up one of my photo boxes and just started cranking them out.  Confession here----because I have taught so many classes and designed different projects I have a lot of Scrapbook Pages ready for Photos so that cuts a lot of my time in half!  So I sorted through my stack of created layouts and would match the colors/themes with my photos I had to scrap.  Then I needed to add the embellishments, journaling and other fun touches.  So here is just one example of what I mean:

All the pictures added but it needs more...don't you think?  Like what is this about...what is the focus of the story I am trying to tell???(you can click on the photos too to see them larger if you like)

And then I LOVE our Memory Protectors Photo Storage Pages they help a lot when you want to keep the story contained within a few pages.

and I love adding a fun journaling spot in one of the photo pockets too and you can jazz it up with a few stamps to coordinate with your scrapbook layout.

So I am off to continue to put photos to pages and work on things that are meaningful to me.  I think as Life comes together here I need to keep this in focus and remember to take time to work on my scrapbooks and not let the overwhelming feeling creep in.


Oh my new Cricut Expressions was delieverd last night too....thinking I need to drag that out of the box and figure that bad boy out!  So much to do- I guess I do have things to keep me busy!  :P


Creatively Yours,
Jennifer

Fun Friday Crafty Project!

Hi Bloggin Friends!
   Okay so I have decided that each friday I am going to post a FUN, cute, and paper crafting project!  You may see me use old paper or new just depends what strikes my fancy!  One of my favorite things about paper crafting is creating fun unique gifts to give family and friends and I love sharing with my crafty friends my creations so I feel like this theme for each Friday will be a great fit!


Also it is going to work great to show you the FANTABLOUS new Cricut Cartridge that is exclusive to Close To My Heart!  I am so excited about this cartridge and how it will help bridge that gap between my love of CTMH and paper crafting.  The cartridge has fun exciting features and one of them that I LOVE is how it works with some of our stamp sets!  I know I have several crafty friends that were always hoping for a punch here or there to work with our stamps BUT this is SO much better as it is in one spot and not a million clunky punches stuffed in a basket or drawer somewhere!  So I look forward to creating with you and sharing my fun new projects using the Cricut. (and shhhh....I am a Cricut newbie!  so maybe you all could teach me a trick or two!).

     Today's  Fun Friday Crafty Project uses one of those metal 12x12 Scrapbook Frames you can pick up at Michaels or your local Craft store.  I love making these for my daughter's friends as Memo boards, dry erase markers, and fun decor for the bedroom is right up their alley!  Ireland has a birthday party to attend tomorrow and we were trying to think of a fun gift to give her and that is when it hit me...Cute Memo Board!  So Ireland and I got to work picking out paper that would coordinate with her friends room and then picking themes for each of the squares.  And here is what we came up with....

And what I love is using my stash of paper to create something unique and special!  


Here is wishing you a FUN Friday and hopefully you can make some time for a crafty project or two!


~Jennifer :-)