H2H Extra Extra Read All About It

Greetings! I am so excited to continue as the guest designer over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. This week's challenge, if you choose to accept it, is "Extra, Extra! Read All About it!"

I had a couple of ideas spinning around in my head, but decided there was no time like the present to complete my daughter's birthday layout from last weekend...you know, while the memories were still fresh. We had a tea party theme, and I'd love to say I got tons of great pictures, but with 13 children all together, and me being the only person in the bunch that they all knew, I was on my feet and moving the entire time. It was great fun, and the girls are still talking about it a week later. I call that a success!

Without further ado, here is my layout:

Recipe:
Paper: Brushed, Buttercup CS (retired), Pear CS, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamps: Friendship Alphabet - Small (retired), Trinity Alphabet (retired), Tea Time (retired) (CTMH)
Inks: Pixie, Buttercup (retired), Hollyhock, Slate (CTMH)
Tools: 2" Scallop Circle Punch (retired), Paper-Piercer, Foam Mat, Micro-Tip Scissors (CTMH)
Other: White Embroidery Floss (retired), Pink Buttons (retired), White Enamel Stars, Glue Dots, Foam Tape (CTMH)

According to Wikipedia, "Hear Ye, Hear Ye" translates to "Listen up!" In England, town criers were the means of communication with the people of the town since many people could not read or write. Proclamations, local bylaws, market days, adverts, were all proclaimed by a bellman or crier. 

Before I go, I wanted to share a piece of advice with you. If you don't currently have good storage for your embellishments, I urge you to make that your next purchase. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, so long as you can see what you have so you use it. I bought a medium organizer from Close To My Heart to store my embellishments in. Now, I know exactly what I have, and that means that I will remember to use it. Use it or lose it. :)

Have a wonderful day!

Casandra

H2H Game On Layout

Good morning. I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. Mine was extra busy. We celebrated my daughter's 7th birthday on Saturday with a Tea Party and 13 kids. The irony of the situation was that the children must have misunderstood and tried to recreate a "Boston Tea Party" instead of a "Royal Princess Tea Party". They were running and screaming and the Mother's Day cards I had planned to have them create at the party were forgotten in the melee. 

Best part of the afternoon was when the house was clean again and I could put my feet up, my son traded a foot massage for tv time. Gosh, I love that little guy. He has been such a help this entire week. So this next layout is just for him.

Recipe:
Paper: Jubilee (retired), Indian Corn Blue CS, Topiary CS, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamps: Varsity Alphabet (retired), Friendship Large Alphabet (retired), The Authentic Life (CTMH)
Inks: Cranberry, Topiary, Outdoor Denim (CTMH)
Tools: Paper-Piercer, Foam Mat, Micro-Tip Scissors (CTMH)
Other: White Daisy Embroidery Floss (retired) (CTMH)

Here's the story on the ribbons: Jack brought home some ribbons last year from Track & Field Day. Since the length was 8", I puzzled over how to include them in this layout. I went back and forth about cutting them, overlapping them, not using them at all, and last night I had an idea to color copy them on cardstock and cut them out. This way, he still has his ribbons to enjoy. Jack loves it.

I created this layout for the "Game On" challenge over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. You have until the end of May to participate. Hope you will join in on the fun. 

Casandra

Baby's First Birthday Layout

Today, I am showcasing the final layout I created for Baby Sawyer's album. 

Eek! Isn't it cute?! I have been saving those monkey die-cuts for probably 10 years or better. The price tag on the back of the package is to a store that is no longer in our area. 

Recipe:
Paper: Skylark (retired), Footloose (retired), Sweet Leaf CS, Kraft CS, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamps: Perfect Fit Birthday, Friendship Alphabet-small (retired) (CTMH)
Inks: Flaxen, Lagoon (CTMH)
Tools: Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Stitch Guide Ruler (CTMH)
Other: Lagoon, Antique Copper, White Daisy Brads (retired), Chocolate Embroidery Floss (retired), Chocolate Washi Tape (retired), Cork Alphabet (retired), Monkey Die-Cuts (Jolene's)

I was talking with a friend about this layout and, more to the point, this entire baby album and how I am having trouble parting with it. My son's first year album is no where near this cute, but it also showcases a time when I scrapbooked without sketches. I didn't even know there was such a thing. So Jack's album shows how I have evolved in my scrapbooking. 

Let's discuss WASHI: Washi tape is something that leaves me baffled. How do I use it? Do I place it on cardstock or not? Do I make the ends even, or do I make it look like I ripped it on a tape dispenser? Ack! I overthink washi. I deliberately made myself just cut random pieces (no measuring, breathe, Casandra, breathe) and place it down willy-nilly. Have you guessed yet that I am a perfectionist? Yup...with a touch of OCD thrown in for good measure (great pun, eh?). My dad is this way, and guess what? I passed these traits along to my son Jack. Poor kid. 

Well, this is the end of my baby album postings for Baby Sawyer. Hope he loves it as much as I do.

Casandra.

30 Years of Happy NSM Blog Hop

Welcome to our 30 Years of Happy Blog Hop!  I always look forward to the month of September. Not only is it National Stamping Month, but it is also the month that my kids go back to school. 

When you spend $30 on any current retail-priced stamps during the month of September, you qualify to receive the exclusive C-size stamp set #30yearsofhappy for FREE! This exclusive stamp set features 30 adorable mini images and sentiments. 

You should have arrived from Peachy Lamb's blog. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants at Melinda Everitt's blog.

For this blog hop, we have forty Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using #30yearsofhappy stamp set and other great Close To My Heart products on their blogs. A blog hop is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

While these mini stamps are certainly small, I think they add the right size embellishment when coordinated with other like-size pieces. I was recently looking back through some of my albums and realized that somewhere along the way, I sort of stopped really telling the story behind the pictures. So today's layout is all about journaling...both my take on the event, as well as my son's. Scrapbooking is a journey, and it's important to me to preserve memories for my family. What are some of the reasons you scrapbook?

Recipe: 

Paper: Chalk It Up, Chalk It Up PML Cards, White Daisy CS, Black CS, Lagoon CS (CTMH)

Stamps: What A Day (convention exclusive), #30yearsofhappy, Friendship Alphabet - Large & Small (retired)  (CTMH)

Inks: Black, Glacier, Flaxen, Sorbet, Lagoon (CTMH)

Tools: Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors (CTMH)

Other: Black Embroidery Floss (retired), Chalk It Up Assortment, White Enamel Stars (CTMH)

Now "Hop" on over to Nikka Geers' blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting tips and fun ideas!   Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount! Thank you for stopping by today.

Designs by Close To My Heart

Chantilly Workshop

Good morning! After nearly a month of working on my Chantilly layouts in my spare time, I finally finished them up last night. Feeling happy to have my crafty mojo back, but wish I could sleep at night. LOL

After debating on whether I liked the workshop on the go layout for a while, I finally decided that it would work perfectly with the theme of my photos. Sometimes, it's nice not to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. 

I saw this beautiful layout created by fellow CTMH Consultant, Sherri Tozzi. She did such an amazing job. Thank you, Sherri, for the inspiration. I was going to use Easter eggs and bunny stamps and really fill it up, and then decided that my photos did such a nice job with that so they should be the focus instead. I've been impatient to use my new hexagon punch and that is how the title came about. Yay! Have you used our new Tiny Type Epoxy Alphabet yet? It's so adorable, and the perfect accent, too.

For my last layout, I found a sketch at Scrapbook Generation and paid for the download. I wanted to try something different, and as soon as I saw it, I knew my Pinwheel stamp set would be perfect with it.

I've been using my Cricut cartridges a lot lately to create my titles, and yesterday I decided to get back to basics and pull out some of my alphabet stamps. The birthday title was stamped with our retired Friendship Alphabet, and the titles for my other two layouts were stamped with Trinity Alphabet stamp set. It felt so refreshing.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Chantilly, White Daisy CS, Twilight CS, Garden Green CS, Cotton Candy CS, Buttercup CS, Champagne CS
Stamps: Trinity Alphabet, Friendship Alphabet, Pinwheel, Chantilly WOTG
Inks: Cotton Candy, Buttercup, Twilight, Pear, Desert Sand
Tools: Hexagon Punch (Fiskars), 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Micro-Tip Scissors, Paper-Piercer, Scoring Tool, Cricut Artiste
Other: Pink Glitter Gems, Chantilly Assortment, Tiny Type Epoxy Alphabet, Foam Tape, White Embroidery Floss

Thank you for stopping by today. Hope you like what I've created.

Casandra