Convention 2018

I have just recently attended a most unforgettable event. As a consultant for over 11 years, I have never attended an annual corporate convention. This year it was held so close to home that I could not pass up the opportunity!

I knew that I was in for a treat, but still was caught up in such a whirlwind of excitement, entertainment, information, and inspiration! I think that now almost a week after completion I am finally digesting it all.

The opening entertainment was all set to a Greatest Showman theme, which happened to be my favorite movie of 2017! Our Founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton welcomed us all and boy what a fantastic kick off to this party it was! I can't quite share everything from this extraordinary event yet, you will have to wait unfortunately. I can, however share with you the cards I created to trade with other attendees. I made a total of 7 different designs.

For these first three cards I felt they were a good representation of who I am and where I'm from. The card on the left is a cricut cut of some mountains with a sun burst pattern of Fresh Air papers. This is to represent that convention was held at Red Rock Hotel and Casino. If attendees were lucky there hotel room had a view of the gorgeous Red Rock mountains in the distance. One of our favorite nearby places to hike. The cards in the center feature a succulent flower, some of my favorites and a chalkboard technique as my "normal" job is instructing in a classroom. There are two versions only because I ran out of ribbon! Finally, the card on the right is a darling bicycle. I enjoy riding my cruiser with the family on vacations or for a more grueling ride my husband and I venture out on various trails on our mountain bikes.

These next cards are all about my passion for Close To My Heart. I love creating with my own hands, making beautiful art and preserving my family memories. Some cards were just a standard card, some contained a bookmark, one of them was a holder for the bookmark and the last card at first look appears normal, but fold up like an easel to display the best sentiment ever! {Look for that stamp in August!}

The theme of this entire convention was CREATE! I love the meaning of it too, check it out~

C~ community
R~ renew
E~ elevate
A~ achieve
T~ tell your story
E~ empower

Good reminders of why I chose to represent this company 11 years ago and hope to continue for many more!

Valentine Badge Button Magnets

You may remember my Christmas chalkboard that I created using the Holiday Happenings badge buttons as magnets. I decided to change up the chalkboard display for Valentine's Day. This time I chose the Heartstrings badge buttons from the newest Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book. They are so easy to attach to a round magnet and now I can display some beautiful Valentine cards!

Be sure to check out all the new Heartstrings collection in the Seasonal Expressions 1 book and online here!

Believe Chalkboard Decor

Take a look into my house, specifically my dining nook! Here I created a little display on a wall shelf using some handmade items. A believe banner, some ball jar snow globes and a decorated chalkboard.

While the banner and snow globes are super cute, I really want to share this festive chalkboard with you! To decorate it I used pieces from the My Crush Holiday Happenings assortment and badge buttons. I mixed some of our family pictures with the big cards, small cards and envelopes. I even turned the badge buttons into magnets as this board is not only for chalk, but magnetic as well!

Making the magnets was ridiculously easy! The adorable buttons already have adhesive on the back. I simply stuck them to these magnets that I picked at Walmart. I was a little leery of the adhesive and thought it might need reinforcement, but so far so good! No lost buttons lying on the floor beneath the shelf!

Here is a close up of the snowflake button with a large card, a small card and a picture of two cutie pies!

My Crush Holiday Happenings assortment and badge buttons do not need to be used as suggested in the Idea Book. Use them on a chalkboard, a scrapbooking page, incorporate them to make a banner or cards! Next, I will show you how I incorporated them in a brand new mini Kraft book available in the new Seasonal Expressions 1 book!

Graduation Announcements

My son will be graduating from High School this June. I have already began preparations for the big event and one of those tasks was to create his announcements. I chose not to purchase the standard school announcements, rather I wanted them to be personalized. I wanted them to represent my son, including the photograph...no faux tuxedo pictures for us!!

I figured that by making them myself it would give us the chance to save a little money too! I had most of the supplies already on hand, being a CTMH consultant was a big plus! With the few other products needed, photo paper and ink to print at home and postage stamps to mail them, my total cost was under $70! {I made 35 announcements} They included the graduation ceremony announcement as well as party invitation for the celebration to follow.

Once I had my idea and one test announcement created, I gathered everything I would need and formed an assembly line. My first tip~ have lots of adhesive ready to roll! {a little bit of chocolate nearby your workstation helps too!}

 

Don't panic when you don't have enough supplies, just get creative!! I selected some corrugated chipboard stars to use on the front of the announcement. I had about half of what I would need, but this was an older supply item and was no longer available. My solution was to cut the same size stars on Kraft cardstock using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. Then I ran them through a Cuttlebug embossing folder to give them the same texture as the original stars. Worked perfectly!

 

 

Forming assembly lines is the easiest way to complete a big project like this. Cut all your cardstocks, stamp everything together, sand all your paper, cut out shapes on your Cricut, thread your twine and tie, glue, etc. etc.!! I worked on the announcements in blocks of time over the course of a couple days. I would run loads of laundry in between or get the oven warming before starting dinner. {always something else to be done right moms?!} In all, I logged 14.5 hours to complete them and get them all to the post office.

I loved the idea of a pocket on the inside. It would provide a little spot for the announcement as well as the party invite. I created the announcement using the PicMonkey photo editing online. I simply chose the fonts and colors and played around until I liked it and was able to print it at home.

For the party invitation I got to play with a brand new stamp set called Fancy Fair. I chose a chalkboard look which will later coordinate with some party decorations I plan to create. Combined with the ruby red and twilight blue, it represents our all American son and his graduation BBQ celebration!

I knew this would be a big project to tackle, but I really wanted to do it. It would have been much easier to just purchase the generic school ones, but that would not represent my son or myself. He is a one of a kind kid and deserved a one of a kind announcement. And even though it took many hours to complete, each hour was a moment for me to contemplate on his childhood, remember some cherished moments and think about how he has grown into a wonderful young man. It also helped me to let go a little bit more, accepting that he will begin his own journey soon. If you can make your child's announcements yourself, I say "do it"! It is truly a rewarding experience!

Celebrate with Chalk, Cake and a Sketch!

My card today is so much fun! It was truly inspired by multiple challenges that worked really well together.

Over at Heart 2 Heart challenges we are baking a cake! I only have a few stamps with cake images, but this is my favorite...cupcakes with a cherry on top! Yum!

I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. It's a clean and simple sketch and the twist this week was to have a Birthday theme!

Finally, the photo at Inspired By has the most awesome chalkboard home décor. I love the trend of chalkboard art right now and knew that with the theme and sketch it would work perfectly!

I embossed white powder on black cardstock, then smudged some White Daisy ink to appear like a chalkboard. You will also notice some bright, fun Dream Pop papers in there! {You'll have the chance to order this gorgeous paper for yourself soon!} The cupcakes and stand were colored in with alcohol markers.

You should check out all of these challenge blogs. There's so much inspiration and creativity to be found!
Thanks for stopping by! 8)

For Teacher

The days of summer are almost over and we are gearing up for school. For this card I wanted to try a few techniques. The first is paper ruffling with ordinary copy paper. I saw this done on one of Tresa Black's Ustream video's. I used the ink pad and rubbed it directly to the paper concentrating more ink on the edges. I then folded the paper in a pleated fashion.

Another technique was creating the look of a chalkboard like the one you see on the ticket shape "ABC" title. I stamped the ticket frame and alphabet letters in embossing ink on black card stock and then embossed it in white powder. You could also stamp in white pigment ink and allow to dry for a more 'chalky' look. Lots of other fun stuff was added to this card, hope you like!