Recipe Swap Workshop

What a fun day! I just completed my Recipe Swap Workshop and boy am I tired. Not to mention stuffed with some yummy food! The workshop was a big success. All of the recipes were wonderful and the recipe books turned out so cute. I will forever treasure by book and all of the recipes from such talented women.

This was also one of my customers last class with us {unless she comes back to visit} ! She just married her sweetheart a week ago and will be moving across country. Julie has been a fun, big-hearted, laugh~a~minute gal and we will all miss her. Good luck with your big move and many happy moments to you and your hubby. Never stop crafting and creating!!
{dot, dot, dot, dot}

Here are some pics of the yummy food and our crafty gang!


The Recipes of the Day:

Pat's Veggie Pizza
Slow Cooked Mac~n~Cheese
Dirty Rice
Fruit Ambrosia
Tooty Fruity Sugar Cookies
Strawberry Whipped Sensation

Here's my recipe: Layered Mexican Dip

1 package 8 oz light cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded hot pepper jack cheese

1/4 cup bean dip

1/2 cup thick and chunky salsa

1/2 chopped green onion

1/4 cup sliced ripe olives

Place cream cheese in mixer bowl. Beat on low/medium speed for 30 seconds. Stop and scrape the bowl. Add the pepper jack cheese and mix again for 30 seconds.

Spread cheese mixture on 10 inch serving plate. Spread bean dip over cheese. Spread salsa over bean dip. Top with onions and olives. Refigerate until ready to serve. Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy! {I like a variety of chips; yellow corn, whole wheat and blue corn}

P.S. Our friend Nikki is expecting her second baby {she's the one glowing in the photo} and she received a little gift from my daughter and I today. I will post pictures of her sweet girly present soon!

Snapping Circles!

My Nephew recently had a Birthday, so we did some shopping for him. My daughter picked out his gift. He loves our Silly Six Pins interactive game. So my daughter found him another interactive game called Gator Golf. I thought it was perfect for him too, especially scince he has the perfect patch of turf in his backyard already. How wonderfully it worked out that I have the cutest alligator stamp for the card to adorn the gift! Here is my first attempt at one of the circle templates in the new Wishes book. And of course I had to match the colors with the wrapping paper!!

A Good Recipe

Nothings better than a good recipe, especially when it is shared between friends or passed down from generations. Next weekend I am hosting a recipe exchange and attendees will make a fun recipe pocket book. In addition to making the book we will be sampling the foods from those recipes being shared. I used the new Animal Cookie papers which I felt gave the book a 'retro' feel. I also liked the "cooking girl" from the Ms. On the Go stamp set. The new Recipe Box stamp worked perfectly and has many more possibilities. I will post more pictures from the event, I can't wait to see and taste all of the food!

A Color Combo Deal

I've been having some fun with color challenges. I've sort of become addicted to them. On Monday's you can find a color challenge over on KJ's blog as well as CTMH founder Jeanette Lynton's blog. This week I needed to come up with a project for my daughter's school group and instead of creating from just one color challenge I merged them together. The Sweet Leaf and White Daisy are from KJ's blog and the Indian Corn Blue and Sorbet are from Jeanette's blog. Go check out what other crafty creators came up with, then challenge yourself to do something fun!

Supplies for hershey bar wraps: Cardstock; white daisy & sorbet, Stamps; Star Struck, Good Times, Inks; sorbet, indian corn blue, sweet leaf

Springy Colors!

This week's color challenge over on KJ's Blog was very "springy". The colors are so light and playful. I thought that flowers worked perfectly into the design. I also wanted to do some random stamping. It is a technique I love and have not done for some time now. The template for the card was from the new Wishes book... of course! I did change the dimensions just slightly though to accomodate my "scrap" piece of random stamped cardstock. Hope you like it. Remember to check out other artwork using the same color scheme here.

Card File Box Finale

I have been posting pics of my recent card file box projects. Here is the final one, I promise. My Scramp Club members will meet this Friday and are excited to learn how to make these. This one is decorated with the new Treetops stamp set and in addition to the box they will make a coordinating card using a new template from Wishes! Check it out.

A couple of wishes...{cards that is}

Just a couple of cards I made using the new Wishes book. By the way, it is available to order now and worth every dime!! Love, love, love this book.

The first card was made using the "name plate" template.

The second card was made using the "Bullseye" template and the new Tinkerin papers.

Supplies: all CTMH unless noted otherwise

{Card 1} Cardstock: bamboo, dutch blue, white daisy, Ink: tulip, dutch blue, Stamps: Star Struck, Say it in Style, Embellishments: spiral clip in topiary and brads in tulip (brown twine is not CTMH)

{Card 2} Cardstock: white daisy, twilight, goldrush, sunny yellow, Ink: twilight, garden green, goldrush, sunny yellow, B&T paper from Tinkerin papers level 2, Stamps: Star Struck, For Every Occasion, Embellishments: bigger brad in sunny yellow (small brad is not CTMH)

Here is an image of the Tinkerin papers in the new Summer Idea Book!

KJ's Color Challenge #5

This weeks color challenge over on KJ's Blog is really unique. I try to stick with the exact CTMH colors in her challenge, but ended up changing just one color. For good reason though I assure you. I thought that I would kill 2 birds with one stone as they say. I volunteered to create 30 thank you cards for those parents that donated to the school for teacher appreciation day. I saw KJ's color choices and thought they would be fun. However, because I chose to use a bulk card base and envelope, I needed to substitute White Daisy for the Vanilla Cream. I think that the Vanilla Cream looks fantastic with these colors, but the White simply just brightened the colors and looks good too!

Supplies: All CTMH; Cardstock (white daisy, goldrush), Stamps (Friendship Blessings, Thank You), Inks (Creme Brulee, Goldrush, Juniper)

Album Complete

I tend to get so wrapped up in my projects for classes and workshops, not to mention the constant flow of Birthdays and special events, that I let my own album sit unfinished. This weekend I made it my goal to sit down and complete my 2008 album. I like to keep my albums in chronological order and I was stuck on a vacation that we took back in August of last year. This past Saturday I hid out in my scrap room and worked diligently to complete the final pages. I finished 8 pages on Saturday and 2 more yesterday afternoon. I would have completed them all on Saturday, but had to take a time~out for a broken washing machine. {they sure don't make things the way they used too!} Needless to say my entire 2008 album is finished. This is my thickest album yet, filled to the brim with my memories. Here are just a few of my favorite layouts from last year:

More Card File Boxes

As promised here are more pics of the card file boxes I made this past weekend. The first is done with more of the Emporium papers in the standard size. The other was done with dimensions to fit your 8 x 3 1/2" cards. I really like the embellishments on the front of it too! Both feature the pewter foundry frames which dress up the boxes so nicely.

Memories Wrapped~Up

Here is a little wrap~up I made for show and tell at the unit meeting this past weekend. The idea comes from a template on Papertrey Ink's website. It was fairly simple to put together and I like the idea of each tag containing a seperate thought, photograph or perhaps a recipe. I made this one to capture memories, thoughts and photo's from one single event. I used the Key To My Heart papers & stamps, and dimensional flowers. The pull tab on the tags is from the Confidential stamp set.

KJ's Color Challenge

This weeks color challenge over at KJ's Blog uses Baby Pink, Bubblegum, Watermelon, Black and White. These are such fun and "girly" colors. I also used a sentiment from a new stamp set. Don't forget to check out Kelly Jo's blog to see more ideas using this color combo!

Supplies: Baby pink, White Daisy & Watermelon textured cardstock; Black, White Daisy, Bubblegum cardstock; "thanks" stamp set, mini flowers and brads all Close To My Heart; ribbon misc.

Meeting For Fun and Creativity

I recently attended a unit meeting with other CTMH consultants hosted by Karen Morris. {refer to older post about Karen} I was not just the student this time around though, instead I was asked to teach a small project. I decided to come up with something 3D. It's a mini card file box. It is a fairly simple design meant to store and organize your standard sized cards. They can be left simple or embellished and made as fancy as you wish. I'm all about getting organized and making workshops cost effective on myself and customers. Here are some samples I made to show the ladies.

This one uses the Stardust papers:

This box uses the Emporium papers:

I made another box during the meeting and one at home with dimensions to fit 8x3 1/2" cards. I will reveal them later.

We also did a card swap using new products from the Summer Idea Book, here is mine:

I will show you some of the other fun projects I made for show & tell soon.

Another Color Challenge

Kelly Jo had another color challenge posted on her blog. I missed the one a week before because I was out of town, but I had to join this challenge because of the fun color combo. This time she chose Sunflower, Watermelon, Black and White Daisy. I love this combination and think I may try it again for a summer scrapbook page. You can see what other talented crafters came up with on KJ's Blog.

Supplies: CTMH:White Daisy Cardstock, Textured Dimensional Elements in Sunflower and Watermelon, B&T polka dot paper from Sillouehette level 2 paper packet, "party" Say it in Style stamp ; Misc: black ribbon, pink bling, button and floss.

Apple Button Tree

Here is another card featuring a new stamp set from the Summer Idea Book. The Treetops stamp set was one of the first stamps I put on my "must have" list. I love all the fun shapes of the trees. I thought it might be fun to try a random stamped page with this set. My card also uses one of the templates from the new Wishes book.

Supplies: Stamp: Treetops; Cardstock: Garden Green, Cranberry, White Daisy; Inks: Chocolate, Garden Green; Cranberry buttons, Chocolate grossgrain ribbon; Tools: Piercing tool, Fiskars scallop edge punch.

Adventure

I received my order with some of the new products in the Summer Idea Book. I was able to sit down and play with some new stamps and paper. I will try to post a little something everyday over the next week. I also have other projects that I can not reveal until next week so stay tuned!

This first card features some new "outdoor adventure" themed papers and stamps. I just love the retro teardrop camper, it was very easy to paper piece.

Supplies: Back Country paper packet, Let's Go Camping stamp, Denim twill ribbon, Barn Red & White Daisy CS, Inks: outdoor denim, desert sand, olive

April Scramp Club Pages

This month's Scramp Club pages gets you in the mood for summer. The layout is basic and clean. The fun details and embellishments are inspired by the newest Summer Idea Book. This will be a great layout to complete and even better to fill with your favorite summer photo's!

Happy Easter

Warm weather, beautiful sunshine and birds chirping their happy songs... it's Easter! Happy Easter everyone.

KJ's Color Challenge

Another CTMH Consultant posted a color challenge on her Blog and I thought it would be a fun color combo. She used white, sweet leaf and an "oldie" breeze. I really like the new colors, but I miss some of the old ones too. Here is my card. You can see what others came up with too on KJ's Blog.

All product is Close To My Heart:

Stamps: Ms. on the Go, Friendship Blessings, Simple Stitches; Cardstock, B&T and ink in white daisy, sweet leaf, ocean, black; water color pencils, blending pen, {buckle} white daisy mini embellishment. Ribbon is misc.

The card design is Top Band from the new Wishes book available in June.

Boy Meets World!

My daughter's teacher is expecting her second baby boy very soon. We are very excited for her, but will miss her dearly as she will not return to school for the remainder of the year. My daughter said she liked them and the other students all "oooh'd" and "aaah'd" over them.

{Front cover}

{Side view}

{Front 4 pages}

{Back 2 pages}

{Back cover}

Here is the card that we included with the accordian album. It is a new card design featured in the brand new Wishes book coming out in June.

All product is Close To My Heart