Free Jpeg from CTMH!

At my CTMH website, PaperBoutique, you can create a Studio J layout and get the jpeg absolutely free!  It's not only easy it's fun!  This is the layout I made and what you are looking at is my free jpeg. 

Click photo to enlarge

A Little Bit of a Tease

I've been working diligently on my Convention Swap Cards and I am so excited to show you!  However, I can't reveal them before convention.  

It's in "The Rules."  

Besides, if I revealed them now I would be stalked the moment my toes touch down in California.  

Really. 

They are that awesome. 

I will, however, leave you with just a tiny peek....

A Little Something with Sophia

A Little Bit of Lucky

June Paper Trail Blog Hop featuring CTMH "Lucky"

Welcome to the Paper trail blog hop! If you arrived from Terri's blog, My Frame of Mind, you are on the right path!

This month we are featuring Close to my Heart's Lucky paper pack. It's perfect for doing masculine projects, cards or layouts with it's earthy tones. I absolutely love these papers, so rich feeling, they make me want to smell them for a their smokey outdoorsy scent... which of course won't be there. But they make me feel it!

My project is a gift holder made with a lunch sack. I've put a gift card in it, but you can also use this pattern for other gifting, such as small stamp sets, cookies or other sweet treats, a handful of photos or just anywhere your mind can take you, as long as it fits.

The lunch sack is folded in half and the beveled bottom turned up to make a matchbook type folder. A note card slips into the top for your message. So cute, don't you agree?

Below is a sample of the individual papers you get in this set. There are 24 sheets of paper in the pack total - 12 (2 each of 6 designs) pattern papers and 12 sheets of card stock in coordinating colors. I love the range of versatility of our paper packets!

This month I used our Lucky Workshop on the Go kit. Not only do you get all the paper shown above, but you get an exclusive stamp set made just for this pack, and 2 full size packages of embellishments, Natural Hemp and Designer wooden buttons. I used my Sunset Exclusive Inks pad to turn my hemp from natural to Sunset to coordinate even more with my project.
Instructions for the 3 cards you see here are also included in the Lucky Workshop on the Go in the full color guide, as well as instructions for a beautiful 2 page layout.

I hope you are enjoying what you are seeing today! Now hop on over to Mary's blog, The Road to Peace of Mind and see the amazing things she has whipped up for you!

The Postman/woman is my Friend!

Who doesn't love real mail? The kind that you open and hold in your hands and read, pick it up later to appreciate again? This is the mainstay of card stamping. I love my "Cardies" because they are the people that keep this art alive. Really, aren't you tired of nothing but bills & ads in your mail box? Let's get stamping, folks. And even if you don't want to stamp, think about just sending out a little, "Hello, how are you?" note to a friend. You know they will appreciate it!!

I received this card from my friend, Mac yesterday in a manila envelope with some other goodies. Isn't it sweet? It also uses our Mayberry papers which we are featuring in our Paper Trail blog hop this month. I love Love LOVE these papers!!

Other items in that fun envelope are a collection of gorgeous papers she picked up recently and decided to share with me. Am I a lucky girl, or what? These are all very vintage looking and I just can't wait to play with them! Can you tell that the little brads in front are sock monkeys? I literally laughed out loud when I saw them. We have a little family joke (at least my nuclear family thinks it is) about sock monkeys. And you have to say it a certain way, too. Way too cute and I can't wait to use them!!

Shout out to Mac for making my day!! And remember, if you want to receive snail mail, it's important to send snail mail! Get stampin' ladies!!

Mayberry, May Paper Trail Blog Hop

Welcome to the Paper Trail Blog Hop featuring Close to My Heart papers. If you arrived here from Lynne's blog, Field's Finery, you are on the right trail. I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen so far.

This month we are featuring the Mayberry Paper Packet. Unfortunately, I realized too late that I hadn't ordered it. Oops! So instead I am using just the colors used in the Mayberry papers, Cocoa, Olive, Honey & Smoothie. I love the combination, it's a little unexpected but feels very homey.

I made a double slider card/gift card holder. The photo at the top of the blog is the card closed. By pulling the clip on the right hand side of the card, a slider pulls out with the clip and at the same time another slider "magically" slides out of the left side of the card.


Just to make it special, I added a little pocket to hold a gift card. This would be very cool for a graduation card, right?

Close up of right hand slider.

Close up of left hand slider. Below are the beautiful papers that make up the Mayberry collection. You can order this package at my CTMH website, Paper Boutique.

Next stop on the trail is Mary's Blog, The Road to Peace of Mind. I am sure she has something wonderful lined up for you!

Grandma's *Secrets* Box (April Paper Trail Blog Hop)

Welcome to the April 2011 edition of the Paper Trail blog hop. If you found your way here from Karen's Blog, Inky Fingers, you are on the right trail! Aren't her layouts adorable? And these papers are so perfect for scrapping about a chocolate lab!

I chose to make up a My Creations Recipe/Photo Box with this month's papers, Bliss. However, I will be using my box for card storage, making sure I always have a few cards on hand for all sorts of occasions. Aren't the papers elegant and vintage looking? I LOVE them!!

I used our Kraft Color Ready Borders along the bottom of the darker brown texture paper. They come in 25 different patterns, each ready to be sponged with the color of your choice. I chose to leave it the kraft brown as it works so well with these papers. Bonus: They are self adhesive so no sticky mess when using them! I also sponged some Villa Chip Board Irresistibles with chocolate brown and attached to the corners and as a lock frame. Cute!!

For a bit of whimsy I added the key shaped Villa Chip Board Irresistible under the lid, using distressed paper ribbon as an additional accent, and topping it off with another Kraft Color Ready border.

I am so pleased with the results!! You can find the Bliss Level 2 Paper Pack and the other products used on my website, PaperBoutique.myctmh.com. A perfect companion with this paper pack is the Blessed April Stamp of the Month set. Price varies depending on your purchases.

I'd also like to mention that the wonderful people at Close to my Heart have put together a stamp set of which 100% of all profits will be donated to the Red Cross for aid in Japan. Check out Hope for Japan.

Bliss Level 2 Paper Pack

Thanks for stopping by today and here's the link to continue on your way to Lynne's blog at Field's Finery. She's new to our group so be sure to leave her some love. Her cards are gorgeous!

Birthday Cards!

Time to share some home made Birthday love! Cup cake card is by my friend Mary Ann who just gave me the best present of all!! She invited me to her home outside of Seattle in Washington state (which is totally spa/retreat-like) for a few days of crafting and chillaxin.' Returning to Kentucky was incredibly hard!! I'll be sharing some of our crafting results a little later. She is an amazing artist in many areas, not just paper crafts.

Cat Mosaic card is by my friend Barb. I try to sit close to this friend whenever possible and just pray that her talent will fall off onto me. Does osmosis work for humans? Love the musical tape on the envelope. Those little touches are what call out to me, "open me first!!"

This card is from the Crazy Cats Card Club, or something like that. I am sooooo far behind in this club, but they haven't dropped me yet - thank goodness!! This card is 3D dimensional and the envelope is the old fashioned tissue type envelope and stamped with very old 'Air Mail' stamps of 5 cents and such. So stinkin' cool!!

There were many more birthday wishes and cards but I thought I'd touch on the highlights. It made reaching the double nickel landmark much more bearable!