SOTM --Family is Forever

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

 Featuring the  "Family is Forever" stamp set.

  If you have come here from Amie's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog:  http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/p/stamp-of-month-blog-hop-list.html.

I'm busy working on 3 baby books, so guess what....here's one of the pages

supplies used
     
Pathfinding Paper Pack                   Dot Embossing Folder                  Chocolate Ink   
     

Now "Hop" on over to

Jean's Blog 

to see her work!

 Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the Stamp of the Month (SOTM) is only available until Sept 30! 

 Contact your CTMH Consultant

(or click here)to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.

Pathfinding Paper Pack Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hearts of the West team blog hop!

 September's Edition. If this is your first time joining us you will love it. It features Close to my hearts Consultants from all over Canada showing you their projects.The hearts of the west was, founded by Nancy Klein.

This months challenge is Pathfinding paper pack, brought to you by the new Annual Inspirations, hand picked from Nancy Klein.

If you came from Chelsey Vorosmarty 's blog  then your in the right place, this is a go around blog so you can start anywhere! Just in case the full list will be at the bottom. SO as always grab your coffee, tea, water, relax and hop around the team with us.

I am still working on baby books

so here is another page

I love how the Babycakes PML cards work with the Pathfinding Paper

It makes assembling a page, a snap.

Your next stop is at

  Freya Hall Dunbar's Blog

Thanks for joining us this month

 and come back next month to see what crafty projects we can bring to you!

The line up:

1. Nancy Klein - http://nancyklein.blogspot.ca/2014/09/hearts-of-west-september-2014-blog-hop.html

2. Chantal Pearson - http://www.itsahoot.ca/2014/08/hwbh-septembers.html
3. Linda Pekrul - http://blueskyscrapping.blogspot.ca/2014/08/september-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html
4. Donna Thomson-Digby -http://datsmystyledj.blogspot.ca/2014/08/hearts-of-west-blog-hop-5.html
5. Justine Hovey - http://www.justinehovey.com/2014/08/hearts-of-west-pathfinding-blog-hop.html
6. Chelsey Vorosmarty -http://www.personaltouchscrapbooking.com/2014/08/hearts-of-west-september-blog-hop.html
7. Terry Ann Diack - http://terryanndiack.blogspot.ca/2014/08/pathfinding-paper-pack-blog-hop.htm
8. Freya Hall Dunbar -http://freyassimplecreations.blogspot.ca/2014/08/septembers-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html
9. Sonia Parent St Jean -http://www.scrappingsonia.blogspot.ca/2014/08/septembers-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html

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Tuesday's Tips...More Craft Room Organization

As a paper crafter, I have a lot of paper.
99% of it is from Close to My Heart.  Close to my Heart has 40 core colors of cardstock & ink.  Plus all their B&T (background & texture--or printed paper) co-ordinates.  This does make my life a little bit easier, knowing that I can find that perfect color, but it can still be a bit overwhelming.  Especially since I like to have some of each color on hand.

My solution, and this week's tip.
Rolling files....
  I have 3, one for plain cardstock, one for current paper packs, and one for retired papers.

I use legal sized file folders.  This leaves the top inch or so of paper is visible, hence easy to find.  And the ones I found had a couple of drawers on the bottom.  Which I usually just store extra stuff in.  But when I go to a retreat. I take half my paper out (file folder & all), lay them gently in a box.  Then I fill those drawers with stamps, and adhesive and embellishments, and then I put the whole rolling thing in the back of my SUV.
And when I get to the retreat, I have everything at my finger tips.

I hope you are enjoying these weekly tips, till next week.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.

Tuesday Tips... Organized Craft Room

Is your craft room out of control?
Are you buying items over and over, that you already have but can't find?
Paper crafting, especially scrapbooking and card making are two crafts that involve a lot of stuff.
And when you have a lot of stuff, it's easy for it to get out of control.
Over the years, I have found some ideas that worked really well and some that worked --not so well (I"ll save that for another post)

Here are my Top Three  Organizing Tips to kick off my new weekly blog post--Tuesday Tips

#3.  Stamp Storage
--be creative, I use my stamps a lot, so  I want them to be accessible
solution Ikea GNEDBY Shelving unit, was the perfect solution for me.
 
These shelves are adjustable, and affordable.  Plus you can always add another shelf and  another and another...
Downfall, you have to get down on your knees to reach the bottom shelves.
Which was fine 10 years ago, but now that I've crossed the 50+ hill, it's not so easy.
 So I turned mine on it's side and put it on a 6' long table, and  then because I have a lot of stamps I bought two more and stacked them on top of the first one..
And Voila!! Perfect stamp storage.
 (note: when you turn these units on their side, you have to nail the shelves in to form the dividers.  I just used finishing nails and it has worked quite well)

 #2.  Labels
Labels are a simple, yet super way to keep your stuff organized, especially your stamps.
I use broad categories, family, boys, girls, baby, birthday, Christmas, etc.
This way I don't have to be too particular about where I put the stamp, so long as it's in the right cubby.

And my Number One Tip...
                                  Start Clean, Finish Clean

I tend to be a messy creative person, as I pull out this paper, that stamp set, a bit of ribbon, and a bit more of this or that.  And by the end, my craft space is a war zone.  However, I try to always tidy everything up before I start another project.  This doesn't mean that I tidy up my space everyday, if I'm in the middle of a big project, I will use all my tables (I think I have 7 or 8 or them) and spread everything out and then leave it there, so I can come back in an hour or the next day and finish it.  But when I'm done.  When my project is complete.  I tidy up everything.  Scissors, ribbon, stamps, paper, it all gets put back in its spot. (This is a tip within a tip--have a spot for everything to go back to)  So I have a clean and organized space to start with for the next project.

I Hope you have found these tips helpful.

Join me every Tuesday for more Tuesday Tips 

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.

Picture my Life-Cross Canada Hop

Welcome to our August Blog Hop featuring alternative ways to use your Picture My Life cards.  To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

You should have come from Jessica's blog, however, if you are just joining the hop, don't worry.  It's circular, so you will end up at Jessica's.

Let me just say...
I Love!!!!! CTMH  Picture my Life (PML for short) cards.
I use them all the time, rarely for what they were intended, but then, I like to challenge myself and see how I can use items in ways other than what they were designed for.

So, here's my news.  I am going to be a granny, twice this year. 

 When did I find out? 

 After the Babycakes paper was sold out.
  

No problem, I can still get the Babycakes PML  (pictured below)

and because CTMH has 40 core colors
 I can probably find at least one NEW paper pack that will co-ordinate 

So I can still create the most awesome baby book ever.

Here's a look at a the first page.

And here's a close up of the little monkey
Pretty sure I will use the NEW Pathfinding Paper pack in one of the baby books

X7186B Pathfinding Paper Pack      C1588 Wild Wonders         Z1989 Slate Diagonal Striped Ribbon

Z3009 Chalk it Up Asst.      Z2111 Chocolate Ink                        X5643  Chocolate Cardstock

First grandchild is due Oct 30 (yep, pretty well a Halloween baby)

and the second, Dec 26 (yep, pretty much a Christmas baby)

So I do have a bit of time to get these books completed

and will post pages from time to time so you can see how they are progressing.

Next stop on the hop  
Nancy

Psst...next month's hop features our FAVORITE NEW PRODUCT

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.

One Sheet Wonder/Chalk it Up! Mini album

Say Cheese!

This pocket sized mini is made from 1 12x12 sheet of cardstock

  It has 3 pockets and two fold out pages

And is the perfect size for all those 2"x3" school photos 

that one seems to accumulate at this time of the year

I got the inspiration for this from paper, crafts & scissors.
However, I have tweaked it to make it mine

score the cardstock at 4" & 8"
flip the page and score at 3", 6" and 9"
as shown above

cut on blue lines as shown,

 this looks confusing,  
 but it will all make sense...you are making two side loading pockets and two fold out flaps 
I suggest you fold everything and paper clip your "glued" sides together first
so you get a feel for how this will work
 (see image below for how it all comes together)

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.

NEW!! CTMH Product Blog Hop

Welcome,
If you arrived here from Michelle's  your on the right track,if your just joining the hop, don't worry, it's circular so you will end up at Michelle's
I really struggled with this project, well not the actual project, but the decision as to which one of the NEW products would I like to showcase.....drum roll please...

        
WOTG Chalk it Up (G1081)                PML  Chalk it Up (Z2018)             Great Job (C1588)

Okay, I cheated, but they all co-ordinate

and look what they made

Not sure if I'm going to put 2x2 pictures on the "film" strip
or if I will fill it with school pictures of all my daughters class mates.

Now it's off to see what Beth has created

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.

Hearts of the West August Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hearts of the West team blog hop! August Edition. If this is your first time joining us you will love it. It features Close to my hearts Consultants from all over Canada It is founded by Nancy Klein.

This months challenge is a color challenge brought to you by Design seed and hand picked by Nancy Klein.

A fun few facts about August: It is National Picnic Month, Also this month's birth flowers are the beautiful gladiolus and the poppy!

If you came from Sonia then your in the right place, this is a go around blog so you can start anywhere! Just in case the full list will be at the bottom. SO as always grab your coffee, tea, water, relax and hop around the team with us.

Here is the details of our late summer projects!

color scheme--buttercup, sorbet, pear, outdoor denim, sky & whisper


my creation....

 The flower in front is one of our NEW Metal Flower Embellishment.

(technically it's not buttercup, but it's close)

side view

supplies 

Cardstock--outdoor denim, sorbet, daisy white, &  whisper 

ink in buttercup, sorbet, pear, outdoor denim, sky
stamp set is retired

In my second card, I random stamped tiny stars in buttercup, sorbet, pear, outdoor denim, sky to create my own B&T paper.  I used the whisper cardstock as my card base and a bit of washi tape for "ribbon:  Stamp set is from the retired Babycakes WOTG

Your next stop is Julie  

 Thanks for joining us this month

 and come back to see the start of the new Annual inspirations! Exciting!!

>>>>><<<<<<<

1. Nancy Klein's http://nancyklein.blogspot.ca/2014/07/heart-of-west-august-blog-hop-design.html

2. Chantal Pearson's http://www.itsahoot.ca/2014/08/hwbh-august-edition.html

3. Donna Thomson-Digby'shttp://datsmystyledj.blogspot.ca/2014/08/hearts-of-west-4th-blog-hop-challenge.html

4. Freya Hall Dunbar'shttp://freyassimplecreations.blogspot.ca/2014/08/august-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html

5. Holly Young-Bowers'shttp://heartfeltmemories2.blogspot.ca/2014/08/augusts-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html

6. Linda Pekrul's http://blueskyscrapping.blogspot.ca/2014/08/august-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html

7. Jackie Vandaele's http://jackievandaele.blogspot.ca/2014/07/welcome-to-hearts-of-west-team-blog-hop.html

8. Chelsey Vorosmarty'shttp://www.personaltouchscrapbooking.com/2014/07/august-hearts-of-west-blog-hop.html

9. Sonia Parent St Jean'shttp://scrappingsonia.blogspot.ca/2014/08/hearts-of-the-West-team-blog-hop-August-edition.html

10. Terry Ann Diack's http://terryanndiack.blogspot.ca/2014/08/hearts-of-west-august-blog-hop.html

11. Julie Kerr's http://jewelspapergems.blogspot.ca/2014/08/hearts-of-west-team-blog-hop-august.html

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.