Freckled Star

"Dotty for You"

That is the name of the incentive paper packet going on now for National Scrapbook Month. Although it's officially May we started a little early:)

It's $5 with a $35 purchase. Good deal and some really cute, really functional paper patterns.

Over the weekend I got together with my two friends Char and Elaine for the annual April 3 Pea's Birthday:)

It's really only 2 of the pea's considering Char's birthday we do in July. Which she reminded us about 1/2 a dozen times:)

I decided to make Elaine a card. Do you know how long it's been since I made a birthday card!!?? Needless to say awhile! But I got some stuff out to play with and got to it.........

My "dotty" paper packet, cute cupcake stamp set and glue stick..........

Once I got my paper cut and glued down on a Colonial White Die Cut card, I trimmed and sanded a bit.

Then I got on to stamping. Two keys to the perfectly stamped image. Number 1 make sure you have a nice juicy ink pad. If your pad is old and dried out it will never look good! And number 2 make sure you use the piece of plastic foam that covers all Close to My Heart stamp sets underneath the piece of paper you are stamping. It insures even application of ink.

Then a little cutting. These are the BEST scissors I SWEAR!! I have been using my old CTMH pair for the last 6 years and was lucky enough to get a brand spanking new pair in my kit. These are by far my favorite and for $9.95 they are well worth it and they last forever.

Glued that to the little flap of the card with a glue dot.

The "Happy Birthday" was also in the stamp set. While I had them out I stamped the envelope too and did a little coloring. Which is always fun:)

And last but not least a little "sparkle" and it's all done:)

Well it's time to start packing...........

Tomorrow Frank and I leave for Missouri to see our oldest son, Zachary Ryan, graduate from the 31st Engineer Battalion's AIT program!! He has been gone since the 7th of January. Seems like forever ago!!

So Frank and I have never been to this part of Missouri so this is going to be a hell of an adventure! Starting with a 2 and 1/2 hour car ride after the flight into St. Louis. I have a feeling we will know why they have nicknamed  Ft. Leonard Wood "Fort Lost in the Woods" soon enough:) Also hotel accommodations are few and far between in this neck of the woods. Frank booked us at Almoost Heaven Bed and Breakfast and yes it's 2 O's like "All Moosed Heaven"! As you can see with the Moose in the corner. Look like fun? Hmmm...........

I don't know about this!!!

All I know is the proprietors are really sweet and emailing back and forth to make sure they make our stay as comfortable as can be:)

We are in the "Bearly Tame" room if that isn't funny enough!! But hey at least it's got it's own bathroom!!!

Wish me luck and I'll be back soon:)

Lucy

Last week I mentioned I was going to start doing a post a week featuring Close to My Heart products.

So here we go:)

This is the beginnings of "Lucy" and Lucy is also the name of the paper packet available from CTMH (from now I am abbreviating it or I'll be here all day:)

Just one of those paper mache dress forms from Michael's. It was $5.99

Now to start you'll need some Modge Podge, a foam brush and a bowl of water.

Then tear your paper into strips. I used the newsprint paper in the packet for the base and the large flower for the bodice.

Then what I do is cover a spot in modge podge, dip the paper strip quickly in water and attach to form. Adding a little more modge podge to top and all around, use fingers to smooth it down. And you just keep doing this til it's covered the way you like. One final smooth down. I use my wet fingers to get any bumps out. It's pretty forgiving and if you tear a spot or miss a spot you can cover with another piece of paper. She's ready to go outside to dry.

Now I left her in the sun for about an hour and she was good to go! She dried nice and glossy:)

Then it's time to dress her up!

Ribbon skirt so easy! Just a little hot glue to attach ribbons. Be careful!! I went around her twice for a little more fullness.

And what's a girl without a little bling??!!

She is awfully sweet and looks too cute on my work table:)

So what did I use...........

Lucy Paper Packet

Pink Collection Designer Ribbon

Color Ready Seam Binding

Designer Brads

Mini Medley Accents Collection

Clear Sparkles

All available through my website!!

Button in the upper left hand corner:)

Hope you enjoyed my first edition and I already have next weeks done and ready to go!

That's what happens when you wait two days for the county to come get a huge beehive out of your backyard;)

 

The Round Robin..........

This idea came up over chips and salsa (there may have or not have been margaritas involved:) last July......

There actually must have been margaritas involved or I may not have said yes lol:)

Holly of Holly Loves Art came up with the idea of doing a Round Robin book where we all picked a theme. We did the cover and maybe 3 or 4 pages to get it started. Then every 6 weeks it moved on to the next person and they add to your book..........

Now I should say the other 6 ladies had all done this before. I was the "newbie" and let me tell you when I got the first book I needed to make pages for I wanted to bail immediately!!! It was Cheryl's and it was barely even started and it was incredible!! And it was huge!! Mine was this little Tim Holtz 8x8 journal. And another thing she had all these cute little tag holders so everyone could make a tag who had the book and she had a story too! Excuse me but what the hell! I didn't get that memo:( I had a library card for everyone to sign their name. LAME!! But oh well live and learn. Oh and I did write a little story and I had Terry, I think, add it to my book so I didn't look even lamer:)

The themes were so much fun. Everyone's was different so each time you got a book it was a whole new experience. It was also cool to see everyone else's work especially as we were getting to the end and the books were almost full.

I was "beach" of course;)

Holly-Doggies

Kim-Pink

Cheryl-Fashion

Terry-Bathing Beauties

Erin-Paris

Cynthia-Dolls

We all went out to breakfast which was not very good but lots of fun:) And of course I forgot my camera at Kim's!! But we got a few pictures at her house after. I'm missing Cynthia and Erin:(

And I look like hell but moving on........

That's Cheryl and her book:)

Holly and her sweet doggie book.

Terry's Bathing Beauties. So much fun!

And Kim's gorgeous pink book. Would you look at that cover!!

Now on to my book which to say I LOVE would be an understatement!!

Truly I am so happy to have been involved in this and I sincerely hope everyone loved the pages I added to their books because I love every single page of mine:)

First off I forgot to mention Cheryl's book came in this fantastic place mat cover. I guess you sew two place mats together fold over one of the tops tie a ribbon with a button for closure and viola the cutest little book cover ever!! Which I would know nothing about because I couldn't sew to save my life! Which also made my heart sink a little when I got it because I sent mine off in I think a brown bag.

Anyhow I do believe Cheryl took pity on me and made me this beautiful place mat cover for my book. I almost cried:)

Absolutely perfect and I can't say thank you enough I swear!!

Here's my book I did the cover and the first 4 pages.............

I also added the ribbons when I got it home to finish it off:)

Here is my lame library card and story:)

Two of Terry's pages....

Love the sea fan and the coral color.

One of Holly's pages...........

Love the image!!

Two of Cynthia's pages..........

Her pages were so cool. All the glitter and the color!!

One of Erin's pages........

The cheesecloth is one of my favorite techniques and who doesn't love weathered beach signs!!??

A page from Kim............

The color, the lace and the little vintage piece. And jeez even beachy music paper!!

And last but not least 2 pages of Cheryl's.......

Now that's just beyond fun!!

So there is some of my book:)

As you can see it's pretty full:)

It's absolutely lovely and something I will cherish forever!

Thank you, thank you to all the SoCal Round Robin girls!!

Can't wait to get started on the next project:)

Have a great week everyone!

New adventures.........

As some of you may or may not know I have decided to sell Close to My Heart scrapbook products once again:)

I've been out of the scrapbooking game for a while. With kids getting older and me exploring other art expressions I just stopped...........

Until the creating of mini books this last year which became more than just fun! It was addicting!! Who knew you could add so much stuff! Embellishments galore which is right up my alley. My previous scrapbooking experience was a little flat and a little tedious just trying to get them all done. It was like a chore:( But these mini books were like pieces of art! So once I started filling my mini books with pictures, some as old as ten years past, it was starting to become fun again. I had to get my mind out of my OCD, chronological order of things of course!! But that is one thing my departure from traditional scrapbooking to the more artsy side of things has changed me this last 4 years and I could do it:)

With my dad's 60th Birthday coming up and me wanting to create a beautiful book for his party for people to reminisce over I decided to look into Close to My Heart again and saw they had really come a long way the last 4 years. And then I saw the consultant kit and add ons and said SOLD!!:)

Now you will see that little tab to the left that says "shop with me" and it will lead you directly to my website. This shopping online stuff is so great:)

I have decided that starting next week I will be posting one Close to My Heart project a week here:) Not only to hopefully inspire you to create but also to get me motivated to create and post on this silly blog. I mean I pay for it right!!! I need to use it!!

If you ever have any questions about something I have made or how to order to get started please contact me:) Either on here or on my Close to My Heart website. I would love to help!

I will also post the months "Specials".........

This April these are the two "specials" of the month.........

This is the "Stamp of the Month" called "You are...." it is $5 with a $50 purchase.

And this is called "Dotty for You" and it is the special for National Scrapbooking Month. Our promotion will run April 17th thru May 31st or while supplies last. You can get this super cute paper packet for $5 with a $35 purchase. Love the butterflies!!

 

You can see all the details on my site andrea1.ctmh.com

Well that's it from me today! Busy weekend ahead.Getting together with my Round Robin girls to exchange our books. I can't wait for mine! Can't believe we started this last July:) I will definitely post pictures!!

Sunday is all about dad's book, after cooking class of course;)

Have a wonderful weekend!

New life........

Over the weekend I decided to get a project done I have been putting off for years.........

I had this box of old, broken, beat up frames in the garage (the small space in the garage Frank let's me have:).........

Out of site out of mind right?:)

So I got out my trusty Dreamcoat White paint, a crappy paint brush and an old Pottery Barn catalog I could tear up...........

They all needed 2 coats. Especially the old frames they just soaked up the paint............

Then out to dry.........

The end result........

This is the new guest bedroom. Which I have just started putting together. It was Tyler's room and the walls are a very dark gray but I just had it painted less then a year ago (had no idea he'd move so willing into Zachary's old room lol:) so I wasn't getting it painted again and it really needs some white accents to brighten it up a bit. I'll show more when it's completed. Currently waiting patiently for the lamps, chair and wall art I want from Pier One to go on sale:)

Anyway just a simple idea to get more life out of some of the stuff you have around the house. They won't stay empty per se either. I'll probably add little accents to the middle of some or add a picture or two. That's the beauty of having no glass or backing they can be changed around all the time.

Off to work:)