Finished

I finished making the rest of our jars last night. :)

One for me, one for my husband, one for his mum & dad, one for his brother and our sister-in-law, and one for our niece. :)

Tutorial - Easter "baskets"

Good evening my lovelies! I've just finished my little niece's Easter gift!

I'm a serious coffee drinker, and my preferred brand is Moccona. The jars are so pretty and useful that I have a problem throwing them in the recycling bin. (I've decanted my laundry powder, laundry soaker, even my cereal into various sized jars!) My sister-in-law decorated a Moccona jar and filled it with Easter eggs and chocolates one year as our gift. I finished the chocolate and then filled the jar with my espresso. This year I'm decorating and filling jars from my stash for Easter gifts to my family. And I'm going to show you how I did it. All measurements are in inches, and are based on me eyeballing my way through.

This is my first tutorial so bear with me. You can buy the items listed from my website. Just follow the links! :)

Easter basket jar - Materials needed:
50g Moccona glass coffee jar
B&T Duos paper of choice, I've used Chantilly (discontinued)
Adhesive tape (similar)
12inch paper trimmer
Hollyhock Exclusive Ink
Glamour Alphabet upper and lowercase stamp sets
My Acrylix block, I used 2"x3.5"
Ribbon or other embellishments, I used pink glitter gems.

1) Peel off the labels from jar and lid. Wash and dry your jar.

2.) Choose your B&T Duos paper, and embellishments.

3.) Trim your paper to a rectangle 1.5"x9.25".
With larger Moccona jars, simply scale up your measurements. For a 95g jar, 2.5"x10.5". For a 200g jar, 3"x12". Or just measure the label after you remove it.

4.) Put a bit of adhesive in the middle of your paper strip. Center and adhere to your jar. I simply chose the spot where the original label was stuck as my place to start from. Adhere one end of your strip and press firmly.

5.) Center and adhere remaining end of paper to jar, pressing firmly. Queensland is very humid so I used an extra bit of double sided tape to ensure my strip would stay on my jar.

6.) Embellish! I cut a length of white ribbon and adhered it to the middle of my jar. Then I stamped my niece's name using Hollyhock ink and the Glamour alphabet stampsets on a scrap of pink paper. Sticking that down over the seam of the ribbon and the paper, I added some pink sparkles. I trimmed the rim of the jar with some blue ribbon from my stash. (You could also color your own ribbon using CTMH Exclusive Inks if you like.)

7.) Fill with Easter grass, treats, and close before giving.

And there you have it! A quick, personalized way to turn your empty coffee jar into an Easter treat! I hope you've enjoyed this lil tutorial. :)

You can see the rest of the set here. :)

More Fun with My Reflections

I am head over heels for this how to book. Seriously. I've taken over the coffee table and footstool, spread my stuff out and I've knocked out 34 pages -full 12"x12" traditional pages!- in 26 days. Yes! That many pages in that many days! Now not all of them have pictures yet as some are title pages for upcoming months in my 2014 album. Still, that's a lot to get done with using a new system! :D

Have you seen my sneak peek gallery on facebook? I've posted most of my pages there. Some are still to be shown as they're samples for an upcoming consultant challenge.

Here's what I've been up to lately. :) Are you stuck in a rut with your scrapbooking and looking for fresh new ideas to kickstart your creativity? Seriously, these ideas have revived my pagemaking. I don't normally like making pages without having photos printed first.  With these that's gone out the window! I can find photos to fit! My studio is open all week. Contact me and pop by to see these ideas being made in person and see if it's something you'd like to use in your album making. :) I'm here to help you! I may even have a slice of brown sugar apple cake waiting. (If that doesn't tempt you, I don't know what will!)

Notice the last two are the same layout idea, just tweaked a bit!

These are just some of the ideas I'm teaching in my Scrap Your Stash workshops. Contact me for your SYS time and bring your supplies over. We'll crash my dining room table and get some pages done for your projects. We'll have some nibblies, a cuppa or two, laugh and get our crafty on. :) Sounds like fun, doesn't it? My studio space is just waiting for you to come over!

Happy Birthday

My niece just turned three and that means this Auntie got to make another birthday card. This is what I came up with in about 10 minutes before leaving for her birthday dinner. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. :) As always, here's the products I used.

Click to embiggen. :)

More My Crush™

I did these pages up pretty quickly after rummaging through my scraps and "save for a later date" pile.

Mum and Dad's postcard from their 2013 European adventure.

And the reverse side.

Remember these named Coke labels?

These are just some examples of what you can put in your My Crush™ books. Why not give one a go?

When you give, you receive

For most of you, you'll know that I have two adorable bubbies waiting up in Heaven. I go to a fabulous support group of like minded mummies in Mt Gravatt, SIDS and Kids QLD. A couple weeks ago, I mailed out a card to Robyna (one of my mummy friends) who was going through a rough period with her son's first anniversary. I like getting cards around my babies special dates so I figured she would too.

On Friday, she blessed me and returned the favor with this stunner! Thank you so much Robyna! She even added both my babies names in the design! :o :D

I got my first order last week and promptly made a happy birthday card for my favorite barista Alex at The Coffee Club Logan Mega Centre. I dropped it off yesterday before he got in, and stopped by to visit after work to double check he got it. I got a big hug and kiss and "Thank you! Did you make that?!" from him. :D I like to remember birthdays and decided I would make one for him too. I think it made his day!

Join me in the fun and spread the happy! :)

New product - My Crush™!

Have you been wondering what the My Crush books are that you've seen in my shop? They are Close To My Heart's version of the "smash book" craze.

At first glance I had NO idea what I'd use mine for. Then I started digging through my wallets and pocket calendar for bits and pieces. I found photos in my "to scrap/use as samples" pile and inspiration struck.

Here's what I've come up with so far, using only what I received in my New Consultant Kit. Modville My Crush™ book, My Crush™ Besties Assortment, Chantilly paper packet, Lagoon washi tape (LOVE this stuff!), an acrylic block, Reel life stamp set, Lagoon ink pad, and a black finetip pen and adhesive from my stash.

What's your take on the My Crush books and assortments? Would you like themed My Crush workshops? Leave me some feedback below! :)

Sticky beak

Today was a success. It was so nice to meet you C! For those that missed it, here's my set up.

So much fantabulousness.

Stamps, inks, cards, cardstock oh my!

Yes, I made a desktop to match this blog. That's how I roll.

The CTMH Virtual Crop is coming up quick on August 23rd. Here's the list of supplies you'll need to complete the challenges with links to the categories on my website. I recommend ordering ASAP as it can take 2 up to 3 weeks for orders to arrive from the US.

From CTMH Down Under Virtual Crop:
"Order these three things to have on hand for our 23rd August Virtual Crop from your CTMH Consultant:

1. Paper Pack or WOTG (Workshop On The Go) Pack!
2. Container and Embellishments - check out Ribbon!
3. Colonial White or Black Frame or Display Tray (large or hinged)!

Order now so these items are shipped in time for our Virtual Crop!

Find your CTMH Consultant's website and check-out all our New Products!"