October News

October is here already!? Whoa! There's a couple new specials on this month so make a cuppa, kick back, and have a read!

Stamp Of The Month

There's a new stamp of the month in town. Meet the gorgeous Home for the Holidays!

As always, you can buy this gorgeous stampset outright for $27, OR when you spend $75 you can get it for only $5. It's a great value with 7 different images on the one sheet.

Cute Christmas cards, crafts, and gifts can be made with this adorable stampset. I have my eye on making some cute wrapping paper and gift tags with this set!

New for October, with each qualifying purchase of $65 you are eligible to receive—as a special bonus—one of two chevron ribbons FREE!

Each chevron ribbon -Ruby or Outdoor Denim- has an original retail value of $9.50. So which ribbon will you get? It’s a surprise! Quantities are limited, so place your orders as early in the month as possible. Be sure to take advantage of this fantastic offer so you can enjoy embellishing your creations with your own surprise roll of bonus ribbon!

I've also set up some events for the month. These are for beginners and experienced crafters alike! Click each link to see more details. Just email or ring to book in!

October Events

1st Scrap Your Stash 1-3pm $10, 8th Scrap Your Stash 1-3pm $10, 
15th Scrap Your Stash 1-3pm $10, 15th Sparkly 7-9pm $45,  
22nd Scrap Your Stash 1-3pm $10, 22nd Snowhaven 7-9pm $15, 
24th-26th Crafty Camp 10a-5p $20/day
29th Scrap Your Stash 1-3pm $10, 29th Jewelry Buffet 7-9pm $20

October workshop spaces are limited. First in best dressed. Some fees are payable in cash on arrival and some are online via direct deposit. Online fees must be received in advance. Email me for payment details.
Please note: Your spot is not guaranteed until payment is received.

Check my facebook page or my events tab for all workshops. Some have strict booking and payment cutoff dates. Please check each event carefully! Once the cutoff has passed, I order all the supplies needed for that event. It can take up to 3 weeks for orders to arrive from the US.

Shop with me today!

 

What's on your crafting table today?

I'm sorting and editing my recent USA trip photos into a homemade Picture My Life template before resizing and printing.

This is my planner version of 12" x 12" Memory Protectors™ Design 4.

I've got 4 new PictureMyLife kits on the way here.

Chalk It Up

For Always

Seaside

Wanderful

Cannot wait for them to arrive! :D

Shop with me today!

 

National Scrapbook Day - Details

In case you missed it, yesterday was my repeat National Scrapbook Day event. One lady came and we had a great time. That tends to happen when you have a couple cuppas, beautiful papers, and lots of stamping inspiration! We made 2 pages each in 7 hours and loved it. When you're distracted by another cuppa or a funny story, it makes the day all the more fun. My customer loved the sunburst (I shared the youtube tutorial where I learned the technique), as well as a crash course in scrapbooking and stamping the Close To My Heart way. I enjoyed having someone else to bounce ideas off of and to share what I love doing! I had a yummy dinner planned, which we never got round to as my lady has allergies that I wasn't prepared to cater for. (Oh well, I'll know for next time!)

Wanna see what we got up to? Read on!

The calm before the storm... The pile of papers -plus prizes!- for my customer, the inks, stamps and other tools we used. Esther was rewarded with two prizes. A free workshop pass (for ordering earlier in the week) and a Ruby Exclusive Ink pad (for coming to NSD). I love spoiling my customers!

Trimmer, papers galore, stamp blocks, oh my!

Esther, my lovely NSD test subject. She had a blast! I did too!

A better shot of our page.

Close up of the stamping we did.

We chose colors that matched the Ivy Lane papers. It came out quite pretty, better than I thought it would! I so love this stampset.

Our sunburst page.

We inked the edges of this matting before we stuck it all down.

So many layers. So much fun to put together!

Our finished layout. We had a great time. Are you coming to my next big scrapping day? Check my events tab!

Like these pages and materials? You can pick up the supplies listed here: Papers - Ivy Lane WOTG Scrapbooking kit, Cardstocks - Bamboo, Colonial White, Chocolate, Whisper, Tools - Surecut™ Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer, Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors, Versamat, Ruler, 2" X 3.5" and 1" X 1" My Acrylix™ Blocks, My Acrylix™ Stamp Scrubber, My Acrylix™ Spritz Cleaner, Bonding Memories™ Glue Pen, Reflections™ Scrapbook Program (Soft Cover), Stamps - Ivy Lane WOTG Cardmaking kit, In The Background, Exclusive Inks - Blush, Chocolate, Bamboo, Slate, Hollyhock.

Esther's free pass prize.

For all my new customers, with your first order from my shop, you'll also get a free pass (worth $10). It's my way of saying thank you! You can use it at any of my workshops listed below:

Shop with me today!

 

National Scrapbook Day

Meet the lovely Esther, my newest customer.

We made two pages today in about 7 hours. (Lots of cups of tea, coffee, laughing, etc.) It's her first introduction to CTMH scrapbooking, stamping, and cropping. She's in love with the trimmer, the versamat, the stamp scrubber and spritz!

The calm before the storm...

Supplies!

I rewarded her with a free workshop pass (as she placed an order this week), and a ruby ink pad (for RSVPing in advance). She was so excited! An ink to start her collection! (I love spoiling my customers!)

When she told her son (6) that she was coming to my house, he got so excited and blurted out ":D you're going to work on my album!?!" (His baby book is a work in progress.)

Esther and I showing off our day's work. :)

We made a sunburst page, and a page from Reflections (p 16). We stamped the whisper photo mats with slate, blush, and hollyhock inks. Such a fun day!

It almost looks like a lace overlay!

Products used today:
Ivy Lane WOTG Scrapbooking kit B&T paper,
Cardstocks: Bamboo, Colonial White, Chocolate, Whisper,
SureCut Deluxe Paper Trimmer, Nonstick Micro Tip Scissors, 2x3.5 and 1x1 MyAcrylix blocks, stamp scrubber, stamp spritz, glue pen, Ivy Lane WOTG Cardmaking kit stampset, Exclusive inks: Blush, Chocolate, Bamboo, Slate, Hollyhock exclusive ink,
Reflections how to book.

Shop with me today!

 

Stamp of the Month - May

I had a play with May's SotM You've Got A Friend the other night. It really is a cute stampset! Here's what I came up with. These are the Base&Bling pocket cards I made for our Jewelry Buffet market stall.

CTMH Products used: Workshops On The Go™ Ivy Lane Cardmaking Kit, Bamboo Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Hollyhock Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Smokey Plum Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Topiary Cardstock, Bamboo Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors, 1x1 2x2 & 3x3 My Acrylix® Blocks, Card Word Puzzle stampset (NLA), Paper Trimmer (similar), Sparkles Clear Assortment, You've Got A Friend - May 2014 Stamp Of The Month, Tombow® Adhesive. From my stash: black shimmer and pink cardstocks.

CTMH Products used: Whisper Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Sarita Paper Packet, Swirls Around stampset, Glamour Uppercase & Lowercase stampsets, Outdoor Denim Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Honey Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Card Word Puzzle stampset (NLA), You've Got A Friend - May 2014 Stamp Of The Month, Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors, 1x1 3x3 2x3.5 My Acrylix® Blocks, Paper Trimmer (similar), Tombow® Adhesive. From my stash: pink cardstock.

CTMH Products used: Lagoon Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Laughing Lola Paper Packet, Teal Shimmer Trim, Outdoor Denim Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Honey Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Smokey Plum Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Glamour Uppercase & Lowercase stampsets, Sparkles Black & Grey Assortment, Card Word Puzzle stampset (NLA),  You've Got A Friend - May 2014 Stamp Of The Month, Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors, 1x1 2x2 & 3x3 My Acrylix® Blocks, Paper Trimmer (similar), Tombow® Adhesive. From my stash: black shimmer cardstock.

CTMH Products used: Lagoon Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Laughing Lola Paper Packet, Outdoor Denim Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Smokey Plum Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Card Word Puzzle stampset (NLA),  You've Got A Friend - May 2014 Stamp Of The Month, Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors, 1x1 2x2 & 3x3 My Acrylix® Blocks, Paper Trimmer (similar), Tombow® Adhesive. From my stash: black shimmer and purple cardstocks.

These pocket cards are a great way to use up scraps from your stash. Not to mention they make a stunning gift presentation for a necklace! Want to make one (or more!) of these for yourself? Come to one of my workshops! Contact me today to get more details and to book in. Prefer to buy one of these pocket cards with a necklace ready made? I have a selection ready for sale.

You can buy the products I've used here. Shop with me today!


 

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. :)