Inky Fingers

I have very inky fingers today, because I have been practicing making these brayer cards. Not only am I colorful, but I have a cut on my finger from my very sharp little scissors. And, to make matters worse, I couldn't find a band-aid, not even a Hello Kitty one, just an empty box. Lexi has an addiction to band-aids and puts one on for every little ouwie that she gets.

I am teaching a class on how to make these cards next Tuesday. It's been a while since I have made a brayer card and it takes a lot of practice and patience to get the technique down. After many attemps, these are examples of the cards we will be making. Even though you need a lot of practice with the brayer, I find that the more I try to perfect a card the more mistakes I make and frustration sets in. So, I am done for the day. These two cards use the CTMH stamp set Childhood Portrait. I love the silhouette of the children against the sunset. The ink pads that I used are Sunflower, Taffy and Hollyhock. I used Sunflower ink a quarter of the way up on the bottom, Taffy three-fourths of the way down from the top, and Hollyhock, one half the way down from the top. The image is stamped in black. To make the blades of grass, I swiped the bottom of the card using the side of my black ink pad several times. I then added little bits of a white gel pen to the blades of grass and to the sides of the children facing the sun to give the look of the sun shining on them.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Happy Belated Mother's Day. Hope you had a wonderful day. My family took me to Carmel for the day. We had a nice brunch at Casanova's followed by window shopping and then a trip to the beach. Here are some pictures that I took. This is a picture of my son, Ryan and his girlfriend Katie.

Here is Lexi.

Me and the family.

Jennifer and Lexi.

OMG!!!! She is famous!!!

This morning, I went to the Close to My Heart Website and looked at the new "Make it From Your Heart" art gallery under "Ideas and Inspiration" and I found this layout of Lexi and Bill. They used pictures that I sent in to create this layout. Check it out. http://closetomyheart.com/Ideas_and_Inspiration/mifyh_gallery.aspx?a={4D78FB63-BFD0-4C2E-9298-81EC6D615798} I can't wait to wake everyone up and show them!!!!

Teacher Appreciation Cards

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and these are the cards that Lexi made for her teachers. I didn't have much time to come up with ideas for the cards, and had to do some quick thinking. It so happened that I was looking at the Cherry-O card worshop brochure by CTMH when my daughter told me that Lexi needed to make three cards that night. Fortunately, the cards were so easy to make. I asked Lexi what her teachers liked and it so happened that I had the stamps that she needed. Since she is in the "Dragonfly" class, she made the middle card for her main teacher. One teacher likes dogs and the other lady bugs. I bet her teachers loved them.

Ukelele Girl

I am trying to finish scrapbooking my pictures from last summer's vacation, before this summer roles around. While I love scrapbooking, I am intimidated by large amounts of photos. There are so many pages to create and it is overwhelming for me. Do you ever feel that way? I love doing a simple event, but a vacation is soooo much work. Also, using the same paper pack tends to make me lose interest fast. I was using the "Moon Doggie" paper pack and all the pages were beginning to look the same, so I decided to change it up a bit and see if that would get me back on track. It did, and I had fun with this layout. I used the "Veranda" paper pack. I love these papers with all the birds on them. In this layout, Lexi is standing in the gardens of the hotel that we stayed at in Kauai. She was playing her Ukelele and making up songs about Hawaii. As people walked by, she loved entertaining them.

Summer 2010 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close to My Heart New Product Blog Hop. There are over 40 creative consultants sharing a sneek peak of the new Summer Catalog that comes out on May 1. If you have come here from Kathleen's blog you are on the right track. If not you may want to start at the beginning. You can find a complete list here.


I am sharing with you a layout that I made using the "Cherry-O" Workshop on the Go. The colors in this pack are so yummy. There is Chocolate, Tulip, Sweet Leaf and Crystal Blue. This paper pack was perfect for the pictures that I took of Lexi and her friends at a church picnic last summer.

Here is a picture of what you get in this set. Isn't the cherry stamp set too cute?

Now hop on over to Beth's blog and see the adorable creation that she has made. Remember to visit all the blogs. You won't want to miss a thing. And, remember the catalog is available on May 1. You are going to LOVE IT!!!!

French Scrapbooking

I took a class on French Scrapbooking and this is the layout that I made. I used a template over my photos and traced around the template shape to get this layout. It was fun doing this layout and very relaxing. The patterned paper is "Moon Doggie" and the stamp set is "Extreme Happiness." Both are from CTMH.

Mojo Monday #135

The one nice thing, that I can think of, regarding Monday's is the "Mojo Monday" Sketch Challenge. It is so hard going back to work after a relaxing weekend, but when I get home, I enjoy checking out the sketch. Even though I haven't done the challenges in a while, I still enjoy looking at them and the cards that people make. Today, I needed to make a card for a friend, and this was the motivation that I needed to get me started. For my card, I used a stamp from the "Pure Innocence" line of "My Favorite Things." The paper is "Green at Heart" by Basic Grey. I hope you survived your Monday and are at home snuggled up with a good book or doing something you love doing.

Photography Lesson #3

Lesson #3 of my online photography class puts everything that we have learned together. It is a hard lesson and I have shied away from doing it. Fortunately, the instructor gave us an extra week and I am at the end of that week. Today, I took my camera and my computer outside, read the lesson and practiced. With this lesson we had to use the Manual setting and choose either apperature or shutter speed as out focus. Since I was taking pictures of "non-moving" objects and wanted to blur the background, I chose apperature. Once you choose your apperature, then you choose the matching shutter speed. Confusing??? It is, but she gave us a little ruler guide to help us match them. The next thing is using the meter on the inside of the view finder to adjust for over/under esposure. To do this, you push the shutter half way down and look at the little lines and dashes inside the camera. You want the meter line to be right in the middle. Once that is in line you take your picture. A minor, but important step is letting in the right amount of light. This is the ISO. Since it was a bright, sunny day, I set it on ISO 100. These are the settings that I chose: Apperature 5.6 and Shutter Speed 1/60 and when zooming the focal length is 50 mm. My head is spinning from all these numbers and choices. Time to take a break and pick it up another day. I will have to practice what I tell Alexia, "Practice makes perfect."

There She Goes

Last Friday when I went to Jazzy Crafts, I made this layout of Lexi. The paper is from "Fancy Pants" and is called Kraft Kutz. I have had it in my paper storage for probably about a year. Jazmine helped me pick out the bright pink cardstock. I love how it picks up the color in Lexi's helmet. We used the Cricut to cut the letters using "Plantin School Book". The rainbow is a die cut from the paper pack and is propped up on Pop Dots.

Teen Scrapbook Workshop

Today was my Teen Scrapbook Workshop at the church. I have so much fun working with this group of girls. They are so sweet and are it fills me with joy to see how happy they are with their finished layouts. I enjoyed putting these ones together myself because I used pictures of my daughter, Jennifer growing up through the years. She and I had some laughs going through old pictures and reminiscing. The paper pack that I used is called "Notebook" from CTMH. The layout designs are on the back of the "Notebook Stickese." This paper pack is so much fun. It has paper that resembles notebook pages, doodles and coffee stains. The stamp sets that I used are "Friendship Alphabet" and "Field Trip Alphabet".

Flowers Whisper What Words Cannot Say

Ever have one of those weeks when things go horribly wrong? I had one of those weeks, and what got me through it was the love of a friend who was by my side the whole way. Her comfort meant the world to me. And, I thank God for her. Of all the blessings in my life, the most important are my family and close friends. As a thank you, I made this card for her. I used the April Stamp of the month called "Flower Pot" from CTMH and the paper is "That's Amore". The sentiment that came with this set says "Flowers Whisper What Words Cannot Say". It couldn't be more perfect. To give dimension to my card, I stamped the image first. Then on a seperate piece of paper, I stamped the flowers and flower box. I colored both images and cut the second one out. I then propped them up on pop dots. I gave a little twist to the flowers, so that you could see the flowers underneath. I used brads for the nails in the shutters. And, if you are wondering if my week got better. It did. But, I am drained. I got some rest this afternoon and plan to go to crop night at my favorite scrapbook store, Jazzy Crafts. Have a blessed weekend. And, always remember, God is good. He will always provide what you need. And, when you wonder where he is, look around. He may be in that person next to you. God uses those around us to show us his love. He will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what. Wow. I hadn't planned on making this a biblical lesson, I just needed to share his goodness.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Miracle Layout

This is a layout of Jennifer when she was only 4 years old. Isn't she precious? I have undertaken a huge project. In my closet are boxes of old pictures. I pulled them out the other day, and there is no way that I can get those boxes back in that tight spot in the corner of my closet. So, I decided to separate the pictures of Jennifer and Ryan and put them in photo boxes and eventually make them both scrapbooks. After all, I have 10 of Lexi!!! So, while going through the pictures this morning and reliving the memories, how wonderful that is, I decided to use these pictures for a layout. I took a break and opened up the CTMH special "Miracle" and scrapbooked them. I love, love this layout. The chipboard that comes with this package is unlike any chipboard that I have used. It has a printed image on the pieces and when you sponge on ink, the white image pops through. Love it!!!

I can't wait for Jennifer to come home from work tonight and see what I have done for her. I can't stop smiling as I look at my precious little girl. It makes me miss her, but I have to say that I love the fine woman that she has become.

Photography Assignment 2

Today I brought my camera to work and took pictures using the different Apperature Settings. There is a grove of Cherry Blossom Trees right in front of the building. The picture of Michelle with her hat reminds me of France. I love the softness of these pictures. The thing about Apperature is that it allows you to make the background blurry. There are cars in the parking lot, but you can't see them with with a higher Apperature.