Operation Write Home Blog Hop Time!

Operation Write Home is celebrating Veterans Day this weekend with a Blog Hop. What is Operation Write Home you ask??? Crafters for all walks of life make cards and OWH sees that they reach the our deployed troops so that they have handmade cards to use to write home. What a great reason to make a card! The Blog Hop is set to kick off officially at 3:00pm EST so if you are here early make sure you check back to see all of the wonderful creations along the hopping trail.


If your arrived here from Laura's Blog you are on the right track. And, remember if you get lost along the way or just want to check out the wonderful things OWH is doing check out their page here. All information you need to get started making and sending cards for our troops is contained on those pages. An interesting thing I learned was no cards sent should include loose glitter. The glitter can flake off and put the troops at risk to be seen with night vision goggles.


Another interesting point is the time frame for sending completed cards. Right now, OWH is collection Valentine Cards. Remember, the cards must be collected, sorted, mailed overseas in time for the troops to mail them back home! Here is a Valentine Card that I will be forwarding for the cause.

The card is made on an A2 (5 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch) base. (BTW - that is the easiest size for OWH to ship) The large mat is Garnet and was embossed using a Cuttlebug folder. The pattern paper is from the That's Amore paper pack. The silhouette image was heat embossed on Colonial White using Cocoa powder and is from Childhood Portrait. "Be Mine" is from Thoughtful Seasons and stamped in Garnet on chipboard that was sponged in blush. All items used are Close To My Heart.

Here is another card I recently made. The card is a wallet fold style. It is handstitched, the little elf is heat embossed and watercolored and the closure is magnetic. Again, all items used are from Close To My Heart.

Oh well, I guess everybody is a critic..... :o) That's Bombay, my five month old kitten adjudicating my work.....

It's time to hop over to Cathy's blog and check out her contribution. She has some wonderful layouts and a great altered tin posted so I can't wait to see what she has done for the hop! Remember the Hop starts here.

Thank you for visiting. And, Thank You to all of the Troops who have and continue to serve our Country. God Bless America. For Now, Happy Crafting!

Operation Write Home

Operation Write Home....what a worthy cause. We make our cards for challenges. We make our cards for fun. If you are like me you wind up with piles of cards that need a purpose. Operation Write Home is an organization that collects hand made cards and forwards them to our deployed troops so that they have cards to send home to their loved ones. According to their website as of November 9th, they have sent 246,076 cards for our troops to use!

Tomorrow, November 14th, I'll be participating in a blog hop to help support their efforts. Check back later and hop along in support of our troops!

For Now, Happy Crafting!

Card Making and Experimenting With My New Camera

What a busy day! I took the day to do some cleaning and fixing up around the house and even put up my outside Christmas Lights (no I won't turn them on until the Friday after Thanksgiving). It was such a beautiful day in Philadelphia.

This morning, before I started my work, I completed this card for today's Splitcoast Stampers Clean and Simple Challenge. The challenge was to make a card using white and only one other color. Not as simple as it sounds....

The mat and ink colors are Lilac Mist. I was waiting for an opportunity to use this color. The images are from My Acrylix Stamp sets Picture Perfect and Thank You.

I did the cleaning while I was waiting for my new camera battery to charge. If you have noticed, my pictures have been appearing a tad peaked the last couple weeks. I don't know what happened but the sensor must have gone....oh well. When I bought my old camera (3 years ago) I said that my next camera would be a digital SLR. I researched and studied. I surfed the net to try and figure which one was best. I finally decided on a Canon Rebel XSi. Back in the day, before digital cameras became popular, I had a wonderful Canon SLR that I used for many years without a single problem. I am hoping that my lenses will fit my new toy. Does anyone know? I haven't tried yet.

Remember I said the weather was beautiful today? I was lucky enough to be able to take some pictures in my garden. I have a handful of straggler flowers blooming. Humor me and allow me to share one of my first pictures...BTW - for the photographers the settings were f/5.6, 1/25sec and 800 ISO. For those of you who aren't familiar with photography, don't worry, I was just playing with the buttons until I got a good picture. :o)

For Now, Happy Crafting!

Another Craft Fair Item

I have been so busy creating that I realized this morning that I have been ignoring my blog...Oh my, that is not good. I have been busy making pro-type items for my Craft Table. I will be participating in 3 more Craft Fairs this season and I am trying to make some Holiday Goodies.


I was given several pieces of 9 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch chipboard. Hum, what to do with it. By the way, have you ever looked at something, anything and wondered how you could alter it??? I am developing a serious problem with that thought. Anyway, back to the chipboard. The pieces sat in my craft stock pile for weeks. Finally, I decided that they must have a purpose. Here is what I came up with...

Here are the steps I took to make this altered picture frame:

1. Score the chipboard at the 4 1/2 and 5 inch marks.

2. Cover the chipboard with pattern paper.

3. Sand and sponge the edges. BTW - an emery board works great for sanding chipboard.

4. Cut mats and squares for photos using Nestabilities.

5. Drill holes in the spine. For example a Fiskars Craft Drill was used.

6. Thread ribbon through holes and tie bow.

7. Attach flowers or any embellishment making sure that space is left to slip the photo underneath.

Supplies used for this project include: Bella B/T Duo pattern paper, Smokey Plum and Vanilla Cream card stock, Colonial White Ribbon, paper flowers and adhesive backed pearls. Ink colors include smokey plum, hollyhock and blush. All supplies, except for the chipboard and Close To My Heart.

I think I'll make a few more of these for my craft fair. What do you think? For Now, Happy Crafting!

Come On Phillies!!!

Can you stand this picture!!! Go Phillies!!!

November Newsletter!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the November Newsletter is done. If you didn't get your copy or would like a copy please let me know!

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

I can't believe that another month has passed. This month Close To My Heart has a great stamp of the month called "Around The Block." The possibilities are endless for this set. The set contains a house frame, windows, doors, roofs and sentiments. I liked this set the minute I saw it in the Idea Book.

This month we have over 60 CTMH Consultants participating. If you arrived here from Carla's blog you are on the right track. I am anxious to see every one's project.


This month, I wanted to show the versatility of CTMH stamps. To complete the card, I combined 3 different sets. "Around The Block" is not a Christmas set, but using accents from other sets, it became a Holiday Card.


This card is done on a 5 X 7 White Daisy base that was sponged with Cranberry. There are three mats each cut 1/8 inch smaller than the preceding one and those colors are Cranberry, Vanilla Cream and Garden Green. The top color is Colonial White and was sponged with Heavenly Blue and Crystal Blue for the sky. The sidewalk was sponged with Cocoa and Gray Wool. The house and door was stamped on Vanilla cream, the windows on Colonial White and the roof on Cocoa. All pieces were heat embossed using cocoa powder. Each piece was cut out. I also cut out the "glass panes" of the windows. I hand drew the tree and candles on the house base before I attached the windows. I wanted to give the appearance that you were looking through the window at them. The curtains and accents on the door were colored using my Copics. The wreath was done with Vintage Christmas Flower Soft. A white gel pen and glitter was used to create the snow on the roof.

To finish off the card, the tree from "Neighborhood" was used to stamp the bushes. I masked off the trunk and rock and rolled the leaves in Garden Green and New England Ivy. The white pen and glitter were used again to add the snow accents. "Merry Christmas" was stamped in Cranberry and is from "Ornate Ornaments." Whew, that was a lot! :o)

Here is another card made from the "Around the Block" stamp set.

This card is done on a 6 x 6 inch base in Indian Corn Blue. The pattern paper is from Grace and it is accented with Garnet. The images were embossed in Cocoa and colored with my Copics.

It's time to hop on over to Laurie's blog to check out here creation using "Around The Block."

If you get lost on the hop, the full list of participants can be found in this post. For Now, Happy Crafting!

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop Participants

In just a short while, the November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop will be up and running! Here is the list of participants this month.

Jena DeVries
http://www.livelovelaughscrapbook.blogspot.com
Helen Onulak
http://www.hookedonstamping.com
Carla Ironside
http://www.carlacreates.blogspot.com
Cindy Leek
http://www.paperspadsandpictures.blogspot.com
Laurie Levnik
http://www.creationsbylaurie.blogspot.com
Krista Ritskes
http://kristaritskes-simplycreating.blogspot.com/
Kathleen Androlewicz
http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/
Paige Dolecki
http://www.paigespaperparadise.blogspot.com
Shannon Pelletier
http://www.mycolorfulworldinvt.blogspot.com
Jody Gustafson
http://www.cre8nmemories.blogspot.com
Laura Dame
http://www.thecroppersconnection.blogspot.com
Terrie Dodd
http://www.my-life-in-real-time.blogspot.com
Lori Brown
http://www.savingmine.blogspot.com
Cibele Glazer
http://www.flowerfoot.blogspot.com
Caren Goldsein
http://www.scrappycaren.blogspot.com
Traci Godbee
http://createwithtraci.blogspot.com
Dawn Ross
http://www.iamahappystamper.blogspot.com
Maricar Harris
http://www.maricarharris.blogspot.com
Jamia Bankhead
http://www.papermadnessinc.blogspot.com
Laurie Newton
http://scrapsfromthebeach.blogspot.com/
Nona Davenport
http://www.nonapearl.blogspot.com
Tanya David
http://www.scramperscorner.blogspot.com
Sheila Bennett
http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com
Melissa Laverty
http://www.fancymelissa.blogspot.com
Amy Edwards
http://PaisleysPlayhouse.blogspot.com
Lori Leng
http://www.pinkcloudscrappers.blogspot.com
Kristie Herdener
http://www.goofyscrapper.blogspot.com
Jill Lucas
http://scrapwench.blogspot.com
Adeline E. Brill
http://adeline-brill.blogspot.com
Michelle Nist
http://Michellenist.blogspot.com
Dawn Heuft
http://www.stamptildawn.blogspot.com
Jessica Booth
http://jessicabooth.blogspot.com/
Susan Brooks
http://www.stampingintheopen.blogspot.com
Sarita Schraeder
http://www.blessedscrapper.blogspot.com
Katy Donaldson
http://www.scrappinkaty.blogspot.com
Mary Eisen
www.mestamp2.blogspot.com
Deb Young
http://www.scrapbookczar.blogspot.com
Haley Dyer
http://www.inkyscrapper.blogspot.com
Kimberly Smith
http://verykimberry.blogspot.com/
Barbra Otten
http://barbraotten.blogspot.com/
Tammy Lea Pinchard
http://mycreativeclubhouse.blogspot.com
Nancy Brown
http://www.creativelyartsygallery.blogspot.com
Karen Norman
http://www.gettinscrappywithit.blogspot.com
Judy Burger
http://makingtimeformemories.blogspot.com/
Sylvia Jacquot
http://stampinsylvia.blogspot.com/
Brae Montgomery
http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com
Pamela O'Connor
http://www.cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com
Antoinette Herrin
http://www.GodblessyourART.blogspot.com
Debra Van Patten
http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com/
Jen Patrick
http://www.roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com
Wendy Kessler
http://www.myscrapbookingblog.com
Beth Naumann
http://www.bethscreativeblock.blogspot.com
Misty Jackson
http://www.misstscraps.blogspot.com
Brenda Harmless
http://keepsakeswithheart.blogspot.com
Amy McVey
http://www.clearlystamping.blogspot.com
Linda Shewchuk
http://www.awesomememories.blogspot.com
Chris Shouse
http://www.houseostamps.wordpress.com
Pam Klassen
http://eimmap.blogspot.com/
Michelle Bourlet
http://michellescreativeconnections.blogspot.com/
Jen Rubio
http://www.jenrubio.blogspot.com
Wanda Riley
http://www.creatingwithwanda.blogspot.com
Lori Miller
http://www.clearlyfromtheheart.blogspot.com
Carol Taggio
http://craftycarol55.blogspot.com
Tracy Oleksak
http://www.mamaolie.blogspot.com

For Now, Happy Crafting!

"Tin" Foil Embossing

I finally had a day off, so I thought I would try something different before I began working on Craft Fair projects. I found an interesting technique on Splitcoast Stampers called Foil Embossing.

The card is done on a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch base. I cut a piece of white daisy card stock 3 x 3 inches and wrapped it in tin foil. OK, I called it tin foil....that is what my Mom used to call it. I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the snowflake folder. It worked really well and the foil seems to "mesh" into the paper. Close To My Heart card stock is great for this technique because of the weight of the paper. I had no worry that the foil would rip. The rest of the card is completed using a pattern for the Jingles Creative Basics pack, Juniper and Tulip card stock. Yes, you've seen the tree before as I used it in my post about how to use a blender pen. A little bit of Prisma Glitter and some edge distressing and the card was done. I think I will do this technique again. What do you think?

For Now, Happy Crafting!

November Excitement!

Stampaganza is coming! What is Stampaganza you say? Close To My Heart has a very special promotion. Beginning November 3rd and lasting till November 30th, if you purchase 2 My Acrylix stamp sets, you earn a third FREE. Yes, Free! The My Acrylix stamp sets are the best. Being clear, you can tell exactly where you are placing them. No more ruining your projects because of a misplaced stamp. Save a tree, too. No clunky wood blocks that take up so much space. You only need a few acrylic blocks and you are set to use any stamp set you wish.


Visit my website to check out all the possibilities. Tell Santa or have Santa ask contact me so that your 3 stamp sets are waiting for you under the tree Christmas morning. November is going to be an exciting month! For Now, Happy Crafting.

Craft Fair

Whew, I'm toooo pooped to pop! I had a great time at the Craft Fair in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia yesterday. I met so many wonderful people and sold a few goodies too! Here are a few pictures of my table. Sorry the color is off in the pictures. The Fair was in a large gym and the light was streaming through the high windows.

Every week, my display gets a little larger and a little better. What do you think? All suggestions are welcome! For Now, Happy Crafting!

Craft Table Items

I got up this morning (again) at 3:30am to work on items for the Craft Fair I am participating in tomorrow. Sounds crazy, but I have always been a morning person. I put the '70's station on and I am ready to "boogie." :o)

Here is a card that got done this morning. It was made following the Splitcoast Stampers Inspiration challenge.

I heat embossed the Christmas Tree in white on a Ponderosa Pine background. The mat is done in Cranberry paper and dry embossed using a Cuttlebug mat. I added Cranberry brads and glitter for some bling. The Christmas Tree is from the Close To My Heart stamp of the month called "Holiday Warmth." It is a great stamp set with multiple images including snowflakes, sentiments and this great tree. It is only available for one more week so visit my website so you don't miss out.

I also got altered composition books finished. These were a great seller at last weeks Craft Fair so I pushed to get several done this week. Here are a few.

The books are completed using Twitterpated, Bella and Animal Cookies. All these paper packs are available in the current CTMH Idea Book. The word "Notes" on the lavender book were stamped using a stamp set called Posterboard Alphabet. I would have never bought it, but it was an set received for attending Regionals. I am so thrilled with it and happy to have it. Goes to prove that sometimes you have to see something used to appreciate it. The other letters were cut using my Cricut.

Well, it's off to work soon. For Now, Happy Crafting!

We're Off to the World Series!

Copics and Close To My Heart - Doesn't Get Any Better!

I finally ventured into the land of the Copic Marker. A few weeks ago, while at the Convention in Minneapolis, we girls took a trek to the Mall of America. As we were wandering, we spied a Scrapbook Store. I guess we hadn't had enough stamping and scrapbooking and went in. The store had a display of Copics. I have several markers and always said that I wasn't going get myself hooked on these things. First off, I never knew what to buy to get started. Well, the store had sets put together of just 4 matching markers. Hummmmm....the one set perfectly matched the CTMH Jingles paper pack so as a treat to myself I took the plunge. When I got home, I started playing. OK, yesterday on the way home from work, I stopped at the local Art Store and bought just a few more. Here is my first completed card.

I am here to tell you, don't be afraid to take the plunge. The ease with which the color applies is unlike any other marker I have ever used. The colors are based on family groups such as Yellow Green, Red Violet, Blue and on and on. Each marker is designated with a family group and then a number that further defines the intensity. I started with the very few markers and yesterday when I stopped at the store, I knew enough to purchase markers that were the same family group and a few numbers apart so that I was able to begin to practice my shading.

To complete this card, I first heat embossed the little elves in Cocoa. I used my "babies" errrr....ahhhh....Copics to color them. (R02, R27, R29, YG 95, YG99, Y38, YR 00, BG10, 0 Colorless Blender) I heat embossed the New England Ivy mat with silver snowflakes and sponged the edges of the papers with the corresponding ink colors which were Bamboo and Cranberry. The stripe paper is from CTMH Holiday Creative Basics. The chip board is stamped and sponged with Cranberry. The little elves are from Merry Pursuits and the sentiment is from Holiday Hoopla My Acrlyix Stamp Sets.

Copics are an expensive proposition, but with some prudent planning and purchasing, I think these markers are a frugal addition to the stash. For Now, Happy Crafting!

Craft Fairs, Crops and Cards

Where does the time go??? I just realized that I hadn't had an opportunity to tell you the full details about the Friday Night Crop and the Craft Fair. We had a great time at the Friday Night Happy Hour Holiday Card Crop. Several ladies got a head start on their Holiday card making. They also had goodies and libations, too! :o)

It was a lot of fun. As they finished their cards, I posted pictures on my Facebook page...Close To My Heart (CTMH) Stamping and Scrapbooking with Cindy...for all to see. Check out their wonderful artwork. You can get to my Facebook Page by using the link on my sidebar.

Saturday, I had to work a few hours and then put the final touches on my items for Sunday's Craft Fair. That event went well also and a big thank you to my good friend "Lady Doc" for helping me out.

Whew, we were both pooped. It is a great deal of work setting up but so well worth the opportunity to meet new people. I am off to do yet another one this weekend! :o)

Yesterday I crashed. I didn't even make it to the end of the Phillies game....Go Phillies....but I did manage to get a Clean and Simple Card made for the SplitCoast Challenge. The challenge was to complete a Sympathy Card.

The card is made on a 6 x 6 inch base of Bamboo Card Stock. I used a sheet of DP from Paper Garden and the matching My Acrylix Stamp Set Spring Equinox. Both the paper and the stamp set are retiring at the end of the year. This is a good time for me to remind you that several products will be retiring and I have a list of the papers on my sidebar. Please ask me for a list of the stamps because if there is something there you like, once it is out of stock, you'll won't be able to get it. :o(

I hope to post a few more thoughts about my success with the Craft Fair as I get time. For Now, Happy Crafting!

Virtural Holiday Card Crop on Friday Night and Craft Fair Today!

Sometimes I think I take on tooooooo much. Friday Night we had a great Crop at my house and this morning I am off to to Craft Fair. That is why I am up at 3:00am. Here is a quick picture from Friday Night. I will post more after the Craft Fair. At least today is inside as the Philadelphia are has been hit with 2 Nor'easters in the past 3 days.



For Now, Happy Crafting!

Virtural Holiday Card Crop Friday Night!

Tomorrow night is the big Holiday Card Crop at my house. But don't worry, if you can't make it to my house, you can still participate on my Facebook Page. If you upload a card on Close To My Heart (CTMH) Scrapbooking and Stamping with Cindy (find the link on my sidebar) you are entered in the drawing for a full size brand new CTMH stamp set! Yippee....


Here is another card I completed for tomorrow night. It is based on the sketches I posted as samples and uses the Close To My Heart October Stamp of the Month. I made it with non-traditional Holiday colors for fun. It doesn't show in the pictures, but all of the ornaments and star at the top of the tree are covered in glitter.




See you tomorrow night and For Now, Happy Crafting!

Fun Projects for My Next Craft Fair

I am busy getting ready for another Craft Fair. This one is on Sunday at the Town Hall of a small community just outside of Philadelphia. Getting ready for these affairs is a lot of work but I had so much fun at the last one that I had to do it again! :o)

Here is a door hanger that I hope catches someones eye....


Unfortunately, both CTMH stamp sets I used are retired. I have to admit that when I cut out the bees, I didn't want to be bothered cutting out the antennae. I just cut them off and added the glitter pipe cleaners. I think they work, what do you think?

I also made this altered cutting board hanger.

I covered the board with paper from the Jingles Creative Basic Paper Pack. I have found that the easiest way to cover an item is to measure and cut the paper around an inch larger than the project. I use a plain glue stick to adhere the paper. I line up the edges as best as I can to reduce the amount of trimming. I use a straight blade and carefully cut the excess. I sand all sizes with a emery board. One more tip, to give a finished look to an altered wood item, I always "stain" the areas not being covered with paper. I use a water based "stain" that I purchase at the LCS. It can be found with the little bottles of acrylic paint. I just squirt some on and wipe the item with a paper towel making sure to remove any excess. It dries in no time and gives the item a "finished" look.

To finish the cutting board, I got wooden letters. I mixed Juniper re-inker with pearl paint so that they perfectly matched the Jingles paper. The snowflakes were cut with a Sizzlet die and heat embossed with Silver Pearl Powder. The Tulip scallop circles were cut with a 2 inch punch. All the items were attached with glue dots. I added the jingle bell and beads in with the bow for interest.

Altered items are fun break from card making and we still get to play with paper. :o) For Now, Happy Crafting!

Studio J and a Few Last Tidbits from Regionals

While at Regionals, Jeanette Lynton, founder and CEO of Close To My Heart shared information about the digital scrapbooking program that will be released in the near future. Yes, CTMH is developing a digital scrapbooking program! From what I learned, it promises to be a quite a wonderful new way to scrapbook.


Did you know that on average only 55% of all photos taken are actually printed? Think about it. How many times to you go to a birthday party, wedding, picnic, take pictures and they never even get downloaded to the computer. How great it would be to have an opportunity to come home, complete a layout to share with everyone in just a few days! I took 82 pictures at Regionals and have not printed one. I have downloaded them and shared them here and on my Facebook page, but done nothing else with them. How I wish I had the ability to complete a wonderful layout to share with you rather than just the shots. In just a few short months I will have the chance!


Studio J is the answer! It is an Internet program that consists of the wonderful CTMH papers and embellishments. It is written to allow for editing and correcting to your hearts content. Think how great to have a yearly traditional scrapbook and be able to maintain continuity with Studio J pages for those special moments. CTMH is referring to paper scrapbooking as "Classic Scrapbooking" and computer scrapbooking as "Studio Scrapbooking." Digital scrapbooking will never replace the fun and feel of working with paper, but it sure will add dimension to our treasured hobby.


If 55% of all photos taken ever get printed, the amount that get scrapbooked is even less. Only 1/3 to 1/2 of those treasured memories are ever placed on the page. The rest wind up in a shoe box or on a lost computer disc. "Real Life, Real Scrapbooks, Real Time" is a phrase that was repeated over and over again at Regionals and it makes great sense. Having the opportunity to quickly work with photos that might never get scrapbooked is a wonderful thing. The cost makes sense too. There are no computer programs to buy. Just log on to the computer and go to work! When you are done, hit print and your artwork is delivered to your door in a few days. There will be special incentives for printing multiple pages also.


It is promised that the program will be released to Consultants shortly and then to Customers soon after that. I guarantee you that I will be playing as soon as I get the word....and will be sharing everything with you!


Just a few more tidbits from Regionals that I thought was interesting....The most popular paper pack this year has been Emporium. It is followed closely in popularity by Bella. You can check what this papers look like on my website. The most popular selling embellishment under $10 was our pewter brads. I bought them, did you? :o)


I haven't had the opportunity to share any of my recent artwork so I thought I would post a card I made on Monday.

I used two My Acrylix Stamp Sets we received at Regionals...Delightful Things and Thank You. The images were stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with Cocoa powder. The background was brayered using Sweet Leaf, Olive and New England Ivy inks. The mat is New England Ivy.

For Now, Happy Crafting!

More Goodies from the Close To My Heart Regionals

Slowly I am working to get more goodies and information posted about the wonderful weekend I spent in Minneapolis at the CTMH Regional Convention. Jeanette Lynton, the founder and CEO of Close To My Heart spoke both days. What a savvy, talented and inspirational woman.

When we entered the ballroom on Saturday morning, Jeanette was waiting at the podium. We each found a great package waiting for us at our seats.


This is a sneak peak at a new item in the Spring 2010 Idea Book. It is a wire bound journal. The great thing about it is it has a plastic cover to protect your completed artwork! The pages are blank it it will be great for all of your musings, sketches and daily thoughts. Jeanette gave the instructions as we completed the cover.

In my next post, more fun facts about CTMH and the latest word on Studio J. For Now, Happy Crafting!