It's Crop & Share Time Again!

The only redeeming factor of winter, in my humble opinion, is its when I get to go on weekend crops. Specifically two each year. My husband, who is an on-the-road truck driver and thus not home more often then he is home, is forced to be home and play Mr. Mom. Don't misread this, he does a great job as their father but when I'm gone ... I really don't know if I'll ever know the truth of what happens, what they eat, or wear, or play with. I try not to think about it and just lavish all my creative energies into getting as much scrapbooking done as inhumanly possible because let's face it, this is the only dedicated time to scrap I get. Sure I have a wonderful creating space at home. But there are no doors and I have to share it with the kids' play space. Great for sneaking in some "me" time during playdates but not conducive to getting lots done on a regular basis. If they see mommy, they want mommy's attention.

Sigh ....

But when I go away ... well, scrap happens! :)

Over the next few weeks, I will share with you some layouts I've done this past weekend. I still have another weekend coming up so I'll add them in too.

This past weekend is a wonderful time away at a local retreat center. The accommodations are lovely, the food is wonderful (I gained 4+ pounds this weekend!), and I never have to leave the building so I get to stay in super comfy clothes (read: workout clothes all weekend and no judging!!). I actually was all packed up when I realized I had not seen my sneakers in three days and had to go looking for them. Thankfully, the cleaning staff found them under the bed and returned them to the front desk for check out. My goal this weekend was to get from January through August of last year because that was as far as I had sorted my photos. And I actually accomplished it! I am so proud of myself! Even better, I love all the layouts I did! Usually there are a bunch I just throw together just because. Crafting all weekend can be draining and there are just hours where my brain refuses to work. This time however, I rarely had that feeling and was able to power through and get 70 pages done (about 35 two page layouts). Since about half of them need some sort of Cricut cut to finish them completely, I'll only share the completely finished ones now. I'll add the others in later.

First one up ...

CTMH Scrapbook layout using PML page and Frosted (retired) paper pack by Stephanie Huber

The first page of the album I'm using as a title page, but I still need to add the numbers so this is the first full layout and features all the snows from last winter (one snow looks like the next one, right?). I'm learning how to use my DSLR to take the photos I want to use on mys scrapbook pages so I'm liking my pages better. Maybe that's why I didn't have any problems designing, I liked all my photos! Designing with a mix of traditional pages and PML (Picture My Life) pages took some thinking ahead but I'm really happy with the results. I tend to be photo heavy and I want to document *everything*. PML pages and Flip Flaps are my most used accessories!

CTMH Scrapbook layout using PML page and Frosted (retired) paper pack by Stephanie Huber

 This is the next page in the album and I continued using the Frosted papers since the pictures were mostly blue. The Stickease from the paper pack made it easy to decorate. Add in some gems and a Cricut cut as a journaling card and done!

CTMH Scrapbook layout using Frosted (retired) paper pack by Stephanie Huber

This was a quick layout of my daughter. She is so expression-full and I had to document it! I used a scrap piece of Frosted to highlight the sleeping photo and a chipboard border from the Chantilly (retired) Complements pack. I absolutely love how our colors work together so you can mix and match from each paper pack! The letters are from the Fundamental Sticker Packs - these are a new addition to our product line and I was so thrilled with it when it was announced at Convention.

I'll be back Wednesday with a new layout for the Joyful Stars Blog Hop.

:)

Stephanie

January Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the January Edition of the Joyful Stars Blog Hop! If you've arrived from Lori's blog then you're on the right track. If you're starting here, follow the link at the bottom of the post to hop over to the next post. Keep going till you come back to where you started. If you get lost, see Joyce's blog for a complete list of participants.

For Christmas, I finally wore my husband down and bought myself a new Cricut Explore "from him". :) Since it's arrival in my house, my kids have been neglected, dinners have been "leftovers" and the laundry is stacked in various piles around the house (I've lost track of what's clean or dirty, but whatever!)

I have been crafting up a storm! The ease of cutting and searching my images to find *just the right thing* is just divine! Even though I've had an Expression for what seems like eons, the finesse of the Explore is the creme de la creme of home crafting!

I'm learning to use the software to plan out my scrapbook pages, letting the machine do it's thing and relax in front of the tv catching up on my favorite shows while I assemble my cuts - it's everything I've ever wanted!!!

Of course, as I went searching for something to share with you tonight, I couldn't find just the right piece - I wanted something out of the new Seasonal Expressions to share with you and it seems like the perfect time to share with you the Charlotte Workshop Your Way PML layouts.  Have you seen this new line of papercrafting!?!? It's awesome! This one kit includes instructions for 3 layouts, 6-9 cards (depending on the kit) and a PML layout!! It's the one perfect kit for every crafter! My sister consultants and I traveled to Philadelphia last month for some training from the Home Office on this new item and It. Was. Awesome!! I loved hearing first hand how the kit evolved from the WOTG and why they were adding this new line to better meet the needs of customers (and consultants too).

The Charolotte WYW kit is so adorable! I'm not a girly-girl but I love the mix of neutrals with the pop of Sorbet ... I can easily mix photos of both of my kids on one layout with this paper pack and the doodles are so on trend my heart is fluttering! :)

Anyway, by now you're even wondering if I'm going to show you anything ...  your wait is over! ;)

A predesigned PML layout really too easy to brag about on a blog hop so I spiced it up with a few of my own "designed" PML cards. I used my new Explore (naturally) to easily cut a few images from the new Artistry cartridge and voila!

This part was fun - one of the selling points of our new house was the wild life! My hubby loved that he could hunt from his front porch (not that I let him, for the record, that's my spot!). 

This PML served as the title of the page: it doesn't matter where my family is as long as we're together, we're home. 

 Now you're off to Yvonne's blog to see what she's created to share with you. See you next month!

February Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Hi all and welcome to the February edition of the Joyful Stars blog hop!

If you came here from Betty's blog then you're on the right track. If you're starting here then just follow the link at the bottom of the post to hop over the next blog. So grab your coffee and enjoy the eye candy!

It's been awhile since I've created anything but I finally got away last weekend to a winter scrapbooking retreat and created some lovely layouts that I'll be sharing with you over the next few weeks but the first layouts I want to share are two, single pages I did to try out a new (to me) technique: scrapbooking only one photo per page.

I've seen these pages all over the magazines and I'm really too much of a shutterbug to ever think about this technique until I get to my retreat and realize that I have two single photos of two different events. Seems like the perfect time to try something new!

CTMH Chalk It Up with lagoon shimmer tape, Chalk It Up accessories and white enamel stars

 I used the Chalk It Up paper pack (which by this time is just scraps), the matching Chalk It Up accessories, Lagoon shimmer tape and white enamel stars. I inked the edges of all the paper with Lagoon ink and colored in the enamel stars with Bronze Shin Han marker.

CTMH Chalk It Up with lagoon shimmer tape, Chalk It Up accessories and white enamel stars

 I love this picture because my husband is actually *smiling* !!!

CTMH Chalk It Up with lagoon shimmer tape, Chalk It Up accessories and white enamel stars

 The other page I'm going to share with you is made using the Paper Fundamentals, Avonlea Picture My Life cards, sparkle flourishes and the twill ribbon.

CTMH Paper Fundamentals, Lagoon ink, Avonlea Picture My Life cards, sparkle flourishes & twill ribbon

I used the Lagoon stamp pad to color in the paper (carefully wiping the ink off the resist pattern) then adhering the Picture My Life cards in a pretty pattern and adding the flourishes and ribbon.

 (Sorry this is turned, I can't get Blogger and my photo editor to stop over-thinking each other)

CTMH Paper Fundamentals, Lagoon ink, Avonlea Picture My Life cards, sparkle flourishes & twill ribbon

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment (hint, hint). Now you're off to Marie's blog to see what she has for you. See you soon!

PS If you get lost along the way, check out Joyce's blog for the complete list.

Create 4 Him Team Striving & Thriving Crop Day Recap

Last week, my upline "grandma", Krista Hershberger, gathered all her team to celebrate her win in the Striving and Thriving contest sponsored by CTMH Corp last year. The contest was open to any Director in the company worldwide and each team had to qualify in 5 areas. After the contest ended, all 18 teams who qualified won a free team meeting from Corp - complete with projects and a business class just for them. And Krista's team won!!!!

It was a nice day just to get away from the family for a bit to be creative but it was super nice to be able to get away with a wonderful group of gals to spend the day creating together - followed by a wonderful party with Kristine Widtfelt and her partner in crime, Tiffany. They gave a great business class then showed us how to use the Picture My Life cards in two scrapbook layouts. Here are a few of the photos from the day.

Being a consultant is really super special, I wouldn't give it up if I had to. If you'd like to know more about the perks of being a consultant, please email me!

April Joyful Stars Blog Hop: Studio J

Welcome back to another edition of the Joyful Stars Blog Hop. If you're coming here from Cindy's blog then you're on the right track. It's a circular hop so if you get lost you can always visit Joyce's blog for a complete list.

This last month has been an extremely hard month for me but Close to My Heart had a fabulous deal all month long on Studio J layouts that I didn't want to miss out on. If you haven't tried Studio J, then you owe it to yourself to a take a half hour to make a beautiful layout - with or without pictures. There is so much to do on Studio J and this month I sat down and tried a bunch of techniques I've heard about from other consultants. I'm going to share my efforts with you now.

This is beautiful paper but I just didn't love it in person. On the computer screen, I fell in love with it! I loved that I could change the embellishment and cardstock colors to whatever I wanted and boom! I loved it! See that word collage on the right? I made that! The Stickease says "Be You" then using the individual letters, I added "TIFUL" below to it make it a title. Sweet, huh?

Studio J "Be-You-Tiful" layout from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com featuring Arianna

Just a few of the options to Studio J to help you think outside the box:

1. Create beautiful, quick pages with predesigned layouts, complete with photos, journaling and embellishments:

Studio J layout from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com featuring Jubilee

Studio J layout from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com featuring Lollydoodle

 2. Create beautiful, quick layouts with predesigned layouts (waiting for your own photos and embellishments):

Studio J layout waiting for photos from lavendersagedesign.blogspot.com

3. Print your photos!!! Seriously, this one hit me like bricks when I learned this was an option!
The best perk to being a consultant is getting to go to Convention each year. In 2013, CTMH had our annual convention in Disney World Florida! It. Was. Awesome! During one of our creative sessions they gave us an exclusive paper pack just for attending then showed us new layout designs to help us scrap our time at Disney. These photos are just a few of the highlights of my trip that I am printing using Studio J to fit onto the pages I've already made up. Quick and easy!

Use Studio J to print your odd size photos from lavendersagedesigns.blogspot.com

4. But wait! There's more!!!
I don't have examples of this to share with you, but want to tell you about them anyway. Picture My Life is a great way to quickly put a bunch of photos into a layout and now you can make you're own PML cards in Studio J. Want to use Arianna? Or  Lollydoodle? Now you can!! Simply choose the paper pack you want to use and the card sizes you want to use (3x4 or 4x6) and start designing. This is the project I'm currently working on now!

I will post more from my Studio J haul in other posts since they use retired paper packs. If you want to see them, make sure to follow my blog (click the link on the right sidebar) so you don't miss a post. Thank you!

Thanks for joining me as you travel this blog hop. Please take a moment and leave a comment as you travel. Now you're off to Lori's blog to see what she has to share. See you next month!!

March Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Hey all! It's the March edition of the Joyful Stars Blog Hop. Grab some coffee and enjoy hopping through all the springtime ideas! If you're coming from Krista's blog, you're on the right track. If you get lost, you can check out the whole hop at Joyce's blog.

I chose this layout I made with the Artbooking Cricut cartridge because the photos scream "spring" to me (I'm still stuck indoors because of all the snow so photos of my son playing out in the driveway in shorts seems so far away!)

I made this with the Artbooking Cricut cartridge, on two different keys. I love how the keys each have a theme associated with it so it's easy to cut pieces for your layout. Everything is already sized appropriately, just dial in the size of your page (6", 8" or 11") and the design element you want and the pieces come out perfectly portioned for your page. Photo boxes are set up for 4" x 4" or 4" x 6" photos so there's no guess work (or wasted paper).

I cut a few of the same design elements out of different colored cardstock to interchange the pieces and mix it up through out the page.

I then took some of those extra pieces and embellished a Picture My Life layout with them from later on that summer...

Layering some of the stars and mixing the colors up in the design elements help to keep the eye moving over this photo-heavy layout.

Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment letting me know what you love most about the Artbooking cartridge. Now you're off to Cindy's blog ... See you next month!

Picture My Life

If you've ever thought about it, now is a great time to join Close to My Heart! Whether you want to earn extra money, earn a free trip to Costa Rica or get your scrapbooking supplies at a discount, when you become a consultant you could get a *FREE* Picture My Life Scrapbooking program! Contact me for more information that could change your life!