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!

Fun with Lollydoodle!

I absolutely adore the Lollydoodle paper pack and have created a lot of fun artwork using it. My daughter will be two in a few (short) weeks and I have been using this paper pack as I finish up her First Year album to be able to share it with family at her birthday party.

For this first layout, I used the layout from the Lollydoodle WOTG - I love how the colors really make you smile! My son is a budding photographer and he took the picture of his sister playing with the tulle of her skirt.

Buttons, stickers and bling

This second layout was a quick use of some of the scraps I had after I made so many layouts but I wanted to keep going! I used my 2" scallop punch and a "fit to page" saying from Artbooking to make this easy layout. 

This third layout is from the Make it From your Heart vol 2 (I forget which one, though). Used the new scallop border punch to make the fun border along the bottom of the pages and embellished with stickease, bling and the Lollydoodle Assortment.

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment and tell me your favorite layout. See you next time!

A Giveaway!!!

A **Giveaway** to celebrate the release of the 2014 Spring/Summer CTMH Idea Book Have you seen it??? The Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book from Close to My Heart has me drooling over every page!!! I love every one, but this book is my favorite so far! There are so many fun goodies I want to share with you -- but I was too busy this month to have an Open House -- so I'm doing the next best thing: a giveaway!!!! Here's the deal: Place an order on my website (stephaniehuber.ctmh.com) until February 28, 2014 at midnight EST and for every $100 spent in total, I will pick one winner of $25 in hostess credit. That means I will add up everyone's orders and if that total is $300 (for example) I will pick three winners!! So you don't have to place a large order to increase your chances of winning and every little bit helps. Share this offer with your friends - the more, the merrier!!! I don't normally do sales or giveaways because I don't have the sales volumes to give away my discount but my team is in the running to win a meeting by CTMH Corp - and well, that's a big deal!!! During the month of February, our goal is to beat a sales goal from CTMH Corp, hence this sale. If you would like to be more involved in this contest by CTMH Corp and be invited to come to the meeting should our team win, please let me know - I am actively looking to expand my growing team and any new team members will be eligible to attend the meeting. For more information on joining CTMH to earn a discount, make a little extra money or to win great prizes from CTMH Corp please visit my website at http://stephaniehuber.ctmh.com/ctmh/what-we-do/be-a-consultant.aspx.   Enter here for your chance to win $25 in Hostess Credit

Happy (almost Belated) Valentine's Day!!!

I know it's almost at the end of the day, but I wanted to share this post with you -

I had the best intentions of planning a relaxing, fun, enjoyable Valentine's Day for the kids, but we've been buried under so much snow lately that I haven't had much time to myself to create. I managed to get the valentines made for Little Man to exchange at school only to have 12+ inches of snow fall and cancel school for two days - right before a three day weekend. I was able to wear the kids out by creating a massive sledding track complete with a spine-jarring ramp so that I could create some time to myself tonight before I go to bed. And here's what I came up with:

Tshirt using CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge and Cricut Glitter Iron on Vinyl by LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

This is my Valentine's gift to my husband, and he got it right away. He he, it's like I know him or something!  

Baby bodysuit using CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge and Cricut Glitter Iron on Vinyl by LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

 This was supposed to be my gift to my daughter this morning but due to a phone call from the school changing a two-hour delay to school closing this project didn't get completed till after she was in bed. Oh well!

Tshirt using CTMH Artbooking Cricut cartridge and Cricut Glitter Iron on Vinyl by LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

This shirt I made for myself to remind me to "speak love".

I raided my closet and found my two favorite shirts (from H&M for less then $5 each) to make these shirts and from beginning to end, I made all three shirts in less than 1/2 hour. I used my Artbooking cartridge for each image, flipped the image when cutting and made sure to "kiss" cut (cutting through the vinyl but not the transfer tape). I had to find my iron (he, he!) but it was simple to iron the images on to the shirts. I made sure to model each shirt for my hubby to get the final seal of approval!

Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope you got to spend it with your loved ones!

February Joyful Stars Blog Hop : Ivy Lane

Hi there!

It's time for February's Blog Hop with the Joyful Stars! If you've come from Krista's blog you're on the right track. If you're just starting here, at the bottom of the post you'll find a link for the next blog or you can check out the whole list at Joyce's blog.

Since the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book debuted on Feb. 1st, I chose the Ivy Lane paper pack. I was lucky enough to go to two crops in the last two weeks (thank you honey!) so I was able to make lots of layouts to share with you over the next few weeks (I'll be  posting a little more frequently because of that so if you don't already follow me, now's a good time so you don't miss anything!)

Ivy Lane is a fun, girly paper pack and it matched perfectly with the photos from my daughter's first birthday party last year (I can't believe I'm starting to plan her second birthday party in a few short weeks!)

I used Artbooking to cut out the words (from two different keys) in Hollyhock and inked all the edges in Smokey Plum. I chose not to used any other embellishments, because I think she's just sweet enough!

CTMH Ivy Lane from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

This layout is just some fun shots of the family. My son is a budding photographer (taking after mommy, I suppose) and took the shot of my husband and I on the far right. It's my photography that needs work because I didn't have enough light as I was taking my pictures for this post.

CTMH Ivy Lane from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

 I really like all the coordinating embellishments that CTMH gives for each paper pack because it makes designing and making layouts really easy and fun. These are from the Ivy Lane Assortment and make a fun grouping with the matching sticky Complements.

CTMH Ivy Lane from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

This is the third layout using Ivy Lane and just a few of the randomness associated with a first birthday party with family.

CTMH Ivy Lane from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

CTMH Ivy Lane from LavendersageDesigns.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by, now you're off to Helen's blog. If you get lost, you can find your way again by visiting Joyce's blog. Don't forget to leave a comment as you hop, we love hearing from you!!!

Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book: New Goodies!!!

This post is for the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book Blog Hop.

I have been anxiously waiting to share this Idea Book with you for a few weeks now because this one is my favorite, by far!!!

There are just so many goodies inside this Idea Book that it was hard to pick just one to show you but I went the non-traditional route to show you some wearable art you can make with Close to My Heart.

Close to My Heart has expanded their Base and Bling collection to include Pendants!!! 

I don't wear a lot of jewelry for two reasons (I'm allergic to anything less than 18K gold and my little girl will grab it and rip it off of me - ouch!!) but I just had to try this new trend.

I used a 1" circle punch to punch a scrap B&T from Stella papers (retired) and Slate ink to stamp "J" and "S" from "A Typeface" stamp set. I used black marker for the "+" and a flower from the Frosted assortment. I used Liquid Glass to enamel everything together and let it dry overnight. The flower soaked up a lot of the Liquid Glass which was good to help stiffen the felt. I added three of the gems to the strand for our birthstones. I tried using the alcohol markers to color them but it didn't work out too well. 

This is a fun statement piece but it's so special to me because it is something I created. With a little help from CTMH, of course!!

And a close up ...

 Here is a second piece I did since I had so much to play with. On this necklace I used a glass bead to cover it and Liquid Glass to adhere the bead down. I'm not sure if I didn't let the ink dry before using the Liquid Glass but the next morning I noticed the ink spread through the adhesive. Not too noticeable except to me.

I hope you enjoyed my project! Have you tried the new Base & Bling yet? What do you think? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!

Until next time!

January Stamp of the Month & a Valentine's Day card

It's not often that I get around to working with one of CTMH's Stamps of the Month during the month it's on sale but this stamp set has spoken to me on many levels. I originally bought it because of the sewing aspect - I know a lot of sewers and knew this would be a much-used set to send those lovely ladies happy tidings. Then I started seeing how other consultants were using the set - for Valentine's Day! - and I have to say, I honestly never saw that use in the stamp set, but I love it!

I had a team meeting yesterday afternoon and originally planned to make a card with the stamp set but since we talked too much (*cough, cough*) we didn't get around to it. So I'm posting it here so I'm going to share with you too.

I used Whisper cardstock to make the base, with the fold on the left. I used Sparkle & Shine B&T and Ruby cardstock. Accessories are: foundry pins, sparkle gems and baker's twine. I used Whisper ink on the edges of everything and Ruby ink on the sentiment.

The second card I'm going to share today is an elegant Valentine's Day card using Whisper cardstock and Sparkle & Shine B&T.

 I used Whisper Ink on the edges and the sentiment and pearl pins stuck in foam tape between the layers. I used Artiste to cut the fancy shape in Whisper and White Daisy. The sentiment is from "4 My Friend".

Stay tuned because I have been really busy working on projects from the new Idea Book. I'm toying around with having another virtual Open House. Would you be interested??? I just love this Idea Book and all the lovely goodies inside - and I know you will too! Please comment on this post and let me know if you'd like to see my Online Open House on February 1 & 2.  Thanks!!!