Posted on Friday, August 1, 2014

Hip Pic Album: New School Year Album

Today is the day! Close To My Heart 2014 – 2015 Annual Inspiration Book Reveal Day! I am so super excited and cannot wait to show you all the new pretty products in this new Annual Inspiration Book. You can download PDF File here today and start making wish list 😀

Now… my project… My oldest daughter is going to Kindergarten this year! She is super excited about this going to school, and this Momma? I have mix feelings: thankful, excited, and sad at the same time… I don’t know if I am as ready as she is. We’ll find out in 2 weeks!

So, I am making her first Kindergarten album using My Creations™ Hip Pics Album and Workshops On The Go™ Chalk It Up Scrapbooking Kit.

This Workshops On The Go™ Chalk It Up Scrapbooking Kit (G1081) comes with Chalk It Up Scrapbooking Kit stamp set (D-size), Chalk It Up paper packet, matching color card stocks (1 Flaxen, 1 Lagon, 1 White Daisy), Chalk It Up Complements, Chalk It Up Assortment, 1 spool Striped Twill Ribbon and an instructional brochure. You can create at least 4 – 12×12 scrapbook layouts with this kit.

The number background I created by stamping the numbers from the Chalk It Up Scrapbooking Kit stamp set on a piece 5″ x 6″ Flaxen Cardstock with Whisper Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad. This ink is great for shadowing and light stamping.

Every CTMH duo-papers come with a little surprise, matching color and pattern borders. The lagoon dots and Sorbet swirl pattern borders are 2 of the 3 borders from Chalk It Up paper packet. I used my Scallop Border Punch to created the scallop border and added it on the page using adhesive runner, then I added the Sorbet swirl pattern border on top of it.

I used Liquid Glass to add the word YEAR chipboard from Chalk It Up Complements and 3D Foam Tape to add the arrow word on top of the Year word for some dimensional effect.

Do you see those washi tapes??? Aren’t they cute? They are Black Arrow Washi Tape and Lagoon Hearts Washi Tape. And that Sorbet puffy heart is my new favorite assortment from Chalk It Up Assortment.

This ribbon flower I made using Base & Bling Adhesive Dots and Striped Twill Ribbon that comes in the Workshops On The Go™ Chalk It Up Scrapbooking Kit. I added the cute smiley face chipboard in the middle of the flower.

This is just the cover! I cannot wait to fill up all the pages in this week, so come back tomorrow for the sneak peak the pages 😀
And today I join CTMH New Product Blog Hop. I hope you will enjoy this hop and all inspirations that CTMH Independent Consultants have for you on their blogs 🙂

Posted on Friday, July 25, 2014

SOUS Die Cut Challenge: Food & Beverage

I cannot believe that Summer is almost done!!! But I cannot complain, we just have been having so much fun this Summer. July is a month full of fun for us that we had awesome cook out on the fourth of July, fantastic weather for playing outside though we had some cloudy and rainy days, road trip, camping and next week we will have VBS at our church. We are thankful for Summer!

Every single moment is worth to remember. One way of remembering our memories is scrapbooking. I have been scrapbooking since 2009 after our first baby girl was born. Now she loves seeing her baby book 🙂 I am working on our second baby girl’s book and hoping when she is bigger, she’ll love it too. Then I thought, well… I don’t have yet book about me and my husband. So, I started our first scrapbook album that record our first year memories as husband and wife. That is just the beginning 🙂

Today I would like to share with you one of the page I made for SOUS Die Cut Challenge this week.

This is one of our stories when we went to my hometown and had these local “must eat food” That was Dave’s second time visiting actually, but our first time visiting my family. Scrapping these pictures made me hungry and miss those food 😀 LOL!!!

For our album I used My Crush™ Bluebird Book and Memory Assortment from Close To My Heart. I added some of the Color-Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes, Chocolate Woodgrain Washi Tape, Honey Triangles Washi Tape, and Silver Geometric Washi Tape.

The banner I embossed a piece of White Daisy Cardstock with Chevron Embossing Folder using my WRMK Evolution Advanced. I cut Cocoa Cardstock for the title using my Silhouette Cameo. I used this free font, Bira font worked well with die cut machine! Do you see that fork, spoon and knife? I found them at Silhouette Online Store designed by Megan Hardy. After I resized them, I cut them from a piece of Champagne Cardstock to match the color with the book page.

So, I have 6 pictures for this limited space and the solution is this awesome Memory Protectors™ Flip Flaps™ Small Assortment! They are Slide photos or other artwork into the pocket and attach the Flip Flap with its adhesive strip. 4 each of 2″ × 2″, 3″ × 3″, 3″ × 4″, and 4″ × 4″.

On this page I use only 2 of the 4″ x 4″ that holds 4 pictures and I added one more picture on the page, there I have 6 pictures on this 10″x7″ page! I added Bronze Shimmer Trim on to cover on the flip flap. I love this Flip Flaps pockets! 😀

Hope to see your project link up with us at SOUS Die Cut Challenge and other challenges until the end of the month, you can win the blog candy!

Have a fun weekend with your love ones!

Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2014

100th Mother’s Day Anniversary and DIY Gift Ideas

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Do you know that this year is the 100th Mother’s Day Anniversary? Here’s what I found about Mother’s Day on Wikipedia:

The modern American holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. Her campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her beloved mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Anna’s mission was to honor her own mother by continuing work she had started and to set aside a day to honor mothers, “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” Anna’s mother, Ann Jarvis, was a peace activist who had cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War and created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues.

Due to the campaign efforts of Anna Jarvis, several states officially recognized Mother’s Day, the first in 1910 being West Virginia, Jarvis’ home state. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers. In a thank-you note to Wilson, Jarvis wrote of a “great Home Day of our country for sons and daughters to honor their mothers and fathers and homes in a way that will perpetuate family ties and give emphasis to true home life.” Jarvis became critical, however, of the commercialization of the day.

To celebrate this special day this year, we didn’t buy any gifts for my husband’s mom and grandma, we made them. Here’s what we made for them:

Sunflower Topiary

I used my Silhouette Cameo to create this sunflower topiary gift. The cutting file I used is 3D Sunflower Round Topiary from Jamie Cripps collection. On Jamie’s blog, she has the tutorial how to put this topiary together. The papers I used is Dream Pop (retired), White Daisy and Topiary cardstock from Close To My Heart. For the green grass I cut gift bag wrapping paper I had in stash from Christmas 🙂

The second gift is 3D Paper Tulip with burlap wrapped bottle vase:

For this one I used 3D Tulip from Lori Whitlock collection. I tell you, this is the easiest tulip flowers I ever made! All you need to make this flower are:

Silhouette Cameo, cutting file, cutting mat, and blade.
Cardstocks: White Daisy, Gypsy, Cotton Candy
Burlap
Glass bottle (I repurposed sweet tea glass bottle)
Gardening sticks (I found a pack at AC Moore). You also can use dowel or flower wire and wrap it with flower tape.
Glue Gun (or strong glue)

To make the tulips is very easy, cut the shapes, fold the pieces in half and glue them to it’s neighbor. Then insert the stick/dowel and glue them with glue gun. I skip the leaves.

And for the vase, I wrapped the layers of burlaps using glue gun starting from the bottom and worked my way up to the top.

Hope you have the best Mother’s Day ever!!!

Posted on Friday, March 28, 2014

I Love My Daughters

It starts feeling like Spring here – some of our daffodils and tulips coming out of the ground, wonderful breeze and my daughter T-Ball practice has started 😀 Just cannot wait to see more of the colors of the flowers!

Every day when I count my blessings, I count my husband and daughters twice, or may be triple. I love them more each day. We have our ups and downs, but God always help me to see that He has blessed more than I can imagine.

Yesterday, we had our downs. I cried with my daughters when they were disciplined. I cried with them when they were sad. I prayed with them and asked God to heal their wounds and give them new hearts that love Him more.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. – Ezekiel 36:26

I believe in this God’s promise that He is the one will give them new hearts, new spirits. He will give them the hearts to love Him and obey Him, the Holy Spirit in them to guide them in the Truth and to follow His directions.

I am just a mama. I realize that one day they will be away from me, but God, God is the only one I can trust who will be with them always and ever. He is the one that they need the most! That is my hope and prayer for my daughters.

I love creating memories of my daughters for them to remember and to treasure when they grow up, this is one of my favorite layout I created a digital layout using Jen C Designs, Forever Love kit:

Today link up this post at Faith Filled Friday over Missional Women:

And also I am playing along with Stuck On U Sketches – Sketch Challenge 03/28/14. Check out this fabulous sketch from Leah, one of the SOUS Co-creators:

You can get this beautiful kit (30% Off) and collection (50% Off) here:

Pickleberry Pop | Gotta Pixel | Scrapbookgraphics

Don’t forget that playing in ANY of our challenges will make you eligible for our months blog candy! You have a challenge EACH Friday and every other Monday if you want to try out creating Project Life styled. We’d love to have you share with us!

This month blog candy is from Creative Embellishments

Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2014

Deepest Sympathy

It is almost a week I haven’t posted anything and didn’t create anything because of all of us got sick since we got back from a road trip. First my husband, then my baby and I, and yesterday my oldest daughter had fever. We all caught the cold from whoever we made contact. But thankful that today everyone starts feeling better.

And I found out a friend of mine had lost her husband from a friend’s email. I am so sad to hear that. So, I went up to my craft room to make her a card…

It is a CAS and one layer card. I have a retired stamp set, Card Chatter – Sympathy from Close To My Heart for the sentiment that I stamped using Black Pigment Ink from Basic Pigment Ink Pad Set. And for the dots, they are from Hello Bloom set and I stamped them using Pear from Adventure Pigment Ink Pad Set and Chocolate from Basic Pigment Ink Pad Set. After I stamped them all, I heated to dry the ink quicker but you can let it air-dry too.

The colors are inspired by The Card Concept Challenge #5: