A Thankful Heart Mini Album

In September, I decided I wanted to make a Thanksgiving album that my whole family would contribute to at Thanksgiving dinner. I worked up a few ideas and ended up teaching a class at our annual Holiday Extravaganza on this album.

I cut out 6 4 inch tags for each person and had a bunch of embellishments on the table. Everyone had a great time putting it together and creating the base of the album in a way they liked. I loved how it came out!

Now, to try this on a larger scale!

I decided that I wanted a picture on each tag as well as my family writing. I thought about using the printer but decided that would be too time consuming.  A dear friend has an instant camera so I decided to try that out.

 I always loved the old Polaroids even though the quality was so poor. Sometimes they were great for quick projects. This new instant camera by Fuji worked great. Again, the quality is not as good as a digital camera. But it was quick and easy (and a bit pricey- don't waste these shots!).

My craft room was cleared out to make a large dining area so I had to set up a crafting area in my bedroom. My daughter and I set up the tags (cut from the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge at 6 inches), paper, ink, and embellishments on my dresser ready to go. As people arrived, one of us would take a quick picture then go into the bedroom and put it on the tag.  We embellished the tag quickly, leaving a space at the bottom to write. Just before we served dinner, Cait and I handed out the tags and asked each person to write what they are thankful for.

My daughter, Elyse, writing her tag

My daughter, Cait, handing out the tags.

I was surprised that I only had a few grumbles (from my brothers, of course!) but everyone wrote on their tag. My big mistake was not having enough quality pens. I didn't think about gathering them up beforehand. I found 2 archival quality black pens right when we started the writing portion of the project. I must have a dozen in various bags and places around the house. I should have grabbed them before guests came.

I put each card on a binder clip and ended up with a completed album before our celebration was over. 23 tags in all.

I will switch my binder clip to a larger size and add some ribbon on the clip. But other than that, it is perfect!

Items used:

Thankful Heart stamp set

Pathfinding Paper Pack

Gold Sequins

Gold Shimmer Trim

Chocolate Ink

Art Philosophy Cricut Collection

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Yes, I did write Thanksgiving in my post title. I do hate planning the holidays so early but in my business, you really have to. I am even working on Christmas cards for classes already!

Now to get back to my topic-- I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. My assignment as part of the Holiday Extravaganza is Thanksgiving. I am designing one card and one other. I love Thanksgiving! I just love the fall colors and love making my turkeys (yes, that is plural. I cook two every year). My brothers and their families, my parents, my aunt and uncle, and many guests squeeze into my house for Thanksgiving dinner. We take everything out of the craft room and add tables. As the kids get bigger, we are going to run out of room! Because I love Thanksgiving so much, I am very happy to be the one to take care of the Thanksgiving projects.

My first project is a card.

I used the Happy Autumn Stamp set to make this water color card. I stamped on colonial white paper using autumn terracotta, olive, and glacier inks. Then I spritzed the paper with water using a spray pen. The ink begins to run when it gets too wet. When I had the look I wanted, I used a heat gun to dry the paper. I stamped the sentiment on the card after the paper was dry. Next I mounted the paper on the chocolate paper, then the card base, and added a little bakers twine.  I find that it is best to put a book on top of the card after to make sure it stays flat. The paper tends to curl a little after being wet and dried.

This is an easy technique to learn. I will be teaching it at our Holiday Extravaganza on October 11 in Sunnyvale. This is an all day event where you will create 12 projects including this one above. There are four other consultants besides me at this event. So, you end up with five artistic styles. It is a fast paced, fun event that we put on yearly. It is just about sold out at this point. So don't delay. Check out my events page for the registration form.

I will be posting my second project and Thanksgiving mini album next week.

Have fun with paper today!

Another Thanksgiving Card

The last Thanksgiving project from the Holiday Extravaganza is this card that I designed (sort of). I actually took a design from the Idea Book and modified it. The Idea Book is a catalog but it really is an Idea Book. There are so many ideas. You can use them as is or use them as a jumping point for your own creations. Take a look at the Idea Book with a pen in hand and make notes on things you would like to do and like to change. Use that as a guide and inspiration.

AND-- there are recipes available on line for all the projects in the Idea Book. Take a look here.

The paper on this card is from the Huntington Paper pack. The stamp set is Count Your Blessings. I used CTMH's alcohol markers to color the cornucopia and accented with a touch of Bronze Shimmer Tape.

Hope you have fun with paper today.

Counting Our Blessings

Yes, I spend way too much time on Pinterest. I love looking at different ideas. I am sure I will use every idea someday-- right? Doesn't everyone think that? So when I actually use an idea I find on Pintrest, I am really excited.

I saw a blessing jar and loved it immediately! The pin brought me  here. What a wonderful tradition. Plus the challenge this week in the Heart 2 Heart challenge is Gratefulness. Everything seemed to be pointing me to making this project.

I set out to create my family's own blessings jar. I ended up with a BIG one. I used an old fashion, one gallon mason jar.

 I used some leaves that I had cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge that I had left over from another project to make a stream of leaves.  I cut "Blessings" out also using the Cricut and attached it to the Burlap ribbon.  Very simple and quick to put together. I thought about adding a ribbon to the top, but I really like the look of the metal hinge.

I made it on Monday. Since then , each night at dinner we all write down something for which we are thankful.  I really thought the kids would object-- after all they are teenagers. But no. They got into it. We discussed things that might be a blessing. Little ones like enchiladas for dinner or big ones like our family and our love. We talked about being thankful for everything because not everyone is as blessed as we are with such an amazing family. The kids understood and embraced the idea of counting our blessings. When setting the table they put a slip of paper and a pen by each place setting. True it has only been 3 days. It is a start. Will there be any fuss when at Thanksgiving Dinner, we ask all the cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents to add their blessings into the jar? All should be well. It will be a challenge to get everyone, but we will try.

Just a few of our blessing so far.

The plan is to keep this up until the first Sunday of Advent, adding a blessing every night. I told the kids that when the Advent candles hit the table, we will take off the jar. I do like Marty's idea of having the blessings jar out all year -- adding to it whenever you think of it. That is something I will consider.

I am already thinking about the layout I will do for this -- using Flirty paper and burlap ribbon which if you read this blog regularly you know are my favorites for this season.

I'm thinking my blessing tonight will be paper, ink, and pictures!






Add caption

30 Days of Gratitude

While looking at other blogs, I found this great post.

Michelle Battitori is working on a wonderful little book showing daily in November for what she is thankful. She takes a photo daily and then writes about it. What a wonderful mini book and perfect for Thanksgiving month.

The mini book is made simply from card stock. Instructions for a quick and easy mini book can be found on Vicki Wizniuk's blog.

Make something today to show how thankful you are while having fun with paper.

Pumpkins!

I love pumpkins! I love fall colors! So I was very excited to be in charge of the Thanksgiving projects for last weekend's Holiday Extravaganza.

The So Grateful stamp set is perfect for Thanksgiving. I used it in two projects. The first one, I did a similar card as Close To My Heart put on the website shown above.



The pumpkin is stamped twice. I stamped the solid pumpkin in autumn terracotta on the 3x3 piece of bamboo paper. Then without re-inking. I stamped it again on another piece of bamboo. I then stamped the pumpkin with words in the same ink. The pumpkin (with words) is cut out and placed on top of the solid, darker pumpkin with 3-D foam tape to give it a raised look. The leaf and swirls were stamped in New England Ivy on the solid pumpkin piece.

Supplies:
So Grateful stamp set (B1395)
Papers: Flirty, New England Ivy, and Bamboo
Natural Hemp (Z280)
Antique Copper Designer Brads (Z1410)

 My second project using the So Grateful stamp set was a box. I cut out the pieces of the box using the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. The 1 inch size makes a very nice size box. The box is found on the Mother's Day button on the Artiste Cartridge. It is very simple to cut out and put together. When making these 3-D objects, I always fold on the scored edges first. Then I ink up the edges. I usually like to decorate it before I glue the sides together. But with the box, I needed to put the box together to see which side is the top before adding the decoration.

The top is decorated using a piece of Flirty paper cut to match the top of the box. This was cut at 2 1/4 inch with the real size button pushed. If the real size is not on, the piece will be huge.

The pumpkin is stamped in the same manner as the card above. Stamp the solid pumpkin on a piece of scratch paper first. Then, without re-inking, stamp the pumpkin on a piece of Colonial White paper. Next stamp on the words. The stem and leaf are stamped with Olive ink. I kept the stem attached to the pumpkin but the leaf was cut out separately.

Supplies:
Papers: Flirty, Saddle, Olive, Colonial White
So Grateful Stamp Set (B1395)
Burlap Ribbon (Z1760)
Chocolate Waxy Flax (Z1088)

It is amazing how easy boxes like these can be to make. If you have the Cricut Artiste, you can use any supplies on hand to quickly make a small gift box or bag and not go out to the store and spend $10 on one. Give it a try. Make a box or two and see how you like it.  You will be amazed with the results.

Thanksgiving Cards

It may be still October but I am getting ready for next month.  I made a few Thanksgiving cards for my Fall Card Workshop that turned out very nice.

I just love leaves. I used the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut these leaves (page 34 of the AP booklet).  Since I need a lot of leaves for another project too, I used the auto fill key on the Cricut. I pushed a few buttons and walked away, letting the Cricut do its work. I came back to a whole sheet of 1 1/2 inch leaves cut. What a time saver!

I have said it before-- if you don't have a Cricut, get one. Learn how to use it. It will take your paper crafting to a new level and make things easier on you. And then of course, you need the Art Philosophy and Artiste cartridges. Just click on my shop with me button for that.

Enough with my commercial. Let's get back to this card. Using chocolate ink and a sponge, I inked the edges and a little on the top of the leaves to give them some dimension. Then I used a little liquid glass on one leaf.

Supplies:
Flirty paper pack (X7160B) plus a  little bit of chocolate paper
A Friend Like You stamp set (B1410)
Liquid Glass (Z679)
Chocolate Ink (Z2111)
Art Philosophy Cricut Collection (Z1686)
Colonial White Value Pack cards and envelopes (X1410)

This stamp set is from the Workshop on the Go Flirty Scrapbooking Kit. Every paper pack also comes as a workshop on the go kit which has a stamp set that you can only get as part of the kit. I always tell people that if you are planning on buying the paper pack, look at the stamp in the workshop on the go. If you like that stamp, get the whole kit. You actually receive a little discount getting everything all together. Plus you get that stamp and an idea booklet.

I really love this stamp set. It all came together so effortlessly. The branch is stamped once with autumn terracotta then again without reinking, giving the lighter image above the darker one. This is called a second generation stamp.

To get the look of the "gratitude" image, I inked the stamp in creme brulee then using a sponge dabbed the sides of the stamp with new england ivy and autumn terracotta. To reactivate the ink that has sat on the stamp for about 30 seconds, I give the stamp a warm breath before stamping the image.

Supplies:
Workshop on the Go Flirty Scrapbooking Kit (G1050)
Colonial White Paper (1388)
Autumn Terracotta Ink (Z2101)
Creme Brulee Ink (Z2167)
New England Ivy Ink (Z2135)
Sponge (Z697)
Bakers Twine - Paradise Assortment (Z1702)
Colonial White Value Pack cards and envelopes (X1410)

Holiday Extravaganza!

Is it too early to start thinking about the holidays? I don't think so. Especially not when you want to make items. Well, some other Close To My Heart Consultants and I are putting together a crafting workshop for the holidays. Here's the info:

Holiday Extravaganza!

Get into the holiday spirit as we tackle Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas all in one day!  Come and enjoy making an assortment of at least a dozen projects ranging from cards, tags, gifts and more!

Date: Saturday, October 20

Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Cost: $45 (bring favorite adhesive; all other supplies + lunch included)

RSVP by: September 22

This event will be held in Sunnyvale. Please drop me a note (cathryno@gmail.com) if you wish to attend. I promise it will be worth. You will get at least a dozen projects done and ideas for dozens more. I am in charge of Thanksgiving and am currently designing a box with a pumpkin on the top. Can't wait to actually put it together!


Sign up today!