Letter to My Mother

My Mom's Birthday was in January and I wanted to do something a little different for her this year.  So, I decided to do something handmade.  I wrote her a letter to let her know how much she means to me.  This picture shows her shadowbox before it was framed.  Once I return home, I hope to get some better photos of it to post here.  However, I wanted everyone to see the letter that I wrote and designed for my mom too :)  So, as you can see...  Eric and I spent some time this year letting our mom's know how much they mean to us.  Even though we have been far apart in miles, they have been close in our hearts.

Stampaganza!!



June 2012 Constant Campaign

Purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, or E) at full retail price and receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value)—a savings of up to $29.95!

Stamp sets that count toward the qualifying purchase include full-priced A, B, C, D, and E sets only. Stamps that do not count toward a qualifying purchase include customizable (K), Workshops on the Go™, Cricut® collection, and Stamp of the Month (both discounted and full-priced) sets.

Dates: Offer valid June 1 (9:00 am MDT) – June 30 (11:59 pm MDT)

A few bookmarks

 I am involved in a Facebook group for Close to My Heart Consultants and one of my fellow consultants is doing a swap.  She was looking for another person to fill the last two spots of the swap.  So, since I haven't done a swap outside of my ideabook group in awhile, I thought I would give it a go.  It will be fun to send off my creations and get a bunch in return.  I will post here later what I get back so that you can see.... 

 I am in two rounds.  The guidelines were that you needed to use a CTMH cardstock base, 2 paper layers and an embellishment.  So, here are my examples.  I made a fun Chevron stripe bookmark on kraft paper for one with some bakers twine.  The second is an altered paper clip.  I used the Tim Holtz die that I picked up at Picture This in Eau Claire (LOVE THAT STORE), used smoothie cardstock and a glitter brad that I pop dotted in the middle.  I used liquid glass to make sure everything stays in place.

 Here is a picture of the completed flower bookmarks for the swap.  I hope it inspires you to make a few bookmarks for your teacher gifties as the school year comes to a close.  They are super fast and fun!

Butterfly Mobile

The pictures of this project just don't do it justice.  It is much better in person!  I loved doing this project!  I have seen so many mobiles on Pinterest.  So, I had to do one with my twist on it.  I used the Dotty for You paperpack.  3 Dowel Rods, Some White Hemp Yarn a Clasp Ring, Glue Dots and Liquid Glass. 

I started by weaving 3 dowel rods together.  Then, I tied a yarn strand at the end of each dowel rod.  I then tied a 7th strand from the middle.  These became the colorful lines of butterflies that you see.  (There are 7 strands of patterned paper butterflies.)  They are all cut using the Close to My Heart Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge.  Each strand is eaxactly the same.  The top butterfly is 1.5".  The next two down in the strand are 1.25" and the bottom two in the strand are cut 1". 

After the patterned paper strands were completed, I started  on the white butterflies.  There are 6 inside strands using the paper butterfly embellishment pack from CTMH.  Each strand has 3 sets of butterflies back to back.  I started with the largest butterfly in the pack and then chose two others that went down in size for the remainder of the strand.  I wanted the white to compliment the colorful patterned paper in the Dotty for You paperpack.

A Special Mom

 This is a special gift for my Mother in Law's Birthday.  I have been anxiously waiting to post this one for you. It had to make the trip from Wisconsin to Ohio.  Finally, we got the call today that Sandy had received her gift.  So... I am now sharing it with all of you.  My husband scripted this letter to his mother.  I am just so proud of him for putting down into words how much his mother means to him.  As a mother, you know that your child loves you.  However, it always means so much to hear them say it and their written word always means so much.

This picture shows a close up of the details that I put into the gift.  I took Eric's letter, printed it out and gave it a cardstock cocoa mat.  I used the Mayberry paperpack for this project.  It is one of my favorites!  I know that Sandy loves green.  Plus, I did a project for her at Christmas with the same paperpack.  So, I wanted to tie the two together.  You will notice that I used the Close to My Heart Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge to create a number of fun flowers and scallops for this artwork.  I used sparkles in multiple flowers to dress up the middle.  I used one pack of CTMH sparkle flourishes.  I just cut them in multiple places to make them flow as I wanted in my project.  I also added in a few Sparkle brads and butterflies to finish off the project.  I love the vintage feel with the modern twist.

Mother's Day Gift for my Mother In Law

I made this bracelet and necklace for my mother in law Sandy for Mother's Day.  Now that she has received it, I am sharing it with all of you.  I used hardware and glass tiles from craftfantastic.com.  Then, I used the CTMH Stella paperpack and liquid glass along with a couple flower photos and pics of my kids.  Even though she can't be here with us in WI, I thought she could carry her grandkids around with her daily.

It is a fairly simple project to do.  You just size your pictures to 1"x1".  It is important to print your picture onto copy paper.  NOT PHOTO PRINT PAPER!!  Then you adhere them to the glass tile using liquid glass (flat side of tile onto the picture with picture facing through the tile).  Once they dry, you adhere the scrapbook paper onto the back of the picture.  This is the backing.  Use modge podge on the back to act as a sealer.  If you are adding it to the bracelet, you just put a pea size amount of E3000 glue in the middle of the metal square on the bracelet where the tile will fit.  Push the glass tile onto the glue with picture facing up.  Allow to dry over night (24 hours) before wearing.  Use the same directions for the necklace pendant.  Enjoy!

Photo Book

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Photo Book

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Shutterfly offers exclusive layouts and designs so you can make your book just the way you want.

I will love you... 4 EVER

I have to get my pictures printed in Sepia for this layout.... So, right now it is just picture ready (white areas).  The font and butterflies are cut using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  I just LOVE this cartridge.  It is soooo versatile.  The paperpack is Typset.  I hope you enjoy this layout and the fun embellishment clusters.

You are... something splendid

 I love this layout and the poem on it.  I have been organizing layouts, pictures and scrapbooking items.  This is one of my layouts that is set to get pictures on it in the next few days.

Here is a close up of the left hand page.  I made paper pierced circles as a fun accent on the page.

If only Dt. Coke and Money grew on Trees....

 I stopped at "Picture This" today and picked up the remaining items that did not sell from the items I put in the Thrift Sale.  PLUS... WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT.... I got to pick up my GIFT CERTIFICATE made out for the amount that I sold!!!  While I was there, I picked out a number of WONDERFUL "Judith" stamps and "Copic" markers.  So, like any good scrapbooker... I had to come home and play with my new goodies!  This card is scraplifted from an idea that I got from the store.  Instead of money and Dt. Coke, their card used ABC's and Rulers.  However, the store has a number of inspiration cards on display with different combos.  The one above is not one of them.  So, I can say that I put the Dt. Coke and Money together on my own :)  I will be sending this card to 6 ladies that love Dt. Coke almost as much as me...  So, if you are seeing this... Mom, Sandy, Jill, Rachel, Becky and Loretta... Don't ya just wish that Dt. Coke and Money grew on trees?

This picture shows the card along with the supplies used to create it.  I used a CTMH sentiment stamp, CTMH stamp pads, CTMH block, Judith Stamps, Copic markers, My Minds Eye Kraft Paper, October Afternoon Striped Paper, nestibilities Star Die, Grass Die and adhesive.

Picture This Thrift Sale - Early Bird

I won the award for being the "Early Bird" at the Picture This - Thrift Sale.  I got there at 7:30am yesterday and the store opened at 10am.  This is a picture of me waiting and Leann the store owner popping out to chat with her crazy customer!  Dawn is behind the camera taking the picture.  I snagged this picture off of the "Picture This" blog.  So, thanks ladies for the picture, the fun sale and the memory!  It was a great morning to sit with my warm drink and magazine... with a little peace and quiet.  I need to give a big shout out to Eric here too.  He kept the 3 hooligans busy all day so that I could do this.  He even took them to the skate rink!  Love that man!

Become a Follower for a Chance to Win!!

Close to My Heart is celebrating National Scrapbooking month with this fabulous Dotty for You paper pack.  I have been highlighting my projects with this paperpack in the past few weeks.  If you would like a chance to win a pack of this paper, become a follower of my blog.  I will randomly pick a follower at the end of the month.  As always, you can purchase this pack too if you prefer.  Just visit my website.  With every $35 you order, you can get a pack for $5.  What a great value!  24 sheets of fun, trendy paper for only $5!!  Visit http://mariawoodworth.ctmh.com/ to start shopping!