Make and Takes from CHA

I did a ton of Make and Takes....here's a start on them (:  If you are active in this industry I bet you'll be able to guess where some of these came from without even reading my write ups!  My favorite part about doing these was getting a glimpse into how the minds of the companies work...going beyond a normal simple card etc.  That plus just the brilliant inspiration provided!

This was a canvas piece from the Faber Castell booth.  I touched on this in my Day Two write up...I tried a lot on this.  If you are a regular here you are probably looking at this and thinking...whoa this is so not Christine!  I had fun playing and found some new things I would like to add to my stash playing with their products!

This was from the Scotch booth.  They had a bunch of make and takes..some with really long lines!  This is a mini gift bag, thus you see the post it notes inside of it, I will be making some of these and experimenting with ideas for other mini gift bags.  I got to try out their new .5 inch ATG with this one!

This was also from the Scotch booth.  It is a gift card holder.

I made this card at the Tombow booth

This was the first one I made and it was with Heidi Swapp walking me thru it!  It's a cute little mini album, I hope to share a tutorial on how to do something similar, it was a great quick technique!  I love the sticker that says "Choose Happy"

This is an awesome birthday card from Bella Blvd...I think it would be awesome adding pictures and making it into a sweet little card or even using it on a layout.

Last one for today, a sweet little card from Jillibean Soup

CHA Day 2

Day two was all about hitting the things I missed or didn't have time to hit the first day.  I realized after leaving on Tuesday that I had obviously missed a couple of aisles...including some of my favortites SRM stickers and Beacon Adhesives.  We llive a couple hours from the convention center so my hubby and I planned to stay the night up there and have a break from the kiddos...probably our last break for over a year with a new baby coming.  Here I am ready to take on Day Two!

The line was shorter today, but I think the crowds were heavier inside.  I decided to do that I wanted to do the Mod Podge make and take, simply because I am far from experienced with Mod Podge.  I have used it a little...but not much and I felt like this was a good chance to do so!

After that I headed for another booth that was major unfamiliar territory: Faber Castell.  I don't do a lot of mixed media...I think it looks amazing but I have never jumped into it.  At their booth I got to try out gelatos, stampers big brush pens, and water color pencils.  I created a really interesting banner...which I will share with you tomorrow.    Next up I made my way over to the Beacon Adhesives booth.  If you follow me, you know I am a HUGE fan of their 3 in 1 glue...so I was excited to chat with them!  They had a a fun make and take where you created a headband.  I made one for Lucy (: as I am not much of a headband girl.  

Right across the aisle was another favorite of mine SRM stickers.  If you aren't familiar with them, they make clear stickers.  Lots of sentiments but also lots of icons.  One of my favorite designers, Jamie Cripps, designs for them and I have loved following her journey.  I discovered them initially because they had a faith related line of stickers that weren't to gawdy, just simple sentiments like "God Bless You" and "Faith, Hope, and Love."  I got to do their make and take and chat with both the gal that designs the stickers and the owner Susan McShirley.  Spending time chatting with these wonderful ladies was another highlight for me, such kind and gracious women!  Again, this is another booth and company I have nothing but praise for!  Here's a shot of me and the lovely Susan!

My last bit of time was spent making sure I had done everything I wanted to.  My body was getting really tired...it was definitely time to get off my feet.  But I did have to swing by Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup, and Heidi Swapp/Pink Paislee to check out their day two make and takes (:

It was an amazing and inspiring couple of days.  As I said earlier, I tend to be fairly reserved in situations like this so I was proud of myself for stepping out a bit and doing some chatting.  I even shared my business card with lots of people (:  I have tons of fresh ideas for products I want to try out more of and projects I want to make.  Did I miss anything?  What else would you like to know...leave me a comment letting me know if there is more you want me to share.  Tomorrow I will share some of the make and takes I did!

Momenta Candy Bar Cover Tutorial

Just realized I had never shared this here!  I created this last week for Momenta! Today I am here to share with you a cute and quick way to jazz up mini candy bars and turn them into a sweet and thoughtful gift.  I've created several of these with different sentiments to have on hand to give away to friends who need a pick me up or to be celebrated!  First off here's the finished project:

I decided to use Hershey's Nuggets for my candy bars.  Anything that is minituarized would work, but I like the thickness of the Nuggets and they come with silver or gold wrappers which are easy to match.

I cut one inch strips from my patterned paper.  I then put a piece of double sided tape on the bottom of the candy bar and attached the strip.  I wrapped it all the way around and added more double sided to tape to connect it at the bottom.  They look fabulous already and you could use a bolder pattern paper and stop at this point, but I took it a step further and added some Clear Layered Stickers.

I went with some small flowers, but you could do words or gems...the possibilities are endless.  Consider also that you could do something very simple and make it shine with embellishing...Clear Layered Stickers are already beautifully embellished so that made things quick and easy.

Once you've gone to the effort to make these candy bars so cute, why not add some cute packaging

I originally thought I would use a ziploc bag, but it was wider than I needed it to be.  I actually ended up using the cellophane wrapping from a package of Momenta stickers...perfect size and recycling!

I created my top using pieces from a Boxed Card Kit.  I went for the marquee shape that I topped off with some coordinating cardstock.  I used the plain cardstock on there so there is room to personalize it.  The card kits all contain sentiments, borders, and icon die cuts and that is where the rest of my card came from.  I added a scallop circle matting to the sentiment and popped up the butterflies with dimensional foam tape.  All in all a simple little project that will make anyone smile!  

Supplies Used:

Mini Clear Layered Stickers ST485O

Boxed Card Kit NC1358€

Textured Cardstock Pad PAO657

5 X 7 Cardstock Pad Family Affair PA1O66

CHA Day 1

For this post I am going to focus on Day 1 of the show itself and then the next couple days I will share the "make and takes" and Day 2!  This was my first ever trip to a CHA!

I only went for the floor show part of the convention, no workshops etc.  The workshops that I would have liked to attend we're sold out pretty early on.  That is okay though, for my first time at a show like this I was happy to just take in the actual floor show.  I am going to just talk about highlights...otherwise I could write a book :).

I started the morning in line waiting for the doors to open and excitedly recognizing people all around me.  Once the doors opened I went in and just started wandering.  I met Amy Tan right off the bat, I have had really good luck getting cards published using pieces from her lines, so I was thrilled to have the chance to meet and chat with her!  Her new line looks awesome!

 I wanted to survey the whole place before doing anything else.  At the back of the room I found the Heidi Swapp/Pink Paislee booth.  My friend Kimberly aka Scrap it Girl was working there and encouraged me not to be reserved and just to jump in and chat and create.  I needed that encouragement!  Heidi was doing a make and take and the line was short, so I jumped in to try it.  She was amazing and friendly, definitely makes a consumer want to buy more of her stuff.  And she is a mom to five, which was very encouraging to me heading into baby #4!  I got to play with her new "Color Shine" mist...it is very user friendly and has gorgeous shimmer to it.  I also love the color choices she had...will be adding some of this to my collection!

I headed over to the Bella Blvd booth next.  I love their stuff, aside from my loyalties to Momenta and Quick Quotes, no company is higher on my list.  I have followed stephanienon Facebook and her blog for a long while so I was thrilled to see her there.  It is not my norm to walk up to a person I don't know and introduce myself...but I did and we chatted a bit.  I even got a pic with her too! Last winter they came out with a baby boy line and a baby girl line, my friend Kerri joked that I only got pregnant so I could use those...I shared that funny with Stephanie!  She is as nice of a person as could be and the booth itself was amazing, I could copy everything I saw there!  

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I was so excited to connect with some of the owners from Quick Quotes and my design team leader and a fellow designer!

Jillibean Soup is another favorite of mine and I have to say that after meeting several members from their team, I like them even more.  I met Kimber, Jill, and Patty and they were so friendly and chatty.  It made me feel like I already knew these gals!  They really know how to put their best foot forward with a tremendous front line in that booth!  I can't wait to get their new releases and start creating!  Just like Bella Blvd, their booth was full of awesome projects!

I spent most of the rest of the first day just  angering and soaking it all up.  I did lots of make and takes, trying out a wide variety of products.  Not every company offers a make and take but I tried to take advantage of any I was interested in.  By the end of the day my body was exhausted, note to self...bags get way heavy, roller bags are definitely a must next time!  My hubby and I stayed the night in Chicago so I could head back the next morning.  I definitely needed that extra time!  You could get thru it all in a day but knowing I would have more time allowed me to soak things up and not rush.  Day two post will come soon, for now It is time to rest :)

Little Darling

I have been busy crafter, just not blogger the last week.  I made my first canvas ever that will premiere at Quick Quotes on Sunday!  I also had the fun of attending CHA and have enjoyed my time there for the last couple days ( stay tuned for that post....). Today I have a card to share with you featuring some goodies from Momenta, Crat Paper, and American Crafts.

I have been on a bit of a kick using banners, I just love them!

Help me out on something here, how does this picture look to you?  I am trying out a blogging ap and I feel like my pictures are not coming thru as clear as I would like...what do you think?  The picture looks fine until I add it, hmmmmm!

  

Love Card

I'm really digging combining turquoise with different colors lately.  Today I'm sharing a card I made with the yellow and turquoise combination.

 The whole basis for this card was to use the Martha Stewart punch around the page hearts punch.  I bought it and haven't used it a lot and it was time to do it some justice!  I used some turquoise foil that I got in a goodie box from CARDS magazine to back the hearts...it's hard to see in the big photo so here's a little closeup.

And it includes another favorite combo of mine Amy Tan brilliance and Momenta (:

Stowaway Collection Layout

Hi Quick Quotes Fans!  Christine here today to share a layout made with the new Stowaway line.   Marcia shared a gorgeous beach layout with you the other day and today I am going to show you how I used it for an everyday topic..it works so great for both!

I just adore this line and the way the colors work so beautifully for a variety of topics!  Check out the rich browns and turquoise combined with a softer blue.

I used the Travel Itty Bitty Box Set of Velum for part of my title.  I attached it to some of the softer blue and then used my Amaretto Powder Puff Chalking Ink to distress the edges.  My favorite thing about this little box of vellum is that although it is geared at travel you can also use a lot of it to play up adventure. I think it works fabulous for those of us living with toddlers (:

I hope you are enjoying this preview into our new paper lines!

Supplies Used:

Stowaway Paper Collection

Amaretto Powder Puff Chalking Ink

Travel Itty Bitty Box Set of Velum

Momenta letter stickers

Tags

June CARDS Magazine Publications

It's the first of the month and that means I can share my cards from last month's issue with you!  I was blessed to have two picked up and here they are!

This first one was a "monogram" card.  You never know what they will pick up and like...and this was one I was sure they wouldn't pick up.  I even said that to several people, alas and thankfully I was wrong!  It uses my favorite line from Momenta so I was super pumped that they liked it too!

The second card was a "fathers day" card.  This one is way funkier!  I'm entertained by the stark difference between the two cards (:  This one features goodies from Momenta, Authentique, American Crafts, and Cosmo Cricket!

What do you think...can you even tell the same person made these? (:

Playtime

This week at Momenta we did a product swap with Scor Pal.  I love to use a scoring board but really wanted to find a way to use it that was something besides folding a card and making medallion flowers...those are my very regular uses.  

I've got a new baby coming my way in September, so I am trying hard to catch up on some of these older sweet photos that I need to scrap.  Today I focused in on a layout about my kiddos and Grandpa!

I used my Scor-Buddy to enhance my design by creating score lines in the cardstock and banners. It is subtle but really adds something extra to the white space. I did lots of outlining and creating faux stitching with my black pen.  I didn't set out to do that, but as I was going I realized how nice it would look to add it!    

Supplies Used:

Momenta patterned paper and stickers

Creative Charms pearls

The Twinery bakers twine

CTMH black pen

Welcome Home: One more Club Q Layout

Today I was a part of Inspiration Wednesday for Quick Quotes!  I really wanted to get one more layout out of my Club Q kit..I figure if you are gonna invest in a kit you want to get bang for your buck and lots of ideas.  Here's what I came up with using my leftovers from the kit:

The black cardstock, HOME letters, and Washi tape aren't from the kit; but the rest of it is!  I have wanted to do these pictures for quite awhile so it was nice to get them done and I'm really pleased with how eye catching it turned out.  Coming up next from Quick Quotes you'll get to see me premiering some of their brand new goodies being released in July!  It's been a blast to play with and I can't wait to share them with ya!

I'm Cute, My Mom's Cute, My Dad is Lucky!

This project premiered for Momenta last week but I actually made it for them for a winter CHA project...I just was waiting for the right time to use it.  Blogger ate another post I made for them, so now was the time!  I saw this sticker and immediately fell in love with the phrase:

 "I'm cute, my mom's cute, my dad is lucky."

I primarily used the Cuddle and Coo Pyramid Pad and lots of fussy cutting for this project.  The clouds, animals, and banners are all fussy cut and combine to highlight the cute photo.  Just goes to show you just how far these awesome Pyramid Pads can go!

Supplies Used

• PA 2385 Cuddle and Coo Pyramid Pad
• ST 4695 Pastel Puffy Letters
• PA 0656 Pastel Cardstock
• Sassy Baby Stickers
•ST 4760 Girl Border Stickers

Live, Laugh, Play

One of my main purposes for starting scrapping was to document little memories that I know I will all too quickly forget.  This layout does just that...it's not a huge moment like Christmas but it is sharing an everyday moment of my Cooper dancing to his favorite song by The Wiggles.

My goal for this layout was to just scrap...I wasn't allowed to think about design team calls, publishing calls, manufacturer work, etc.  Sometimes it does my creative brain good to just play with what jumps out at me.   I went for more subtle background coloring in order to make the pictures with the red shirt pop.  I also did another of my favorite techniques using a black doodling pen to outline the various parts of my layout.  I know when Cooper is 18 this is a layout he'll look back at and probably want to hide, but I will treasure it and the precious memory of him "dancing himself silly!"

Supplies Used: Simple Stories Patterned Paper, Bella Blvd Chipboard and borders, American Crafts Ampersand, SRM Stickers Sentiment

Hugs

I am up at Quick Quotes today and my goal was to make a card that would work for Father's Day but as you can see it would also work for just about anyone that you love!

I used the canvas tags that were included in the June Club Q kit to be the base of my card.  I thought they make for an interesting and special looking card that is out of the ordinary.  I also like that you could include pictures inside and be assured that they won't get bent out of shape.  I used some of the fabulous die cuts including the yellow frame, hearts, and the scalloped border that was intended to be a medallion flower.  I added a little bakers twine and a simple sentiment, made by Momenta,  from my stash. to round out the card.  I finished the whole thing off with some red doodling to mimic stitching.  I think the colors work perfectly to celebrate dad!

Momenta & Basically Bare Swap

I got the privilege of participating in a product swap with Basically Bare and Momenta.  I hadn't used anything from Basically Bare before, they have great products!

I could have gone a lot of directions with my card but I really wanted to use one of the cute birds.  I made the bird and frame part of my cluster.  They are both totally alterable but I opted to leave them in their natural state because there is already so much going on with the card!

Momenta Supplies Used:

Family Forever 12 X 12 premium paper pad PA 2240

Puffy Flourishes Stickers ST 4765

Family Outings Paper Pad PA 225O

Family Forever Border Stickers

BYO Banner Alphabet Stickers ST 5426

 

Basically Bare Supplies Used:

Felt Bird and Chipboard Frame

 

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For a second project, I decided to use the mini album to create  an album about out trip to California. I take way too many pictures when on vacation and I thought this would be a concise way to tell the story without having to spend six months making layouts.   This album is called the tiny tabs album.  I used it to highlight different activities instead of just one topic.  I'm not going to share all the pages with you because that would take FOREVER!  But I'll share a sampling of what I did.  

 For the cover of my album I distressed the front by removing the top layer of cardboard exposing the corrugated part underneath.  The album included a cardboard front and back cover and then a variety of chipboard and acrylic pages for the middle. 

 For each page I stuck with a similar hand cut banner for my journalling and similar colors and embellishments throughout.  You'll see I used lots of dot stickers and beach stickers.  My paper primarily came from the Family Outings line.

This page is one of the acrylic ones, tough to photograph because of glare but I adore acrylic!  I think my favorite part about working with this album was the variety of materials for the page base.  You don't have to stress about every page being see thru acrylic, but there are a few thrown in there to add some variety!

Momenta Supplies Used:

Family Outings Paper Pad PA 225O

Puffy Icon Stickers Beach FAO ST 4748 

Mini Puffy Dot Stickers 

Mini Puffy Star Stickers ST 3270 

Basically Bare Supplies Used:

Tiny Tabs Album  

CARDS Magazine publications: May Issue

I'm a few days late, but I can now share my cards from the May issue of CARDS magazine with you!  This was the first month I had multiple cards published, I'm always honored and thrilled whenever I get anything picked up!  A couple fun little notes:  you'll notice the same yellow patterned paper from Momenta in all three cards and the first two cards were also used as sneak peek pictures in the Table of Contents section (a double honor if you ask me :))

 

This first card was part of a style challenge using the colors turquoise, pink, and yellow.  You also had to use flowers....I don't think I realized until now just how many flowers I used!  It combines supplies from most of my favorite companies: Bella Blvd, Momenta, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, Echo Park, The Twinery, and Little Yellow Bicycle   The giant pink flower is actually a coaster from the dollar store, Erin sent it to me to use for a Frugal Finds feature on Practical Scrappers.

 

This is a more artsy card than the last one...but I like the way the colors still came together.  It was for the "Girls Night Out" category.  It uses supplies from Momenta, American Crafts, Prima, The Twinery, and Die Cuts with a View

  

This last one is a Birthday card and is almost exclusively Momenta.  The ribbon, little yellow flower, and turquoise cardstock aren't Momenta but everything else is!  I actually started this card about six months earlier and couldn't get into it and then finished it...guess it just needed to marinate!

Just sent off submissions for this month about a week ago so we'll see if I get anything picked up for the November issue soon!

Bonus Club Q Layouts

Today I am here to share with you my first project using a Club Q kit.  This is the first time I've gotten to play with a Club Q kit and I absolutely loved it.  If you are a big fan of die cuts and coordinated items this is the place for you!

I loved all the frame options available to use for journaling, photos, etc.  I decided to use the square scallop sets to frame my photos for this layout.  I also used some of the tags that were intended for a mini album to ground my whole layout.  I inked those up and then used my heat embosser to set the ink so I could use them quicker.  My yellow scalloped borders were meant to be medallion flowers and I decided to use them just as a plain border but I cut between the scallops creating a fringe look.

 For my second layout I cut out the Summer Time from a die cut included in the kits and made it into a banner.  I used lots more of the flower die cuts and popped those up with foam dots.  In keeping with the banner idea I cut out a couple of my own from the ribbon and papers to ground my journalling.  I again used  the "meant to be a medallion flower" strip to make a border and added a piece of vellum atop that with a matching scallop border.  You can see I used lots of threes in this layout: three sets of scallops, sets of three flowers, three different banners.  It is amazing how the number three always blends together so nicely in layouts.

I hope you've enjoyed these bonus layouts today and much as I enjoyed creating them!

Thanks to all our veterans!

It is only appropriate on this day to share a patriotic card.  Thanks to all the men and women who have done so much to guarantee our freedom in the United States!

Supplies Used: Stickers by Momenta

Patterned Papers by Bella Blvd and Momenta

Twine by The Twinery 

Momenta Beach Layout

I am up at Momenta today with this fun beach layout!   I've got a layout that extends beyond the page a bit, making it perfect for some fun summer decor before I put it into an album.

Momenta's bright and colorful papers and stickers make for the perfect summer pages!  For today's layout I created a grid using some papers from the Family Outings Line PA 225O.  I love that this line incorporates everything you think of for summer: camping, beach fun, and amusement parks!  I also used paper from it to make my sunshine which I then machine stitched on to add some extra dimension!

I created my title using multiple fonts and stickers.  

Alphabet Stickers Black Lower Case Puffy ST 4826

Alphabet Stickers Blue Puffy Glitter ST 2O38

Family Outings Puffy Message Stickers

Serenity Puffy Word Stickers ST 2O62

I used Puffy Icon Stickers Beach FAO ST 4748 to further embellish the layout.  Once I had everything down I doodled with a fine point black marker around the edges of my elements.  It helped define things and  make everything pop out more.

Hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend and getting some relaxing in to kick off your summer!

Other Supplies Used:

Bakers Twine from The Twinery

Sharpie Marker

Card made from light bulb packaging

School is over for the year, everyone is asleep..seems like the perfect time to blog right!  I made this card several months ago for some magazine submissions, but it didn't get picked up so now I get to share it with you!  I still love it and that's what matters most right!

For my corrugated background I used the packaging from a light bulb!  You never know what will strike you for inspiration on cards...my hubby is usually thoroughly entertained watching my thought process as I set aside random items!  I also used a die cut in a nontraditional manner.  The swirl that you see is meant to be a rolled flower, but I decided to use it in it's "raw" form instead!  I like the whimsy it adds.  Very out of my normal color range on this one too, but I love the way it pops with the pastel yellow and brown.  

Hope you are in for a relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock by Momenta

Bakers Twine by the Twinery

Gems by Creative Charms

Sticker by Glitz Design

Cricut Cartridge Flower Shoppe

Quick Quotes Spring Card

Hi Quick Quotes Fans!  Christine here today to share an inky project!  Are you enjoying the gorgeous spring weather like I am? I can't believe we only have one more month before we hit the dog days of summer!

Today I have a pretty spring card to share with you that shows off one of my favorite Quick Quotes products:  the butterfly bag 'o chips!  These die cuts soak up the Powderpuff inks perfectly....you can't even tell they used to be raw chipboard can you?!?  I used the vibrant shades of Tahiiti, Purple Passion, and Limeade and then matched those up with some bakers twine from The Twinery...check out what a great match they are!  Add to that a base of patterned paper from the One Fine Day line and it all comes together to make a lovely spring card.  Enjoy this last month of spring and all the beauty it has to offer!

Other Supplies Used:  Letter stickers from Momenta and gems from Creative Charms