Time for a NEW Color Combo!

It's time for a Summer Celebration! Ü This is a card that I will be teaching my team at our team gathering this coming Saturday (wonder if any of them will visit my blog for a sneak peek...LOL). The theme for our gathering is A Summer Celebration and we are using the Summer Celebration color palette for our projects and our team swap. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for our swap! This is a fun change of color and it's been fun playing with CTMH's new Summer Celebration My Accents, Sassy Strands, Just Blooms and Textured Cardstock.

For this card I random stamped a 12x12 sheet of White Daisy Textured Cardstock and used a 3-3/4 x 3-3/4 square. This is another card that I can mass produce using the remaining random stamped sheet...or I can make some other projects...we'll see what I come up with by tomorrow night. Ü

Sweet dreams, Pamela

Mass Production

I told you earlier in the week I'd share a few tips with you about mass producing your cards. It's always nice to have a plentiful supply of cards on hand ready to send out when those special occassions arise...of course, it's also nice to send a card for no reason at all. Ü

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I got the cutting diagram for these cards from another stamping artist that cuts her 12x12 B&T paper into 9-4x4 squares. She then designs her card around the 4x4 square.

After a little trial and error, I came up with a card design I really liked and once I did, I was able to cut all my paper and ribbon for the remaining 8 cards I needed to complete. Below are the all the supplies I cut and gathered for creating this particular card.


My supplies for mass producing this card are...
8 (4-1/4 x 5-1/2) White Daisy Textured Cardstock bases
8 (4-1/4 x 4-1/4) Buttercup Cardstock
8 (4 x 4) Let's Get Together B&T Duos (began with 9 - 4 x 4 squares)
8 (3-1/4 x 3-1/4) Cranberry Cardstock
8 (3 x 3) White Daisy Cardstock
8 (13") Ribbon Strips
32 Cranberry My Accent Brads
Kindred Spirits Stamp Set
Stazon Ink Pad
Cranberry Exclusive Ink Pad
Colored Pencils
Piercing Tool

You will end up with a total of 9 cards...but remember, do not cut all your materials until you are happy with your sample card.

Holler if you have questions! Have a great day, Pamela

Recap of Memorial Day Weekend

Summer has officially began in the O'Connor household! The kid's last day of school was last Thursday and we wrapped up the day with Caitlyn's End of School Award Assembly. Shaymus walked down from the middle school to join us and I just had to torture him by having him pose with his sister in front of the school. Ü

The main reason for doing this was to have a picture to compare to last year's end of school picture because Shaymus has grown over 3" since last June! I still can't believe how much he's changed in the last year...another scrapbook layout coming soon.

On Friday, we went to see The Pirates of the Caribbean 3. It was a great movie...but kinda long. I wouldn't be surprised to find out in a few years they are making #4...

Saturday kicked off our annual community event, Toenail Trail Days. The kids rode in the parade with Mike and his 'new' 1968 Corvette...the one we drove all the way to Indiana and back in 3 days for...I will post a layout of that trip soon using CTMH's new Route 66 Kit. Ü Here's a picture for now of them all in it.

We spent the morning at the park enjoying some live entertainment (Cloggers & Tae Kwan Doe), went home for a few hours, then Caitlyn & I went back up late afternoon and stayed til 11p! Mike and Shaymus showed up around 9:30p for the evening entertainment and we visited with one of Mike's old high school buddies.

On Sunday, we went to sunday school and church and then spent the afternoon with Mike's folks, his brother's family, an aunt and cousin. Late afternoon it started raining and we sat out on their deck visiting while the kids played with bubbles in the rain. Ü

After all the activity of the long weekend, I was ready to relax! I slept way to much on Monday...but come to find out, it may be because I may have gestational diabetes. I was tested on Friday and got the call today that my iron is low and my blood sugar is elevated, so I have to go in next Monday for the 3 hour glucose test...ugh! I won't be surprised if I do have it since Caitlyn ended up being 9lbs 1-1/2 oz and had low blood sugar when she was born. I'm praying this time I can control it with my diet and not have such a big baby.

Well, that's what we did this Memorial Day Weekend. I hope you all had a nice long weekend and are looking forward to a fun and relaxing summer!

God bless, Pamela

My Little Girl

I just love how this layout turned out. I scraplifted the design from a recent CTMH ad and used my favorite current paper kit, Let's Get Together. The title and journaling were inspired by a song by Tim McGraw. I always do double page layouts, but I am still working on the other page and will post it when it's completed.

My little girl, Caitlyn, is such a blessing from God. She has such a giving heart and she loves to help around the house without even being asked! At this very moment, she is cleaning the kitchen for me (doing dishes, cleaning counters, cleaning the floor). I think it's pretty impressive for a nine year old! Ü She is going to be such an incredible help when her new baby sister arrives...she can hardly wait to hold her in her arms and help mommy with everything that a new baby needs.

Here is the journaling I did on the layout using the lyrics from Tim McGraw's song...

May you have a blessed day and make it from your heart!

Pamela

Kindred Spirits

It was a beautiful Sunday! I awoke this morning inspired to create, so I visited another fabulous blog this morning before getting ready for church and found just the inspiration I needed. I came across this cool blog called Mish Mash and learned how to create 9 cards using one sheet of B&T paper (plus cardstock for bases and layering of course). This particular diagram is soooo simple, I can't believe I didn't think of it! Ü

All you do is cut your 12x12 B&T paper into 9 4x4 squares. The possiblities from there are endless. Here is what I created using this technique and CTMH's June Constant Campaign stamp set, Kindred Spirits...

Took a bit of trial and error to get the right look, but I'm pleased with how this turned out. I've really gotten away from 'lined images' due to the time involved in coloring them in...but, I learned a great tip today! Stamp several images at a time and store them in a ziplock bag or other carrier with your coloring tools and take along with you so you can work on them when you have some free time on your hands. Old idea...new inspiration! Ü

I will share tomorrow with you some tips in mass producing your cards so that you can build your collection of cards up and you'll always have beautiful handmade cards ready for that unexpected occassion!

May you have a blessed week and make it from your heart! Pamela

Delight in Everything

I have been surfing the internet blogging world the last few weeks and have stumbled across some wonderful stamping blogs. The card above was inspired by a very talented artist named Taylor. Check out her blog at Taylored Expressions. To create this card, I started with a standard card base in Breeze Cardstock and randomly stamped the flower bunch from the Delight in Everything stamp set. I then layered a strip of Let's Get Together B&T Duos onto Cocoa Cardstock and positioned that on my card base about 1/2" from the bottom. The technique I learned from Taylor's blog was the dimensional cirlce punch-out strip. I first punched my 1/2" circles from Buttercup Cardstock and then I positioned a Daisy White Cardstock strip behind (without adhering) and adhered flower circles that I punched from another sheet of LGT B&T Duos into the center of the holes. I added a 1/4" strip of Cocoa Cardstock to both sides of the Buttercup Cardstock and using my White Daisy Marker, added dots along the Cocoa Cardstock strips. I adhered the Daisy White Cardstock strip to the card and then layered the Buttercup Cardstock on top with foam strips to add dimension. Next, stamp your large flower images from the Delight in Everything stamp set (solid in Buttercup Ink and outline in Cranberry Ink) and cut out. Then stamp the smaller flower in Buttercup Ink and then stamp the single small flower over that in Cranberry Ink and cut out. Sandwich the two flowers together with a White Daisy Brad and adhere to the card front. I added a little Liquid Glass to the brad and sprinkle with Prisma Glitter. Stamp 'Best Wishes' from the All Occassion stamp set in Cocoa Ink in the lower right corner. Viola!

Braggin' Tag Mini Album

I created this braggin' tag mini album for my dear friend and pastor's wife for her birthday. I used all Close To My Heart products (Braggin' Tag Mini Album, Delight In Everything Stamp Set, Let's Get Together Paper Packet, and assorted My Accents and Accessories). I am teaching a workshop tomorrow to several ladies to make these for Mother's Day gifts. The album was inspired by the Bible verse, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Love In Bloom

I decided to start anew with my blog...I began posting last November and then LIFE literally got in the way. So much has happened since then. As you can see from the layout I posted, we are awaiting the arrival of our unexpected blessing on August 10th! This will be a fun opportunity to share with you the adventures of this new little one to our family. I'll share some history in a later post soon...

Sweet dreams,

Pamela