Tag Archives: CTMH

Claire Birthday Card

I’ve been having a creative week. Held a card class Tuesday night, teaching watercolour tonight and tomorrow I’ll be meeting with the Peace Watercolour Society for their AGM. I haven’t been to one before so I’m not sure what to expect and how much candy to sneak in in my purse. I wouldn’t want to run out!

I’m also rocking a purple and silver manicure (I love my nail stamping kit!) and turquoise eyeliner. I’ve put in 2 hours of exercise this week and my birthday party is on Saturday!

One of my best friends celebrated her birthday last Sunday, and I took time to make a special card, rather than picking one out from my stash of over a hundred!Claire Card detail | Angela Fehr

I really believe that paper crafting has made me a better painter. The process of creating a strong design for a card or layout has improved my composition skills when I paint. Reason enough to keep crafting, though I also do it because I enjoy it. It’s so satisfying to spend an hour creating something special for someone, to record a memory or just to make something pretty.claire card

The supplies I used here (except the doily and baker’s twine) are the Claire paper line from Close to My Heart and two stamp sets, Sweet Moments and Joyful Birthday (which retails for only $9.95!) I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment using Versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear powder. Then I inked it with Slate ink to make it stand out against the lighter grey (Whisper) cardstock. The cameo was stamped on pink using white heat embossing powder. I’ve linked up all the supplies to my Close to My Heart web site so you can purchase them and create your own stunning card!

February/March Class Schedule

Note: Date Changes to Birthday Card Class and Scrapbooking Class (updated 02-11-2013)

Want to get creative this winter? It’s not too late to enjoy a little Paper Therapy! I’ll be teaching several great classes over the next couple of months and registration is open!

clementine card butterfly

February 19th, Tuesday, 7-9pm: Clementine Birthday Card Class $25
In this fun two-hour class you’ll make 2 each of 5 different card designs. Techniques covered include creating your own backgrounds using stamps, stamping on embellishments and die cutting using the Big Shot.

clementine rose bkgrnd card

clementine edge card

clementine polka dot cardclementine doily card

March 5th, Tuesday, 7-9pm: Scrapbooking Basics Class, $30
There is nothing basic about getting started in scrapbooking! It can be intimidating to start a new layout with a stack of photos and an empty page. In this class you’ll learn how I make my photos the stars of my pages, using sketches as inspiration; create titles using stamps; how to keep a unified theme in a single or double page layout, and more! We will make both a single page and double page layout in this class with lots of paper left for future projects.

March 12th, Tuesday, 7-9pm: Stencil and Stamp Photo Canvas Class, $35
Mixed media meets home decor meets scrapbooking! In this class we start with a blank canvas, using spray ink, stamps and die cuts to create a gorgeous photo canvas in colours that perfectly complement your photo and decor. You choose the colours.

Five Frosty Christmas Projects

Seeing as we’ve clearly broken some kind of record for snow before Halloween, I have no guilt about posting with a few Christmas projects that I’ve enjoyed making recently. I created two Christmas cards for Paper Crafts’ World Card Making Day competition, and since I wasn’t chosen as a winner, I can share them today. One uses beautiful Close to My Heart stamps to create a pretty scene.

I used a gold leafing pen to add golden accents, and to change the pewter brad to gold.

This one I LOVE. Kind of want it back since it didn’t win! But all the cards in the competition go to Operation Write Home, so it was given for a good cause. And I can always make another; that’s the great thing about stamps, don’t you think? In case you can’t tell from the photo, the red dots are french knots. There are over sixty of them and I embroidered them all one morning in between overseeing my children’s schooling. I love french knots!

When you create a card with a special feature like this, you want to keep the focus on that detail. In this case, I put the card on a red background, softened with vellum and just a hint of lace peeping through via a Spellbinders Parisian Accents die. The vellum was pierced (another nod to the stitchery theme) using the die cut as a template and attached with black brads.

This Christmas project is a fun mini banner – it measures about 2 feet across! I used the Close to My Heart paper “Pear & Partridge” to create this mini banner using only three sheets of cardstock and one sheet of pattern paper. I used my Silhouette heavily to create the die cut words and embellishments. I’ll be doing this project for a ladies’ group Christmas craft and it will be a fun night! Once I have my Christmas decorations up, I’ll take a “pretty” photo of this banner in the place of honour.

Do you recognize the stamp set? I used it on the first card in this post as well! It’s my 2012 favourite Christmas stamp set! It’s called “Merry & Bright” and it’s only $13.95.

This card was created this summer and it’s inspired by a little red sled that I bought at an antique store last year. I love it, and until today, I didn’t know where to put it in my house. It’s been leaning against a wall in a disused corner and I just knew I could show it off better. I found the perfect place for it, and I’ll show you one day soon!

Wood grain paper is very popular now and I didn’t even need a digital die cut file to create this little toboggan. I just cut strips of paper and rounded the corners, and the top steering part is a Labels 1 die from Spellbinders, trimmed to the correct size and shape. And some frosty glitter glue adds the perfect touch!

And finally, a little mini banner that has no stamping at all! Yes, sometimes that happens, even to me! Maya Road tickets that I punched at each corner and fastened with baker’s twine. I love the mini bells and need to do a dollar store run for more before Christmas. Of course, silver bells can be tinted with alcohol inks, or even Copic markers.

I’m taking December off in terms of creative classes – after teaching two a week for nearly the last three months, I’m ready for a break and time to spend focusing on a meaningful Christmas with family. And we’ll be doing lots of creating, so I’ll have more to share over the coming weeks.

7 Reasons to Try Digital Scrapbooking Right Now!

One thing digital scrapbooking has over traditional is that they look so much better online! I created several layouts using Close to My Heart’s Studio J program. I’m happy to promote the program now that they’ve done away with the membership costs and you pay only for the layouts you actually print or download. Studio J is easy to use but also very versatile. I want to be able to customize my projects to my heart’s content, and Studio J lets me do that as well. I love that the paper patterns that are available are never discontinued like they are in the catalogue, and I can use old paper lines that I knew and loved years ago, and can’t buy any more. While I’m a hands-on kind of person, I can see a lot of reasons why digital scrapbooking is a good idea.

  1. You can order multiples of your layouts to make matching albums for grandparents or children’s keepsakes.
  2. You can post digital images online to share with far away relatives.
  3. Your supplies take up no space, and with Studio J they don’t even take up computer space since the projects are done online.
  4. You save money – you aren’t buying supplies you’ll never use.
  5. With the layout designs integrated into the software, and coordinating paper and embellishments, you save time. With the express layout feature, you can actually create an entire coordinated album just by dropping in your photos!

I also scrap mostly with 4″ x 6″ photos but when I’m creating a digital layout, I can use the photos at any size I want without having to get them printed in that size – so much easier.
Why don’t you give Studio J a try this month? Through October they are having a promotion; buy 9 layouts and get the 10th for free. That’s twenty pages for your new scrapbook – you could get a year’s worth of photos done at that rate and be all caught up by November.

Clementine Banner

Well! I’ve been having a wonderful month, even though the pool is closed. Too busy to miss swimming much. My class schedule is delightfully full; last night I hosted a scrapbooking class using Simple Stories kits and today I’m ordering materials for my Clementine class on Oct. 2nd. I also have an order out with supplies for three different classes that I can’t wait to show you, and so life is good.

I made this banner yesterday. It uses paper and embellishments from my Close to My Heart Clementine mini album workshop, plus a few “extras” (like the banner!) and it turned out so pretty! I was thinking of my girls when I made it, and couldn’t decide what word to spell. “Princess” is too fluffy, I was thinking of “Lovely” or “My Girl” but I started searching banners online and saw one that said “BE HAPPY” and I knew that was perfect. I believe happiness is a choice, and I want to teach my children to choose to be happy, whatever their circumstances. And it’s a sentiment they won’t outgrow!

This banner goes together quickly, making use of stamps for the background and die cut pieces made with my Silhouette machine.

I had to include a piece of this pretty floral paper from the Clementine pack. It’s so lovely! These rolled paper roses started out as off-white and I inked them before rolling to coordinate them to the banner. Easy to add a custom look that way.

I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to teach these classes. I love sharing my ideas – it’s so energizing – and I am thankful to have a large space to host classes, and a family who supports me when I’m busy teaching, and that I get to buy beautiful products and use them (the classes are just an excuse for me to make what I want!). I’m so excited about the weeks and months ahead as I plan and shop and create and share!

This banner is an option for my Clementine class on October 2nd. I’m ordering supplies today and students will choose whether they want to make the album, or the banner, or both!

Clementine Mini Album Photos & Class Details

The paper craft projects that get me most excited are always the same: mini albums.

There is just something about a mini album that is special. Focusing on a single person or event is a wonderful way to spend a few hours, and because I usually give my minis away, I get all excited about the reaction of the person who will be receiving the album.

When I saw the Clementine paper kit from Close to My Heart, I knew I’d be using it to make a mini album, and I paired the paper kit with CTMH’s kraft die cut cards to create the album. My album uses four cards and envelopes, but I think three would have been better – I’m not quite finished the back pages and the album is already pretty thick.My oldest daughter is growing up so fast! She’s nine and a half and the tallest nine year old I’ve met. She is a delightful girl and it was so fun to journal and scrap about all the things that make her special.

I used Coptic binding (or a variation thereof – my internet was down so I had to stitch from memory instead of following a tutorial) to bind all the pages of the album together. I like that in using the envelopes as well as the cards, I could make little journalling pages to insert into each envelope – you can see one in the photo above, just waiting for a little love letter from me to her!

I love the way the envelope flaps make a partial page divider – it’s fun to arrange the photos so just a little tantalizer of the next page is peeking out! So much of the fun is in arranging everything just right.

In addition to the adorably pretty Clementine paper, I’ve used the Clementine canvas stickers – so much more texture than just regular paper stickers and I love how they coordinate.

I also added in the Cottage Assortment layered stickers. Theses are so fabulous – stitched fabric with buttons and again, perfectly coordinated. I just love this!

Another pocket/journalling page. Happy sigh.

Here you can see just a peek at the stitching for the binding. I used Waxy Flax to bind the book and it’s holding up really well. I used three different stamp sets for this project, Rugged Dude for one embellishment (see below), the lovely set from the Scroll Album kit (I have two in stock you can buy today!) and the It’s Your Day double set. Keep reading and I’ll let you know how to get this set for only $5!

I just had to try out the wonderful pocket from Rugged Dude, inking it up with Pacifica ink, stamping off to get the denim, and then stamping the stitching with Pacifica “full power”. Can you hear me happy sighing again?

I’ve used ten of my favourite photos and this album is by no means full – even though it’s just over 6 inches square, it packs a punch! I can’t wait to finish it with a few more favourite photos and some heartfelt journalling. My sweet girl deserves this special gift, even though her birthday is months away.

I’m going to do this album as a class at my home studio in Dawson Creek BC – wanna come? Here’s the details: Class takes place on October 2nd from 7-9pm. You will receive lots of product – enough to make one album with lots left over:
Clementine Paper Kit
Clementine Canvas Stickers
Cottage Assortment stickers
Desert Sand Exclusive Inks stamp pad
Bamboo Waxy Flax
Kraft Die Cut Cards & Envelopes
It’s Your Day double stamp set (available with any $35 purchase until September 30, 2012)

For those who would prefer to make something a little different, there is an alternate project for this class; the Clementine banner!  Using a similar design to the banner I made my daughter last Christmas, only with a different colour scheme, the Clementine banner is eight pieces and will make any little girl’s heart thrill with delight!

More photos and details to come soon. Space is limited in this class, so email me if you want to join the class, or to ask about ordering the materials for yourself.

 

Playing In Paradise: Sorbet Colour Challenge

My second daughter is quite a girl. She’s spunky and independent and very imaginative. She loves to draw and write stories and I fully expect her to end up choosing something artistic as a life path.

I just love the colour combination for this week’s Playing in Paradise challenge at Scrapbooker’s Paradise.

 I’d been dying to use a new sunflower stamp set, and so I inked it up and did a little colouring with my watercolour pencils.

Every one turned out slightly different! Copy this look with this poinsettia stamp from Stampendous and Faber-Castell Aquarelle pencils, both available at Scrapbooker’s Paradise.

I fussy cut each flower and curled the edges up for dimension. The look got a little fun & funky with the addition of button & sticker centres to each flower.

I’m loving little cute clusters on my layouts lately. I used strips of paper and one of my two! patterns of washi tape (I’m just starting to get into that trend; Scrapbooker’s Paradise has lots) to add further layers to my page. A white background looks so clean, but I like to frame my pictures with some colour.

You can see a little spatter here with glimmer mist, and a few rub-ons from an old Kaisercraft set. My priority was using the same beautiful warm colours that Merlie put into her challenge.

I have to tell you something about this girl – like I said, she’s independent, and imaginative, and these can combine to mean that when she dreams up something to worry about, she doesn’t always tell me. A month ago her brother accidentally hit her hand and bent her pinky finger back. You know how much that hurts! I jokingly asked if she needed to go to the hospital and have the doctor amputate. Just the other day I noticed that while her pain is gone, her finger is still swollen, and so I suggested we get the doctor to take a look. Well, she got all tense and insisted she DID NOT need a doctor. Then, after a while she explained that she didn’t want him to amputate! Oops. I guess she’s still learning her mum’s sense of humour.

A second oops came when we went to the doctor and she sent her for an x-ray. While we are still waiting on results, I could clearly see on the x-ray that there was a small break in the bone. I guess my little girl has a pretty high pain tolerance, and we’ll be finding out in a day or two how they treat a month-old broken pinky finger!

Thanks for checking out my layout today! Please drop by Scrapbooker’s Paradise and join this fun colour challenge. As always, great inspiration and even better prizes await you!

Playing a Little Shopaholic with the new CTMH catalogue.

Last night I hosted and taught a “Christmas in July” advent calendar class. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy opening my studio to a group of students, sharing ideas, supplies and laughter! My husband complains that we spend so much time chatting and playing, we forget the time and keep him up late (our bedroom is only a half wall away!).

The Fall/Winter 2012 Close to My Heart catalogue debuted today and it’s a winner. I am glad that I signed up as a Close to My Heart consultant because the new catalogue has some amazing workshop kits that make teaching classes from my home easier than ever!One workshop I just can’t wait to offer is the Scroll Album workshop. I wish I’d thought of this idea. It’s a beautiful 7.5″ wooden spool, wound with four feet of thick kraft paper and comes with everything you need to make a beautiful showpiece for your home.

I’ll be offering this class on Tuesday, August 21 at 7pm. Cost is $35.95 plus tax. If you’d like to take this class, please email me by August 7th so I can add your kit to my order. Additionally, if you love this scroll album like I do, but can’t make it to a class, you can order the kit through my Close to My Heart consultant site and assemble it at home with minimal extra supplies.

There are quite a few “favourites” in the new catalogue, and I wanted to share them with you. First of all, I’m just peeved that I’m already a consultant, because this month, while supplies last, Close to My Heart is offering this beautiful canvas bag to new consultants as part of the start up kit.


I’ve seen this bag in person (it was also given to consultants who attended Convention in Texas last month) and it’s stunning. A beautiful wipe-clean canvas, solid construction, and a perfect size. Love it! With new consultant kits starting at only $49, it’s worth signing up for the bag alone! I can help you with that, if you feel the way I do about it.

Stuff that I can actually get (and will probably use in an upcoming class) includes the Christmas kit, called Pear & Partridge. It’s lovely classic colours and there is both an card kit and a scrapbooking kit in the catalogue that come with their own exclusive stamp sets. I will need them both.

New My Creations items are always exciting, considering how I love altered items and mini albums. There’s a bracket frame, a canvas journal and a “cubby” that can be purchased as a kit to make an advent calendar!

August’s Stamp of the Month is gorgeous too. Called Baroque Borders, it is a vision of distressy loveliness. And it’s only $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase!

I am just psyched about the pretty in the new Clementine paper kit. This line just squeals “girly mini album” to me, and I can’t wait to make it!

I don’t own a Cricut, but with Close to My Heart working with Cricut to produce not one but TWO cartridges that coordinate with Close to My Heart stamps, I am really tempted to buy myself a third die cutting system! The new Artiste cartridge is sure to generate as much buzz as the Art Philosophy cartridge did last year, and by hosting a gathering, you can buy yours for 50% off (with $250 or more gathering sales total)!

Take a look at my site and let me know what your favourite item is. I’d love to help you get your hands on some Close to My Heart goodness; it just keeps getting better!

 

Bookmarks for the Graduate

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It’s grad week in town and the energy is high! Our church has four or five teens graduating this year from home schools, high schools and public schools, and the church always does a presentation commemorating their achievement. This year we are giving the grads the book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung which is a good read for any Christian regarding decision making. Life choices are a big deal when you’re eighteen and the whole world is ahead of you!

I made a batch of bookmarks to include with the grad gifts and thought I’d share them here. I did a feminine bookmark and a more masculine one, using products from Close to My Heart.

The verse stamp is from the set Everlasting Life and the flourishes on the back of the bookmark use stamps from Love Life which is one of my favourite sets. It is so versatile! The paper is from the Pemberley workshop kit. Close to My Heart has their huge deal Stampaganza sale on right now – buy two sets, get one free – until the end of June. Canadians can shop my web site here.

For the masculine bookmarks I used the Victory paper pack, with the same stamps as the feminine bookmarks. The double-sided paper makes it easy to make coordinating bookmark and bookmark pocket. Remember when you are making a bookmark to avoid bulky embellishments like buttons and bows!

I didn’t design the bookmark but copied a bookmark given to me by my dear friend Charity of Sweet Cherry Ink, who got the design idea from another local paper crafter, Vicki Wizniuk. You can get the measurements here.

Have a great day!

April All Occasion Card Class Reveal

There are no entries yet in this week’s Playing in Paradise challenge! Deadline is Thursday noon – why not enter this week – you have an excellent chance of winning! And don’t forget to comment on my blogiversary post so you can have a chance to win a stamp set from Paper and Such!

I wanted to share the cards we made in my card class last night. They were so fun to make, and I have enough kits to do another class so if you’re interested, please contact me and we can set up a date for you and your friends to play!

The class includes a dozen cards, though several share the same design. I kept the design simple so that they were quick to assemble, and we did all the stamping first, then cut out the paper, and then assembled each card.

I used a combination of stamps from my (vast) collection. The frame above and the bold sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. Part of my prep for the class was to design a die cut that would fit the stamped frame. It’s not hard to do using graphic design software; I simply scanned the stamped image and drew a line around the contours. Then I converted that line to a cut file for my Silhouette.

Seeing as I keep my stamps for years and years and years, I will be able to use this die cut anytime I use this stamp set, and always be guaranteed a perfect fit. (die cut first, then stamp inside the die cut)

I absolutely love this stamp set from Close to My Heart. The outline flowers are clean and classic and the set also comes with tons of text stamps – it’s extremely versatile! You can order it here. The sentiment on this card is from Papertrey Ink. I want to point out the technique I used to colour the flower – I wanted it the same blue as the frame, and so I inked a little make up sponge and sponged the colour in, choosing different colours for the leaves and flower centre. It’s not a precise way to colour, but adds a lovely soft effect, and the depth of the colour depends on how much ink you sponge on! I love the way the flower and the frame blend together for an almost transparent effect.

This is probably the simplest card. A chance to show off some beautiful paper, and a few words that say it all.

The paper for each card is from My Mind’s Eye Miss Caroline. My current favourite paper line!

Another simple card. We did two versions of this design, turning one horizontally:

Again, more fabulous paper!

One more die cut frame – this time I took a scissor and cut out the circle from the centre, and then adhered some paper in behind – another way to spotlight on beautiful paper! I was also trying a messy colouring technique – the kind that looks like hasty brush strokes. Whether or not that worked for this is a matter of opinion.

I also wanted to use the interactive cut files I designed, and so we made two interactive cards. The zip strip card hides a message under a pull off tab. We also made some rolled paper roses for this card.

This one used my slider window design. When you pull that little tab, the window opens and a message is revealed. It was fun to show my friends how to make one last night!

Whew! That was a lot of cards to share! But a totally fun way to spend a couple of hours, I promise you!