Get School Inspired

I am so excited to announce that last week I made the Top 5 in the Heart to Heart challenge! I was picked by the design team and am so honored and pleased. I hope you all stop by to check out the work from last week (click here to check it out) which will be used for the 2nd grade page in my sons school album! Ironic that this week is a school challenge at H2H.

This weeks challenge at Heart 2 Heart is to create something that is inspired by going back to school. I know I've waited until the last minute to post but wanted to be sure to make something that really inspired me. With all the talk about going back to school I have been working on my sons School Album. The thing I get stumped with on albums is coming up with a first page. I want it to show what the album is all about. I thought this was the perfect challenge to get me moving on a title page for the album.

I decided a great way to show the purpose of the album was to put together a page that had a small picture of each of his yearly school pictures. It will really display how he continues to grow each year. I went with a classic "School Days" title. In order to get all the pictures in I needed more than the bottom portion of one 12x12 sheet so I decided it would be a perfect place to add in one of the new 4x12 flip flaps. I will put 4 pictures per row and will end up with 3 rows to display 12 pictures. I was still one spot short in order to get K-12 so I left room at the top of the page next to the title where I can put his senior picture.

To really add to the page I decided to use the antique copper embellishments but putting brads on the "S's" in the title, the bigger brad and photo clip on the long ruler and then a series of brads to make a quarter circle in the bottom left corner. Add some stitched stars a bit of twine and several stamped images of common school items and the page is complete. To highlight the pictures I've added in a small tag labeled with the school grade for each photo. I know the page looks empty but as the years go by it will be filled up!

I hope you all like the layout, I know I do! I can't wait to add the 2nd grade picture this fall.


All items used are CTMH (It's a Guy Thing Level 2 paper pack, Honey, Outdoor Denim and Bamboo cardstock, Rustic Alphabet and In the Month of August and Shining Star (template for stitched stars) stamp sets, Antique copper embellishments, twine, large flip flaps, neutral embroidery floss).

Gettin' Sketchy with H2H

This weeks challenge at Heart to Heart was a sketch challenge. These are some of my most favorite challenges because I love to see what one sketch can inspire in so many people. Although the sketch was published on Monday it's taken me until Saturday afternoon to get it done and posted. I had originally started off planning to make a back to school card to send out but as I started creating I decided it would be become the title for my son's school album. I managed to fit in a ton of embellishments, techniques and papers. The colors are from Jeanette Lynton's Color Me Monday challenge.


Products: Black and Honey Cardstock, Moon Doggie (red strip) which I folded like Roman Shades and sewed down, Back Country paper (plaid behind school bus), Vellum paper, Olive, black and Cranberry inks, embossing powder, dimensional elements (stars from the snowflakes DE), Olive floss for sewing, In the Month of August and Solo 2 stamp sets.

In the end this will be a great title for a school book. Now I can even coordinate his outfit for the first day of school with this!

Tag You're It!

From the title of the post you might have guessed that the challenge I'm participating in this week involves tags. This week the challenge at H2H is to create a piece of artwork that includes a tag. It can be a tag or have a tag on it. I've decided to give you all a sneak peak at two of the new paper packs for the fall catalog and to show you a bit of interactive art. The interactive art is featured in the new How-To layout book called Magic that is also in the fall catalog.

My first tag is a Christmas gift tag. I sanded the cardstock to give it the antique look to match the feel of the Santa and Merry Christmas. I added a hinge for embellishment and function. The Santa is on a flap that can be lifted to revel who the package if for and who it's from. All items are CTMH: Evergreen, Cranberry, Mistletoe, St. Nick.

The second tag I made is a unique birthday card. I went all out and stitched and used dimensional elements too! When closed it looks like it has a tag inserted. When you pull the tag out it reveals a secret message. What a fun way to say Happy Birthday! This fun technique is great for cards and on layouts! Find out how to make yours with the new Magic book in September! All items are CTMH: Gypsy, Pear, Hooligans, Sunset mini medley, Dimensional elements stars, and my favorite...Hooligans fuzzy monster embellishments.

August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

The beginning of another month is here which means a new stamp of the month! This month brings us a beautiful stamp set called Something Splendid! A beautiful large flower that incorporates one of my favorite techniques, Base and Shade Stamping.

This month the blog hop has over 60 consultants featuring tons of beautiful artwork to inspire everyone! If you come from Dawn's blog you're on the right track. If not just keep going from here as it's one continuous loop. You're sure to love all the art that has been created!

Base and Shade Stamping: This is one of the easiest techniques that adds a huge amount of dimension. To do this stamping technique you first stamp the "shade" or inside portion of the stamp in the lighter color. Next add the "base" or outside stamp by lining up the images. This is easy with acrylic stamps! Just look at the effect you get!

I've created two different pocket cards. One can hold a nice letter and the other I've designed with book marks. It's a great small gift and who doesn't need more bookmarks???

Now hop over to Jody's blog for more inspiration!

It's an Entire Weekend of Scrap-A-Mania!

November 5-7

Come spend an entire weekend scrapbooking with other fellow enthusiasts! Just think…an entire weekend of scrapbooking and FUN! Freebie drawings all weekend, silent auction for Operation Smile, Close to my Heart Product Table, Goodie Bag and much, much more!!!

You can't beat the price!!!!

Cost Before August 10: $125 (includes 2 night’s lodging, 5 meals & a super fun scrapbooking goodie bag)

To Reserve Your Spot Email me at:

k.orear@sbcglobal.net

Cost After August 10: $135 (includes 2 night’s lodging, 5 meals & a super fun scrapbooking goodie bag)

When: Friday, November 5 through Sunday November 7

Where: Howell Nature Center

Time: Friday check in: 6pm

Sunday check out: 1pm

Final RSVP by October 15 (Space is Limited so the sooner the better!)

To Reserve Your Spot Email me at:

k.orear@sbcglobal.net

The rooms house 2-3 people, so let us know if you are planning to come with a scrapbooking friend or friends and you will be assigned the same room.

You will earn tickets throughout the weekend and be entered to win lots of fun prizes (including card kits, paper packs, stamp sets, and more). Here are some of the ways you can earn tickets throughout the weekend:

• Recruited a friend to come to this weekend crop--10 tickets (plus a free stamp set)
• Bring a snack or goodie to share (there is a fridge)--10 tickets
• Stay up the latest during one of the nights--10 tickets
• Complete any project you brought--1 ticket per project
• Buy anything off the shopping table--5 tickets
• Sign up for any workshop--20 tickets
• Book a party --20 tickets
• Place an order--20 tickets

Do you love to scrapbook or make cards but feel like you never have time to devote to it at your house?

Then, this is the perfect opportunity for you!! Don't miss out on this super fun, affordable weekend of scrapbooking!

H2H Color Challenge

This week at H2H the challenge is a color challenge. These colors (Vineyard Berry, Blush and Creme Brule) are beautiful together! I decided to make a fan fold flower to embellish my card. It was super easy and fun and adds great dimension. Just take a strip of paper, scallop one edge, score between each scallop and accordion fold on the score line. Tape to make a circle and "flatten" to make a circle and adhere to a circle. Add a center and you're done. I made three different "flowers" and stacked them to get different colors.

The card pattern is from Jeanette Lynton's Wishes book, the papers are Creme Brule and Blush cardstock, Emporium and Cherry-O creative basics. The bitty sparkles add just the right tough of bling.

What's Cookin' at H2H!

The challenge this week at H2H is to incorporate a recipe of some sort into your art. I have to admit that this one took me a while to come up with something to make. I was thinking of a recipe book or layout with pictures and a recipe but I was also wanting to make something that was a bit different and unique. I finally came up with an idea I thought would be fun, unique and useful. I call it "Recipe for Happy Trails".

We do a lot of outside activities in our family so I made this fun envelope bag to pack up snacks for the hikes or bike rides. It will carry some nuts, raisins, crackers and M&M's. What's a happy journey without snacks right?

The bag is made with a shipping envelope. Just cut off the top to make it square, score the three folded sides 2 inches, open the envelope and fold on the score lines. Tuck under the flaps at the bottom and you've got yourself a bag. It was lots of fun to make and I know the users will love it and the contents :)

Card Challenge Sunday

Today I had some time to work on my Mojo, finally! I decided to take on two challenges and do something very different for each. Both were sketch challenges but from two different sources. My first card is based on this sketch from Taylored Expressions. When I saw the cute flowers I knew I had to use the CTMH Splendor Paper. I fussy cut the flower from one of the patterned papers and then stamped the bird and the three bug buttons. I embossed them to give them a bit of shine and character.


The second challenge is from 365 Cards. I decided to go with a gate fold card and rotate the sketch 90 degrees. I am going to send this one to my niece who just learned how to ride a bike. I don't have a bike stamp but thought this one would work out just as well. She was so excited to learn that she called to tell me right away.

H2H Challenge - ABC

This weeks challenge is Anything But A Card. I decided I would make a set of four magnetic game boards. I covered metal and some magnets from a home improvement store with Stardust paper to make Tic-Tac-Toe, Chinese Checkers, Hangman and Checkers. They are going to be stored in a My Creation Memory Box (it hasn't arrived yet so I don't have it to decorate quite yet). I thought this would be a great thing to take in the car for some of the long rides.

To make the hangman I used packaging tape along the bottom and sides so you can use a dry erase marker to write the words and the letters that weren't part of the word. The snowman is made up of individual parts that can be assembled as missed letters are mentioned.

Back from Convention

Ok I've been back for nearly a week but it's taken me that long to fully recover from Convention. It was an absolutely fabulous time! Jeanette Lynton is such a wonderful woman and she inspires us all. Before Convention my friend Jeannette (not Lynton but just as nice and inspiring) went out for a day of sight seeing. It was about 110 degrees, very humid and we were on an unairconditioned bus. It was the hottest tour I had ever been on. The tour guide was wonderful but by the end of the tour I was almost certain I had melted! Here are just a few pictures of some of the places we stopped. The last picture of Jeannette and I was after being on the bus for 3 hours so forgive our rather hot and melted look!

Convention is HERE!

Today was the first day of the 2010 Close to my Heart Convention and it was AMAZING! The production and events are more than anyone can image. The detail of decorating the hotel is unmatched. There are stickers on the vertical risers of the stairs and a huge window banner all for CTMH. Our company is fabulous and I'm so in awe of the support and talent of all the corporate staff and consultants who are a part of it.

Today we learned of the many new products that are coming up in the fall idea book and new programs that are going to be unveiled from mid July through the end of the year. No one is going to want to miss out on the Fall open house I'll be hosting. There will be art, prizes, catalogs and more new stuff than ever! I will be sending out an newsletter after to convention with many details. I'll also post pictures as soon as I get home.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July Everyone! I hope you get to spend a day filled with friends and family enjoying the freedom of our nation!

In honor of Independence Day I thought I would share one of my Studio J layouts I did that features family fun at a fireworks display. Studio J made this layout so much fun and so easy to do! I've done this layout with standard scrapbooking techniques and it's cutting intensive and I had to reprint one picture 3 times to get the cutting right. I love how it turned out and love even more that it took me about 20 minutes to compete! Check out Studio J to see what you think. All you have to do is visit my website. There is no cost to use ANY of the software! You don't pay for anything until you decide to print the layout you've created. I save up and order 10 at a time because they send you page protectors for free and you get free shipping! Check it out today on my website. http://kimorear.myctmh.com

Passages Layouts

I was finally able to sit down and create with the new Passages paper pack. I wasn't sure what to do with it at first but it didn't take me long to realize how much I loved it! The browns are rich with just the right touch of green. Our outdoor pictures are going to look great on one and I have some wonderful Father's Day pictures to put on the other one.

This weekend I had my layout class and these are the two layouts participants got to make. Everyone was pleased them. I can't wait to see what pictures they put on them!

Left Page Close-up

Right Page Close-up

Left Page Close-up

Right Page Close-up: the upper right rectangle is a pocket where I can put journaling tags.

July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

It's a new month again and time for another blog hop! This month brings us an adorable hedhog set called Happy Forever. I love the super cute hedhogs with the balloons, kite and butterfly, they are just too cute to resist!

If you've come here from Nancy's blog your on the right track. If not keep going and you'll still get to see all the fantastic artwork. The hop is one big circle. If you would like to see a complete list of the hoppers click here.

For this hop I created a gift bag and 8 different cards to go inside. It is a gift for my niece for her birthday. I thought she would enjoy sending them and using them for her own creativity! She's turning 7 and loves to craft!




















Now hop over to see what great art Tammy Lea has made for all of us to view. It's fabulous I'm sure!

Magnetic Board

I know I've been absent for quite a while but it's been a busy summer so far! School is out and weather has been nice so I've been spending lots of time outside and having fun with my son. Working also takes a large portion of my day which hasn't left much time for crafting. I did get time to make this adorable magnetic board for my nice for her birthday. I purchased the frame and magnetic insert from Archivers and then painted the frame and decorated the insert. I put her name on it with dimensional element letters and added some hearts and flowers. The flowers and clips in the middle are attached to magnets. I think it will look great hanging in her room and it will be useful too! She was very happy with it yesterday when she opened it.

Day 100 - All Lined Up

It's the 100th day for challenges at 365 cards! Hard to believe that it's been 100 days since the beginning of March...where has the time gone??? Today's challenge is to line everything from the embellishments to the sentiment up. You need to have at least THREE items in each line that you create.

In honor of being the last week of school I've decided to make one more lunch box note for the year. I made three rows...one with the buttons and frog, one with the stitching and sentiment and then the last one is all words.

Mojo Monday 141

I saw the challenge for this weeks Mojo Monday and knew I had to make both the circle and the square versions of the cards. I have been wanting to dig into the new Clear Cards from CTMH and this was the prefect opportunity. Both cards were lots of fun to make and I can't wait to send them now!

The Sweet Smile card uses the great new pearl embellishments. They are all together on a clear adhesive background so they are super quick to put on.

For the Nothing but blue skies card I added clear buttons to accent the clear card and popped up the hot air balloon for dimension.

Supersize It

Today is Day 97 at 365 Cards and the challenge is to Supersize your card. The completed card needs to be 5.5" x 8.5". I found a picture of a card in Papercrafters magazine that I just fell in love with so I decided to use it for my inspiration. I cut different pieces different sizes and spaced them out on the card. I used a zigzag stitch stamp to make them look like quilt pieces and then I added a few stamped embellishments in areas. It's a busy card but I really love how it turned out! I love the new Splendor paper and Over the Rainbow stamp sets from CTMH!

Bright Colors on 96 of the 365 Card Challenge

I was really excited to see a color scheme posted on today's challenge at 365 Cards. It's a bright scheme I thought would make a great birthday card. I did a bit of background stamping, some sanding and added a few brads. An easy and fun card I know my niece will love.