February Fun

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I've been lax in getting to my blog.  I've been a bit busy as you will see momentarily.  First, I started off the month with my February Card Workshop.  A new friend joined us, so that was super exciting.  February's theme was Valentine's Day (of course) and Happy Birthday featuring the For Always paper pack from Close To My Heart.  Below are the cards we made.

I love the black and white, it makes any other color pop!

The second project for the month of February was a Valentine's Day treat for a few kids at school. I used the Whooo's Your Valentine Kit from Close to My Heart.  The kits and extras CTMH comes up with are so fun and really make crafting easy!

The new Glitter Paper is so fun!  It comes in 2 different packages - one Black & Grey and the other is Brown & Tan.  Of course, I used the Artiste Cricut Cartridge to cut out the shapes!  The new My Creations Clear Treat Tubes make it easy to give treats without going overboard with it.


The third project I've worked on this month was a recruiting give away for a couple of friends.  Both of my friends are Thirty-One Consultants and asked for some help.  I will admit, the basic idea came from Misty Long and Suzie Randle, I just took it from there.  Using the Artiste Cricut Cartridge, I cut out several milk cartons and assembled them.  I also cut out flowers and keys which are symbolic to Thirty-One.

Of course, the month isn't over, so you know I'll be working on something!  In fact, Suzie Randle has asked me to host a Team Building card workshop with her Thirty-One downline!  How exciting?!  I'm very happy and look forward to meeting new friends. Check back for the cards that I create for this exciting event, as well as Easter cards for March.


Close To My Heart Shopping List for these projects
Artiste Cricut Cartridge - Z1790
For Always paper pack - X7165B
February Stamp of the Month called Home Sweet Home - S1302A
Hello Tweety Stamp set - B1420
Black Striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Z1781
Button Brads in Black - no longer available
Whooo's Your Valentine Kit - no longer available
Glitter Paper - Black & Grey - Z1829
My Creations Clear Treat Tubes- Z1823
Shimmer Trim in Silver - Z179
Tulle Ribbon in Black - Z1798
Shimmer Trim in Black - Z1809

New Year ~ New Calendar

Happy NewYear Everyone!

I hope your holiday season was enjoyable, mine sure was.  Well, in a couple of weeks, the NEW Spring/Summer 2013 Idea Book from Close To My Heart will be out.  You will simply L-O-V-E all the new products, colors, patterns, and papers.  On February 1st, you can view the new catalog on my website www.mjwest.ctmh.com 

With the upcoming new catalog/idea book, I've planned out the full year of card classes.  You will notice that only 7 of the 12 months have specific paper names.  This is due to only knowing the next 7 months of the catalog.  Never fear, Close To My Heart will have even more new & exciting papers/patterns in August. 

 With the exception of the January class, all dates are on Saturday from 5:45-8'ish.  The location is the same - Winter's Park Assisted Living on Wagon Wheel Drive in Garland.  Each class is $10 per person - RSVP is required.

January 21 -  Valentine's Day, Birthday, and Thank you

February 9 - Birthday & Wedding featuring For Always

March 9 -  Thank you & Easter featuring Chantilly

April 13 - Mother's Day & Birthday featuring Claire

May 18 -  Father's Day & Birthday featuring Tommy

June 8 -  Thinking of You & Thank you featuring Later Sk8r

July 13 -  Birthday & Thinking of You featuring Buzz & Bumble

August 3 - Hello & Birthday featuring Surf's Up

September 14 - Halloween

October 12 - Thanksgiving

November 9 - Christmas/Holiday

December 7 - Christmas/ Holiday

November already?!

Hi,
Well, here it is already November and I can't remember the last time I posted something here.  Sorry - things have been rather busy and I have dropped the ball.  Of course I've been creating, just not posting it her.  So, I shall do that now! 


First, let's start with Boss's Day.  Here are the 4 cards I created for our wonderful bosses at school.

On to Halloween!

Invitations to a Girls' Night Out

Thanksgiving

Well, there you have it.  My recent creations over the past few months.  Hopefully I'll be back before another 4 months has passed.  Until then, stay creative!

Technique Blog Hop: Alcohol Markers

Welcome to our Technique Blog Hop!  This month we are highlighting the “Blending with Alcohol Markers” Technique as shown on page 55 in the Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book!  This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique. 

You will also find a listing of all participants and their blog addresses if you should get lost or want to reference a blog along the way.  If you are coming from Judy's Blog, you are on the right track.  Let’s get started!

Lately, I’ve been super busy and haven’t had time to craft.  It makes me so sad and I miss my crafting (a.k.a. stress reliever) so much.  Luckily, I had this blog hop to focus some attention on!  I’m super new to the whole alcohol & blending marker world.  So, I took things a little easy this month.  School has started back up (ya!) and I have kids who always need a bookmarker.  I cut the Colonial White cardstock at 7.5 x 1.5, inked the edges in Chocolate, and then glued it down to either a strip of Mischief paper (one of my all-time favs!) or Flirty paper.  Flirty isn’t exactly fall’ish, but the orange side of the paper worked well.   

Next, I broke out the StazOn and stamped my pumpkins from the Fall Favorites stamp set.  This stamp set is September’s Stamp of the Month and it is too dang cute!   I’ve learned that it is best to let the StazOn dry for several minutes before coloring with markers.  So, while the pumpkins were drying, I stamped “fall” in Autumn Terra Cotta ink and the words “into a good book” in Chocolate ink. 

The pumpkins were colored in the darker and lighter shades of Autumn Terra Cotta, while the stems, leaves, and grass where colored in the 2 tones of Ponderosa Pine.  For a finishing touch, I cut a 5 inch strip out of each color: Autumn Terra Cotta, Olive, and Chocolate Baker’s Twine.  I wound the Baker’s Twine together and looped through a small hole I made using a standard hole puncher.

I’d love to hear what you think of my easy – breezy bookmarks!  Leave a comment, then hop on over to Rachel's page to see what she has created this month.

Close To My Heart Shopping List:

Alcohol Blending Marker – Z1801

Autumn Terra Cotta Alcohol Marker – Z2427

Ponderosa Pine Alcohol Marker – Z2423

StazOn in Brown – Z1142

Autumn Terra Cotta Ink – Z2101

Chocolate Ink – Z2111

Harvest Baker’s Twine – Z1751

Baker’s Twine: Neutral Assortment – Z1701

Tiny Typewriter Alphabet Stamp Set – D1222

Fall Favorites Stamp Set – September Stamp of the Month – S1209

Bonding Memories Glue - 1512

Euro Personal Paper Trimmer – Z338

Microtip Scissors – Z534

My Acrylix Block 2x3 ½

My Acrylix Block 2x2

Colonial White paper - 1388

Flirty Paper Pack – X7160B

Mischief Paper Pack – retired

Standard hole puncher – office store/walmart

  Thank you for stopping by!

School is back in session

Well,  the first week of the new school year is over and I'm completely exhausted!  I am at the same school, but have a new position - Reading Helping Teacher.  I get to go around to all the different reading classes and help kids - how great is that?!  So far, I absolutely love it!

This week was also the start of college for me - no, I'm not going back to school.  Well, not actually.  I'm teaching college!!!  My first class was on 8/29 and I was a nervous wreck.  I get to teach a sophomore level psychology class - Human Growth & Development:  Lifespan.  The class is small and they are a great group.

Since I'm so tired and do not feel like cooking a great deal, I made up a huge batch of Cowboy Caviar.  I will be taking a scoop each day for my lunch to get in my veggies.   If you've never tried it, I've included the recipe below, so give it a try!

Cowboy Caviar

2   cans black-eyed peas, drained
2   cans corn, drained
2   cans Rotel tomatoes, drained
1   can diced black olives
1-2 jalapeno peppers  seeded & diced
4-6 small sweet peppers: yellow, orange, & red; seeded & diced
3-5 radishes, diced
3/4 of a zucchini, diced
1/2 lb mushrooms, diced as fine as possible
3/4 bunch cilantro, leaves removed & tossed in
20-30 baby carrots diced as small/fine as possible
1 onion, diced (can be yellow or red- your choice)
Salt & pepper to taste

These are the vegetables I generally put into my caviar, feel free to add things like celery, yellow squash, green peas, or whatever you like.  Most recipes also call for avocado.  Although I love avocado, I don't like it turning brown, so I never add it in to this dip. 

Once you have everything diced up and the cans well drained, put all of it in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  The longer it stands, the better the flavors meld together.  This recipe can easily be halved or quartered to make a smaller batch. 

I use the caviar as a dip or on salads.  Extremely healthy and super delicious!  Hope you enjoy!

Negative Images Can Create Positve Outcomes

Welcome to our Technique Blog Hop!  This month we are highlighting the “Negative Images” Technique as shown on page 92 in the Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book!  This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique. 

You will also find a listing of all participants and their blog addresses if you should get lost or want to reference a blog along the way.  If you are coming from Shirley’s Blog, you are on the right track.  Let’s get started!

After cutting out several images for a card workshop, I had a section of the Dreamin’ paper left that looked a lot like a grid.  For some reason, I just couldn’t throw that piece away.  Good thing I didn’t because it worked out well for this project!  I had several pictures of butterflies but didn’t have room for all of them, so I cut them down to focus only on the butterfly and then laid the “grid” over the pictures.

As embellishments, I wanted to use the Just Blooms Flutter shapes.  While I was inking the shapes, I noticed the paper underneath my shape had a negative image of the white inside a ring of the ink color.  So, of course, I added that to my layout.  You never know when or how a negative image will accent your project!

  

I’d love to hear what you think of my interpretation of the Using Negative Images Technique.  Leave a comment, then hop on over to Joy’s page to see what she has created this month.

Thank you for stopping by!

Close To My Heart Shopping List:

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge Z1686

Sunset Ink – Z2191

Chocolate Ink – Z2111

Crème Brulee Ink – Z20167

Crystal Blue Ink – Z2117

Round Sponge – Z697

Just Blooms Flutter Shapes – Z1463

Sparkle Flourishes – Z1708

Bonding Memories Glue - 1512

Euro Personal Paper Trimmer – Z338

Microtip Scissors – Z534

Dreamin’ B& T – retired

White Daisy Cardstock – 1385

Scroll Album Kit WOTG – G1042

For Sale Items, check out the While Supplies Last section!  http://mjwest.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=1702

New * New * New

With the first of August comes more heat than we know what to do with.  Good thing Close To My Heart has few cool NEW things going on!  First, there is the new Idea Book, next is the new Artiste Cricut cartridge, and last but not least, is the new way to become a Consultant.

If you have thought about being a Consultant, but wasn't sure Close To My Heart has come up with an idea to make it simpler for you.  There are two Consultant kits now!  The first one is called the Essentials Kit and is only $49!  The second kit is our traditional Master Kit for $99.  Regardless of which kit you choose, you will be receive this tote we got at Convention for free.

But, you must hurry, because there are only a limited amount.  Corporate has told us that when the supplies are gone, they are gone.  This is a great messenger bag.  I love mine! 

The Damask Tote Bag Features:
* 17" x 17" x 6"
* Large exterior pocket for 12" x 12" paper packets
* Huge interior pocket that can hold a 12" x 12" album and more
* Small zippered interior pocket
* Fabric is a coated-canvas for durability & easy cleaning
* 2 water bottle pockets
* Can be worn on the shoulder, across the body, or as a backpack
* Large outer flap snaps closed

This is one beautiful bag and it is FREE when you sign up as a Consultant with Close To My Heart.  Go straight to my website to get started! http://mjwest.ctmh.com    Come join my team, you won't regret it!

Have a fabulous day!