Proceeds from July and August sales going towards Calgary Zoo Flood Relief.

Click on this link to donate directly to the zoo

If any of you read my monthly newsletter, you will already know that I promised to donate all of the proceeds from my sales from July and August to the Red Cross. Well since that time I have seen the trouble that the Calgary Zoo is in and I think that the money would be better served by donating to them. I have spent countless hours at the zoo with Archer, my friends and family creating many memories. It holds a special place in my heart because it is such a great place to go for anyone. I have also created many zoo layouts and those are so much fun to make. Please support this wonderful place and organization, either by purchasing Close To My Heart product from me, either directly through me or online on my website, or donate directly to the zoo here. 

Please also stay tuned to my blog as the new Idea Book is coming out August 1, 2013. Please contact me if you would like a copy of the new book. Here's a peek at the cover. Psst - there's a new Cricut Cartridge...

 

DRCC Session 5 Class #12

I had a request to use the For Always paper pack again as several of my students have some New York pictures and baby pictures that work really well with the black and white patterns. I decided to do 2 single page layouts that go together so that they could be combined as a single 2-page layout. You'll notice the scroll that repeats itself throughout the 2 pages plus I used red as my accent color. Instead of using cardstock for colored paper, I only used ink and inked the zipstrip as well as the edges of the cardstock in Ruby. I used the outline from when I cut out the scroll as a mask to create a corner accent with the red ink on the Together page.

On my Graduate page, I kept it fairly basic black and white, but inked some paper flowers red to tie in the red from the picture. I'm looking forward to seeing which colors each of my students will choose to use tomorrow. It will be a fun class to play around with. As another accent, I used a circle punch and cut out the corners of the picture mat and also the mat around the title. I accented both pages with rhinestones to give it some bling.

DRCC Session 5 Class #11

 This is the Unforgettable paper pack from a few years ago. I love the cherry blossom paper and the combination of the sorbet and juniper colors.

I added some 3D cherry blossoms by first stamping the outline from the Aspiration stamp set. I used the second generation stamping technique with the coordinating solid stamp in sorbet to color the petals. I also used the second generation technique for the branches and the flowers on the right side, then finished that piece with some ribbon.

DRCC Session 5 Class #10

This is the Later Sk8r paper from CTMH. It's mainly a boyish themed paper, but we need to represent the males sometimes, don't we? I had some fun with this one as I got to play with my new Fast and Furious stamp set. It has some super cute trucks, cars, accents and the tire tread. I stamped the dump truck twice, once in slate and then just the wheels in lagoon. I then cut out the wheels and adhered them in top of the slate colored truck with 3D foam tape.

For the title, I stamped it first on an extra piece of cardstock using the Posterboard Alphabet. I then scrunched up some tissue paper and dabbed it onto my ink pad then dabbed it on top of the letters. I repeated it with 3 different colors. I then cut the letters out and put them on the page. I like how it gives the layout a paint splattered look without a big mess.

DRCC Session 5 Class #9

For anyone who is visiting my blog from outside of Calgary, you should know that for the first half of July, everyone gets decked out in cowboy boots and hats for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth - the Calgary Stampede. If you've never been, it's a really great time and lots of fun. These are some pictures from my son's first visit to the grounds. I used the Sweet Home paper pack, it's quite old, but my dear sister found me some extra paper so I thought it lent a nice quaint western look to my page. I did use the new Kraft paper for the base pages as well as the die cuts. I added some wooden buttons for embellishing as well as stitching the hemp on the bottom of the right page. I cheated and just used a pen to create the stitching on the edges of the base page. 

I had fun with the title. This die cut was from the Farm Life Slice Cartridge. It originally had a lasso extending from the cowboy's arm, but I wanted to put my title inside of the loop so I trimmed it off and used hemp to double as rope. I glued the hemp to the edge of the oval piece of cardstock and then put my title on the inside. I then popped it up on my page using 3D foam. 

DRCC Session 5 Class #8

This is the lovely For Always paper pack from CTMH. The paper pack contains only black and white patterned paper which makes the colors that you choose to co-ordinate with really pop. This layout is from the Scrapbook Generation website (scrapbookgeneration.blogspot.com). I punched out different circles, then used the scissor edging technique to create dimension. I used the new black shimmer trim and the black glitter buttons for the centre of my circles. 

I used my Slice for the title using the shadow function for girl. Instead of using the dots for the i's that came with the die cut, I used some rhinestones to add some extra sparkle. 

DRCC Session 5 Class #7

I used the Surf's Up paper pack this week for my beachy layout. I wanted to tie everything together and add lots of summer elements, so I stamped some surfboards and cut them out to go with my title. I also added some words at the bottom right to add to the overall theme. As well, I inked the umbrella on the top left side in the Sorbet color and then colored the pole with a Desert Sand marker so I would have the 2 colors once I stamped my image. After I stamped it on the page, I then colored in any missing areas with the marker. I added some ribbon to the bottom and cut out some waves and a surfer from the paper and popped the image up with 3D foam tape.

I got my inspiration for parts of this layout from the latest CTMH Idea Book. There is a mini album that had a sun on one end of it and it gave me a great idea to do the same thing with this hidden journalling piece on the left side of the page. I created a template by freehanding a semi-circle on an extra piece of paper, cutting it out and then tracing it onto the folded piece of paper that would be my sun. I then took a circle punch and punched out semi-circles, making sure to overlap the edges so that I had the rays of sun. I then adhered the bottom half of the sun with the fold to the outer edge of the page. To secure the open side of the sun to the page, I used a clear tab with a blue brad to anchor it, this way it doesn't distract from the sun, but my flap doesn't stick up.

I also made a template for the inside journalling area, but I left it in the oval shape so that it still looked like a sun when it's open. 

I used the new clear 3D flowers to add some more dimension. I colored them first by sponging them with White Daisy ink and Lagoon ink. The color seems to have stayed pretty well.