The New Summer Catalog

Close To My Heart 2010 Summer Idea Book

Okay, if you are like me, you are always excited to get your hands on a new Idea Book! I can literally spend hours flipping through the pages looking at all of the artwork. I promise, you will not be disappointed with the new summer catalog. Not only are the new papers absolutely beautiful and the new stamps and accessories to die for, you will also notice that they have actually LOWERED the prices on certain items. How cool is that?? So go ahead, flip through the online catalog if you dare. It will have you itching to get into your craft space!! And as always, if you would like a catalog, just drop me an email.

Vintage Birthday card

I have been in a creative slump lately! It is hard to find the time to sit and play anymore and when I do, well let's just say I haven't been too impressed with my efforts. But I had a friend schedule a Close To My Heart party and I refused to let my stamping girls down!!!!! I had to come up with something cute for them, so after many failed attempts, this is what they got. I was really going for that vintage shabby look that I have been drawn to lately in a lot of magazines and what not. I used Bitty Sparkles and some Stickles for the bling and distressed the brad by rolling it in Colonial White ink and sanding it a little after it dried.

Perfect Day

My girlfriend came over to take some family pictures for our Christmas cards this year. It was the Perfect "Fall" day here in Tehachapi!! She got a lot of great shots, but I LOVE this picture of us goofing around. I didn't even know she took it until I was downloading them from my camera, what a nice surprise! Now if only I knew how to use that Photoshop program that I have, I could go in and put a happier look on Eric's face, lol. He looks like he is about to crack under the pressure of holding me, he however insists that it is a "I'm the man" look. Oh well, I still adore this picture and the memories from that day.

Thanksgiving layout

 Between my kids and my dad it is impossible to get a decent family picture, they just goof around way too much, lol. I took fourteen pictures and I swear this is the best one! For some reason when I say smile, that means to do rabbit ears or poke someone in the eye! After thirteen pictures and my oven timer going off, I gave in and decided that a funny face would be my last ditch effort to get a picture that I could use! I'm not crazy about the B&W photo, but I just couldn't work with the wild color combo that everyone choose to wear that day! Don't these people know that I scrapbook???

Teacher Gifts and a Recipe

This is what we came up with for teacher gifts this year. The boxes are Memory Keeper boxes from CTMH and they are fairly easy to decorate. The bows are the paper bows that I made a few weeks ago. We made Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Kisses and the most incredible Cinnamon Bread. I could seriously eat a whole loaf of this bread, it's that good!!! The teachers loved their gifts and were impressed with the boxes too. I wish I would have taken a picture of the card Jacob made his teacher, it was a classic! I had this Grinch paper that he wanted to use, so we cut out the Grinch image and then he stamped a naughty or nice list on the card next to the Grinch. He wrote all the fourth grade teachers names on it and made them all naughty- except his teacher!!! What a suck up :)

Anyways, I thought I would share the recipe for the Cinnamon Bread that I got it from my friend Jennifer. Give it a try, it is awesome!!!!

Cinnamon Bread

1 Yellow Cake mix

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

3/4 Cup oil

3/4 plus 1 TBLSP water

1 TSP vanilla extract

1 TSP almond extract

4 eggs

Suagr Mixture
1/2 Cup sugar

4 TSP cinnamon

Combine all ingredients for the bread and beat for 7 minutes on med speed. (don't cheat, it really has to mix that long)

Coat two loaf pans with butter and cinnamon.

Layer cake mix and sugar mixture, you should get three layers. It rises quite a bit while baking.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350.

Enjoy!!!!

I'm not all about paper

Okay lousy picture, whatever!! A teacher friend is having a very unexpected fourth baby in a few weeks and I wanted to make her something special for the little guy. This is a crochet hoodie wrap and I am in love with these. They are so soft and cuddly!

I started crocheting many years ago when I was a Police/Fire dispatcher. I needed something to fill those loooonngggg graveyard hours where they frowned on napping during a shift, so I taught myself to crochet. My first project was an afghan that I made Eric for our anniversary. It has since become our Great Danes blankie which Eric was none to happy about, but that's another story.

This is the perfect time of year to just sit on the couch watching a movie while working on a project and I have a few going right now. I get easily bored and distracted, so it's always an accomplishment when I actually finish one! I just finished an Alpaca beanie for Eric, maybe I can get him to look at the camera long enough to get a picture of it.

Bows, Bows, Bows

I don't know about you, but I have a ton of paper! I don't know what it is about it that I can't resist, but it just seems to jump into my basket when I walk by it. So, I have a ton of Christmas paper that I stocked up on last year. I can't even remember what I was going to do with it now, but it just stares at me with that disappointed look every time I open that bin. I found a paper bow tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and went to town making bows. I ended up making 50 and 48 survived the cats, lol. I adapted the instructions a bit. The original instructions called for 3 brads and numerous pop dots for every bow. I used one brad and just layered the bow pieces onto it. Maybe I will do a video tutorial on it and show you how incredibly easy it is to knock out a whole bunch of these.