There is a challenge going on at heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com to share our organization hints and I thought I would share 2 items I have found very useful.


The first is my rolling file cart, bought at Office Depot. It will hold either letter or legal size hanging files . I use legal sized hanging file folders to file all my CTMH cardstock in alphabetical order with the exception of putting White Daisy and Colonial White at the front. I have 3 of these files for the 60 current colors (61 if you count the new Kraft colored cardstock that will be available for purchase Feb 1st) and a few retired colors as well. Plus the box is heavy duty with a locking type of top with a handle. It comes in handy for transporting stuff when I vendor at crops.



The second item is a little wire rack I found at Walmart in the bathroom section. It is just the right size to hold 20 CTMH re-inker bottles on each shelf. Since I don't currently have enough to fill it, I use the top shelf to hold the recently retired ink pads and a cup organizer. It looks white in the photo (I don't have that great a camera) but is really metallic.

Another Happy Birthday

...to my daughter, Christi, as you start several new milestones in your life. Love, Mom

Halloween art

This as a 5x7 art piece that I created after seeing another consultant's work where she had twisted the tree from the stamp set Grown With Love (D1372) to make it more Halloween-y looking. This shows a little brayer work and involves a 'masking' technique to allow the moon to show through unaffected by the brayer work and to allow the spooky fence to be 'behind' the tree. I love the little owl and spooky cat from the stamp set Fright Night (B1359). I used one of the bats from the Dracula doorway stamp found in the September SOTM Thriller (no longer orderable but I do have a couple of extras available for sale.) If I were going to do it again, I would stamp the ghost in White Daisy on Gray Flannel rather than the other way around, but White Daisy ink takes awhile to dry and I wanted to cover up a little bat boo-boo!

I love the Grown with Love tree set and have used it for quite a few other seasonal 5x7 art pieces that I display in an inexpensive acrylic stand frame.

Am I old now?

My baby's birthday was today. He is 31 years old, so I guess that makes me around 50??? Too bad my birth certificate doesn't agree. Oh well. Age is only in the mind (and the joints) right? Happy Birthday, Jared!

New Product Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Close to My Heart New Product Blog Hop! Over 50 fabulous Close to My Heart Consultants are celebrating the upcoming release of the Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book by giving you a Sneak Peak of some of the great products available in the new Idea Book starting September 1st! If you have come here from Amy Schultz's blog http://amylizschultz.com/2010/08/close-to-my-heart-autumnwinter-idea-book-blog-hop/ , you are on the right path! You can find a complete list of Blog Hop participants at http://tazzygirl2000.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-hop-participants.html
This is simple do to- just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

This is a little project I tried out. I was walking through Michael's last week and saw these cute little canvases with little wooden easels and I asked myself "I wonder if I can stamp on these?" So I bought a package which contained two each of the canvases and stands. I used this image from the new stamp set Harvest Home (C1419.) Since the canvas is unbacked in the middle, after positioning my stamp on the front I carefully turned the canvas, stamp, and acrylic block 'sandwich' upside down and gently pressed the canvas into the stamp from the backside. Then I painted my little canvas with acrylic paints and inked the edges. Didn't it turn out pretty cute? This might work for a children's project if an adult does the stamping and then lets the children color the image with our markers. I think Staz-On ink would work best with our markers but our regular inks worked just fine with acrylics.


















Now "Hop" on over to Carol Horton's blog http://carol-scrappininparadise.blogspot.com/2010/08/ctmh-new-product-blog-hop.html to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and see the great new Paper Packs and My Acrylix StampSets! Remember, the Autumn/Winter 2010 Idea Book goes LIVE on September 1st!



**Link not working? Missed a Blog? You can see a list of all Blog Hop participants at http://www.tazzygirl2000.blogspot.com/

Another wild critter

My DH discovered this little guy hanging around this morning and he has stayed put all day just waiting until I found my camera and was able to get out and get a picture.

Anyway it is the largest Praying Mantis we have ever seen at our house.

My DD took this last picture with her camera. It obviously is a much better one than I have. I may just have to buy myself a birthday present!

V is for Vacation

Summer is in full swing at our house. I can't believe it is July already. I was working on my CTMH July Stamp of the Month layout and thought that this cute little hedgehog was so similiar in posture to a picture I have of my daughter when she was 2 1/2 chasing a duck at Silver Dollar City way back in 1979. The albums that I am doing for both of my children are based on the alphabet and this will be for Christi's 'V' page. (Don't believe for a minute that I have A to U done!) The sad part is that the albums were started before I had even heard about Close To My Heart, so they won't hold a true 12x12 page. But I took that into account when putting these pages together and after July is over, I will trim the edges off and place it with her other album pages. I really have to do another letter for Jared next.