Couple Time

This is another K and Company pack, this one of pre stitched papers. So this was easy to put together. I put my photos down, added the title in Large Friendship font, a couple of pewter embellishments, and a touch of ribbon. Instead of using a journaling block, I journaled around the photos.

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Wine Tour

This is a different layout for me. It is not CTMH paper, for one thing! The paper is a My Mind's Eye pack from Everyday Tango by Lisa Cohen, and some die cuts from K and Company. Title is in Large Friendship by CTMH and Small Chocolate. Journal and flourish stamp from the You and Me kit, plus some Opaques pearls in Mocha. Layout is Spellbound from our how to book, Magic.

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Sweet Baby Girl

Another old layout, finally completed! There is no patterned paper here, it's all color coordinated random stamping. We did this at one of our first CTMH home gatherings, and again, I've been waiting to use the "perfect" photo. Challenge: use your stuff!

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Day at the Zoo double layout

This is an old layout, assembled four years ago at hostess club back when I was just a customer! It's been blank since then, just waiting for the perfect photos. This CTMH Expedition paper was retired a few years ago but it is still cute; layout from Cherish how to book. Embellishments are images from an old CTMH stamp set, Life's a Jungle, cut out, and colored in a little bit. Title is in Rustic alphabet.

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Spring Single Page layout

This was made with Sophia patterned paper on a Pear cardstock base, Bohemian alphabet on white and cut out, various paper flowers and some flowers and the butterflies stamped with Fill in the Blank set on patterned paper and cut out topped with buttons in Pink assortment. Sketch from Pagemaps. This Fill in the Blank set is great! Just $22.95 and it takes the place of 9 different punches, plus it has a number of different sentiments you can stamp as well. I also used the flourish from the You and Me Kit as the flower stems in the bottom right.

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Yellow Playground single page

More Tinkerin' paper, buttons, Sassy Strands (retired), hand cut banner, Field Trip alphabet, and sketch by Pagemaps.

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Playmate layout

Tinkerin' paper and badge buttons (since retired), Dimensional Elements On Target, Field Trip alphabet, sketch by Pagemaps.com.

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Dads' Day

Since-retired Splendor paper, Pagemaps layout, Cocktail alphabet, liquid glass outlining the title and adhering paper to clear buttons, self-adhesive kraft color ready borders sponged with Clover Meadow ink. Like it?

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Style single page

A little bit of Fanfare paper scraps, tied with twine looped through two photo hangars, accented with three black button brads. Sketch from Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine. Clicking the links in my posts will take you to my CTMH site so you can shop, and create similar projects!

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Bounce layout

My Tuesday night scrap night-- I actually got a few pages done! This blog seems to be accomplishing my goal of forcing me to keep up with my scrapping instead of using Tuesday nights to clip coupons, or do other necessary paperwork.

Here are my layouts! First: Bounce. Sketch adapted from Pagemaps.com, used Fanfare paper, title in Cocktail alphabet, I hand cut paper pinwheels and glued mini buttons in the center, used a Fiskars border punch, and our kraft borders. Journaling stamp is by Autumn Leaves. Oh, I popped the focal photo in the center with foam squares for emphasis, as well as the yellow stars. Small Cranberry stars are from the Fanfare workshop kit stamp set.

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Pure Joy layout

Miracle Workshop on the Go kit, and yes, that is a very weird picture of my little girl as she enjoys her first s'more.

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Follow your dreams layout

Second layout from You and Me kit, my son's first day of kindergarten. Pages 6 &7.

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The best part of crop night: time with friends to relax at the end of the day. Thank you all for another successful crop!

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Celebrate birthday layout

My daughter's second birthday, on the You and Me kit, first layout

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Another Fourth of July layout

Single page layout, Fanfare paper, sketch from Scrapbooks, etc. magazine. Stamps are old July word puzzle, and some clearance bling from Michael's.

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Fourth of July

Fanfare Workshop on the Go kit. And two pages are done!

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Linda and Julie, our Tastefully Simple and Stampin' Up! reps.

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Crop Today!

Today is the tenth Crop N Time crop. My make and take was make your own patterned paper using stamps. I will post a few pics later.

To celebrate, Connie from Scraps and Stories challenged everyone to create a layout using ten embellishments. Try it on your own, journaling in ten words, or using ten photos.

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A couple of happy spring cards

My hostess club wanted to do cards this month, so here's what I came up with: 2 cards from Wishes, Sophia paper, using paper distressing techniques and stamp sets from the You and Me kit and Sophia Workshop on the Go:

A Weekend Challenge

Not a challenge with prizes (yet--I'm still new!). Tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day and I definitely plan to find time to do at least a quick layout to celebrate. But more importantly: it's a weekend, the weather here is supposed to be beautiful, and it's Mother's Day.

My challenge to you is to take photos this weekend. I know, that's easy, right? The hard part: have someone else take at least one with you in it. If you have plans on Mother's Day, have those you love take a pic of you with your kids, your siblings, your mom, whomever you're celebrating that day.

If tomorrow is your big day, scrap with friends and get photos of all of you together! Or, get a pic of yourself sitting at your scrap space, amidst all your supplies.

This is going to be hard for me, as I'm usually the photographer. But recently at a weekend scrap with my friends and then again at Easter I pulled out my simple tripod and set it up-- I got great group photos at both occasions, and I will actually be in my own scrapbooks! *gasp!*

Have a great weekend, and I hope you take a lot of great photos! I will post mine here. :)

Edited: got pics of my beautiful flowers, and myself relaxing in my new lounge outside!

Happy National Scrapbooking Month!

It is! An entire month devoted to those of us who love to spend our time cutting, gluing, tying, embellishing, and making a giant mess on the dining room table. Ahem. Or, doing it all online without the mess!


You can celebrate our favorite month with a special promotion that features our exclusive You & Me scrapbooking kit. When you order a minimum of $50 US / $55 CAN in Close To My Heart products in May, you qualify to purchase this awesome You & Me scrapbooking kit for just $15/$16.50—that’s more than half off the retail value! With the kit, you can create two gorgeous two-page layouts fully embellished with trendy accents and a new D-size stamp set. The full-color instruction brochure will guide you every step of the way. The You & Me kit is also available at the full retail price of $34.95/$38.95. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a Close To My Heart Consultant, you can get a FREE kit by joining my Team in May! Whether you’re a beginning or an experienced scrapbooker, you’ll love creating these two beautiful layouts to celebrate our favorite month of the year!

Check it out at kerriestrong.myctmh.com.

A Scrappy Saturday Night

Anxious to have another post for my blog and riding the adrenaline from the one-hour challenge on Friday I did a few pages last night. CTMH used to have B&T (patterned paper) packs to coordinate with our color families in addition to the themed packs, but they discontinued them a few years ago. I have hoarded mine but thought it was about time to use some up! These were in Summer Carnival, very vibrant primary and secondary colors that are perfect for photos of my kids playing and, well, just being kids. I used sketches from Pagemaps, and some Heidi Swapp embellishments I won at the Snowflake Scrap in Sturbridge, MA, last January. I'm actually trying to use some of my stash before buying more! What a concept! And I broke in my new Cricut Calligraphy cartridge, that thing is so much fun.

Before I finished, I made a birthday card for my mother. I had my Cherry-O paper pack on me which is so bright and summery, and I found scraps just the perfect sizes for this card. And I used the Party Pennants stamp set, with some Mocha Opaque Pearls and Chocolate ribbon. The card base is on Sweet Leaf cardstock, my favorite green: 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

DIY Journaling Spots

I am a firm believer in journaling on my pages, in my own (atrocious) handwriting. I have a few things from my grandparents in their handwriting that I just treasure now that they're no longer with us, and while it's a morbid thought, I want my family to feel the same way about my scrapbooks. When you see someone's handwriting, you get the sense of their presence and can almost imagine them writing the notes or recipes that they did.

CTMH has some wonderful journaling spots which I love that coordinate with the Lucky and Sophia lines, but they don't always coordinate with every paper pack I'm using. I may occasionally create my own journaling spot in the midst of creating a layout, though more often than not I'll just journal on the cardstock without doing so. But the journaling spots really finish a layout, don't they? And I think they force you to take a few moments to reflect on the feelings of the day and to relive the memories.

A few months ago I was in search of a make and take that would be simple but creative to do at a crop. My friend Connie over at Scraps & Stories suggested a journaling spot and it was beautiful!

Since then I've made a few of my own when I needed them but what I wanted to do was to take some time and make up a huge batch at once. That's what I did this week at our regular Tuesday night scrap. I cut small pieces of paper in varying sizes out of white, ivory, and kraft cardstock; used an assortment of journaling stamps; I rounded corners and used a Sizzix and a few dies. I sponged the edges with the foam tool and Chocolate ink from my distressing kit, I stamped flourishes and backgrounds in a few of my favorite colors just for accents. When I use them, I'll add extra embellishments to coordinate with the layout but the result is a huge stack of journaling spots, ready to go.

So the next time you're in a rut, maybe not inspired to scrap but you want to do something crafty, make up a batch of journaling spots and keep them in your embellishment bag so you can grab one and adhere it right into your layout.