Scrabble Art

Scrabble Art...it has become my creative escape - and the perfect personal gift for friends and loved ones. I have always been a Scrabble fanatic - although, my sister-in-law Laura, holds the title for the most Scrabble passionate person I know - and last Christmas I fell in love with creating Scrabble Art! It you search Pinterest, there are sooo many ideas so working from those ideas as inspiration, I created my own version of Scrabble Art with our Close To My Heart Designer Decor' Black Shadow Box (Z2015) and a box of Scrabble tiles.  I can certainly say that I, and my lines, and time improved with practice but in the process I discovered a gift that I could personalize for the recipient, was a joy to give and an honor to make.  

To create, you will need the frames, Scrabble Tiles and Mini-Glue Dots.  For the tiles, I just purchase the games at my local store -  my family has found uses for the game boards --upside down they make great Lego platforms and the tile holders (just wait for our Christmas presents this year!)!  If making multiple frames, and wanting the tiles to match, you will want to purchase all of the games at the same place as I have discovered that the different retailers have different fonts in their games.  I place one mini glue dot in each of the four corners before placing the tiles down on the frame.  Sometimes it helps to use spacer (tiles face down) to keep the alignment straight and then once all of the tiles are adhered down, you can just remove the spacers.

I have created several different types of the Scrabble Art frames.  Here are a few of the ones I have created:

For my children's teachers - I asked them to make a list of words that described their teachers and then we used those words in their puzzle.

Family frames - building the puzzle to include all of the family member's names.

Centered around a theme - such as Christmas or paddleboarding - using terms that were surrounding Christmas or known to paddleboarders.

If more words are used than will fit in the Designer Decor' Shadow Box Frame, you can graduate to the Designed Decor' Red Magnetic Chalkboard Frame.  This is a chalkboard background so it is softer and a little more challenging to work with, but does allow for additional space.

I will instructing a workshop on my Scrabble Art frames November 20, 21 and 22nd at the What A Blessing Crop at the Holiday Inn of Harrisonburg.  The event will be from 10 am on Friday until 8PM on Sunday.  You can stop in anytime and I will start you on your project.  To ensure that I have a frame available for you, e-mail me at: inallsassiness@gmail.com.

Preserving art work with Studio J!

I am 100% Studio J passionate!  I absolutely love it and what it can do for my scrapbooks!  Knowing that, I am also continually looking for new ways to use Studio J in my life and to push that bar to create even more digital awesomeness.  

A few weeks ago, my son's teacher ran in the Boston Marathon.  The kids talked about her dream, of 20 years, constantly.  They followed her marathon performance during the entire race from her tracking chip.  I was blessed to be in their classroom when she crossed the finish line and cannot begin to explain the cheers and excitement that came from her students! I so wish I had thought ahead to record their reactions.  I think she would have been as proud of them as they were of her!

That being said, the reason I was in the class is that Nicholas, my son, had asked if I would help himself, and his classmates, create a book for his teacher where they could tell her how proud of her they were.  We brainstormed a little, and I planned time with his principle to volunteer in the classroom while Mrs. Crews was in Boston.  Each of her students created a piece of artwork to include in her book.  Some were amazing let me tell you - and so thoughtful.  

I took their pictures, scanned them, and entered them into Studio J.  Once in Studio J, I matted the pictures with a double Ruby and Black mat (their school colors), and created a title page, dedication page and end page with the help of Nicholas.  We order the prints and put the book together.  I was so delighted with the end results as was his teacher.

One might ask, why not just give her the originals?  That would have also been a good idea but by using Studio J, the pages were all uniform, thinner, acid free and not warped from the surplus of markers.  In addition, this method preserved the memories with quite the professional look.  The kids were so excited to see how their pictures looked so "real".

Here are the images of the title page, dedication page and end page as well as my son Nicholas' page. I would love to have posted the other students work but am refraining because of privacy.  I hope you will understand but also understand the concept of the way the book was created by seeing Nicholas' work.

Studio J can be a great way to create year-end gifts for teachers or to preserve your own child's artwork and writing samples.  To get started, set up an account and have fun today!  Visit: www.tonyasheridan.ctmh.com today and of course, if you have any questions, send me an e-mail at: inallsassiness@gmail.com.

Introducing Brushed!

Brushed is one of our new paper collections that was introduced in our Annual Inspirations Idea Book- it is a delight of bright colors and beautiful floral prints.  The My Stickease are actually vellum which makes their versatility even more attractive--their colors Pop with color when added to White Daisy cardstock as illustrated below, but they also are somewhat transparent so they will allow the colors or patterns underneath the sticker to show though.  The assortment is composed of 8 metal flowers all being self adhesive. They are flat enough to add to scrapbooking layouts if desired and they really make a project or card stand out!  I can imagine that I will go through quite a few of these adorable little embellishments!

 Brushed Paper collection (X7190B)

Brushed Vellum My Stickease (Z7190C)

Brushed Assortment (Z3013)

This being said, I wanted to share some of the artwork that I created this weekend with the Brushed collection.  I attended a friend's event that was Hawaiian themed and Brushed was one of her featured papers--the bright, vibrant colors worked beautifully with her theme! I wanted to create a little thank you for two of the attendees and decided to go with Barb's theme and use the Brushed collection.

These are the card and the candy boxes that I made.  The vellum My Sitckease were beautiful on White Daisy cardstock so I adhered the stickease to the cardstock and then cut out the hand made embellishments.

Happy Creating and Happy Scrappin'!

Picture My Life - Chalk It Up

These Chalk It Up Picture My Life cards are the perfect little cards to tuck in lunch boxes or school folders for the little students in your life!  With fun, school themed, artwork and much journaling spaces they are sure to create a smile when discovered!

That being said, I thought that these PML cards would be perfect to give to teacher to use with her students for happy thoughts and to reward behavior so my children and I decided to include a set of the PML cards for their teacher's first day of school gifts!  I hope they will enjoy them as much I have over the past few weeks!  Our other "fillers" - a green and red apple, homemade caramel, 2 apple shaped frosted cookies and a handwritten PML tag.

Have a happy day to all of those students and teachers out there!  I hope it is grand!

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Celebrate our Picture My Life kits in August with our Picture Perfection Promotion! 
During the month of August, when you purchase any of the 13 available Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs featured in the 2014–2015 Annual Inspirations idea book at their full retail price of $24.95 USD / $27.50 CAD, you are eligible to add your choice of 1 of 8 qualifying Memory Protectors™ 10-packs for just $3 (USD & CAD)! Each Picture My Life scrapbooking program already includes a coordinating 10-pack of Memory Protectors, so when you add your additional 10-pack for only $3 you will be well on your way to your own picture-perfect pocket scrapbooking adventure!  

In addition, as a bonus, with each PML kit ordered during the month of August, I will be sending a PML goody bag your way.  The goody bags are filled with over $10 in embellishments, flip flaps and sassy goodness!  Use this link to order your PML kits!

Mickey Happies!

So by now, most of you know that Close To My Heart's National Convention was just held at Disney World.  The convention provides a wealth of opportunities to business build, learn, network and to celebrate.  I love the celebration part.  I love celebrating my friends and colleagues and their fantastic achievements!  This year, I wanted to go all-out Mickey!  I created these gift bags for some special gals (and Brian) and inside was a decadent Chocolate Pecan Pie with a salt-buttered Carmel crust.  (and yes, I know I am sure 10,000 calories but at Disney there are no calories correct?  :)  I was delighted in how they turned out.  

For the bags, I used just simple white gift bags that I purchased at a craft store.  I then printed CTMH's well-loved, and now retired, Grins & Giggle Paper from Studio J using the No Limits layout.  Combined with Black and Cranberry Cardstock, I created the additional accents.  I used the Scalloped Punch for Mickey's ears and then the Artiste' Cricut Cartridge for the pinwheels that created his face.  As a final touch, I added a little bling from the  Black and Grey Sparkle Assortment.  Just a few little touches and an adorable result!

Pinwheel Gifts and Gift Bag

Tonight, I wanted to share some handmade gifts that I made last week to give to some of the support staff at my kid's school.  I was especially delighted with the gift bag--much nicer than one I would have purchased at the store and by using a standard white handled bag, a fraction of the cost.  The best part was that I was able to use my scraps from making the pinwheels!  Products used are:  Artiste' Cricut Cartridge, For Always Paper Pack, Scalloped Punch, Black Button Assortment, and Liquid Glass.   Non-Close to My Heart supplies used were: Hot Glue Gun, paper bags (found at Michael's), white barrel ink pens, glass vases, tissue paper and glass beads.

Kindergarten Graduation - fun all around

 My youngest, Abby, completed Kindergarten this afternoon.  She was blessed with both a fantastic teacher, and a very small class this year.  The teacher complimented the class numerous times about how special they were.  Mommy, too, fell in love with many of her classmates as the several had been in preschool with Abby, and the small class size allowed me to spend more time in the classroom.  The students were all very spirited and I wanted something fun and spirited to match their personalities for a little graduation gift!  I found these adorable totes at Michael's for $1.00 (plus had a 20% off coupon) and had been collecting little things, when I found a good price, all year to fill them with!  Each item, was a summer necessity:  bubbles, mini-play dough, a little Lego kit, sidewalk chalk and bright summery suckers. I wrote each child's name on their tote with a Silver Sharpie and together, Abby and I made and stamped tags for the totes with the equally summer color inspired paper Dream Pop.  We then created a stamp cluster with the A1139 Congrats Graduate (LOVE THIS STAMP SET--it is for sure a must have!) and stamped the cluster with Z2105 Black Exclusive Ink.  We cut the tag twice with the Artiste' Cricut Cartridge and popped the stamped pink piece up on 3-d foam. Abby signed each tag herself.

Pemberley - monocromatic and acrylic style

Tonight I thought I would share two projects that I made using the Pemberley paper collection and the Card Word Puzzle stamp set. The card is clear acrylic so it is a little difficult to photograph but it looks stunning in person.  I used Outdoor Denim ink and a few sparkles from the Blue/Green Sparkle Assortment to add a little bling.

The second project is using the same paper collection, Pemberly.  I love to challenge myself and find a use for little boxes, packaging and so forth so when this little box was given to me with a piece of jewelry, I knew I could find a way to recycle it and "bling it up".  Recently, I made a ribbon pin for a friend and remembered this little box--it fit in the box perfectly.  So, I inked the corners with Outdoor Denim ink, cut out a few flowers, added some Liquid Glass and bling, and turned an ordinary box into an extraordinary box.

This featured stamp set is called Card Word Puzzle. This set is a fantastic addition to every card makers collection, and it is universal enough to work for a scrapbooker too. 

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It's Stamp-a-Ganza Time!

Now through June 30th, our acrylix stamp sets are Buy 2 Get 1 Free!

Love this featured stamp? You can order yours now, by clicking here.

Aloha Gift Bags

These are the arrival gift bags that my croppers received at my Aloha Crop this past weekend.  I got the idea from the fabulous Kelly Rizzo!  She gave me an adorable one on our cruise so I wanted to use the same idea for my bags.  The bags were purchased at Target.  They originally had pink ribbon in them.  Like Kelly, I simply cut the pink ribbon out and replaced it with our Sweet leaf ribbon.  I then used a combination of Footloose and Dotty for You paper to decorate the bottom of the bags.  The tag, I actually designed for my Secret Sister on the cruise and it adorned the bags perfectly.  To create the tag, I used the Dimensional Elements tags, and partnered with the Art Philosophy cartridge so the size was right.  The tag was inked in Lagoon as well as the sentiment inked in the same color.  The flowers are from the Paradise Just Blooms Collection; the twine also from the Paradise Baker's Twine and the little starfish is from the Seaside Wooden Shapes.    I used mini-glue dots to hold the tags in place.  Wouldn't these be perfect for a pool party?  or for a Hostess gift?

Is there a 12 step program for Pinterest?

If so, I think I need to find a meeting.  Seriously, though, I recently discovered Pinterest, and am addicted to it!  I have found inspiration, wonderful recipes and just a wealth of ideas.  Love, love, love it!  It has also proved to be a few moments of stress therapy within my day...just a few moments to relax and let the days worries float on by.  At least for a few minutes.

This picture is of two ideas that I found on Pinterest lately.  One was to decorate the Hershey kisses with circles.  I chose to use the Sunset and Smoothie polka dot pattern from the Dotty for you paper pack, and cut them to 3/4" with my Art Philosophy cartridge.  Then my mom so graciously attached them to the kisses.  This was on pin that I saw, and adapted to my needs.  The second was filling the scoop/shovel with candy and adding a tag that reads something about digging...mine says "Just Dig Scrapbooking".  The buckets and scoops coordinated with my circle paper delightfully. 

Sassy for Dotty - Day 18

This spring, Close To My Heart introduced these adorable milk cartons, but I haven't spent much time playing with them until this weekend.  I wanted something cute, and self-contained, for Nicholas' teacher for Teacher Appreciation week and I thought this container would be super cute if filled with cards.  I played and measured and discovered that the milk carton would hold eight 3" x 3" cards and envelopes.  I used the Dotty for You paper pack, the February Stamp of the Month, Sunset and Lagoon Exclusive inks, Sunset Mini-Medleys, Paradise Baker's Twine, and the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to embellish the carton and in creation of the cards.  I am excited for Nicholas to take it school on Monday and am hopeful that his teacher likes it!

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Celebrate National Scrapbooking Month in Style!

With your $35 purchase from our Spring/Summer Idea Book, you can purchase the Dotty for You Paper pack for just $5 (plus shipping and tax). This is a $19.95 value and is filled with color! It's a must have for spring! To order your own Dotty For You, visit my On-Line Business Address at:
www.ctmh.com/tonyasheridan.

Halloween Pillow Box

This was too cute of a box not to share! I created this as a make and take for my fall crops. It was super easy to create with CTMH's new Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, the Mischief Paper Pack, Milestone pieces and a cute little button brad.