Friday, February 25, 2011

Welcome, Tammy!

We have added a new member to our club. Woo-hoo! I for one cannot wait to see her projects.

Look for Tammy's contributions to start in March. That is, assuming we get the kit to her in time...

Close To My Heart

It's official! Theresa is now a CTMH independent consultant. Please don't hesitate to contact her (me) for all of your premium inks and scrapping supplies. Fabulous discounts could be waiting for you! Email: theresa@anttree.org

Thank you!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Marieke's February Results

I'm finally starting to catch up from CU. I actually made this layout about a month ago at one of my crops, but am just getting around to posting it. I want to make more with this amazing kit from Claudia, so I might be posting some additional pics on down the road. I have been recently looking at enormous houses with my father-in-law and just when you think you've reached the end, there are more and more rooms. This kit was just like that, it kept going and going...It was filled with so many awesome goodies and I loved every single thing in it. Thank you, Claudia, for doing such an amazing job.

So without further ado:


Let me just say that I am not happy with my camera - blurry, dark photos don't make me happy. :-(

About the layout itself - well, let's just say I much prefer typed journaling than my handwritten journaling. But, I am trying to take my own advice and include my handwriting on some of these baby pages. It's not easy. I am hoping Lily will appreciate it when she gets older. I just came across a tag attached to a gift bag in our wrapping paper & bows box that was written out to Spencer and me in Cyn's handwriting and I was ecstatic to find it, so hopefully my handwriting will mean as much to Lily Bean someday as finding Cyn's meant to me.

The journaling reads:

"Seeing you for the first times was magical. It was hard for me to believe you were really in my belly - that this cute little peanut-shaped being was inside of there. Your heartbeat was 162 beats per minute and I couldn't grasp you had a heart, even though you had already stolen mine."

Theresa's February 2011 Results

By the time I got around to catching up on ORMV challenges, Valentines day had come and gone. (Work has been crazy!)

However, I looked through my electronic archives and found the cutest footsie picture of Leeloo and could not be stopped from making a layout featuring the photo for my ORMV book. I ended up taking some extra liberties with tools, I think. I used a paper distress tool, without confirming first that we really WERE adding new items to the tool-kit. Well, I hope that's added now. :-)
If anyone in the ORMV club doesn't have a paper distress tool let me know (I got extras in my CTMH kit).

(Note: Leeloo's eyes are actually blue and look blue in the photo on the layout. I am not sure what happened with this layout image - her eyes look too shaded here.)


Some extra things I made with the February 2011 kit:
(Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. I took these with my phone as my photographer was busy making prints and being an artiste!)

GIFT TAGS:

A HOLIDAY CARD:
I had fun applying the "ribbon flower" technique to border cut paper. It's actually easier than the ribbon!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Rachel's February Results



So I'm fairly certain that this is the first month that I haven't done a layout; only cards. And six of them no less (!).

In no particular order:

"Hugs & Kisses" (1 of 6):

I used a circle punch to cut out the circle behind the title and distressed the edges with a deep red chalk ink. I used the silver brads to secure the vellum and glue dots to secure the metal hearts.

"Barrett Browning quote" (2 of 6):
















This one is a little unconventional (no title on the front), but with a sentiment like that, who needs a title?

"A heart that loves" (3 of 6):


This card is really simple, but one of my favorites. I loved that the chipboard butterflies Claudia supplied with the kit had coordinating stickers.

"Dickinson quote" (4 of 6):


For this card, I decided to leave the chipboard butterflies in the raw. I also went a little crazy with the ribbon loops (just trying something new), which I secured with my Fastenater (thanks, Marieke).

"Remember when" and "My Friend" (5 and 6 of 6):


These were the last cards I made, and after I made the first one, I decided to use the same template to make the other. I really like the idea of using these cards for occasions when you're feeling nostalgic or you have a funny story from the old days you feel like reminiscing about.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Finished a project. Yay!

Umm... so I feel weird posting after Marieke's big charm unveiling. Kind of like singing karaoke at a bar after a top American Idol contestant (who hasn't had two margaritas) just had their turn. But my excitement is overriding my feelings of inferiority. While trying to pack for CU I came across my unfinished Halloween album. I only had one year left to do of the Halloween pictures I had, and I just wrapped it up! I don't think I've ever finished an album before, and I am pretty happy with it. Here are 4 more layouts, and three of them have at least one element from Marieke's original October kit. 2003 was the year Shaughn and I got married (we were on our honeymoon over Halloween), 2004 and 2005 were just the two of us being silly, and 2010 was a craziest year yet (as evidenced by a hectic and crowded layout... I need to work on my editing).







Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Surprise!!!!

After reading about how so many people wish they had participated in the charm swap last year and after viewing so many photos of last year's scrapbook retreat showcasing people prominently displaying their bracelets, I just couldn't let you guys go home without one. So I made yours for you. Surprise!

These are not part of your roomie gifts. I have other surprises planned for that. (A few I haven't even told you about yet, Rach, I swear. And I promise I won't tell you about them. I know you hate that. I promise to keep my trap shut until camp. ;-)) These are a "just because" gift from me to you.

The charms I made are for the Victorian charm swap. Your "package" comes with several things. I made each of you 20 charms - 10 filler charms and 10 "artsy" charms. I also made you a bracelet and put your charm set on it. In addition, I've included 22 6mm jump rings with each of your sets so that you don't have to do anything, buy anything or make anything. Just bring your little tools to camp and you're set to go.

A note about the bracelets: I made them long so that I knew they would fit. After the jewelry class, you will know how to open and close a jump ring/link the right way, so as not to destroy it and you can shorten it to the length you like. You may want to wait until after the class if you aren't sure how to do it, but basically, you twist open the link/ jump ring rather than prying it apart. That way it maintains its shape.

You can read up on the charm swap here, if interested. However, don't feel obligated to. Every last detail has been taken care of. I have packaged each charm on a card with your name and email address on the back - just as specified in the guidelines. I put each card in its own baggie - just as specified in the guidelines. I have also put all 9 sets (there are 10 altogether but you keep 1 and swap the other 9) that you will swap in a gallon size zip bag with your name prominently displayed on the front - just as specified in the guidelines. You don't have to lift a finger, other than handing them over to Erin.



So here are your charms:

Rachel

The gallon size zip bag with your name on the front and the 9 sets of charms you will be handing over.



The nine sets of charms.



The charm set - art charm and filler charm.



It's a tear drop-shaped locket. It opens.



Here is how it looks hanging. Sorry about the blurry photo - it was impossible to keep one hand steady with the camera while the other one held the charm.



The bracelet. I put a couple of extra charms I had left over from my design experiments on each of your bracelets. I distributed them amongst your bracelets. The metal is antique silver.


I hope you like it! :-)


Theresa




Art charm.



Filler charm.



It's a locket, too.








Claudia




This is not a locket...for once. lol. It has the same design on the front and back. I have some fairly lightweight charms. This isn't one of them. It has a nice heft to it. The bead attached to the bottom is actually a light pink and looks light pink in real life, but it photographed as being white. The filler charm is made from glass and rose quartz.




Some information:

You do not need to sign-up. I contacted Erin and she is adding your names to the charm swap list. I freaked out for a minute when I saw she had closed the sign-up. Thank goodness she is a sweetie and gave me some wiggle room so I could get you guys added. Thank you, Erin!!!

There is an after-swap charm exchange. I did not make extras for you guys, so if you would like to participate in that you'll need to go get some supplies and put together some charm sets. I think doing this will be much easier than creating the ones above because they do not need to be identical and you do not have to find 10 of each kind. We saw a lot of great sets of 5 different charms at Michael's and Joann.

Finally, there is Spencer. I could not have done this without him. There are three reasons why I am so grateful to him. 1) He earned the money. I spent it. He never said one word about the many trips I made to Michael's, Joann, Craft Warehouse or Hobby Lobby to get this done. Enough said. 2) He went with me on all those many, many trips. I think he has put in roughly 10 to 12 hours in craft stores over the last 2 weeks. I am not joking. Again, he never complained once. 3) Every time I asked, and I asked about a million times, "How does this look? What do you think?" he gave me a thoughtful, patient response and an honest opinion. So please, if you like your set at all, please know that it is due in large part to him. I would really appreciate it if you would take a minute to thank him for helping me. You can post a message on facebook or you can email him at bbachtung@yahoo.com I really cannot express enough how much he helped with this project and how lucky I feel to married to such a great man.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

My ORMV T-shirt Arrived!

Yay! So excited! My ORMV t-shirt came today. I think it looks neat. It's pretty weird to see something you create in photoshop on the front of a t-shirt. But, weird in a good way!