Happy Halloween Everyone :O)

Yes tonight is the night when witches are out and about along with the monsters an all kinds of other cute people :O) Richard is taking the boys Tick or Treating - I get to hand out candy to the children who come to the door. Leo is a hippy in a cute tie-die Tshirt which Robyn bought him in the Bahamas and pink round glasses and a head-band and Elliott is Indiana Jones. I just hope the weather stays fine and it doesn't rain. Fingers crossed
So my question to you is...... what are you going to be for Halloween?

Pompeii's statues of the dead

An Original

This layout shows the ruins of the small theater plus the right hand page shows that as we were walking around you could look through between the ruins of two houses and find a totally unexplored area - I loved the carvings on the pillars

The streets of Pompeii

House of the Vettii

I love this photo of my friend Victoria in the House of the Vettii - the remains of this house were spectacular - I loved the frescoes which had been uncovered during the excavations. And the tiled mosaic floor was just beautiful :O)

Streets & Water Fountains in Pompeii

We had a great time walking around the different areas of Pompeii - the water fountains were at the cross streets and would have been used by the families living in that area - I loved the patterns in the brickwork - crazy to think that it is over 2000 years old.

The Portico

This is a layout of the Portico in Pompeii, again I did the 'slice the photos into pieces' to get the panoramic look - so it is actually 3 photos made into one long one :O)

Hope you like it.

My favorite recipes 3 ring binder workshop

 

Here is the CTMH 3 ring binder workshop which I am teaching - this is a $30 prepaid workshop- contact me to book your workshop. It features the Bella Level 2 paper pack and the Autumn mini medley accessory pack. I made this one into a recipe book - but you could easily put - My Favorite Photos on the front.

50th Wedding Anniversary Card

Here is a pretty card I made for my friend Michele's parents wedding anniversary. I used the Perfect Day level 2 paper pack & matching stickease - then added ribbon and paper flowers :O)

Just for the Holidays Christmas card

Here is another fun Christmas card which i made using D1380 Just for the Holidays. Moonstruck & Cranberry ink colors and cardstock colors and Route 66 B&T, and Basic buttons with white waxy flax to tie them on and a scrap of cranberry ribbon for a side accent. Then I prisma glittered - big time LOL - would it be my card if I hadn't prisma glittered and distressed with ink???
Hope you like it :O)

Card samples for October

Here are the samples of cards using the stamp sets Holiday Trinkets and Childhood Portrait.
I didn't make most of these cards - these were all make by other talented ladies -  unfortunately I am not sure who they are - I know that  Shari Dancer and Pam Weber made 2 of the above cards but the rest remain anonymous.
I did make the pink and blue Christmas card. I love those presents - they could equally be birthday presents not just Christmas presents.

6x6 Memory Showcase class at Aiko's house x

Here are Aiko, Hisayo, Chika, Ikuko and Shinobu with their finished 6x6 albums  :O)

This is all of the girls working hard. It was so much fun. I had a great time :O)

Last Saturday, I went over to Aiko's house to teach the 6x6 Memory showcase workshop class.Here is the one I made using the Aspen level 2 paper pack and matching stick-ease.

6x6 Memory Showcase Album - Expedition.

This is a fun 6x6 Memory Showcase Album which I made with some of my customers on Saturday - we had so much fun adding the extra fold out pieces and the tags and pockets. I used the expedition Lvel 2 paper pack and matching stickease on this one. Hope you like it :O)

Joyful Banner

We made this lovely banner at our Regional Celebrations in Minneapolis last week using the new winter card kit from the Autumn/Winter CTMH Idea Book. It was so much fun to make - we used the Posterboard alphabet for the letters and added Sparkles for Bling. The new Basic buttons with hemp and cranberry edge anchors fixed the cards to the ribbon which comes in the card kit. Hope you like it :O)

Lovely Lace

One of my dear customers - Junko - recently bought the Lovely Lace stamp set and asked me to give her some ideas on how to use it.

So here you go - the top card features bamboo and black inks, and I stamped rows of lace - trimmed them and layered them to give that frilled petticoat look ;O)

The cranberry and black card has colonial white ribbon underneath the flower. I stamped ton on tone in cranberry ink as a background. I stamped the lace using colonial white ink on the black card-stock then heat embossed clear detail powder over it to make it look glossy.

The juniper card, features the Perfect Day paper - my all time favorite paper pack I think - and again has the lace stamped in bamboo ink  the I set the new soft set Chocolate eyelets into each point. I dry embossed the lines into the juniper card-stock and heavily distressed it in bamboo ink - then I stamped the sentiment in chocolate.
Hope you like them x

Ooooohhhh - I love these "Reaction" Buttons.....

...... at the bottom of every post - how fun are they - just click on the one you like the best - and PLEASE leave me comments - I love to read them and get feed back about what you do and don't like :O) 

Hope you are having a great evening  (yes it is still pouring with rain here in wet Michigan - great weather if you are a fish!)  Keep dry and have fun with paper :O)

October Stamp of the Month Samples & Projects :O)

This 1st picture shows the 3 cards we are making this month - hope you like them :O)
The bottom of the three cards features the colors Outdoor Denim and Twilight with lots of Bling and is a fun winter card.

The 2nd picture shows 2 Christmas cards again made with the stamp of the month. The tree was embossed using white embossing powder and then I used sparkles and prisma glitter to add bling to it. This tree could be stamped on a white or colonial white card-stock and colored with chalks or markers or the water bruch and ink. I chose to do it on the New England Ivy card-stock so that I wouldn't have to color it.

The 3rd picture shows that this set is NOT just a Christmas set - I made a wedding/anniversary/engagement card using the That's Amore paper and stick-ease buttons and prisma glittered the ribbon in the Doves beak, then I made a boys birthday card using the Stardust paper, topiary ink, and moonstruck and heavenly blue markers. Dimensional elements rubbed over the topiary ink pad and then with a brad centered in the middle gave some interest and texture to the card.
And when I saw the pile of presents stamp - it SCREAMED for a pink and black Blinged up girls birthday card. I loved making this one. The presents are colored using the watermelon and bubblegum markers and then I prisma glittered the living daylights out of it.3 mini sparkles and black grosgrain ribbon added the final touches :O)

Its "Blog-tober-fest" at Fabulously Artsy

Go and visit Tresa Black's stunning blog as she loads up images and tutorials. She has some BEAUTIFUL artwork and some fun tips & tricks to learn - have fun :O)
http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com

Snow Friends

This card is 'Snow much fun' - hahaha - sorry - not sure that I have had enough coffee this morning.
I love this set of snowmen AND I got the inspiration from the new Winter Idea book. The snow underneath the snowmen is prisma glitter and I used liquid applique on the 'bobbles' of their hats. Again, another not so traditional colored Christmas card but I think it is really cute - hope you like it too :O)

Good Grief!

My sincere apologies to anyone who has viewed my blog between 3.30pm and 5pm if you visited more than once you will see that my background patterns changed every 5 minutes - did I drive you nuts?? I couldn't made a decision to save my soul. Anyway I have found one that screams 'SARA' - the bling, the black and white fleur de lys- oooh I love this one - this is a keeper I think (well until I find another once I like better).

SO - I hope you all continue to enjoy my blog - I have put a "FOLLOW" button on the the right hand side of my blog - click it and follow me & all the stuff I put on here. Enjoy :O)

Noel Card

This card features the More to Adore Level 2 paper pack to which I addeda little garden green cardstock. I wanted to use non traditional colors so the chocolate ribbon and paper add a fun touch. I used the Baroque Alphabet and Prisma Glitter inside the letters to add some sparkle.
Hope you like it :O)

I am so Super Excited :O)

Yes it is official - I have earned the trip to New Zealand AND the 5 day cruise to the Caribbean too :O) Richard and I are going to take the boys with us to New Zealand and I am going to take my 2 girlfriends on the cruise.
I LOVE the fact that Close To My Heart rewards our hard work with these trips. I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of my customers - you help my dream come true. I wish I could take you ALL with me :O)

My sister's have celebrated birthdays.

No photos this time - just a moment for thoughts as on Oct 4th my older sister Claire celebrated her birthday and today my younger sister Rachel celebrates hers. This is when it is hard being 4000 miles away from everyone - I wish I was there to be with them. I know that they feel the same way too and I have been so lucky this year as they have both been able to visit this year. I was hoping to go back to the UK this December but that isn't going to happen - it will be May next year before I can go.
So sending huge birthday wishes to both my sisters x

Minneapololis Card Contest

This was my entry which, I was thrilled to see, was picked for the top 5 - it is a 6x6 card featuring textured card stock which I sanded or inked. Stitiched with embroidery floss and then the leaves were rolled in 2 or 3 colors of ink and the top 2 of the 4 leaves were popped up on 3 d tape.
The top photo shows when was the card when it was opened - I made a 'pop-up' and put one leaf on the bottom underneath it and 2 leaves on the pop up bit - hope this makes some sort of sense LOL

Grace Workshop to Go

Here is the next Workshop to go project - I showed you Twitterpated last month - this month I have put together the Grace set - the left hand cards show the basic Kit cards embellished with edge anchors and their brads (love them) and the right hand cards show the upgraded version :O) These include the basic buttons and the waxy flax. I have to say that I think they are gorgeous and can be used for any occasion - hope you like them too :O)
Remember that both of these Workshops are available till the end of the year,