Are you ready for Christmas Cards?!?!?!

Ready of not, here they come! This post contains the six card selections for our Christmas card workshop this year. These cards will be offered in place of our regular 5-card workshop in both November and December. Half of them were made by Marla and half were made by me . . .but I bet you can't tell which are which!









In order to make these as quick and inexpensive to create in large quantities, we simplified them a ton. These 5 x 7 cards with envelopes will be available in November and December for just $1 each and are pretty quick and easy to put together! Plus you can choose any quantity of whichever card you'd like . . . you are not bound to equal numbers and you do not have to send out any cards you don't like. There is no downside to this workshop!

These will be available during our regular meeting times . . . Saturday, November 6th and Saturday, December 4th, anytime between 8 AM and 8 PM. We can also have these available during the Scrap for Sienna if requested. Please just RSVP your selections as soon as possible.

Here's to the season of Christmas preparation!
Tanya

September Workshop Choices

Holy macaroni . . . there are A LOT of workshop choices for our September Playdate!!! If you are free on September 11th there is absolutely no reason not to join us :)

First up is a back to school page by Marla. My kids just went back to school this morning so it's a subject that's especially near and dear to my heart today. Marla used papers from the Stardust paper packet and lots of school themed-stamps and paraphernalia. With the title "School Rules", this layout is absolutely perfect for pictures of the first day of school or any school day!



Next up are two single pages by Colette . . . aren't they adorable? This first one is ready for your s'mores pictures. Come on - I know you have the perfect pictures for this page. If you don't, time to go take some just so you have a reason to scrap this awesome little page.

As a complimentary or stand-alone page, this next page is super cute as well and just begging for your BBQ pics to be attached. Don't have the perfect pictures? Not to worry . . . there's still a few days of summer left!

Oh, and there's Flip Flaps on this one . . . right there in the burger layers. I LOVE IT!

Here's my contribution for the month. My kids have some Packer pictures just waiting to be scrapped and I thought you might have some too. If you don't, skip down to the next choice!

See, when I designed the Packer page I forgot about a very important group of ladies . . . the Aurora, IL girls! Yeah, they don't have any use for Green and Gold and so Caryn graciously designed a layout for them and she's more than willing to share! Put ANY sports pictures in this layout . . . Caryn's ready with stamps for every sporting occasion so bring it on!

Simply let me know if you'd like something other than a football in the middle and it's as good as done!

If you made it through the layouts, then you're a real die-hard. Next up is the 5 card workshop by Marla. Marla used the beautiful Grace papers for all these cards. All the parts and pieces can be yours for the bargain price of just $10 for 5 cards.

FINALLY . . . my second contribution to the month is an interactive workshop layout. The workshop will include these two layouts for $20. With your $20 fee you will receive not only all the parts and pieces for this workshop but also the page protectors, a full pack of Basic Brads, a full pack of Alphabet stickers, and a full pack of A-door-ables. What a deal!

These layouts will take quite a bit of time so make sure to allow yourself plenty of time to complete them.

Whew! That's it. Colette's calendars for the month are listed in the post below. I hope you found a few things you can't live without!

Tanya

A few new cards . . .

Besides my layout for our October workshops, I was also assigned the 5 card workshop. Two of the cards I posted a few weeks ago and one I posted way back in November. I loved it so much I decided to repurpose it for customers to make if they wanted to.

The first one I'd like to show you is a card seriously inspired by Vicki Wizniuk (www.thewizardshangout.blogspot.com)a long time ago. I made it in the past for myself but it requires quite a bit of time to cut all the flower layers, etc. so I never offered it for customers. But we only live, once, right? So, in October everyone will have the opportunity to cut 'til their heart's content.



The second card I designed on my own but have found inspiration for this one in many places.



To get the sunset, I simply started at the bottom by sponging Creme Brulee ink and then transitioned into Sunflower, then Orange, and then the new Sunset color.

Enjoy!
Tanya

A few new cards!

This week I created new cards for both a celebration and a tragedy. This first card was in honor of my Mother and Father-in-laws' 35th anniversary. I used the "Treasure Life" stamp set along with the colors Ponderosa Pine, Pansy Purple, Petal, and Amethyst. To get the watercolored feel to the flowers, I used markers to color them using all three purple colors. Together it gave a very mottled and very cool effect. I have every intention of teaching this class at September's card workshop.




This second card was for the sad occasion. This week some friends of mine had their not-quite-adopted baby girl taken back from them just minutes before the adoption was finalized. After three months of loving this child they were sure would be theirs forever, the birthmother changed her mind and broke their hearts.

While this card was created for them, I'd love to teach this one in September as well. The sentiment, from the book "I'll Love You Forever", is appropriate for joyful occasions as well.




Enjoy!
Tanya

Upcoming August Workshops

Hello friends! I know it's been a long time since I've posted (been on a bit of a hiatus) and when I finally did get around to posting tonight you'll find it's a lot of repeats. However it's time for our ladies (and Jim) to start picking out their projects for August if they haven't done so already and putting them all together in one post seems the easiest for them..

Remember that August starts our new club format and is centered mostly around the three layouts we'll offer each month, one by myself and the other two by Colette and Marla. Typically.

Here are the choices:

Happy Campers

You're Sweet:

And (2) 1 page layouts that will be $3 each instead of the $6 per 2 page layout.

Beachy Keen:

And, finally, Yummy:

Additionally, our workshop this month was created by Marla and is a Moon Doggie 9x9 accordian vacation album. So cute!!!!

And, last but not least is the 5 card workshop for the month. These cards were created by Colette . . . wait, hold the boat! I think you should all know that these beautiful cards were actually created by Colette's sister, Caryn, even though she's too shy to admit it :) Thanks for your services this month, Caryn! I hope we see you as a guest designer again soon!

Finally, Calendar Club will, of course, be offered as well but isn't completely done yet. That's my contribution this month and I've been busy relaxing and vacationing and conventioning in D.C.

I hope to see many of you readers at our Work Day on August 7th. Remember, there is no longer any type of a committment involved with these project days. You simply purchase the projects you'd like to complete and sign up for the next month if you're interested.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Tanya

Finishing up some cards

Since our clubs are on "break" right now, I thought I'd take the opportunity to finish up some old projects that have been sitting around for a while. Although they all use old papers and many retired colors, the designs and ideas are still very relevant.

First up is a criss cross card that uses Silhouette paper along with the Only Live Once stamp set and a ribbon from the Black Ribbon Rounds. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Happy Birthday stamp set and the little posy is from the Summer Posies Just Blooms tube.


This next card is one that I designed for a consultant create day at least two years ago. It uses a favorite stamp set of mine, Blooming Flourishes. I colored in the flowers with a waterbrush and Vineyard Berry, Orchid Bouquet (now retired), and Sweet Leaf inks. I used textured White Daisy paper and edged it with Orchid Bouquet so the texture is obvious.

These cards are a simple favorite CASE'd from a favorite artist of mine, Lisa Stenz. It uses the With Love stamp set on Kiwi (now retired), Carnation (now retired), and Crystal Blue cardstock. The vase and the large flower were stamped on white and cut out to add a bit of white to the card.

Finally, this blurry card is one that I designed for a swap about two years ago. It uses paper from the Life Delights Level 2 paper packet along with stamps from the Celebrate Life and Say it With Style stamp sets. The butterfly is stamped on vellum so you can see the paper underneath.

Believe it or not, I ended up cleaning out a whole bin and putting together almost 40 cards that are now done and ready to use or sell. Boy, oh, boy . . .that feels AWESOME!

Rockstar Birthday Card

I made this card for my son's friend Vance's Birthday party and was pretty happy with the way it turned out. Vance turned 7 and this looked about right for that age group. I used the You Rock Level 2 paper packet along with the You Rock stamp set. Colors are Olive, Outdoor Denim, Autumn Terracotta, and Sunflower. I have two white bigger brads on the striped border piece as well as Sparkles at the tip of the crown.

Enjoy!
Tanya

It's a Miracle (that I've got all these pages and cards done!)

I just love the Close to My Heart's new "Miracle" scrapbook kit, which was designed for the upcoming National Scrapbooking Month in May. (To find out how to get yours in a few weeks, see my sidebar information.)

This kit has been packaged with instructions for two scrapbook layouts. For mine I choose to use pictures of my new niece, Sydney, as the papers are so soft and cozy - just like she is. It still needs some journalling done but I want my sister to do that part.

The butterflies, frames, brackets, etc. are "irresistable" chipboard . . . I simply sponged my accent color of choice on them and an embossed pattern resisted the ink to make a pattern in the chipboard. There was also a page of beautiful Stickese and an entire packet of mini-midley accents. Oh, and my favorite - Flip Flaps! PLUS, I had enough paper leftover to make some gorgeous cards! I finished six last night but I could have made at least another two with the leftover paper . . .

Sorry for the blurry pictures. My camera is broken so I'm borrowing my sister's old one. Even at that, I have to admit it was practically the middle of the night when I took them and I didn't really care about clarity at the time.

Anyway, my kids are off of school for the rest of the week and driving me a little bonkers. I'm SOOOOOO looking forward to the new catalogs coming today - just in time for a nice quiet time for everyone in their rooms :)

I hope YOU can enjoy the rest of your week!

Tanya

Celebrate!

Now here's a quickly whipped up card if I've ever made one. I completely forgot to make a card for my neice's baptism last week so I copied a small event calendar topper I had been working on that is almost identical except for the size. It was really a waste of time because besides being late for the event I was headed to, I also never gave this to my sister . . . just doesn't feel very baptismal. But since I'm in charge of the baby book, I figure if my sister decides to put baptism cards in I can sneak a proper one in then!

The good news for you is that I have a very quick and easy card pattern here if you need to whip something up quickly too. I used a sheet of paper from CTMH's retired Paper Garden Level 2 paper packet and the butterfly is from Butterfly Wings stamp set (definitely still a favorite of mine.) The solid cardstock is Petal, Black, and White Daisy and the butterfly has been sponge daubed with Buttercup and Sunflower inks and decorated with sparkles.

Enjoy!
Tanya