Majestic Blue Journal

My family and I recently got into geocaching. Geocaching is a modern day "treasure hunt" using a GPS unit. (You can find out more about geocaching at http://www.geocaching.com/) We needed to document our adventures, so I chose Close to my Heart's My Creations Journal. You may remember my post back in October using this journal. It is a 7x5 white chipboard journal with a clear pocket in the front with 75 unlined pages. It is only $9.25!

Front

Close to my Heart Suppllies used:

Majestic Blue Level 2 Paper Pack, Desert Sand and Crystal Blue Cardstock, Outdoor Denim and Desert Sand Stamp Pads, Boutique Borders Stamp Set (Frame), With Love Stamp Set (floral branch), Treasure Life Stamp Set (Sentiment), Outdoor Denim Ribbon Collection, Pewter Designer Brads, All-Out Adventure Rub-ons, Journey Journaling Tags, Sanding Kit

Inside Covers

I achieved the colored edges by taking the front and back covers off. This is easily done by temporarily bending back the spiral binding. I then inked the edges with my Sponge Dauber in Desert Sand ink. You could also paint it. I didn't have the patience to let me dry ;)

It is hard to read, but I used a "X marks the spot" stamp from Classmate Alpha Stamp Set.

  

Back

Frame is from Priceless Love Stamp Set and Sentiment is from Enjoy the Journey Stamp Set.

You Rock Card

A made a card for my son's hockey team's manager. He is really into music, so I used the You Rock paper pack and stamps. Including an itunes gift card would be great way to continue the theme.

Close to my Heart Supplies used:

You Rock Level 2 Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Live in the Moment Stamp Set (from Workshop pack), Smokey Plum, Sunflower, and Outdoor Denim Stamp Pads, Corner Rounder

Other Supplies:

atyou Spica (Copic) Clear gel pen

It is hard to see, but I used the Spica pen on some of the notes and the star. This is a clear pen that leaves teeny, tiny bits of glass. It is great for details as the nib is very small.

I used my new Macro lens (thanks, Laura) for this pic. I see I need to play with it a bit more to get the right area highlighted. 

You Rock Layout (Rockband)

It's the new year and we have some new product! (More on new product in a few days) I got so fired up when I saw the You Rock paper pack. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I waited ever so impatiently for my product to arrive and spent New Year's Eve (and a few days after) knocking out this baby!

All paper, stamps, ink, transparencies, alpha stickers, and adhesive is Close to my Heart except fun foam and black gel pen. I also used a Fisker's wave ruler and BoBunny's flex ruler.

Here is the close up of the photo. I used City Lights Urban Rainbow filter by Faith True to get the rainbow effect.  http://scraporchard.com/market/product.php?productid=19292&cat=0&page=1

 This was applied in Photoshop Elements 5.

Angled view to show depth.

This is going to be wall art. I wasn't getting the depth I wanted with regular pop dots so I used fun foam. It looks great but at it's thickest point it measures 3/4 in! It will not fit in a regular page protector. If anyone has ideas on how to hang it, please email me.

The "black" rays for the background were made by making a mask and brushing Liquid Glass ( a dimensional adhesive) over the open areas.

This is a flap to hide my journaling. Alpha stickers are Lots O' Dots. These start off white. When you color or dye them with ink etc. the almost invisible dots resist the ink and stay white! Loooove these! Two sheets are only $5.75.

Velcro dot to hold flap shut.

Journaling reads:

Santa brought us Rockband for Christmas 2008.Since then we have been having regular jam sessions. Santa then gave us Beatles Rockband for Christmas 2009 and found it was our favorite. We all knew the songs and it made it easier. L discovered she loves to drum. Thank goodness for no fail mode! Dec. 31/09

Close to my Heart Minneapolis Regionals Update

Wow, I love my company! I just got back from a CTMH mini-convention this past weekend. I have soooo much to show and tell you! This will be the first of many posts. Check back often for more great updates.



Our second morning started with Jeanette Lynton, the president of Close to my Heart, teaching us a class! You can find her blog at www.jeanettelynton.com. Our project was using a new product for the next catalogue that will be released Jan.1/10! It is a chipboard covered journal that has blank pages inside. The best part is that it has a page protector on the cover so your photo or artwork doesn't get ruined.

I already have several ideas for this journal. A picture of my kids on the outside, and all the cute things they say on the inside, an art journal to sketch all the ideas that float around my head, a mini album, a great teacher gift, and of course a diary. I don't have an exact price yet, but it will be well under $10. Good thing because with all the ideas I have, I will be buying several!

While we did this project Jeanette let us ask her questions. What a great president! I truly feel like she listens and cares for her consultants. What did she tell us? That is another post!

"365" Album

As 2008 was ending, I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in 2009. One of the things I wanted to do was scrap more of the "everyday". A peek into what happens on a day to day basis. I have been good about scrapping holidays, birthday, accomplishments, and funny things my kids do and say BUT not much of the everyday. Which is what takes up 95% of our time. My problem is time! How could I keep up with scrapping everday! So I came up with a solution.

Here is my plan:

I will take a picture a day for the next year. Somedays I will do receipts, mail or bits of paper that represents that day. If I was super busy that day and didn't take a picture, I will do a quick journaling spot about how busy I was and what prevented me from taking a pic. This is my out for those days when it is bedtime and it seems I just got up an hour ago. This is still a realistic view of "everyday".

Here is my album. It is a Close To My Heart 12 x 12 Cocoa Linen Album ($34.95). You could use an album you already have. It is best to use a Close To My Heart album, as you will see in a minute.

You will only need ONE paper pack (15.95) for the WHOLE album! I chose Emporium from the new catty that came out Jan.1st. (You can view it and all our other products online at http://www.closetomyheart.com/ or call me for a catty) What's great about this paper is it is double sided. This will come in handy in our next step. I decorated my album with some of the patterned paper. I used Dimensional Elements Simple Numbers (chipboard)($6.25) for the "365". I also added some buttons, ricrac, and clear parenthesis (also CTMH). If things look a little askew, it is because I haven't had a chance to glue it down yet! Hee Hee. I will be using Tombow on the paper and Liquid Glass for the buttons and possibly the ricrac. Another way to decorate is to buy the matching My Stickease ($6.25). This way the adhering is taken care of for you. I will protect everything with one of our Album Protectors ($4.50). A great reason to pick a Close To My Heart Album.

Now here is what is going to make EVERTHING possible. Our Photo Storage Pages (6 Pocket). They are $10.95 for a packet of 10. Each protector can be used for 2 weeks as they are double sided as well. You will need 3 packages for the year with a few leftover. Here is were having a CTMH album is a bonus. These page protectors will work in most albums (if not I can tell you how to modify them). After many protectors in other albums they sometimes bunch a bit. This is because they have an extra seam so that a 2 page layout will come together with no break in the middle. Another awesome reason to choose a CTMH album.

Next, I cut 2-3 sheets of the Emporium paper into 4 x 6 pieces (6 per sheet) and put one for each page protector. As they are double sided and so is the paper, only one is required for 2 weeks. There is more than enough paper to use extra for embellishing etc. This is where I will journal. I will label each pic with the month, week and the corresponding number (1-31) with stickers, stamps, rubons, etc. I will jot a few words for each photo. I will mostly let each pic speak for itself. I will do very little embellishing. You are welcome to of course! I just want to keep this manageable.

I then slipped 5-4 x 6 pics into the pockets. For the 2 others, I had 4 pics developed onto one 4 x 6. This is easy to do at your local photofinishing store (or kiosk). If you don't know how to do this, just crop 2- 4 x 6's down to the desired size.

Voila, done. Between taking pics, photo finishing, journaling, and assembly I don't think this will take more than an hour to an hour and a half each week. I am going to try and upload my pics Fri., pick up Sat., and try to scrap on Sat. or Sun. If I can't get it done on the weekend it should be easy to do in 10-15 min. here and there throughout the week.

A couple notes:

1. I plan on expanding on some of these to a full blown layout. For example: birthdays, Christmas. But at least there will be something until I get around to doing the full deal.

2. I bought a notebook and I am keeping it in a central location where I can easily add to it a sentence or two of journaling in point form to keep track. Nothing fancy just each month and 1-31. with the info for that day.

So, if this seems a little much for you, try using the 6 pocket protector and this idea to do a week here and there. This can be added to your regular album.

I will try and post my progress. I will be ordering Jan. 20 if anyone is interested.