August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop for August!

All artwork on the hop will feature Augusts's SOTM, "It's Your Day" a set of 26 stamps! If you have come here from Haley's blog you are on the right path! If this is your first stop, you may want to go back to Jena's Blog and start from the beginning.

This month we have 64 CTMH Consultants sharing their SOTM creations, and other great CTMH artwork. Joining the hop is fun and simple to do - just click the link at the end of each blogger's post to move to the next one! If you get lost or a link doesn't work just click on links in the list below... Here we go!






I made this interactive gift card holder for my August Card Class. I was given the template at a CTMH unit meeting, and it is the cutest thing ever! The cupcake top folds up and slides out a gift card! Besides featuring the August SOTM, I used the Animal Cookies paper pack, Dimensional Elements Bookplates, white ricrac ribbon, and red glitter. I also used Tulip and Olive stamp pads, and the "Happy Birthday" stamp set. The card measures approximately 4.25"x5.5"at it's widest/tallest points.

Remember, the August SOTM is only available until August 30th, so contact your CTMH Consultant (or Me!) to order this stamp set, or get it at a discount with qualifying orders, or for FREE with a $100 order! Also from Aug 3-17th only, get a free paper pack with every $100 order! No need to even pay shipping or tax on your free stamp of the month or free paper! What a great deal! Click here to go shopping now!

Thanks for stopping by! Now "hop" on over to Michelle's blog to check out her creations and continue the hop.

Or, click on any of the links below to see all the great August SOTM creations.

Jena DeVries www.livelovelaughscrapbook.blogspot.com
Kristie Horness-Herdener www.goofyscrapper.blogspot.com
Carla Ironside www.carlacreates.blogspot.com
Deb Young http://www.scrapbookczar.blogspot.com
Alanna Moses www.damoses.blogspot.com
Paige Dolecki http://www.paigespaperparadise.blogspot.com
Wendy Kessler www.myscrapbookingblog.com
Heather Painchaud http://www.twindragonflydesigns.blogspot.com
Helen Onulak www.hookedonstamping.com
Barbra Otten http://barbraotten.blogspot.com/
Haley Dyer www.inkyscrapper.blogspot.com
Nona Davenport www.nonapearl.blogspot.com
Michelle Robinson www.amaizenbluelady.typepad.com
Cindy Leek www.paperspadsandpictures.blogspot.com
Melissa Laverty http://www.fancymelissa.blogspot.com
Katy Donaldson www.scrappinkaty.blogspot.com
Amy McVey www.clearlystamping.blogspot.com
Tammy Lea Pinchard http://www.creativeimpressions-pinchme.blogspot.com
Leslie Markland http://pandascrapper.blogspot.com/
Judy Burger http://makingtimeformemories.blogspot.com/
Laurie R Newton http://scrapsfromthebeach.blogspot.com/
Kami Welter http://www.scrappin4memories.blogspot.com
Tracy Oleksak www.mamaolie.blogspot.com
Karen Norman www.gettinscrappywithit.blogspot.com
Chris Shouse http://www.houseostamps.wordpress.com
Cibele Glazer www.flowerfoot.blogspot.com
Debra Van Patten http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com/
Terrie Dodd www.my-life-in-real-time.blogspot.com
Jamia Bankhead http://www.papermadnessinc.blogspot.com
Anne Beck http://www.anniemuses.blogspot.com
Jennifer Patrick http://www.roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com
Laurie Levnik www.creationsbylaurie.blogspot.com
Lori Miller www.clearlyfromtheheart.blogspot.com
Brae Montgomery http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com
Dawn Ross http://www.iamahappystamper.blogspot.com
Dawn Slipcevic http://dawnscrapsalot.blogspot.com
Barbara Harris www.paper-creations117.blogspot.com
Carol Taggio http://craftycarol55.blogspot.com
Jill Lucas http://scrapwench.blogspot.com
Chris Green www.createwithchris.blogspot.com
Nancy Ball www.ballisticdesign.blogspot.com
Dawn Heuft www.stamptildawn.blogspot.com
Kelly Triggs www.stampinallday.blogspot.com
Beth Naumann www.bethscreativeblock.blogspot.com
Antoinette Herrin www.GodblessyourART.blogspot.com
Jessica Booth http://jessicabooth.blogspot.com/
Jen Rubio http://www.jenrubio.blogspot.com
Misty Jackson http://www.misstscraps.blogspot.com
Adeline E. Brill http://adeline-brill.blogspot.com
Lori Leng www.pinkcloudscrappers.blogspot.com
Pam Klassen http://eimmap.blogspot.com/
Pamela O'Connor http://www.cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com
Jennifer Royal www.craftroyalty.blogspot.com
Caren Goldsein http://www.scrappycaren.blogspot.com
Shannon Pelletier www.mycolorfulworldinvt.blogspot.com
Sherry Thompson www.picturespatternsandpaper.blogspot.com
Maricar Harris www.maricarharris.blogspot.com
Traci Godbee http://createwithtraci.blogspot.com
Laura Dame www.thecroppersconnection.blogspot.com
Miranda Kurz http://www.scrampinwithmiranda.com
Leisa Hubley http://www.bigredscraps.blogspot.com
Julia Menssen www.ralphandjulia.blogspot.com
Jan Moxey http://scrapandstamp4ever.blogspot.com/
Jody Gustafson www.cre8nmemories.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

My mom is celebrating a milestone birthday today - don't worry mom, I won't say which birthday. My mom is a real inspiration to me. She's had to overcome many difficult situations in her life, and she's done so with grace. She's a spiritual role model, a hard worker, and a true friend. I hope that Samantha and I will have the kind of relationship that I have with my mom when she is older. I love you mom!!!

So I made this layout for her. I used some new textures from the Jessica Sprague photo editting class, and one of the photo frames too. If you want specifics on the supplies please email me - nonapearl@myctmh.com.

Can you stand one more knitting project?

I really should change my blog name to Nona's "Purls" of wisdom with all of the knitting I've been posting lately.

Here is a knit for hire project I finished a few days ago. The sweater is once again a modified version of the snowflake sweater in "Knitting for Baby" - the same pattern I used for Sammie's sweater. I used Cascade Fixation yarn. It's mostly cotton with a touch of spandex, so it works great for baby projects. This sweater is a 6-12 month size, and I had already knit hat and socks for this particular customer in the same yarn, just a different colorway. :) I really appreciate the repeat businss and her baby boy, Cameron (who is due to be born any day) will look so adorable in it! If she sends me any pictures of him all dolled up I'll be sure to post. (hint, hint, Kari!)

Awwww....

Do you ever have something happen that just tugs at your heart strings? I had one of those moments tonight.

Sammie was crying after we put her to bed, so I went to check on her. She said she had had a bad dream. We talked and prayed about it, and then I snuggled with her for a few minutes. As I got up to leave, she whimpered - "but mom, what if I have another bad dream?" I told her that she could pray, and ask Jesus to give her only good dreams. And then I told her that I try to think about something that makes me really, really happy as I fall asleep.

Then I asked her what her most favorite thing in the whole world was. "You mommy!" was her answer. Awwwwwwwww! My heart just melted at that. I gave her a big hug and said that she could think about me and all the fun things we do together, and she would have wonderful dreams.

Then she asked what I think about when I fall asleep. "I think about you, Sammie. You are my happy thought! And as we think about each other tonight we will both have great dreams!"

It was such a touching moment. I know I need to scrap it, but for now, I'm going to blog it - so that it is captured forever.

sockies

Once again, I have just knitting to share. :) But this is knitting I'm very proud of.

First... look!!!! I finished my second sock. Yippee! Now I just have to wait for our 90 degree weather to subside. They are 100% wool so too hot for wearing now. But oh aren't they just lovely. I'm smitten...



The day after finishing my second sock, I started on a pair for Sammie. She had picked out this yellow yarn by tofutsies about two months ago. For those that were wondering, I'm a double pointed needle person. Some knit socks on circs, some on dbts. I've yet to find anyone who enjoys both methods equally.



The pattern for Sammie's socks was the same "dragonfly" as mine, I just reduced it slightly by making it a 13 st. pattern (with 4 repeats) instead of a 15 st. pattern like on the adult version. Also I chose to do a heel flap with st. picked up along the side rather than a short row heel. I like the finished look of this type of heel better. For some reason, when I do the wrapping of a short row heel I end up with slight gaping at the wraps. Any knitters out there have pointers for this?



This picture was after I had finished one sock. Sammie loved it so much she was mad to have to give it back. I did let her wear it for about 20 minutes first to "break it in". :)



"It's mine momma! You can't have it back!"



The finished pair - modeled by my little love.

knitting anyone?

Please forgive my absence of late. Some nifty things are in the works, and I'm excited to be able to share about them soon. In the meantime I've not had much time to blog. My goal is for new posts every day this week. We'll see how it goes! Thanks for coming back to read about my life, hobbies and family. I enjoy sharing with you all. :)

I have a few more knitting projects to share. Been doing loooooooots of knitting these days. I feel like that is where my mojo is at for the present. When I go sit in my paper crafting "studio" that's all that I really do - just sit. No inspiration whatsoever. Bah... I'm hoping that will change with the release of the newest CTMH Idea Book. Customers get it on Sept 1st, but consultants get it a month early! - (ps... let me know if you want to be a consultant! there's a great sign up special this month, and an even better one coming the middle of next month!)

Here's a cute little baby sweater I knit a few weeks back. It's made with knitpicks "comfy" yarn - which is a cotton/acrylic blend and is *sooooooo* soft. I like the crisscross neck (easy to pull over baby's head) and made this in a newborn size. The pattern is from the Mason Dixon knitting book (first one) and is knit all in one piece (then seams are sewn). I did alter the pattern slightly so that there was no ribbon dying the front closed.

Here's another sweater I just finished last week. After knitting up this sweater for fun, Sammie begged me to do one for her that actually fit. :) So I used the same pattern but modified it so it was larger. Then I used an alternating stripe for the sleeves. Too cute! And of course she loves it. She even wore it last week in 80 degree heat! LOL - silly kid. The yarn is cascade 220 super wash wool. Pattern from the snowflake sweater in Knitting for Baby with a few modifications.

This was Sam's "oh mommy, I love it soooooooo much" face.

Trying it on

"Thanks Momma!"

More Photo Editing

Here are a few more nifty things I learned from the Jessica Sprague photo editing class...


I took the same photo as before (already "grungified") and did some hand tinting (like you see in old fashioned photos). You have to create a new layer, color over your image with a brush, and then set the layer to soft light. This allows the textures of the photo below the tinting (ie - the straw hat) to show through.


Here is the first "grungy" photo with a Jessica Sprague frame (freebie from the class). I made a quick 12x12 layout with it, and included a texture over my background paper. It is very subtle and not truly noticable until you see the paper without it. Then I added a random assortment of buttons, and this cute quote from the RPenn"express yourself" kit. I recolored it to brown and also to white, then layered the two to give an illusion of outlining. Then I replaced the "o" in "joy" with a button. The swirls on the left are just a copy of the journaling layers I created with the words erased. So fun and quick!

Nifty Photo Editting

Lately I've been catching up on some Jessica Sprague classes, and I'm currently doing lessons on photo editting. In this lesson we added textures to a photo to make it look antique and a little "grungy" (that's JS's favorite word btw).

Here is the photo I decided to add texture to. It is my daughter Samantha wearing her great-grandma Lilo's red hat (from the Red Hat Society of course!).

Before:

After:

Isn't that just too cool!?!? :) This class rocks!

Cards For Hire

Last week I was hired by a customer to make cards for the non-profit agency that she works for. I'm not exactly sure what they do, but it sounds like they send a lot of cards to sick kids and adults. She hired me to make mainly sympathy and get well cards, but also a few other assorted types. Since these are typically "difficult" for me to make, I thought I'd share what I made. Hopefully this will help you the next time you need to create that type of card.

All papers/embellishments and most of the stamps are CTMH - however I did use a few of my new Anyas and Ians from The Greeting Farm (all the cute kid stamps). I used my copic markers for coloring. I don't have time to post individual supplies for the cards, so if you have a question about any of the cards, please post here and I'll answer you.

One quick note... For the first card, and last two cards I used the 9x9 simply snapshots pages cut up to make these cards. It is quite easy and fast to do. Perhaps I should make another video tutorial showing how! I originally got this idea from CTMH consultant Chris Green.

Tea Time

This past week, Dave's Aunt Sue, Uncle Pete and (adult) cousins Emily, Brian, Andy and Mark have been visiting from Georgia! It's always so great to spend time with them. They all love to play games - card games, board games, and outdoor games. Last night we had dominoe and badmitten tournaments. And Aunt Sue is a fellow knitter - so we always have lots to talk about. We've really been enjoying the visit!

On Saturday the ladies all went on a special tea date to Elizabeth and Alexander's English Tea Room at Country Village (in Bothell). This was the first time Samantha was allowed to join us - and she used her extra special, big girl manners.

I forgot my "real" camera, so had to make do with my cell phone. To be honest the pictures actually turned out pretty well!

Here is Sammie in her pretty dress, and her gorgeously arranged meal. This is the children's tea (complete with a whole pot of hot chocolate!

My lunch: the cashew chicken curry salad. I had decaf berry iced tea. It was a really warm day and I couldn't imagine drinking hot tea. Everything was delicious!

Sammie with her Auntie Meagan (Dave's lovely sister):

Beautiful ladies: Marie (Dave's mom) and cousin Emily:

The lovely Aunt Sue and Marie

The knitters - Aunt Sue and me

One of the coolest things about Country Village is the "wildlife". There are ducks and chickens everywhere (and a great pond for them to swim in) and intricate little cobblestone paths you can take as you explore the grounds. Sammie spotted a rooster in these bushes. We had been hearing him crow for a while.

Mr. Rooster and a few hens...

Beach Day

I met a really sweet new customer this month at my card class, and she commissioned me to make her about 25 cards for her office! She works for a non-profit organization, and they send a ton of cards. I started working on them, and here are the first 3. She needed some "little girl get well" so here they are. As soon as my new Ian stamps (from TGF) arrive, I'll make and show off the little boy cards. :)

Except for the stamps, and the little plastic bead things everything is CTMH. I used the That's Amore papers and matching Journaling Jots for layering.

In other news... today Sammie and I needed to get out of the house. We decided to go to the beach with our preschool friends Laurie (mom), Dylan (classmate) and Haley (little sister). We had a blast! It's so fun to watch Sammie and Dylan play. They are often seen holding hands - at least when Dylan isn't trying throwing sand at her or growling. LOL - I keep telling Sammie that that's what little boys do when they like you. Sometimes they don't grow out of it either!

Here is Haley and Laurie. I switched back to my 50mm lens today, which I haven't played with in a few months. So my focus was a little off in this shot (as I was getting used to it again). It was sure fun using it again though. Forgot how much I love that lens!



My little ham...


Dylan doesn't really like it when I take pictures. This was what most of my shots of him looked like.

They wanted water for the sand toys. That full pail weighs about as much as she does!

Sock for Me!

For those that come here to see paper creations, don't worry. I'm not leaving cards and scrapbooking behind! I've been teaching my card classes this week (had 21 students this time - my most ever!) and that leaves little time to do personal paper crafting.

But I have been doing a LOT of knitting! I love that it is portable. I can knit while Sam goes to her summer activities. I can knit while I wait in a doctor's office or if I have 20 min to kill before an appointment. So, that explains all the knitting projects to share lately.

Today is no exception, and of all my summer projects I am most excited about this! I knit my first "adult" sock last week - and my first project in a loooooooong time that is for ME! :) This is the "dragonfly" pattern from Ravelry. I used Blue Moon's Socks that Rock yarn in the Lunasea colorway, and size 2 needles. This sock took about 3 days.

A close-up of the dragonfly pattern:

Modeling my sock:

Side view:

Guess I need to make the second one now. ;)

More Knitting to Share

I finished my Shipwreck Shawl several months ago, but didn't have a chance to block it until last week. For those that don't know, blocking is when you pin damp knitting into a specific shape and allow it to dry. Once it dries it will stay the shape that it was blocked to. Most lace needs blocking before it looks the right way.

This was my first project that I blocked, and so I asked my friend Deb to help me out. She is an expert knitter, quilter, and sewer and any time I have a knitting question she is my "go-to-gal". We also enjoy knitting together once a week while our kids are in school. :) Love you Deb!

Anyway...it was SOOOOO amazing to see this shawl grow as we blocked it. I was pretty nervous when I finished knitting because it was only about 3 feet across, and in the pictures on Knitty it was at least double the size. But, as we stretched the yarn accross Deb's queen bed, the pattern emerged and it was so lovely! I couldn't believe it when the shawl grew to be about the same size as the bed!!!

Here are some pictures. The first was taken before we pinned it out. You can see it is already very large - and the patterns from the various sections are much more visible.



Here is a close up of the center after it was blocked.



Here is a close up of the edges with the beading. I strugn and knit close to 5000 beads into the outer section of the shawl!!!



If you have a hard time seeing the details, you can click on any photo to view a larger version.

Anniversary Get-Away

A few months ago, my sweet hubby surprised me by buying a romantic get-away at our church auction. We decided that this weekend would be the perfect time to take our trip, since we last Wednesday was our 9th wedding anniversary.

He whisked me away to Langley on Friday afternoon and we spent an amazing day just relaxing. We stayed at The Inn at Langley - and it was FABULOUS! Here are a few pictures of the hotel and our room:



Later in the evening, Dave took me to the Inn's gourmet restaurant for dinner with Chef Matt Costello. He's been "extraordinary" by Zagat for the past 4 years in a row! We had a six course dinner that was absolutely amazing. I've never experienced anything like it before. Every dish was not only delicious, but beautiful.



Here was our menu (pictures go from left to right, top to bottom). I apologize for the lighting on the last two pictures. It got dark as we ate and we were using Dave's phone for the photos. :)

Amuse Bousche: Bing Cherry filled with duck liver mousseline and liquorice

Seafood: Steamed Alaskan Halibut with sea beans, sesame, and clams

Appetizer: Kobe beef tenderloin cured as gravlox with peas, chocolate mint and toasted cocoa bean

Intermezzo (not pictured): Sparkling Merlot verjus

Entree: Cardamom dusted squab with beets, berries and green garlic

Cheese: Whipped Mt. Townsend camambert with rhubarb and roses

Dessert: Coconut and raspberry mousse with gold leaf and lemon grass cream.


Doesn't that sound fabulous? We had such a wonderful time the whole weekend, and were a little sad to just get to stay one night. It was so special that Dave and I decided that we are definitely going to have to go back for our 10th Anniversary. (We'll just have to start saving now!)