Anniversary Surprise!

Quick post today!  I just have to share a fabulous surprise we got yesterday! 
April 25 is our wedding anniversary, and yesterday my sweet hubby and I celebrated 13 years of married bliss.  We had family over for supper, and my 12 year old daughter planned a surprise.  She had snuck off to Grandma's house the day before, and I knew she was doing something sneaky, but I had no idea what they were up to. 

Well, were we ever surprised when she brought this out:

She made it all by herself, baked the cake and decorated it. 

It was my favorite, chocolate with buttercream frosting.

This is her first cake made from start to finish,

Grandma said she just helped with the oven and the mixer.  

I'm so proud of her!

Thank you Jenna, it tasted as good as it looked :) 

Sympathy Card for Mary

Hello bloggers. 
If you are following my blog, then you know that Mondays are usually Heart 2 Heart challenge day.  The design team and I are all heartbroken, as our wonderful host Mary lost her infant granddaughter last week.  We have decided to take the week off in support of Mary, and to honor sweet baby Liberty.  If you would like to show Mary some support, you can leave her a comment on the H2H blog HERE.  I'm sure she will appreciate it.

Instead of a challenge card, I am posting the sympathy card that I am sending to Mary:

I have a tough time making sympathy cards when I need them, and making a card for the loss of a baby is especially difficult.  I found this poem, that expresses such a pretty sentiment, and it inspired my card.

As a butterfly graces our lives with one moment's fragile beauty, so too has your baby's presence blessed you, and those that surround you with her short life, and unique spirit. May you find peace, and joy with each butterfly that passes, knowing that your baby lives on in the hearts of all she touched.

Mary, please know that we are all thinking about you and praying for your family, and even though we never met Libby, she has touched all of our hearts.

Hugs;

Lorrinda

Recipe:

Stamps: D1452 Find your Style, D1217 Free Spirit, D1476 Card Chatter

Paper: Smoky Plum, Pansy Purple, White Daisy

Z678 Silver Pearl Embossing Powder

Create a shade Pearl Paint

Z1336 Pearl gems

Martha Stewart lace edge punch

Fine wire

White satin edge ribbon

H2H Bunny Hop!

Welcome to our Heart 2 Heart Bunny Hop! 

Every other month we have a From Our Heart to Yours challenge. Well this time around, we want to share a blog hop with all of you!!  Today is our first blog hop - the H2H Bunny HOP sponsored by the DT for all of our CTMH fans!  The challenge was issued last week, make a project for Easter or Spring using CTMH products, and link it up today between 8 am and 8 pm EST at H2H.  Then, hop along to visit everyone's blogs to see what creative ideas everyone came up with.   We'd love you to hop along with us!

HIPPITY! HOPPITY!

You've hopped here!

For my project, I made an Egg Basket!

 

I'm so happy I finally got to use this adorable stamp set on an Easter project!

Isn't this sweet?

The bunnies are from CTMH stamp set D1454 Sensational Season, which was the March Stamp of the Month.

The first time I saw this set, it reminded me of the illustrations in the Beatrix Potter books, so when I colored this I tried to keep the colors soft and vintagey (I just made up a word, but you know what I mean). 

Images were stamped in Desert Sand Ink onto Colonial White cardstock. 

Coloring was done with a combo of CTMH watercolor pencils, blender pen, and markers.

The little bunny clothes are stamped onto pattern paper and cut out/paper pieced onto the stamped image.

I made the basket with Heavenly Blue cardstock, and dressed it up with X7133B Miracle pattern paper.

The handle was edged with a Martha Stewart lace border punch, and I added a Kraft border as well that had been sponged with Colonial White ink to soften it. 

I embellished with a scrap of lace, some paper flowers and a button.

The sentiment on the tag is from B1351 You're Sweet stamp set. 

Then I just filled the basket with a shredded brown paper bag and some candy coated chocolate and malt eggs. (The little suckers kept disappearing while I was trying to take a picture.  Honestly, I have no idea where they went.)

If you've been following me at all, you just know I'm going to

share the pattern for this egg shaped basket

so you can make your own! :)

Right click on the picture below, and save it to your computer.

Then you can print this out at 100% onto 8.5"x11" cardstock,

and cut it out to make a reusable tracing template. 




Thanks for HOPPING by today!

Now, hop back to the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog for the next link along the bunny hop. I hope you've been leaving some love in the comments as you hop along...
Remember this hop is open until 8pm EST, so there is still time for you link up your project!  One random participant will get a prize, so you want to play along! Remember, projects must include some CTMH products or the link will be deleted.  Also, make sure to check back throughout the day so you don't miss anyone!

Lorrinda

H2H is having a Bunny Hop!

Every other month we have a From Our Heart to Yours challenge. Well this time around, we want to share a blog hop with all of you!! On April 18, we will be sponsoring our first blog hop - the H2H Bunny HOP and we want you to play along.

Here are the details: Before Monday, April 18th, create something Easter or Spring themed. Post it to your blog. Then on Monday April 18th, add your link to our Mister Linky on the H2H blog. You can ONLY post your link between 8:00 am EST and 8:00 pm EST on that Monday!! After 8:00 pm, the link list will be closed and no other entries will be added through the week. You also MUST include CLOSE TO MY HEART products or your link will be removed. Then through out the day, you can bunny hop among the links to see what everyone has created.

We would love to see a big turn-out for this hop so spread the word! There will also be one random blog hop participant chosen to win a prize so you want to play along!!
 
Here is a badge you can place on your blog post to advertise the hop. Be sure to add the blog address as well: http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/
 
 

So hop to it and plan on participating in the Bunny Hop! See you then!

One Person's Trash....

Happy Monday! Birds are singing, sun is shining and the snow is melting (finally!)
Time for a new challenge at Heart 2 Heart! This week we have an early Earth Day challenge for you...reuse or recycle something on your project.  You can recycle something to use on a new card or layout, or raid the recycling bin to find something that can be re purposed.....save something from the landfill and give it a pretty new life!

I chose to recycle something that I know you all have....

empty ribbon spools!

I don't know about you, but I have a bag of these things in all sizes that I just can't bring myself to throw away. I knew there must be something they'd be good for, but I needed this challenge to kick me into gear and git er done! I picked out a few 2 1/2" diameter cardboard spools with nice 1" wide centers.

Here's what I transformed them into:

Pretty little Trinket Boxes!

These would be perfect for a small gift or party favor,

or just to keep trinkets in. (duh)

I made the pink one for my daughter to keep her guitar picks in.

Here are some close-ups for you:

Used CTMH X7133B Miracle Level 2 Paper kit and leftover Z1354 Miracle Irresistibles chipboard elements, bead and ribbon handle and trim from the scrap bin. Wanna know how I got that ribbon through the bead? I used a dental floss loop to pull the ribbon through the tiny bead hole. (I'm a dental hygienist, I got a million uses for floss!)

Used CTMH X7131B Sophia Level 2 Paper kit and repurposed a fabulous scrap of embroidered rose trim that I saved from a cute little sundress my DD wore when she was 4. (Yep, it's been in a ribbon scrap box for 8 years, I never throw away anything crafty)  Added a bead to anchor the CTMH crochet flower and paper flower together.

Covered this one with CTMH X7135B Wings Level 2 Paper kit,

rose made of Vineyard Berry cardstock from the scrap bin

and black ribbon remnants.

Google rolled paper roses to make these flowers,

there are a ton of video tutorials on YouTube.

Because I know you wanna know, I snapped a few pics to show you how I made these.  There are several tutorials out there in blogland, but I wasn't keen on the lid part on any of them, so I came up with a top that fits inside the trinket box to open and close easily.

First, carefully pry the top and bottom off of the ribbon spool,

I had to use a craft knife on a couple of them.

I salvaged a TP roll from the paper bin,

and found that it fit perfectly inside my ribbon spool tube:

So I sliced off 1/2" to use for my box top:

You now have all the parts needed to make the trinket boxes! 

I didn't take pictures of the decorating part, but here's what I did:

1. Cover the insides and outsides of the tubes, and both sides of the circles, with coordinating pattern papers. (I used CTMH Bonding Memories liquid glue so I would have a bit of play time before it dried to get the strips of paper lined up with the tubes.) Allow glue to dry.

2. Sand all the edges to get them nice and even and smooth, ink them too if you want to to hide the cardboard.

3. Poke a hole through the lid circle, and embellish the top with a ribbon handle knotted on each side of the hole to give it some strength. Don't want it pulling out!

4. Glue the narrow tube to the top circle, and the wide tube to the bottom circle. (I used CTMH Liquid Glass for this because it is super strong and easy to get a narrow bead on the cardboard edge.) Allow glue to dry.  Here's a pic of the insides:

5. You may want to give this a good coat of ModPodge or an acrylic spray sealer at this point to make it durable.

6. Trim with ribbon, beads, bling, and buttons...whatever floats your boat!

Surprisingly, these come together pretty quickly. I sat down to watch Survivor, and had one done before the show was over, so I kept going and made all three trinket boxes in 2 hours. I don't feel like such a big couch potato if I do something else while I watch TV:)  Recycling, crafting, photography and watching my shows all at the same time....it was a productive evening!

We want to see YOUR projects with re-used or recycled materials! Use your imagination, I'm sure you can find something in the trash that needs a new purpose. 

Need some inspiration? 

Check out what the H2H DT has to offer this week! 

These gals ROCK at turning trash to treasures!

Link your artwork up to H2H to play along.  Remember it's a CTMH challenge, so please try to use some CTMH products on it to be eligible for the Top 10 and prizes from our generous sponsors,

Michelle Zimmerman of Life's LITTLE Things and

LeAnne Dudley of Dudleychick Designs. 

**Heads up! Next week, on April 18,  Heart 2 Heart Challenges will be hosting our first ever Bunny HOP! We're looking for Easter or Spring themed projects.  Check out H2H for details if you would like to bunny hop with us!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by :)

To celebrate my birthday this Wednesday(or as I prefer to call it - my 14th anniversary of the day I turned 29 -having to do math distracts people from actually counting the candles ;), and to celebrate reaching 300 followers this past week, I'm going to give the Wings black/rose and Miracle blue/green trinket boxes to one lucky commenter. Open to all my fabulous followers, so if you've just been getting this feed in Goggle Reader click on over and sign up!  Please leave me a blog link or email (sally at gmail dot com) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Lorrinda

Spring Flower Pot Pocket Card

I may be a victim of wishful thinking, but I could sure use a little spring right now. March has been miserably cold, and I am so sick of snow...

Thankfully, the Heart 2 Heart challenge this week is APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS!  We are to focus on rain and/or flowers. 

Even though I could not seem to find any stamps with rain or showers in my stash (note to self: buy more stamps), I was happy to make this card, it really makes me think of spring:

But wait...the spring part is in the inside!

I attached a package of flower seeds to the pull out part :) 

Nothing makes me wish for spring more than a pack of flower seeds...

Here are some close-ups:

**Tutorial for this adorable Flower Pot Pocket Card is HERE

The paper marigolds were made by layering about 8 scalloped circles in graduated sizes from 1" to 3" (smallest on top), centering them with a brad punched through, then just scrunching them up, super easy! I cut the scalloped circles in various sizes using my Cricut. There are several cartridges with a scallop circle on them, I used one of the flower shapes from Forever Young because it was already in my machine. It's getting scrunched up anyway, so no need to be picky :)  To be honest, I made the flowers first, then found a pack of marigold seeds in the garden shed (behind a 3 foot snowdrift), and thought they looked like the flowers I just made. Eureka! Don't you just love it when things come together this easy.  It was meant to be.  To finish it off I made a triangle stand for the back so it will stand up too.

Now to wait for all the snow to melt so someone can plant these suckers, not sure yet who the recipient of this card will be...I think it would be a nice teacher gift, or maybe Mother's Day.

Want some more springy inspiration? Check out what the fabulous  H2H DT has got for you this week, APRIL FLOWERS BRING MAY SHOWERS ...I'm sure you'll be inspired to play along!  Remember you should use mainly CTMH products, and please give us a list of the items you used.  Link up your creation to Heart 2 Heart for a chance at some prizes and maybe get a spot as Guest Designer for an upcoming month!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Lorrinda



Recipe:

All product CTMH unless noted.

Paper: X7136B Mayberry Level 2 paper pack

Cardstock: Kraft, Colonial White

Stamps: W330 Beautiful Day (sentiment), B1380 Mayberry (leaves)

Inks: Desert Sand, Garden Green

Sorbet ribbon

Garden green brads (can't see them, in the center of the flowers)

Sorbet brad on the butterfly

Martha Stewart Butterfly punch
Provocraft Cricut and Forever Young Cartridge