September SOTM Blog Hop!!

WELCOME to our September Stamp of the Month blog hop featuring this month's new SOTM - "Limited Edition" S1109!
If you've just joined me from Gina's blog,
then you are on the right path!

First, I'm sharing a 4.5" square card that features the Typeset papers X7139B and the lace zip strip from Typeset. I used the the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut four different parts of this card (Butterfly1 and Butterfly 1 layer are cut at 1.5", Rectangle 1 cut at 2", and Rectangle 2 cut at 2.5"). Colors are Cocoa, Colonial White, Creme Brulee, and Juniper. This little card also fits perfectly in the "Petal Box" (below)!

This "Petal Box" is cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (Bamboo cardstock cut at 11"). This box also features the Typeset papers X7139B and is the perfect size to also fit the five 4.5" square cards that are the "bonus project" for the Typeset WOTG that is shown on page 19 of the Idea Book! Remember, you can
click on any of my photos to see them up close!!

Here is another view of the "Petal Box" (above) so you can see that to get to the box to open it, you simply slide the "belly band" off the top/bottom of the box. The measurements for the "belly band" are one strip of b&t cut to 2"x12" and another cut to 1"x12", then layer and adhere the 1" strip of top of the other, and wrap around the box. Use your bone folder tool to crease the belly band where it will need to bend to wrap around the edges of the box. The ends of the belly band should overlap each other by about a half inch and this is where you adhere it together. Allow the seam where you adhered it together to show on the front of the box so you can cover the seam when you add the stamped tag to the front of it.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my artwork! Now you can continue on with the rest of this blog hop and see more creative ways to use this "Limited Edition" stamp set by visiting Wanda's blog next! Enjoy!!

$5 Creative Class projects for 9/2!!

Here's a sneak peek at what we're making at my $5 Creative Class coming up this FRIDAY evening September 2nd (starting at 6pm and/or 7pm) in my stamp room here in Barstow! It's only $5 per person to attend and learn how to create one of each of these 3 fun projects with me! I have just 10 spots open for this class and I do expect it to fill quickly now that I have shared what we're creating, so please RSVP ASAP (by phone, e-mail, text, or Facebook message)! You will need to bring your own adhesive (or IF this is your first time attending I will provide adhesive for you). You can also bring a Cocoa ink pad if you have one, since we are doing a lot of sponge daubing with Cocoa ink this time!
Click on my photos if you'd like to see them larger!

Standard size card featuring the September Stamp of the Month - Limited Edition S1109, Elemental papers X7141B, and the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (Butterfly1 cut at 1.5", Rectangle 1 cut at 2", and Rectangle 2 cut at 2.5"). Colors are inspired by the Heart 2 Heart Blog color challenge this week and include
Cocoa, Colonial White, Pear, and Sorbet.

Next, (and by special request!) is a standard size CLEAR card Z1323 featuring the Dreamin' papers X7142B, Harvest Happiness C1463 stamp set, and even more of the
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge!

Here is the inside view of the clear card (above)...

...and here is the back-side view of the clear card (above).

Finally, here is a "Petal Box" (above) cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (Bamboo cardstock cut at 11"). This box features the Typeset papers X7139B and is the perfect size to fit the five 4.5" square cards that are the "bonus project" for the Typeset WOTG that is shown on page 19 of the Idea Book! This project also features the
September Stamp of the Month - Limited Edition S1109.

Here is another view of the "Petal Box" (above) so you can see that to get to the box to open it, you simply slide the "belly band" off the top/bottom of the box. The measurements for the "belly band" are one strip of b&t cut to 2"x12" and another cut to 1"x12", then layer and adhere the 1" strip of top of the other, and wrap around the box. Use your bone folder tool to crease the belly band where it will need to bend to wrap around the edges of the box. The ends of the belly band should overlap each other by about a half inch and this is where you adhere it together. Allow the seam where you adhered it together to show on the front of the box so you can cover the seam when you add the stamped tag to the front of it. If you want to learn how to create these fun hand-stamped and paper-crafted items with me, then please join us for our $5 Creative Class on 9/2 if you can!! (a make-up class will also be held on Saturday evening 9/10)!

More Pair-a-Phrase artwork and a reminder (two days left to get 4 stamp sets for $5)!!

There are just TWO DAYS LEFT to take advantage of both the "Extra Extra" August campaign and the National Stamping Month "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set special at the same time! With your order of $75 ($5 of which can be for the "Wicked" stamp of the month set and the "extra" A Typeface stamp set that comes with it for free during August), you can also get the double stamp set "Pair-a-Phrase" for FREE also! (That's 4 stamp sets for just $5 during the month of August only)!! If you act quickly, this is the perfect time to order your Art Philosophy Cricut Collection Z1686 (which is a "have to have" item anyway) and end up with four extra stamp sets for just $5 more!! Feel free to contact me now to place your order or simply order online from my website: www.StampwithJen.ctmh.com.

I am also happy to share some more artwork with you that uses the "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set that will continue to be available for FREE with a $75 order during the month of September! These are the creations that some of my CTMH consultant team members and friends made this month for our monthly "virtual team swap"! Each item uses the "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set in a different way. Enjoy!!

Didn't my team do an amazing job?!! Such beautiful creativity!
Great job, Friends Forever Stampers team!!

A "Teacher Appreciation" Card with the Typeset papers!

The Heart 2 Heart Blog challenge this week was to create something to celebrate this time of year when kids of all ages are going back to school! (Remember you can click on my photo to see all the details much larger)! I decided to use our NEW Typeset papers X7139B to create this simple standard size "teacher appreciation" card. The stamps I used included D1361 Thank You for the "thanks" sentiment, B1380 Mayberry (WOTG stamp set) for the apple and leaves, and an "oldie but goodie" wooden stamp I123 Best Teacher for the large sentiment. I haven't kept very many of my old wood stamps from my early days of stampin' with CTMH, but I just couldn't part with this one because it is a stamp I find myself drawn to and have kept on using it again and again! My husband is a teacher, many of my best friends are teachers, and teachers are just...well...Close to my Heart!! (pun intended!)

As my kids have just finished up their first week of school, my plan is to do a much better job this year of making sure that all of our teachers know how much we appreciate them for the very important and sometimes difficult work they do!!

THANKS to all who came to see me at the Harvey House on 8/20!

First, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who came by and visited my booth at the Harvey House Market Day (vendor/craft fair) last Saturday 8/20! It was also the 100 year birthday celebration of the historic Harvey House, so I hope you enjoyed some of the other festivities and opportunities that were available there for you to enjoy that day also! You all kept me so busy all day that I really didn't get a chance to leave my booth to see much of anything else that was offered there that day (but you won't hear me complaining about that, lol). I am grateful to have had so much interest in my CTMH and Scentsy businesses that day and enjoyed talking with each and every person that stopped by! For those of you who had to miss it, I just thought you might like to see a few photos of what I was offering that day (and what I still have to continue to offer you right now with both Scentsy and CTMH!)

Here you can see some of my CTMH artwork (above) showing you a few different ways you can be creative with CTMH products. The Sonoma Workshop-on-the-Go kit is shown on the left and artwork created with this kit is shown on my display boards. On the right side of the table you can see our NEW Art Philosophy Cricut Collection (my newest addiction in crafting)!!

Left to Right (above) - the stack of NEW Autumn/Winter CTMH Idea Books that I had to give out, free scent-of-the-month samples, NEW Scentsy catalogs, and testers of the NEW scents for Autumn/Winter!

This display board (above) shows the NEW Event Calendar Workshop I'm offering on September 24th, October 8th, and October 22nd (you choose the date or multiple dates that work best for you to come complete it with me in my stamp room)! I will share more details about this workshop opportunity here on my blog very soon! This table also includes the current Stamp-of-the-Month set and August special ("A Typeface" stamp set), as well as September's National Stamping Month special (The "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set), along with a few of my baskets of products for sale.

These are my three youngest kids (Wendy, Isabelle, and Juan Steven) with their Grandma Jackie. My wonderful mother-in-law (and father-in-law, Juan) watched our kids all day so I could work my booth while my husband Jose was out of town for my son's youth football scrimmage game that same morning. They stopped by the event to say "hello" and enjoy some of the festivities there that day as well (you can tell by the "stuffed snakes" around their necks that my kids had won a few carnival games, lol)!

Here is a view (above) of some of my Scentsy bars and other inventory for sale!

(Everything is still 10% off during August only, so it's not too late to call me this week if you want to stock up on anything now!) I still have lots of inventory I can sell to you in person if you live in the Barstow area (and yes, I do deliver if you already know what you want!) or you can also order online from my website anytime www.JenRubio.scentsy.us.

Here is another view (above) of the Scentsy warmers I had for sale! The warmer in the middle is called "Maize" and it is the warmer-of-the-month for September. I was warming the September scent-of-the-month "Pumpkin Marshmallow" in it all day, so my booth smelled nice and yummy (and aren't our Scentsy Buddies hangin' around super cute too)?!!

Finally, this is my sweet friend Carolyn and the hand-made jewelry she made to sell alongside me that day. THANK YOU Carolyn for all of your help!! (Carolyn woke up early and worked tirelessly to help me unload, set-up, re-pack, and re-load everything that day and I am so grateful for her - I owe you big time Carolyn!!)

Sonoma Scrapbooking Workshop on Saturday 8/27 (RSVP's needed by 8/20)!

There's still time to sign up for my Sonoma Scrapbooking Workshop coming up on Saturday 8/27 (4pm to 10pm)! Please contact me no later than this Saturday 8/20 to reserve your spot! (all supplies need to be pre-ordered a week before, which means last-minute reservations won't be available for this one unless you plan to just come and create with any supplies you already have during the free crop time I am also offering that evening). The most basic kit option requires the purchase of just the Sonoma Level 2 paper pack X7143B for $9.95 plus the Mini-Medley Accents Pewter Collection Z1487 for $4.95 (plus tax and s/h) to create the four 12x12 scrapbook pages like mine shown below (which means you will get 4 beautiful pages completed with me, including the use of my stamps, inks, and tools as well as my expert guidance for approximately just $5 per page!):

12x12 layout 1 - left side
(Remember, you can click on any of my photos to see them larger,
then use the back arrow on your web-browser to come back to this page!)

12x12 layout 1 - right side

2-page layout 1 - full view

(The same layout shown on page 43 of the Idea Book requires 3-3x4 photos,

BUT I changed mine up so I could use 4-3.5"x4.5" photos).

12x12 layout 2 - left side

12x12 layout 2 - right side

2-page layout 2 - full view

(The same layout shown on page 43 of the Idea Book requires 1-5x7 photo and 3-5x3 photos, BUT I changed mine up and included the 1-5x7 photo plus a variety of other sized photos).

To see the larger variety of Sonoma workshop kit options I am offering (including the 5-6x6 bonus cards you can make too) please CLICK HERE to see my previous blog posting about this workshop. I'm really looking forward to our Sonoma workshop and free crop time with you all on 8/27!!

Pair-a-Phrase Blog Hop!!

Welcome to a very special mid-month blog hop featuring the "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set! If you've just arrived here from Katy's blog,
then you are on the right path!

The standard size card I created (above) features the "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set with our NEW Sonoma papers X7143B. I stamped all of the images with Black ink and then colored them in with our Exclusive Inks markers (Bamboo, Creme Brulee, Desert Sand, and Olive). All other shading was done with Cocoa ink and a sponge dauber. Parts of the owl are "paper pieced" together using scraps of the Sonoma B&T duos patterned paper. Below you can see a closer view of the paper flower that I created using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut it from Creme Brulee cardstock using the "Shift+Font+FlurDeLs" keys at 3 inches.

Now here are all the details about this special stamp set you can get for yourself FREE starting on 8/15! To celebrate National Stamping Month in September, we are offering our first-ever double stamp set! You can get this exclusive My Acrylix^® Pair-a-Phrase double stamp set FREE when you place an order of $75 or more from August 15 through September 30, 2011. You'll love this double set—two D-size sets in one envelope—which includes lots of clever phrases and coordinating images you'll use in your handmade cards all year long. The double set has a retail value of $35.90, which drastically increases the value of your qualifying purchase! You can place your order with me (in person or by phone/e-mail) to qualify for this FREE stamp set now OR just simply place your qualifying order online from my website www.StampwithJen.myctmh.com. Then have double the fun stamping during National Stamping Month with our new Pair-a-Phrase double stamp set (see all of the stamp set images that are included in this set below)!

I hope you've been inspired by my artwork today! Now you can continue on with the rest of the blog hop to see more creativity with this stamp set by visiting
Shirley's blog next! Enjoy!

A "Sweet" Card for the Heart 2 Heart "Hot" challenge!

On a "hot, hot, hot" summer day there's nothing more refreshing than an ice-cold beverage! Here in the high desert of California, we've had temperatures up to 110 degrees this past week, so "hot" weather is definitely something I know a little something about. On the hottest days, I like to stay cool inside my air-conditioned craft room and get creative while drinking my favorite drink, an ice-cold cherry coke!

So here is my card submission for the Heart to Heart challenge blog this week! We were challenged to create something associated with the word "hot". This little card measures 4.25" tall by 2.75" wide and I used a lot of retired products I had sitting around to use up. Stamp sets I used include You're Sweet B1351 (still available) and the Bowl of Cherries B1348 stamp set that came with the Cherry-O Workshop-on-the-Go kit that was available a while back (summer of 2010). The soda that fills the glass is "Cocoa" B&T paper from the now retired Veranda pack, and the straw was cut from paper from the Zippidee pack (also now retired). The opaque-looking paper that makes up the "glass" is Vellum stamped with White Daisy ink. I hope you enjoy this simple-to-make card and have a "cool" rest of the summer!

$5 Creative Class projects for 8/6!

6x6 kraft die-cut card from the Sonoma WOTG kit G1028 (shown on page 43).

Standard size card inspired by page 17 of the Idea Book

featuring the Blue Ribbon C1464 stamp set with the Typeset papers X7139B.

Pillow Box cut out with Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge Z1686 (at 5.5")

featuring the Wicked SOTM S1108 with the Mischief papers X7144B.

(back side view shown below)

 

THANK YOU to the ladies who attended tonight's creative class: Abby, Carolyn, Denise, Dorothy, Rosann, and Sandra! I had a great time visiting and creating with you all and hope you enjoyed yourselves too! (THANKS for bringing your lemon cookies Denise...they were "delish")!!

For those of you who missed this class, I hope you enjoy seeing what we created (shown above)...3 different projects for just $5. I do have some left-over project kits that will be available for purchase and use during my upcoming SNS (Saturday Night Scrappers) FREE Crops/Playdates on 8/13 and 8/27 (4pm to 10pm)...so there is still time to "make-up" these projects with me during the month of August (while supplies last...first come, first serve)! Please feel free to contact me to RSVP to reserve your space for either of these dates now. Click here for details about the "Sonoma" Workshop that I am also offering on these dates. If you are interested in the "Sonoma" Workshop I need to know ASAP so I can get enough kits pre-ordered to be sure that they arrive in time!

Consultant Team Swap Cards!! (from July 23rd meeting)

So I've just starting hosting a brand-new monthly swap for members of my consultant team! Our first "virtual" swap card was due to me in July, and I am happy that I am finally ready to post and share all of these beautiful creations! My card for this swap (above) is a standard size card (5.5" x 4.25"). The stamp sets I used include 3 different stamp sets - Happy Clusters C1471 (p. 93), Love Life D1482 (p. 29), and A Typeface (August promotion). Cardstock colors I used are Olive, Smokey Plum, and White Daisy. Ink colors used are Bamboo, Black, Desert Sand sponging, and Smokey Plum. I cut the star out using our NEW Cricut Art Phiilosophy cartridge!!! The catalog doesn't include a red line around this image on p. 93, so I wasn't sure if it would be compatible, but discovered that the "Star" image cut at 2-3/4" size worked perfectly!! I am thinking that A LOT more of our images will work with this cartridge than are shown in the Idea Book - you just have to experiment and try different things until you find the right size to cut them!!!

I'm including the swap guidelines that I gave to my team (below) so you can read the specific challenge I gave them for creating this time. I am hopeful that next month a lot more of my team members will be able to participate along with us! Now please ENJOY all of these fun, creative cards made by some of my wonderfully-talented team members and friends (the Friends Forever Stampers Team)!

(visit PaulainPS.blogspot.com for details)

Cardstock: Sunset, cocoa, desert sand, olive; Stamps: You & Me, August SOTM Wicked, Hodgepodge Alphabet; plus: mocha opaques, and chocolate buttons threaded with raffia. (no blog to link to yet).

(visit NikkaGeers.blogspot.com for details)

(visit GracefulCardmakers.blogspot.com for details)