Blog Hop!

Want to see a lot of brand new artwork from Close to My Heart consultants? I'm joining in a "Blog Hop" and it's going to be so fun to see all the new artwork posted by over 40 participants. We're celebrating the release of the Close to My Heart Summer 2009 Idea book/catalog, and you're going to love all the new papers and stamps you'll be viewing on the blog hop!

It's simple, after you've had a chance to view my artwork here, you'll "hop" on over to Leslie's blog for the next stop on the hop.


I made this simple boxed set of cards using the "Creative Basics Animal Cookies" patterned papers. I love the bright colors and even though these papers might seem so bright and happy that you'd want to only use them on juvenile cards and scrapbook pages, I wanted to "step outside the box" (hee hee, it's a card box, get it?) so I altered the color scheme just a wee bit so that it has a little more complexity than the primary color scheme of bright red, yellow and blue. I toned down the blue by choosing Heavenly Blue cardstock, I punched up the yellow by using Honey cardstock, which is a deep, rich shade of yellow. The red shown here is Tulip, one of our newest colors in the Spring palette, it's such a yummy pinkish red, I love how fresh it feels.

Here are the cards up close. They're simple, quick and easy. The basic design of this card set and box can be changed easily by choosing different papers and stamps. This would make a great gift for Mother's day!


Want the instructions for the box? Check back on my blog tomorrow, I'll be posting it then.


Now, don't forget to HOP on over to Leslie's blog to view more fabulous artwork with brand new Close To My Heart products!

Lost on the Hop, or links not working? Go to Erin's blog for a list of all the participants, or to start at the beginning of the hop.

Cool New Background

Sometimes I like cute backgrounds on blogs, and sometimes I don't. I've been doing without for a while, just keeping with a simple color scheme of pink. Make the blog faster to load, and sometimes all those patterns on the sides just make my head hurt. But I'll never say never, and I just found the cutest backgrounds I've seen in a while, from Shabby Blogs. There's a link in the upper left corner, check it out! So, for a while, enjoy the flowers!

Awards and Tags

Thank you to Melissa, a CTMH sistah, for the award. I'm a little late, (okay, a LOT late) in getting it up onto my blog, but here it is. Ta-dah!

This is a special award given to those with webblogs that catch your eye.
The rules for this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. On your blog, link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours

5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated

I am passing this award along to the following amazing bloggers. Please be sure to visit the following sites:

Erica at http://ericathescrapper.blogspot.com/

Kim at http://clearlyinspired.blogspot.com/

Sarah at http://sarahspapertray.blogspot.com/

Jeanne at http://tomshack.blogspot.com/

Jen at http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com/

Erin at http://inkysmiles.blogspot.com/

Aaron at http://aaronsbooth32.blogspot.com/

I've been Tagged!

I've also been tagged by a few people, I've been going back through my comments and found two, forgive me for not keeping up on the tag games, I'm lame! So, for Debra and Sanela, here's my list of 7 random facts:

1. My favorite color (right now) is orange.

2. I hate to go barefoot.

3. My weakness is for salty more than sweets.

4. My husband calls me Tree. Short for Tresa. Not very romantic.

5. I struggle with procrastination.

6. I have to nap. Every day.

7. Exposing my personal side on a blog is not always easy, but kind words and good friends make it worthwhile.

THE Dress is finally finished!

This is it... the dress of her dreams. My daughter had her mind set on wearing a very specific style of dress to prom, a mermaid dress. After a short search online and locally, and picking myself up off the floor when I saw the pricetags, I offered to sew the dress for her. I am not a tailor, believe me, but I have had some experience with sewing clothing and I even worked for a short while as a stitcher for the Utah Opera. (You've gotta check out the link, I just ran across the photos, that's me! No laughing.)

So, back to the star of the photos, the DRESS! (Well, okay, my daughter is so darn cute, but that goes without saying). Anyone who's thinking of sewing a fitted, mermaid style dress, should have their head examined. First, the dress fabric is sheer, overlayed onto black tafetta.

Next, there were a LOT of changes that needed to be made to the dress pattern, because it originally had a ruched body (meaning it was gathered all along the front and back seams). That wouldn't work for the striped pattern on the fabric, so I actually had to cut the outer part of the dress using the lining pattern.

Strapless dresses need a lot of support from the inside, to keep them from sagging, so there are TWO linings. The inner lining supports the weight of the dress and keeps it evenly distributed, and then there's the second lining, which is worn next to the body.

Oh yeah, there's also a whole darned "corset" built into the dress, complete with boning. Yeesh, I was in over my head. But after a month of construction, it's finally done and I am pretty darned proud.

Mmmmm.... slug eggs.

I admit, these are pretty small slugs compared to the monsters that can grow in Seattle and Portland. The slugs in Spokane are pretty wimpy. But still, this is just not an appealing sight on Easter morning. This one was a two-fer. Two slugs, one egg. Wow, what a prize!

Pimped my Gun

I've held off on altering my ATG gun, until I found these rhinestone swirls by Prima. I just had to use these... what can I say?

I used auto primer spray paint before I sprayed on the pink paint. The primer really makes the topcoat stick, every crafter should have a can of it.

The rub-ons are by Close to My Heart. I was so excited to take pictures that I hadn't noticed that I'd done such a crappy job on my rub-ons, but a little smoothing with my finger made those puppies stick right on. I love these rub-ons, they go on like buttah I tell you.

I'm debating about drilling a hole in the handle so I can add a big ring to hang up my gun. Not that I actually do hang up my tape gun, but I want the ring so I can have a place to add some darling ribbon frou-frou. Please. Like you don't think I could add just a bit more glam.

Would you dance, or watch?

I dare you to watch this and not smile. Then ask yourself... would you join in?