Just Hatchin' Ideas

Fall Is In The Air!

2014-10-25T23:09:00.002-07:00

This sweet little guy was our project for our workshop today! Isn't he a perfect little turkey?

This delectable card is the front of the circle card made with the circle card thinlet on left and on right is the card flipped open.

I made the little battery operated tea light to go in each of these boxes as a gift for those that brought friend to our workshop today. Such a fun little gift! I loved using the Gift Box Punch Board! Very clever tool for making boxes of all sizes. I can hardly wait to make more for our Open House on November 29th! Below are the supplies I used for the boxes and candle.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deals! Good thru Monday, October 27th!!!

2014-10-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Inspire.Create.Share.-Stampin' Up! Convention 2014

2014-07-22T19:47:00.002-07:00

That's my big sister, Laura, on the right. We had an incredible time at Inspire.Create.Share.! So many things to learn, so many people to meet and, oh, the free goodies we received!! It was 3 solid days of FUN! I am so grateful that my sister and I get to be involved with the same great company! I'm just itching to play in my scrapbook room and with all my friends too! I have an upcoming event this Saturday, August 2nd. I'll post more when I have the details ironed out. If you want to check out my Stampin' Up! website, here it is: JustHatchinIdeas.stampinup.net I hope this finds you making time to create. It's good for the soul! Here's a new favorite quote from one of my favorite people:

Happy Creating!

A Little Organization...

2012-03-20T14:03:00.001-07:00

Recently, while perusing things on Pinterest, something caught my eye...an organizing website called IHeartOrganizing. Jen is an enthusiastic lady who has a flair for organizing things in the most beautiful of ways. I've been looking for ways to organize my home better and so I found some inspiration from her website. Now, mind you, it's a very small project that I'm starting with, but I still loved the results. Unfortunately (or fortunately for you), I did not take a before picture of my project---my middle scrapbook desk drawer---but once I got it emptied out, I did take a picture of the pretty scrapbook paper that I lined it with, before I started putting things back in. Here is what it looks like.

I was thinking about something that she had said about trying to use things that you have around your house so I started looking around the house for things that weren't currently in use. So I found some little ceramic loaf pans just sitting stacked in my storage closet. Truth be told, I purchased them on clearance several years ago so I could put holiday treats for my neighbors in them and then kept forgetting to use them for said treats. Go figure. So, happy for me tho' that they were perfect for the depth of my drawer!

And then I decided that I needed to make the adorable little pink labels that you see I made with my Cricut!

I got rid of a LOT of stuff that was just plain junk that had been in that drawer. Doing this project inspired me and so I've cleaned out another three drawers, including the kitchen junk drawer. I know, no pictures, but trust me, things are looking up! I think my next makeover is either the pantry or the kitchen cupboards. Wish me luck!

Melonheadz Illustrating

2012-03-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

I just found this great website called Melonheadz Illustrating and I am in love with all of her artwork. She has fabulous sets for sale as well as some freebies here and there. I've spent the better part of the day going through and looking at all of her amazing artwork. I like her sweet style and attention to detail. The best friends little illustration is one of the freebies. Have fun!

Baby Calvin

2012-03-13T10:52:00.002-07:00

Newest pic of our little Calvin, snuggled in a super soft blankie from his auntie. I wish I could just snoodle him! He looks so kissable! Looks like being in Korea agrees with him! August can't come soon enough for when we finally get to see him in person!

What a Convention!!

2012-03-11T15:27:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I had a fabulous time with my friends at the CK Scrapbook Convention in Portland, Oregon!! We drove from Tacoma first thing in the morning and then got to the parking garage (thanks to the GPS) right when the convention was opening. The drive had been a bit over 2 hours but we were all so excited to see the new goodies that awaited us on the vendor floor. At first we thought that it seemed a little bit small--not that many vendors--but oh how we were wrong!! You know how when you go to the fair and there are fun booths and not so fun booths? How you just kind of glance at some and others you really want to stop and get a closer look and ask tons of questions? Well, this place had EVERY booth where you want to ask dozens of questions and look at every little thing! We each had our things that we were wanting to look at and hoping that we'd be able to try them out. One of them was the Sew Easy tool by We R Memory Keepers. It's this clever little gadget that has interchangeable heads that you place a a foam mat underneath your paper and then roll over the paper with the Sew Easy device and it will pierce holes in your paper so then you can stitch where the holes are. The heads each do a unique pattern. I got the zig zag one, the kind of hem stitch one and the last one makes a series of holes that when you stitch, it makes big and little hearts. Super cute! I included those links to Amazon just so that you can see what they look like. I might do a tutorial on them later if I get a chance. The other big thing was the Freestyle Mouse Cutting System. It did exactly what I wanted to do and as I was standing there watching the nice demo lady I piped up that I wanted one because I liked it and it was the last one and I had to make sure I got it! Only $30!! No tax, no shipping because it was in Oregon! How sweet is that?! The Freestyle Mouse will cut with 12 different interchangeable blades free form or, using the included ruler and mat, straight too! I love that I have the choice of decorative edges with it! Bye Bye Decorative Scissors!!!! You know how you can never cut an even edge or anything like that with the scissors, with this it's easy!! As you can see in the video, I got a LOT of stuff. Originally, I made the video for my sister who lives in Massachusetts. But then I decided that it would be fun for you to see all the great deals I got on the rest of the stuff! This is my first video that I've ever put on YouTube, so please forgive my stumbling over my speech. And please let me know if there's anything that you have questions on. I can't wait to put all of my goodies away! (Question: Where will I put all of them?!!) And most of all, play with them! Hope you are having a great day! P.S. I got the most fabulous purse, as you will see at the end of the video. I have to give a shout out to Adorn It where I got my purse! It's been discontinued so I am I SO GLAD that I got it!

Portland, Here We Come!

2012-03-08T16:57:00.001-08:00

I can hardly wait to go to the CK Scrapbook Convention this weekend in Portland, Oregon! Early Saturday morning me and some of my peeps are heading down for a full day of scrapbooking fun! Made my list and checking it twice. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some of the neat make and takes there and I'll have a plethora of new ideas to share! I'm bringing my camera and will take lots of pics of our big day out! One of the things that I'm excited to try out is the ScrapMouse. It's a handheld cutter that does freeform cutting. Also has a jillion different blades to go with it. I want to try it in person before committing to getting it online. I'm already in love with it and haven't even seen it in person yet!

A Star Is Born

2012-03-03T10:04:00.002-08:00

This is our precious little grandson, Calvin Jude, born one week ago, 2/25/2012. He's such a little angel. Sadly, my son and his little family (Calvin is their 3rd son) are stationed in Korea right now so I only get to love on this little one through Skype. Gotta love technology! So we are looking forward to August when they return to the states and we can snuggle on this little guy. Best Wishes to my son, Travis, his wife, Jessica and newly big brothers, Thomas and Felix. Love you all!

Good News!

2012-02-21T16:30:00.002-08:00

Thanks to the good Lord above, I am pleased to tell you that I've been blessed with a job that not only will help the family budget, but also will provide me with LOTS of time to create, add to this blog, etc. How cool is that? I'm also finding time to do some Studio J, which is great! Everytime I use that program I love it even more. If you are wondering what it's all about, take a look at the current YouTube video that I posted today. Great idea on how to create your own patterned paper! So look forward to some new things by me too! Take Care and happy crafting!

2011-11-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

It's November, can you believe it?! I know I haven't been very attentive to my blog, but I have been creating! I'm going on a sisters scrapbook/spa weekend tonight and hope to do more creating that I can share here! Have a great weekend and happy scrappin'!

Spooky Banner

2011-09-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hello All! Just a quick post to show you what I've been up to lately. My dear friend, Laura, and I spent yesterday creating this SPOOKY banner by using the CTMH new Cricut cartridge, Art Philosophy. I cannot say enough good about this cartridge!! I have to add that this banner was inspired by Andrea Sherman. Thanks Andrea! If anyone wants directions, please leave me a comment and I'll provide them.

As I said, the new CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge for the Cricut is phenomenal! Not only does it have 700 images but multiply that by any size you can think of, up to 23.5" if you own a Cricut Expression or Imagine. The cartridge also includes a fantastic font and a font layer! It also has 3-D items like boxes, bags, envelopes, etc.

This Cricut Art Philosophy Collection is chock full of items to make incredible art, cards and scrapbook layouts! In addition to the cartridge itself, you will receive 3 D-size My Acrylix stamp sets and 3 sets of Dimensional Elements that all coordinate with the Art Philosophy cartridge. The price for this is $99 US. To get this bundle for yourself so you can start creating, hop over to my website, JustHatchinIdeas If you have any questions about this or any other Close to My Heart products, post a comment and I'd love to hear from you! Happy Crafting!

Elaine's Birthday Card

2011-06-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Gratitude

2011-05-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

So Friday was such fun with Laura, Debbie, Trina and Journey at Deb's house. Her scrap area is to die for and we laughed and created and it was SO GOOD to get together! Our friend, Elaine, no longer lives near us and is out of state, so we each created a birthday card for her! It's going to be such fun for her to open the box and find all the different cards we made just in honor of her and her birthday! Loved it! The only sad thing...I FORGOT to take a picture of it before I sent it! Whoops! I'm slipping! That night I also started my cover for my gratitude journal. Once I get the cover done I'll take a pic of that so you can see. I've been feeling like I need to show more gratitude for the good things in my life and for the lessons I'm learning from the hard things. Debbie and Laura's gratitude journals are the one that Teresa Collins designed. It's the same idea, write one thing, just one thing each day of something for which I am grateful. I will start recording these on June 1st and the whole process covers one year. It will not only include my entries, but also photos or memorabilia that I collect along the way. I am SO excited for it! Yesterday I got the skeleton of the book put together and today put the pages all together. I also plan on making some of my own embellishments with chipboard, stamping, shrinky dinks, ribbon and the like. I'm hoping to offer this as a project class in July. Guess what tool I brought out yesterday that I haven't used since I got it eons ago? My light box! Oh, that baby is so great for making sure things are lined up! What tool have you recently (re)discovered? My family laughed that I got so excited but it just made my task sooooo much easier!

Time to Create!!

2011-05-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited because tonight I get to go to my friend's house and create with a few more of our friends!! Now, this morning I wasn't feeling so excited because it's been such a very long week and I was thinking, "What? One more thing?!" Then I stopped and realized how rejuvenating it is to get together with good friends (good food too!) and just set our dial to CREATE!! Now, to get in the spirit of things today I will surf for creative ideas when I'm not doing actual work at my job here. I've been finding that if I try to get my mind there before actually getting there I tend to be able to create MORE. I think it's because I don't have to spend 2-3 hours trying to change my dial from practical/work to create/fun! On my lunch I will peruse creative blogs and write down some ideas. The one thing that I'm going to start work on is my gratitude journal!!! I know, others have already done this but for me, I'm finally getting to it. I am going to use the Lucky Level 2 Pack from CTMH. Originally I had wanted to do a frou frou kind of a book, very sweet and very girly. But I've fallen in love with this paper. Yes, I already did one layout with it, but hey, I've got more paper and all the cute chipboard pieces and lovely stamps that go with it. I'm using the little chipboard My Creations All Sorts Mini Album I think I will use 2 of them and just use bigger rings. Ideally this should be started at the beginning of the year, but I'm in the mood now! You know how it goes, when you are in the mood, you just have to follow it because who knows when it will strike again. Once I get the gratitude journal completed I promise I will post pictures and also offer it as a project class in July. Here's hoping that you get some creative time this holiday weekend too!

New Layout-Love These People! My family!

2011-05-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

This layout was made using the Lucky paper and chipboard accents. It flew together pretty easily. Oh, and I used some stamps from the You & Me kit too! The title was done with the Cricut.

Creative Space

2010-12-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

I've been having lots of fun creating with friends and look forward to our workshop group this coming Friday. But lately I've been in the purging mood! I am lucky enough to have a whole room that is my creative space aka The Scrapbook Room. But it is also my stamping room, the sewing room, the everything creative room! I am also blessed with lots of STUFF. But I'm not as organized as I'd like to be so I'm giving myself a challenge this week. Spend at least 15 minutes a day (or more!) purging and organizing! I want it to be easy to pull things out and put things away. My dear friend, Laura, is busy working on her new "studio" and that is inspiring also. I challenge my friends to spend a little time in the midst of the chaos and reclaim your creative space! It can be done. Think of all the fun you can have creating if you know where everything is and be able to have your whole desk to work on, not just a small spot of it! I will post pictures once I get the room organized. Please send me your pics or stories! I'm giving myself until January 1st to get it just the way I like it, you can do yours too! I'm throwing in a stamp set for the best story/picture of your space! Please let me know how you are doing and if you need a little bit of encouragement! January 1st (or maybe sooner) I will post my pictures of my space. Have fun!!

Puyallup Fair

2010-10-04T07:30:00.001-07:00

In August, at the urging of my scrapbooking students, I decided to submit an entry in the Puyallup Fair. It's the largest fair in the state and 8th largest in the world. I was very intimidated at the thought of it but decided, why not? So I entered the Army Strong layout and a card that I had made for my dad's 75th birthday in the cards division. And then promptly forgot about all of that. So a couple of weeks ago I get a call from my dear friend, Barb, and she asked if I was surprised? About what, I asked? She said, "You don't know?" "No, know about what?" She says to her husband, "She doesn't know!" "Know what?", I said...Then she told me that I got the biggest award, the Grand Champion in my category!! I could hardly believe it! So I called the Hobby Hall at the fairgrounds and they verified that and said that I also got an honorable mention for my card that I entered too! Not only did my layout get grand champion but it also includes $100 in prize money too! The nice ladies at the fair said that I need to use it to buy more scrapbooking supplies so that I can enter again next year. What a thrill to have such an award!

The Kindness of Friends

2010-10-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

I work for Michaels when I'm not doing my Close to my Heart business. The location I've been working in for the last 2 and 1/2 years is in Federal Way, Washington. A spot has opened up in my city, Tacoma, and Debbie ( the manager there) said she'd love to have me. (Sweet lady.) So even tho' I will miss my Federal Way co-workers, I will still see them once or twice a week since I will still teach SDU (Scrapbook Design University) at Federal Way as well as Tacoma. Two of my favorite people showed up to wish me well as I did my demo at work today. Keiko and Catherine. They are ever so sweet and brought me a present. Catherine is Keiko's 8 year old daughter. She is smart, funny and loves to craft with me and her mom. I have loved getting to know them during our craft times each month. Here are pictures of the gift that they brought to me.

Father's Day Cards

2010-06-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

I made these cards for my dad and my father-in-law for Father's Day. I want them to arrive early and since they have to go out of state I figured that today was a good day to mail them. The truck card is made with the the CTMH Beary Busy My Acrylix stamp set and the Beary Best stamp set. I used Chocolate cardstock and the Creative Basics Cherry-O collection plaid paper. I also used Sorbet Exclusive Inks stamp pad and Chocolate Exclusive Inks for coloring. I used my sewing machine to stitch around the borders of everything. I used Sorbet ink and Colonial White Exclusive Inks stamp pad to ink the edges. I used some linen thread on the fold to tie a bow. I don't know where I got that. But I'm sure that you could also use some floss if you wanted to.

The Dad card also used the Creative Basics Cherry-O collection plaid paper. My card base was made using Sweet Leaf cardstock and Crystal Blue cardstock. I used the Beary Best My Acrylix stamp set for that super cute fisherbear on the lower corner. My dad LOVES to fish so this set was a must have! I stitched borders with a deep tan color. I got the arrows and brads from the Mini-Medleys Antiqued Copper Collection. I used the paper piercer to make my hole before putting the brad through. I stamped dad with the Chocolate Alphabet Large in Sweet Leaf ink and tied each letter with a strand of Chocolate Floss. And I used the Blender Pen to color the fisherbear.

I really enjoyed doing a couple of masculine cards for a change. Now I am off to create a surprise one for my husband for Father's Day! Have fun making a Father's Day card for the men in your life! Show them you care with a handmade card or gift. They will love it!

Army Strong

2010-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

We are so very proud of our son, Travis, who is serving in the United States Army. He has finished basic training and is now in AIT, advanced training for the job he will have. I wanted to preserve these memories. I included the letters he has sent in a pocket behind the picture on the left page of the layout. The title was done with some Making Memories foam stamps in the Jersey font. There are some official U.S. Army stickers by K & Company. The dirt paper is by an unknown source, as well as the Bazzill paper, I don't know the color names...sorry, I was scrapping at a local store and used what I could find there. I did use Colonial White cardstock by Close To My Heart. The pewter brads are also CTMH. Oh, and the camo paper is also from an unknown source. I really love how this layout turned out and most importantly, I hope that my son loves it!

Seize the Day

2010-06-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I really needed something to get my creative mojo going. I went to spend the day with my friend, Debbie and we did a bit of "tandem scrapping". What that is, is that we had the same pics and same paper, etc, so we both worked on the layout together. It had been a long time since we had done that but we had these pictures and just had to preserve our memories of our fun in March when we took the opportunity to seize the day! We used the Cherry-O Workshops On The Go, which included the Tulip Mini Medleys, Chocolate Waxy Flax and a guide to give you layout ideas. We didn't use the idea but just kind of went our own direction. The background is Cocoa. I used the Chocolate Large stamp set. I LOVE that set! It is so pretty and can go with so many layouts! To finish it off I printed my journaling on a clear transparency and adhered it with spray adhesive. I felt charged up and can say that I'm finally scrapping again!!

The Big 75!

2010-06-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today is my dad's 75th birthday! And in honor of that I am posting a picture of the card that I made for him. I will try and see if I can add some detail pictures too, but for now here it is. I used the March Stamp of the Month set, called A Little Everything. And the Remember This stamp set also from Close to my Heart. The colors I used are Vineyard Berry, Indian Corn Blue and Garden Green. Oh, and also Colonial White for the top and also the color of the brads. I used some Liquid Glass to accent the month and day. I used the Martha Stewart scoring board for the Indian Corn Blue pattern. It was easy to do using the envelope piece on the board. Nice angle for the lattice effect. I used some metallic embroidery floss by DMC. Neat stuff to work with. Even with the hand stitching.