Glass Etching On Coasters

I got this great idea from a blog post I saw, and couldn't resist making my own. I wish I could give the nice lady the credit so, if you are out there... THANK YOU! Here is what I did:

* I went to Lowe's and purchased the glass tiles from the bathroom/kitchen tile section. I also bought the cork backing from Lowe's in the kitchen drawer lining section. I know.. there really isn't a "section", but it the aisle where that stuff is sold.
* Next, I selected a design from my Cricut cartridges and chose this tea set theme from my Heirloom cartridge. I LOVE this cartridge for so many reasons. I bought it for doing my family tree scrapbooking and have used it for everything I can think of.
* I bought the glass etching cream at Hobby Lobby, and the foam brushes I picked up on sale at Michael's when they were only 5 cents!

* After choosing my picture, I cut it on my cricut onto vinyl at 3"
* I then pulled the image off and flattened it out onto the glass tile.
* I covered the area around the picture partway and the details with the glass etching cream and I simply followed the directions on the bottle. I waited 5 minutes and rinsed it off with tap water.
* After all my tiles were done and dried, I cut out the cork backing the size I needed to completely cover the back of the tiles.

These make nice coasters, but also they would be cute as a hot pad I think. Just be careful to not scratch your glass. I am going to make some of these as Christmas gifts, and I REALLY like the cork backing versus cork circle feet or the velvet feet circles.
For those really suave home decorators though, imagine selecting glass tiles at intervals in your home and adding your own personal touch with the glass etching cream to make it truly unique. I chose a picture, but really the sky is the limit with monograms, phrases, or motifs.

Happy Crafting!

Homemade Baby Wipes!

Ok, this has nothing to do with CTMH, but it is really cool and I thought I would share. I have to credit my sister Jennie Murphy with this idea, and I don't know who she got it from, but this is what you need:

Materials:
(2) Glad or Rubbermaid Containers (big enough to hold a toilet paper roll)
(1) Container of Coconut Oil (I got some organic from Wal-Mart)
(1) Roll of Bounty Paper Towels (Get the kind where you can select your own size towel)
(4) Cups of water.
(1) Really good cutting knife

This is what you do:

Cut the paper towel roll in half.

Put 1/2 of the roll in 1 container, and the other 1/2 in the other container

Mix together 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of coconut oil

*You can also add a few drops of essential oil at this point (think lavender or something soothing!)

Pour mixture into container with paper towel, add lid, and turn upside down.

Do it again for the next container.

After about 5 minutes you should be able to pull the center of the roll out of the paper towels and just make sure you know where the start of the roll is. Voila! You are done!

The coconut oil lasts forever and can be used for all kinds of things from cooking, skin treatments, or more baby wipes! Your cost per tub after your initial set will be about 75 cents. Much better than the $2.99 for 80 wipes and you are making over 200!

I found a website with other recipes and other types you can take a look at called Full Circle Baby

I hope you enjoy! Within the next week, check back for redone clipboards, and some cute recipe books I am making with the new CTMH catalog papers!

Have a great week!

It's In the Box

Hello to all who stumble upon this post today! It is labor day and I am spending the day at home with my kids who are all out of school as am I. This morning I woke up knowing I needed to work on my own homework and work on my lesson plans for this week, but I couldn't fight my creative bug this morning and had to make a little treat.

I got this idea from Split Coast Stampers. If you've never visited, I promise there is so much inspiration for cards, scrapbooks, and paper crafts, you won't be sorry! It is free to become a member and you can browse galleries for projects as well as the forums. I modified my box just a bit to suit my needs, but the tutorial and measurements can be found HERE.

Here is a list of my supplies:

Retired Close To My Heart coordinating papers
CTMH's Liquid Glass
CTMH's Borders
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge
Scissors
Retired CTMH decorative grosgrain ribbon
Dbl sided tacky tape (red rolls)
Pair A Phrase Stamp Set
CTMH Heavenly Ink
CTMH Cocoa Ink


I followed the tutorial for cutting my paper and scoring my paper, but instead of doing the embellished cut around the box top, I used the Kraft borders. Then I used ribbon to help the transition of papers.

On the top of my box, I used my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out these tags. I made the top layer a 2" tag and the bottom layer a 2 1/4" tag. Then I used the pair a phrase stamp set to stamp an image in heavenly blue in the back ground and I used cocoa to stamp the words in the foreground.

Right now I'm working on making flowers to add to the top, but you can do so much with this little box.

Now as you've seen from the tutorial this box can be used for 3x3 cards. But how about a little treat box? Or you could put words of encouragement on slips of paper in the box. There is so much you can do, and the best part is it was made by you, so that makes it more special for the one receiving it. I hope you've enjoyed!

Until next time, happy Craftastic Scrapping!

It's the end of August!

And I really haven't accomplished much at all! It has been a crazy time.

1) I'm working on my Master's degree.

2) I left my secure full-time job to teach! (I'll be a long-term substitute this year and praying for a position for next year)

3) I went to Scentsy convention! (Yes... I sell Scentsy... and I LOVE IT)

But! Never Fear! I'm working on a project! I have a daughter who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and developmental delays. The real challenge has been discipline. She is sometimes all over the place. And this is what happened:

1) Listened to a friend talk about how her granddaughter has a treasure box. This box holds all kinds of cool stuff that if the little girl is good she gets to choose from. Just 1 item per day. But she has to earn her item through good behavior.

2) I told a story to my sister about how my mother asked my daughter if she'd rather have a spanking or miss dessert. My daughter chose the spanking. So my mother made her skip dessert LOL. My sister says to me... hmm... she's reward driven.... I said hmmm... you are right.

3) So I was on the hunt for materials to make her a treasure box of her very own! When I'm done, I'll get it posted.

But let me tell you my ideas for what to give her. I found a great place that sells hairbows for $1. I know... I make them right so why would I pay for them! (Time is the answer here). And we have a $1 costume jewelry store in town, plus some added little this' and that's from the $1 store in town. I'm not even done with the box yet, but she sure has been good in anticipation!

I'll post again with pictures, and ideas soon!

Client Gifts

If you've read any of my posts before, you know that I'm in sales for my full-time job. Part of what I do is giving the clients little tokens of appreciation, and I'm stretching my imagination because I want what I had out to be a bit more personal.

Today I made some Starbucks coffee gifts. It was really easy. I found some great coffee cups at a $1 store, some brown crinkle filler, some clear party bags, and I have tons of ribbon laying all over the place. I headed over to Starbucks and bought their Coffee Via and this is what I did:

Step 1: Cut out a 2 1/2" X 3" card (I used a creme cardstock)
Step 2: Get a corner rounder and round the corners out
Step 3: I stamped on them, a little pot with steam and Thank You
Step 4: I aged the paper by using a sponge to distress the edges all the way around
Step 5: Sink this down into the cup so the words face out
Step 6: Put in the Starbucks Coffee Via
Step 7: Put in the Brown Crinkle filler
Step 8: Put in the clear party bag
Step 9: Tie close with ribbon.

There ya go! Inexpensive ways to show your appreciation! Here are my finished cups.

New Catalog... A great Deal! A Great Sunday!

Close To My Heart has finally unveiled their fall/winter catalog to their consultants and man is it AWESOME! Customers can view the catalog beginning Aug 1 on my CTMH website. But... I'll give you a little sneak preview what is new:

1 - EXCLUSIVE Cricut Cartridge! This cartridge has over 700 cuts and comes with 3 stamp sets and 3 chipboard sets! Best of all the catalog is layed out showing you what stamping sets the cricut cartridge has cuts for! ONLY $99. And there is buzz that for the August launch there will be a purchasing incentive to make it 1/2 off! I'll let you know when I know more!

2 - Stamp price DECREASE! Yep... some of the stamps and stamp of the month stamps have new pricing.

3 - GORGEOUS new papers. I don't want to spoil it but for all those zebra print fans, lets just say there is a set that has you in mind!

4 - AWESOME holiday sets! Papers for fall, Halloween, and Christmas! And of course... gorgeous stamps for all the holidays.

I can't wait for you to be able to see all the wonderful things CTMH has done for this upcoming season!

Now for my steals and deals! Today I went into Michael's to get some Cricut mats for my cricut. I always wander back in to the clearance section to see what I can find... And I found a GREAT deal.


Yep. Retails for around $69.95.... and I paid $29.99! I'm so excited for the upcoming workshops!!

And... I think I've fallen in love with a new cutting system. Not that I don't LOVE my cricut... but... check out the Pazzles. Crazy name AMAZING things you can do.
Visit the Pazzles Website and check it out!

Just a quick overview:

1 - No cartridges
2 - This machine can cut, WRITE, distress, emboss, etch, and well... the list goes on and on. This is a definite must LOOK at!

Plus... they even have a commercial version for those that are in business.... just saying...


If you google "Pazzle $99" you can find the link to pay only $99 for this machine instead of $599 by getting a two year subscription to the Pazzles craft room. They also have a $199 option with a 1 year subscription which if you can afford the extra bucks up front makes this machine cheaper!

Happy shopping :) If you get one let me know what you think. I'm trying to hold out and not do it, but I don't think I'll hold out for long!

Booking Board

I got this idea on the Journey to Director board on the CTMH forums, so I can't take any credit. But I loved it so much I had to make my own! This is called a booking board:



All you do is set these up at your parties and encourage your attendees to book a party. They use a dry erase marker to book a date. You can either pre-select open dates they can sign up next too, or they can choose their own, your choice.

What I really liked about this project is that it is manageable for so many businesses. You don't have to be a crafting Queen to have one of these for display. It would work great for any Direct Sales consultants. Imagine it at your Scentsy, Mary Kay, or WHATEVER table.

My materials:

12 X 12 scrapbooking frame (purchased @ Michael's)

You & Me scrapbooking set from CTMH

I used cocoa Ink, and the small and large chocolate alphabet sets.

I love these papers and all I did was a little inking to make some of the paper looked distressed and there you go!

I'm thinking of offering pre-made one's for sale on my website store. But this pretty girl is mine!

Happy Weekend!