Artbooking Made Easy: Fall into Artbooking (S01E07)

Beautiful Weather & Cards

It has been such a lovely 4 days off from work.

Day one: Sleep…. nothing but sleep!

Day two: The weather has been just right to have all of the windows open to let the fresh air in.  I have been listening to a book on audio and making cards till my heart was content. 

Day three:  Was not so fun.  I woke up with my seasonal allergies letting me know that a day with the windows open was a bad idea.    No worries a little allergy medicine and a box of tissues and I was back to card making.

Day 4:  Went to lunch to see my kiddo at her first job.  She has been begging for us to go up to the restaurant but I needed to give her some time to get the hang of things before her parents came in.   She loved having us there and her trainer told us she is doing a great job.   Then it was back home for some more crafting time.  

I think I have to be finished with the card making because I do not have anymore room in my box to carry them.  I have made 200 cards just for the craft fair this year and that does not count the cards that are already in the card racks. 

Pinterest has been a HUGE inspiration for me this year.  When I am making cards I normally make them in batches.  I figure if I am going to make the cuts for one card let’s do enough for 10 cards.

Then I set everything up assembly style.  When I am making cards I love to listen to books so I like to do one job (like inking) all at once so if I get lost in the book it is ok.  

Here are the cards that I have finished during the last 3 days.

 

This card come right from the CTMH Consultant side.  The original is a 3x3 card that we use at gatherings.  Just something small to showcase our products.  I wanted to upsize it! 

This card was found on Pinterest.  The original artist is Kim Richardson and the card is a baby card.  I loved the “bones” of the design so a change of papers and sentiment and you have a card that will work for Anniversary's, Wedding, Couples… The pattern paper is a retired sheet of “Bliss”.

Pinterest again:  The Original artist is Lynn ( http://themangoboysandme.blogspot.com)

Her birthday card is a more lively fun card but this card is a challenge for me.  I needed to work on my “flag skills” and I needed a more elegant birthday card in the card racks.    I am thinking of doing this card again using the “Dotty for You” papers for some personal birthday cards.

All of the cards that I having been making will be on sale

Fall Bazaar

Saturday October  26, 2013

First United Methodist Church

601 Greenville Ave

Allen, Texas 75002

9am – 4pm

Bring money!  You will get all of your Christmas shopping done at this one location.  This is a great craft fair!  This church is huge and it is filled with so many talented people.  Come check us out!

Designed Décor Frame Kit

Clearly the Best: A Burst of Creativity (S02E01)

Artbooking Made Easy (6): Designed Décor Flip Stand Album

Make Me Stop!

I think I have a problem… Pinterest, Old Catalogs, old Christmas Card Ideas, So many talented consultants… They all are making me a card making fool!

Fall Bazaar

Saturday October  26, 2013

First United Methodist Church

601 Greenville Ave

Allen, Texas 75002

9am – 4pm

It is getting closer and I am pretty sure I am ready but I have to stop making cards or my hands are going to fall off.

Here is what I have so far to take with me.

Two Card Spinners that are almost full

 

One very full CTMH Large Organizer

And some more cards that I made this week.  The Christmas cards are from the Frosted Workshop on the Go and the Halloween cards are from Pinterest.  I would love the give credit to the artist but the link just went back to Spit coast  Stampers and there was no artist name there.  If this is your original artwork – then you lit a fire under my butt with inspiration with just one card.  Thank you.

And one last card – this artist is unknown also but I fell in  love with the clean and simple artistry and had to re-create it. 

I used the Allen High School colors for the gem stones in the flowers. So simple that I never would have thought of it on my own.  

All cards will be on sale at the craft fair and all cards are:

In addition to cards I will have free Catalogs to pass out and a stamping station to try our stamps before you buy them.

Come out the see me I will be in the Gym.

Do Not Laugh

Promise? 

I finished Kaela’s 8th Grade School Album.

Yes, Yes I know she is in the 11th grade (she tells me everyday)

In all seriousness I am feeling so happy that I finished the album – it has taken forever.  But in my defense I took time off from layouts to make cards to get ready for:

Fall Bazaar

Saturday October  26, 2013

First United Methodist Church

601 Greenville Ave

Allen, Texas 75002

9am – 4pm

I love using one of Kaela’s School Albums at the this craft fair because it is local and everyone knows everyone.

The kids love seeing their photos in my scrapbooks.  

I was really worried that I would not get a new one done this year.

(now it is time to start the 9th grade album )

Speaking of Crops

We had such a full crop last month and and you may have heard  I do plan on making CTMH my full time career starting January 2014  so I decided I needed to upgrade the trash situation in the Crop Area.

Since the beginning of time (or at least my crop nights) I have used little metal buckets on the tables for collecting trash.  Once a bucket was full I would reach over and dump it into a tall trash can under my are of the table. When we have a full crop I found out that every inch of space is vital!

Here is what I did.

 

All 6 seats at the crop tables now have a personal drink holder / trash can.  Tiffani made each of the little towels hanging from the trash can because sometimes we all just need to wipe our hands.

I have been wanting to do this for a long time but at $20.00 each x’s 6 seats I had some convincing to do… then I noticed a sale on Amazon.com! (SCORE!)

You would not believe the space that is saved on each table.  I was amazed.

So who is ready for the next Crop Night on October 19th, 2013?

Last Month’s Crop

I have been working nobody’s business lately and just sat down to upload the pictures that my daughter took of the September Crop Night. 

It was a packed house!

I was sitting the middle working on my Christmas Cards.  Amy was working on layouts, Tiffani was sewing up hand towels that need for the crop area, Carmen 1 and Carmen 2 (mother & daughter) were working at a cheetah’s pace getting layouts and cards together.  Kaela took a break of her animation (the computer) to take these photos for me.  There was some fancy artwork and craftwork going on at this table.

Oh, in this one Tiffani (https://www.facebook.com/TiffaniinPieces) was sewing up some pillowcase dresses for a customer.  Then she started on my hand towels.  I can not wait for her to make my camera strap cover!

Amy was cranking out the layouts!

Opps! Looks like Carmen has a little friend in her lap.  Tink loves when she comes over.

What did I get done?

I was working on getting my Christmas Cards done early this year.  I was able to finish set number 2 while spending time with great friends.

I love using these paper trays to keep organized during crop.  I use a tiny card table in the middle of the long tables so that I can be next to everyone.  The down side is that I have very little room.  So I set up 2 paper trays to hold my paper gear and place those on a barstool behind me and then 2 more paper trays to hold my stamps and adhesives to keep them away from the work area. For this set of cards I was able to have  each stamp image on a block so that I was not constantly changing out blocks and images for each card.  The Workshop on the Go makes it so easy to stay organized. You use every stamp on the carrier sheet!

I finished all of my Christmas cards tonight and they are just about ready for the mail.  I normally mail all of my cards on December 1.

  I am feeling very prepared this year!

CTMH Anniversary

I received an email this morning from CTMH and it said that I have been with CTMH for 8 years.

WHAT?

8 years?

Where has the time gone?

What has changed in the last 8 years?

Well for one when I started with CTMH I was still using FILM….  

My husband Mike is the person that talked me into being a CTMH Consultant.

Today he is the one that still encourages me to reach for the stars.

I thought there was no way I was “as good” as the other consultants.  To me my artwork was not up the par.

There was no CRICUT!

CTMH makes it so easy.  They make it easy to be the best artist you can be whether you are a consultant or a customer.  CTMH also changed the way I take photos.  Admit it – you take certain photos because you can see the layout you are going to make in your head.  Before scrapbooking I just took a photo to take a photo.

Now I can see what I am going to do even before I lift the camera.

Friendships:  Oh the friends I have made!  While I am still not the best at in person home gatherings, I love working craft fairs and meeting people that way.  I also have the month crops in my home.  There are friends that I have that I would have never met if it was not for CTMH.   Not to mention the random conversations in stores when someone asks if I am a scrapbooker.    I love those!   (note to self:  get more scrapbooking t-shirts)

As my retirement date with the hospital gets closer Mike and I are kicking around ideas to really get the business side of CTMH jump started.  I love creating and would love the be able to create “full – time”.  We have a couple of ideas I am just waiting for my geek to get some free time to help implement the changes.

Here is to many more years with CTMH!

(raising my cricut spatula in the air)

Project Inspirations: Background Stamps

Artbooking Made Easy (1): Getting Started with Cricut Artbooking

Artboooking Made Easy (2) : A+ School Layouts

Artbooking Made Easy (3) : Summer Mini-Albums

Eight Great How-to Helps

Artbooking Made Easy (4): Spooky Halloween Layouts

Tools of the Trade

Artbooking Made Easy (5): Halloween Mini Albums