Personalized Candles

You can personalize any plain candle you have just by doing what we all love to do.......stamping and using accessories. You will need a plain candle of any size, tissue paper, wax paper and a heat tool.

Start by cutting a piece of tissue paper the same size as the candle. Stamp whatever you like on the tissue paper. You can use different colors of ink, and you can stamp all over it if you wish. I knew I was going to add accessories, so I just stamped a bottom border:

Cut a piece of wax paper the same size as the candle. Wrap the tissue paper around the candle (you may put a glue dot on to hold it). Then wrap the wax paper on top of the tissue paper and pull until taut. Heat small portions of the wax paper at a time. You will see it disappear into the candle. Continue heating until all the wax paper has melted into the candle.

Decorate as you wish. I used some 3D accessories to add some depth to the candle. Most of the time you do not have to glue them - just lie the candle down and place desired accessory on it, then use the heat tool to melt the candle. While still hot, push the accessory into the candle. Be careful, because it does get hot!

On this candle, I used sweet leaf, smoothie and lagoon ink, Intrinsic Background stamp (D1335 - $17.95), Treasure Life stamp set (D1300 - $17.95), Color-ready Garden Wooden shapes that I colored with lagoon ink (Z1718 - $5.95) and the Sparkle Flourishes (Z1708 - $4.95). I tied ribbon around the bottom (not CTMH), but it matched.

You can easily personalize any candle to match any occasion - or any room. It's relatively inexpensive and easy, even though there are several steps involved. I made this one in about 20 minutes!

You can also use scented candles. This one is a a gift for the hostess of our Easter dinner on Sunday.
I can't beieve I'm not cooking but I do have to think of a dessert to bring!

More "Dotty For You" cards

I made this card using black and white cardstock, vellum and the "Dotty For You" creme brulee B&T. The stamp set is the calla lily from Enjoy Every Moment - (C1395 - $13.95). Here's how I did it:

On vellum, stamp your image with archival ink or Staz-on. Set with the heat tool.

Turn the vellum over and dry emboss all the parts of the image that you want to pop out. I used the medium dry embossing stylus. Make sure you lay the vellum on a soft pad - I used my mouse pad. Be careful not to poke the stylus through the vellum.

Turn the vellum over again to make sure you've embossed all the areas you want to pop out. You really don't have to color your image if you don't want to. You can't see it in the photo, but the white part is puffed out from the embossing and pops out making it look 3D.

If you wish to add color to the image, turn the vellum over again. I used chalk because I wanted just a hint of color.

I lightly glued the vellum to white cardstock, then framed it with black cardstock so it had good contrast.  Then I mounted it on the creme brulee dotted paper, and framed it again by placing black cardstock on the back of the card (that way it will open to the white card base so you can write a greeting). When using chalk, you can go outside of the lines to soften the image - comes out nice!

On the card below I used the batik technique:

On a 3x3 piece of white cardstock, I wet embossed using clear embossing powder with a swirly stamp. After setting it with the heat tool, I used a sponge and dabbed some lagoon, smoothie and creme brulee ink. I sponged it in small circular motions so the color blended. The stamp set is Love Life (D1482 - $17.95). To make the gloss disappear, I put a piece of copy paper over the image, and then ironed it. Put your iron to the warm setting and go around the copy paper a few times. The embossing powder will come off the image and go on the copy paper. I used the lagoon, smoothie and creme brulee "Dotty For You" B&T paper, then adorned it with the Sparkle Flourishes (Z1708 - $4.95), Paradise Paper Flowers (Z17100-$5.95) and placed individual sparkles in the center of the flowers (Bitty Sparkles - Z1263 - $2.95 and Clear Sparkles (Z1104 - $2.95).

Of course, you can tone down your card, but I tend to over-do when it comes to sparkles and flowers!

Sneak Peak at "Dotty For You"

When you place an order of $35 or more in products from the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book between April 17 and May 31, you may add the Dotty for You paper packet, valued at $19.95, for just $5. Dotty for You includes 24 specially designed, coordinating B&T Duos^® sheets (2 each of 12 patterns) and an artwork idea insert to get your creative juices flowing. All the cards below are made with the Dotty For You paper, unless noted.

I used the gray flannel dotted background paper with lagoon, sweet leaf and gray flannel striped paper. The stamp set is Just For You (B1398 - $9.95). The sweet leaf button is tied with lagoon baker's twine (Paradise Assortment - Z1701 - $4.95).

Card is made with the kraft paper (Z1395 - $9.50 for 24 sheets), lagoon dotted paper, and butterfly paper on top of a piece of chocolate cardstock. The word "hi" is from the Keepsake Felt Alphabet (Z1696 - $5.95). The X's are done with the chocolate embroidery thread in the neutral pack (Z1096 - $2.95.)

Creme Brulee, smoothie and lagoon dotted paper. The stamp set is "My Peeps" (B1402 - $9.95) and smoothie ribbon from the Smoothie Mini Medley (Z1697 - $4.95).

The card base is colonial white, stamped in Desert Sand ink with the dotted circle stamp in the "Love Life" stamp set (D1482 - $17.95). The rest of the paper is from the "Dotty For You" paper.

I'll be making more from this paper pack - it's really nice! And only $5!

I Love Florentine and perfect layouts!

I know, I know - this is not a good picture, but I had to share this layout with you. It was done by my friend, Jackie Griswold, using CTMH's Florentine paper pack. The theme is her daughter's birthday. The stamp set used is an older one, but still one of my favorites.

The true star of this layout is the beautifully symetric and layered paper strips at the top. It's really pleasing to the eye, and does not take away from the content or purpose of the pages. The photos are tight together, but it works because the horizontally placed pictures pop out. Right away you see the   simplicity of the layout, even though there are 10 photos! It is everything that a layout "should" be - it tells a story, it has a title, it has journaling, it has delicate and unassuming details, and it is polished. This is a great example of getting10 pictures on a page without making it look like a hot mess!

Sometimes I design my own layouts, like Jackie did here. But this one gets a Blue Ribbon! I am so jealous, I'm going to lift this one ASAP!

Back to Work - with Victory

Followers know I was sick last week. Sure takes longer to get better as you age! I am up and about, and now it's time to get back to work! No more lolligagging!

As I told my upline Shannon Smoldt, I did not like the Victory paper pack when I saw it in the catalog - nor did I plan to buy it. That is, until I saw what LaJeania Hicks and Shannon had made with it. How often do we look at a stamp set or paper pack in the catalog, and poo poo even the thought of using it until you see it in person, and see someone else's creativity in using it?? Happens to me all the time!

Here's how I placed my photos on this layout. As with any pre-made layout, you do not have to put a horizontal 4x6 photo in a horizontal 4x6 spot. I like to do overlays and adjust if need be.

The following 3 layouts were done by Shannon and LaJeania  (sorry, I don't know who did what), but they hardly look like it's from the Victory paper pack:

Keep an open mind in choosing your paper and embellishments, search all the blogs and facebook scrapbook pages you can and check in on Pinterest. Look, and you will start thinking "out of the box"! Isn't this called scrap lifting?

Shopping List:
Victory Workshop On the Go = G1035 - $29.95 (contains the Victory Paper Pack, Workshop acrylic stamp set, durable square studs, natural hemp and instructional brochure)
Victory My Stickease - X7150C - $4.95
Varsity Alphabet scrylic stamp set - E1023 - $29.95 (8 1/2 x 11)
Tough Tags - Z1692 - $5.95

"Nana Night" with Matthew

My grandson Matthew, who is almost 9 years old, still enjoys spending time with his Nana - ME! I'd gotten tickets to see the Spokane Symphony for Russian Drama Night over a month ago, but I'd been so sick all week, I still wasn't up to going out. But it was, after all, Nana Night. And...... the concert was music by Sergei Rachmaninoff! And...... I would spend quality time with my little guy, who just happens to love classical music So off we went! We had cocktails (sprite and root beer), mingled, talked about all the instruments he recognized - and most importantly, we had a wonderful time together!

Matthew's first chore is to find the bassoons - he's heard all the good, bad and ugly stories of his Nana playing the bassoon in High School!

Bassoonists are always rebels at heart!

PS - The concert was AWESOME!

Coffee Treat Box

This week has been a long one! I'd been self-treating what I thought was a cold - to no avail. Kara nagged me to go see my Dr., and sure enough I have a severe case of bronchitis! It's been bed rest and albuterol treatments, plus this lovely box Kara made for me:

Just take the ribbon and the top off and you have the treat:

As the sides of the box fall when the top is taken off, it reveals four pieces of the treat - a $10 coffee card to Dutch Brothers, a little bag of pure butter shortbread (love it), 2 small chocolate candies and a chocolate cookie.

This idea was brought to Kara's attention when Gerriann (who else, uh?) gave Kara one for a gift. It is really cute and sweet - and we all know how much I LOVE my coffee!